Rest . . . Assured

Sometimes it escapes us.  Other times it's all we want to do. Nevertheless, we wake each morning, grateful, but also wondering why the night, our time of rest, passes so quickly.  In those hours of slumber our brains are busy helping us.  During our sleep we dream; at times some fragments are remembered or perhaps whole stories unfold.  We humans need sleep, but we are not alone in this need.

Other residents of this planet, Earth, sleep.  A Songbird Dreams of Singing: Poems about Sleeping Animals (Running Press Kids, Hachette Book Group, November 5, 2019) written by Kate Hosford with illustrations by Jennifer M. Potter explores through poetry, informational text and eloquent images forms of sleep in eighteen animals living in water, on land and in the air. For them sleep is as distinctive as they are.

A Note from the Author
Did you know humans are able to survive longer without food than they can without sleep?

In this one-page informative note from the author, a discussion of sleep piques our interest with fascinating facts.  We find ourselves hardly able to wait to turn the page.  When we do, we are astounded.

Sperm whales we are told sleep vertically; sometimes tail up, sometimes tail down.  They do this, at most, sixty-five feet below the water's surface.  On land in the nearly treeless savannah, giraffes prefer to sleep standing up.  Their naps, no longer than eleven minutes, are key to surviving their predators.  And speaking of their predators, the sleeping habits of male, female and young lions are different.  They are dictated by bugs, buffalo and roles in their society.

Brave are the sea otters who sleep on the water, holding hands to stay together.  Did you know ocelots are crepuscular?  Do you know the definition of crepuscular?  It's safe to say spiny dogfish sharks sleep as they swim.  If they stop swimming, they are unable to breathe.  You won't believe how they navigate!

The next time you see mallard ducks resting in a row, notice the ones on either end.  Their outside eye performs a vital function, as does half of their brain.  Can you imagine sleeping on air, unable to rest on land or water?  What a marvelous wonder are the frigate birds!

There is an ode to a snail removed from a desert in Egypt in 1846.  It was thought the shell was empty until . . . four years later.  When next spring comes and the peepers sing, remember what courses through their blood to keep them alive as they hibernate. We know their societies are highly evolved.  We know they are far smaller than we are, but a sixty second snooze is much, much too short.  The function of sleep is amazing and so are the animals who rely on it to exist.


After her introduction author Kate Hosford pens poems which read like lullabies.  Each one addresses the habits of the animals while employing rhyming rhythms and repetition of phrases.  Alliteration elevates the cadence.

Opposite each poem, on the left, is at least one paragraph placed on the right describing the facts known about the creature.  Within these facts terms perhaps unknown are defined in the context of the explanations. Here is a partial poem and its accompanying partial factual account.

How the Sloth Sleeps

Green algae grows upon her back.
She eats a little for a snack
And sleeps all day above the ground
Upside down, just hanging around.

At night she'll climb with two-toed feet
While looking for some leaves to eat.
She hides and chews without a sound
Upside down, just hanging around.

Two-Toed Sloths
Found in the Amazon rainforest, nocturnal two-toed sloths can sleep up to sixteen hours a day, often while hanging upside down from a tree branch.  Sloths also like to sleep curled up in a ball in the fork of a tree.  At night, two-toed sloths wake and eat leaves.  Because the leaves give them very little energy or muscle tone, sloths must conserve energy by moving slowly and hardly ever leaving their trees.


Five of the featured animals are found nestled into the landscape of delicate flowers and leafy trees on the front of the matching dust jacket and book case.  The deep blue canvas used here frequently appears within the interior of the book.  The scrolled font on the title contributes to the feeling of peace present in the poems.  On the front of the dust jacket the leaves and stems are embossed in gold foil.  This depiction is lovely, simply lovely.

To the left, on the back, an interior image is used.  It's of the sleeping sperm whales; some with tails up, some with tails down.  A bit of light shines from above illuminating the swimming youngster on the surface and depicting a realm of shadowy contrasts.

On the opening and closing endpapers a soothing wide-angle panorama of the tops of forest evergreens spans from left to right.  Above it the Milky Way and a multitude of other stars carpet the night sky, a sky in hues of blue.  Illustrator Jennifer M. Potter continues to create lush, eloquent scenes for each animal throughout the book.

Her single-page pictures focus on the habitat and the animal in their most graceful poses of sleep.  If an animal is known to sleep in more than one posture, she does showcase it.  Some of her images are framed in a crisp, clean white and others fill the entire page.  These visuals are sensory, conveying a specific atmosphere.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is for the zebra finch.  We are brought close to the sleeping male bird.  He is resting on and among flowery branches with pale pink flowers.  These flowers provide a pleasing contrast to the night sky and his coloring.  He has distinctive feathers on his sides, a rusty shade with white spots.  His cheeks are orange and black stripes appear on his throat and on his creamy white breast. His beak is a brilliant orange.


Words and images, beautiful to behold harmonize wonderfully with the factual information in A Songbird Dreams of Singing: Poems about Sleeping Animals written by Kate Hosford with illustrations by Jennifer M. Potter.  As a read aloud with a group or one-on-one, this presents information while offering comforting scenes.  It opens the door to discussions and further research.  A two-page glossary is included at the end.  An extensive list of persons in the acknowledgements supplies us with the knowledge of author Kate Hosford's fact-checking.  This is a gentle gem you'll want to have in your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Kate Hosford and Jennifer M. Potter and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Kate Hosford has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Jennifer M. Potter has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Kate Hosford is interviewed at author Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations about this book and at the Nerdy Book Club  she talks about this title. 


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

Ferocious, Forceful, Fantastic Bugs

In nine days, the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, will be marked on calendars in the northern hemisphere.  We've had more than six inches of snow blanket the ground in the last 48 hours with more currently falling.  Below normal temperatures for several days this week and high winds formed sizable drifts.  At night animals are on the move as evidenced by their tracks and trails left in the snow, but there is a huge population of critters not visible this time of year.

Some of them are downright pesky and not missed at all, even though we know they are essential in the chain of life.  Others as evidenced by Insect Superpowers: 18 real bugs that smash, zap, hypnotize, sting, and devour! (Chronicle Books, November 5, 2019) written by Kate Messner with illustrations by Jillian Nickell are not only vital but display capabilities similar to champions of comics.  Their skills are astounding.

AN INSECT FAMILY TREE
All living organisms are identified using a system called biological classification, where they're organized based on common characteristics.  This organization starts big---by asking questions like, "Is it a plant, animal, or something else?"---and it gets more specific as it goes along.

Each category,

domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species

are explained in their most basic form and one insect, the Monarch Butterfly is used as an example, citing all eight classifications.  After these four pages, the superpower descriptors are divided into chapter headings,

Fast & Fierce
Great Imposters
Big & Tough
Masters of Chemical Weaponry
Engineers & Architects and
Amazing Ants.

Within these chapters each featured insect is given a superpower name based upon their performances.

You would think with a name like robber fly this insect is some kind of super sleuth but it's a speed demon when in flight.  If you are its unfortunate prey, you are doomed to become a liquid form of food.  Did you know the six-spotted tiger beetle can move faster than five miles per hour?  There is a bug clever enough to mimic an orchid and lure in unsuspecting food.  Its powerful jaws allow it to feast on other insects three times its size.  If you think the only reason fireflies, especially the females, flash their light is to find a mate, you'll be shocked by the behavior of one species.  If you are a male Photinus ignitus, take flight and avoid the light.

