Dogs with Jobs – New Beginning Reader Series

Lynn and Cindy: Want to lure young readers into practicing their skills? You can’t go wrong with a new series, Doggie Defenders, from National Geographic! Just out in August are four wonderful nonfiction books about dogs with jobs. Well designed to assist newly independent readers, these totally engaging books feature big simple text, the signature stellar National Geographic photographs that assist comprehension and are guaranteed to be high interest. Grab these four right away and make sure you watch for more to come.

Stella the Search Dog, by Lisa Gerry.

Stella, a bloodhound with a big doggy grin, works with her partner, Trooper Diaz for the Virginia State Police. In this volume of Doggy Defenders, readers learn about Stella and her skillful nose, and her training. When a hiker gets lost in the mountains, Stella goes to work, even riding in a helicopter to where she picks up the trail.

Willow the Therapy Dog, by Lisa Gerry

Meet Willow, a rescued greyhound, who is a specially trained therapy dog. Willow and her owner spend their days visiting patients in the hospital, veterans homes, schools, and libraries. Sweet pictures of Willow curled up trustingly on beds with sick patients will melt hearts. But don’t miss the picture of Willow, decked out in her plaid pajamas, ready for bed at the end of a day.

Tiger the Police Dog, by Lisa Gerry

Tiger is a Belgian Malinois who works in Washington, D.C. with a female police officer partner. Tiger even has his own badge! Check out the “Meet the Team” Q&A and the Safety Tips in the back of each book, too!

Dolley the Fire Dog, by Lisa Gerry

Labrador Retrievers are a favorite breed of many, but this one, Dolley, partners with a fire department captain. Dolley’s job is to sniff out the cause of a fire. She “can smell a drop of fire-starting liquid that is smaller than a coin.” She and the captain train with a special version of hide and seek…and there are kibble rewards! Dolley also teaches children how to stop, drop, and roll!

Visit the National Geographic Kids website to find slide shows and short book trailers for each book like the ones here.

New Picture Books about Birds Take Flight

Cindy and Lynn: We love the fun coincidences that enliven our days as reviewers! Ever since Lynn infected Cindy with her birding obsession this spring, everywhere we turn we find gorgeous new picture books about birds! Here is a round-up of this flock of wonderful books taking flight. All of them will make lovely additions sitting next to your Stokes and Sibley guidebooks to help encourage the next generation of birders.

Birds of Every Color, by Sneed B. Collard III (Bucking Horse, 2019)

An excellent explanation of the science behind bird coloration and the current theories on the whys behind all that beauty. Full page stunning color photographs on every page make this a real stand-out. Perfect for young readers, the writing is clear and simple yet includes scientific terms in an approachable way. Renown science author Collard and his teenage son took the breath-taking photographs and the outstanding book design and enticing cover make this simply irresistible.

Counting Birds: The Idea That Helped Save Our Feathered Friends, by Heidi E.Y. Stemple (Seagrass, 2019)

Stemple introduces the little known ornithologist Frank Chapman and his development of the Christmas Day Bird Count. She also talks about that count, how it works, why it is so important and how kids can be involved.

Conversational in tone but with a wonderfully conveyed enthusiasm for birds and bird conservation, this book is perfect to use with kids in a classroom or storytime to introduce birding and spark interest in understanding and supporting conservation. Practical ideas and examples of how kids can be involved in the count are especially important as Stemple assures kids they can participate at their own bird feeders for a specific (and short) amount of time that is very practical. Clover Robin’s collage illustrations are as gorgeous as they are inviting. Back matter includes additional information about Chapman, how kids can be involved in Count Day and in helping to save birds.

Birds of a Feather: Bowerbirds and Me, by Susan B. Roth (Holiday House/Neil Porter, 2019)

Roth focusses on a single species, the Bowerbird from Australia and New Guinea. She and the bird have a lot in common as they are both collage artists. The Bowerbird builds structures from a variety of materials and decorates it with bits of color and other found items to attract a mate. Roth uses a variety of colorful materials to build her attractive art to tell a story. The double-page spreads showing their similar work habits, materials, and resulting efforts are genius and make for an interesting way for children to understand both human and bird artists.

Hummingbird, by Nicola Davies (Candlewick, 2019)

Davies also takes on a single species while explaining bird migration. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are visiting my nectar feeders and flowers while they get ready for their long flight back to Mexico, Central America and the southern part of Florida to spend their winters. Even adults are amazed by the endurance of these tiny birds so children are sure to be enchanted with this book. It’s the story of a young girl who learns about the migration from her Granny and from her own observations after flying on an airplane to New York City where she sees her favorite bird during the summer. Hummingbird migration and breeding facts are included to supplement the story, beautifully illustrated by Jane Ray.

“Dem Bones Gonna Rise Again” – Paleontology Picture Books

Lynn: Kids are fascinated by dinosaurs as librarians can attest just by pointing to the decimated shelves of 567.9s. Today we have two new books that are not only about dinosaurs, they are also about the discovery and excavation of two HUGE and important sets of bones.

The first is Titanosaur: Discovering the World’s Largest Dinosaur (Scholastic/Orchard, 2019) by the two paleontologists, Dr. Jose Luis Carballido and Dr. Diego Pol. It all began on a hot summer day in Patagonia, Argentina, when a gaucho looking for a missing sheep found a large mound with what seemed to be a huge bone. A few months later while in town, the gaucho passed the museum with a dinosaur skeleton on display. He went in and told the two paleontologists that he had found a bone that looked just like those on display. Rushing to the site, Dr. Carallido took one look at the bone and site and knew they had something special.

