I haven’t participated in Nonfiction Monday in a while, and it’s time for me to get back into it.
This week, I read A Black Hole Is Not a Hole (Charlesbridge, 2012), by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano, illustrated by Michael Carroll. It was fantastic!
I’m a sucker for space topics (my dad was an engineer for NASA for most of his life), but I’ve never really read much about black holes, and what I did read kind of went right over my head.
Thank you, Ms. DeCristofano! By using numerous metaphors and concrete comparisons, you have explained black holes in a way I can (finally) understand! You compared objects and processes to whirlpools in a stream, a pair of figure skaters, kaleidoscopes, a film in slow motion, a neighborhood…things most kids (and me) are familiar with. You made the abstract specific and imaginable. And you did it with humor and cleverness and great storytelling, too.
This book will be great for upper elementary kids and older (ahem, even way older)! And it would be great to use as a mentor text for kids writing about science. Have them work on metaphors for other scientific events/processes and write about them in a way younger kids can understand. There’s nothing like teaching something to help you understand it better yourself.
(Book source: Review copy I requested from Charlesbridge)
Travis Jonker at 100 Scope Notes has the Nonfiction Monday Roundup. Now get outta here and go learn something :>)
Laura, I have always loved reading about space. When I was young, I went through a stage of wanting to be the first female astronaut. Well, that never happened! When my first son was a toddler, I started reading “space” books to him. He grew up with a passion for all things outer space. He is now a college professor of physics, but he also teaches astronomy. He used to write a blog for teachers, but his research has become time-consuming. I’ve sat in on a few of his lectures,and learned so much from him. I’ll have to get this book for myself!
Enjoy, Linda! How fun to see your interest in astronomy and reading to your son transformed into a career for him!
My And Then There Were Eight: Poems About Space, was one of my most fun books to write…
Finally, a book about space that I can understand! My sixth graders love books like this, and it sounds informative but not dry-thanks, Laura!
Oh, I think you (and your students) will love it–have fun!
Hmmm. I probably should get some books on space that don’t begin “One day, man will walk on the moon.” This sounds interesting.
Ha! Yes, it sounds like some updated books might be in order:>)
This sounds like a beautiful book indeed, Laura. I have a feeling that my ten year old would take to this book. Will pin this in our board for books that I should borrow from our library.
Welcome back to Nonfiction Monday!
Thanks, Myra–enjoy the book! Or get your 10yo to explain the whole thing afterward to you:>)