There is a grasshopper, Little Barrier Island giant weta, residing in New Zealand.  As the

heaviest insect in the world 

it tips the scale at 35 grams or .077 pounds.  That's one big bug!  It scares rats away by lifting its wicked-looking hind legs.  The black and white shell of the Texas Ironclad beetle is so hard a drill is sometimes necessary to pierce its shell when scientists are studying a deceased bug.  And you won't believe what someone did to the shell of one of these living beetles.  Can you imagine a bug that can shoot a toxic mixture out its rear at five hundred to one thousand bursts per second?  Beware the African bombardier beetle.  If you were a specific termite living in Australia your face is your best weapon, shooting out a gooey glue to immobilize attacking ants.

There is a bug that builds holes in sand to trap food, one that farms fungus and another that confuses its predator by emitting its own sonar sound.  Many of us are aware ant bites can be itchy and achy but one ant, the Bullet ant, has an extremely painful sting.  The final noted insect, Siafu ant, has terrifying jaws.  They travel in troops of millions . . . yes, millions.  Nothing is safe in their path.  The talents of these insects are terrifying, especially to other insects and wild and domestic creatures, but you can't, nonetheless, resist being astonished and give them their due respect.


Through her careful research, author Kate Messner presents facts in multiple ways to appeal to a variety of readers.  For each insect we learn their:

common name,
aliases,
super-scientific name,
trademark features,
size (metric),
secret hideout, 
superpower,
favorite food,
allies and
archenemy.

By selecting these words, she is keeping to the superhero theme.  In other text boxes each insect's characteristics and defining actions are portrayed.  Sometimes a probable scenario is showcased with step-by-step action.  Captivating anecdotes provide unforgettable information.  Here are some passages.

THE DECAPITATOR
A raiding gang
of Asian giant
hornets have been
known to wipe out
a nest of tens
of thousands of 
honeybees in a 
couple of hours. 

The hornets use their powerful mandibles to tear
the bees apart, often ripping off heads, legs, and 
wings.  Then the hornets carry the bees' larvae
back to the nest, chew them into balls, and feed
them to the hornet larvae.


The front and back of the open book case has huge reader appeal.  The layout and design are an introduction to the comic book, graphic novel, use of panels.  The image on the front is a display of six of the eighteen insects.  To the left, on the back, the Asian giant hornet is showcased within several text boxes along with striking images.  Information about Kate Messner and Jillian Nickell, which would normally appear on the back dust jacket flap, is shown here.

On the left front and back right of the end papers are superpower rays shooting out from the gutter in yellow and green hues.  The pages opposite these are first, the title page and second, at the end, the publication information.  These, in the front, are followed by two pages dedicated to the Contents.  

Rendered in ink and copic marker the full-color illustrations by Jillian Nickell are vibrant and bold.  Panels for text are placed within, above and below illustrative panels.  Geometrically shaped panels house insects which look as though they are going to burst off the pages.

We are brought close to the action.  Sound effect words are large and highly expressive.  Small ribbons further emphasize superpowers with appropriate visuals as well as the insect's archenemy.  So well-portrayed are these insects, it's hard to believe they are not real superheroes, but readers will find themselves grateful they are not the size of humans.

One of my many favorite illustrations is the first page for the Hercules beetle.  Its superhero name is THE WEIGHT LIFTER.  Two text boxes in yellow present seven short facts.  Between these the beetle rises looking like a giant.  Blue and white rays spread out from the center in the background.  The enlarged beetle, which can be seven inches long (180mm), is standing tall and holding a large barbell in its mandibles.


Whether a reader is a fan of bugs or not, this book, Insect Superpowers: 18 real bugs that smash, zap, hypnotize, sting, and devour! written by Kate Messner with illustrations by Jillian Nickell, will keep them reading, probably in a single sitting.  At the close of the book, a question,

Could super insects take over the world someday?

leads to a discussion by the author.  This is followed by a list of books and websites.  These bugs are a part of our world.  The more we know about them, the easier it is to understand their purpose.  This book is a wonderful resource for your personal and professional collections.  It's easy to see this book as a read aloud in a classroom setting or a book group or as a part of an insect unit.

To learn more about Kate Messner and Jillian Nickell and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Kate Messner has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Jillian Nickell has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.


Please take a few moments to view the titles selected this week by other participants in the 2019 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge by visiting Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher.

Abhorrent Animals Endure

When you are out and about in the wild and come upon something out of the ordinary with a high ick factor, you usually tend to give it a wide berth.  You avoid it not only because of its physical appearance but these characteristics are likely to be a danger signal.  This is one of those win-win situations.  Both you and the critter are spared any adverse results.

If you know why this particular creature looks as they do, there's a chance you will find them fascinating.  Gross As A Snot Otter: Discovering the World's Most Disgusting Animals (The World Of Weird Animals) (Alfred A. Knopf, October 29, 2019) written by Jess Keating with illustrations by David DeGrand is the fourth title in this series penned and pictured by this talented team.  It explores seventeen animals with less than appealing exterior features.

Disgusting. Vile.

Repugnant. GROSS.

Gross animals are everywhere, but there's more

to these creatures than just "Eww!" and "Yuck!"

Turn the page, but be

warned, this book is not

for the squeamish . . .

As we meet the title animal, we realize their outer body is coated in mucus.  This mucus protects them on multiple levels.  The weird fact is they use their lungs to control how they float, and their skin is the source of the majority of their oxygen.

Try not to be shocked by the knowledge that zombie worms love to eat whale bones AND the males live inside the female bodies.  If you live in the area where a dumpy tree frog resides you might be checking the rim of your toilet bowl.  They enjoy hanging out there.  For all you giraffe fans, try not being appalled by the behavior of male giraffes when testing the readiness of a female to mate.  (Although on a purely scientific level, it's pure genius.)

It's guaranteed you'll never look at those cute little forest friends the same way again after reading about the Siberian chipmunk.  If you think your canine companion rolls in disgusting stuff, these critters take it to a whole new level.  Did you know hagfish slime is brimming with protein?  Do you know what scientists are thinking of doing with that slime?  

The next time or perhaps the first time you lounge on the sandy beach along the Caribbean, remember it might be composed of parrotfish poop.  Wow! The wingspan of the marabou stork is twelve feet.  Their bald heads are perfect for circumventing a mess as they dive into a carrion snack.

You won't believe where the babies of a Surinam toad reside until they are tiny toadlets.  Let's just say it's "handy" for them.  The next time someone farts I believe they will think of herring known to swim in groups but also to communicate with flatulence.  Just in case the previous details of truth here are not gross enough, think about the final animal showcased.  The sea cucumber can expel its guts; out the front or out the back of its body.  It's mind-boggling to learn they can regrow what they've lost.  Yes, these beings are repulsive, but they are a part of an ecological balance and we are essential to their existence.  We are a team and winning equals life for all.

When it comes to searching for the most captivating facts about animals and writing a narrative to expose that information for readers, Jess Keating is a master.  Jess Keating combines truth, wit and literary techniques like alliteration.  Take for example, the first sentence in her first entry.  

If you're disgusting and you know it, hide under a rock!

In this statement a musical lyric is fractured to share knowledge.  Word play is used to introduce extra information in the second paragraph.  Titles like 

Miraculous Maggots?, Pee Break!, Super Slime or Bubbles or Boogers?

are certain to capture readers' attention.  Here are two partial passages for the marabou stork.

MARABOU STORK legs are gray-brown, so why do they typically look white?  The white color is due to what scientists call whitewash, which is a fancy way of saying that this stork poops on its own legs!

The Bad and the Beautiful

Many birds have beautifully colored feathers on their heads, but marabou storks have no room for such decor.  This bird's bald head isn't just striking, it's downright practical.

