THOMAS JEFFERSON'S BATTLE FOR SCIENCE: A Picture Book Review and Giveaway

Beth Anderson is no stranger to my blog. Her outstanding nonfiction biographies find little-known stories within a historical character's well-known life. Thomas Jefferson's Battle for Science: Bias, Truth, and a Mighty Moose! (Calkins Creek, 2024) is her latest contribution to her other great curriculum resources for grades 2-5. The engaging illustrations by Jeremy Holmes amplify the text and pull readers of all ages into the book.

REVIEW

The book opens with illustrations of the animals, plants, and geographical formations that Jefferson studied. The text reads, "Young Thomas Jefferson measured his world." He collected fossils and bones. "The power and majesty of nature called him to question, experiment, and explore." He was quite certain it was all peaceful and measurable until he read Count Georges-Luis Lecleric De Buffon's encyclopedia of the natural world.

The battle began.

Buffon declared that the new world was swampy, cold, and lacked magnificent animals like lions and elephants. He wrote that bears were smaller and wolves were puny. Jefferson read,

"Suddenly science wasn't certain or peaceful."

The War of Independence erupted and Jefferson focused on his role as the Virginia representative to Congress. But inside of him, his own battle raged. He asked questions about Buffon's "facts." Most of all, he wanted to know how the French naturalist could write about America without ever traveling here! He compiled evidence to disprove Buffon's conclusions and wrote his own book--Notes on the State of Virginia! (His only full-length book published in his lifetime.)

He packed his bags and went to France to present his arguments and evidence to Buffon. After months of waiting to hear from Buffon, they agreed to meet in person. Now, the battle began in earnest!

Without including spoilers, I'll just say that Thomas Jefferson's Battle for Science lets the reader see how despite setbacks, Jefferson fought his battle for truth and facts. 

In the end,

IN TIME, new truths overshadowed Buffon's biased ideas. The land that Thomas loved wasn't a terrible, unhealthy place. It wasn't better or worse than the Old World. JUST MEASURABLY DIFFERENT.

 

BACK MATTER

The Author's Notes, Timeline, and Bibliography are all worth reading. I loved the endpapers that Jeremy Holmes created from footprints of animals that Jefferson observed. 

The discussion guide can be found here.

YOUTUBE VIDEO

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GIVEAWAY

If you are interested in winning this book, please leave me a comment by April 25. U.S. addresses only. Teachers, home school educators, and librarians get two chances. Beth is happy to provide a virtual Q&A if an educator wins. If you share this on social media or sign-up to follow my blog you'll get an extra chance too. MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IF YOU ARE NEW TO MY BLOG!

Celebrate Valentine's Day with a Giveaway of VALENTINES FOR ALL by Nancy Churnin

 It seems as if we just celebrated New Year's and now it's time for Valentine's Day! To help celebrate, I have the perfect book for your child, grandchild, classroom or library-- VALENTINES FOR ALL: Esther Howland Captures America's Heart by Nancy Churnin and illustrated by Monika Rosa Wisniewska. 

REVIEW

From the opening of the story where Esther Howland gets the idea of creating valentines, to the end where she is a woman in a wheel chair watching a young couple read one of her valentines, each page is decorated with a fictional "Rose are Red, Violets are Blue" rhyme. How can you not love a book that is historical, sweet, and poetic all at the same time?

                          Roses are red. Violets are blue.  

I've got an idea for something new.

Despite Esther's brothers' skepticism that her business wouldn't take off--it did! She believed that people couldn't always express big feelings in words and that cards would help them communicate how they loved another person.

When her first order was for five thousand cards she enlisted her friends to help make them.

Roses are red. Dahlias are lime. How can I make so many in time?

When the Civil War began in 1861she was surprised how many wives asked for cards for their soldier husbands.

Roses are red. Pussy willows are gray.
When people are hurting I know what to say.

Eventually, Esther realized that she could create birthday and holiday cards that would help people convey their feelings throughout the year.

Roses are red. Night tulips are black. Looking for words? They're in my card rack.

