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STEM Tuesday – Deep Space and Beyond — Book List

By on July 10, 2018   /   Space, STEM Tuesday  

Young readers will head into deep space with these titles to explore asteroids, black holes, and the geology of the solar system. They will discover the enormity of the universe and the people who work to understand it. This list will inspire new adventures and help readers discover our place among the stars.

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Impact!: Asteroids and the Science of Saving the World by Elizabeth Rusch and Karin Anderson

This Scientists in the Field series title introduces readers to the researchers who study asteroids. The author concludes the book with a list of methods that might be used for dealing with any asteroid that threatens Earth.

 

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Black Holes: The Weird Science of the Most Mysterious Objects in the Universe by Sara Latta  

Young readers will discover the early expiration of black holes and the studies that have led to our understanding. Pair this book with the next title on our list to compare and contrast two information titles on the same topic.

 

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org A Black Hole is Not a Hole by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano  and Michael Carroll

A humorous introduction to the complex science of black holes. Lots of space facts and answers about galaxies. Michael Carroll’s illustrations are coupled with real telescopic images to help readers visualize how light bends and identifying a supernova. Includes a timeline, glossary, and index.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Voyager’s Greatest Hits: The Epic Trek to Interstellar Space by Alexandra Siy

Celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Voyager mission in this informative and engaging title. Learn about the scientists, how the probes work, where they’ve been and what they’ve seen.

 

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Mission to Pluto: The First Visit to an Ice Dwarf and the Kuiper Belt by Mary Kay Carson and Tom Uhlman

In Carson’s Scientist in the Field title, young readers will explore Pluto through the discoveries made with the New Horizons mission and it robotic spacecraft. Readers will see how scientists built New Horizons, and follow it three billion miles across the solar system.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Science Comics:  Rockets: Defying Gravity by Anne Drozd  and Jerzy Drozd

Readers of graphic novels will enjoy exploring 2,000 years of rockets, including information on gravity, force, and acceleration in this nonfiction comic.

 

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh

A space mission has thousands of people working behind the scenes to bring astronauts to space and safely home. This book peels back the curtain to reveal those important jobs. Young readers might discover the career that speaks to them.

 

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org The Hubble Cosmos: 25 Years of New Vistas in Space by David H. DeVorkin and Robert W. Smith

This National Geographic book is a wonderful reference book for middle grade readers who will enjoy the story and photographs of this important telescope. Includes more than 150 photos!

 

 

Dr E’s Super Stellar Solar System by Bethany Ehlmann and Jennifer Swanson

Join National Geographic Explorer Dr. Ehlmann (member of NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity mission) and nonfiction author Jennifer Swanson on a tour of the soar system’s geology. A fun pairing of stories and facts.

 

 

STEM Tuesday book lists prepared by:

Nancy Castaldo has written books about our planet for over 20 years including her 2016 title, THE STORY OF SEEDS: From Mendel’s Garden to Your Plate, and How There’s More of Less To Eat Around The World, which earned the Green Earth Book Award and other honors. She strives to inform, inspire, and educate her readers. Nancy also serves as the Regional Advisor of the Eastern NY SCBWI region. Check out her 2008 title LEAP INTO SPACE and her new release, BACK FROM THE BRINK: Saving Animals from Extinction. www.nancycastaldo.com

Patricia Newman writes middle-grade nonfiction that inspires kids to seek connections between science, literacy, and the environment. The recipient of  a Sibert Honor Award for Sea Otter Heroes and a two-time recipient of the Green Earth Book Award for Plastic, Ahoy! and Sea Otter Heroes, her books have received starred reviews, been honored as Junior Library Guild Selections, and included on Bank Street College’s Best Books lists. During author visits, she demonstrates how her writing skills give a voice to our beleaguered environment. Visit her at www.patriciamnewman.com.

 

 

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Interview with MG author Mary Winn Heider

By on July 9, 2018   /   Author Interviews, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, New Releases  

I had the privilege of meeting and working with Mary Winn Heider at a Highlights Foundation workshop this spring. Mary Winn’s debut MG novel, The Mortification of Fovea Munson was released last month. This delightful story features talking heads in a cadaver lab, a Grandma who will leave you in stitches, losing friends and making new ones. Mary Winn took time from her busy book tour to offer insight into her writing and her work with the Barrel of Monkeys theater program in Chicago.

The setting of The Mortification of Fovea Munson is a cadaver lab. I know you worked briefly at a medical university lab. Can you tell us about that experience and how it played into your story? Did you meet any talking heads?  ?