Jess Keating continues to educate us by providing a column on the right of each entry which includes the animal's name, species name, size, diet, habitat, and predators and threats.  Any time a word is shown which readers might not have previously seen or is important to the text, it is made bold.

When readers look at the open and matching dust jacket and book case, they are well aware, even if this is the first book in this series they are reading, this is an extraordinary book.  This is a book focused on the topic presenting a combination of real photographs and comedic cartoons drawn by David DeGrand.  To the left, on the back, under these words:

It's not easy being GROSS.

You have to work pretty hard to be this revolting.

three animals are showcased.  One is covered in goo, the other is vomiting and the third one is slobbering as it chews thorny acacia leaves.

On the left side of each animal's discussion is a photograph outlined loosely with a wavy frame.  Opposite this, on the right are the three areas of text.  Accompanying the text is a humorous drawing by David DeGrand which draws our attention to a specific detail.  Male zombie worms are shown ready to move inside a female in a homey setting with a doorway, a picture on the wall and windows.  A dumpy tree frog, that mainly resides in Australia, is portrayed climbing from a toilet bowl and exclaiming Crikey!  

One of my favorite pictures highlights the parrotfish.  It is pooping out what will be white sand on a Caribbean beach.  In its front fins it holds a newspaper titled The Fishington Post.  The expression on its face is a blend of concern and contentment.

No one but Jess Keating and David DeGrand could make repulsive animals as engaging as this team does in the fourth book in the series, Gross As A Snot Otter: Discovering the World's Most Disgusting Animals (The World of Weird Animals).  This book, like the previous titles, can be read in a single sitting in entertaining gulps or as an animal a day.  At the close of the book Jess Keating discusses more about what the term disgusting means and how it is interpreted.  This is followed by 

Say What?!  A Glossary of Useful Words.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.  With the holiday season approaching this would make for a wonderful present, as would the other books in the series.

To learn more about Jess Keating and David DeGrand and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Jess's website is a goldmine of resources.  Jess Keating has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  David DeGrand has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  The cover reveal for this book is found at Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's site, Watch. Connect. Read.  It's a super post about cover design and the decisions made by all participants.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.  For links about the previous three titles and a book trailer premiere at this blog, follow this link.

To view the titles selected this week by other participant in the 2019 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge, visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator, Alyson Beecher.

Looking Back At A Childhood Adventure

As children we perceive the world through a lens acutely aware of details others might miss but our point of view of life on a larger scale is limited by our resources and experiences.  There have probably been moments in most of our lives when we were unaware of being involved in something destined for the annuals of history.  It is only when we are adults, looking back on the decades of our lives, that we realize with astonishment and a little bit of awe how what was ordinary was built on the extraordinary.

In his most recent book, Crossing on Time: Steam Engines, Fast Ships, and a Journey to the New World (Roaring Brook Press, May 5, 2019) David Macaulay writes and illustrates about innovations, a lifetime dream fulfilled and one family's emigration to the United States.  The evolution of steam engines and their use in transportation is deftly woven into the work of William Francis Gibbs and the building of the SS United States.  Readers are entranced by accomplishments of multiple individuals, inspired by the perseverance of one man and thrilled to discover how these are tied to David Macaulay and his boyhood.

IN THE SPRING OF 1957, my father was offered a job in America. 

This first sentence in the introduction to four chapters starts a blend of three stories.  David Macaulay, his two siblings, and his mother have left their home having sold most of their possessions, to stay with his grandparents.  They are waiting to leave Great Britain to join his father in the United States.  He tells readers how the months seem endless as he waits to see the Empire State Building but upon reflection the ability to take this trip started centuries ago.

Travel, then, across the Atlantic relied solely on wind which tends to be unpredictable.  Ships had to have another source of power.  It was actually a need of miners which prompted the design and building of

the first continuously operating steam machine

near 1710 by Thomas Newcomen.  From the work of this man, improvements were made.  Boats were successfully traveling using steam engines less than 100 years later.  Materials and shapes of ocean liners were changed to adapt to the use of steam engines; as the engines themselves were constantly altering to work more efficiently with less fuel.  These bigger and better ships were vying for cargo and passengers trying to make the voyage from one side of the Atlantic to the other as fast as possible.  By 1910 there was a formal award known as the Blue Riband which owners of vessels coveted.

As a boy, William Francis Gibbs, attended the launch of Saint Louis with his parents and younger brother in Philadelphia along the Delaware River in 1894.  At eight years old William was entranced by the size of the ship and its abilities.  From that day forward, every moment was dedicated to ships, how they were built and how they could be constructed to perform with greater speed and increased safety.  After college William and his brother, Frederic, began to establish their shipbuilding business.  While World War I and World War II delayed William's plans to create a super liner, their company and reputations grew.  But . . . the lure of the Blue Riband motivated United States Lines to engage the services of the Gibbs brothers.  William Francis Gibbs' dream began to be a reality.

In the spring of 1949 (David Macaulay was not yet three-years-old) construction of the SS United States started in Newport News, Virginia.  The intricate details of all the plans and materials and the timing and precision necessary to complete each portion of the ship was a mind-boggling process.  It was literally like putting a three-dimensional puzzle together.  It was not until June 23, 1951 that the ship was officially christened.  It took another twelve months to complete the interior of the ship.  It's first voyage was on July 3, 1952 as the fastest ship to the east and later back home to the west.  It garnered the Blue Riband.

On September 25, 1957 David Macaulay, his mother, sister and brother boarded the SS United States at Southampton, United Kingdom.  Their room, B-105, consisted of double bunk beds and a single porthole.  David looked through that porthole every morning for an initial look at the Empire State Building, the tallest building (then) in the world.  Its picture was in his copy of the Encyclopedia of Science for Boys and Girls, one of three books he was allowed to bring.  His first impression of the building and its presence years later is unforgettable to him to this day.


The manner in which David Macaulay weaves his personal story into the story of William Francis Gibb's career as a builder of ships and the development of steam engines is masterful, simply masterful.  His voice as narrator, taking us back and forth in time, gives us an intimate and human perspective as well as a technical insight into steam engines and ship construction.  His conversational text is supplemented with labels, numbered captions and paragraphs accompanying his illustrations.  He offers us a story but more in-depth information, too.  For this reason, this volume will find a much larger audience.  Here is a passage and a single caption.

By 1949 an army of draftsmen had produced hundreds of plans documenting everything from structural steelwork and rivet placement to galley layouts and paint colors.  Between the bidding process to decide which shipyard would actually build the ship and then construction itself, the number of plans would mushroom into thousands of blueprints.  To help locate each piece of information on all the drawings, the length of the ship had been divided like a loaf of bread into 365 slices called frames.  During construction, frame numbers would be painted on the walls and columns so the workers would know exactly where they were.

The ship had three massive anchors, one housed in the point of the bow, and two on either side.  The anchors were raised and lowered by winches (called windlasses) on the Upper Deck and powered by machinery on the Main Deck below.  Their chains were stored in a chain locker that went all the way down to D Deck.


When you look at the open and matching dust jacket and book case of this title, the size of the SS United States on the front, with David Macaulay and his family standing next to it, is massive.  It gives readers the feeling of something larger than they imagine being revealed.  To the left, on the back, in a more limited color palette, we see a family from the past standing on a shore, a trunk next to them, looking out at the ocean.  Above them in the clouds or in the past are ships moving with only wind in their sails.

The opening and closing endpapers are a rich royal blue.  For the beginning of the introduction David Macaulay features himself reading his copy of Encyclopedia of Science for Boys and Girls lying on his stomach.  With a page turn the introduction continues giving us a bird's eye view of his hometown spanning two pages.  An enlarged map of the trip from Bolton to London to Southampton and to France before crossing the Atlantic is on the title page.

