Search results for ""tilbury house,u.s.""

Enormous jellyfish and fish with blood like antifreeze are just a few of the creatures captured in their unique habitat by underwater photographer Bill Curtsinger. This new edition is fully updated and traces the impacts of climate change and ice-shelf melt on the abundant life in the waters beneath a frozen desert. F&P Level W

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Mrs. Snowden tells the kids that T = True, H = Helpful, N = Necessary and K = Kind. If what you’re about to say isn’t any of these things, she tells them, you shouldn’t say it. Later that day, when Tyaja is about to criticise her friend Dhavi’s new haircut, she is stopped by four little elves sporting the letters T, H, N and K, who reinforce Ms. Snowden’s lesson and remind Tyaja how friends should treat friends. Tyaja learns that she is the “I” in THiNK!

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Dan Tavis’s humorous illustrations crank up the delight, and a child wanting to learn more will find it in the natural-history backmatter. Pat Brisson employs a variety of verse forms in the book, and she shows how it’s done in a back-of-book feature called “A Peek into the Poet’s Toolkit.” Common Critters is a three-tool STEAM book with delightful reading, natural history, and language skills rolled into one.

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Natural selection and speciation are all but ignored in children’s nonfiction. To help address this glaring deficiency, award-winning children’s science writer Sneed Collard traveled to the Galapagos Islands to see for himself, where Charles Darwin saw, how new species form. The result is this fascinating story of two species of iguana, one land-based and one marine, both of which developed from a single ancestor that reached the islands millions of years ago. The animals evolved in different directions while living within sight of one another. How is that possible? Collard uses the iguanas to explore Charles Darwin’s great discovery. F&P Level V

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He must make a speech to a joint session of Congress that will build support for America’s entry to World War II, but to do that he needs an armored vehicle in which to make the short trip from the White House to the Capitol Building. According to legend, the car Roosevelt rode in that day, borrowed from the FBI’s impound lot, was an armored Cadillac V-8 built for gangster Al Capone in the late 1920s to shield himself from enemies. Is the legend true, or is it an American tall tale in the tradition of Paul Bunyan or John Henry? Either way, it’s an ideal vehicle to compare and contrast the lives of two American men who grew up within miles of one another: one a great president, the other an infamous villain. F&P Level Y

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Packing themselves into an old jalopy—with Daddy, Uncle Vern, and Mama in the front seat and Cassie and her two brothers in the back—they joined the Great Migration from the impoverished Deep South to Chicago, where there was work to be had in the stockyards. Across the kids’ laps lay Daddy’s prized possession, a six-string guitar. Daddy worked hard to put food on the table, but what he really loved was playing the blues. This evocative tale of the African-American odyssey in search of a better life is also a homage to the uniquely American music that developed from African music and American spirituals, work songs, and folk ballads. In the book’s backmatter, Garland relates how he first heard and fell in love with blues music, beginning a lifelong fandom. Portraits and thumbnail biographies of great blues musicians and landmark songs complete this tribute to the great American music and the yearnings that produced it. Fountas & Pinnell Level S

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Career Day is approaching, and Annie can’t wait to show her family what she’s planning to be when she grows up. But, she must keep it a secret until Friday! So curious family members each ask Annie for a clue. Convinced that she’ll be a news reporter like he once was, her grandfather gives her his old camera and notebook to use for her presentation. Her grandmother is sure Annie wants to be a champion baker like her, so she offers a mixing bowl and oven gloves to Annie. Hopeful she’ll become the mountain climber he aspired to be so her father gives Annie an old backpack. Her mother presents Annie with a pair of high-top trainers to pursue her favourite sport at school—basketball. Grateful for each gift, Annie cleverly finds a way to use them all to create her Career Day costume. When the big day arrives, Annie finally reveals her out-of-this-world dream to everyone. • To watch astronaut Anne McClain read this book aloud while orbiting Earth in the International Space Station, visit https://storytimefromspace.com/astronaut-annie-2

