Dragon Dancer

Chng, J. (2015). Dragon Dancer. UK: Lantana Publishing.

Dragon Dancer talks about a legend of Chinese dragon dance. The main character of the story is boy named Yao, who is a young dragon dancer. The story happened in the Chinese New Year’s eve, and Yao was just about to prepare his costume by waking up the sleeping Shenlong. At the moment Shen Long opened his giant eyes, Yao’s fantastic journey of casting out bad luck had begun. Before Shenlong went back to rest again, he complimented Yao for his good work on dancing with him. The story in this book is a really beautifully told story for Chinese New Year.

As a Chinese reader, reading and reviewing a book about my own culture like this is quite interesting. First of all, I would say the illustration of this book is wonderful and fascinating. The illustration of this book is a stunning spot not only because it is colorful and well-drawn, but also its unique technique of highlighting the important parts. As a whole, the illustration is kind like the Chinese ink painting. As for the content, I assume the legend in this book is made up by the author or at least recomposed because I have never heard about the legend nor searched the same legend online. However, due to the positive atmosphere in the story, I still think it would be a great book about Chinese festival in your classroom library. You could also use this book as a read-aloud book in 1st-4th-grade classrooms.

Reviewed by Xiaochen April Huang 

ISAAC THE ALCHEMIST

Losure, Mary: ISAAC THE ALCHEMIST. (2016). Kirkus Reviews.

Isaac Newton was born on Dec 25, 1642. He was born in Woolsthorpe, England. Isaac didn’t get the chance to see his father because he was died before he was even born. His mother remarried to another guy when Isaac was still young. He was raised by his uncle. He went to the grammar school and Trinity College in in 1661. He pursued his bachelor of arts in 1665. Isaac found three greatest discoveries in optics which is the study of light. He also developed great things such as his theory about the light which is the mixture of other colors of light that came from a prism which called a spectrum. Also he developed his mathematics which including a binomial theorem and calculating the curve’s slope and the area under. He became a professor in Mathematics at Trinity College in 1669. In 1672, he became a scientist to the Royal Society. He was elected to the parliament in 1691. Newton never married but he loved histories and biblical prophecy. On March 20, 1727, Newton passed away and he buried in Westminster Abbey.

I like this book because it has great and fact information such as the time line of Isaac’s life. The drawings help shows more the meaning of the context. The book contains a lot of vocabulary and their meaning where teachers can use it on their word wall. Teachers can make activities according to the places where Isaac learn things. The book shows a lots of Isaac’s science things where teachers can teach kids as well. The book has a great information about how Isaac became so smart and this book can encourage and motivate kids in school. Teachers can focus on theme like “Working hard in school”, or “Being a good citizenship” because this book talks about how Isaac became a smart person on earth.

A Single Stone

McKinlay, M. (2017). A Single Stone. Candlewick Press.


272 pages, Fiction, ISBN-10 0763688371.

This book is about a girl named Jena who helped saved her village from being isolated from the world after the mountain shook. For this village, the thing called mica is very essential to their life-sustaining. The people can't get their food or their needs so Jena and other six girls are assigned to go tunnel deep into the earth in order to provide for the well-being of the village. Jena was a leader of the group and she was so brave and the girls respected her and rely on her. There are lot of bad things could happen to the girl during their tunnel deep such as Rockfall but Jena was still brave. Jena learned that the mothers are training their little daughters to become great tunnelers in the future and made her think of a lots of things. Jena finally discover a Single stone that can save the village by bringing down the mountain.

As I read this book, I learned that Jena was a very good girl to her village. There are lots of topics in Social Studies that you can use this book as your examples for. For instance, you can use this book to find example of being good citizenship. Jena is a great example of a good citizenship to her village in leading her team. Also we can related to Families. Students can identify what are the positives and negative things that the families in the village did. Also we can talk about the discovery of a Stone and tied to other famous fact stories about some men that they discovered something in life. For instance, we can talk about Issac Newton and some other men. Then we can encourage our students to try think of something that they can discover or invent on their own as their project.

