Noticing Nature

We know each season has unique characteristics.  Some of those seasons are more favorable than others to us for those very reasons.  One thing about summer, though, is the abundance of everything.  Colors are more vibrant, contrasting with other hues.  There are more animals of every shape and size, birds, insects, mammals, large and small, amphibians, and reptiles.  There are more flowers and blossoms on those flowers.  There are all kinds of seeds being formed and dropped.  And the trees are resplendent in all their leafy glory.

We cannot get so caught up in the shimmering grandeur of the varied green treetops against a clear, startling blue sky that we miss the existence of smaller, more fragile members of the natural community.  Dear Treefrog (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, May 25, 2021) written by Joyce Sidman with illustrations by Diana Sudyka explores the transformation in a girl's thinking as her attention focuses on a discovered friend.  Nature offers us lessons when we realign perspectives and time.

SUMMER

I See You

suddenly

among the tangled green

a tiny dollop of

frog

where before

there was only leaf . . .

Recently moved into a new home and neighborhood, the girl starts to watch the treefrog.  She mirrors its actions.  It stays in silence.  She does, too.  It climbs and moves with care.

The girl realizes in watching the treefrog, she is becoming more a part of the natural world instead of only an observer.  The treefrog offers security and steadfastness when the girl is feeling adrift.  She wonders about the treefrog's past and breathes a sigh of relief when it hides from rambunctious newcomers.

She worries about its safety before and after a storm.  She finds solace in other insect creatures when the treefrog cannot be found.  Autumn brings about changes for the treefrog and the child, colder weather and school.  There is one more surprise, a new friend for the girl.

The newly formed duo are kindred spirits.  They walk through the world in much the same manner.  They are more than willing to wait and watch through the seasonal shifts.  Oh, there you are . . . dearest treefrog.

In a series of poetic letters, Joyce Sidman reveals, through a first-person narrative, the contemplations and conclusions of our young protagonist.  We are privy to her thoughts about her circumstances and those of the treefrog.  Opposite each poem are one, two, three, or four sentences providing information about treefrogs in reference to something mentioned in the phrases.  Here are two passages.

Dear Treefrog

here

you are!

Against the window glass

we see more of you

     than ever

Your pale belly

and gummy toes

Your half-moon throat

that flutters

silently

Your breath

     so close

     to ours

Treefrogs often climb windows, and walls with their sticky

toe pads, looking for insects.  They hide in unexpected

places: on a hose, on top of a faucet, under a flowerpot.

You never know when you might run into a treefrog.

The images in this book, 

rendered in gouache watercolor on paper,

are resplendent when first seen on the open and matching dust jacket and book case.  The full-leafed, green shades of flora and striking bursts of yellow, orange, and pink supply a comforting environment for a lonely little girl and a treefrog friend.  The raindrops shown on both the front and the back help readers to understand the lushness of the scene spread, left to right, flap edge to flap edge.  A treefrog is nestled on a leaf on the front and the back.  A bee is ready to land on a pink flower on the back.

Illustrator Diana Sudyka in green on a white canvas has created a pleasing pattern on the opening and closing endpapers.  There are raindrops falling among flowers, leaves, ferns, stumps, branches, moss, treefrog eggs, dragonflies, tadpoles, beetles, butterflies, and mushrooms.  The raindrops are larger as we turn to the title page, now their blue adds to the brilliance of the green atmosphere around the leaf where the treefrog rests.

Another page turn brings us to the dedication and publication information pages.  Here Diana Sudyka begins her visual interpretation of the story.  The girl, holding her stuffie cat stands among the green flora and flowers.  Behind her a moving truck and mover bring things to her home on the right.  Snug on a leaf on the right is the treefrog.

All the illustrations, double-page pictures, offer us gorgeous visuals in varying perspectives of the girl and the treefrog.  Many times we move close to the treefrog in stunning scenes.   Other times we transition from one moment to another flawlessly.  Tiny labels appear in some of the pictures, denoting flowers, insects, birds, and frog information.  The wide eyes on the girl and her new human friend offer insights into their moods.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is when the girl is shown as the same size as the treefrog.  There are fewer colors in this pictures, greens, blues, black, and white.  The girl and the treefrog are black, as if in silhouette.  She is holding a spyglass as the treefrog's first mate on the sailboat (leaf).  It is an eloquent portrait.

