Geniune Greetings

There is an array of emotions present at arrivals and departures.  There is either great happiness, deep sadness or a combination of the two.  It's important to remember hello is not necessarily equated with joy nor is goodbye synonymous with sorrow.  Circumstances and the individuals involved dictate the emotional mood.  The people present can make a difference.

Children can see even the tiniest light in a looming darkness.  They are a gift.  Goodbye, Friend! Hello, Friend! (Dial Books for Young Readers, July 2, 2019) written and illustrated by Cori Doerrfeld takes us through the ups and downs of a little girl's day-to-day world with a large emphasis on seeking and finding the proverbial silver lining through friendship.

Bye, Mom.

Every goodbye . . .
. . . leads to a hello.

Hi, I'm Charlie!

Stella is not very happy about leaving her mother at home, but at school she immediately meets a new friend, Charlie.  She is no longer sitting alone at lunch or alone when riding the school bus.  There are playdates outside in piles of leaves and card games inside under a blanket fort on a chilly winter afternoon.

When snow creations melt under a spring sun, rainy days offer new merriment.  All the activities during a summer day last for treasured moments but they lead to new pursuits as the sky darkens.  What do you think they do outside on a summer night?

When a beloved pet passes away, Charlie is there to comfort Stella.  Together they celebrate a life which brought comfort.  Encouragement is given to try new endeavors.  When learning something new, the next attempt can yield amazing results.

These two friends are inseparable.  When one of the girls has to move, this goodbye is difficult.  Is there a hello to be found in this heartbreak?  Remember readers, there is always a hello, even if sometimes you make it yourself or decide to give it away.


The beauty in the words written by Cori Doerrfeld is they leave room for readers to reflect on their personal memories.  The toggling back and forth between goodbye words followed by the hello words supplies an engaging cadence, both uplifting and supportive.  A few speech bubbles at the beginning and ending of the story, provide a circle effect and reinforce the idea of being open to positive possibilities.  Here is a single sentence.

Goodbye to almost giving up . . .
. . . is hello to one more try.


When you look at the open and matching dust jacket and book case, the pure bliss shown by the characters envelopes you.  The looks on their faces, and their body language, on the front are ones of mutual affection.  Their colorful clothing set against the paler blue sky and field of flowers draws our eyes to them.  The text, Stella, Charlie and the butterflies are varnished.

To the left, on the back, it's nighttime.  On a slight hill are Charlie, Stella's dog and Stella.  Their backs are to us.  The girls are pointing with their outside hands to stars.  Their other hands rest on the back of Stella's dog.  This scene is brimming with contentment.

On a canvas of white on the opening endpapers in the lower, right-hand corner, is Stella, seated on the floor, putting on her red cowboy boots before leaving for school.  Her dog is licking her cheek.  With white as the background on the closing endpapers we see, in the lower, left-hand corner, Charlie removing a familiar letter from her mailbox.

The illustrations rendered using

digital ink, Dr. Pepper, and a good dose of nostalgia

by Cori Doerrfeld use very page turn to extend the narrative.  On the verso and title pages Stella's dog is running toward her and her mother as she feeds her goldfish.  Her mother is holding the dog's leash.

For most of the pictures, they span across two ages. For the sake of pacing there are full-page images and several images on a single page.  The matte-finished paper is excellent for the hues of colors used by Cori Doerrfeld.  Readers will love pausing at page turns to enjoy all the detailed elements.  Cori Doerrfeld adds items which reveal the season and her skies depict the time of day and weather.  Careful readers will notice the absence of the fishbowl after the goldfish dies, but will they notice what is on the table and wall in one of the final illustrations?  Dog lovers will adore the presence of Stella's dog in most of the activities.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is of the two girls inside and underneath their blanket fort.  In the background, left to right, is the heat radiator, the window with snow falling outside and Gill swimming in his fishbowl on the table.  The red and white plaid blanket is stretched over several chairs.  Two more blankets are placed on the living room rug.  The two girls are lying on their stomachs with their knees bent.  Each is holding playing cards; others are scattered in front of them.  Along the floor are toy cars, building blocks, crayons and paper, a plate with sliced apples and a bowl of popcorn.  Stuffed toy animals along with Stella's sleeping dog are keeping them company.


Whatever age you are, Goodbye, Friend! Hello, Friend! written and illustrated by Cori Doerrfeld will fill you with hope.  It encourages us to seek, or if circumstances ask us to make, happiness, however small.  It allows us to see even in the most sorrowful events, there will be a change for the better; especially with the help of a friend.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Cori Doerrfeld and her other work, please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  Cori Doerrfeld has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Cori Doerrfeld is featured at Brightly and at Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb.  At the publisher's website you can view the opening endpapers.

Bordered By Water

Patience and Fortitude have been residing there since 1911.  It is the site of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.  It is the home of the tallest building in the world, the Empire State Building completed in 1931, until 1971.  Overlooking the East River, the accommodations for the United Nations have been there for more than seventy years.  It is here, in Times Square, each new year begins with a countdown.

