Oh, Those Amazing Animals

Each new fact we add to our understanding of an animal, the better we grasp their place in the network of life on our planet.  Each animal, like each human, has an effect.  Many of them have been impacting our lives before we were born.  And they continue to do so.  

At a winter camp one year shared with students, we were listening to a lecture about horses.  We were close to a horse, closer than many of the gals and guys (including me) had ever been.  One piece of information has stayed with me for decades.  It has to do with horses' ears.  When asked for volunteers to ride, no one responded, so I did.  When you see people getting on and off horses and riding them in movies and videos and on television, it appears effortless.  Truthfully, getting on and off was fairly easy, but no one told us how high you would be off the ground. The distance from the saddle to terra firma seemed huge.  Horse Power: How Horses Changed The World (Abrams Books for Young Readers, April 27, 2021) written and illustrated by Jennifer Thermes will enthrall readers of all ages as we take a journey back in time to present day.  Along the way we learn about the power of horses and their impact.

About fifty-six million years ago, horses first appeared on earth.  The earliest-known ancestors

of the modern horse lived in North America.  The size of dogs, with toes on their feet, they 

nibbled tender leafy plants that grew from the warm, steamy earth.

Over long periods of time, the survivors evolved into larger animals with single hooves. Suddenly, eleven thousand years ago, they vanished.  Somehow, using a former land bridge that connected Asia to North America, they began to flourish once more.  How many thousands of years ago do you think it was when horses finally let humans ride them?  This was the beginning of immense transformation.

Horses provided a means to do everything faster and more efficiently.  Their physical characteristics, each one, are designed for the horse to survive in a variety of conditions.  Did you know a horse's height is measured four inches, a hand, at a time to their withers?  Around the globe different people from different cultures used different horses to suit their needs.  Unfortunately for horses, they were used in conquests and war.  Horses were returned to the lands of North and South America by the Spanish.

Did you know horses reside on every continent except for Antarctica?  As people moved, so did horses.  Horses across continents gave people the opportunity to continue communicating.  The Pony Express in the United States is only one example.  In time, even with advancing technologies, horses were still necessary.  Their necessity in turn created new jobs.

With the invention of the automobile, that necessity diminished.  Horses were replaced by cars and more cars and still more cars until now we humans have a global problem.  Horses shaped human history.  Today, there are herds roaming wild on six of the seven continents. 

When author Jennifer Thermes writes, readers take note.  Her meticulous research is found in each sentence we read.  She is building a world for us with her words.  In this book, she fuels, through facts, a story of horses which increases our admiration page turn by page turn.  Aside from the main narrative, she presents other information in her illustrations and in her sidebars.  Here is a passage and a sidebar.

City horses were trained to stay calm through the noise

and frenzy of a big metropolis.  Some wore blinders to shield

their eyes from sudden movements, since their natural instinct

is to run when frightened.  Without horses, human society

would have been brought to a halt.

Horses were the engines that powered everything.

One horse produces an

average of 35 pounds of

manure daily.  In 1900

more than 130,000 horses

lived in New York City,

which meant millions of 

pounds of fresh "road

apples" in the streets

every day!

A blue wash acts as a frame around a golden yellow wash on both the front and back of the open dust jacket.  The galloping horse on the front depicts horses' power when running free.  All the smaller vignettes around this creature represent how they made our lives better.  The tail on the horse on the front crosses over the spine to its completion on the back.  There praise for a previous book is placed over an image.  A farmer stands next to a large horse, resting one hand on its flank.  A cat looks up at the horse's face.

On the book case, a golden yellow canvas uplifts a spirit of freedom supplied with the image.  Left to right, back to front, a herd of horses races.  A range of color in their coats and breeds is shown to us.  Their beauty is staggering.

On the opening endpapers, on a white background, is a map of the world.  On the map are numbers corresponding to the thirty-three featured horse breeds.  Smaller images of the horses are placed around the map.  They are labeled with their name and country.  On the closing endpapers, hosting the publication information and the dedication, are horse portraits.  These portraits showcase how horses have been historically shown in artwork during ancient times. 

A double-page picture is presented on the title page.  On the left, so close you feel as though you could touch it, is a golden-brown horse.  Its gaze is toward rolling hills on the right.  A herd of horses runs upward as a parent and foal watch.  Is this the same herd running across the book case?  Perhaps. 

These illustrations by Jennifer Thermes were rendered

with pencil, watercolor, ink, and colored pencils on Saunders Waterford watercolor paper.

Their details are astounding.  Each is an exquisite portrayal and enhancement of the text.  There are many double-page pictures with smaller insets.  Some images are half-page and framed with fine black lines.  Other visuals span one and a half pages horizontally with fine black lines acting as borders.

One of my many favorite illustrations is a double-page visual.  It is a swirl of three separate but blended images.  Crossing the gutter from the right and moving across the top and side on the left portion is a steam-powered locomotive.  It gets larger as it gets closer to us.  The smoke from the engine stack moves along the top of the picture, enlarging on the right to hold the text.  Under the smoke is a scene of horses and horse-drawn vehicles moving to and from the train station.  Underneath this is a close-up of one particular family.  A couple embraces each other before the woman boards the train.  To the right of them and extending one and a third pages is a large, gray-dappled horse.  The train moves through a star-studded blue.  Golden yellow frames the other two portions of this marvelous whole.

You will want to have more than one copy of Horse Power: How Horses Changed The World written and illustrated by Jennifer Thermes in your professional collections.  People who already admire these majestic animals will read this over and over.  For others, this book will open their minds and supply them with a greater appreciation of horses.  At the close of the book is an extensive author's note, a list of select sources, and a two-page timeline.  This book is a treasure you will want to add to your personal bookshelves.

To learn more about Jennifer Thermes and her other work, please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  Jennifer Thermes has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website is a video with Jennifer Thermes speaking about this book.

Living in the Midwest, the chance of seeing a parrot fly outside your window or through the woods on a walk are slim.  If one were to be seen, it would be downright strange.  These flying wonders, nevertheless, hold a fascination for many of us.  Their characteristics and behaviors as revealed in The Truth About Parrots (Seriously Funny Facts About Your Favorite Animals) (Roaring Brook Press, May 25, 2021) written and illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III are truly remarkable.

