Books to Read While Physically Distancing: Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spy

Did you know that your Galesburg Public Library card allows you to check out e-books and audio books through the Libby app? All you need is your library card and your PIN (your birth date in MMDDYYYY format) and you'll be on your way to reading on your phone or tablet!  

Books to Read While Physically Distancing (BtRWPD) will focus on books available for checkout through Libby.

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spy
by Nathan Hale
New York: Amulet Book, 2012

It's the Revolutionary War and Nathan Hale is an American soldier, about to be hanged by the British for spying. Suddenly, he's swallowed up by a gigantic book! After he reappears, he tells the shaken British officer and hangman about how he's now been in the history book, and describes the events that led him to his current predicament, and hints about the future. 

So, it should be noted that the author was named after the historical figure and it is not, in fact, a clever pen name. This graphic novel provides a wonderful introduction to the Revolutionary War, the major characters, and really gives a feel to the events of the time. It follows the titular character (he of "I regret I have but one life to give" fame) through his career in Washington's army. The book is chock full of information, and there were several times where I stopped in order to look up people and events in order to learn more. I did find some of the hangman's puns a little tiresome, but otherwise the dialog is quite good. While this is listed for grades 3-8, it does contain multiple deaths on the battlefield, although Nathan himself isn't hanged by the end of the book. The rest of the series covers a range of topics and time periods. I highly recommend this for anyone who is looking to learn more about history.  

Books to Read While Physically Distancing: Dragonbreath

Did you know that your Galesburg Public Library card allows you to check out e-books and audio books through the Libby app? All you need is your library card and your PIN (your birth date in MMDDYYYY format) and you'll be on your way to reading on your phone or tablet!  

Books to Read While Physically Distancing (BtRWPD) will focus on books available for checkout through Libby.

Dragonbreath
by Ursula Vernon
New York: Puffin Books, 2009

Danny Dragonbreath is a dragon who can't breath any fire. Yet. But right now he has bigger problems. He got an F on his paper about the ocean (that he wrote on the bus that morning). And there's a Komodo dragon who keeps bullying him for his lunch. He can solve the first problem by visiting his cousin the sea serpent. Together with Danny's best friend Wendell (an iguana), they'll explore coral reefs, shipwrecks, and the deepest depths of the ocean. And hopefully make it home in time for dinner.

I have to admit, I've been a huge fan of this author since I discovered her artwork decades ago. I love the books for adults she writes as T. Kingfisher, and I was very excited to see the first (of 11) Dragonbreath book show up in Libby. It's a humorous combination of text and comic panels that is great for older kids who can appreciate mutant potato salad. 

Books to Read While Physically Distancing: I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, 1919

Did you know that your Galesburg Public Library card allows you to check out e-books and audio books through the Libby app? All you need is your library card and your PIN (your birth date in MMDDYYYY format) and you'll be on your way to reading on your phone or tablet!  

Books to Read While Physically Distancing (BtRWPD) will focus on books available for checkout through Libby.

I Survived the Great Molasses Flood
by Lauren Tarshis
New York: Scholastic Paperbacks, 2019

Carmen and her father moved from Italy to Boston four years ago. She's doing well in school, her neighbor Tony is her best friend, and she rides a horse named Rosie around the neighborhood. A popular spot with the local kids is a huge metal tank that hold millions of gallons of molasses. It's always leaking, and the kids are able to take samples of the tasty syrup. But the leaking seems to be getting worse. On the afternoon of January 15, 1919, a horrible noise shakes the city. The tank has burst! A wave of molasses 20 feet high is sweeping through the city! Will Carmen and Tony be able to make it to safety?

The I Survived series looks at historical events throughout the millennia, told through the eyes of children. What impressed me was the way the author shows history as a series of interconnected events. Rather than focus on one of the more unusual disasters in history, she places it in the events of the time. Carmen and her father left Italy after the Avezzano earthquake in 1915, and her father dies from the Spanish flu months before the Molasses Flood. The molasses was being used for munitions production for the Great War (World War I). At the end of the book, several other book in the series that take place around the same time are recommended. There is also a follow up section that delves further into the history of the incident, and its lasting effects. The tank burst to shoddy manufacturing and negligence, and the legal and regulatory changes that followed are still around today. I recommend this book for older kids who can deal with secondary character death (Papa) and the main characters being in peril. 

Books to Read While Physically Distancing: Princess Academy

Did you know that your Galesburg Public Library card allows you to check out e-books and audio books through the Libby app? All you need is your library card and your PIN (your birth date in MMDDYYYY format) and you'll be on your way to reading on your phone or tablet!  

Books to Read While Physically Distancing (BtRWPD) will focus on books available for checkout through Libby.

Princess Academy
by Shannon Hale
New York: Bloomsbury USA Children's, 2008 

Miri and her family have lived in the small village of Mount Eskel for generations. They mine shining linder stone for trade with the lowlanders and live relatively uncomplicated lives in their isolation. One day a royal delegate arrives with the expected traders. Per the usual traditions of Danland, the priests have fasted and prayed to determine the location of the prince's future bride. And this time she's to be found in Miri's territory. An academy will be set up for all the girls twelve to seventeen so they may learn how to be princesses. At the end of their studies, one will be chosen by the prince.

