Another installment in Colleen Mondor’s “What A Girl Wants” series is posted over at Chasing Ray. This time we are discussing socioeconomics in teen literature. Check it out.
Working, and Worrying About Beastlets
Still here. Still writing the citizen science book. Still not so good at blogging about the writing process while I am wrestling mano-a-mano (mano-a-keyboard-o?) with it. I did take some time off over the weekend, though, and there were adventures …
On Saturday, my husband and I turned this:
(Otherwise known as our newly dug 900 square foot garden plot
planted with a cover crop of buckwheat.)
Into this:
(Otherwise known as our newly dug, enriched 900 square foot
garden plot now ready for a late-season planting of oats.)
We had planned to rent a tiller, but our experience with that particular garden machine has not been good. And so we turned the garden by hand. It was a surprisingly pleasant way to spend an afternoon … heart-pumping work, kids nearby (but not near enough that we could stick a spade in their hands), lazy chit-chat, lots of water breaks in the shade.
Things took a turn toward scary, though, about halfway through the plot. I slid my spade into the soil for the millionth time and a GIANT FURRY BEAST shot out of the tangle of buckwheat stems at my feet. It charged me! I was not terribly level-headed about this … at least not until I figured out that the GIANT FURRY BEAST was an Eastern Cottontail Rabbit. A baby Eastern Cottontail Rabbit:
(Otherwise known as the cutest furry beastlet on the planet.)
Sadly, the mother rabbit has not returned to the garden. We’ve moved the babies into an open cardboard box, retrofitted with their previous fur-lined burrow/nest, and left them in the garden, hoping for the best. We’ve had the “they are wild animals and not pets” talk, and the “survival of the fittest/Darwinian evolution” talk, and—when we found one of the rabbit babies dead on Sunday morning—the “circle of life” talk. Still, the kids and I are rooting hard for the three remaining beastlets:
(Can you blame us?)
A Bookish Weekend
I kicked things off on Friday at Wellesley Booksmith, where I watched Kristy Dempsey and Christopher Denise entertain a gaggle of preschoolers with stories and art. These two are a pair beyond compare (so to speak), and it was fun to see them interact with their readers. You should totally check out their new picture book:
ME WITH YOU
by Kristy Dempsey
Illustrated by Christopher Denise
Philomel, 2009
On Saturday I was supposed to hold my raffle drawing. But I forgot! When I finally remembered, my husband drew the name cloudscome from my bowl of entries. Please get in touch with me via email (lgb (at) loreeburns (dot) com, cloudscome, because you have won a brandy-new copy of this delightfulness:
THE BIRDS OF CENTRAL PARK
by Carl Vornberger
Harry Abrams, 2005
And on Sunday, my boys turned eleven. ELEVEN! Among their birthday gifts were books from Mom. For Sam, older by one minute and puzzler extraordinaire:
WHEN YOU REACH ME
by Rebecca Stead
Wendy Lamb, 2009
And for Ben, younger BUT BIGGER (as he explained over and again yesterday), and my military guy:
OPERATION YES
by Sara Lewis Holmes
Scholastic, 2009
In the books department, it was a lovely weekend!
Cricket Crawl
Katydid
© Loree Griffin Burns
One more Friday thing…
If you live near New York City and you like the idea of listening to animal calls in the dark, then you should know about this weekend’s Cricket Crawl. Hearty citizen scientists are taking to the leafy jungles of the Big Apple in search of crickets and katydids … and they will be finding them by listening to and recognizing their various sounds.
(I am not making this up!)
It is a very good thing that I do not live near New York City, because I could totally get into this sort of thing. And then my book would never get written.
Listen Up
American Toad
© Loree Griffin Burns
So, this week I’ve been writing about frogs. And toads. And their crazy mating calls. I have a CD called FROG CALLS OF RHODE ISLAND, and have been playing it on an endless loop, trying to describe the calls in words. It would be maddening if it weren’t so fun. My favorite call by far belongs to the American Toad; it’s the easiest to imitate, and doing so totally impresses the neighborhood kids.
