I sent out an this morning to let you know about our move here to the NEW ad-free version of STEM Friday . . . . . . and all that arrived in my email in-box were the ads – the reason that are moving in the first place. So I am trying again. We have new posts for you to read tomorrow.  Please click here to subscribe to the new ad-free version of STEM Friday. ~ Anastasia Suen, STEM Friday Founder Copyright © 2018 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.   ..read more

This Blog Has Moved This blog has moved! Click here to go the NEW site and subscribe to the new ad-free version of STEM Friday. The first posts will be sent on Friday, October 19, 2018. ~ Anastasia Suen, STEM Friday Founder Copyright © 2018 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved ..read more

Have you seen Christy Mihaly and Sue Heavenrich’s wonderful new book, Diet for a Changing Planet:  Food for Thought? We all know the food we eat can determine our health, but what about change the health of our planet? Mihaly and Heavenrich make a case that eating certain plants and animals — a few that are not normally on the menu — might do just that. The authors start by revealing some of the plants we think of as weeds were brought to North America from Europe on purpose as food and/or herbal remedies. Dandelions and purslane, for example, are thought to have been been imported and g ..read more

Meet My Family! Animal babies and their families, by Laura Purdie Salas; illus. by Stephanie Fizer Coleman 32 pages; ages 5-9. Millbrook Press, 2018 “My parents both take care of me.” Written from the point of view of animal babies, they introduce us to their families. The tundra swan cygnet lives with both mom and dad, while a raccoon kit has never met its father. What I like love about this book: Large text on each page introduces the animal baby and its family. Smaller text adds detail about where they live (a den or nest), whether they have siblings, and how parents interact with the young ..read more

Bug Hotel by Libby Walden (Author) and Clover Robin (Illustrator) Booktalk: Welcome to the Bug Hotel, a homemade habitat where creepy crawlies of all shapes and sizes can find a place to stay! Discover how a bug hotel can create a sustainable, safe environment for insects and minibeasts by exploring each section, lifting the flaps and finding out facts about your favorite garden insects. Instructions for building your own bug hotel at the end of the book! Snippet: See the book trailer. It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Copyright © 2018 Anastasia ..read more

Just Like Us! Plants, by Bridget Heos; illus. by David Clark 32 pages, ages 4-7. HMH Books for Young Readers, 2018 People think, talk, and walk around. Plants do none of these things. So how can they be anything like us? Well, writes Bridget Heos, they can communicate with each other and wear sneaky disguises. And plants even wage war. In this addition to her “Just Like Us” series, she gives us an up-close look into the secret – and not so secret – lives of plants. What I like about this book: On each spread we get to see one specific way in which plants are similar to people. One spread focus ..read more

Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon by Suzanne Slade (Author) and Thomas Gonzalez (Illustrator) Booktalk: In 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced that the United States would try to land a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. During the two thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine days following his speech, eighteen astronauts climbed into spaceships; three of them died before even leaving the ground. Eight rockets soared into space. And four hundred thousand people?engineers, technicians, scientists, mathematicians, and machinists?joined Project Apollo in hopes of making the dream a rea ..read more

Hawk Rising, by Maria Gianferrari; illus. by Brian Floca 40 pages; ages 4-8. Roaring Brook Press, 2018 Father Hawk stretches wide his wings. You stretch your arms as Mars rises red in the sky. Dawn is breaking and hungry chicks are waiting for their breakfast. Father Hawk is on the hunt! But catching food is harder than we’d think – and there are other dangers facing hawks. What I like about this book: The alternating viewpoint between the child (“you”) and the hawk. The reality of being a predator in a hawk-eat-rodent world. I love Brian Floca’s muted watercolor illustrations. I love the susp ..read more

My new Focus on STEM column: Ecosystems Everywhere is in the September Quick Tips for Schools and Libraries newsletter. Snippet: Here’s a fun science fact for September. At 9:15 a.m. on September 30, 2004, in the ocean waters off the coast of the Ogasawara Islands, the giant squid, Architeuthis, was captured on camera for the very first time. Click here to read Ecosystems Everywhere with eight #kidlit ecosystems books as well as Next Generation Science Standards Ecosystem activities for the classroom and library. It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) C ..read more

Belle’s Journey, An Osprey Takes Flight, by Rob Bierregaard; illustrated by Kate Garchinsky 122 pages; ages 7 – 10. Charlesbridge, 2018 The story of Belle begins with her parents, who return to their nest on Martha’s Vineyard in March (brrrr!), and the two scientists who are scouting for active nests. By the middle of July, the young ospreys are nearly as big as their parents and they’re stretching their wings. One day, while the birds are out hunting, Dr. B and his fellow researcher climb up and put a fish in the nest as bait. Then they cover the nest with wire mesh to trap the birds. Success ..read more