Library Media Connection review of Handy Health Guides

The October 2014 issue of Library Media Connection contains a review of Enslow's series on health, Handy Health Guides. Written for the middle school reader, this 12-title series covers asthma, sleep, burns, diabetes, dyslexia, headaches, and more.

Here is an excerpt from the review:

"This series provides ample contextual scientific vocabulary development and is perfect for Common Core reading in science and health."

Correlated to the Common Core and available in library, paperback, and eBook formats, these titles can be found through your preferred vendor, local bookstores, enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Starred review in Library Media Connection

Genius Inventors and Their Great Ideas, a series in the Enslow Elementary imprint, was given a starred review in the October 2014 issue of Library Media Connection.

Here is an excerpt from that review:

"In this fantastic series, each book covers a general overview of the subject’s childhood and their goals…The series would be a great opener for a biography unit, genius hour, invention convention, or science fair."

These titles are available in library, paperback, and eBook formats and are available from your preferred vendor, local bookstores, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

World War I title

World War I started on July 28, 1914 with Austria declaring war on Serbia, and ended on November 11, 1918, with Germany signing an armistice with the Allies. Enslow's history series, The United States at War, includes a title on World War I, written by Zachary Kent. Life on the homefront, the introduction of modern warfare, destroyed empires, countries that disappeared from the map, and much more are included in this title.

Other titles in the series include the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Vietnam War, and World War II. This entire series is correlated to the Common Core Standards.

Available in library and eBook formats, these titles can be found through your preferred vendor, local bookstores, enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Birthday of Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Who was she? Ida B. Wells-Barnett was an important and influential journalist at a time when few women had careers. She wrote articles about unfair laws and how African Americans were being hurt. She brought violence against African Americans to the attention of the American people through newspaper articles.

Written by Patricia and Fredrick McKissack, this elementary-level title is perfect for the beginning reader. This title, and the rest of the titles in the Famous African Americans series, are correlated to the Common Core College and Career Readiness Standards, and are available from your preferred vendor, enslow.com, local bookstores, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Learning how to play soccer

With the World Cup taking place, and soccer being the sport to watch these days, Enslow's book, Soccer Skills, teaches the basics of soccer, using action shots of professional players.

This 48 page title, written for the reluctant reader, discusses dribbling, passing, heading, styles of defense, throw-ins, corners and direct kicks, defending a shot while goalkeeping, and many more topics. There is also a diagram listing the different positions and where they are on the field in relation to their teammates.

This title, and the other five titles in the How to Play Like a Pro series, are correlated to the Common Core College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards. The other books in the series cover baseball, basketball, cheerleading, football, and hockey. All of these titles are available from your preferred vendor, local bookstores, enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Sunday is World Oceans Day

Officially recognized by the United Nations in 2008, World Oceans Day is held on June 8.

In recognition of this day, Our Earth's Oceans, an elementary series from Enslow, is a perfect complement to this day. Each book focuses on a different ocean, with five oceans covered in all. The titles explore and describe the physical characteristics, natural resources, and plant and animal life of the featured ocean.

This series is correlated to the Common Core College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards, as well as individual state standards. These titles are available from your preferred vendor, enslow.com, independent bookstores, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Earth Day

Written for the elementary reader, I Love Our Earth is a series that consists of six titles, with each title covering a different environmental issue. These easy-to-read titles include color photographs that bring the text to life.

Correlated to the Common Core College and Career Readiness Standards, these titles are available in library, paperback, and eBook formats. They can be found through your preferred vendor, enslow.com, local bookstores, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Another Poem for National Poetry Month

The following poem was taken from Death Poetry, a new title in Enslow's Pure Poetry series. This poem was written by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Each of the four books in this series cover a different poetry theme. A

different poet is covered in each chapter, focuses on one poem, and is accompanied by detailed analysis discussing the style and technique, poetic devices, and the cultural significance. Every chapter ends with questions, and prompts students to discuss and assess the featured poems.

Good-by

Good-by, proud world, I’m going home,

Thou’rt not my friend, and I’m not thine;

Long through thy weary crowds I roam;

A river-ark on the ocean brine,

Long I’ve been tossed like the driven foam,

But now, proud world, I’m going home.