Each turn of page reveals the wonders of David Macaulay's skill as an exceptional illustrator.  His elaborate details, historical accurateness, and keen sense of humor are always present.  These images are to be enjoyed and appreciated.

In many of them his artist's hand is shown, steadying an element.  Sometimes a part of a picture will cross the gutter.  Perspectives are mixed with adept ingenuity.  His cross-sections are exquisite.  Every time you read this book; you will notice something more in the pictures.  His gatefold beginning on page 86 with a daytime view of the SS United States and concluding on page 95 with a nighttime view of the SS United States will have you gasping.  On pages 87 and 94 are eight close-up special spaces on the ship.  The six interior pages are dedicated to the entire length of the ship as a cross-section full of tiny items and labeled properly.  You could look at this for hours.

One of my many, many favorite pictures is for an entirely different image.  It spans two pages.  It is a limited color palette in the morning of the SS United States' arrival in New York with the Macaulay family on board.  The gray canvas (sky) has a hint of pink near the horizon.  The ship (on the left) is moving past a rocky shore seen along the bottom of the picture.  The silhouette of a man wearing a hat and topcoat is between the ship and the shore.  He stands watching the ship.  His vehicle is close to readers, the front of the car covering the entire right side and crossing the gutter.  The car is a Cadillac.  The man is William Francis Gibbs.  He always watched his ship's arrival.


You do not need to be an aficionado of ships, steam engines or the history of either to become totally fascinated with Crossing on Time: Steam Engines, Fast Ships, and a Journey to the New World written and illustrated by David Macaulay.  You will find yourself caught up in the story of their evolution because of the personal connection to William Francis Gibbs and beloved author-illustrator David Macaulay.  We truly are all connected.  At the close of the book is an afterword, timeline, acknowledgments and selected readings accompanied by numerous photographs.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about David Macaulay and his other considerable work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  David Macaulay has an account on Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view interior pages.   I am including these videos for you to enjoy.








UPDATE:  Discovered this May 7, 2019 Q & A with David Macaulay at Publishers Weekly.


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

Collective Memories

You can read them over the course of days or in hours.  You may find yourself whispering, "Oh my goodness."  You may stop at a point and softly gasp.  You may begin to cry.  You may feel a large grin begin to spread across your face.  This is the effect carefully chosen words by authors and articulately created art by illustrators has on readers.

As I hold I Remember: Poems And Pictures Of Heritage (Lee & Low Books Inc., October 22, 2019) edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins in my hands quietly turning the pages, I am emotionally invested and captivated.  It is a slim volume, but when opened, a world is released and surrounds you.  This stirring compilation of fifteen poems by fourteen authors and illustrations by sixteen artists is certain to encourage readers to reflect on their own lives.  In his short introduction, the late poet, Lee Bennett Hopkins, ends with these five words, staggered and each on their own line:

Read.
     Look.
          Listen.
               Hear.
                    See.

We are carried by words and illustrations to a special Mother's Day when a mother with a compassionate heart understands the value of a gift, to a conversation between boys where one clearly does not comprehend the word American and the strength found when a man looks back on his boyhood, recalling the multitude of descriptive details in his daily life with his family.  We find comfort in the connection between a visiting grandmother and her granddaughter working together on their embroidery.  Miles and days of separation are closed by a deep affection.

We learn of a sofer and his writing still impacting those who read his work fashioned with

quill and ink on parchment.

A young girl finally meets her Auntie Anne whose feats are legendary through story.  There will be more stories but now the truth will be told and respectively listened to by those present.  A poem on PEACE as an individual being stirs up contemplative musings.

A river becomes a center for remembering.  A highway becomes the means for expressing a very real fear.  A single question gives us a history of answers.  A recipe, and the meal it makes, always takes you home.

Reminiscing brings us into poignant childhood thoughts of captured specific moments.  A realistic portrait of life on a reservation speaks of truth and resilience.  A woman ends her poem with a question and we fully realize the answer.  In the final poem we step into the authentic fears of a fifteen-year-old but are bolstered, as she is, by the foundation of rock, then, now and tomorrow, that is family.


The poets (in order of appearance) Janet Wong, Kwame Alexander, Margarita Engle, Douglas Florian, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Naomi Shihab Nye, Jorge Tetl Argueta, Marilyn Nelson, Nick Bruel, G. Neri, Jane Yolen, Joseph Bruchac, Carole Boston Weatherford and Guadalupe Garcia McCall have placed their souls on these pages.  Their voices, employing a variety of poetic forms, speak with clarity.  Their shared memories are bridges from their stories to our stories.

The illustrators (in order of appearance) Sean Qualls (dust jacket and book case), Simone Shin, Insoo Kim, Michele Wood, Paula Barragan, Neil Waldman, Jeanne Rorex Bridges, Sawsan Chalabi, Rafael Lopez, R. Gregory Christie, Janine Macbeth, Charlotte Riley-Webb, Julie Downing, David Kanietakeron Fadden, Daniel Minter and Juliet Menendez like the writers have placed the essence of themselves and their art on these pages.  Their techniques and mediums are a reflection of their personal expression but also complement and elevate the poems.  It's like walking through a gallery, each one ready to come to life.

In most of my posts I will feature passages from the text and a favorite illustration.  It's impossible with this title.  Each poem and each image sing a tune, separate, but also a part of a symphony, a symphony that is us.


I Remember: Poems And Pictures Of Heritage edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins is a remarkable collection of words and art.  The authors address poetry and its meaning prior to their poems.  The illustrators speak about their art beneath their pictures.  In tiny print at the bottom of a page after a poem are words readers might not know with their pronunciation and a definition.  At the close of the book, ten pages are dedicated to small biographical sketches of each author and illustrator showing childhood and adult pictures.  From this work readers will be energized to write their own poetry or make their own art with respect to their personal stories.   I highly recommend this book for your professional and personal collections.

To learn more about the authors and illustrators, please follow the links embedded in their names to access their websites or websites containing more information about them.  At the publisher's website you can view interior pages.

UPDATE:  I believe you will enjoy this interview at author Cynthia Leitich Smith's website, Cynsations with the editor of this anthology, Louise May.   


Please take a few moments to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to view the titles selected this week by participants in the 2019 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

In Motion

Most mornings now a chorus of chick-a-dee-dee-dee greets us as we walk.  Groups of these feathered friends gather in the trees and shrubs, quickly moving from place to place, sometimes stopping a foot or so from us if we are still.  Occasionally blue jays will send out a squawk.  Most other birds have left for warmer climates.  New animals ventured through the yard last night, evidenced by their tracks in the snow.  A large deer strolled along the perimeter.  From the woods paw prints formed a path down the driveway; a type of cat or small canine. Animals are always on the move.

Many marvelous creatures travel more than a few miles during any given day.  They make astonishing annual treks.  Migration: Incredible Animal Journeys (Bloomsbury Children's Books, August 6, 2019) written by Mike Unwin with illustrations by Jenni Desmond chronicles these trips taken in order to survive and for the continuation of their species.




ANIMALS ON THE MOVE
Imagine being a baby swallow in Europe in the autumn.  Just a few weeks ago you left your nest for the first time.  Now, before you are even two months old, you have to fly thousands of miles---all the way to Africa.

In this introduction we learn about the necessity of migratory practices for animals.  These seasonal excursions are not without dangers from predators, geographical physical features and weather as hundreds and thousands of miles are covered.  Page turn by page turn we read and view the paths followed by twenty different groups of Earth's occupants.

