Arctic Publisher Shares Northern Voices, Traditional Knowledge

By Gillian O'Reilly

Looking for engaging, appealing and informative science-themed and technology-themed books that incorporate traditional knowledge? Look no further than Inhabit Media.

Inhabit Media, an Inuit-owned publishing house based in Iqaluit and Toronto, aims to “promote and preserve the stories, knowledge and talent of northern Canada.” The company publishes a wide range of books for adults and kids, plus two magazines: Kaakuluk: Nunavut’s Discovery Magazine for Kids and Pivut: The Magazine for Nunavut Youth.

With an author list that includes established and emerging Northern writers and elders, as well as knowledgeable Southerners, Inhabit offers readers a rich variety -- from board books on Inuit tools and clothes to informational picture books to YA novels, historical and contemporary. Publishing in English, French, Inuktitut and sometimes Inuinnaqtun, Inhabit works to ensure that its books are accessible to both Northern and Southern readers.

A recent success for the company has been the Animals Illustrated series for readers aged 4 to 6. Each book is a lively mix of animals facts and first-hand accounts from authors who live in the Arctic, accompanied by meticulous and appealing illustrations. There are now four books in the series, covering polar bears, narwhals, muskox and walruses. A fifth book, on bowhead whales, is coming this fall.

One of my personal favourites in Inhabit’s list is A Children’s Guide to Arctic Birds (2014), written by Mia Pelletier and illustrated by Danny Christopher (for ages 4 to 6). Informative, accurate and with gorgeous illustrations, the book looks at 12 birds that make the Arctic their permanent or seasonal home.

Another favourite is A Walk on the Tundra (2011) written by Anna Ziegler and Rebecca Hainnu and illustrated by Qin Leng (for ages 6 to 8). This is a picture book story that features a warm intergenerational relationship while incorporating a great deal of traditional knowledge.

Innuujaq reluctantly accompanies her grandmother on a walk to pick Arctic plants. Through it, she learns a few things about her grandmother and much about tasty, nourishing and medicinal plants. Included at the end are scientific descriptions of the plants, photographs and a glossary of Inuktitut words and phrases.

More recently, Ziegler, Hainnu and Leng collaborated on A Walk on the Shoreline (2015).

Discover your own favourites among Inhabit’s books at www.inhabitmedia.com!

Superfun STEM trailer!

Post by Helaine Becker

Kids Can Press has  released the trailer for my new picture book biography about William Playfair, the Victorian-era rogue who single-handedly invented the field of infographics. Check it out!

Books! Books! Books! - An Addendum

By Claire Eamer

Claire Eamer photo

The online publication, Hakai Magazine, has published an article listing, with short reviews, Eleven New Coastal-Themed Books for Kids. Several of the books are by friends of Sci/Why, whose earlier books are part of our own Science-Themed Books for Children. (And several of these coastal-themed books will doubtless appear in our list after the next revision!)

To quote the article's author, Sheryl McFarlane, who is a children's author herself, "Books reviewed here range in topic from a First Nation salmon ceremony to the voyage of the Mayflower, from a west coast nature alphabet to an east coast whale stranding." They're suitable for early or intermediate readers - and they're lovely!

Ostrich Oddities and Fun Facts

Baby ostriches - photo by Mink

By Marie Powell

An ostrich is the largest bird alive today, with adults reaching sizes of over nine feet tall. Ostrich chicks are already a foot tall -- as tall as a school ruler -- when they hatch. A wild ostrich can only be found in Africa now, although they're raised on farms in North America and around the world.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to go ostrich-watching on a safari to Africa? The next best thing is an "armchair safari" though books and websites. I found out a lot about ostriches and their habits while researching my children's science book, Meet a Baby Ostrich (Lerner Group, 2015).

For example, an ostrich also lays the largest bird egg, averaging about seven inches long and 3.5 pounds in weight.

Ostrich head - photo by A. Kniesel

Their large eyes are amazing, with long lashes to protect their eyes. With their keen eyesight, they're favourites at the watering hole, often warning other animals if predators are near. These flightless birds have soft feathers on their backs but bristly feathers on their necks and heads -- and their legs are bare.

They're also omnivores, chowing down on seeds, shrubs, fruits, grass, insects, and even small lizards. Like most birds, they swallow pebbles to help them digest food. They can survive for several days without water.

