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 Fleischman,
John. 2002. Phineas Gage: a gruesome but true story about brain
science. Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0618052526. Appropriate
for 5th to 9th grade. Phineas Gage was either very lucky, or very
unlucky. On September 13th, 1848, Phineas will have a little accident
involving explosives. The long sharp-ended cylindrical tamping iron
he was using to pack gunpowder set off a spark. The tamping iron shot
out of the hole in the rock like a bullet from a gun and entered his
left cheek at a sharp upward angle. It is in his cheek and out the
top of his head in less than a second. Oddly enough, this doesn’t
seem to faze Phineas a bit. He talks, he seems lucid, he is impatient
to go back to work, in spite of the large hole in the top of his head
and blood pouring down his face. His crew persuades him to see a doctor,
and so begins one of the most fascinating cases in early brain science.
Using accounts of Phineas’ behavior before and after his accident,
as well as modern medical equipment and computers, this extraordinary
accident is reconstructed. Brain physiology and function, as well
as a look at what the state of medical science was in 1848 are presented
clearly and simply, without being patronizing for the middle-school
reader. This 2003 Orbis Pictus Honor book will thrill, intrigue and
touch you.
 Freedman,
Russell. 1990. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Clarion Books. ISBN
089919379X.
This book has won many awards, including the 1991 Orbis Pictus award,
the ALA Notable Children’s Book award, the YASD Best Book for
Young Adults among several others. This photo-biography is a well-researched
and candid look at this most fascinating of presidents. This president
was so popular, he was elected three times, although he died in his
fourth term in office. He pulled the US out of the worst economic
conditions this nation has ever faced. Under his presidencies, the
US Army went from being ranked number eighteenth in the world to number
one. He was the first president to appoint a woman cabinet member,
the first to fully utilize the radio to address the nation, and the
first president to fly in an airplane. He was so dynamic, energetic
and in sure control of his power, that people frequently forgot that
he could barely stand without help. Polio had left his legs practically
useless. This book is a marvelous look at this complicated and interesting
personality. Covering his life from birth to his death in office,
this volume is definitely one that you will want in your middle or
high school library.
 Armstrong,
Jennifer. 1998. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World. Crown
Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0517800136.
Can you imagine being in a place so cold that the moisture from your
breath freezes on your face? Or where it is dark day round for several
months, and the sun never sets for some months? Can you imagine no
radio, no telephones, no satellite positioning systems, no telegraph?
Now imagine that you are stuck in this situation, with limited food
stores and many men depending on you to save their very lives. This
is the situation that Ernest Shackleton found himself in when his
adventure in the Endurance came to a sudden stop on January 19th,
1915. The explorer had been attempting to be the first to travel from
one side of the Antarctic continent to the other, but his ship and
crew became trapped in pack ice, merely 100 miles away from the shore
of the continent. This 1999 Orbis Pictus award details beautifully
the hardships and adventures of Shackleton and his men from the Endurance.
The many photographs used by Armstrong give a powerful sense of the
realities of the journey. The story of how Shackleton survived nineteen
months in the most inhospitable spot on the planet without losing
one single member of his crew is an excellent page turner that will
have your middle school readers fascinated.
 Simon,
Seymour. 1988. Volcanoes. Morrow Junior Books. ISBN 0688074111.
Seymour Simon is an award winning author of over a hundred children’s
nonfiction books. He was the recipient of the Washington Post: Children’s
Book Guild Award for Nonfiction for the body of his work. Part of
his success comes from knowing that children are curious about how
the world works and want to see high quality photos. Volcanoes has
these in abundance. The color photographs show different types of
volcanoes, as well as examples of the destruction they can cause.
The text is clearly written in an easy to understand style, a middle
elementary school level book. It covers such wide ranging topics as
the early mythology of volcanoes, to types of volcanoes and lava,
to showing pictures and talking about the devastation of the eruption
of Mt. St. Helens. The text also talks about the good effects of volcanoes,
they create new land and islands, new soil, and the ashes frequently
will fertilize the existing soil. The illustration on the plates of
the earth and their motions was a little unclear and could have been
labeled differently to help with clarity. But overall, this book is
a good introductory text on volcanoes for the elementary or early
middle school student.
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