The island of Manhattan has a recorded past dating back to the Lenape, Native Americans, at least 10,000 years ago.  Manhattan: Mapping the Story of an Island (Abrams Books for Young Readers, August 6, 2019) written and illustrated by Jennifer Thermes chronicles the growth of this incredible space from the earliest human inhabitants to present day.  It is a journey of blending people, places and designing spaces.

MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO when the glaciers melted, before anything had a name, the island lay sheltered in an estuary, where freshwater river met saltwater sea, anchored on bedrock far below the surface of the earth.

The seasons shifted and life on and around the island was abundant.  The Lenape called the island Mannahatta.  It means

"island of many hills."

These people fashioned an existence for themselves from the abundance offered by the island and the waters around it.  In 1609 Henry Hudson, an Englishman working for a Dutch businessman, arrived with his ship, Half Moon.  This marks the beginning of the island's transformation.  By 1700 the Lenape were no longer living on the island, unwillingly made to go.  (Did you know the population of beaver, on and around the island, dropped from 60 million to zero due to trapping?)

Slaves, eleven, were brought to the island to make canals, build a fort and a wall around the southern tip.  When the English took over the island in 1664 the name was switched from New Amsterdam to New York.  As the island developed forming more roads, filling in the canals, and constructing buildings, the horrific slave trade grew.  Some free Africans were able to settle at a place called The Collect Pond.  In reading this book you will discover why a national monument is placed near this space today.

After the long and treacherous Revolutionary War with the British, the island was home to the new capital of the United States of America for two years.  Did you know George Washington was named president here?  The population grew by thousands and the streets expanded and were renamed.  The buying and selling of humans as slaves grew.

In 1811 a man named John Randel Jr. was hired to design a grid system for the island.  It took him ten years to place all the grid markers.  People and structures were displaced by the grid which filled in faster than city planners believed possible. A large fire in 1835 and growing population pointed to the necessity for clean water and a place for peace, a park.

The development of the 843-acre Central Park was (and is) a haven to this day.  Did you know they planted twenty-year-old elm trees there?  Factories multiplied with workers enduring grueling conditions.  People from around the world came here to work and build a better life for themselves, entering at East River, Castle Gardens and Ellis Island.  Two separate places grew during the Gilded Age.  

It was a time of sharp contrast between those who had more than they needed and those who got by with very little.

Time on the island is marked when it stops as in the Great Blizzard of 1888 and Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.  In between those dates people saw the establishment of the remarkable subway system, astounding bridges and towering skyscrapers.  It's hard to believe it, but now on this island of Manhattan, 1.6 million people call it home.  (And you won't believe what came back after being absent for centuries.)


No matter how many times you read this title, each time the fascination grows.  Author Jennifer Thermes is an extraordinary historical tour guide with her words.  She includes vital information within a descriptive context bringing the past into the present.

With each page turn, there is a continuing narrative, but other columns include pertinent conversations about the good and not-so-good results of changes on the island.  Every two to four pages is devoted to a certain historical time period.  With the establishment of New York, New York, several pages discuss other time periods and events directly effecting people and the expansion of the city.  Here is a passage and a partial passage.

BY THE LATE 1800s, elevated trains (the El) chugged up and down avenues and over busy streets lined with restaurants, shops, and music halls.  Electric wires and telephone lines crisscrossed the island.  Lights blazed day and night.  The city on the island never slept!  But when the Great Blizzard of 1888 hit, all came to a halt.

Wind, ice, and snow slammed into the island---toppling poles, tangling wires, and cutting off communication with the outside world.  Water and gas pipes froze, leaving homes without steam heat.  The El stopped running, and fifteen thousand passengers were stranded on the tracks overhead. . . .


In a stroke of genius, the front of the dust jacket shows the island in three different historical perspectives.  The details seen here are prevalent throughout the book.  Every line is intentional.  Every color contributes to light and shadow.  Seagulls are frequent visitors in the illustrations, signifying the island's nearness to large bodies of water.  The text is varnished.

To the left, on the back, a portion of an interior image is used.  It is a view of the island after the Revolutionary War with labeled roadways, points of interest, important buildings, and slip and ferry locations.  There are a few labeled roads, at this point, beyond Collect Pond.  For page titles, artist Jennifer Thermes places the text within scrolled banners usually held by birds.

On the opening and closing endpapers is a highly detailed map of the island; a portion on each set of pages.  On the first set there are sixteen numbered highlights.  On the second set there are nine numbered places showcased.  In a separate image the island's bedrock is explained here.  Opposite and on the title page is the island, first in its natural uninhabited state and then as it is today.

Each page turn asks readers to pause, not only for the intricate elements but for the multiple perspectives, points of view, in these visuals rendered

using watercolor, colored pencil, and ink on Arches hot press paper.

There are labels and captions throughout.  From time to time, speech bubbles are added for information and emphasis.  All page turns reveal a double-page picture with the exception of eight full-page illustrations.  At times one illustration is placed within another image.  There is a feeling that these pages could come to life at any minute.

