Lost in nonfiction…and loving it

There are some who never venture past the alphabetized-by-author’s-last-name fiction section of our library. These people never ascend the stairs, say hello to the research librarian, or wander the stacks with their lengthy strings of numbers.

181.45 .F423sha c.2
The Shambhala guide to yoga

CRAFTS 746.432 .D794 eth 2007
Ethnic knitting discovery : the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and the Andes

741 Knight
Animal drawing : anatomy and action for artists

306.81 .G464 com 2010
Committed : a skeptic makes peace with marriage

641.65655 .M182 this
This can’t be tofu! : 75 recipes to cook something you never thought you would–and love every bite

I try not to go into the nonfiction section with any specific agenda but on my most recent nonfiction adventure, I was looking for the tofu cookbook above. (Is there any way to get my children to eat tofu? Answer from cookbook: hide it in a smoothie.) Once that book was pulled off the shelf and safely in my pile, I start to explore.

I like to run my finger along a row of books with eyes closed then stop, and take a look at what I’ve found. Usually one book leads my brain to make another connection, another subject that once flitted across my brain as I drove children from school to activity to home. Sometimes the topic took root while I listened to a story on NPR, or it was mentioned by a kiddo in a carpool, or suggested by an image I’ve seen. Sometimes it plants a seed for a story I’d like to tell. Sometimes it’s just a random web of one thing leading to another until I find myself sitting on the floor, back against the shelves, reading a chapter of some topic I never knew existed. The best part about being lost in nonfiction is that curiosity and lifetime learning is part of my job as a writer.

Shhh…I’m working.

Everybody’s doin’ it!

Everybody’s doin’ it– READ! I’m a little late on my best-of lists for 2012, but I have gotten some questions from local parents and others about my favorite reads so in keeping with the trend…

I realize that not all of these are 2012 releases, these are just some of my favorite books that I read last year. *= don’t miss

Adult:
*The Night Circus
Rin Tin Tin
State of Wonder
*The Submission
*The Red Rose Crew
The Glass Castle

Young Adult:
*Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Wintergirls
Marcelo in the Real World
*Code Name Verity
Jersey Tomatoes are the Best
*See You at Harry’s
The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind

Middle Grade:
*Dead End in Norvelt
*The One and Only Ivan
A Long Walk to Water
True
One for the Murphy’s

Picture Book:
She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story (NF)
Citizen Scientists (NF)
Duck Sock Hop
Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature’s Survivors (poetry)
Here come the Girlscouts
One Cool Friend

Some of these are reviewed in depth on my blog. Just search in the right side bar for the title. Often I’ll do a short review in my Goodreads account. Feel free to connect with me there too!

Member Monday: So others may read

Book worship is inherent in all of the posts here at Creative Chaos. The art and craft of the book as object is certainly part of this but more– it is about the unlimited possibilities and pleasure of reading. As many of my blog readers know, I’ve posted before about the many children and adults around the world who struggle with illiteracy. However, we need not travel far from home to find people who are learning to read.

Very close to my heart and home, at my own Shepherd Elementary school in Northwest Washington, DC, my Mom and a group of volunteers are working with ESL and other early reading students three times a week to bring them one on one and small group read aloud experiences.

1st Grade — Bicentennial Anna. As a proficient reader, I was skipped to 1st grade when I turned six years old.

Because of ubiquitous budget cuts the Shepherd School library is no longer staffed and the books are outdated. Today I’m calling on all authors and readers out there for book donations. Students in the program are African-American, Asian, Latino, and African and the organizers are especially interested in books that mirror this diversity.

If you have written a picture book or early reader and you are wondering what to do with your author copies, consider donating them to the Early Readers Program. If you are an MFA student at VCFA, Hamlin, Lesley, Simmons, or any other Children’s and Young Adult Writing/Literature programs, I know you have a shelves of books. Yes, some of them you will love and cherish forever, but some you could pass along to others. If you are just a reader. Just a reader? A wonderful, amazing reader… Please consider donating a book to:

Early Readers Program
1220 East West Highway, Apt 504
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Thanks to all and happy summer reading!

Book Review Wednesday: At the bookfair.

Well friends, Creative Chaos finally broke the 100 views mark on Monday’s post, The Children’s Book Industry, a gendered affair. Feel free to keep commenting there about your thoughts and ideas regarding the issue. It is obviously on the minds of many and also obvious that while valuing ourselves and our work is important, we can only go so far when limited by societal structures, budgetary constraints, and national policy that doesn’t support women, children, and families. Vote your interests.

TODAY… The Bookfair!