A ten-year-old humpback whale, finally an adult, can swim more than fifteen thousand miles per year.  No other animal tops that mileage by swimming.  They move in a line, one behind the other, every year to the inland of Antarctic to breed.  They are the largest penguins in the world.  Another animal moves from the water's edge, inland and south for winter.  Tens of thousands of caribou move as a unit.  Did you know the Arctic tern flies from the North Pole to the South Pole in order to fish for twenty-four hours per day in each summer season?

To see the migration of the monarch butterflies would indeed be like stepping into a fantasy.  Millions move from the north in Canada and North America to Mexico BUT it takes four generations to complete the round trip. (The explanation of the stages is fascinating.)  For years conservationists flew in ultralight aircraft with young whooping cranes to show them the route to migrate in the winter.  It looks like an immense smudge on the water but it's the annual journey in May of millions of pilchards moving north from the southern tip of Africa.

Can you imagine flying and flying and flying over water and not resting on land?  Such is the life of the wandering albatross who searches for food for years before returning to its island birthplace.  On Christmas Island, millions of Christmas Island red crabs carpet the roadways in November as they head to the sea to breed. There is only one bird which travels over the Himalayan mountains.  These bar-headed geese are physically equipped with a unique circulation system.  (This is amazing!)

Great white sharks swim for food across the Indian Ocean six thousand miles.  African elephants walk and walk for water.  Salmon go against a raging current to lay eggs before they die.  The next time you hold a yard stick; imagine it as the wingspan of the straw-colored fruit bat in Africa.  It and millions of others fly for fruit in November.  Like many of other animals named in these pages the final animal usually returns to the place where it was born to lay its eggs and continue the specie, the green sea turtle.  What a sight this must be to see!


Renowned wildlife author Mike Unwin presents captivating factual accounts; taking readers under the sea, through the air and across landscapes.  In conversational paragraphs he acts as an instructor and a guide.  He creates scenarios where we can imagine ourselves next to each animal as they move.  In addition to his lengthier paragraphs several sentences as captions to the illustrations further inform readers.  Here is a passage; two paragraphs of six.

The dancers are a male and a female.  They have nested together for several years, and this dance helps keep them close.  Other cranes are dancing too.  Each pair knows that it's time to build a nest and start to raise a family.  But first they must return to their breeding grounds in the north.

At nearly 5 feet tall, whooping cranes are the tallest birds in North America.  They are also one of the rarest---in 1941 there were only twenty-three left, including two in zoos.  Conservationists have worked hard to protect them and today there are around 400 in the wild.


Readers will be enthralled with the illustrations by Jenni Desmond beginning on the open and matching dust jacket and book case.  Her portrait of migrating hummingbirds from flap edge to flap edge is a beautiful blend of background floral elements and a radiate depiction of the tiny birds magnified for readers.  The prominent use of green, red and white is striking.  You want to take wing and fly with them. 

The matching opening and closing endpapers showcase the forest in Mexico as the first few monarch butterflies (three) arrive.  A snowy chilly scene, a two-page image features a single bar-headed goose flying over the Himalayan mountains.  This same scene without a goose provides a space at the end for the publication information and dedications on the left and a barren view on the right.  It gives a very real feeling as to the conditions these birds must endure.

For the contents, introduction and each animal, illustrator Jenni Desmond used

watercolor, acrylic, ink, pencil, and pencil crayon

to create her double-page pictures.  They are eloquent representations in varying points of view.  We are next to the humpback whale and her calf.  We stand near the front of a long line of Emperor penguins stretching back as far as we can see over the vast icy terrain.  We are among the trees in Mexico as thousands and thousands of monarch butterflies move about us.  We see dozens and dozens of globe skimmer dragonflies land on and near two pairs of flip-flops on a sandy beach.  Every delicate detail brings these animals to us as we hold this book in our hands. 

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is for the spread titled

CARIBOU CROSSING.

The text is in four short columns, two to a page at the top.  Beneath the text is a snow-topped mountain range.  A line of evergreens stretches under the range from page edge to page edge.  In front of this is a large body of water, the lower bottom half.  Three separate lines of caribou can be seen.  One is in the far distance, another to the right of the gutter moving to and on the shore and a third is close to readers, caribou swimming and climbing the grassy slope.  Here we can see the foam on the waves as the caribou splash.  Their images are mirrored in the water.  It's easy to place yourself there, watching and listening to the thunderous noises.


You can't help but be inspired by Migration: Incredible Animal Journeys written by Mike Unwin with illustrations by Jenni Desmond.  Informative text elevated by gorgeous illustrations will promote discussions and further research.  At the close of the book are two pages of a world map with two other discussions, Did You Know? and Making A Safer World For Migrants plus a list of the animals by number with corresponding numbers on the map with respect to their routes.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.  This title is one of Publishers Weekly's Best Children's Books of 2019.

If you wish to discover more about Mike Unwin and Jenni Desmond, please follow the links attached to their names to access websites giving you additional details about them and their other work.  Mike Unwin maintains an account on Instagram.  Jenni Desmond has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  You might enjoy visiting Jenni Desmond's blog. Jenni Desmond was recently interviewed at Let's Talk Picture Books.  You'll appreciate the artwork and process images.  At the publisher's website is a teacher's guide for this title.  The UK title looks like this.



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

Collectively Giving Thanks

Trust me, there is a time in your life, the younger the better, when you wake up each morning grateful to still be breathing with clothes to wear and food to eat in a home with the ability to keep you warm and cool when necessary.   For this writer every day begins with the first of several mile walks with my canine companion.  Today I am grateful for no encounter with the local bear.  Time during the morning is spent connecting with friends on social media, some of whom I have never met.  Yet, I am thankful for knowing them and hold onto the hope of chatting with them one day soon in person.  Hours are dedicated to making Flu-Fighter Cookies for colleagues at work.  It's good news when all the necessary ingredients are located, and they are baked to perfection. 

Winter is here covering nearly everything today in a snowy coat.  Getting to and from work without incident is a cause for rejoicing. An evening spent with an ever-so-patient pup playing and laughing at her antics feeds a work-weary soul.  It is indeed a time to express thanks when your day closes with writing about a book.  In this book, Thanku: Poems Of Gratitude (Millbrook Press, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., September 3, 2019) illustrated by Marlena Myles and edited by Miranda Paul, there is an abundance of words written by talented authors expressing numerous forms of gratitude.  If you seek it, you will find it.

Giving Thanks
In memory of Chief Jake Swamp

Thanksgiving is more
than just one day,
so a Mohawk elder
said to me.
(This is the first stanza in the first poem written by Joseph Bruchac.)

With each page turn (with the exception of the first poem and one other) we are presented with two poems.  Numbering thirty-two, these poems offer thirty-two different formats by thirty-two distinctive authors.  Each of their compositions gives us a fresh way to view our world as a whole or a small part of it.

In this first poem we are reminded every day is a day to give thanks.  We are given a new point-of-view of the sky everyone shares followed by expressions of thanks for the beauty of our avian friends, their flying abilities and songs.  Praises are penned for dinosaurs by future fliers and for the development of species, some not named or counted, over generations.  A math poem brings to life computations featuring compassion.  The true value of zero revealed in a tanka leaves you wondering.

Friends discuss birthdays and parties and hope for having a first one.  Teamwork is praised in a race.  There are all kinds of emergencies, but assistance is shown from a new perspective.  It appears when light and water are in a special alignment.  Roy G. Biv is introduced.  When we least expect them, the smallest words of thanks appear hidden among other words in a found poem.  An arachnid sends out a plea.

