Tsunamis and Other Natural Disasters (A Nonfiction Companion to High Tide in Hawaii)

Author:  Mary Pope Osborne
Natalie Pope Boyce
Illustrator:  Sal Murdocca
Published:  2007

My students love Magic Tree House books.  I used to read them to my children when they were younger and they loved the books too.  Perhaps it is because I've read so many of them and have read the same ones multiple times that I find it amazing that my children search these books out in my class library. 

I decided to take a look at an informational one that I have in my class library, but I have not taken the time to read it before.  The first thing that I notice is the cover.  I find the blue and green colors soothing even though the topic is of something I hope to never experience, a tsunami.

Right off the bat, I liked this book.  We are introduced to Tilly Smith, a student who is on vacation with her family in Indonesia right before the tsunami that hit there in 2004.  Tilly remembered what her teacher had taught her about tsunamis and she ran along the beach warning people.  She saved many lives thanks to the information she learned in school!  Education that had a real-world application!  I love it!

The next part of the book reminds me of 5th grade science.  I

Chang Hen's Urn
During an earthquake a ball would fall into a frog's mouth. 
The more balls that fall in, the greater the earthquake.

could see 5th graders using this as a tool to learn about plate tectonics and earthquakes.  Scientific vocabulary is also throughout the book and explained in a way a student would understand.  Learning about science and history in books is more fun when you learn extra information too.  I learned that there are earthquakes (moonquakes) on the moon and that in ancient China a man had invented an urn that would help determine when, where, and the strength of an earthquake.

The true stories about survivors of the tsunamis are exciting and surprising.  I wonder as I read if I could survive like the woman who was found 4 days after the tsunami, clinging to a palm tree, hundreds of miles from shore. 

Visiting Yellowstone Park is something I really want to do.  There is a giant volcano under the park, that is what causes the geysers that I long to see.  The only thing is scientists predict there will be another eruption.  I don't want to be there when it does!

Showing children experiencing these disasters and as heroes makes the book interesting.  I think that I can understand the interest in the Magic Tree House nonfiction books.  There are also additional resources for children who find that they want to learn more.  A timeline of major disasters is included, books, parks, and websites with additional information for children are included as well.


Internet Resources listed in the back of the book:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/kids.php
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/tsunami/major/shtml

Check this book out from the library.
Read about Mary Pope Osborne



Underwear: What we Wear Under There

Author:  Ruth Freeman Swain
Illustrator:  John O'Brien
Published:  2008

I have to review for the SOLs with my 3rd graders.  One of the things we have to discuss is how our community and lives have changed over time.  I have found that to get my students to listen sometimes just catching their attention is enough to get them to focus.  Imagine the wide eyes when I pulled out this book - Underwear:  What We Wear Under There.  Yes, it is about underwear and the kids loved it!

The book is about the history of underwear or lack of it and how underwear has changed over time.  It really is quite interesting. The book begins with the breechcloth and loincloths.  There are references to learning how to weave and how Mahatma Gandhi wore a dhotis, loincloths worn by Indian men. 

Of course there has to be some gross information

too!  "Don't air your dirty linen in public" is a saying that was related to underwear in 16th century England.  Back then people wore underwear because baths were rare.  To help protect their clothes, people wore underwear which were infested with fleas, ticks, and mites!  YUCK!

With women's right came pants!  Actually, women wore bloomers, pajama-style pants that they could wear with bathing suits and to ride a bicycle.  We have come a long way!

"Can you say it in a whisper?  Can you say it out loud?  Can you say it without a smile?
      'I see London,
       I see France,
       I see Laura's underpants!'" (p. 29)

A timeline of underwear is included in the back of the book starting with ancient times through the 1960s when disposable diapers became available and even into the future when one day bacteria might be used to eat used underwear!

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Ruth Freeman Swain's Website

Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought)

Author:  Kathleen Krull
Illustrator:  Kathryn Hewitt
Published:  2000

 Lives of Extraordinary Women is about the lives of women in history and includes information on the good, the bad, and the ugly.  All of the stories are not glamorous and don't always make the person seem amazing, but they are really interesting.  The pictures in the book are water color and seem to be caricatures of the women.  They are colorful and detailed with very large-headed women. 

