For Love Of Books And Children

When walking among and working for decades in the realm of children's literature you come to respect the work of and have affection for the authors and illustrators. What they do is powerful.  Yesterday during a chat on social media I remarked that children's literature is going to save the world.  It is smarter, brighter and better than ever.  So are our children.  I believe this to be true.

It was not always this way.  There were no books being written specifically for children. Balderdash!: John Newbery and the Boisterous Birth of Children's Books (Chronicle Books, April 4, 2017) written by Michelle Markel with illustrations by Nancy Carpenter is an energetic exploration of a remarkable man.

WELCOME!
THIS BOOK'S FOR YOU.
Every page,
   every picture,
every word, and even its
   letters are designed for
your pleasure.

This lively, inviting introduction concludes with how fortunate readers are today and reminds them it was not like this in 1726.  There were indeed wonderful books for all kinds of readers but nothing was written for children.  They were made to read dry, didactic tomes riddled with rules.  At this time John Newbery was barely a teen.

When he was able John left the family farm to pursue working for a printer.  This young man who loved books was now making them.  He eventually moved to London to begin a business in publishing.  He wanted to be the man who put books in the hands of all readers, adults and children.

Working hard to gather the best material for a children's book, new and classic, filled with marvelous illustrations, and a letter to parents, John released his first title, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book.  He advertised it along with a toy.  What child could resist a book and a toy?  Apparently none of them could.  It was a huge success.

John's mind was on fire with publishing ideas for children; a magazine, titles for older readers and even a novel, The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes.  It was a winner on both sides of the pond.  There is even a history of mystery with this book and others John published for children.

His shop was a haven and a little bit of heaven for his young readers.  They knew he knew what they loved best.  To have established and named a children's literacy award given annually

"to the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children"

is an honor most suited to this man who devoted a significant portion of his life to books for children.


Once you've read the first four sentences, an introductory paragraph, written by Michelle Markel you have to keep turning pages.  Her word choices captivate and engage us;

got a kick out of,
he went big time,
smack dab in the heart of the book marketplace and
gobbled them up like plum cakes.

Her ability to entwine threads of historical truth into jaunty, joyful text is marvelous.  Her storyteller's heart is evident on every single page.  Here is a sample passage.

JOHN LIKED
CHILDREN.
Why shouldn't they have
delightful
books of their own?

John!  What were you thinking?
What about the parents?  Many mums and dads worried
that if their little nippers read fun books, they'd turn
wild as beasts! 


There is absolutely no way you can look at the matching, opened dust jacket and book case without smiling.  There stands John Newbery among all the children gathered in a London street, buildings in the background framing their cheer.  Opened and closed books appear in hands and thrown in the air.  The children's open mouths are probably giving him at least three Hip! Hip! Hooray! cheers.  What illustrator Nancy Carpenter has done is to give readers a true slice of life moment, presenting children from all walks of life.

The opening and closing endpapers are a swirl of teal, pink and golden yellow looking like paper perhaps used for covers of children's books during John Newbery's publishing career.  Rendered in pen and ink and digital media the illustrations are clever, animated and reminiscent of the time period.  The edges of each page mirror the pages of a very old book; a book inside a book.

Several times the corner of a page will be rolled back to provide us with an aside.  Picture sizes shift from two pages, to those which cross the gutter paired with a smaller image, single pages or a grouping of smaller pictures to depict the passage of time.  The fine lines, the color palette, layout and design replete with intricate details will have readers pausing in pleasure at every page turn.  Happiness and humor is evident everywhere.

One of my many favorite illustrations spans two pages.  John Newbery is sitting in the back of his bookshop on a bench covered with sheets of paper.  One of his arms is resting on his desk and the other is holding an open book.  He is definitely thinking of his next project.  The room is filled with books, papers, tools of his trade, and a printing press. A sleeping canine companion rests nearby on and under paper.  John's coat and hat hang below a clock next to a doorway. Through the door we can see customers in his shop.  A little girl is peeking around the doorway at John.


When you read nonfiction picture books, a biography, like Balderdash!: John Newbery and the Boisterous Birth of Children's Books written by Michelle Markel with illustrations by Nancy Carpenter, you feel a distinct connection to the past and its influence on our present.  When you hold this book in your hands you are holding pure delight.  Be sure to have a copy on your professional bookshelves and in your personal collection.  There is an author's note, a discussion about books mentioned in this book, suggested books for further reading, a selected bibliography and articles listed at the back of the book.

