Biographies about Inventors

For STEM Friday, we are going to focus on two series for the upper elementary/lower middle school reader. Both series focus on inventors.


Genius Inventors and Their Great Ideas, a new series for 2013 and written for the upper elementary reader, takes the reader on a journey of learning how different inventions were made and created. One of the books in this series is about Stephanie Kwolek, the woman behind the creation of a fiber, made from petroleum and other products, that was eventually used in bullet-resistant vests.

Other titles in this series focus on Theodore H. Maiman, Les Paul, George Ferris, Philo T. Farnsworth, James Naismith, and Vivien Thomas. All of these titles are 48 pages in length, and are available in library, paperback, ePUB, single-user PDF, and multi-user PDF formats.



The Genius at Work! Great Inventor Biographies series is written for the lower middle school reader. This series also covers six inventors: Madam C. J. Walker, Igor Sikorsky, Thomas H. Gallaudet, W. K. Kellogg, Samuel Colt, and Ralph Baer. Each book is 32 pages in length, and is available in a library edition.

Titles from both of these series are available from your preferred vendor, enslow.com, local independent bookstores, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

It's National Tell a Joke Day

Why not combine National Tell a Joke Day with STEM Friday?

Super Silly Science Jokes, a series written for the upper elementary reader, has six titles. Q: Why did Benjamin Franklin fly a kite in 1752? A: The idea that lightning was a giant electric spark had him all charged up. Find this joke, as well as scientific information about electricity and magnetism in Shockingly Silly Jokes About Electricity and Magnetism.

Other titles in the series include rocks, minerals, and soil; wacky weather and silly season; the solar system; dinosaurs and prehistoric life; and spiders and other bugs.

Containing fun illustrations by Gerald Kelley, these books will keep students entertained as well as teach them about different aspects of science. Interested in writing your own jokes? These titles help with suggestions on how to do so.

These titles are available in library and paperback editions from your preferred vendor, enslow.com, independent bookstores, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. They are also available as epubs and single-user and multi-user PDFs.

Age-appropriate joke books for upper elementary school readers

Geared toward the language arts curriculum and part of Enslow's spring 2013 list, Funnier Bone Jokes is a series of 48 page titles, with each title corresponding to a different holiday. All six titles in this series are available in library and paperback editions, as well as a multi-user eBook and as a library/eBook combo.

Each title defines the words joke, limerick, and tongue twister, and includes fun facts geared toward that particular title's subject. Readers also get helpful hints for designing their own cards. Other holidays featured in this series are April Fool's Day, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, Christmas, and Halloween. This series continues in the same fun way that Enslow's Funny Bone Jokes were written. That series was published in 2011.

These titles are available through your preferred vendor, your local independent bookstore, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Genius Inventors and Their Great Ideas

978-0-7660-4136-3 Library
978-1-4644-0206-7 Paperback

Written for the upper elementary market, these seven titles in the Genius Inventors and Their Great Ideas series detail the inventor's journey from idea to final product, giving readers insight into how these inventions were achieved. George Ferris created the ferris wheel for the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.

Other inventors in the series are Philo T. Farnsworth, Stephanie Kwolek, Theodore Maiman, James Naismith, Les Paul, and Vivien Thomas. These 48-page books are great for those interested in inventors and how those ideas came about.

Looking for a drawing series for an elementary student?

Fun and Easy Drawing, a four-title series written for the lower elementary student, uses step-by-step instructions and illustrations to teach and show students how to draw different animals, people, creatures, and objects. Each 36-page book has its own theme.

Learn how to draw sea animals, sailors, submarines, and more in Fun and Easy Drawing at Sea. In Fun and Easy Drawing on the Farm, learning how to draw farm animals, farmers, tractors, and more is fun! Fun and Easy Drawing Fantasy Characters explains how to draw ghosts, robots, mermaids, genies, and other creatures. Demonstrating how to draw clowns, ballerinas, kings, and queens is a great way to learn how to turn shapes into incredible works of art in the Fun and Easy Drawing Storybook Characters title.

