Category: Blog

BEYOND JUPITER, The Story of Planetary Astronomer Heidi Hammel
By Fred Bortz
Franklin Watts/Joseph Henry Press, 2005

Encouraging girls to explore the natural world through science is something I get excited about. I was a girl once, after all, and I was a working scientist, too. And I now spend a good deal of my life writing about science and scientists with the hope of encouraging girls … and boys and women and men … to get interested in exploring our natural world. When I heard about the new Women’s Adventures in Science series from Franklin Watts, Joseph Henry Press and the National Academy of Sciences, I simply had to check it out.

Biographies about scientists and their work are fairly common, and these days biographies of women scientists are readily available. (The series I have written for, Houghton Mifflin’s Scientists in the Field includes many titles that feature women scientists.) What distinguished BEYOND JUPITER for me, however, was the way it delved into Heidi Hammel’s professional AND personal lives. As a reader, I learned about Heidi’s career and the path she has taken to it. And I learned a lot about astronomy; heck, I even found myself getting into astronomy as the author recounted the exciting days of the Great Comet Crash (the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet crashed into Jupiter in 1994 and Heidi led the team of scientists who observed the melee with the Hubble Space Telescope). But Heidi Hammel also allowed readers a look at the realities of her life: a father struggling with alcoholism, the challenge of failing college classes, the yearning for a life outside of her work, the difficulty of balancing a career in science with motherhood. These realities are often overlooked in this sort of biography. I think including them will do a tremendous service to girls and young women.

There are nine other titles in the Women’s Adventures in Science series. There is also this website to learn more about women and girls and science.

Finally, for the writers among us, The National Science Foundation and The Feminist Press are calling for book proposals with similar goals: interesting girls and women in science. If you write about science, you may want to check out this link.

GIDDY UP, COWGIRL
By Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Viking, 2006

Last week I went to a book signing at the local Barnes & Noble. This particular Barnes & Noble has kindly agreed to host a Release Party next March when TRACKING TRASH is published … so this signing would give me an opportunity to observe “my” venue during a live event. The fact that the author in question happened to be the fantastically talented Jarrett Krosoczka was, as they say, icing on the cake.

I tried to just observe and take notes and all that. But it was hard to avoid getting swept up in the moment. The children’s section was full of kids and babies and parents and grandparents all crackling with excitement. And then there were the stacks and stacks of Jarrett’s gorgeous picture books. (If you have never read BAGHEAD, you simply must!) And then there was Jarrett himself, reading his books and making the crowd laugh. My own event will be, well, a bit different. I, after all, will not have a two foot book about a slug to tickle the audience with. And a nonfiction book about scientists who study the ocean by tracking the trash in it is likely to attract a slightly different crowd than picture books about slugs and cowgirl wannabes.

I left with an autographed copy of GIDDY UP, COWGIRL, one of the two picture books Jarrett has had published this year. It’s the sweet story of a kid with all the makings of a great cowgirl … the outfit, the lingo and, of course, the helpful nature. But even cowgirls who try their hardest can run into a problem here and there. With his trademark drawing style and knack for capturing the both the silly and the poignant in childhood dramas, Krosoczka has produced another great picture book for the younger set. My nephew Aiden, aged two, will LOVE it.

I also left with some great marketing ideas. My favorite is this: invite family and friends to your author events … and use them! Jarrett’s mother, several cousins and an uncle were all at his signing, and Jarrett made sure to point them out at the appropriate time. Mom was introduced during the dedication page of MY BUDDY SLUG, because (obviously) it is dedicated to her. The cousins were pointed out during the dedication page in GIDDY UP, COWGIRL, because (you get the idea now) it is dedicated to them. And Jarrett’s uncle was introduced when his likeness (a very, very good likeness) appeared in the pages of GIDDY UP, COWGIRL. The kids and adults in the audience loved these moments; they personalized Jarrett and his stories and made the presentation that much more accessible. I will remember this trick. Friends and family beware!

One more thing … for a fine review of MY BUDDY SLUG, surf on over to the kidlit blog of librarian and children’s book e-reviewer Betsy Bird.

