Nonfiction Wednesday

Thanks to Kid Lit Frenzy, I made a goal to read more nonfiction this year which I will be featuring on my blog every Wednesday.

This week's nonfiction included:

 

 

Miss Moore Thought Otherwise by Jan Pinborough, illustrated by Debby Atwell

 

2013-book, biography, books-about-books, books-for-children-about-reading, character-traits, nonfiction, nonfiction-challenge-2013, picture-book, women

 

 

Can you imagine libraries without children? Or thinking that children's books weren't very important? Neither could Annie Carroll Moore from Limerick, Maine. In the 1870s women weren't expected to be educated. Most people thought they should be quiet homemakers. Annie, however, had different ideas and studied to become a lawyer. One day, Annie heard the exciting news that libraries were hiring women as librarians, so she moved to Brooklyn, NY to enroll in the Pratt Institute library school. Once she became a librarian she challenged the idea that children shouldn't be allowed in libraries and most certainly shouldn't touch library books or take them home. Once Annie was put in charge of the children's sections of thirty-six branches of the New York Public Library, she created children's rooms, pulled dull books off the shelves and replaced them with adventurous ones, wrote book reviews and book lists, and got to know publishers and authors of children's books. She inspired librarians across the country and world to do the same.  I think kids will learn that people paved the way before them to create a better life - this time in a literary way.

 

 

When Stravinsky Met Nijinsky by Lauren Stringer

2013-book, biography, creativity, dance, friendship, music, nonfiction, nonfiction-challenge-2013, picture-book       When Igor Stravinsky, the composer, met Vaslav Nijinsky, the dancer, a new kind of art was created. The pair brought to life an unforgettable and controversial performance in The Rite of Spring. It even inspired fistfights in the aisle of the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in 1913! Audiences expected graceful dances and melodious music, but what they got was loud and high bassoon notes and heavy, jumping dancing. The pair was criticized but also admired with its bold challenge of the traditional sta...moreWhen Igor Stravinsky, the composer, met Vaslav Nijinsky, the dancer, a new kind of art was created. The pair brought to life an unforgettable and controversial performance in The Rite of Spring. It even inspired fistfights in the aisle of the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in 1913! Audiences expected graceful dances and melodious music, but what they got was loud and high bassoon notes and heavy, jumping dancing. The pair was criticized but also admired with its bold challenge of the traditional stage. I enjoyed the "About the Illustrations" note at the end. Lauren Stringer explains that she found inspiration from Cubism, a new art form that took the world by storm in 1907, shortly before Stravinsky and Nijinsky met. The thematic topics of change, reform, artistic expression, and controversial challenges to conventions hold true in all the aspects of Stringer's book.   What nonfiction are YOU reading this week?