You are transported to a special perspective in Dear Treefrog written by Joyce Sidman with illustrations by Diana Sudyka.  It informs us about the connections between humans and other creatures and treefrogs.  This book reminds us of the importance of our natural world.  A final single page, More About Treefrogs and How to Welcome Them, answers four important questions.  This title belongs on your personal and professional bookshelves.

To learn more about Joyce Sidman and Diana Sudyka and their other work, please follow the link attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Joyce Sidman has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.  Diana Sudyka has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  At The TeachingBooks Blog, Joyce Sidman talks about this book.

With all the blossoms blooming and warmer weather, day and night, butterflies and moths are frequent visitors to our backyards, neighborhoods, and surrounding meadows and woodlands.  Of the two, moths seem to be more patient with human observation.  In Moth & Butterfly: Ta-Da! (Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, June 8, 2021) written by Dev Petty with illustrations by Ana Aranda, readers get an up-close-and-personal view of the two.  Differences and similarities are explored with wit and truth.  We witness seemingly miraculous changes.  Are you ready?

In a corner of the lush, green garden,

two caterpillars share a leaf.

They share other things, too.  They both have multiple legs and loads of spots.  Their appetites for leaves are voracious.  They are about to experience a natural phenomenon, metamorphosis.

Both are being wrapped in a new material.  This enclosure is hiding a complete change.  Weeks pass and then . . .

POP!

The caterpillars are now a moth and a butterfly.  They still enjoy familiar activities, but one does them more often in daylight and the other does them more often at night.  Physical differences have developed.  They both have wings, less legs, and antennae, but they move specific to their needs.

The duo is destined to be companions celebrating each other.  One day, they notice another caterpillar twosome.  They greet them as only those in-the-know can do.

With carefully chose words, Dev Petty fashions a friendship story filled with facts.  Her spare text and upbeat dialogue will have readers turning the pages as fast as the caterpillars gobble up leaves.  The beginning of the story is tied to the conclusion with two key words, cementing the shared affection between moth and butterfly.  Here is a passage.

And look!  Both are champions

at chewing leaves into funny shapes.

AMAZING!

TA-DA!

OOPS!

Looking at the open dust jacket, readers know they are in for a treat.  The color choices and the layout and design focus on the differences and the similarities.  Moth stands out in the night, his hues coordinating against the evening tones and the moon.  Butterfly glows in the sunny daylight, brilliantly colored.  Even though they prefer opposite parts of a twenty-four-hour period, they are still high fiving each other and cheering.  

To the left, on the back, the night sky is on the top and the sunny day is on the bottom.  Flying beneath the moon and standing on a fern, Moth chats with Butterfly resting in the opposite corner.  Both insects and celestial bodies are smiling.

On the open book case, left to right, a loop of yellow begins in the upper, left-hand corner enlarging as it moves to the lower right side.  Beneath it, a larger canvas of dusky blue begins on the left and decreases in size as it moves to the right.  On the left side, Moth and Butterfly hover over a large pink flower sipping nectar.  On the right side, the duo is munching on a shared leaf as caterpillars.  Leaves, ferns, and flowers add to the joy of these shared moments.

On the opening endpapers, in a luminous blue and green, butterfly as a caterpillar is featured on the left.  Another flying insect passes Butterfly among numerous leaves.  On the right side, colors reversed (blue on green), Moth happily frolics among an equal number of leaves. A ladybug stops to chat.  On the closing endpapers a bright yellow highlights Butterfly in blue.  The same flying insect zooms from right to left across the gutter.  On the left, Moth in yellow enjoys the night, mingling among leaves and flowers, and an old shoe.

The artwork of Ana Aranda rendered

in watercolor, inks, gouache, and lime on watercolor paper

is in a word---joy.  Beginning on the title page, we are introduced to Moth and Butterfly as their silhouette forms fly above a planter (yellow-painted bathtub) filled with flowers and leaves.  With a page turn, we are taken outside to an expansive garden setting, the bathtub sitting among other flowers, plants, and a fountain in front of a cheerfully painted home.  As caterpillars, Moth and Butterfly, in yellow, are on large leaves.

