Nonfiction Monday: Round-Up

First things first: I’m hosting Nonfiction Monday today, so leave your links in the comments and come back later for a full round-up of nonfiction reviews.

It’s National Women’s History Month, and I have done... hold it, let me see... yes, apparently nothing, nothing at all to bring attention to women in history. I’ve certainly let down the sisterhood. At least I can heap praise on the one site that has books and resources galore, Wild Rose Reader. If March has gotten away from you too, blame the weather and head there for some great reading ideas.

Today I do have a biography about a woman to share. A woman ahead of her time. You might even say a maverick.

The title and subtitle can serve as a decent one-sentence summary: What to Do About Alice? How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy! Of course, the title can’t capture the pleasure of getting into the head of a spirited girl who was all about “eating up the world.” While other girls her age went to boarding school to become proper young ladies, Alice joined an all-boys club and used her father’s library to teach herself astronomy. As she grew up and her father became the President, she refused to settle for a supporting role in her own life. While some women were appalled at her behavior, most of the country loved her outrageous ways.

With What To Do About Alice? Barbara Kerley has written a fun picture book about a fun-loving girl, while also conveying the history surrounding the Roosevelt family. The lively illustrations by Edwin Fotheringham are a perfect complement to the story of Alice — and are the most enjoyable when they are in direct opposition to the text. We can laugh at a picture of Alice and her siblings riding trays down the curving White House steps while the sentence above mentions, “She watched her younger brothers and sister so her stepmother could get some rest.” This was one woman in history who was anything but boring.

Since I’m gathering your nonfiction reviews today, I’ll update this post a few times with those links. C’mon and give me something good to read.

Nonfiction Monday Round-Up, 9:00 AM Edition
We have...

• Aliens from Earth: When Animals and Plants Invade Other Ecosystems at Story Force
  
  
• Machines Go to Work at Book Moot
  
  
• Fairy Cooking at In Need of Chocolate
  
  
• Animals Up Close at 100 Scope Notes
  
  
• Snake Scientist at Jean Little Library
  
  
• Michael Rosen’s Sad Book at Just One More Book
  
  
• Bubble Homes and Fish Farts at Abby (the) Librarian
  
  
• Animal Poems of the Iguazu at Wild About Nature
  
  
• Go, Go America! at Lori Calabrese Writes

Noon Edition
Plus...

• Dinosaurs in Your Backyard at Check It Out
  
  
• Kids Knitting at Living the Good Life
  
  
• Have You Ever Seen a Duck in a Raincoat at Picture Book of the Day
  
  
• Honda: The Boy Who Dreamed of Cars at A Wrung Sponge
  
  
• Interview with Don Brown at Seven Impossible Things

5:00 PM Edition
Adding on...

• A Place for Birds at 
A Patchwork of Books
  
  
• Nic Bishop’s Butterflies and Moths at Kids Lit
  
  
• Slither and Crawl: Eye to Eye with Reptiles at Miss Rumphius Effect

9:00 PM Edition
Closing out with...

• What’s Eating You? Parasites — The Inside Story at Great Kid Books reviews
  
  
• I Face the Wind at Six Boxes of Books