In Her Care

She's always in motion, spinning morning into night and night into morning.  As one day stretches into three hundred, sixty-five, she gives us winter, spring, summer and autumn.  Land and water in its varied forms span her surface.  She is home to flora and fauna populations too numerous to count.  Weather swirls above her.

From the sun she is third, sustaining life for all.  For this she is to be cherished.  My Friend Earth (Chronicle Books, February 25, 2020) written by Patricia MacLachlan with illustrations by Francesca Sanna is a love letter to our planet.  The text and images, with flaps and die-cuts, work in marvelous unity.

My friend Earth wakes
from a winter nap.

She listens to sounds of spring, humans working the land and a chorus of birds.  Nothing escapes her attention.  She watches a seed sprout and a web spun by a spider.

When an albatross takes wing, a mole digs or a chimpanzee sleeps, she is there.  She guides a lost baby animal to its mother in a group of mothers.  On a prairie, the tundra or across a glacier, she nurtures all forms of life.  Regardless of size, no ocean resident is without her protection.

Rain, too little, too much or just the right amount springs forth under her guidance.  Fierce winds or gentle breezes flow from her mouth.  The cold arrives again.

Snow comes from her fingers settling over animals at rest in dens, mud, and nests.  Everything she watched in the other seasons is tucked away for a pause.  Earth pauses, too, ready for a new beginning.


Every thoughtful sentence written by Patricia MacLachlan combines to create a melodic whole.  Truthful, soothing and rhythmic words define how our planet, Earth, acts moment by moment to sustain every living being.  Alliteration, repetition and wonderful adjectives supply readers with highly visual scenes with their distinctive cadences.  Sentences are spaced to generate perfection in page turns.  Here is a passage.

She tends the prairie where sun-dappled horses run
through grasses that swish against their legs---

the tundra 
where the reindeer
graze for moss,

and the glistening ice
where the young polar bear
pads on mittened feet. 


When you open the book case, you will find yourself either gasping or sighing in appreciation of the artwork of Francesca Sanna.  Earth shown on the front, right, open-eyed with a gentle smile tugging the corners of her mouth, rests among her creatures of many sizes on land and along the water.  Her hilly, tree-covered tresses extend to the other side of the spine, on the left.  There more creatures of the forest, air and water are displayed.  An otter, fish, dragonfly, spider, ants, frog, seagull, squirrel and crow happily enjoy a moment in harmony.  The color palette is stunning and complementary.  On the front of the case the title text and elements in the scene are raised to the touch.  Other details are varnished.  These are a subtle invitation to open the book.

On the opening endpapers a series of hills, trees, clouds. stretches of water and grass pattern the pages in shades of green, golden yellow, orange, blue and white.  Earth is peeking over one of the circular hills in the lower, right-hand corner.  There is another series of hills, trees, clouds, stretches of water and grass in different colors on the closing endpapers.  The hues are deeper and include a rusty red, teal and various purples.  Earth is walking from the center of the far left.  Her arms are raised with tiny sparkles (seeds) trailing behind her.  The birds shown in the first set of endpapers on the left have moved to the right in the final set.

Rendered in pencil, ink, and digital painting, the illustrations are marvelous.  On the title pages Earth rides in a curled leaf on the right as leaves cascade behind and in front of her.  Across each of the two-page pictures, readers will find flaps to lift which alter the initial image.  Die-cuts offer hints of what is to come and what has been.  Large loosely scalloped edges along the top of partial pages provide intrigue and depth.  Gradually they are altered in placement and shape as the seasons and places differ. 

At times Earth blends with her surroundings becoming part of them.  Other times she is a participate in the scene.  She can shift her size to work her magic.  Sometimes we see the scene straight-on and other times we see it from above.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations has scalloped edges in the lower left-hand and right-hand corners with smaller cuts along the top on each side.  It is an Arctic spread with lots of cream color.  Reindeer, polar bear and human prints pattern this area.  On the left side the reindeer is moving to the right.  On the right, Earth and a young polar bear, on their stomachs, are looking at fish swimming beneath a hole (die-cut) in the ice.  This is a bird's eye view for us.


