BOOK BAIT: 10 Ways to Hook Kids On Nonfiction!

Authors, illustrators, and publishers put a great deal of effort into the quest to interest readers in their books. Ideally, every nonfiction book should have a terrific title, intriguing information, sensational sentences, and interesting images (and by all means alliteration...only kidding about that last one!?) 

Because of the great response to my last post about nonfiction activities, I was inspired to focus this time on how to entice students to read a variety of informational texts. Recommendations from their peers is one of the primary ways that kids decide to read a book, so with that in mind, ask students to:

1. Choose a nonfiction book to recommend, place it on your desk, then tour the room for new reading options.
 
2. Share one sentence that gives an idea of what the book is about.
 
3. Compile a class book of reviews then explore classmates’ suggestions.
 
4. Prepare and present book talks to the class in the form of posters, presentations, or videos.
 
5. After discovering a good book, create a display of more works by the same author.
 
6. Choose one page in a book and list the facts the words tell, then the information shown by the pictures.
 
7. Redraw an illustration or other image and add labels and other info.
 
8. Find a favorite cover and explain how it summarizes the book.
 
9. Design a new cover for a book to persuade more kids to read it.
 
10. Compare two or more books on a topic using a Venn diagram.

Click for my Pinterest board with nonfiction teaching ideas.

Enjoy!

Loreen
My web site

10 Nonfiction Activity Ideas for Kids

After writing about the Common Core State Standards last month, I wanted to keep the ball rolling with activities to use with any nonfiction book or other informational text. Getting kids more engaged in reading is the goal, so here goes:

1. Create a comic strip version of the book or informational text. 

2. Make an illustrated glossary of terms.
 
3. Act out one or more important parts.
 
4. Make a game board of significant events or information in the text.
 
5. Write a list of things you learned then make a quiz for the class.
 
6. Write an imaginary (or real) interview with the author.
 
7. Draw and label a step-by-step process.
 
8. Create a poster that summarizes and advertises the book.
 
9. Take a survey of your classmates' knowledge about the topic then graph it.
 
10. Write how the info will affect your life. 

There are plenty of other ideas, just wanted to start a list. Having students create something in response to a book or other text is one of the best ways to make the information stick, don't you think? If you would like, please visit my Kids + Nonfiction board on Pinterest...it definitely needs more pins added to it, so I'm going to go do some searches right now. Thanks for reading!

Loreen
My web site

It's a challenge to meet Common Core State Standards!

So, you're using the Common Core State Standards and you want books that align* with the standards, right? Let's try a little challenge...I'm going to see how many standards can be partly or completely fulfilled with one of my books.
*Is it just me, or does the use of the word align, often used in this context, sound a little funny? As if a chiropractor was involved, perhaps.

My new fall book, Jack & the Hungry Giant, starts out the same way as the traditional fairy tale. There are magic beans, a beanstalk, and a boy that climbs into the sky. It isn't long before Jack is discovered inside the huge castle. The fearsome giant announces, "I'm hungry!" so Jack takes a flying leap to escape. The giant manages to grab him by the shoelace, warns him to be more careful, and asks, "Are you hungry, too?" It turns out that Waldorf is a friendly giant and an excellent chef. The rest of the book revolves around turning veggies, fruit, grains, and the rest of the MyPlate food groups into a healthy meal, then dishing up a plateful. For more info and images from the book, see this post on my blog.

••• By the way, until October 31 the publisher is sponsoring a giveaway of several copies on Goodreads. I'm hoping that a couple of I.N.K. readers will win a copy! •••

To compare the old with the new, pick out a traditional version of Jack and the Beanstalk to contrast with Jack & the Hungry Giant for the following *Common Core standards:
 
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.9 Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.9 Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures. 

Or choose an informational book or other text about MyPlate to compare with Jack.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.9 Compare and contrast the most important points presented by two texts on the same topic.

A Venn diagram can work well for this kind of comparison. (Hmmm, guess we can't claim any math standards, can we?) The image below could be a model for an anchor chart:

The picture of the giant on the left is from ClipArt Etc., a source of free, mostly antique images for educational use.

