Archive for January 7, 2013

Snakes

Written and illustrated by Nic Bishop

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Magnificent, crisply detailed photographs make possible the difficult feat of looking at snakes with unbiased eyes. Nic Bishop, the author and illustrator of the book, does not gloss over the many dangerous snakes that exist; it is just that the photographs show the reader the beauty and diversity of this misunderstood species of reptiles.

Only some snakes are dangerous, but all snakes share basic common features. The author presents this information in an interesting manner. If you were a snake, he tells us, you would be about four times longer than you are now, and only a few inches thick. The book draws in third grade readers with such imagery. “..if you were like many snakes, you would only have room for one large lung.” Wow! How do they breathe with just one lung?
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Body Actions

Written by Shelley Rotner and David A. White

Outstanding Science Trade Book 2013 from the National Science Teacher’s Association and the Children’s Book Council (click for more info)

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Your body is incredibly well-designed! Rotner’s and White’s book is an easy-to-understand book about the major organ groups of the body. With large, real pictures and clearly written text, this book is well-suited for a third grade class as a read-aloud, especially in a small group setting. Students will find the illustrations overlaying the photographs easy to understand; the ear bones illustration is especially helpful. The x-ray of teeth is also enlightening because students reading this book will be in full swing of tooth loss and replacement, so they will marvel at the sight of the adult teeth growing beneath the baby teeth. For students who are hungry for more information, there is a glossary and a section that further describes the body’s systems.
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Freaky Fast Frankie Joe

Written by Lutricia Clifton

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Frankie Joe lives in a trailer park in Texas and his friends are the retired people who live there.  But all that changes when he has to leave them behind because his mother is put in jail and he can’t live alone.  The father he has never known is taking temporary custody of Frankie Joe.  He will move in with a family he has never met and go to Illinois, a place he has never seen.  Frankie Joe hates it.  The school holds him back a grade to give him a chance to catch up, but he is bigger than everyone else.  His four half brothers make him feel like a freak.  He decides to escape.  He will earn money as a delivery boy and ride back home on his bicycle.  Slowly, he makes friends as he builds his business and he gains the respect of his new family.  Just as he attempts to put his escape into action, his mother throws the biggest kink of all into the plan.  She signs over permanent custody to his father and blithely leaves town with the boyfriend whose drugs landed her in jail in the first place.  The life he created in Illinois is now his safety net.
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