Category Archives: Non-Fiction

Step Inside! A Look Inside Animal Homes

Step Inside! A Look Inside Animal Homes

Using rhyming text, explores the homes of various animals, including spiders, moles, warthogs, and tree frogs, and describes how the animals use these homes for protection or for hunting food. Author: Catherine Ham

Animals are awesome, but let’s face it; there are a bazillion animal books out there. Emilie, you ask, why should I read this one? (Let’s pretend you asked that.) This book is different. It’s about animal homes. Not only that, there are incredible pictures of the animals in their homes. Also, the book rhymes. Did you know the spittlebug (I didn’t even know there was a spittlebug) makes his house from his spit? It looks like bubble wrap. There are ants that build enormous nests high up in trees. Do you know what a warthog home looks like? You will if you read this book!

Recommended by: Emilie Lynn – East 38th Street Branch

More books about animals and their amazing homes:

A Strange Place to Call Home Home Sweet Web Even an Octopus Needs a Home Burrows, Nests and Lairs
Extreme Builders
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Life in the Ocean

Life in the Ocean

Life in the Ocean

A picture book biography telling the story of Sylvia Earle’s growing passion for the wonders of the sea and how her ocean exploration and advocacy have made her known around the world. Author: Claire Nivola

Try to imagine swimming with whales, walking the ocean floor, and spending over seven thousand hours underwater. This beautiful picture book biography introduces young readers to a woman who has done all that and more. Sylvia Earle has been a scientist about as long as she can remember. When she was a little girl her laboratory was the pond and woods on her family’s New Jersey farm. At the age of twelve Sylvia moved with her family to a new home in Florida bringing the Gulf of Mexico right up to her backyard. The ocean became Sylvia Earle’s new laboratory where she has dedicated her life to exploring what she calls, “the blue heart of the planet”.

Recommended by: Catherine Lutholtz Bridge – The Learning Curve at Central Library

More Staff Recommends

More about Marian Biologists:
Marine Biologist Under the Ice Sylvia Earle Guardian of the Sea Rachel Carson
The Fantastic World of Jacques Cousteau Manfish the Story of Jacques Cousteau
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Dr. David Wolf at The Children’s Museum

Dr. David Wolf at The Children’s Museum

wolf-thumbnailA real astronaut who has been to space four times, lived for128 days on the space station Mir, tcm1and went on seven spacewalks has agreed to work at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis this year.

Dr. Wolf was even born in Indianapolis. He went to North Central High School and Purdue University. Who could be better at designing things to do at the museum to make science fun?!

Find out more about Dr. Wolf:

Books about Space and the NASA Space Program:

An Illustrated Timeline of Space Exploration Out of This World Poems and Facts About Space The Apollo Missions and Other Adventures in Space Seven Wonders of Space Technology
Out of This World: All the Cool Stuff About Space You Want to Know Planets Mission Control This is Apollo

Space Activities:

Space Adventure Crafts How to Draw Science Fiction Space Jokes You Can Draw Rockets

Adventures in Space:

Aliens on Vacation Boom! City of Ember Cosmic
The Dead Gentleman The Doom Machine The Ear the Eye and the Arm Larklight
Mike Stellar Nerves of Steel Overlord Protocol The Search for Wondla The Tomorrow Code
The True Meaning of Smekday When You Reach Me A Wrinkle in Time Zita the Spacegirl
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Bomb: the Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon

Bomb: the Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon

This one is a big “WOW.” Sheinkin weaves three stories together: 1) Robert Oppenheimer leading the Manhattan Project (especially the part in Los Alamos, New Mexico) to design and build an atomic bomb before the Germans can. 2) The effort by British Special Operations to destroy Germany’s ability to build their bomb, focused on the incredibly brave secret mission by Norwegian underground fighters to destroy the Vemork Heavy Water factory in Norway. 3) The Russian spies who successfully stole the plans to the atomic bomb and passed them to Russsia, leading to the Cold War’s nuclear standoff.

Sheinkin involves the reader by focusing on the stories of the people involved, from Oppenheimer and physicists like Richard Feynman to Norwegian hero Knut Haukelid, and to Americans turned Russian spies: Harry Gold and Ted Hall. The book reads like a combination of war epic and spy thriller. Sheinkin read dozens of books and hundreds of declassified government documents to prepare for this telling and there is an extensive bibliography if you want to pursue any story line further. Let me give this one more “Wow!” Author: Steve Sheinkin

Recommended by: Steve Bridge, Irvington Branch Library

The Secret of the Manhattan Project J. Robert Oppenheimer the Brain Behind the Bomb Why Did Hiroshima Happen? The Manhattan Project
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Dogs at the Library

Dogs at the Library

LayleBooksThis is my dog. Her name is Layle. She’s a golden retriever and she is 2 years old. She took her first class at Indy Humane when she was 5 months old. The class was for puppies to learn how to play together. Since then she has completed 2 levels of obedience classes. Someday, she will be a therapy dog that can visit nursing homes, hospitals…and the library!

In this picture she is practicing “wait”. She doesn’t want me to read anymore. She wants to go for a walk!

If you have a dog and would like to learn how to communicate with him/her you should try the Dog Communications Class. One of the best things I learned in dog class was how to “speak dog”. Most of the time, Layle just needed to understand what I was asking her to do. She learned English words like “wait,” “come,” and “sit,” but we had to practice a lot. She learned English and I learned how to “speak dog”! I know what she means when she looks at me like this and wags her tail. She is saying, “I am waiting patiently because I love you but you have been reading for a long time and I want to go for a walk now!”

  • 2013JanDogCommunicationsDog Communications Class Adults and families are invited as representatives from the Humane Society explain what your dog may be saying to you when he is stubborn, bites, or doesn’t seem to be listening. Attendees will learn the tools to “speak dog.” A dog will be in attendance. Schedule
  • Pets: Stories & Safety Children ages 4 – 7 and an adult are invited as Rebecca Warren of the Humane Society shares with them some of the basics of pet ownership. The focus will be on cats and dogs. A dog may be in attendance at this program. Schedule

Books and dogs are a great combination! The Paws to Read dogs are at PuppiesDummiesseveral library branches. They love to listen to stories! Ask your parents if you can come and have a turn reading out loud to Gracie or Dandy!

We have some great dog books too! Books can help you learn about dog training, dog rescue and working dogs. There are also some OUTSTANDING dog stories. Give some of these a try:

My Dog is a Hero Search and Rescue Helping Dogs Guide Dog Heroes
The Right Dog for the Job Looking Out for Sarah Therapy Dogs Helpers
Police Dogs Dog Finds Lost Dolphins Saving Audie Rescuing Rover
Dog Obedience A Dog's Life: an Autobiography of a Stray Everything for a Dog One Dog and His Boy
Cracker the Best Dog Vietnam The Incredible Journey Shiloh Big Dogs: Drawing and Reading

 

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