Predicting the future

They Saw the Future: Oracles, Psychics, Scientists, Great Thinkers, and Pretty Good Guessers
by Kathleen Krull
illustrations by Kyrsten Brooker


The Oracles of Greece, the Sibyls in Rome, the Maya in South America, Hildegard of Bingen, Leonardo da Vinci, Nostradamus, Jules Verne, Nicholas Black Elk, H.G. Wells, Edgar Cayce, Jeane Dixon, and Marshall McLuhan - innovative thinkers all. But how did they know what they knew? Were they really psychic? In examining their individual histories, it seems that a lot of their predictions were due to scientific knowledge, creative inspiration, and close observation. 

Fascinating and intriguing. A very entertaining book.

Ghost hunting

Ghost Trackers: The Unreal World of Ghosts, Ghost-Hunting, and the Paranormal
by Chris Gudgeon


Kids who are into ghosts, spirits, and haunted houses will find this book fascinating. It's filled with scary tales of poltergeists, ghost lights, and things that go bump in the night. The book tries its best to provide rational explanations for supernatural phenomena and shows how science can be used to prove or disprove various ghostly theories. The final chapter provides practical, safe advice for those seeking first-hand experience of the paranormal.

Religious history

The Story of Religion


Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and African and North American Primal religions are depicted in this introductory book. The text is fairly easy to follow and the pictures are very attractive, but the book suffers from a lack of chapters and headings. It's a book more suited for project research, with parental or teacher assistance.

Big questions about religion

Really, Really Big Questions About God, Faith, and Religion


What is religion?
Why are there so many religions?
Does God exist?
Is God ever wrong?
Is there a heaven or a hell?
What should I believe?


These are all really big questions about faith, God (or gods), and worship. They're also very hard questions because there is no right or wrong answer. In this thought-provoking book, kids are encouraged to not just ask what people believe, but to also consider why they believe it. The author answers each question clearly and succinctly, backed up by good reasons and evidence. It allows children to explore, investigate, and make their own decisions.

Religious study

Faith


Children all around the world celebrate their faith in this happy book. Simple text and expressive photographs of children praying, singing, learning, and helping others, illuminate the many ways that people come together. The book ends with more detailed information about the elements of faith. Includes a clearly written glossary. 

Good introductory text for ages 4-7.

Titanic sinking

Children of the Titanic
by Christine Welldon


Young readers are introduced to the ship that couldn't sink through the eyes of three child passengers - Beth Cook, age six, travelling third class; Charlotte Murphy, age eight, second class; and John Crosby, age eleven, first class. In diary format, we meet them as they board, find their rooms, and experience the gripping sequence of events after the iceberg strike. 

Packed with photographs, the book provides a glimpse into the sights and sounds of the ship, ending with Robert Ballard's discovery of the wreck in 1985.

Welldon manages to instill a lot of facts despite the book's short length; the final moments are made more gripping as a result. Quite good.

First woman sea captain

Molly Kool: Captain of the Atlantic
by Christine Welldon


Molly Kool's father was a ship captain who hauled goods like sand, gravel, and lumber up and down the Saint John River in New Brunswick. Molly always sailed with her father during summertime, when school was out. So it was inevitable that she wanted to be a sea captain when she grew up. But in order for her to sit for her master's license, the Canadian Shipping Act had to be reworded to reflect a more gender neutral environment. Molly Kool went on to become the first female sea captain in North America.

Written with a deft touch, Welldon's biography of Kool is an easy, interesting read, filled with stories, quotes, and colourful photographs. Readers will come away with a good knowledge of early twentieth century shipping practices and what being a modern ship's captain is like today.

The Edmund Fitzgerald

Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The Legendary Great Lakes Disaster
by Elle Andra-Warner


The book begins a bit slowly, with a look at the history of Fitzgerald ship-building and the stormy waters of Lake Superior. But it gradually gets more interesting when it describes the Edmund Fitzgerald's final moments (November 9-10, 1975). The search for the ship, the discovery of the wreck, and the various hypotheses regarding the cause of the sinking are very well presented.




