Three Cheers for Curious George!

When PBS began airing a new show for children about Curious George, I had my doubts. After all, Curious George, the wonderfully mischievous monkey behind Margret and H.A. Rey's books, is a beloved iconic character.

But I've been pleasantly surprised. The Curious George television show introduces children to the scientific method in very simple terms -- by doing. George gets his hands dirty (sometimes literally!) in every episode.

On a recent show, George was recording sounds around the yard and taking pictures of each noise-maker. I've heard of audio maps, but a picture book of sounds is a clever idea.

In the same episode, The Man with the Yellow Hat was participating in a moth inventory and conducting a study of the nocturnal feeding habits of raccoons. These activities weren't central to the storyline, but I thought that was pretty cool. Scientific explorations are just normal background "noise" in George's home.

You can visit the PBS Kids Curious George website to play online games, print coloring sheets, and watch science-themed video clips. The Parents and Teachers section includes teaching activities and a science & math themed family activity booklet.

Drop by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, publisher of the Curious George series of books, to see their Curiosity Day website for kids and families. You can download a complete list of Curious George titles, a writing-themed activity book, a list of suggestions for hosting a Curious George party, and more!



Image credit: Houghton Mifflin Trade and Reference Division - "Distinguished book publishing since 1832"

The Tangled Bank: Love, Wonder, & Evolution

I received a happy email today from Chris Lynch, the editor at Tangled Bank Press, which largely said this:

The Tangled Bank: Love, Wonder, & Evolution has launched!

The anthology, which marks the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, features over 100,000 words of speculative fiction, poetry, artwork, and essays about evolution. An international line-up of nearly 50 contributors includes Sean Williams, Brian Stableford, Patricia Russo, and Carlos Hernandez. (And me!)

The Tangled Bank is now available for download as a PDF (cost is US$4.99). Check out "Darwin's Daughter" by Christopher Green, a free short story from the anthology.

For more information, please visit the Tangled Bank Press, drop by Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Happy Darwin Day, everyone!

Space Words

Two weeks ago, Little Brother created an illustrated book of weather words. He was so proud of his creation that he recently told me, "I want to make another book -- an award-winning alphabet book!"

As a writer myself, I was excited to hear this. The original weather book was my idea, but now he was taking things further. I told him that his new book needed a theme. "Like animals, outer space, or places."

Little Brother loved the idea of a book of "space words." I wasn't sure. How do you draw "dark matter" or "black holes"? How could I explain these concepts to a four-year-old? Could I even think of words for each letter of the alphabet? You can see that we are missing several letters in our original list of space words.

Mommy, what color is gravity?

Fortunately, Twitter is populated with some kind people, including Debra L. Davis, otherwise known as Woman Astronomer. She made some helpful suggestions for Little Brother's book, including "flyby" for f, "Kuiper belt" for k, and "ice moons" for i.


And so, "Space Words" was born.






Little Brother referenced his older brother's illustrated Earth & Space book, which influenced his drawings for "black hole" and "dark matter".












I told him to think of a "comet" like a shooting star (since it looks like one), but I now realize that's the wrong way to think about it so we'll have to have a chat about that soon.






Our conversation about dark matter went something like this:

Me: "Well, you know how there's all that stuff up there in outer space that we can see?"

Little Brother: "Yeah."

Me: "Well, there's a lot of stuff out there that we know about, but we can't see. That's dark matter."









I taught Little Brother how satellites would sometimes have a "flyby" near a planet to gather data. And I suggested that maybe someday, manned spaceships would fly by planets, too. He loved this idea, which is why the rocket is much larger than the planet -- in this case, Jupiter (note the large red eye!).





"Gravity" was another fun topic.

Little Brother: "What color is gravity?"

Me: "Uh, gravity doesn't have a color. It's the force that sticks us to the Earth. How about you draw some people walking on the Earth with an arrow pointing down?"

So far, it's my favorite of his drawings. I promised him that if he finishes the whole alphabet, I'll find a way to get his pictures bound in a real book.


