Swan Song: Poems of Extinction

By J. Patrick Lewis
Woodcuts by Christopher Wormell

I think the foreword to this book sums everything up pretty well:
More than ninety-nine percent of all species that have ever lived are now extinct. The most enduring and compelling image of large-scale death is that of the dinosaurs, colossal reptiles who vanished from Earth sixty-five million years ago.

At the other extreme, the last falling feather of the Passenger Pigeon, which once numbered in the billions, had all the impact of a single snowflake fluttering down a canyon. The last Barbary Lion, far form being celebrated, amused a North African king as a carpet. The howling echo of Miss Waldron's Red Colobus monkey will soon be a memory to no one at all.

This book is about the recently departed. In Earth's geat forests and fields, they buzzed and chirped and bellowed through little incidents of sorry from roughly 1627 to 2000. Whether beautiful or homely, giant or dwarf, each species was its own drama in many disappearing acts, even if it was very far off the Broadway of the dinosaurs.

On Earth, six animal species die every hour, many of the most recent due to climate change, habitat destruction, or human greed or carelessness or indifference. Here are a few small epitaphs in verse to mark their passing.

There a lot of really great things that I like about this book. First, that all of these extinct animals are presented in poetry (in "a few small eitaphs," as the foreword says) makes their passing much more emotional and easy to relate to. Of course it is interesting to read nonfiction books about extinct animals as well - but many nonfiction books simply present the facts and hardly seem to mourn the loss of such interesting and unique animals. I believe that presenting this information in poetry makes it easier for children (and adults!) to recognize the importance of preserving our planet's wildlife.

Second, the illustrations in this book are all black and white woodcuts - somehow simultaneously portraying each of the animals intricately and simply at the same time. These woodcuts seem to capture the true essence of these animals, without any cartoonish qualities. Of course, many of these animals were never photographed, so I think that using woodcuts is an effective way of illustrating them.

The third thing I really enjoy is the wealth of information that this book offers. The animals are listed in order of extinction, starting with the Aurochs in 1627 and ending with Miss Waldron's Red Colobus monkey in 2000. At the top of each page is the animal's Latin name, the date of its extinction, and where it used to live. At the bottom of each page is a continuing time line telling us important events that were happening at the time - the bubonic plague in 1681, the publishing of Frankenstein in 1818, the invention of Coca-Cola in 1899, the beginning of WWI in 1914, the Great Depression in 1933, etc. I really like the inclusion of this time line because it gives us the context in which these animals disappeared. The back of the book includes "Endnotes" which give us more factual information about each of the animals, since some of the poems don't cover all the details.

This book would definitely be best suited for upper elementary readers, since a lot of the information is too specific for younger readers to fully understand. But overall I think this book would be a great resource for the classroom, because it is very interesting and it presents a serious topic in a very unique way. I definitely recommend this book!

The Dirt on Dirt

By Paulette Bourgeois and Kathy Vanderlinden
Illustrated by Martha Newbigging

This book is a fantastic resource when it comes to random facts about dirt. Bourgeois and Vanderlinden describe the dirt under your toenails, dirt biking, how to “make the world’s greatest dirt,” how rocks become dirt, tracking animals in the dirt, quicksand, buried treasures and archaeology, worms, mud baths, and just about everything else that is remotely related to dirt. As you can imagine, this book really captures the multifaceted world of dirt, and all the ways it relates to our lives. All of these fascinating facts are accompanied by hands-on projects, such as making "the world's greatest dirt" by composting in a milk carton and how to make a delicious "mud cake."

The wide variety of facts in this book is accompanied by vivid color photography, cartoon drawings, and diagrams. Together, the text and illustration create an exciting and interesting exploration into the world of dirt. This is a great resource for dirt-lovers or others who just like to learn random facts. More exciting than most nonfiction books on dirt, and more varied than books such as A Handful of Dirt, this book will offer young readers all the random facts and experiments that they could ever need.

A Handful of Dirt

By Raymond Bial

This was probably my favorite "dirt" book I read while I was compiling my text set. It is nonfiction but it describes things much more poetically than most nonfiction books for children. Beautiful and descriptive language makes it easy to see how dirt relates to our lives in an essential way. Even if you find most nonfiction books about dirt to be dull or boring, this book will definitely open your eyes to the rich, life-giving side of soil. Bial, an award-winning photo essayist, also offers a wide variety of vivid photographs, which help readers connect to the text even further.