Using clear accessible language, the authors explain the exciting but difficult task that followed including the careful excavation, examination, preservation, transport, and reconstruction of the enormous bones. The skeleton turned out to be the largest dinosaur bones found so far, a Titanosaur, a dinosaur that weighed over 70 tons in life. The remote site and the size of the bones provided huge hurdles for the team of scientists to overcome.

The illustrations by Florencia Gigena are as stunning as the discovery. Taking full advantage of the oversize format, Gigena’s watercolors fill the pages, providing a wonderful immediacy that also further extends the text. Color photographs are inset on sidebars that provide additional explanations of the events or scientific terms. A jaw-dropping 2-page photograph of the re-assembled skeleton is a splendid finish to this fascinating book. This riveting book is sure to inspire a new generation of paleontologists!

Cindy: Our second book is the nonfiction picture book When Sue Found Sue (Abrams, May 14, 2019), by Toni Buzzeo that unearths the story of Sue Hendrickson’s discovery of the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton found to this date. Sue’s fascination with finding things began in childhood and she became a collector of curiosities while she fueled her curiosity for learning. This led her on adventures diving in oceans, searching mines, fossil hunting in Peru and finally searching for dinosaur fossils in North Dakota where, after several years, a hunch led her to a cliff where she discovered three backbones. The bones would eventually be excavated and named Sue the T. rex, on display now at The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. I visited the museum years ago when the bones were being prepared for the exhibit and it was fascinating to learn about that process.

An author’s note details some of Henderson’s other scientific areas of expertise as a “self-educated woman of science,” and mentions the dispute over ownership after the T. rex discovery. Diana Sudyka‘s gouache and watercolor illustrations use many natural colors (and even some earth pigments) to bring Sue’s discoveries and adventures to life. This story should inspire other young children to observe carefully and follow their own curiosity wherever it may lead.

Inventor of Nothing: Rube Goldberg for Kids

Cindy: Just Like Rube Goldberg by Sarah Aronson I’ve long been a fan of Rube Goldberg’s crazy impractical inventions but knew little about his path to producing them. Just Like Rube Goldberg: The Incredible True Story of the Man Behind the Machines (Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane, 2019) by Sara Aronson delivers the goods, and with much less meandering than Goldberg might have used. Children who know nothing about Rube Goldberg or the game of Mousetrap that his work spawned, will still be attracted to the book by the zany cover art that turns the inventor’s name into one of his own silly inventions.

Rube’s childhood interest in art and desire to grow up to be a cartoonist met with dismay and horror from his German immigrant parents who feared for his future. He earned an engineering degree from the University of California, Berkeley and became a city engineer but quit after six months, hating the work. He kept drawing while he did grunt jobs at the San Francisco Chronicle but he never quit drawing. After the 1906 Earthquake, he ended up moving to New York City where his cartooning career took off. His favorite comic work was perfectly timed with the industrial revolution as machines took over many jobs. Goldberg invented nothing useful as he used absurd pulleys, levers, and other more oddball additions to make a simple task very complicated. For instance, a machine to put holes in doughnuts starts with a goat chewing a carrot, that moves a ghost to scare a bird to lay an egg that eventually results in a cannon blasting a ball up through a lump of dough tossed above it by “Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts,” Rube’s cartoon alter ego.

While aimed at a younger audience, older readers (and STEAM teachers) will delight in this introduction to Rube’s work.

Lynn: Sarah Aronson does a wonderful job of bringing readers a sense of Goldberg’s personality, his curiosity, and clear-eyed appreciation of the ridiculous. As he said, machines were a “symbol of man’s capacity for exerting maximum effort to achieve minimal results.” I love illustrator Robert Neubecker’s colorful humorous illustrations that do such a terrific job of capturing Goldberg’s manic style. Kids will be captivated and motivated to create their own Goldberg-type designs.

We can’t resist concluding our post on this engaging picture book by mentioning another tribute to Goldberg and his spirit. The Rube Goldberg Machine Contest is a competition held annually at Purdue University. The history of the contest dates back to the 1930s when it began as a competition between two engineering fraternities. Today the contest has been expanded beyond just the university level to include elementary, middle, and high school students and can be done either as a physical or online creation. The competition is meant to celebrate Goldberg’s spirit as well as to encourage and develop an interest in engineering, design, problem-solving, and having fun.

This year’s challenge is to put money in a piggy bank – in as complicated a Goldberg way as possible. Take a peek at this video of the Purdue University team’s solution to the 2017 challenge of putting on a band-aid!

But, wait! There’s more...check out these other titles to extend the learning and the fun:

The Art of Rube Goldberg: (A) Inventive (B) Cartoon (C) Genius (Abrams, 2013) by Jennifer George (Goldberg’s granddaughter)

Build Your Own Chain Reaction Machines: How to Make Crazy Contraptions Using Everyday Stuff (Quarto, 2018) by Paul Long. Every MakerSpace or STEAM classroom needs this book.

Rube Goldberg Inventions (Simon & Schuster, 2000) by Maynard Frank Wolfe

Ruby Goldberg’s Bright Idea (Simon & Schuster, 2014) by Anna Humphrey. A middle grade novel about a 5th grader who builds a Rube Goldbergesque machine for her school science fair.