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In this book walls really do talk, and oh, the stories they tell. This new edition combines the beloved children's books Talking Walls and Talking Walls: The Stories Continue. Together, those titles sold more than 170,000 copies. This new edition, thoroughly revised by the author, makes the text more accessible to young readers and English Language Learners and produces a book that is ideal for reading aloud. The back matter includes a world map that helps readers locate the many walls described, as well as additional information about the walls, the places, and the people. The Talking Walls books have been much honored, including: Top 25 Non-Fiction Children's Books Boston Globe Children's Books of Distinction Hungry Minds Review Noteworthy Book from Parallel Cultures: Horn Book Paperback Plum Booklinks Notable Children's Trade Book in the Social Studies: Children's Book Council/National Council on the Social Studies Winner of a Mom's Choice Gold Award -- Picture Books category Pick of the Lists, American Bookseller Best Multicultural Book, Publisher's Weekly "Cuffie Award" Fountas & Pinnell Level T

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This nonfiction picture book reveals the hidden lives of insects and other small creatures from one midnight to the next. The world may appear to be sleeping in the dead of night, but it is not. As moonflowers open and stars shine, nature goes about her business. The world never sleeps. Natalie Rompella’s lyrical text is vividly complemented by Carol Schwartz’s watercolors. A cat roams through the illustrations—silent witness, in the house and in the yard, to the myriad lives of night and day. A sense of mystery pervades all—even the backmatter natural-history portraits of the animals met in the book. This nature book invites children into a parallel universe, one that teems with life while they sleep. Lexile Level 700; F&P Level O

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From the first foot migration out of Africa to the Model T Ford, hot air balloons, submarines, rickshaws, and moon rockets, humans have combined imagination, daring, and scientific and technical knowledge to improve existing vehicles or create new ones. Geography, culture, and available technologies have all influenced the development and use of vehicles in different parts of the world, and human travel has, in turn, often had a profound influence on society and the environment.

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How many friends, turns, clothes, toys, fashion accessories, books? How much of anything? The pictures follow one child as she learns the difference between wanting and needing and, in the end, feels the contentment that flows from being satisfied with what she has. The text, meanwhile, frames a difficult idea in simple, spare language: “Somewhere between a little and a lot, there is Enough. It might be hard to spot, but it’s always there.”

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Youniverse aims to inspire a reverence for our fragile blue planet voyaging through space. The lyrical text and simple, childlike illustrations linger on one object at a time, building a mind-liberating journey from electrons and photos through atoms, molecules, cells, and the human body; outward to the solar system, the Milky Way, and the universe; and backward to the beginning of time in the Big Bang. Light weaves through the pages as it weaves the universe together, showing us that we have almost everything in common with a quivering aspen leaf and the dust of a distant nebula. “Your imagination is the greatest of miracles,” van der Merwe writes, “a consciousness that contemplates the atoms and the stars from which it was made.” A child sees a world in a tidepool and an enchanted forest in a copse of trees. Songbirds speak messages. Moonlight whispers through an open window. The inner and outer worlds flow together without boundaries. Does growing up have to mean leaving that magic kingdom behind? Lizelle van der Merwe believes that a child’s sense of wonder should instead be encouraged, expanded, and immortalized with the real-life magic of science. The more we know about the quantum worlds within and outside us, the more wisdom is evident in a child’s view of the world.

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We celebrate firemen and soldiers—and rightly so. But let’s also celebrate teachers, bus drivers, shop keepers, postmen and the others who keep the world spinning around every day. And let’s give a nod to children, too—children who are kind and brave and help each other. They’re heroes too. In structure, flow and pitch, very much like Pat Brisson’s Before We Eat (ISBN 978 0 88448 652 7).

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Did you know that the white material on the outside of space shuttles was not metal or glass but actually fabric? Specialised quilts, two inches thick, covered the space shuttles and protected the astronauts from deadly heat and radiation. Jean Wright was one of the eighteen “Sew Sisters” who crafted these thermal blankets, mostly by hand, with incredible precision and skill. Capturing both the grandeur of space flight and the intimacy of a needle and thread, Sew Sister tells the story of Jean’s childhood passion for space and sewing and her fascinating work for NASA’s shuttle program. Elise Matich’s elegant prose and stunning, detailed artwork harmonise with the STEAM concept at the heart of this story: the role of skilled hands and artistry in STEM fields like aeronautics. Sew Sister offers a heroine in the context of space exploration who doesn’t go to college or excel at maths; instead, it is her excellence in a trade—one traditionally practised by women—that allows her to achieve her dream. NASA’s space shuttle fleet was retired in 2011.

