All Classes
The Black Lagoon series by Mike Thaler, ill. by Jared Lee
If you want a great way to break the ice, dispel fears, and open up a discussion about expectations for the school year, pick up any of the picture books in this series. And the best part? (Ok, the best part other than that they are all hilarious and kids and adults alike love them.) There’s one for just about any role at a school. From the principal to the cafeteria lady to the librarian, there’s one of you from the Black Lagoon. Of course, being a media center specialist, I’m quite partial to the Librarian from the Black Lagoon. (I am sometimes envious of my mythical counterpart and her laminator and bolted books.)
English (& Psychology)
Sleep Like a Tiger by Mary Logue, ill. by Pamela Zagarenski
A little girl is not sleepy, but her parents persuade her to get ready for bed any way. In the process, she asks them if all animals sleep and soon she finds herself imitating many of the animals she discussed with her parents as she curls up for sleep.
The illustration style for this book is definitely eye-catching, which is probably why it sports that shiny Caldecott Honor sticker. The art is very abstract and unique, not a style I usually like, but it really worked for this story. I love how tactful the little girl's parents are in getting her ready for bed. They should get some kind of parenting psychology award. Language arts teachers could use this when discussing similes and metaphors, which abound as the girl compares her actions to that of other sleepy animals.
Math
One Grain of Rice: a mathematical folktale by Demi
Set in India, a clever servant girl outwits a sinister Raja by asking for a seemingly simple thing – just one grain of rice - and asking him to double it every day. The Raja quickly realizes that this “simple” request will cost quite a lot more than he expected.
I love several things about this book. It has a great multicultural setting and beautifully rich pictures that students love. It also lends itself well to being used in a math class, whether for those just learning multiplication or those learning about exponential equations and helps students visualize these principles.
Science
A Drop of Water: a book of science and wonder by Walter Wick
A survey of the properties and states of water, illustrated with photographs of each.
This was a clearly written and stunningly photographed introduction to the properties and states of water. I wish I had known about this when I taught the properties of water in Biology. It’s a great resource and is explained simply enough you can use it with a wide age range, from elementary up to high school. And though this is almost 20 years old now, it has aged extremely well. None of the science or photos are dated.
Social Studies (& Foreign Language, & Logic, & ABCs)
Hieroglyphs from A to Z by Peter de Manuelian
Teaches some Egyptian hieroglyphs, specifically those eventually used to stand for single sounds that coordinate with the English alphabet. The back of the book includes messages in hieroglyphics for readers to decode and stencils so they can make their own messages.
For some reason I had only ever heard about the first phase of hieroglyphic language, picture representation for a complete object/thought and not the second development of symbols to stand for certain letters. So I learned multiple things from this book, not only the evolution of hieroglyphs and how they were used in language but also the ones that correspond to the English alphabet (a couple are repeated because the ancient Egyptians didn't have a v and didn't differentiate between soft e and i, which is actually rather similar to Korean - another alphabet I know - so I caught on to this idea very quickly). I love codes and the puzzle of learning foreign alphabets, so this was exactly my kind of book. Each letter also tells a bit about the importance of the object in the hieroglyph to ancient Egyptians, so you get to know that too. Oh, and this is an ABC book in rhyme too, so it can be used with multiple levels. It’s very informative and fun, without being overwhelming. Definitely a tool to be used in ancient Egypt studies with kids.
Foreign Language (& Social Studies)
Magic Windows/Ventanas Magicas by Carmen Lomas Garza
Carmen Lomas Garza uses her cut paper illustrations as ways to introduce various parts of Mexican culture.
This is a much shorter book than it looks, primarily because the text is repeated, appearing both in English and Spanish. Garza's cut paper artwork is incredible. Seriously, I can't believe what she can do with a knife and a sheet of paper! And she does a good job of giving a broad introduction to various parts of Mexican culture that kids would find interesting. A good multicultural pick that will also let students practice their Spanish.
PE (& English, & Science, & Government, & ESL…)
Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words by Randall Munroe
One of my favorite humor books is also a science nerdy book called What If? by this guy. So when I heard he had a new book coming out, I was eager to get my hands on it. A continuation of What If? this is not. An extremely creative breakdown of things both fantastic and ordinary, it is. There are already books out there that tell you how your home mechanics and other machines work, but I guarantee this one is different. Munroe decided to use only the 1,000 most used words in the English language (minus variations of themselves and minus swear words) for all his explanations (a complete list of the available words is in the back of the book). So big technical jargon is out, language even a young elementary student or brand new English speaker can understand is in. And using only the most common of words, Munroe manages to explain extremely complicated things like machines for burning cities (atomic bombs), sky boats with turning wings (helicopters), power boxes (batteries), playing fields (basics of baseball, soccer, football, hockey & racquetball), red world space car (Mars rover), and more. Of course, Randall Munroe being who he is, he can't resist sneaking in little stick figures doing crazy things into the serious drawings (you have to pay close attention to notice these). Because of the simplified language, at times it's like playing a game of Taboo to figure out what Munroe is talking about. But for the most part, he does an impressive job of breaking things down in very easy terms, and this truly is a book just about any age could pick up and get the gist out of. A great resource.
