#stem friday

STEM Friday #Kidlit Waiting for a Warbler

Today we’re highlighting a new informational fiction picture book, Waiting for a Warbler by Sneed B. Collard III and illustrated by Thomas Brooks. The story is told in two separate strands. The main text shows two children, Owen and his sister, as they watch for birds to return to their area. They particularly anticipate the arrival of the Cerulean warbler whom they had briefly spotted the year…

STEM Friday #Kidlit Numbers in Motion

    Today’s picture book biography puts the M in STEM:  Numbers in Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics by Laurie Wallmark and illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg.

  Laurie Wallmark specializes in biographies of women in STEM and for this book she has chosen a lesser-known subject for much-deserved recognition.

Sophie Kowalevski grew up observing the pages of calculus problems her father…

Sue Fliess is one of our favorite authors and we have regularly featured her awesome picture books here at Wrapped in Foil. Her most recent,  Flash and Gleam: Light in Our World  illustrated by Khoa Le, is perfect for celebrating National Poetry Month and also as a jumping off point for STEM activities.

In what she describes as one long poem, young readers wake with the sunrise, then explore…

Right in time for Women’s History Month we have the middle grade title Rachel Carson and Ecology for Kids: Her Life and Ideas, with 21 Activities and Experiments (For Kids series) by Rowena Rae. What could be better than an in depth history combined with hands-on activities to reinforce learning?

Rachel Carson is an amazing woman who is often credited with starting the modern environmental…

STEM Friday #Kidlit Buzzing With Questions

Entomologist and teacher Charles Henry Turner passed away 97 years ago today on February 14, 1923, so it seems appropriate to highlight the picture book biography Buzzing with Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner by Janice N. Harrington and illustrated by Theodore Taylor III.

Driven by a fascination with living things, Charles Henry Turner defied the odds and went to college.…

STEM Friday #Kidlit The Great Shark Rescue by Sandra Markle

For STEM Friday this week, we have a middle grade book,  The Great Shark Rescue: Saving the Whale Sharks by one of our favorite authors, Sandra Markle.

Whale sharks are not only the biggest fish in the world, but also the coolest sharks because they feed by vacuuming up tons of the smallest creatures in the water (see pages 18-19).  Unfortunately, along with many other fascinating creatures,…

STEM Friday #Kidlit To Celebrate 50th Anniversary of the Lunar Landing

Saturday July 20, 2019 is the 50th  Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing. To celebrate, let’s check out a new middle grade book about the moon.

Luna: The Science and Stories of Our Moon by David  A. Aguilar

  Beginning with how the moon is thought to have come about and how the moon compares with Earth, Aguilar then takes the reader on a ride through other moons, as well as moon myths and…

STEM Friday #Kidlit Ocean Emporium

For STEM Friday we’re featuring Ocean Emporium: A Compilation of Creatures by Susie Brooks and illustrated by Dawn Cooper.

What is an emporium?

By definition, it is a large store that carries a diversity of items, like a well-stocked department store. In this book it is used in the sense of a place where you can see a collection of many different animals.

The first spread introduces readers to…