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STEM Tuesday– Food Science — Interview with Author Carla Mooney

The Chemistry of Food book

 

 

Today we have a special interview for you. It’s with one of our own STEM Tuesday crew!!

I get to interview author Carla Mooney about her awesome book, The Chemistry of Food

Carla Mooney           The Chemistry of Food book

 

Meet Carla: 

Carla Mooney loves to explore the world around us and discover the details about how it works. She is an award-winning author of numerous nonfiction and fiction books and magazine articles for children and teens. Carla has her BS in Economics and is a former certified public accountant. Now she loves writing about science and technology, nature and the environment, history, biography, business, current issues, health and medicine, and sports. She is also a regular STEM Tuesday contributor on the Mixed-Up Files of Middle-Grade Authors blog. When not writing, Carla is the Pittsburgh chapter director for Flashes of Hope, a nonprofit organization that provides professional portraits of kids with cancer and other life-threatening conditions and raises money for childhood cancer research.

 

Thanks so much for answering a few questions about your book, Carla!
The chemistry of food — How do you think these two topics go together? 
Chemistry and food. It’s not a pair that you would think go together. But food is matter, like any other matter you study in chemistry class. And what’s really interesting to me is how the chemistry you learned in school can be applied to food to explain what happens when you mix, cook, bake, and more. I had never really thought about food in that way before I researched and wrote this book and it was fascinating to make those connections.

 

What are some fun facts that you learned while writing this book? 
1. When you add baking soda (a base) to cupcake batter, it causes a chemical reaction that produces gas bubbles that make the cupcakes light and airy. (I always thought stirring put the airy bubbles into the batter!)
2. Different flours have different amounts of protein in them. (I always thought all flour was basically the same!)
3. Your nose and mouth work together to perceive flavor and aroma – its not just your nose smells or your tongue tastes.

 

Can you give us three things that you hope kids will learn from your book? 
In general, I hope they learn the “why” of what happens to food in cooking and baking and it will help them become better chefs. (I also hope that it is helping me cook a little better too!)
I also hope this book helps kids realize that chemistry and science and general can be fun and accessible. 
And I want kids to be excited to investigate the world around them and use science to better understand it – from the food they eat, the games they play, and much more!

 

You’ve written a lot of series for different publishers. Do you get to pick the topics in those series or are they assigned?
Most of my books are with educational publishers who come up with a series idea and a list of titles. They send me the list and I usually get to pick which series and titles sound interesting to me. A few times, I’ve suggested a title to a publisher.

 

Can you give any tips to writers who want to break into nonfiction children’s books? Should they start with educational publishers or go straight to trade? 
I think everyone’s path is different, so it depends on what you like to do! For myself, I actually started writing for magazines, newspapers, and an online website. Then, I decided to send in an introductory packet to a few educational publishers and landed my first assignments. I’ve done most of my work with educational publishers. I really like researching and learning about new topics all the time, which is something that I get with educational publishers. I have a few ideas for potential trade books, but they are in the early stages.

 

What are you working on now? 
I have a few projects going on – one that I’m really excited about is also about food in a way – it is looking at how the history of humans and certain staple foods are connected and have influenced each other. So stay tuned!

 

If you could spend the day with any scientist or engineer, who would it be and why? 
There are a lot of choices out there, but I think I’d  like to spend the day with paleontologist Mary Anning. Going on a dinosaur dig with her would be a lot of fun!

 

Thanks for all of your great responses, Carla. I learned something new about food today!
Please check out Carla’s other awesome books at her website https://www.carlamooney.com/

 

The Human Genome Book         Physics Fun book      Climate in Crisis book

 

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Jennifer Swanson is the author of over 45 books for kids, mostly about STEM. She is also the creator and cohost of the award-winning podcast, Solve It! for Kids. You can find Jennifer walking along the beach looking for sea turtles or looking up into the sky watching rockets launch. www.jenniferswansonbooks.com 

Great reads to celebrate National Poet’s Day!

Yay for National Poet’s Day!

To celebrate this day dedicated to creating and appreciating poetry, the following are some great titles featuring works for middle-grade readers.

Let’s start with the classic, Where the Sidewalk Ends, written by Shel Silverstein. This special edition includes 12 bonus poems!