These are parrots.

There are about 350 different parrot

species across the world.

Despite the differences perceived in parrots, they share similarities.  Their heads, beaks, and tongues, yes tongues, set them apart.  They have distinguishing feet, zygodactyl feet, with two toes in front and two toes in back.  The plumage on parrots is vivid.  Did you know parrots can see ultra-violet light?  

Parrot couples, mates, are often partners for life.  They express their care for each in loving actions.  Parrots in captivity can live more than fifty years.  In the wild, we are not as sure about their life spans for several reasons, but we do know about the kakapo found in New Zealand.  Can you imagine living more than one hundred years?  They are unfortunately endangered.

As varied as their colorful feathers, so too is the diet of parrots.  Some like nuts, others like nectar and pollen, and one prefers a fruit.  On rare occasions, one parrot has been known to be carnivorous.

To say parrots have the gift of gab is an understatement.  They are well known to be particularly gifted mimics.  Their cleverness does not end there.  They can communicate an understanding of other things using our language.  Speaking of language, it is thought by specialists some parrots make up their own words and definitions.

As with many animals, we humans continue to be the cause of much harm in the world of parrots.  We destroy their living spaces and take them from their homes as pets.  The more we know, the more we can protect them.

This eighth and final book in this outstanding series written by Maxwell Eaton III is equally as memorable as its predecessors.  The mix of facts and humor is engaging from beginning to end.  It starts on the jacket and book case, continues on the title pages and throughout the book.  Facts are presented in the main body of the narrative and in smaller insets on each one or two pages. (All the parrots are labeled with their names and where they live.)  The humor is found in the commentary and conversations in the speech balloons.  It is made by other parrots, other animals (even prehistoric), and a human child.  It is guaranteed you will burst out laughing at the hilarity and cleverness.  Here is a passage with commentary.  

One thing all parrots share is a keen

mind with vocal learning abilities.  Many

can copy sounds.  Most famously, human

speech.

I've noticed. (child)

I've noticed. (Eclectus parrot, New Guinea)

I've noticed. (a second parrot)

I've no itch. (a third parrot)

That's a relief. (a fourth parrot)

On the matching dust jacket and book case, illustrator Maxwell Eaton III begins his pictorial interpretation.  The leaves framing the right and left of the front indicate the climate in which most parrots reside.  The green spine acts as a branch.  The comment by the larger of the three parrots is a fitting introduction.  

To the left of the spine, on the back, two slim leafy tree branches extend from the spine.  On them perch two rows of small yellow parrots.  One on the top says:

I'm hearing

voices again.

The opening and closing endpapers are covered in the same hue of red as on the parrot highlighted on the front of the jacket and case.  On the initial title page two more of those parrots offer their opinions on the title.  Across the formal title page, a flock of those same birds flies from left to right from leafy branches.  The one in the lead exclaims:

We're colorful

characters!

These visuals by Maxwell Eaton III are highly animated.  They are defined by black lines and a full color palette.  There are double-page pictures, single-page pictures, partial-page pictures, and double-page pictures with framed insets as places for more images, commentary, and information.  Several of the funniest images involve the play of keas.  A duo appears in a double-page picture, a single-page picture two page turns later and at the end.  (So very clever, Mr. Eaton III.)  

One of my favorite illustrations is the left side of a double-page picture.  There two Salmon-crested cockatoos found in Southeast Asia are resting on a branch among treetops.  They are close together, a parrot pair.  The one bird is grooming the other bird.  The one being groomed says:

Thanks.

I can never

reach that

spot.

The Truth About Parrots (Seriously Funny Facts About Your Favorite Animals) written and illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III is a book holding an array of fun-filled facts.  This author and illustrator has a knack for selecting the points most will find intriguing, and his commentary displays his ingenious wit.  At the close of the book, prior to the end page, are two pages of additional information.  Parrot nest sites are discussed, as is the eating of clay, eggs, and chicks.  Further research is suggested.  I highly recommend this title for both your professional and personal collections.  

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 interior images.

There are places on this planet many of us will never visit or reside.  It is with gratitude we can thank those writers and illustrators of nonfiction for taking us to those spaces.  On the continent of South America in the country of Peru, there is a national park.  This park, Manu, is home to one of the most diverse populations of monkeys.  In Fourteen Monkeys: A Rain Forest Rhyme (Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing Division, July 6, 2021) written by Melissa Stewart with illustrations by Steve Jenkins, we travel to the Manu National Park, learning of fourteen very different monkeys who reside in this shared community.

Fourteen monkeys share Manu,

a warm, lush forest in Peru.

Most tropical rain forests are home to just a few kinds of 

monkeys.  But 14 species live in Manu National Park, in

Peru.  How can they all survive together in one place?

They may shout out a good morning call from the tops of trees, but red howler monkeys are known for sometimes sleeping eighteen hours a day.  Spider monkeys in Peru use their physical traits, long legs and feet designed for securely grasping, to move quickly.  You won't believe what they play in their spare time.  Gray's bald-faced saki would give Olympians a contest when it comes to leaping.  The distance is impressive and mind-boggling.

Two kinds of capuchins share the distinguishing curled tail, but they hunt in particular parts of the rain forest for specific types of food.  Pygmy marmosets build relationships by grooming each other when they take a break from eating.  Amiable in nature, one specie moves carefully from place to place using their tails.  Their greetings are affectionate.

You will never guess what feast is the most pleasing to the Goeldi's monkeys after the rainy season.  Wow!  Black-capped squirrel monkeys have twenty-six unique calls to speak to each other.  Two tamarin types, like the capuchins, frequent different heights in the rain forest.  One acts as a sentry.

In the dark of night, one specie moves to feed.  When the moon is full, they race, hoot, and meet mates.  The dusky titis are known for literally sticking together, especially at night.  They twine their long, thick tails together.  From the top of the trees to the bottom of the rain forest floor, these fourteen monkeys show the world how differences can be an advantage.

