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Welcome to a sneak preview of the spring issue of Curriculum Connections.
 An exciting line-up of features awaits you, beginning with Mitali Perkins's article "No Place Like Home." Having spent her childhood in a number of different countries, Perkins lets us in on what "between-culture" kids look for in a book. Our other articles highlight titles with international settings—picture books and photo-essays that introduce children to other cultures and countries, and new releases that will take teens to the stories behind the news headlines. All this in addition to our biannual list of the top books, multimedia, and
online materials for students in kindergarten through grade 12, and a selection of practical and inspiring professional materials. Enjoy.
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| Feature |
 No Place Like Home: Books can create a strong sense of place
by Mitali Perkins
I was born in India and lived in five countries—England, Ghana, Cameroon, the United States (New York City), and Mexico—before moving to California when I was in seventh grade. While my classmates sang that line about the "land where their fathers died" and faced the American flag, I pictured a village in Bengal, oceans away. But was that place home any more? Not really.
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| UpFront |
Congratulations to Kahani
Kahani, an upstart literary magazine which derives its name from the Hindi word for story, was recently awarded a Distinguished Achievement Award by the Association of Educational Publishers as well as a Multicultural Children's Publication Award by the National Association for Multicultural Education. read more... |
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| Audiobooks Get a Boost |
| You know the old adage—a picture is worth a thousand words. Now two audiobook publishers have taken that saying to heart and are offering visual content to enhance their products. read more... |
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 Bring it On Home: Teens and the real world
by Joyce Adams Burner
Genocide, car bombs, boy soldiers, child prostitution—frightening headlines from distant places. Closer to home—school shootings, illegal immigrants, threats of bioterrorism. The world can seem incomprehensibly enormous and threatening, especially to the awakening teenage mind.
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| Make These Curriculum Connections... |
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 Look, Listen, and Imagine
FRAMPTON, David. Mr. Ferlinghetti's Poem. illus. by author. Eerdmans. Tr $18. ISBN 0-8028-5290-4. LC 2005024287.
SHAKESPEARE, William. Winter Song: A Poem by William Shakespeare. illus. by Melanie Hall. glossary. Boyds Mills/Wordsong. RTE $15.95. ISBN 1-59078-275-5. LC 2006000760.
STEVENSON, Robert Louis. The Moon. illus. by Tracey Campbell Pearson. Farrar. Tr $16. ISBN 0-374-35046-9. LC 2005040067.
ea vol: unpaged. CIP. 2006.
K-Gr 4-Featuring single poems gloriously interpreted and extended through original artwork, these picture books masterfully merge sounds, sights, and artistic styles. Setting the stage in early 20th-century Brooklyn, Frampton introduces writer Lawrence Ferlinghetti and his poem, "Fortune Has Its Cookies to Give Out," a boyhood reminiscence of a sweltering summer day when neighborhood firemen closed off traffic, turned on their hoses, and sprayed an ecstatic group of children. Effervescent, sepia-toned woodcuts, swirling with bold lines and graceful curves, expand this brief moment into an unforgettable adventure.
Hall's crisply colored paintings illustrate Shakespeare's lyrical description of winter with scenes of 16th-century English life. The icy colors of the countryside contrast with the glowing hues of the hearth, as family members work and play outdoors, then gather together inside. The illustrations artfully capture the temper of the text while helping readers to comprehend unfamiliar language, envision the past, and connect the poem's happenings to their own experiences.
Pearson augments Stevenson's 19th-century piece with a visual narrative that twinkles with child appeal. While The Moon shines "On streets and fields,/and harbor quays," luminous paintings depict a nighttime escapade, as a father and son take a boat trip to explore nocturnal wonders and then return home to snuggle into beds. Read aloud or alone, these titles will inspire a love of poetry, an appreciation of the relationship between words and pictures, and an understanding of how visual images can elucidate, refresh, and transform language. -Joy Fleishhacker |
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 A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
ARMSTRONG, Jennifer. Once Upon a Banana. illus. by David Small. unpaged. map. S & S/A Paula Wiseman Bk. RTE $16.95. ISBN 0-689-84251-1. LC 2005008567.
GEISERT, Arthur. Oops. illus. by author. 32p. Houghton. Tr $16. ISBN 0-618-60904-0. LC 2005030850.
LEHMAN, Barbara. Museum Trip. illus. by author. unpaged. Houghton. RTE $15. ISBN 0-618-58125-1. LC 2005052840.
ea vol: CIP. 2006.
K-Gr 4-These wordless (or nearly wordless) picture books provide an interactive reading experience that will challenge, inspire, and amuse children. Each tale's essence—plot, characters, setting, mood—is conveyed almost entirely through artwork, a format that encourages youngsters to interpret visual narrative, identify and
follow story lines, and describe the action with their own words...all while enjoying the fun.
In Once Upon a Banana, a street performer's mischievous monkey tosses a peel onto a sidewalk, setting off a chain of hilarious events that involves numerous bystanders and eventually brings the city to a standstill. Rhyming street signs (blithely ignored by the characters) add another layer of humor to the bright-hued watercolor cartoons.
Oops presents a similar cause-and-effect scenario as a youngster's spilled milk ultimately—and incredibly—leads to the destruction of the family's home. Blending precise ink lines with cheery springtime shades, the detailed pictures depict the pig characters and their canary-yellow house—perched precariously on
a cliff side—and reveal how a trivial accident blossoms into a full-fledged disaster.
