Posts Tagged kidlit

STEM Tuesday– Symbiotic Relationships– Book List

By STEM Tuesday on May 5, 2020 / STEM Tuesday, Symbiotic Relationships

Symbiosis is a close and long-term biological relationship between two different species. Sometimes both benefit. Sometimes only one benefits. So you might want to study up before you develop that new “friendship” …

Natural Attraction: A Field Guide to Friends, Frenemies, and Other Symbiotic Animal, by Iris Gottlieb

Watercolor illustrations combine with a humorous, scientific text to examine thirty-five odd and unusual symbiotic animal, plant, and bacteria relationships. It includes statistics, graphs, takeaways, and fun additional facts about mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism.

Symbiosis, by Alvin Silverstein

Photographs and a sprinkling of fun fact sidebars enhance the examination of plants, animals and fungi partnerships (both beneficial and necessary), symbiosis of numerous parasites and microorganisms (including Ebola and SARS), and the possibility of symbionts from space. The engaging text is supplemented with scientific terms, a glossary, and further research suggestions.

Partners in the Sea, by Mary Jo Rhodes and David Hall

You’ve probably heard about cleaner fish, but there are so many more undersea partnerships. There are fish that hang out in anemones, tiny crabs and shrimps that live inside sponges, and a bunch of animals that partner up with algae.

There’s A Zoo on You! by Kathy Darling

You share your body with more than a thousand microscopic species of bacteria, fungi, and other too-small to see organisms. Some are beneficial, such as tooth amoebas that eat bacteria. Others, like some fungi, take advantage of the relationship by benefiting at our expense.

It’s a Fungus Among Us: The Good, the Bad & the Downright Scary, by Carla Billups and Dawn Cusick

Most land plants live in a symbiotic relationship with fungi, and use the fungal web to share information with their plant buddies in the garden, field, and woods. Some animals develop beneficial partnerships with fungi, too – but others are attacked by fungal parasites.

Things That Make You Go Yuck! Odd Couples, by Jenn Dlugos & Charlie Hatton

Everything on earth is involved in a symbiotic relationship, some good and some bad. Amazing close-up photographs coupled with trivia questions, humor, sidebars, and a dash of gross-out facts makes this book on animal, plant, and microorganism adaptation and survival an entertaining and educational read about some unusual and creepy relationships.

Forest Talk: How Trees Communicate, by Melissa Koch

Trees are talking all around us, using an underground network of fungi and roots to communicate with one another. They also share chemical messages from their leaves, sending defense signals to other plants when pests attack.

Plant Partnerships, by Joyce Pope

An examination of the dependence of numerous plants and lichen on other plants and animals for their habitat or survival. Covers instances of symbiosis, parasitism, gardening, and pollination by insects and mammals.

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.

STEM Tuesday — Earth Day 50th Anniversary Celebration– Writing Tips & Resources

By STEM Tuesday on April 21, 2020 / Earth Day, STEM Tuesday

Tackling a Planet – Sized Topic

Earth Day. Earth Week. Earth Month. It’s time to celebrate all that exists around us. But, how do you do that in words? When you’re interested writing about in the entire earth, where do you even start?

As writers, we are often given the advice to narrow our focus; yet, at the same time, we are expected to provide a grand, universal truth. That feels so contradictory. How do can we provide specific details to bring a planet sized-topic to life?

Reading Jack Hart’s Story Craft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction, I stumbled across the concept of the Ladder of Abstraction and have found this an excellent way to visualize writing.

Imagine a ladder where each rung represents a different level of abstraction. Let’s apply this concept to a tree. On the lowest rung we would have: the sycamore tree in my backyard. The would be a bit more abstract: all sycamore trees, and the next would be trees. Higher rungs could be plants, living things, everything. Thus, climbing the rungs, we move from the concrete to the abstract.

The lowest rungs of the ladder put you in a scene; the highest rungs of the ladder provide you with perspective. Imagine yourself standing on the first rung; you are as close as you can be to the ground without actually being there. You can see the details of the dirt. Then imagine standing on the top rungs; you have a view that lets you comprehend how those details fit into the larger picture. As Hart notes, “Emotion originates on the ladder’s lowest rungs.” He goes on to explain, “… greater meaning resides on the ladder’s upper rungs.”

In order to bring out both emotion and meaning, writers can move up and down this ladder strategically to provide both concrete details (yielding personal connections) and generalizations (yielding universal truths) for their readers. Most writers struggle with providing those concrete details. Here’s a fun way to practice working your way down to the bottom rung to generate dozens of specific details.

Set Up

Select an item from nature that will fit in your hand. Something with a variety in textures (like a stick covered in lichen, an interesting stone or a large flower) works well. Position your non-dominant hand in front of you, holding the item. Position your paper and dominant hand behind you, where you can’t see them.

