Posts Tagged book lists

Last Minute Book Buying Suggestions from the Mixed-Up File Members

By Jennifer Swanson on December 19, 2018 / Articles, Book Lists

Do you have your gifts bought already? Come on. Be honest. You are probably still shopping. I know I am. There’s always one person that has everything and you just can’t figure out what to get them. Here’s a tip, buy them a book!

And just because we are in the holiday mood here at the Mixed-Up Files, we thought we’d share some of our best book-buying tips with you. Hope you find them helpful. 🙂

For the reader who loves fantastical adventure stories like CORALINE,

try K.A. Reynold’s THE LAND OF YESTERDAY

Fantasy adventurer’s who enjoyed THE NIGHT GARDENER would surely be enthralled with

LOCKWOOD & CO: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

For kids who love graphic novels and sci-fi, pick up SANITY & TALLULAH by Molly Brooks

Have a budding explorer in your family? Give them Jennifer Swanson’s ASTRONAUT-AQUANAUT: HOW SPACE SCIENCE AND SEA SCIENCE INTERACT

Sporty aliens and their Earthbound fans will enjoy THE AMORPHOUS ASSASSIN in the Galaxy Games series by Greg R. Fishbone

Young readers who like a spunky, take-charge main character need to MEET YASMIN, by Saadia Faruqi

For readers who like music and magic become enchanted with THREE RULES OF EVERYDAY MAGIC, by Amanda Rawson Hill.

For readers who love wrestling, try TAKEDOWN, by Laura Shovan

For readers who love fantasy and adventure seek THE HOTEL BETWEEN, by Sean Easley

For readers who are dealing with complex family relationships and mental illness read WHERE THE WATERMELON GROWS, by Cindy Baldwin

For the young reader who is an animal advocate , check out Nancy Castaldo’s BACK FROM THE BRINK

or Patricia Newman’s SEA OTTER HEROES.

For readers who love space blast off with THE DISASTERS, by MK England

For mystery lovers puzzle through THE GALLERY by Laura Marx Fitzgerald

For kids who like spooky books dare to try Jan Eldredge’s EVANGELINE OF THE BAYOU

For kids who like impossible rescues and invading knights tilt with THE MAD WOLF’S DAUGHTER by Diane Margas

For kids who like an unconventional ghost story , THE PECULIAR INCIDENT ON SHADY STREET, by Lindsay Currie

For kids who like unconventional love stories about tolerance, acceptance, and how to be brave enough to be your authentic self read ONE TRUE WAY by Shannon Hitchcock.

For the reader who loves gross science that is also cool, check out Heather Montgomery’s

SOMETHING ROTTEN: A FRESH LOOK AT ROADKILL

Didn’t see a recommendation that helps you? Leave your own! We always love to hear about middle grade books that are a great read.

Happy Holidays from the MUF team! May your joyous season be filled with amazing BOOKS… and the time to read them.

STEM Tuesday– Getting Your Comic-on with Great Science Graphic Novels– Writing Tips & Resources

By STEM Tuesday on December 18, 2018 / Common Core & NGSS, Cross-Curricular, Graphic Novels, STEM Tuesday

STEM Tuesday’s Gone Graphic

Comics? We don’t need any of that nonsense in STEM.

What was that? No, I did not see the STEM Tuesday “Great Science Graphic Novel” book list for this month.

Bah-humbug! We didn’t have STEM books like that when I was a kid. Textbooks were perfectly fine for us.

No, my name is not STEMbeneezer Scrooge. Now, get off my lawn and leave me be. It’s time for my nap.

Who’s there? I thought I told you to skedaddle.

Aye! It’s a spirit.

Leave me be! I’m just an old STEM guy stuck in my ways. I’m going back to sleep before Wheel of Fortune comes on.

“STEMbeneezer, log on and follow me!”

What in the world? Another STEM spirit!

Smooth, Ghost of STEM Present. Real smooth. But I’m not going to get on the internet to scour bookstores.

Haven’t you heard of online identity theft and spyware?

Jeez, leave me be, I’m going back to sleep. And where do you come up with these “original” names, anyway?

What are you? You must be the Spirit of STEM Future.

Aack! Don’t beam me up, Scotty! I don’t want to go!

NOOOooo!!!

A hint? For what?

Help meeeeeeee!

Holy bad dreams. What happened? How long have I been asleep?

I know that answer!

Come, on! The answer’s easy.

Graphic storytelling is a great format for STEM books.

I’m a changed man. Textbooks have their place but the graphic novel format really does work well with STEM storytelling.

Graphic storytelling + STEM = Natural match

Using graphics to define a STEM concept has been a natural partnership for ages. I present the evidence.

DaVinci designs are a graphical how-to manual

DaVinci’s water lifting device proposal

A canon design

Galileo’s graphic notes on his observations of Jupiter’s moons

Sir Issac Newton’s Graphic Notes

Illustrated concept from NEWTON’S PRINCIPIA

From Newton’s Notes on Alchemy

A young Isaac Newton’s graphical code listing his sins committed

Chemistry

If you have the reagents, you could probably make your own Vitamin A from this graphical reaction.

