Posts Tagged with Non-fiction

Book review: Rewilding: Bringing Wildlife back where it belongs

Posted on

David A Steen and Chiara Fedele, published by Neon-Squid

Welcome to my stop on the FCBG News blog tour for Non-Fiction November #NNFN2022

“Rewilding projects are wildlife reintroductions that try to reverse the trend. They bring animals and plants back to areas where they used to live, but that they have disappeared from – usually because we overhunted them or changed their habitat too much”

p1 Rewilding

This is a clearly written and informative non-fiction book, with realistic colour illustrations that help to bring the animals and habitats to life. It gives examples from across the globe, in a range of habitats of the many ways humans have tried to return wildlife to their natural habitats. Neon-Squid the publisher is a relative new comer to children’s non-fiction but their books are definitely worth checking out. 

It raises some interesting questions about the interplay between humans and wildlife, both in creating problems and as positive forces for change. In some locations it recognises that local people are dependent on their local habitat to survive and the need to involve them in decisions about conservation projects.

One of the really special things about this non-fiction book for children is the breadth of mini re-wilding case studies included from all over the world. These include: animals, birds, fish, plants, reptiles and insects and a few plants. Each double page spread focuses on certain aspects that affect a creature or plant and some of the actions humans have taken, working together, to re-introduce them to the wild. These provide examples of hope, that despite the threats to our planet there are things we can do to help.

Some examples of the case studies of re-wilding:

  • Flying a light airplane thousands of miles to try and teach Whooping Cranes brought up in captivity about their annual migration routes.
  • Several examples of the impact of building dams on building wildlife are explored. Such as the: toads dependant on the spray and mist from a gorge in Tanzania (East Africa), and the Chinook salmon affected by a dam in the USA.
  • The idea of keystone species is introduced with two main examples. Beavers in England, and their dam building skills that can help to control a river and protect from flooding. The wolves in Yellowstone park, USA and how the removal of a predator can affect the whole ecosystem.

As well as the case studies there are number of pages throughout the book which explore wider issues relating to habitat preservation and conservation. This provides some good pointers to discuss issues related to re-wilding. In the classroom there’s great potential to use this text alongside a fictional re-wilding story (there are a few suggestions at the end of this post).

There is one small area in which this book could perhaps be improved. I would like to see clearer signposting with different colour headings to more clearly visually distinguish the concept/issue pages from the case study pages, making them easier to find. To assist with this a copy of the contents page is attached with the concept/issue pages highlighted in red. 

I highly recommend this detailed and informative text, with realistic and eye-catching illustrations for 10+ years, to be enjoyed at home and in the classroom. Do check out some of the other non-fiction titles by Neon-Squid the publishers.

 

Fictional stories about re-wilding

The Rewilders by Lindsay Littleton .  Read my book review here.

The Last Bear by Hannah Wolf 

Fourteen Wolves: A Re-wilding story by Catherine Barr.  A an illustrated narrative non-fiction book about the returning of wolves to Yelloston Park in 1995.

When Things Went Wild by Tom Mitchell.  For a humorous take on re-wilding

This book is available to Order at Readers that Care

High quality turquoise level early readers – books which help children make connections and build empathy

Posted on

 

When a child reaches turquoise level on school banded schemes, often they have mastered decoding but still need to work on fluency or comprehension or both. However, there doesn’t seem to be the same awareness of the need for some children at this point to be able to make meaningful connections with the story or book they are reading if they are going to be motivated to keep practising their reading. If you take a look at many turquoise levelled readers you will notice they are really boring. The good news is that we discovered somewhat by accident when my son was learning to read, that there are some books at this level that really stand out from the rest. Later, this led me to seek out other books, including the fantastic early readers from Maverick publishing and more recently the Bloomsbury Young Readers collection.

Having made good progress with his reading since the spring-term of reception my son seemed to get ‘stuck’ on Turquoise level towards the end of year 1. One of the reasons for this was he had lost his motivation he needed a new reason to read. Two books he really liked were: Aston (Oxford University Press) and Skara Brae (Collins Big Cats). Below are mini-reviews of these and some other readers which have since been published. Each offers children of different interests various ways to connect with the story or non-fiction topic and would be great choices for any early reader collection.