Are we ever thankful enough for sleep until we really need it?  Attitude is shown to be the key to gratitude.  We enter a cobbler's realm of waiting shoes.  Not necessarily painless, but scars, as an elder states, are a blessing in disguise.  The worth of passing stories from one generation to the next will leave you deeply moved.  The girl who entered a wonderland and a looking glass has reason to be pleased with her spectacles.  You'll grin at the descriptions of delightful dimples.

Humans with canine companions will knowingly nod in agreement at thankfulness for a puppy.  Sometimes doing the right thing brings gratefulness to both the giver and the receiver.  We love the colorful vistas during autumn but falling leaves have their special appeal.  Who knew a sweatshirt could have a best day ever.  Sometimes, during the best times, we can understand parallels between nature and humans.  The most common object can become a beachcomber's treasure.

Have you ever written words in the sand hoping the message is noticed by someone else?  An ode to dreams speaks invaluable truths.  There will be a moment in a family's history when the first individual will receive a college diploma.  It is important to be persistent in going wherever you need or want to go.  Just keep going.  We are reminded there is more than the expected mediums for painting.  On this day of winter's first big snow, the final poem about a snow-filled day closes with this repetition

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The thirty-two authors in order of their poems are Joseph Bruchac, Naomi Shihab Nye, Kimberly Blaeser, Sun Yung Shin, Ed DeCaria, Becky Shillington, Padma Venkatraman, Gwendolyn Hooks, Jane Yolen, Janice Scully, Charles Waters, Carole Lindstrom, Sylvia Liu, Carolyn Dee Flores, Sarvinder Naberhaus, Lupe Ruiz-Flores, Baptiste Paul, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Patti Richards, Chrystal D. Giles, Margarita Engle, Kenn Nesbitt, JaNay Brown-Wood, Diana Murray, Megan Hoyt, Jamie McGillen, Renee M. LaTulippe, Vanessa Brantley-Newton, Traci Sorell, Edna Cabcabin Moran, Charles Ghigna and Liz Garton Scanlon.  The poetry formats in order are:  didactic poem, epistle, concrete (shape), sijo, Fib, math poems, tanka, poem for two voices, septercet, hyperbole, quatrain, found poem, Tyburn, onomatopoeia, echo, allegory, tricube, (chant, free verse), (narrative poem, allusion), acrostic, decima mirror, McWhirtle, ode, mask, Shakespearean sonnet, ballad, pantoum, limerick, cinquain, palindrome, metaphor and Etheree.  Each poem penned by each writer, without you being aware, brings you into the essence of what they are saying.  It is a stunning achievement by all thirty-two people.


Like the words of all thirty-two authors, the illustration on the open and matching dust jacket and book case is an eloquent portrait in calming hues of blue and green with the warmth of pastel yellow, pink, peach and purple.  The contrast of the silhouette of the individual blowing on the flower and the text in navy blue is marvelous.  Featuring the names of the authors in those colorful shades of breath is a wonderful design decision.  It pairs beautifully with the words to the left, on the back, written by Joseph Bruchac in the first poem.  The silhouette flows over the spine and continues to the middle of the back.  Another lovely contrast are the flowers in white and navy along the bottom of the front and back and the scattering of seeds on both sides of the spine and within the spine.

A robin-egg's blue covers the opening and closing endpapers.  Black text of the names of the authors, the illustrator Marlena Myles, and the editor Miranda Paul as well as silhouettes of clusters of flowers in both lower corners appear on the title page.  These are placed on an array of pale colors like watercolors spreading out and blending together.

Rendered

in Adobe Photoshop with Texturino

by Marlena Myles the images vary between double-page pictures and full-page pictures.  The adept skill in which two poems are placed on a single double-page illustration and find commonality is wonderful.  Even the full-page visuals, though separate, have connections in the color palettes used.  The pictorial interpretations employed by Marlena Myles enhance every written piece.

One of my many favorite illustrations is for the two poems titled College Degree by Traci Sorell and A Graceful Journey by Edna Cabcabin Moran.  At first glance you are focused on the two college graduates, holding their diplomas and garbed in their gowns on the left and a bird's eye view of group of three people in single kayaks paddling on the right.  A more studied look shows their placement on a map of the world with the land masses in shades of gray amid blue, green and a bit of yellow swirls.  This is only one of many excellent artistic choices made by Marlena Myles.


Thanku: Poems Of Gratitude illustrated by Marlena Myles and edited by Miranda Paul is filled with words of wisdom from a diverse group of creative artists.  You could read one or all of them every day and still feel the positive peace they bring as if it's the first time each time.  At the close of the book are several pages dedicated to explanations of the poetic forms and brief biographies of the contributors.  Miranda Paul closes the book with a note to educators and parents about the value of gratitude all year.  She urges people to seek the truth and remain factual in discussing Thanksgiving.  She says: in one of several paragraphs:

Learning and sharing the fuller context of Thanksgiving doesn't mean that we need to stop celebrating entirely.  Many citizens of the hundreds of Indigenous Nations within the United States and Canada give thanks to the Creator not once a year, but every day, for all the gifts of life.  On Thanksgiving, Americans reach out in significant numbers to people in need within their communities.  Might we start there and move forward?  While we cannot change the past, we can acknowledge its consequences and work for peace and unity in the future.

Miranda Paul has included four resources after her note.  I highly recommend this title for your professional and personal collections.

I have attached links to all the authors' names, Marlena Myles' name and Miranda Paul's name which for most take you to their respective websites so you can learn more about them and their work. For a few I selected the best source I could find online other than a website.  At the publisher's website are interior images and excerpts which are breathtaking.  Marlena Myles is showcased at Kid Lit 411.  Marlena Myles and Miranda Paul are interviewed at author Cynthia Leitich Smith's website.  The cover was revealed at We Need Diverse Books.  Author, educator, founder and writer at American Indians in Children's Literature, speaker and recipient of the 2019 (May Hill) Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award Dr. Debbie Reese (tribally enrolled Nambe Pueblo) speaks about this book on her site.


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

Dear Readers:

Please do not be confused by time references in this post.  I started it well before midnight on November 6, 2019 but did not complete it until the early hours of November 7, 2019.  Thank you.

A Destination As A Beginning

There comes a time when each person must make a decision. Will they follow the plan in their head, that which has been committed with pencil or pen to paper, or release the passion in their heart?  For it is when they have the courage to set the passion free, they realize they are not alone.  There are others who share the same beliefs.  There are others willing to work together to make change happen; a change ensuring a better world for everyone.

For one man, a man whose name is etched in history forever, the time for making a decision came often, but never was the choice more memorable than on August 28, 1963.  In A Place To Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation (Neal Porter Books, Holiday House, August 27, 2019) written by Barry Wittenstein with illustrations by Jerry Pinkney we are transported.  We are moved.  We are uplifted by the beauty expressed in words and art to never forget.

Martin Luther King Jr.
was once asked if the hardest part
of preaching was knowing where to begin.

You might be surprised by his reply.  He felt

"The hardest part is knowing where to end."

He likened it to being aloft and having no understanding of where to come down.  On the evening of August 27, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was meeting with his most trusted and wisest advisors in the lobby of the Willard Hotel in Washington, D. C.  It was the night before the March on Washington.  He was seeking their input for the speech he was to give at the Lincoln Memorial.  They offered recommendations and he listened.  Then he left to pen the words in his hotel room.

Until 4 in the morning Martin Luther King Jr. wrote and rewrote on a lined, yellow legal-sized pad.  Andrew Young, a pastor, watched him work as he tried to make every word count, words intent on reaching into the souls of more than 250,000 people in attendance and thousands and thousands more listening and watching at home on radios and televisions.