MYSTERY BOTTLE
By Kristen Balouch
Hyperion, 2006

At my local library the picture books are shelved in six chest-high bookshelves along the front edge of the children’s room. I love to walk through these stacks and look at the books standing open on top. The titles that end up in this coveted position are random … sometimes they are new books, sometimes they are old books. Oftentimes they are books I would never have found if they had not been placed on top of the stacks on the day of my visit. This week the book MYSTERY BOTTLE, written and illustrated by Kristen Balouch, caught my eye.

The cover of MYSTERY BOTTLE spoke to me. Breathy shades of green and blue and layers of story pulled me in … a boy and an old man together on a bicycle, a bottle corked with a map and filled with interesting people and places. And beneath all this fabulous art, another map, this one spattered with cities I have never seen: Mashhad, Roshkhvar, Bihud. I slipped the book into my library bag so that I could explore it at home. And what pleasant exploring it was! In eleven sentences–eleven sentences– Kristen Balouch paints a tale of separation and of the clever way one grandfather bridges it. This is the sort of picture book that inspires a writer to examine every narrative more closely, to consider every word more carefully, and to strive for more story, less words. Read this one for the pure pleasure of it.

STARS BENEATH YOUR BED, The Surprising Story of Dust
By April Pulley Sayre
Pictures by Ann Jonas
Greenwillow Books, 2005

I have a Ph.D. in biochemistry. (Why? Well, that’s a long story for another day.) Anyway, as a result of having these three letters at the end of my name, people assume I know a lot, particularly about science. But the sad fact is that while there are some small and obscure areas of science about which I know a great deal, there is far more that I don’t know. In fact, if I think about it all too much I realize I don’t know anything at all. Thank goodness for all the wonderful science books for children that I read. Otherwise I would be just plain clueless.

Take dust, for instance. All I knew about dust before yesterday was that it is fodder for the dust mites that my son is so allergic to. But then I read April Pulley Sayre’s STARS BENEATH YOUR BED and suddenly I have an appreciation for dust. Did everyone but me know that dust is responsible for colorful sunsets? And that dust nucleates raindrops? And that dust can stay in the air for hundreds and thousands of years? With April’s poetic language and Ann Jonas’ watercolor illustrations, STARS BENEATH YOUR BED introduces children to the wonders (yes, the wonders) of dust. Check it out.

Also, if you care about children’s literature and if you work in the industry (as a writer or an illustrator or a bookseller or a publisher or an editor or an educator or a librarian) you should visit the Children’s Media Professionals’ Forum, which April Sayre hosts on her website. CMP is a fantastic community of folks who care deeply about children’s books and other media. You should check it out, too.

THE FAMILY UNDER THE BRIDGE
By Natalie Savage Carlson
Pictures by Garth Williams
Harper & Row, 1958
Scholastic, 1986

I picked this book up at the library book sale a couple weeks ago. I had never heard of Natalie Savage Carlson or her book, but I have grown a little soft spot in my heart for France, where the book is set. And I am a fan of Garth Williams, the illustrator. And it was awarded a Newbery Honor medal in 1959. How could I not fork over fifty cents and take it home?

Clearly THE FAMILY UNDER THE BRIDGE is dated. And people who cringe at sticky, sweet children’s books will not like it at all. But as I am dated myself, and happen to have a high tolerance for historical sticky sweet, I adored it. Armand is a portly tramp living—happily—under a bridge beside the River Seine in Paris. He breathes delectable lunches outside Notre Dame and collects discarded foliage at the outdoor flower market, and pushes his baby-buggy full of belongings around the city. At night he returns to his “hidey-hole” under the bridge. It is not a life for everyone, but Armand is content. Until the day he finds a family of starlings (small children, actually—Armand calls them starlings) perched in his hidey-hole. Try as he might to ignore them, Armand is drawn in and the story that follows is delicious, vintage, children’s literature.