Known for her painstaking research, author Melissa Stewart delivers her results in three distinct manners for readers.  Each of the fourteen monkeys are tied together with single sentence rhyming couplets.  These act as introductions and combined as an informative poem.  Coupled with each sentence are paragraphs offering further items of interest.  At the close of the book fourteen groups of facts are presented, one for each monkey.  These include the common name, the scientific name, group size, diet, predators, young, lifespan, and a field note.  Here is a passage.

Way up in the leafy crown,

woollys dangle upside down.

Grey woolly monkeys move through the treetops

at a slow, steady pace.  To cross gaps, they hang

by their tails and gently lower themselves to the

next branch.  They also swing by their tails to

reach tasty fruit.  . . .

Even without his name on the dust jacket and book case, the artwork of Steve Jenkins is evident.  His 

cut-and torn-paper collages

are extraordinary in their representations.  On the front of the jacket and case is a Goeldi monkey ready to consume fungi.  The crisp white canvas, used in most of his images, highlights the varied green hues of the rain forest, the fur on the monkey and the startling shade of the food.

To the left, on the back, of the jacket and case is a green silhouette of rain forest trees and shrubs.  Placed in the branches of the trees are the fourteen monkeys.  Fourteen circles, outlined in red, hold their portraits.

A rich spring green covers the opening and closing endpapers.  A single monkey crouches between the text on the title page.  With a page turn, deep green shades fill tree outlines on the left and white text offers a welcome on a dark green background on the right.

Each monkey is given a double-page picture with the exception of the capuchins and tamarins.  The monkeys are placed in their most-frequented settings.  They are shown in a mixture of perspectives.  For each one an iconic, smaller image of a rain forest in a darker color is placed within the larger visual.  A circle on this element shows the level of residence of that showcased monkey.  Some prefer the tops of the rain forest, others in the middle, and a few are closer to the ground.  For each of the monkeys, you will be astounded at the extent of the details.

One of my many favorite illustrations is for the marmosets.  On the left amid greenery a sturdy tree trunk rises.  Clinging on the right side, ready to seek food, is a marmoset.  On the right, after hours of eating, two marmosets are cuddled together for a nap.  One already is sleeping.  The other looks at the reader.

Reading this book is like taking a trip to the Manu National Park in Peru.  Through the words of Melissa Stewart and the artwork of Steve Jenkins, Fourteen Monkeys: A Rain Forest Rhyme takes us on an adventure to remember.  At the close of the book is a two-page vertical picture of rain forest trees with the monkey silhouettes placed where they reside.  They are numbered and named as are the layers of the rain forest.  Then, there is an extra column of narrative preceding the factual entries for each monkey.  Along the bottom of pages two and three of these factual entries are the monkey sizes shown to scale compared to a human.  I highly recommend this title for both your personal and professional collections.

To discover more about Melissa Stewart and Steve Jenkins and their other work, please visit their respective websites by following the link attached to their names.  Melissa Stewart has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view interior illustrations.  At Andrew Hacket's website and at Reading Rockets, Melissa Stewart speaks about this book.  Here is a link to an extensive study guide.

Cool Respite

The natural world rests in winter.  A lot of children, when asked, can name at least one animal that sleeps during this season.  Some of them can tell you why these animals pause in their daily activities.  Others can name this sleep, calling it hibernation.

If you were to question this same group of children about another season when animals sleep, you will get silence and a group blank stare.  In fact, if the group were people of all ages, the response would probably be similar.  In the marvelous manner we have come to expect from collaborators, author Melissa Stewart and illustrator Sarah S. Brannen, their new release Summertime Sleepers: Animals That Hibernate Estivate (Charlesbridge, April 27, 2021) does not disappoint.  We willingly stroll through the wondrous information given to us in words and artwork; knowing we are now far better equipped to be the stewards we are meant to be for our planet.

YAWN, STRETCH, BLINK!

As warm weather spreads across the land,

hibernating animals spring to life.

At the same time, other animals seek cool spots so they can slumber.  They are about to begin estivation.  Of these animals. some select to sleep in large bunches.  Alone, the mourning cloak butterfly nestles into a bark bed until it awakes in autumn.

Above ground on tree branches, hard-shelled creatures rest inside, closed off from the outside world.  Below ground, special occupants of Christmas Island go deep into their residences.  Did you know there are fish that burrow into mud when their water dries up in the summer?

Certain amphibians find refuge and prefer other animal hideaways. For animals that use other animals' homes, there are opposites that make their own place to rest.  Long treks are taken by particular reptiles.  They feast and then sleep, snuggled under forest floor bedding.  Although there are animals that travel to sleep, there are others who stay exactly where they are.

A long rest is in order for many of these animals.  For others, it is only a handful of days here and there.  Each season dictates specific behaviors, until places and spaces are switched.  Brrr . . . there's a chill in the air.

Author Melissa Stewart has our attention as soon as we read her first few sentences.  Each paragraph is replete with facts delivered through clever alliteration.  She employs a contrasting technique to present information, beginning on the left with a partial sentence and giving a more in-depth explanation on the right (or underneath) relative to one animal.  That partial sentence is completed with a page turn and another explanation is supplied for a new creature.  Here is one example.

. . . but others toss and turn before 

catching their zzz's. 

When the sizzling sun dries up the mangrove

killifish's watery home, the little fish jump

across land, flipping head-over-tail, until they

find a hollow log.  Crammed inside this dark,

damp den, killifish wait for wetter days.  If the

dry spell lasts long enough, the little fish slip

into a slumber until the rain returns.

In a large image, extending left to right, across the back and front of the open and matching dust jacket and book case, illustrator Sarah S. Brannen creates through curved lines, calm.  The desert hedgehog curls in repose, saving energy.  Its bungalow den is shaped from rocks in colors like its own. 

On the opening and closing endpapers, the design uses space to first give us a title page and last to provide the dedications and publication information.  On the opening endpapers, on the left, a naturalist's notebook is open to a drawing of a spotted turtle.  Beneath the pages, the turtle moves through fallen leaves on a forest floor.  Above a blue sky glistens.  On the closing endpapers, four other pages from the notebook, about four other animals, are spread from the left, across the gutter, to the far-right edge.

