Posts Tagged book clubs

STEM Tuesday: Snow and Ice– Interview with Author Cindy Blobaum

    We are delighted to interview author Cindy Blobaum for our Ice and Snow theme this month!

Cindy is the author of:

 

Ice Age by Cindy Blobaum

Explore the Ice Age! With 25 Great Projects

Illustrated by Bryan Stone
Brrr–does it feel cold? Get out your gloves and get ready to experience the Ice Age! In Explore the Ice Age! With 25 Great Projects, readers ages 7 to 10 discover what an ice age consists of, why we have them, and what effect an ice age has on living organisms and ecosystems. The book pays particular attention to the most recent Ice Age, which is the only one humans were around to witness.

Cindy digging up mammoth

Cindy holding a mammoth bone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cindy digging up a mammoth bone, and then holding one! 

 

 

Cindy, thanks for being on our blog. How fun was it to write a book about the Ice Age? 

I’m one of the few people I know who absolutely LOVES winter.  In fact, I drive almost everyone crazy because I sing every time it starts to snow J . The cold weather gives me the opportunity to create snow “somethings” (not usually a snowman), make snow ice cream and go ice skating (outdoors), snow shoeing and skiing.  So writing a book that revolves pretty much around winter-style activities was a blast for me.

 

Your book is packed full of awesome projects– did you come up with them yourself?

Many of the projects tapped into my experiences as a naturalist (field trip lady). I had the good fortune to take part in a mammoth dig (excavating several mammoth skeletons), I constantly use ice cube glacier models in my geology programs to explain local topology, and teaching people how to throw spears using atl atl’s was a constant part of fall programs for many years. Other projects that explained important concepts are ones that I adapted from other programs. When I started working on Explore the Ice Age, I had a notebook full of ideas and connections, which expanded as I got going.

 

Did you research them? If so, where can people find cool activities for kids?

Each activity I include is thoroughly researched and tested – with my children and neighbor kids often helping out. Research is one of my favorite parts of writing! The research can include checking books, online resources, primary source materials and of course, asking real experts.  I learn so much that it can be difficult to select what to include and what I have to leave out. For example, I lived in Iowa when I was writing Explore the Ice Age.  When I was working on the mammoth dig, I met an expert on giant sloths. He had created a website with a wealth of information that could be enough for its own book! https://slothcentral.com/

As for finding cool activities for kids, there are multiple ways to approach the search. Activity books are an obvious choice, and don’t pass up the old ones!  I have “discovered” many awesome projects that are so old that many people have never seen them, but they are still cool, fun and relevant! Online searches are great, especially if you have the time to actually use “the web” – as in follow many of the multiple possibilities that pop up, especially if you scroll past the first page of results. I also let my mind wander, choosing a word, like “lever” or “insulation” and seeing what I can find that way. And don’t be afraid to adapt activities – try doing them using different materials or in new ways.

 

Can you give us a sneak peek of one or two of the activities? 

 

An easy and very effective activity to start RIGHT NOW is Sun Stretch! The purpose of the activity is to measure how much the tilt of the sun changes from season to season.  If you are living in the Northern Hemisphere, use a south facing window. (Use a north facing window if you live in the Southern Hemisphere.)

Write today’s date on a piece of masking tape or similar substance. Right around noon, place the piece of tape on the floor or wall where you see the sunlight end.  At least once a month, do the same thing – putting a new dated piece of tape where you see the sunlight end. The farther you live from the equator, the more change you will see!

Bundled Bottles is an activity that clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of the insulation found on some animal’s bodies. The equipment is zippered baggies, shortening, socks (the thicker, the better), plastic water bottles and a freezer.  After creating a coat that mimics a warm-blooded animal’s body, you measure how long it can keep hot water from freezing.

 

Can you give any tips to writers who want to break into nonfiction children’s books? Should they start with educational publishers like you have done? 

At a writing conference, I remember a publisher commenting that although children’s fiction titles usually steal the spotlight, young readers eagerly seek out nonfiction to feed their desire to know more and understand how things work. That is who I write for and why I write. The fact that many formal and informal educators (staff/volunteers at museums, nature centers, summer camps, home schoolers) use my books gives me a definite thrill.

Just like you have to do your research for your subject matter, it is also imperative to research potential publishers. Due to my writing style and content, it makes the most sense to work with publishers who know/understand/work with that format, which is mostly educational publishers. If your writing is more narrative, look for publishers who feature that style of titles. Two other nonfiction styles (this list is not exhaustive) are short facts/records/lists and curriculum/activity sheets. Each one has a separate but sometimes overlapping audience and publisher. .

 

What are you working on now? 