Ha! I didn’t meet any talking heads, thankfully! I did meet the non-talking kind, despite the fact that my job was ostensibly just to be the receptionist. My responsibilities (like Fovea’s) definitely became a little more involved during my time there!

The lab itself was both very inspiring and very weird, which is sort of a sweet spot for me. On one hand, the stakes were super high: every day that I went to work, I found myself considering my own mortality. And my grandparents donated their bodies to science, so it felt somehow extra personal. On the other hand, the whole thing was really absurd—I was making signs to remind people not to wear flip-flops while they practiced surgeries. I was ordering body parts online. Minor spoiler: in the book, Fovea accidentally orders 600 legs. I totally did that. So there I was, at this intersection of super high stakes and total absurdity—and it felt so perfectly like my experience of middle school. Deadly serious. Completely bananas. Totally right.

And then aside from the ordering…er…snafu, I drew on the details of the real lab a lot, especially the day-to-day logistics. We’d order the parts, keep them frozen until they were needed, and plan ahead so they could thaw for however long they needed to thaw. There was a bit of a scandal with one of our suppliers at one point, and watching that play out helped me think through the ramifications of the (very different) trouble in the fictional lab.

I loved all the humor throughout especially the anatomical references, and the Grandma, oh my goodness, what a hoot! Tell us a little bit about your inspiration for the humor in your characters.

Well, broadly speaking, I wanted to have the most fun possible in this world that was (in theory, anyway) all about death and dying. Also, I’ll admit that once you start with the anatomy puns, it’s like you actually can’t stop—I don’t understand what force of nature that is, but it’s so real. So real.

Fovea initially struggles with her parents’ occupations, and yet, the plot involves Fovea trying to save them from ruin. I think it’s a perfect reflection of that awkward time in child/parent relationships. One minute a child doesn’t want anything to do with you, and the next they are defending you as a parent. You credit your parents as “being the coolest” in the acknowledgements. Did you ever experience the tug and pull in your relationship with yours?

For sure—I think maybe it’s impossible to avoid completely? And that that’s a really good thing. We test the waters of independence and maybe they’re a little intense or not intense enough, and then there are all sorts of feelings on both sides. But inch by inch, we grow up that way. My parents and I were lucky and didn’t have a lot of straight-up conflict—more like the occasional growing pains.

Fovea’s friendships are at the core of the story. Did you have an Em or Howe in your life?

The summer before sixth grade, I had a friendship that ended before I was ready. Every part of it was more nuanced (and less gross!)—but at heart, I’d say it was the same dance. I lost a friendship, found myself and found other friendships. Just…sans heads.

Your imagination is incredible! I found myself marveling at the solutions you provided for Fovea for the many challenges she came up against in helping Andy, Lake and McMullen. Especially the scene in making their way to the recording studio, which brought forth one of my fondest stories from my childhood. Care to offer any insights as to where you came up with such creative scenes?

Oh, I love that the trip to the studio managed to do that! That makes me so happy!

One of the things that I really dig about writing for this age is the constant negotiation between what middle schoolers can do on their own and what they can’t. So in some ways, it’s just about necessity being the mother of invention: in that scene, Fovea can’t drive, but she’s got to cover some serious ground to the studio.

And actually, early on, there was a very complicated subplot about getting to the studio (involving a kid with seven stepmothers who each had their own food truck—I’m rolling my eyes at myself even as I type this). A writer friend graciously clued me in that it was super distracting. So I cut the whole thing, and in the process, discovered Grandma Van, who adds so much more to the story. So I find when I try to be outrageous, I get in my own way. When I’m just problem-solving within some slightly oddly-shaped given circumstances, the internal logic of the story guides me. So I think I’m saying that I have nothing to do with it? That’s probably right.

I know you are a graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts Writing for Children and Young Adults. Did Fovea’s story originate while you were pursuing your master’s degree?

It did! I got the cadaver lab job toward the end of grad school. Then I realized I should be writing about the lab just in time for my last workshop at VCFA, so they got the first twenty pages. They were fantastic, and asked me all the questions I needed at that early generative stage.

I’d love to hear a bit about your writing process. Do you write every day? Where? Home? Coffee Shop? Cadaver lab? Theater?

All of the above! I try to write every day, although I don’t really succeed. But I’m generally doing the artist hustle, so I write wherever I can, which has definitely included at home, in coffee shops, at the cadaver lab, and backstage in theaters all over Chicago. Sometimes even in costume between shows. I have a harder time writing when I’m memorizing lines—my brain isn’t great at learning other people’s words and building my own sentences at the same time, but once a show is up and running, it gets a little easier.

Please tell us about your experiences with the Barrel of Monkeys theater program!