Overall, I don't think I can say enough good things about Bial's work. It presents a lot of information in an interesting, enjoyable way.

Hair in Funny Places: A Book About Puberty

By Babette Cole

In this book, a young girl asks her teddy bear, Ted, "when will I grow up to be a grown up?"  Ted explains, "That depends on Mr. and Mrs. Hormone.  They are in charge of growing up."  He goes on to explain hormones and how they change the human body.  His descriptions are accompanied by humerous, if somewhat risque, descriptions and illustrations.  In fact, the illustrations in this book include nude drawings of both a male and a female, so reading this book with your children is not for the light-of-heart.

I found this book to be humorous and educational (it is classified as non-fiction), but I have trouble imagining myself reading it to a classroom full of giggling and blushing students.  And even though this book is rated "ages 7 and up," I especially can't imagine reading it to a classroom full of giggling and blushing first or second graders.  On one hand, it's kind of a shame that things like that are taboo in our society.  On the other hand, I can see how parents might get upset about illustrations of a naked pubescent boy and girl.  Maybe I'm just old-fashioned or conservative about that sort of thing, but if you're reading this book with young children, I would recommend it happens in the home and not in the classroom.  That way, parents can tell their children all the facts and include or avoid as many illustrations as they want.

Survival at 40 Below

By Debbie S. Miller
Illustrated by Jon Van Zyle

This new picture book explains the land of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in Alaska, and shows us what life is like for each of the animals as the seasons change and the temperatures drop.  It tells how different species prepare themselves for the eight months of snow that occur in the frozen tundra.  Among other animals, the book describes caribou, various birds, fish, frogs, grizzly bears, arctic foxes, and snowshoe hares.  This book gives very interesting facts that most people wouldn't know (like, for example, that the blackfish has an esophagus that can work like a lung, and that during the winter months this fish finds holes in the ice and breathes through its mouth).

Though this book is very specific in its scope, its unusual facts would be sure to attract the attention of children.  Reading this book would be a fun and interesting way to learn about wildlife that somehow manages to survive in an extreme climate.  In addition, the painted illustrations are very realistic and help to transport the reader from the comfort of their home or classroom to the chilly arctic tundra.  Definitely give it a look!

If America Were a Village: A Book about the People of the United States

By David J. Smith
Illustrated by Shelagh Armstrong

This wonderful nonfiction children's book explains what America would be like if it were a village of 100 people.  Each page is headed with a question, such as Who are we?  Where do we come from? What religions do we practice?  How old are we? How healthy are we?  Then, each page breaks down the demographics.  For example, the page Where do we come from? states the following:

"America is a country of immigrants.  Almost every person in the United States can trace ancestors back to other parts of the world.  If the America today were a village of 100: 15 would be of German ancestry, 11 would be of Irish ancestry, 9 African, 9 English, 7 Mexican, 6 Italian, 3 Polish, 3 French, 3 Native American, 2 Scottish, 2 Dutch, 2 Norwegian, 1 Scotch-Irish, and 1 Swedish.  The rest have other backgrounds.  This is quite a change from when the first U.S. census was taken in 1790.  If American had been a village of 100 in 1790, 53 would have come from England, 19 from Africa (most of them slaves), 11 from Scotland and Ireland, and 7 from Germany.  The rest had various backgrounds, including French, Swedish, and Native."

I thought this was a really interesting book because it breaks down a lot of facts about Americans and puts them into terms that everyone (even children) can understand.  And in addition to just listing those simple facts, it offers a lot of other information about our past, our diversity, how America compares to other countries, etc.  I think this would be a great book to use in the classroom for a variety of reasons.  It offers lessons on history.  It offers lessons about different cultures and diversity.  And it would also be an excellent way to give a math lesson on percentages.  The information on any one of these pages could easily be turned into a pie-chart as a student project.

In addition to the wealth of information in this book, it also wins points for being up-to-date (it was published in 2009) and for having beautiful, colorful paintings on each page.  If America Were a Village is really a wonderfully put together piece of work.