I recently updated Explore Gravity (Nomad Press), expanding it for older readers (ages 9 – 12). I am also working on updating Geology Rocks to get it back in print with Chicago Review Press. With my new full time position, quite honestly, it would be very difficult to start a project right now – although as always, I have a notebook and file folder full of ideas!

 

Thanks for being on our blog, Cindy, and sharing all of this great info on your book and STEM!

You can discover more about Cindy HERE 

 

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Jennifer Swanson authorJennifer Swanson is the award-winning  author of 45+ books for kids, mostly about STEM, and also the creator and cohost of the Solve It for Kids podcast.  You can hear her recommendations for the best STEM books for kids in 2023 on NPR’s Science Friday, here!

 

STEM Tuesday: Snow and Ice– Book List

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kids of all ages wonder at the world of snow. Listed here are some great resources to learn more about it. From blizzards to ice ages, these books have something for everyone fascinated by snow and ice.

Curious About Snow (Smithsonian) - Kindle edition by Shaw, Gina. Children Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

 

Curious About Snow

by Gina Shaw

The very basics of ice and snow. With great photographs, this book starts with the basics, right from what ice is, how it is formed, what snowflakes are, right up to blizzards and snowstorms and how people have fun in the snow!

 

 

 

 

Ice: Chilling Stories from a Disappearing World - DK: 9781465481702 - AbeBooks

 

Ice: Chilling Stories from a Disappearing World

by various authors (DK publishers)

This beautiful big book full of stunning photographs is a deep dive into the frigid regions of our earth. It gives readers a complete picture of our icy world, from prehistory, to the geography of these lands, to the flora and fauna, and how humans have adapted to living in cold regions.

 

 

 

 

 

Meltdown: Discover Earth's Irreplaceable Glaciers and Learn What You Can Do to Save Them: Sanchez, Anita, Padula, Lily: 9781523509508: Amazon.com: Books

Meltdown: Discover Earth’s Irreplaceable Glaciers and Learn What You Can Do to Save Them

by Anita Sanchez (Author), Lily Padula (Illustrator)

This kids’ guide to glaciers is packed with information to give readers an exciting overview of glaciers and how important they are. With graphs, charts, photographs and more, this book will dive into the secrets of glaciers, teach readers how to become climate activists, and share ways to save the glaciers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mission: Arctic: A Scientifc Adventure to a Changing North Pole: Weiss-Tuider, Katharina, Schneider, Christian: 9781771649568: Amazon.com: BooksMission: Arctic: A Scientific Adventure to a Changing North Pole

by Katharina Weiss-Tuider and Christian Schneider

 

Until now, the world of the Arctic was a mystery. This guide follows the 2019 MOSAiC expedition whose mission was to let their vessel freeze in the sea ice and drift to the north pole. Why? To study how the Arctic is changing. Featuring photographs, facts, diagrams and more; the thrilling world of the Arctic will come alive as readers discover its secrets.

 

 

 

 

 

What Was the Ice Age? by Nico Medina and Who HQ

 

What Was the Ice Age?

by Nico Medina

A part of the “What Was” series, this book is a look at our world 20,000 years ago when glaciers and ice covered most of our planet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Explore The Ice Age!: With 25 Great Projects: Blobaum, Cindy, Stone, Bryan: 9781619305816: Amazon.com: Books

Explore The Ice Age!: With 25 Great Projects

by Cindy Blobaum (Author), Bryan Stone (Illustrator)

What exactly is an ice age? How do organisms and ecosystems deal with them? How do they affect the Earth? Explore the Ice Age illustrates with activities what happens during and after such an event. Filled with illustrations and fun facts, this book will be a welcome addition to your library.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out of the Ice: How Climate Change Is Revealing the Past: Eamer, Claire, Shannon, Drew: 9781771387316: Amazon.com: Books

 

Out of the Ice: How Climate Change Is Revealing the Past

by Claire Eamer and Drew Shannon

A fascinating look into how unexpected things have been emerging from ice melting due to global warming. The book  discusses glacial archaeology, a scientific field in which researchers study these finds and discover new things about our past.