978-0-7660-6039-5 Library Edition
978-6040-1 Paperback

978-0-7660-6037-1 Library Edition
978-0-7660-6038-8 Paperback

978-0-7660-6041-8 Library Edition
978-0-7660-6042-5 Paperback

978-0-7660-6043-2 Library Edition
978-0-7660-6044-9 Paperback

All of these books are available from your preferred vendor, enslow.com, your independent bookstore, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

ESPY Awards

The ESPY awards will be given out on Wednesday, July 17. ESPY stands for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award and is sponsored by the cable channel ESPN.  This award recognizes individual and team athletic achievement and other sports-related performance during the calendar year before the annual ceremony.

One of the categories, Best International Athlete, gives voters the choice of five athletes, including Lionel Messi.

This title, part of Enslow's Sports Stars Who Care series, is written for the upper elementary reader. This 48-page book talks about his athleticism on the soccer field, his early years in Argentina, as well as his foundation, the Leo Messi Foundation, which builds parks and schools in poor areas, as well as provides treatment for sick children.

For those elementary soccer fans and players, this book is a great motivator!

All of the titles in this series emphasize charitable work done by particular sports stars. Other titles include Albert Pujols, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett, Shaun White, and Tom Brady.

Looking for math books for your sports fans?

Written for the upper elementary student, learn math concepts through sports examples. Each chapter opens with general rules and facts about that particular sport, and then math examples are shown, demonstrating
how math is used in that particular sport. Curious to know how large the penalty box is in soccer? Score with Soccer Math gives you the formula.

For the race car fan, how much total time does a race car lose during pit stops in a 500-mile race? Score with Race Car Math instructs the reader how to calculate that number.

The other four titles in the series, Score with Track and Field Math, Score with Football Math, Score with Basketball Math, and Score with Baseball Math, all follow the same format. Teachers stopping by our booth at BookExpo America liked looking through these titles!

All six of these titles, available in both library and paperback editions, can be ordered from your preferred vendor, independent bookstore, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

It's National Nurses Week

978-0-7660-4044-1 (library)
978-1-4644-0056-8 (paperback)

Nurses Help Us, a title in Enslow Elementary's All About Community Helpers series, is written for early elementary readers. This 24-page title introduces readers to these professionals, and how they help people.

Each title in this 8-book series introduces readers to a different community helper, gives the student information as to training and education for that particular career, as well as job responsibilities.

Available in both library and paperback versions, this title (and the rest in the series) are available directly from Enslow, through your preferred vendor, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your independent bookstore.

What types of community helpers are your students/patrons looking for?

I Love Our Earth

The six titles in this elementary series cover a wide range of environmental issues, including the food chain, endangered animals, acid rain, global warming, and the ozone layer. These easy-to-read titles contain color photographs, which bring the text to life.

Find out what air is, why air is so important to everyone, and discover different ways to save our air. Why are animals important? Learning why that is so and how we can all help save them, can be found in the animals title. Forests provide shelter and food to all sorts of animals, as well as the trees themselves are used to make paper and wood products. Why is land important? Why are people important? Why is water important? Find out the answers to these and other questions in this series.

Available in both library and paperback versions, these titles can be found at your preferred vendor, your local bookstore, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Looking for a cooking series for elementary readers?

The Little Chef, a series of four books written for the elementary reader, gives step-by-step instructions for making easy, tasty food with kid appeal. Each step includes not only written instructions, but an illustration as well. The list of needed ingredients for each recipe are also included in an illustration format. The glossary is also illustrated, which will help kids familiarize themselves with basic cooking terms.

Available 6/1/13

Fun Party Food includes recipes for guacamole, tomato and mozzarella skewers, chicken nuggets, popcorn balls, mini cheeseburgers, frozen yogurt, and more. Pizza and Pasta's recipes include tiny bow tie pasta salad, ham and cheese lasagna, stuffed mini pizzas, as well as white sauce and flavored oils. Chocolate-covered strawberries, brownies, cheesecake, and strawberry sherbet are some of the recipes found in Tasty Desserts. Want to make a chocolate shake? How about a puff pastry apple pie? Or how about a homemade mini pizza? Those are some of the recipes found in the Yummy Snacks book.

