Language Arts Journal of Michigan Volume 16 Article 15 Issue 1 Stranger Than Fiction

2000 Non-Fiction Books and Related Web Sites for Elementary and Middle School Classrooms Mary Ellen Van Camp

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Recommended Citation Van Camp, Mary Ellen (2000) "Non-Fiction Books and Related Web Sites for Elementary and Middle School Classrooms," Language Arts Journal of Michigan: Vol. 16: Iss. 1, Article 15. Available at: https://doi.org/10.9707/2168-149X.1372

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Language Arts Journal of Michigan by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@GVSU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Non-Fiction Books and Related Web Sites for Elementary and Middle School Classrooms Mary Ellen Van Camp

Non-fiction books fulfill important roles in el­ moving because he reveals his feelings ofloss when ementary and middle school classrooms. They can he is separated in childhood from his sister and be used to extend study beyond traditional text­ several brothers. The reader also will see Lee's joy books, and they often are the link to encouraging at finding and being reunited with some ofhis broth­ children's interest in reading about the world at ers again in 1984. In addition to the information large. For elementary teachers and students who about Lee Nailling, the author also presents brief are looking for high quality non-fiction or informa­ stories of the lives of several other orphan train rid­ tional books for classroom use, there are many out­ ers. Warren's book is notable because, in addition standing titles from which to choose. In the con­ to the evocative personal stories, it provides an over­ tent areas of science, social studies, and language view of the problem of homeless children in New arts, the Wide-ranging field of books for children York City and elsewhere over a period of nearly offers many appealing titles that will extend study eighty years. Warren presents historical informa­ beyond the traditional classroom textbook and ap­ tion about the Children'S Aid Society, directed by peal to many young readers. The following titles Charles Loring Brace in New York City, and explains are merely a sampling of those available for teach­ how he began the "placing-out" program that led to ers and students who wish to extend their reading the American orphan trains. The orphan trains and and learn more about the world at large. For class­ their riders make for interesting. multifaceted re­ rooms that have internet access, the reader also search. This book won several awards. including will find a listing of web sites that are related to the 1996 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Non­ each of the book's topics, content, and creators. Fiction.

Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's True Story by Ellis Island: Gateway to the New World by Andrea Warren Leonard Everett Fisher In this well-researched non-fiction book, In Ellis Island. prolific author and illustrator Warren recounts the true story of Alton Lou Clem­ Leonard Everett Fisher provides an historical ac­ ent, who traveled from an orphanage in Watertown, count ofthe most famous immigration center in the New York in 1926 to become Lee Clement Nailling, world. From the 1890s to the 1950s. 15 million im­ the adopted son of Ben and Ollie Nailling in migrants to America passed through the gates of Manchester. Texas. Lee Nailling's story is espeeially Ellis Island in search of a better life for themselves