I've made this freebie book activity to use with Jack that's available on this page in my TeachersPayTeachers shop. Kids will make lists of foods, so that can count as the "answer questions" part of:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

Also included is a MyPlate printable for kids to draw and label food items in the various groups: Vegetables, Fruits, Grains, Protein Foods, Dairy. In addition, it would be easy to do some vocabulary word work using the food groups and names of the individual goodies:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 2 topic or subject area.
For example, students can make an individual or class picture dictionary of words and definitions to fulfill that standard.

So, that adds up to 5 standards for Jack & the Hungry Giant. Not bad for one book. But wait...I hate to leave out math standards entirely....

Let's use the illustrations to do some counting: how many grapes are visible on the Fruit pages? How many raspberries? How many peas does Jack put on his plate? Draw a picture of Jack with 10 blueberries in a circle around him; draw a straight line of peanuts across the page then count how many.
CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.B.5 Count to answer “how many?” questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1–20, count out that many objects.

Students could do a survey about the food preferences of their classmates in each food group. Would you rather eat broccoli, green beans, or asparagus? Then they'll make a graph to display the results.
CCSS.Math.Content.1.MD.C.4 Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer questions about the total number of data points, how many in each category, and how many more or less are in one category than in another.

Kids can measure items in the book such as the corn on the cob on the Vegetables page or the banana on the Fruits page.
CCSS.Math.Content.2.MD.A.1 Measure the length of an object by selecting and using appropriate tools such as rulers, yardsticks, meter sticks, and measuring tapes.

Okay, now we're up to 8 standards! I hope most of these suggestions are more or less reasonable and will inspire ideas about how an informational picture book can be used to meet Common Core standards.

One more thing...would anyone be interested in a resource that can be used with any informational text?

These printable Nonfiction Reading Response Cards have only been in my TpT shop for a few weeks but have been downloaded over 1,000 times already, so there must be a need for this kind of template. Students fill out the cards based on a book they're reading. The cards come in pairs as shown on the cover image above: Sentence Start and End; Question and Answer, Word and Definition; Main Ideas and Details; and Fact or Fiction? Teachers can utilize some or all of the cards depending on the circumstances and try one of the game ideas to turn reading into an engaging group experience. Note: this resource will be free until the end of October. What standards can these cards help to meet?

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. [e.g. include page numbers]
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area. 
These are all for 3rd grade but there are similar standards in other grades.

Whew...this turned out to be a long post...hope it has been helpful!

Loreen
My web site

*The Common Core Standards are © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

Life Changing Nonfiction...Literally

As other I.N.K. authors have mentioned, there wasn't a great deal of engaging nonfiction for kids in the not-so-distant past. So, we made do. Personally, I gave up on the official children's area of the public library at 8 or 9 and remember wondering if someone would stop me if I dared to enter the adult section. Nobody did, so for years I headed straight for the 636 shelves where all the animal books lived and branched out from there.

Sometime in the early 70s, these books appeared on the big shelf in our family room:

Until seeing this picture, I had forgotten the rainbow-like arrangement you could make with the binding colors of the LIFE Nature Library. There were 25 volumes in all—a few are missing from this photo. One of the great things about this type of collection is the serendipity...it was like browsing in the library but on a smaller scale. It was comprehensive, covering animal behavior, the poles, the insects, evolution, plants, even the universe!

Confession: I didn't read every word. There were many pages with a high text to image ratio, which has never been my favorite approach for this kind of material. Spare me the endless prose…just give me plenty of pictures, you know? Speaking of which, here are some relevant images:

Anyway, time and time again I examined every photograph, drawing, and diagram and read the captions as well as a fair amount of the pontification, ummm, long paragraphs. Despite that complaint, the books provided a remarkable breadth of knowledge of the natural world as did our subscription to National Geographic. The photographs from all over the globe inspired many a drawing by providing exotic models that were otherwise unavailable in suburbia in those pre-Internet times. Want to draw an ocelot or an orchid or a young Tuareg girl in the Sahara desert? No problem!