Available in both library and paperback versions, these titles are sure to please both kids and parents alike! Look for them at your local bookstore, your preferred vendor, on the Enslow web site, and at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Saturday is National Puppy Day!

978-0-7660-4080-9 Library
978-1-4644-0215-9 Paperback

We know puppies are cute. We also know that those cute puppies grow up to be big dogs, depending on the breed. Even adult small dogs can act as if they are big dogs.

Written for the upper elementary student, this book will help the reader find the right dog for them and their family. Learn about where you can get your puppy (or dog), what to feed it, why your new family member should be trained, and much more.

Other titles in this series include birds, cats, fish, horses. The last title in the series covers hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, rabbits, ferrets, mice, and rats. All of these titles are available in both library and paperback versions.

These titles are available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, your local bookstore, as well as your preferred vendor.

Create paper crafts for Easter!

This was one of our more popular posts from last year, so we thought we would post again for Easter! Have fun!

Looking for an easy craft to do with your elementary students? How about creating Easter place mats?

What You Will Need:
pencil
tracing paper
construction paper—12 x 18 inches in various colors
scissors
white glue
markers or crayons

1. Use a pencil and tracing paper to transfer the designs (found below) to a 12 x 18-inch sheet of purple construction paper. Note: You may use any three colors you wish, but in this example, we are using purple, white, and green.

2. Cut along the solid lines of the patterns.

3. Cut two 1 1/2 x 18-inch strips of white construction paper and two 1 1/2 x 18-inch strips of green construction paper.

4. Carefully weave the green paper strips through the designs you cut along the long sides of the purple construction paper.

5. Carefully weave the white paper strips through the designs you cut in the shorts sides of the purple construction paper. Trim and decorate the white ends that stick out as you wish.

6. Use a drop of white glue to secure the strips in place at the corners.

7. Decorate the place mats with markers or crayons as you wish.

Learning about money

Library ISBN: 978-0-7660-3142-5
Paper ISBN: 978-0-7660-3658-1

Did you know that paper currency was first printed in 1862? It's true! In order to make up for the shortage of coins, as well as to help pay for the Civil War, the U.S. Department of the Treasury decided to start printing paper money. Coins were scarce because people started hoarding them. During the war, items fluctuated in value, however since coins were made from gold and silver, and those prices did not fluctuate as much, people began hoarding the coins.

Today, coins are usually made of copper and another element of, such as zinc or nickel. Paper currency is composed of 25 percent linen and 75 percent cotton. Red and blue synthetic fibers of various lengths are distributed evenly throughout the paper.

Elementary students learning about money will enjoy working with the I Like Money Math! series. Available in both library and paperback editions, the 6 titles in this series include: How Many Pennies Make a Dollar?, I Can Add Bills and Coins, I Can Count Money, I Can Do Money Word Problems, I Can Name Bills and Coins, and I Can Subtract Bills and Coins.

It's Mardi Gras!

Library ISBN 978-0-7660-3724-3
Paper ISBN 978-1-59845-334-8

Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is being celebrated in New Orleans today, as well as in other cities around the world. It is also the day before Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent. Since Lent is a forty-day period of fasting and penitence observed by many Christian churches, Mardi Gras is seen as the day to have parties, parades, and feasts of food.

Want to make some crafts for Mardi Gras? Randel McGee has written a great book for elementary students, with instructions and patterns for making seven different crafts (2 different masks, 2 different necklaces, a rhythm maker, a cap, and a crown,) as well as a Mardi Gras mask card.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Library ISBN: 978-0-7660-4099-1

As part of its Famous African Americans series, Enslow has recently published an elementary biography about Martin Luther King, Jr.

Even though Martin Luther King's actual birthday is January 15, his life and accomplishments are celebrated on the third Monday of January.