Shel Silverstein, the New York Times bestselling author of The Giving TreeA Light in the AtticFalling Up, and Every Thing On It, has created a poetry collection that is outrageously funny and deeply profound. Come in…for where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein’s world begins. 

You’ll meet a boy who turns into a TV set, and a girl who eats a whale. The Unicorn and the Bloath live there, and so does Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who will not take the garbage out. It is a place where you wash your shadow and plant diamond gardens, a place where shoes fly, sisters are auctioned off, and crocodiles go to the dentist.

Shel Silverstein’s masterful collection of poems and drawings stretches the bounds of imagination and will be cherished by readers of all ages.

Next up is a title that begins with a quote from Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore “The Butterfly  Counts Not Months But Moments, and Has Time Enough.”

 Hope in the Valley is written by National Book Award Nominee, Mitali Perkins. Published by Farrar Strauss Giroux Books for Young Readers, July 2023.

Hope in the Valley,  is a middle-grade novel exploring grief, friendship, family, and growing up in a community facing a housing crisis.

Twelve-year-old Indian-American Pandita Paul doesn’t like change. She’s not ready to start middle school and leave the comforts of childhood behind. Most of all, Pandita doesn’t want to feel like she’s leaving her mother, who died a few years ago, behind. After a falling out with her best friend, Pandita is planning to spend most of her summer break reading and writing in her favorite secret space: the abandoned but majestic mansion across the street.

But then the unthinkable happens. The town announces that the old home will be bulldozed in favor of new—maybe affordable—housing. With her family on opposing sides of the issue, Pandita must find her voice—and the strength to move on—in order to give her community hope.

An award-winning, big-hearted time capsule of one class’s poems during a transformative school year. A great pick for fans of Margarita Engle and Eileen Spinelli.

Eighteen kids,

one year of poems,
one school set to close.
Two yellow bulldozers
crouched outside,
ready to eat the building
in one greedy gulp.

But look out, bulldozers.

Ms. Hill’s fifth-grade class
has plans for you.
They’re going to speak up
and work together
to save their school.

Families change and new friendships form as these terrific kids grow up and move on in this whimsical novel-in-verse about finding your voice and making sure others hear it.

Leigh Lewis, daughter of poet J. Patrick Lewis, is the creator of Pirate Queens: Dauntless Women Who Dared to Rule the High Seas, National Geographic Kids, January 2022.

This wow-worthy book proves that women have been making their mark in all aspects of history—even the high seas!

Meet Ching Shih, a Chinese pirate who presided over a fleet of 80,000 men (by contrast, Blackbeard had some 300). Get the scoop on Anne Bonny who famously ran away from an arranged marriage to don trousers and brandish a pistol in the Bahamas. And there are more!

Each pirate profile includes a dramatic original poem presented against a backdrop of gorgeous full-color art by award-winning illustrator Sara Gómez Woolley. Each profile is followed by fascinating information about the real life and times of these daring (and dangerous!) women.

Vetted by the world’s leading pirate experts and historians, this book is a cool and edgy gift. It’s also perfect for any curious kid who dreams of adventure and for parents who are eager to show their tweens and teens that history is more diverse, daring, and surprising than what is typically found in textbooks.

Leigh also provides examples of the various forms of poetry used throughout this fun and exciting book!
Award-winning author and poet Nikki Grimes has produced many works of poetry, but this is one of our favorites. One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance, published by Bloomsbury Publishing, August 2020.
Nikki Grimes does not consider herself a bona fide storyteller, but, as she told an audience at the Library of Congress, she is happy to own the title Poet. Born and raised in New York City, Nikki began composing verse at the age of six and has been writing ever since that time. (nikkigrimes.com)
Inspired by the writers of the Harlem Renaissance, bestselling author Nikki Grimes uses “The Golden Shovel” poetic method to create wholly original poems based on the works of master poets like Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Jean Toomer, and others who enriched history during this era.Each poem is paired with one-of-a-kind art from today’s most exciting African American illustrators–including Pat Cummings, Brian Pinkney, Sean Qualls, James Ransome, Javaka Steptoe, and many more–to create an emotional and thought-provoking book with timely themes for today’s readers.

A foreword, an introduction to the history of the Harlem Renaissance, author’s note, poet biographies, and index makes this not only a book to cherish, but a wonderful resource and reference as well.

