Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge

Alyson Beecher over at Kid Lit Frenzy hosts a Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge and has a roundup every Wednesday. I love the encouragement to explore more non-fiction. I am thankful that she has this challenge because I know I have read more nonfiction texts as a result.

Tree of Wonder: The Many Marvelous Lives of a Rainforest Tree 

by Kate Messner, illustrated by Simona Mulazzani

Summary via author page: 

Deep in the forest, in the warm-wet green, 1 almendro tree grows, stretching its branches toward the sun. Who makes their homes here?

2 great green macaws,
4 keel-billed toucans,
8 howler monkeys,
16 fruit bats,
32 fer-de-lance vipers,
64 agoutis,
128 blue morpho butterflies,
256 poison dart frogs,
512 rusty wandering spiders,
1,024 leafcutter ants.

Count each and every one as life multiplies again and again in this lush and fascinating book about the rainforest.

My thoughts: First, I really love the recent trend of decorating end papers. I love the shadows of animals on the forest colored background. I also liked the concept of showing the varied wildlife that is able to live because of the tree.

The inclusion of math added a fun layer to the text. Seeing the numbers doubling made me always wonder which animal could be coming next. I also enjoyed the extra math problems at the end of the story.

Messner also includes several ways to continue learning and/or to help save the rainforest or the animals living there.

Tree of Wonder will be a nice addition to our nonfiction collection. 

Review: Hide and Seek

Title: Hide and Seek (Capture the Flag #2)

Author: Kate Messner

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Pages: 256 pages

Audience: Ages 8-12

Genres: Mystery, Action/Adventure

Review Copy: E-ARC via NetGalley

Release Date: April 1, 2013

Summary from Goodreads: A fast-paced mystery from the author of CAPTURE THE FLAG!

José, Anna, and Henry are junior members of the secret Silver Jaguar Society, sworn to protect the world's most important artifacts. When they discover that the society's treasured Jaguar Cup has been replaced with a counterfeit, the trio and their families rush to the rain forests of Costa Rica in search of the real chalice. But when the trail runs dry, new mysteries emerge: Who can they trust? Is there a traitor in their midst? With danger at every turn, it will take more than they realize for José and his friends to recover the cup before it falls into the wrong hands.

My Review: Kate Messner has delivered another action-filled and intriguing mystery for her fans.  José, Anna and Henry find plenty of danger and excitement as they help the Silver Jaguar Society try to find the missing Jaguar Cup. In this installment, readers are treated to unusual animals like the glass frogs and bullet ants as the young investigators tromp through the Costa Rican jungle. She also provided a cave excursion. The walls have glowing crystal formations and it all sounds quite amazing.

In addition to a colorful and lush setting, Messner has just the right balance of suspense, humor and action throughout the book. There are chases through the jungle, snot frogs, a zip line, a "swinging bridge of death" and many other bits of fun to bring a chuckle and a smile to the faces of readers. For the mystery lovers, there is plenty to puzzle out and try to solve as the junior Silver Jaguars work to recover the cup and keep each other safe. There are also a few other threads of the story to untangle since the friends are keeping a few secrets from each other. Of course this leads to some difficulties between the friends, but that adds to the believability as they fuss at each other on occasion. What is a bit harder to believe is that their parents are once again not really in the picture during the story, but that isn't terribly distracting. So much is going on that it is just a blip.

Hide and Seek has much going for it and with the wonderful sense of place that Messner has created, this book surpasses the first in my eyes. Hide and Seek will be a welcome addition to any library.

Extras:

Hide and Seek Resources Pinterest Board

Costa Rica Wildlife

Kate Messner & Our Skype Visit with Update

Our third grade was very lucky and had the opportunity to visit with Kate Messner recently.  We had all read her picture books Over and Under the Snow and Sea Monsters First Day, and a lot of us had read Marty McGuire.  We really enjoyed getting to talk to her and ask lots of questions about her writing process.  She shared about some of her favorite books she read as a child (Ramona books and Judy Blume books), where she got her ideas for the books we had read, and about carrying around a notebook to jot cool ideas down.  We found out that the new Marty McGuire will be published in the spring and we cannot wait to get our hands on it.

After the visit, we wanted to figure out a way to say thank you.  The students that are happy to be in front of a camera have spoken for all of us in the video below.  We hope you enjoy seeing their response to Kate.  If you or your class are interested in Skyping with Kate or with other authors, she has a fantastic blog post explaining how it all works and which authors do this: Authors Who Skype with Classes or Book Clubs (for free).  This was our schools' second Skype author visit.  The first was Tom Angleberger of Origami Yoda fame with our 4th & 5th grade - and he was a hoot.  We would like to make virtual author visits a regular occurrence because we learn so much and they are extremely fun. Thanks again to Kate Messner who made our day.

P.S. I forgot to add the video messages of one of my classes.  They let me know it when I showed them the video above.  Sooooo, here are their messages too.