TRASH ACTION
By Ann Love and Jane Drake
Illustrated by Mark Thurman
Tundra Books, 2006

I recently saw the documentary “Dolphins” at an IMAX theatre. It was breathtaking. After the movie, however, I had a disturbing discussion with my friend Luther (I’ve changed his name). It went something like this:

Me: That was breathtaking!
Luther: Yes, except for the heavy-handed environmental message.
Me: Are you kidding?
Luther: No.
Me: Luther, are you telling me that the three minutes of that hour-long documentary in which the commentator discussed the effects of plastic pollution on marine life felt “heavy-handed” to you?
Luther: Yes.
Me: Are you kidding?
Luther: Nope. I’m sick of hearing how humans are the worst thing to ever happen to this planet. It just isn’t true.
Me: Are you kidding? (I’m not very articulate when I get my dander up.)

The discussion went on, but I will spare you the details. It will suffice to say that Luther and I will never, ever, ever be on the same page in the book of environmentalism. The topic has officially been added to the list of things he and I should not discuss together (religion and politics are also on this list). But I like Luther, and I couldn’t help wishing he had been exposed to a book like TRASH ACTION as a kid. Perhaps he would have enjoyed “Dolphins” more.

TRASH ACTION, written by Ann Love and Jane Drake, is intended for children four to eight. In straightforward prose, the authors introduce kids to the concept of an ecological footprint and the idea that their actions affect the planet. Interspersed throughout the book are cartoons and stories which help readers to get a broad picture of the trash issue. From recycling to composting to NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) to litter in space, the authors bring an important topic to a young audience in a way they can understand … and then challenge them to act on what they have learned.

Realistically, this is a book that will work best in a classroom or small group setting, I think. But there are so many opportunities for it to be useful. As a parent, it armed me with information and stories I could use to help my own kids to understand not only why these issues are important to me, but how they can help me to do something proactive. As the author of a children’s book with an underlying environmental message, the book is one I will recommend to all my youngest readers. And I will recommend it, of course, to my friend Luther. Perhaps it is not too late for him…

STONES IN WATER
By Donna Jo Napoli
Scholastic, 1997

I told my friend Jane, librarian extraordinaire, that I needed another boy book. You know, something meaty that I could sink my teeth into and that would also interest my sons. She came back with STONES IN WATER.

Wow.

This is a powerful book. It is set during World War II, and certainly would catch the attention of my two boys … although I think it is best for slightly older kids. Perhaps ten? Twelve? I won’t read it to my eight-year-olds quite yet. But I will read it to them someday. And I will read it to my daughter, too. And when I do I think all three of them will begin to understand that war is ugly and that people—real people, young people, little boy and little girl people—die in them. This is a hard thing for children to know.

STONES IN WATER is the story of Roberto, an Italian boy, who is cruelly swept into the heart of World War II. There are many, many heartbreaking moments in this book. But there are triumphant ones, too. Like the moment when Roberto, who has run away from a German work camp and is trying desperately to survive another day in the Russian wilderness as he makes his way home, comes across pet canaries in an abandoned village.

“Roberto picked up the heavy bag of birdseed under the cage. He opened the cage door and scattered seeds all around the bottom. He hooked the door so that it stayed open. Then he scattered seeds around the house, on every surface. He filled all the containers he could find with snow and left them in front of the windows where the sun might melt them. He and the boy went outside. “Good luck,” he called back into the room. Then he closed the front door to the house tight behind them.”

Wow.

Don’t miss this one. Just don’t.

BEARS ON WHEELS
By Stan and Jan Berenstain
Random House, 1969

Fire the cannons! Strike up the trumpets! Release the confetti!

A celebration is underway in the Burns household. My daughter, my baby, my how-did-it-happen-so-quickly big girl can read. That’s right, she can read. And her first book was the Berenstain classic BEARS ON WHEELS. (She bought it at the library book sale with her very own quarter.)

Reading is a big deal around here. We all do it and we do it in a very open way. We read out loud together, we read quietly together, we trade books, we have favorites, we have worsts, we delight in movies based on books, we refuse to see movies because the book was just too good. We debate books, we argue books, we share books, we shrug our shoulders and whisper whatever! when someone doesn’t like our book. (Okay, maybe I am the only one who does that.) All of this has made the littlest Burns feel left out sometimes. But those days are over now. She has joined us in the world of words.

