Posts Tagged kidlit

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 — Book List

By STEM Tuesday on December 4, 2018 / Cross-Curricular, Curriculum Tie-in, Graphic Novels, STEM Tuesday

Can you believe it is already December? We hope that you have found some amazing reads here this year. To finish out 2018 we’ve selected some comics and graphic novels that might have you looking at STEM in an entirely new way.

Older than Dirt: A Wild But True History of Earth by Don Brown and Dr. Michael R. Perfit

Almost 14.5 billion years ago, it all started with a BIG BANG. What began as a cloud of gas and dust became our planet. Sibert Honor medalist Don Brown tackles the history of our planet in his latest.

The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown

Another title from Don Brown for your bookshelf provides readers with information about one of the worst environmental disasters of our planet. This is a great book to pair with The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse.

Science Comics series

We’ve featured select titles within this STEM series before, but we wanted to be sure to tell you about the newest title released this fall: Solar System: Our Place in Space. Other titles include Volcanoes, Coral Reefs, Robots & Drones, Rockets, and The Brain. Check them out.

Twisted True Tales from Science series

Stephanie Bearce is the creator of another great science comics series. Budding science fair enthusiasts will enjoy Explosive Experiments and Disaster Discoveries. The truth is always stranger than fiction!

The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer by Sydney Padua

A bit of a departure from our normal middle-grade focus, this informative and fun young adult graphic novel includes tons of primary information as it explores the lives of Ada Lovelace and inventor Charles Babbage. It was too good to pass up!

Plus, we wanted to share a few fiction titles that pair well with the above nonfiction science comics:

Secret Coders by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes

We featured the Monsters and Modules installment of this series back in June, but there are lots of other (alliterative) titles to consider. Potions and Parameters. Paths and Portals. Robots and Repeats. Secrets and Sequences. The combination of logic puzzles, basic coding instruction, and mysteries is perfect for budding STEM wizards.

Lowriders in Space; Lowriders to the Center of the Earth; and Lowriders Blast from the Past by Cathy Camper and illustrated by Raul the Third

Lupe Impala, El Chavo Flapjack, and Elirio Malaria love working on cars, specifically lowriders. Sketched in pen-and-ink, the stories are chock full of science facts and several Spanish words/phrases. These titles will entertain as they inform.

STEM Tuesday–Peeking into the Mind of a Scientist/Engineer–Interview with Author Heather L. Montgomery

By STEM Tuesday on November 27, 2018 / Articles, Engineering, STEM Tuesday

STEM TUESDAY from the mixed up files Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview & Book Giveaway, a repeating feature for the fourth Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!

Today we’re interviewing Heather L. Montgomery, author of SOMETHING ROTTEN: A Fresh Look at Roadkill, a recently-released book that’s stacking up starred reviews. School Library Journal says, “With wry humor, gory detail, and great enthusiasm, . . . this book is not for the faint of heart, but be prepared to laugh along the way and to learn a lot. . . Sure to be a hit among students. A top addition to STEM collections.”

Click the cover for additional information about the book, including research photos and a link to submit your own roadkill stories. www.heatherlmontgomery.com/something-rotten.html

Mary Kay Carson: Why did you write Something Rotten?

Heather L. Montgomery: One day, when I was procrastinating writing a book about rattlesnakes, I went for a run. On my little country lane I came across a rattler who had lost his life to a tire. I had some questions, so I picked him up. No, you probably shouldn’t do that, but I did. And I spent the rest of the day learning from that marvelous guy, his fold-able fangs, his snorkel for when his mouth is crammed full of bunny, his non-existent lung!?! This was research at its best. And then I wondered: who else uses roadkill…

MKC: Care to share a memorable research moment?

Heather: Just about everything about this book has become a favorite moment. From plunging my hands into roadkill compost to talking to a kid who re-builds animal skeletons from roadkill, this research rocked. Another beautiful thing is that the research process became the book.

This might be my favorite part of it all: I had the opportunity to share with readers how questions drove me to slice open a skunk, how one sentence dropped in an interview lead me across the country to meet 400 roadkill professionals, how trusting inquiry carried me right down the road to jaw-dropping discoveries — can you say “contagious cancer”!?! This book proved it: Inquiry is my life!

Heather L. Montgomery writes for kids who are wild about animals. The weirder, the wackier, the better. An award-winning science educator, Heather uses yuck appeal to engage young minds. During school presentations, petrified animal parts and tree guts inspire reluctant readers and writers. www.HeatherLMontgomery.com

MKC: Why do you write STEM books?

Heather: Um, Inquiry is my life. Once, I tried to kick the habit of asking questions. It made me sick. I do have a B.S. in biology, an M.S. in environmental education, and over 20 years’ experience teaching about nature, but really it’s just that writing, researching, and teaching about science is who I am at my core.

MKC: The book’s unique first-person voice and the clever use of footnotes are courageous style choices. Who was your audience when writing the book?

Heather: For years at school visits or educator conferences I talked about dissecting that road-killed rattlesnake. Those audiences showed me the power of story. They taught me to play a game, balancing information and story. And, they laughed with me (this quirky lady asking oddball questions), not at me. Those audiences gave me the confidence to write the way I speak. That was a gift. I began to see that readers would follow me down this road, this rollercoaster of research. Thank you listeners, for showing me how to write this book.

MKC: Any suggested titles for fans of Something Rotten?

Heather: Any of the phenomenal nonfiction by authors Sy Montgomery, Sarah Albee, or Georgia Bragg. Page-turning fiction such as: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly and The Thing about Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin. Adult readers might like books by Mary Roach. She showed me how to share my quest for information.

Win a FREE copy of SOMETHING ROTTEN: A Fresh Look at Roadkill!

Enter the giveaway by leaving a comment below. The randomly-chosen winner will be contacted via email and asked to provide a mailing address (within the U.S. only) to receive the book.

Good luck!

Your host this week is fellow skull collector Mary Kay Carson, author of Mission to Pluto and other nonfiction books for kids. @marykaycarson

Posts Tagged kidlit

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 — Book List

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STEM Tuesday–Peeking into the Mind of a Scientist/Engineer–Interview with Author Heather L. Montgomery

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Posts Tagged kidlit

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 — Book List

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STEM Tuesday–Peeking into the Mind of a Scientist/Engineer–Interview with Author Heather L. Montgomery

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