One of my many, many favorite pictures is the one dedicated to Central Park after its completion.  Framing the text along the top of the two pages are large treetops on the left and the right.  In the lower left-hand and lower right-hand corners are the bases of these trees. Across the center of the page is a map of Central Park bordered by roads.  Amid all the special areas are people enjoying the park.  Along the bottom of the page, left to right, are six circular images featuring close-ups of people boating, children playing with toy boats, horseback riding, strolling along the pathways, ice skating and cart rides by goat.


In a word, Manhattan: Mapping the Story of an Island written and illustrated by Jennifer Thermes is stunning.  It is a brilliant nonfiction work of bookmaking to savor for the information and for the splendiferous illustrations.  At the close of the book is a lengthy and highly detailed Time Line and Selected Sources.  These sources are books, websites, museums and a just for fun suggestion.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Jennifer Thermes and her other work, please follow the links attached to her name to access her website and blog.  Jennifer Thermes maintains accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. About a year ago Jennifer Thermes speaks in a podcast at The Manuscript Academy about her work.

Jennifer has been sharing process art on Twitter.  Here are some recent tweets.

More from the process files... all of MANHATTAN in miniature! I made a rough color plan of the entire book, which usually makes painting the final art easier. (Usually.) 😅#ManhattanIslandBook pic.twitter.com/isElN3PHcb

— Jennifer Thermes (@jenthermes) August 21, 2019

A detail from MANHATTAN and still standing today... Fraunces Tavern, where George Washington bid his troops farewell at the end of the American Revolution. History is all around us! #ManhattanIslandBook pic.twitter.com/X46mPOxoN7

— Jennifer Thermes (@jenthermes) August 14, 2019

Map detail.

(MANHATTAN: MAPPING THE STORY OF AN ISLAND, out two months from today!) #manhattanislandbook pic.twitter.com/u1QHSmGTrh

— Jennifer Thermes (@jenthermes) June 7, 2019

UPDATE:  Jennifer Thermes is interviewed at Picture Book Builders about this book on September 3, 2019.


Please take a few moments to visit Kid Lit Frenzy to view the other titles selected this week by those participating in the 2019 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Mighty Moments From The Air

This past July 2019 was the hottest month recorded worldwide.  In the state of Alaska, the city of Anchorage recorded its hottest month ever in July 2019.  This heat, one of three ingredients necessary for wildfires, is a contributing factor in the fifty-eight wildfires burning in Alaska as of July 15 2019.  In Siberia, Russia, more than seven million acres have burned to date and the fires are still raging.  Smoke from those fires have reached North America and Canada.  The wildfires in California 2018 were the worst for that state in recorded history.

Wildfires are not new, but their devastation is increasing. In fact, those wildfires naturally started serve a purpose. To combat wildfires there are a combination of crews on land and those who work from the air.  Little Smokey (Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, August 6, 2019) written and illustrated by Robert Neubecker explores the work of those aerial fighters of wildfires, focusing on the purpose of each individual, regardless of their size.

At Nif-C (the National Interagency Fire Center), everyone has a job.

Each plane has a name, except for the newest and smallest plane.  Names are not given to the planes but earned.  Buster, a water tanker, is fast as the water is released on the fire below him.  Bruno, a water scooper, is much larger.  And Bertha, tops the previous two in size.  She is loaded with fire retardant for the enormous fires.

When the first fire of the hot summer season is sighted Buster, Bruno and Bertha fly to the rescue.  The little plane asks the tower to go, too.

"No, little plane.  You are too small."

The three planes return with tales of success.  The little plane waits and watches.

One day when perfecting her flying, she spots a fire.  She is not allowed to leave and assist with the other three planes.  At first the flames die down but gusts of wind fan them into a fury.  The little plane is told to wait by the tower.

A situation develops with the three big Bs struggling.  The little plane pleads.  Being the littlest can be an advantage.  On this day, the smallest plane at Nif-C gets her name. . . Smokey.


The selection of words and length of the sentences written by Robert Neubecker are precisely geared toward the intended audience.  For the introduction of the three larger planes, three sentences are used for each of them.  This grouping of three sentences continues until single sentences contribute to enhanced pacing and a building tension.  The number of sentences in the subsequent passages and the punctuation create a wonderful cadence for this story.  The addition of dialogue involves the reader to a greater extent.  Here is a passage.

The wind comes up.
Flash! Fire!
The fire springs back,
larger than ever.

"Tower! Tower! I can help!"
"No, little plane.
You are too small."


When readers open the matching dust jacket and book case, they see loads of action amid the flames of blazing wildfires and billowing smoke.  On the front, Little Smokey has received her name.  The slight black brush stroke for a smile indicates her pleasure in being a part of the crew of larger planes.  Every line, while portraying her realistically, works to convey her enthusiasm.