Okay, technically speaking, she is pre-reading. There is a great deal of picture-scrutinizing before she begins. Her first choice—by far—is to guess what the words say. But when she has guessed herself into a corner she sighs, places that pudgy finger with the glitter pink nail polish under the first letter, and sounds out a word. Soon the words form a sentence, and the sentence paints a picture, and that picture matches the drawing on the page. (“One bear. One wheel.”) In that moment my little one realizes she can read … and we both nearly burst.

Hip, Hip, Hooray! What a day!

FEVER 1793
By Laurie Halse Anderson
Aladdin, 2002

Last week I was browsing at the library and saw Laurie Halse Anderson’s FEVER 1793 on the sixth grade Summer Reading shelves. Since I had just finished AN AMERICAN PLAGUE, a non-fiction account of the same event, I picked it up. How would this fictionalized account of the yellow fever epidemic compare to the non-fiction version I had recently praised here?

FEVER 1793 held up. It is a great read, and Anderson packs a tremendous amount of historical detail into her novel. Somehow she slips in the strange theories that people had about the cause of the epidemic, the flight of most high-ranking government officials, the bravery of the Free African Society, the takeover of a Bush Hill mansion in order to create a hospital for the sick and dying, and hundreds of other historical facts … and none of it slows the narrative.

I was utterly wrapped up in the story of Mattie Cook, Anderson’s young protagonist, who is trapped in fever-stricken Philadelphia. Mattie’s story personalized the plague in a way that was hard to shake. What would I have done if my mother came down with the plague and sent me away to the country? Would I go? Would I refuse to leave? And if I didn’t make it to the country, but returned home to find my mother missing, what would I do? Could I survive on my own? Could I find a way to help myself … and possibly some of the people suffering around me? These are the tough questions that Mattie has to face as she comes of age in the midst of a deadly plague. How can you not want to know what happens?

* * *

And that, my friends, concludes Mosquito Week here on my reading blog. Heaven only knows what I will come up with next.

Happy reading!

MOSQUITO BITE
By Alexandra Siy and Dennis Kunkel
Charlesbridge, 2005

Adults often dismiss children’s books, and I will never understand why. Children’s books rock! And I am not just saying this because I write children’s books. I truly believe that books written for children and young adults have a lot to offer adults. This is especially true in the non-fiction arena. Take for example mosquitoes. Why would anyone wanting to know just a little bit about these pesky creatures bother with a 250-page tome written for adults? Who really wants to know that much about mosquitoes? Okay, I am sure someone, somewhere needs all that information. But this week I just needed some basic mosquito biology to help me formulate a stance on the mosquito spraying going on in my state. And so I turned to the children’s section of my library. That is where I found MOSQUITO BITE, a well-informed and fascinating account of the life cycle of the common mosquito. It is written for middle-school aged children and it told me everything I wanted to know in 32-pages and in language I could understand.

MOSQUITO BITE opens with an inviting backyard scene: a group of kids playing hide-and-seek on a hot summer night. In black and white photographs we see a young girl seeking and a young boy hiding. A colorized inset photograph on the first page tells us straightaway that all is not as idyllic as it seems. Just as a blade of grass (when viewed at two hundred times its actual size with a scanning electron microscope, as it is in the inset) is not smooth, so a pleasant summer evening is not all fun and games. The old tractor tire the boy is hiding behind is filled with stagnant water, the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. And the boy, hot and sweaty and panting, is a perfect target for the female mosquito. As the hide-and-seek game unfolds, so does the mosquito drama. Through dazzling photomicrographs we see the female mosquito up close and in all her horrible completeness: massive eyes, hairy wings, bristly antennae and one nasty, knife-wielding proboscis. Pretty cool stuff. Scary, but cool. You should check it out.

Children’s books DO rock!

I have one more entry to complete Mosquito Week. Stay tuned …