Window Into Winsome

It is defined by Merriam-Webster as attractive or pretty especially in a childish, youthful or delicate way.  It, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.  Each person's description of cute is based upon a variety of perceptions.

Jess Keating, writer and zoologist (and illustrator) is a master of educating all who read her books.  Her love of the natural world and the animals dwelling therein shines in every word she writes.  Her third companion title in the series The World Of Weird Animals, Cute As An Axolotl: Discovering the World's Most Adorable Animals (Alfred A. Knopf, August 28, 2018) with illustrations by David DeGrand is like taking a walk with her around the world seeking and peeking into the realm of seventeen marvelous animals.

Think you know
CUTE?
Turn the page to see some 
of the world's cutest animals
in a whole new light . . .

Our first stop is Lake Xochimilco in the country of Mexico.  There dwells the precious animal seen on this book's cover, the Axolotl.  This clever creature can repair and regrow damaged limbs.  Unfortunately, they are listed as critically endangered.

As we cross over to Australia, we find the Quokka who appears to be constantly smiling in its furry face.  Beware though, their claws are razor sharp and they find over-eager humans tasty.  Have you ever heard of a Fairy Penguin?  They dwell in New Zealand, Tasmania and Southern Australia.  They are the smallest penguins on our planet at only 12-13 inches high.  These little beings are in trouble too, but guard dogs are protecting them now.  (Isn't this amazing?)

There are moths that as adults don't eat.  These Rosy Maple Moths, with wing spans of between one and one-quarter to two inches depending on the sex, are lush shades of yellow and pink looking like fur.  (They are sometimes found in Michigan, so I am on the lookout.) The only scaled mammal on Earth is called the Pangolin. Their tongue can grow to be longer than their fifteen to twenty-three-inch body length.

There is a frog with a see-through body for spotting its organs, a tiny hippo who prefers the night, a fly that looks like a bee that bees need to avoid, and an eight-inch long squirrel that can glide and hide beautifully.  Parts of Africa are home to the Dik-Dik a small antelope only about sixteen inches tall.  They use their tears and urine to mark their territories.

A mother who buries her young to keep them safe, a teeny reptile that pretends to be wood, and a fox with six-inch ears exist and survive but like all the other animals need protection and prudent conservation to keep their habitats in place.  They need our help.  We need them; they are integral links in the chain of our existence.


No matter how many times you read about these animals each time your respect is renewed.  Jess Keating speaks about these animals as if we are standing next to her in conversation with a valued friend.  And that is the gift Jess Keating brings to her writing; it's brimming with knowledge but completely accessible to all kinds of readers.  She wants us to know what she knows.  She wants us to be good citizens of this planet.

She continues the pattern of information supplied to readers in the first two previous titles.  In the first paragraph she captivates us with facts certain to fascinate us.  In the following paragraph she introduces or extends our information about a specific aspect of the animal.  On the right side we are privy to the name, species name, size, diet, habitat and predators and threats of each animal.  Here is a sample passage.

Nope, it's not a figment of your imagination or a character in a video game.  The Blue Dragon is the real deal, and shares its scientific name with the ancient Greek sea god Glaucus.  This squishy blue nudibranch could sit on your fingertip, but don't touch it!  The blue dragon eats venomous creatures like the Portuguese man-of-war.  But instead of getting sick, it stores their venom in its skin and becomes toxic itself. 


With wit illustrator David DeGrand adds his comic cartoons of each critter.  He focuses on a particular point in the narrative providing an exaggerated viewpoint sure to garner laughter.  The guard dogs for the fairy penguins are wearing sun glasses so the attackers are unaware of where they are looking.  The anemones held by the chelipeds of the pom-pom crab do indeed look like their name, but those anemones are shown chomping on food to clean up the crab's home. The blue dragon is carrying a load of bottles labeled with the universal sign for poison, a skull and crossbones.  One of my favorite illustrations is the bare-hearted glass frog shown standing on a branch, singing for a mate.  We can see its heart and intestines.


If you have not added this title to your professional and personal collections yet, run and get a copy or two or three of Cute As An Axolotl: Discovering the World's Most Adorable Animals written by Jess Keating with illustrations by David DeGrand.  As educational and entertaining as the companion titles, readers will reread this until it has the well-loved look.  Jess includes a discussion called The Science of Cute at the conclusion inviting readers to think and talk about what cute means.  A lengthy glossary of useful words follows.

To discover more about Jess Keating and David DeGrand and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Both Jess and David have accounts on Twitter.  On Instagram Jess and David also have accounts.  Jess Keating is interviewed at Booklist.  It is excellent.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.  Jess stopped by this blog to chat with me about this title and premier the fun book trailer.


Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to view the other titles selected this week by participants in the 2018 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Land Mammal Magnificance

When a planet is in peril, so are its inhabitants.  Humans and other living plants and animals have been and are facing challenges never experienced in previous generations. Even with their marvelous methods of adapting to survive, humans' companions, plants and animals, need us to make choices in their favor every single day.

A little more than two years ago the Great Elephant Census was completed and released.  It indicated the population of African elephants except for forest elephants, which are too difficult to count from the air, has diminished 30% in seven years.  According to a National Geographic post regarding the census about 27,000 elephants are killed every year, mainly from poaching. (If you want to make a comparison, look up the population of your community.  My community would be entirely eliminated five times in one year.)  It is believed the numbers for the Asian elephant population are even worse.

Author illustrator Jenni Desmond awakened and enhanced our awareness in her titles The Blue Whale and The Polar Bear.  In her newest title, The Elephant (Enchanted Lion Books, September 25, 2018) she again draws our attention to one of the largest animals on planet Earth.  Unless we are residents of those places where elephants reside in Africa and Asia, we will never see them in their natural habitat.  Jenni Desmond brings us to where they roam through her informative words and striking illustrations.

Once upon a time, a child took a book from the shelf and started to read.

The book he is reading is the one we are holding in our hands.  Already he knows they are the largest land mammals with extraordinary intelligence and remarkable memories.  Their minds allow them to find food and in the same spots from year to year.

African elephants and Asian elephants have similarities and differences.  Did you know their ears are shaped like the continents upon which they reside?  The trunks on African elephants are two-fingered as opposed to the single-fingered trunks on Asian elephants.  The tusks on African elephants grow and grow; the longer the tusks, the older the elephants.  Not all Asian elephants have tusks.

