New Books in the Fiske and Estabrook Libraries: Nonfiction

Discover how Benjamin Franklin’s scientific method challenged a certain Dr. Mesmer’s mysterious powers in a whimsical look at a true moment in history. The day Ben Franklin first set foot in Paris, France, he found the city all abuzz. Everyone was talking about something new—remarkable, thrilling, and strange. Something called . . . Science! But soon the straightforward American inventor Benjamin Franklin is upstaged by a compelling and enigmatic figure: Dr. Mesmer. In elaborately staged shows, Mesmer, wearing a fancy coat of purple silk and carrying an iron wand, convinces the people of Paris that he controls a magic force that can make water taste like a hundred different things, cure illness, and control thoughts! But Ben Franklin is not convinced. Will his practical approach of observing, hypothesizing, and testing get to the bottom of the mysterious Mesmer’s tricks? A rip-roaring, lavishly illustrated peek into a fascinating moment in history shows the development and practice of the scientific method—and reveals the amazing power of the human mind.

Patterns are fascinating! They can be so beautiful that people come from all over the world to see them, or so familiar you hardly notice them. They appear everywhere: beehives, dinner plates, even the bottoms of your shoes! With stunning photographs that show diverse examples from nature and artwork around the world, Bruce Goldstone reveals the secrets behind patternsâe"and gives you some fun ideas for making your own.

Who was Susan B. Anthony—what did she stand for, why was she arrested, and how did she fight for women's right to vote? And did she ever see her dream of woman's suffrage come true? From the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York, to the enactment of the 19th Amendment, this lively chronicle introduces Anthony and the American suffragist movement.

Plastic bags are cheap and easy to use. But what happens when a bag breaks or is no longer needed? In Njau, Gambia, people simply dropped the bags and went on their way. One plastic bag became two. Then ten. Then a hundred. The bags accumulated in ugly heaps alongside roads. Water pooled in them, bringing mosquitoes and disease. Some bags were burned, leaving behind a terrible smell. Some were buried, but they strangled gardens. They killed livestock that tried to eat them. Something had to change. Isatou Ceesay was that change. She found a way to recycle the bags and transform her community. This inspirational true story shows how one person's actions really can make a difference in our world.

Have you ever heard of a prickle of porcupines? Or a tower of giraffes? What about a parcel of penguins? This fun-filled romp through the animal kingdom introduces collective nouns for animals through wordplay. Clever rhymes and humorous illustrations bring these collective nouns to life in funny ways, making it easy to remember which terms and animals go together.

Based on a pan-Arctic Inuit traditional story, this book continues the familiar trope of the friendly giant, while featuring some uniquely Arctic elements and scenery   Inukpak was big, even for a giant. He loved to walk across the tundra, striding over the widest rivers and wading through the deepest lakes. He could walk across the Arctic in just a few days. But being so big, and traveling so far, Inukpak was often alone. Until one day when he came across a little hunter on the tundra. Thinking that the hunter was a little boy alone on the land, Inukpak decided to adopt him. And so, from the shoulder of one of the biggest giants to ever roam the Arctic, this hunter experiences Inukpak's world.

In this stunning companion to the Caldecott Medal-winning The Lion & the Mouse and the highly acclaimed The Tortoise & the Hare, a playful grasshopper wonders why the busy ants around him won't join in his merrymaking as the seasons pass by. But when winter arrives, he soon sees the value of his friends' hard work--just as the ants learn the value of sharing what they've worked for. Featuring a striking, surprise gatefold page, this third book in Jerry Pinkney's gorgeous trilogy of picture book fables subtly suggests a resonant moral: Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today.

The fairy tales and folklore of China-like stories told throughout the ages everywhere-bring the fantastic world of ghosts and demons into our everyday lives. So it is not surprising that food makes an appearance here-each story is followed by a simple recipe by Judi Chan. This creative book folds fairy tales into a cookbook of kid-friendly recipes. Most of the thirteen fairy tales included in this book have been adapted and retold from original sources by master storyteller Paul Yee-a few are original to this text, but remain true to the spirit of the collection. They are accompanied by an introduction by Jane Yolen, one of our most celebrated folklorists. The splendid illustrations by Shaoli Wang bring the collection to life.

Can you recognize the stench of a troll's lair? Where is the best place to find a two-headed giant? What is the safest way to observe a dragon? These fantastic creatures and others may not be real, but what if they were? This handy field guide gives you everything you need to study these dangerous monsters of the imagination.

We use language all day, every day – probably without thinking much about it. But if you stop and consider it, language is not only extremely important, it’s fascinating, too! Use of language is one of the key things distinguishing humans from other animals, and nearly 7,000 languages are spoken around the world. Without it, we’d be hard pressed to communicate, express ourselves, or understand others. The Book of Languages begins with an introduction to why language is important, how it originated and how it changes. From there, the book profiles 21 of the world’s languages. Each spread showcases a language’s history, where it’s spoken, what it looks like and how to speak a few phrases and count to ten. Rounded out with sections on non-verbal and animal language, this book will stimulate readers’ curiosity about the world and spark appreciation for language learning.

When Steward Edmund Rounds and Sir Cumference notice that there are strangers camped nearby, Rounds II decides to investigate despite being involved with the task of learning how to make accurate counts of the castle's stores of food, supplies, and weaponry. When he reports back that an enemy is lying in wait, everyone moves quickly to defend the castle. But wait! Will Rounds II be able to figure out how many bows and arrows they have to create an appropriate battle plan? Using rounding techniques to figure out the totals more quickly, Rounds II is just in time to help stave off a potentially disastrous attack.

Find out all there is to know about the science of sound with these fun and easy-to-do experiments. Make noise travel through a table, measure the speed of a boom, and make a cup squawk like a parrot--all in the name of science!

What is the coolest place in your house? Why should you wear dark-colored clothing if you want to stay warm? Is your body temperature higher on warmer days than on cold days? This book lets you perform lots of fun experiments while learning all about temperature. Using simple materials, you can do everything a scientist does: conduct experiments, keep records, and draw conclusions from what you have learned. You will also get many ideas for follow-up experiments in case you decide to enter a science fair. The colorful illustrations make the book fun and easy to read. Gather up your materials and get ready to learn all about temperature!

Deep in the forest, in the warm-wet green, 1 almendro tree grows, stretching its branches toward the sun. Who makes their homes here? 2 great green macaws, 4 keel-billed toucans, 8 howler monkeys, 16 fruit bats, 32 fer-de-lance vipers, 64 agoutis, 128 blue morpho butterflies, 256 poison dart frogs, 512 rusty wandering spiders, 1,024 leafcutter ants. Count each and every one as life multiplies again and again in this lush and fascinating book about the rainforest.

In the latest eye-catching escape into the kingdom of Animalia, Steve Jenkins and Robin Page reveal the skills animals use to survive in the wild in an imaginative and humorous how-to format. With step-by-step instructions, readers learn about specific behaviors; how to catch thousands of fish like a humpback whale or how to sew up a nest like a tailorbird. This fascinating and fun illustrated nonfiction melds science, art, biology, and the environment together in a detailed and well-researched book about animals who live and survive in our world today.  

From the award-winning creators of An Egg Is Quiet, A Seed Is Sleepy, A Butterfly Is Patient, and A Rock Is Lively comes this gorgeous and informative look at the fascinating world of nests. From tiny bee hummingbird nests to orangutan nests high in the rainforest canopy, an incredible variety of nests are showcased here in all their splendor. Poetic in voice and elegant in design, this carefully researched book introduces children to a captivating array of nest facts and will spark the imaginations of children whether in a classroom reading circle or on a parent's lap.

With an abundance of fun and informative facts, this oversize volume provides young readers with a fascinating introduction to underwater animals. Vibrant, large-scale photography provides an inside look at these popular animals in their natural habitats around the world. Features such as location maps, scaled-size comparisons, and statistics give readers further insights into the animals' world, while also supporting STEM and Common Core programs.

Worms, ew! Most people find these slimy dirt-dwellers to be disgusting, but this book teaches readers how worms do essential jobs. Readers will learn about worm anatomy, habitat, and behavior, as well as the way they help soil decompose and all the benefits that come from the healthy soil they make. Information-rich text will engage readers as "Creature Clue" fact boxes deepen the reader's understanding of worms and their importance to people.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Crack! Using his beak, a baby bird breaks out of an egg that's nearly the size of a cantaloupe. With his spindly legs and long, thin neck, who does this adorable little baby belong to? The little creature breaking out of his egg is an ostrich chick, and one day he will be the biggest bird around--just like his dad! As readers turn the pages, they will discover the ways in which an ostrich chick is similar to and different from its mom and dad. They will learn how the parent birds care for the chick, and see how the little bird grows, changes, and gets ready for his adult life on the grasslands of Africa.

Learn all about bats with Fly Guy! It's time for a field trip! Fly Guy and Buzz are going into a bat cave to learn all about bats. With straightforward text, humorous asides, and kid-friendly full-bleed photographs throughout, young readers will love learning all about these nocturnal creatures

Crisp leaves rustle on trees in fall. Furry little brown bats dart and circle around the entrance to a cave before flying inside. Using their sharp curved claws, they grip the cave's rocky ceiling and hang upside-down in groups. The tiny bats will spend all winter here, hibernating. In this dramatic and colorful book, beginning readers will learn all about where little brown bats go in winter and the amazing ways they survive including not eating for several months.

With a name like "killer whale," you might expect these giant marine animals to be mean and nasty. However, they're some the most playful creatures in the sea--as long as you're not a seal! Readers will enjoy learning how these amazing dolphins hunt for prey and interact with people. Colorful pictures of killer whales in the wild and in aquariums are sure to engage readers of all ages.

Hippos may make you laugh, but watch out! An acclaimed naturalist takes an exuberant look at these massive, swift, and super dangerous animals. What’s the deadliest animal in Africa? It’s not the lion or the crocodile—it’s the hippopotamus! Hippos have razor-sharp tusks, weigh as much as fifty men, and can run twenty-five miles per hour! Follow these hefty hulks as they glide underwater, play tug-of-war, swat balls of dung at one another, and nuzzle their young in the mud. Just don’t get too close—they could chomp you in two!

The fascinating stories of inventions that could have changed the world, should have made a difference, or would have astounded us all, but for one reason or another, didn’t. Some inventions were too wacky, weird, or unwieldy. Other simply didn’t work. And still others may be the next big thing . . . some day. Learn about the inventors, what they thought they would accomplish, and what--if anything--they did accomplish. Zany illustrations of the contraptions in use throughout.

Long, long ago, ancient Egyptians thought that all of our ideas and personalities came from our hearts—boy, were they wrong! Debunking old (and sometimes silly) myths about the human body, this new addition to the Boy, Were We Wrong series shows how we discovered modern biology and medicine. From healing by applying leeches, to the ancient practice of acupuncture, to the discovery and study of DNA, this is the story of what we know about our bodies and how we still have lots to learn.

Help your child better understand how food fuels and effects our bodies in Are You What You Eat? a book that uses color and fun presentation to communicate nutritional information in a fun and eye-catching way. Kids learn to see their food as more than just taste, learning things like which foods will make you sleepy, how to tell if you're hungry or full, and why our bodies need nutrition. Teach your kids the basics about proteins, taste buds, antioxidants, and more food facts with Are You What You Eat? Because nutritional information is presented through quizzes, questions, facts, and pictures, children are eager to learn from Are You What You Eat? They'll be guided through food facts, how the digestive system works, and how to make smart choices about food and nutrition. Are You What You Eat? may even help picky eaters become a little more adventurous come meal time.

In the spring of 1994, Mauro Prosperi took part in a grueling six-day race called the Marathon of the Sands. Mauro, along with 133 other runners, set out to race 151 miles (234 km) across the hot and sandy Sahara Desert. On the fourth day of the race, a sandstorm struck! Millions of grains of sand whirled in the air, pounding and stinging Mauro's skin. For six hours, the fierce sandstorm made it almost impossible to see. After the storm ended, Mauro saw no other runners and there was no trail just endless mounds of sand. He was lost in the Sahara. Would Mauro make it out of the desert alive? Lost in a Desert is a heart-stopping collection of true stories about what it's like to be lost and forced to survive in a desert. Captivating, first-person accounts of survivors include a young man whose hiking expedition in a desert went terribly wrong as well as a woman who injured herself while walking alone in a desert.

Kids use simple machines every day without realizing it. Teeth are wedges and so are knives, forks, and thumb tacks. Many toys such as slides, which are inclined planes, and seesaws, which are levers, are also simple machines. Two appealing kids and their comical cat introduce levers, wheels, pulleys, inclined planes, and more, amd explain how they work. This lively introduction to physics will get kids excited about how simple machines simplify our lives.

In this exuberant and lyrical follow-up to the award-winning Over and Under the Snow, discover the wonders that lie hidden between stalks, under the shade of leaves . . . and down in the dirt. Explore the hidden world and many lives of a garden through the course of a year! Up in the garden, the world is full of green--leaves and sprouts, growing vegetables, ripening fruit. But down in the dirt exists a busy world--earthworms dig, snakes hunt, skunks burrow--populated by all the animals that make a garden their home.

Why did the chicken cross the road? To follow you home! Learn all about a not-so-basic bird in this delightful nonfiction picture book. What’s that? A chicken followed you home? Now what do you do? Celebrated author-illustrator Robin Page leads a step-by-step, question-and-answer-style journey through the world of chickens. Along the way you’ll explore different breeds, discover different types of coops, and learn everything there is to know about chicken reproduction and hatching. Gorgeous, playful, and filled with facts, this engaging nonfiction picture book shines new light on a very familiar fowl!

People own more than 80 million dogs in the United States. They live side by side with people every day. But do we really understand why dogs behave the way they do? Give young readers a look at what it's like to see, smell, hear, and feel all from a dog s point of view Readers will discover what makes dogs super sniffers, how they use their tails to communicate, and many more amazing facts about how dogs view their world."

Fun retro illustrations entice kids to follow the thread and learn where their clothes had their start—and how they were put together. Did you know that the cotton for your jeans was picked from a bush? How did the colorful wool in your sweater get from a sheep’s back to a ball of yarn? Where did your soccer uniform, your rain boots, and your fleece jacket come from? And what does recycling plastic bottles have to do with anything? Visit farms, forests, and factories all over the world to find out how everything you wear has a story behind it.

American Indians used wood, bark, and other materials to build longhouses. Learn all about longhouses, including the tools used to build them and the people who called them home.

Cool age appropriate projects and easy to follow instructions teach young budding artists how to draw everything from funny faces and playful monsters to cuddly pets and high flying vehicles. Providing hours of drawing entertainment, kids success on these projects will have them clamoring for more!

Every December, The Nutcracker comes to life in theaters all across the United States. But how did this 19th-century Russian ballet become such a big part of the holidays in 21st-century America? Meet Willam, Harold, and Lew Christensen, three small-town Utah boys who caught the ballet bug in the early 1900s. They performed on vaudeville and took part in the New York City dance scene. Russian immigrants shared the story of The Nutcracker with them, and during World War II, they staged their own Christmastime production in San Francisco. It was America's first full-length version and the beginning of a delightful holiday tradition.

Patterns provide engaging, colorful ways for readers to practice a variety of skills, including math and logic. Readers work to complete patterns shown through vibrant, detailed illustrations. Each puzzle allows readers to practice a different skill, including basic math skills such as multiplication. Completing sequences is an important concept for readers to master, and they're given a wide variety of ways to grow more comfortable with this challenging concept. As readers finish each puzzle, they can check their answers using a helpful answer key, which also explains the methods used to achieve each correct solution.

This engaging wordbook offers a primer for young children on the essential words and phrases associated with twenty-three different sports. From badminton to volleyball, each on their own two-page spread, readers can peruse the vocabulary words to explore how the sport is played, what equipment is required, what athletes wear and the like. For example, included on the football spread are "touchdown pass," "end zone," and "helmet." For swimming, there are "goggles," "lane markers," and "crawl." The illustrations, in bright primary colors, also provide a quick tutorial on the basics of each sport. Humorous asides and silly dialogue throughout add to the book's overall lively and amusing feel. For example, a golf ball inside an alligator's mouth becomes an "unplayable ball." And a diver leaping off the highest platform comments, "What a view!" Also in keeping with the light tone of the book, there's a spread in the middle called Halftime, which features searching and counting activities.

Key facts and fun details about the game of hockey come alive through interesting infographics. The data art helps readers to visually take in information about the sport--from game strategies to top players―and offer a foothold on understanding information and statistics.

A celebrated duo reunites for a look at poems through history inspired by objects—earthly and celestial—reflecting the time in which each poet lived. A book-eating moth in the early Middle Ages. A peach blossom during the Renaissance. A haunted palace in the Victorian era. A lament for the hat in contemporary times. Poetry has been a living form of artistic expression for thousands of years, and throughout that time poets have found inspiration in everything from swords to stamp albums, candles to cobwebs, manhole covers to the moon. In The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects, award-winning anthologist Paul B. Janeczko presents his fiftieth book, offering young readers a quick tour of poets through the ages. Breathing bright life into each selection is Chris Raschka’s witty, imaginative art.

Children's Poets Laureate J. Patrick Lewis and Kenn Nesbitt team up to offer a smart, stealthy tour of the creatures of shadowy myth and fearsome legend--the enticing, the humorous, and the strange. Bigfoot, the Mongolian Death Worm, and the Loch Ness Monster number among the many creatures lurking within these pages. Readers may have to look twice--the poems in this book are disguised as street signs, newspaper headlines, graffiti, milk cartons, and more!

In evocative haiku, Michael J. Rosen depicts twenty different breeds of cats—whether mischievous or mysterious, comical or commanding. Some cats have names that suggest far-off lands, like the Turkish Angora and the Norwegian forest cat. Others allude to places closer to home, such as California’s ragdoll and the Maine coon. Set against Lee White’s graceful illustrations, with intriguing facts about each of twenty breeds at the end, this charming haiku collection for lovers of America’s most popular house pet provides the purr-fect book to curl up with.

Christopher Ludwick was a German-born American patriot with a big heart and a talent for baking. When cries of “Revolution!” began, Christopher was determined to help General George Washington and his hungry troops. Not with muskets or cannons, but with gingerbread!      Cheerfully told by Mara Rockliff and brought to life by Vincent Kirsch’s inventive cut-paper illustrations,Gingerbread for Liberty is the story of an unsung hero of the Revolutionary War who changed the course of history one loaf at a time.

In this eye-opening look at our Founding Fathers that is full of fun facts and lively artwork, it seems that Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and their cohorts sometimes agreed on NOTHING…except the thing that mattered most: creating the finest constitution in world history, for the brand-new United States of America. Tall! Short! A scientist! A dancer! A farmer! A soldier! The founding fathers had no idea they would ever be called the "founding Fathers," and furthermore they could not even agree exactly on what they were founding! Should America declare independence from Britain? "Yes!" shouted some. "No!" shouted others. "Could you repeat the question?" shouted the ones who either hadn't been listening or else were off in France having fun, dancin' the night away. Slave owners, abolitionists, soldiers, doctors, philosophers, bankers, angry letter-writers—the men we now call America's Founding Fathers were a motley bunch of characters who fought a lot and made mistakes and just happened to invent a whole new kind of nation. And now here they are, together again, in an exclusive engagement!

At a young age, John Howland learned what it meant to take advantage of an opportunity. Leaving the docks of London on the Mayflower as an indentured servant to Pilgrim John Carver, John Howland little knew that he was embarking on the adventure of a lifetime. By his great good fortune, John survived falling overboard on the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, and he earned his keep ashore by helping to scout a safe harbor and landing site for his bedraggled and ill shipmates. Would his luck continue to hold amid the dangers and adversity of the Pilgrims’ lives in New England?