To learn more about author Michelle Markel and her other work, please follow the link embedded in her name to access her website.  At the publisher's website a teacher's guide is provided.  You will want to head over to Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read. to enjoy the conversation he had with Michelle Markel on the date of her cover reveal.  Several years ago Publishers Weekly supplied readers with a Q & A with Nancy Carpenter.


I am a day late for my post at Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher for the 2017 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge due to a prior commitment but be sure to see what the other participants listed this week by visiting Alyson's blog.

They Made The News

Living on or near water you know spring brings the inevitable sight of a string of ducklings following their mother.  Sometimes when slowly moving in a canoe, kayak or boat down a river or along a lakeshore, you might find yourself the recipient of a quacking escort.  It's a given traffic will be stopped on Main Street as a feathered family waddles across from one side to the other.

With as much care as a parent gives, guarding the newly hatched from predators and hazards in the wild, their instincts can't always prepare them for possible man-made dangers.  In the summer of 2000 five ducklings found themselves in serious trouble.  Author Eva Moore with pictures by Nancy Carpenter in Lucky Ducklings (Orchard Books) brings to readers a fictionalized retelling of this true story.


The Duck family
lived in a pretty pond in a
green, green park, in a sunlit
little town at the end of a
long, long island.

Pippin, Bippin, Tippin, Dippin and Little Joe with a Whack-a-whack!" are off for a walk with Mama Duck.  From their park home they make their way into town.  Once there they find some snacks on the ground from the overflowing trash can.

Satisfied Mama Duck is on the move once again.  She makes her way easily over the grate next to the curb.  Unbeknownst to her with a plop, splish-splash, times five her brood vanishes.

Within seconds the alarm has been sounded by a watching woman and the frantic quacks for help from the babies.  Mama Duck races back, chasing onlookers away.  Firemen try to pry up the grate with no success.

Remember though, this story is titled the Lucky Ducklings.  A man with a truck has a plan.  A climb, a bucket and one frustrated but happy Mama Duck add up to another walk, a walk with Pippin, Bippin, Tippin, Dippin and Little Joe all in a row.  Off they go.


With the right combination of words, gathered together in several sentences or spread across two or more pages as a single thought, Eva Moore has created a cadence of sorts for the narrative; almost like the leisurely walk of a mother with her baby ducks.  Repetition of descriptive words and key phrases provide a welcome invitation to join in the day's adventure.  Supplying an interpretation of the Whack! and Quack! of all the ducks as dialogue further engages her intended audience.  The finishing touch is the names of the ducklings, rhyming except for Little Joe, named after one of his rescuers in real life.


The charming, warmth of this true rescue story is immediately apparent when looking at the matching jacket and cover; the front leading into the trouble, the back closing with calming normalcy.  Using charcoal with digital media illustrator, Nancy Carpenter, chooses to begin telling the story prior to the first written words.  On the title page we see Mama Duck resting with her ducklings clustered around among the pond grasses.  The verso and dedication pages visualize the peaceful morning, slight ripples on the water as she wades into the pond, her wee ones beginning to follow.

For several of the illustrations Carpenter elects to use only hues of blues and greens with the charcoal drawings.  Even though the remaining illustrations are in full color, there is a soft naturalness to the color palette and a texture almost as if chalk was used.  Her depiction of the ducks is so realistic you would hardly be surprised to hear a quack.  Carpenter's shift in picture size, two page, single page or a series of columns coupled with the change in perspective, a view of the grate as if you are one of the trapped ducklings, adds to the overall feeling of pure satisfaction you get from reading this title.


Although years in the making Lucky Ducklings written by Eva Moore with pictures by Nancy Carpenter was well worth the wait.  Whether at bedtime, storytime or any time this is treat.  Get ready for  the sounds of "read it again".

Be sure to follow the link embedded in Eva Moore's name to an article in The East Hampton Star written about this book titled All Her Ducks in a Row.   Publishers Weekly did a Q & A with Nancy Carpenter about this title and her work which is linked to her name.  I will be adding this book to my 2014 Mock Caldecott list.