LIFE FANTASTIC

Ketchum,L. (2016). Life Fantastic. Ohio:Simon Pulse.

256 pages, Historical Fiction, ISBN 978-1440598760.

This story is a fictional story is a fictional story based on the 1900’s. It talks of the life of a young girl named Teresa who longs for nothing but to be on stage sharing with the world her beautiful voice. She is a white girl full of so much talent who was told by her Father to in stead use her perfect pitch to work at the tuning factory for organs instead. Determined to live out her dream, she runs off to New York City and joined vaudeville troupes along side Pietro, an African American tap dancer and his father. There as she travels with this troupe, she was able to see the segregation, racial inequalities, and so much more happening during this time, especially when it come to performing with her friend, Pietro.

I would definitely recommend this book to be used in social studies because it shows real problems and struggles that were happening during the 1990’s even though it is a Fictional book. It shows the problem with segregation, inequality, indignities and prejudices, and a lot more issues including being forced to perform in blackface. This book also gives insights to what the places they went through (Colorado, NYC etc) would be like during this time and it was very descriptive of how things looked. This book does a great job in helping the reader feel what the characters of this book feel, or what people during this time period may have felt dealing with issues like the ones Teresa and her friends dealt with in this book.

You Talking to Me?

Ham, Catherine (2017) You Talking to Me?: Discover the World of Words, Codes, Emojis, Signs, Slang, Smoke Signals, Barks, Babbles, Growls, Gestures, Hieroglyphics & More. MoonDance Press. Picture. 

96 pages. Grades 3-7. ISBN: 1633221555

This book is about communication. It addresses different forms of communication from the change of languages, loss of language, types of written languages, unspoken forms of communication, cultural norms, animal communication, and many other forms. The sections transition well, from one topic to the next. It does not go into depth about any specific form of communication. 

This book had illustrations that related to the topic appropriately. The content 5-7 grades would relate to this age group especially since they are exposed to more forms of communication and cultures. The content flowed really well to the next topic. Although, some of the content may not be completely correct or biased. Some choices of what goes into certain forms of communication and what does not, maybe place inappropriately. It does not seem intentional, but knowing some information on a few forms and that they were presented incorrectly causes an unsettling feeling. Overall this book would be a good introduction to forms of communication but not the main source of knowledge. 

CAROLINE'S COMETS A TRUE STORY

McCully, E. A. (2016). Carolines Comets, a true story. Holiday House. 31 pages. Grade Level: 1st to 4th grade. Picture/Biography, ISBN 978-0823436644

Caroline was a sweet girl that loved her family and the stars. Caroline, was born in 1750 in Hannover, German speaking. Caroline learned how to knit and help with the house chores. When Caroline was ten years old she caught typhus, and smallpox. Her family worried that no man will marry and support her. Caroline loved her brother William. When William left to England to avoid being called to war and to make a living from singing and piano lessons. After a couple of years William, requested Caroline to move to England with him. William promised to give her a job and to teach her how to sing. One night, William wondered what is on the solar system and asked Caroline to help him build the most unique telescope, William, and Caroline worked hard to build the perfect telescope to explore the universe. The first telescope was built and was the best telescope in the world. William, and Caroline discovered new planets and universes that caused the visit of King George III which ordered telescopes from them. After William got married he made a telescope to Carolien. King George agree that Caroline will become the first professional women scientist. Caroline was now known as "The Hunter of Comets."

This book has a great story. I feel like every child needs to read the story to know that everyone is capable of doing great things such as Caroline. The illustrations and the small details of the story is what makes this book amazing. I love the emphasis and how they explain Caroline's life so well. From the beginning to the end of the story illustrates how through hard work people can make their dreams/goals happen. This book can be used for several topics in the classroom, geography, society, moral values, etc. This is a must have book in the classroom library. 

