It's #NFPB10for10 - get your lists and your $$$$$ ready!

            Hurrah! It's Cathy Mere at Reflect and Refine, Julie Balen at Write At The Edge and Mandy Robek-Enjoy and Embrace Learning bringing us non-fiction 10 for 10 picture book day! Here's where you prepare to make a very long list, and order many, many books - from the library of course. (Or maybe a few from your favorite Indie store!)     Thanks Julie, Cathy and Mandy!

     Be sure to add your 10 for 10 link with Julie, and then tweet at #NFPB10for10

Here are my recent favorites, some old, some very new! 

                                                              Author- Page McBrier Illustrator - Lori Lohstoeter

Published by the Heifer Project, this story is about a real nine-year-old girl from Uganda. She yearns to be able to attend her local school, even standing near the school as the students gather in a group and pretending she is one of them. How much our children in America take for granted! The story tells of the amazing arrival of a goat to this family, but first they must prepare a shed and begin growing the food it will eat. The goat arrives and is named “Mugisa”, meaning “luck”. And as the story grows, luck also does in the form of twin kids, which mean more prosperity for the family, all from a donation of one goat. The story is one of many that The Heifer Project shares, and this time in a beautifully illustrated picture book.

Author- Laura Purdie Salas   Illustrator - Violeta Dabija

This is a different kind of non-fiction, true facts presented poetically. Laura Purdie Salas shows us a way to share the beauty of the simple leaf in action, and Violeta Dabija translates those words into lovely images. Don't forget the poetry books based on research in all the curriculum areas.  FYI-Laura has a new book that will come out on April 1st, Water Can Be!  Be sure to look for it.

Author and Illustrator - Douglas Florian

Douglas Florian too shares research about bees in poems and wonderful paintings.  From the bee-ginning to the Bee-bliography, this poetry book is delightfully ‘buzzy’ with all sorts of bee information. Each page illustrates particular concepts with charming bees who have children’s faces, a poem and accompanying explanation. For instance, the poem titled Drone begins BROTHER!/Yo BROTHER! /Bee-have in your hive!/Hey, DRONE!/Don’t MOAN!/Don’t GROAN!/And don’t JIVE! It continues to talk about their main work with the queen-very important!  If you want to know more about bees or just love the importance of bees, this is a great book that will teach you more—poetically!

Author and Illustrator - Barbara Winter

This is a wonderful story of passion, how Matisse, even when ill and confined to his bed, began to draw again, and discovered that using scissors to cut shapes from painted paper was also art that satisfied! Jeannette Winter fills the story with Matisse-like art, and one can imagine being with him in his seaside garden of cut-out flowers and shapes. In her author’s note, she says she included some of Matisse’s own words from correspondence with a friend.

Author-Lola M. Schaefer   Illustrator - Christopher Silas Neal

Have you ever wondered how many spots a giraffe grows in a lifetime, or how many joeys a kangeroo births in her lifetime? As the book progresses, the animal numbers increase until the final page, the number of tiny seahorses that a “male” seahorse has during its lifetime. And as those facts are given, the illustrations show that number of “things”, all the way to 1,000 baby seahorses! It’s a clever book with additional backmatter, a perfect way to get children thinking about numbers in our lives, and this time, about animals.

Author- Robert Burleigh  Illustrator - Wendell Monor

This picture book will be a good beginning introduction to Amelia Earhart for young readers. One of America’s first woman pilots, and one of our tragic mysteries in aviation, After 80 plus years, she still fascinates with her achievements and her stories. This particular book tells about Amelia Earhart’s hair-raising experience when she made her first trans-Atlantic flight, the first woman to do so. Wendell Minor fills the pages with tension in his paintings of the particular events of the story. It’s a good non-fiction adventure book, a model for those interested in adventures. The end papers show the plane and the map of the route, from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland.

Author- Artie Bennett   Illustrator - Mike Moran

This seems to be my year for examining poop, as I discovered and loved the book Poop Happened by Sarah Albee a few weeks ago. This time, I have had the pleasure of reading a picture book by Artie Bennett, writer of The Butt Book, about “rear ends in all their variety”. Obviously Artie thinks often that the ends of things are just as good as the beginnings. This book is funny, interesting, and beautifully fits younger children’s interests (and giggles) about poop. The text rhymes, and introduces that every single living thing on earth poops and that often there is a different term for it, as the book reads: “Guano is an Incan word/For poop of bat or ocean bird.” It covers things like size and styles and shapes of poop. For example, did you know the poop of a wombat is a cube? 
The uses of poop are treated with worldwide coverage, considering birds that carry seeds inside their poop all over the world, along with those who travel fewer miles but make a bigger impact, like elephants! Other uses are for cooking, sealing yurts, and building huts. There are even pages of poop souvenirs and games at fairs! The illustrations by Mike Moran fill in additional information with colorful cartoon-like drawings as the narrative moves along, ending with “Now you have the inside scoop/On every type and use of poop,” and final, chuckly lines that include the title. This is a fun, non-fiction text that will delight young children. 

Author and Illustrator - E.C. Krupp

A friend told me about this book and I found it at my library. It gives a clear explanation of rainbows by a guide who looks like a leprechaun although the myth of the pot of gold is quickly discredited! The guide, whose name is Roy G. Biv, the mnemonic to remember the rainbow colors, explains how the light from the sun turn into a rainbow, really through millions of raindrops! There’s plenty of background information, like the connection to Galileo and his early work with prisms and rainbows, and the illustrations and words are interesting and informative.

Authors - Charles L. Blood, Martin Link, Nancy Winslow Parker Illustrator - Nancy Winslow Parker

This is a true story of a weaver and her goat who lived in the Navajo Nation at Window Rock, Arizona. The story is a how-to book, telling the tale of shearing the mohair from a goat, who tells the tale, to taking the rug off the loom. It uses the proper terms for preparing the wool for weaving like cleaning, carding, spinning and dyeing. Amazingly, it is not silly, but although we know goats cannot talk, the illustrations and the story show the close relationship between natural objects and their use by Native Americans.

Author and Illustrator - Steve Jenkins

This book from Steve Jenkins is alive with examples of animal response to danger, some camouflage, but many actions too. The illustrations are created in Jenkins’ usual collages, and the information is both informative and inviting. When reading, I immediately wanted to know more! One example: A hover fly protects itself from predator by mimicking a wasp which birds don’t like to eat. It’s a good beginner’s book is animal survival, adaptation.

Coming Up:  I just received A Black Hole Is Not A Hole, by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano and illustrated by Michael Carroll - The beginning is good!