Each double-page picture, single-page image with large white frames, and single-page pictures, edge to edge, are bursting with color and animation.  Whether we are shown a more panoramic view or a close-up, we are aware of the informative details Ana Aranda includes.  We notice the antennae.  We notice the time of day and passing of weeks. We notice the complete happiness of Moth and Butterfly within their garden home.

One of my many, many favorite pictures is a double-page picture.  The duo has completed metamorphosis.  They are flying above the garden.  They are enthusiastically remarking on their wing colors.  They and their observations are framed by the grass and flowers below them.  Several bees watch the twosome.  

This book, Moth & Butterfly: Ta-Da! written by Dev Petty with illustrations by Ana Aranda, is filled with fun and facts.  This book is about friendship, new beginnings, things which are the same and those that are not.  It asks us to notice the little things.  It asks us to look for things in common while respecting distinctness.  And it invites us to look for more information. At the close of the book a last page, Is it a moth or a butterfly?, supplies readers with more facts. For its upbeat presentation and as a springboard for further discussions, you'll want a copy in both your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Dev Petty and Ana Aranda and their other work, please access their websites by following the link attached to their names.  Dev Petty has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Ana Aranda has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. At the publisher's website you can view the title page.  This book is showcased by John Schumacher, author, lecturer, and teacher librarian, on his site, Watch. Connect. Read.  You will enjoy his chat with Dev Petty.  This book and illustrator Ana Aranda are featured at Let's Talk Picture Books by Mel Schuit.  You'll love Dev Petty's post at the Nerdy Book Club about change and this title.  Here is a link to a virtual chat about this book hosted by Parnassus Books.  

Shedding A Shape Toward Beauty

Garden spaces are dedicated to those perennials they desire.  They hold symbolic places in religions and cultures around the world.  They are studied, respected, and protected.  Entire units of study in classrooms revolve around their life cycles.  If one comes near to you, you hold your breath, hoping.  You hope in the deepest part of your heart, one will someday, however briefly, pause and rest on you.

These gloriously colored, winged insects glide, dip, flutter, and sip through our summer world in the northern hemisphere (and in other seasons around the globe).  In The Truth About Butterflies (Seriously Funny Facts About Your Favorite Animals) (Roaring Brook Press, August 11, 2020) written and illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III, the seventh book in his seriously super series, you'll learn why these beings are studied, respected, and protected.  You'll be captivated (and entertained) on every page. 

Nope. Nope.

Nope. Nope.

Yup.

These are butterflies.

Butterflies are a type of colorful

flying insect. 

And I'm going to eat one. (cat)

They're my favorite things with wings. (girl)

Wow.

Okay. (bird perched on girl's wheelchair back)

First, a match to other insect characteristics is shown for butterflies.  An array of variable sizes from locations around the globe are shown in their actual sizes.  Knowing there are more than 18,000 butterfly species is amazingly wonderful.

Details are provided about the purpose of their wings before a compare and contrast section follows about moths.  Attention focuses on their proboscis, antennae, compound eyes, and tarsi.  We then shift into how shifty they truly are.

A careful, explanatory guide shows how butterflies begin as an egg.  We get to see some of the specie butterfly eggs, side by side (magnified).  After the egg hatches, a caterpillar eats and grows, eats and grows, and molts.  Did you know they eat the old skin? Caterpillars are clever, too.  They can look like bird poop or be toxic to protect themselves.

After the caterpillar loses its final skin, it fashions a chrysalis and becomes a pupa.  In this shape, the magic begins. An adult butterfly is forming.  When the butterfly emerges it still has some steps to finish before it can fly.  The circle of their lives begins again as males and females seek each other before eggs can be laid.  

As this cycle is explained, it may seem like an easy progression, but harsh weather can interrupt the progress.  Different butterflies rely on different solutions, like hibernating or migrating.  People are a huge threat, but also can be one of their best allies.  The more we know, the better we can help in more than one way.

