Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

Sheinkin, Steve. Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon. 2012. 266pp. Lexile 920.
 
During World War II, the U.S. raced Germany to build an atomic bomb.  Germany needed a heavy water plant in Nazi-occupied Norway to succeed so resistance fighters in Norway, backed by the British, schemed to destroy the plant.  Meanwhile the Soviets, knowing they couldn't catch up, sought to steal the technology from the Americans.  In a skillful narrative, Sheinkin plays these three stories off of each other, ratcheting up the suspense in each of them.  He draws a striking picture of Robert Oppenheimer and his team of physicists at Los Alamos who, unknown to them, had spies for the Soviets in their midst.  Their excitement over their research and especially testing the bomb contrasts with their increasing concern about its consequences. The attempts at sabotage by the Norwegians will have readers on the edge of their seats.  A real sense of drama, grounded in rich details and quotes, pervades this must-read nonfiction on one of the most important topics of our time. Winner of the Sibert Award and the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction. A Newbery Honor Book and one of five National Book Award Finalists.  Bibliography, source notes, index. 

Reading Std #3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.  The development and interaction of the three main threads are key to this book's effectiveness.  Have students analyze how and why Sheinkin combined them.  They can also look at how Oppenheimer changes over the course of the book.  Another possible topic to track is the morality of building and using the bomb, which emerges as a theme with arguments on both sides.

Photo by Brady: A Picture of the Civil War

Armstrong, Jennifer. Photo by Brady: A Picture of the Civil War. 2005. 147pp. Lexile 1200.

Mathew Brady, a successful photographer known for his photographs of Lincoln, documented the Civil War in a way no previous war had been recorded.  Armstrong's narrative gives an overview of the war in vivid terms, with an emphasis on the photographs, how they were taken, and their effect. She incorporates dozens of photographs from his studio as she describes how Brady sent his photographers out to record battles.  Brady's exhibit of “The Dead of Antietam” in New York City in 1862 gave the public their first photographic view of the dead and wounded, a shock to those who attended. The New York Times described it as bringing “home to us the terrible reality” of the war.  Armstrong makes a case for the idea that Brady’s images caused a major shift in attitudes towards the war.  Notes, bibliography, index.

Reading Std #8: Delineate and evaluate argument and specific claims in a text, assessing reasoning & evidence.  Have students evaluate Armstrong’s assertion that the photographs changed attitudes towards the war.  Students could compare this book and its photographs with books about wars that preceded photography such as Jim Murphy’s A Young Patriot: The American Revolution as Experienced by One Boy, which is illustrated with etchings and other similar artwork.

Schlissel, Lillian. Black Frontiers: A History of African American Heroes in the Old West. 1995. 80pp. Lexile 1090.

After the Civil War, many blacks moved West, hoping for a better life.  This beautifully designed book introduces a range of individuals and groups that pursued this often dangerous goal.  Among them is Jim Beckwourth, a mountain man famous for his trapping and prowess as a guide.  Black cowboys Nat Love and Bill Pickett each have a short chapter as does “Stagecoach Mary” Fields, a women who became a stagecoach driver at age fifty.  Less showy but also important were the black homesteaders and business people who formed communities in the West. Black-and-white photographs make the past more immediate in this attractive book about a lesser-known aspect of the West.

Fiction Tie-in:  In Black Storm Comin' by Diane Lee Wilson, a fine adventure story set just before the Civil War, a biracial adolescent boy whose white father has run off must take care of his ailing mother and his younger siblings on a wagon train heading West.  Colton's mother, who is black, urges her son to ride ahead to Sacramento to deliver freedom papers to her enslaved sister in there.  How does he hope to get to California?  By becoming a rider for the Pony Express.   A terrific story with plenty of action alongside serious issues.

The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War

Murphy, Jim. The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War. 1990. Lexile 1060.
 
