Terry Catasús Jennings
Long ago, the Old Ones drank all the water, ate all the pine nuts, and left nothing for the other creatures. Sinawav the coyote punished them by turning them into rocky hoodoos. Now their spirits shimmer like shadows at the base of their stone columns and when children are bad, the hoodoos are there to remind them.
Vivian has heard the stories, but this year she has something more important on her mind: basketball tryouts! When Grandma takes her up on the mesa to pick the pine nuts, Vivian is too impatient for the old traditions and would rather practice her basketball shots than respect the trees. Will she listen to Grandma and learn about their Paiute ancestors, or will she be bad while Sinawav and the hoodoos are watching?
This is an engaging story about both erosion and a young native child who has a foot in both the world of the reservation and the worlds surrounding it.
Publisher: Arbordale, Mount Pleasant, SC (2017)
Grade Level: K-3, Ages: 4-8 ADL 580
Threads: character, chimneys (rock), community, desert, erosion, fables/folktales, geography, geology, history, hoodoos, landforms, physical change, Paiute, spire, Utah, Native American.
The morning sun kisses the grasslands of the savanna. A lion roars. Animals wake. Many are hungry. Some eat the greenery at their feet and in the trees, but others...others might even eat someone else's baby. Everybody has to eat, 'cause everybody wants to live!
Predators don't always win. Prey will squeal, screech, squeak, squawk, loud, high pitched warnings to others of their band so they can bolt or skitter away. So they can protect their babies. Low pitched rumbles also serve as warnings. They can be heard far, far away.
High pitched and low pitched, soft and loud, sounds travel over the savanna as prey and predators perform their dances of survival throughout the day.
Publisher: Arbordale, Mount Pleasant, SC (2015)
Grade Level: P-5 Lexile Level: 740L Lexile Code: AD
Threads: Sound, predator/prey interactions
Early one morning, gopher, snowshoe hare, black bear, elk, squirrel, and every animal near and far, feel rumbling and trembling and shaking more terrible than they’ve ever felt before. A volcano is erupting!
After the eruption, everything on the mountain seems dead. But wait...
Under the ground, gopher was shaken but not hurt. Gopher begins to dig and dig, like he does every day of his life. When gopher digs he brings up the soil that was buried beneath the ash. He brings up soil where seeds can land and seeds sprout into plants that can feed some animals.
Follow gopher, and the plants and animals on the journey that brings the mountain back to life.
Publisher: Sylvan Dell, (Now Arbordale) Mount Pleasant, SC (2012)
Grade Level: P-4
Lexile Level: 740L Lexile Code: AD
Threads: Basic needs, change environment, change over time, earth processes, earth properties, habitat, volcanoes, interconnectedness, inquiry, land forms, map, natural disasters, plate tectonics, sequence.
2013 Outstanding Science Trade Book - National Science Teachers' Association and Children's Book Council.
2013 New Books for Missouri Students
2014-2015 South Carolina Book Awards Program Selection
Dena loves using magnets to perform magic tricks for the kids at the pool. When Enrique arrives in town, he doesn’t like that Dena is fooling the others. He gives her a century-old treasure map and Dena uses her compass and tools to plot the location of the treasure. To her surprise, the treasure is not where it should be! What could cause her compass to lead her off course? When she discovers the answer, will Dena keep fooling the other kids with magic tricks or will she help them learn about magnetism and Earth’s shifting magnetic poles?
Publisher: Arbordale, Mount Pleasant, SC (2016)
Grade Level: K-3, Ages: 4-8
AD 560L, F&P: M
Threads: change over time, character, magnetism, map, tools and technology (compass), map skills, cardinal directions
NSTA RECOMMENDED
“You should be happy being a wife and mother!” That was what women heard from about to 1945 to 1960. But being a wife and mother wasn’t enough to make many women happy. And even if they were delighted with motherhood, once the kids were grown, what then?
That was quandary women faced in the late 1950s. In addition, they were subordinate in the home, had little identity and they faced discrimination in the workplace. Although they had the vote, they had little representation in Congress and they had few rights.
It took many courageous women to come forward, demand their rights and work towards equality. Women like Betty Freidan, Pauli Murray, Martha Griffiths, Esther Peterson, Gloria Steinem, Frances Beal, and Bella Abzug dedicated themselves to securing equality of pay and opportunity in the work place, equal opportunity in education, and equal rights before the law. They changed the attitudes of government, society and individuals.
Learn about their journey and the brave women who made it all happen!
Publisher: Mason Crest (2013)
Grade Level: 6-12
Standards: American History, Women's History
Selected by the American Library Association's (ALA) Amelia Bloomer Project as recommended feminist literature for young readers from birth to 18 years old. The Amelia Bloomer Project is part of the American Library Association, Social Responsibilities Round Table?s (SRRT) Feminist Task Force (FTF).
Science and Technology for Children
Available through:
NSTA RECOMMENDED,
Bank Street Center For Children's Literature
The Best Children's Book of the Year, 2016
KEYSTONE TO READING ELEMENTARY BOOK AWARD LISTS
2016-2017
Released 2/8/22
From Little Bee Books
Middle Grade biography in verse about the queer, black feminist who figured out what it took to win Brown v. Board of Education, but never got the credit for it. She insured that women's rights were included in the 1964 Civil Rights Acts. She was a lawyer, a poet and a priest. She and her typewriter pricked the consciences of presidents and lawmakers. She was transformative.
And now her story will be available to young readers.
Coming June 14, 2022
From Neal Porter Books/Holiday House
To turn a shabby little house into a welcoming home, all it takes is a big-hearted family eager to help others. . . and a little hope. La casita offers a home for those who don’t have anywhere to go. It’s a safe place in a new land, and Esperanza is always the first to welcome them. An inspiring, semi-autobiographical story of how immigrants can help each other find their footing in a new country, accompanied by the rich and vivid illustrations of award-winning artist Raúl Colón.
The Definitely Dominguita Series
A Cuban American third grader fights bullies and solves mysteries while pretending to be characters in the classics like Don Quixote, Treasure Island, The Three Musketeers and Sherlock Holmes.
SLJ, Kirkus and Parents Latina Best Books of 2021
From Aladdin/Simon and Schuster