Pretend an ant is crawling on your item. Your job will be to trace (on paper) the ant’s path as it explores the item. I know this sounds odd, but it works, so try it.

Blind Drawing

Begin by putting your pencil down in the middle of your paper; after that, do not look at your paper. You will be creating a wandering scribble — not a drawing of the item. Resist the temptation to look at your paper! As you watch your imaginary ant explore, trace his trail on the paper, basically creating a map of his route. Keep your ant going. Keep your dominant hand tracing. Make your ant go around the corner, over the edge, into the hole.

For a minimum of five minutes (set a timer if you need it), keep tracing your ant’s journey. If he retraces his steps, that’s fine. If you need to turn your item over, that’s fine. If he goes in a hole where you can’t see, make it up. When you think you’re done, keep going. Keep him exploring! Keep mapping his path.

Getting the Details Down

When you’re done, you may look at your drawing. Then, look at your item and retrace the trip. Along the way, describe his experiences aloud, jotting every detail down. Think of the texture under the ant’s feet, the shapes he encounters, the amount of light, the shade of color, the springiness of the surface, what each area reminds him of, etc.. The goal here is to overflow your page with details.

If your ant was a good explore, you should have quite a list. Sure, these descriptions are from an ant’s perspective, but they are concrete details. Unless you first record details with this level of specificity, you won’t have enough fodder for the bottom rung of the ladder.

Selecting the Specific

Now, let’s take this exercise a bit further. We won’t try to find a universal truth here (although you might try that too), but instead practice with a simpler task, creating mood. Skim your list for descriptors that convey a common mood. In my list, several feel kind of ominous. Using a highlighter, crayon or symbol, mark the details that match the mood. I’ve chosen yellow for ominous ones. Next, search your list for a different mood and mark that with a different color. Can you find a third?

Put that in Writing

Your final challenge is to use the selected descriptors to convey that mood in a sentence or short paragraph. I started with my green descriptors and tried to convey playfulness. Then I used the descriptors flagged with yellow to create a more ominous sentence, and finally the ones marked in red to convey a comforting mood.

When tackling a planet – sized topic, specific details matter. They carry the reader down to the bottom rung on the Ladder of Abstraction. Immersed in a scene filled with specificity, readers feel grounded, emotionally connected, and ready to move up the rungs and discover a universal truth.

Heather L. Montgomery loves to climb ladders — abstract and otherwise. See how she applies these writing techniques in Who Gives a Poop? The Surprising Science Behind Scat (Bloomsbury, September 2020). Pre-orders available at https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781547603473.

Children’s Authors Chat about —Where Do We Go From Here?

By Jennifer Swanson on April 20, 2020 / Articles, News

How are you all doing? Anyone feeling like this #shelteringinplace is going on forever? Perhaps you feel like you are stuck in the Groundhog Day movie over and over? While these restrictions are necessary, it is still somewhat difficult to be stuck in a place of so much uncertainty. What will happen when things begin to open up? Will life go back to normal or will there be a NEW normal? At this point no one knows.

I decided to ask some of my fellow kidlit authors about what they are doing now and their hopes for the future. Perhaps reading these, you’ll feel that there is HOPE for life again, even if it’s a new normal.

After all, as Albert Einstein states, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

” I don’t know what the future holds for in-person visits, but I sure hope that they happen. It is a treat to connect with writers in person. While they don’t, I will continue virtual visits and will keep on WRITING! After all, I’m a writer. My job is to get out great books that will connect with readers during all of these times!” — Nancy Castaldo

“For me, my schools have cancelled my workshops so there’s not much I can do, especially if they remain closed until September. I’ll re-evaluate then. In the meantime, I’ve been giving many free readings and mini workshops online and it’s been fun to interact with kids again!”– Lydia Lukidis

“Gosh, for now, nobody knows what will happen with in-person schools, much less in-person author visits. I’m certainly willing to adapt my presentations for virtual visits, but I’ll miss interactions with kids:( I will also increase my online classes and might seek out a faculty position with an MFA program, too. I’m recently divorced, so this financial hit of lost gigs is a bit of a wakeup call about the fragility of the freelance life. As for book publication, I think we’ll all have to be extra creative about online offerings.” — Donna Janell Bowman

“As teachers and school districts have reached out for permission to read my books aloud and make recordings, I’ve been asking how they plan to use the recordings with students. To say I’m blown away by their creative ideas would be an understatement!
Some are book specific, but many could be done with a wide variety of books. I’d like to find an easy-access way to share these great lesson ideas and teaching strategies with other educators. I’m still pondering the best way(s) to do that and how the lessons might work when the recorded read alouds are no longer available, but it’s exciting to think about. School closures have demanded so much creative thinking, and teachers have risen to the challenge. Educators rock!” — Melissa Stewart