Esther had to use a wheelchair after she slipped, fell, and injured her knee.  That didn't stop her card-making business though. She printed a poetry book so that her customers could cut and paste words and create their own cards. 

Esther is a great model of perseverance to make your dream come true. As Nancy Churnin's last poem states:

Roses are red. Forget-me-nots, blue. Why don't you make your dreams come true?

BACK MATTER

The Author's Note includes wonderful information about how Esther was a successful woman entrepreneur many years before women earned the right to vote. At the height of her business, she earned more than $100,000 per year--which is the equivalent of two million dollars today.

There is a page dedicated to creating your own valentines and how to send them to Nancy's website or to the Worcester Historical Museum in Worcester, MA where Esther lived.

CURRICULUM RESOURCE

This book can be used as a resource when teaching American history, women's changing roles, writing, and art. Since the author frequently mentions Esther Howland's desire to strengthen relationships, VALENTINES FOR ALL can also be a SEL resource. The illustrations inspire readers to create their own valentines.

GIVEAWAY

Albert Whitman is giving away a copy of VALENTINES FOR ALL to one fortunate reader. To get this in the mail ASAP, this giveaway ends February 3. As usual, if you share on social media, sign up for my blog, or are an educator or librarian, you will get an extra chance. Let me know in the comments and make sure to leave your email address if you are new to my blog. U.S. addresses only.

BOUNTIFUL RED ACRES by Eileen Heyes: A Review, Author Interview and Giveaway

 It is my pleasure to introduce Bountiful Red Acres by my North Carolina friend, Eileen Heyes. Written for third-eighth graders, it details a year in the life of two families one Black and one White in Surry County, as they move from season to season in 1900. The book is beautifully illustrated by Dare Coulter and is a welcome North Carolina resource published in 2023. All illustrations are used with permission of the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

This is the story of an ordinary year in the lives of two ordinary families, raising crops, rearing children, building community. (p.5)

INTRODUCTIONS

The book opens with touching introductions by descendants of both the Sawyers and Hauser families. Mary Hauser and Janie Hauser Morgan wrote: "Reading about the Sawyerses and Hausers as neighbors and community members brings beautiful new texture to the lives we imagined when we visited Shoals and depth to our understanding of North Carolina's Piedmont...lives are both deeply intertwined yet separate, bound by the rhythms of the same seasons, and also made starkly different by the legacy of slavery." 

Jerry Ward, a Sawyers descendant wrote, "I am excited and thankful that my family lived their lives so that, even after the passing of more than a century, they and the Hauser family are still touching lives today."

Eileen writes in her prologue, "What's so special about this community, Shoals Township? Well, nothing. "And that's the point. All across the Piedmont at the turn of the twentieth century, many rural communities were a lot like Shoals."

Each season includes information about the annual activities that comprise normal life. The book shows how Blacks and whites lived

separately and yet their lives were intertwined in work and play. Each season has a sidebar with details about daily life that might be unfamiliar to students. 

REVIEW

Winter

In the cold months of winter,...rural families work as hard as ever. 

A squirrel hunting party sets off on January 1, 1900.

Today's young readers might be aware of hunting, preserving food, chopping wood, or quilting, 

Neighbors quilting together.

but I wonder how many have thought about a different chore--harvesting ice. Along with other neighbors, Adam Sawyers and his sons helped hack and haul six feet square blocks of ice to the Hauser's icehouse. Everyone who worked received a share of the ice when they needed it during the hot summer. 

The sidebar for Winter describes how ice was made from the dammed creek and stored in a cellar-like hole that is lined with straw and insulated with sawdust.

SPRING

The windows were opened wide to let in fresh air and the school year was over. Children were free to help on the farm--indoors and out. They were needed to help with spring cleaning, cooking, and harrowing and planting fields. 

Although this was a hopeful time of year with flowers budding, it also brought sadness to the Sawyers family. Annually on Good Friday, Mr. Sawyers took his son Preston to the Hauser family graveyard to tend to the graves of his four baby sons. Along the way, Mr. Sawyers explained that the township didn't have an African-American graveyard. So, they turned to their friends, the Hausers who made room for his sons.