To zoom up to the present day, I'm still intrigued by anything to do with nature, past or present. The other night we watched The Hunter, a fictional tale about the last Thylacine (aka the Tasmanian tiger/wolf, actually a carnivorous marsupial). In reading more online about the animal afterwards, I came across this photographic comparison of Thylacine and wolf skulls that show a remarkable example of convergent evolution.

The last known Thylacine, Benjamin, c. 1933

Like many of us these days, I do more and more of my knowledge rummaging online, but of course it isn't necessarily very well-organized or presented. Guess that's where authors come in (whew!) Since we're talking about life-changing nonfiction, why not highlight a few books about how life has changed over the eons? In a previous post I made a list of mostly reference books about prehistoric life, from short and sweet to comprehensive in scope.

The newest book in Hannah Bonner's prehistory series is about the Triassic period when dinosaurs first emerged along with the first mammals. When Dinos Dawned, Mammals Got Munched, and Pterosaurs Took Flight: A Cartoon Prehistory of Life in the Triassic looks just as fun as her previous two books. In addition to the fascinating animals, she includes many prehistoric plants as well as liberal doses of humor. As a former Mad Magazine junkie, I love a helping of humor and/or satire stirred into my information soup. Her books are great for ages 8-12 (and older, if you ask me) and are published by National Geographic.

Nat Geo is also the publisher of the Little Kids First Big Book of Dinosaurs, written by Catherine D. Hughes and illustrated by Franco Tempesta. The image shown is not the cover, but I love that little microraptor gliding by. It has a gazillion facts, dino descriptions, fun questions, baby dinos, easy-to-comprehend pronunciations, tips for parents, and outstanding realistic artwork that transports the reader back in time. It is 128 pages and is for ages 4-8.

And one of mine is My Teacher is a Dinosaur and Other Prehistoric Poems, Jokes, Riddles, & Amazing Facts. It gives an overview the history of life in 48 pages, starting from the time when Earth was still molten. There are quite a few dinosaurs, but many, many other fabulous creatures including a few humans. 

In terms of approach it has some of the elements in common with the two books above...plenty of facts, humor, realistic artwork, and pronunciations of those jaw-breaking names...and also limericks, verses, and silly jokes. Several excerpts are shown in this post on my book blog. The age level is 8 and up.

Click image to go to download page

A printable teaching resource with three activities for my book can be downloaded at this link or click the image to the left.

I don't know of any modern equivalent of the LIFE Nature Library with its expansive coverage inside those matching volumes. Most of us compile our libraries piecemeal, which seems to work just fine. In any case, how information is organized and presented is important because different approaches will engage different readers. The prehistoric parallel is that wherever there is rich content for readers, an opportunity may arise to evolve in a new direction.

When Facts Change...Again!

New information can be tough to swallow at times. I wrote previously on I.N.K. about my picture book based on the USDA Food Guide Pyramid that had to be updated due to a change in the graphic (see middle image, below). It happened again in 2011 when the MyPlate program was introduced. Actually, I prefer the plate graphic to the pyramids, which were visually awkward to work with.

My ever-alert editor at Holiday House, Mary Cash, sent me an email the day the news appeared in the New York Times. It was a surprise, but there's no sense crying over spilled milk, right? Obviously my 1994/2007 book The Edible Pyramid, which was set inside a pyramid-shaped restaurant, was instantly defunct. Or was it? More about that in a second. 

A new approach was needed, so I began to noodle on it. For some reason, the idea of having big images of various foods with a small main character popped into mind. Have bugs as characters? Hmmm...obvious downsides to that. How about if the food is accidentally put into a machine that enlarges it...sounds implausible at best, or just plain dumb. Oh! I know who it's gonna be: that classic character Jack, who climbs up the beanstalk! So I wrote the story, yada yada, made a dummy, yada yada, digitally painted the illustrations, and yada yada, here it is:

Or will be, soon. It's technically a Fall title, but books have a way of getting around before their official birthday, you know? The story starts out like the traditional fairy tale, but instead of eating Jack, the giant cooks him a healthy meal. The giant, Waldorf, is definitely a good egg.

