Margaret McNamara

What a delight! THE BUG GIRL is the real-life story of Sophia Spencer, a girl who really, really likes bugs. This is a book about being true to yourself and following your passion — and then discovering a community of other people who share your passion. It's also a book about knocking down the stereotypes that discourage girls from entering STEM fields as they get older.

Apart from the story and its themes are the illustrations. These are dreamy and warm — realistic but also friendly show more and inviting. I wanted to sink into this softly coloured world. The illustrators are likely to win awards for this collaboration.

In brief, THE BUG GIRL is an outstanding pick for classrooms, school libraries, public libraries, and personal collections. Inspiring and beautiful — a book you're sure to read again and again. show less

Mr. Tiffin's class, who first appeared in author Margaret McNamara and illustrator G. Brian Karas' How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?, and then in The Apple Orchard Riddle and A Poem in Your Pocket, return in this fourth picture-book devoted to their academic adventures. In this installment of the series, the class heads to the Natural History Museum for a dinosaur-related field trip. Kimmy, an expert on all things dinosaur-related, can't wait to share her knowledge with her classmates. When Jake show more says girls can't be scientists however, she finds herself clamming up. Fortunately, Mr. Tiffin notices something is amiss, and manages to point her to a display about a woman paleontologist who discovered a new species of dinosaur, thereby restoring her confidence...

I have seen The Dinosaur Expert criticized for the fact that Jake, the pupil who makes the sexist remark about women not being scientists, is never called out directly in the narrative, nor chastised by Mr. Tiffin for his behavior. For my part, I actually really appreciated that aspect of the story. Although it might have been a good idea for Mr. Tiffin to pull Jake aside and speak to him, this was Kimmy's story, and that would have been a narrative distraction. This isn't a tale about a boy learning that girls can be scientists, although that clearly happens during the course of the story. This is the tale of a girl who loses confidence in herself temporarily, because of the thoughtless remarks of another, but who regains that confidence when shown a powerful example and role model, in the form of (real life) paleontologist, Dr. Zulma Brandoni de Gasparini. Zack clearly learns his lesson, through the subtler machinations of Mr. Tiffin, and by the end he is happily listening to the information that Kimmy has to share. What earthly purpose would publicly shaming a child have, other than to create hurt and resentment? Leaving that issue aside, I enjoyed this entry in the series about Mr. Tiffin's class. The narrative is engaging, involving the reader in Kimmy's emotional ups and downs, and the artwork is fun. Although it is the fourth book published about these characters, it is only the third I have read. I will have to try and track down the one I missed, The Apple Orchard Riddle. Recommended to young would-be paleontologists, and to anyone looking for books that address girls being scientifically inclined. show less

A delightful mixture of historical fiction and historical fact, George Washington's Birthday imagines the activities of its eponymous hero on his seventh birthday. Although the events chronicled are fictitious - George's conversations with his parents and his half-brother Augustine, his chopping down of the cherry tree - each two-page spread contains the factual information behind the fictional imagining of that day. In the scene in which young George begins to write a list of approved show more behaviors, for instance, the accompanying information reveals that by the time he was sixteen, the real Washington had written "110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior" that he kept on him at all times, as a reminder. The final page of the book presents a "letter" from Washington, with further historical background on the subject...

As someone who read and greatly enjoyed Ron Chernow's magisterial adult biography, George Washington: A Life, I was curious to see how author Margaret McNamara would handle her partly fictional / partly factual narrative. I was quite pleased in the end, and think that young readers will come away, not just with a better knowledge about George Washington, but a better understanding of the idea that history is a story, one that is just as influenced by myth as by fact. I was particularly pleased to see that the author mentions, in her afterword (George's letter) that the myth of the cherry tree was promulgated by Parson Weems, in his early 19th-century pamphlet on Washington, as we had to study this hagiographic work in a college course I took on American culture during that century. The accompanying artwork here, done by Barry Blitt in watercolor, is humorous and appealing. All in all, a wonderful picture-book, one I would recommend to those looking to introduce young children to the subject of George Washington. Perhaps it could be read on President's Day, which (as I'm sure every citizen knows) is indeed George Washington's birthday... show less

The children in Mr. Tiffin's classroom, whose story began in How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?, and then continued in The Apple Orchard Riddle, return in this third picture-book devoted to their educational experiences together. Here they prepare for National Poetry Month, and for the visit of a real live poet to their school on Poem in a Pocket Day. They study poetry in all its forms, and work on poems of their own to present to their guest. It is Elinor, usually the star of the class, who has show more the most trouble with their assignment, because she wants her poem to be perfect...

An engaging and educational story is paired with appealing illustrations in A Poem In Your Pocket, making it a worthy follow-up to How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?, which I recall quite enjoying (I have not read the intervening title, The Apple Orchard Riddle). I appreciated the way that author Margaret McNamara included information about different poetic devices and forms in her narrative, and thought that the main dilemma of the tale - Elinor's perfectionism - was well done. There are many endeavors, from learning a language or a musical instrument, to writing poetry, where an insistence on immediate mastery, and a reluctance to make mistakes (especially in public) can undermine the ability to learn, so kudos to the author for highlighting that issue. Recommended to young would-be poets and writers, and to children who struggle with perfectionism. show less