Photo credits: Mama Joules. Images courtesy of Little Brother.

Win a copy of 2010 Writer's Market! (Cross-Post)

NOTE: This message is cross-posted from my other blog, Stars in my Sugar Bowl. PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS THERE. Thank you!




To celebrate the launch of my new poetry blog, Stars in my Sugar Bowl, I am giving away an unused paperback copy of the 2010 Writer's Market published by Writer's Digest Books. This tome is a great addition to any writer's toolkit, containing listings for 3,500 places to publish your work. I already own a copy and received this extra one at Christmas -- a perfect opportunity for a giveaway!

To be eligible for the drawing, please leave me comment about science, poetry, or both, on that post only. Any comments left on the Mama Joules blog are NOT eligible.

• Tell me about your favorite scientific subject, describe a fun science activity, tell me what you like about Mama Joules, provide a link to a family-friendly science website, or tell me anything else about science.
  

• If science isn't your thing, talk to me about haiku, tanka, haiga, alliteration, Robert Frost, Gwendolyn Brooks, or anything else relating to poetry.

• And if, like me, you enjoy both science and poetry, share your thoughts on Scifaiku, Fibonacci sequence poetry, or some other topic similar to both.

You must include something about science, poetry, or both, in your comment to be eligible for this drawing. Again, please leave your comments there. I reserve the right to delete any comments that contain spam, sexually explicit references, swearing, or other overtly troll-like content. Please make sure to include enough contact information that I can E-mail you back if you win!

I'll be accepting comments there for roughly two weeks (until 8 pm EST January 20th) and then I'll have my husband, Itinerant Cryptographer, help me pick a winner at random (since he does that sort of thing for a living). At that time, I will announce the winner there, by updating that post on Stars in my Sugar Bowl, and I will request that you contact me by E-mail to claim your prize.

If you are chosen as the winner and haven't contacted me by 8 pm EST January 24th, you will forfeit the prize and I will draw another name from the list.

I look forward to reading your comments on my other blog. Good luck!


Photo credit: Francis via flickr // CC BY 2.0

Weather words

Earlier this week, Itinerant Cryptographer came home and announced, "I signed us up to run the activity at Boy Scouts next week. Our topic is weather."

Now, if you've read this blog before, you know how much I like meteorology! But I'm at a loss for an appropriate weather-related activity to try with a group of third grade boys. So, I consulted with my favorite four-year-old.

"What should Mommy and Daddy do next week to teach about the weather?" In the back of my head floated images of cotton ball clouds, weather station data, and field guides full of bizarre weather phenomena (like lenticular clouds).

Little Brother's response, however, was simple and delivered with great enthusiasm. It didn't matter what the big boys did next week. He wanted to try this today.

"Let's make a weather book!"

So we did. I took one sheet of black construction paper and five sheets of drawing paper, stacked them neatly, and folded them in half so that the black paper formed a cover. Then I punched three holes down the fold and tied some ribbon for the binding. I gave Little Brother a list of 17 weather terms -- like wet, partly cloudy, foggy (can you think of more?) -- to illustrate and let him choose the ones he wanted to copy into his book.

Little Brother did a great job! Here are two of my favorite pages:






Photo credits: Mama Joules. Images courtesy of Little Brother.

Happy Buzz Aldrin Day!

Thanks to Twitter, I learned that today is Buzz Aldrin Day in Los Angeles in honor of the retired astronaut, who was the second man to walk on the moon. Aldrin will speak about his experiences and sign his new autobiography, Magnificent Desolation, on the front lawn of L.A.'s Griffith Observatory from 6:00-9:45 p.m. This event is free and open to the public and there will be telescopes available to view the moon during this time.

Congrats, Buzz! (I wonder if he'll get a key to the city?)


Photo of Lunar module pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin credit: NASA

Professor Stephen Hawking and his friend George

Recently, Kerm and I went to the library and checked out George’s Secret Key to the Universe, written by Lucy & Stephen Hawking (with Christophe Galfard). Stephen Hawking, the famous theoretical physicist, is known for expanding our knowledge of astronomy despite suffering from ALS (a neurologic disease).

