Month: July 2026

Karl, Get Out of the Garden!

Sophie Rosen , , , ,

Sanchez Anita. Karl, Get Out of the Garden! : Carolus Linnaaeus and the Naming of Everything. Watertown, Mass.: Charlesbridge, 2017.
Karl loved being outdoors. As soon as he was old enough to walk, he wanted to be out in nature. As he grew older, he wanted to know that names of all the plants. The problem was that everyone had their own names for plants. In one town, a dandelion was called a blowball. In another, it was called a yellow daisy. How confusing! Karl decided that plants and animals needed to be properly organized and given Latin names. Could he do it? He did. And his system is still used today. This fascinating picture book biography evocatively illustrated by Catherine Stock is accompanied by an extensive afterward, a bibliography, and numerous quotations by the Swedish naturalist who established scientific names for living things. Highly recommended for readers and listeners 8 years old and up.

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We Carry the Sun

Sophie Rosen , ,

Keller, Tae. We Carry the Sun. New York: Norton Young Readers, 2025.
Thousands of years ago, people were already looking for ways to use the sun to warm their homes. But it wasn’t until after the industrial revolution that Frenchman Augustin Mouchat, realizing that coal would someday run out, came up with a new invention that used heat from the sun to turn water into steam that powered an engine. But coal was a cheaper source of electricity and provided more power. So that idea was left behind.

But what if the sun’s light, instead of it’s heat, was used to get energy? Charles Fritts, in the eastern U.S.A., came up with a new invention. His solar panel used strips of selenium on metal to create electricity. But it was very expensive and provided very little power. So that idea wasn’t going to work.

Then at the beginning of the 20 century, Aubrey Eneas – another American – realized a solar-powered engine could work quite well out west where there were more sunny days. In fact, his engine could pump more than 1,400 gallons of water per minute, providing much needed irrigation for southern California. But could the sun be used to heat a house?

After World War 2, Hungarian immigrant Maria Telkes and her friend Eleanor Raymond came up with a way to heat an entire home in Massachusetts, a state with very cold winters. 

Twenty years later, Levi Yissar – an Israeli engineer – invented the first solar-heated water heater.

Meanwhile, scientists at Bell Labs experimented with Charles Fritts’s idea and realized that if they used silicon instead of selenium in their solar panels, they could generate enough electricity to power an entire house.

More and more scientists and engineers around the world were coming up with powerful, creative, and affordable ways to generate electricity using the power of the sun. And developments are continuing. In 2025, solar energy provided 9% of electricity in the world. 

Accompanied by a detailed three-page timeline on the use of solar energy from c700 BCE to the present day, this brilliantly designed picture book with full-page illustrations by Rachel Wada is highly recommended as a read-aloud and research source for readers and listeners 9 years old and up.  

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Fly

Sophie Rosen

Lindo, David. Fly. New York: Magic Cat Publishing, 2024.
Some books are ideal for browsing, perfect for paging through when you have a little bit of time and a little bit of space in your memory to learn something new. In this over-sized picture book, birds are divided into 15 categories including “fabulous feathers,” “fantastic feet,” “wonderful wings,” “amazing migrations,” and “the open ocean.” Each category contains four pages of interesting facts accompanied by Sara Boccaccini Meadows’s colourful watercolour and gouache illustrations. Recommended for bird lovers and information-gatherers 9 to 12 years old. 

More books to expand general knowledge

Writing about a browsing book

South with the Seabirds

Sophie Rosen , ,

McGeachen, Jess. South with the Seabirds: Follow Four Scientists to the Edge of the World. Victoria, BC: Orca, 2026.
Macquarie Island lies 1500 kilometres south of Australia in the subantarctic zone of the Southern Ocean. It is a small island – only 5 km wide and 34 km long – but unique in that it is one of the few places on earth where the ocean crust is above sea level and the mantle is being exposed. A windy island covered with grasslands and bogs, but no trees, Macquarie attracts seals who settle on the black sands, penguins who come in their thousands to mate, and seabirds that dig burrows in which to lay their eggs.
It is to this remote location that four scientists came in 1959 to conduct research. Hope Macpherson and Isobel Bennett studied the creatures found in the rock pools along the shores. Susan Ingham counted the seals, and Mary Gillham observed the seabirds and recorded how rabbits introduced to the island were damaging the environment. In 1997, Macquarie was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site and in 2014, the island was finally declared free of invasive pests. 
This softly illustrated picture book biography is supplemented with a timeline, short summaries of the lives of the four scientists, and a page of tips for young naturalists. Highly recommended for readers – and listeners – 7 to 13 years old.

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When I’m a Moshom

Sophie Rosen , , ,

Robertson, David A. When I’m a Moshom. Toronto: Tundra, 2026.
How do you keep the memories of your loved ones alive after they are gone? How do you spread the goodness that they gave you? In this new picture book, a companion to On the Trapline, a little boy imagines all the wonderful things he will do with his grandchildren when he becomes a grandfather. He will watch his grandchildren’s activities. He will teach his grandchildren the ways of their culture. He will share all his stories and his love. And in this way, he will pass along the love he received from his own grandfather. A highly recommended story – gently illustrated by Corrie Hill – for readers and listeners of all ages.
P.S. After reading this story, you might like to write your own version. If you are a teacher, you might like to ask your students: What do you want to pass along to your grandchildren? 

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