Tag Archives: Science

Who Built That? Modern Houses

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Who Built That? Modern HousesPart-biography, part-introduction to modern homes; this book offers up an incredible amount of information about the lives and design styles of architects such as Gerrit Rietveld and Frank Lloyd Wright. Primary color pen illustrations clearly depict the materials and floor layouts of each architect’s unique design and creative voice. mm

 

Title: Who Built That? Modern Houses
Author: Didier Cornille
Illustrator: Didier Cornille
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press, New York
Copyright: 2014
ISBN: 9781616892630
Hardcover pages: 75 
Age range: 10-13
Genre: Nonfiction, Information books
Author’s ethnicity: French
Author’s residence: Le Mans, France
Illustrator’s ethnicity: French
Illustrator’s residence: Le Mans, France 
Subjects: Architecture, Color, Design, Houses

The Second Sky

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Gilbert, a baby penguin, wants to fly in the sky like an albatross.  He practices to no avail because he has big clumsy feet and small fluffy wings.  He falls on his face, his back, and his bottom.  His uncle tells him to give it up, but Gilbert knows he will find a way to fly.  He finally spreads his wings, jumps, tumbles, and splashes into the sea.  He sinks and sees stars, moons, clouds, forests, gardens, and mountaintops.  Under the sea, he flies.  He discovers the second sky in his own element.  The watercolor and pencil illustrations are beautiful with Gilbert’s movement and action. mjw
Title: The Second Sky
Author: Patrick Guest
Illustrator: Jonathan Bentley
Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Copyright: 2019
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-0802-855206
Hardcover pages: 32
Age range: 4-8
Genre: Picture Book
Author’s ethnicity: Australian
Author’s residence: Australia
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Australian
Illustrator’s residence: Australia
Subjects: Determination, Flight, Penguins

Rivers: A Visual History From River To Sea

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This oversized encyclopedic book takes readers on a journey along the most important rivers in the world. “Understanding rivers helps us to understand history and the people who have lived alongside them for centuries.” Each detailed illustration includes major events, historical figures, and favorite stories connected with the river. A table of contents guides readers along the journey. mjw
Title: Rivers: A Visual History From River To Sea
Author: Peter Goes
Illustrator: Peter Goes
Publisher: Gecko Press Ltd. New Zealand
Copyright: 2018
Original Language: Dutch
Translator: Bill Nagelkerke
Original Title: Rivieren
Original Publisher: Lannoo Publishers
Original Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 978-1-776572-16-8
Hardcover pages: 80
Age range: 7-12
Genre: Nonfiction, Information Book
Book setting: World
Author’s ethnicity: Belgian
Author’s residence: Belgium
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Belgian
Illustrator’s residence: Belgium
Subjects: Continents, Exploration, Oceans, Rivers, Sea life, Seas, Water

Elephant Secret

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Thirteen-year-old Samantha Gray lives with her dad on an elephant sanctuary with eleven elephants. She understands the elephants’ behavior and has a special relationship with each one.  When one of the elephants, named Daisy Mae, dies while giving birth to a very unusual baby, Sam’s world is turned upside down.  She names the baby elephant Woolly and she becomes the mother, feeding her bottles of formula and protecting her.  Sam meets the billionaire genius who funded the impregnated elephant and he explains that the birth was a cloning experiment and that Woolly is a woolly mammoth.  This is a captivating family story of love and our responsibility to all living things on earth. mjw
Title: Elephant Secret
Author:  Eric Walters
Publisher: Clarion Books, New York
Copyright: 2018
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-328796172
Hardcover pages: 352
Age range: 10-12
Genre: Fiction
Book setting: North America
Author’s ethnicity: Canadian
Author’s residence: Ontario, Canada
Awards: Author has won the Children’s Africana Book Award
Subjects: Animal sanctuaries, Cloning, Elephants, Human/animal relationships, Orphaned animals, Woolly mammoths

Lucy And The Dragonfly

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Lucy lives in the yellow house on the hill, at the end of the lane, in a village filled with lakes and forests, on a big continent, on a blue planet.  When Lucy smiles, the sun smiles.  She can feel the Earth’s heart beating, inside her heart.  The wind tells her all the bad things that humans are doing to the planet.  When the planet gets sick, Lucy’s tears travel from the wings of a dragonfly all across the planet to a boy named Tama who also knows how to listen to the whispers of the wind.  Lucy’s story spreads across the globe, everyone does their part to heal the Earth, and hope is born.  Soft illustrations complement the story about climate change.  mjw
Title: Lucy And The Dragonfly
Author: Lucie Papineau
Illustrator: Caroline Hamel
Publisher: Auzou Publishing. Paris, France
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 978-2-7338-5620-8
Hardcover pages: 40
Age range: 5-8
Genre: Picture Book
Author’s ethnicity: Canadian
Author’s residence: Quebec
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Canadian
Illustrator’s residence: Montreal
Subjects: Climate Change, Green living, Recycling

Where The World Ends

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In the summer of 1727, eight boys and three men are marooned on a remote rocky stac at the edge of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland.  They were sent there to harvest birds for food, feathers, and oil.  No one returns to collect them. They survive for nine months through deadly storms, madness, and starvation.  Based on a true story, this is an unsettling and awe-inspiring novel.  The world-building is brilliant.  A map of St. Kilda, an afterword, black-and-white sketches of birds, and a glossary are included.  mjw
Title: Where The World Ends
Author: Geraldine McCaughrean
Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd. London
Copyright: 2017
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-4749-2114-5
Hardcover pages: 336
Age range: 11 up
Genre: Historical Fiction, based on a true story
Book setting: Hirta, St. Kilda, Scotland
Author’s ethnicity: English
Author’s residence: Berkshire, England 
Awards: 2018 CILIP Carnegie Medal, 2020 ALA Printz Honor
Subjects: Birds, Cultures, Geography, Natural world, Survival, Western Islands (Scotland)

Feather

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This philosophical picture book is by two Hans Christian Andersen Medal winners. A single feather is blown across the sky. It meets a kingfisher, a cuckoo, a heron, a peacock, and more birds, each one being asked by the feather, “Am I yours?” The feather is either ignored or dismissed, until she gets close to earth, where a mother hen and her chicks discover her. Feather has no courage left to ask the mother hen, but as the hen slowly unfolds her wings, she thinks, perhaps, that she is missing a feather. This profound story is illustrated with striking double-page spreads of the birds. mjw
Title: Feather
Author: Cao Wenxuan
Illustrator: Roger Mello
Publisher: Elsewhere Editions, New York
Copyright: 2017
Original Language: Chinese
Translator: Chloe Garcia-Roberts
Original Publisher: China Children’s Press and Publication Group
Original Copyright: 2017
ISBN: 978-0914671855
Hardcover pages: 48
Age range: 3-7
Genre: Picture Book
Author’s ethnicity: Chinese
Author’s residence: China
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Brazilian
Illustrator’s residence: Brazil
Awards: Author has received the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2016.  Illustrator has received the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2014
Subjects: Birds, Emotions

Alive Again

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Alive AgainA boy wonders if the blossoms that fall from trees will ever return. When there is no rain, will it rain again? If no wheat grows, will it grow again? And if no one goes on a journey, will there be new journeys? When spring comes, the boy’s father points out new blossoms, fresh rain, and born-again wheat. And tomorrow will be a day for a new journey. Striking collage artwork enhances this simple story about trust and understanding that will leave readers asking similar questions. mjw
Title: Alive Again
Author: Ahmadreza Ahmadi
Illustrator: Nahid Kazemi
Publisher: Tiny Owl Publishing Ltd.  England
Copyright: 2015
Original Language: Persian
Translator: Azita Rassi
Original Publisher: Salis Publisher. Tehran, Iran
Original Copyright: 2013
ISBN: 978-1-910328-05-7
Hardcover pages: 24
Age range: 4-9
Genre: Picture Book
Author’s ethnicity: Iranian
Author’s residence: Iran
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Iranian
Illustrator’s residence: Montreal, Canada
Awards: Author was shortlisted for the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award
Subjects: Blossoms, Flowers, Journeys, Questions, Rain, Trust, Understanding, Wheat

On A Magical Do-Nothing-Day

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In this magical picture book, a young child is lured away from technology to find fun in the forest. He is playing a game on his device destroying Martians until his mother takes it away from him. She hides the game, but he finds it and goes outside in a neon orange raincoat. He drops his computer console in a pond and then becomes captivated by what he finds – snails, squishy mushrooms, seeds, mud, icy rainwater, stones as clear as glass, and more. Soaked, he returns home, wanting to tell his mother what he has seen, felt, and tasted outside in the world. But he doesn’t tell her. Together they sit in the kitchen breathing in the smell of their hot chocolate. That’s all they did “on the magical do-nothing day.” The artist used gouache, oil, collage, and wax pencils to create the texture and details of nature in this breathtaking book. mjw
Title: On A Magical Do-Nothing-Day
Author: Beatrice Alemagna
Illustrator: Beatrice Alemagna
Publisher: Harper Collins
Copyright:  2017
Original Language: French
Translator: Jill Davis
Original Publisher: Albin Michel
Original Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-275760-2
Hardcover pages: 48
Age range: 4-8
Genre: Picture Book
Author’s ethnicity: Italian
Author’s residence: Paris
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Italian
Illustrator’s residence: Paris
Awards: A New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book 2017
Subjects: Forest, Imagination and play, Parents, Rain and rainfall, Technology, Video games

Water’s Children: Celebrating The Resource That Unites Us All

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Twelve young people from different countries around the world describe what water means to them. It is a burst of laughter for children playing in a lake in Quebec. It is a perfect crystal of snow to the Inuktitut child. It is the opening flower of springtime to a girl in Germany. And it is a bowl of rice to Chinese children. All the children convey the universal truth that water is life. The poetic text is accompanied by expressive artwork that examines the importance of water throughout the world. On the final page, a guide identifies the languages in which the phrase “water is life” appears in watermarks embedded in the illustrations. mjw
Title: Water’s Children: Celebrating The Resource That United Us All
Author: Angele Delaunois
Illustrator: Gerard Frischeteau
Publisher: Pajama Press.  Toronto, Canada
Copyright: 2017
Original Language: French
Translator: Erin Woods
Original Title: Les Enfants de l’eau
Original Publisher: Editiions de L;lsatis
Original Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77278-015-4
Hardcover pages: 32
Age range: 4-8
Genre: Picture Book
Author’s ethnicity: French
Author’s residence: Canada
Illustrator’s ethnicity: French 
Illustrator’s residence: Canada
Subjects: Earth science, Oceans and seas, Water, Water supply

Leaf

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A polar bear arrived unexpectedly in the forest. He was unlike anything the animals had seen before. He collected leaves everyday. The animals were afraid of him, and they called him Leaf, not only after his habit, but because they wanted him to leave. One day Leaf burst through the forest covered in beautiful leaves. A meeting was called to decide what to do about him, but nothing was decided. Finally they let Leaf speak and they listened as he told them that he only wanted to go back home to his family. The crows then determined that they would fly him home. The gorgeous watercolor and pencil illustrations in blues, teal, gray, and black with brightly colored leaves tell of the plight of polar bears in today’s climate change. mjw
Title: Leaf
Author: Sandra Dieckman
Illustrator: Sandra Dieckman
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Copyright: 2017
Original Language: English : 
ISBN: 978-1-911171-31-7
Hardcover pages: 32
Age range: 3-5
Genre: Picture Book
Author’s ethnicity: English
Author’s residence: U.K.
Illustrator’s ethnicity: English
Illustrator’s residence: U.K.
Subjects: Bears, Climate change, Fear, Helping behavior, Loneliness, Polar bears

Story Worlds Nature

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9781848574809.jpgEvery picture tells a story. What do you think it is? Observe, inquire and wonder to discover the answers. Throughout this picture book, wordless images tell true stories of nature. The readers get to guess each story while looking at the minimalist animal illustrations showing scenes from around the globe. From puffins, to giraffes, to the simple tree frog, each animal is painted in its natural environment. At the end of the picture book, the story of each picture is explained with a short sentence describing what the animal is doing or experiencing. amo
Title: Story Worlds Nature
Author: Thomas Hegbrook
Illustrator: Thomas Hegbrook
Publisher: 360 Degrees; Tiger Tales
Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 978-1-944530-01-3
Hardcover pages: 64
Age range: 7-10
Genre: Picture Book
Book setting: Around the World
Subjects: Animals, Nature