You know you want to GOOGLE IT!

Anna Crowley Redding’s lively nonfiction debut, GOOGLE IT!: A History of Google from Feiwel & Friends brightens up nonfiction shelves across the nation tomorrow, August 14, 2018. We here at Emu’s Debuts can’t recommend it highly enough – read on to learn how Anna’s book will enlighten students and engage reluctant readers, plus find out how editor Holly West started Anna down the path to publication.

GOOGLE IT: Curriculum Connections

by Ann Braden

I tore through my copy of Google It like my life depended on it. There have only been a few books that have been as much of page-turner for me and one of them was The Hunger Games, so you get the idea. For me, the fire it lit inside me was my teacher fire because suddenly here was this amazing story of two (big) kids who ran with an idea, weren’t afraid of failure, and were creative as all get out to make it work.

A turning point in my teaching career was when I was introduced to the concept of “Effective effort.” It recognized that saying “Good job!” or “You need to put in more effort” often didn’t have much impact, and that instead we needed to break down “effort” into meaningful, concrete chunks. Six chunks, specifically. As soon as I saw this list of six, I immediately made posters for my classroom for each one.

Six Types of Effective Effort

1) Putting in the Time

2) Being Focused

3) Reaching Out for Help When You Need It

4) Using Different Strategies and Alternatives

5) Getting Feedback and Using It

6) Sticking With It Even When It’s Hard

Suddenly, I could point to Poster #4 to congratulate a student for finding a new way to attack a problem, or point to Poster #1 when a student tried to turn in a rushed assignment. It made it clear that there was no such things as smart or stupid: the only difference was one’s willingness to attack something with whatever kind of effort is needed. It was empowering for me, and most importantly, for the students.

For me, reading GOOGLE IT got at the same empowering essence. The story of how two college students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, transformed the Internet (and our daily lives) is not just riveting; it also demonstrated step-by-step the power of Effective Effort.

Example #1 — Putting in the Time: When their thesis project started exploding and going international Larry and Sergey actually dropped out of college (very much against their parents’ wishes) so that they would have the time to dedicate to their project. (Their parents later agreed that it had been the right decision.)

Example #2 — Being Focused: Larry and Sergey prioritized this project over everything else at the time.

Example #3 —  Reaching Out for Help When Needed– Larry and Sergey had lots of ideas about new ways to approach technology, but they didn’t actually know much about running a business, so they found someone who did and made him the CEO.

Example #4 — Using Different Strategies and Alternatives – Google is based on the idea of using different strategies to approach the Internet and that failure is only teaching us what hasn’t worked yet, but here’s just one example: Larry and Sergey actually built their first server using legos.

Example #5 — Getting Feedback and Using It: Larry and Sergey make a practice of listening to their employees and giving them time to explore their own projects. For example, Gmail grew out of one of these employee-driven projects.

Example #6: Stick With It Even When It’s Hard — When Larry and Sergey didn’t have enough server capacity when they were first experimenting with their idea, they “borrowed” servers from other college departments and keep going. When at the beginning Google kept losing money, and losing money, and losing more money, they didn’t give up. They found someone who could be a good CEO, and they kept going.

Not only does story of Google help us understand how the things we take for granted now (e-mail, online maps, internet searches), but it helps students understand that they have the power to make their OWN mark on the world.

Plus, as a sidenote, I’ve seen Anna Crowley Redding  with kids, and she would be an amazing author to have for a school visit. Check out her website here for some of the school programs she offers.

P.S. Teachers and Librarians! Keep reading, for your chance to win a classroom set of 25 copies of GOOGLE IT!

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Three Cheers for Nonfiction Books!

by Kat Shepherd

I am so excited to celebrate Anna Crowley Redding’s fabulous new book, Google It!, a delicious read that is chock full of fascinating facts about one of the most recognizable companies in the world. I was drawn in from the very first page, and within minutes I was yelling across the house to my husband: “Hey! Listen to this! Did you know…?”

I have avidly devoured nonfiction since childhood, partly because I love learning new things, but even more so because every new book reminds me that the world of facts is far more interesting than we could even begin to imagine. Pangolins! Winchester Mystery House! Biddy Mason! Thank you, nonfiction. (And thank you, Google!)

Nonfiction can be a draw to any curious kid, and in my classroom I found that boys in particular would ask me for recommendations from the nonfiction bin. My fourth grade nephew, Leo, who eschews fiction books as ‘lies’, loves taking true-fact deep dives into some of his favorite subjects: soccer, presidents, and the Revolutionary War. Many a time I have been approached by dismayed parents who lament, “My kid just won’t read,” as they gesture toward a gleaming pile of award-winning novels. When I suggest they offer magazines, news articles, encyclopedias, or how-to guides, they suddenly find an engaged scholar who is begging for more.)

