Book of the Day

Really, all I have to do is say this book is about vomit and half the people reading this will stop right there and run to the library because they’re already sold, and the other half will stop and move quickly on to another website.

Despite its disgusting premise, the book is actually fairly informative. Kids are endlessly fascinated by bodily functions, and this book will help to explain the processes and reasons behind vomiting. Why do we get nauseous? Why does the sight and smell of someone else throwing up make us want to throw up too? All of these questions and more are answered.

The format of the book is solid, though not exceptional. The many pictures of slightly ill-looking children will be appealing, but the captions generally have little or nothing to do with the nearby body of text. Vocabulary words are defined in a side box on the same page and then again later in a glossary, a decision I think is fabulous. Many kids are too impatient to run to the glossary whenever a new word comes up, but at the same time other kids might not remember in the next chapter what a word meant and want to look it up. This way you have the best of both worlds.

One of the more surprising chapters in the new book NurtureShock is the evidence that children inherently notice the races of the people around them and, when left to their own devices, make the conclusion that people who look most like themselves are best. It is therefore vital to a racially tolerant society that discussions about race begin at a very young age. Almost as if in answer to this new focus on young children and skin tone comes the newly published book Shades of People.

Featuring full-color photos of small children of every conceivable skin color, the book makes explicit that skin is “just our covering” and that “you can’t tell what someone is like from the color of their skin”. The book then talks about how even in the same family different members can have different shades of skin, and that in the park, at school, and at the playground you can see lots of people with lots of different skin tones. The pictures dominate each page. Some pictures are of a single child, others of children playing together, both in multi-racial and single-race groups. All of the pictures are engaging and will appeal to small children who are often fascinated by other pictures of babies and children. The text is simple enough to use with toddlers, while it will make a perfect jumping off point for discussion with older children.

You’re watching a horror movie when suddenly giant spiders leap onto the screen. They’re larger than a car and about to eat our heroes! So why aren’t we plagued with such monstrosities in the real world? Just the Right Size: Why Big Animals are Big and Little Animals are Little is here to tell us why.

Using clear, direct language that breaks complex ideas into simpler concepts that kids can readily understand and comprehend, the book does an excellent job of conveying the information. Each page, and each concept, is accompanied by cartoons illustrating the text. Some of the cartoons are equal parts humorous and informational, others lean in one direction or the other.

The topic is fascinating, and will appeal to children (and most likely their parents) who are interested in science. There is an index and glossary, though no bibliography. Although this is a short book, and there are areas that could have used a bit more explanation, for the most part it packs a whallop of an informational punch.

Technically, this is a picture book, not a nonfiction book. But it’s teaching the alphabet, and it has gorgeous pictures of animals, complete with interesting facts, so I’m going to let it slide and just call it nonfiction.

Children love animals. This is a largely undisputed fact. Children also need to (eventually) learn the alphabet. So why not combine the two? Andrew Zuckerman has taken his phenomenal photographs from his coffee-table sized book Creature and paired them with letters to create a visually stunning abecedarian. A pair of upper and lower case letters appears in stark black against a white background. On the opposite page is a closeup of an animal, also against a white background. Turn the page and there is another image of the animal, this time with a label. Most of the time there is a direct animal/letter correlation, other times the letter stands for a group (such as insect or nocturnal.)

The photographs used are stunning (have I mentioned that already?) Older children who have already long since mastered their letters will likely be intrigued simply by the pictures. Placing the animals against a white background, rather than within their usual habitat means that one can focus entirely on the animal instead of being distracted by the environment. A tour de force.

The Scientists in the Field series of nonfiction books profiles actual scientists doing hands-on work, with explanations of the science as well as biographies on how the individual scientist came to his or her career. This particular volume focuses on scientists whose work brings them to “perilous places” – namely the eye of a hurricane, the depths of a cave, and the top of a redwood tree.

The photography in the book is excellently done, and displayed to best effect. Despite the large number of pictures, the book is intended for older elementary or middle school readers, with a lot of in-depth text with tons of information about the topic at hand. A separate “Quick Questions” section at the end of each profile gives concise answers to the sorts of questions kids might ask, such as “have you ever been seriously injured?” or “what do you eat?”

There is a glossary of terms at the end of the book, divided into three sections based on the three scientific fields covered in the book. Sources are cited, based mostly on personal interviews with the book’s subjects. A list of recommended books to read for further information is also included.

A sure-to-be-intriguing mix of scientific facts ladled out with an edge of danger, the book puts equal weight on the science as well as on the adventure. While the exotic factor of scaling enormous trees or flying into gale force winds is used as a draw, the authors also emphasize the fact that the profiled individuals are doing it all in the name of science, and the more mundane scientific actions, such as growing microbes in a petri dish or tallying up statistics are also presented as a fun part of the job.

Fake vomit, short sheets, and ex-lax brownies: what could be more fun? This book devotes itself to pranks and mischief of all kinds, with detailed instructions, recipes and suggestions for how to become a world-class mischief maker.