At the start of the Civil War, both armies had rules against younger teens enlisting; the Union age limit was eighteen. But in an era before ID cards, many boys in their early and mid teens either looked old enough or talked their way in.  This chronological account of such young enlistees, with many quotes from diaries and letters home, tells a lot about life for any soldier during the war. It opens with enlistment, training--such as it was--and the scramble to get uniforms.  It goes through their shocking first encounters with battle and violent death, and their struggles to get enough food and shelter. One chapter focuses on drummers, a role for the youngest soldiers. The narrative wraps up with the horrible illnesses and injuries young soldiers experienced, the brutality of prisoner-of-war camps, and finally the return home for those who survived. The young soldiers' own voices give a great feeling of immediacy as do the black-and-white photographs.  Bibliography and index.

Web Tie-in:  While Murphy includes a handful of photographic portraits of young soldiers, most of the photos are group shots or landscapes. To see more photos of young soldiers, consult the Library of Congress's remarkable collection, Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs at  http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/lilj/project.  Searching by the word "young" brings results that include teenage soldiers.

Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery

Freedman, Russell. Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery. 1993. 334 pp. Lexile 1100.

Eleanor Roosevelt is known for saying, “"You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”  This excellent biography, a Newbery Honor book, illustrates how she put this adage into action in her own life, which was filled with courage and public service.  Freedman looks at the span of Roosevelt’s life, covering personal aspects but emphasizing on her many accomplishments.  He gives an even-handed view of her sometimes troubled marriage, a marriage that led to her international influence as she traveled around the world during and after World War II working for peace and social justice.  Excellent black-and-white photographs enhance the text, with an additional fifteen pages of photos at the end.  Back matter includes a list of sites to visit, a bibliographic essay, and an index.  A pleasure to read.

Reading Std #6: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.  Freedman seems to present his information with a neutral tone.  Have students look closely to see if they can detect a point of view that the author is advancing, citing specific passages in the text.

Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women

Thimmesh, Catherine.  Illus. by Melissa Sweet. Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women. 2000. 264 pp. Lexile 960.

Despite restrictions on their education and careers, American girls and women have been responsible for a number of important inventions over the years. Thimmesh devotes two or three pages to each inventor and her invention, from the ever-useful brown paper bag to the also useful strong fiber Kevlar® that goes into bullet-proof vests.  The profiles of the women and descriptions of the inventions—some based on personal interviews--are brief and interesting, highlighting the need for the invention and process of designing it.  Collage illustrations make the book attractive while the endpapers give a timeline that includes more female inventors.

Reading Std #1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and implicitly, citing specific textual evidence to support conclusions drawn from it. Thimmesh contends in her introduction that some inventions are the result of curiosity while others come about by accident.  Have students find evidence, if any, for these contentions in the book.  Have them see if they find other motivations (such as financial) in the chapters.

Fields of Fury: The American Civil War

McPherson, James M. Fields of Fury: The American Civil War. 2002. 96pp. Lexile 970.

Straightforward writing, short chapters, and many illustrations make this an accessible chronological overview of the Civil War by a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian.  Each double-page spread has a full-page picture on the right-hand size.  The left side has text, a small sidebar of interesting facts, and two smaller pictures.  The endpapers provide a detailed time line and a map before the first chapter lays out the Union, Confederate, and border states; capitols; important rivers; and sites of key battles with their dates.  McPherson does an excellent job of providing an introduction without overwhelming the reader.  Many chapters focus on battles while others look at topics like the role of women; medical care; and families divided by the war.  An extensive glossary defines many military terms useful for studying any war.  Back matter also includes a bibliography; a list of Civil War websites; and an index.

Web Tie-ins:  The internet is rich with materials about the Civil War including photographs, other illustrations, speeches, maps, etc.  The American Memory Project at Library of Congress gives access to many materials in their collection (www.memory.loc.gov).  A site related to LSU that has hundreds of links to other websites, some better than others, is the Index of Civil War Information Available on the Internet (http://www.civilwarhome.com/indexcivilwarinfo.htm).  A link at the top of the home page for this site discusses evaluating websites.