It's astounding to realize why a walking elephant appears to glide.  The bone structure causes them to walk on their toes.  Elephants' ears contribute to their exceptional hearing and work as cooling agents.  Their immense trunks not only complete monumental tasks but can pick up a tiny piece of fruit.

Elephants have a matriarchal society.  Males either lead a solitary life or live with other males.  Mother elephants are pregnant for twenty-two months.  For up to five years, a baby elephant will stick to its mother like proverbial glue.

Along with their massive size, elephants have a massive appetite which in turn generates huge piles of dung (300 pounds) per day.  They are known to travel great distances to find an abundance of water.  It quenches their thirst, keeps them cool and is a perfect place to play.

Elephants are a "keystone species," which means that their existence is uniquely important to other plants and animals. 

Elephants' treatment of those elephants who have died is reverent.  Their sleeping practices are unbelievable.  They deserve our respect and protection. . . now and always.


Jenni Desmond calls to readers with her first sentence.  We listen and lean in to hear the story she tells.  We follow the boy reading the book, along with us, as he steps into the world of elephants.  Facts are flawlessly integrated into the narrative.

We move from generalities to place of residence, physical characteristics and comparisons and lifestyle.  Jenni Desmond builds layer upon layer of information supplying us with a complete vision of these fascinating beings.  Here are two passages.

An African savanna elephant male, or bull, can reach 13 feet tall
and 24 feet long, and can weigh up to seven tons.  That's about the
weight of four large cars.  The females, or cows, are half that size.

Even baby elephants are big.  At birth, an African savanna elephant
calf can be 260 pounds, the weight of a speedy motor scooter.


The stunning enormity and beauty of the African savanna elephant is depicted with such clarity on the opened and matching dust jacket and book case, readers will find it hard not to gasp.  The stark landscape is pure perfection for displaying this elephant and his child companion, our guide in the reading of this book.  The setting continues over the spine to the left.  On the back elephant footprints lead from the edge of the gray (nearly centered) increasing in size until they move off the image in the lower, left-hand corner.

On the opening and closing endpapers very pale sky meets a very pale earth running along the lower fifth of the pages.  A tiny line of elephants ranging in age and size move along the right side on the front and along the left side on the back; as if they are constantly moving.  They also change positions on the closing endpapers apart from the matriarch, who always leads.

On the title page under the text the boy is marching and carrying a red teapot, cups, the book and his four stuffed-animal pals, an elephant, a polar bear, a whale and a tiger.  A single cup lays on the floor behind him.  With a page turn, he is cozily reading on a rug patterned in elephants.  His toys are seated on a small nearby bench with cups and treats in front of each of them.  The polar bear and whale have on hats.  The elephant has on glasses and the tiger is wearing a necklace.  To the left a fire burns in a fireplace shaped like an elephant's foot.  Readers will enjoy looking at the titles on the books on the shelf.  And what's that waving in the window?  Is it two elephant trunks?  This first illustration is one of my many favorite pictures.

With each succeeding page turn we step farther into the realm of elephants, viewing vast scenes dominated by their presence.  Maps indicate where they live.  Diagrams point out their physical traits. 

In the comparison with their height and weight four cars are stacked in front of a full-grown elephant.  The occupants of all four of them are a combination of animals and humans.  The boy rides his scooter into the next scene.  He tiptoes home into the kitchen to get a snack.  Photographs on the wall showcased by his flashlight explain the text.  The final photograph appears on the next page.

Jenni Desmond has a gift of connecting each illustration to the next.  Rendered in watercolor, acrylic, pencil, crayons and drypoint these visuals complement and extend the text bringing us close to a scene and then asking us to step back to get a larger picture or the reverse.  We are completely engaged and captivated.

When she closes with a nighttime illustration, the boy is hugging the trunk of one of the elephants.  In the distance a light is on in his home, which is above ground and shaped like an elephant.  In the final scene she zooms in and we sigh at the sight, like the darkness surrounding the savanna.


Recipient of four starred reviews and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2018 The Elephant written and illustrated by Jenni Desmond is a superb work of narrative nonfiction.  Pair this with Katherine Roy's How To Be An Elephant: Growing Up in the African Wild and you will have two quintessential titles on these amazing creatures.  I highly recommend this book for both your personal and professional book collections.

To discover more about Jenni Desmond and her work please visit her website by following the link attached to her name.  Jenni has a blog here.  She has accounts on Twitter and Instagram.  At the publisher's website you can view interior illustrations. 


Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to view the titles selected this week by participants in the 2018 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Heads Turned. People Stopped And Listened.

Every single being is born with a gift.  It might not initially be noticed, but what we do with this gift defines us.  It's how we make our mark in this world.  Hopefully spirits will be lifted and the quality of life of those around us will be better.

In 1936 there was a girl child born in Texas.  What Do You Do With A Voice Like That?: The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan (Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, September 25, 2018) written by Chris Barton with illustrations by Ekua Holmes presents a stirring account of this child.  She understood the good her gift would (and did) bring to others.

Growing up in the Fifth Ward of Houston, Texas,
Barbara Jordan stood out.

It wasn't because of the way she looked or acted.  It was because of her voice.  Her voice commanded immediate attention from all who heard it.  She used this voice in church, school and contests.  At the age of sixteen she left Texas for the first time traveling to Chicago as the winner of an oratory competition.

Barbara received counsel from Grandpa Patten during their weekly chats.  With her voice she could do many things but first she needed to go to college.  Through hard work and long hours, she became a lawyer.  The practice of law left her wanting more so when given an opportunity, Barbara lifted her voice.  She believed the best place to create change was politics.

Did she win the first time she ran for office? No.  Did she win the second time she ran for office? No.  She won the third time!  Working as a senator for the state of Texas she knew she could make changes in laws to help those who needed it the most.  Inside and outside the legislative chambers, she spoke and other lawmakers respectively listened.

In 1972 Barbara Jordan went to work in Washington, D. C. as a congresswomen.  She spoke truths about the United States Constitution and how everyone, yes everyone, needed to obey the laws founded on this document.  President Nixon resigned. (I remember listening to her powerful speech.)

