Middle Grade Monday: The Wild Robot Protects by Peter Brown

Image: Hachette Book Group

The Wild Robot Protects by Peter Brown. 288 p. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Sept. 2023. 9780316669412. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Sorry for this late posting. Too much going on health-wise. It'll all settle out eventually. Middle Grade Monday features The Wild Robot Protects by Peter Brown. Roz is busy protecting her island home and its denizens and awaiting the return of her son, Brightbill, when news reaches the island of a new menace, the poison tide. When Roz not only learns that she is waterproof, but immune to the poison tide, she sets out north on a treacherous journey to the source of the poison.

The first two books in this trilogy are TMS favorites and this installment was much anticipated. So far, I've received mixed reviews from fans, some love it and some are a bit disappointed. I personally loved it. I adore Roz and her unconditional love for all things. Either way, if you've read the first two books, do yourself a favor and finish the trilogy. Happy reading!

Fact Friday: Rachel Carson and Ecology for Kids: her life and ideas, with 21 activities and experiments by Rowena Rae

Image: Chicago Review Press

Rachel Carson and Ecology for Kids: her life and ideas, with 21 activities and experiments by Rowena Rae. 144 p. Chicago Review Press, February, 2020. (Review of e-book borrowed from public library.)

Happy Friday! We made it through another week! My students have a long weekend to look forward to. We teachers have a PD day on Monday.

Fact Friday features Rachel Carson and Ecology for Kids: her life and ideas with 21 activities and experiments by Rowena Rae. Rachel Carson was born in 1907 and was intensely curious about nature from her early years. Not only did she attend college when few women did, but she also studied science, specifically biology, which even fewer women did. She wrote eloquently about science and nature as well. Her intense observation and study of the natural world led her to the conclusion that pesticide use was adversely affecting animal life and the environment. She began to speak out against the use of pesticides in the 1950s and the 1962 publication of her book, Silent Spring, awakened the general public to these dangers to our environment.

This dual-use biography has activities and experiments that budding environmentalists can try. Although these activities were interesting - things like making bird seed cookies and building a worm farm, I found them intrusive to the flow of the narrative and would've preferred them to be grouped in a separate section, especially as they didn't directly connect to the text. There are plenty of photos to maintain interest and the back matter includes a timeline and glossary.

This biography serves as a fine introduction to the life and work of Rachel Carson.

Non-Fiction Monday: The Call of the Osprey by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

The Call of the Osprey by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent. Photographs by William Muñoz. 80 p. Scientists in the Field series. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, June, 2015. 9780544232686. (Purchased)

Ospreys are birds of prey that live along rivers and bodies of water because their main prey are fish. They return to the same nest (and mate) year after year. These nests are often high up in dead trees and telephone poles. The human population tends to remove dead trees and telephone poles can be deadly, so conservation folks, power companies and landowners have been cooperatively constructing nesting platforms. Their population was declining during the 1960s due mostly to the spraying of DDT. Scientists at the Montana Osprey Project have been studying the effects of pollution on the osprey population in a large Superfund clean-up sight along the Clark Fork River. This team spends a great deal of time each nesting season observing, counting, tagging fledglings and drawing blood samples. Then, they spend the fall and winter analyzing. 


Dorothy Hinshaw Patent and William Muñoz teamed up to tag along and observe/ record the work of these dedicated wildlife biologists and students. Patent's cogent writing and Muñoz's amazing photos are equally gorgeous and engaging. There is so much packed into these eighty pages. There's an overview of osprey habits and habitats, osprey mating and fledging, and osprey migration. Another chapter relates the effects that mining has on the environment and what a Superfund cleanup is. 

 As usual, the book is gorgeously designed. Plenty of side bars to enhance the narrative. Additionally, pages designed to look like a writer's notebook lay open on double-page spreads and provide biographies of established scientists and budding scientists. An author's note is followed by pages entitled, "To Learn More" and includes books for both adult and young readers and a variety of websites and webcams, as well as four related organizations, sources, acknowledgements, an epilogue and a glossary.