This week the Scholastic Bookfair visited my child’s elementary school and I volunteered. Yes, I know– therefore taking four hours away from my writing. However, I was able to watch kids and books and that is an eye-opening experience.

What they wanted:
It is true that many of them had five dollars or less and were gung ho to skip the books all together for a chance to purchase a pencil with the animal toppers that bug out their eyes when you squeeze. (huge hit) Diaries with locks for boys and girls also got a lot of touch time.

The money limit meant that they had to skip new releases. The big winners were mass market titles such as tie-in books Star Wars and anything lego was big with guys. Selina Gomez and iCarly, and Bad Kitty with girls. Ellen Miles has a series called Puppy Place that 2nd and 3rd grade girls tended to gravitate towards. The covers are super cute as was the book Little Pink Puppy about a piglet raised by a dachshund.

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The Titanic was represented at the Fair but I didn’t see a lot of kids gravitate towards it.

I did get asked for the Hunger Games more than a handful of times but since this was an elementary fair it wasn’t present. Sort of surprised since Allie Condie’s, Matched series, Legend, and the Patterson Witch & Wizard books were all on hand.

Overall, the kids were asking for adventure, and animals. Can’t be more succinct than that.

My favorites from the fair:

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From Indiebound: Caroline lives on Meadowview Street. But where’s the meadow? Where’s the view? There’s nothing growing in her front yard except grass. Then she spots a flower and a butterfly and a bird and Caroline realizes that with her help, maybe Meadowview Street can have a meadow after all.

My take: On Meadowview Street, by Henry Cole, is a quiet picture book about the beauty around us when we appreciate nature and don’t try to control it. This PB was a bargain at $2.50 at the fair.

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From Indiebound: Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.

Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line.

Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home—and his own art—through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it’s up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.

Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create Ivan’s unforgettable first-person narration in a story of friendship, art, and hope.

My Take: The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate (yes the Animorphs author) is told from the point of view of Ivan, a silver back gorilla. This makes for a visually interesting book with short sentences and paragraphs. Readable and well-designed.

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From Indiebound: A reality-bending adventure from a Newbery Honor-winning author. Siblings India, Finn, and Mouse are stunned when their mom tells them they are flying that night–without her–to their Uncle Red’s home in Colorado. But things take an even more dramatic turn when their plane lands in a very unusual place. A mysterious driver meets them at the airport; when he drops them off at their “destination,” each kid suddenly has a clock with a different amount of time left. If the time runs out, they have to become permanent citizens in a place they don’t recognize or understand. Only if they work together can they call the driver back to help get them where they really belong. Suspenseful, funny, dramatic, and thought-provoking, this is a book that will stay with you long after you read the incredible ending.

My Take: Gennifer Choldenko brought us AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS and its sequel AL CAPONE SHINES MY SHOES. My boys and I were riveted by her storytelling in those books. NO PASSENGERS BEYOND THIS POINT was on the Spring 2011 Indiebound NEXT list.

Enjoy your reading!

Book Review Wednesday: Middle Grade Book Talk

Still I Read
by Anna J. Boll (with apologies to Ms. Angelou)

Baseballs slump on backstops
games unable to proceed
Worms drown on the blacktop
but still I read.

Yes, it seems that the only thing that I can find motivation for these rainy, rainy days is reading. If you are looking for new books to place on the top of your TBR (too-be-read) pile, look no further than today’s Middle Grade Books. These brand new releases are sure to be a hit with savvy middle grade readers. First on the list is the ONE FOR THE MURPHY’S. (Happy Book Birthday, Linda Mullaly Hunt!)

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Linda’s summary:

In the wake of heart-breaking betrayal, Carley Connors is thrust into foster care and left on the steps of the Murphys, a happy, bustling family.

Carley has thick walls and isn’t rattled easily, but this is a world she just doesn’t understand. A world that frightens her. So, she resists this side of life she’d believed did not exist with dinners around a table and a “zip your jacket, here’s your lunch” kind of mom.

However, with the help of her Broadway-obsessed and unpredictable friend, Toni, the Murphys do the impossible in showing Carley what it feels like to belong somewhere. But, when her mother wants her back, will she lose the only family that she has ever known?

My take:

Lynda Mullaly Hunt’s debut novel explores the conflicted feelings of Carley Connor as she leaves a dangerous home situation to join the foster care system and live with the Murphy family. Vaguely reminiscent of The Great Gilly Hopkins, Lynda Mullaly Hunt creates a story all her own with honest emotion and believable dialogue. Carley’s relationship with Foster Mom Julie Murphy is heartening and evolves beautifully.