Rivers of Sunlight: How the Sun Moves Water Around the Earth.

 

Bang, M. & Chisholm, P. (2017). Rivers of Sunlight: How the Sun Moves Water Around the Earth. New York: The Blue Sky Press.

48 pages, Grade Level: Preschool-3, ISBN-13: 9780545805414

Do you know how the sun moves water about the earth? Are you curious what you could do to protect our planet and the precious resources on it? In this most recent Sunlight Series book, you will find out the constant movement of water and how the sun makes this great change work. The main character and the storyteller of this book is the sun. Throughout the book, the sun explains how the water changes and moves in cycles and describes each part of the water cycles in details. Another character in this book is a little, and he seems to be the listener of the sun. After explaining the water cycles, the sun also talks about the current situation of the water distribution on the earth and appeal to every reader to protect Earth's water. At the very end of this book, there are notes about this book, which introduces readers more facts about the water.

River of Sunlight: How the Sun Moves Water Around the Earth is one of an environmental book in Bang and Chisholm's Sunlight Series, which is a very famous scientific explanation book series. After reading this book myself, I think it is perfect for readers of all ages although its target reader is 6-8-year-old kids. I love the illustration of this book as well because of its color match and graphic scene. The illustration will definitely help younger kids' understanding of the content of this book. This book can be a great resource when teaching geography or environment-related topics in social studies.

Becoming Bach

Leonard, T. (2017). Becoming Bach. Roaring Brook Press.

40 Pages, Grades Preschool-3, Biography/Picture Book, ISBN 9781626722866

Becoming Bach talks about how music had influenced the famous German musician Johann Sebastian Bach throughout his life. When Bach was young, there was always music around him, and his family members were all musicians. Bach learned how to play several instruments during his early life. After his parents passed away, his eldest brother taught him about the patterns of music. Later on, he became a church organist and produced lots of melodies.

It is a wonderful book to introduce the German musician Johann Sebastian Bach to young kids. First, the author uses the first-person perspective with simple and short texts in writing Bach's story. The content is more understandable for kids, and they can be more engaged in it. Also, the illustrations that the author uses are matched to the period of time Bach had lived at, which is the 17th-century classical style. The illustrations are very authentic which can help visualize the scenes for kids to look at. The portrayal of Bach in this book is well developed and accurate, which the author describes major events and achievements of Johann Sebastian Bach in it. I like how the author mentions specific names of Bach's family and specific dates in his illustrations. It helps kids know better about the facts of Bach. I also like the last page of this book because it gives more detailed information about Bach with a timeline of his life. It will be a useful book for kids to read when learning music and when learning social studies about influential people in European history.

Reviewed by Liu, Yulin.

The Ancient Aztecs

Greenberg, Imogen & Isabel. (2017). The Ancient Aztecs. London: Frances Lincoln Children's Books.

32 Pages, Grades 3-6, Historical Graphic/Comic Picture Book, ISBN 1847809502

The Ancient Aztecs is one of the four books in the series of ancient empire books by Imogen and Isabel Greenberg.  All of their books follow a similar style as far as content, illustrations, and layout.  This book in particular focuses on the history of the Aztec Empire.  The text includes both narrative and speech bubbles resembling a comic book.  There are several topics this book addresses: rulers, the city of Tenochtitlán, the Aztec calendar, gods, an origin story, sacrifice and afterlife, wars and warriors, society and daily life, art and poetry, the Spanish conquistadors, and a few others.  Included is also a map and a timeline.  Overall one of the goals of the book is to show children that "the Aztecs were normal people, just like us."