You may believe you have a grasp on your knowledge of a specific animal, but that all changes when you read a book penned by Maxwell Eaton III.  This author finds the facts, basic and bizarre, and presents them in a marvelous blend of easily understood statements, specific labels, and commentary from the featured animal and other animals in their realm.  This commentary supplies us with comedy, but also some truths.  Once we have completed his exploration of butterflies, he switches to several methods of butterfly preservation through gardening and raising them in meticulous order.  Here is another sample passage with a portion of the expanded facts and conversations.

Butterflies are known for their incredible wings.  Along with flying and finding mates, each species uses its wings to avoid being eaten by larger predators like birds, snakes, frogs, toads, and lizards.

But not cats, right? (cat)

Camouflage helps butterflies blend in with their surroundings.

Don't. . .

move . . . (Question mark butterfly)

Nothing around here but old leaves. (bird flying near the Question mark butterfly)

When you look at the open and matching dust jacket and book case, you see on the right, front, a beautiful display of the featured subjects with one of the butterflies making an astute comment.  They are flying among flowers more apt to hold the nectar they desire.  This sets the stage for the first five words uttered by a butterfly prior to the book's beginning.  

To the left, back, up close and personal, is the cat standing in some grass between two stalks of milkweed.  From one, a chrysalis is hanging.  The cat has just looked at its watch and says:

Any minute now.

This is the start of the hilarious attempts of the cat to consume a butterfly.

On the opening and closing endpapers is a deep rich mint green.  On both the initial and formal title pages, Maxwell Eaton III includes words uttered by a swallowtail.  In the first setting are four flowers not favored by butterflies, but the second scene holds a bounty of blossoms butterflies enjoy.

Rendered 

using pen and ink with digital coloring

these images are highly animated, informative, and humorous.  Bold black lines are filled with vibrant colors.  Diagrams are easy to understand and captioned.

Each illustration spans two pages with the exception of one full-page picture and a series of panels at the close of the book.  Readers' eyes move from one element in each visual to the next eagerly and flawlessly.  They will pause to appreciate every single detail.  Perspectives are altered to accentuate the pacing.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is the double-page picture showcasing the contrasts between a butterfly and a moth.  It is a single setting but, on the left, it is during daylight and on the right, it is at night.  On the left is a Tiger swallowtail.  On the right is a Poplar hawkmoth. Each is accompanied by at least one other butterfly or moth of their specie.  Colorful balloons with facts point to parts on each.  They each make a statement as does an extra moth.  An extra inserted illustration focuses on the characteristics of their wings. A large sunflower in bloom is placed in the gutter. (I believe the butterfly and moth are pictured as their actual size.)

No personal or professional collection will be complete without a copy or two of The Truth About Butterflies (Seriously Funny Facts About Your Favorite Animals) written and illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III.  It is outstanding in its presentation of facts, the inclusion of humor, and the illustrations.  At the close of the book two pages are devoted to the Butterfly File.  Here we learn about body parts for a Monarch caterpillar, butterfly habitats, puddling, butterfly and moth pupa, monarch migration, caterpillar defense, and basking.  References for further research are included. The final page adds to the laughter factor. (You might want to learn more about four of his previous books highlighted in an earlier blog post here.)

To learn more about Maxwell Eaton III and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  Maxwell Eaton III has accounts on Instagram, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view six two-page representations.

Inside A Package

It's still somewhat of a miracle to me, not having grown up with computers and the Internet, how quickly information spreads and expands in content on almost any topic imaginable.  Toward the beginning of this month author Kate Messner (Over and Under the Snow,  Capture the Flag, Wake Up Missing) posted the following tweet on Twitter.

On my blog: Cold-but-lovely photos of Lake Champlain, a gorgeous new book, & the equine version of my author photo. http://t.co/ln7T7Wt9wy
— Kate Messner (@KateMessner) January 7, 2014

This led me to her blog post, Happy 2014!, discussing, among other things, the title of a new book by one of her critique partners.  On a wind-howling, frigid-temperature, snowy afternoon  a few days ago, it was delivered to my doorstep.