Lehman takes readers on a Museum Trip, where a boy wanders away from his tour group, comes across a case displaying antique prints of labyrinths, and soon finds himself shrunken down in size and wandering through the mazes. The watercolor, gouache, and ink illustrations lend an air of mystery and wonder that will capture readers' imaginations and draw them into the adventure. Use these innovative offerings in the classroom to build skills and spur creativity.-Joy Fleishhacker |
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 The Debate Heats Up
BILY, Cynthia A. Global Warming. 208p. (Opposing Viewpoints Series). charts. reprods. bibliog. index. notes. Web sites. CIP. Gale/Greenhaven. 2006. PLB $34.95. ISBN 0-7377-2935-X; pap. $23.70. ISBN 0-7377-2936-8. LC 2005052779. Gr 8 Up
TANAKA, Shelley. Climate Change. 144p. (Groundwork Guides Series). charts. map. glossary. index. notes. Web sites. CIP. Groundwood. 2006. Tr $15.95. ISBN 0-88899-783-3. LC C2005-907537-6. Gr 7 Up
WILLIAMS, Mary E. Global Warming. 96p. (Writing the Critical Essay Series). chart. illus. photos. reprods. appendix. bibliog. index. notes. Web sites. CIP. Gale/Greenhaven. 2006. PLB $26.20. ISBN 0-7377-3210-5. LC 2005055066. Gr 7 Up
Few topics heat up public debate more than global
warming, and these volumes will add greatly to student awareness and response. Bily's title offers multiple perspectives on the subject in the form of reprinted essays from journals and newspapers, speeches, and government documents.
In Climate Change, Tanaka considers the impact of global warming on the planet today and persuasively argues that the worst is yet to come. Maps and fact boxes break up the text in this compact, highly readable book.
Like Bily's title, Williams's entry contains essays of oppositional viewpoints, but with colorful pages and graphics. An instructional segment in this book provides research tips and exercises that will help students present their own views in well-organized, succinct papers. Lists of suggested topics and tips on
bibliographic style are included. These titles are up-to-date, complementary resources on an important issue. -Connie Rockman |
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Sustaining Our Planet for Generations to Come
The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education. www.sustainabilityed.org/how/play_the_game/index.html. Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education. (Accessed 2/12/07). Gr 8 Up.
Ecological Footprint Quiz. www.myfootprint.org/. Earth Day Network and Redefining Progress. (Accessed 1/24/07). Gr 7 Up.
The Great Green Web Game. go.ucsusa.org/game/. Union of Concerned Scientists. (Accessed 2/12/07). Gr 6 Up.
With everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio to Ben and Jerry touting the virtues of saving our environment, teens are sure to want to lend a hand. The simple fishing game found on the first site will leave teens pondering America's buy-more consumerism. The goal here is sustainability not competition as three fishing boats work each day to provide for their families. Though the site offers information for teachers, the quick challenge will spark student interest.
At the Earth Day Network site, a 15-question quiz will let them know just how much of an ecological mark they are leaving on the world. (Knowledge
of the metric system is required.)
The Great Green Web Game is an enlightening trip around a board full of multiple-choice questions that encourages teens to examine the choices they and parents make concerning food, heating, transportation, and spending. At the end, players can compare their charted impact on the environment to the average American's. Though educators may stumble in defining sustainability, the concept will be clear to students after perusing these hot spots.-Jeanne Larkins |
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| Feature |
For You Are a Kenyan Child (Cunnane)
©2006 by Ana Juan |
The Things That Unite Us: Teaching young children about other cultures
by Ann Welton
I was raised in Orange County, CA, at the height of the Cold War. It was a time and a place when Russians were demonized. One day I voiced my fear of the Russian people to mother.
“Oh, honey,” she said. “They are people just like us. This is about governments disagreeing, not people.” read more... |
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| Feature |
 Jamestown: A Quadricentennial Celebration
by Nicki Clausen-Grace
A teacher sits on a stool, reading to her class from a book about Pocahontas. The class is mesmerized. Halfway through the story, hands begin to go up as students struggle to make sense of this account of the settling of Jamestown. It’s different from the version they know, and they have lots of questions.
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| The Professional Shelf |
Curriculum Resources: Spotlight on Science
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 RICE, Elizabeth, Marianne Krasny, & Margaret E. Smith. Garden Genetics: Teaching with Edible Plants. 152p. illus. NSTA. 2006. pap. $8.95. ISBN 978-0-87355-274-5. LC 2006534006.
With an emphasis on problem solving, these winning activities and experiments will help biology students develop a deeper understanding of the science and some current issues under debate. The activities are inquiry based, linked to NSTA SciLinks, and include worksheets that can easily be incorporated into instruction.
TOLMAN, Marvin N. Hands-On Earth Science Activities. 512p. ISBN 978-0-7879-7866-2.
----. Hands-On Life Science Activities. 448p. ISBN 978-0-7879-7865-5.
ea vol: 2nd ed. (Jossey-Bass Teacher Series). Jossey-Bass. 2006. pap. $32.95. LC number unavailable.
Chock-full of activities and experiments, these terrific resources will be useful for anyone who teaches science to grades K-6. Teacher demonstrations and whole-group, small-group, and take-home activities offer various approaches to exploring topics. These editions include inquiry-based extensions for most lessons. The activities are easy to follow, although modifications would be necessary for grades K-2.
YEANY, Bruce. If You Build It, They Will Learn: 17 Devices for Demonstrating Physical Science. 285p. bibliog. CIP. NSTA. 2006. pap. $24.95. ISBN 978-0-87355-267-7. LC 2006010887.
From gum-wrapper thermostats to string racers, these contraptions will add a hands-on element to physics lectures. The devices are easy to build and made from inexpensive materials. Information about the background necessary to understand the concepts explored, presentation suggestions, and follow-up questions are included.
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