To the left, on the back, when she dives into the canyon, readers will note her name is not on her plane yet.  In this particular image, every line depicts her determination in the face of the roaring fire.  Her brows are furrowed, and her eyes are together.  Her mouth is grim.  Above the tree-lined walls of the narrow corridor, Buster, Bruno and Bertha hover and wait while spreading water and fire retardant where they can.

On the opening and closing endpapers, a vivid orange-yellow shade has been placed.  On the initial title page, crests of blue mountains peek over a vast green forest.  Careful readers will notice three forest animals tucked in the trees.  On the formal title page, a double-page picture displays the airfield, tower and airport for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.  All four planes are featured along with other vehicles, buildings and human personnel.

Each image, rendered

using watercolors, pencils, and a Mac

and either a double-page picture or several grouped on a single page, provides pacing, an appropriate setting or vista, action and emotion from the characters which reaches out to engage readers.  The color palette is bright with liberal uses of red, orange and yellow.  The shades in the sky are indicative of the time of day and the strength of the wildfire.

We are aware of the dimensions of the planes by their placement in the illustrations.  Whenever possible Little Smokey is seen flying in the background.  Readers will love the facial features on all the planes.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is a double-page picture for the introduction of Bruno, the water scooper.  A large lake with a little wave action is painted across most of the two pages.  Along the top is a row of evergreens.  A road leading to the lake fashions a break in the trees.  Little Smokey is above that break in the trees.  On the lake, Bruno, scooping up the water, leaves three foaming trails behind him.  His "mouth" is open, with his teeth showing.  The contrast between the hues on the planes and the natural setting is gorgeous.


One of the main ideas readers will realize when reading Little Smokey written and illustrated by Robert Neubecker is to never give up despite your size.  Everyone has a place and a purpose.  Everyone.  It is guaranteed you will be asked to read this title repeatedly.  At the close of the book, information with these headings is presented, How Do Wildfires Start?, Who Fights Wildfires?, Firefighting Crews, Aerial Firefighting, What Can You Do?, and For More Information.  I highly recommend this book for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Robert Neubecker and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  This book is showcased on author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  Once I read her post, I could hardly wait for this book's release.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images and at Robert Neubecker's website.  I know you will enjoy this video interview with Robert Neubecker.  He speaks about working on this title.

#CountMeIn

Resting easy can disappear.  There are times, sometimes more often than others, when sleep is elusive.  There's lots of tossing and turning and dozing in and out of dreams.  No one is alone in this.  It happens to everyone at any age. 

Readers do have an advantage in these instances.  For whatever reason, when sleep takes a vacation, we turn to books any time of the day or night.  In light of the events in America during the first weekend of August 2019, early on Sunday morning I began a book and finished it before noon.  I read it again, cover to cover on Monday.  This book, Count Me In (Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, August 27, 2019) written by Varsha Bajaj, is an important and relevant book, especially now but also because its message is timeless.

CHAPTER 1
KARINA 
CHRIS DANIELS AND I are like separate planets orbiting in the same place.
Like the planets, we have our own paths, and I like it that way.  Mine is full of photos and stories, and his is full of basketball and hyenas.
Like Venus and Earth, we are next-door neighbors.  We've been in the same school since I moved to the neighborhood in third grade, but we've been in the same class only once-fifth grade.
Then, of all the crappy karma, there he is, on the first day of seventh grade, in five out of my seven classes at Spring Hill Middle School.

In this first of alternating chapters, we are introduced to Karina Chopra, a granddaughter of immigrants from India.  Both she and her parents were born in the United States of America.  She has been the target of bullying and racism.  She does have the support of loving parents who own and run a sandwich shop, a best friend named Ashley, her passion for photographs, her interest in reading and her Papa, her father's father, who is coming from California to live with them in Texas.

The voice of Chris Daniels speaks loud and clear in the next chapter.  He does not want Karina to think he is

one of the mean dudes.

He recounts, as did Karina, the incident in sixth grade when she is targeted on the bus ride home from school.  He is upset about it and speaks by phone that evening with his older brother, Matt, away at college.  He also confronts the boy, a member of his basketball team, who lead the bullying on the bus and wrote a racist note to Karina in class.  Karina has no knowledge of Chris's thoughts on this.  They haven't said a word to each other in years.

This silence between them changes because of two seemingly unrelated events, the arrival of Papa on Labor Day weekend and a note sent to Chris's parents about his less than stellar performance in math class.  After a week at Karina's house, Papa is a relentless, restless efficient bundle of energy.  Karina's mother discovers her school needs volunteers to tutor math students.  When Papa tutors, Karina will stay late at school with him.  Papa is assigned by the teacher to Chris.  The connection between Papa and Karina is already strong but through the tutoring it grows between Papa and Chris.  The three build a bond on common interests and a growing respect for their individuality.

One afternoon after tutoring, walking to Papa's car parked on the street by the soccer field, a car slows down and stops next to Karina, Chris and Papa.  The man steps out and begins to throw racial remarks at Papa.  They are asked for their phones which are thrown into the bushes and the man pulls a knife. In an effort to protect the children, Papa is severely injured.  A woman across the street, taking her trash cart to the curb, scares away the man by yelling at her husband to call 911.