Whether you see them flitting past in your very own backyard, when out trekking through the countryside or walking through a place of wonder like The Butterflies in the Garden at the 4-H Children's Gardens at Michigan State University, your viewpoint will be positively changed after reading this book.  Author Loree Griffin Burns and photographer Ellen Harasimowicz collaborate again in their new release, Handle With Care:  An Unusual Butterfly Journey (Millbrook Press).  Thousands of miles away from the United States, a unique farm exists.

A mysterious package has arrived at the museum.  It's shiny and has traveled a long, long way.  

This package carries precious cargo from Costa Rica.  When opened there are rows of butterfly pupa placed in foam.  If you are unaware of the term pupa, it is defined succinctly as being a stage of insect life.

As a reader you might at this point be wondering why a box of pupa have been shipped from Central America to Boston, Massachusetts.  We begin...at the beginning.  Eggs are being laid by a mother butterfly.

The difference between this butterfly, and others you and I may have seen, is it lives inside a screened greenhouse.  On this particular farm, El Bosque Nuevo, three structures serve as residences for the butterflies.  When the eggs hatch, caterpillars eat, molt and grow over and over until they are ready to become pupae.

Farmers work tirelessly to make sure the caterpillars have plenty of leaves to eat as well as making crushed fruit and sugar water available for the adult butterflies.  Endless hours are spent each day making sure no enemies of these herds...yes, herds...of larvae enter the enclosures.  Watching and waiting, the farmers move elder caterpillars to the final home, the puparium.

Here they will hang until their departure.  Some go back into the forest, others to the screened greenhouses and many arrive in places far away wrapped carefully in layers for their journey.   How fortunate for all of us there are people, farmers, tending these gardens in order to preserve their land and to bring beauty to those who wish to see.


As I gaze out upon a snowy landscape, snug inside my home, it's a joy to be able to read about something I never knew existed due to the efforts of author, Loree Griffin Burns.  In sentences the youngest of readers can understand, she takes us on a circular tour from museum to forest and back to the museum.  Each portion of the journey, interesting details about the insect stages and the farmers who care for them, is expressed in a conversational manner.  It's as if we are there with her at El Bosque Nuevo.  Here is a sample passage.

This is a butterfly pupa.  Some people call it
a chrysalis.  Really, though, it's an ingenious
package.  Inside its sturdy skin, a butterfly
larva---you might call it a caterpillar---is
quietly changing into an adult.


The matching jacket and cover is only a welcoming preface to what can only be described as a stunning photographic display within the pages of this title.  Opening and closing endpapers feature panels of various grouped pupae and breathtaking adult butterflies.  Opposite the title page is a colorful collage composition of insect, handbook and flower.  Stretching from right to left, leaving space for the dedication and publication panel, pupae hanging in rows are pictured.

Ellen Harasimowicz has masterfully documented the narrative with her visuals.  Using accent colors of celery green to frame pictures and purple to feature captions, readers are treated to a seamless layout and design.  Photographs range in size and perspective; a close-up of an adult laying her eggs, a landscape view of the farm, farmers working among the leaves inside the greenhouse or the step-by-step opening of a single pupa.

One of the most fascinating photographs is of the puparium.  Seeing those white screened cabinets housing thousands of caterpillars, is a marvel.  A farmer is placing fresh leaves inside one of the homes for those larvae still eating.


Handle with Care:  An Unusual Butterfly Journey written by Loree Griffin Burns with photographs by Ellen Harasimowicz is a captivating read about a topic of which many students will be unaware.  After reading this book, I guarantee their appreciation for their world and those caretakers in it will increase.  The closing pages of the title include Insects and their Life Cycles, Insect Words, a Glossary, Further Reading, a Selected Bibliography, an Index and an Author's Note.  

Please follow the links embedded in the author's and photographer's names to access their websites.  Here is a link to the publisher's website allowing you to view more pages from the book.  I think you might be interested in this tweet which I received from author, Loree Griffin Burns.

The photographer, Ellen Harasimowicz, watched that pupa for about six hours to catch that cover shot! @mselke01 @readerroberts @Loveofxena
— Loree Griffin Burns (@LoreeGBurns) January 30, 2014

I am excited to be participating in Alyson Beecher's 2014 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge hosted at her blog Kid Lit Frenzy.  Make sure you stop over there to see all the other nonfiction picture books showcased by other bloggers.