Flesh & Blood so Cheap: The Triangle Fire and its Legacy by Albert Marrin / Historical Picture Book

Bibliographic Information: Marrin, A. (2011). Flesh and blood so cheap: The Triangle fire and its legacy. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Plot Description: From the publisher: "On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City burst into flames. The factory was crowded. The doors were locked to ensure workers stay inside.  One hundred forty-six people—mostly women—perished; it was one of the most lethal workplace fires in American history until September 11, 2001. But the story of the fire is not the story of one accidental moment in time. It is a story of immigration and hard work to make it in a new country, as Italians and Jews and others traveled to America to find a better life. It is the story of poor working conditions and greedy bosses, as garment workers discovered the endless sacrifices required to make ends meet. It is the story of unimaginable, but avoidable, disaster. And it the story of the unquenchable pride and activism of fearless immigrants and women who stood up to business, got America on their side, and finally changed working conditions for our entire nation, initiating radical new laws we take for granted today."

Quantitative Reading Level: Lexile Level: 1000L

Qualitative Reading Analysis: Readers should have a basic knowledge of US history in order to place the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in context, and this book would be of special for those studying the history of working conditions, protests, and unions. The narrow margined text blocks are interspersed with several black and white photos from the 1905-1915 era, with a specific focus on the days leading up to and following the tragic fire. The book consists of thick, over-sized pages, conducive to browsing, and eye-catching side panels with further information on shirtwaist advertisements, news clippings from the day of the tragedy, popular song lyrics, maps, and blue prints. These illustrations take up a large amount of space on each page, and contribute to a vivid sense of history and how the event triggered waves of protests and legislative change. The extra wide margins and bold chapter and section headings are easy on the eye and invite the reader into the book. The cover itself is quite striking, with bright orange, red, and black colors used with flames overlaid upon an original photograph of factory girls. The book is complemented by a full Table of Contents, index, references notes, and bibliography. While the publisher's target audience is for 4th graders and up, younger and older readers would be easily drawn in via the varied text and the startling photographs à la Jacob Riis.

Content Area: Social Science, U.S. History

Content Area Standard: CCSS History-Social Science Content Standards for Grades 6-8:
 Chronological and Spatial Thinking
1. Students explain how major events are related to one another in time.

2. Students construct various time lines of key events, people, and periods of the historical era they are studying.

3. Students use a variety of maps and documents to identify physical and cultural features of neighborhoods, cities, states, and countries and to explain the historical migration of people, expansion and disintegration of empires, and the growth of economic systems.

Research, Evidence, and Point of View
1. Students frame questions that can be answered by historical study and research.

2. Students distinguish fact from opinion in historical narratives and stories.

3. Students distinguish relevant from irrelevant information, essential from incidental
information, and verifiable from unverifiable information in historical narratives and stories.

4. Students assess the credibility of primary and secondary sources and draw sound conclusions from them.

5. Students detect the different historical points of view on historical events and determine the context in which the historical statements were made (the questions asked, sources used, author’s perspectives).

Curriculum Suggestions: This title would make a solid addition to reading materials in U.S. History classes, especially when introducing students to the history of child labor, working conditions, unions, protests, and immigration. Booklist describes it as "sure to spark discussion," and there is no doubt that the tragic story and vivid photographs would bring history alive and supply plenty of material for discussions and presentations.

Links to Supporting Digital Content: 
PBS 1-hour DVD special American Experience: Triangle Fire
PBS's teacher's resources for studying the Triangle fire 
HBO Documentary's 40-minute film recounts the Triangle fire
The Jewish Women's Archive includes a trove of multimedia resources on the fire 

Awards:
A National Book Award Finalist
A Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year
A Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Older Readers
An Amelia Bloomer List Recommended Book 

 

A Math Journey Through Space by Anne Rooney: A Math Picture Book

Bibliographic Information:
Rooney, A. (2015). A math journey through space. New York : Crabtree Publishing Company, 2015.

Plot Description: This math picture book takes children on a mission through space and encourages the use of math skills to journey past planets, comets, and asteroids. Each page features puzzles and math problems in order to introduce students to various math concepts such as angles, decimals, time, estimating, charts, patterns, fractions, and more. The object of the puzzles and exercises is to make it all the way to the planet Mars and in doing so, introduces them to using math in real world applications.

Quantitative Reading Level: Lexile Score: 830L

Qualitative Reading Analysis: A Math Journey through Space is an engaging way to help 3rd and 4th graders build on their basic math skills. While a slim hardback volume of only 32 pages, each of those pages is packed with real world math exercises and colorful infographics. Appropriate for students who are fluid readers and can complete problems involving addition and subtraction. Complete with a table of contents, answer key, glossary, and index, students are quickly able to navigate the book. Colors are bold and complement the large amount of graphics and heavy fonts, and each 2-page spread is numbered as a mission (Mission 1, Mission 2, etc). Very little margin space, but that is appropriate to the graphical quality of the book. The infographics are extremely helpful in breaking down math exercises and visually defining values and complex concepts.

Content Area: Math

Content Area Standard: CCSS Math Standards Grades 3-4

1. Interpret products of whole numbers, e.g., interpret 5 × 7 as the total number of objects in 5 groups of 7 objects each.

2. Interpret whole-number quotients of whole numbers, e.g., interpret 56 ÷ 8 as the number of objects in each share when 56 objects are partitioned equally into 8 shares, or as a number of shares when 56 objects are partitioned into equal shares of 8 objects each.