Each woman discussed in the book has her own chapter.  The women are:  Cleopatra, Eleanor of Aquitane, Joan of Arc, Isabella I, Elizabeth I, Nzingha, Catherine the Great, Marie Antoinette, Victoria, Harriet Tubman Tz'u-hs, Gertrude Bell, Jeanette Fankin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Glda meir, Indira Gandhi, Eva Peron, Wilma Mankiller, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Rigoberta Menchu.  I liked that these aren't women that we might all be familiar with so we are going to learn.  The stories are well written and the pictures are so detailed that reading more and learning was quite easy.

I read about women who I thought I knew about.  I realized that my knowledge is very superficial of many of these women.  I did not know that Cleopatra had been married to her 10 year old brother.  The family wanted to keep the royalty in the family.  The story of Cleopatra implies that she killed her brother.  Cleopatra was her father's favorite and was well educated.  She knew 8 languages!

I didn't realize that Franklin Roosevelt had an affair with Eleanor's secretary!  I'm not sure how much of that a 3rd grade child needs to know, but I know I was surprised! Mrs. Roosevelt's daily routines were twice as long as her husband's and she had a great impact on his presidency.  Mrs. Roosevelt was both loved and hated for her power in the government.  It sounds like today actually, strong women are harshly judged and treated unkindly for being in positions of power.

I did not know that Eva Peron was loved by the poor.  I had thought that she was hated for her extravagance.  It turns out that she helped bathe lice-ridden children, helped people with cash, and jobs.  She focused so much on others that she did not realize that she herself was sick.  She died of cancer at the age of 33.

The book includes a section named, "For Further Reading."  It includes the author's most useful resources and is a good reference for additional reading in the future.

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Discussion and Activity Guides
Author's Facebook Page

Who was Harriet Tubman?

Author:  Yona Zeldis McDonough
Illustrated:  Nancy Harrison
Published:  2002

In elementary school we had to learn about Harriet Tubman.  I grew up in Maryland and this was part of the curriculum.  Although Harriet Tubman is not part of the curriculum here in Virginia, I feel that our children should definitely learn about her.  I remember being inspired by her story and her fight for something good even when facing the possibility of death.
This book includes the history of Harriet Tubman's life, but also includes information on the history of slavery, and other famous abolitionists like Frederick Douglass.  Two views of a slave ship showing how the slaves were stacked in a small space to cross the Atlantic Ocean are included.  The exposure to this type of information should make students more aware of the sufferings of others and more empathetic to the sufferings endured by others. Students are also taught that families were torn apart by slave owners who sold family members.  I think students would be able to relate to this because our families are so important to us and even though we have to be apart from our families at times, most of us are able to reunite with them eventually.

Harriet Tubman

I remember being shocked by the reason we always see Harriet Tubman with a head covering.  An overseer was chasing another slave and Harriet got between the overseer and the slave.  Even as a young girl Harriet was very brave.  The overseer threw a 2 pound weight that hit Harriet on the head leaving her unconscious, bleeding, and with a large scar on her forehead.  This books shows how Harriet's mom tenderly cared for her and helped her recover.

Harriet learned how to escape to freedom and became a conductor in the Underground Railroad.  She learned about rivers, when to travel, and who she could trust.  She helped slaves escape from the south to the north, all the way to Canada.  She lead over 300 slaves to freedom.

I like to use the opportunity to teach about Harriet Tubman when I am teaching about biographies.  We mostly learn about men when we learn history so this is one of the few opportunities where we can teach the children about a heroic woman who put others first and had a great impact on the history of many slaves.

Frederick Douglass

The book is straightforward.  It includes additional information so that the reader is aware of other heroes and events from the same time period.  Information is included on slave ships, the buying and selling of slaves, the impact of slavery on cotton and tobacco, the role of Quakers in the Underground Railroad, Abraham Lincoln, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Frederick Douglass.  In addition, a timeline is included to show additional events in history during Harriet Tubman's life. 

The illustrations in the book are simple and they seem to be pencil drawings.  The role of the pictures was to visually represent the text, the pictures did not really add to the biography.  I wish the pictures were more detailed or life-like so that students could better understand how horrible this time was for the slaves.  Despite the pictures, a student unfamiliar with Harriet Tubman would find her story inspirational and fascinating.

