Tag: Nonfiction

Storytime: Dean Robbins reads Thank You, Dr. Salk!

Storytime: Dean Robbins reads Thank You, Dr. Salk

Join Dean Robbins for a read-aloud of Thank You, Dr. Salk!, an educational and timely nonfiction picture book with illustrations from Mike Dutton.

 
Storytime: Dean Robbins reads Thank You, Dr. Salk!

Thank You, Dr. Salk! The Scientist Who Beat Polio by Dean Robbins, illustrated by Mike Dutton

Jonas Salk wasn’t seen as a brave hero—not at first. As a child he was quiet and unassuming, but Jonas dreamed of tikkun olam, the Jewish phrase for “healing the world.” He saw the polio virus strike his city, and he knew that with determination and hard work, he could be the one to stop its spread. So he grew up to study medicine, ultimately creating the polio vaccine that saved untold numbers of lives—and healed the world!

With Dean Robbins’s inspiring text and Mike Dutton’s dynamic illustrations, Thank You, Dr. Salk! is a true and timely story of trials, triumph, and what it takes to achieve your dreams. An author’s note provides additional insight into Dr. Salk’s life and influences, and the history of vaccines.

Praise for Thank You, Dr. Salk!

“A hardworking title, this is a great choice for allaying vaccination fears, communicating the importance of science and medicine, showing that heroes come in many forms, and explaining that education, creativity, resilience, and dedication can lead to achievements and concrete results. An engaging blend of history, biography, science, and epidemiology that is sure to inspire and inform.” —Booklist

“Robbins’ biography is particularly timely within the context of the coronavirus epidemic, and his direct, streamlined account connects well with early primary listeners, who may take some comfort in knowing that science has managed to get other epidemics under control.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Teacher’s Guide: Strongman

Teacher’s Guide: Strongman

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From the bestselling author of the Don’t Know Much About® books comes a dramatic account of the origins of democracy, the history of authoritarianism, and the reigns of five of history’s deadliest dictators.

What makes a country fall to a dictator? How do authoritarian leaders strongmen capable of killing millions acquire their power? How are they able to defeat the ideal of democracy? And what can we do to make sure it doesn’t happen again?

By profiling five of the most notoriously ruthless dictators in history Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Saddam Hussein Kenneth C. Davis seeks to answer these questions, examining the forces in these strongmen’s personal lives and historical periods that shaped the leaders they’d become.

Kenneth C. Davis wrote Strongman: The Rise of Five Dictators and the Fall of the Democracy to provide insight into the lives of five leaders who callously transformed the world and serves as an invaluable resource in an era when democracy itself seems in peril.

Praise for Strongman: The Rise of Five Dictators and the Fall of Democracy:

A Washington Post Best Book of the Year!
A YALSA 2021 Nonfiction Award Nominee!
Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year

★ “A fascinating, highly readable portrayal of infamous men that provides urgent lessons for democracy now.”
Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Strongman is a book that is both deeply researched and deeply felt, both an alarming warning and a galvanizing call to action, both daunting and necessary to read and discuss.”
Cynthia Levinson, author of Fault Lines in the Constitution

Click here to download the teacher’s guide for STRONGMAN!

Teacher’s Guide: CHANCE: Escape from the Holocaust

Teacher’s Guide: CHANCE: Escape from the Holocaust

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Chance: Escape from the Holocaust: Memories of a Refugee Childhood by Uri Shulevitz

From a beloved voice in children’s literature comes this landmark memoir of hope amid harrowing times and an engaging and unusual Holocaust story.

With backlist sales of over 2.3 million copies, Uri Shulevitz, one of Farrar, Straus and Grioux’s most acclaimed picture-book creators, details the eight-year odyssey of how he and his Jewish family escaped the terrors of the Nazis by fleeing Warsaw for the Soviet Union in Chance.

It was during those years, with threats at every turn, that the young Uri experienced his awakening as an artist, an experience that played a key role during this difficult time. By turns dreamlike and nightmarish, this heavily illustrated account of determination, courage, family loyalty, and the luck of coincidence is a true publishing event.

Download the teacher’s guide here →

Discussion Guide: Whose Right Is It? The Second Amendment and the Fight Over Guns

Discussion Guide: Whose Right Is It? The Second Amendment and the Fight Over Guns

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For the majority of the United States’ history, the right to own a gun belonged to a “well regulated militia.” That changed in 2008 with the historic District of Columbia v. Heller case, which ruled that the Second Amendment protected an individual’s right. In the years since, the debate over gun legislation has reached a crescendo. And the issue grows ever relevant to children across America, with an estimated three million exposed to shootings every year. From metal detectors to see-through backpacks to shooting drills, kids face daily reminders of the threat of guns.

Hana Bajramovic’s Whose Right Is It? The Second Amendment and the Fight Over Guns reveals how a once obscure amendment became the focus of daily heated debate. Filled with historical photos and informative graphics, the book will show young readers how gun legislation has always been a part of American history and how money, power, and systemic racism have long dictated our ability to own guns.

“The story is fascinating and, in its evenhanded treatment of the subject, valuable for research and classroom use…Extremely well documented, the book concludes with an epilogue that brings the book up-to-date, making it both important and timely.” —Booklist

“[E]ven readers personally invested in the gun rights position will find the historical context eye-opening.” —The Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books

Download the discussion guide here →

Teacher’s Guide: True or False

Teacher’s Guide: True or False

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In True or False, former CIA analyst Cindy Otis will take readers through the history and impact of misinformation over the centuries, sharing stories from the past and insights that readers today can gain from them. Then, she shares lessons learned in over a decade working for the CIA, including actionable tips on how to spot fake news, how to make sense of the information we receive each day, and, perhaps most importantly, how to understand and see past our own information biases, so that we can think critically about important issues and put events happening around us into context.

Download the teacher’s guide here →