A 2017 New York Public Library Best Kids Book of the Year

Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2017, Middle Grade

School Library Journal Best Book of 2017, Nonfiction

Worldbuilding for MG Writers

It’s back-to-school time for ELA classrooms soon! While we as teachers, parents, homeschooling families, and librarians might hear occasional moans and groans from students reaching the end of summer break, the advent of the new school term also brings so much eagerness and anticipation for new and different activities. This can be an especially exciting time with middle graders, who have learned some autonomy with their studies, are capable of more decision-making and logical thinking, and who love a creative challenge. Kicking off the school year by providing middle grade writers with some imaginative and unusual writing assignments will inspire them to pursue other reading and writing ventures throughout the year.

As writers, we recognize the importance of establishing a setting and developing it through details. This kind of worldbuilding not only immerses the reader in the time and place of the narrative but also allows the writer to carefully control what the reader sees and hears regarding the story’s location. For the young writer, worldbuilding employs the imagination, promotes pride of authorship, and provides an opportunity for critical thinking and the highest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. From a curriculum perspective, worldbuilding as an assignment provides the instructor with a chance to fulfill standards by reviewing or introducing connected literary devices and techniques such as:

  • Description
  • Sensory imagery
  • Metaphor and Simile
  • Personification
  • Atmosphere and Mood
  • Tone and Voice
  • Point of View

Having students review these literary devices and focus on each or on a combination of elements in a piece of their own authored writing makes for a richer, more personalized learning experience. Here are some ideas, prompts, and examples for exploring the worldbuilding concept as an assignment with your MG writers.

 

Worldbuilding Components for Middle Grade Writers

In reviewing story elements during a short story or novel unit, you might go beyond the typical definitions and examples for setting and instead allow writers to create their own setting. Try a graphic organizer for these and other components (and lots of space for details, brainstorming, and descriptions). Or use poster-sized paper for visual images or maps, and offer this list to inspire connected labels or captions:

Living on the Land: Geography, landscape, weather, climate, ecosystems

Living with Others: People, animals, and creatures; homes, habitats, and shelters; societies, neighborhoods, and cities

Getting Along: Communication; government; laws; technology; social institutions like education; relationships like family and marriage; economy and money systems; transportation and infrastructure (roads, bridges)

Surviving: Food and agriculture, tasks and working, earning wages or trading, keeping healthy, protection

Dangers and Threats (i.e., Conflicts): Enemies, nature, wildlife, discord, war or battle, illness

Don’t Forget the Place Name: Borrowed or original; symbolic meaning, allusion

Once students have had a chance to think through these and other elements of worldbuilding, writing projects on the topic might expand to include prompts and activities.

 

Prompts for Worldbuilding with MG Writers

Three Characters in Search of a Setting:  Provide students with three character identities, including for each traits, goals, motivations, conflicts, and relationships. The writer’s job is to determine a world that would serve the characters well in terms of suspense, tension, and continued potential for conflict. Student writers can add maps with labels, bulleted descriptions, brief histories, and artwork to convey the setting more fully.

Time Travel: Students choose a real place for the setting for a simple, conflict-rich storyline and detail its basic concerns; then they choose whether to move the time period up (into the future) or push it back (into the past). Pushing a setting back at least 60 years, for example, offers a chance to investigate the history of a place and incorporate its time-period specific details (what were computers like in 1960, anyway?). Moving the time period into the future allows for more speculation based on the location’s current characteristics and needs.

Genre Swapping:  Take a familiar setting from a favorite book or class novel study and re-imagine the time and place by changing the book’s genre. For example, what if a modern comedy like Gordon Korman’s Unplugged was actually a high fantasy? Or if Lauren Wolk’s historical Wolf Hollow was contemporary? Build this “reset” world, keeping premise details in mind.

No Swapping Allowed: Choose a story for which the setting and worldbuilding is inherent to the narrative, and detail the ways in which the plot relies on the setting to hold together.

Narrative Nonfiction Worldbuilding: Apply worldbuilding analysis to a work of narrative nonfiction as a way to glean factual detail and comprehend the setting’s full impact on the tale, especially one in which the setting seems distant or almost otherworldly, like Race to the Bottom of the Earth: Surviving Antarctica by Rebecca E.F. Barone.

I hope an idea or two here suits your classroom goals, and that you find the notion of worldbuilding to be an interesting and useful writing workshop activity! Good luck to everyone this school year.