The book is designed to be a fun introduction to MyPlate and hopefully to a lifetime to healthy eating for kids. The goal for the illustrations was to show an abundance of fresh, appetizing foods, the best starting point for good meals. No processed factory foods here, except at the end under the Empty Calories section.

What about the leftovers, the existing copies of The Edible Pyramid? I was surprised to find out that some educators are still using the pyramid system, because the main difference is the presentation rather than the content. It can take awhile for some organizations to make the transition, apparently. So it's still selling, if not like hotcakes.

In any case, I'm looking forward to cooking up some activities to go with the book. Okay, I'll stop with the food and eating sayings now. Stick a fork in me, I'm done!

Nonfiction in Non-Book Form

Let's begin by agreeing that everyone reading or writing for I.N.K. loves books, obviously(!) During my career, many changes have taken place in the publishing industry, from big box bookstores to word processors to personal computers to digital layout and illustration. Recently all this ebook stuff started up...reflowable ebooks, book apps, subscription services, and other innovative ways to deliver "content." (Don't you just love being a content creator and/or a content consumer? Whatever!)

Anyway, I looked into a variety of options, put an o.p. title on iBooks, helped start a group blog about digital books, and spent many hours absorbing blogs/forums/webinars. One criterion is that I must have big, colorful visuals as part of my digital creations. It's fairly easy to have a text-based ebook up on Amazon et al without too much difficulty, but it's not relevant for my purposes.

If a publisher wants to do something ebookish with one of my published books, there's no additional effort on my part, probably. But if not enough is happening along that line, many authors have been seeking other options.

After looking into various alternatives and pursuing some, I've come up with these general guidelines for evaluating potential indie projects:

How long does it take to create it?

How "gettable" is it for buyers?

How robust is the marketplace?

And does it have to be a "book?"

In all the excited chatter about this or that innovation, rarely is the cost-benefit ratio mentioned. Sure you can do X, but if it takes months and/or thousands of dollars to do X, how realistic is it for a product that needs to earn its keep via actual sales? I can tell you from personal experience that merely planning an interactive book app (for example) takes eons, much less actually making it. Many of us don't have a lot of spare money or months to gamble away on this or that project that may or may not sell. Trying to learn some new miraculous tech-of-the-moment before it withers away may not be the best use of one's time. Perhaps some "old" technology may be perfectly fine and offers orders of magnitude less hassle. Not to mention that many more potential customers already have the reader or other software installed and they don't have to buy a new device, download an app, or learn a new program.

I'm not sure when the idea of getting out of the book "box" dawned on me. The question became: what am I trying to deliver...is it a book, or is it information + fun? So let's say it doesn't have to be a book or a digital book-facsimile. Then what are the possibilities: a game, a play, a song, a video, a hands-on project? Without further ado, here's one nonfiction resource that I've made:

Shown is one part of a PDF that has printable posters, an informational text selection, charts, diagrams, student response pages, plus the butterfly craft where students showcase what they've learned about Monarchs. More info is in this blog post. I have no idea how commonly available this type of hands-on educational activity may be, but based on the feedback so far, teachers and students are enjoying it. And just about anybody with a computer and an Internet connection can download a PDF and already has a printer.

Other non-book nonfiction examples
• Crazy for Similes is a book extention activity in PowerPoint format, another very common program that zillions of people have. This one is a freebie, and has been downloaded over 500 times in less than a month.

• A PDF related to my book Seeing Symmetry has a scavenger hunt, an illustration matching activity, various drawing, cutting, and folding pages, posters, and a real-world symmetry recording sheet.

• On my drawing board is a printable nutrition game related to an upcoming fall book, and nearby are piles and piles of scribbles about ideas from A to Z that I'm dying to work on, just as soon as I finish this book dummy for a publisher.