Each double-page picture rendered

in watercolor on Arches bright white cold pressed paper

by Sarah S. Brannen, with the exception of the first and last illustrations, places the named animals in their natural habitat when they are resting or searching for a location.  Within these large images are the page from the naturalist's notebook.  These are line drawings in black on a cream canvas.  They have the common and scientific names, the actual size, other positions, and place of residence.

In her illustrations, Sarah S. Brannen brings us close to the creatures, but usually includes a more panoramic view of the encompassing landscape.  Convergent lady beetles are seen in large numbers inside curved leaves of a ground plant.  Behind this plant are desert mountains dotted with spots of greenery.  These two perspectives are important so we can be mindful observers and protectors.

One of my many favorite pictures is for the mourning cloak butterfly.  We find ourselves standing in a woodland.  Tree trunks and leafy boughs rise to the top of the pages.  On one of the trunks to the left of the gutter, a butterfly, wings open, rests.  On the right, we move close to a single trunk.  There we see the top and underside of a mourning cloak butterfly's wings, just prior to it tucking away for sleep.  On the far left is a page from the notebook.  The actual size of the butterfly is represented as is a picture of it on an oak leaf.  We are given both names and the place where it is seen, Broughton Nature Area, Marietta, Ohio, US.

Readers of all ages will be amazed to learn about these resilient creatures who rest to escape the rigors of the hottest season.  Summertime Sleepers: Animals That Hibernate Estivate written by Melissa Stewart with illustrations by Sarah S. Brannen is a book to place on both professional and personal bookshelves.  The back matter includes More About Animals That Estivate, Estivation Versus Hibernation, Continue Your Exploration, Author's Note, Illustrator's Note, and Selected Sources.

To discover more about Melissa Stewart and Sarah S. Brannen and their other work, please visit their respective websites by following the link attached to their names.  Melissa Stewart has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.  Sarah S. Brannen has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. At the publisher's website you can view an interior picture, download a teacher's guide, and a readers theater script.  Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher, hosted the book trailer premiere on his site, Watch. Connect. Read.  Both creators are interviewed there.  At Maria Marshall's Making Nature Fun, a group of nonfiction authors are interviewed.  Melissa Stewart and this title are a part of that gathering.  Melissa Stewart is interviewed about this title at First Draft to Final Book. 

Prized Ocean Abodes

There was once a man, a great uncle, with a gift for working with wood.  Everything he made was refined, smooth as silk and any seams were nearly invisible.  He crafted a set of stackable tray display cases from rich, burnished wood.  They were for a little girl, a girl who loved seashells.

She lined those cases with black velvet to focus attention on the varied textures and colors of the seashells.  Each seashell was carefully labeled.  The girl, until she was in college, only visited the seashore once, but family and friends knew of her collection, bringing her treasures from their trips.  Seashells More Than a Home (Charlesbridge, April 2, 2019) written by Melissa Stewart with illustrations by Sarah S. Brannen is the second collaboration by this outstanding duo.  (Their first, Feathers Not Just For Flying, is the recipient of multiple awards.) This book, like those seashells saved by that girl, is a compilation of wondrous information and watercolor paintings guaranteed to have all readers walking along the seashore with new eyes.

Every day, seashells wash up on beaches all over Earth, like treasures from a secret world beneath the waves.

Their shapes, sizes and colors are varied, a reflection of their functions for the beings dwelling inside them.  There is a shell so marvelously formed it can act like a submarine.  It holds gas in tiny compartments which helps it float.  Water, stored in front of those sections, assists it in sinking.  This is a Chambered Nautilus.

There are shells unlike the nautilus hugging the sand bottom for weeks.  Others act like carpenter tools pulling apart other shells for food like a crowbar or boring into the ocean floor to escape hungry enemies like a drill bit.  Did you know there are scallops that glide and dip like a butterfly?  When escaping predators its valves move it along the bottom or through the water.

There is a mollusk with a shell containing plates.  Just like the land animal, an armadillo, it can roll into a ball for safety.  Some seashells are nearly transparent to allow sunshine to grow algae inside it for food.  Others have only small holes acting like vents to rid the animal's waste. (Now you know why there are holes on an abalone.)

Do you need a disguise?  Do you need to know how to perfect the art of camouflage?  Observe the habits of a thorny oyster shell or a flat periwinkle.  Mussels open and close their shells with ease whether in safety or trouble.  If you happen to be the tasty treat a tulip snail favors seek shelter.  They crash and crack.  Regardless of all the other benefits of seashells, they are first and foremost prized ocean abodes.


Author scientist Melissa Stewart delivers a carefully researched narrative using alliteration, distinctive verbs and similes in her conversational writing.  Her curious mind anticipates our questions and she supplies us with answers.  Readers are fully engaged in the comparisons to objects, animals or people with which they are familiar.

Seven sentences reflect those contrasts between the seashells and those objects, animals or people they resemble.  They refer to movement, stability, protection and acquiring food.  Here is a passage.

Seashells can wear disguises like a spy . . .

The spines on a thorny oyster's shell are the
perfect home for sponges, algae, and other
small creatures.  As these hitchhikers grow on
the outer surface of the oyster, they hide its
shell from hungry hunters.


When you open the matching dust jacket and book case, a row of shells extends from either side of the spine.  On each side they are placed in order, largest to smallest in size moving from the spine.  The turquoise of the water gently lapping the shore and the darker shade in the title text provides a pleasing balance with the sand.  The sand is a natural and excellent canvas to emphasize the seashells.  It's as if we've been transported to a beach and are ready to stroll among nature's riches.

In shades of brown and white with a title of

Mollusk habitats
and ranges . . . 

each featured seashell is placed in thirteen rectangles on the opening and closing endpapers; six on the first and seven on the second set.  The shell and its geographical location (map) are shown.  They are labeled with the common and scientific names and habitat descriptions.  Beneath the text on the title page an array of seashells is shown in sand.

