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24Jan

One Proud Penny

Posted by: annettepimentel@gmail.com Categories: Review
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Cover of book shows a penny with arms, legs, and a head, raising its hat.First person nonfiction picture books are hard to find. There was I, Fly. And now there’s One Proud Penny.

This charming book, with the narration in the voice of a 1973 penny, imaginatively tells all about the life of a coin. We learn that coins are made in Philadelphia. We see how they are saved and spent (and sometimes lost for a while). The book also delves into the history of the penny and how the material it’s made of us changed over time, and explores the images printed on a penny.

So is this book really nonfiction? The narrating penny tells us about all sorts of its adventures–stuck in a vacuum cleaner, washed in a washing machine and whirled in a dryer, forgotten on the floor of a Wisconsin, lodged under a stamp machine in a post office, and lying next to a busy street–that are all likely for pennies but impossible to attribute to a single coin. So I suppose technically this isn’t nonfiction. But I think it will be read when kids are learning about units of money and will do a lot to help them understand factual information. So maybe it’s not going to be eligible for the Sibert Medal, but it’s going to delight kids in math classes for a long time to come!

Bookmark and colorful shoelacesAnd if you’re interested in saving a few pennies, pre-order my book. You can get a discount from my local independent bookstore, and I’ll also send  you a pre-order bonus of a pair of colorful shoelaces and a bookmark. (And if you buy from someone besides BookPeople of Moscow, snap a photo of your receipt and send me an email with the photo and your address and I’ll mail the pre-order bonus off to you, too.

 

One Proud Penny by Randy Siegel, illustrated by Serge Bloch. (Neal Porter Books: 2017).

 

 

 

 

 

Picture of children surrounding a globe

Alyson Beecher hosts the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge at kidlitfrenzy.com. Visit there for more great nonfiction picture books!

 

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3Feb

Sky Painter: Louis Fuertes Bird Artist

Posted by: annettepimentel@gmail.com Categories: Review
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cover for Sky Painter: Louis Fuertes Bird Artist shows boy watches two birds fly.In Sky Painter: Louis Fuertes Bird Artist, Margarita Engle skillfully uses poetry to tell the remarkable life story of Louis Fuertes. He began painting birds when the state-of-the-art was to shoot the bird and then arrange it in a lifelike pose. Fuertes, however, couldn’t bear to kill the animals he admired. So he invented new techniques and began painting birds from life.

Engle tells his story in first person, an unusual craft choice in a nonfiction biography. The first person works really well, though, in showing emotional engagement without letting the language become overwrought. We hear Fuertes exclaim, “I love…” and “I care…” but the rest of the language is direct and clear.

Engle includes an interesting historical note–who knew that Arm and Hammer Baking Soda used to include trading cards?!–but I wish sources were attributed.

This book is a great look at a Hispanic American hero. It would work well in a science class, looking at environmental or habitat issues. It would also be great in an art class, followed up, of course, with drawing from life!

Engle offers a fun activity kit related to the book here. 

The Sky Painter: Louis Fuertes, Bird Artist by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Aliona Bereghici. Two Lions: 2015.

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7Jan

Goldie Takes a Stand

Posted by: annettepimentel@gmail.com Categories: Review
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Goldie  This book is another biography of a recent public figure, this time Golda Meir. Who knew that she lived in Wisconsin as a child? I hadn’t! The book is based on a 1909 Milwaukee Journal newspaper article telling about a benefit that Golda and her friends organized. The author is very clear in the back matter about what she has invented:

Although the dialogue in this book is imagined, the events are true.

The story is told in first person, so it’s no surprise that the narrative voice is confident. The story opens with a club meeting where Golda tells her friends about a problem she’s noticed (children without enough money to buy schoolbooks) and closes with the end of the fund-raising benefit they put on. The word “naturally” and the phrase “then I knew what to do” work as refrains, pulling us through the action and tying it all together. They also underline the confident, assertive character of the woman who would become one of the great political leaders of the 20th century.

The book doesn’t try to explain Golda’s importance in world politics. Children who already know her name will bring that knowledge to the book, but the book will still delight other children with its argument that children can make a difference in the world.

Goldie Takes a Stand: Golda Meir’s First Crusade, by Barbara Krasner, illustrated by Kelsey Garrity-Kelley. Kar-Ben Publishing: 2014.

 

 

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