Picks From THE PIT Times Infinity!

Have you ever heard a conversation like this between students or even your own kids?

"I know the names of 100 dinosaurs!"
"Oh yeah! Well I know the names of infinity dinosaurs!"

It was something like this that inspired Kate Hosford to write the book Infinity and Me, and let me tell you, I like it infinity times 100 + 1!

Uma starts talking about her new red shoes that she is so excited about that she can't sleep.  When she begins star gazing she wonders how many stars are up there and eventually goes to infinity which she thinks is a WAY bigger thing than she should be thinking about.

She asks friends and family what they think of infinity and gets some wonderful, non-fiction type answers that make her think even more.  Her friend Charlie relates infinity to numbers, her friend Samantha explains the symbol for infinite as a figure eight that fell over for a nap and Grandma says it's like family with great grandparents, grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and it could go on and on!

The one common theme to all of the definitions is the word "forever" which makes Uma try to come up with something she would like to do forever.  For example, recess, but then she asks:

 If there is no school before recess, and no school after recess, is really recess?

I love that!

The school cook asks Uma if how many times she can cut a noodle in half and the music teacher compares it to a song that goes in circles with no end and no beginning!

AWESOME!  It's hard to find good literary non-fiction books to read out loud, but this one works infinitely well and the kids love it.  The illustrations by Gabi Swiatkowska were recognized on the NY Times Best Illustrated Books of 2012 list and they are wonderful, unique and interesting enough that kids find new things to look at and discuss on every page.

I'm adding this really smart book to my all time favorite books list!

Garbage Barge in THE PIT

A few weeks ago a third grade teacher sent me an email looking for "literary non-fiction." Confession time, I've never been into the teacher lingo, and am not always up on the current terms for things, so I had to go to my friend Maria for a definition. She described it as a non-fiction book that is written like a story, now that's a definition I can understand, and amazingly, I was a big fan of these kinds of books as a kid. I also realized that literary non-fiction is what Karen and I screened for the CYBILS this year. However, one that we didn't screen, that I just discovered on a recent trip to Cover to Cover is Here Comes the Garbage Barge written by Jonah Winter.

Remember the story of the barge from New York that traveled all over 6000 miles looking for a home? It was all over the television and newspapers in 1987. Comics were getting big laughs talking about the little tug boat named Break of Dawn pulling over 3100 tons of Islip, New York's smelliest leftovers from NYC to Mexico to Belize and back again. When it arrived back in Islip, they refused their own garbage! You can't make this stuff up!

So Jonah Winter takes this news story and turns it into a fun story with illustrations by Red Nose Studio. Each harbor from North Carolina to New Orleans to Florida has it's own personality shown both in the illustrations and Winter's brief descriptions. For example, Florida is describes as "The Sunshine State, home of alligators, beautiful beaches and grandparents." A large number of my students say, "Hey, my grandparents are in Florida!" and then laugh at the old guy floating in his ducky tube in the ocean shaking his fist at the garbage barge. Very funny!

As the barge gets turned away in port after port, and finally ends up back in Islip, NY, the kids are always disgusted and surprised when the city who created the garbage actually has the nerve to turn it away. Of course, justice is served, when the trash is incinerated in Brooklyn and buried in land fills in Islip, and the kids leave with a feeling of closure, but also disbelief that this is actually a true story.

Great writing and awesome artwork make this fun read aloud in THE PIT! I found this awesome You Tube video on the making of the illustrations, way cool!

Nonfiction Monday - Riding to Washington

Riding to Washington by Gwenyth Swain and illustrated by David Geister is quite a lovely book! It is part of the Tales of Young Americans Series.

The story is told in first person by Janie, a young girl from Indianapolis. Her father comes home one night to tell his wife he wants to go on a bus to Washington to hear a speech. Her reaction is that Janie cannot stay home; she is a mischief maker. So, by default, Janie ends up going with her dad on the bus from Indianapolis to Washington to hear Dr. Martin Luther King speak. Her dad tells her they are going to see history. Janie isn't wild about the history she learns at school, so she's not so sure about this bus trip.

Also, at this moment in time, Janie's only frame of reference when it comes to "colored or black folks" is what she sees on the television. From that, she infers they live in the South, get sprayed with water by police, and are nipped at by police dogs.

There are three parts of this book that are quite powerful. Each one gave me goosebumps.

The first moment is when they arrive at the theatre in Indianapolis to board the bus for Washington, and Janie observes the people around her. She says: "There were old people mixed with young people. Preachers mixed with farmers. And me and Daddy and just a few other whites mixed in with a whole bunch of coloreds." Goosebumps as I thought about how people from all walks of life came together for this very important moment!

The second moment is the scene where Mrs. Taylor (a black lady on Janie's bus) and Janie ask the bus driver to stop at a gas station because they need to use the restroom. The bus driver points out the "No Coloreds" sign. But little Janie, joined hands with Mrs. Taylor and went into the gas station where a young boy tries to stop them. Then, Janie says, "It's like my mama and daddy always say, 'You got the choice to do the right thing or not.' Mama says I make a lot of wrong choices, but I think letting us in would be the right one now." What intelligent words for such a young girl -- goosebumps again!

Finally, the illustration of all the people gathered to hear Dr. Martin Luther King speak in Washington on August 28, 1963, is amazing. The illustrator, David Geister, paints a powerful picture of the sea of humanity, all there to hear the famous, "I Have a Dream" speech. Goosebumps, goosebumps, goosebumps!

The end of this book has an author's note that is well worth reading. The author's (Gwyneth Swain) father and grandfather actually took a bus trip to see Dr. Martin Luther King deliver his famous speech. She ends by saying that even more historic than the speech was the fact that people of all skin colors and religions came together for the dream of peace. What a phenomenal moment in history!!

This book is very kid friendly. I actually borrowed this from the "new book" section in our local library, but I will be buying it very soon, as this is a must have for our classroom library!! In addition to being a wonderful story about a significant time in history, it will also serve as a great mentor text when we study how to write literary nonfiction.

For the Nonfiction Monday roundup, go on over to Picture Book of the Day.