Yay! Barrel of Monkeys is the best. It’s a Chicago-based theater company. We go into Chicago Public Schools, teach six-week writing residencies, and then adapt what the kids have written and perform it for them in their own schools. The program gives the kids space to be expressive right at a time when they’re getting slammed hardest with state testing. And then we reflect back to them what creative rock stars they are by treating their work the way we’d treat professional writers’ work.

I’ve been in the company for about ten years—it’s made up of professional actors and educators all over the city. And the kids are endlessly inventive and inspiring. A month ago, I was in a show and got to play a reckless, heart-broken volcano, a metal-singing devotee of a potato chip god, a monster drawing come to life, and, as part of a reinterpretation of A Wrinkle in Time, played Mrs. Mild Sauce alongside Mrs. Ketchup and Mrs. Honey Mustard. The kids are where it’s at.

Finally, I know you’ve been involved in some interesting work situations in addition to your work at a cadaver lab. Are any of these roles playing a part in your next work?

I’ve had a pretty strange run of jobs, but at the moment, no! Well— none of my work as an adult, anyway—I’m currently drawing on my very influential time as second chair French horn at Hand Middle School.

Thank you so much for your time!

Thank YOU!

 

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Cookin’ Up Middle Grade Books

By on July 6, 2018   /   Fiction, For Kids, For Librarians, For Teachers  

I began baking when I was about nine. I loved stuffing brown sugar into a measuring up, hearing the whirring of the mixer, and smoothing out frosting onto a round cake. I still have the recipe my friend and I invented for Sprinkle Cake Cookies. It probably isn’t surprising that my main character in my first novel is a baker as well as I love reading about baking almost as much as I like actually baking (and it’s a lot less messy!).

If you know a middle grade reader who enjoys baking, these books are perfect! And what’s great is that they’re not all about sparkly pink cupcakes. You will see that there are a couple of fantasy and historical fiction books mixed in, ones about boys who love to bake, and some that address serious issues.

Cookie Cutters & Sled Dog Runners by Natalie Rompella
I’m starting with my own contribution here…
Ana Morgan is excited to begin middle school. She and her best friend Lily plan to create a cookbook for the school’s Explorations Fair, but when Ana is assigned a new partner, things quickly go sour. As Ana’s life gets out of control, so does her anxiety. Germs bother her and make her wash her hands.  A lot. And then she begins her Explorations project with the new girl…on sled dog racing—something she’s never even heard of. But when life gives her lemons, can she make lavender lemonade? Contains recipes in the book (including my childhood recipe for Sprinkle Cake Cookies).

Undercover Chefs by Erin Fry
Three unlikely friends join forces to win a baking competition and save their school’s culinary classroom. Isaac, a nationally-ranked runner; Jane, a shy artist; and J.C., a rebellious scooter rider – all have a secret passion for cooking. The promise of a cupcake contest lures them to an unusual classroom on the outskirts of campus. As they share friendship and a love for cooking, the pressures of the contest start to boil over – a recipe for disaster that could destroy their chances at winning! The heat is on, and Isaac, Jane and J.C. must figure out a way to salvage their cupcakes, save the culinary classroom from being demolished, and protect their secrets before the judges cast their final votes.

Cupcake Cousins by Kate Hannigan
Nine-year old cousins, Willow and Delia, can’t wait to spend a week vacationing together with their families. Their aunt is getting married, and Willow and Delia are hoping their tasty baked goods will be enough to get them out of being flower girls in the wedding.
But with a mischievous little brother, a bacon-loving dog, and a misbehaving blender in the mix, their treats don’t exactly turn out as planned. When a real emergency threatens to ruin the wedding, will their baking skills be enough to save the day? [Book 1 in the Cupcake Cousins series]

Lights, Camera, Cook! by Charise Mericle Harper
It’s “lights, camera, cook ” for four tween contestants–energetic Tate, charming Rae, worldly Caroline, and hyper-competitive Oliver–who are all about to enter a televised cooking competition.
What will the kids cook up? How will they all get along on- and off-camera? Which junior chef will have the grit–and maybe the grits–to make it through each challenge? And which junior chef will have to hang their apron up for good? Bonus: Includes real cooking techniques for the aspiring young chef. [Book 1 in the Next Best Chef series]

Peace, Love, and Cupcakes by Sheryl Berk
Kylie Carson is a fourth grader with a big problem. How will she make friends at her new school? Should she tell her classmates she loves monster movies? Forget it. Play the part of a turnip in the school play? Disaster Then Kylie comes up with a delicious idea: What if she starts a cupcake club?

