Literacies in Content AreasBecky O’Neil

Teen LibrarianWesterville Public Library

boneil@westervillelibrary.orgOct. 23, 2014

Chemistry

★ Keyword search first ★ Find subject headings★ Click subjects to find

other books★ Find authors★ Click names to find

other books★ Wild card & truncating

(chemi*)★ Advanced Search

Itch: The explosive adventures of an element hunter, by Simon Mayo (teen fiction - teen discovers new radioactive element and must keep evil forces from getting it)Magic school bus: Amazing magnetism, by Rebecca Carmi (first chapter book series featuring popular characters)The Magic School Bus and the science fair expedition, by Joanna Cole (juvenile nonfiction)Lanie’s real adventures (American Girl Today series), by Jane Kurtz (Lanie writes nature observations in her science journal & discovers her neighbor is using pesticides)Why is milk white? & 200 other curious chemistry questions, by Alexa Coelho (juvenile nonfiction - experiments)The science of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, by Mary and John Gribbin (teen nonfiction - explains the science in this popular trilogy)Tesla’s attic, by Neal Shusterman (juvenile fiction - moving into Tesla’s old house, items in the attic have powers…)Benjamin Franklinstein lives!, by Matthew McElligott (juvenile fiction - Ben Franklin becomes reanimated with a jolt of electricity)The great trouble: A mystery of London, the blue death, and a boy called Eel, by Deborah Hopkinson (juvenile fiction - protagonists prove that cholera is spread through water, and not poisonous air)Brendan Buckley’s sixth-grade experiment, by Sundee T. Frazier (science fair - testing cow manure for methane production)Bomb: The race to build - and steal - the world’s most dangerous weapon, by Steve Sheinkin (juvenile nonfiction - the international competition to build the first atomic bomb)For the good of mankind?: The shameful history of human medical experimentation, by Vicki Oransky Wittenstein (juvenile nonfic)Who was Marie Curie? (first chapter book biography - the Who Was and Who Is biography series are very popular)The periodic table: Elements with style!, created by Basher, written by Adrian Dingle (juvenile nonfiction - fun “bios” of each element with stylized illustrations)Bartholomew and the Oobleck, by Dr. Seuss (picture book - sticky green globs fall from the sky!)The secret formula, by Dan Green (juvenile nonfiction - create your own adventure using chemistry knowledge to save the chocolate factory)

Math

Check out more titles here and here

The boy who loved math: The improbable life of Paul Erdős, by Deborah Heiligman (picture book biography - lots of math integrated into the illustrations by LeUyen Pham)On a beam of light: A story of Albert Einstein, by Jennifer Berne (picture book biography)Music Math, from Math and My World series, by Rourke Publishing (juvenile nonfiction)The numbers behind Numb3rs: Solving crime with mathematics, by Keith Devlin (adult nonfiction - explains the real-life mathematical techniques used by law enforcement agencies to help catch and convict criminals)Tiger math: Learning to graph from a baby tiger, by Anne Whitehead Nagda (juvenile nonfiction - describes the growth of an orphan Siberian tiger cub, by means of words and graphs)Actual size and Prehistoric actual size, by Steve Jenkins (juvenile nonfiction - shows animals and parts of animals at their actual size. Amazing cut-paper illustrations give stunning comparisons)A million dots, by Andrew Clements (juvenile nonfiction - there are actually a million dots printed in this book, plus lots of other numerical facts)Girls get curves: Geometry takes shape, by Danica McKellar (teen nonfiction - Danical McKellar has written several math help books specifically aimed at tween and teen girls, since this is the age when they falter in math)The lion’s share: A tale of halving cake and eating it, too, by Matthew McElligott (picture book - the animals halve Lion’s cake until there is none left for Ant, but they double her offer of a new cake until someone has to bake 250!)Lawn boy, by Gary Paulsen (juvenile fiction - a 12-year-old tried to expand his summer mowing business and gets some lessons in economics)

Art

Motel of the mysteries, by David Macaulay (juvenile nonfiction - a hilarious spoof of archaeological discoveries via a motel discovered and analyzed by future scientists)What it is, by Lynda Barry (teen/adult graphic novel memoir - Barry talks about her life and the creative process in this uniquely visual art journal)No one saw: Ordinary things through the eyes of an artist, by Bob Raczka (juvenile nonfiction - simple introduction to famous paintings and the concept of artistic point of view)The Plain Janes, by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg (teen graphic novel - Jane shakes things up in her new suburban neighborhood with “art attacks” of street art)A book about design: Complicated doesn’t make it good, by Mark Gonyea (juvenile nonfiction - Mark Gonyea’s books are all great introductions to graphic design and color concepts)The first drawing, by Mordecai Gerstein (picture book - in second-person narration, a young prehistoric boy is first able to show his family what he sees in his mind’s eye via a cave painting)The Usborne children’s book of art, by Rosie Dickins (juvenile nonfiction - although from 2005, this is my favorite basic art history overview for kids)Kid made modern, by Todd Oldham (juvenile nonfiction - projects for kids to try, as well as artist profiles, techniques, and “All About” section that explain everything from materials to cleanup)What is contemporary art?: A guide for kids, by Jacky Klein and Suzy Klein (juvenile nonfiction - this guide from MoMA is a kid-friendly and accessible introduction)

Music

★ Another type of subject heading: Community tags (“music youth collection”)★ Tags can also be clicked through for more titles

Music: Hit the right note!, created by Basher, written by Dan Green (juvenile nonfiction - introduces basic components of music with bright, manga-style illustrations)

Jazz, by Walter Dean Myers, illustrated by Christopher Myers (picture book - illustrations and rhyming text celebrate the roots of jazz music)

Fat kid rules the world, by K.L. Going (teen fiction - overweight Troy gets a new perspective as the drummer in a band. Contains some of the best descriptions of rock shows I have ever read!)

Never play music right next to the zoo, by John Lithgow (picture book + CD - excellent rhyming text and accompanying CD with full orchestra)

The composer is dead, by Lemony Snicket (picture book + CD - murder mystery in which each instrument must be interrogated. Interesting alternative to Peter and the Wolf)

Hip hop speaks to children: A celebration of poetry with a beat, ed. by Nikki Giovanni (juvenile nonfiction + CD)

Five flavors of Dumb, by Antony John (teen fiction - despite her deafness, 18-year-old Piper becomes the manager for her classmates' popular rock band, called Dumb)

Don’t miss...★ Request a book (SearchOhio & OhioLINK)★ My Account - lists, freezing holds, tagging★ Teacher checkout & educator resources★ Westerville library mobile app★ School Library Journal - their reviews appear online (Amazon, Novelist

database, library catalog), and the print magazine has twice-annual supplements that review nonfiction series

★ Reference books and teacher resource books ○ The Organized Teacher’s Guide to Children’s Literature, by Kimberly

Persiani (2014)○ Guide to Recommended Children’s Books and Media for Use with

Every Elementary Subject, by Kathryn I. Matthew (2010)○ Radical Reads 2: Working With the Newest Edgy Titles for Teens, by

Joni Richards Brodart (2010) - includes Curriculum Area Index