Sarah S. Brannen created these illustrations using

watercolor on Arches 300 lb. bright white cold press paper. 

She begins with a two-page pictures of five children walking along the beach, sketch pads and pencils in hand.  Two are seated or kneeling busily drawing seashells.  (She also closes the book with these five children leaving the seashore, carrying their drawings.  Shells are scattered in the sand and a sandcastle stands as a testament to further creativity.)  The images for each shell may cover two pages or a single page.  Usually an open sketch pad showcases special points about a particular seashell.  These are set within a larger visual.

Each illustration incorporates the object, animal or person which is being compared to the seashell.  A submarine glides in the water as a chambered nautilus moves.  Through an open window a ship's smokestack releases smoke as an abalone expels waste in a smaller image.  The placement of every element in each picture is as if we are turning the pages in an explorer's journal; we move from panoramic scenes to photographs or to sketch pad pictures.  The details are exquisitely realistic.

One of my many favorite illustrations extends over two pages.  The background picture is a sandy shore with a home and dock in the distance.  Palm trees shade the property.  In the foreground a father and daughter are hard at work repairing and replacing the boards on a small, overturned wooden boat.  The father is using a crowbar to remove planks.  The girl is using a drill bit to make holes in the new wood.  On the left side a lightning whelk is prying open a shell to eat.  On the right side an angelwing clam is burrowing into the sand to stay safe.  On the sketch pad is an angelwing clam showcasing the ridges on its shell used for going deeper into the ocean floor.


This book, Seashells More Than a Home written by Melissa Stewart with illustrations by Sarah S. Brannen, is like finding a gift left by the ocean on the sand.  It is brimming with fascinating information and elevated with illuminating paintings.  At the close of the book both Melissa Stewart and Sarah S. Brannen offer readers notes on their process.  There is also two pages dedicated to the kinds of seashells; bivalves, cephalopods, chitons, gastropods and scaphopods.  At the conclusion are sources to Continue Your Exploration, Selected Sources, Author and Selected Sources, Illustrator.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Melissa Stewart and Sarah S. Brannen, please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  Melissa Stewart has accounts on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.  Melissa's blog is an amazing resource.  Sarah S. Brannen has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  The cover for this title is revealed at educator Alyson Beecher's Kid Lit Frenzy.  The book trailer is premiered at Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries John Schumacher's Watch. Connect. Read.  Both Melissa and Sarah are interviewed.  You can view interior images at Charlesbridge and Penguin Random House Canada.


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

 

Whatever. Together. Pipsqueaks, Slowpokes, and Stinkers Blog Tour

Have you ever felt like your best assets were ignored or abhorred?  Have you consistently been the weak link in a chain?  I think you know where this line of thinking is going.  Some individuals are teased and then believe if, as the saying goes, someone looked up the word dud in the dictionary, their name and picture would be listed.

What no one tells them is the very qualities others find to be lacking are strengths.  These traits will keep them resilient in the face of future adversity.  Pipsqueaks, Slowpokes, and Stinkers: Celebrating Animal Underdogs (Peachtree Publishers, September 1, 2018) written by Melissa Stewart with illustrations by Stephanie Laberis is a book championing characteristics regularly undervalued.

Everyone loves elephants.  They're so big and strong.
Everyone respects cheetahs.  They're so fast and fierce.
But this book isn't about animals we admire.

This book is singing the praises of another kind of animal.  This book has us cheering for the Etruscan pygmy shrew and Amau frog.  They are tiny, pinkie-fingernail tiny.  How does this size help them?  They can hide where their enemies cannot go.  The Galapagos tortoise has no need for speed.  Do you know why?

Stepping in a cow pie (manure) once is more than enough.  It's as if the smell is stuck to your nose hairs for days.  There are actually two animals that smell worse.  Yes, this is true.  These two odoriferous creatures cause predators to become ill or run away lickety-split.

Being shy is a silent way to blend into the surrounding flora.  Ask the okapi how this helps.  Sometimes we think of sleepyheads as having a lack of incentive but in reality these animals are storing up energy.  A little bit of food goes a long way with them.

Being clumsy is not necessarily a disadvantage, speed can cause a fall but it does produce a feast more often.  Go western fence lizard, go.  The blubber found on walruses, seals and sea lions is not an anti-beauty statement but a protective key to survival.  Finally the attributes of an underground critter definitely rank them low on the cuddly scale but they are a marvel of adaptation. In the words of the author

Underdogs Unite!

As a meticulous researcher Melissa Stewart brings a respected authenticity to everything she writes.  In this title her easy conversational style replete with captivating facts and the use of alliteration generates a desire in the reader to keep turning the pages . . . as quickly as possible.  As humans we find ourselves amazed by these animals' unique traits and seeing singular characteristics at the same time in us.  We identify with these underdogs.  Melissa also asks readers questions which welcome us as participants in this title.  Here is a passage.

In winter, a walrus's thick layer of fat can weigh more than 400 pounds.  Seals and sea lions fatten up too.  What a bunch of blubbery blobs!  Think these plump lumps should go on a diet? 


You can't help but smile when looking at the opened and matching dust jacket and book case for this title.  Surely humor resonates from the animals' body postures and facial expressions.  There is a funky smell in the air as depicted by the green swirls.

To the left, on the back, the same animals are shown in their same positions but from the back.  The little bat is there too.  What is different is the ISBN.  In a brilliant design moment two naked mole rats are carrying the bars to and from the barcode.  I love this! The opening and closing endpapers are colored in a dark teal to match the color of the title text.  Several of the same creatures are featured on the title page, much smaller and positioned differently.

Rendered in Adobe Photoshop these illustrations by Stephanie Laberis are realistic but also portray her own special brand of animation and humor. Many of the critters are displayed in their habitats but for emphasis they are sometimes taken out of that realm and put in our world. Stephanie does not gloss over the very true-to-life battle for survival.  The Etruscan pygmy shrew and Amau hiding from a bird and snake respectively are frightening situations for them.  When she represents the effect of the hoatzin and zorilla, I know readers will laugh out loud.