Personally, I had a lot of mixed feelings about this book.  Initially I was drawn to the book because of the shape/size and artwork.  The artwork did not disappoint; Isabel Greenberg maintained an Aztec theme throughout the book and included just the right amount of details.  I did, however, feel somewhat disappointed with the text.  I am a fan of comics/graphic novels, that being said, I did not appreciate most of the speech bubbles in this book.  Much of that text repeated what was said in the novel or it made all of the characters sound like children, which could in fact make kids think that the Aztecs were just like them.  Examples of the dialogue include "Woo-hoo!" and "Oh yeah? Come over here and say that to my face!"  Reading text boxes like these make it clear why this book did not receive an award for social studies.  Although, children ages 9 to 12 might find this book entertaining.  Other than the illustrations, I also liked that there were labeled sections that were brief and for the most part interesting.  I feel like having the students create books like this while studying ancient history would be much better than simply having this book for students to read.  I would not buy this book, but I appreciate the book as a mentor text for a wonderful social studies and language arts project.

Who Am I?

Turner, J. (2017). Who Am I?. New York: Aladdin.

40 Pages, Grades Preschool-3, Fiction Picture Book, ISBN 978-4814-5304-2

The main character in this cute picture book is a rabbit, who always wants to pretend to be other animals. At first, the rabbit pretended to be a frog by putting a "frog facial makeup" on his face, but there was a voice reminding him that he was not a frog but a rabbit. However, he did not give up trying to pretend other animals. He then tried to be a rooster, a tiger, a mouse, an owl, a sheep, a monkey, and some other animals. Whoever he pretended to be, there was always a voice telling him he was a rabbit. He ended up accepting the reality of being a rabbit, and he started to wonder who "the voice" is. The book has a quite surprising and interesting ending, which is "the voice" pretends to be a dog as he is actually a bat.

The author of this book also illustrated this book. Overall, I think this is good children book that can be used as a teaching source in social studies class as teaching self-identity. Here are several good aspects of this book. First, the illustration of this book is very colorful, simple, and unique. The rabbit is always in the color of black throughout the whole book, which implies he could not recognize his self-identity. Next, I think the content of this book can be easily understood by even kids in preschool or kindergartener. Moreover, its creative ending can be a good teaching point for you to teach and guide students to think deeper about the concept behind the content. If you are teaching an integrating unit that integrates Language Arts, this book is also a good example of using talk bubble or speech bubble.  

Moth and Wasp, Soil and Ocean: Remembering Chinese Scientist Pu Zhelong's Work for Sustainable Farming

Schmalzer, S. (2018). Moth and Wasp, Soil and Ocean: Remembering Chinese Scientist Pu Zhelong's Work for Sustainable Farming (1st ed.). Tilbury House.
40 Pages, Grades 3-7, Picture book/ Biography, ISBN 978-0884484042. 

How can science change our life and the environment that we live in? This book talks about how a village in China solved their bug problems to prevent their crops from being bitten with the help of the scientist Pu Zhelong as well as how a boy from this village followed Pu Zhelong's example and became a scientist. The villagers in the countryside lived their lives relying on farming. However, they encountered some bug problems that the insects ate their rice and lychees, which made the fruits were very scrawny. They tried to use lights and chemicals to kill all the bugs, but the bugs appeared again after a while. Pu Zhelong came to the village used scientific methods that he had learned aboard to help them solve the problem. A boy witnessed what Pu Zhelong did and decided to receive higher education and the knowledge of science to help more people. 

I enjoy reading this book a lot for several reasons. First, the messages that this book is trying to express to the readers are positive and meaningful. It introduces how Chinese farmers' life looked like back in the last century as well as some common perspectives on Chinese culture. It involves one of the great work that scientist Pu Zhelong has done in his life to help and serve others. It also reveals that science can solve environmental problems and even change people's life. This book will be good for elementary kids to read when they are learning social studies about Chinese culture, people with outstanding contributions, farming, and the environment. The author uses the view of a boy from the village to write the whole story. It is easier to draw kids into the story and understand what the story talks about. Additionally, the texts of each page are always gathered together and on one side of the page, which helps readers read the texts more conveniently. For the illustration of this book, the illustrator uses flashbacks, multiple layers, and line-and-color wash illustrations to reveal the realistic images to the readers. You can notice that there are a lot of Chinese elements in the illustrations as you read this book. For example, there are different images of window paper-cutting on most of the pages, and window paper-cutting is one of the Chinese traditional crafts. Furthermore, there is no concrete stereotype of Chinese culture or other controversial issues in this book. If you are looking for a great book for social studies, you should definitely check this book out!