Maps of biological pathways

The Krebs Cycle, aka The “I wish I had a dollar for every time I memorized & forgot this pathway in my school days” Cycle.

TNF pathway from one of our lab’s publications. It tells the visual story of an E. Coli effector subverting the TNF inflammatory pathway.

Let the evidence show using graphics has worked in STEM since the STEM fields were born.

It’s only natural they work in the field of STEM storytelling, right?

Visual Storytelling

A picture is worth a thousand words.

UNDERSTANDiNG COMICS: THE INVISIBLE ART by Scott McCloud

This a book you must read whether you are interested in straight graphic storytelling or storytelling in general. It doesn’t matter if the storytelling is fiction or nonfiction, graphic storytelling can be a powerful option for a writer.

Sketchnotes

Sketchnoting is a great way to take notes for the visual-minded individuals. I follow Eva-Lotta Lamm and her work with sketchnotes. She offers a free, downloadable Mini Visual Starter Kit at her website to help you get started with sketchnotes.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you are now convinced that images and STEM go together. The graphic novel format for nonfiction and STEM books not only works, but it fits. Just as architects and engineers use a blueprint drawing to relay information to the contractor and specialists, STEM writers can use graphic storytelling to relay information to the reader.

Still not a believer? Go to the STEM Tuesday book list and give those titles a try. It’s a much less harrowing path than visits from a trio of STEM spirits.

Take it from me. STEM graphic novels and comics are the real deal!

Mike Hays has worked hard from a young age to be a well-rounded individual. A well-rounded, equal opportunity sports enthusiasts, that is. If they keep a score, he’ll either watch it, play it, or coach it. A molecular microbiologist by day, middle-grade author, sports coach, and general good citizen by night, he blogs about sports/training related topics at www.coachhays.com and writer stuff at www.mikehaysbooks.com. Two of his science essays, The Science of Jurassic Park and Zombie Microbiology 101, are included in the P utt ing the Science in Fiction collection from Writer’s Digest Books. He can be found roaming around the Twitter-sphere under the guise of @coachhays64.

The O.O.L.F Files

The O.O.L.F. Files this month emphasizes the power of visual storytelling in STEM and to celebrate the season, a few links to STEM activities for the holidays. Enjoy!

Superheroes & STEM

CUNY’s Science & U Series episode, Science & Superheroes

Heroes and villains: the science of superheroes from Science in School

Comic Einstein!

General Relativity Interactive Comic from Science Magazine

More Sketchnoting

Map Your Mind

Holiday STEM

Diversity in MG lit #5 Refugees

By Rosanne Parry on December 14, 2018 / Book Lists, Diversity, For Librarians, For Teachers, New Releases

I’ll start with a picture book, because MG readers still love them. ME AND MY FEAR by Francesca Sanna is the follow up to her deeply moving THE JOURNEY from last year. Sanna’s new book explores the territory of a newly arrived refugee who wants to get to know her new neighborhood but is held back by Fear–a marshmallow like creature who grows in response to the stress of navigating a new culture. This story felt so honest and real (in spite of the fanciful externalization of fear) I think it will make a great conversation starter.

From the team that created the Artimis Fowl graphic novels comes a book about the North African refugee experience. ILLEGAL by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin and illustrated by Giovanni Rigano is the story of two brothers who leave their small town in Ghana to find their older sister who has already traveled to Europe. The journey is a harrowing one and this is not a book for the tender-hearted reader. Still there is plenty of heart in young Ebo who tries to do the decent and kind thing in increasingly harsh environments. This book moves back and forth in time which I found a little distracting but the art is beautiful and the story is gripping.

REFUGEE by Alan Gratz is an ambitious story that weaves together the journeys of a German refugee in 1938, a Cuban refugee in 1994, and a Turkish refugee in 2015. This story is well rooted in research but is not based on a the story of a particular refugee. The end matter contains detailed maps of each refugee’s journey and a detailed author note about what in the story is based on real persons or events. It contains suggestions for how to help refugees in your community and in the world. The author will be donating a portion of his proceeds to UNICEF for its relief efforts to refugee children world wide.

I’m going to call your attention to one more book which will be out in the first week of January in 2019. WE ARE DISPLACED: MY JOURNEY & STORIES FROM REFUGEE GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD is written by Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. Did you know that there are more than 65 million displaced persons in the world? Yousafzai shares her own story and the stories of displaced girls like herself that she has met through her activist work all over the world, putting a human face on the refugee experience.

I have chosen to focus on new books in this collection but most public libraries have a resource list of books about the refugee experience for young readers. Here is a list, including older titles, from the New York Public Library,

As always if you have a favorite book for MG readers about the refugee experience, please chime in below. Thank you!

Posts Tagged book lists

Last Minute Book Buying Suggestions from the Mixed-Up File Members

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STEM Tuesday– Getting Your Comic-on with Great Science Graphic Novels– Writing Tips & Resources

STEM Tuesday’s Gone Graphic