A Journey Toward Home

Throughout countless hours over decades, not a single one is seen.  Regardless of the habitat explored, they remain elusive.  They prefer the shadows, moving during the in between time before sunrise and after sunset.  Movement in daylight is out of necessity.  

Maybe, the enormous ''house cat'' running from one wooded area to another wooded area across a neighbor's vacant lot is a first sighting in more than sixty years.  Their presence can be fleeting.  After reading Bobcat Prowling (Roaring Brook Press, March 22, 2022) written by Maria Gianferrari with pictures by Bagram Ibatoulline, readers (this reader did) will acquire an eye for spotting this member of the larger feline family and smaller lynx group.

Beyond your house,

behind tall pines,

under paling stars

Mother Bobcat wakes.

With her, a yearling greets the day.  Snow still covers the ground.  A call from a male separates the two.  The yearling needs to find its own home range.  Lengthy travels begin for the cub born one year ago.

Paw prints follow the path of train tracks.  They show shelter sought within the lower branches of evergreens.  In the light of morning, Yearling finds a snowshoe hare.  Yearling is ready for breakfast but a Canada lynx leaps first. Yearling leaves.

The next meal, a squirrel, is snagged by another bobcat.  Yearling again leaves.  Days pass.  Snow melts.  Yearling is spotted in a neighborhood, traveling to the next possible space.  Ring-necked pheasants gather along the edge of a river.  Yearling is quiet and stealthy.  Food!  A coyote charges. Yearling runs, drops the prize, and climbs a tree to safety. Sleep.

Months have come and gone.  Yearling is now Bobcat.  An elder bobcat has died.  Its home range is free for another bobcat.  Bobcat stakes a claim.  If you are observant, you may discover another of Mother Nature's creatures sharing your same space. 

This nonfiction narrative penned by Maria Gianferrari takes us into a part of our world we might not otherwise appreciate.  Through her sensory descriptions, we are able to shadow Yearling as it takes a trip repeated for generations.  The inclusion of humans and their world at several points makes for a more realistic depiction.  Here is a passage.

Yearling wanders.

Winter wanes.

You watch from your window

as Yearling visits your bird feeder,

snaring unsuspecting songbirds.

But he's just passing through.

The scenes presented on the left and right of the open dust jacket look to be as one, but on closer inspection they are two distinct visuals.  To the left of the spine is a great snowy slope with a mountain vista in the background.  A line of evergreens appear to the left and in front of the mountains.  A road, in the front, curves to the left.  Looking small in comparison, Yearling walks down the road.  To the right of the spine, intently focused, is Yearling.  We are close to the cat as it pounces.  The bobcat and text are varnished in this winter setting.

An enlarged interior image covers the book case.  It is still winter along a river.  Yearling has just captured a pheasant.  The remainder of the birds take flight to the right and above the bobcat.  The sky and clouds are colored with end-of-the-day hues as the sun sets. 

On the opening and closing endpapers is an amplified map.  It shows the route taken by Yearling becoming Bobcat and locating a home range.  It begins in southern Vermont and ends in eastern Massachusetts.  The map is colored in shades of tan, cream, and gray.  It is similar to a topographical map.

On the title page, Yearling runs over a grassy field.  On the verso and dedication pages, a large winter illustration covers both pages.  The snow in the center is a placeholder for text.  Below it are blades of brown grass.  Above it are fields of rolling hills and a forest on the right.

Bagram Ibatoulline rendered these images using

watercolor.

Each two-page picture is rich in texture and nearly photographic.  As readers, we are drawn into each  portrait, each portion, of Yearling's quest.  Some of the action is filled with the tension of survival.  We view immense landscapes in the wild and in urban locations.  We are given a very real sense of sharing, with respect, a common place.

One of my many favorite illustrations shows Yearling stretched on a leafless branch at the top of a tree.  The trunk of the tree and most of its branches are on the right side of the image.  The bough on which Yearling sleeps extends across the gutter to the left.  Part of Yearling's body hangs off the branch.  The lower portion of the sky is a blend of pale peach and pink.  Above this is a darkening blue sky with a sprinkle of stars beginning to show.

