Senor Parrot's Perch

I’m a sucker for books like this. Loving science, married to a scientist, I’m drawn to the lives of these wonderfully fascinating people. Whaling Season: A Year in the Life of an Arctic Whale Scientist by Peter Lourie details the life of John Craighead George, a field biolgist studying bowhead whales, and living with the Inupiaq Eskimos in Barrow, Alaska. Known as “Craig” to everyone around him, he has been studying the whales for most of his adult life, taking careful measurements of every harvested whale, and collecting lore from the Inupiaq over the many years he has lived among them, all the while he keeps his eye out for hungry polar bears as he travels the ice-packed landscape.

Author Peter Lourie has done an excellent job with this book. He portrays the day-to-day life of the scientist, showing how his work is done, the enjoyment and satisfaction he gains, the relationships he builds with the Inupiaq, and the valuable results of all his hard work.

From a family of scientists, it is really no surprise that John Craighead George would become one himself. From early on he loved the outdoors and spent many days in the wilderness. He spent some time when he was a young man working at a scientific station in Alaska, and after earning his Ph.D., he returned to work as a field scientist to study the bowhead whales that live year-round in the frigid arctic waters.

One facet of his work is to monitor the number of whales harvested by the Inupiaq. Each whale that is killed by the Inupiaq must be measured and samples of various parts are taken. Craig is careful to respect the Alaskan natives as they carry on their traditional livelihood. He has also carefully noted all their stories and descriptions of the bowhead whales, discovering the generations of knowledge that they have accumulated (more…)

How to Clone a Sheep

By Hazel Richardson

Illustrated by Andy Cooke

Kids love science when it’s served up on their level and written in a lively, humorous style. That’s exactly what you get with How to Clone a Sheep by Hazel Richardson and Illustrated by Andy Cooke. This fun little book is a first-rate introduction to genetics, DNA and cloning aimed at kids in about the 4th through 8th grades. The book also has some activities that are easy and educational.

How to Clone a Sheep covers the basics. Beginning by explaining what exactly are clones, DNA and genes, the book approaches the subject from a historical perspective, explaining historical thought about the inheritance of traits and how these ideas were either confirmed or rejected. Finally, it explains the science and methodology employed to produce Dolly, the famous cloned sheep. There is quite a bit of interesting historical information provided, as well. Richardson’s description of the race among scientists to discover the secrets of DNA is especially amusing, and it gives us an inside perspective on scientific research.

I think that adults would enjoy reading this along with their kids. In fact, it was my 6th grader who found this book and passed it along to me after reading it herself. She insisted I’d love it and she was right. The explanations are simplified and accompanied by terrific cartoonish drawings that perfectly illustrate the text.

Pop
by Gordon Korman

Pop by Gordon Korman is an excellent book about High School football and growing up. It’s ideal for YA readers, especially football loving boys.

Marcus Jordan is new in town and wants to play quarterback on the football team. His reception couldn’t have been cooler. Just off their perfect championship season, and led by star quarterback Troy Popovich, no one on the team offers any sort of welcome to the new kid in town. And it seems like more than just a cold shoulder, its an all out campaign to drive him from the team, lead by Troy, the golden boy who led the team to all its victories the prior year. When Marcus does get to take some snaps in practice, the offensive line dissolves and the defense thunders in unhindered. Panicked, Marcus is unable to connect with his passing.

After practice, Marcus heads to the park to practice his throwing at targets he sets up. Tossing one long he sees a middle-aged man suddenly sprint for the pass and make an amazing catch. They begin playing together and the older man surprisingly gives Marcus a bone crunching tackle. Furious, he protests, but he’s rebuffed and the tackling continues. The older man encourages Marcus to have at him, as well. The afternoon, crazy and intense, becomes a turning point for Marcus. He begins to enjoy the hard hitting style of football the older man, Charlie, likes to play. It transforms his game, no longer fearing a tackle, but preferring to deliver the bone crushing pop to his opponent, instead.

This is the beginning of a very unusual friendship with the older man. Marcus can’t quite figure out why Charlie calls him Mac, as though he were someone else. He begins to wonder if Charlie thinks he is still sixteen. Charlie’s behavior is sometimes completely erratic and constantly puzzling to Marcus. In time, though, Marcus begins to unravel the puzzle of who Charlie really is, exposing family secrets along the way.

I have to say I loved this book. There is a great deal more than only football that gets covered in these pages. Marcus’ rivalry with the quarterback Troy is at the center of much of it, complicated by the interest in Marcus that Troy’s ex-girlfriend displays. And there is Charlie, the teen-aged kid in a man’s body, and the discoveries that Marcus makes about his past and the reasons behind his current condition. The writing is straight to the point, fast moving, and full of emotional punches without any melodrama.

I have one reservation for this book. Some sites indicate that kids 9-12 would be interested in it, but the sexual content level should make it higher than that, maybe 14 or older. It’s too bad, too. There is one incident, really just some language, in an early chapter and there is a strong amount of sexual tension between Marcus and Alyssa, the cheerleader. As the book progresses, this isn’t as overtly portrayed, yet nevertheless exists and continues to work as a strong driver to some plot elements. Had the tone of the first few chapters been at the same level as the rest of the book, I wouldn’t question the appropriateness for younger readers. I do think that Korman could have easily changed the early comment from his book and not lost any of the plot driver of the relationship between Marcus and Alyssa.

Lured into a nearby woods, which he’s somehow never noticed before, by a gently urging breeze, Simon Bloom finds himself the keeper of the Teacher’s Edition of a Physics text book. Suddenly appearing above him, it klonks him on the head. Inside, Simon finds the formulas that allow him to manipulate the laws of physics.

Someone else wants that book, though, and that mysteriously cloaked person won’t let anything get in the way of getting that book! Simon, and his two friends Owen and Alyssa team up, learn their physics and face their enemy.

Simon Bloom is a great introduction to the science fiction genre. Aimed at the middle school aged children, it introduces the possibilities of manipulating the laws of science in a fast-paced and entertaining romp through the world of 11 and 12 year-olds in a mixture of science fiction and fantasy. Unlike the vast majority of fantasy, however, this book’s plot turns on the laws of physics, like gravity, velocity, and electronic charges, and how gaining an understanding of and manipulating these laws is both satisfying and empowering.

This is an excellent first novel for Michael Reisman. Its a smart book full of action and adventure, cleverly laid out and developed. It clearly is meant to have sequels, but this book is completely self-contained, with a satisfying ending that ties together all the loose ends. Nevertheless, Reisman pulls loose some of the strands before the last page and has me anxiously looking forward to the sequel.

Universal studios has purchased the rights to the movie for this. That’s good news.

Reisman’s Myspace page

Book Info: (I read the Advanced Reader’s Copy, possibly a smidge differerent than the official version here)

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (February 14, 2008)
• ISBN-13: 978-0525479222