Hawking is one of my favorite scientists. I am in awe of the fact that his mind soars among the heavens despite having extremely severe physical limitations. Hawking writes on his website that at one point, he communicated by "spell[ing] out words letter by letter, by raising [his] eyebrows when someone pointed to the right letter on a spelling card." Fortunately, personal computing came to his rescue and we are all richer for the experience.

Hawking has written several books for adults, including A Brief History of Time, which, according to the BBC, sold more than nine million copies. Lucy Hawking is Stephen's daughter so I was curious about the book. Since Kerm likes astronomy, I thought he would like it.

A few days later, after seeing George’s Secret Key to the Universe open on Kerm's bed, I asked him what the book was about.

“It’s about the universe and the world’s most amazing computer called Cosmos,” said Kerm. “Cosmos can make ‘portal doorways’ so his owner Eric can go through these doorways and go anywhere in outer space.” Portal doorways aren’t real, Kerm told me. “They aren’t the same as black holes. [Portal doorways] actually bring you from your house into outer space.”

What is a black hole? As defined by Lucy and Stephen Hawking in their book, “To make a black hole you need to squash a very large amount of matter into a very small space.” The resulting gravitational pull is so strong that nothing can escape, not even light. And the more matter and light that enter a black hole, the larger it gets.

Here’s what Kerm learned about black holes. “A black hole is a giant place in space where everything gets sucked inside. It [occurs when] an exploding star ... got too big and exploded into a big area in space [while the center of the star got pushed in]. Anything can be sucked [into a black hole], even light. And light [travels at] the fastest speed in the universe that we know.” Kerm also learned that scientists now believe “that it’s possible to get out of a black hole.”

It’s hard for me to imagine this, but the Hawkings wrote that, “Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, has at its center a black hole several million times the mass of our Sun.” Can you imagine that? It’s like there's an invisible gigantic vacuum cleaner slurping stuff up at the center of our universe.

Kids that are interested in science and science fiction would like this book, according to Kerm. “It is a very cool book ... My favorite character was George because he was the main character and he was a hero."

You can visit George's website to take a quiz about astronomy, check out these facts and photos about outer space, and enter this competition to win a hardback copy of the sequel, George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt!

Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/R.Kraft et al.;
Submillimeter: MPIfR/ESO/APEX/A.Weiss et al.; Optical: ESO/WFI

National Children's Book Week

This is National Children's Book Week in the United States. Libraries across the country are sponsoring special events to celebrate. Be sure to print out a bookmark (note: this is a .pdf file) and check out the Children's Choice Book Awards Winners for 2009. You can also find puzzles, book recommendations, advice for having a "read-in", and more!

This is a great time to talk with your family about your favorite books and why you love them. Do any science titles make your top list? Kerm's current favorite science book is Earth & Space, while Little Brother favors The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

If you're looking for good children's science titles, check out this list of recommended books from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and these suggestions from the National Science Teachers Association. You may also like this post about the Royal Society.

Happy reading!

The Royal Society recommends science books

The Royal Society, "the national academy of science of the UK and the Commonwealth", is currently accepting entries for the 2009 Royal Society Prize for Science Books. The books selected will (hopefully!) reflect some of the best science writing of 2008.

You can add to your reading list by checking out last year's honorees. Here are the top six picks in the Junior Prize category:


Photo credit: Royal Society for Society Prizes for Science Books', through a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Over 1,000 children read these finalists and decided the eventual winner. The big book of science things to make and do, by Rebecca Gilpin and Leonie Pratt, took home top honors in the Junior Prize category in 2008. Each activity (over 50 of them!) in this book teaches a scientific lesson in a fun and engaging way.

Have fun reading! :)

Happy Birthday, Dr. Suess!

"I am the Lorax ... I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues ..." from The Lorax by Dr. Suess

Today would have been Dr. Suess' 105th birthday. As a child, I loved hearing my father read Suess' rhyming tales. My favorite book was Horton Hears a Who with its now-famous refrain: "A person's a person, no matter how small."