Astron – Turquoise fiction reader

Oxford University Press (Story Sparks)
Author and illustrator: John Dougherty and Louise Pigott

At the start of the story an alien gets separated from his parents. A brilliant story opener you really want to know what happens next. The Alien comes across a space ship, and through it’s special thought web it can listen to the little girl’s thoughts. My son was intrigued by this idea. The story encourages the reader to think about what the characters are feeling really helping young readers to engage with the story. My son loved reading this when he was a developing reader, and so did his sister who is almost 3 years older. There aren’t many readers that can do that!  It also left plenty to talk about and revisit.

The Lost Village of Skara Brae – Turquoise non-fiction reader

Collins Big Cat

This non-fiction book about the Stone Age village of Skara Brae on the Orkney islands in Scotland really grabbed my son’s attention. With a map and annotated photographs of this ancient site, there was plenty to spark his curiosity.  The text explained how the site was discovered after a storm, explored the site and how people might have lived. He’s been interested in the Stone Age ever since.

Woah What’s the Weather – Turquoise non-fiction reader

Maverick Publishing

My son from an early age was fascinated by weather this is just the kind of book he would have loved as an emerging reader. The non-fiction topic is introduced by two Aliens, adding both commentary and humour. The text is also broken up in a number of ways, great for kids who get bored easily by large chunks of text. The story would especially appeal to budding scientists, with pictures and explanations which include: rain gauges, thermometers and weather vanes, which could inspire kids to make their own weather observation. A great book for readers of all ages.  There is a short quiz at the back, as in all the Maverick early readers from this level upwards.

 

Slugs in Space – Turquoise fiction reader

Maverick Publishing

Lou Treleaven and David Creighton-Pester

This book should be chosen for the picture below alone! A snail with an acorn for a space helmet a what a great idea. My son loves space and collects acorns when ever he finds them so this would have definitely got him interested.  I love how this story takes a topic that many children love, space and turn it on it’s head.. First the main character is a snail and secondly, he doesn’t actually go to space but dreams of doing so, and in a great twist to tale has an unexpected encounter with aliens of a different kind. The story could also be used to explore distance in Maths and perspective. For example when granddad snail talks about how long it would take to get to the top of a lamppost, and compares that to how long it would take to get to the moon.

 

The Ugly Little Swan – Turquoise fiction reader and AR

Bloomsbury Young Reader
Author and illustrator: James Riordon and Brendon Kearney

When my son was in year 1 and year 2 he got interested in a small number of traditional tales, one of which was the ‘Ugly Duckling’. This is a fantastic re-telling with a twist of this this traditional tale, with a duck instead of a Swan. Bright colourful and engaging pictures really help the reader to understand what the duck is feeling. With a great scene on the last page of a two children feeding the ducks, connecting it to children’s own experiences.

Cavegirl – Turquoise fiction reader and AR

Abie Longstaff and Shane Crampton

The front cover caught my attention, a fictional story with a black girl in the Stone Age. Inside I found a delightful story and really engaging pictures. This book follows a girl who lives in the Stone Age who is looking for something special for her mum’s birthday. She sees something she wants and hatches a plan to make and trade things to get it. Well developed stories as good as this are unusual at the reading level. The reader is helped to predict and make sense of the story through the clever use of diagrams drawn on  a stone slab. Like in other Bloomsbury young readers there are tips for grown-ups (inside cover front) and suggestions for fun activities (inside cover back).

 

Each of these books are unique in their own way and provide many opportunities for children to engage with them. There is a strong empathy core to most of them, helping children connect with how the characters are feeling. If you want to inspire children to become motivated readers unique and engaging early readers like these will definitely help them on their journey. Publishers please take note we need more books like these especially at this reading level.

Note for educators

If you are a school that asks children to change their readers every couple of days. You may want to review this policy once they reach this reading level. These books are so great that children would really benefit from reading them more than once, and the chances are they will want to too.

Thank you to Maverick publishing for a free copy of ‘Woah What’s the Weather?’. The other books were ones I bought myself.

 

Further information – click on the links to find out more

Maverick Early Readers

Bloomsbury Young Readers

Some of these books are available on my Abe books site: Readers that Care

 

Awe-inspiring non-fiction – discover and explore the wonders of our planet.

