Brainstorm Vol 77: 4 reads for the 4th

Four reads for the 4th of July.

Picture Book Resources

Explosive Story of Fireworks by Kama Einhorn, ill. by Daniel Guidera
Just like the title states, readers will explore the history and development of fireworks from ancient China to the present.

Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• Engaging Nonfiction: I'm really liking this History of Fun Stuff series. They do a fantastic job of making the history lively and interesting, relating key points (that even educated adults might not know), and accompany the highly readable text with eye-catching, fun illustrations. This is the kind of nonfiction book it would be easy to convince kids to read. 
• Pre-Fireworks Display Read: For those curious kids, this will be a good read to explore the history and science of fireworks without too much info (no blowing up the backyard danger).

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ill. by Jeffery Thompson
Longfellow’s classic poem about Paul Revere’s ride to warn of the coming of the British is accompanied by woodcut illustrations.

Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• American History Myth vs Fact: Thanks to Longfellow’s classic poem, there’s a few misconceptions about history. It’s a good opportunity to invite further digging into other history resources to determine myth vs fact.
• Poetic License: This poem is a great illustration of what poetic license means.
• History & Poetry (& Don’t Forget Fun): Of course, you can just enjoy this American poet’s historical poem for fun and not worry about all the historic or literary details.

Crankee Doodle by Tom Angleberger, ill. by Cece Bell
Yankee Doodle does not, not, NOT want to go to town. Absolutely not. And he would never stick any part of a bird in his hat, never mind call it some pasta…but even the most stubborn and cranky Yankee Doodle is no match for his pony.

Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• Musical/Vocabulary History: This is a very funny imagined conversation between Yankee Doodle and his pony over the origins of the silly song. But you better watch out, you might actually learn some word history in this book if you’re not careful. 
• Fun American History Read: If you’re looking for a fun historical read that won’t take too much time, this is a good one. It will probably be most appreciated by middle graders.
• Everyone’s Favorite Husband/Wife Author/Illustrator Duo: Tom and Cece are married, and both have individually endeared themselves to the kidlit audience. Tom created the Origami Yoda series, and Cece won a Newbery Honor a few years ago for her somewhat autobiographical graphic novel El Deafo (which is hand’s down the most popular award winner in the history of our library…probably your library too). Put these two well-loved people together and you have one dynamic duo kids love to see produce things together. See if you can find other things Angleberger and Bell have worked on together.

Graphic Novel Resource

The United States Constitution: a Graphic Adaptation by Jonathan Hennessey, ill. by Aaron McConnell
You would really think that a graphic novel walk through the Constitution of the United States would be hard to do, and probably boring. But Hennessey and McConnell have an incredible way of turning those topics that probably put you to sleep in US History (or a deep coma in US Gov't) and make them interesting, memorable and not insomnia inducing. This book walks readers through the history of the development of the US Constitution from conception to ratification (and all the bumps along the way). Then it breaks down the document Article by Article, explaining the importance of each section to US citizens of the past and present and landmark cases relating to them. Then the need for the Bill of Rights is discussed, followed by explorations of each right, along with amendments made and their impact both historically and currently. Hennessey does an incredible job of breaking things down in a way that is easy to understand, while not minimizing the debates surrounding the trickiness of interpreting certain sections.

Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• History/Government Teachers: If you teach US History or US Government, this is an incredible resource and your students will thank you for using this instead of a normal textbook.
• US History Students: If your teacher didn't take the advice above and you're completely lost in class, this could just save your grade and help you make sense of things a little better. The illustrations and the breakdown of the articles and amendments in understandable language help you utilize multiple learning methods and make remembering this stuff easier.
• Curious Readers: You really can’t find an easier to understand or more memorable book out there on the US Constitution. This is fantastic.