Posts Tagged librarians

STEM Tuesday — Not-So-Scary STEM Books

By on October 30, 2018   /   Cross-Curricular, Curriculum Tie-in, STEM Tuesday  

STEM TUESDAY from the mixed up files

 

 

image from DavidArsenault

 

It was a dark and stormy night…which was just perfect for curling up with one of these Halloween-ish STEM books.

 

 

 

 

The Bat Scientists by Mary Kay Carson (HMH books for young readers, 2013)

There are so many creepy bat books, but this one talks about something even creepier: a killer fungus that threatens the bats’ very survival. Meet Dr. Merlin Tuttle and his team of researchers and learn about their work uncovering white-nose syndrome and searching for ways to protect the bats.

 

 

Mummies: Dried, Tanned, Sealed, Drained, Frozen, Embalmed, Stuffed, Wrapped, and Smoked...and We're Dead Serious CoverMummies: Dried, Tanned, Sealed, Drained, Frozen, Embalmed, Stuffed, Wrapped, and Smoked…and We’re Dead Serious by Chris Sloan (National Geographic Kids 2010)

 

Travel the world to check out thousands of years of mummified history. Learn the science of how these mummies were preserved in the past and the tools and technology used to search for their secrets in the present .

 

 

 

 

Oh, Rats!: The Incredible History of Rats and People, by Albert Marrin (Puffin, 2014)

Biology, ecology, epidemiology, and history–it’s a winning combination. Real rat history is as terrifying as a ghost story. Plus, there’s an ominous picture of a rat on the front cover.

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell (Albert Whitman, 2000)

No Halloween reading list would be complete without a pumpkin book. Unfortunately, while there are a lot of interesting pumpkin picture books for young readers, the pickings are slim for older readers. Therefore, I’ll suggest Pumpkin Jack for a read-aloud or a quick reading “snack.” It uses a fictional story frame, but follows the  life cycle of a jack-o-lantern as it rots, goes to seed, and regenerates for a new Halloween celebration.

 

Monster Science: Could monsters survive (and Thrive!) in the real world? By Helaine Becker (Kids Can Press, 2016)

This is a silly look at six  monsters and the serious scientific questions they raise. Can a jolt of electricity really bring a person (or Frankenstein) to life? Could two species blur to form a werewolf? When is a corpse like a vampire? Everything you ever wanted to know about the real-life possibilities for Frankenstein, vampires, Bigfoot, zombies, werewolves and sea monsters.

How They Croaked by Georgia Bragg and Kevin O’Malley (Bloomsbury)

This award-winning book for reluctant readers is a fascinating collection of remarkable deaths–and not for the faint of heart.

Over the course of history, men and women have lived and died. In fact, getting sick and dying can be a big, ugly mess–especially before the modern medical care that we all enjoy today. From King Tut’s ancient autopsy to Albert Einstein’s great brain escape, How They Croakedcontains all the gory details of the awful ends of nineteen awfully famous people

 

 

 

 

 

 

How They Choked  by Georgia Bragg and Kevin O’Malley (Bloomsbury)

The team behind the bestselling How They Croaked shines a light on the darker sides of history’s most famous failures, perfect for reluctant readers!

Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes, epic failures even lead to super successes . . . sometimes they become deep dark secrets. But remember–to fail is human, to laugh about our shortcomings divine. From Montezuma II’s mistaking a conqueror for a god to Isaac Newton turning from science to alchemy to J. Bruce Ismay’s jumping the lifeboat line on the Titanic, How They Choked knocks fourteen famous achievers off their pedestals to reveal the human side of history.

 

 

******* Have you entered our CoSTEM Contest?? There’s still time! Entries are due Midnight November 6th, 2018*************

See the details here  https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/2018/09/stem-tuesday-cos-stem-contest/

Enter NOW to win these prizes!

1st Place —  Receives 5 autographed STEM Books from our STEM Tuesday team + $25 Barnes & Noble Gift card

2nd Place — Receives 3 autographed STEM Books from our STEM Tuesday team + $15 Barnes & Noble Gift card

3rd Place—   Receives 2 autographed STEM Books from our STEM Tuesday team  +$10 Barnes & Noble Gift card

 

 

Jodi Wheeler-Toppen is a former science teacher and the author of the Once Upon A Science Book series (NSTA Press) on integrating science and reading instruction.  She also writes for children, with her most recent book being Dog Science Unleashed: Fun Activities to do with Your Canine Companion. For Halloween, she plans to dress like a harried mother of young children.

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STEM Tuesday — Let’s Explore Botany!– Writing Craft and Resources

By on October 16, 2018   /   Botany, Common Core & NGSS, STEM Tuesday  

 

Botany?