This book, My Friend Earth written by Newbery winner Patricia MacLachlan with illustrations by Francesca Sanna, is stunning.  It's an expression of all Earth gives us.  It's a reminder of all we should preserve and protect.  This would be an excellent read aloud for any story time but especially so for a study of our planet and her creatures and Earth Day.  I highly recommend this title for your professional and personal bookshelves.

To learn more about Francesca Sanna and her other work, please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  Francesca Sanna has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view interior illustrations with the flaps and die-cuts.



On March 3, 2020 another book was released with a focus on our Blue Planet.  One EARTH (Worthy Kids) written by Eileen Spinelli with illustrations by Rogerio Coelho is a special counting book.  In a rhyming poetic intonation with sweeping cheerful images readers are reminded of the spectacular beauty of our home and how we can honor her.

One wide, sweeping sky.
Two honeybees.

As children walk, they see more of each item named in the numerical poem.  Long-eared baby rabbits are snuggled near towering trees, some nearly one thousand years old.  Flora clusters in golden hues near resting reptiles.  Carrying their homes with them must be tiring.

Above and in the sea mammals leap and birds dive and call.  Back on land, over a vast patchwork of fields, critters burrow.  With Earth's elegance noted, what can be done to help her?  We start at ten and go back to one. 

Litter and bottles are gathered.  What can be recycled?  What can be reused?  Let's take old towels to animal shelters.  Let's take clothing no longer worn to others who need them.  You can always turn off extra lights at night.

Get out your needle and thread and mend.  No seed is to be wasted.  Place them in a pocket in the dirt or ground.  Give them water and sun.  What tools do you need to fix that which is broken?  Ask a friend.  Now we are at one.  Look to the sky and those two large shining orbs, one at night and one in the morning. 

Remember---
   only one.


For readers of all ages but for those younger and learning to count, Eileen Spinelli weaves a wondrous tapestry of our planet with her words.  She asks us to notice those things large and small found in fields, forests, along streams and the sea.  When she arrives at ten, it's an ingenious technique to count backwards and to state how those things previously noted can be protected.  Each example takes only time and the help of an adult, sometimes but not always.  Here is a passage.

Eight plastic grocery bags?
Weave them into mats.
Seven towels getting thin?
Good for shelter cats.


The layout and design of the open dust jacket is wonderful.  To the left, on the back, the picture of the first boy walking from his home, across fields toward the sea stretches to the left flap edge.  A group of homes sit on a slight hill.  A seemingly endless sky covers most of the back and flap with soft clouds layered on the blue.  A flock of birds fly from right to left.  The words read:

One EARTH.
One you.
Count the ways to help.

On the front of the jacket, the abundance of birds resting in and from the tree, butterflies among the flowers and fish swimming in the waves present all Earth offers to us.  The four children featured throughout the book are introduced to readers here along with their cat and dog.  As one they look to the sun.  The title text is raised. 

On the book case is a celestial setting, plentiful with stars.  On the right, front, is our planet with faint longitude and latitude lines.  Our moon and the sun are near as a comet crosses in the upper, left-hand corner. 

On the opening and closing endpapers is a golden marbleized canvas.  On the final page are two dedications, one by the author and one by the illustrator. A small bird flies between them.

On the title pages illustrator Rogerio Coelho starts his visual story, showing on a double-page picture a two-story farmhouse on a hill.  Some fencing and a few trees dot the fields.  With a page turn the narrative begins with the boy leaving the house. 

Each of the subsequent two-page pictures are a colorful delight in a variety of perspectives.  We are privy to panoramic vistas, standing at the base of redwoods as they soar upward, strolling between a lighthouse and dolphins leaping in swells, or watching as legs and feet stride over worms tunneling underneath fields spread before us as far as we can see.  In the pause before the count backwards, the four friends stand in breathtaking spot.  We gaze at them though a grove of trees.

The four friends walk into town to observe people striving to protect our planet.  Many races and ethnic backgrounds are featured as are generations.  The facial expressions, especially the eyes, are full of purpose and happiness.  The time of day is reflected in the hues chosen by Rogerio Coelho.  Readers will take great pleasure in noticing all the details in these images.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is when the original boy and two girls meet with the second boy at the beach.  For most of the right side dolphins move up and through the wavy water, across the gutter and tapering to the left hand corner on the left side.  On the left side the beach with rocky mounds meet the sea.  On the far-left side, a lighthouse stands tall on rocks.  Seagulls glide on the wind over the water and sand against wisps of clouds.  You can hear the water, wind and gulls.  If you listen closely you can also hear the happy chatter of the children.