In the next twenty chapters we are privy to how this hate-based attack changes everything for Karina and Chris, Papa, their families, friends, their immediate community and the greater community of the United States of America.  It involves the positive power of social media to enhance change, the response of middle school friends in beginning something small which grows to something large, and how good people rise in solidarity against hate.  Hate seems to always be present, but the resilience of people, of these children, to stand up against it, is never to be underestimated.


For educators who have worked with middle school students, the words written by author Varsha Bajaj ring true.  By using the technique of alternating chapters between Karina and Chris, we are able to follow the evolution of their thinking and their relationship as loyal friends.  The short chapters engage readers and help to build tension prior to the attack.  They bind us to the resulting personal and very real issues after the assault.

The inclusion of conversations between all the characters heightens our interest, revealing the personalities of each individual.  We are fully committed to their stories.  We understand all the facets of family life and interactions between parents and children.  The presence of compassionate and concerned adults, teachers, the journalist, the law enforcement officers and rehabilitation personnel, and an older sibling is welcome.  (As a child who was raised to believe that each generation's purpose is to make this world better for the next generation, it is important for the intended audience of this book to realize there are people, despite a wide range of situations in which they find themselves, who will assist them.)  Here are a few of the many passages marked in this book.  (I am working with an Advanced Reading Copy.)

"What'd you do?" he asked.
What could I have done?  I had asked myself that question.  I was sitting on the bus with the guys from the basketball team, and I had only waited forever to be able to sit with them---to be one of the guys.  If I had said something at the time, what price would I have had to pay?
The middle-school bus is a monster that no one has slayed, as far as I know.  Being quiet---biting your tongue, swallowing your thoughts and words---is how you survive.  So far, those tactics have worked for me.
"Doing the right thing is hard," he said when I was silent.  "But Chris, at least you know what is right and wrong."
I did know the difference, but was that enough?  Did I need a new game plan?

Then more quietly but with steel in his eyes, Papa says, "Karina, we are not going to let that hater take us down."
I hold back my tears.  I nod in agreement.
"That man will not win.  He will not defeat us," he says.  "I have traveled too far for that."
Dad adjusts Papa's blanket and puts his hand on his shoulder to reassure him.
Papa's words make me feel less scared and alone.  This morning, the path was as dark as the night before.  It's as if Papa has turned on a flashlight and shown me the way forward.  If he is going to fight, so am I.

Like Mr. C says, you have to be able to imagine a better world to make it a reality.


This book, Count Me In written by Varsha Bajaj, takes us beyond news reports we may read or hear.  It takes us into the hearts of individuals who experience a hate crime.  It does this in the context of home, school and community situations weaving all together, the good and the bad, flawlessly.  I highly recommend this for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Varsha Bajaj and her other work, please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  Varsha Bajaj has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can read an excerpt.  Varsha Bajaj is showcased on author Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations and at CBC Diversity.

UPDATE:  Varsha Bajaj speaks at Brightly about racism and hate.  Varsha Bajaj is interviewed at CBC Diversity.

Seeking Light

A first sighting every year sends a surge of happiness into your soul.  They are harbingers of a seasonal shift and the continuity of Mother Nature.  As a glow in the cloak of darkness, they are briefly like stars, shining on and off and on and off.

This light they make is akin to Morse code, a special beetle communication, welcoming mates and warning territory encroachers and predators.  Firefly Home (Nosy Crow, June 11, 2019) written by Jane Clarke with illustrations by Britta Teckentrup is an endearing, participatory story for younger readers.  A firefly is lost.  Will she find her companions?

There's no place like home,
and this special place is home for fireflies.

Fireflies have a bright light inside
them that shimmers and shines.

We learn Florence, a firefly, is alone, far from home.  We are asked to help her.  Between the leaves on a nearby tree, there is a light.  It might be another firefly.

When we turn the page, we discover it is a crescent moon glimmering on water.  There appears to be more light in the distance.  We follow with Florence.  It is not her home but a beacon for boats.  With another page turn, there is light, but it is not the serenity this firefly seeks. In fact, we are asked to encourage her to fly faster to keep pace with this line of lights.

Now, our lightning bug has entered a city.  There are lights in nearly every window.  It's distracting.  How can she see another being like her among all this light?  Florence needs to be back in the dark; a park is the perfect place.

It is requested we make a wish, a wish on a group of falling stars.  Eyes closed; we wish until a shout is heard.  This voice demands our attention and we comply.  We are with Florence, one hundred percent.  This is why we utter bedtime words of affection.


As soon as author Jane Clarke tells us a firefly is missing, we feel instant tension.  When she enlists the help of readers after introducing us to Florence, we are ready.  We are asked to turn pages, flap our hands, speak words to Florence, point to Florence, wish, close our eyes, trace trails and whisper words.  Descriptive and alliterative verbs and adjectives fashion a gentle rhythm.  The repetition of

Could that be home? and

No, that's not home.

ties the different sources of light together and connects us further with Florence.  Here are two passages.