“I’ve been connecting one-on-one with some enthusiastic readers” — Laurel Neme

“I am trying out my first virtual writing workshop lesson with middle schoolers (It helps to work in one!) next week. It’s specific to THE NEST THAT WREN BUILT, but could be adapted for other books, or even done without a book connection. If successful, I’ll work on marketing this as an alternative to in-person school visits.”– Randi Sonenshine

“My WFH (work-for-hire) writing projects have all been put on hold, so I most likely will dive into research for a couple MG projects that I have been working on.” — Lisa Idzikowski

“Today I held a virtual visit for kids at home. I used one of my school visits that I knew would translate okay via screen, was an older one that is not requested much for live visits (i.e. not my “best”). I promoted via e-newsletter (mostly teacher-librarians) and social media. I offered it for free but made a request in the registration and confirmation emails for donations and/or book purchases. I had 64 families register and probably 40 show up (many with 2 kids). So far I have received 1 donation and of course don’t know about purchases. I did it mostly for myself — I desperately miss teaching– but also as a test of the interest/ willingness-to-donate.” — Heather Montgomery

“I already do virtual visits and am happy to keep doing them, but I hope we won’t get rid of in-person visits. I was telling someone the other day about times when kids have come up to me with their private concerns, and that can’t happen through a Zoom meeting. But, I do think there’s a lot to offer with virtual visits too and I’d love to see them continue to evolve. I’ve been teaching writing classes online already and would love to do more of that, although again, as much as I love webinars, in-person classes are better. As for marketing, I think there’s an opportunity to have virtual tours across the world in collaboration with bookstores. The signed copies would be missed, though.” — Samantha Clark

“I have been doing virtual school visits for 5 years at least so I doubt that will change very much. But I intend to go back to in person visits. Physical presence has a power that virtual presence does not. I will be more mindful of keeping myself protected on the road, more hand washing, less handshaking. But my life has been a mix of virtual and personal connections for a long time now and I don’t see a need for it to change drastically. But here’s what I hope will be the longer term impact for publishing. This pandemic is proving that it’s possible to run a publishing house with the majority of staff working from home. Which means that even though big publishers will likely remain in NY, their work force could be much more geographically spread out and that would be good news indeed for diversity. The expense of living in or near NYC is what drives out diverse applicants and drives up the cost of producing books.” — Rosanne Parry

“All my spring school visits were cancelled (all have said they will rebook next year, but who knows if that will be possible.)” — Buffy Silverman

” I had a few events around my book launch but have had several events cancel or postponed until next year. I’m putting in conference proposals (NSTA?) in hopes I’ll be able to travel one day, creating digital resources kids can use now, doing occasional zooms (for free) with classes of kids. Fortunately I had several blog posts and podcast interviews that continue to roll out and keep my book in folks’ mind. Other than that, I’m trying to get more reviews on Amazon, B&N, Goodreads and offering to do the same for other creators. I figure that’s one of the best ways for books to be discovered right now.”– Kirsten Williams Larson

” I will be doing a virtual joint book launch with Teresa Robeson. I recently did three Zoom visits for schools and look forward to doing more of these going forward. Although I will be very happy to return to in person visits when it is safe to do so!” — Nancy Churnin

“With school visits, educator conferences, and book festivals all being cancelled, it leaves me wondering what will happen with my three new books coming out this summer and fall. I’m already focusing a bit of what I can do online but hope for some in-person events, too. I hope to jump back into in-person school visits in the fall but will happily Zoom with classes, too.” — Annette Whipple

And, me, what am I doing and what do I hope for? I, like everyone above hope very much to get back to doing in-school visits. The sense of energy and connection with the students from actually being in front of them is difficult to achieve in a virtual school visit. I believe that teachers want this, too. I am taking this time to work on something I’ve had percolating for years. I’m starting a new STEM podcast with Jed Doherty. Look for Solve It! — a brand new podcast for kids and families to learn how real scientists, engineers, and experts use curiosity, critical thinking, and creativity to solve everyday problems in their jobs. — Jennifer Swanson

Also good news is that agents are accepting submissions, and editorial meetings are still happening at publishers. Even though things may move more slowly, the publishing world churns on.

Finally I think we can all agree on one thing: TEACHERS and LIBRARIANS ROCK!!! Despite their many challenges they are doing a fabulous job connecting the best way they can with their students.

So, you see, even though we may all be hunkered down in our houses, the creative spirit lives on– THRIVES even! Let us all hope that one day soon we’ll all be able to get together in a classroom, at a conference or workshop, or even just for coffee, and share this spirit in person.

I leave you with this quote from a truly amazing and inspiring woman:

“You may not control all the events that happen to you,

but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” — Maya Angelou

Stay safe, my friends.

If you have things you are doing now, please let us know. If you have hopes for the future, also post below. Let’s promote HOPE!

Posts Tagged kidlit