Mr. Sawyers at the cemetery.

The sidebar for Spring discusses segregation and some of the economic effects on Blacks.

Summer

Fruits were ripe and plentiful on both the Sawyers' and Hauser's farms. Plums, apples, and blackberries were picked, dried, and preserved for the cooler months.  Children helped with the weeding, cutting lumber, picking off tobacco worms, and feeding the livestock. It took a lot of work to keep hungry families fed and functioning.

The sidebar for Summer is about the once-every-decade census. Nathanael Boydon visited all the families in Shoals and often stayed for dinner. When he didn't get around to visit every family, he filled in the forms anyway. No one bothered to correct him. 

FALL

 

Harvesting honey was a huge task that involved lots of time and several pairs of hands. Even the drained beeswax was used and made into candles. The Shoals farm families were busy harvesting, canning, and making just about everything from apples that you can imagine. Nothing went to waste. Even the corn husks were put to use--as dolls or in the privy or stuffed into bed ticks.

The children returned to school in November. The African-American children went to a one-room schoolhouse where Dalton Sawyers taught 21 children in all six grades. Since the White school burned down a year earlier, they were schooled in groups in private homes.

The sidebar from Fall talks about common modes of transportation. Although Thomas Hauser owned a surrey, most folks got around by walking. 

The book ends with a return to winter and an epilogue in which the author shares how the two farms eventually became the Horne Creek Living Historical Farm. Admission is free--so buckle up the kids and experience life on a working farm in 1900.

INTERVIEW

CAROL: How did you end up writing this book?  Did you approach the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources with the idea or did they come to you? Did they set the parameters of the book? 

EILEEN: The book that became Bountiful Red Acres had a kind of complicated, twisty history. I'll spare you several years of backstory on that. I was hired to write the story on recommendation from my dear friend, author-illustrator Anne Runyon. By that time the folks at DNCR had decided what they wanted was a book about the Sawyers and Hauser families, who lived on what is now a State Historic Site called Horne Creek Living Historical Farm. It's a beautiful site, in Surry County, south of Pilot Mountain State Park. 

The only parameters my editors gave me were that my story should have a narrative structure and a child's point of view. Then, in consultation with the site manager at the farm, Lisa Turney, I settled on telling the story of the year 1900 from the POVs of 10-year-old Preston Sawyers and 12-year-old Robert Hauser -- perfect ages for a book aimed at 4th-grade readers.

 

CAROL: Since its publication, have you heard if teachers are using it in classrooms? Perhaps as part of NC studies?

EILEEN: I know of at least one teacher who plans on using it in her classroom at Durham's R.N. Harris Elementary. Also, Rodney Dawson, an Education and interpretation Specialist with the N.C. African American Heritage Commission has been promoting my book as a resource for teachers. And I've been delighted to see the Sawyers and Hauser descendants embracing my book. One Hauser descendant bought copies to donate to all the schools in Surry County, plus more to distribute among his family members.

What I hope students and teachers will get out of this book is a glimpse of the "missing middle" in our history. When we study history, we tend to focus on heroes and achievers, or we study conflicts and victims. But we give a lot less attention to ordinary people and how they lived, how they kept moving through every day, year after year and kept the world turning. This is who the Sawyerses and Hausers were -- a Black family and a white family who had adjacent farms in a time when law and custom kept Blacks and whites apart in many aspects of life. Here in their ordinary farming community of Shoals, the Sawyerses and Hausers were friends. Despite the pervasive racial and economic inequalities, these two families farmed successfully, they made sure their children got an education, they lived with dignity and they just plain carried on.

CAROL: Please speak about the research process. What was fun and joyful, what was difficult (and maybe?) depressing or discouraging?  How long did you research before you started writing?

EILEEN: Research for this project was easier than for most nonfiction because most of what I needed was in the files at Horne Creek Farm. Back in the 1980s and '90s, when the farm was being prepared as a State Historic Site, other researchers had searched out the histories of the community, the property, and the two families. Site Manager Lisa Turney was my guide through those existing resources. Another really helpful source was a newspaper called The Progressive Farmer out of Winston, N.C., which is digitized in the Library of Congress's "Chronicling America" collection. Great online resource for anyone wanting to re-create American history!