58 LanguageArts Journal ojMichigan and their families. Fisher recounts theirjourney and course. have made news around the world-for ex­ reveals their fears as they were examined to deter­ ample. failures during the Johnstown Flood, fail­ mine who was fit to enter the country. Millions of ures during the 1989 Los Angeles earthquake, and living Americans can trace their family lines to an­ the Challenger explosion-but the successes are sel­ cestors who arrived in this country via Ellis Island. dom acknowledged. Bortz describes several tragic Fisher tells the island's story with actual photo­ events which have made news and explains what graphs from the National Park Service historical went wrong in each case. He then pOints to similar collection and with his own inimitable scratch cases, such as the more than 60 year history of the boards. Golden Gate Bridge. in which the engineering has proved successful. He identifies how the failures The Buck Stops Here: The Presidents of the have increased concern for public safety and led to United States by Alice Provensen engineering design improvements. The illustrations The Buck Stops Here is a clever and marvel­ by Gary Tong are very helpful in understanding the ously detailed book about the terms of office of all basic engineering concepts discussed in each chap­ of the U.S Presidents. While the original hardcover ter. The book is useful for upper elementary and edition of this title, published in 1990, ended with middle school students in the study of both SCien­ the election of George Bush. there have been two tific concepts and historical events. updated versions published in paperback, one in 1997 and another in 1999. to include the Clinton The Solar System by Seymour Simon years. Written and illustrated by Caldecott medal­ This outstanding informational book for ist Alice Provensen, the book provides a wealth of middle and upper elementary grades contains historical information about each president's accom­ charts, drawings. and text by Seymour Simon. along plishments. Through the information, the reader with photographs from NASA to introduce the Solar sees the development of the presidency, the west­ System to young readers. The text focuses on im­ ward expansion of the United States, and the wars portant conceptual information to help students and political battles that have plagued our country, understand relative distances between planets and along with the great American achievements of our the sun, specific characteristics of each planet. and history. Provensen used interesting artistiC motifs some of the elements of space exploration. The end to capture the spirit of each leader's life, as well as pages provide charts with information about each the historical events that shaped the terms of of­ of the planets. including such items as the average fice. For example. Franklin Roosevelt was an avid distance from the sun, number of known satellites, philatelist. and his presidency is portrayed through equatorial diameter, and surface gravity in compari­ a postal stamp motif. Jimmy Carter's pages include son to Earth. The book would be an excellent supple­ peaches and peanuts, and Ronald Reagan's terms mentary text or source of reference for a science are revealed via a movie marquee motif. With the unit on the solar system. publication of the two recent editions, Provensen's intention to keep the book current is eVident. and Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh by perhaps we can antiCipate another update once the Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Mike Wimmer. presidential election of 2000 is decided. Charles Lindbergh made his historic solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927, and it has been Catastrophe! Great Engineering Failure-and the subject of many books and an outstanding Success by Fred Bortz Jimmy Stewart film. But Burleigh and Wimmer's This well-researched informational book pro­ book is a remarkable visual portrayal which, though vides readable explanations of some famous engi­ intended for young readers, will capture the fancy neering failures and successes. The failures. of of older readers as well. In Flight. Mike Wimmer

Spring 2000 59 reveals the superb illustration style that has led him Connie DiPasquale and Susan Stafford at the Uni­ to the creation of other award-winning books. versity of Kansas. Wimmer's variety in the use of perspective shows the reader the relative size of Lindbergh's plane in http://v.rww.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/amex/orphan/ comparison to the man who flew it, and the oppres­ index.html sive darkness that made it so difficult for Lindbergh This web page relates to the PBS Orphan Train docu­ to stay awake at Urnes during his 39-hour flight. mentary from the American Experience series. The Burleigh's text is simple and direct, and uses rep­ page describes the TV presentation and provides etition to emphasize the distance and significance links to a bibliography, a program script, and a of the flight for its time. The flight made Lindbergh teacher's gUide so that the program may be studied an international hero and, more than seventy years in greater detail, possibly as part of an historical later, his vision and daring inspire hope for others. thematic unit.

Ruth Law Thrills A Nation by Don Brown Ellis Island Home Page The flight described in this wonderful non­ fiction book is not as well-known as Lindbergh's trip http://www.ellisisland.org/ across the Atlantic, but readers will delight in read­ The Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty Home Pages ing about the pilot, who established an important are developed and maintained by the National Parks record of her own, more than ten years before Service. They provide useful information about the Lindbergh's famous flight. Ruth Law tried to fly history and significance of these icons. from Chicago to New York in one day. It was qUite an undertaking in 1916 for any pilot. Unfortunately, she had to use a well-worn and heavily modified Facts About The United States Presidents: stunt plane because the owner of Curtis Manufac­ turing, the leading producer of airplanes at the time, George Washington to Zachary Taylor: refused to sell a new plane to a woman. Ruth Law http://www. historybufLcom / preSidents / failed in her flight attempt, but still managed to set factsl.html a record for the longest flight achieved in one day at that time by any pilot. She was just one of many Millard Fillmore to Theodore Roosevelt: female pilots who would set significant flight records http://www.historybuff.com/presidents / during the early history of aviation. facts2.html