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Magnificent Homespun Brown is an exploration of the natural world and family bonds through the eyes of young, mixed raced heroines—a living, breathing, dazzlingly multi-faceted, exuberant masterpiece, firmly grounded in a sense of self-worth and belonging. This is a story—a poem, a song, a celebration—­about feeling at home in one’s own beloved skin. If Walt Whitman were reborn as a young woman of colour, this is the book he might write. With vivid illustrations by Kaylani Juanita, Samara Cole Doyon sings a carol for the plenitude that surrounds us and the self each of us is meant to inhabit.

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Lailah solves her problem with help from the school librarian and her teacher and in doing so learns that she can make new friends who respect her beliefs. This gentle, moving story from first-time author Reem Faruqi comes to life in Lea Lyon’s vibrant illustrations. Lyon uses decorative arabesque borders on intermittent spreads to contrast the ordered patterns of Islamic observances with the unbounded rhythms of American school days. Fountas & Pinnell Level N

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Mary Beth Owens was inspired by her admiration and concern for these critically endangered animals to write and illustrate this beautiful book. The narrator—a craggy, ancient jumby tree that stands sentinel over the bay—observes a hawksbill’s arrival by night, her arduous trek to excavate a nest and bury her eggs, her solitary return to the sea, and the later diaspora of her hatchlings. Spare prose complements pages saturated with Caribbean color or brooding in ghostly moonlight.

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This is a story about love and sacrifice: Tamen’s mom, a nightshift nurse, finds a way to take him camping. For one magical night on the shore of a wilderness pond, the Milky Way in all its glory belongs to them.

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Rafael Guastavino Sr. was 39 when he left a successful career as an architect in Barcelona. American cities—densely packed and built largely of wood—were experiencing horrific fires, and Guastavino had the solution: The soaring interior spaces created by his tiled vaults and domes made buildings sturdier, fireproof, and beautiful. What he didn’t have was fluent English. Unable to win design commissions, he transferred control of the company to his American-educated son, whose subsequent half-century of inspired design work resulted in major contributions to the built environment of America. Immigrant Architect is an introduction to architectural concepts and a timely reminder of immigrant contributions to America. The book includes four route maps for visiting Guastavino-designed spaces in New York City: uptown, midtown, downtown, and Prospect Park.

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Each of the three seeds in this story—a cherry stone in Iran, an acacia seed in Australia and a lotus seed in China—survives a difficult journey through flood, fire or drought, then sprouts and ultimately flourishes.

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Musquon must overcome her impatience while learning to distinguish sweetgrass from other salt marsh grasses, but slowly the spirit and peace of her surroundings speak to her, and she gathers sweetgrass as her ancestors have done for centuries, leaving the first blade she sees to grow for future generations. This sweet, authentic story from a Maliseet mother and her Passamaquoddy husband includes backmatter about traditional basket making and a Wabanaki glossary.

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Alone, cold, and frightened, Zoo Sap cries, and his cries attract the forest animals. Beginning with beaver and ending with the great bald eagle, the animals rush to protect the baby and shelter him from the cold until his father returns for him. New, expanded 10th-anniversary edition of this classic that has sold more than 30,000 copies. · New features include an author’s note explaining the seasonal movement of the Passamaquoddy people; a pronunciation guide to the Passamaquoddy names of the animals in the story; and a QR code that will let readers link to the audio recording of Allen Sockabasin telling the story in the Passamaquoddy language. A beguiling bedtime story and a profound expression of reverence for the natural world. Lexile Level 620 Fountas and Pinnell Text Level L

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When the Earth disappears behind the moon, Collins loses contact with his fellow astronauts on the moon’s surface, with mission control at NASA, and with the entire human race, becoming more alone than any human being has ever been before. In total isolation for 21 hours, Collins awaits word that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have managed to launch their moon lander successfully to return to the orbiter—a feat never accomplished before and rendered more problematic by the fuel burn of their difficult landing. In this singularly lonely and dramatic setting, Collins reviews the politics, science, and engineering that propelled the Apollo 11 mission across 239,000 miles of space to the moon. Fountas & Pinnell Text Level U