And what about that marketplace guideline? As far as I know, you can't sell PDFs on Amazon, or if you can, nobody knows about it. My stuff is too big to fit in a dinky little tablet screen (you know I love you, my iPad) and besides, have you ever tried to search for anything in the so-called iBookstore? Apple wants to sell hardware and software, but books, not so much. If they did you could search on "sea turtles" and have my sea turtle book come up, and a bunch of other relevant iBooks that don't necessarily have "sea turtles" in the title or subtitle. And, you could read an iBook on a non-Apple device/computer the way you can read a Kindle book on just about any device. Not to go on a rant, but seriously!

The marketplace that I stumbled over last year is TeachersPayTeachers. With over a million registered users, it's going great guns with just under $7 million in earnings for its sellers in the 1st quarter. The sellers are primarily teachers, who are self-publishing resources that they use in their own classrooms. It's intriguing and just plain fun to cut out all the intermediaries, sell for a lower price, and hear directly from people who are using your creations and who often make suggestions for things they need. There are other options out there for selling digital and hard goods such as Etsy, and other teacher-oriented selling sites.

The best technology in the world is useless if it's too hard for people to utilize, and without a good marketplace for people to buy and sell, nothing much happens. Who knows what the nonfiction ecosystem will look like in 5 years? I'm looking forward to watching it evolve and taking part. Oh, you're probably wondering about my sales, aren't you? It's definitely a learning curve to figure out what people will pay for. Let's put it this way...if all my items sold as well as my top sellers, I'd be a very happy author-illustrator. Just like regular ol' traditional publishing, you make what inspires you, put it out there, and hope somebody will want it!

Exploring the thing that makes the light bulbs glow (and our screens!)

I have enjoyed being a part of the I.N.K. blog since the beginning but am now stepping down to let others have a chance...while I will no longer be a regular monthly blogger, an article by me will be popping up from time to time. Here is my repost from April 21, 2010:

Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, so it’s nice to be able to talk about The Shocking Truth about Energy (I just received my copies last week.) The characters include a lightning bolt named Erg and a gaggle of household appliances, toys, and tools. With their help, young readers learn how energy can change into many different forms such as heat, light, or electricity. To begin with, kids find out that their own bodies can convert the energy embedded in fuel (food) into motion via muscle power. 

A power plant burning coal to generate electricity is shown, then various sources of energy are discussed from fossil fuels to nuclear power to solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and plant-based (i.e. biofuels) in colorful spreads. 

Included are simple explanations of how prehistoric plants and algae became fossil fuels, how atoms are split to release heat, plus multiple ways to capture energy from the Sun, water, and green plants. 

One of the most important aspects of this project to me was to include both the positive aspects of each power source as well as the downsides. For example, the good news about fossil fuels is that they are a very concentrated form of energy. The bad news is that they cause pollution, are not renewable, and contribute to climate change (an abbreviated list, by necessity.) The next spread explains how the extra carbon dioxide from fossil fuels causes global warming, and shows the negative results such as higher sea levels, drought, more wildfires, and habitat loss.

Since no energy source is devoid of drawbacks, the final few pages include energy-saving tips because efficiency is one of the largest resources we have. As Erg says, when you save ENERGY, you also save the Earth! A question posed in the end notes asks Does it matter if one kid tries to save energy? Most people agree that it matters a great deal for each one of us, and my hope is that this book can be part of the solution.

An excellent online resource for kids and teachers on this topic (one of several listed in the book) is the Energy Information Administration’s web site for students, Energy Kids.

INK Photo Gallery at ALA

American Library Association (ALA) conferences are like Christmas (or Hanukkah) and birthdays rolled into one.  Christmas (or Hanukkah) because everyone is celebrating something we all love: children’s books!  Not to mention great presents from publishers: advance copies of their latest books, along with posters and pencils and bits of chocolate. And birthdays, because when you do a signing, people fuss over you, tell you how special you are, and buy your books, perhaps the best present we can get! An added bonus at ALA – the upper body strength one acquires toting all those freebies around the hall for hours and miles.

Here are a few pictures of INK authors at ALA in Anaheim, California last weekend.

