Two in Honor of Earth Day

Next Stop Neptune



Jenkins, Alvin. Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System. Illustrated by Steve Jenkins. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.

Author Jenkins is an astronomer and physicist. Illustrator Jenkins is his artist son. Together they have created a display of the solar system that explains many facts even as it presents the known universe in all its wondrous mystery. Each page features an illustration of a planet, moon, comet or asteroid, along with insets that provide pertinent facts and figures. Readers can peruse one page to find the answers to specific questions - for example, how far is the earth from the sun. Or they can extrapolate from the given information to ask their own questions - such as how much would you weigh on the moon. 

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95




Hoose, Philip. Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2012.

B95 is a bird, a most extraordinary bird.  A rufa red knot, it flies each year from Tierra Del Fuego, at the southern end of the globe, all the way north to the Canadian Arctic - and back! That's roughly 9,000 miles twice a year. It is called a "moonbird" because in its lifetime it can fly the distance to the moon and back. Unfortunately, the breeding grounds for this bird are being depleted by both human development and climate change. As of 2014, rufa red knots were placed on the endangered species list, so their populations are being monitored. Whether or not they can be saved is another question. 

     In addition to beautiful photographs, each page of this book offers scientific information about the bird, its remarkable body structure, and its habitats. The book also profiles the work of some of the scientists and environmentalists working to save the species. Finally, an appendix, "What You Can Do," suggests activities and organizations for young people interested in birding and in the problems of dwindling habitat that so many wildlife species face. 

Poetry for Young People

In honor of both National Poetry Month and my grandmother's birthday.

Allison, Jonathan, ed. William Butler Yeats. Series title: Poetry for Young People. Illustrated by Glenn Harrington. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 2002.

The beauty of Ireland and the haunting mysticism of 26 of Yeats’s poems are joined together in this lovely collection. Editor Allison offers a brief introduction to each poem, setting the work in its geographical as well as spiritual place within the body of the poet’s works. It is fascinating to read that the pastoral “Lake Isle of Innisfree” was inspired by the poet’s reflections on his visits to rural County Sligo while standing on a busy London street. Each of the poems is enhanced by illustrator Harrington’s captivating paintings. Unfamiliar words are briefly and subtly described, furthering understanding without obstructing the power of either words or pictures. 

http://www.worldcat.org/title/william-butler-yeats/oclc/51871406&referer=brief_results

Game Changer

A basketball story from the early days, on this day of the national championship game.

Coy, John. Game Changer: John McLendon and the Secret Game. Illustrated by Randy DuBurke. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2015.  

It was a matchup of teams from the Duke Medical School, a white team, and the North Carolina College of Negroes, organized by their coach, John McLendon, an African American. In the days of the Jim Crow south, it was a dangerous move, which is why it had to be held in secret, early on a Sunday morning. The players were hesitant at first, but soon the black team broke into their fast-break style, something new to the Duke players. The black team won, 88-44. Then they played another game, “shirts and skins,” with players from both schools on each team, an illegal action in those days when the KKK was active in the Carolinas. Basketball aficionados now consider it a landmark game because the white teams began to adopt the faster game played by the black teams. John McLendon is now in the Basketball Hall of Fame.   

http://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat_org_bks&q=Game+Changer%3A+John+McLendon+and+the+Secret+Game&fq=dt%3Abks

Jazz ABZ

April is National Poetry Month

Marsalis, Wynton. Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits. Illustrated by Paul Rogers. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2005.

Extraordinary hardly covers it for this creative combination of poetry and painting. Structured as an alphabet book, it is also an introduction to the great jazz artists of the twentieth century in words and stunning portraits. For each letter of the alphabet, Marsalis has written a poem in praise of a jazz musician, from Louis Armstrong to Count Basie all the way to DiZZy Gillespie. For each musician, Marsalis has chosen a different type of poem: an ode for Jelly Roll Morton, a lyric poem for Billie Holiday, a sonnet for Sarah Vaughn, and so on. Some are easy to read, others quite difficult. Explanations of the forms appear at the end of the book, as do biographical summaries of each musician that will give readers basic facts to help them decipher some of the more obscure meanings or references in the poems. Originating from the desire of artist and illustrator Paul Rogers to celebrate the jazz musicians he’s admired all his life, this book is a fittingly creative tribute to those musicians and the creative art form that is jazz.

 

http://www.worldcat.org/title/jazz-a-b-z-a-collection-of-jazz-portraits-from-a-to-z/oclc/851540324&referer=brief_results