BLOCKHEAD: The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D'Agnese
Leonardo Fibonacci was a mathematician who lived in the
middle ages. He had a penchant for numbers and all things mathematical. His
nickname was Bigollo, which is loosely translated to mean, Blockhead. Fibonacci
is best known for what is called the Fibonacci Sequence, a sequence of numbers
that describes how things like flowers grow in an orderly fashion. It is also
prevalent in architecture, music, poetry and art.
A page at the back of the book provides some additional
biographical information about Fibonacci. The last page of the book makes this
an interactive picture book. First, it challenges the reader to go back through
the book and find a flower with eight petals, a lemon with eight sections, and
a clover with three leaves. Then, the reader is instructed to continue looking
through the book to see if they can find any additional items that have
Fibonacci numbers in them. There are also several other math and number related
activities listed on the last page.
FINDING WINNIE: The True Story of the World's Most Famous
Bear by Lindsay Mattick
This wonderful book was written by Lindsay Mattick, the
great-granddaughter of Captain Harry Colebourn. Captain Colebourn, a vet, was
on his way to tend to the soldier's horses during the war, when he came upon a
man with a bear cub. The captain bought the cub and named her Winnipeg ,
calling her Winnie, for short. He trained her and she became the mascot for the
Second Canadian Infantry Brigade. When the troops were sent out to fight, Capt.
Colebourn had to leave Winnie behind. He was in
England
at the time, and he drove Winnie to the London Zoo, where she lived out the
rest of her days.
She became a favorite attraction at the zoo. One day, little
Christopher Robin Milne went to the zoo with his father. Christopher Robin fell
in love with Winnie. He and the bear became great friends. Christopher Robin
had a stuffed bear at home that he named Winnie-the-Pooh. His father, A.A.
Milne, wrote great stories about the adventures of Christopher Robin,
Winnie-the-Pooh and their friends in the Hundred Acre Woods.
Mattick writes the story in a refreshingly creative way. She
begins by having a young boy curling up with mom while mom reads the story. The
little boy keeps interrupting the mother as she reads, as children often do. In
this manner, Mattick tells the story of how Winnie-the-Pooh became famous.
IRA'S SHAKESPEARE DREAM by Glenda Armand
Ira Aldridge wanted to be an actor, and not just any actor.
He wanted to act in Shakespeare plays. There were problems with this: (1) He
was black. (2) He lived in the United States
during a time when slavery was still legal. Even so, he pursued his dream at an
all-black theater located in New York City .
He eventually left the United States
and went to England ,
where he became the first black man to play the part of Othello on a stage
there. He is also the only black man to have his name inscribed on a plaque at
the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in England .
LOST AND FOUND CAT :
The True Story of Kunkush's Incredible Journey by Doug Kuntz and
When an Iraqi family leaves their home to flee for safety,
they want to take their cat, Kunkush, with them. They are being smuggled out of
the country by various people, any of whom would either not permit them to take
their cat, or who would charge them a lot of extra money to do so. Because they
can't afford to pay more, and because they can't bear to leave Kunkush with
them, the family manages to hide the cat in a basket where no one would see or
hear him.
This arrangement works well for much of the journey. But,
after a perilous voyage across the waters to Greece ,
the latch on the cat's basket becomes undone. The cat is frightened when they
finally reach land and he sneaks out of the basket when no one is looking. Although
they search and search, the can not find Kunkush. They are then forced to continue
their journey to their new home in Norway ,
without Kunkush.
Kunkush was found a few days later by a couple of people who
volunteered to help Iraqi refugees. Although they had found the cat, they were
unable to contact the family directly. They turned to the only means they had -
the Internet. Finally, after a few months, they found Kunkush's family and he
was returned safely to them.
This is both a remarkable story about a cat's journey, as
well as a heart-warming one about strangers coming together to reunite a family
with their beloved pet. Their is a page in the back of the book by the authors
explaining more about Kunkush's journey. There are also four pages of color
photographs at the back of the book.
NINA: Jazz Legend and Civil-Rights Activist Nina Simone by Alice
Brière-Haquet
Author Alice Brière-Haquet present the story of Nina Simone,
a singer of soul music who made her mark in both music and civil rights. Nina
was black, and because of the color of her skin, she lived in a world where she
was discriminated against. She was a talented singer who longed to bring the
world together through her music. This book celebrates Nina's life and her
accomplishments. It also shows how much we have accomplished in terms or civil
rights as well as how far we still have to go before all people are treated
equally. The book is done all in black
and white as a statement to how Nina saw her world.
