Soaring, Seeking And Seeing

Over the past few days a brisk, gusty wind has kept the bugs at bay and the temperatures more moderate.  If you look to the sky you are more than likely to be rewarded with the sight of a red-tailed hawk riding the aerial highway.  Even though science tells how they can soar, glide or fly, to watch them do this feels like we are privy to a miracle.

As other animals have done and fortunately for us, these beautiful birds of prey have adapted to living near and among humans.  Hawk Rising (Roaring Brook Press, June 5, 2018) written by Maria Gianferrari (Coyote Moon Roaring Brook Press, July 19, 2016) with illustrations by Brian Floca (Locomotive A Richard Jackson Book, Atheneum Book for Young Readers, September 3, 2013) is a majestic tribute in words and pictures to survival.  From the perspective of the bird and observant humans, we spend a day soaring, seeking and seeing.

Father Hawk stretches wide his wings.

He is not the only one stretching.  In a home nearby a girl and her younger sister awaken.  The oldest looks high for the hawk.  He sits high on a pole, hoping to catch some food for the chicks in the nest protected by Mother Hawk.  Rosy rays of sun paint the morning sky.

As the child leaves her home, carrying binoculars, Father Hawk notices the quick movements of a chipmunk.  He speedily leaves his perch, intent on capturing the meal.  The crafty chipmunk scurries under a nearby porch.  Up the red-tailed hawk climbs into the sky.

The girl watches the hawk.  The hawk watches from lofty heights.  A group of crows gather and chase him from their area.  He finds sanctuary in the tree tops and spots sparrows on the ground.  He plunges toward them but they scatter to safety.

The girl and her sister are still watching and waiting. The hawk does not deter from his task. With instinctive patience and sense of responsibility, he too watches and waits as the sun lowers in the sky. A squirrel dashes toward security but Father Hawk has a family to feed.  Night descends on two families until tomorrow.

By moving the narrative between Father Hawk and the girl, Maria Gianferrari allows us to be a part of both worlds. She shows us how to observe the splendor living among us.  She masterfully describes the movements of the hunter.

Short sentences with repetition align the two worlds, bird and human.  Alliteration and rhyming supply a welcoming cadence.  Word choices bring the time of day like a blanket to wrap around us.  We are there with Father Hawk.  We are there with the girl and her sister.  Here is one of the passages.

Father Hawk lands on a light-pole.

Dandelions ripple.

Oaks tremble.

Father Hawk perches

and searches.

Sun sinking.

Daylight blinking.

Chicks waiting.

You fading.

When you open the cover of an F & G (or look at the front image) and momentarily stop breathing, you know when you hold the finished book, it will be stunning. The red-tailed hawk, wings spread and ready to take flight will assuredly have readers wondering if Father Hawk will come to life.  The details in this scene, the fine lines, brush strokes and color palette, are found in each and every illustration rendered by Brian Floca.  The authenticity is fabulous!

To the left, on the back, we zoom in to see the hawk perched on top of a pole, ready to dive.  The lighting is paler, suggesting the sun is higher in the sky.  On the title page a small, loosely framed picture of the girl's house and the nearby nest depicts the breaking day.  With a page turn the publication information on the left and the first sentence on the right are set in a spectacular two-page picture of both hawk parents in the nest with the chicks.  They fill the entire visual.

Brian alters his image sizes to enhance the pacing, small pictures with uneven shapes, single page pictures and breathtaking two-page visuals.  He takes us close to the action (You don't know whether to cheer for the hawk or his prey.) and then gives us a panoramic outlook.  When you look at those landscape vistas, you can't help but feel as though you are flying side by side with Father Hawk.

One of my many favorite illustrations spans two pages.  Father Hawk has just missed getting the chipmunk.  He takes flight, rising higher and higher.  Brian has pictured him turning so we see the underside of his body, legs tucked back by his red tail.  Beneath him are neighborhood homes and the street.  On the right the girl stands in her backyard watching the hawk.  Her sister stands on the porch.  The hawk in the foreground takes up half of each page on either side of the gutter.  The homes are much smaller to his left and right.  

Today (Sunday) as I worked in the yard and even later as the sun was setting, I kept looking to the sky hoping to see the elegance described so eloquently in Hawk Rising written by Maria Gianferrari with illustrations by Brian Floca.  The more we and our children look to those animals sharing this planet with us, the more our lives are enriched.  I highly recommend the placement of this title in your personal and professional collections.  

To learn more about Maria Gianferrari and Brian Floca and their other work, please visit their respective websites by following the links attached to their names.  Both Maria and Brian have Facebook accounts.  They (Maria and Brian) also have Instagram accounts.  Brian Floca does have a blog and can be found on Twitter.  Two other places where Hawk Rising is being celebrated are Miss Marple's Musings and PictureBookBuilders.  Maria Gianferrari is interviewed at both spots.  At As The Eraser Burns Maria chats about her craft and all kinds of other things in a Q & A.  Maria is showcased at Reading for Research featuring ReFoReMo.  To view interior images please visit the publisher's website. 

THERE'S A GIVEAWAY!

  

UPDATE:  Author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson features Brian and his art on Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

As Twilight Falls

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

...She slinks, silent as a shadow.


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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

Thanks, Margie J!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do you have a favorite spot for reading?