Barbara continued fighting for peoples' rights as speculation began about the next office she would hold, but there would be no more politics for her. A debilitating disease, multiple sclerosis, had her going home to Texas.  Barbara took her wondrous, wise voice to classrooms and sporting events.  Even today her words still ring out loud and strong reflected in every life she touched.


For those who have never heard the resounding voice of Barbara Jordan, author Chris Barton through his writing sends its power off the pages of this book into our minds and hearts.  Through his meticulous research he allows us to understand the impact of her influence.  Portions of her life are tied together with a question at the end of paragraphs and phrases.  These lead us to her many accomplishments. By repeating key words, connections are made and a cadence is created.  Here is a passage.

That voice.

That big, bold, booming, crisp, clear, confident voice.

It caused folks to sit right up, stand up straight, and take notice.

What do you do with a voice like that?

Just like the voice of Barbara Jordan, the image on the front of the dust jacket stops readers in their tracks. Who is this woman with this voice?  The contrast of the blue face holding many faces of Barbara on radiating yellow is bold and dynamic. To the left, on the back, a collage of swaths of color and words further describes the powerful personality of Barbara Jordan.

Like rays of sunshine, golden yellow on golden yellow, lines stretch from the spine on the book case.  White and yellow stars are scattered among words like democracy, freedom, and the great principles of right and wrong. A vivid sky blue covers the opening and closing endpapers.  The blue and yellow palette is used for the text and background on the title page.

Rendered in mixed media the illustrations of Ekua Holmes are individual portraits of an amazing woman throughout her life; each one worthy of framing.  They vary in size, sometimes spanning two pages, or nearly two pages leaving a place for the text.  Other times individual elements are outlined in large amounts of white space.

Each visual elevates the narrative and tells its own story.  The details of clothing worn by Barbara (and others) and her facial expressions in each setting bring us into the moments. The layout of every single element in each picture is superb as is the light and shadow in those items.

One of my many favorite illustrations is when Barbara stepped forward to speak when circumstances called for her help.  The picture is a full page on the right crossing the gutter and filling a third of the left page.  Triangular shapes like beams of light in yellows and oranges with a tinge of green extend from the top with square-dotted spirals in white.  Barbara's back is to us.  Her arms are outstretched on either side.  A pearl necklace circles her neck.  A paisley-print dress in pink, purple and blue drapes her frame.  A faceless audience listens in front of her.

I can't imagine a personal or professional collection of books without a copy of What Do You Do With A Voice Like That: The Story Of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan written by Chris Barton with illustrations by Ekua Holmes on their shelves.  This fresh, vibrant depiction in a stunning blend of words and images will promote discussions and further research.  An author's note, timeline, and recommended viewing and reading is found on the final three pages.

To learn more about Chris Barton and Ekua Holmes and their other work, please visit their respective websites by following the links attached to their names.  Chris and Ekua maintain accounts on Twitter.  Chris and Ekua also have accounts on Instagram.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.  Chris Barton wrote an article at the Nerdy Book Club about this title.  Chris recommends you listen to Barbara Jordan's 1974 speech during the House Judiciary Committee presidential impeachment hearings.



Please take a few minutes to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to enjoy the titles selected by others participating in the 2018 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Be Vigilant For Truth

There are those placed in any given situation with others who will observe more.  They will notice the smallest of details about the natural world, objects and the mannerisms of people.  In assessing all this information, they can answer questions, draw conclusions and make predictions.

Able to hone these skills with persistence and practice, they may choose to become scientists, veterinarians, sociologists or officers in law enforcement.  The Eye That Never Sleeps: How Detective Pinkerton Saved President Lincoln (Abrams Books For Young Readers, November 6, 2018) written by Marissa Moss with illustrations by Jeremy Holmes presents highlights of a remarkable life.  It focuses on one episode which most likely changed the course of history.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A GREAT DETECTIVE?  Do You Need To Be STRONG OR RICH OR POWERFUL?

Allan Pinkerton wasn't any of those things.  Born in 1819, he grew up in one of the worst slums in Scotland. But he had sharp eyes, a quick mind, and a hunger for justice.

At an early age he started to devote his life to rights for workers.  He became a wanted man by the British government.  In fact, on his wedding day, he and his new bride fled the country, hidden on a vessel bound for the United States of America.  Upon their arrival in Chicago, he started a cooperage, barrel making, business.  It was highly successful.

In 1847 finding himself in need of lumber, Allan went to an island in the river hoping to get wood.  He noticed the remains of a recent fire.  By going back night after night, he discovered men making small items in the fire.  Alerting the authorities, they broke up a coin counterfeiting ring.  He did the same thing with another group of counterfeiters in another town.  The Chicago Police Department made Allan Pinkerton their first full-time detective.

Within a year, Pinkerton left to start his own agency.  Increasing the business's abilities meant hiring more agents.  They were all taught using the Pinkerton Method and Manual.  In short order their motto "We Never Sleep" earned them the honor of the best agency in the nation.  This success lead to Pinkerton being hired to protect the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad from harm by those wishing to secede from the union.  In this capacity Pinkerton uncovered rumors of a plot to assassinate newly elected President Lincoln.

Sending in his best people, including the first woman detective, Kate Warne, Pinkerton garnered specific goosebumps-inducing details of the scheme and warned President Lincoln. The clever plan Pinkerton devised to thwart this evil was the stuff of page-turning, thrilling intrigue.  Duly impressed with the work of Allan Pinkerton, President Lincoln created a special team to locate spies for the South and to infiltrate the South as spies.  

Immediately we are enthralled with this man's life by the way author Marissa Moss incorporates facts in this fascinating narrative.  We find ourselves cheering for a person with Pinkerton's powerful characteristics and his actions that support these beliefs.  Marissa Moss's precise and thorough research is apparent in the inclusion of specific details and quotes.  Even though you know the outcome of events, you find yourself hardly daring to breathe.  Here is a passage.

Not trusting the mail or telegraph wires, Pinkerton sent an agent, Kate Warne, to set up an appointment so he could meet with Lincoln, then followed her to Philadelphia, the next city on the president's route.  That night, he pushed his way through the excited crowds in the lobby and halls of the Continental Hotel.  People were even gathered right outside Lincoln's door! This city was friendly to the president-elect.  Here the hordes of people weren't a threat.  What would it be like, though, with angry mobs in Baltimore, a city with strong southern sympathies?