 Loreen Leedy and I schmooze at a Holiday House reception.

 

Steve Sheinkin hard at work, signing his latest book, Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon.

 

Loreen Leedy, with Holiday House editor Mary Cash, signing  Seeing Symmetry

Roz Schanzer and editor Kate Olesin channel Vanna White at National Geographics’s GEOPARDY party.

 

My editor, Carolyn Yoder, and I show off Write On, Mercy! The Secret Life of Mercy Otis Warren.




HAPPY SUMMER READING TO YOU ALL!  

INK Authors at ALA in Anaheim

INK authors will be signing, speaking, and receiving awards at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim June 22-25.  Do come by and say hello!

LOREEN LEADY

• is one of twelve authors in the Nonfiction Book Blast, Saturday, June 23 1:30-3:30.

• is signing Seeing Symmetry at Holiday House Booth #2550, Saturday 4-5 p.m.

ROSALYN SCHANZER

• is taking part in a Geopardy game show with National Geographic on Saturday, June 23, 5:30-7 pm.

• is signing Witches! at the National Geographic Booth #2525 on Sunday, June 24, 12:30-1:30 and Monday, 1-2 pm.

• is receiving her Sibert Honor award for Witches! Monday, June 25, 10:30 am.

STEVE SHEINKIN

• is at the Macmillan Children’s Preview event on Saturday, 7-9 am presenting his new book Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon.

• is signing The Notorious Benedict Arnold and Bomb at the Macmillan Booth #2534 on Saturday, 10-11 am.

GRETCHEN WOELFLE

• is signing All the World’s A Stage: A Novel in Five Acts  at Holiday House, Booth #2550, Saturday, 11:00-11:30 am.

• is signing Write on, Mercy! The Secret Life of Mercy Otis Warren, at Boyds Mills/Calkins Creek, Booth #2435, Saturday, 12-1.

The topic of my next book…

…can be found within this photograph:

Artist rendering of Milky Way Galaxy, credit NASA/JPL-Caltech

In case you were wondering if the setting is the past, present, or future…

Google Image search, click image for results page

…it's set in the present, kind of. Well, it's in an imaginary land, but it applies to now, and to the future, too.

Will there be puppies!?!

Click image to view more puppies. Note non-puppy stowaway above.

Sadly, no.

Does it have anything to do with you?

Tag Galaxy search on People, click image to visit site

You do it every day, and so does everyone else.

Oops, looks like our time is up. I'll have to finish this up in a future post.

Thanks for playing!

Loreen

My Blog

Too Much Information?

When my first picture book was published in 1985, getting feedback from a reader usually happened via a fan letter or while I was visiting a school. In our wonderful new digital world, authors can interact with their readers by means of email, blog posts, comments, tweets, videos, review sites, and whatever the tech-genuises will think of next. The reviews so far for my new picture book Seeing Symmetry have been very positive except for one blogger who commented that the book has “too much information.” The image below shows the opening spread, which has fewer images than some of the other pages, but gives the general idea:

A 2-page spread from Seeing Symmetry ©2012

There are many possible reasons for the statement…the blogger was probably looking for a much simpler book for very young children. But hey, what about all the older children, what are they going to read? One very good reason for creating the book at a higher level (that I wasn’t aware of at the time) is that the Common Core State Standard for line symmetry is in 4th grade. Do you want to know what it is? Thought you’d never ask:
4.G.3 Recognize a line of symmetry for a two-dimensional figure as a line across the figure such that the figure can be folded along the line into matching parts. Identify line-symmetric figures and draw lines of symmetry.

The question of how much to include is always an issue for authors. We do the research, compile a zillion things, and reluctantly pare it all down as much as possible. I did “cheat” a little bit by having a couple of pages of notes in the back. And perhaps a Simple Symmetry book is in my future…wouldn’t want to leave out the little guys!