Posted on

 

For almost 15 years of my adult life I read  mainly non-fiction. Then three years ago I discovered middle grade fiction and have read mainly fiction since. However, a Reading Rocks ( Twitter: @_Reading_Rocks) chat for non-fiction November got me thinking about the way’s we engage with non-fiction texts and that non-fiction is often not talked about as much as fiction. Looking into a selection of recent non-fiction books I am discovered that many are expanding the boundaries of  ‘more traditional’ non-fiction, creating some truly awesome books that you will want to return to time and time again . For someone that also loves picture books, modern day fiction with its blurring of curious facts and information with awe-inspiring illustrations and photographs is a real treat. I kick-start my non-fiction discovery with 3 fabulous books that explore planet earth and some of the creatures we share it with.

Natural Wonders of the World – Molly Oldfield and Federi Bordoni

Get set to travel to some of the most awe-inspiring places on earth.

Molly Oldfield introduces her book:

“I love to travel and explore I wanted to create a book that is like a passport to the world, filled with pages that take you to the most incredible natural wonders on Earth. Get ready for adventures”

This is a coffee table style non-fiction book, with huge pictures, of animals, plants and trees and double page spreads featuring some of the most amazing landscapes in the world. It also has an annotated map, to show you where in the world you can find them and an index. Making this a really versatile book that will appeal to many sorts of readers.

There are facts about some intriguing creatures, including the Christmas Island crabs, Tenrecs of Madagascar, birds of paradise in Papua New Guinea. But, it is the landscapes this book takes you to that really excited me.  For each landscape featured in the book you get information about the physical features, how they look and some information about how they are formed. There are also some great size comparison so you can get an idea of the size of some of these natural wonders, such as the Crystals are:  ‘so big that people can walk along them!’ or a spring that is ‘deeper than a ten-storey building’. You also get snippets of stories about people discovering the landscapes and some examples of helping wildlife too. Here are two examples:

Molly Oldfield describes the moment when two brothers, who were working in a mine, discovered some giant crystals in Mexico:

“Imagine how the brother must have felt when hard at work, they suddenly broke through a wall into a magical space filled with enormous, ancient crystals!”  p21

Crabs on Christmas Island, in the South Pacific:

“The people of Christmas Island are careful during the migration. The crabs are ushered towards tunnels called crab grids that go underneath the roads so they don’t get squashed. A crab sized bridge has even been built on one road” p24

There is so much to explore in this book. To help you to begin to do that I have made a list of 6 things to find.
NaturalWonderminiQuiz.

Fanatical About Frogs – by Own Davey

I have to confess this is the first of Owen Davey’s fabulous non-fiction books, published by Flying Eye Books that I have seen. I will be definitely be looking up the others after seeing this! What I love about this particular book is that it chooses a creature that most children and adults know little about. Which means it will both introduce animal lovers to a new creature and potentially appeal to children that would not normally pick up a book about animals.  It takes a classic non-fiction topic of exploring the characteristics and behaviour of a particular animal, in this case frogs and toads and through a unique layout and truly amazing illustrations transforms it into something truly special. That you are going to want to dip into time and time again.

In what is mainly bite-sized information I learnt so much about frogs, with those eye-catching illustrations drawing you in to look closer every time. This includes: how they catch their prey, regulate their body temperatures, the different croaks and calls they make. There is lots of variety in the presentation of the information, from almost full-page pictures, labelled diagram of the features of a frog, and a page of the life cycle of a frog. With detailed, accurate and precise information, and truly amazing artwork, Owen Davey’s books set the gold standard for a new generation of non-fiction books. There is a contents page and index, making it easy to explore this great book.

 

We Build Our Homes – by Laura Knowles and Chris Madden

A little different to the other two non-fiction books. This is written more like narrative fiction, with a different bird, insect or animal on each two-page spread telling it’s storey of how it builds it’s nest or home. The soft coloured and textured illustrations give a warm feel to the book, and bring the animal homes to life, leaving you in awe about what creatures on our planet can create. It includes: some unique bird’s nests, each using different materials and techniques, a peep into the world of bees, ants, wasps and spiders and animals such as: Gopher tortoises, moles, polar bears and beavers. A timely reminder that we are not the only creatures on Earth to create amazing things, and that we may even have things to learn from them.

