Author: Loree Burns

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Gift Books

This weekend I got talking to a friend of a friend. He used to work for the Environmental Protection Agency and I wrote a children’s book with an environmental underpinning … so we chatted about the environment, marine debris, plastic recycling, alternatives to single-use throwaway plastics … all sorts of things that made everyone else in the room roll their eyes and shake their heads. Toward the end of his visit, this nice, nice man surprised me.

Him: “Would you be interested in having a few of my better environmental books?”

Me: “!” (I was speechless as I tried to figure out how to answer. Did he want me to buy them? Should I? Could I? Did he want to give them to me?!!!)

Him: “I am downsizing my personal library. I’ve got quite a collection and I’d love to see them go to a good home.”

Me: “!”

Him: “?”

Me: “!”

Him, forgetting the impression our recent intelligent and passionate conversation may have left and wondering, I am sure, if I was a nitwit: “I’ll bring a box by later.”

And he did. He brought me a box of books that made me happy enough to get my husband and our friends rolling their eyes again. David Attenborough’s THE LIVING PLANET and LIFE ON EARTH, RUBBISH, by William Rathje and Cullen Murphy and TAKING OUT THE TRASH, by Jennifer Carless, THE POPULATION EXPLOSION, by Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich, LIVING DOWNSTREAM, by Sandra Steingraber, EARTH IN THE BALANCE, by Al Gore … and many more.

How to repay such an act of kindness? I’m not sure. But I decided an autographed copy of TRACKING TRASH was in order. I mean, the man has all that space on his bookshelf now …

 

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365 Penguins

365 PENGUINS
By Jean-Luc Fromental and Joelle Jolivet
Abrams, 2006

Category: Picture Book

This vibrant, oversized Boston Globe-Horn Book Award honoree caught the eye of my nearly-nine-year-old son the moment it came home from the library.

“Penguins!” he shouted, and he grabbed the book from my stack and headed for the couch.

Thirty minutes and four readings later he informed me that 365 PENGUINS should have won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award outright. Hands down. No questions. When I suggested he consider reading the other books in the category before deciding for sure, he told me that wouldn’t be necessary. “I already know this one is the best.” Ah, the blind passion of youth. The boy has written the following brief review … enjoy!

“The best part about 365 PENGUINS is the illustrations. The words are just telling a single story, but the pictures have about five stories. There are some jokes in the words but not as many as in the illustrations. I’ve also never seen such a design for penguins. The illustrations make you want to read 365 PENGUINS a ton of times.”

If you hadn’t guessed, this kid is an artist. 365 PENGUINS inspired pages and pages of penguins in his journal. Here’s a peek …

 

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Escape!

ESCAPE! The Story of the Great Houdini
By Sid Fleischman
Greenwillow, 2006

Category: Middle Grade Nonfiction, Biography

The events of a recent, rainy Monday, have inspired me to read and re-read these books … all honor books and winners of the 2007 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards for Excellence in Children’s Literature.
I started at the beginning, of course, by revisiting the books on the list that I have already read. Sara Pennypacker’s CLEMENTINE, for example. And Sid Fleischman’s ESCAPE!

Hold it. What is this? There is no entry in my blog archive for ESCAPE! How is that possible? It was one of my favorite nominees in the Middle Grade Nonfiction category of the 2006 Cybil Awards. I know I talked it up to my kids and my friends; I remember mentioning over and over again how struck I was with the role language played in creating atmosphere in the book. I complimented the author on pulling in a reluctant reader by attending so beautifully to story. How could I have neglected to talk about ESCPAE! here on my blog?

Hmmm. Let’s fix that.

First of all, let me reiterate that I was, in the case of ESCAPE!, a reluctant reader. I’m just not all that interested in magic … or in Harry Houdini. And yet I was drawn into this book. Houdini’s intrepid personality leaped from its pages and Fleischman’s language choices painted Harry Houdini—rapscallion that he was—so vividly that even I was entranced.

I had the great pleasure of meeting Sid Fleischman at a recent New England SCBWI Conference. He was a keynote speaker and charmed audiences with both words of wisdom and sleight of hand. He personalized my copy of ESCAPE! during the weekend, doodling a rabbit peeking out of a top hat and inscribing the title page:

“Cheers and Congratulations for Loree on the publication of her first book! ABRACADABRA! Sid Fleischman”

I can’t wait to meet him again at the award banquet …

 

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Tracking Trash in Wildlife Conservation Magazine

The folks at Wildlife Conservation Magazine printed a fine review of TRACKING TRASH in their July/August issue. I can’t find an online link, but trust me, it is right there on page 57*. It says, among other things:

“… her book will fascinate people of all ages and lead them to serious thoughts of ‘reducing, reusing, and recycling’ …”

* Remember the People mention? That was on page 57, too. Perhaps this is my new lucky number?

 

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Jane Goodall

The kids and I spent yesterday at Boston’s Museum of Science exploring The Remarkable World of Jane Goodall. We knuckle walked, sat in a chimpanzee nest, fished for termites, practiced our pant-hooting, and wandered through a facsimile of Gombe Streams National Park, stopping, of course, in Jane’s comfy tent along the way. I left even more in awe of this woman who is so passionate about chimpanzees and discovery and making the world a better place.

And so I am going to share a small list of my favorite Jane Goodall treasures. Explore and enjoy!

• Jane’s autobiography for young readers, MY LIFE WITH THE CHIMPANZEES, is a must-read;
• Jane’s autobiography for adult readers, THROUGH A WINDOW, is equally enjoyable;
• ROOTS AND SHOOTS, a program of The Jane Goodall Institute, empowers young people to make the world a better place;
• Jane’s Four Reasons for Hope, is an essay worth reading.

