First Star: A Bear and Mole Story (Will Hillenbrand)

Title:  First Star:  A Bear and Mole Story

Author: Will Hillenbrand

Illustrator:  Will Hillenbrand

Target Ages:  3-8

Genre:  Picture Book Fiction

Publisher Summary: 

Up, up, up climb Mole and Bear.  They are on the way to Camp Tiptop to see the stars.  But as the sun sets, Mole is scared.  What if they get lost in the dark?  Luckily, Bear has the perfect story to calm Mole’s fears. 

Later, the sky has its own surprise in store for the two campers.

First Lines:

Mole gazed up.

“May we sleep under the sky tonight?” asked Mole.

“I want to see the stars turn on.”

Memorable Moment:

Bear comforts Mole, “Dark is not so dark if you know where you are.”

Evaluation:

The cover art is adorable! It previews perfectly the theme—friends using their strengths to help each other out. 

A simple plot focuses on a camping trip.  Mole and Bear work together to pack up for the journey, to help each other out on the way up, to set up camp, and to spend the evening outdoors. 

The story within a story framework is utilized.  As night moves in, Mole is afraid of getting lost in the dark (a bit ironic for a mole).   To comfort him, Bear tells the story of how the moon and stars were added to the sky to give them light and direction. 

Hillenbrand’s signature illustrations use soft shades in contrast with bright colors.  The story moves from close up shots of the characters to sweeping views of the sky, emphasizing a strong intimacy of friends and family in the vast and spectacular universe.

These characters are memorable and endearing.  Bear has great physical strength, but he also is kind and gentle.  I love how he uses these qualities to help his small, meek friend, Mole feel safe and overcome his fears.  Overall, their friendship exemplifies the importance of using our strengths—whether physical, emotional, spiritual, or mental—to help each other.   

First Star:  A Bear and Mole Story a sweet story of lasting friendship and overcoming fears.

Also, check out Hillenbrand’s Spring Is Here and Down by the Barn. 

Activities and Extension Ideas for Lesson Plans:

• Literature:  Read other creation stories.  Compare and contrast them.  See Picture Book Connections.
• Writing:  Write an original creation myth about the moon and stars or something else in nature.
• Science:  Learn about the moon and its phrases.
• Life Skills:  Allow students to share their camping experiences. What supplies did they need?  What did they do on the trip?  How did they get around at night? 
• Field Trip:  Plan a camping trip (even one in the backyard).  Have the whole family (or class) determine what supplies are needed and pack them up together.  For a class, it could be a picnic outside school. 

Picture Book Connections (Creation Stories and Myths):

A Big Mooncake for Little Star

This heartwarming modern folktale explains how the moon ends up in the sky—as well as the reason for its phases. 

The Star-Bearer: A Creation Myth from Ancient Egypt

Creation begins when Atum, the god child, emerges from the bud of a lotus. Stories build off his family that explain how the world and other gods came to be.

Anansi the Spider: A Tale from Ashanti

When Anansi falls into trouble, his six sons come to the rescue. This trickster tale explains the origin of the moon. 

Why the Sun & Moon Live in the Sky

The story explains why the moon and her children the stars only appear at night when Sun is not around.

Why the Sun and Moon Live in the Sky: An African Folktale
Like the aforementioned story, the origin of the moon in the sky is explained.

The Woman who Fell from the Sky: The Iroquois Story of Creation
As a sky woman falls from a floating island high in the sky, she creates the earth, creatures, and sky. 

Piecing Earth and Sky Together: A Creation Story from the Mien Tribe of Laos
A brother and sister duo from heaven make a bet.  The brother weaves a majestic sky while the sister a glorious earth. When they put them together, the world is created. 

Visit Susanna Leonard Hill for Perfect Picture Book Friday.

Paul Goble and Native American Starlore

In the ancient world, people looked to the sky to understand the world around them and to navigate while traveling. Most cultures developed stories about the celestial bodies—the stars, moon, and sun. They were often associated with origin stories and other myths. The natives of North American had many different ideas about what the stars meant. Two stories representing this tradition are recorded by Paul Goble who has over many decades developed a close relationship with some of our native American tribes. His writing and illustrations demonstrate a great reverence for these people and their traditions. Her Seven Brothers and Star Boy illustrate a strong feeling of connection that many cultures had to the stars, sun, and moon. 