Good-by to Flattery’s fawning face,

To Grandeur, with his wise grimace,

To upstart Wealth’s averted eye,

To supple Office low and high,

To crowded halls, to court, and street,

To frozen hearts, and hasting feet,

To those who go, and those who come,

Good-by, proud world, I’m going home.

I’m going to my own hearth-stone

Bosomed in yon green hills, alone,

A secret nook in a pleasant land,

Whose groves the frolic fairies planned;

Where arches green the livelong day

Echo the blackbird’s roundelay,

And vulgar feet have never trod

A spot that is sacred to thought and God.

Oh, when I am safe in my sylvan home,

I tread on the pride of Greece and Rome;

And when I am stretched beneath the pines

Where the evening star so holy shines,

I laugh at the lore and the pride of man,

At the sophist schools, and the learned clan;

For what are they all in their high conceit,

When man in the bush with God may meet.

This entire series is correlated to the Common Core College and Career Readiness Standards, and can be obtained from your preferred vendor, local bookstores, enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. They are available in library, paperback, and eBook formats.

A Poem for National Poetry Month

The following poem was taken from Beauty Poetry, a new title in Enslow's Pure Poetry series, and was written by William Shakespeare. The four books in this series each cover a different poetry theme. Each chapter looks at one poem accompanied by detailed analysis discussing the style and technique, poetic devices, and the cultural significance. Every chapter ends with questions, and prompts students to discuss and assess the featured poems.

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May;

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

This entire series is correlated to the Common Core College and Career Readiness Standards, and can be obtained from your preferred vendor, local bookstores, enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. They are available in library, paperback, and eBook formats.

School Library Journal review

Discover Ancient Civilizations, a spring 2014 series for Enslow, was recently reviewed in the April 2014

issue of School Library Journal.

An excerpt is below:

"Going into more depth than similar titles for this age group, these books describe the origins, organization, culture and religion, daily lives, and declines and falls of ancient civilizations. The extra detail is a welcome change from many recent sets that emphasize illustrations over text, and the format allows for ample background..."

This series is correlated to the Common Core College and Career Readiness Standards, and is available in library, paperback, and eBook formats. These titles are available from your preferred vendor, local bookstore, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

April is Financial Literacy month

To help students develop the skills and strategies related to financial planning, saving, and investing, look at

Enslow's new series, Be Smart About Money and Financial Literacy. Written for the middle school reader, each of these six books cover one topic related to money and financial literacy.

Be Smart About Credit, the first title in the series, defines the two ways of looking at debt; the kinds of credit and debt; the costs of credit and debt; what are credit ratings and reports;  knowing rights and responsibilities; and troubleshooting tools. The end of each chapter features a math or word problem.

All six titles in the series are available in library, paperback, and eBook formats. There is also a library/eBook bundle. These titles are available from your preferred vendor, local bookstores, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

This series is also correlated to the Common Core College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards.

Teaching True Stories of Teens in the Holocaust

Keith Schoch, noted educator and blogger, has written an excellent post about using "True Stories of Teens in the Holocaust" in the classroom along with a review of the series.  Check out Keith's blog post here: http://howtoteachanovel.blogspot.com/2014/03/destruction-disruption-and-defiance.html

Visit http://www.enslow.com/series/True_Stories_of_Teens_in_the_Holocaust to find Common Core correlations and other information on the series.

New series for National Poetry month

Pure Poetry, geared toward the upper middle and high school student, is a series of four titles, with each book focusing on one particular poetry theme. Each chapter looks at one poem accompanied by detailed analysis discussing the style and technique, poetic devices, and the cultural significance. Every chapter ends with questions and prompts for student discussion and assessment.

These titles are correlated to the Common Core College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards, and are available in library, paperback, and eBook formats. They are available from your preferred vendor, enslow.com, local independent bookstores, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Two new math series for Spring 2014

Enslow has just published two new math series, one geared toward the elementary reader and the other toward the middle school reader.