Where shall we start?
Oh, look! There's a bright light
peeping through the trees.
Could that be home?
Let's turn the page and see.

No, that's not home.  It's just the big, bright
moon above the sparkling sea.


When you open the book case of this title, the inviting night scene replete with hues of blue, golden yellow, brown and bits of green continues on the left side of the spine.  Florence, the firefly needing to find home, is joined by four other fireflies.  They are circling around text inviting us into the story.  On the front Florence, her stream of light and the title text are varnished.  To the left, on the back, the light arcs of the four fireflies are varnished.

The opening and closing endpapers are bright yellow.  Florence flies between the text on the title page.  Five of her companions fly through the night sky at the end on the publication and dedication page.

The digital illustrations, spanning two pages throughout the title, rendered by Britta Teckentrup are like multi-layered collage.  The color palette seen on the book case is used throughout the book to imply a night setting but realistic shades are used in all the elements.  The point of view varies with the text, giving us a panoramic display and then, for emphasis, brings us close to Florence.

There is a hint of the type of light prior to each page turn, allowing for readers to make predictions.  Florence's wide-eyed looks and her body posture depict her mood as she journeys from place to place.  This encourages us to assist her with enthusiasm.

One of my favorite illustrations is of a multi-arched brick bridge spanning from left to right.  Traveling on top of the bridge is a large passenger train with numerous glistening windows, moving from left to right.  Above the train is a sky with sparkling stars and a few puffs of clouds.  Florence is trying to keep pace with the train, flying alongside it.  Her light stream is trailing behind her for half the length of the train.  Beneath the bridge and through the arches we can see hills dotted with trees and in the distance on the right, a few buildings in the city.


For children who have never seen a lightning bug or those who look forward to seeing them every summer, Firefly Home written by Jane Clarke with illustrations by Britta Teckentrup is a treat they can hold in their hands and read repeatedly.  Whether as a storytime selection or a cozy one-on-one bedtime read aloud, this title increases appreciation for our natural world at the same time it asks for our assistance.  The cheerful narrative and lively illustrations inspire and support participation.    I'm happy to have this book in my personal collection.  It will make an excellent addition to your professional collections for a calming read aloud, a unit on insects or a theme of offering help to those who need it the most.

To learn more about Jane Clarke and Britta Teckentrup and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Jane Clarke has accounts on Facebook and Twitter.  Britta Teckentrup has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.  At Nosy Crow, Candlewick Press and Penguin Random House, you can view interior images.

You might be interested in the information at Firefly Conservation & Research.  Here is a link to firefly videos at National Geographic.

Incentive Inventiveness

It's woven into every single day.  We drift into daydreams of accomplishments to reach for the next hour, day or weeks ahead.  We form visions of special spaces to create.  We brainstorm with others to make something better.  We pretend to be other people at other places in other times to enhance or survive our current circumstances.  These pictures in our minds are painted with hope.

Our imaginations are a gift allowing us to create pathways for the impossible to become the probable.  Imagine That: A Hoot & Olive Story (Henry Holt and Company, July 16, 2019) written and illustrated by Jonathan D. Voss features two endearing characters we met in Brave Enough for Two (A Hoot & Olive Story (Henry Holt and Company, June 12, 2018).  These friends are embarking on another adventure to find something valuable.

Olive had a great big imagination, which was only just a smidge smaller than her huge heart.  Her best friend, Hoot, had a heart that was equally big.

One day during a rainstorm, when playing outside is out of the question, Olive wants to explore in the realm of make-believe.  While Hoot agrees it is a good idea, he cannot imagine a single thing.  He is sure he lost his imagination or worse yet, it might be broken.  Olive is certain they can find it or fix it.

First, as the rain comes down even harder, Olive thinks a puddle outside the window is getting deeper and the house suddenly shifts.  As she shouts about the house drifting away, Hoot still only sees a puddle.  Next, Olive grabs a colander and rigs it with wires.  She tells Hoot it works to unscramble his mind.  Unfortunately, he does not see the G I A N T in the corner of the room.

Olive tries another tactic.  Hoot is unable to see the fairies in the basement.  Olive is the kind of friend who never gives up.  All sorts of things are attempted but Hoot cannot imagine.  After sitting in silence for a bit, Hoot makes a statement.  It awakens an idea in Olive's mind.

Eyes closed; Hoot tries again.  All good things have a tiny beginning. Sometimes things are not lost or not broken.  We simply need a friend to help us flourish through love.


Using narrative and heartwarming conversations Jonathan D. Voss brings readers into this enchanting story.  Without reading the first book, he describes all we need to know about Olive and Hoot in the first two sentences.  In the third sentence we know there is a problem and we can't wait to find out what happens.

