Many thanks to Barbara Wysocki for the nice mention, along with authors Gail Gibbons and Seymour Simon, in her July 23, 2014 post in School Library Journal! I am delighted that nonfiction books like ours, and the wonderful new titles that she lists are becoming a focus of Common Core. Kids always love learning about animals!
GRUNT, QUACK, OINK: Focus on Animal Books
By Barbara Wysocki
While the nation’s schools align their curricula with
the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), school and public librarians
serving children remain constant in their task of connecting young
people with age-appropriate, meaningful materials. As Olga Nesi, a
library services coordinator in the NYC Department of Education, notes,
“While public and school librarians differ, our common patron base of
children gives both groups fertile ground for growing ever stronger
collaborative bonds.” Implementing CCSS for elementary students
emphasizes content-rich text, and that means a wider range of carefully
chosen nonfiction titles will end up in classrooms, backpacks, and,
hopefully, even tucked into suitcases for family vacations. Linda
Williams, children’s services consultant for the Connecticut State
Library, highlights trade books found through reliable review sources.
“Many books are advertised as suitable for Common Core use,” says
Williams, “but librarians are looking for high-quality, complex texts.”
She sees librarians as being well suited to help teachers find the
materials they need, and is developing a webpage to assist in that
effort.
As teachers team up with librarians to create go-to
book lists and recommended websites, this is a starter set of
animal-related nonfiction titles suitable for the elementary set. “Moo”
and “Baa” are among a toddler’s first words, so it’s no surprise that
young readers are fascinated by critters that swim, hop, and fly.
(You’ll find some suggestions for classroom use tucked into the
annotations.) While the focus is on outstanding books from the past
three years, also recommended are standouts by authors such as Gail
Gibbons, Caroline Arnold, and Seymour Simon, who’ve written excellent
volumes for years. With a wealth of choices, this list covers a wide
range of animals, but does not include insects. The books are divided
into land, sea, and air, with a section devoted to more encyclopedic
titles.
[Follow the link above for SLJ to see the list of books.]