To promote discussions about Earth and how we can be her guardians, One EARTH written by Eileen Spinelli with illustrations by Rogerio Coelho is a title you will want on your personal and professional bookshelves.  You can write and draw about your own special things found on our planet.  You can write and draw about the ways to assist in conservation and care.  These collaborators have featured those things of many sizes to notice and do.  Superb.

To learn more about Eileen Spinelli and Rogerio Coelho and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Rogerio Coelho has a blog also.

Thanksgiving Treasures-Tradition #5

For the Thanksgiving post this year, I decided to enlarge my tradition by including books newly published in 2015.  My previous four posts focused on books published as long ago as 1994 and as recently as 2013.  Those four posts, Thanksgiving Treasures--Tradition, Thanksgiving Treasures-Tradition #2, Thanksgiving Treasures-Tradition #3, and Thanksgiving Treasures-Tradition #4, feature artists interpretations of people gathering at meals, a Shaker hymn depicted by a Caldecott award winning talent, a mother and daughter question and answer conversation about the most thankful thing, an overabundance of guests in a too-small room, a poem turned song celebrated by a notable artist, a Newbery award winning author addressing her ideas on joy, gratitude and prayer, a wish by a beloved relative and a collection of Native American poems.

The bitter cold temperatures, despite the clear blue sky and sunshine, coupled with the recent snowfall are the superb excuse for remaining inside cozy and content, chatting with family and friends, watching an old favorite movie, or reading a new book.  This national holiday, Thanksgiving Day, is a time to give our attention to those we value most.  It's a reminder of those good things, small and large, which fill our days all year.


Author Eileen Spinelli has paired with first time children's book illustrator Archie Preston to give readers Thankful (ZonderKidz, September 1, 2015).  It's a joyful expression of life's everyday moments.  Playfully presented by children we come to understand the value of an attitude of gratitude.

The waitress is thankful for comfortable shoes.
The local reporter, for interesting news.

A sister and brother are donning clothing either from a dress-up filled armoire or their parent's closet.  Admiration of footwear and a dozing cat create headlines for a grateful reporter.  Seeds poking through dirt in rows, a handy hose, words and the cadence of language and a book make for a happy gardener, fireman, poet and the two siblings.

A painter, a clown, and a doctor appreciate those things most necessary for their success.  After a day of journeying from one point to another, a hotel is a welcome destination.  A dancer and a drummer have more in common than you might imagine.

A preparer of meals, a maker of clothes, a royal ruler and a honey helper salute simple but sometimes necessary pleasures.  Votes, boats, birds and words are showcased by those who cherish them the most. Glitter and glue lead me straight to you.


We follow those hard-working people in service to others, those creative people who express themselves through the arts, those who provide life's necessities, those who govern and rule and those who follow their hearts through hobbies.  Eileen Spinelli places a rhyming word at the end of phrases one and two and starts all over again with the next thoughts.  She lifts us up with her observations.  Here is another sample.

The artist is thankful
for color and light.
The clown, for her costume
silly and bright.


The childlike wonder displayed on the matching dust jacket and book case as a boy and a girl enjoy an autumn day is an introduction to the same positive outlook seen in every illustration throughout this title.  On the back, to the left, an interior image is supplied within a loose circle on the same glowing pale yellow background.  The rich golden orange from the title font on the front is found on the opening and closing endpapers.  A page turn gives us the dedication page with a yawning cat, a personality seen in many of the illustrations. The verso and title pages begin the story of the siblings.

Their portrayal of each of the named twenty people is a splendid interpretation by Archie Preston. His visuals extend the text with charm and humor.  Many elements found in one set of pictures appear later to complete his part in the storytelling.

Loose lines, pastel hues, shading and light and use of white space help his single page, page and one-half and double-page pictures to envelope the reader in sheer delight.  One of my favorite picture sequences is for the words featured above.  The brother, wearing an artist's beret, is painting his sister posed in her ballerina costume on the arm of the sofa in the living room.  Watercolor paints are scattered on the rug and in a box.  A large container of water nearby holds a brush.  He is also holding a brush and artist's palette.  This is a single page, edge to edge, illustration.  On the following page on a background of white, the sister is looking at the finished painting.  He is looking at her with pride.  The painting is what you would expect of someone his age.  It is adorable.



