Cybils Nonfiction 2014: Chasing Cheetahs

What list of children’s nonfiction books is complete without a few titles from the venerable Scientists in the Field series? Chasing Cheetahs: The Race to Save Africa’s Fastest Cat (Scientists in the Field Series), by the Sibert award winning duo Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop, is a nominee for the 2014 Cybils Award.

Chasing Cheetahs follows Dr. Lauren Marker and her colleagues and students as they work with cheetahs in Namibia. Sadly, the numbers of cheetahs have fallen from 100,000 in 1900 to fewer than 10,000 now. To help spread the word and to do something concrete to prevent cheetahs from going extinct, Dr. Marker has started the Cheetah Conservation Fund. This organization not only rescues injured and orphaned cheetahs, but also helps educate and work with the local farmers who are the most consistent threat to cheetah survival.

It becomes apparent that Dr. Marker is a special person when she talks to a farmer who has killed a mother cheetah, leaving orphaned babies. Instead of being angry or blaming, she asks him questions about why he killed the cheetah. The insights she gains allows her to help the farmers solve their problems and at the same time helps cheetahs. She begins training and donating special dogs that protect the farmers’ goats and encourage cheetahs to feed on the native wildlife that is their natural food, an innovative solution.

Sy Montgomery does a wonderful job of drawing the reader in and making the story compelling by adding mysteries, such as the activities of an elusive cheetah called Hi-Fi. Nic Bishop’s photographs are fabulous, as always, capturing the beauty of the animals and the people who care about them.

The best part about the Scientists in the Field series is that it reveals the less glamorous side of science. In Chasing Cheetahs, the scientists collect cheetah poop and spend many hours in the lab analyzing it. Science isn’t all photo ops with gorgeous cheetahs!

The only thing that might have improved this particular book would have been an interview with one of the Namibian farmers, just for a bit of balance and to give the local perspective. The authors do visit a local classroom in the last chapter to show that the attitudes of the children are changing with exposure to new ideas.

Chasing Cheetahs is likely to inspire budding conservationists to do their bit to help conserve animals. As Dr. Marker says in her advice for saving the world at the end, “Don’t wait for ‘somebody’ to do it.” Each of us must act if endangered animals like the cheetah are to be saved from extinction.

Age Range: 10 – 14 years
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers (April 1, 2014)
ISBN-10: 0547815492
ISBN-13: 978-0547815497

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Disclosure: Book provided by my local library. I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at not extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

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Looking for more children’s nonfiction books? Try the Nonfiction Monday blog.

Cybils Nonfiction 2014: How to Make a Planet

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Let’s start our exploration of some of the children’s nonfiction recently nominated for the Cybils awards by taking a look at the middle grade science book How to Make a Planet: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building the Earth by Scott Forbes and illustrated by Jean Camden.

Following a timeline set out in the beginning, this ambitious book races through the consensus of what scientists have discovered about our universe so far, from the best estimate of the time of the Big Bang (13.7 billion years ago) to when the Earth formed (4.7 billion years ago) to modern times using the premise of building a planet as a way to keep the information focused. At the same time, the text hurtles through various fields of science, encompassing astronomy, physics, chemistry, earth science, geology and even biology. Although it covers so much territory, it is still easy to read and understandable because Scott Forbes has done an excellent job of organizing and condensing the material. The book will help make big numbers and mind-blowing concepts accessible to everyone.

Young readers are likely to be drawn in by the cool cartoon illustrations by Jean Camden. Many of the illustrations help summarize or illuminate concepts as well as keeping readers hooked. The contrast between some illustrations being two dimensional and drawn with a limited range of colors versus others that are bright and three-dimensional also adds interest.

Some may criticize that Forbes did not reveal contrasting ideas about some points or even swerve into the realm of “we don’t know,” which are the things scientists work on and are most excited about. To his credit, the book is written to show the middle ground of current consensus, which is what makes it work for this audience. To properly consider other options would have required a much longer book and would have necessarily restricted the scope of information he was able to cover.

The book ends with a chapter about taking care of our planet. One thing that comes out of reading is how unique the formation of the earth is, and how unlikely it is that we could ever find a replacement. When you look at it that way, taking care of our home is the only way to go.

How to Make a Planet is a great jumping off point for units on astronomy, the solar system, and the planets. It is also a fabulous resource for budding scientists trying to get a handle on the big picture of our universe. See what it takes to build a planet and scientific understanding at the same time.

Age Range: 8 – 12 years
Grade Level: 3 – 7
Publisher: Kids Can Press (March 1, 2014)
ISBN-10: 1894786882
ISBN-13: 978-1894786881

Disclosure: Book provided by my local library. I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at not extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

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Looking for more children’s nonfiction books? Try the Nonfiction Monday blog.

Searching for Children’s Books? Try the 2014 Cybils Nominations

October is always a great month for finding quality children’s and young adult books because that is when the Cybils nomination lists are released. Cybils-Logo-2014-Round-Sm1

The Cybils website has been revamped a bit, so here are direct links to some of the lists at the Cybils website and a few books I have chosen to highlight in an Amazon widget. Note: If you click on the books in the widget it will take you to Amazon. Clicking only the arrows allows you to view the books without leaving this blog.

Fiction Picture Books

 

Easy Readers/Early Chapter Books

Poetry

I hadn’t seen some of these poetry books. They look really good.


Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction

I will be reviewing a number of the elementary and middle grade nonfiction books (the ones that I haven’t previously reviewed) over the next few weeks.

Young Adult Nonfiction

By the way, Eyes Wide Open: Going Behind the Environmental Headlines by Paul Fleischman has been nominated for the AAAS/Subaru SB&F awards in the middle grade category this year and it is on the young adult list here.
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