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Narrated in the poetic voice of the estuary itself, and accompanied by natural-history sidebars about estuary plants, animals, and cycles, THE SECRET BAY is another topnotch nature book from the author and illustrator of the award-winning, bestselling The Secret Pool. A stand-alone book and a stunning companion volume to Ridley and Raye’s award-winning Secret Pool. Ridley deftly augments the estuary’s lyrical narrative voice with sidebars about the plants, animals, and natural processes of an estuary. Raye’s gorgeous watercolors reveal new features and hidden treats with each reading. Back matter includes The Estuary Food Web, Great Escapes (how estuary animals avoid predators), and an author’s note about the challenges facing estuaries. A perfect book for the budding naturalist and for his or her parents and teachers. Fountas & Pinnell Level S Lexile 1180

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When a downcast Sergio gets home from a bad day at school, his wise mother listens sympathetically to his tale of woe and then suggests an experiment. Placing a bowl of marbles next to Grandfather’s old balance scale, she asks him to go back to the beginning of his day and remember each good and bad thing that happened. For each bad thing, he places a marble on the right-hand pan of the scale; for each good thing he places a marble on the left-hand pan. Sergio is amazed to discover that even on a day that felt awful, the good outweighed the bad.

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Here Amy Newbold conveys nineteen artists’ styles in a few deft words, while Greg Newbold’s chameleon-like artistry shows us Edgar Degas’ dinosaur ballerinas, Cassius Coolidge’s dinosaurs playing Go Fish, Hokusai’s dinosaurs surfing a giant wave, and dinosaurs smelling flowers in Mary Cassatt’s garden; grazing in Grandma Moses’ green valley; peeking around Diego Rivera’s orchids in Frida Kahlo’s portrait; tiptoeing through Baishi’s inky bamboo; and cavorting, stampeding or hiding in canvases by Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Franz Marc, Harrison Begay, Alma Thomas, Aaron Douglas, Mark Rothko, Lois Mailou Jones, Marguerite Zorach and Edvard Munch. And, of course, striking a Mona Lisa pose for Leonardo da Vinci. As in If Picasso Painted a Snowman, our guide for this tour is an engaging beret-topped hamster who is joined in the final pages by a tiny dino artist. Thumbnail biographies of the artists identify their iconic works, completing this tour of the creative imagination.

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Scorpions and brown recluse spiders are fine as far as they go, but if you want daily contact with venomous creatures, the ocean is the place to be. Blue-ringed octopi, stony corals, sea jellies, stonefish, lionfish, poison-fanged blennies, stingrays, cone snails, blind remipedes, fire urchins—you can choose your poison in the ocean. Venoms are often but not always defensive weapons. The banded sea krait, an aquatic snake, wriggles into undersea caves to prey on vicious moray eels, killing them with one of the world’s most deadly neurotoxins, which it injects through fangs that resemble hypodermic needles.

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More than 99 percent of all life forms have gone extinct during the 3.6-billion-year history of life on Earth. Other organisms have changed dramatically, but not our extreme survivors. Evolution may have altered their physiology and behavior, but their body plans have stood the test of time. How have these living links with Earth’s prehistoric past survived? The search for answers is leading scientists to new discoveries about the past—and future—of life on Earth. The survival secrets of some of these ancient creatures could lead to new medicines and treatments for disease. Written in a lively, entertaining voice, Extreme Survivors provides detailed life histories and strange “survival secrets” of ten ancient animals and explains evolution and natural selection. Extensive back matter includes glossary, additional facts and geographic range for each organism and a geologic timeline of Earth. F&P Level V

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Worried about the drought that has caused a big decrease in honey production, his dad is irritable and remote, seemingly unable to offer the acceptance that Jonathan yearns for. But one sleepless night Jonathan joins his mother in the kitchen making beeswax candles for sale, and discovers an outlet for his artistic talents that will make a big contribution to the family finances. Bee-fact sidebars buzz through this human story about a child trying to please his father. In this expanded paperback edition, an “About Bees” appendix offers further natural history about these vital and fascinating insects. Helps us see that sensitive, artistic boys have their own special place. Fountas & Pinnell Level O

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Baby golden tortoise beetles pile poop on their backs to create a shield as protection from predators. Silver-spotted skipper caterpillars can shoot their poops 40 times their own body length to conceal their true locations. Baby hoopoes squirt their poops into the eyes of attackers -- and who wants feces in their faces? Baby Ozark blind cave salamanders use gray bat guano for food. The bottom (!!) line: Ever-inventive nature finds a thousand uses for poop. Nothing goes to waste (!!). This book is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser with a lot of information to share.