Each attempt by Olive to help Hoot leads us into spellbinding possibilities.  They are building to a changing point.  This moment, thanks to Jonathan D. Voss, is one to tuck away into your memory for future reference.  It bursts into happiness and imagining the best thing of all.  Here is a passage.

They stepped into the dark.
Something fluttered.  Olive froze.
"Do you hear that?" she whispered.
"Fairies!"


When you open the dust jacket the landscape on the front extends over the spine to the far left on the back.  The glowing sky courtesy of sunlight provides an atmosphere of magic.  If readers look closely, they can see the imaginations of Olive and Hoot have fashioned another world in the water.  A bird becomes a dragon.  Dock posts become castle spires.  A rowboat becomes a pirate ship.  To the left, on the back, the calm water becomes a stormy sea with hints of events to come within the book.

A sepia-toned wash spreads over the front and back of the book case.  A wide cloth in pale blue covers the spine.  On the front Olive and Hoot, holding hands (hand and wing) and carrying sticks, walk among daisies.  On the back, a tiny field mouse looks up at a single flower.  The image of Olive and Hoot walking hand-in-hand becomes part of a diamond pattern on the opening and closing endpapers in two shades of pale blue.

On the verso page Olive and Hoot are decked in armor as heroic knights.  A field of flowers frames the text on the title page.  All the illustrations are rendered using

watercolor with pen and ink on Arches Hot Press Watercolor Board and added color digitally.

They are full-page pictures, smaller images placed on the sepia-toned wash or dramatic double-page visuals.  Sometimes the illustrations span a page, cross the gutter and make a column for text on the opposite page.  While there is a lightness around the elements in each image, we are aware of the rainy day by the color palette.

Readers will be captivated by all the details in each picture.  Certain items are larger than normal; ABC wooden blocks, flowers in a floating vase, large boots, a discarded beverage can or a one metal jack.  Some details in one illustration will appear in a new one as the story progresses such as their floating house or the G I A N T.  This strengthens the idea of the power of imagination.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is of the G I A N T in the living room.  Hoot wearing the colander with wire antenna coming from the top is listening to Olive.  She is pointing to shadows in the room.  The G I A N T fills up the entire right page crosses the gutter and his right hand is next to Olive on the left, palm-side down.  He is kneeling on his right knee and the other leg, bent at the knee, extends from the floor to the ceiling.  He is a friendly G I A N T, dressed in shabby shoes, a white shirt and green tie, green pants and a red workman's cap.  He is holding a single daisy in his left hand.


This book, Imagine That: A Hoot & Olive Story written and illustrated by Jonathan D. Voss, is one of those books you immediately love but with every reread it fills up more of your heart.  You are emotionally attached to the characters and their adventures.  Our imaginations are precious and vital just like best friends.  This is a story which celebrates both with love.  I highly recommend this book for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Jonathan D. Voss and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  At his site you can view interior images from the book and a wonderful book trailer.  (I've lost count of how many times I've watched it.)  Jonathan D. Voss has accounts on Facebook and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.

Tiny To Tree-mendous

They are absolute to life on the planet providing much needed oxygen.  They supply homes, food, vantage points, and protection for a multitude of beings.  Water is necessary for their survival but they in turn protect the land when there is an overabundance of moisture.   If we watch, they reflect the status of our weather and of our climate.   

Numerous countries around the world at various times during the year set aside a day to celebrate the planting of these plants for the planet.  The Arbor Day Foundation in the United States has an initiative, The Time for Trees, to plant 100 million trees by 2020.  This week the country of Ethiopia made headlines when they planted 350 million trees in twelve hours.  Trees: A Rooted History (Abrams Books for Young Readers, April 9, 2019) written by Wojciech Grajkowski with artwork by Piotr Socha, and translation by Anna Burgess is a captivating exploration of everything about and related to trees.

Trees are the largest living things on Earth.  Next to a giant sequoia tree, a human being looks very small.  Even the dinosaurs that once lived on our planet could hide in its shadows!  Trees can be very old, too.  Some species can live for hundreds or even thousands of years.  Only a few humans live to be a hundred years old, but for most trees, a hundred years is just the beginning of their life.  An old oak tree alive today might have been living before your great-grandfather was born and might even live longer than your great-grandchildren.

With this first paragraph of four introducing us to the world of trees, we are swept up in the factual conversation.  Trees are defined from their trunk, to their branches and to their leaves.  Each year of life in a tree is marked by a ring seen when the tree is cut.  Not all trunks are formed the same.  One in particular is formed from a bundle of thin roots.  Leaves, in a variety of shapes and sizes, work with the roots to maintain the life of a tree.  Roots will do whatever it takes to stabilize the tree and work to gain essential elements.  Some roots look like stilts.  Others, like the red mangrove, come to the surface to get oxygen.  Did you know there is a tree, The Great Banyan, in Howrah, India with at least 3,700 tree trunks?

