Sweet Picture Book

Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum by Meghan McCarthy is a fun and fact filled story to read. Pop! takes readers back to Depression Era days to a tiny gum and candy factory on the brink of closing down. Employees were trying lots of different formulas and flavors to try to come up with some sort of break through wow-gum that would save the company.....when little ole Walter Diemer in the accounting department got involved with all the fiddling around. The rest, as they say, is history as Double Bubble was invented and not only saved the company but became one of the world's most popular gum choices.

There's lots more details in the book about where gum came from, why it's pink, how the new gum was introduced to the world and what Walter's life was like after his stupendous invention. The book answers all those questions inventor-type kids really want to know about a thing like gum.  At the end of the book are a bunch of cool facts about Walter, who turned out to be a pretty neat guy, and gum throughout history. A kid can learn a thing or two from Pop! I also love how the author backs up her delightful picture book facts with a ton of great resources for further reading or research. This is a book I'd love to share with elementary and middle school students. We checked Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum out of our local library. I hope it's in your library too!

McCarthy, M. Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum. New York: A Paula Wiseman Book, 2010. Print.

American Revolution

Times were different in the days before America was an independent nation. America was a group of thirteen colonies that belonged to Great Britain. Some colonies tried to pass laws prohibiting baths—and this was in the days before showers! Can you guess which colonies? A common kitchen utensil familiar to all was a "mush stick"—what would that be used for? And, any school students were given hornbooks to learn from? Can you guess what a hornbook was?

By the time the colonies were ready to break free from England new Americans were involved in many rebellious events…you may have heard of The Boston Tea Party and Boston Massacre. By 1774, a Continental Congress was formed to debate and vote on what the colonies should do about their troubles with England. Virginia's Thomas Jefferson was drafted to write a Declaration of Independence with help from other colonial leaders. It took Jefferson seventeen days to write the famous Declaration of Independence…..and, he did something every day before he sat down at his desk to write. Do you know what it is?

American Revolution by Mary Pope Osborn and Natalie Pope Boyce is a non-fiction companion to the book Revolution on Wednesday by Mary's Magic Tree House series. It's a book that anyone can read for information about Revolutionary War times. And, you can find out the answers to some of the more interesting questions about life in the America before it was the United States of America such as the ones posed above.

American Revolution is a great book for readers in third grade or above….or, for parents needing to brush up on American Revolutionary War history before helping kids with homework.

Osborne, Mary Pope and Natalie Pop Boyce. American Revolution. New York: Random House. 2004. Print.

Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson

I began interning as a Library Media Specialist in a middle school this week. One of the interesting tasks that I learned was how to process books to be shelved. I couldn't resist checking out Chasing Lincoln's Killer over the weekend. The beautifully crafted end papers portray historical primary source documents and photos that establish the book as non-fiction. The author also states:

"This story is true. All the characters are real and were alive during
the great manhunt of April 1865. Their words are authentic.
In fact, all the text appearing within quotation marks come from
original sources….What happened in Washington D.C. in the spring of 1865,
and in the swamps and rivers, forests and fields of Maryland and
Virginia during the following twelve days, is far too incredible
to have been made up."

I'm glad that the author included the above statement….because the book reads like a fictional story and it would be easy to imagine that the author filled in some of the details with historical guesses. However, all the details of the story including the description of the bullet hole in Lincoln's head, the savage attack on Secretary of State Seward and the words of J.W. Booth as he breathed his last words are recorded in sources verified by the author. I love this book for the history it presents to young adults and the spinning of the story in a way that holds a reader's attention. This book is author James L. Swanson's first for young adults and is based upon his best selling adult book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer. It's true that fact is more often than not, stranger than fiction. This book is great for tween to teen boys and girls, interested in history and drawn to non-fiction….and those that would be enjoy studying the map at the end of the book find all the points of intrigue described in the tale.

Swanson, J. Chasing Lincoln's Killer. (2009). Scholastic Press. New York.