The research, outlining, drafting, and writing unfolded over several years, for a variety of reasons. It was an unusually leisurely project.

The most fun part for me was visiting the farm, which of course I had to do in each season to portray the changing sights, sounds, and fragrances of the farm in the course of a year. Spending time on site helped me sort through the mountain of information and pick out the details I wanted to use, the specific facts that would bring the story to life for young readers. I set out to hit a target length of 4,000-6,000 words but ended up at more like 7,600 words because there were just so darn many interesting details to include -- and my editors agreed, it all needed to be there. 

I'd also like to say, I love the way artist Dare Coulter brought her own insights to the story. As you know, an author has no input on how a book is illustrated. I had seen Dare's work and was thrilled to learn that she would be on the project. Sure enough, her art added a whole different dimension to the story. And big credit to Sheilah Barrett Carroll, the book's designer and editor, who pulled everything together into a cohesive whole. I am grateful for the privilege of working with both of these talented women!

GIVEAWAY

If you're interested in winning this unique book, please leave me a comment by August 29. If you prefer, you can always email me. If you are new to my blog or are from North Carolina, I'll put your name in twice; just let me know in the comments. 

                                        *****

Congratulations to Gail Hurlburt who won The Pie That Molly Grew and to JoLynn Worden and Kathy Dykstra who won copies of Disconnected.

Don't forget to check out other great MG books on Greg Pattridge's Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday blog.

JOSEPHINE AND HER DISHWASHING MACHINE: A STEM Picture Book Giveaway

Have you ever wondered who invented the dishwasher? Read my review and you'll find out!

REVIEW of Josephine and Her Dishwashing Machine

This STEM picture book by Kate Hannigan starts with an introduction that gives the reader an idea about this spunky woman and the historical context of the story. And I love how illustrator, Sarah Green, shows Josephine looking out of the page as if she's looking into the future.

Next, we see the inciting incident: chipped dishes!

Josephine puts on an apron and goes to work. But,

Stuck at the sink washing dirty plates, Josephine's fingers weren't free to tickle the ivories at the piano. Or pick her favorite flowers....or even scratch the furry ears of her beloved hounds! (Isn't that a clever way of showing Josephine's interests?)

So, she decided to find a way to get her dinnerware clean without dings and nicks.

She pondered.

She sketched

She tinkered.

                ....

She measured saucers and soup bowls, calculating how big her contraption would be.

She used pliers and wires, shaping metal baskets to hold plates, glasses, and spoons.

(Did you notice the alliteration and the internal rhyme?)

 Despite the grief and financial worries after her husband died, Josephine and George tested and tinkered and pushed and persevered until she was satisfied.

Josephine submitted a patent application and waited a year. In December 1885 she was awarded a patent for her dish-washing machine!

https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/journeys-innovation/historical-stories/ill-do-it-myself

Josephine's next obstacle was to find investors who would help build her business. She took her machine to the 1893 Columbian Exposition and she took home the highest prize!

She found financial backers and orders poured in from hotels, restaurants, schools, and hospitals. 

https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/journeys-innovation/historical-stories/ill-do-it-myself

Even into her seventies, Josephine was marketing her machine to hotels and modern department stores.

I love how this book comes full circle, mirroring Josephine's initial dreams--and how the illustrator gave Josephine a special place--on the front of a lovely teacup. 

This STEM book is a great curriculum resource for K-3rd grade as an aid in discussing inventions, women's history, and the industrial revolution. For more backstory on why Kate Hannigan picked Josephine's story, see Beth Anderson's blog. For more information about Josephine's patent process, go here.

How would you like to own this dish-washing machine? 

https://kidsdiscover.com/quick-reads/meet-the-woman-who-invented-the-automatic-dishwasher/

GIVEAWAY

To enter this giveaway, please leave your name and email address (if you are new to my blog) by April 29. U.S. addresses only. If you prefer not to leave your name, you can email me instead. Educators and librarians get a second chance, just identify yourself in the comments.

