Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction

Macaulay, David. Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction. 1973. 80pp. Lexile 1120. Available in paperback.

 

This remarkable book broke ground in the field of young people's nonfiction with its elegant design and attention to detail.  With large black-and-white pen drawings filling each page, it tells the story of how a fictional medieval cathedral was built, from quarrying stone to hanging the final banners and lighting the candles.  The many diagrams and the well-written text explain the complicated process clearly.  A must for readers interested in construction.  This heavily illustrated book is a Common Core exemplar, one of the few with a lot of technical information in it.

Reading Std #3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.  Students have a rare chance first to consider the author’s choices in unfolding his topic and then to read the author’s own reflection about those choices in his 1999 book Building the Book Cathedral.  He discusses the writing, illustrating, and editing process, and considers what he would do differently if he had the chance to re-write the book.

Macaulay, David. Building the Book Cathedral. 1999. 112pp. Lexile 1070. 

Three Titanic Books

• McPherson, Stephanie Sammartino. Iceberg Right Ahead! The Sinking of the Titanic.  2011. 112pp.  Lexile: 1070.
• Hopkinson, Deborah. Titanic: Voices from the Disaster. 2012. 275pp.  Lexile: 1040.
• Denenberg, Barry. Titanic Sinks!  2011. 72pp. 

Students can learn about different approaches to a factual subject by comparing different nonfiction books on the same topic.  The 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic offers an excellent opportunity to do so, comparing three books with different approaches and overlapping but not identical information and photographs.  The McPherson book is the most traditional, a solid narrative about the causes and aftermath as well as the tragedy itself, drawing on primary sources; it has plentiful photographs and useful back matter. The Hopkinson book emphasizes primary sources, weaving in multiple quotes from different people who survived and left records of their experiences.  This gives the book a personal feel without fictionalizing.  Denenberg takes more liberties, creating a narrator, S.F. Vannie, who serves as a correspondent for the fictional Modern Times.  The content is otherwise factual.  The book design echoes magazine format with excellent visual elements including photographs, posters, memorabilia, and ads.

Reading Std #9 for grades 6-8: Compare/contrast texts on similar themes or topics.  Compare McPherson’s straightforward approach with the greater inclusion of primary sources by Hopkinson and the magazine format with slight fictionalization by Denenberg.

The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party

Calabro, Marian. The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party. 1999. 192pp. Lexile 1020.

The Donner Party's grim journey is associated with cannibalism, but there is much more to the story.  The trip from Illinois to California described in compelling prose paints a picture of life in a wagon train and the difficulties of travel.  The party made a bad decision that stranded them in the Sierras in snowy November, thus leading to starvation conditions.  Letters give the viewpoint of a 13-year-old girl who lived through the disaster in this gripping account of a gruesome historical episode. This book falls into 6th-10th grade Lexiles; its high appeal topic makes it a good choice across the grade levels.

Reading Std #7:  Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, visually and quantitatively, and in words.  The PBS show “American Experience” has amassed a variety of information and tools on the topic of the Donner Party.  Their website on it includes a short diary from the actual trip; an interactive map; a 80-minute video; and a teacher’s guide with discussion questions and activities. PBS website

Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (with a Few Flat Tires Along the Way)

Macy, Sue.  Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (with a Few Flat Tires Along the Way).  2011.  96pp.  Lexile: 1280.

The historic photographs alone would make this an outstanding book but it also conveys fascinating information about the important effect of bicycles on the lives of women.  When bikes became popular in the late nineteenth century, due to heavy promotion by manufacturers, women gained unexpected independence.  Macy briefs readers on the history of bicycles—including one ridden “side saddle”—and discusses their social significance.  While some viewed them as a moral threat, many girls and women seized the opportunity to gain exercise, escape chaperones, start racing, and generally increase independence.  Macy touches on famous women who biked and the role of biking in introducing less constricting clothing.  Excellent examples of ads, songs, and other popular culture add to the visual information.  For a related title, see Macy’s equally eye-opening book, Winning Ways: A Photohistory of American Women in Sports (1996).  

Reading Std #8: Delineate and evaluate argument and specific claims in a text, assessing reasoning & evidence.  Shorter than many texts at this level and heavily illustrated, this would be a good choice for less proficient students to analyze Macy’s contention about how bicycles changed women’s lives. 

Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert

Aronson, Marc.  Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert.  2011. 144pp. Lexile: 1070  

Aronson combines good storytelling with complex ideas as he presents the remarkable rescue of 33 trapped Chilean miners in October of 2010.  As the world watched, international teams tried various means of finding the miners, who were 2000 feet down, and bringing them to the surface.  Readers get a sense of what the miners went through in the 17 days before they were reached and the following weeks as they waited to see if the effort would succeed.  Meanwhile, the story also takes place on the surface with different types of drills, a NASA-designed capsule to bring them to the surface, and more.  Aronson goes beyond description to analysis, then lays out his process in his author’s note, describing how he approached a topic on which no books had yet been published.  He models his research for his teenage reader, a highly useful feature for classroom teachers and librarians.

Reading Std #5: Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and/or larger portions of the text relate to each other and the whole.  Aronson paces his story in a way that creates suspense around whether and how the miners will be rescued.  Have students analyze how he uses the book’s structure and arranges sections to create this effect.

Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II

Colman, Penny. Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II. 1995. 113pp. Lexile 1060.  Available in paperback.

Many of the women who worked during World War II lost their jobs as soon as men returned home.  But "they never forgot that once there was a time in America when women were told that they could do anything.  And they did."  So concludes this outstanding history book about the six million brave, competent women whose work was vital to the war effort and kept the nation going.  A wide variety of excellent photographs portrays women in their jobs from shipyards to farmyards, jobs previously closed to women, who were considered too weak or delicate for them.  It‘s inspiring to read about the individual women who took on difficult work and succeeded at it, and heartbreaking to see them suddenly out of work when the war ended.  The book's back matter includes index, bibliography, chronology, and additional facts and figures.  A well-crafted, exciting book about women's history.

               

Reading Std #3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.  Colman uses specific examples of women, their work, and its effect on them.  Have students compare and contrast these women,  grouping them in categories to get a broader picture of the effect of war and work on the groups.

Far from Shore: Chronicles of an Open Ocean Voyage

Webb, Sophie.  Far from Shore: Chronicles of an Open Ocean Voyage.  2011. 80pp. Lexile: 1030.

Sophie Webb combines the skill of an artist with the curiosity of a scientist in this journal about four months on a scientific ship in the Pacific Ocean.  Webb’s role in the trip was to count birds, although most of her fellow voyagers were focusing on dolphins.  On every page, Webb’s ink-and-watercolor illustrations, including diagrams and charts, convey a great deal of information about birds and sea animals, ocean ecology, and life on a scientific vessel.  One illustration labels equipment on the ship while maps lay out the voyage. The journal format, which records daily routines and scientific activities, will be accessible even for less advanced readers, who will also glean a lot from the visuals.  The book’s environmental message emerges naturally from journal entries on concerns about the future of the ocean and its inhabitants.

Reading Std #2: Determine central ideas or themes and analyze their development; summarize key supporting details and ideas.  Have students look carefully at the text, supplemented by the pictures, and analyze their development over this chronological account.  Besides the scientific ideas put forth, have the students consider the social aspects of a four-month voyage with 36 other people and very few times on shore.