The Edmund Fitzgerald: The Song of the Bell
by Kathy-Jo Wargin


This is a picture book story of both the Fitzgerald and the Arthur M. Anderson, which was also battling the storm that day. It doesn't go into the cause of the tragedy, but serves instead as a memorial to the seamen who died. Rhyming couplets honor the ship's bell, which serves as a symbol for the soul of the ship and its crew. The dark, stormy paintings add to the drama.

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator
by Shelley Tanaka
illustrated by David Craig


The key flights undertaken by pilot Amelia Earhart are summarized in this biography. It showcases Earhart's intelligence and ingenuity aboard the Friendship (as a passenger), her first solo across the Atlantic, and the fateful last flight. 

A good introduction to the daring aviator.






Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart
by Candace Fleming


A more complete picture of Earhart emerges in this well-written book. While Tanaka's book was very positive, Fleming's book mentions some of the negatives, such as Earhart's father's drinking problem, her parents' separation, and Earhart's own faults and foibles. Fleming also writes about the people who helped Earhart along the way, especially her husband George, who was the mastermind behind her celebrity and the organizer of her round-the-world trip. 

What makes Fleming's book a real winner are the chapters about the search for Amelia. With testimony by radio operators and American citizens, they are gripping and suspenseful, giving the readers a good idea of the anxiousness of a nation. Maps, photos, and informative sidebars provide information about flight, people, and incidents, helping to separate myth from fact. So compelling is the book that it begs to be read in one sitting. 

Highly recommended.

Daredevil female pilot

Tomboy of the Air: Daredevil Pilot Blanche Stuart Scott
by Julie Cummins


A spoiled only child, Blanche Stuart Scott first terrorized the public in 1902, at age thirteen, by speeding around Rochester, New York in a single-cylinder Cadillac. She later made a name for herself by driving across the United States to promote a motor company. Shortly thereafter, she was asked to promote aircraft made by the Curtiss Flying Exhibition Company - by learning how to fly. 

Blanche Stuart Scott became the first woman to fly a plane in public in the United States. Her flying exploits inspired many women to take up aviation, despite the dangers involved. Stories of crashes and near-crashes, and even sabotage enliven Cummins' text, while photographs and quotes, many from Scott herself, illuminate the life and times of those daring men and women and their flying machines.

Bessie Coleman: pioneering aviator

Fly High! The Story of Bessie Coleman
by Louise Borden & Mary Kay Kroeger
illustrated by Teresa Flavin


Bessie Coleman yearned to be somebody. But at the time (pre-World War I), choices were very limited for  women, especially African-American women. That didn't stop Bessie. Upon learning that there were women pilots in France, Bessie wanted to fly too. Fly High! tells the story of Bessie Coleman and how she became the first African-American pilot. Told in free verse, with brightly-coloured pictures, this is a good introduction to a spirited aviator.




Talkin' 'Bout Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman
by Nikki Grimes
illustrated by E.B. Lewis


Poet Nikki Grimes has crafted an intelligent, dignified biography of Coleman in this wonderful book. Although fictional, the story is based upon the actual words of Coleman's friends, family, and acquaintances. Each person reveals different aspects of Coleman's personality, giving a more complete picture of Queen Bess. Grimes' evocative words are enhanced by the expression and depth of E.B. Lewis' paintings.

A woman of great ambition, Bessie's  determination, intelligence, stubbornness, and courage inspired a generation of African-American aviators. Grimes gives the last word to Bessie herself: 

You have never lived

until you have flown!

Math is important

The Great Number Rumble: A Story of Math in Surprising Places
by Cora Lee & Gillian O'Reilly

When the director of education removes math from the school curriculum, many students cheer. But Jeremy’s best friend Sam, who loves math, is appalled. For him, math is important, and he sets out to prove it. Sam shows his classmates and teachers that math is everywhere, whether in sports, art, music or animation. In the end, everyone has to admit that without math, nothing is possible.