Her images spread across two pages, single pages, and may be grouped together as smaller insets.  One of my many favorite illustrations is the double-page picture of the walruses.  The background is a blend of blue-gray rounded clouds.  Snow rests on the icy landscape and on the walruses.  On the left one walrus nearly fills the page, looking directly at the reader.  His expression is priceless.  To his right, across the gutter and on the right side a group of walruses are huddled together on the edge of the ice.  Water is placed in the lower, right-hand corner.


There is much to appreciate and enjoy about Pipsqueaks, Slowpokes, and Stinkers: Celebrating Animal Underdogs written by Melissa Stewart with illustrations by Stephanie Laberis.  Readers will come to view the parallels between the lives of these creatures and the bullying seen in human situations.  At the close of the book two pages are dedicated to more information about the animals in this book along with thumbnails images.  Selected sources and important dedications by the author and illustrator appear on the final page.  I highly recommend this book for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Melissa Stewart and Stephanie Laberis and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites. Melissa also has a blog.  Both Melissa and Stephanie maintain accounts on Twitter.  Stephanie has an Instagram account.  At the publisher's website are a teacher's guide, a reader's theater and animals stats and a map.  At educator Alyson Beecher's blog, Kid Lit Frenzy, the cover was revealed.  Melissa wrote a guest post about expository literature at School Library Journal and new sources for teaching nonfiction at the Nerdy Book Club.  Melissa is interviewed at For the Love of KidLit.  The book trailer was premiered at Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read.

As part of the blog tour both Melissa Stewart and Stephanie Laberis are answering a few questions.  And here they are!

Thank you Melissa for graciously agreeing to answer a couple of questions about your latest title, Pipsqueaks, Slowpokes, and Stinkers: Celebrating Animal Underdogs.  I view all your writing with great respect and your dedication to science and nonfiction is wonderful for all of us.

After I read this book, in addition to the animals it features, I started to think how humans, children and students, could benefit from this way of viewing themselves.  Then I went to the back of the book and saw your dedication.

For any child who is being bullied right now---
what others see as a weakness may actually be your strength.

Don’t give up.

Was this the initial reason for writing this book?  Was there a specific incident which sparked the writing of this book?

Throughout the 2018-2019 school year, the Monday posts on my blog, Celebrate Science, will be entitled “Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep,” and each week, a different highly regarded nonfiction author will contribute. You can look forward to posts from Barb Rosenstock, Sarah Albee, Candace Fleming, and many, many more. Thirty-three in all. I was gobsmacked by the generosity of my colleagues and their enthusiasm for this project.

You see, writing nonfiction isn’t just cobbling together a bunch of facts. Every book we write contains a little piece of us. The topics we choose and the approaches we take, are strongly influenced by who we are as people—our personalities, our beliefs, our experiences in the world.

One of the experiences I endured as a child was bullying. From fourth grade to eighth grade it was a constant part of my life, and, in some ways, it shaped the person I am today. For example, it made me resilient enough to keep writing despite receiving about a zillion rejections from editors in the last 20 years. Okay, maybe not quite a zillion. But, trust me, it’s a big number.

Who knows . . . if I hadn’t been bullied, maybe I wouldn’t be writing today. I might have given up a long time ago.

When I decided to start researching animal superlatives (biggest, strongest, fastest) a few years ago, I found myself connecting with the anti-superlative animals (smallest, slowest, shyest, clumsiest,—even stinky-est). One morning, I woke up with the beginning of the book in my head, and I knew I was on to something.

Writing this book meant revisiting a painful part of my past, but it has already also allowed me to connect with educators who have previewed it in truly special ways. All my books are about
science ideas that I’m passionate about, but this book is also about offering hope to kids who really need it. 

Why did you focus on these eight special characteristics?  How did you choose the animals to represent these characteristics?

I’m so glad you asked this question, Margie, because it gives me a chance to geek out about nonfiction text structure—one of my favorite topics.

Like many of my books (and STEM-themed nonfiction picture books by other writers),
Pipsqueaks, Slowpokes, and Stinkers: Celebrating Animal Underdogs is a concept book with a compare and contrast text structure. There is a main idea—surprising adaptations (body features and/or behaviors) can help animals survive—and then lots of examples. Some people call this a list book, and fact-loving kids adore them.

It might seem like the order of the animals in the book is random, but it’s not. And one day, when I’m in the middle of a school visit program, a child who hardly ever seems engaged in school will shock teachers by suddenly raising his/her hand and excitedly pointing out the pattern to me—a pattern that most other people never notice.

That’s the child I write for because he or she is an analytical thinker, a budding scientist or engineer who needs all the encouragement I can possibly provide. Info-kids don’t connect to narratives the way many teachers think they should, but they love expository literature.

So what’s the pattern in Pipsqueaks, Slowpokes, and Stinkers? Actually, it’s multi-layered.

As you mentioned, there are eight characteristics featured in the book.

First layer: The number of pages devoted to each one alternates. Two spreads, one spread, two spreads, one spread, etc.

Second layer: The first four characteristics focus on adaptations that help animals stay safe, while the second four characteristics highlight adaptations for getting food or conserving energy, so less food is needed.

Here’s the chart I made to keep myself on track as I was revising.

In some ways, the structure grew out of the animal examples I had to choose from, but in other ways, the structure determined the animals I selected. There was a lot of back and forth to create a book that includes great examples AND has a great pattern. It’s important to have both because even if readers don’t recognize the pattern, they feel it. It affects the pacing and the page turns, so it’s critical to the experience of reading the book.

Thank you Melissa! 

I am so happy to have you here today Stephanie.  I thank you for taking time away from your work to chat with us.

Thank you so much! It’s a pleasure & an honor to speak with you!

When you plan for creating images for a title how does your process begin before you go to Adobe Photoshop?  Do you design a layout?  Do you complete sketches?  Do you do research first?