Standing at the podium waiting to read words but knowing he needed more, Martin Luther King Jr. began to speak.  He reached deep into American history, weaving the words of democratic documents into those from the Bible and poetry of Langston Hughes.  Everything he knew up until this point became a part of this speech, but something was missing.

Mahalia Jackson, a gospel singer in the crowd near Martin Luther King Jr., called out a suggestion, once and twice.  It was exactly what this great man needed to hear.  The speaker became a preacher releasing his passion.

I HAVE A DREAM.

By 4 in the afternoon Dr. King was meeting with President John F. Kennedy.  At 8 in the evening, back at the hotel, Martin Luther King Jr. and those same men he met with the evening before were jubilant.  The road ahead would be fraught with obstacles but now his dream, their dream, had been heard around the world.


Every time I read this book, every single time, I feel as those I've stepped back into 1963 and am standing with Martin Luther King Jr.  Barry Wittenstein has penned history with a poetic perspective.  His research is evident in his ability to create a setting as real as if it's happening now.  These settings are emotionally charged. A subtle tension is supplied with the times of day written above a portion of the text.  Within his narrative he places actual words spoken by the participants fashioning a seamless flow.  Here is a passage.

Again, she shouted,
"Tell them about the dream,
Martin!  Tell them about the dream!"

The Baptist preacher,
son, grandson, and great-grandson of Baptist preachers,
carefully moved the script off to the side.

Martin was done circling.
The lecture was over.
He was going to church,
his place to land . . .


When you open the matching dust jacket and book case so you can view the back to the left and the front at the right, you are completely captivated by the peaceful power emanating from the portraits of Martin Luther King Jr. In the first we see him as a thoughtful thinker with a backdrop appearing like stained-glass windows.  In the second his mouth is open as he faces left to speak before the crowd that August day in 1963.  His hand is raised to articulate what he is saying.  He is wearing a button to commemorate the March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom.  Surrounding him is a collage of signs held by marchers, the Capitol building, a portion of the American flag, a bird in flight and clippings of actual photographs from that day.  It is here that readers get their first glimpse of the glorious technique used by artist Jerry Pinkney throughout this book.  The title text is embossed in foil.

On the opening and closing endpapers a bright sky blue shown on the front of the jacket and case is used.  The first page turn shows Martin Luther King Jr., pencil in hand, thinking about what to write in his speech.  Around him are portions of buildings and a partial piece of lined paper from a yellow legal pad.  On the title page, on the left, is a large recreation of the Willard Hotel.  Jerry Pinkney has labeled it on the left side.  (He provides labels throughout the book for key peoples' names.)  On the right side of the title page is a bird's eye view of the Lincoln Memorial and nearby landscape; as if we are looking at a map.

Each double-page picture rendered

using graphite, color pencil, watercolor and collage on Arches watercolor paper 

is a masterpiece of layout, design and creativity.  Jerry Pinkney's people look as though they could walk right off the pages.  Their facial features, body positions and hand movements are astonishing.  In A Note from the Artist Jerry Pinkney says:

With exhaustive---oftentimes dizzying---research, I gathered materials, acquiring a Hip Pocket Guide of The United States Constitution: What It Says, What It Means, reading articles and personal accounts, and sifting through hundreds of images.  With so many sources, I knew early on that I would use collage as a way to reinforce place.

This was and is (in my humble opinion) a brilliant decision.

Readers will pause at each page turn to study the illustration.  They will look at all the elements wondering at their significance.  This promotes greater understanding of this historical era and its crucial significance.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is for a four-hour stretch of time in which Martin Luther King Jr. is working in his hotel room on the speech.  The text is placed on the left side.  Tucked between the text and gutter is a drawing of the face of Langston Hughes whose poetry is said to have influenced Martin Luther King Jr. in this speech (and other speeches).  Beneath this is what appears to be pieces of wallpaper, a coffee pot, partially sketched and part of a real photograph, a glass for water, a coffee cup, a Holy Bible and a telephone.  To the right Martin Luther King Jr. is holding a pencil and a yellow legal pad with a corner crossing the gutter.  He is listening to Andrew Young who is reaching out to touch his shoulder.  It is a moment of friendship.  It is a moment of two men with shared dreams exchanging ideas.


Each library, professional and personal, will want to have a copy of A Place To Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation written by Barry Wittenstein with illustrations by Jerry Pinkney.  It is a marvelous collaboration between a gifted wordsmith and a beloved artist of distinction.  It captures the hours before the speech and the events after with excellence.  The final sentence and illustration will resonate.  At the close of the book both the author and illustrator include notes.  There are paragraphs on The Willard Hotel Advisors, Other Voices, and Who Spoke at the March on Washington.  Sources are given for the quotations and there is a bibliography.

To learn more about author Barry Wittenstein and illustrator Jerry Pinkney and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Barry Wittenstein has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Barry Wittenstein is interviewed at Author Q&As with Deborah Kalb.  Jerry Pinkney is interviewed at The Horn Book and at Publishers Weekly about this book.  At Penguin Random House you can view the first few images.  At the publisher's website is a link to a Limited Edition First Look with a letter from Neal Porter and notes from the author and illustrator.  Several double-page breathtaking pictures are shown.

UPDATE:  December 17, 2019 Art is shared by author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast including a link to the discussion about this title at The Horn Book's Calling Caldecott.

UPDATE:  There are now available many resources such as author and illustrator interviews and an educator's guide at the publisher's website.


To view the other titles selected this week by participants in the 2019 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge, please go to Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher.

Piece By Piece

The views of the rolling hills this autumn having been breathtaking.  The brilliant reds, yellows and oranges are becoming more muted now, leaning toward shades enriched with brown.  It's easy to imagine a master placing each tree in a special place on each hill to supply us with this every-changing work of art.  Although we have the spectacular contrasts of white and black with the coming of winter, in the spring unimaginable shades of green will supply us with a similar motif as buds burst forth and turn into leaves.  And summer is a blast of panoramic color, a blend of trees, flowers, grasses, birds, butterflies, bees and other assorted flora and fauna.

These scenes offered to us are both lessons in artistic design and the use of materials.  Two nonfiction publications this year focus on the technique of collage and both rely on what is offered in the natural world.  The first release, Birds Of A Feather: Bowerbirds And Me (Neal Porter Books, Holiday House, May 14, 2019) written and illustrated by Susan L. Roth compares two artists, one avian and one human who fashion masterpieces from found objects.

The differences between a bowerbird and me are fewer than you might expect.

Susan L. Roth, as narrator, begins to state the similarities.  As collectors of anything, often items completely unrelated, they take their gathered treasures and work these into very specific, small areas.  They are both aiming toward their objective of unsurpassed beauty but their reasons for doing this are not the same.  Susan L. Roth is telling a story.  A bowerbird is seeking a mate.

Believe it or not, both never make the same arrangement.  In a stunning observation their tools, though different, work in an identical manner.  A bowerbird's beak is like a human's pair of tweezers.

Both Susan L. Roth and the bowerbird look to their surroundings to gain ideas for their compositions as well as attaining inspiration from the space in which they are placing their work or the materials they are using.  Both of these creators combine the unlikeliest of found objects to fashion colorful splashes of originality.  They do not hesitate to use whatever they can find; natural or made by humans.

Like the true artists they both are, their light shines even brighter when others notice their work and comment.  If a story is told and a mate is found, they know each small piece contributed to a successful whole.  Piece by careful piece, perfection is achieved.