3. Use multiplication and division within 100 to solve word problems in situations involving equal groups, arrays, and measurement quantities, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.

6. Understand division as an unknown-factor problem. For example, find 32 ÷ 8 by finding the number that makes 32 when multiplied by 8.

7. Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between multiplication and division (e.g., knowing that 8 × 5 = 40, one knows 40 ÷ 5 = 8) or properties of operations. By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers. Solve problems involving the four operations, and identify and explain patterns in arithmetic.

8. Solve two-step word problems using the four operations. Represent these problems using equations with a letter standing for the unknown quantity. Assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation strategies including rounding.

9. Identify arithmetic patterns (including patterns in the addition table or multiplication table), and explain them using properties of operations. For example, observe that 4 times a number is always even, and explain why 4 times a number can be decomposed into two equal addends.

2. Understand a fraction as a number on the number line; represent fractions on a number line diagram.

3. Explain equivalence of fractions in special cases, and compare fractions by reasoning about their size.
a. Understand two fractions as equivalent (equal) if they are the same size, or the same point on a number line. b. Recognize and generate simple equivalent fractions, e.g., 1/2 = 2/4, 4/6 = 2/3). Explain why the fractions are equivalent, e.g., by using a visual fraction model.

1. Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes. Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of time intervals in minutes, e.g., by representing the problem on a number line diagram.

7. Relate area to the operations of multiplication and addition.

1. Understand that shapes in different categories (e.g., rhombuses, rectangles, and others) may share attributes (e.g., having four sides), and that the shared attributes can define a larger category (e.g., quadrilaterals). Recognize rhombuses, rectangles, and squares as examples of quadrilaterals, and draw examples of quadrilaterals that do not belong to any of these subcategories.

2. Partition shapes into parts with equal areas. Express the area of each part as a unit fraction of the whole. For example, partition a shape into 4 parts with equal area, and describe the area of each part as 1/4 of the area of the shape.

Curriculum Suggestions: This would make an excellent study aid for group problem solving. Each page is broken down into distinct "missions," which facilitates daily exercises and would motivate a class working toward the end goal (reaching the planet Mars). The subject matter could also be a helpful tie-in to an astronomy unit. The pages feature leveled exercises and charts which can also be useful in breaking down assignments according to skill level.

Links to Supporting Digital Content: N/A

Series Information: This title is part of the GoFigure! series on math by Crabtree Publishing Company. Other titles include A Math Journey through the Animal Kingdom, A Math Journey through the Human Body, and A Math Journey through Planet Earth.

Eyewitness Books: Astronomy / by Kristen Lippincott / Science Picture Book

Bibliographic Information: Lippincott, K. (2008). Eyewitness astronomy. New York, N.Y: DK Publishing.

Plot Description: From the publisher: "The most trusted nonfiction series on the market, Eyewitness Books provide an in-depth, comprehensive look at their subjects with a unique integration of words and pictures. The perfect guide to understanding the mysteries of the planets, stars, and universe, Eyewitness: Astronomy delves into the fascinating world of space, providing a comprehensive look at the discoveries and research that have transformed our understanding of the universe." Several topics are covered, including the ancient roots of astronomy, Copernicus, optics and observatories, spectroscopy, radio telescopes, space travel, and the Solar System and beyond.

Quantitative Reading Level: Lexile Level: 1110L

Qualitative Reading Analysis: As an introduction to the science of astronomy, this hardback volume is a great way of engaging young science students. That said, a certain amount of knowledge of scientific vocabulary and the natural world is necessary, as this book builds on a basic knowledge of the solar system. The book's structure is helpfully cohesive, with a large print table of contents and index. As with their other books, this DK Eyewitness book is colorful and compelling, each page featuring a full color variety of images, charts, and side panels that offer a realistic view into the history and science of astronomy. Text size varies from the oversized to the minute, with very little margin space left over, and reading level is quite technical, thereby requiring a 5th grade and up reading level. Scientific concepts are revealed planet by planet, and connected via photographs of space that indicate the relative distances and sizes of stars and planets in our Solar System. A fascinating read with multiple access points for both textual and visual readers.

Content Area: Science; Astronomy

Content Area Standard: CCSS Next Generation Science Standards for California Public Schools: Grade 5 
5-PS2-1.     Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down.

5-ESS1-1. Support an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from Earth. 

ESS1.B.  Earth and the Solar System: The orbits of Earth around the sun and of the moon around Earth, together with the rotation of Earth about an axis between its North and South poles, cause observable patterns. These include day and night; daily changes in the length and direction of shadows; and different positions of the sun, moon, and stars at different times of the day, month, and year. 

California Common Core State Standards Connections: ELA/Literacy – Grade 5 

RI.5.1.a–d.    Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. (5-PS2-1),(5-ESS1-1).

Curriculum Suggestions: An excellent reference book for schools and homeschools, each page features a variety of photographs and illustrations. This volume would work well for science project research, comprehensive question and answer reading assignments, or group work in which students search for answers to question prompts. The history of astronomy is well covered, and would make a solid foundation for students studying the history of science and the early astronomers. The clear table of contents and index makes for a helpful reference guide as well.

Links to Supporting Digital Content:

Eyewitness DVD "Planets" 

DK Eyewitness New Atlas of the Solar System  While CD-Rom technology is rather dated, this is a 3-D tour of the solar system and provides a video reference companion to the Eyewitness Astronomy book.

Series Information: DK Eyewitness books cover a variety of topics for school students, and some come with CDs.