Reviewed by Liu, Yulin.

Who wants to be a Princess?

Heos B., ( 2017). Who wants to be a Princess?: New York, NY: Henry Holt and company. 36 pages,  Grade 2-3 history/ Nonfiction, 9780805097696.

      Beatrice was a real  Princess from the middle age. She told her story comparing fairy tales Princess lifestyle and her own. Beatrice basically explained the difference between a fairy tale princess and her own castle. She then continues to talk about the kind of room she lives and what might be a fairytale princess. Beatrice talks about a princess might wear a pink gown but what she wore was just itchy wool. She went on to explain the different lifestyle, for instance, a fairytale princess might live in her pink room alone but Beatrice lives with her siblings in their one room. A princess might sing to birds in the forest but Beatrice practices her riding on horse and archery. The Beatrice parents came back and they had a big feast. In the fairytale, a prince charming might come to rescue her from the castle but take her as his bride but for Beatrice, the parents will choose her husband even and they will get married even if they do not know or might not like each other. When Beatrice is scared her older sister will come and read her bedtime story.


       I like the book a. The book is interesting to read especially about the facts about a real princess and what they do. It has some good information about a fairytale princess and a real princess from the middle age. I think this book is good for younger kids to be able to understand the differences between a real princess and a fairy tale princess. It is good for social studies to be able to tell the story of the lifestyle of a princess, the surrounds, and the people. It is also a good book for kids to understand the culture princess has to follow. It is a good history book to tell the olden days of which princess lives and even nowadays. I even love the illustration. The illustrations are so nice to see the left side of the fairy tale life and on the right the real princess life. I think the book is not too wordy which is good for kids to read or even teachers can read aloud in class. I think the book is really well put together.

Reviewed by: Emylyn Walter

This Is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids from Around the World

Lamothe, Matt. (2017). This Is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids from Around the World. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books LLC.

52 Pages, Grades PreK-3, Picture/Biography, ISBN 978-1452150185.  

What would it be like to live in another country? What would you eat, where would you sleep, and where would you go to school?  This book sheds some light on the lives of seven children from different countries around the world.  It goes through their typical day from waking up, what they wear, eating, going to school, and much more.  Are some of these children like you? Do you have things in common with them? This book ends with a similar experience that all these children have in common which helps us to know that although we may live in different places and live very different lives, there are still things that can connect us.  

I really enjoyed this book.  I feel like any child would love to look at the pages and illustrations of the different countries that this book represents.  However, I felt that this book jumped around a lot.  I found it challenging to go through the book read about each culture individually and learn more about each.  I felt that there is too much information about each culture skewed throughout the book that it made it hard to follow.  I found myself reaching the end and forgetting what I had learned about any one particular culture because there were too many to focus on at once.  I think that it is a great idea and that focusing on one culture and story at a time would better suit learning than this format.  Other than that I felt that the book was very informative on the lifestyles of the children and their families in the cultures. 

Robinson by Peter Sís

Sís, Peter. (2017). Robinson. New York: Scholastic Press.

48 Pages, Grades Preschool-3, Action/Adventure Picture Book, ISBN 0545731666

Robinson was written by Peter Sís and is based on a true story from his childhood.  The main character and the author's favorite story was Robinson Cruso by Daniel Defoe.  Both he and the main character went to the costume party at school dressed as Robinson Cruso from the help of their mothers; there all his friends laughed at him.  In the story the boy ventures out to an island and learns to survive and be brave there.  After which pirates come to his island home: his friends come to his room to apologize and learn about the adventurer Robinson Cruso, and he and his friends set out on their next adventure.  