Here are a few suggestions for more information:

• Can You Tell an Ostrich from an Emu? by Buffy Silverman (Lerner 2012)
• Ostrich: The World’s Biggest Bird by Natalie Lunis (Bearport 2007)
• Baby Birds by Bobbie Kalman (Crabtree 2008)
• National Geographic: Ostriches  
• American Ostrich Association: Facts
• Check out Margriet Ruur's safari to Africa in Elephants for Lunch
• Also check out other African-related publications and websites on our Sci/Why post, "Who Wants to be a Scientist?"

Meet a Baby Ostrich by Marie Powell
Available from Lerner Group, 2015

Marie Powell is the author of more than 30 children's books, including Dragonflies are Amazing (Scholastic Canada, 2007) and Meet a Baby Ostrich (Lerner Group, 2015).

3D Printers Bring New Vision to Picture Books

Post by Helaine Becker

Once in a Blue Moon (or in this case, a Goodnight, Moon),  all your fields of interest wind up coinciding. Or coalescing,as the case may be, into one giant, brilliant hyperbang of kidlit, science-y marvelousness.

This happened to me today when I opened my browser and read about a new development in the world of technology. Or should I say in the world of children's literature? Or...Eureka! Both!

Last year, I had the great good fortune and honour to be a judge at the CNIB's Braille Writing Contest for Children.

At the CNIB Braille Writing Contest award ceremony,
 with winner Julia Jantzen, here shown typing
on a  laptop with a refreshable braille keyboard

I learned so much. From the kids, and from the incredible staff at the CNIB, who have developed dozens of ways to help the blind people they represent live the fullest and most productive lives possible. 

And I also learned about the challenges faced by the CNIB and its library:

The inevitable and unremitting need for funding. 

The fact that their constituency is literally coast to coast to coast - a tough reach for a library. 

And the fact that most of us out here in the sighted world have no clue about how to accommodate blind kids, or even that we need to. 

One perfect example was presented to me by CNIB Librarian Karen Brophey. She described exactly how much work goes into making sure her library can participate fully in the TD Summer Reading Club  (kicking off RIGHT NOW across Canada). 

According to the CNIB, ten per cent of Canadians have disabilities that prevent them from reading traditional print (this includes visual, physical and learning disabilities), and over 550,000 of these readers are children. Without specially designed activity sheets, and braille and audio versions of the books, blind kids can't read and play and enjoy the Reading Club the way their sighted peers can.  Yet these kids fall off the radar of most libraries - public librarians simply don't see them (ironic, eh?)

Thanks to the CNIB, kids across the country can participate in the TD Summer Reading Club using the tactile and audio materials they develop.They make selected works for the program available in alternate formats like braille and audio books. They create program materials like tool kits and inclusive activity ideas. And CNIB staff reach out to over 900 public libraries across Canada to provide training on how to implement the accessible reading club in local libraries.

Now let's circle back around to my Eureka moment: my discovery of the hot-off-the-press technical innovation of 3D-printed tactile picture books. Thanks to new technology, visually-impaired kids who until now were deprived of the full joy of reading a picture book suddenly can. They can feel the cow jumping over the moon in Goodnight, Moon,  and touch the bowl of mush, and the old lady whispering hush. They can participate fully in the magic of illustrated books on their own.

3D-printed tactile pages from Goodnight, Moon. Image from UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO CASEY A. CASS/UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

Tom Yeh, an assistant professor in the University of Colorado's Department of Computer Science who directed the 3D picture book project, says, "The idea of tactile picture books is not new. What is new is making 3D printing more accessible and interactive so parents and teachers of visually impaired children can customize and print these kinds of picture books in 3D."  To reach that goal, Yeh and his team integrate computer technology and mathematical diagrams to produce books kids can feel. "This project is much more difficult than I envisioned, but it also is much more rewarding." 

The Tactile Picture Book project has so far produced touchy-feely versions of Goodnight, Moon, Harold and the Purple Crayon, The Cat in the Hat and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. More are undoubtedly on the way. But even more important, as the price of 3D printing comes down, people will be able to print their own tactile books, customized to each child's unique needs. 

Now THAT's why I shouted Eureka at my laptop this morning. Thanks to science, more kids can be given the chance to fall in love with reading. And through reading, maybe to fall in love with science...

Coincidentally, this year's theme for the TD Summer Reading Club is Eureka!  

I couldn't have said it better.

For more on the Tactile Book project, and to see pictures of Harold and the Purple Crayon  in 3D, go here