(Wanna try it? Come on, you know you do. Okay, press your lips together. Now blow air through them so that you make your lips flapperate (a new word) … sort of like making a raspberry, but without using your tongue. Great. Now flapperate while screaming. I kid you not. Just try it. If it were mating season there would be an American Toad stampede outside your window right now.)
Anyway, I’ve been working hard. Chapters have been written. Frog call quizzes have been aced. I deserve a break. And, so, I am heading off to Storytime at Wellesley Booksmith, where Kristy Dempsey and Christopher Denise will be celebrating their new picture book, ME WITH YOU, later today. I promise to take pictures. And I promise not to do an American Toad imitation while I am there.
Hey! Don’t forget to enter my little raffle: chances are VERY good that you will win a copy of the fabulous BIRDS OF CENTRAL PARK, by Carl Vornberger Seriously. Good. Odds.
The Birds of Central Park (With a Twist)
THE BIRDS OF CENTRAL PARK
By Carl Vornberger
Harry Abrams, 2005
Category: Non-fiction for young adults and grown-ups
Did you know this second week of September has been proclaimed Random Acts of Publicity Week? I didn’t either, until I read this random act of TRACKING TRASH loveliness by Sara Lewis Holmes. Sara is a sweetheart, and she has inspired me to share a little book love, too.
My choice: THE BIRDS OF CENTRAL PARK.
I first found this book on the shelf of a serious birder I interviewed last winter. Having birded in Central Park myself, I was intrigued. Being an enthusiastic (although decidedly amateur) photographer, I was downright excited. Last week, as I worked through the birding chapter of my citizen science book, I finally got my hands on a copy. To say I adored it would be putting it mildly.
Firstly, the pictures are stunning. I wholeheartedly recommend the book for the images alone. As it turns out, though, fine images are not all you’ll find in THE BIRDS OF CENTRAL PARK. There’s encouragement, in the form of visual proof that a truly diverse array of avian wildlife perches in the heart of New York City. There’s birding insight AND photographic insight as well; nothing overwhelming to beginners, mind you, just a goodly amount of useful information for both birders and photographers.
Any budding wildlife photographer, budding birder, city dweller with the heart of a naturalist, or animal lover would enjoy this book. After drooling over a library copy, I bought one for myself. And guess what? I also bought one for YOU.
Yep.
You.
I’m going to raffle a copy of THE BIRDS OF CENTRAL PARK here on my blog. Leave a comment below and I will enter you in the drawing. In true Random Acts of Publicity Week spirit, you are encouraged to spread the word about this book and the drawing; if you do, let me know and I will enter your name in the drawing a second time. Raffle entry comments will be accepted until Friday at midnight.
Happy Wednesday!
On Monarchs
Yesterday, in need of a little pull-the-chapter-together inspiration, I re-read Fred Urquhart’s 1976 National Geographic article, Found at Last: the Monarch’s Winter Home. It’s an important piece of the history of Monarch butterfly research, and I’ve read it several times. It’s funny, though, how old research shines anew when you mix in a few new experiences…
For example, having recently done a lot of reading about Monarchs (and even written a manuscript about the Monarch life cycle), I was struck by the well-circulated Monarch factoids that date back to this article. Like this bit on the growth of a Monarch caterpillar, which has appeared in so many articles and books since:
“Within two weeks the larva will have multiplied its original weight by 2700. A six pound baby that grew at the same rate would weigh eight tons!”
I’ve also seen the Monarch’s winter home since I last read this article. And so I was struck more deeply with Urquhart’s description of butterflies that “filled the air with their sun-shot wings, shimmering against the blue mountain sky and drifting across our vision in blizzard flakes of orange and black.”
Oh, yes. I remember that.
