Some fun Halloween facts

Did you know that trick-or-treating was stopped at one point in time? Because of a sugar shortage during World War II, children were not allowed to trick-or-treat. People were asked to cut back on the amount of sugar they used, so many people switched to using honey to sweeten their food.

Did you know that carving jack-o-lanterns began a few hundred years ago? People in Ireland carved potatoes and turnips, and when they immigrated to the United States they brought that skill with them. When they arrived in America, they found that pumpkins could be carved just as easily.

These facts (and more!) can be found in Kooky Halloween Jokes to Tickle Your Funny Bone by Linda Bozzo. This title is part of the Funnier Bone Jokes series. All six titles in the series are available in library, paperback, and eBook versions.

Look for them at your local bookstore, or you can order them through your preferred vendor, enslow.com, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Happy Halloween!

Looking for a title containing several inventors in one book?

Amazing American Inventors of the 20th Century, now available from Enslow Publishers, will help your middle school student find the scientist he or she needs to write that report or create that project. Part of the Inspiring Collective Biographies series, this 112 page book contains biographies of ten American inventors.

Written by Laura S. Jeffrey, these inventors created everything from the microcchip to the Super Soaker! Learn about Gertrude Belle Elion, Philo Farnsworth, Charles Ginsburg, Gordon Gould, Lonnie Johnson, Beatrice Kenner, Jack Kilby, Stephanie Kwolek, William Lear,  and Robert Shurney.

This title (and the rest of the titles in this series) are available in library, paperback, and eBook versions, and are available from your preferred vendor, your local independent bookstore, enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. They will soon be correlated to the Common Core Standards, as well.

Biographies and eBooks

Of the hundreds of eBooks Enslow has available, there are two biography series that would be a great match for books for both early readers and middle school readers.

In the Famous African Americans series, written for the elementary reader, Paul Robeson is one title in this series of twelve books. A short biography of him is also included in Amazing African-American Actors, which is part of the African-American Collective Biographies series.

There is also an elementary biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., in the Famous African Americans series, as well as a short biography of him in Inspiring African-American Civil Rights Leaders from the African-American Collective Biographies series.

Titles in both series are available in library and paperback editions, as well as eBook formats. These titles are available from your preferred vendor, your independent bookstore, enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

American Space Missions

With the new film, Gravity, now being shown, American Space Missions—Astronauts, Exploration, and Discovery focuses on dramatic stories of space mission milestones. Great for the reluctant reader, these six titles contain exciting stories about space exploration. Each 48 page book discusses one particular aspect of space exploration and discovery.

The Coolest Job in the Universe reveals how astronauts eat, sleep, work, and more at the International Space Station (ISS.) The ISS is examined from its design and construction to the amazing astronauts who work there and the types of research and experiments they perform.

Danger in Space is about the Apollo 13 mission and the survival of its three astronauts after an explosion in the oxygen tank. Apollo 13 was more than two hundred thousand miles from Earth when the explosion occurred, and the astronauts had a new mission: not landing on the Moon, but surviving.

The Hubble Space Telescope is the subject of Eye on the Universe. This telescope captures the amazing wonders of space, relaying the photographs back to Earth, and allowing scientists and astronauts the ability to study parts of space that were completely unknown. Want to see the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy? What does a storm look like on Saturn? The answers to these questions (and more) can be found because of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Space Shuttle Disaster is an in-depth look at the Challenger disaster. On January 28, 1986, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Challenger blasted off from the launchpad, only to explode in mid-air less than two minutes later. What caused the explosion? Who were the seven people aboard? What has changed since this disaster to make flying to space safer? The answers to these questions, and more, are answered in this title.

The Gemini 4 mission is the subject of Spacewalk. Pilot Ed White was able to see the states while walking in space. This first American spacewalk was a monumental achievement, and it helped push the space program towards its ultimate goal of landing on the Moon. Learn about the technology that made it possible and the brave astronauts who helped to get this accomplished.

Learn about Neil Armstrong's first steps on the Moon's surface in Walking on the Moon. On July 29, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin were aboard the Eagle as it touched down on the surface of the Moon, with Buzz Aldrin exiting the Eagle shortly thereafter, joining Armstrong on the Moon's surface.

All six of these titles are available in library and paperback editions, as well as eBooks. They are available from your preferred vendor, your local independent bookstore, enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.