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Also included are a compendium of caribou facts and a new afterword about caribou in the twenty-first century. Journey into the magical world of the caribou, North America s own reindeer. A Tilbury House classic with 30,000 copies sold Expanded paperback edition includes a haunting new afterword by biologist Mark McCollough, describing the condition of the great arctic caribou herds in the age of climate change. Both an alphabet book and a child's nature book.

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The girl in this story sees it happening, but she would never do these mean things herself. Then one day something happens that shows her that being a silent bystander isn’t enough. Will she take some steps on her own to help another kid? Could it be as simple as sitting on the bus with the girl no one has befriended (and discovering that she has a great sense of humor)? Resources at the end of the book will help parents and children talk about teasing and bullying and find ways to stop it at school.One child at a time can help change a school. Since its release in May 2004, this book has sparked Say Something weeks in schools from Maine to Shanghai. It has been turned into plays, distributed to hundreds of kids at conferences, read by principals on large screens, and rewritten by students in several schools (Do Something! is a favorite title). Most importantly, Say Something has helped start countless conversations among kids and adults about teasing. We’re celebrating with this new edition, updated with a new cover and an author’s note. Fountas & Pinnell Level O

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Mia and Tayja pretend to be princesses on a perilous journey, but there’s one thing they don’t have to pretend. They know in their hearts that they’re real sisters despite being adopted. Playful and sweet, Real Sisters Pretend celebrates the wonderful variety of modern families, in which the only essential ingredient is love.

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Calvin’s dictionary is proud to be carried everywhere Calvin goes—the breakfast table, school then home again—because Calvin is determined to find the perfect word to attach to his annoying older brother. The word isn’t exactly revenge, mayhem, bewilderment, subterfuge, pulverise or even retaliation, though all those words are close and very tempting. When Calvin finally finds the right word for his rascally brother, his dictionary is surprised and delighted, and readers will enjoy celebrating the triumphant discovery of Calvin’s perfect word along with his dictionary.

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Edward Hopper’s monster lurks outside the nighthawks’ diner. James Whistler’s monster rocks in her chair. Monsters invade masterpieces by Dorthea Tanning, Paul Cezanne, M.C. Escher and many other artists, and the monster emerging from Claude Monet’s Water Lilies is unforgettable. Our guide for this romp through re-imagined masterpieces is an engaging hamster, while thumbnail biographies of the artists identify their iconic works.

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What is the most important thing to remember about stargazing? When to do it, who to do it with, what to look for? It’s none of those! This picture book’s spare, lyrical text offers many possible ways to do stargazing: with a friend, with family or alone; on a moonless night, or with a full moon, or even with some clouds; on the beach, lying in the grass or standing on a snowy hill. There is only one rule of stargazing, which is saved for the end, and that is just to do it! Magical illustrations show polar bears, whales and other animals stargazing too, and in the final illustration, diverse kids and animals gaze at the night sky together. Back matter about the constellations completes this bedtime story with its underlying message of love and respect for nature.

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This is a book about mindfulness. About relishing the magic of the here and now. About enjoying the extraordinary unfoldings of an ordinary day. Moving from morning to night, the narrator becomes, by turns, boy or girl, of ever-changing ethnicity and ability, inhabiting city, country, or suburb. They are all children everywhere, opening themselves to the gift of time.