 

 

 

X-Books: Weather: Snow

Snow (X-books: Weather)

by Bill McAuliffe

Take a look at the five most devastating snowstorms recorded and discover fascinating information about the wonders of snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blasted by Blizzards Book by Jill Keppeler | Epic

Blasted by Blizzards (Natural Disasters: How People Survive)

by Jill Keppeler (Author)

 

Want to learn the basics of blizzards? Blasted by Blizzards focuses on why they occur, what happens afterwards and what to do to prepare for a blizzard-shaped disaster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ice! Poems About Polar Life Book Review and Ratings by Kids - Douglas Florian

 

Ice! Poems About Polar Life

by Douglas Florian

With poetry, wordplay and lots of humor, poet Douglas Florian introduces children to animals that live in the polar region, and also explores scientific concepts like global warming, animal adaptations, and much more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Susan Summers is a wildlife enthusiast and an author. Contact her at: https://susan-inez-summers.weebly.com/

 

 

Shruthi Rao is an author. Her home on the web is https://shruthi-rao.com

 

 

 

STEM Tuesday — Robotics and Artificial Intelligence– Author Interview

STEM Tuesday– Robotics and Artificial Intelligence — Interview with Author Darcy Pattison

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview, a repeating feature for the last Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!

Today we’re interviewing Darcy Pattison, author of A.I.: How Patterns Helped Artificial Intelligence Defeat World Champion Lee Sedol It’s a fascinating look at the use of artificial intelligence and how a common board game was used to demonstrate that, in some cases, a computer might possess superior skill levels.

Kirkus Reviews calls it, “An enthralling, contemporary tale of man versus machine.”
AI Cover

 

 

 

 

 

Christine Taylor-Butler: Darcy, you’ve been in the business for quite a while and you’ve written everything from science fiction and fantasy to contemporary stories and science. When did you know you wanted to become a writer? Were there detours along the way?

Darcy Pattison: I have always been a reader! In sixth grade, I read THE LORD OF THE RINGS (the Harry Potter of my day), and even then, I thought about being on the flip side of the story. I wanted to write stories that people love to read. But I also grew up questioning everything so science writing is a natural fit for me, too.

CTB: You’ve been published by a number of trade publishers. What lead you to create Mims House?

Darcy: In the last twenty years, publishing has changed because of technology. The introduction of ebooks and print-on-demand services means that publishing a book is a low-cost investment up-front. It meant I could publish the books that I was passionate about and bring them to market myself. I had a long history in the industry and knew what pitfalls to avoid and where to focus attention. It’s been a hard journey, but I’m thrilled to be still publishing books of my heart.

CTB: Long before STEM was a trend in children’s literature, you developed a track record for writing well received nonfiction. Where did you get the idea for writing about the board game match between AlphaGo and Lee Sedol?

Darcy: A.I.: How Patterns Helped Artificial Intelligence Defeat World Champion Lee Sedol was written when I got interested in A.I. I’m always looking kid-friendly ways to approach a topic. When I realized this story featured a world champion board game player, I thought it would appeal to kids. This game was actually a pivotal game in the development of A.I Before this, programmers tried to write rules for artificial intelligence programs. For example, they might write a rule on how to identify a photo of a cat.

Sample rules:
A cat has a round face and triangular ears.
A cat has a tail.

It worked up to a point. But what if the cat is curled up sleeping? Or perhaps, it’s stretched out to run hard as it chases a rat? It required too many rules to deal with all the positions a cat might take, and all the exceptions to the rules.

Instead, artificial intelligence today works because we provide thousands of images to a computer program, a big dataset. Each image is labeled either CAT or NOT CAT. The program analyzes the images and creates its own mathematical formula for identifying a cat.

The AlphaGo program was the first time such an A.I. program was used to challenge a human in a complicated board game. Amazingly, it won four out of five times. Also amazing—Lee Sedol, the world champion, found a way to defeat the A.I. once. The series of games redefined our relationship to A.I.

Note to readers: A documentary about the AI program and the match with Lee Sedol can be found on Youtube: AlphaGo: The Movie.

Lee Sedol 1 Overhead of Go

 

 

 

 

 

CTB: The illustrations are so fun, as is the layout of the book. How did you find that illustrator?

Darcy: Yes, Peter Willis is amazing! He has illustrated ten books with me now because his distinctive digital collages are fun and funny for kids. I first saw his portfolio on Behance.net, the Adobe social media program where artists display portfolios. Look for more about Peter Willis and his work here: https://mimshousebooks.com/blogs/books/willis1

Meet the man

 

 

 

 

CTB: There’s a lot of concern now about AI eventually being able to do more than play games. But I love that you explain that even the phones in our pockets are partially fueled by AI technology. For example, I’m a frequent user of “Siri” and my Mac laptops as far back as OS9 were voice activated and had a digital assistant.  Did you have any “aha!” moments when researching this book?

Darcy: It was fascinating to dig into the discussion of A.I. technology. Understanding the difference in the two types of approaches to A.I. helps me make decisions about how I choose to use A.I. The rules-based approach was ultimately unusable because there are too many exceptions to any rule. When A.I. analyzes big datasets, though, it can mathematically account for exceptions. It’s a brilliant solution that means A.I. can tackle a wide variety of questions. For example, from a photo, it can predict if a mole is likely to be cancerous. Or, it can help create a chemical formula for a new medicine.