The complementary color palette and illustrative style on the opened and matching dust jacket and book case, capture our attention immediately.  The scratchboard technique devised by illustrator Jeremy Holmes here (and throughout the book) is indicative of a historical piece.  The meticulous details in clothing and architecture take us back in time.  

To the left, on the back, a poster with uneven and wrinkled edges is placed on a wooden wall.  It contains the opening statement with several other lines asking readers to discover how this man became

America's greatest detective.

On the opening and closing endpapers is a patterned diamond design in two shades of purple with what appears to be ink blots.  On the title page the eye, the logo for the agency, is centered with text above and below it.  Scroll work frames the words.

With each page turn Jeremy Holmes creates a series of wordless, successive panels in a variety of sizes or large double page pictures with elements encroaching on the text panel.  This visual storytelling has you examining every single image.  Repeatedly the eye(s) of Pinkerton create a beam of light based on his current work.  

The point of view portrayed in the pictures shifts to coincide with the narrative; bringing us close to Pinkerton or giving us a broader perspective in a particular location.  When speaking of the plot to assassinate the president elect three illustration match the text; a close-up of a hand clutching a red piece of paper, President Lincoln and Mrs. Lincoln driving through groups of people in a horse drawn and open carriage and a large picture of the president's stovepipe hat riddled with bullet holes and script reading

The Deed Is Done.

The use of cross-sections, maps, newspaper headlines, typography, and a Morse telegraph alphabet is excellent.  Speech bubbles add to the authenticity and personal aspects.  A final vertical double-page picture highlights a moment of triumph.  

One of my many favorite illustrations is when Jeremy Holmes zooms in on Pinkerton's face.  His nose centers in the gutter with his face extending on either side.  Pouring from both of his ears are bits and pieces of conversations centering on the plot.  Along the bottom of the page and in front of Pinkerton's beard is an engine, coal car and passenger car of the B & O Railroad.  In the lower left-hand and right-hand corners are squares of text framed in tiny lines.

We become willing and avid time travelers when reading The Eye That Never Sleeps: How Detective Pinkerton Saved President Lincoln written by Marissa Moss with illustrations by Jeremy Holmes.  The word cliff-hanger repeatedly comes to mind with this winning blend of words and illustrations.  A time line, artist's note, author's note, endnotes, bibliography and index add to the excellence of this work.  I highly recommend this for your personal and professional collections.  (Fans of this book will enjoy reading The Detective's Assistant by Kate Hannigan.)

To learn more about Marissa Moss and Jeremy Holmes and their other work, visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.  Marissa Moss maintains an account on Twitter.  Both Marissa and Jeremy have Instagram accounts.  Marissa is interviewed by Deborah Kalb about this title.  Jeremy visits Let's Talk Picture Books to chat about this book.  You are going to love all the artwork featured.


Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to discover the other titles listed this week by participants in the 2018 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Gone Forever

In our region of northern Michigan, the two worst storms of winter 2017-2018 arrived in April.  This was followed by a summer leaving us categorized with severe drought.  Then the rains came in September . . . for weeks.  On the heels of this non-stop rain, our first snow arrived on November 10, 2018 and it's here to stay.  The seasons of my childhood and early adulthood are no longer present.  Our resilient but fragile planet and its inhabitants are in danger.  The National Snow & Ice Data Center recorded in October 2018 the third lowest extent of ice in the Arctic region between the dates of 1979 and 2018 according to satellite records.

The 12 lowest September ice extents over the satellite record have all occurred since 2007.

If Polar Bears Disappeared (Roaring Brook Press, August 28, 2018) written and illustrated by Lily Williams discusses polar bears, other Arctic animals and their habitats.  More importantly this is tied to the current and future state of sea ice in the region.  Lily Williams clearly presents how all areas and life on this Earth are critically tied together.

THIS IS THE ARCTIC.  It's an ecosystem in the far northern region of the globe.  

Of the limited animals residing here, they've adapted to the conditions.  One of these creatures is the polar bear.  Descended from brown bears it changed its habits (and its color) to revolve around sea ice. Sea ice is essential for food (and travel and reproduction.) The lack of sea ice and thus, food, for polar bears creates a ripple effect.

Without polar bears the population of ringed seals, their main entree, would rise but they would soon find themselves in the same position, without any sea ice, as polar bears.  Orcas, like polar bears, feast on seals.  Without sea ice access is easier but the numbers of seals would drastically decline.  Forced to move south for food, the presence of orcas would be problematic for other large predators.

Sea ice shields the landscape from the sun.  The increase in heat would be devastating for plant life.  Animals needing plants for food, like caribou, would suffer.  Land animals who rely on snow for shelter and protection would be victims of these new conditions.  Patterns in the lives of birds would not be maintained without their food, insects.  Everything is tied together.

With the sea ice gone the effects would spread from ecosystem to ecosystem around the world.  Can we save polar bears? Is there a possibility of stopping this?  Yes!  We are not alone in our desire to save these majestic beings.  Great minds are at work.  Read. Search. Act.


For her intended audience (for all of us) Lily Williams writes with clarity.  Her facts and explanations reveal knowledge born of careful research.  Each portion of her narrative is connected to the next with a repetitive phrase.  Although the presented possibilities are frightening, we are given direction and hope.  Here are several passages.

Without enough snow, subnivean
mammals like lemmings, who make
their dens in the snow, would lose
their homes,
exposing them to the harsh
weather and predators, and
decreasing their populations.

With many of the herbivores gone, non-apex
predators such as the snowy owl and Arctic
fox would be the next to lose their main
food sources.


The limited color palette on the opened and matching dust jacket and book case is reflective of the Arctic region and its inhabitants.  The hues of blue and the stark white depict the frigid temperatures and the harshness of the sea and landscape.  It also allows for the startling contrast of red in the title text and the dotted lines around the polar bear.    On the front two characters, seen exploring and learning about the region throughout the book, are introduced.

To the left, on the back, two small cubs on the extended sea ice are outlined in red.  Three seals are featured above them.  In the far distance a large group of animals gather.  The opening and closing endpapers are a breathtaking vista of the northern lights; an upward swirl of greens and purples.  Along the bottom three smaller black figures stand; the three polar bears.