This book, Bobcat Prowling written by Maria Gianferrari with artwork by Bagram Ibatoulline, is an informative, beautiful chronicle in the life of a bobcat yearling.  At the close of the book are two pages titled All About Bobcats, a page titled How To Hunt Like A Bobcat and one titled What's On the Menu?  There is a list of books for further reading and of websites to visit and videos to view.  This title is a companion to Coyote Moon and Hawk Rising.  You will want to place a copy of this book in your personal and professional collections.

To discover more about Maria Gianferrari and Bagram Ibatoulline and their other work, please follow the link attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Maria Gianferrari has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At Macmillan, you can view interior images.  This title is highlighted at Maria Marshall's website and at Picture Book Builders.  Both include interviews with Maria Gianferrari.

Maria Gianferrari is a community scientist, self-taught naturalist, and bird nerd who holds an M.A. in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in English.  She is the author of narrative nonfiction picture books which celebrate urban ecosystems, the natural world and our wild neighbors.  She also writes engaging expository nonfiction.  And as a lover of dogs, Maria's fiction picture books star dogs as main characters and explore the human-canine bond.  She writes from her light-filled, book-lined study in Massachusetts with rescue dog, Maple at her side.

Water, Wind And Wave-Tossed Treasures

On the northwestern side of the shores of Lake Michigan, wanderers can expect a sensory experience.  If you close your eyes, you can still feel the sun, a breeze, steady drops of rain or the grit of sand on your feet.  You can hear the sound of waves on the beach, the screech of water birds, the barking of dogs or the laughter of children.  Breathe deep the odor of beach grass, flowers and wet sand.  When you reach to pick up a stone or piece of driftwood, the texture is smooth.

If you are most fortunate, an unexpected hue different from the natural tones of beach, seaweed, wood or stones will grab your attention.  It may be a faded shade of blue, green, brown, white or even red.  You have discovered beach glass.  Sea Glass Summer (Candlewick Press, May 21, 2019) written by Michelle Houts with illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline is about a memorable summer of discoveries, dreams and stories.

Some years ago, a boy named Thomas spent the summer at his grandmother's island cottage.

Early during this visit, Thomas's grandmother gifted him with a magnifying glass which had belonged to his grandfather.  Thomas loved to look at found objects through that magnifying glass.  As they walked along the shore, his grandmother found a piece of sea glass.

Thomas was intrigued by her explanation of the sea glass's possible origin.  He was even more fascinated by a saying his grandfather had about sea glass.  A story was attached to every piece.

During the night, Thomas dreamed about the story attached to that piece of sea glass.  It had to do with the christening of a ship in the United States Navy in 1944.  The broken green glass of the champagne bottle fell into the water.

All during the summer Thomas longed to find sea glass and dream of the stories bound to each one.  On his last day on the island, the boy searched and searched for sea glass, hoping for one more dream and one more story.  There was no sea glass.  There was no dream.  There was no story.  Life has its own way of making our wishes come true even if it takes decades and another summer of sea glass sightings, dreams and stories.


Memories made in summers are memories, many times, to be cherished.  Author Michelle Houts uses found objects to present stories within a story.  She skillfully weaves history into the not-too-distant past bringing readers to the present.  Through a blend of text and dialogue, she shows readers stories are everywhere and we are tied to each other through the marvelous manner in which stories work.  Here are portions of two connected passages.

Once Thomas found a real treasure:  a large chunk of sea glass with a few letters---SON---just barely raised on its surface.  Thomas wondered what word the letters might have been a part of and what story this piece of glass might tell.

When Thomas slipped between the cool sheets that night, he dreamed of wind and waves and a terrible storm.

The captain's shouted orders could barely he heard over the roar of the wind as men scurried to their stations. 
"Lower the sails!" . . .


When readers look at the open and matching dust jacket and book case they are given a glimpse into Thomas's summer adventure on the front through a realistic depiction of a rocky island seashore and a peek at one of his dreams on the back.  Bagram Ibatoulline's attention to detail and color palette are nearly photographic.  We get a very real sense of Thomas's excitement and purpose on his daily beach hikes.  Listen and you will hear the waves fall on the shore.