At the end there is a simple map of the World and a mini fact files on the bird, insect and mammal builders, which adds another dimension to this book. The book gives three different ways to explore the way creatures build their homes: first person narrative, detailed illustrations and the fact files. Giving different children the opportunity to engage with this intriguing topic in a way that suits them, and plenty of scope to explore different ways of presenting non-fiction information.

 

Thank you to Flying Eye Books for a review copy of Fanatical About Frogs, the other two books I bought my own copies.

 

 

Bird Migration: Remarkable Journeys, Narrative Non-fiction at it’s very best.

Posted on

 

  

This blog post reviews two books:

Moonbird – A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 – Philip Hoose

Farrar Straus Giroux books for young readers

The Peregrines Journey – A Story of Migration – Madeleine Dunphy and Kristen Kest

Published by Web of Life Children’s books

  

Moonbird is about a remarkable superbird who has flown the distance equivalent  to the moon and half-way back again in its life time.  When I first read this book 8 years ago I remember being in awe of the migration journeys this bird (and other birds) make each and every year. It is one of my favourite all time non-fiction books. I have always been curious about how birds can navigate their way to such precise locations. This book doesn’t answer these questions. But, it did give me a fascinating insight into the annual journey of a rufa red knot (known as B95), a robin-sized shorebird. It opened my eyes to the multiple challenges it faces on its migration, and in particular finding enough food to give it enough energy for long flights. I gained an appreciation of the importance of stepping stones, key places that birds stop on their migration route where they can feed and re-fuel to be able to successfully complete the next stage of their journey. And how vulnerable these places are to changes , which are threatening the very existence of the red knot.

Since I discovered Moonbird I have been looking for a picture book that would communicate to a younger audience the excitement of a birds migration journey. I found some quite good ones, but they did not follow or capture the magic of the journey in quite the same as Moonbird, until I discovered the Peregrines Journey: A Story of Migration, by Madeleine Dunphy and illustrated by Kristin Kest. What a gem of a book it is. It covers the Peregrine Falcons 8,000 Mile journey from Alaska (where it raises it chicks in Summer) to Argentina where it spends the winter. Kristen Kest beautifully captures with bold distinctive colours the different environments the Peregrine passes through. Madeleine’s Dunphy has the ability to make you feel like you are experiencing things from Peregrine’s perspective, with just the right detail to be informative and realistic. And the combination of author and illustrator create a story that flows beautifully, like the very best of narrative non-fiction should do.

Please note:

The Peregrine Falcon is a bird of prey so it eats other animals, including birds, and the red knot (but not in this story). How might you might ask can I possibly love both stories! Well the Moonbird won me over to rooting for and loving the very small red knot bird. But, I have always been fascinated and in awe of the birds of prey.  In the story there are a couple of time’s that the Peregrine eats other birds, such as a Dove and a Pigeon, though you don’t see the eating part just the intent. Which may upset some younger children who do not yet understand that every animal or bird eats something to survive.

More about ‘Moonbird’:

The core of the book focuses on the journey the bird B95 makes in one year. With a combination of prose written as you were actually were the bird, backed up with detailed information of the scientists involved, with pictures, maps and information boxes, this is the ultimate in non-fiction for young adults and adults. It also includes detail about how the scientists learnt about the red knot, tagged and tracked them and by doing this discovered just how far this remarkable survivor B95 or ‘Moonbird’ had travelled. It concludes with a final chapter on what people are doing to save the red knot and an Appendix with ways you can help.  I would highly recommend this for anyone aged 12 years and above, including adults.

The start of an epic journey:

“Meet B95, One of the world’s premier athletes. Weighing a mere four ounces, he’s flown more than 325,000 miles in his life – the distance to the moon and nearly halfway back again. He flies at mountaintop height along ancient routes that lead him to his breading grounds and back”.

The reader is taken on the birds amazing journey. From Tierra del Fuego (where he spends October to February) an archipelago (group of islands) off the coast of South America to Mingan Archipelago in Quebec, Canada. After capturing your attention with what it might feel like to be a small migratory shorebird about to embark on a long journey, and the need for it to stuff itself with food, such as worms, muscles, and tiny crustaceans to store reserves and propel its flight on it’s long journey.