Double-page pictures beginning with the title and verso pages take readers into the Arctic.  The two girls and adult woman on a four-wheeler are buzzing over the snow.  Each illustration elevates the text with a visual interpretation.  Four of the pages contain a grouping of smaller images to coincide with the narrative.  When necessary Lily Williams labels elements in the pictures; names of animals in cross-sections under the snow and how the sun is reflected or absorbed on sea ice or the water.

One of my favorite illustrations is toward the conclusion.  It is a view of mountains of snow and ice.  In the foreground dusk is settling.  Between two peaks the dying rays of the sun shed a pale peach light.  Along the bottom on the left, close to readers, are the two girls and the woman.  They are watching the polar bear and two cubs in the distance.  The cubs are playing. This image leads to the final picture, one filled with hope.


Informative words and illustrations contribute to the power found in If Polar Bears Disappeared written and illustrated by Lily Williams.  At the end of the book readers will find a glossary, passages titled The Arctic Is In Trouble and How You Can Help Save Polar Bears, an author's note, acknowledgements, a bibliography and additional sources.  This back matter is welcome and important to readers.  I highly recommend you include a copy of this title in your professional and personal collections.

To learn more about Lily Williams and her other work, please visit her website by following the link attached to her name.  At a publisher's website you can view eight interior images.  Lily Williams maintains an account on Twitter, and Instagram.  Lily Williams and her editor, Emily Feinberg chat with teacher librarian Matthew Winner on The Children's Book Podcast.  

Tasty Travel

There's no doubt about it, children love eating.  Within minutes of finishing one meal, they are asking when the next one will be served.  Eating not only feeds their bodies but their souls. Comforting and fond memories are associated with meals due to words and activities associated with those moments.  Stories are shared.  Lessons are learned.  Hopefully, there is loads of laughter.

One thing they enjoy even more than eating is cooking.  This form of creating appeals to all the senses with a delicious conclusion.  Kids Cooking: Students Prepare and Eat Foods from Around the World (Candlewick Press, October 23, 2018) written and illustrated by George Ancona gives us a peek inside the kitchens of several schools; children traveling to other countries one meal at a time.

Today is cooking day!  There are many 
smiles as the kids head to the kitchen.

In the first school, before the preparation begins, an instructor explains about the root vegetables and fresh ginger used in the recipe from the North African country of Morocco.  These vegetables are accompanied by a sauce called chermoula along with oranges and mint leaves.  Wash your hands everyone!

Gals and guys are taught how to cut the vegetables and measure spices.  As the vegetables roast, the children draw pictures of those vegetables.  Other students work to blend the ingredients for the sauce and two other groups work on the mint and the oranges.  With the cooking completed, all sit at the table to eat.

As-salamu alaykum means "Peace be upon you" in Arabic.

At the next school Chinese-American dishes are made but not before children see where China is located on a globe.  Rice is mixed with an array of chopped vegetables, eggs, soy sauce and garlic.  A cold dish, sweet and sour cucumbers, completes this meal.  Even clean-up is fun for these students.

A pot of soup bubbles on the stove after lots of chopping and slicing.  In another area dough is kneaded and shaped for bread sticks.  Minestrone is a favorite dish from Italy.

In the last two schools children learn about the variety of tomatoes used in salsa.  What else is blended with the tomatoes?  Have you ever made corn tortillas using homemade dough and a press? A tale of tamales and family begins another lesson.  At three separate stations children work on the three parts of a tamale.

Buen provecho estudiantes!


As soon as you read the first three sentences, you are fully aware George Ancona enjoys making books for children especially those featuring children.  The flow of one sentence to the next is a descriptive conversation of each cooking day.  Educators and children are named giving the narrative a personal note.  It's like stepping into the kitchen with the students.

For each meal the ingredients are listed along with safety in the kitchen mentioned.  This is a whole experience for these students and us readers. Here is a passage.

Esteban and Kimberley begin making the chermoula by
chopping an herb called cilantro.  Kimberley adds the spices,
olive oil, and lemon juice.

Then, using a mortar and pestle, Natalie grinds everything
into a smooth, delicious sauce.  Natalie's dad lends a hand.
Family members come to the kitchen to help on cooking days. 


One of the first things you notice about the opened, matching dust jacket and book case (after the pleasing layout) is the faces of the children.  They are doing everything with intention.  They are fully engaged.  This is a hint of the wonder within the pages.  George Ancona is highly skilled at capturing the essence of a moment.  Along the bottom of the front and in one of the spaces on the back are drawings made by the students.

The use of hues of blue is carried over to the opening and closing endpapers covered in a royal blue.  Four new children are featured in squares framing the text on the title page.  Throughout the book in a variety of sizes and points of view, George complements and heightens his text with delightful photographs of the children.

He also includes pictures of the ingredients which are like colorful still life paintings.  Sometimes a portion of an image will be framed in white space or an edge of it will break the border of another illustration.  Nearly every page turn includes artwork by the students.


You are certain to be smiling and craving time in the kitchen or browsing through cookbooks after reading Kids Cooking: Students Prepare and Eat Foods from Around the World written and illustrated by George Ancona.  This author illustrator knows his subjects with the keen eye of a photographer and the heart of a writer.  You can use this title with his other book, It's Our Garden: From Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden.  For a theme on cooking, food, or countries around the world, this book is highly recommended for your professional or personal collections. 

To learn more about George Ancona and his other work, please visit his website by following the link attached to his name.  At Penguin Random House and Candlewick Press you can view interior images.  George Ancona is interviewed by students at Scholastic.  In the acknowledgments George talks about the Cooking with Kids program.  At that website are recipes for some of the food showcased here.


You will want to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to view the other titles selected this week by participants in the 2018 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

A Reconciliation

When remembering the United States and World War II most people think of the battles and the losses in the European, the Mediterranean, African and Middle East and Pacific theaters.  Rarely does a group of islands off the southern coast of Alaska become a part of the discussion.  There were Japanese and American forces located in several places in the Aleutian Islands.  (One of the many American soldiers stationed there for more than a year was my dad.)  It was a strategy to place troops there to prevent an invasion from this sector.  After the events at Pearl Harbor on Hawaii on December 7, 1941 this was a concern for both countries.

One of the little-known stories originating from this and other areas north and west of the United States takes place in Oregon.  Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story (Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October 9, 2018) written by Marc Tyler Nobleman with illustrations by Melissa Iwai chronicles specific events in 1942.  Decades later the tale continued.