Peril At Sea

Over the years, living near lakes, seas or oceans, enjoying recreational boating or making a living in fishing or transportation, one tends to develop a healthy respect for the combination of these bodies of water and the weather.  When a storm strikes, whether you are an observer or unwilling participant, the wind and waves are a beautiful, powerful and sometimes...deadly force.  There is nothing more terrifying than being aboard a vessel at the mercy of elements beyond the control of those in charge.

A continuous fascination with students for titles about shipwrecks especially the Titanic never seems to diminish.  Running a close second to those books are titles focusing on daring rescues made during the height of Nature's fury.  Author Elisa Carbone has selected one such true event for her new historical fiction, Heroes of the Surf: A rescue story based on true events (Viking, May 2012) illustrated by Nancy Carpenter.

May 13, 1882
Our steamship, Pliny, left Brazil three weeks ago on April 22---I know because I wrote it in my pirate logbook.

So begins the story of the voyage fated for peril prior to completion.  Our narrator, young Anthony, goes on to state that Captain Mitchell has informed him the ship is close to 300 feet long weighing over 1,000 tons.  Manned by thirty-six crew she carries passengers, men, women and children, numbering twenty-five.

Anthony and his friend Pedro have occupied themselves during this trip pretending to be pirates.  This evening their play is interrupted as they are ordered below by the captain, skies darkening with storm clouds.  The two are spending the night together with Pedro's father in his cabin as the craft rides up and down the steep waves.

Sometime later cries of Breakers! Breakers ahead! awaken Anthony.  He and Pedro make their way to the deck to find the seaman working feverishly to keep the boat on course.  Suddenly with a loud noise and a earth-shaking shudder the ship is stuck on a shoal.

Lifeboats are shattered by the waves before anyone can climb aboard them.  The inky swirling sky is momentarily lighted with a signal for help.  Then in the light of the approaching dawn Anthony and Pedro see land and a cannon---pirates?

Within several heartbeats a resounding BOOM! fills the air.  A weight and rope fly overhead followed by a life preserver with attached shorts.  One by one the passengers are pulled shoreward across and over the stormy waters by the members of the United States Life-Saving Service. 


The details of research used by Elisa Carbone within the narrative create a sense of authenticity. Intensifying the events of this date is her use of dialog by the narrator and other members aboard the Pliny.  Word choices, nautical terms and phrases filled with action, make this a completely engrossing read from cover to cover; readers feeling as if they are shipboard themselves.  Here is an excerpt from the book.

From the forecastle deck a rocket shoots into the air, red with fire.
"The captain is signaling for help," says Pedro.  His teeth are 
chattering with cold and fear.
Then, over the pounding of the waves, over the howling of 
the wind, over the shouts of the sailors and the wailing of the
children, I hear it:  the silence.


The front and back (vignette of surfmen on shore pulling the survivors toward them) jacket and cover illustrations lure readers to the story with the promise of action.  As Carbone did with the text, Nancy Carpenter portrays the steamship, clothing of crew, passengers and rescuers exactly as it would have been in 1882.  She varies the size of her pictures, accommodating the text, extending them to the page edges.

Although her palette is full color, during the storm the darker shades of blues, grays, browns and blacks  take precedence.  The fine lines seen on the front jacket and cover, are used throughout the book (especially in the sea scenes) causing the reader to feel as if they are looking at old historical photographs.  At different points in the story the characters' facial expressions clearly capture the emotional mood of the moment.  One of my favorite two page spreads is a close-up of Anthony and Pedro on deck pointing toward the land believing real pirates are about to attack the floundering steamship.


Facts adeptly blended with fiction coupled with lively, realistic artwork based upon the wreck of the steamship Pliny in 1882 makes Heroes of the Surf by Elisa Carbone with illustrations by Nancy Carpenter a gripping story.  I venture to guess whether read one on one or with a group listeners, all will be collectively leaning in until the final page is turned, then releasing a sigh of relief.  In an afterword Carbone explains the facts versus the story in this title.  Please visit Elisa Carbone's official website by following the link embedded in her name.  I believe this would be a great title to pair with the lengthier book also based upon a true story, The Wreck of the Ethie by Hilary Hyland with pictures by Paul Bachem.