Nonfiction Wednesday

 

I'm excited that Alyson Beecher, at Kid Lit Frenzy, is continuing her Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge for the third year in a row.

 

 

Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown, illustrated by Frank Morrison

 

2014-book, african-american, civil-rights, gifted, music, nonfiction, nonfiction-challenge-2014, picture-book, women       I loved little Melba and her passion for music! This is a perfect example of why picture book biographies are wonderful - I had never heard of her and now I want to know more. Melba grew up to be a premiere jazz musician and toured with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holiday. Wonderful illustrations capture the energy and vitality of jazz music.     Shackleton's Journey by William Grill 2014-book, adventure, explorers, nonfiction, nyt-best-illustrated-books, social-studies-connections, travel, winter2014bookaday    My first reaction when I closed this book after reading about Shackleton's travels to Antarctica was that explorers were crazy! This is a fantastic account of the grit it took to explore the frozen oceans of the Southernmost hemisphere. Kids will learn all kinds of travel vocabulary and understand how amazing it was that men took the risks they did to discover unknown territory. Fantastic!     Digging a Hole to Heaven: Coal Miner Boys by S.D. Nelson   2014-book, animal-rights, creative-nonfiction, environmental, geography, history, human-rights, nonfiction, nonfiction-challenge-2014, social-injustice, social-studies-connections, winter2014bookaday   This one is hard to categorize because an historical fiction narrative runs alongside sidebars filled with informational text. I choose to call it creative/literary nonfiction. Back pages are filled with more information, a glossary, a bibliography, and timeline. The story is about twelve-year-old Conall and his working mule, Angel, who both work in a Pennsylvania coal mine. The story follows the perils of working (and in Angel's case, living) underground. The sidebars give information about chi This one is hard to categorize because an historical fiction narrative runs alongside sidebars filled with informational text. I choose to call it creative/literary nonfiction. Back pages are filled with more information, a glossary, a bibliography, and timeline. The story is about twelve-year-old Conall and his working mule, Angel, who both work in a Pennsylvania coal mine. The story follows the perils of working (and in Angel's case, living) underground. The sidebars give information about child labor laws, mules and mule drivers, coal cars and spraggers, tunnels, coal breakers, coal companies and communities, deaths related to mining, the Gilded Age and robber barons, and more. Fascinating. This book would work well in our social injustice unit.       Rags Hero Dog of WWI: A True Story by Margot Theis Raven, illustrated by Petra Brown     2014-book, biography, dogs, fearandcourage, friendship, nonfiction, nonfiction-challenge-2014,  war, winter2014bookaday Rags, a WWI mascot dog to United States Army soldier, Private James Donovan, will steal your heart. I'm reading Duke by Kirby Larson to my 5th graders now during my fear/courage unit, and this would be a wonderful companion.    This is my last regular Nonfiction Wednesday of the year!  Stop by next week for a recap of my favorites in 2014.