I recently returned from a national conference for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, where Melissa Stewart moderated a panel on nonfiction. At the beginning of the panel, Melissa threw out some surprising facts about expository nonfiction, which she shared in this excellent blog post for The Nerdy Book Club. She also wrote,

Many students connect more strongly to books with an expository writing style, and they’re most likely to develop a love of reading if they have access to fact-filled books with clear main ideas and supporting details, intriguing patterns, analogies, concepts, and calculations. These children read with a purpose. They want to understand the world and how it works and their place in it. They want to understand the past and the present, so they can envision the future stretching out before them.

This is why the world is so hungry for fabulous books like Google It!. Redding has given us a high-interest subject for tech-savvy kids, and she has presented the info in a way that students love to read. And not only are books like Google It! meeting student demand for engaging expository texts; they’re also preparing kids for the kind of reading they will absolutely rely on as they enter the world of adults. So as you’re preparing your classroom library for the year or taking a back-to-school book shopping trip, don’t forget to stock up on plenty of nonfiction books for satisfying, fact-filled reads!

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An Interview with GOOGLE IT editor Holly West

by Christina Uss

Holly, what was it about Google It that drew you in and made you decide you wanted to publish it?
The original concept for Google It was something that I had wanted to  publish for a long time. I’m most interested in non-fiction that expands upon or explains things that are relevant to our lives today, and I don’t know about you, but I use Google, and Google based products and services several times a day. Whether its holding meetings with authors over Google Hangouts, using Google Maps to find the restaurant I’m going to, constantly checking both my work and personal Gmails, or simply googling that thing I can’t quite remember.  And when I noticed how omnipresent Google was in my life, I decided I wanted to know more about it. And then I realized that September 2018 was going to be the twentieth anniversary of the founding of Google, and I knew the time was right to publish a book.

I didn’t realize a publisher might have a nonfiction project in mind and then go looking for the right author to bring it to life. How did you connect with Anna? (Did you Google her?)

I did Google Anna at one point early on. As I mentioned above, I had been wanting to do a non-fiction book about Google for a while, but I was having a hard time finding the right author to tackle this subject. But then a colleague of mine introduced me to Anna’s wonderful agent, Joan Paquette at Erin Murphy Literary, and she told me all about this new debut author she’d just signed who she thought would be perfect for the book. One Google search later, and I was writing Joan and asking for an introduction. And many moons later, we have this wonderful book!

The format of the book is so appealing: chock-full of facts with plenty of sidebars and side notes set off from the rest of the text. Did you and Anna come up with these layouts together? How did you decide what would be part of the main text and what would be pulled out as an extra tidbit?

I love the design of this book as well! The actual layouts were the work of our fantastic designer, Raphael Geroni, who did a wonderful job.  But Anna and I did have a few conversations about the inclusions of sidebars and inserts. We wanted to book to feel right to an audience used to reading online, and we both have a tendency to take “Wiki Walks” when browsing online, where if you want more information on something or have a question like the one she opened the book with: “How many stacked pennies would it take to reach the moon?”  you can immediately open a new tab and Google the answer. So we wanted a way to have those answers and extra information readily available without disrupting the flow of the main text. And there were definitely some discussions mid-edits about which stories needed to be part of the main text and which tidbits and explanations could live in the sidebars.

What was your favorite part of working on this book with Anna?

Anna was just lovely to work with all around, but I think my favorite bit was always reading the new draft and seeing what wonderful new stories and facts she’d found.  She used to be an investigative journalist, so her research skills are top-notch!

Each new draft must have been so much fun to read. Any advice for other nonfiction kidlit authors on how to polish their manuscripts to have as much appeal as Google It?

I think the most important thing for authors is to find a topic that you can be passionate about. If you think what you are writing about is fascinating, then that will probably come through for your readers. Also, you are going to spend a LOT of time thinking, and writing, and reading, and rewriting, and re-researching information about your topic, so it better be something you enjoy!

We here at Emu’s Debuts know Anna’s genuine enthusiasm is on every page, and it’s sure to hook readers right from the beginning.  What are you waiting for? Google how close the nearest copy is to you right now!

Attention Amazing Teachers and Librarians, to celebrate the launch of Google It: A History of Google, you have a chance to win a classroom set of 25 copies! The lucky winner will also receive a classroom set of Google It! bookmarks plus a free Skype visit. A winner will be picked on September 4, 2018. Click here to enter.

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Anna Crowley Redding’s inquisitive nature lends itself perfectly to nonfiction writing for kids. She can tell you how many stacked copies of her favorite books it would take to reach the moon.