 

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Sleep Schmeep

There is a teeny, tiny flaw in Mom’s Crazy Summer Work Plan: if Mom doesn’t get herself to bed at a VERY decent hour, then she is a bit snookered during the day.

For the most part I can deal with snookered. I can still get up early (I am one of those people who loves early morning: quiet, lonely, and all mine), can still put up solid pages, can survive the summertime adventures of the day. It is only in the late afternoon, when we retreat indoors for lemonade and a chapter or two of Harry Potter, that my eyes begin to droop. Yesterday I fell asleep with Harry under his Invisibility Cloak and surrounded by Slytherins!

Ah, well. Sleep schmeep. I am two short weeks away from my deadline; I can’t stop now. And cat naps aren’t a bad thing, are they? I mean, all the cats I know seem healthy and rather content …

 

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Attention Massachusetts Kids!

COASTSWEEP, the annual coastal cleanup event in Massachusetts, is holding a Poster Contest … and you are invited to participate. Children in grades K-12 are eligible and the contest deadline is Wednesday, July 18. Prizes include T-shirts, passes to the New England Aquarium, and REI Outdoor School vouchers. One grand prize winning poster will even be included in COASTSWEEP 2007 promotional materials.

If you are a Massachusetts kid and you love the ocean and its wildlife, check out this contest.

If you live in Massachusetts but are too old to participate (like me!), check out the COASTSWEEP website to learn how you can protect our waterways and shorelines. Cleanup events are held throughout the fall and are a fabulous way for families and community groups to work together in honor of the planet.

If you live anywhere else in the world and want to know how YOU can get involved, visit The Ocean Conservancy to learn more about International Coastal Cleanup events being held across the country and around the world this fall.

 

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Gooney Bird Greene

GOONEY BIRD GREENE
By Lois Lowry
Illustrated by Middy Thomas
Houghton Mifflin, 200

Category: Elementary grade fiction

From my almost-six year old: “A kid named Gooney Bird Greene? Is it a boy or a girl kid? Will you read it to me, please, please, please?”

Turns out Gooney Bird Greene is a girl … and she tells spectacular stories. So spectacular, in fact, that everyone assumes she makes them up. For example, “How Gooney Bird Came from China on a Flying Carpet” sounds like a made-up story, doesn’t it? But Gooney Bird insists her stories are “all absolutely true.” Her second grade teacher, Mrs. Pidgeon, presses the issue, because, after all, she cannot have her second graders believing in trips from China on a flying carpet! But readers soon discover that the remarkable Gooney Bird did come from China on a flying carpet. And she did direct a symphony orchestra. And her beloved cat was actually consumed by a cow.

Gooney Bird is flashy and over-the-top, she is the most self-assured second grader I have ever met, and she has a way with people. It took me a few chapters to be sure, but I like Gooney Bird Greene. I like what she has to say about storytelling and patience and language. And assumptions. I especially like what Gooney Bird had to say about those.

My daughter has added the sequels, GOONEY BIRD AND THE ROOM MOTHER and GOONEY THE FABULOUS to our summer reading list. I’m game; I love good stories!

 

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The Pinballs

THE PINBALLS
By Betsy Byars
HarperCollins, 1977

Category: Middle grade fiction

Like Judy Blume’s BLUBBER, THE PINBALLS left an impression on my childhood. I have been certain for a good many years now (twenty-five? more?) that this book was Important. Somewhere along the way, however, I forgot why. Was it the characters? The plot? The message? I wasn’t sure. Yesterday I decided to remember.

Harvey.

Thomas J.

Carlie.

How could I have forgotten them? The awful car accident that landed Harvey in a wheelchair and a foster home; the well-meaning and ancient Aunts Benson who cared for Thomas J. as best they were able; tough-as-a-nut Carlie and her bad attitude. How could I have forgotten? When these three misfits end up in the same foster home, Carlie likens them to pinballs being flung hither and yon without any say in the matter. But they find a way to be a family. And they realize they are not careening, out-of-control objects after all. They are human beings who make decisions every day about their own lives … mostly how to face it.

“…as long as we are trying, Thomas J, we are not pinballs.”

Oh, Carlie. I’ve missed you.

 

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Misty of Chincoteague

MISTY OF CHINCOTEAGUE
By Marguerite Henry
Illustrated by Wesley Dennis
Aladdin, 1991 (original copyright 1947)

Category: Middle grade fiction (for horse lovers!)

I was a horse girl. I never had a horse of my own, or had much opportunity even to ride a horse, but every cell of my young body longed to sit bareback on a racer, knot my hands in its mane, and fly. Sigh. Everett wasn’t exactly horse country, and we weren’t exactly horse folk. Luckily, there were books.

I read and re-read NATIONAL VELVET, THE BLACK STALLION, and absolutely anything by Marguerite Henry. One of my all time favorite horse stories was Henry’s 1948 Newbery Honor book MISTY OF CHINCOTEAGUE. As this is turning into a summer for revisting childhood classics (Thank you, Bruce Coville), I have just finished re-acquainting myself with Paul, Maureen, the Phantom and Misty.

Paul and Maureen are brother and sister. They live on a pony farm where they help their grandfather break colts for buyers and dream of raising a horse of their own. Phantom is the most elusive horse in the wild Assateague Island herd … and Misty is her colt. When Paul is allowed to participate in Pony Penning Day, the annual roundup of wild horses from Assateague, he sets out to catch his dream. But will he? And if he does, will he be able to keep it? This is a beautifully-told adventure story and I will love it forever.

I can’t wait to read MISTY OF CHINCOTEAGUE to my own kids. (It is top of the post-Harry Potter craziness list.) In the meanwhile, I am planning our trip to Virginia. That’s right … I am taking the family to Assateague Island to see the wild horses of my childhood dreams. I can hardly sit still with the thought.