CHILDREN’S BOOKS: Alphabet book covers science for curious readers

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This article was published 19/03/2011 (5635 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LARRY Verstraete is a Winnipeg author and teacher with nine previous non-fiction books for young people to his credit.

In S is for Scientists (Sleeping Bear Press, 32 pages, $19 hardcover), he delivers a great deal more information than is usually found in an alphabet book.

As a former science teacher, Verstraete was always interested in unusual facts and unexpected discoveries. He incorporated some of these facts into his previous books, Accidental Discoveries: From Laughing Gas to Dynamite and Lost Treasures: True Stories of Discovery.

This time he also focuses on little-known stories, arranging his book not by discoveries but by scientific methods such as O for Observe and H for Hypothesize.

Did you know that the microwave oven was invented when a scientist working on a magnetron realized the chocolate bar in his pocket had melted? That Galileo measured the rhythm of a pendulum by watching a chandelier swing back and forth in a cathedral?

Curious-minded children under 12 will enjoy this book.

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Do best friends ever annoy each so much they say “Scram!”? Do brothers love to fight as much as play together? They’ll enjoy Rebecca Bender’s Giraffe and Bird (Dancing Cat/ Cormorant, 32 pages, $19 paperback). This is a light-hearted picture book that will cause chuckles from preschoolers.

Giraffe and Bird think up dozens of ways to annoy each other, but when they finally separate, guess what they miss? Ontario-based Bender’s pictures are large, bright and humorous.

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Encore Edie (Puffin Canada, 163 pages, $14 paperback) by Giller Prize-winner Annabel Lyon is a followup to her successful juvenile novel All-Season Edie (2008).

Edie has just turned 13 and started high school. She finds making friends difficult, especially when she has to walk her cousin who has Down syndrome home from school. But after Edie joins the drama club and suggests they rewrite King Lear with modern words and music, the result is something even she never expected.

Edie is an attractive, independent character to which many teenagers will relate. Recommended for ages nine-12.

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L Is for Land of Living Skies: A Saskatchewan Alphabet (Sleeping Bear, 32 pages, $20 hardcover) by Saskatchewan author Linda Aksomitis is the latest in this series of picture books about Canadian provinces. With plentiful illustrations by Edmonton artist Lorna Bennett, it follows the familiar format: a short poem that highlights the place or feature selected plus a sidebar of more detailed information.

R for Regina and W for Waskesiu are natural pairings, but the difficult letters, X and Z, are handled creatively.

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All You Get Is Me (HarperCollins, 280 pages, $15 paperback) by Edmonton-born San Franciscan Yvonne Prinz is a refreshingly different coming-of-age novel for young adults.

Fifteen-year-old Aurora, known as Roar, is just trying to adapt to moving to a farm when she and her father witness an accident between a farm truck and a wealthy woman’s car.

When a Mexican illegal immigrant dies in Roar’s truck, her father initiates legal action, despite the wishes of most of the local population. Roar is caught between wanting to belong and admiring her father’s desire for justice.

Winnipegger Helen Norrie is a former teacher-librarian. Her column appears on the third weekend of the month.