Cowboy Up! Ride The Navajo Rodeo.

Flood, Nancy Bo.  Cowboy Up! Ride The Navajo Rodeo.  Boyd's Mills/Word Song   2013  40p  $17.95  ISBN 978-1-59078-893-6  elem  Nonfiction  E-BN

Rodeos are a cultural and community event in almost every western state.  This book focuses on local rodeos held weekly that draw Navajo participants of all ages, but it presents mainly children and teenagers who compete in the local events.  While the focus is on Navajo rodeos, this book is a perfect introduction to rodeos of any type and locale, from local events to national competitions.  Kudos to the illustrators for using close-up photos of the faces of young rodeo participants for the end pages, with the front two pages having different photos from the last two pages.  The two-page spreads feature poems that reflect the training, pride, and sometimes fear associated with a particular rodeo event; an announcer’s introduction to the event, and an action-packed photo of the event along with a description of its rules and goals.  Young people from age four can participate in events such as mutton riding, while older children will do roping and barrel racing, with teens competing in bronco-riding, bull-riding, and team roping events.  The cowboy prayer reflects the Navajo reverence for the animals and kinship with nature.  The community spirit and ethics of participants reflect the desire to help fellow participants by volunteering or training young riders.  An excellent introduction to a day in the life of a rodeo participant. Grades 2-6.

Summary: Crisp, action-packed color photos of Navajo young people competing in local rodeos.  Each two-page spread starts with an announcer’s set-up for an event, a poem related to the event, rules of the event and a color photo of a rider in action.  Excellent! Gr. 2-6.

                 

Rodeos                                                --Lois McNicol

Fact Bug.

Lewis, J. Patrick.  Fact Bug.  (Poems)    Boyd's Mills/Word Song  2013 36p    $16.95  ISBN 978-1-59078-925-4  elem/ms  E-BN

This is a perfectly gross book that will pull in even the most science- and bug-averse reader.  The title is a play on words with referencing Facebook, as each insect is photographed with its ugliest, scariest face possible.  A poem describes each bug and its lifestyle, while pen-and-ink drawings crawl across the bottom and sides of each two-page spread. The ink drawings encourage readers to go beyond the text to answer questions.  Humor appears in the pen-and-ink drawings as well as the last few pages of the book, where each insect has a biography listing where it lives, its growth cycle, its predators, and what it eats, all written in a chatty humor-filled Facebook style.  Accompanying this biography is a photo of the insect in its natural habitat.  Two pages at the end of the text allow readers to test their knowledge as they are asked to identify the insects depicted in the pen-and-ink drawings.  A first resource to explore the lifestyles and habitats of various common insects that readers will encounter in their own community.  It’s also a perfect match for STEM initiatives.                 

Summary: A perfect combination of yucky photos, facts and drawings of insects that will merrily gross out readers.  The up-close photos of bug faces, a poem about their lifestyle, and  pen-and-ink drawings that add humor will challenge readers to look more closely. Gr 3+.    

Insects, Poetry                                       --Lois McNicol

Yolen, Jane. Birds of A Feather

Yolen, Jane.     Birds of A Feather     

WordSong (Boyds Mills Press)        2011   unp     17.95  978-1-59078-830-1            

all ages                                   E-BN   

Poetry and photography make this an enjoyable experience for readers of all ages. In addition to heart

warming poems and exquisite photographs, the book contains brief notes on the

life and environment of each bird. Jane Yolen and Jason Stemple have captured

the essence of each bird in their natural world with their combined efforts. The

book is beautifully formatted with a variety of colorful pages that effectively

project the mood of the bird's habitat. Each crisp photograph is precisely

focused to portray the bird in fine detail. Readers will definitely look at the

world of birds more closely in the future.

   This book has presented many unusual birds to it's readers. Some of them are

uniquely shaped and make readers wonder how they can fly.  As Donald Kroodsma

said in the forward, ╥the birds are far more than and accumulation of facts. If

╥God touched the bird__ and so it flies╙...Jane Yolen and Jason Stemple are

themselves God's helpers.╙                        McNeil, Linda

Holbrook, Sara. Weird? (Me, too!) Let’s Be Friends.

Holbrook, Sara.    Weird? (Me, too!) Let’s Be Friends.  

WordSong (Boyds Mills Press)  2011  56p   16.95 978-1-59078-821-9 

elm/ms                  VG-BNe      

This is a collection of poems about friendship in all of its aspects.  These poems

are very well crafted, and varied.  There are poems for two voices, poems that

rhyme and poems that do not.  Some of the poems are in free verse, others are in

meter.  All of them deal with the ups and downs of elementary-age and middle-

school-age friendships, and represent very genuine feelings that kids experience

with their friendships, both positive and negative.  The illustrations are

relevant and quirky, and add to the whimsical mood of the poems.

Interspersed with the poems there are suggestions for writing poetry, which a

teacher may want to use with a class.  A student who is “into” poetry may even

want to try some of these suggestions independently.        Kennedy, Carol

Well Defined: Vocabulary in Rhyme by Michael Salinger

Salinger, Michael. Well Defined: Vocabulary in Rhyme.
WordSong (Boyds Mill Press), 2009, $16.95, 978-1590786154

The poet Michael Salinger tackles some standardized test vocabulary words and through verse makes the words bloom.
This slim little book contains about 50 vocabulary inspired poems. The first word of each poem begins with the word he’s playing with and the bottom of the page contains the dictionary definition. One personal favorite is
“Pithy”
Pithy gets right to the point
no beating around the bush for her
short and sweet and completely
relevant to the topic at hand
this girl knows what she’s talking about
not one to waste words
being concise for her is a snap
This is your go-to gal
when you need a line or a phrase
that cuts through all the crap

It is clear that the author loves words and brings his talent and love together in “Well Defined.” Salinger invites his reader to continue to write their own word poems. This is a fun-to-read book with great potential in the curriculum. TS