Prologue
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, an American Naval Base on Hawaii.  The surprise attack killed thousands of soldiers and brought America into World War II.

On September 9, 1942, a Japanese pilot, Nobuo Fujita and his navigator boarded an airplane on the deck of a submarine.  Soon they would be propelled into the air toward Oregon.  Nobuo carried a 400-year-old samurai sword for luck.  Bombs were placed under the wings of the plane.  The plan was to ignite the woods causing an enormous fire.

The bombs were dropped but the outcome was not as planned.  Brookings' (Oregon) residents were not overly concerned.  Neither was the American military.  Nobuo Fujita did it again . . . at night.

The Japanese believed both missions were a success.  The Americans never said a word about the second bombing.  Nobuo Fujita finally returned home and started a business, never speaking of either flight.  No one said anything until 1962.

In this year the Brookings' Jaycees needed to increase tourism in their town.  They decided to invite Nobuo Fujita to their annual Memorial Day celebration. Did this proposal cause controversy?  Yes.  Did it find support in high places?  Yes.  Nobuo Fujita accepted their invitation and he brought his 400-year-old sword.  The visit was an overwhelming success.  A promise was made when Nobuo and his wife left Oregon for Japan.

That promise was fulfilled.  For the more than thirty years people, Japanese and Americans, made a choice, forgiveness.  This is a remarkable story . . . a story to be remembered, forever.


Every detail of this narrative from 1942 to 1998 is carefully written by Marc Tyler Nobleman.  Specific facts and dialogue are included suggesting painstaking research.  This information makes the story of Nobuo Fujita exceedingly personal for readers.  As each page is turned it's like stepping back in time and shadowing this man.  Here are two passages.

Only that time, for greater stealth, he went by night.
To protect coastal communities from becoming easy
targets, the US military routinely ordered blackouts
during the war.  But the lighthouse at Cape Blanco
remained lit, and guided to shore by its beam,
Nobuo headed to a wooded area north of Brookings
and dropped two more bombs on Oregon.

On his return, Nobuo could not locate the
sub.  Nearly out of fuel, he resigned himself
to dying with honor by winging back and
crashing into the lighthouse.  "The mission
comes first, the sub next," he said to his
navigator. "We come last."


Upon opening the matching dust jacket and book case, readers are given a view from 1942 on the right (front) and 1992 on the left (back).  As Nobuo Fujita and his navigator are leaving the Oregon woods behind, we get a glimpse of the smoke in the forest in the upper left-hand corner.  It is a bird's eye view.  On the back, a smaller image surrounded in the dark green of the woodlands is a close-up of two hands cupped around a redwood sapling.  This illustration is framed in ribbons with informative text. 

The opening and closing endpapers are a dark olive green.  Nobuo's plane is soaring across the title page.  Smaller planes move from the verso to the first page over torn and burning newspaper headlines along the bottom after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and Tokyo in the Doolittle Raid. 

Rendered in watercolor and mixed media the pictures span double pages, full pages and, to accentuate pacing, smaller insets are placed on a single page.  Artist Melissa Iwai's depiction of each scene maintains historical accuracy in clothing, the aircraft, the submarine, and the setting of Brookings and Nobuo's home in Tokyo.  Emotion is conveyed in the body postures, facial expressions, perspective and in her color selections.

One of my many favorite illustrations is when Nobuo is flying at night to Oregon for the second drop of the bombs.  The perspective is as if we are seated with Nobuo.  We can see the airplane instruments, Nobuo and his sword behind him strapped to his seat.  Down in front is the jut of land with the lighthouse, its beams cutting into the night with light.  You can almost hear the sound of the engine and feel the tension in the cockpit.


This book, Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story written by Marc Tyler Nobleman with illustrations by Melissa Iwai, is a valued part of World War II history and its lasting effects.  It showcases the huge capacity of people when given the opportunity to be their best.  You will be moved by this title.  You will not forget this story.  An author's note and selected sources are included on the final page.  I highly recommend this for your personal and professional book collections.

To learn more about Marc Tyler Nobleman and Melissa Iwai and their other work, please visit their respective websites by following the links attached to their names.  Both Marc and Melissa have accounts on Twitter.  They also have accounts on Instagram here and here.  The cover is revealed at A Fuse #8 Production by Elizabeth Bird.  You will enjoy reading this article in the Curry Coastal Pilot about Melissa's visit to Brookings to do research for her artwork.


Be sure to take a few moments to view the selections of other participants in the 2018 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge at Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher.

Lift Your Head And Look

When you step outside, depending on your reason for doing this, your senses are usually directed to something in particular.  Whether you remain in your own yard, city block or roam on country roads, you tend to look down, or to the left or right.  Unless a noisy flock of birds, curious cloud formation or startling sunrise or sunset grabs your attention, you usually tend to not look up.

The creative collaborative team giving readers, The Street Beneath My Feet, has returned in another brilliant endeavor.  The Skies Above My Eyes (Quarto Knows, August 28, 2018) written by Charlotte Guillain with illustrations by Yuval Zommer asks us to lift our eyes to the sky, note what we see and informs us of what lies beyond our natural sight.  We travel from the ground to beyond our solar system and back down.

As you go about your daily
life, there is so much going
on around you.  It's easy to
stop and stare at the sights in
the busy city street.  But how
often do you look upward?
So much more is going on in
the sky above you!

Let's take a look . . . 

First we are directed to notice all the street signs and signals giving us as drivers and pedestrians important information.  We can see small pieces of others' lives and workplaces by glancing in windows.  We appreciate the bravery of window washers scaling the side of towering buildings.  Next we take a trip to those able to fly.

Helicopters, airplanes, weather balloons and rockets soar; each having a purpose.  Did you know there's a line called the Karman line which marks the start of space?  Look!  There is the Soyuz capsule journeying toward the International Space Station.  We are now 250 miles above the Earth.  Astronauts and cosmonauts repair the space station by being tethered to the station.  If we go another 234,750 miles where will we be? 

Neil Armstrong was the first human to walk on its surface.

Each of the other seven planets in our solar system orbits the sun.  They are all millions of miles from planet Earth.  Which planet has at least 62 moons?  Which planet has a single day as long as 243 Earth days?  If we travel higher than our solar system there are galaxies numbering beyond our imagination loaded with stars and planets. 