To the left, on the back, using one of the hues in the sky as a canvas, a small circular portrait is outlined in a thin red border.  A woman from the past is smashing a bottle of champagne against the side of a ship.  We can place her at a certain point in history by her clothing.  Above and below this image are the words:

They say that each piece of sea glass
has a story all its own.

Just imagine the tales the ocean might tell. 

The opening and closing endpapers are the same blue as the sea on the jacket and case.  On the initial title page, a single sea gull flies above the text.  For the formal title page we are brought close to a group of shells, sea glass and pebbles resting on the sand.  This illustration is between the text.

Each image rendered in watercolor by Bagram Ibatoulline is a stunning representation of moments not only in this story but also of the past.  Readers can tell by the architecture, clothing and vehicles in which time period the scene is placed.  Bagram Ibatoulline alters his perspective and picture sizes to heighten the emotional intensity of the narrative.

On the first double-page picture we are given a large view of Thomas's grandmother's cottage on the island beach.  She is hanging towels on the porch railing while Thomas skips a stone into the sea from the shore.  In the next single page picture, it's as if we are looking up those cottage steps as Thomas walks down.  His grandmother stands at the top looking out at the sea, a hand raised to shade her eyes.  Opposite this, text is placed on a wooden-like surface and framed in a fine blue-gray line.  The picture there is a close-up of the magnifying glass and a clamshell.

When Thomas dreams, those paintings are done in shades of gray.  The text for his dreams is framed and placed on the left or right over the double-page picture.  Several wordless illustrations tell their own powerful story.  After an initial reading, it's a given readers will go back and look at the visuals more closely, noting the beautiful use of particular elements like the color of Thomas's tennis shoes.

One of my many favorite illustrations is at the end of the summer.  It is a single-page picture.  The sun has set.  Breathtaking shades of pale orange, pink and purple color the sky and sea.  The rocky beach is close to us but stretches back and to the left giving us more than one point of view.  Thomas in his familiar clothing has added a denim jacket.  He is carrying the magnifying glass as he bends over, looking intently for one final piece of sea glass.


Sea Glass Summer written by Michelle Houts with illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline is a marvelous integration of the past and present through thoughtful, truthful words and exquisite artwork.  This title captures the magic of summers then and now and connects them and other events through story.  There is a soothing harmony in this book.  I highly recommend it for your personal and professional collections.

If you wish to discover more about Michelle Houts and Bagram Ibatoulline and their other work, please access their websites by following the links attached to their names.  Michelle Houts maintains accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view an interior image.  They also have a special page with a note from the author.  At Penguin Random House you can see several initial pages.

As Twilight Falls

After the sun sets and darkness colors the sky and humans are tucked inside their homes, creatures of the night awaken.  If we look out our windows on a summer night we can see fireflies blinking messages as they seek mates.  If we venture outdoors we hear the flutter of wings or catch a quick swooping motion at the edge of our vision as bats search for food.  If we walk quietly and slowly we will see a rabbit cautiously move from tall grass to nibble on the clover in our lawns.

For years other beings have crossed the line between the wild and suburban and urban areas.  Their keen survival instincts and adaptability allow them to thrive.  Coyote Moon (Roaring Brook Press, July 19, 2016) written by Maria Gianferrari with illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline is a breathtaking ode to Canis latrans, barking dog.

Moon rises as Coyote wakes in her den,
a hollowed-out pine in a cemetery.
Coyote crawls between roots.
She sniffs the air, arches her back,
shakes her fur.

It's time to search for food.  Pups wait and older brothers and sisters watch and guard.  The female moves like moving mist through the neighborhood.

She pauses and listens hearing what humans cannot.  With a giant leap she hopes to capture a curious mouse.  Her efforts go unrewarded.  She continues her hunt.

Again she pauses, nose lifted in the air.  A familiar scent draws her to a nearby golf course.  Vigilant parents drive her away from a tasty snack.  Big feet, large ears and speedy twists and turns save Rabbit.

Hours have passed with no food for her family.  The light of dawn drives away the night, stars and moon.  Coyote is patient.  Perhaps prey will seek water from the pond.  In the early morning a howl rings out through the houses, an answering reply comes from the roots of a hollowed-out pine.