Ready for Math, a series for the upper elementary reader, contains six titles, each of which focuses on a different math topic. The clear and inviting design includes many practice problems to aid the student when reviewing math skills.

Easy Genius Math, written for the middle school student, also focuses on one title per math topic, with six books in the series. They are an excellent review or refresher of math skills, and can be used by parents or tutors trying to help the struggling math student.

Both series are available in library, paperback, and eBook formats. They can be ordered from your preferred vendor, local bookstore, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Looking forward to Spring

For the lower elementary student looking for books on insects, one of Enslow's latest series, Zoom In on Insects!, is appropriate for that student. These six books are  24 pages, correlated to the Common Core Standards, and contain color photographs.

Written by award-winning author Melissa Stewart, each book focuses on a different insect, describing the different parts of their bodies, their life cycle, and where they live. Each title also includes a words to know section, a list of further resources, and an index.

Available in library, paperback, and eBook formats, bees, butterflies, dragonflies, fireflies, grasshoppers, and ladybugs are covered in the Zoom In on Insects! series. These titles are available from your preferred vendor, local bookstores, enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Who invented windshield wipers?

With all of the rain and snow affecting the United States, does anyone think about something as simple as

who invented the windshield wipers that allow drivers to see in those bad conditions?

Before the invention of the windshield, drivers had to wear goggles to keep rain, snow, and bugs out of their eyes while driving. The first windshield, invented in 1904, could be folded down in case it became so dirty that drivers could not see through it. The other option was to pull over and try to clean the glass with your hand. Some drivers even tried rubbing an onion or carrot on the windshield, thinking that the oil from these vegetables would leave a film on the windshield, and repel the rain. That did not work either.

This 48 page book, written for the upper elementary reader, describes how Mary Anderson came up with her idea, what steps she took to try to patent the idea, and what happened after she allowed the patent to expire. Available in library, paperback, and eBook formats, this title is part of the Inventors at Work! series. This series is correlated to the Common Core College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards. Other inventors in this series include Ruth Wakefield, Willis Haviland Carrier, Percy Spencer, and Jacques Cousteau. These titles are available from your preferred vendor, local bookstore, enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

National Poetry Month

Pure Poetry, geared toward the upper middle and high school student, is a series of four titles, with each book focusing on one particular poetry theme. Each chapter looks at one poem accompanied by detailed analysis discussing the style and technique, poetic devices, and the cultural significance. Every chapter ends with questions and prompts for student discussion and assessment.

These titles are correlated to the Common Core College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards, and are available in library, paperback, and eBook formats. They are available from your preferred vendor, enslow.com, local independent bookstores, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Zoom in on Grasshoppers, by Melissa Stewart

Author Melissa Stewart lets readers take a close look at grasshoppers in this title in the Zoom In on Insects! series. Use the 'Zoom In' bubbles to get an up close look at a grasshopper’s eyes, wings, antennae, and more!

Available in Library binding, paperback, and eBook from Enslow Publishers, Inc.

New series on insects for the elementary reader

Zoom In on Insects! is a six-title series written for the elementary reader. Want to know what a butterfly eats? Want to see what these insects look like close-up? Written by award-winning author Melissa Stewart, these books look at insects encountered in everyday life.

Other insects covered are bees, dragonflies, fireflies, grasshoppers, and ladybugs. These books will be correlated to the Common Core. That information will be posted on our website as soon as it is available.

These titles are available in library, paperback, and eBook formats. They are available through your preferred vendor, enslow.com, your local bookstore, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

African--American Icons titles

Two subjects from our African-American Icons series performed the opening number on the Grammy awards last night.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z are two of the titles in this series. Written for the middle school reader, these 100+ page titles are great for those who want to learn more about these current actors, singers/musicians, authors, and comedians. Other spring 2014 titles in this series include biographies about Chris Rock, Jennifer Hudson, Sean "Diddy" Combs, and Tyler Perry. There are also six titles published in spring 2013.

All of these titles are available from your preferred vendor, local bookstore, enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. These titles have been correlated to the Common Core, and are available in library, paperback, and eBook formats.