Moving back to Earth we pass through the familiar Milky Way galaxy as comets and asteroids traverse through space.  Different cloud formations produce varying kinds of weather.  Birds with special physical characteristics glide at astounding heights.  Have you ever heard of the Ruppell's griffon vulture?  Yikes!  What are those spiders doing three miles above the ground?

I wonder how close skydivers and hang gliders can get to bighorn sheep and bald eagles. As we drift back to terra firma our eyes still look higher than normal.  We see birds and butterflies who might originally escape our attention.  If we stay outside until dusk we might even see bats leaving trees to hunt for food.  Let's remember to look toward the skies and know and dream about what lies farther than we can fathom.


As our guide author Charlotte Guillain not only leads us upward (and back again) layer by layer but informs us with fascinating facts.  She encourages us to be aware, make observations and expand our thinking.  Using a conversational approach she includes requests and questions in the narrative.  It's as if we are together with her in a special vehicle experiencing everything she explains with her words.  Here are several passages about comets.

Look out!
Here comes a comet!

A comet is a massive
ball of frozen rock, ice, dust,
and gases, hurtling through
space.  When a comet gets close to
a star, it warms up and develops
its own atmosphere,
called a coma.

Dust and gases trail far behind the comet to form
a long tail that shines in the night sky.

Halley's Comet takes 76 years to orbit our Sun---
we should be able to see it from Earth again in 2061.


The first thing readers might do with The Skies Above My Eyes is run their hands over the opened book case.  They will discover on the right, front, embossed and raised portions.  Many of these are glazed or varnished, sparkling in the light.  The scene we see on the front crosses over the spine to the left, back.  We move from the city to snow-capped mountain peaks.  Swirling leaves, paper airplanes, bats, dandelions, and umbrellas, inside out, are replaced with high-flying birds, spacecraft, airplanes, more planets and wait . . . are those aliens?  The wide-eyed girl on the cover explores with us from the beginning to the end.

On the inside of the book case, on the left, is publication information, creator information and an introductory paragraph about the right side.  This right side depicts the planet Earth, troposphere, ozone layer, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and the Karman line.  On the left these layers are labeled in miles.  This diagram is framed in elements of art by Yuval seen throughout the book.  The background for most of this is black. 

Upon opening the cover we realize the design asks us to turn the book to view the pages, attached like an accordion, vertically.  Extending more than eight feet beyond the book case on both sides of sturdy, matte-finished paper, these images in full color are a stunning display of creative layout.    Illustrator Yuval Zommer continues his intricate, playful and enlightening artwork viewed on the case with every interior double-page illustration.

Each one demands we pause, captivated by the numerous details.  Cutaways welcome further inspection.  Every time this book is read new discoveries will be seen.  Is the cat on the roof ledge going to leap at the pigeons?  Is that a flying saucer? What does the owl see?  Yuval Zommer's visuals heighten this text but also urge us to dream of places beyond our own.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is when we are descending back to the ground.  The text discusses a variety of clouds and birds.  The many shades of sky blue in the background provide an excellent canvas for the clouds and birds.  At the top, five miles above the Earth, darker clouds gather as whooper swans fly in v-formation through cirrus clouds.  Beneath these altocumulus and altostratus clouds dot the sky. Tiny snowflakes fall from these. Delicate spiders cascade near another flock of birds, white storks.  It's now raining in earnest and snowing.  We are at one mile.  This is a breathtaking portrait.


All readers will happily open The Skies Above My Eyes written by Charlotte Guillain with illustrations by Yuval Zommer repeatedly.  It increases our respect for the manner in which nature and the universe works.  Further research is embraced willingly with a title like The Skies Above My Eyes.  I highly recommended this book for your personal and professional book collections.

To learn more about Charlotte Guillain and Yuval Zommer and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to visit the appropriate sites. Both Charlotte and Yuval maintain accounts on Twitter. Yuval is on Instagram.

Be sure to visit Kit Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to enjoy the titles selected by others participating in the 2018 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Look Around You And See

By definition the state of Michigan is a peninsula.  Four of the five Great Lakes border its land.  You rarely have to travel more than ten minutes to arrive at one of its eleven thousand inland lakes.  A 26,372 foot bridge, the largest suspension bridge in the Western hemisphere, spans the Straits of Mackinac and connects the upper and lower peninsulas of the state.  Surprisingly forests cover at least fifty percent of the land in this state.

For these reasons you grow up and live here understanding various terms associated with its land and its water. Water Land: Land and Water Forms Around the World (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, May 22, 2018) written and illustrated by Christy Hale takes what you know (or may not know) and grows it to include places found outside your state or even your country.  With an adept use of die-cuts we visit five water and five land forms.

These ten places are revealed through paired combinations of water and land.  Single words or a simple phrase labels each form.  These sets of two are near opposites. 

An idyllic scene of a small lake surrounded by trees in autumnal bloom with a page turn becomes a tropical island enveloped by water as far as the eye can see.  For each form individuals and their activities tell a story relative to the term. A young girl tosses red leaves in the air as a boy lazily fishes in the nearby lake.  The same girl frantically sends puffs of smoke into the air spelling SOS from a leaf turned into a small blaze.  The boy in the boat has caught something on his line.  It's one of two floating bottles with HELP! written on the side.

We venture to a wide expanse of sandy beach by the sea which shrinks as water wraps around three sides.  A busy narrow strip of water shifts to a busy narrow strip of land.  Within a woodland landscape a group of lakes alters and changes to a cluster of islands in a large body of water.  

Our understanding heightens with each pairing as the rhythm asks us to seek similarities.  After the final set, the five water forms are shown with the five land forms beneath them across two pages including short concise definitions for all ten.  This is followed by a huge gatefold (six individual pages together) featuring a world map with examples of each form marked.  The right folded edge lists all the forms with six to seven specific examples around the globe.  Continents and oceans are also named to close this array of information.

Verbally fashioned for the youngest readers Christy Hale keeps the terminology as well as the definitions simple.  The water and land groups of two are excellent selections.  The intended audience will be able to remember these words easily with the comparisons. Here is one group.

strait

isthmus

A strait is a narrow body of

water connecting two larger

bodies of water.

An isthmus is a narrow 

strip of land connecting two

larger pieces of land. 