Reading aloud the words written by Maria Gianferrari is like stepping into the melodious soul of nature.  Each sentence cloaks us; hiding our humanness so we can move as one with Coyote.  Her lyrical depictions of singular minutes in the hours of Coyote's search will have you holding your breath.  The use of alliteration heightens the sensory experience.  Here are two sample passages.

Coyote listens.
Her triangle ears sit high on her head.
She hears scratching.
She slides through boxwood, then crouches.

...She slinks, silent as a shadow.


The glowing eloquence in the illustrations rendered by Bagram Ibatoulline transport readers into the sights, sounds, feel and smells of the night.  His use of light and dark on the matching dust jacket and book case are seen on every image within the book.  The lines on Coyote's fur on the front and the coat of a younger coyote on the back near the den and the bark of the tree and branches scattered on the forest floor are exquisite.  An eye for excellence in the details such as the title text outside of and over the moon is the mark of a master.

A steely blue-gray covers the opening and closing endpapers.  On the formal title page the shadows of three coyotes from adult down to pup appear on the garage door of a home in the neighborhood indicating the shift from the wild to a civilized area.  All of the images cover two pages edge to edge in near photographic splendor.

At times we share a viewpoint with Coyote as she travels through the community.  In other pictures we are close observers; almost as if we are companions in her hunt.  The shape of her body and its various positions are portrayed with a kind of majesty, homage to her abilities.

One of my favorite illustrations is a close-up of Coyote.  She has stopped with her nose in the air catching the scent of a possible meal.  Her face takes up a good portion of the right hand side, peering between the leaves of alder bushes.  Other branches and leaves stretch to the left.  In the background, on the left, a smaller bush adds depth to the picture.  There is a slight rosy glow to the lower portion of the sky.  If she were not hunting, you might expect her to open her mouth and sing out a call.

Coyote Moon written by Maria Gianferrari with illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline is an outstanding work of nonfiction; a brilliant example of the finest in bookmaking.  Readers will be drawn to the striking jacket and case, then will reread it over and over for the sheer wonder of the interior pages.  At the close of the book Gianferrari includes a series of coyote facts in seven separate paragraphs.  There is a selected bibliography of print materials and websites.

To enjoy learning more about Maria Gianferrari and Bagram Ibatoulline and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Several images from within the book are available to view by visiting the publisher's website.  Maria Gianferrari was featured at Jama's Alphabet Soup and KidLit 411.



Not only am I thrilled to be a part of the blog tour for Coyote Moon but Maria agreed to answer some of my questions.  

I reread Coyote Moon this morning.  It truly is stunning, Maria.  Your words with Bagram Ibatoulline's illustrations have created a wonderful book.  It really gives readers an inside look at the search for food, an evening in the life of a coyote.  Would you please answer some questions for me to include in the blog post?

Thanks, Margie J!

One of the things I think readers will enjoy about Coyote Moon is that it is placed in a suburban area.  Coyote populations are adapting to the loss of territory.  What sparked your interest in this topic Maria? From the time you first conceived this title to its completion how long did it take?

I’ve always loved nature, animals and wildlife, but I became obsessed with coyotes after a late-night encounter with one in my former suburban Boston neighborhood. I was amazed that these wild predators could live among us. The more research I did, the more I learned about the coyote’s power of adaptability.

In terms of a timeline, I had the coyote encounter in January 2007, and immediately began reading and researching them. I first wrote an article called “New in the Neighborhood” for Highlights magazine which was ultimately rejected. I couldn’t give up on the coyotes though, so it morphed into a picture book text and went through many, many drafts. It was acquired by Emily Feinberg at Roaring Brook Press in May 2013, so six years from initial vision through revision and acquisition.

In my many walks with Xena we were always careful to be on the lookout for coyotes (and even wolves making their way across ice into the upper northern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan.)  In all the years we walked we only saw a single one once.  I was never sure if it was a large coyote or a small wolf.  It crossed the road in front of us coming from Lake Michigan.  I carried a can of pennies with me or a whistle for coyote encounters.  Have you or anyone in your family encountered a coyote?

You may very well have seen a wolf in that area, Margie—how cool!