But as an adult, I'm partial to The Lorax, Suess' "shortish ... oldish ... brownish ... and mossy" environmentalist. He speaks for the trees and the birds and fish under his care. The Lorax does his best to convince the Once-ler to think about how his manufacturing plant is harming the environment before it's too late.

At the time Suess published The Lorax in 1971, the environmental movement was in its infancy in the United States. People were just beginning to think about saving the planet on a global level. The first Earth Day was held in 1970; the Environmental Protection Agency was formed that same year.

Today, almost 40 years later, the Lorax has many friends standing behind him. On Earth Day 2008, Conservation International, Dr. Suess Enterprises, and Random House started The Lorax Project™ to raise environmental awareness. Visit the website to take a pledge to help the Lorax (to do things like recycling). Read about 20 ways that you can help reduce your environmental impact and learn what students across the world are doing to save the planet. You can also read about endangered species like Golden Lion Tamarins, Red Pandas, and Lemurs.

Thoughts on Synesthesia

The other night, my 3-year-old crawled into bed with me after a fit of tears. Looking at the interesting reflection of the lamp on the ceiling, he said, "Look at the shape my crying made." His comment made me think of a fascinating book that I read once called The Man Who Tasted Shapes by Richard E. Cytowic.

This book describes synesthesia, a condition in which certain sensory perceptions are combined. People who are affected with this involuntary condition perceive sensory input a little differently than most. You might see jagged red lines when you hear a siren. You might taste shapes in certain foods. Or maybe colors have a smell. Any combination of senses is possible, but the most common variant is to perceive letters, words, or numbers as having color. These associations are consistent for the individual -- if the word shoes is associated with the color green, it always appears green.

In his book, Cytowic describes attending a dinner party where the host complained that he had ruined the chicken -- it wasn't pointy enough. Cytowic thought it interesting that this man's house lacked walls; the rooms were open and flowed into each other. He pointed out that you can think of synesthesia in the same way. The usual walls between sensory input -- sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch -- are blurred or absent.

I think synesthesia is a fascinating condition. After I read the book, I kept wondering if I had ever experienced it. The closest I've come is when I'm almost asleep. Sometimes I see jagged black lines when I hear a sudden loud noise. But that's it. How about you?

CNN's Ann Kellan writes that if you are curious about this condition, synesthetes suggest that you rent "Walt Disney's 'Fantasia', an animated film that attempts to visualize music."

It's almost time to have a Green Halloween®!

Corey Colwell-Lipson, founder of Green Halloween®, has started a new blog to help keep us motivated to celebrate our holidays in an eco-friendly way!

Green Halloween® began as a regional movement last year in Seattle and is rapidly spreading across the U.S. As Colwell-Lipson has said, her goal is to get people to "think outside the candy box." The Green Halloween® website provides some great ideas for adding some green to your holiday, such as handing out trinkets like stickers and collectible cards instead of candy. And before you buy that Halloween costume, Green Halloween® suggests that you ask yourself some hard questions: Can this item be used after Halloween? Can it be recycled? Does it contain earth-friendly materials or is it made of synthetics wrapped in yards of plastic?

Colwell-Lipson recently announced the launch of Celebrate Green!, a new book co-written with her mother, designed help us celebrate green year-round. Be sure to stop by the Celebrate Green! blog for even more ideas!

What does "celebrating green" mean to you? The easiest holiday for me to envision "green" is Christmas. I love to find our Christmas boxes and I get so excited as I carefully unwrap the nativity scene from my childhood, complete with the tiny wooden manger and the shepherd with his real metal crook. I even like the plastic reindeer (certainly not originally part of the nativity scene!) that come to inspect the manger. Isn't that what treasured holiday rituals really are -- reuse at its best?

[UPDATE (10/8/08) -- Check out Escape to Books' October 7, 2008 interview with Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell here!]

