Synergy: Celebrating trivia

Synergy: Celebrating trivia

TRIVIA are facts that are not well-known. These pieces of information may be of little importance, yet they sometimes promote curiosity and wonder. Trivia is often viewed as amusing, entertaining and interesting.

To understand a concept, it’s useful to read a cluster of books related to a theme. Explore these recently published books for young people:

STUFF KIDS SHOULD KNOW: THE MIND-BLOWING HISTORIES OF (ALMOST) EVERYTHING by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant with Nils Parker is a middle grade work of nonfiction based on the popular podcast Stuff You Should Know. This illustrated guide addresses a wide range of questions with humor and a sense of curiosity. Each of the fourteen chapters explores a different topic from toys and trillionaires to facial hair. The interesting tables and timelines add to the appeal. ARC courtesy of Henry Holt and Co., an imprint of Macmillan.

HOW DOES CHOCOLATE TASTE ON EVEREST? written by Leisa Stewart-Sharpe and illustrated by Aaron Cushey explores the world’s extreme places through the five senses. Readers are encouraged to think about their sense of sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste as they travel to hot, dark, high, and magical places. Along the way, readers learn fascinating facts about each location. The book concludes with a useful glossary. ARC courtesy of Charlesbridge, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

WELCOME TO THE MYSTERYVERSE written by Clive Gifford and illustrated by Good Wives and Warriors examines the world’s unsolved wonders. Exploring science’s unanswered questions, this work of nonfiction features chapters on the topics of people, Earth, nature, space, and other mysteries. Key questions, colorful illustrations and fact boxes encourage readers to solve problems and wonder about the world around them. ARC courtesy of Wide Eyed Editions, an imprint of Quarto Group.

Book Review: Honor Girl

HONOR GIRL: A GRAPHIC MEMOIR by Maggie Thrash tells the story of first love at an all-girl summer camp.

Maggie spends her summers at Camp Bellflower in Kentucky. From music to target shooting, she experiences the typical drama of summer friendships. However, the summer she turns 15, Maggie falls for a 19-year-old camp counselor. Camp rumors and melodrama don’t diminish her experience of first love.

Using flashbacks to her time in summer camp, the author skillfully weaves a story of self-discovery and young love. She also reminds readers that it’s impossible to revisit the past. Although the book explores a lesbian relationship, Thrash’s portrayal of teen angst and struggles with sexuality are universal themes.

The colorful drawings will appeal to the young adult audience. Librarians will find HONOR GIRL to be a popular addition to the growing number of quality graphic memoirs for young adults.

Learn more about the author at http://www.maggiethrash.com/.

Published by Candlewick on September 8, 2015.

Website Review: iWONDER

iWONDER from BBC is an exciting “question and answer” website librarians can use to promote inquiry-based learning.

The entry page of the BBC project shows questions like “What was the Earth’s first predator?” and “How does a breeze turn into a terrifying tornado?”. Each question links to an interesting article featuring text, images, and sometimes animation and video. The article concludes with links to related stories.

Although not designed specifically for students, these short, illustrated articles would be useful for informational text activities related to the Common Core Curriculum. Articles can be found across content areas including arts, food, science, consumer, earth, history, religion and ethics, and webwise. Readers can also link directly to the major BBC content sections.

Ask students to select a question from the main page and write about what they already know about the topic. Then, involve them in reading the article and discussing what what they learned. Finally, ask youth to develop new questions based on their reading. Use other Internet resources to address these new questions.

To explore the latest iWONDER topics, LIKE the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/bbciwonder.

To visit the website, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/iwonder.

Website Review: Wonderpolis

WONDEROPOLIS is a website that encourages imagination, creativity, and inquiry. Launched in 2010, this free website is overflowing with ideas that promote creative and critical thinking. The Wonder of the Day section features over 1300 topics asking questions like “How are pickles made?”. These “Wonders” can be searched by grade level and subject area. In addition, they’re aligned with the Common Core State Standards. Educators can share ideas in the Educator Sandbox area.

Teacher librarians can use this website to jumpstart inquiry-based learning projects and get students thinking about questioning. The tagline for the website is “where the wonders of learning never cease”. It’s a wonderful message for people of all ages.

To learn more, go to WONDEROPOLIS at http://wonderopolis.org/