Stepping back in time Sharing The Bread: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving Story (Schwartz & Wade Books, September 22, 2015) written by Pat Zietlow Miller with illustrations by Jill McElmurry gives readers a look at a family preparing a holiday meal.  Like integral parts on a well-balanced machine fused together with love, they work together.  We begin with Mama.

Mama, fetch the cooking pot.
Fetch our turkey-cooking pot.
Big and old and black and squat.
Mama, fetch the pot.

The pot can't do its job without a fire that's hot.  Papa brings in the wood for the stove.  Dough rises for the bread, gets punched and rises once more for loaves formed by Sister.

The eldest brother works on the cooking turkey making sure it stays moist.  Grandpa and Grandpa lend a hand with traditional treats and sweets. Mashing potatoes and pouring the cider are tasks well-suited to Auntie and Uncle.  Let's not leave out the baby who needs to stay sleeping until the feast is ready to be served.

Place mats are cut and pasted and set on the table.  Once done the younger brother gives a holler to one and all.  It's time to gather, sit and count the blessings.  It's time to reap the rewards of everyone's efforts.  It's time to share the bread.


Whether read silently or aloud the words penned by Pat Zietlow Miller roll sweetly from the printed page into your mind.  Four rhyming lines describe each activity with cheerful satisfaction.  Miller alternates her technique; three like words to one different and two like words to two different.  At the end of three tasks she binds them with another two line rhyme.  Here is another passage.

Mash. Top. Pour. (And rest.)
Food and loved ones. We are blessed.


Unfolding the dust jacket and opening the matching book case, you will feel a slow smile spread over your face as your eyes move from left to right.  The family members numbering nine (the baby is resting) stand in a row holding portions of the Thanksgiving feast ready to bring it to the table.  Rosy, ruddy cheeks and quiet smiles say more than words in this peaceful portrait of a shared accomplishment.  The colors used in the framing for the title cover the opening and closing endpapers.  Rustic red for the first and steel blue for the second; perhaps suggestive of the passage of time, a day spent in working as one.  On the title page three items of food sit upon a mirror image of the title text from the front.  The family dog is looking longingly at all of them.

Rendered in gouache on watercolor paper Jill McElmurry through painstaking research recreates vivid scenes of rooms, clothing and household items from the nineteenth century.  There is an underlying glow in all her images filling single pages, double pages or groups of three smaller illustrations.  Some extend edge to edge.  Others are loosely framed in white.

Readers will stop to seek out the inviting details within each picture; the dog and cat sharing a water dish, resting together or waiting for a bite of food, the shared looks of affection between the mother and father, the flour in the hair of the younger brother helping to make the bread, the grandfather holding the littlest brother so he can stir the berries, and the carved candle holders and high chair for the baby.  Each visual is filled with warmth and affection.  Perspectives shift to further make us feel like participants in this celebration.

One of my favorite illustrations is in the kitchen.  Several members are gathered around the stove as the turkey is being basted.  The dog's tail is thumping in pleasure; eyes closed as the odor is sniffed.  Grandmother and Mama hold pies.  The cat is resting on a top shelf.  Papa is washing dishes but manages to make eye contact with Mama.  Kitchen implements line the walls and shelves.  Soft swirls indicate the smells of home-baked bread, cooking berries, and a turkey nearly ready to eat.


It's a pleasure to recommend both of these titles, Thankful written by Eileen Spinelli with illustrations by Archie Preston and Sharing The Bread: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving Story written by Pat Zietlow Miller with illustrations by Jill McElmurry, for this holiday season or any time we need to remember to be grateful.  Both are most memorable in text and illustrations and inspiring in their stories.  They are meant to be shared.

To learn more about Eileen Spinelli, Pat Zietlow Miller or Jill McElmurry and their other work please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites. Here is a link to the publisher's website for Sharing The Bread: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving Story where additional pictures can be viewed.  A Read Aloud & Food Drive Activity Kit has been created for this title.  Pat Zietlow Miller is interviewed at Publishers Weekly.  Jill McElmurry is interviewed at Picture Book Builders.  During PiBoIdMo Pat Zietlow Miller was a guest poster on author Tara Lazar's blog, Writing for Kids (While Raising Them).  This title is highlighted at Jama Rattigan's wonderful blog, Jama's Alphabet Soup.

