Enjoying Authors & Illustrators at NSTA

We are spending an hour this morning with Sarah Campbell, Melissa Stewart, and Shannen Bersani!

Sarah is the author of Wolfsnail and Growing Patterns, books we have shared on our blog before...but she also has a new book, Mysterious Patterns, about fractals! 

Melissa is the author of many books we have featured in the past, but this year she has two more books on the Outstanding Science Trade Book list: No Monkeys, No Chocolate and A Place for Turtles. 

Finally, the folks at Arbordale Publishing (formerly Sylvan Dell--check out some of our early posts) came to the session as well. Publisher Donna German (left) and illustrator Shannen (right) talked about the research that goes into creating pictures that support the text. (Shannen's research for visuals has even led to discovery of textual misinformation--what a great symbiotic relationship!)

It has been a fabulous morning indeed! 

Color, Critical Thinking, and Camouflage

It's hard to find books with science content that are appropriate for primary grade students, but George Shannon has authored one that is perfect. White is for Blueberry focuses on colors, but they are not presented in typical fashion. Shannon pushes the reader's thinking by highlighting different aspects of the identified object, as exemplified by the rest of the title sentence, "...when the berry is still too young to pick." Young children will quickly engage in the book as a guessing game, which, with guidance from the teacher, presents multiple opportunities to hypothesize and draw conclusions. And, the clever ending provides a jumping-off point for a discussion of perspective.

And, I couldn't let this go without pointing out the obvious language arts connection; the simple text  provides a great model for writing informational text! Even kindergarteners could complete a sentence frame based on the book:  (Color) is for (object) when...


If you decide to follow a color theme, it would be easy to continue with Melissa Stewart's  A Rainbow of Animals series. Six different books, Why are Animals (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, or Purple) highlight how and animals use their colors. The easy text and vivid photographs make these books fast favorites among the younger crowd, as well. Plus, Melissa offers a reader's theater script and curriculum guide on her Science Clubhouse website.

 

It would also be quite easy to use these books to introduce camouflage, and though it isn't quite as stunning as some of the other books we've highlighted here, Animals in Camouflage, by Phyllis Limbacher Tildes, is another great book. This book, too, presents the information in kind of a guessing game format. Each animal description is told in rhyming verse, and ends with the question, "What am I?" Upon turning the page, the reader gets the answer as well as more details about the animal. However, my favorite part (as usual) comes at the end of the book when Tildes provides more detailed descriptions of types of camouflage (blending, color change, disguise, and pattern), identifies the type used by each animal presented in the book, and adds even more information about the animals in an additional paragraph.This book is perfect for taking the concept of color to a higher level.

Meet Melissa Stewart!

With bumblebees buzzing around the budding trees, and frogs bellowing in the marshy bogs, it's easy to forget that we've neither heard nor seen certain animals all winter. Have you ever wondered where those bees and frogs have been? What about the ladybugs and snakes you might see around your house or in the nearby park?

Author Melissa Stewart, who presented with us at the recent NSTA conference, has an excellent book to engage students with thinking about where animals have been all winter.  Under the Snow (2009) is just one of Melissa's 150 nonfiction books for children. The opening sentence of this book instantly creates an advanced organizer for the reader: "In the heart of winter, a deep layer of snow blankets fields and forests, ponds and wetlands." This "hidden world" under our feet and under the ice is captured by watercolor illustrations, with simple yet descriptive text about animals in each of these
four habitats.

A similarly styled book by Melissa is When Rain Falls (2008). In this book, animals in the forest, field, wetland and desert are portrayed as rain falls. We learn about the hawk, which "puffs out its feather to keep water out and warmth in," as well as ants, which "stay safe in their underground nests." Both of these book are definitely appropriate as read-alouds for primary students, and the beautiful watercolor illustrations can support new vocabulary such as "crevice."

Are you looking for a book to apply cause and effect? Try A Place for Birds (2009). This book provides age-appropriate descriptions of how human actions impact birds. For example, one page spread depicts the Eastern bluebirds, with sidebar text describing how nesting needs of these birds are adversely impacted by cutting down dead trees and replacing wooden fenceposts with metal ones. The main text reads: "Some birds can only build their nests in small hollow places. When people build nesting boxes that are the right size and shape, birds can live and grow." The text of each subsequent page spread continues with the pattern of "When people (engage in an action)... birds can live and grow."We love how positive solutions are presented in each scenario!

A final note is Melissa's blog, which focuses on nonfiction books for children, and her "Science Clubhouse" website, with links for kids, teachers, and librarians. Definitely check out her teacher resources on the clubhouse website, which include curriculum guides and Readers Theatre scripts! Melissa makes it easy to integrate science and literacy!