  

“The only way for us to know for sure whether B95 has made it safely from Delaware Bay to the Arctic Circle this year is for someone to spot him after his breeding time ends and he and other red knots stream back south to a stopover site.” P73

More about the Peregrine’s Journey:

In a relatively small number of words and beautiful whole page pictures you get a unique insight into the awe-inspiring journey this bird of prey makes each year. You are taken through the birds experiences of flying, feeding, drinking, resting and watching as well as some of it’s stopping of places. I would recommend this for children aged 6 years to adult. But, for younger children do remember this is a bird of prey so it eats other birds and animals.

“She also has very good eyesight…. To her the mountains and rivers are like maps and street signs. These landmarks help her know where she is.” P7

“Today, she bathes in a desert pool in New Mexico. She splashes around dipping her head in and out of the water until every feather is wet. One by one she carefully preens each feather with her beak.” P14

 

 

Original stories with a nature and science connection for young readers

Posted on

Introducing two wonderful stories which will appeal to children who like to explore the natural world around them and/or are interested in animals. They are aimed at 6 to 9 year olds, but many older children and adults would love them too.

In the summer of 2014, my daughter who had just turned 7 was transitioning to chapter books, and was finding it difficult to find something she wanted to read. She liked animals and was interested in being a vet. However, we found many of the classical animal stories didn’t have enough human interest and other more readily available animal series my daughter quickly lost interest in as she said: ‘they had little plot, nothing really happened in them”. Both these book are distinctively different from many other books with an animal theme for 6 to 9 year olds. They deserve a place in any primary school library, as for some they may be a ‘game changer’, as the book/series that gets them reading.

Zoe and Sassafras: Dragons and Marshmallows
Author: Asia Citro Illustrator: Marion Lindsay.  p96

This was a great find I stumbled across whilst looking for something else. It  got my attention initially because I have been keeping an eye out for stories for 6 to 9 year olds, with black protagonists that are the kind of story that might appeal to any child. I had no idea when I ordered a copy of this book what a gem of a story and series it was, published by an innovative fairly new publisher called Innovation Press.

It is about a girl called Zoey and her cat called Sassafras who loves exploring the natural environment near her home. One day she makes an amazing discovery that her mum has the ability to see and speak to magical creatures, and that she has inherited this gift too. If an animal needs help a magical doorbell rings in the Barn next to their house. Whilst Zoe’s mum is away at a science conference Zoey and her cat have to help a baby dragon.

A beautiful blend of real and magical with an introduction to scientific questioning and hypotheses, this engaging story has plenty to appeal to a variety of readers. Add to this some great role models, from a dark skinned girl with frizzy hair as the main character, a mum who is a scientist and a stay at home dad, and you have a very original story.

This is the first book in a series of 4, soon to be 5 books. It is probably a good idea to read book 1 first (or at least read aloud enough p1 to p28), but they can then be read in any order.

 

A Kitten Called Holly
Author: Helen Peter Illustrator: Ellie Snowdon.  p132

In case you haven’t guessed from one of my previous posts, my son (who is now 7 years old) is cat crazy, so a story with a cat in is a great start. But, like his sister he is very particular about the books he reads and does prefer stories with a strong narrative and a bit of depth to them, which this story certainly has.

One day Jasmine and her friend Tom find an old shed in the garden to play in, and they accidentally come across a wild cat and her kittens. Jasmine’s mum is a vet, from whom she has learns a lot about how to look after animals. So Jasmine and Tom know not to touch the kittens and wait for their mum to return. When the mother cat returned she took the kittens somewhere else. But, later one of the kitten’s gets left behind and Jasmine and her friend help to feed and look after it. But, will Jasmine have to give the Kitten away at the end? You will have to read it to find out!

My son loved this story being read aloud to him. The strong narrative along with detailed and accurate information about how to look after a kitten really kept his interest. He kept asking for one more chapter.

With great descriptive detail you feel like you are really there, a story which is heartfelt and sometimes funny. This book is sure to appeal to a variety of children, including those that usually prefer non-fiction.

It is part of the Jasmine Green series published by Nosy Crow. This is not the first book in the series, but the characters are introduced well so I think you could read them in any order. I suggest starting with which ever animal your child is most interested in.

Zoe and Sassafras Series:

Jasmine Green Series: