No-nonsense Nonfiction: Sky High review

This week was "Young Authors," where area students get to meet a children's author and do all sorts of fun stuff.  Marissa Moss was the featured author, and I got to meet her at a book signing one evening.  She signed all of her books we have in the school collection, plus the one I bought at the event.  The newest book is the one I'd like to tell you about today: Sky High: The True Story of Maggie Gee.

Statistics
Checkouts: New to the library
Typical reader: Early elementary children who like airplanes and/or pilots, or those in need of a biography
Source: Personally purchased from Snowbound Books

Synopsis: Maggie Gee tells her life story, of how she became a pilot for the WASP during World War II.

My Goodreads rating: 4 stars

This is one of those books I had to buy after hearing the author talk about writing it.  Ms. Moss heard about Maggie Gee and contacted her, since the two lived in the same general vicinity.  Ms. Gee agreed to tell her story, and the author created this book.  It took several years to get it published, but the timing when it was published was perfect - the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) were finally being recognized in 2009 by Congress with the Congressional Gold Medal.

Maggie Gee's story is very inspirational.  The narrative speaks of her dreams of becoming a pilot and of reaching that goal.  She made her not-yet-true-stories become real.  That's beautiful.  The illustrations of this biographical picture book are lovely, but the most gorgeous thing is how it encourages children to pursue their ambitions.

This book can be tied nicely to many lesson plans.  Maggie Gee was one of only two Asian-American women in the WASP, and part of the book touches briefly on that, when she meets a male pilot who clearly worries that she's a spy or something for the Japanese.  Discuss race relations during World War II with the students, as appropriate to their age.  Talk about what services the WASP provided during the war.  Did you know that these women were shot at with live ammunition during in-air fight exercises, and some died due to friendly fire?  Or, take a more general approach and teach students about women's efforts during the war.  There's a lot of material out there, and this is a good place to start.

Reading to the students: Tonight on the Titanic review

A couple months ago, I started visiting the elementary classrooms during non-library time to read to the students.  Since I'm only at the school in my role as librarian one day a week, most of this is voluntary.  But, it's important to read to kids, and I hope to get them interested in other books they might not otherwise read.  I started off with something everyone could love, James Herriot's Treasury for Children, and moved on to reading books that complement the teachers' lesson plans.  Sometimes, it's a bit of a losing battle, like when teaching Kindergartners about transportation and attempting to give the "princesses" positive female role models by reading a book about Amelia Earhart - they were quite nonplussed - but other times, I find winners.

In December, I reviewed the first in the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne.  I'm currently revisiting the series in honor of the tragedy that struck in the North Atlantic Ocean 100 years ago today.  Last week I read it to the Kindergartners and third graders; I'll read it to most of the other classes in the next few days.

Statistics
Checkouts: 3
Series checkouts (30 books owned): 125
Source: Local library sale

Synopsis: One rainy night, Jack and Annie visit the tree house and find a little bewitched terrier.  To break the spell, they need four gifts.  The first is from a ship lost at sea.  This brings them to the R.M.S. Titanic on the night it sank.

My Goodreads rating: 5 stars

I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is a great series.  It's a great mix of adventure and history.  And the kids love the books.  To paraphrase the Kix cereal commercials, "Kid tested, librarian approved."

In reading this story to the students, I was impressed by their knowledge of the Titanic disaster.  Kindergartners knew that most of a glacier is below water.  A third grader knew that other ships nearby had ignored the Titanic's distress flares because the ship often had parties with fireworks.  I'm looking forward to what the other classes will already know.

There's a funny coincidence between this book and pop culture.  One of our protagonists here is named Jack - just like the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1990s movie about the famous disaster by James Cameron.  It's hard to keep from laughing when you're half-expecting little Annie to tell her big brother, "I'll never let you go, Jack!"

I had a glacier from the local ice cream stand on April 14, in honor of the Titanic.