Scrolling through Libby, I recognized the title of this book (and the Newbery Honor medal on the cover) but didn't know anything about it. My first thoughts were that it would be a fluffy fish out of water story like The Princess Diaries, or a fluffy 'fairy/supernatural/fantasy' book with a school setting in which a group of (five or so) princesses must learn to work together. Please note, this is not meant to be disparaging towards fluffy. Especially in these trying times, fluff is a large part of my literary and caloric diet. But due to the title, I absolutely went into this book with preconceived notions which were quickly dispelled. 

Shannon Hale takes inspiration from Scandinavia, and it's evident in the book. This is a cold, beautiful, harsh mountain land populated by strong people. The book weaves threads of family and education through the excitement of dreaming about what might be. The characters are distinct and believable, and the writing flows smoothly. I'll admit, I never really 'heard' the rhythm of the quarry songs that start each chapter and are featured throughout, but music has never been my strong suit. I'd definitely recommend this for older kids, teens, and interested adults of all genders. 

Books to Read While Physically Distancing: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Did you know that your Galesburg Public Library card allows you to check out e-books and audio books through the Libby app? All you need is your library card and your PIN (your birth date in MMDDYYYY format) and you'll be on your way to reading on your phone or tablet!  

Books to Read While Physically Distancing (BtRWPD) will focus on books available for checkout through Libby.

The Westing Game
by Ellen Raskin
New York: Dutton, 1978

A carefully selected group of people are invited to live in Sunset Towers, a luxury apartment building near Lake Michigan. Shortly after moving in, millionaire Sam Westing is found dead under mysterious circumstances. Sixteen of the Sunset Towers residents discover they have been named heirs to the Westing fortune and must play a game to win the Westing fortune (and perhaps solve a murder).

The Westing Game was published in 1978, and won the Newbery Medal. It's a mystery book for older kids and young adults that doesn't read like a kid's book. The large cast of characters can make it difficult to get a good read on any them. Despite this, the clues are plentiful, and I found the ending surprising. 

Books to Read While Physically Distancing: Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

Did you know that your Galesburg Public Library card allows you to check out e-books and audio books through the Libby app? All you need is your library card and your PIN (your birth date in MMDDYYYY format) and you'll be on your way to reading on your phone or tablet!  

Books to Read While Physically Distancing (BtRWPD) will focus on books available for checkout through Libby.


Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
by Kwame Mbalia
New York: Disney Hyperion, 2019 

'Power, boy! It's all about power. You control the story, you control the narrative, you control power.'

Seventh grader Tristan has just lost his best friend Eddie in a tragic accident. He's also just lost his first boxing match, disappointing his father and grandfather, both former champions. He leaves Chicago with his grandparents to spend some time on the family farm in Alabama, in hopes that he can work through his grief. He brings Eddie's journal with him. No one else seems to notice that it's glowing. That night he finds Gum Baby, from his Nana's stories, stealing his journal. Giving chase, he ends up in the woods and falls into a world inhabited by African American folk heroes and West African gods. When he tore a hole in the sky, Tristan brought a great evil with him. Can he save the world and make his way back home?

Rick Riordan is well-known for his series dealing with Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology. In his 'Rick Riordan Presents' series, he uses his experience and platform with Disney to highlight and publish authors from underrepresented backgrounds and cultures who have amazing stories to tell. Tristan Strong is one of those stories. It's the debut novel from Kwame Mbalia and it is incredible.

The world building is fantastic. Here are folk heroes, like John Henry and Brer Rabbit, and gods, like Anansi the Weaver, in a land shadowed by the horrors of the slave trade. The characters are believable, the action is fast paced, and the dialog and narration flow smoothly. While listed as 'middle grade' (grades 3-7), I would absolutely recommend this for teens and adults as well. It kept my interest, which is a difficult thing for a book to do in these troubled times. A sequel is due out in October, and I'll definitely be picking it up. 

Physical Distancing STEM Break with Ms. Meghan: Classifiers of the Galaxy

Did you know that your Galesburg Public Library card allows you to check out e-books and audio books through the Libby app? All you need is your library card and your PIN (your birth date in MMDDYYYY format) and you'll be on your way to reading on your phone or tablet!

I'll be pairing up Libby books for GPL patrons with STEM activities, live webcams, educational programs, and citizen science projects.

So, let's go

Guard Classify Some Galaxies!

It's a great big universe out there, and there's still so much to explore. If there are no clouds, you can check out the night sky and learn more about the stars and planets. During the day, and on cloudy nights, you can learn inside as well!

Read: 

There are a number of books about the night sky that you can borrow from Libby, including Stars and Galaxies from DK, Stars! Stars! Stars! by Bon Barner, and Space by Will and Mary Pope Osborne.

Be a citizen scientist: You could be the first person to see a brand new galaxy! When you join Galaxy Zoo, you'll explore galaxies by looking at their shape and helping scientists learn more about them. Galaxy Zoo is the citizen science project that has the most publications based on input from people just like you!