Posts Tagged diversity

STEM Tuesday — Pollinators — Book List

By on July 7, 2020   /   Pollinators, STEM Tuesday  

Pollinator populations are declining. For those of us who like to eat, this is a problem because bees pollinate 75 percent of the fruits, vegetables, and nuts grown in the United States. In addition, bees, butterflies, bats, and other animals pollinate plants and fruit trees which provide food for birds and other wildlife.

Where Have all the Bees Gone? Pollinators in Crisis, by Rebecca E. Hirsch

Beginning with a field trip to find the once-common Franklin’s bumble bee, this book highlights what can happen when wild bees disappear. It concludes on a hopeful note, with two chapters devoted to bee conservation and positive actions that kids – and their families –  can take.

 

Bugs in Danger, by Mark Kurlansky

This book opens with an overview of how insects fit into the ecosystem and the biggest threats they face: habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, and climate change. There’s a good section on what pollination is and the co-evolution of insects with plants. Remaining sections focus on individual groups of pollinators: bees (big emphasis on honey bees), beetles, and butterflies and moths. Fortunately, there are things everyone can do to keep the world a safe place for bugs.

 

Turn this Book into a Beehive, by Lynn Brunelle

This book provides an introduction to honey bees, bumble bees, and native bees. Bee-lovers of all ages will appreciate the novelty of turning the book cover into a home for mason bees. Plus there are hands-on activities and recipes for organic pest control, with plenty of tips on how we can keep our landscapes bee-friendly.

 

Attracting Native Pollinators: The Xerces Society Guide, Protecting North America’s Bees and Butterflies, by The Xerces Society

Though written for adults, we feel this is a valuable reference for curious young naturalists. The first section introduces pollinators (bees, butterflies, beetles, wasps, flies). Another section focuses on strategies to help pollinators (including school gardens). There’s a photo guide to bees of North America, garden suggestions, and a photo guide to pollinator plants.

 

How to Raise Monarch Butterflies: A Step-by-Step Guide for Kids (How It Works) by Carol Pasternak

This book offers instructions on how to feed and care for monarch butterflies and their caterpillars. It explains varieties of milkweed and how to propagate plants, and offers suggestions for starting a butterfly garden. It also includes information about threats to Monarchs and actions people can take to conserve the butterflies.

Pollinators: Animals Helping Plants Thrive by Martha London

Opening with an in depth look at pollination, this book examines the insects, birds, and bats responsible for the majority of plant pollination. Sidebars extend the discussion to topics like prehistoric pollination, mammals, and artificial pollination. It includes large color photographs, a “fast facts” section, and a glossary, as well as cross-curricular extension activities throughout the book.

 

Know Your Pollinators: 40 Common Pollinating Insects including Bees, Wasps, Flower Flies, Butterflies, Moths, & Beetles, with Appearance, Behavior, & How to Attract Them to Your Garden by Tim Harris

With a focus on 40 insects from around the world responsible for plant pollination, this book offers full page color images opposite brief discussions of the habits, nests, and life-cycles of many well-known insects (honeybees, monarch butterflies, and ladybugs) and some more unusual ones (blueberry digger, sandpit mining bee, and snowberry clearwing). It also contains succinct sidebar information on the insects, including size, season, nectar sources, and habitat.

National Geographic Birds, Bees, and Butterflies: Bringing Nature Into Your Yard and Garden by Nancy J. Hajeski

This book examines the basic physical and life-cycle information and habitat necessities for these three pollinator groups. Along with gorgeous photos, the text and sidebars help identify common backyard birds, butterflies, bees, and moths. Additional “focus on” sections provide more information on topics like monarch butterfly migrations and creating a moon garden for moths. It also shows how to create a garden plan for each group and offers a list of plants and a growing guide.

The Pollinator Victory Garden: Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening; Attract and Support Bees, Beetles, Butterflies, Bats, and Other Pollinators by Kim Eierman

Although also having a more adult feel, this book expanded the evaluation of pollinators beyond insects and birds. The large color images and charts examine the many insects, birds, mammals, and lizards responsible for plant pollination. After exploring their required habitats and foods, the book shows how to create different pollinator gardens. Additional resources include garden tips, a checklist, and plant lists for specific pollinators.

Bug Lab for Kids: Family-Friendly Activities for Exploring the Amazing World of Beetles, Butterflies, Spiders, and Other Arthropods (Lab Series), by John W. Guyton

Bug Lab brings together more than 40 activities for exploring the world of arthropods: spiders, centipedes, butterflies, bees, ants, and many other insects. Activities include making a collecting net, caring for live arthropods, and best ways to photograph bugs. One section focuses on bees, butterflies, and other pollinators, inviting kids to conduct a local survey and make a pollinator habitat.

 

STEM Tuesday book list prepared by:

 

Sue Heavenrich writes about science for children and their families, from space to backyard ecology. A long line of ants marching across the kitchen counter inspired her first article for kids. When not writing, she’s committing acts of citizen science in the garden. She blogs about science for kids and families at archimedesnotebook.blogspot.com.

 

Maria is a children’s author, blogger, and poet passionate about making nature and reading fun for children. She’s been a judge for the Cybils Awards from 2017 to present. And a judge for the #50PreciousWords competition since its inception. Her poems are published in The Best Of Today’s Little Ditty 2017-2018, 2016, and 2014-2015 anthologies. When not writing, critiquing, or reading, she bird watches, travels the world, bakes, and hikes. Visit her at www.mariacmarshall.com.

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Books to Inspire You to Explore the Outdoors (safely)

By on June 22, 2020   /   Articles, STEM  

Hopefully this blog post finds you all well and safe. I’m imaging it also finds you perhaps a bit anxious to get outside. After all, it is summer, and while I don’t know what the weather is like where you live, here in Florida, it’s glorious! A perfect time to get out and about and explore.

But what if where you live it’s not the right time to get out much yet. What can you do to keep your kids — and yourselves — occupied for the next few weeks while things open up? What can you do?  Why not bring the outdoors inside or at the very least get creative with your own little outdoor spot. I’m talking about getting creative with SCIENCE outside. (come on, if you know me, you knew this was going to be a science post) 😁

Are you ready to get your outdoor science on? GREAT!  —>  Head to your bookshelf!

That’s right, inspiration for how to imagine, invent and discover great outdoor science is right there among the books.

What are you interested in?  Bugs? Moths? Birds? Cool!

Check out a few of these books.

            

 

Or perhaps you have more of a technology bent and want to understand how animals and technology go together.

For that check out my new book BEASTLY BIONICS                             

 

And who says that animals are the only bits of science you can see outside or around your house? What about cars? or buildings?

       

 

Finally, what if you are just inspired to invent something? Try out these fun new books

      

 

For MORE great ideas of how to use STEM/STEAM books to create fun at home,

check out our STEM Tuesday Blog, which has three years worth of activities for kids/parents/teachers —   

and also STEAMTEAM2020 website which highlights new books coming out in 2020!

 

Now that your interest has been piqued, it’s time to DO something with your new knowledge.

Your challenge is to observe, design, draw, build and create something new.

  • Come up with a new type of animal– one that doesn’t exist but you think it should
  • Design a new type of bionic robot that mimics the way an animal moves or reacts that would be helpful to humans
  • Draw a picture of a car or building that would be awesome to drive or live in
  • Write a story about your creation and share it with your friends and family
  • Make a game or puzzle for others to try to guess what you drew
  • Turn your living room into a new type of ecosystem (be sure to ask your parent’s permission) and take everyone on a safari

 

Science really IS all around you. It starts with your imagination. Time to let that imagination and inspiration SOAR!

I’d love to see what you come up with. Leave a comment/picture below and you’ll be entered to win a copy of my new Beastly Bionics book!

Happy inventing!

 

 

 

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Diversity in MG Lit #17 Equity for Black books and their creators

By on June 15, 2020   /   Articles, Diversity, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers, independent bookstores, Op-Ed  
It’s my goal with these posts to shine a light on new diverse books for young readers at the middle grade level. It’s a regular feature on the Mixed Up Files Blog because the disparity in attention that diverse books receive is an ongoing problem. Recent events, however, call for a more systemic look at racism as it exists within the children’s book industry.
I have been writing for the last 25 years and have had published work for the last 11 years. In that time I’ve met people at all levels of the publishing and bookselling industries. Across the board I’ve found kind folks with good intentions. There has been an awareness of the inequalities in the industry as far back at the 1920s or 30s. Efforts have been made over the last hundred years, and yet time after time they have come woefully short of anything that looks like equality.
Rather than cast blame I’d like to look at the retail side of the equation and a handful of concrete ways all of us can make book sales grow, especially for POC authors & illustrators. It’s not the entire solution, but one sure way to make more money available for Black authors is to make books more available to Black families. Here are a half dozen steps you can take to do right by authors of color.
  1. Buy your books from Black-owned bookstores. Here’s a list of them by state. If there’s one near you, please become a regular customer. If not order from one once in a while and have them ship the books to you.
  2. Support Indie bookstores. Most new voices are first discovered and promoted by indie booksellers. Indie bookstores are a venue for book events for local authors not given a publisher-sponsored tour. And indie bookstores selling books at their cover price are the ones that give an author their full royalty. Those venues on line or elsewhere that offer discounts on books are giving the author less in royalty. Royalties are what make it possible for an author to continue writing.
  3. Donate to BINC. BINC is the Book Industry Charitable Foundation. They provide assistance to booksellers which helps them stay open in the face of difficulty. The assistance includes help with serious medical expenses, eviction prevention, funeral expenses, disaster assistance, domestic violence survival, utility shut-off prevention, and many other things. Donate here. Every little bit helps, especially now when so many book stores are struggling.
  4. Read books from Small Presses. Even the big publishers agree that the most daring and diverse books come out of small, independent, regional, and university presses. If you are a librarian, especially one on a book award committee, please give equal attention to the small press gems from Amistad, Just Us Books, Cinco Punto, Orca, Charlesbridge, Lee & Low, Enchanted Lion, Lerner, , and the many others listed here.
  5. Get involved in small business politics  If I could wave a magic wand I’d love to give every neighborhood and town it’s own vibrant independent bookstore. Sadly many people live in a book desert. If that’s your community, spend some time at your town’s council meetings. Ask the local small business association what you can do to bring a bookstore to town, The American Booksellers Association has a small business issues section that offers, state-by-state some suggestions for advocacy for bookstores. This kind of advocacy can be boring and feel far removed from the heat of the moment but if we want Black businesses to flourish in the future we have to lay the groundwork for it now.
  6. Use and promote your public library. Librarians are often at the forefront of advocating for diverse books. If your local library is not as inclusive as you’d like, The American Library Association has materials to help a library conduct a self audit and take steps to diversify the books on the shelf. If the books on your state reading lists and battle of the books lists are not reflecting Black lives, speak up. Librarians choose those lists; they need to hear from you. If they’ve consistently done a good job of serving the Black community—give them that feedback too. Help your library by using it regularly, requesting Black-authored books regularly, and supporting it with your votes when the library levy is on the ballot.
  7. Advocate for a full time teacher-librarian in every public, private, and charter school. Librarians pay a key role in introducing young readers to diverse voices. They also support diverse authors by buying their books. Show up at school board meetings. Pay attention to how school funding is allocated. Make sure there is always budget for diverse books and the librarians who support them.
  8. Most important of all–Vote. Vote in every election, especially the local ones. Be a well-informed voter, drawing your information from a variety of sources. Be a passionate voter, advocating for free access to the ballot box for all. Speak up when voting abuse happens. And always, always, keep in mind the readers you serve as a parent, teacher, librarian or bookseller. Serve not just your immediate interest but their long term benefit.
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