Picture Book Fiction Resources
Sparky by Jenny Offill, ill. by Chris Appelhans
A little girl desperately wants a pet. Her mom says she can only have a pet that does not need to be walked or bathed or fed. Ever resourceful, the little girl consults her school librarian and discovers that a sloth would be the perfect pet that meets her mother’s requirements. So she sends off an order and soon enough her very own sloth arrives. She dubs it Sparky. Sparky does not quite impress like other pets, but the little girl still adores him.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Sloths: Yep, this features one of those South American slow pokes.
- Sloth Fans: There seems to be this growing group of people who just can’t get enough sloths in their lives. They’ll be happy to meet Sparky.
- Thinking Outside the Box: This little girl sure knows how to think outside the box. And she uses great resources in her research too.
- Unconditional Love: It’s sweet that the girl in this loves Sparky even though he doesn’t quite inspire the excitement another pet might.
- Animal/Pet Lovers: This is a sweet pet story for any animal lover.
Sloth Slept On by Frann Preston-Gannon
Three children find a strange creature in the backyard. After asking a few unhelpful adults, the children do their own research and eventually figure out what the creature is and where it comes from. Observant readers, though, will realize the children have not been observant and make one big mistake.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Sloths: I’m sure you figured out from the title that this book also featured sloths. What you can’t tell from the title is that this book weaves some great information on sloths into the story.
- Sloth Fans: I think this is pretty self-explanatory.
- Compare/Contrast: Read this book and Sparky and compare the research processes, how helpful the adults are, and how astute the children are.
- Humor Fans: This has a couple points that will tickle readers’ funny bones, especially as sloth manages to sleep through some very important things going on around him.
- Yeah Research!: The story features some subtle plugs for being able to do your own research. I’m all for encouraging research skills.
- Natural Habitat, Home or Not?: This sloth ends up back in sloths’ natural habitat but that may not be such a good thing. And this brings up a chance to talk about why this sloth might not do well in the Amazon and/or what steps would need to be taken to make the transition a success. Plus other hows, whys, and ifs of whether animals can be sent back to the wild after periods of captivity or being born outside of their natural environment. Of course, to have this discussion go well, you’ll need to do some more research. To add some spice to the debate/research/thinking you can also ask if there is ever a good reason to take a creature out of its natural habitat. (Just one research hint to help pros/cons: tree lobsters.)
Picture Book Nonfiction Resources
Olinguito, de la A a la Z! = Olinguito, from A to Z! : descubriendo el bosque nublado = unveiling the cloud forest by Lulu Delacre
This bilingual picture book introduces readers to the flora and fauna A to Z commonly found in a cloud forest in Ecuador. Further information on olinguitos, cloud forests, and scientists who study them is included in the back of the book. The entire text including the further notes is provided in both Spanish and English.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Olinguitos (and more): Olinguitos are one of the most recently discovered mammals on the planet, so there aren't a ton of books out there on them. This book provides several great bits of information about them, and some of the other animals and plants you can find in cloud forests.
- Spanish/English Bilingual Books: The primary text for this is the Spanish, so some of the pages don't feature many creatures/plants in the English letters but if you look at the Spanish names for the same animals, those will match the alphabet letter for that page. Great for those working on either English or Spanish, as well as providing a fascinating tour of the cloud forest.
- Alphabet Book Fans: This is a Spanish alphabet book to provide a little new twist for alphabet book fans.
- Hide-n-Seek: The author/illustrator hid a couple things in each page spread for readers to find, making this a book that will provide hours of entertainment on top of being informative.
- Nature Fans: A great pick for little readers fascinated by the world outside.
Tree of Wonder: The Many Marvelous Lives of a Rainforest Tree by Kate Messner, ill. by Simona Mulazzani
1 almendro tree in the rainforest hosts a great number of other creatures in its branches. Each page spread features a different creature living in, on or under an almendro tree, and the numbers double with each spread, culminating with 1024 leaf cutter ants. Each number is written numerically as well as shown visually with that number of critters. Further information and math word problems of varying levels are included in the back.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Fruit Bats, Howler Monkeys & More Rainforest Critters: There are several different creatures featured in this book but the mammals are fruit bats and howler monkeys. Make sure to pick it up if you’re curious about or studying the rainforest.
- Math/Science Combo: If this book looks familiar, I featured it in Brainstorm 61 posted March of 2016 as a great math/science combo book that makes both topics fun.
- Math: There are several math concepts tackled here, especially visualizing multiplication and big numbers. And as mentioned, there are math word problems in the back of the book.
- Ecosystems/Symbiotic Relationships: Usually books focus on one organism and just barely mention the broader ecosystem. This looks at the big picture, and therefore you get to see how all these organisms interact together, making it a fantastic resource if you’re covering/studying ecosystems or symbiotic relationships.
- Curious Readers/Nature Fans: This isn’t just a book for classes, it is a great fun read too. Hand this to curious readers or those who love the natural world.
Middle Grade Fiction/Drama Resource
The Capybara Conspiracy: a novel in three acts by Erica S. Perl
While new student Dev is waiting for his paperwork to get sorted out in the principal's office of Farley Middle School he meets three other students who tell him a tale of the past week and the drama that unfolded when a theater actress fed up with the school's emphasis on sports decides to take action with another non-sporty friend. Perhaps the school's beloved live mascot Cappy the Capybara is the key to getting attention. Soon they attract the "help" of a boy who got cut from the baseball team and an animal rights activist girl. And oh boy do things not go according to plan. At least that's the story they tell Dev, but at the very end Dev is left wondering if anything he just heard was true.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Capybaras: The South American cuddly rodent features prominently in this tale.
- Theater Fans or Theater Newbies: This is written in play form, and is a play perfect for a middle school production (information about getting rights to do the play is in the back of the book). It can be done well very simply, or could be an elaborate production. It's very adaptable. The setting is contemporary America, but could be set anywhere (the author even encourages adaptation in setting in the back). Perl includes info on play jargon and performances in the back of the book that are great helps. I recommend reading those first for people new to reading plays.
- Satire: Need an example of satire, or just enjoy them? Pick this us. Modern audiences will get the tongue-in-cheek pointed look at school's that over-emphasize just one part of extracurriculars and how easy it is for middle schoolers to make foolish mistakes as they are swept along by their peers.
- Stories with a Plot Twist Fans: There's the fun twist at the end that will spark debates about what just happened. Was the story just a story, or did it really happen?
- Contemporary Fiction Fans: Those who like stories that could be happening just down the street should enjoy this.
Middle Grade/YA Nonfiction Resource
The Tapir Scientist: Saving South America’s Largest Mammal by Sy Montgomery, photos by Nic Bishop
Sy and Nic take readers to the area called the Pantanal in South America, where Brazillian scientist Pati Medici is researching tapirs. Readers get to experience the joys and frustrations of trying to track and collar tapirs in the wild, and learn a lot about these elusive creatures along the way.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Tapirs: I never knew that much about tapirs before reading this, so I found it very informative on the animal. It's also a nice look at the Pantanal area, and it is an honest look at how hard it can be to trap animals for study. There's a wealth of further online resources in the back of the book too.
- Real Scientist Life: This is a great pick for kids and teens who are interested in going into field science, as it will give them a nice reality check about what it can really be like.
- Ecosystems: Also, this is a good companion book when studying ecosystems, as it talks a bit about how the tapirs are an integral part of theirs.
- Kids Can Have an Impact: There's a great example of how one school boy made a huge impact in Pati's studies, so kids who want to get involved now in science could find this inspirational.
- Animal Lovers: And of course, it's an excellent pick for animal lovers.
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