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Big lies are told by governments, politicians and corporations to avoid responsibility, cast blame on the innocent, win elections, disguise intent, create chaos and gain power and wealth. Big lies are as old as civilisation. They corrupt public understanding and discourse, turn science upside down and reinvent history. They prevent humanity from addressing critical challenges. They perpetuate injustices. They destabilise the world. The modern age has provided ever-more-effective ways of spreading lies but it has also given us the scientific method, which is the most effective tool for finding what is true. In the book’s final chapter, Kurlansky reveals ways to deconstruct an allegation. A scientific theory has to be testable and so does an allegation. BIG LIES soars across history: alighting on the “noble lies” of Socrates and Plato; Nero blaming Christians for the burning of Rome; the great injustices of the Middle Ages; the big lies of Stalin and Hitler and their terrible consequences; the reckless lies of contemporary demagogues, which are amplified through social media; lies against women and Jews are two examples in the long history of “othering” the vulnerable for personal gain; up to the equal-opportunity spotlight in America. “Belief is a choice”, Kurlansky writes, “and honesty begins in each of us. A lack of caring what is true or false is the undoing of democracy. The alternative to truth is a corrupt state in which the loudest voices and most seductive lies confer power and wealth on grifters and oligarchs. We cannot achieve a healthy planet for all the world’s people if we do not keep asking what is true.”

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Black lives matter. That message would be self-evident in a just world, but in this world and this America, all children need to hear it again and again, and not just to hear it but to feel and know it. This book affirms the message repeatedly, tenderly, with cumulative power and shared pride. Celebrating Black accomplishments in music, art, literature, journalism, politics, law, science, medicine, entertainment and sports, Shani King summons a magnificent historical and contemporary context for honouring the fortitude of Black role models, women and men, who have achieved greatness despite the grinding political and social constraints on Black life. Frederick Douglass, Toni Morrison, Sojourner Truth, John Lewis, Langston Hughes, Louis Armstrong, Maya Angelou, Aretha Franklin and many more pass through these pages. An America without their struggles, aspirations and contributions would be a shadow of the country we know. A hundred life sketches augment the narrative, opening a hundred doors to lives and thinking that aren’t included in many history books. James Baldwin’s challenge is here: “We are responsible for the world in which we find ourselves, if only because we are the only sentient force which can change it". Actress Viola Davis’s words are here too: “When I was younger, I did not exert my voice because I did not feel worthy of having a voice. I was taught so many things that didn’t include me. Where was I? What were people like me doing?” This book tells children what people like Viola were and are doing, and it assures Black children that they are, indisputably, worthy of having a voice. Have I Ever Told You Black Lives Matter? is a book for this time and always. It is time for all children to live and breathe the certainty that Black lives matter.

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In this sequel to the tour de force children’s art-history picture book If Picasso Painted a Snowman, Amy Newbold conveys nineteen artists’ styles in a few deft words, while Greg Newbold’s chameleon-like artistry shows us Edgar Degas’ dinosaur ballerinas, Cassius Coolidge’s dinosaurs playing Go Fish, Hokusai’s dinosaurs surfing a giant wave, and dinosaurs smelling flowers in Mary Cassatt’s garden; grazing in Grandma Moses’ green valley; peeking around Diego Rivera's orchids in Frida Kahlo’s portrait; tiptoeing through Baishi’s inky bamboo; and cavorting, stampeding, or hiding in canvases by Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Franz Marc, Harrison Begay, Alma Thomas, Aaron Douglas, Mark Rothko, Lois Mailou Jones, Marguerite Zorach, and Edvard Munch. And, of course, striking a Mona Lisa pose for Leonardo da Vinci. As in If Picasso Painted a Snowman, our guide for this tour is an engaging beret-topped hamster who is joined in the final pages by a tiny dino artist. Thumbnail biographies of the artists identify their iconic works, completing this tour of the creative imagination.

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Bold artworkwith a charming retro feel

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This story examines some of the women and BIPOC figures included at the United States Capitoland featured in statues around the countryas well as examines the timely question: who needs a statue?