When I first applied and joined up with the STEM Tuesday team, there was one general subject I secretly wanted to avoid at all cost. A subject which is one of my weakest scientific areas. Botany.

It’s not that I am a complete putz when it comes to botanicals. I cultivate a vegetable garden every year. I enjoy both the gardening process and reaping the benefits of the garden’s production. My paternal grandfather taught us grandkids how to plant petunias in my mother’s flowerbeds not long after we were out of diapers. My maternal grandfather kept a big, spacious garden where he grew tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, horseradish, and all things which could be made into spicy canned deliciousness.

I must confess, however, when it comes to the study of plants, I fall short. I can spend hours studying an animal cell or bacteria or a virus. A plant cell? Not so much. I can make a pretty solid salsa out of the tomatoes, peppers, and onions from my garden; yet can tell you very little about the seed anatomy, the root system, the physiology, or the leaf structure of that tomato plant.

With my relative ignorance out in the open, what can I offer to the STEM Tuesday Botany Craft & Resource game this month?

I can ask a simple question that lies at the core of an inquiring STEM mind:

How can I learn more about _______?  (Which, in this case, is botany.)

I can suggest doing what STEM thinkers have done for centuries and go to work.

  • Observe. “Hey, that thing is pretty awesome.” 
  • Ask why. “Why is that thing as awesome as it is?”
  • Research. “I need to find out what makes that thing awesome.”
  • Go where your interests take you. “This thing is like that thing and it’s also awesome.”
  • Dig deep into those directions that interest you. “Whoa! This thing and that thing are both are part of something bigger.”
  • Be open and willing to learn. 
  • Be willing to do the work to learn.

I cleaned the remaining vegetables off all the plants in my garden this past weekend in front of an early frost and snow shower. The plants were pulled and thrown into the compost pile and the last containers of homemade salsa and pasta sauce were canned and now sit in the pantry. Gardening season 2018 has come to an end. But the learning is just beginning for the gardener. Time to hit the STEM Tuesday Botany book list and see where my plant learning journey takes me over the winter.

As my wife, who teaches first grade, often reminds her rock-headed husband, we are never too old to learn something new.

Finally, never forget that life viewed through the lens of an inquiring STEM mind is a much richer life.

Keep asking questions!

Keep learning!

STEM rocks!

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 atwww.coachhays.com and writer stuff at www.mikehaysbooks.com. Two of his essays will be included in the Putting the Science in Fiction collection from Writer’s Digest Books release later this month. He can be found roaming around the Twitter-sphere under the guise of @coachhays64.

 

The O.O.L.F Files

The Out Of Left Field files this month focuses on the fun side of botany in an attempt to make up for my shortcomings on the subject as outlined in the above post. And if you find yourself hungry at the end of chasing the links, the final link can easily take care of your appetite, one way or the other.

 

 

 

 

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Blast Off with Author Suzanne Slade and her new Space Book

By on October 3, 2018   /   Articles, Author Interviews, STEM  
I am so excited to be interviewing author Suzanne Slade about her new book

 

Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon (Peachtree Publishers)

 

           Powerful free verse and stunning illustrations tell the true story of the American effort to land the first man on the Moon. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced that the United States would try to land a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. During the two thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine days following his speech, eighteen astronauts climbed into spaceships; three of them died before even leaving the ground. Eight rockets soared into space. And four hundred thousand people―engineers, technicians, scientists, mathematicians, and machinists―joined Project Apollo in hopes of making the dream a reality.
Award-winning author and mechanical engineer Suzanne Slade joins up with New York Times best-selling illustrator Thomas Gonzalez to tell the powerful story of the successes, failures, triumphs, tragedies, and lessons from Apollos 1 through 10 that led to the first Moon landing.

 

Junior Library Guild Selection
Starred Review Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, and School Library Journal

 

Thanks so much for joining us, Suzanne.

 

  What first drew you to this story? Why did you feel it needed to be told? 

 

The Apollo moon missions are of great personal interest to me — probably because I have a mechanical engineering degree and worked on rockets in an earlier career.
I decided to write COUNTDOWN: 2979 DAYS TO THE MOON because I wanted to convey the struggles, successes, and surprises of the early Apollo missions that led to the first moon landing. The book covers the details of 2979 incredible days: from President Kennedy’s announcement that America should land on the moon (May 25, 1961), to Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon (July 20, 1969.) 

 

COUNTDOWN shares notable events including Apollo 1’s deadly fire and Apollo 8’s first glimpse of the far side of the moon, as well as lesser-known details such as why Apollo 7 staged a mutiny and refused to wear helmets, and how Jim Lovell made chocolate pudding in space.  

 

Is there a reason why you think this story is so pertinent now?