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

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

Maybe this?

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

Thanks for having me on your blog, Margie J!  

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

Other stops on the tour are:

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

MON 7/18:                 Nonfiction Detectives 

TUES 7/19:                Debtastic Reads

WED 7/20:                 Kid Lit Frenzy

THURS 7/21:               Librarian’s Quest

FRI 7/22:                   Kidlit411

MON 7/25:                 The Reading Zone

TUES 7/26:                Bartography

WED 7/27:                 Unleashing Readers

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

Finding Balance

"What is that sound?" I thought aloud as I walked Xena late one night this month.  We stopped so I could listen more closely.  In a matter of seconds I realized the fast clip clop noise was two deer running down the middle of the road in our subdivision.  Earlier this month within forty-eight hours of replacing the ivy in a hanging basket near my front door, robins had built a nest in its center.  Today I saw Mama Robin bringing in a bit of worm to outstretched baby beaks.

With diminishing wild places, those creatures whose living spaces have disappeared, are moving into areas populated by their human partners on this planet.  Increasingly what we would once see out in areas without our footprints are appearing in our backyards, in our town and city centers.  Wild Animal Neighbors: Sharing Our Urban World (Twenty-First Century Books, a division of Lerner Publishing Group Inc., August 1, 2013) by Ann Downer examines and explains eight separate such meetings from places around the world.

I live in Somerville, Massachusetts, across the river from Boston.  In this city of seventy-five thousand people, the houses are packed tightly together---but not too tight for wildlife. 

In this introductory chapter author Ann Downer goes on to list all the critters that have walked near her home with the exception of bears.  On May 26, 2012 a youthful black bear was seen two hours away in Provincetown.  Over the course of several weeks his presence provides points to ponder about our ability to live in harmony with animals.  Included with her discussion of black bears in general are two pages on the type of features found in a city habitat focusing on their effect on animals.

Most readers will be able to identify with the chapter discussing close encounters with those masked bandits know as raccoons.  Their abilities to assimilate into human culture go back hundreds of years.  Astounding intelligence on their part and our desire to outsmart them may be working to their benefit; super raccoons?

The sad fate of a mountain lion in Santa Monica brings to readers' attention the problem faced by them in finding food within existing territories.  Highways are creating habitat fragmentation.  Several pages are devoted to the interesting discussion of wildlife corridor technicians.  For many readers this field will be new to them. (It was new to me.  I was thrilled to learn of their work.)

In Tokyo, Japan an invasion of clever jungle crows is causing power outages.  Over the course of twelve years beginning in 2000 nearly four hundred coyotes were trapped and collared in Chicago, Illinois.  Flying foxes numbering in the tens of thousands, a type of bat with a three-foot wingspan, are destroying one-of-a-kind trees in botanical gardens in Sydney, Australia. Lights brighter than the moon are creating dangerous conditions for turtles in Sarasota, Florida.

You have to admit it's not every day you find a six and a half-foot alligator in your garage.  Weather, heavy rains, and shrinking habitat had created the perfect conditions in 2012 for this unforeseen visitor to pay a call in a Texas community.  The need for humans to be educated about existing with their reptilian neighbors has never been more important.


Informative, engaging text makes the reading of this sixty-four page book a true pleasure.  Painstaking research is apparent in every paragraph.  You can also feel the passion Ann Downer has for her subject as evidenced by the narrative in each chapter, particularly her epilogue.

Built in the discussion of each animal incident, black bear, raccoon, mountain lion, jungle crow, coyote, gray-headed flying fox, loggerhead sea turtle and alligator, are black fact panels including their scientific name, other common names, their relatives, size, native habitat and their endangered status.  Other relevant information is covered in turquoise panels covering additional incidents, popularity of certain animals after the release of a book, intelligent adaptability, folklore, conservationist groups versus the general population, light pollution and signage.   Here is a single paragraph from the beginning of the chapter titled, The Crow in the Crosswalk.

Tokyo is home to tens of thousands of urban crows.  The relationship between the city's human residents and its crows is anything but peaceful.  In 2001 one of the large, black birds dive-bombed a golfer on one of the city's many golf courses.  That golfer just happened to be Shintaro Ishihara, Tokyo's governor (like a mayor in North America).  Not amused, Ishihara famously vowed to make "crow meat pie" into Japan's national dish.


No turn of page is without a photograph.  Size and placement vary according to the layout and design, which is outstanding.  Footprints relative to the animals discussed on a group of pages track from one section to the other.

A table of contents, source notes, a selected bibliography, further print and web resources and an index are included.


Wild Animal Neighbors:  Sharing Our Urban World by Ann Downer is an extremely timely and important book.  As she notes, the loss of a single member in the chain we call life, lessens our existence too.  Her final sentence is a question we all need to consider.

Will we use all our intelligence and resourcefulness to shape an urban world where both people and other living things can survive?

Please follow the link embedded in Ann Downer's name above to access her website.  By following this link to the publisher's website you can use additional resources.  These include items such as Citycritter Kits, Encyclopedia of Life activities and WAN tour instructions for educators.


Without the 2014 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge hosted by Alyson Beecher at Kid Lit Frenzy, I wonder how long it would have been before I read this book.  I am so thankful it has become a part of my reading life.  It should be in every school and classroom library and personal libraries at home.