Discover Top Posts Tagged with #studentlibrarian

Some of our newer badges - for school

A selection of badges designed for teachers & schools, from primary school to secondary school and through to college & university. We have school badges for most subjects, along with merit star & award badges & motivational badges for teachers & heads to hand out to their students. Teaching badges are great to give out as keepsakes & rewards, as well as using them as teaching aids for things such as geography & climate change.

#badgesforschool #studentlibrarian #badges #wellbeingchampion #stemclub #scienceclub #stem #studentleader #studentcouncil #buttonbadge

Reading Log

I’m back again with another reading log. This week, I read 3 books with very specific qualities, as per the assignment. I was supposed to look at a book which proposes a theory of some kind, a book that invites decision making or action steps, and finally a historical fiction book. Let’s get started!

Mission Planet Earth: Our World and its Climate - and How Humans are Changing Them by Sally Ride and Tam O’Shaughnessy

This book, published by Roaring Book Press, is directed at ages 9-14. This seems quite appropriate for the following reasons. It is a nonfiction book with 4 chapters, plus a list of sources and an index. It is quite long, with 80 pages in total. It does include a lot of pictures, including photographs, diagrams, and charts. All of these factors may well overwhelm younger readers.

The visual media are quite beautiful, but there are times when I questioned the font choice, such as a black font on a fairly busy sky background that was very hard to read; the text would have been better isolated from the picture.

Overall, the book provides an excellent, accessible breakdown of climate science, human caused climate change, and the consequences of those factors. It does not provide any sort of action steps or things that kids can do to help, but it does very clearly indicate that humans are contributing to the problem, as science has been telling us for some time.

This book would be great for curriculum support or homework, or for kids who are particularly interested in ecology and climate science to read on their own. I think the fact that it is written by an authority figure, Sally Ride, that adults will recognize, is also interesting; for some readers and audiences, it may lend additional credence to her words. However, it is worth noting that there are still individuals who consider climate change to be a political issue or, worse, a hoax, or a conspiracy of some kind. The science, however, is quite clear.

Meatless? A Fresh Look at What You Eat by Sarah Elton, illustrated by Julie McLaughlin

This book, published by OwlKids books, covers vegetarianism from a broad range of angles, and is directed at ages 4-8. It is significantly shorter than Mission Planet Earth, but even so, I think this age range is way too low. The book has 6 chapters, each of which is divided into subsections. The very first chapter covers the killing of a chicken. There is a ton of text on each page, and the rhythm of the text makes it clear that it is not designed to be read aloud.

This book addresses, on the first page of text, complex ethical issues - the phrase “you are taking a life to support your own” appears on the first page. I cannot imagine trying to explain that to a four year old.

Age range issues aside, the book is really interesting. The author is a meat eater but claims she is conflicted about it. The text addresses why people eat meat, what vegetarianism is, religious factors surrounding the topic, animal welfare, greenhouse gases, and gives alternatives to eating meat and how to become a vegetarian while ensuring that enough protein is still included in the diet.

It was an interesting approach, because it was very educational, but it doesn’t feel overly prescriptive. It is a great book for helping kids learn about what vegetarianism is, and what they should be thinking about with regards to their food, and may help kids understand the diets of others even if they do not become vegetarian themselves.

It would be a good book for kids to read, but I wouldn’t want to make it required reading; peoples’ diets are an extremely personal issue, and I would not want parents to feel that something like vegetarianism was being forced on their families.

The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages

This book won the Scott O’Dell award for historical fiction. It is directed at middle grade kids, ages 8-12, which seems appropriate. It is definitely a chapter book and would be best for confident readers, so this should definitely be looked at on an individual basis.

This book is about the development of the atomic bomb during World War II which was used in Japan. Obviously, there is a huge potential for discussion and curriculum incorporation, as well as further teaching. i love that Klages incorporated the real scientists, like Oppenheimer.

I think this would be a good book for kids interested in history or science. It also incorporates some discussion questions and ideas for further reading, which is great as well. I really appreciated that it offers a slightly shifted narrative of WWII than we usually see. I also like that the author has developed it into a series which addresses some of the issues the American people dealt with during the ensuing Cold War.