This book is written for girls and boys and is definitely at the 3rd grade level.  It is appropriate for providing information about a specific time in history and about the history of an amazing woman.  I believe that third graders, especially third grade girls, would be interested in learning more about this topic after reading this book as an introduction to Harriet Tubman. 

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Underground Railroad
Visit Frederick Douglass's home!

A Really Short History of Nearly Everything

Author:  Bill Bryson
Illustrator:  Yuliya Somina, Martin Sanders
Published:  2008

When I was little I remember getting a book a big book about answers to interesting questions.  I cried when I got the book because what I really wanted was a pinball machine, but once I got over it, I read the book.  It was fun and I still have the book.  I probably got the book in 1978, but I still pull it out to share the information with my family.  This book is like that one.  It is just filled with lots of fun facts.  As a matter of fact, I can't stop thinking about some of the things I've learned. They are amazing and confusing and interesting all in one.

This book takes us from the creation of the universe up to almost present day.  I have to admit, I'm still confused about the creation of the universe.  It's just not something I cannot fathom, but I appreciate that someone has tried to explain this to me in simple language.

Here are some interesting facts I learned:
Did you know that if you dropped a brick down to the center of the Earth, it would take it 45 minutes to get there?  (I still want to know what happens if we had a hole that went from one end of the Earth to the other. Would the brick start falling back after it got to the center?   Does it just float in the center?  These are probably embarassing questions for me to be asking, but I don't know any better!)
Did you know that Isaac Newton was a bit strange?  He inserted a long needle in his eye socket to see what would happen.  Amazingly or maybe luckily, nothing happened.
Did you know that an iguanadon skeleton had one of his nails placed in his nose, like a spike, because people didn't know how its bones really went together?
Did you know that Madam Curie's paperwork is still so radioactive that you have to wear special clothes to read them?

These are the types of interesting facts listed in this book.  It would be a good tool for a student who is learning about a new topic.  Getting these fun tidbits might be the inspiration a child needs to want to learn more.  These bits of info could also be used as hooks by teachers to introduce a new lesson.

There are photographs and drawing in the book.  The photos and drawings both serve their purpose, they help reinforce the information and they are entertaining.

This book is supposed to be a "short" history, and I suppose it is, but it is a fairly large sized book with 161 pages.  I was able to sit down and read it in a few hours though.  If you are not into history, but want to be inspired, check this book out.

Check it out from the library.
Author Notes

Poptropica Mythology

Author:  Tracey West
Published:  2007
Play the game if you must.

I purchased this book because at the end of the year, after SOLs, my team thought it would be fun to have the children learn about mythology.  We want to create a museum to teach other students about mythology and Greek history.

This was not the book to buy.  I read it and it had so little information that it is actually difficult to remember what I read.  Information on each of the 12 Olympians is limited to 2 pages each.  There are no stories to go along with each Olympian to help me learn about them, just a brief overview.  I should have looked through the book a bit better when I purchased it, but it looked like something my students would enjoy looking through.  The pictures are fun, but it is difficult to distinguish one god from another because they all look so much alike as these Poptropica characters.

I loved mythology growing up and read books filled with the stories of the gods.  This book is just an overview and would help you find out a bit about a particular god, but it is not going to inspire anyone to read more about them.  Children that only have this book as a resource will not continue reading about mythology. 

I will use this book as a quick reference for me and perhaps point out a few pages for my low-level readers, but I will find another resource that will be more inspiring.

The most disappointing feature in the book was the reference to the website and the mythology game that can be played.  The book is more of an advertisement for that website.  So, I went to the website to play the game.  Maybe I'm just old, but it was awful.  I met Hercules and could get my picture taken with him for 10 drachmas.  I didn't learn one thing about Hercules in the game.  Would a child wonder what a drachma was and research it?  I doubt it.  I've seen my kids play video games.  There is no reading happening.  They are running through the game as quickly as possible to win without regard for anything else.

I may be the completely wrong audience for this book, so please take that into account with my opinion.  I'm looking at the book as someone who wants to learn more about mythology and someone who is considering a book to share with a third grade class. 

I am now on a search for a better book.  I know I read a good one when I was a child and I was motivated to read more.  I doubt this book will do that for anyone.

If you feel that you just must check this book out from the library, click here. 
Learn about Greek Mythology (The Online World of Rick Riordan)