Her Seven Brothers

A young Indian girl lives as an only child with her parents. She is never alone though because she can speak with the birds and animals. Her mother teaches her to embroider with the dyed porcupine quills. The tribe marvels at the amazing skill she develops. They are sure her talent comes from the spirits. One day she begins to sew clothes for a man—a shirt and a pair of moccasins. Her mother inquires as to why she is making them. The girl reveals that there are seven brothers who live in the north country who she plans to travel to in order to become their sister.  After many months, she completes all seven sets and loads them up for her journey. Leaving her mother she says, “Soon you will see me again with my brothers; everyone will know and love us!”  The retelling of this Cheyenne legend reveals what happens when she meets her brothers and how they become the stars of the Big Dipper. 

Star Boy

Two sisters awake as Morning Star fills the sky.  The older sister declares her great admiration for him and longing to be his wife. Morning Star comes to her as a man and sweeps her up to the sky to meet his mother (the moon) and father (the sun). Together they live happily there, eventually having a son. Her mother-in-law gives her a stick to dig up roots.  She is told she can dig up any plant except ones with pink flowers. Like Eve and Pandora, she eventually does the one thing she is commanded not to.  When she does, she sees her family and the world she left behind. The Sun angrily tells her, “Now your heart will always be in two place; you will never be happy here, nor in the world below.  You must go back to your people.”  The woman and baby return to the tribe. The woman dies when the boy is still young, and she becomes Evening Star. Her son, Star Boy, falls in love with the chief’s beautiful daughter. She agrees to marry him but first he has to go on a quest.  This story from the Blackfeet tribe explains how he ends up in the sky too!  The book includes the traditional “Song of the Rising Sun.”

Check out these books at your local library or bookstore to find out how they end! 

Teaching Resources

• Literature: Read Additional Stories on Native American Starlore.  Compare and contrast different ones. 
• Astronomy: Use the stories to connect to a unit on astronomy. 
• Local History: Study the local tribes that live(d) in your state or area. 
• Ancient History: Compare and contrast starlore stories of Native American cultures to other ancient cultures. 
• Other Activities: Check out this Native American Sky Legends Teacher’s Guide  for some additional teaching ideas.

Poetry Friday: Science Verse (by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith)

I am thrilled to share this week’s poetry collection—Science Verse (by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith).  These two authors know how to turn things upside down and make your rethink how you look at everything from fairy tales to science!  This collection is no exception.   The book begins with a group of children in class.  Their science teacher tells them that if they listen closely they will “hear the poetry of science in everything.”  One of the students is zapped with a curse of science verse.  He begins to think of everything in the form of a poem.  The poems and pictures that follow are his journey through the world of science and language.   

The duo uses nursery rhymes, popular songs, and famous adult works as models for their entertaining, educational, and, at times, irreverent poetry.  “Lovely” parallels Joyce Kilmer’s “Trees.”

“Lovely”

I think that I ain’t never seen

A poem ugly as a spleen.

A poem that could make you shiver,

Like 3.5 … pounds of liver.

A poem to make you lose your lunch,

Tie your intestines in a bunch.

A poem all gray, wet, and swollen,

Like a stomach or a colon.

Sometimes like your kidney, lung,

Pancreas, bladder, even tongue.

Why you turning green, good buddy?

It’s just human body study.

This next selection follows the rhythm of the children’s song “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.”

“Food Chains”

“I’ve been working in the food chain,

All the livelong day.

In the middle of the food chain,

I’ve got no time to play.

Can’t you see the green plants growing?

That’s energy, okay?

Consumer eats up the producer,

Predator eats prey.

Who’s for lunch today?

Who’s for lunch today?

Don’t you just wonder, who’s for lunch today?

Predator or prey.

Predator or prey.

Eat or be eaten, that’s the only way.

Under “Why Scientists Don’t Write Nursery Rhymes” is a “Mary Had a Little Lamb” parody.

“Mary Had A…”

Mary had a little worm.

She thought it was a chigger.

But everything that Mary ate,

Only made it bigger.

