Rebecca DonnellyReseñas

Gr 4–8—Donnelly makes garbage absolutely fascinating. Facts about what and how much we throw away, past
solutions for waste, and how we can do better for our planet are all discussed in a light, conversational tone. An
excellent read with a lasting impact.

This is a goofy rhyming book about the zany behavior of cats, as observed by a group of young scientists. It enumerates the many properties of a liquid and shows cats performing all of them: slopping, plopping, drizzling, sloshing, flopping. It goes through the water cycle and weather, shows scientists weighing and measuring, and settles on the conclusion: cats are a liquid, except when they're not. The cartoonish illustrations, reminiscent of webcomics, is the perfect delivery system for a whole lot of cat pictures. This might be over-the-top silly if I hadn't taught states of matter to 6- to 9-year-olds and seen firsthand that "is a cat a liquid?" is a question that might seriously give pause to someone just learning the rules of the universe.

Fascinating topic, broken down in a straightforward manner for kids (or anyone, really) who wants to know more about the waste we create. I want us to do better at prioritizing the best outcome over the cost, and maybe if more people read books like these, we can make that happen.

Synergy: Garbage

GARBAGE is material discarded by humans because it’s no longer of use. Sometimes called trash, rubbish, or waste, these objects include organic matter such as food scraps, dry goods like boxes and bottles, and consumer products made of plastic, wood, metal, glass or cloth. Garbology is the study of modern trash.

Read the recently published narrative nonfiction for middle grades, then learn more at the websites:

TOTAL GARBAGE: A MESSY DIVE INTO TRASH, WASTE, AND OUR WORLD written by Rebecca Donnelly and illustrated by John Hendrix traces the history of the trash and waste generated by humans. In addition, readers learn about the different types of garbage, how it’s managed, and what individuals can do to reduce their impact on the Earth. ARC courtesy of Henry Holt and Co., an imprint of Macmillan.

HISTORY OF GARBAGE from SWA provides a brief timeline of trash.

To read the article, go to https://swa.org/DocumentCenter/View/277/History-of-Garbage-PDF.

GARBOLOGY from BBC is an article exploring patterns in people’s waste.

To read the article, go to https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220429-garbology-how-to-spot-patterns-in-pe....

GARBOLOGY from UW video shares the work of garbologists at the University of Washington.

To view the video, go to https://youtu.be/1C2aQuK_LD4.

I love Saburi's illustrations. The cats are so vibrant and funny! Most the text is good, but it breaks it's rhythm pattern about halfway through and it's not as fun to read

While I love, love, love the illustrations, I found the text to be a bit confusing and strange. It took me way too long to figure out that each page is about a different science experiment. Until you get the overarching science theme, all off the pages seem disjointed and random. But I love the lil banana peels looking silly, so I still kinda liked it

"Cats are a liquid...except when they're not." In addition to being a starting point to explore states of matter (solid, liquid, gas), and a vehicle for the cuteness of cats, this book also serves as a showcase for a wonderful number of verbs: cats "slosh" and "fizz" and "evaporate" and "precipitate."

Back matter includes "Are cats a liquid?", resources to learn more about states of matter, a link to read about "the paper that started it all," and an activity to make oobleck with water and corn starch.½

This is an adorable book, full of cute illustrations and a lot of energy. My nephews (huge cat loves) are going to love this.

This book is all about how cats have the same properties of liquid. The book goes through what property liquid has, and how it corresponds with cats. This book is a great book to introduce the scientific method of questioning. This book would be a great read aloud for any grade. The way the book is written elicits itself to younger grades, but the content of the book could be used in older grades as well. This book had great illustrations and is very engaging. Overall, this book could be used to engage students (of a variety of ages) in the content of the properties of liquid.

Well to start, I love cats, that's why I picked this book, but I really enjoyed it. I think this is a great introduction for a science lesson on liquids. It goes over some of the physical properties of a liquid to introduce the topic, but is still really fun to read and look at the illustrations which keeps students engaged. I also loved how there is an activity (making oobleck) in the back of the book that would go with a lesson. I have seen an oobleck lesson personally and I think this would be a great lesson launch for that.
Loved this book!

The simple text of this amusing new picture-book from author Rebecca Donnelly and illustrator Misa Saburi describes all the ways and circumstances in which our feline friends are liquids - the way they drape themselves, or laze about in relaxed puddles - while the artwork shows them cavorting in various ways. Of course, cats are a liquid, except when they aren't (such as when one is attempting to give them a bath), something also depicted in text and artwork...

Any reader who has ever seen a cat do something like this:



will know that the title of this new picture-book is 100% accurate! As it happens, the title of this one is really what drew me in, although I do have a distinct weakness for any picture-book featuring felines. I wasn't that thrilled with the text itself, as I thought it often felt a little scattered, but the idea of the book, along with the cute cartoon-style artwork, kept me entertained. There's even a brief afterword discussing the science of various states of matter. Recommended to all cat lovers, who will appreciate learning about the liquid qualities of their favorite animals!

Thanks to Kick-butt Kidlit for a free copy of How to Stage a Catastrophe!

This book is absolutely adorable and hilarious. Filled with plenty of theatre moments and larger-than-life characters, this is a book I wish I could send back in time to my past self (a.k.a., the mirror in a library production of Snow White). There's plenty of business stuff in here, and it's unexpectedly funny -- I think for both adults and kids alike. And I think my favourite part is how the book is written. It's like equal parts a theatre script and Sid walking alongside you and chatting your ear off.

An endearing book that I will definitely be recommending!