Since I’ve moved to Virginia, I’ve sadly only seen a couple of dead coyotes on the highway L. We have more red foxes here in our neighborhood, and I once saw a gray fox. I saw coyotes several times while living in Massachusetts, but by far, the best sighting was on that cold, January night. It was an almost mystical experience. My husband took our then one year old dog, Becca, for her last walk at 1AM. I watched them as a coyote darted from our yard and began to follow them. I alerted my husband, and he and Becca entered our house through the back porch. The coyote ran all around our fence, sniffing and marking our yard and around our neighbors’ yards. I walked down the sidewalk and there it was: diagonally across the street, less than 20’ away, poised under a utility pole—just like the one Bagram painted on the cover. It was the most gorgeous, most magnificent creature I had ever seen: large, with fluffed up fur and a puffy tail. We looked at each other for what seemed a long time. Then it gave a low growl, turned and loped away. In retrospect, I realized it was probably a young juvenile looking for territory and a mate. It was curious, not aggressive. And it was definitely an eastern coyote/coywolf, since it looked more wolfish than coyote. But I did not know that at the time, I only knew that I was lucky to have had this magical moment with it.

Your words poetically convey each portion of the coyote's search for food.  The essence of those words is portrayed in the illustrations of Bagram Ibatoulline.  I know what I think of them as a reader but what do you think of them as the author of the book?

I was thrilled from the first moment I saw Bagram’s sketches. I couldn’t believe how intricately detailed and full of energy they were. Bagram has made this book what it is—I am so fortunate to have been paired with such an incredibly talented artist. He rendered the coyote and all of the other creatures in such photorealistic detail—it’s just astounding! Everything actually, from the bark on the trees, to the coyote and rabbit’s fur, the blade of grass, veins on leaves, the turkey’s feathers is pure genius! I also love how his use of light and shade give the story its visual voice. I have to credit Emily with having this vision of the book and its atmosphere from our very first phone conversation right after it was acquired. She is amazing and insightful, and I love working with her.

Do you have a special spot for doing your writing Maria? 

I do most of my writing on my computer at my desk, in my study. I also keep journals for ideas, starting new projects, or when I feel stuck. I’ll do edits anywhere—in my car, waiting for appointments, or if I’m lucky, with a lovely view of nature—water, mountains…

Do you have a favorite spot for reading?

My living room couch, since the natural light there is good. I can sit and drink tea, and then stretch out and relax for the book journey.

If there is anything else you would like readers to know Maria please do not hesitate to let me know.  I can form a question or you can add it at the end.

Maybe this?

I’m very excited to be working on another nature book with Bagram for Emily at Roaring Brook! This one is on felines instead of canines and is currently titled A Home for Bobcat. I cannot wait to see what he’ll come up with! I know it will be breathtakingly gorgeous!

Thanks for having me on your blog, Margie J!  

Maria writes both fiction and nonfiction picture books from her sunny, book-lined study in northern Virginia, with her dog, Becca as her muse.  Maria's debut picture book, Penny & Jelly: The School Show, illustrated by Thyra Heder, was released in July 2015 (HMH Books for Young Readers); a companion book, Penny & Jelly Slumber Under the Stars, was released in mid-June.  Her debut nonfiction book, Coyote Moon, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline, will be published by Roaring Brook Press in July and is a Junior Library Guild Selection.  In October, Aladdin books for Young Readers will publish another fiction title, Officer Katz & Houndini: A Tale of Two Tails, illustrated by Danny Chatzikonstantinou.  Maria has five additional books forthcoming from Roaring Brook press, Boyds Mills Press and GP Putnam's Sons.  To learn more about Maria, visit her at mariagianferrari.com on Facebook or Instagram.

Other stops on the tour are:

FRI 7/15:                   Pragmatic Mom (+ 3 book giveaway)

MON 7/18:                 Nonfiction Detectives 

TUES 7/19:                Debtastic Reads

WED 7/20:                 Kid Lit Frenzy

THURS 7/21:               Librarian’s Quest

FRI 7/22:                   Kidlit411

MON 7/25:                 The Reading Zone

TUES 7/26:                Bartography

WED 7/27:                 Unleashing Readers

UPDATE:  I recently discovered this post on Reading for Research ReFoReMo with Maria dated June 28, 2016.