Teachers need to take a look at this! I would have totally used his periodic table or cell diagram to help students review for tests when I was teaching biology. (You could actually use them in a matching section of a test since the technical terms are not used.) The US Constitution is also broken down on one page, so history teachers heads up too. His break down of the basics of major sports is impressive for its comprehensiveness in the basics of each game and also succinctness, PE teachers. And language teachers, though this is the exact opposite of what we usually want writers to do (use basic words instead of more precise and descriptive words), he does do a great job of summarizing succinctly.
Art
Name That Style: All about Isms in Art by Bob Raczka
A quick survey of 14 of the major art styles from the Renaissance to modern times. Each style is covered in a two page spread that provides one full page example of a piece of art of that style, a quick description of what makes the style distinct, when and where the style was popular, 5 of the most recognized artists who used the style, bullet points of the major characteristics of the style, and a paragraph explaining why the piece of art displayed is a good example of that style.
This is a fantastic quick survey of all of these styles. It is short, concise, to the point, but conveys all the necessary information. I also liked that half of the pieces of art aren't the typical ones used when talking about that style. A few of them I had never even seen before. Because of it's nice concise nature, this book has a broad variety of applications. It could be used in elementary through high school art classes when introducing a new art style. It could be used in history classes to tie in art with the time period being studied. And I know those studying for the Humanities CLEP test could use this to do a quick review of art styles. From Kindergarten through college, a useful resource.
P.S. None of the art chosen has any naked people in it or gore, another bonus.
Music (& Art)
Ben’s Trumpet by Rachel Isadora
Ben listens to the music coming out of the jazz club down the street and can't help but imagine up his own horn. The music carries him away. But when others make fun of Ben, his trumpet disappears, until the jazz club performer sets things straight.
I just picked this up to read recently, and though I'm sure I've read this Caldecott honor book before, I did not remember the stunning artwork throughout. I guess the little kid me liked the story of the boy falling in love with music and getting music lessons more (which isn't surprising, because I ended up a music major...well, at least for one year). With an adult's eyes, I still like the music story (it's still in me), but I also found the artwork stunning and well-worthy of that shiny sticker on the front. I don't know of any other children's book quite like it art-wise. (And I think I probably didn't appreciate it as a child because though I've always loved art, I preferred colorful and "pretty" stuff as a child.) I can see modern kids also missing the forest for the trees, but perhaps like me they'll appreciate different aspects of the story as they grow with it.
Computer
Secret Coders (Secret Coders, #1) by Gene Luen Yang, ill. by Mike Holmes
Hopper's mom has enrolled her at Stately Academy. Hopper is not thrilled about her new school which looks like a haunted house and is sadly lacking in friend material. But thanks to some strange birds that hang out around the school, she eventually does make a friend, Eni, who teaches her some basics about coding. And the coding knowledge lets Hopper and Eni start cracking some of the secrets of the very strange Stately Academy. (Which will be explored further in book 2.)
A short and unique graphic novel. The book introduces young readers to some of the basics of binary code and computer programming, but it also has a plot. Well, two plots really, a mysterious plot and a human interest plot. We've got the mystery of what in the world is going on at the school, and then there's the side story of why Hopper is new to the school and what's been going on in her home life. Those who speak Mandarin will get a teensy bit more out of this book than the rest of the world, as there are a few things written just in Mandarin when Hopper is in Mandarin class. I liked the multicultural cast and the puzzles included in this. I think it will appeal to kids, and they'll be clamoring for book two to come out. (There's a bit of a cliffhanger ending.)
Religion
The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crushers Brings Us Back to the Garden by Kevin DeYoung, ill. by Don Clark
DeYoung condenses the Bible stories to focus on some of the overarching themes and points that can get lost in normal Bible story books or finer reading. He does so in language that can be accessible even to children (though there are definitely some points that may need adult help to understand). The book is illustrated in vibrant, eye-catching illustrations.
Our school is a Christian school, and Bible is one of our subjects. This is a great resource for Christian families and schools. It is easy to lose sight of some of the broad themes of the Bible in normal daily reading (unless you do some major survey reading regularly). The illustrations are attractive and unlike any I’ve seen for a Bible story book. I think they’ll appeal to a broad range of kids, making the book usable for little ones and even teenagers.
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