It came with her to school one day,

And gave the kids a fright,

Especially when the teacher said,

“Now that’s a parasite.”

As the book comes to a close, it is revealed that the student with the science verse curse was asleep (in class) the whole time!  Science Verse is witty and entertaining, but it also has several educational tie ins.  Subjects covered are evolution, water cycle, human body, space/astronomy, dinosaurs, food chains, chemistry, scientific method, senses, matter, and life cycles.

Teaching Opportunities:

• Poetry:  students can write their own poems using nursery rhymes, children’s songs, or other poems as models.
• Sound Devices:  identify rhyme, alliteration, consonance, and so forth
• Figurative Language:  identify and discuss examples (similes, puns, personification)
• Science:  use a poem to begin a science lesson or unit study; discuss what is revealed through the poem about the subject
• Critical Thinking:  look carefully together to distinguish fact from fiction in the poems

 Today is Poetry Friday!  Check out other great poems and anthologies at the round up at Book Talking. 

Picture Books (Science): Planet Series (by L. L. Owens)

A Child’sWorld has an impressive series of non-fiction books on the planets in the solar system called Space Neighbors.    Each planet, and the sun, has a book devoted to it.   I reviewed 3 books in the series:  Saturn, Mercury, and Pluto and Other Dwarf Planets. 

Author L.L.Owens begins each book by placing the planet in the night sky.  Key vocabulary words are in bold, such as solar system, orbit, and telescope.  Next, a sweeping two-page layout displays all of the planets in relation to the sun and each other.  In the left-bottom corner, Fun Facts are provided that include distance from sun, size, planet number, and facts unique to the planet.   The follow pages include large, bold pictures of the plant and information about the speed of rotation and revolution, surface, atmosphere, temperature, exploration, and much more. 

Owens uses simple text (second grade reading level) which makes this series fantastic for children in the primary grades (1-4).  She offers context for many of the facts with child-oriented comparisons, like the distance around Mercury’s middle is “longer than 100 million hot dogs placed end to end” or the shape of the planet is “more like a football than a baseball.”  Some of the core information about the definitions of rotation, revolution, and the solar system are reviewed in each book.  The books include a glossary of important terms to build science vocabulary. 

The illustrations and photographs are eye-catching.   The planets are viewed from different angles and distances, extending the written text.  Other photographs and illustrations are included to round out the fascinating facts presented to the young readers.  I recommend the Space Neighbor series for ages 6-10. 

I created a Pinterest board of some amazing ideas on the web to teach about the solar system.  

This post is linked up at Momto2PoshDivas for Sunday Showcase and Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

Picture Book (Science): Meet the Planets (by John McGranaghan)

Summary of Meet the Planets:    

Coming to you live from the Milky Way, Pluto (former ninth planet) emcees the first ever Favorite Planet Competition.   Pluto begins by introducing the inner plants—Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.  These solid, rocky planets are closest to the sun.  Who is your favorite?  The fastest planet—Mercury?  The brightest one—Venus?  The “mother” of life—Earth?  OR The red-faced planet, named after the god of war—Mars?  Next up, the outer plants—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.  These gaseous planets have their own rings!  The question is:  Does one of them deserve to be the winner?   The largest planet—Jupiter?  The light on his feet—Saturn?  The slanted one—Uranus?  The beautiful blue planet—Neptune?  The judges cannot come to a decision.  So that means that YOU will decide the Favorite!

Evaluation:

Author John McGranaghan creatively introduces readers to the planets in the Milky Way using the competition framework. The fast-paced text offers up an intriguing glimpse into the unfathomable world of outer space.  Captivated readers will be eager to learn more about space and the Greek mythology references.  The imaginative illustrations by Laurie Allen Klein depict astronomers, scientist, mathematicians, and other historical figures related to the study of space.  She cleverly incorporates famous works of art and historical objects.  Sylvan Dell’s across the curriculum teaching guide identifies all the figures and connections, prompting research and learning opportunities.  There are so many layers to this book that each time through can be a new experience, depending on the level, age, and interest of the participants.  Meet the Plants is an out of this world journey through space and learning. 

For more excellent teaching opportunities, check out the Sylvan Dell’s teaching guide and book page.