I liked that this book encouraged pranksters to think big. Why be a run-of-the-mill practical joker when, with a little more effort and creativity you can become a legend? Sure, there are lots of standard, almost traditional, practical jokes included here, but so are a lot of other, more clever ideas, along with a repeated encouragement to improvise and improve upon the concepts mentioned here.

Also to like: the prankster’s code, which matter-of-factly states that no prankster worth his or her salt is going to do something that could potentially damage another person, or even do permanent damage to property. As the book points out, very reasonably, if you get hurt then your pranking career is over, and if someone else gets hurt then not only is your career over, but you’re in tons of trouble. The same goes for property damage: adults are willing to chuckle and shake their heads over non-damaging pranks – particularly if they’re clever – but the minute that an adult has to pay to have something mended or replaced, then you are in Trouble with a capital T. I’ve seen other prank-type books that tried to get this message across and simply sounded like a preachy adult. This book manages to get the tone just right, so that becoming a safe joker simply makes more sense than risking possible harm. Even the ex-lax joke I mentioned in the first paragraph is really just making people think you’ve used ex-lax, not actually incorporating over-the-counter drugs into food.

Any aspiring practical jokers absolutely need to get their hands on this book, which is chock-full of useful suggestions and ingenious plans.

The scene (literally) is set: it’s 1783 and the new American nation is struggling to come to terms with the Articles of Confederation. A bold decision is made: the Articles will be junked completely in favor of a new Constitution. But what powers will the Constitution grant, and how will thirteen very different states ever manage to agree?

This book is set up as if it were a school play, complete with audience members. The states are represented by children dressed up in state costumes. (It is only as I was writing this that I suddenly realized that the girl playing New Jersey has a flowerpot on her head to represent the Garden State. Clever.) The students re-enact and reinterpret the major changes enacted by the Constitution, as well as the difficulties and compromises required to write the document.

Many people tend to forget that the Constitution was not our original governing document. This extremely child-friendly book provides an engaging and dynamic look at a subject that could easily be quite dry. Most pages feature an unknown narrator make a statement of fact about the government or situation, at which point the “states” talk to each other with word bubbles to add information or explain their thinking or objections. I am often suspicious of books that try to cartoonize history. This book manages to be that rare beast that is able to pull off excellent cartoonwork with interesting text to create an overall package that is both appealing to children and educational.

More than a century after Origin of Species was published, Charles Darwin’s work is still widely read and, in some parts of the world, widely debated. Evolution Revolution is not one of the debatable books. Although it gives a nod to the controversy of the original publication, the rest of the book rest solidly on science and the overwhelming abundance of information and facts that act to support Darwin’s work.

Like most of the books published by DK, the formatting is spot-on for its intended audience, working to entice children to read nonfiction. Each double-paged spread is dedicated to a specific topic, with multiple captions and text boxes that encourage browsing. Pictures are abundant and colorful. The text is engaging and written at an appropriate level, yet does not “dumb down” the material. Evolution is a complex topic, and the book is careful to build each concept so that children can understand what is going on.

While the book is not perfect – I was particularly put off by sexist comment that suggested that the difference between hunting and gathering means that “men can read maps and women like shopping” – there is a lot to like.

Panda’s are furry and cute, and thus are one of the many mammals – such as kittens, kangaroos, and meerkats – that are beloved by thousands of people. This book has two parallel tracks. One counts baby pandas while the other gives information about the giant panda life cycle and habitat.

The photographs are spot-on, capturing the cuddly-looking cuteness of the animals that are the reason most children will pick up the book in the first place. I did not entirely care for the dual nature of the book, counting down on one page while giving information on the other. Children who are old enough to read and appreciate the information section might be scared away by the “babyish” aspect of the counting, while young children who just want to look at the pictures are not going to be as interested in the facts. Still, if some of the younger children sit still to hear the information we can hope that they will grow up to be naturalists.

An afterword includes information on the earthquake that damaged the breeding facility where most of the pictures were taken. A subtext of the book is that the number of giant pandas is declining, creating a worrisome situation in regards to their survival.

Weak and asthmatic as a young boy, Teedie would grow up to become the famous – and famously healthy – Teddy Roosevelt. But before he was president, he was a sickly child who strengthened his body through sheer force of will, and continued to struggle with asthma even as an adult.

The first half of this book covers “Teedie’s” childhood, including his learning to box and becoming interested in the natural sciences. The second half briefly touches upon Teddy’s adult adventures as a soldier and, later, president. As is befitting in a picture book biography, few details are given about any specific time in his life.

As previously mentioned, this is a picture book biography, meaning that there are illustrations on every page, with only one or two paragraphs of information. While this lack of detail will make it inadvisable for school reports or a serious interest in Teddy’s life, young children will enjoy a “real story” about a famous individual, and may use the book as an entry into a historical period and biography of a man that continues to fascinate millions of people even decades after his death.