Nonfiction Wednesday

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

 

Here are the nonfiction books I read this week:

 

 

World Rat Day: Poems About Real Holidays You've Never Heard Of by J. Patrick Lewis, illustrated by Anna Raff

 

	2013-book, bookaday2013, holidays, humor, nonfiction, nonfiction-challenge-2013, picture-book, play-on-words, poetry

 

 

I struggled whether or not I could call this nonfiction since I found it in the easy children's fiction section of the library, but it does say that these holidays are real! Lewis makes us laugh with poems about crazy holidays such as "Bulldogs are Beautiful Day," "International Cephalopod Awareness Day," and "Chocolate-Covered Anything Day." Kids will love the word play and the rats that decorate the illustrations throughout. Funny poems and illustrations! It would be a lot of fun to celebrate...more I struggled whether or not I could call this nonfiction since I found it in the Easy Children's Fiction section of the library, but it does say that these holidays are real! I just love J. Patrick Lewis, and he is quickly becoming a favorite in my classroom!  Lewis makes us laugh with poems about crazy holidays such as "Bulldogs are Beautiful Day," "International Cephalopod Awareness Day," and "Chocolate-Covered Anything Day." Kids will love the word play and the rats that decorate the illustrations throughout. Funny poems and illustrations! It would be a lot of fun to celebrate these holidays throughout the school year!     The Boy Who Loved Math by Deborah Heiligman, illustrated by LeUyen Pham   2013-book, biography, bookaday2013, gifted, math-connections, nonfiction, nonfiction-challenge-2013, picture-book

This is a fascinating book about Paul Erdos, a gifted mathematician. Erdos was born in Hungary in 1913 and grew up loving math so much he solved problems and played with numbers all day long. He was too restless for grade school, so his mother, a math teacher, said he could stay with Fraulein, a frightfully strict caretaker. Once he was old enough to go to high school, he started attending school again and liked it a lot. He made friends who loved math almost as much as he did. Interestingly eno...more This is a fascinating book about Paul Erdos, a gifted mathematician. Erdos was born in Hungary in 1913 and grew up loving math so much he solved problems and played with numbers all day long. He was too restless for grade school, so his mother, a math teacher, said he could stay with Fraulein, a frightfully strict caretaker. Once he was old enough to go to high school, he started attending school again and liked it a lot. He made friends who loved math almost as much as he did. Interestingly enough, he was so obsessed with math, his mother and Fraulein had to do everything for him. At 21, he started to travel. He still couldn't do the most basic of things for himself, but everyone loved him so much, they did them for him! He lived to be a ripe old age after many years of living his passion, and he is known for sharing his knowledge and discovering new ways to do math. Make sure you read the author's and illustrator's notes at the end. The amount of math LeUyen Pham put into her illustrations is astounding! I love what this book says about collaboration and how it makes the world better.     Henry and the Cannons: An Extraordinary Story of the American Revolution by Don Brown   2013-book, american-revolution, biography, bookaday2013, history, nonfiction, nonfiction-challenge-2013, patriotic, picture-book   Yay for booksellers! In 1775, Henry Knox, a bookseller, recruited some men to help him drag 59 cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston to help George Washington in the American Revolution. It was winter, and he traveled about fifty days in snow, icy waters, mud, and ice to get the job done. Impressive! Two thousand Americans hauled wood and barrels up the hills in the night to make a fortress for Knox's cannons to surprise the British. At daybreak, the British soldiers saw what confronted them a...more Yay for booksellers! In 1775, Henry Knox, a bookseller, recruited some men to help him drag 59 cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston to help George Washington in the American Revolution. It was winter, and he traveled about fifty days in snow, icy waters, mud, and ice to get the job done. Impressive! Two thousand Americans hauled wood and barrels up the hills in the night to make a fortress for Knox's cannons to surprise the British. At daybreak, the British soldiers saw what confronted them and fled the city, leaving behind 250 cannons of their own! Success! Great story about the courage of an individual and the difference one person can make.   What nonfiction have you read this week?