I always start with photo reference. No matter how stylized my work will be, I make sure that I have lots of photo reference to work from. You have to know the rules to be able to break them, as they say, and the better an understanding I have of an animal’s anatomy, the better decisions I can make about which forms to exaggerate for the sake of expression, while keeping these distortions believable. Sometimes I will read articles about a particular animal to better understand their habitat, what critters might coexist with them, or to learn some interesting habits they might have. It helps to create a more compelling illustration & to build off of the author’s text.

After I have my reference, I do very rough thumbnails, keeping things loose. This is how I figure out compositions & solve the bigger problems in layout. After that, I do a rough layout in Photoshop, using the page template of the book to figure out text layout & to make sure nothing important is lost in the gutter.

After the roughs are approved, I work directly from the rough file in Photoshop to bring the spread to full color. It makes my workflow much more smooth & fast to work this way.

If someone looks at the body of your work in children’s literature, it appears you enjoy illustrating animals more than any other subject? Why is this?  

It’s true, I love drawing animals! I think there a couple of reasons for this, the simplest one being that I don’t enjoy drawing humans as much as animals, haha! Beyond that, I was always into animals, even as a kid. I had a variety of pets growing up, such as dogs, gerbils, anoles, fish & rats, & I was always very interested in nature documentaries (and still am!) I even considered pursuing a career in biology or veterinary sciences at one point. I feel as though I have hit a good balance at this point with my artwork, in that I can still be immersed in the animal world, even focusing on more scientific elements, while being expressive & creative at the same time.

And if I can sneak in one more question . . . there is a good deal of humor in your illustrations for this book. Why?    

That’s a great question! I think mostly it’s because humor is FUN to illustrate! I LOVE pushing poses, facial expressions & actions as far as I can! Even when I do nonfiction works, I try my best to keep some elements of humor or push the expressions in my animals as much as I can, because really, animals in their most basic environment have these sorts of funny mannerisms. I think the fact that I am also an avid animation fan contributes to this - I loved The Lion King as a kid & really loved the balance of animals still running around on all fours, but having human-like mannerisms & expressions, including humor.

Thank you Stephanie!

Begin At The Beginning

For several weeks now whenever you walk into a grocery or home improvement store or a local nursery signs of spring are featured in displays.  Rows of packets of fruit, vegetable and flower seeds invite you with their pictures promising plentiful edibles and bouquets.  Bins full of bags of summer bulbs entice you with their colorful varieties.  If the ground and air were warmer, many would be digging in the dirt with abandon.

 Sometimes it's hard to comprehend how much bounty and beauty can come from something so small.  In A seed is the start (National Geographic, February 13, 2018) written by Melissa Stewart readers are given the inside story on seeds.  Your appreciation for them will grow as large as the results they produce.

A seed is the start of a new plant life.
Bury it in soil, and watch it grow,

     grow,

grow.

Step by step through words and a cross-section of earth we watch and understand how a planted corn seed splits, shoots a root down and a bit of green up.  That green in turn reaches for the sun until leaves unfurl soaking up the sun they seek.  From the sunlight this corn plant makes food to nourish itself.  

Plants travel to private spaces so they can grow strong.  If you've ever seen a milkweed pod open or a dandelion head shed, you know seeds have a way to fly.  Did you know a maple seed can glide the length of two American football fields?

If you look closely at the top of a poppy plant after the petals are gone the fruit sits alone.  Like a salt or pepper shaker seeds spill from its holes if breezes blow.  Have you ever wandered among the wetlands in the spring?  Marsh marigolds grow there announcing spring.  After the flowers finish blooming pods form and snap open.  Rains cause the seeds to splash into the surrounding water.

Page by page you read about seeds on the move.  They float, drift, pop, hop, creep, hook and cling.  Their specific characteristics designed according to their habitats help perpetuate their existence. If seeds can't get about through their own locomotion, they are known to hitch a ride inside or outside another living creature.  Seeds are a glorious circle of life; seed to plant, then to flower and fruit and then more seeds. 

Every time Melissa Stewart writes we readers are winners.  Her love of science and the natural world drives her curiosity and research.  When she learns she passes this on to us.  In this newest title she begins by explaining six words to readers; berry, burr, fruit, nut, seed and seedpod.  From this point her factual, fascinating story of seeds sprouts and grows.  By explaining a seed's need for space, she not only acquaints us with their methods of travel but we learn of plants throughout the world.  Some are familiar to us but others will cause us to exclaim out loud.  Here is an example of her writing style in this title.

Look at these Asian climbing gourds!

These fruits are the size of basketballs. They grow

on vines in the rain forests of Southeast Asia.

When a gourd cracks open,

hundreds of seeds take flight.  They

glide through the trees.  After a seed lands, its

wings slowly rot away.  Then a new vine sprouts.  

Realistic photographs by a variety of artists (named in the credits on the verso page) grace each page beginning with the matching dust jacket and book case.  Notice how the smaller photographs are placed in circles (like the circle of life).  This particular design is carried throughout the book.

On the page defining those initial six terms a small pictorial example is placed at the end of the phrase.  It will be interesting to see if readers can name all of them.  It also provides an impetus for further research. On many of the pages the circles provide a place for important text describing a particular image.

Shades of green and yellow with faint outlines of plants supply a textured canvas for pictures and text.  Rounded fonts in different sizes generate accents in contrast to more traditional fonts.  Font colors are yellow, white and black.  The larger words have green shadows outlining each letter.  This lettering with this particular color palette and the selected photographs create a stunning visual effect.  

One of my favorite of many photographs is for the discussion of Seeds splash.  On the background of green and yellow leaves, a large three-quarter circle extends from the lower left-hand corner of the page.  In it is a close-up of a cluster of marsh marigolds with a rushing stream blurred behind them.  To the right of this image is a smaller complete circle.  In it is a magnified group of seedpods opened and filled with tiny seeds.  (For someone who has enjoyed the beauty of marsh marigolds for decades, this is truly a gift to see.)

For a unit on seeds, spring, to celebrate Earth Day or to simply enjoy the wonder of our planet, A seed is the start written by Melissa Stewart is a book for all to enjoy.  It is certain to be popular with one-on-one sharing or with a group during story time.  I highly recommend this title for all professional and personal collections.  An index, selected sources and books and online resources for more information conclude this title. 

