Author: Loree Burns

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Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest

MARINE LIFE OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
By Andy Lamb and Bernard P. Hanby
Photography by Bernard P. Hanby
Harbour Publishing, 2005

One of the truly special aspects of writing TRACKING TRASH was the people I met along the way, and one of the truly special people I met was Bernie Hanby, an underwater photographer from British Columbia.

One of Bernie’s photographs, a walleye Pollock, appears on page 31 of TRACKING TRASH. The same photograph appears in on page 364 of MARINE LIFE OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, an encyclopedia of marine invertebrates, seaweeds, and fishes. The book is a compilation of Bernie’s lifetime of underwater photography, and it is simply astonishing. I’ve spent weeks lingering over more than 1700 color images, nearly as many textual descriptions, and a single, inspirational dedication:

“This book, reflecting a shared curiosity, is dedicated to all who are interested in the magic and wonder of the marine world, with the hope that increased interest will result in its preservation.”

Thank you, Bernie, for sharing your images with the world and for sharing this incredible book with me.

 

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The Second Edition is Here!

The second edition of TRACKING TRASH arrived today. Check out the new back jacket …

It may be hard to read in this photo, but trust me, its pretty cool. There are several review blurbs and a “Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book for Nonfiction” designation. I like that.

The new edition also sports one re-worded sentence and no accidentally repeated lines. Nice.

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Hooray for Coca Cola!

I came across this today and had to share.

What does this have to do with children’s books? Nothing at all.

Why am I posting it on my reading blog? Because it makes me happy. And hopeful.

And because I haven’t been posting much. FALL is typically a low reading time in the Burns house as we each adapt to our new fall schedules. The process always takes a few weeks … and this year we have a giant beach cleanup and a little Streptococcus in the mix!

I hope you are all reading lots …

 

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Nine!

My boys are celebrating their NINTH birthday today. Nine! I can hardly believe it. Can you guess what I got them for their birthday?

CHARLIE BONE AND THE INVISIBLE BOY, by Jenny Nimmo

THE MONSTER’s RING, by Bruce Coville
(inscribed by the author “May the powers bright smile on all you do!”)

and

THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET, by Brian Selznick

DRAGON DRAWING BOOK, by Ralph Masiello
(inscribed by the author “Dream Big! Draw Big!”)

Happy Birthday boys!

(I can see, by the way, that the day is quickly coming when these two will know more than me about everything. Perhaps it is already here? They just showed me how to do some funky font magic with Microsoft Word. And then they nearly died laughing when I told them why I didn’t know how to do it myself: they didn’t teach kids about Microsoft Word when I was in third grade … because it hadn’t been invented yet!)

 

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Need a Report/Book Idea?

What’s up with this? By second grade, students of both sexes equate the word “scientist” exclusively with men?

And this: a friend’s fifth-grade daughter has to do a report on a scientist and the Famous Scientists List distributed by the teacher has only one woman on it?

(Huge frustrated sigh.)

Okay. I suppose if you have to choose just one person to represent the entirety of womankind’s contribution to scientific achievement, Marie Curie is a worthy choice. But … GOOD GLORY! … are there no other important female scientists to offer up to a classroom of boys and girls itching for people to emulate?

What about Lise Meitner, who explained nuclear fission? Or Rosalind Franklin, without whom we might never have deciphered the three-dimensional structure of DNA? Or Barbara McClintock, who won a Nobel Prize for her work in genetics? Or Maria Reiche, who dedicated her adult life to recording, protecting, and trying to decipher the giant ground drawings of the Peruvian desert? Or Sylvia Earle, the “best-known marine scientist on the planet”? Or Laurie Boyer, who is this very minute rocking the world of embryonic stem cell research?

There have been and continue to be so many interesting and important female scientists just waiting to be discovered. Writer friends—grown-ups and fifth-graders alike—take note: their stories need to be told. Get busy!

 

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COASTSWEEP Update

Okay, folks, here is a long-overdue COASTSWEEP update. (What’s that? You don’t know what COASTSWEEP is? Well, then, read this.)

My family and I are hosting a COASTSWEEP event in central Massachusetts on Sunday, October 21 from 10am to 2pm. We will be ridding the shores surrounding Indian Lake in Worcester, Massachusetts of all the debris we can get our grubby, little hands on. And we will be recording each and every item we collect so that the fine folks at The Ocean Conservancy can compile their annual International Coastal Cleanup Report. (You can see the 2006 report here.)

If you would like to participate in a Massachusetts cleanup, check out COASTSWEEP’s 2007 Cleanups page for information on events happening throughout the state this fall. And pay close attention to this letter to learn how you can win a signed copy of TRACKING TRASH or a visit from its, ahem, esteemed author …

 

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Triangle

TRIANGLE
By Katharine Weber
Picador/FSG, 2006

Category: Adult Fiction

Library books on the seven-day shelf are not for me. First of all, books on the seven-day shelf are usually novels for adults, and I just don’t read many these days. Second of all, seven is not a lot of days; seven is a lot of pressure. But my friend Jane, reader extraordinaire and director of my local library, handed me a copy of Katharine Weber’s TRIANGLE and told me to read it. When I tapped the Seven Day Sticker taped to its spine and raised my eyebrows, she said “We’re closed on Labor Day, which buys you an extra day. Read it.”

So, I did.

The opening chapter is a fictionalized first-hand account of the 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York, and it leaves little room for turning back. The long shadow of this tragedy and, incidentally, of the 9/11 attacks, shades the rest of the novel. The author’s ability to use the former to evoke the latter surprised me, and reminded me how permanently the events of September 11, 2001 are embedded in my psyche. Weber’s characters are vibrant and, in one case, completely unexpected. I’m glad I read TRIANGLE (Thanks, Jane!) … and pleased to report I returned it to the library on time. No pressure, no fines.

 

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One World, Many Religions

ONE WORLD, MANY RELIGIONS
By Mary Pope Osborne
Knopf, 1996

Category: Middle-grade Nonfiction

I suggested this book as our next read aloud and the boys were, well, skeptical. I am using skeptical here, of course, as a euphemism for “convinced I was a nutball”. They rolled their eyes, they humphed (they literally say the word “Humph!” with their arms crossed and their chins jutted; its adorable), they moaned and groaned. I waited patiently for them to finish; then I started the book.

The questions began on the Table of Contents page:
Them: “What is Judaism?”
Me: “It’s the title of the first chapter. And it’s the religion practiced by Jewish people.”
Them: “Really?”
Me: “Truly.”
Them: “Humph!”

And on page 1:
Them: “The story of Judaism begins in Iraq? Iraq? The country where the war is?”
Me: “Yes.”
Them: “Humph!”

And so on and so on for seventy-eight pages. The boys had questions about familiar religions and ones they have no experience with, they had questions about worship, about differences and about myths and sacred stories. It was great for me to check in with them on these topics. And, to be honest, I was sorely in need of a primer on the world’s major religions myself. ONE WORLD, MANY RELIGIONS is broad in scope, useful, informative, well-written, and well-researched. I recommend it highly … humphs and all.

 

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Labor Day Books

The Horn Book has posted this nice list of Labor Day books for young readers. And for a book on Labor Day (as opposed to about Labor Day) look for Bill Clinton’s GIVING: HOW EACH OF US CAN CHANGE THE WORLD. It will officially release on September 4.

Speaking of laboring … it is so good to be back to work!