Ancona, George. 1985. SHEEP DOG. New York: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Books. ISBN 0688041191.
This is a book not to be judged by title alone. Sheep Dog would make the reader think it is about the very shaggy haired dog whose eyes you cannot see, but one look at the picture on the cover of the big white dog tells you a different story. This book has minimal access features, some author�s notes and a short bibliography, but reads like a good novel explaining the types of dogs used for sheep herding and the program used to train these dogs. The book begins with a center spread picture of sheep grazing peacefully in a field and says, �Sheep graze calmly on open pasture, with young lambs following close to mother ewes. This peaceful scene is common to many farms and ranches across the United States.� (unpaged) It then grabs the reader with the drama of a smaller picture of a coyote with the words, �A hungry coyote watches the flock from the surrounding woods. It picks out a lamb and begins to approach it.� (unpaged) Strategically placed on the opposite page is another small picture of a lone lamb with the words, �The lamb, suddenly aware of the intruder, bleats a warning.� (unpaged) The reader is now caught in the drama of this scenario: will the lamb be caught? It would have been helpful to have access features such as a table of contents, along with page numbers and an index to help locate information. In spite of this lack of information, Ancona, writes a very interesting book on the different types of dogs used for sheep herding. The use of visual features such as black and white photographs with captions showing the different types of herder dogs along with a two page spread of a map showing the origin of the different breeds mentioned, is a needed touch to help visually place a starting point for each dog. The organization of this book takes the reader from the types of dogs considered herders, to explaining a program that recruits dogs and trains them for herders, to more specifically the stages a puppy goes through as it grows into a herder dog. This book leaves the reader with the peace of mind that investing in the use of guard dogs is �more humane and cheaper than traps or poison, more ecologically sensible, and are proving to be more effective in the battle against coyotes.� (unpaged)
This book is now out of print and even calling the publishing company does not produce a review. This book was last on the market in 1996. I chose this book, knowing how old it was because it is highly circulated in my library. This circulation may be due the fact that one of the dogs mentioned in the book is a Great Pyrenees, which is what my own dog is. The students have had interaction with him, thus making this book very appealing to them.
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. 2001. BLACK POTATOES: THE STORY OF THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE, 1845-1850. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0618002715.
This Robert F. Sibert Medal Book is not just a story of a potato gone bad, but a story of the Irish people. Bartoletti takes their words, shares their pain, their struggle, and their needless suffering in this bleak and dark time in history. The magnitude of devastation that enveloped Ireland is graphically depicted in each black and white sketch. This story begins with an introduction to the potato famine. Each chapter begins with an Irish toast, an Irish blessing, an Irish song, or words from an Irishman, all which subtly paint a picture of a giving and caring people. As each chapter progresses, so does the blight of the potato and the people. With each chapter you feel the prejudice and hatred between two countries � England and Ireland. This hatred stems from religious beliefs and almost costs a race of people to disappear with the potato. England�s struggle to control the people of Ireland, closes their eyes to the devastation that has gripped the country. Each law enacted by England only brings more devastation to a nation already suffering beyond measure. Once news of Ireland�s suffering reached other countries, relief programs began to poor in, but they did little to help in the long run. Many Irish felt lucky to emigrate to the U.S. only to find prejudice and fear from the American people. Bartoletti describes in great detail how the spread of disease began to devour these caring, giving people, just as the virus ate the potato. In chapter 6 she graphically writes, �In the crowded cabin, the lice jumped from person to person. When a louse bit a person, it passed the infected microorganism into the victim�s bloodstream. If the louse was slapped, the splattered microorganism was powerful enough to enter the bloodstream through the skin. It also entered through the eyes or the lungs.� (pg 94-95) As each chapter concludes, you sometimes wonder if there is hope for the future. And just when all seems to be lost, a visit from the Queen brings a renewed vitality to this shattered nation. In the conclusion, Bartoletti continues to share her partisan point of view, telling how voters rights helped bring change, how the blight finally waned, and how hope helped bring renewed life to Ireland. Booklist sums this book up with, �The year-by-year political history is occasionally heavy going; but, as she did in Growing Up in Coal Country (1996), a Booklist Editors' Choice, Bartoletti humanizes the big events by bringing the reader up close to the lives of ordinary people. Hazel Rochman Copyright � American Library Association. All rights reserved Beginning with an introduction and table of contents gives the reader an overview of what is to come between the pages. At the end, Bartoletti gives a timeline letting the reader see the years in quick review, followed by a bibliography and sources, and an index for quick reference completing this book with what makes a good nonfiction book a valuable resource.
Lauber, Patricia. 1979. WHAT�S HATCHING OUT OF THAT EGG? New York: Crown Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0517537249.
For those that like riddles, this book may have a date of 1979, but it still intrigues and pulls children into the text. The style of this book is timeless in many ways. Leading the reader to each type of egg through riddle brings the want to know, instills wonder, and sets curiosity into motion. Each written clue and the accompanying pictures bring the reader closer to a solution. You will not find charts, graphs, maps or tables. You will find black and white photographs that bring you up close to what is being described and you will find an index for reference and a very short bio about the author. The size of the book will also grab the young readers attention since it is somewhat larger than the other books nearby, along with its great cover showing an egg beginning to hatch with just enough of a peek at what is inside to make you want to open the cover and explore the pages. The type is small for what would appear to be the intended audience, but the sentence structure, such as the following, �Watch for spiders at work. See how the web is made. See how food is trapped. Be patient. A spider�s work takes time.� (pg 20), makes for easy reading. It is also a great conclusion for that creature leaving a satisfying feeling that this spider will continue on and so does the cycle of life. Another point which makes this book so appealing to the younger audience is the conversational ease of the text as in the next set where it says, �Spring is the time to look for these eggs. A pond is a good place to find them. Look among the water plants growing near the edge.� (pg 21) This book easily becomes predictable to the reader as they discover the organizational pattern goes from setting up the riddle scenario, gaining an answer to the riddle, and then exploring further information about that creature. What might cause some confusion for the young reader is the manner in which the pages are numbered, or not numbered. Explaining why the page numbers, when numbered, are close to the spine and harder to locate and why some pages do not have a number, have brought some confusion to the young readers in my library.
This book too is out of print. Its last time on the market was in 1992. Even calling this publisher did not produce any archival reviews. This book is popular with the students of my library for all the reasons already mentioned: ease of reading, predictability, riddling conversational flow, and the overall large black and white photographs giving the children a view that brings them up close to the new worlds they are discovering.