To learn more about Melissa Stewart, her body of work and this title, please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  Melissa has created blog posts on how to use this title with grades K, 1, 2 and 3.  She promises to continue with ideas for grades 4 and 5.  This is a link to a Pinterest board which helped to inspire this title.  At Penguin Random House you can view an interior image from this book.  Here is a National Geographic Kids Educator's Guide for this title.  All of Melissa Stewart's ideas are in this single publication.   

Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to enjoy the titles selected by others participating in this week's 2018 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge. 

5 Faves: Expository Nonfiction

With more than one hundred eighty science books to her credit author Melissa Stewart more than deserves her award-winning status.  She is known for her captivating writing style specifically geared to the intended audience but all ages can learn from her fascinating factual presentations.  Her research is meticulous and authentic.

Starting on this date, September 11, 2017, Melissa is hosting a series of blog posts based on expository nonfiction on her blog, Celebrate Science.  She spoke about expository nonfiction at length in a Nerdy Book Club post.  I am honored to be the first educator contributing to this series.

I think you will enjoy my five favorite selections.  They are centered on the animal kingdom.  The start of the school year has clearly demonstrated the demand for animal titles is as strong as ever at all age levels.  Happy reading to you and the readers in your life!

Up And Down...It Circles Around

Water levels in the Great Lakes have been on the rise in the last several years after severe lows ended.  A combination of circumstances leads to a prediction of fifteen trillion gallons of water being added to the Great Lakes by the summer of 2017.  Although water levels earlier this summer were close to breaking records (and did) and the levels remain high they are not expected to surpass records set more than thirty years ago for highest recorded monthly mean in the month of August.

What has prompted this research in Great Lakes water levels?  As a lifelong resident of Michigan I have seen the rise and fall of the water levels from one extreme to the other and quite frankly we have had so little rain the past six weeks the leaves on trees are turning yellow and dropping but a new title in the Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science 2 series heightened my curiosity.  Droughts (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, August 1, 2017) written by Melissa Stewart with illustrations by Andre Ceolin showcases and defines droughts.  They can and do happen anywhere on our planet.

When will it rain?  That was the question on everyone's mind.  It had been weeks and weeks since the last real storm.

When this occurs with so little rain (or lack of snowfall the previous winter) and the ground hardens it is a drought.  Droughts can last for weeks or even years.  The lack of water is hard on all life as the levels in lakes, rivers and streams drops.  While it makes sense for droughts to take place in dry climates, they can happen in wet climates like rain forests too.  When precipitation is less an area is in danger of drought.

Our water is constantly cycling from liquid to vapor and back to liquid again.  The oceans hold most of our planet's water.  If you want to know how precious the fresh water available is, try the jug and cup activity noted in the narrative.  It's shocking how little we really have.

A drought is not an overnight experience.  It is a slow but steady process.  The results are deadly.  With so little moisture the chance of wildfires and dust storms increases.  The food chain which includes humans suffers.

 The key to survival during a drought is to plan ahead.  In sites more prone to drought, people plant accordingly.  Scientists monitor from space, check our oceans, and rainfall levels.  Governments have plans in place in case of this kind of event, asking and requiring conservation of water.  The more we work together, the longer we will live together during the fluctuations in our water supply.


Although presented for younger readers when Melissa Stewart writes everyone learns.  She begins by teaching us about what defines a drought and where they can transpire.  And it's not just about rainfall but snowfall too!  Moving into the water cycle she then reinforces the importance of protecting the freshwater available.  This further stresses the value in knowing about, preparing for and surviving a drought.  With care Melissa explains about the consequences of a drought...for all animals and plants.

In addition to the main narrative Did You Know? sections provide more fascinating information.  Also two activities expand our thinking about the world's water supply and how we collect data.  This entire volume contains exactly what we need to understand expressed in conversational text.   Here is a sample passage.

Wind picks up the dry, loose soil and blows it 
through the air.  Sometimes a giant dust storm
forms, causing the sky to go dark.  Dirt and
pebbles pelt people's bodies.  The dust can bury
roads and clog car engines.


The image on the front of the dust jacket and book case instantly brings to mind the hot, dry days of summer but it also serves to remind people a drought can take place anywhere, even an area normally considered a wetland.  By including the human, her canine companion, the rabbit and squirrel it exemplifies that droughts affect everyone.  To the left, on the back, other titles in the series for levels one and two are showcased.

The opening and closing endpapers of crisp white, change to pages with a single, small illustration of rocks in water on a white background and then to two pages of parched, cracked land with dry leaves blowing across it.  Two pages are dedicated to a picture of three people looking over a dry desert landscape under a glaring sun for the title.  Artist Andre Ceolin used Adobe Photoshop to create these digital illustrations.  His use of light and shadow is excellent.

A flow is supplied between the double-page spreads, pages crossing the gutter to generate columns and single pages by including the same individuals and the dog in multiple pictures.  The children and adults shown come from many ethnic backgrounds.  The scientists shown are both men and women.

One of my favorite of many illustrations shows three children and their dog enjoying a day at the lake.  A dock extends into the water with a girl sitting on it.  A boy is doing a cannonball from the dock.  Another boy is already swimming in the lake.  The dog is happily floating in an inner tube.  This picture shows an area with the necessary amount of water as opposed to the opposite picture showing the same scene during a drought.


For those school and classroom libraries with titles in this series already you will want to add Droughts written by Melissa Stewart with illustrations by Andre Ceolin.  For those bookshelves, professional and personal, without any titles in this series, I can think of no better book to start your collection than this one.  It is important and timely.  At the close of the narrative Melissa Stewart has several additional activities to try, a glossary, a special website and five hints on how to save water.

To discover more about Melissa Stewart and Andre Ceolin and their other work, please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  Melissa Stewart has a blog in which she talks about this book here and here.  To view interior pages in this title please visit the publisher's website.  Here is a video about a dust storm which moved into Phoenix, Arizona.




To see the other titles selected by bloggers participating in the 2017 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge hosted by educator Alyson Beecher, visit Kid Lit Frenzy.