Soon Kylie’s club is spinning out tasty treats with the help of her fellow bakers and new friends. But when Meredith tries to sabotage the girls’ big cupcake party, will it be the end of the Cupcake Club? [Book 1 in The Cupcake Club series]

Save the Cupcake! by Lisa Papademetriou
Hayley’s world is far from perfect: Her parents have divorced, her mom has lost her job, and she and her sister Chloe are stuck sharing a bedroom in their grandmother’s apartment. Luckily, Hayley has a knack for baking cupcakes — and cupcakes always make life just a little sweeter But when she and her best friend Artie start drifting apart, she realizes that it’s going to take more than sugar and spice to make things nice. [Book 1 in the Confectionately Yours series]

Baker’s Magic by Diane Zahler
Bee is an orphan, alone in a poor, crumbling kingdom. In desperation, she steals a bun from a bakery. To Bee’s surprise, the baker offers her a place at his shop. As she learns to bake, Bee discovers that she has a magical power. When a new friend desperately needs her help against an evil mage, Bee wonders what a small orphan girl with only a small bit of magic can do. Bee’s journey to help her friend becomes a journey to save the kingdom, and a discovery of the meaning of family.

The Baking Life of Amelie Day by Vanessa Curtis 
Thirteen-year-old Amelie Day loves to bake so she’s thrilled when she’s invited to compete in the Best Teen Baker of the Year contest. But Amelie has Cystic Fibrosis, and some days she can barely breathe. Determined not to let her condition or her mom stop her from taking part, Amelie musters all her Flour Power. But will it be enough to get her to the top?

Close to Famous by Joan Bauer
Foster McFee dreams of having her own cooking show like her idol, celebrity chef Sonny Kroll. Macon Dillard’s goal is to be a documentary filmmaker. Foster’s mother Rayka longs to be a headliner instead of a back-up singer. And Miss Charleena plans a triumphant return to Hollywood. Everyone has a dream, but nobody is even close to famous in the little town of Culpepper. Until some unexpected events shake the town and its inhabitants-and put their big ambitions to the test.

Gingersnap by Patricia Reilly Giff
It’s 1944, W.W. II is raging. Jayna’s big brother Rob is her only family. When Rob is called to duty on a destroyer, Jayna is left in their small town in upstate New York with their cranky landlady. But right before he leaves, Rob tells Jayna a secret: they may have a grandmother in Brooklyn. Rob found a little blue recipe book with her name and an address for a bakery. When Jayna learns that Rob is missing in action, she’s devastated. Along with her turtle Theresa, the recipe book, and an encouraging, ghostly voice as her guide, Jayna sets out for Brooklyn in hopes of finding the family she so desperately needs.

All Four Stars by Tara Dairman
Meet Gladys Gatsby: New York’s toughest restaurant critic. (Just don’t tell anyone that she’s in sixth grade.) Gladys Gatsby has been cooking gourmet dishes since the age of seven, only her fast-food-loving parents have no idea. Now she’s eleven, and after a crème brûlée accident (just a small fire), Gladys is cut off from the kitchen (and her allowance). She’s devastated but soon finds just the right opportunity to pay her parents back when she’s mistakenly contacted to write a restaurant review for one of the largest newspapers in the world. But in order to meet her deadline and keep her dream job, Gladys must cook her way into the heart of her sixth-grade archenemy and sneak into New York City–all while keeping her identity a secret Easy as pie, right?

Pie by Sarah Weeks
When Alice’s Aunt Polly, the Pie Queen of Ipswitch, passes away, she takes with her the secret to her world-famous pie-crust recipe. Or does she? In her will, Polly leaves the recipe to her extraordinarily fat, remarkably disagreeable cat, Lardo . . . and then leaves Lardo in the care of Alice.

Suddenly, the whole town is wondering how you leave a recipe to a cat. Everyone wants to be the next big pie-contest winner, and it’s making them pie-crazy. It’s up to Alice and her friend Charlie to put the pieces together and discover the not-so-secret recipe for happiness: Friendship. Family. And the pleasure of doing something for the right reason.

Sprinkles and Secrets by Lisa Schroeder
Twelve-year-old Sophie has always dreamed of being an actress and being in front of the camera. When that dream comes true and she’s offered a T.V. commercial spot, she’s over-the-moon happy. But then she finds out what exactly she’ll be advertising: the delectable, ever-popular brownies from BEATRICE’S BROWNIES, which just so happns to be the number one competitor to IT’S RAINING CUPCAKES—owned by her best friend, Isabel’s, family. Sophie has a tough choice to make: Follow her dreams or crush her best friend. What’s a girl to do?

 

Anyone else getting hungry? I hope you enjoy these tasty treats!

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