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Between his opening greeting and the bookend closing page on which he stalks away after taking no questions, Gato wants to make one thing perfectly clear: Although he has four legs, two ears, and a long, long tail, the word “cat” does not define him. His identity is his alone to describe and determine. With the help of Danica Novgorodoff’s laugh-out-loud illustrations, he takes us on a tour of his adventures, accomplishments, and daily activities that makes mincemeat of our first impressions. He wears a sweater and a leash, so is he a dog? He runs in pastures, so is he a horse? He likes flowers, so is he a bee? He swims, so is he a duck? He has flown in airplanes and ridden in subways, so is he a person? Maybe he’s all those things, but what he truly is, he wants us to know, is Gato. To underline the story’s message of empowerment and self-identity, the back cover and backmatter include photos of the real Gato (Winter Miller’s cat) doing everything he claims and more. Signs on walls, headlines in newspapers, New Yorker cartoon homages, and sight gags on every page reward repeated readings and will make this book the first one that parents reach for at bedtime.

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Rafael Guastavino Sr. was 39 when he left a successful career as an architect in Barcelona. American cities—densely packed and built largely of wood—were experiencing horrific fires and Guastavino had the solution: The soaring interior spaces created by his tiled vaults and domes made buildings sturdier, fireproof and beautiful. What he didn’t have was fluent English. Unable to win design commissions, he transferred control of the company to his American-educated son, whose subsequent half-century of inspired design work resulted in major contributions to the built environment of America. Immigrant Architect is an introduction to architectural concepts and a timely reminder of immigrant contributions to America. The book includes four route maps for visiting Guastavino-designed spaces in New York City: uptown, midtown, downtown and Prospect Park.

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Civilization rearranges nature for human convenience. Clothes and houses keep us warm; agriculture feeds us; medicine fights our diseases. It all works—most of the time. But key resources lie in the most hazardous places, so we choose to live on river flood plains, on the slopes of volcanoes, at the edge of the sea, above seismic faults. We pack ourselves into cities, Petri dishes for germs. Civilization thrives on the edge of disaster. And what happens when natural forces meet molasses holding tanks, insecticides, deepwater oil rigs, nuclear power plants? We learn the hard way how to avoid the last disaster—and maybe how to create the next one. What we don’t know can, indeed, hurt us. This book’s white-knuckled journey from antiquity to the present leads us to wonder at times how humankind has survived. And yet, as Author Gale Eaton makes clear, civilization has advanced not just in spite of disasters but in part because of them. Hats off to human resilience, ingenuity, and perseverance! They’ve carried us this far; may they continue to do so into our ever-hazardous future. The History in 50 series explores history by telling thematically linked stories. Each book includes 50 illustrated narrative accounts of people and events—some well-known, others often overlooked—that, together, build a rich connect the-dots mosaic and challenge conventional assumptions about how history unfolds. Dedicated to the premise that history is the greatest story ever told. Includes a mix of “greatest hits” with quirky, surprising, provocative accounts. Challenges readers to think and engage. Includes a glossary of technical terms; sources by chapter; teaching resources as jumping-off points for student research; and endnotes. Fountas & Pinnell Level Z+

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Gloria loves to sing, dance and act in her bedroom, but not in public. No way. Gloria’s big problem makes sure of that, following her wherever she goes and constantly reminding her that she’s anxious and frightened, that she’s not good enough and that everyone will laugh at her. Anxious Gloria worries all the time, about everything. Until, one day, Gloria summons all her courage to try out for a community theatre production. She marches herself to the audition and her big problem marches right in behind her. She gets up on stage and her big problem takes a seat in the front row and starts to laugh at her. And then at last she yells “STOP!” and her big problem shrinks to a little problem and Gloria wins a part in the play.

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Mrs. Snowden tells the kids that T = True, H = Helpful, N = Necessary, and K = Kind. If what you’re about to say isn’t any of these things, she tells them, you shouldn’t say it. Later that day, when Tyaja is about to criticize her friend Dhavi’s new haircut, she is stopped by four little elves sporting the letters T, H, N, and K, who reinforce Ms. Snowden’s lesson and remind Tyaja how friends should treat friends. Tyaja learns that she is the “I” in THiNK!

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“Have I ever told you that, for me, there is no one more special than you? That for me, you are the most special child in the world, and that I love you now and will love you forever? Have I ever told you that?” Shani King wrote Have I Ever Told You? as a note to his children, to remind them that they are amazing in their individuality and that they have the power to choose who they want to be in this world. The illustrations create a masterful visual narrative: warm, witty, simple, profound, and as ferociously empowering as a children’s book can be.

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