In exactly twelve sentences Susan L. Roth writes a convincing portrait of the parallels between her and bowerbirds.  Her choices of descriptive adjectives are done with the utmost care.  The most striking aspect of this narrative is the pacing derived from splitting the sentences from page to page.  The rhythm mimics how these two artists, human and bird, work.  Here is a passage.

We are both 
collectors
of unusual,
often unrelated
stuff   

(page turn)


that we use
in unusual ways
to create different and unexpected compositions
in rather small, defined spaces.


The kaleidoscope of bits of color on the front of the dust jacket wholeheartedly asks you to pick up this book and read it.  The layout of the text, cut out and pieced together like collage, is highly reader friendly.  The bowerbird positioned near his name looks as though he's ready for flight, carrying his latest artistic treasure.

To the left, on the back, on a canvas of white, stands Susan L. Roth, created entirely with collage.  Bits and pieces of gathered colored paper cascade from her right hand.  In her left hand she is carrying more paper and a pair of scissors.  She stands in a layer of colored, cut paper.

On the book case covered in white, textured paper are eight loosely formed panels, framed by bits of grasses and twigs, which span from left to right.  In seven of them we see the bowerbird hard at work, carrying and placing other elements exactly where he wants them to be.  He has an air of energetic determination about him.

The opening and closing endpapers are the same color as the feather in the bowerbird's beak on the front of the dust jacket.  On the initial title page, Susan L. Roth defines bowerbird and Susan L. Roth, as if they are part of a dictionary.  On the two-page picture for the formal title page, amid collected items, we see one of Susan's hands and the bowerbird picking up another piece of paper.  On the verso and dedication pages Susan L. Roth begins her visual story.

Each subsequent page turn features the bowerbird and Susan L. Roth on a variety of backgrounds, white, green, yellow or multi-colored from collected items.  Most of the illustrations are single-page pictures, intricately created.  At times we are very close to the bowerbird and Susan L. Roth as they work.  Careful readers will notice that sometimes what Susan L. Roth is making mirrors what we see the bowerbird doing next.

One of my many favorite images is a single-page picture.  The background is muted green textured paper.  Along the bottom are pieces of grass and twigs.  Other grass and twigs rise on the left and right and bleed off the top of the page.  Between these two bunches, the head of the bowerbird is bowed to pick up a piece of purple paper.  His eye is looking directly at the reader.  Most of his body is off the page to the right.  His feathers are exquisite.


Birds Of A Feather: Bowerbirds And Me written and illustrated by Susan L. Roth is an imaginative masterpiece.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all could find our counterparts in nature?  At the close of the book are:

Facts About Bowerbirds
How They Work
How I Work
How We Are The Same and a
Bibliography.

A photograph of a Male Satin Bowerbird is included.
I highly recommend this book for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Susan L. Roth and her other work, please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  At a publisher's website you can view the initial title page.  At author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast this title is featured.  You can see more interior illustrations.


The second release is written and illustrated by another renowned collage artist.  Her work has received recognition, nominations and awards in the United States and internationally.  Playing with collage (Candlewick Studio, an imprint of Candlewick Press, October 22, 2019) written and illustrated by Jeannie Baker is a journey in creativity for readers.

Introduction
Ever since I made my first picture book, I've always worked in collage.  My original collages can look quite different from the photographs of them---though sometimes children will stroke the reproductions of the textures in my books or try to pick bits from the page, thinking they are real.

Jeannie Baker continues by stating, pieces for collage are literally everywhere waiting to be collected.  She uses them as they are or changes them until they fit into her working design.  Her ultimate goal in this book is as the title suggests; she waits people to believe in themselves and have fun.

The next several pages focus on tools with a reminder that adult supervision is required after carefully reading instructions.  Tips are offered for pressing flora, adding texture (like sand) to a surface, and collecting the finest types of materials that can either be straight or form a multitude of shapes.  Once you have an item don't be afraid to alter it by crumpling it or tearing an edge.  Look for unusual borders.

In the first section working with paper is highlighted.  It's amazing the variety of paper available of different thicknesses, colors, and with artwork already printed on them.  How many can you list at this moment?  What can you see around you now?

Next, we move outside.  What can nature offer to us?  There is bark, leaves, grasses, flowers, nuts, seeds, moss and types of dirt or sand.  You can group like pieces together or mix them up.

Walking along the seashore offers a whole new type of item to find.  Wind and water change this landscape daily.  There is driftwood, seaweed, tiny pebbles or shells.  If you're fortunate perhaps a piece of sea glass will be revealed.  (A suggestion is offered on the correct process for pressing seaweed.)  Remember you can work with these elements as they are naturally, or you might paint one of them for contrast.

Jeannie Baker takes us in her fourth section to the kitchen in our homes.  The spice cupboard is like a treasure chest for this collage artist.  There is an assortment of dried foods, pasta, rice, seeds and beans which are ideal for collages.  Advice is offered on how to color rice and pasta.

The title closes with using translucent materials for fashioning a unique effect.  Jeannie Baker then displays two egg cartons with each little nest filled with a different material.  She challenges readers to guess what the items are.   Her final sentence reads:

General Safety Advice:  Always close scissors after use and put lids on pens and paints.  Ask an adult before using superglue or a scalpel and before using the stove or oven.


Every portion of this title is written as if you, the reader, are having a one-on-one conversation with Jeannie Baker.  There is a wonderful balance between giving you exactly what you need to know to excite you to pursue collage rather than overloading you with too much information.  The introduction is like a pep talk and the following pages are laying a foundation before you begin.

By dividing the types of materials into four sections, readers are able to see they have access to at least one or maybe more sources.  Each section contains the means for gathering items and then playing with them.  Here is a passage.

Finding nature materials 
When I go for a walk in a forest or park, or even in my own garden, I collect interesting natural textures and treasures.  If you do this too, you'll find that preserving a little bit of the natural world is a great way to celebrate its beauty.  Gather more bits and pieces than you need so you have plenty to choose from!

In addition to the narrative captions give more information such as:

If you want to use a photo, it might be better to scan or photocopy it.  That way you can enlarge or reduce the image---and keep the original.


When you open the book case the stunning swirl of materials gathered from the kitchen continues to the left, on the back.  You can almost feel yourself stop breathing so you don't cause a single seed to move.  The hours of work this image represents is astonishing.  Even now, looking at the word collage in the title, I find myself trying to figure out what elements were used.  The natural browns, yellows, greens, oranges and a bit of purple supply us with a feeling of warmth or of being caught up in cozy comfort.

A light rusty color covers the opening and closing endpapers.  With every page turn in the four sections readers are furnished with examples of collected items to utilize in the design of a collage.  The examples of what can be made from these collected items are set forth in two steps; a collage of materials and the finished collage.  It's fabulous how Jeannie Baker teaches about collage with collages.

One of my many favorite illustrations is the artwork spanning nearly one and a half pages right to left for the introductory page for

On the
Beach.

Above the title words is a small collections of found items but the larger array is a mix of bronze, gold, blue, purple, gray, pastels and white.  Jeannie Baker has used

rusty tin, driftwood, sand, shells, broken shells, coralline seaweed, and sponge.

The items are pleasingly arranged together, like pieces in a natural puzzle.


The possibilities afforded readers of Playing with collage written and illustrated by Jeannie Baker are only limited by their imaginations.  The suggestions and examples provided within these pages are truly inspiring.  This is a beautiful volume to add to your personal and professional bookshelves.  You can't read this without wanting to start collecting and making collages.

To learn more about Jeannie Baker and her other work, please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  At the publisher's website you can view an interior image.  At Penguin Random House you can see the first six pages.  Jeannie Baker has made a video speaking about this book.



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