Another must-purchase addition to a stellar series. I'm going to grab my binoculars now and head down to the reservoir for a little birdwatching on this gorgeous summer morning.

Non-Fiction Monday: When Rivers Burned: the Earth Day Story by Linda Crotta Brennan

When Rivers Burned: the Earth Day story by Linda Crotta Brennan. Illustrated by Lisa Greenleaf. Once, In America series. 80 p. Apprentice Shop Books, LLC, January, 2012. 9780984254996. (Purchased)

I discovered this while perusing the list of Outstanding Science Trade Books that the National Science Teachers Association issues yearly. I've been trying to beef up the collection in the area of the environment to support the science curriculum. 

The lovely cover and catchy title should be enough of a lure but this is no lightweight covering of the topic. Students should be prepared to read an in-depth reporting of the movement, which was the brain-child of Senator Gaylord Nelson. First, Brennan sets the stage by providing a bit of historical context - unregulated pesticide use, rampant dumping of waste into rivers by large companies, billowing smokestacks poisoning the air. Next, readers learn about Gaylord Nelson, WWII veteran who as the Governor of Wisconsin began a state-funded program of buying open space and preserving it as wilderness. In 1962, he ran for the U. S. Senate and won. He soon found that his colleagues in the Senate knew little about environmental issues. He set to work convincing President Kennedy that he should make a conservation tour. Unfortunately, other political events got in the way. Nelson persevered and, after convincing college student, Denis Hayes to spearhead the national campaign, the very first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970.

Other early environmental activists are highlighted, including Rachel Carson and Paul Ehrlich, making this an ambitious undertaking for an 80-page book and perhaps lending to some abrupt shifts (I actually thought I skipped a page at one point.) The photos were all well-captioned save one.  

The photographs, both black and white and full-color are at turns fascinating and appalling. There are also maps and photographs of newspaper headlines as well. Plenty of text-boxes add to the interest. The book also contains illustrations, which, while competently done were not really necessary given the plethora of photos. Several timelines, a glossary, index and photo sources conclude the volume. Curiously, there were no suggestions for further reading. 

Still, this history is an important addition to any classroom or school library.       

Non-fiction Monday: Wangari Maathai: the woman who planted millions of trees by Franck Prévot

Wangari Maathai: the woman who planted millions of trees by Franck Prévot. Illustrated by Aurélia Fronty. 45 p. Charlesbridge, January, 2015. 9781580896269. (Finished copy courtesy of publisher for review.)

Back in 2008, a very lovely picture book biography of Wangari Maathai was published. It was a perfect blend of succinct yet beautiful writing and pleasing, folk-style illustration. That book? Wangari's Trees of Peace by Jeanette Winter. So, do we need yet another? Absolutely! 

This one is for slightly older readers. Where Winter's book is perfect for younger readers, Prévot's book supplies more detail, enabling upper elementary and middle grade researchers to glean hard, biographical facts and enjoy gorgeously lush illustrations while doing so. 

There's a bit more text, more detail, including the feminist aspects and historical context. Girls didn't typically get educated at the time but Wangari not only attended school in Kenya, she traveled to the United States to further her education. Forming the Green Belt Movement meant standing up to the government, earning her threats and imprisonment. 

The back matter includes black and white photographs, a detailed timeline, a map and note about Kenya today, a page discussing the sad state of Kenya's forests today and, finally, a page containing source notes and books and websites for further reading. 

The art, oh the art! It is luscious. I want to swim in the palette! Where Winter's art is soft and creamy, Aurélia Fronty's art is bold, edgy and evocative; it just begs the eye to linger. I really loved the black & white photos added at the end. Wangari's presence just jumps off of the page with her brilliant smile and intelligent eyes. The photo of student protesters being arrested effectively hammers home the danger those activists faced in standing up for their beliefs. 

This is a must-purchase book. Perfect for so many curriculum areas from the study of environmentalism to Kenya; from women's history to black history. The book happened to be on my desk when a fifth grade teacher was in the library. She picked it up and proclaimed it a perfect read aloud as her class happened to be researching African countries. I hope that she will be the first of many checkouts of this brilliant biography.