There are several things that I like about this book and a few things that I didn't.  First of all, I like the messages entailed in this story: it's important to be unique and do things that you enjoy, it's important to not make fun of people, and it's important to apologize when you hurt some and to frankly forgive. Those messages truly relate to social studies because it's about social interactions and how you treat yourself and others.  This book is not historical or geographical, however it can be used as a supplemental text along with accurate texts for themes/topics that relate to exploration.  I do wish that the "adventure" to the island was more adventurous though, it seemed dull to me.  A fun language arts activity could be to read this book and read the author's note explaining the true events and have the students write an adventure story of their own based on their life.  Peter Sís was also the illustrator, and some pages I really loved the artwork and thought they would be great for a read aloud and others seemed too small, overly detailed, or boring.  The language used was plain; I would not use this text as an example of wondrous words or vivid verbs--rather I would have a writing activity for the kids to include more descriptive details and better diction for a third grade language arts lesson.  Overall if I had this book I think there are many great ways to use it, however, there are so many better books that take precedent over buying this book when it comes to my library.

Feather

Courgeon, R. (2017) Feather. (C.Z. Bedrick, Trans.) Brooklyn, New York: Enchanted Lion Books. 36 Pages, Grades PreK-4, Picture Book/Biography, ISBN: 978-1592702107

Paulina, the youngest and smallest girl in the family between her three older brothers and her father. Even though her name was Paulina they always called her Feather. Feather, love to play the piano ad being a girl. However, even though she was the only girl she always ended up doing all the chores of the house. One day after cooking dinner for the family her father noticed she had a black eye. Feather refused to reveal but at the end confessed she was quitting piano and was taking boxing. After several months of training the day came where Feather will have her first fight against a rough girl, Samira. When the fight finished Feather was not longer called Feather, she was Paulina. As the time passed Paulina never used her fighting gloves again. When people will ask her why she said, "Fists should be opened and fingers should fly."

Feather is a great book. The book has great illustrations and the story is very well explained. This book can be used for several topics in Social Studies. Identity, self-confidence, and gender equality are some of the topics that can be taught with this book. My favorite part of the book is that has a strong feminist message. The story can cause a big impact in our children by letting them know that men and women are the same and both have strong potential.

When You Look Out the Window

Pitman, G. E., (2017). When You Look Out the Window: How Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin Built a Community. Washington, DC: Magination Press.

40 Pages, Grades 2 - 3, Age 4 - 8 years old, Picture Book/Biography/Historical Fiction, ISBN: 978-1433827365

This book talks about Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, who were one of the most famous lesbian couples in San Francisco. They were also very active politically in their time. They met each other in the year of 1950, and they became a couple afterward. They bought a house that is located at the top of the Castro; thus, they could overlook the entire city. The clue of the story in this book follows a tour of several different landmarks in San Francisco. Del and Phyllis went to each of the landmarks in this book and left their unique marks on each of them. One of an example would be the most well-known and iconic structure in the city, the Golden Gate Bridge. The story ends with a gratifying scene, which dedicates the community of big rainbow.

After reading the whole story, I do like some aspects of this book, but there are also some points I dislike about. First of all, I really appreciate the theme of this book, and I do believe this book can be used as a good Social Studies teaching source when you want to teach kids about LGBTQ history. I also like the illustration of this book, which is combined both drawing and photography on each page. IT stood out to me at the first time I read it. However, I had a question about the illustration of this book. I noticed there is a photo of a walking man on the several pages. I wonder if it has any secret meaning behind it. Another point that I do not like about this book is I think it did not really explain the process of how Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin build the community, even though the title of this book is When You Look Out the Window: How Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin Built a Community. I would not recommend kids to read this book on their own.