One problem with A.I. is that need for big datasets. Where will programmers find the data to feed into the program? Current lawsuits revolve around the allegedly illegal use of their copyrighted or patented information. Artists object to their copyrighted images being used to train A.I., and authors object to their copyrighted novels and writings being used to train A.I.

For me, that “aha” moment was understanding how current A.I. works. It’s easier to see how the programs can help my work or fit into a lesson plan when I understand that it’s trained on selected big datasets.

CTB: Your book ran into a roadblock at the US Copyright office. In scanning the text the office assumed the book was illustrated by A.I. rather than a real person. Can you tell our readers a bit about that experience? 

Darcy: The US Copyright has decided to check books to see if a book might include text or images created by A.I. I applaud this careful look at the books! However for my A.I. book, they asked if A.I. had been used to create the book. Just because the topic of the book is artificial intelligence doesn’t mean I used A.I. to create it! After I answered their question, they came back again and asked about this specific page of the book.

AI Example page

Here, the illustrator Pete Willis is demonstrating that some common objects are or are not based on A.I. programing. We know that artificial intelligence can be used for some cell phones, robots, and video games. But cats, ice cream and board games are not based on A.I. The US Copyright office specifically asked, though, if the images labeled “A.I.” had been created using an A.I. program.

“No,” I answered, “Peter Willis illustrated the entire book, even those labeled A.I.”

They accepted my answer and the book’s copyright was approved without any further questions.

CTB: I love that you call yourself, “Queen of Revisions” in your biography. Do you have any advice for young writers who might want to follow in your footsteps?

Darcy: Over the years, I have learned that I need to revise many times. When kids ask me how many revisions I do for a project, I answer, “Until it’s right.”

It’s not a matter of getting it right in three tries. It’s getting it right that matters.

If you want to write, read! Read everything you can, putting information and language into your memories so that when you need it, the words are there to draw upon.

CTB: Thanks for being such a gracious guest. What’s up next? Any projects or books you’d like readers to watch for?

Magnet coverDarcy: Peter Willis and I are collaborating on a new book, MAGNET: How William Gilbert Discovered that Earth is a Great Magnet. The story goes back to the middle of the 1600s when scientists were first figuring out what a magnet was. Gilbert gathered lodestones, natural magnetic stones, from around the world: from Greece came red and black lodestones; from Spain came white lodestones; Chinese lodestones were dark blood-red, while Ethiopian lodestones were amber or yellowish.

We follow the natural phenomena of stones that attract other stones as scientists start to unravel and make sense of the strange properties of the stones. Look for the book in April, 2024.

 

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Darcy headshotDarcy Pattison is the author of science books for kids, writes award-winning fiction and non-fiction books for children. Five books have received starred PW, Kirkus, or BCCB reviews. Awards include the Irma Black Honor award, five NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books, three Eureka! Nonfiction Honor book (CA Reading Assn.), two Junior Library Guild selections, two NCTE Notable Children’s Book in Language Arts, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book, an Arkansiana Award, and the Susannah DeBlack Arkansas Children’s History Book award. She’s the 2007 recipient of the Arkansas Governor’s Arts Award for Individual Artist for her work in children’s literature. Her books have been translated into ten languages. Always active, before her tenth birthday, she (almost) climbed the Continental Divide, turning back at the last twenty yards because it was too steep and great climbing shoes hadn’t been invented yet. She once rode a bicycle down a volcano in Bali, Indonesia and has often hiked the Rockies. She recently hiked New Zealand’s backcountry for a taste of Kiwi life, and then strolled the beaches of Australia. On her bucket list is kayaking the Nā Pali Coast of Hawaii and eating curry in Mumbai. Follow her: @FictionNotes on Twitter and @DarcyPattison on Instagram.

author christine Taylor-butler

Photo by Kecia Stovall

Your host is Christine Taylor-Butler, a graduate of MIT and author of Save the… (Tigers, Blue Whales, Polar Bears)  with Chelsea Clinton and many other nonfiction books for kids. She is also the author of the STEM-based middle grade sci-fi series The Lost Tribes. Christine was appointed as an MLK Visiting Scholar for the 2023-2024 academic year at MIT focused on STEM and children’s literacy. Follow @ChristineTB on Twitter/X, @ctaylorbutler on Bluesky or @ChristineTaylorButler on Instagram. She lives in Missouri with a tank of fish and cats that think they are dogs.