Episode 26 - Caren Stelson - PCS Reads

Author Caren Stelson visits PCS Reads and shares about writing Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor's Story.

Visit pcsreads.blogspot.com/2018/07/ep26.html to listen and for more details about the episode. 

Subscribe to PCS Reads through Apple Podcasts.

It's Monday... August 12

Visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers to find out more about It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? and link to other participating blogs.

Locomotive is a nonfiction picture book at its best: beautiful artwork, interesting historical topic, an explosion, and tips on going to the bathroom on a train in the late 1800s.

Brian Floca on twitter: @BrianFloca 

I am so excited that Brian Floca will be visiting my school this fall. 

The 5sters and I loved reading this out loud together. The only problem with reading this one out loud was that The Bud kept wanting me to re-read parts he thought were funny slowing us down.

Follow Liesl Shurtliff on Twitter: @LieslShurtliff

Fabulous nonfiction in graphic novel format!

Book Description:

"The true story of three scientists who risked their lives for research that forever changed the way we think of primates...including ourselves."

• Read an excerpt from the book.
• Follow Maris Wicks on Twitter: @MarisWicks

• Check out Jonathan Bean's blog post with pictures from the real house building that inspired the book.

• Activities and drawing pages on Deborah Freedman's Website.
• Follow Deborah Freedman on Twitter: @DeborahFreedman

I fell in love the artwork of Chris Sickels (Red Nose Studio) when I read Here Comes the Garbage Barge, so I was delighted to see another book filled with his fabulous puppets.

• Check out this fabulous interview with Chris Sickels including a tour of his studio
• Follow Jennifer Larue Huget on Twitter: @jhuget
• Follow Chris Sickels on Twitter: @rednosestudio

Kakapo Rescue by Sy Montgomery & Nic Bishop

Whether it's picture books, graphic novels or chapter books, I tend to be a fiction reader. But with the help of my pals in Nonfiction Navigators, I am pushing myself to read more nonfiction. Our group's book for September, Kakapo Rescue, won the Sibert Medal for informational books for 2011. 

Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot 
(from the series Scientists in the Field)
text by Sy Montgomery
photos by Nic Bishop

What it's about:
Scientists on Codfish island off the southern coast of New Zealand are striving to preserve and increase the small remaining population of Kakapo (KAR-ka-poe), a large, nocturnal, flightless parrot.

What I love: 
Montgomery's writing immediately pulls you into the book telling the story of the "nest minders" keeping watch over a young chick. She continues with great pacing that connects the reader emotionally to the birds and chicks: Lisa, Flossie, Richard Henry, Bill and others. There is humor with the story of the Kakapo Sirocco who, raised by humans, wants to mate with humans. There is the true happiness that comes with the miracle of birth when Jeff (one of the scientists) holds his first Kakapo chick. And there is the very real sadness that comes with the struggle to save a species one rare egg at a time. Kakapo Rescue does not create a simplistic feeling of hope by sharing one example of a success story, but rather it imparts a sense of deep hope with sadness around the edges by sharing a true picture of the many dedicated individuals struggling to save the tenuous existence of the uniquely beautiful Kakapo.

Other connections:
This would make a wonderful nonfiction read-aloud for middle grade students. The Kakapo are such endearing birds, many students interested animals and endangered species would be riveted.
I plan to use the first chapter about the nest-minders for future book talks.

"We could be witness to one of the most thrilling conservation success stories in human history -- or one of its noblest but most tragic failures."
(pg 3 of Kakapo Rescue)



Meet the Author Sy Montgomery

What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets by Menzel and D'Alusio

What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets
by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio

I just received my spring order of books, and this book is at the top of my favorites list.

What it's about: Imagine a photograph of you along with everything you eat in one day. What story would it tell about you, your culture and where you live? Menzel and D'Aluisio photographed and interviewed 80 vastly different people from around the world about what they typically eat in one day.


What I love: This book is fascinating! It may not be a cover to cover read for most, but read aloud any page, or part of any page, and you will have students hooked. The book is organized by caloric intake - lowest to highest. From the Maasai Herder, to the Bullfighter, the Model Student to the Oil Platform Chief  - the photos draw you in, and the interviews are extremely compelling.

My favorite part: The immense variety of people, jobs and lifestyles included are so interesting - once opened this book is terribly difficult to close.

Other connections:
This is a perfect fit with our older grade health classes who keep food diaries at one point during the year.