 

The 50th anniversary of the first moon landing is approaching soon — July 2019. I hope this true story of courage, ingenuity, and perseverance inspires readers as they join in the celebration.
Although the Apollo missions were decades ago, their discoveries are still relevant today and important for our future.
These missions helped us to learn about the moon (it’s history, geography, how it was formed, etc.), and they continue to help scientists today learn about space, space travel, Earth, other planets, and much more. 
(Fyi – Check out the Air and Space Museum’s   “Top Ten” Apollo discoveries  list. #2 is my favorite.)

 

 I understand that it took you 8 years to complete all of the research for this book. Can you speak to how you felt during that time?

 

With any nonfiction project, I expect the research to be comprehensive and time-consuming. Since COUNTDOWN is a middle grade (I usually write picture books) about a technical topic, the research was particularly tedious and intense.
My engineering degree, and experiences at McDonnell Douglas Space Systems working on rockets for NASA, provided a technical background which helped me understand the basics of the Apollo spacecraft (Saturn V rocket, command module, service module, lunar module), but I still had a  lot  to learn. 

 

To your question, during my research for the book I felt inspired, discouraged, curious, frustrated, overwhelmed, exhilarated, and many other things. But the overriding emotion was excitement. It was thrilling to delve into the details of this amazing time and discover fascinating facts about the missions and astronauts that I’d never heard before. It was especially rewarding to write this amazing story for curious readers. I think they’ll be blown away by the astounding Apollo missions.

 

Can you give a few insights into how you found your sources?  

 

 
Of course, I focused on primary sources — NASA transcripts*,  Apollo photo archives, NASA websites, and astronaut biographies. 
Email inquiries to astronauts resulted in interviews with Alan Bean (4th man on the moon) and correspondence with astronaut Walt Cunningham.  I was unable to find contact info. for some astronauts, and  a few didn’t reply to my emails . But I was very grateful for the many reliable sources I found, and to the experts who enthusiastically helped with the accuracy of the project.
[*NASA Transcripts are public domain. Discussions between astronauts in flight and mission control are found in the   Apollo Flight Journal.  Dialogue after landing on the moon is in the  Apollo Lunar Surface Journal .]
 
I also visited museums where I studied Apollo spacecraft and space suits first-hand.  After the manuscript was complete, I asked several experts to vet the story. Thankfully, Dr. Dave Williams (PhD from NASA), and three others lent their expertise to the project.  My “Sources Doc,” which contains all the sources for the facts in the story, ended up 51 pages long.
 

 

This book is in verse. Do you write all of your books in verse? And if not, why did you choose to do that for this one?

 

Only a few of my books are in verse.  Actually, I didn’t choose this format for COUNTDOWN, the story did. 
Here’s how it happened. After years of research it was finally time to start writing, so I sat down to pen Chapter 1. To my surprise, the words came out in short, energetic lines. The text felt powerful, tense, and urgent, just like the events they described. So I kept writing in free verse. With some books, it seems the story knows how it wants to be told and the author has to go with it.

 

 Do you have a particular passion for writing STEAM/STEM books? 

 

 
Science and math were my favorite subjects all through school. In my free time now, I find myself reading about new science discoveries, watching science documentaries, or asking my son about his latest research projects, so science seems to be one of my favorite topics to write about.
 

 

Why do you think young readers would find this book interesting? Important?

 

It’s been nearly 50 years since the first moon landing. This incredible event is often summarized in history books  with a few lines or paragraphs   that discuss the Apollo 11 landing and Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon. 

I think readers will be fascinated to discover more about the details and determination it took to get to the moon. The accomplishment of the  Apollo team, who made countless sacrifices to put the first human on the moon,  is nothing short of a miracle!

I hope COUNTDOWN allows readers to gain a deeper understanding of the the inspiring 2979 days that led to the moon landing. Also, Thomas Gonzales’ illustrations are simply stunning!  His glorious art is detailed, powerful, and emotional — just like the missions.

 

 COUNTDOWN recently released on Sept. 1. How has the book been received?

 

 
COUNTDOWN is a 2018 Junior Library Guild Selection, and has received Starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly. I was invited to present the book at the National Book Festival in Washington, DC (which happened to be the day it released,) so that was exciting. 
​
 

 

 Any new works on the horizon that you can discuss? 

 

I have two more “space” picture books releasing March 2019, just in time for the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing:   A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon  (Little, Brown) and  Daring Dozen: The Twelve Who Walked on the Moon (Charlesbridge).

 

Those books sound fabulous, too. Congratulations on all your successes!
Suzanne is generously offering to giveaway a  COUNTDOWN book mark which contains an authentic moon rock!! To take advantage of this amazing opportunity, please leave a comment below.
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