Welcome to Mars: Making a Home on the Red Planet

Title: Welcome to Mars: Making a Home on the Red Planet
Author: Buzz Aldrin and Marianne J Dyson
Publisher: National Geographic Children's Books 
Publication Date: September 1st, 2015 
Genre/Format: Non-Fiction/Expository 
GoodReads Summary: Space is still the final frontier and Mars continues to make news and attract generations of young people. In this fascinating book, hero-astronaut Buzz Aldrin challenges curious kids to think about Mars as not just a faraway red planet but as a possible future home for Earthlings! 

What will your new home be like? How will you get there? What will you eat for breakfast? Find out what life might be like far, far from Earth as you navigate your way through this fun and fascinating book. What kid wouldn't want to blast off with him on this (literary) journey!  
What I Think: I was amazing by how much Buzz Aldrin has really thought about moving people to Mars! I knew it was possible and that people were working on it but I've never read about it so thoroughly and that it's definitely possible. There are so many pictures throughout the book that really brought it to life but the text supports and explains everything in simple detail so young readers will be able to access the information.
     As a mentor text, it would be awesome to look at how Buzz's excitement for moving to Mars shines through even though it is a non-fiction text. You can also look at the layout of the book and how he goes through all the different elements and explains each one. He gives specific details so the reader can actually imagine what it would be like to live on Mars. He shares information about how you'll be able to breathe there but also how you'll be able to have fun there as well.
     I'm completely fascinated now, especially after seeing how soon he believes we can do this. Welcome to Mars would be a great discussion starter and then a great text to use to ask kids questions about what it might be like to live on mars. I can see student writers easily going from reading non-fiction to writing their own science fiction stories as they imagine what it really would be like to live on Mars. 
More About the Authors: Buzz Aldrin, one of the first people to walk on the moon, is a pioneering astronaut and member of the historic Apollo 11 crew. A renowned rocket scientist, he developed the orbital rendezvous technique critical to America's moon landings and the Aldrin Mars Cycler, a futuristic space transportation system to reach Mars. Aldrin also chairs his own educational organization, ShareSpace Foundation.

     Marianne J. Dyson is an award-winning author and former NASA flight controller. She has a degree in physics and became one of NASA's first women flight controllers during the early Space Shuttle program. She has won the Golden Kite Award and the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award for her children's books. 

Read Together: Grades 5 - 8
Read Alone: Grades 5 - 6 
Read With: Moonshot by Brian Floca; other books about space 
Snatch of Text:   
"What do you need to pack for our trip? We need a lot more than clothes, toothpaste, and snacks for our trip to Mars. There will be some things already there waiting for us, though. The first fe crews will have set up temporary houses or habitats ('habs' for short) for us to live in. We'll have air and water from local Martian sources. The electrical power station will have come from Earth. Most of our food will come from greenhouses and underground mushroom farms. And I hope you like potatoes! We'll be eating lots of those!" (p. 12)
Writing Prompts: Write about how you would feel if you were one of the first people going to Mars. Would you feel excited,  nervous, scared? Explain why. 
Topics Covered: Integration - Science, Integration - History, Adventure, Courage 

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The Beetle Book - Must Read Mentor Texts

Each week Stacia and Amanda at Collaboration Cuties host a Must-Read Mentor Texts link-up. There is a different theme focus every week throughout the month and blogs can link up on Sundays. I'll be rotating through reviews of different mentor texts for language arts, math, science, and social studies. You can check out their blog for previous link-ups to connect with other mentor texts they have shared and other bloggers have reviewed, too. This week, we're talking mentor texts for science!

Title: The Beetle Book 
Author: Steve Jenkins 
Illustrator: Steve Jenkins 
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers 
Publication Date: April, 2012 
Genre/Format: Non-Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: 
Beetles squeak and beetles glow.
Beetles stink, beetles sprint, 
beetles walk on water.
With legs, antennae, horns, beautiful shells, knobs, and other oddities—what’s not to like about beetles?
The beetle world is vast: one out of every four living things on earth is a beetle.There are over 350,000 different species named so far and scientists suspect there may be as many as a million.From the goliath beetle that weighs one fourth of a pound to the nine inch long titan beetle, award-winning author-illustrator Steve Jenkins presents a fascinating array of these intriguing insects and the many amazing adaptations they have made to survive. 
What I Think: As I read The Beetle Book, I had flashbacks to when I read Nic Bishop's Spiders. This book is page after pages of beetles and some cool but make-me-squirm facts. I tend to enjoy insects when they are in books but even reading about these insects has my skin crawling a bit. I have a definitely have a different appreciation for beetles as a species but I still would rather not encounter most of the beetles in this book.
     What I do love about this book is that Steve Jenkins's artwork is as wonderful as always and he includes silhouette images of each beetle on a two-page layout so readers can see that actual size of the bugs he is talking about. (It's a relief when most of them are small...but some of them are pretty big!) There is a short introduction to the main idea being shared on each layout and then each bug featured has a short paragraph to describe how it relates to the main idea. We have a wonderful "living natural history museum" near to us called the Wildlife Discovery Center. Peanut has had his birthday party there for the last two years and it's a wonderful place where they have many different animals for the kids to meet and learn about. Oftentimes, they talk about frogs, toads, snakes, turtles, alligators, and lizards and their defense mechanisms. It's fascinating to hear about how each animal protects itself and how unique some of their defense mechanisms are. I loved the section in The Beetle Book about defense mechanisms. It made me realize how easily students can compare and contrast how animals defend themselves but also other aspects of their lives as well.
     You know the fact books like the Guinness Book of World Records collections? It seems like most kids are fascinated by those books. They contain so many pictures and the pictures are usually wild or creepy that kids can't help but look at them. I think The Beetle Book has that same kind of allure but with a much more specific and academic focus. Kids will love learning about the beetles in this book!
Read Together: Grades K - 6 
Read Alone: Grades K - 6 
Read With: Spiders and other books by Nic Bishop, Beetle Bop by Denise Fleming, Actual Size and others by Steve Jenkins
Snatch of Text:  

"The titan beetle is the world's longest 

beetle. It jaws are powerful enough

to snap a pencil in half. This huge

insect lives in the Amazon rainforest." (p. 31)

Reading Strategies to Practice: Comparing and Contrasting, Using Non-Fiction Text Features, Author's Purpose
Writing Strategies to Practice: Compare and Contrast, Main Idea and Supporting Details, Similes, Metaphors, Expository
Writing Prompts: Animals may have similar or dissimilar habitats, eating habits, hunting habits, life cycles, or defense mechanisms. Compare and contrast one beetle to another beetle, or compare and contrast a beetle to another animal.
Topics Covered: Integration - Science, Beetles, Insects

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