By opening the book case readers are introduced to the limited color palette of hues of blue, sandy yellow and red with spots of white and black. (Green is used in limited amounts on interior images.)  The boy and the boat on the front are seen in the first pair.  To the left of the spine, on the back, a lake and an island are shown along with the kind of information found on flaps of a dust jacket.  The opening and closing endpapers represent water and land.  The first is a vivid blue and the second is a bright golden yellow.

The title page is split between land and water. The word water is on the land color and the word land is on the water color.  A seagull is perched on the "w" for water.  Between the "n" and "d" in land a fish swims upward. 

The illustrations by Christy Hale were rendered using printed textures and digital layering.  Her die-cuts cleverly tell two separate stories by using the same elements in each one.  Readers will eagerly look for the subtle and sometimes humorous details; the change in the hat the boy is wearing in the lake/island pair and the bear sleeping in one of the tents in the system of lakes scene.

One of my favorite illustrations is the first one.  It sets the stage for many wondrous reveals.  The colorful leaves on two trees form a border on the left and along the bottom of the entire double-page image changing in size and perspective.  Both the girl on land throwing the leaves and the boy in the boat are happy and relaxed.  Christy Hale uses shading to wondrous effect.  The die-cut of the lake becomes the island in the next picture. 

This book, Water Land: Land and Water Forms Around the World written by Christy Hale is a marvelous and creative book for introducing geographic terms.  The stories unfolding on each page turn assist in supplying a mnemonic formula captivating readers.  I highly recommend this title for your professional and personal book collections.

To learn more about Christy Hale and her other work, please visit her website by following the link attached to her name.  For this title Christy includes interior images and extra activities.  At the publisher's website you can also view different interior images.


Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to view other books chosen this week by participants in the 2018 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

A Momentous Decision

Each evening after dark, regardless of the weather, when many people are finally relaxing, I am outside with my canine companion.  Consequently, things are seen, heard or smelled which might otherwise be missed.  After a quick glance at our surroundings, my eyes always lift to the sky.  Stars wink in familiar constellations.  If it's partly cloudy shadows shift as those clouds move across the glow cast by the moon in its phases.

Although some things remain the same, nature is full of surprises. Glimpsing a falling star or gazing breathlessly at the northern lights deepens your appreciation for this planet.  Earthrise: Apollo 8 And The Photo That Changed The World (Owlkids Books, October 15, 2018) written by James Gladstone with illustrations by Christy Lundy recreates a time in history when our view of our planet changes forever.

1968
It was a year of unrest.  Many nations were at war.  People around the world marched for peace, fairness, freedom.  They struggled to find the best way to live together.

 People on planet Earth were about to get a surprise as the year drew to a close.  Three astronauts, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, were boarding Apollo 8 with the Moon as their goal.  If you were near a radio or television, you were listening or watching as the Saturn V rocket roared to life and headed into space.

Now in Earth's orbit, these three men would be the first leave it and journey toward the Moon.  Soon the Saturn V rocket left the spacecraft and it continued alone.  The view of the planet, getting smaller and smaller, was stunning.

On day three, the astronauts sent a black and white picture of the Earth so we could see ourselves.  They cruised into orbit around the Moon taking more photographs to be used in studies of the Moon and to prepare for further exploration.  It was on this day, on their fourth trip around the Moon, they looked again toward Earth.

In space, Earth was rising in the darkness like a treasured gem.  In that moment a decision was made. Captured in color, it was and is a view of this precious planet never to be forgotten.


Every sentence written by James Gladstone creates a vivid picture of each significant moment building toward the taking of the Earthrise photograph. His skillful use of language, his verb and adjective choices, brings us into this historic event. The insertion of conversations lends itself to authenticity. It's as if we've stepped through a portal into 1968.  Here are two passages.

There was sound like thunder---rumble and roar!  The crowd stood their ground, while all the ground shook.
The Saturn V engines had burst into life!

Then---just as planned---the Saturn V engine shut off
and broke away from Apollo 8.
Now the spacecraft was coasting on a human dream,
speeding the crew off to another world.


The limited color palette seen on the opened and matching dust jacket and book case is an excellent choice to heighten the superb quality of the graphic design and layout.  On the right and left, front and back, we are inside Apollo 8 looking toward Earth.  In the first, we are with the astronaut.  In the second the Earthrise photograph is placed amid the instrument panel.  On the front the text and Earth are varnished.  On the back only the photograph is varnished.

On the opening and closing endpapers we have a view of the starry expanse of space.  After the title and verso pages, Christy Lundy begins her pictorial enhancement.  Opposite the verso page a young girl holding a toy rocket ship is running toward the right side of the page.  During the introduction she is looking out a window at the peaceful demonstrations mentioned.

Christy Lundy alternates between double-page pictures and full page illustrations to heighten the text and to elevate pacing.  She entwines the child and her family with the story of Apollo 8.  Her family is watching it unfold on their 1968 television.  The little girl places newspaper and magazine articles about the space flight on her bedroom wall.

As surely as the world's perspective of planet Earth changes after the Earthrise photograph, Christy Lundy changes her point of view page turn by page turn.  We see the three astronauts walking toward the Saturn V rocket and Apollo 8 in the distance.  As the rocket launches we are treated to a huge panoramic view with cars, trucks, other vehicles and people much smaller along the bottom of the image.  We move in closer as if we are seated with the astronauts in the space craft.  She connects us emotionally to each instance.

One of my many favorite illustrations is on a full page.  Seven people, a mix of children and adults, are standing in front of a television and radio shop.  Their backs are to us.  The picture window is filled with television sets all showing the black and white view of planet Earth first sent.  The people are bundled in warm clothes as it's Christmas Eve.  A radio broadcaster is speaking on a radio.

There she is, floating in space!

Christmas greenery is draped at the top of the window with red bows. One television set costs 299.99.


Earthrise: Apollo 8 And The Photo That Changed The World written by James Gladstone with illustrations by Christy Lundy is a book to read repeatedly.  Every portion of this space flight, especially the Earthrise photograph, is presented with excellence by weaving facts into a beautiful narrative and depicting its history vividly in illustrations.  I highly recommend this title for your professional and personal book shelves.

To learn more about Christy Lundy and her other work, please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  James Gladstone and Christy Lundy maintain accounts on Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.  You can read more about this space flight and hear an audio message from the astronauts at NASA.  


Please take a few moments to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher and read about the other titles selected this week by participants in the 2018 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.