Brrr...Zero?!

From seven o'clock this morning until seven o'clock tomorrow night the National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for fifteen counties in northwestern lower Michigan.  With snow falling in some places to more than a foot, the cold will follow quickly on its heels with the wind cranking up to near blizzard conditions.  While we Michiganders are used to wintry weather, it's been so mild to date, this is going to be a shock.

With the knowledge of an impending storm there is an air of urgency and preparation in the businesses in our small burg.  There is also a sense of anticipation; the anticipation of what this weather will mean for inside and outside activities.  When you combine the talents of author Eileen Spinelli with those of illustrator Marjorie Priceman, a beautiful but chilly book like Cold Snap (Alfred A. Knopf) results, taking a look at another small town caught in Mother Nature's grip.

It was snowy cold in Toby Mills.
Ears tingled.
Cheeks were frosty pink.
Toes, too numb to wiggle.

It begins with piles of snow inviting the inevitable snowball throwing, making of snow angels and sledding down T-Bone Hill.  Exhausted, wet and cold the children are forced to head home as evening approaches.  This is Friday.

By Saturday newspaper headlines feature the weather front and center.  Soup and stew are the local diner's entree of the day.  Being inside is distinctly more appealing.

Even long underwear worn under dresses, earmuffs, scarves and cuddling with the church cat cannot keep the cold from coming inside the church on Sunday.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday find the thermometer dipping lower and lower each day.  The icicle which began as a drip on the tip of General Toby's nose is close to touching the ground.

The endeavors of the citizens of Toby Mills have gone from enjoyment to survival, complaints to the mayor's office mounting.  It's his clever wife who hatches a nighttime surprise, gathering the entire town on top of T-Bone Hill.  Young and old alike, all the names readers have come to know, meet and greet each other rejoicing in what they have missed.


Chronicling the days of a week, Friday to Friday plus one, person by person, Eileen Spinelli makes readers feel as though they, too, are members of this close-knit community.  We are privy through her descriptive phrases and word choices (puffballs in the frigid air, slogged through the slush, huddle-cuddled) of the cold getting colder and the townspeople's reactions to this frosty turn of weather events.  Our collective knowledge of cold, what we would be willing to do when faced with similar circumstances, even though Spinelli assigns specific actions to specific people, binds us to this story.  Her technique of measuring the cold by the length of the icicle on the statue's nose paints a picture in our minds.  Not without humor, the mayor's wife brings him his pink bunny slippers and blue bathrobe to wear at the office, we begin to feel a distinct chill in the air.


Beginning with the front jacket, two-time Caldecott Honor award winner, Marjorie Priceman, using gouache on watercolor paper, whips up a batch of icy, snowy, blowy painted pictorial pieces of Toby Mills. The perspective shown to readers when first picking up this book, overlayed with the rough, sandpaper-like feel of pressed shiny snowflakes, leads readers into this winter's tale.  Brightly colored endpapers, the town thick with snow, provide an invitation, a bird's eye view of the place and its people.

A two-page visual extending across the gutter to page edge tucks publication information beneath a snow-covered hill, wind howling as a person walks up and over, snow shovel sticking up behind with the title above.  Throughout most of the book the illustrations, covering two pages, provide readers with a rare richness, color choices pulling them into the story despite the cold.  Single page visuals are faced with a page of smaller pictures text above or below.  Extra details reveal emotion, motion and shivers from the cold that gets colder and colder.  While many of the illustrations are worthy of framing my two favorites are of the children snow-play weary going home at night through the village and of the mayor's office, the Moffat home and the movie theater advertising Long Hot Summer and Little Miss Sunshine with B. Y. O. B. (bring your own blanket).


Cold Snap penned by master wordsmith Eileen Spinelli with vivid illustrations by Marjorie Priceman is a first choice for snow day reading.  Whether you winter in this type of weather or have never seen a single snowflake, there is "snow" doubt you will wonder why you now feel a cool breeze passing.  The blended skills of two masters has created a perfect picture....a book for readers of all ages.

Please follow this link to the publisher's website for more illustrations from this title.