Nonfiction Corner – At the Poles/Masked Hero

At the Poles (Candlewick Press)
Written by David Elliott
Illustrated by Ellen Rooney

For ages: 3-7
Despite what it may look like, the poles of Earth are not lifeless. They are teeming with animals & plants that have evolved specially to live in such cold & harsh environments. David Elliott’s book of poems is split into two halves, one for each pole. You’ll be treated to a verse describing penguins and polar bears, which is to be expected. However, Elliott goes even deeper providing poems on animals as minuscule as the tardigrade (water bear) or as colossal as the giant squid. The poems are written with a sense of humor that keeps them light and fun. 

Accompanying these poems is some fantastic multimedia art from Ellen Rooney. She gives each animal a unique look, especially by adding texture to their fur/feathers/skin. Not even the backgrounds remain plain, with Rooney applying sponge painting to give them a textured hazy look. The book also includes nonfiction backmatter that details all the animals featured within to help extend the reader’s knowledge. I can see this being a perfect centerpiece for a unit on polar animals. Students could even pick an animal from the book and use that as a jumping-off point for a research project.

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Masked Hero: How Wu Lien-teh Invented the Mask That Ended an Epidemic (Candlewick Press)
Written by Shan Woo Liu
Illustrated by Lisa Wee

For ages: 4-8
The COVID-19 pandemic was a good reminder of how many people are working on public health for our benefit. One of those people in the past was Dr. Wu Lien-teh, a Chinese man who developed the first version of the N95 mask. The story tells readers how Wu was dealing with a pneumonic plague a century before COVID. It swept through Northeast China, infecting and killing so many. Wu figured out that the virus he was fighting was spread through the air and developed quarantine & masking protocols that are still used today. 

This book is penned by Wu’s great-granddaughter, who shares the struggles her ancestor went through, facing discrimination from non-Chinese and ridicule for ideas that people of his time couldn’t understand fully. We learn how by using Wu’s ideas, the plague ended in four months, and many were saved from infection without even knowing they had been in danger. As someone who has made N95 masks a regular part of my life since the pandemic began (and it is still going on despite what the CDC has said), I loved getting to know the story of where they came from. The story of Dr. Wu is an essential read for children today, helping them connect a moment in their present to people who lived over a century ago.