Trees have different functions in different seasons.  The loss of leaves keeps trees alive in winter and during the dry season.  Trees usually prefer their seeds to be planted away from the original tree so there is no competition for resources.  Birds consume seeds and they are planted through elimination.  Some seeds are not released except under extreme heat. Did you know the sandbox tree has fruit which explodes under certain conditions distributing the seeds over a wide range?

Endemic species of trees only grow in specific places set apart from the rest of the world.  The Pennantia baylisiana is only found on Three Kings Islands close to New Zealand.  There is one tree left, a female but through scientific procedures the seeds were able to be pollinated.  Amazing!  An entire section is devoted to baobabs.  Can you imagine one big enough to house a pub?

Trees are restaurants for all kinds of animals, insects, reptiles, mammals and even fungus. They are homes for mammals, insects, spiders, amphibians, and reptiles.  Each specie has a characteristic allowing it to access what trees offer as residences.  In that same respect trees provide protection when species mimic the trees' physical traits.  They can look like bark, branches, sticks, or leaves.  Did you know there is a butterfly which looks bright and alluring to attract a partner but when necessary lifts its wings to the underside to be drab and brown?

There is evidence of trees living millions of years ago.  We find their stories in fossils and in places like the petrified forest in Gilboa, New York.  The tallest trees in the world are the redwoods found on the western coast of the United States.  These and others are compared to manmade structures like the Statue of Liberty, Big Ben, The Great Pyramid and an ordinary single-story home.  Did you know the broadest tree grows in a church courtyard?

The age of trees is astounding.  There is one believed to be more than 80,000 years old.  From the rings of trees, we can pinpoint times in history when they were alive.  We then read and branch into lumberjacks and the tools of their trade, ancient buildings still standing constructed of wood, forms of transportation made of wood, wooden masks, wooden instruments and treehouses.  The art of bonsai and topiary are discussed.  The use of trees to explain evolution and families is presented along with trees in religion and myths, and stories.  We are left with the power of trees to sustain and thrive, how they function best as natural forests rather than planted by humans and how we must carefully consider the consequences of cutting down a tree.


Author Wojciech Grajkowski holds a doctorate in biology and lives in Warsaw, Poland.  His knowledge, dedication and enthusiasm for his subject is evident by the text containing the most interesting facts about the aspects of trees covered in this book.  The research necessary to furnish readers with this information is extensive.  Here is another passage translated by Anna Burgess.

However, there are even older trees in the world.  Pando, a quaking aspen in the state of Utah, is estimated to be at least 80,000 years old.  Pando is both a single tree and an entire forest at the same time.  It grew from a single seed, and new shoots began to grow up from its root system.  These shoots turned into new trunks, the roots kept spreading, and today this huge tree colony covers over 106 acres.  It is the heaviest living thing in the world.


The illustrative artwork by Piotr Socha as seen on the open book case is highly detailed and depicts many of the topics covered in this title.  As shown on the book case, a realistic color palette is used.  On the UK version of this book, a close-up of a tree being from folktales is featured on the front.  Those walking and talking trees as depicted in an interior image are moving toward the reader on the back of the case.  Both cases promise to inform and entertain.

On the opening and closing endpapers on a dark background rows of tiny trees and leaves create a pattern.  One of the treehouses similar to those found in West Papua is showcased on the initial title page.  On the formal title page people stand around a baobab tree.  They are like ants in comparison.

Each page turn is a design delight beginning with a Mexican "tree of life".  We see trees from around the world, cross-sections of trunks, leaves, root systems, a display of seeds, four pages of endemic species, baobabs, tree eaters and dwellers, camouflagers, and prehistoric trees.  Items are carefully labeled.  When discussing the tallest and broadest trees, contrasts present visual understanding.  The slice of an old tree with rings and points in history is graphic excellence.

The wooden buildings, modes of transportation, instruments and treehouses are portrayed authentically as are the bonsai and topiary. There is a bit of humor in some of the illustrations.  It is represented by the eyes on the humans and the animals.  All the illustrations span two pages for each dedicated topic with area remaining for a column on the left or right for the narrative.  Two fine lines, one darker than the other, frame the images.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is for the subject, The Four Seasons. In the center is a large circular cross-section of dirt with roots stretching and intermingling.  Twelve trunks spread around and out from the ground on those two pages.  They are shown in all four seasons.  Different colored leaves are placed between the trunks.  Beyond the crowns of the trees are leaves and seeds from the various trees.  It's a breathtaking display of a circle of life.


Trees: A Rooted History written by Wojciech Grajkowski and translated by Anna Burgess with art by Piotr Socha is a stunning work of nonfiction.  For a dedicated tree person or anyone wanting to browse a portion at a time, this book is highly recommended for your personal and professional collections.  Readers will be coming back to this book repeatedly.  (I had to have both the US and UK versions for my collection.)

To learn more about Piotr Socha and Wojciech Grajkowski, please access the publisher's website.  At Thames & Hudson you can view interior illustrations. You might enjoy this BBC video about the African Great Green Wall.




Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to view the titles selected this week by other participants in the 2019 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.