Congratulations to Hewi Mason who won Mr. Thatcher's House and to Danielle Hammelef who won Luna's Green Pet.

GAIJIN, BOMB, MAUS and I SURVIVED THE NAZI INVASION : Four WWII Graphic Novel Reviews

When a writer begins a work of historical fiction, she must start with research. For me, that means hours of reading Holocaust websites and books.  

As I mentioned in my first blog about Escape from Nuremberg, I decided to try my hand at writing a graphic novel. So, of course, that meant reading them to understand the genre. Here are the first few that I found at my library. 

GAIJIN by Matt Faulkner

Matt Faulkner's story of a Japanese-American boy is based on Faulkner's great-aunt's experiences. 13-year-old Koji Miyamoto faces prejudice and persecution after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He worries that his father might be fighting for the Japanese but doesn't receive word from him. 

Koji is put into an internment camp and his mother chooses to go with him. There he faces even greater pressure from the other boys who call him "Gaijin" (foreigner); he is a stranger and alien in his own country. He is pressured into committing petty crimes but eventually chooses to do the right thing. 

In the end, six years later, Koji is reunited with his father in Japan.

Since this was my first WWII graphic novel, I was interested to see how the passage of time is shown simply through small text boxes on the page and how much of the story is communicated through the illustrations.  It made me appreciate the art behind the graphic novel genre--a book told through vivid images and sparse text. 

In the Author's Note, Faulkner describes his great-aunt's trauma of being sent to an internment camp.

BOMB written by Steven Sheinkin and illustrated by Nick Bertozzi

This graphic novel adaptation of Steve Sheinkin's novel, BOMB: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon, was hard to put down. The recommended reading level is from 10-14, but it's a complicated story with flashbacks and multiple characters. I think it would be challenging for the average ten-year-old although it would show him the immense story behind the bomb's development, and probably demand a second read for true comprehension. Full of science such as physics and chemistry and history, I think it's suitable for older readers and adults as well.

BOMB is a story within a story. The "bookends" of the book are images of the FBI coming to arrest Harry Gold in May 1950 and then showing him put in prison. The story of the bomb's creation is set within the context of Harry telling the FBI agents how he leaked atomic secrets to the Soviets. 

A ton of information is included: world politics and politicians,  prestigious scientists who played different parts, places where the bomb was tested, the spies and unsung heroes, and the men who dropped the bomb are all mentioned. Although Sheinkin clearly shows why the bomb was developed and detonated, he and Bertozzi also show the devastation and destruction in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

In keeping with the serious nature of the book, the colors are dark and foreboding. 

BOMB_Excerpt_p62.jpg

MAUS by Art Spiegelman

Although MAUS: A Survivor's Tale, was not written to be a graphic novel, it has become a classic that tells the Holocaust story from the perspective of a survivor (William Spiegelman) as told to his son, Art Spiegelman. Notably, it is the first comic book to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 and is graphic in its portrayal of the Holocaust and its effects on victims and their children. 

Like BOMB, this story is also bookended by the narrator and there is the same story-within-a-story motif. The reader gets a brief glimpse into Art's childhood which foreshadows what William experienced in the war. The books moves quickly to Art's adulthood in which he is estranged from his father. The book shows Art's desperation in capturing his father's story. Was this so he can write and publish it? Or is it because he longs for reconciliation with his father. One can only wonder. 

The reader views William's trauma as the Polish Jews are terrorized and murdered, but we also see Art's trauma following his mother's suicide, his conflicts with his father, and his feelings of worthlessness and despair.  The multi-generational effects of the Holocaust are disturbing. 

Spiegleman's art is very different than Bertozzi's. His panels are in black and white as seen from a scene in the opening of the book. (I found it on this Pinterest board).

I SURVIVED: The Nazi Invasion, 1944 from the novel by Lauren Tarshis, adapted by Georgia Ball, illustrated by Alvaro Sarraseca, and colored by Juanma Aguilera.