Getting back to the original complaint, that there is “too much” information in this book, I can see how it might be difficult to get through many nonfiction books that are loaded with factoids. Here is a blog post on the Children’s Books and Reading blog that has a good approach using sentence starter cards to help kids process the information better… Non-Fiction Books: Putting Words Into Their Mouths. In short, the adult makes cards with phrases such as “I can see…” and “I can hear…” The adult and child take turns pretending to be a person in the book, the idea being to put yourself into the page and take the time to observe what is going on. There is no need to finish the entire book in one sitting, perhaps one page at a time is just right.

If anyone would like further immersion in the wonderful world of symmetry, I have been having a fabulous time compiling all kinds of symmetrical images on Pinterest. Amazingly, over 800 hundred people are following my symmetry board:

From a rotational name activity to “squish paintings” to Mexican paper banners to student self-portraits, there are all kinds of great ideas to engage kids in the topic. To check it out, please click here.

Too much information…? That's impossible!

Loreen

my blog

Common Core is for real (at least 50% of the time)

As I've read on many a teacher blog and on listservs, “Common Core is coming.” Or has already arrived in many states. If you haven't delved into the basics of the Common Core State Standards yet, check out the corestandards.org site. If my count is accurate, 45 American states have adopted them so it’s safe to say they are already having a big impact on education.

The headline for I.N.K. authors and readers is that the percentage of informational texts to be read by 4th graders is no less than 50% and it increases to 70% by 12th grade.(1) I haven't found good numbers on the current split between fiction and nonfiction texts in schools, but the general consensus is that fiction has been dominant (at least in in elementary schools.) In any case, things are a‘changing so why not actually read the Standards (or at least try)? Here are a few excerpts that caught my eye:

Reading Standards for Informational Text, Grade 2 students
3. Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.

6. Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.

8. Describe how reasons support specific points the author makes in a text. (2)

In recalling my 2nd grade self, it's hard to remember being as smart as these objectives require. Here is a Reading Standard for 5th graders:
Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently. (3)

Sounds like something authors need to do every day, no?
 
How about this Writing Standard for 3rd grade:
2.a. Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension. (4)

I definitely do that one, often.

Grade 6 Reading Standard:
2. Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. (5)

I wish more people did that, actually.

It’s a little overwhelming to read pages and pages of the standards, but based on interacting with classroom teachers over the years, they will break them down one by one for each grade level and find ways for many (if not most) students to master them. And the plan is that authors will provide many of the resources to assist students on their way to smartness. Right?

Excelsior!

Loreen
My web site

All the standards can be found on this page:
1 Common Core English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects, page 5.
2 ibid. page 13.
3 ibid. page 14.
4 ibid. page 20.
5 ibid. page 39.

Have you seen any SYMMETRY lately?

Spring must be early this year, because my "spring" book Seeing Symmetry is already in the warehouse in February (yay!) The subject of symmetry had percolated in my mind for several years before I settled on a way to present it in picture book form. The trailer/book talk gives a sense of the broad scope of the topic:

Unlike most of my other books, the artwork is rendered in a realistic style. It was tough to decide what to include or leave out because there are so many wonderful examples of line and rotational symmetry in the world, from creatures great and small to kaleidoscope images to quilt blocks to King Tut. The page below shows some of the variety of art and craft work (which could have filled up the entire book):

What delights me the most about symmetry is that it perfectly embodies two subjects that are rarely paired up: Math and Art. In order to create or recognize symmetrical images, children (and the rest of us) must understand equal vs unequal, comparisons, repeats, rotations, reflections, and other basic math concepts in vivid, visual form.

Creating this book has certainly left a permanent impression on me because I "see symmetry" everywhere now, from decorated cakes to crocheted doilies to wrought iron gates to Mardi Gras masks…hopefully, the readers of this book will, too!

Loreen
My web site
My symmetry activities

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, I.N.K.!

Is it an anniversary or a birthday? Who knows. But I.N.K. was founded by Linda Salzman right around four years ago and it’s time to celebrate. So a few of our contributors have chimed in with reasons we think being part of this blog is so special.