Young Birder's Guide Giveaway at 10,000 Birds

EgretPhoto credit: David Hall, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
I don't normally post on Tuesdays, but I wanted you to know that 10,000 Birds is giving away three free copies of Bill Thompson III's The Young Birder's Guide. (Hey, I just realized that's Bill of the Birds, the guy who wrote about the giant dinosaur of cheese!). Young birders under the age of 16 can write a 100-word essay on the topic of Why Watching Birds is Fun to be entered into the drawing. Adults can enter, too, by writing on the topic of how to get children interested in birding or by helping to promote the contest. But the deadline is tomorrow, May 28th! You can read more about the contest and how to enter at Young Birder's Guide Giveaway and Deadline for Great Giveaways. Good luck!

[Update: 3/5/09 -- There's a new web address for Bill of the Birds.]

--If you like this blog post, you might also like:
*Learn Bird Songs!,
*Hunting prey versus feeding time,
*Mama Joules' Young Birder, and
*Find the Bird.

The Magic School Bus™

Today, my son’s class went on a field trip to a museum. On the way there, we rode in a fancy bus and watched videos of Scholastic’s The Magic School Bus™.

Now, if you’ve never met Ms. Frizzle, the wild and wonderful teacher that leads the class on these magical science adventures, you’re in for a treat. Her magic school bus is an amazing machine that can transport students to the far reaches of outer space, inside the human body, or down an ant hill. Along the way, her young pupils make discoveries about their surroundings and learn about science.

At the end of each video, there’s a mock call-in session where kids ask questions of the producers like, “Could this really happen?” This is followed by a brief explanation of which facts are true and which ones were stretched for the sake of a good story.

The Magic School Bus™ website includes Science Fun Activities to try after watching the videos, fun online games and this week’s experiment. In addition to the videos, there are over 40 The Magic School Bus™ books in print, with most geared to the 6-9 year-old set.

Check them out! Or, as Ms. Frizzle would say,

“Wahoo! Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!”

The Green Parent

Jenn, over at The Green Parent, just announced that her new book, The Green Parent: A Kid-Friendly Guide to Earth-Friendly Living, will be released on April 1, 2008! The goal of this guidebook is "to help parents find easy ways to go green while raising a family." The book is printed on 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper and the publisher, Kedzie Press, will plant one tree for every book sold. Way to go, Jenn!

Science can be silly

If you read my previous post, More About Mama Joules, you know that I haven't always liked science. But perhaps I should be more precise: I did like science, I just didn't realize it.

I dislike the way science was taught to me in school. Unfortunately, science is often presented as a subject that only smart people can understand. So, the first time that I didn't understand something, I thought I was stupid. No wonder I hated science!

In reality, science is for everyone. Once you start looking at things this way, you find science everywhere. Each time you cook, dig a stick in the dirt, or search your dog's back for fleas, you are exploring your world. And that's all that science really is.

When I was younger, I used to go hiking with my parents. One of my favorite memories is when my mom and I would look at rocks. But I wonder if I would have liked it so much if she had started lecturing me by saying, "Now, this is granite. Granite is an igneous rock ..."

Mom never said that. My mom would say things like, "Look at this cool rock! I think it's a fossilized dinosaur turd." You can imagine how many rocks I brought to my mom! I loved hearing her make up stories about my rocks. In doing so, many rocks found their way into our home, where my mom and I looked up their true identities in a book like Smithsonian Handbooks: Rocks & Minerals.

Unleash your creativity! Teaching and learning about science can be (and should be) fun.

Scats and Tracks

If you live in the US, or you are planning a trip here, be sure to pick up a Scats and Tracks guide (published by Falcon Guide) for your region of the country before going on your next hike. If you are like me, you never see any actual wildlife during your foray into the natural world. Scats and Tracks solves this problem. Now you can look for animal "footprints" and poop instead! These little books, covering 70 species apiece, fit easily inside a backpack. My only complaint is that I would prefer to have color photographs of the animals, rather than black and white line drawings, on the off-chance that I actually spot some real live wildlife!