This book follows Max and his younger sister, Zena, who live in a ghetto in Esties, Poland. Their father was taken away by the Nazis and they're on their own. Finding a chance to escape, they hide in a hayfield where a sympathetic farmer gives them shelter. 

Much to their surprise, they find their aunt hiding in the same farm. She is a member of a partisan group that is resisting Hitler and conducting raids against Nazi factories and trains. 

Max and Zena are led to their hideout in a swamp, but their journey is filled with peril as the Nazis spot them. 

The ending is satisfactory as the children are reunited with their father, but the devastating effects of war are not minimized. 

The graphic novel is adapted by Georgia Ball from the award-winning novel by Lauren Tarshis. The text and illustrations (by Alvaro Sarraseca and colored by Juanma Aguilera) move the story along quickly. I had read about the partisan effort in Germany, but particularly appreciated learning more about their work in Poland. The book includes back matter about the Holocaust. 

All of these powerful books would be great curriculum resources in either middle school or high school. 

GRACE BANKER AND HER HELLO GIRLS ANSWER THE CALL Part I- A Review and Informational Picture Book Giveaway

Claudia Friddell is no stranger to my blog. A year ago I featured her book, Saving Lady Liberty: Joseph Pulitzer Fight for the Statue of Liberty. Today I have another fantastic informational picture book, Grace Banker and Her Hello Girls (Calkins Creek, 2021). In Part II Claudia and illustrator Elizabeth Baddeley provide the back story to this glimpse into the women who served behind the scenes in World War I. 

REVIEW

Drawing upon Grace's diaries and interviews, the story opens in December 1917 with Grace reading how the commander of the U.S. troops in Europe was issuing a call for female telephone operators. 

That was not the only way that women were called to help with the war effort,

but it was the one Grace acted on.

As a telephone operator, she had the skills and she also knew French and English. But, women had never been allowed in the army.

Grace was thrilled not only to be accepted into the Signal Corps, but she was named the chief operator of the first group of thirty-seven women to go overseas. After two months of drills and classes, the Signal Corps Girls headed to France on board the troop ship Celtic.

By U.S. Navy photo NH 912, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8664455 

The minute the Signal Corps Girls started plugging in cords and connecting calls at General Pershing's headquarters in France, calls poured in from homesick doughboys missing the voices of their mothers, sisters, wives, and sweethearts.

Grace loved her busy twenty-four-hour days. She wrote in her journal, "Never spent more time at the office and never enjoyed anything more. My girls work like beavers."

When General Pershing moved his headquarters to the front, Grace and her girls followed--with gas masks and helmets hanging from their chairs. Grace was almost hit by shrapnel but nothing kept the women from making sure that every call was connected. "Any missed command could lose the battle."

At one point General Pershing moved the unit to a top-secret location. 

Like the conductor of an orchestra, Grace directed her girls from the top of a crate. With fingers flying over the fighting lines' switchboards, the operators barely noticed the bitter winds or leaky barracks.

When a fire broke out in the barracks, the girls wouldn't leave their posts. Only when they were threatened with court-martial did they leave their switchboards!

Finally, on November 11, 1918, a captain of the Signal Courts picked up Grace's phone and made an urgent call--

On May 22, 1919 Grace was the first woman soldier to receive the U.S. Army's Distinguished Service Medal. She wrote in her journal:

There are many who saw far more service than I, and many who earned medals even if they did not receive them. Mine I consider as a tribute to the girls who worked under me at the First Army and to the Signal Corps men operators scattered throughout the tiny tiny field offices. 

BACK MATTER

Seven pages of back matter include a timeline, the fight to obtain full veteran's benefits for the operators, relevant statistics, information on how a switchboard worked, an extended bibliography and interesting artist's notes. There's no question that this book is an excellent curriculum resource for 1st-3rd graders. 

Come back next week to read about how Claudia obtained this amazing story and more information on Elizabeth's process of researching and creating the illustrations.

GIVEAWAY

Leave me a comment along with your email address and I'll enter your name once. Leave a second comment on Part II and you'll be in twice. U.S. addresses only. If you prefer, send me an email to enter.