Matched Memories

It's impossible to remember a time when I have not been collecting something.  When I was younger it was rocks, seashells, pressed flowers and stamps.  When my niece and nephew were growing up, I collected what they did, comics and Beanie Babies.  (They have since found new homes with students.)  I have a bowl beside my computer filled with Petoskey stones and beach glass from my walks with Xena.

My love of books has always been a part of my life; my collection growing (sometimes daily).  In looking around my home, it seems the collections which I still have are a reflection of who I am and meaningful points on my life line; of what is important to me.  Paul Fleischman's The Matchbox Diary (Candlewick Press) with illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline is a story of collections and recollections.

"Pick whatever you like the most.  Then I'll tell you its story."

A young girl is meeting and visiting her great-grandfather for the first time.  They are standing in a room with shelves and cases brimming with items he has gathered over the years, antiques, framed pictures, vases, boxes, clocks and books...lots of books.  Her selection, he says, will tell him more about who she is.

She chooses an old cigar box, empty of cigars, but full of matchboxes.  Each box is like a passage in a diary, a record of his life.  Unable to read or write when he was her age, this is how he remembered.

An olive pit inside one recalls his life in Italy.  It reminds him of the olive trees, their home with dirt floors, no heat except for the cooking fire and hunger.  To help with the hunger he would suck on an olive pit given to him by his mother.

A crumpled black and white photograph of his father, the tip of a fountain pen, a piece of macaroni, a bottle cap, a hat pin, a Saint Christopher medal, sunflower seed shells, fish bones, strips of dated newspapers, a tooth, a ticket to a baseball game, a piece of coal, type from an old printing press, each placed inside a box, are silent reminders.  When the box is opened the great-grandfather gives these items life with his voice.  They tell of a long and terrifying sea voyage, the hardships of being an immigrant, of prejudice, and desire...the desire to read and write.

As he grew older his matchbox diary took on a new form.  He looked for items representing the stories of others.  Believing every age, every person, has stories, the gift of one generation is passed to another.  Even when the cover on this book is closed, the tale will continue, person to person to person.


As a reader Paul Fleischman had me hooked after the first two sentences; a story about stories.  Told entirely through the conversations of the child and her great-grandfather, as they open each box, creates an intimacy; the feeling of readers being a part of a shared experience.  Very specific, sensory details, of people and events are attached to each of the items.  The narrative is more than a retelling of the great-grandfather's past experiences though; it's the creation of a new relationship. Here is a sample passage.

"We were headed to Ellis Island, in New York.  Someone told me that men would stick buttonhooks in our eyes there."
"What's a buttonhook?"
"A metal tool for closing up shoes, before there were laces. I had nightmares about the buttonhook men.  Then we had bigger problems. A storm hit us. Maybe a hurricane.  The boat bucked like a horse. ...


The illustrations rendered in acrylic gouache by Bagram Ibatoulline are stunning in their realism. The rich, warm, golden-brown parchment like paper background on the back jacket and cover is replicated not only in the cigar box lid on the front jacket and cover but on all the pages in the book. The opening and closing endpapers are awash in faded, textured denim blue.  Heavy matte-finished pages highlight the artwork, creating a masterful blending of the present with the past.

Whenever the focus of the text is on the great-grandfather and the child, full color visuals (nearly photographic in detail) seem to glow.  In contrast each full page (sometimes crossing the gutter) illustration, also done in intricate detail, reminiscent of the events represented by the item, is done solely in the brown tones of an old-style photograph.  Each time a matchbox is opened to reveal the object inside, the perspective shifts presenting it and the contents in actual size.

 My favorite illustration is of the great-grandfather as a boy when he, his four older sisters and mother are reunited with their father in America.  They are shown in a group hugging one another against the background of a dock with a boat and building. The manner in which the emotions are captured makes this portrayal incredibly moving.


The Matchbox Diary written by Paul Fleischman with illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline is a treasure on numerous levels; stories within a story, a gallery of exquisite visuals, and having value with nearly any age group.  Every time this title is read, the reader will notice something new.  It is unmatched in its unique presentation of the immigration experience and a young boy's need to learn to read and write.

The link embedded in Paul Fleischman's name takes you to his website where he reveals how he came to write this book.  This link take you to one of the two-page spreads in the title. Candlewick Press provides a three-page teacher's guide at this link.