Links to Web Sites for Further Study William Howard Taft to William Jefferson Clinton: http://www.historybuff.com/presidents / Orphan Train Riders facts3.html http://www.cc.ukans.edu/carrie/kancoll/articles/ There are many web pages devoted to collections of orphans/ information about the U. S. Presidents, as well as This web site provides specific, detailed historical pages with information about each president indi­ information and newspaper articles about many vidually. A basic web search is recommended for orphan train riders. It includes their experiences any teacher or student who is researching a par­ before, during, and after their trips from New York ticular president. to their new locations. While the web site focuses on Kansas, it also includes information for other The Nine Planets: A Multi-Media Tour of the Solar locales as well. The web pages were developed by System

60 LanguageArts Journal ofMichigan http://seds.lpl. arizona. edu I nineplanets I this article. but author and illustratorweb sites tend nineplanets/nineplanets.html to change quickly as authors change publishers and This award-winning web site by Bill Arnett offers a as new books are marketed. Thus. ifyou find links wealth of scientific information which would en­ that no longer work. try a basic web search for cur­ hance any instructional unit related to its topiCS. rent information.

Charles Lindbergh: The Flights Dr. Fred Bortz http://www.cherryvalleybooks.com/DrFred/ http:// aa. stanford. edu I-Lind I overview I flights.html Leonard Everett Fisher A basic web search will identify many web sites de­ http://www.l1b.uconn.edu/DoddCenter/ASC/chil­ voted to Charles Lindbergh and his wife. author and dren/lfisherI fisherep.htm aviator Anne Morrow Lindbergh. the famous Lindbergh kidnapping case. and the career of their Alice Provensen daughter. author Reeve Lindbergh. http://www.sos.state.il.us/depts/libraryIpro­ gramsI kidsI ia_prove.html Ruth Law Seymour Simon http://www.mcet.eduI nasaI redesignI noCnotableI http://www.users.nyc.pipeline.com:80/-simonsil http://totalbaseball.com/player/lore/stengel.html about.html Ruth Law is not so famous as Lindbergh. and a search for information about her will reqUire re­ Mike Wimmer sourcefulness. The first site listed here identifies http://www.plcmc.lib.nc.us/find I bios I her as a pioneer aviator. The second site focuses wimmer.htm on Casey Stengel, but mentions Ruth Law and in­ dicates that some of the famed Brooklyn Dodgers. Works Cited including Stengel, flew with Law on various occa­ Bortz, Fred. Catastrophe! Great Engineering Fail­ sions. ure-and Success. SCientific American Mys­ teries of Science. Illustrated by Gary Tong. Web Sites for Author and Illustrator Information New York: W. H. Freeman and Company, In searching for author and illustrator in­ 1995. formation on the web, it is important to remember Brown. Don. Ruth Law Thrills A Nation. Illustrated that web sites are in a constant state of change, by Don Brown. New York, Econo-Clad, 1999. development, and editing to keep them current. (Ticknor and Fields, 1993). Some of the authors and illustrators identified in Burleigl1, Robert. Flight: The Journey oj Charles this article did not have available web sites at the Lindbergh. Illustrated by Mike Wimmer. In­ time of the writing of this article. However. they troduction by Jean Fritz. New York: may have web sites or pages provided by their pub­ Philomel Books, 1991. lishers in the future. Thus, if there is an author or Fisher, Leonard Everett. Ellis Island: Gateway to the illustrator you would like to know more about, a New World. Illustrated by Leonard Everett basic web search is adVisable. Fisher with photos provided by the National Each of the web sites listed below provides Park Service. Holiday House, 1986. information about the lives, careers, and books cre­ Provensen, Alice. The Buck Stops Here: The Presi­ ated by these authors and illustrators. Each of the dents oj the United States. Illustrated by links was operational at the time of the writing of Alice Provensen. New York: Harcourt Brace,

Spring 2000 61 1999. (Harper And Row, 1990). About the Author Simon, Seymour. The Solar System. New York: Mary Ellen Van Camp, an MCTE Past President, Morrow Junior Books, 1992. teaches Language Arts, Children's Literature, and Warren, Andrea. Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's English Education courses at Ball State University True Story. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. in Muncie, Indiana.

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