Happy Birthday INK! Just seems like yesterday that Linda asked me if I wanted to write about art books on this new cool blog that she was creating. Four years later, I’m still on my soap box for art books... And, well, any other kid nonfiction book that I feel the need to talk about. Thanks to all the other amazing INK members for letting me hang out here for the past four years. Full STEAM ahead, INK! -Anna M. Lewis

The I.N.K. blog has been a great forum for sharing my own adventures as a picture book author-illustrator as well as reading what my fellow authors are up to. I've learned so much in the course of researching my own posts and while reading articles by my colleagues. New resources for creating, finding, and marketing books are popping up every day and since I'm checking them out anyway, it's great to have a place to trade information with interested readers. -Loreen Leedy

I like being part of this blog because it is a gathering of writers curious about the world and committed to their craft -- doing the best writing they possibly can to bring the world to kids. -Barbara Kerley

I wanted to be Erma Bombeck when I was growing up. I thought it would be the greatest job in the world to tell people what you think and be funny at the same time. Instead, I write books for children and teens, and I believe that is the greatest job in the world. With I.N.K., I get a little bit of that Erma dream, too--I get to tell people what I think about writing, about nonfiction, and sometimes even about life. Thank you, Linda and I.N.K.! -Deborah Heiligman

The blog has given me a real sense of community and shared purpose through the dedication, commitment and integrity of all the contributors. I LOVE reading the blog every day and I continually marvel at the intelligence and writing skills of each and every member. Thank you, Linda, for creating something that is larger than we are. -Vicki Cobb

As a part-time blogger and full-time reader, I'm grateful to Linda for bringing I.N.K. into the cyber world. Writing is often a solitary profession, one where "process" is a sport played out in an empty field. Before I.N.K. I didn't spend very much time thinking about my own process, I just did it. Then my wonderful nonfiction colleagues came into my life. You help me think through what I do. Writing the blog forces me to articulate how to do it. Then, by reading the way you all approach a subject, I am able to refine and reinforce my own technique. You make me a better writer! Thank you dear colleagues. It's wonderful to have the backs of so talented a group. But I'm not there yet, so please don't quit. Imagine how much there is to learn the next four years. Happy Fourth Birthday I.N.K.ers! -Susan Kuklin

Happy fourth anniversary, INK! Reading the posts at INK has given me a peek into other nonfiction writers' passion and process. I'm continually drawn in by the kindness, humility, and humor my fellow bloggers exhibit. It's reassuring to hear about others' struggles and victories. INK's nonfiction discussion has expanded my knowledge of the nonfiction field and helped me teach educators and kids tackling nonfiction areas (such as history) that I don't cover in my own work. -April Pulley Sayre

Shortly after Linda invited me to join the I.N.K. blog (was it only four years ago?), a rash of memoirs for adults were "outed" as fiction, the most notorious being James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces." This discovery only boosted his sales figures. For many reasons, I was deeply offended by these fictional memoirs. I would bring the subject up with friends, most of whom would stare at me blankly. But then with our new nonfiction blog, I had a forum to voice my literary concerns and to get feedback from other writers who shared my passion for research, careful attribution, and chapter notes. My first blog was a rumination on the definition of nonfiction. Over the years, I've written blogs on a variety of subjects: editing, research, teachers guides, new book announcements, school visits, the creative process and many other topics about our genre for young readers. The open-ended range of subject matter inspires me. In addition I've enjoyed the dialogue with other I.N.K. bloggers, both in posts, in person, and in personal e mails. Thank you, Linda, for your commitment to nonfiction for children, for your vision and perseverance. This is my Valentine to You. -Jan Greenberg

I’ve learned so much from my I.N.K. colleagues. I’m continually reminded of the process we each go through as we try to pursue our ideas and write and draw and make books. I would love to hear that reading about our challenges has helped some young person decide to go into science writing or another nonfiction writing area -- and I know it’s going to happen. I’m grateful to be part of this group and to have a place to write about what I do. -Karen Romano Young

What else is there to say, but "ditto." Thanks, Linda, for creating the blog, and to all the writers who make it so interesting, and to our readers who inspire us to keep going. This is Susan Goodman, ready for another great year.