Yomtov, Nel. Internet Inventors.

Yomtov, Nel.  Internet Inventors.   Scholastic/Childrens Press   2013  64p  $23.00  ISBN 978-0-531-23609-3   elm/ms      series: Cornerstones of Freedom   VG-BN  

For young people who have never known a world without Facebook, Google, YouTube, and swiping/mousing to get information from the Internet, this is a primer on how the last fifty years have seen remarkable development in the way people communicate.  Starting with ARPAnet and progressing to USENET, gopher, search engines and on to TCP/IP and more recent developments such as AOL, Facebook and YouTube and online retailing, the book gives readers a quick overview of the people who were instrumental in the development of the software and structure of networks that have radically changed our world. Included are the concerns that some governments limit access to information, along with a timeline, glossary, index and further reading links to primary source material.  This book is a  great place to begin research into how the Internet was developed and how it has changed the way we do business and communicate.  Cornerstones of Freedom includes over forty titles that cover all aspects of American history, including wars, political events, people and the social phenomena that have changed us. Each book includes a timeline, glossary, index, map, and lists of primary and secondary resources.     

Internet-History                                                  --Lois McNicol

Perritano, John. Revolution in Communications

Perritano, John Revolution in Communications
Marshall Cavendish/Benchmark 2010 32p 28.50
978-0-761443 elm/ms VG
It Works(MC)

All major inventions related to communications are included in this book. They include the printing press, the telephone, the computer and the telegraph, to name a few. Additionally, there are snippets of biographical data about the inventors.
Do you want to get children to read nonfiction? This book has colorful layout, interesting pictures and information, a compare/contrast piece that is sure to please a literacy teacher and experiments that correspond to each invention. The devices included in the book include the invention of the printing press & the E-book, the telegraph & E-mail, the telephone & the cell phone, the radio & satellite radio, the television, both regular and high def, and the Internet & the World Wide Web. The compare/contrast piece to this book makes it an asset to a literacy teacher. The author could have chosen the chronological order format, but this one is far more educational. The art work includes a mixture of real images and caricatures, all designed to interest younger readers. In addition, the author includes biographical information about each inventor, and one can see how useful this book would be for a child who has the assignment of reporting on a useful invention and its inventor, or on useful inventions that have changed the world. The budding scientist can perform the experiments that are included with each invention, and all experiments look like fun! The text is written using many simple sentences, and since young readers learn how to write by reading high quality, complex and compound sentences, this is a definite weakness. However, the information is interesting and relevant, and one sees the benefit of including this series in a library or classroom collection. The timeline and glossary are icing on the cake, and the book ends with a list of resources and an index. This book is best for the elementary school & middle school library. However, by including experiments, the author assures the science teacher that it could be part of a science classroom collection as well! Squaresky, Martha
all major communication devices, old & new

Do Animals Work Together?

Brynie, Faith Hickman. Do Animals Work Together?

Enslow 2010 32p 22.60 I Like Reading About Animals(Enslow)

978-0-7660-3328-3 elem E-BN

A fun and interesting look at how and why animals communicate with each other and how the communication benefits them. Loaded with interesting and appropriate photographs. The focus of this book is both animal communication and cooperation. The author begins by telling the reader that animals have ways to tell each other what they want. “They make sounds. They move in special ways. They touch each other.”(5) She then proceeds to supply examples on how this communication takes place within different species.
As with other titles in the series the photographs draw in the reader. The information, with its specific focus, transmits the intended facts. The selection of animal species is unusual and include birds, lizards, mammals, and insects.
This colorful book doesn’t overwhelm its audience with too much information. Supplemental materials include references to additional sources of information and a very nice index.
Spadaro, Trish

Bell, Joanne. Juggling Fire.

Bell, Joanne. Juggling Fire.
Orca 2009 171p 12.95 978-1-55469-094-7 ms/hs
An Alaskan girl seeks answers to life’s questions. Where did her father go? Why didn’t he return? Can she survive the challenges of the Yukon to try to find her answers? Her quest is unforgettable. Orca Book Publishers has printed the perfect book. As if Orca Soundings had not already provided books for our readers that they cannot put down! In Juggling Fire, Joanne Bell combines poetry, a wonderful story about a relentless search for answers and a family with whom the reader is sure to connect. How she turns a dog named Brooks and a girl named Rachel into protagonists who are both resilient yet vulnerable is a tribute to the author’s writing ability. When Rachel’s father leaves the family due to some undiagnosed emotional disorder, or need to find himself, the family is devastated. However, both the mother and Rachel’s sister move on, mother with her carving and Rachel with her dog sledding and love of animals. Rachel is stuck. She simply cannot accept that her father disappeared, despite the challenges of surviving in the Alaskan wilderness. When she turns of age, she leaves home in search of her father, long accepted dead by authorities. Her adventures, which she endures and survives with her knowledge of life in the Yukon, make the story unforgettable. Using fairy tales, her hobby of juggling, the beauty of the Yukon and her concern for the injured Brooks who has been attacked by a grizzly, Rachel pulls herself together, finds her former home and ends up realizing that her father didn’t just leave them. He was going to come back to his family. Various theories as to his demise are cleverly woven in, yet that is not the focus of this book. Bell’s story is about a quest, and the quest includes a desire for answers, a desire for a new life and a desire for a young girl to find her niche. The descriptions of Alaska are poetic. The writing style is sublime. It is only when Rachel finds her real home and the answer to her quest that all is well again for her. Squaresky, Martha