Library ISBN: 978-0-7660-3043-5

In another Enslow title, Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, elementary readers will learn more about this man. President Reagan signed a law in 1983 making Martin Luther King, Jr., Day a national holiday. Coretta Scott (Martin's widow) formed the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia. This center teaches visitors about nonviolence, and are able to read Dr. King's papers to see for themselves how he lived his life.

New elementary series about farm animals

Library ISBN 978-0-7660-4206-3

Enslow will soon be publishing a six-book series entitled Animals on the Family Farm. Written for the early elementary reader, this series explains the roles these different animals have on a real family farm, their diet, and how the farmer's family cares for them. Also included is a spread explaining the life cycle of that particular animal, as well as another spread with words to know and a photo of that animal, using arrows to point to the different body parts.

Written by Chana Stiefel, these books will interest and entertain elementary readers. The six animals featured are: chickens, cows, goats, pigs, sheep, and turkeys.

New elementary titles for Black History Month!

Looking for titles for your elementary students for Black History Month? Enslow has just published 12 titles in its Famous African Americans series. Written by Patricia and Fredrick McKissack, these easy-to-read biographies cover contemporary nineteenth and twentieth century African Americans.

Looking for a book about a great teacher? How Booker T. Washington, Mary McLeod Bethune, or Carter G. Woodson?

For a book about a fighter against slavery, look at Frederick Douglass, or Ida B. Wells-Barnett, who wrote about the injustices against African Americans.
Louis Armstrong (a jazz musician) and Marian Anderson (an opera singer) are biographies about people in the music industry.
Martin Luther King, Jr., was a civil rights leader.
George Washington Carver studied plants and farming. Read about how he helped make peanuts popular!
Jesse Owens was an Olympian athlete.
Madam C. J. Walker invented hair care products for African-American women.
Paul Robeson was an actor.

Any of these titles would be helpful in teaching children about overcoming life's challenges and making something of oneself.

Christmas Jokes

Library ISBN 978-0-7660-4123-3

Thought we would give you a sneak peek into one of our new series for spring 2013. Ho-Ho-Ho Christmas Jokes to Tickle Your Funny Bone is part of our Funnier Bone Jokes series. Written for the upper elementary reader, these 48 page books contain jokes, limericks, tongue twisters, knock-knock jokes, and fun facts about Christmas.

Other holidays/celebrations included in the series are: April Fool's Day, Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, and Halloween. All of these titles are available directly from Enslow Publishers, Inc., or from your preferred vendor.

The Coolest Job in the Universe

Library ISBN: 978-0-7660-4074-8

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work aboard the International Space Station?

Designed to provide living and working space for a crew of up to seven, it was built with parts supplied by or astronauts from 16 different countries. These parts were transported via space shuttles and contains three main sections.

Every shuttle that arrives with fresh supplies also turns into a trash shuttle when it returns to earth. There is no way to throw away food packages, human waste, and solid waste. There are no clothes washing machines or dryers, so all clothes are disposable.

Makes you appreciate the comforts of home, doesn't it?

Additional Spring 2013 titles

Enslow is adding an additional 27 titles to its spring 2013 list.

Animals on the Family Farm is an elementary series geared to early elementary readers. Each book in this 6-title series covers one animal, and shows how the animals live on a real farm.

Our Earth's Oceans is another elementary series covering the physical characteristics, resources, plant and animal life, exploration, and environmental concerns of each of these great bodies of water. This series contains five titles.

Written for the middle school reader, The Civil War Through Primary Sources includes real-life stories, descriptions of major events, and primary-source illustrations to enhance the reader's experience. There are six titles in this series.

Middle school readers will be introduced to each of the seven wonders of the world in this series. This four-book series covers natural wonders of the United States, wonders of the ancient world, wonders of the modern world, and wonders of the natural world.

Exploring Hands-On Science Projects includes hands-on activities that encourage readers to experience science as they learn. These experiments are written by an award-winning author and can be used for science fairs. This is a six book series.