When I was done with the article, I chipped away at my chapter. But then I shut down the computer, grabbed my boys, my butterfly net, and my MonarchWatch tags … and set out for the nearest meadow. In honor of Fred Urquhart and Monarch biologists everywhere, and in celebration of the chapter that shall soon be complete (maybe by the end of the morning?), we captured, tagged, and successfully released one fresh male Monarch:
© Benjamin Griffin Burns
Five Things on Friday
1. The Korean edition of TRACKING TRASH has recently been published. How cool is that?!
2. The full jacket of THE HIVE DETECTIVES is finalized, and it is BEE-autiful!
3. Thanks to an insightful comment by a dear writer friend, I rethought my entire citizen science book this week. These thoughts were very scary.
4. I’ve managed to put a good deal of these scary thoughts on paper, and I kinda like them. Kinda sorta very much, actually. Sometimes “scary” just means “new and different”, and sometimes new and different is good.
5. I’ve given myself a big writing goal for the next three days. But I’ve also put aside time for birding and digging new garden beds (An asparagus bed! Finally!) and tagging butterflies and watching my kids play soccer, and celebrating the end of summer with family I don’t see enough. I’m looking forward to all of it.
Happy Labor Day weekend, one and all!
The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z
THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z.
By Kate Messner
Walker, 2009
Category: Middle Grade Fiction
When my kids are grown, I think one of the things they will remember most about childhood is curling up together on the couch to read. One of the things I will remember most is reading them books written by my friend Kate.
When we four finished reading Kate’s first novel, SPITFIRE, my kids asked, “A girl wrote this?”
Three years later, when we finished reading Kate’s third novel, THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z, they asked, “The same girl wrote this?
Yes, Kate Messner does it all: action-packed historical fiction, emotionally charged contemporary fiction, evocative picture books (trust me on this … they are coming soon!). THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z gave my kids a great sense of the breadth of ground a single writer can cover … and more proof that girl writers rock. All that, and a great read, too. Thank you, Kate, and happy book release day to you!
Here’s some flap copy enticement:
Gianna Zales is a star runner with one more hurdle to jump before she goes to cross-country sectionals – a monster leaf collection project. To get it done, she’ll have to survive a rival who desperately wants to take her place at sectionals, a grandmother who leaves her false teeth in the refrigerator, and a best friend whose feelings about her are changing like the leaves. Gianna Z needs a stroke of brilliance to make it work!
And here’s a link to a fantabulous review over at Kelly Fineman’s Writing and Ruminating blog.
Need more? Visit Kate’s website, or her recent blog post, for information on THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z and upcoming signing events. Oh, and don’t miss this book trailer; it is star-studded and super-fun:
Saving the Ghost of the Mountain
SAVING THE GHOST OF THE MOUNTAIN
By Sy Montgomery
Photographs by Nic Bishop
Houghton Mifflin, 2009
Category: Middle-grade Nonfiction
My kids like to joke that I could never write the sorts of books Sy Montgomery writes … and they may be right. SNAKE SCIENTIST? Um, no thanks. TARANTULA SCIENTIST? I don’t exactly love hairy spiders. QUEST FOR THE TREE KANGAROO? I thought so for a moment or two, but then I noticed a blood-sucking cloud forest leech attached to a human arm, quite possibly the author’s human arm, in the first chapter. I’m out.
I’m a different sort of adventurer, I guess.
But, oh how I love to imagine Sy and her intrepid partner-in-images, Nic Bishop, as they trek around the planet having crazy exciting and somewhat dangerous adventures, bringing back stories of science and conservation. In SAVING THE GHOST OF THE MOUNTAIN, author and photographer traveled to Mongolia to help track the elusive snow leopard. They climbed up, hiked over, and slid down mountains, searching all the while for leopards and, failing that, leopard scat. The book is irresistible and satisfying, despite the unpredictable nature of those ghostlike cats.
I admire Sy’s moxie, but I also admire her sensibilities, as evidenced in these lines, my favorites in the entire book:
Protecting an animal is like loving someone. It’s not something you do and then finish. It’s a long-term promise, honored over and over, one step at a time.”
Amen to that.
For those who don’t know, Mondays are reserved for celebrating children’s nonfiction in the online kidlit world. You can read more about this celebration here on Anastasia Suen’s Picture Book of the Day blog, and you can find a roundup of today’s Nonfiction Monday posts here at the SimplyScience Blog.