For a sneak peak of the first chapter take a look on Linda’s website. (Growing book lovers tip: read this aloud to your middle grade students/kids. Who can resist a book after hearing the first chapter.)

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SEE YOU AT HARRY’S also launched this week (Happy Book Birthday, Jo!). When I asked her agent about this book before the launch he said, “Bring your tissue box.” Jo Knowles (LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL, JUMPING OFF SWINGS) recently won the SCBWI Crystal Kite for her novel PEARL. Jo is a wonderful and giving writer. If you are a writer, don’t miss her blog with Monday Morning Warm ups.

From the Candlewick site:

Twelve-year-old Fern feels invisible. It seems as though everyone in her family has better things to do than pay attention to her: Mom (when she’s not meditating) helps Dad run the family restaurant; Sarah is taking a gap year after high school; and Holden pretends that Mom and Dad and everyone else doesn’t know he’s gay, even as he fends off bullies at school. Then there’s Charlie: three years old, a “surprise” baby, the center of everyone’s world. He’s devoted to Fern, but he’s annoying, too, always getting his way, always dirty, always commanding attention. If it wasn’t for Ran, Fern’s calm and positive best friend, there’d be nowhere to turn. Ran’s mantra, “All will be well,” is soothing in a way that nothing else seems to be. And when Ran says it, Fern can almost believe it’s true. But then tragedy strikes- and Fern feels not only more alone than ever, but also responsible for the accident that has wrenched her family apart. All will not be well. Or at least all will never be the same.

My take:

With SEE YOU AT HARRY’S, Jo Knowles has given us a book that rings with emotional truth. In another author’s hands, the themes of family, self-discovery, and grief could feel heavy-handed or didactic. This reader never felt manipulated. In contrast, Knowles reveals a pathway into a very real family of six, each character beautifully whole and fabulously flawed. The plot was surprising and full of tension.

So there you have it. Book Review Wednesday (on Thursday) and plenty to read. Remember to support you local indie bookstore!

Member Monday: Read, read, read!

When the rain fell all last week, I holed up on the couch and read. When the sun came out, I dug the folding chair out of the garage, set it up in the sunshine and read. At the end of the day I felt a little guilty. There I was making dinner and I had limited writing or revising minutes to boast. In fact, I’d hardly done anything but read.

While I was in my MFA program, I didn’t feel guilty about reading. I was comfortable saying to my kids, “Mommy’s working.” I loved going to the library and coming home with a stack of books then reading them one after another or sometimes two at a time.

I know that reading is indeed part of my job. I need to know what books are on the market, and what books kids love. More important, I need to read critically. When I read, I’m constantly asking myself why. Why did the author make this word choice? How is the author going to weave these subplots together? When will this detail be relevant again and if it isn’t, why is it in the book at all? I question why a story doesn’t work and why it does. Good writers read.

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Because I am such a critical reader, it is harder to find books that are pure escape but I love searching for them. Today, I pushed away my guilt, took my Goodreads App to the library, and took out a small pile of books.

Sure, I’m still revising but if you see me with my nose in a book, please do not disturb… I’m working.

Book Review Wednesday: Picture Book Biographies Part 1

Thanks to those of you who have been nudging me to post on my blog again. Since there have been NO Book Review Wednesday’s for about a month, it is high time I get back to work. Get ready for a quick discussion of picture book biographies.

I’ve been immersed in PB biographies recently as I am working on one myself. I find that the most effective writing in this genre comes from authors who remember the importance of story and language without getting caught up in trying to relay too many facts. Thirty-two pages is not a lot of space. The author of a PB biography has to narrow her focus and find a logical and kid friendly entry point into the life she wishes to relate. In the two books below, the text is relatively simple but each book contains author’s notes or historical notes to tell the reader (or teacher or parent) more.

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First up is An Eye for Color: The story of Josef Albers. Josef Albers was an artist and designer who studied with the Bauhaus school in Germany until the Nazis closed it. Albers moved to the US and taught at Black Mountain College near Asheville, NC and then Yale. His study of color interaction using large squares of color is taught in every modern color theory class. As a child, the author, Natasha Wing, was Albers’ neighbor.

The text for An Eye for Color gives the reader a theme for Albers life and the hook for every kid on the first page of the book, “Josef Albers saw art in the simplest things.” The rest of the book explores some these things: doors, collages made from junkyard finds, artistic accidents, and finally the squares of color that became his life’s work. The illustrator, Julia Breckenreid, takes on a large part of the storytelling responsibility by conveying the work of Albers through her illustrations. Her use of large fields of color in various geometric shapes effectively demonstrates Albers’ theories on the interaction of colors and mimics his paintings.

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In José! Born to Dance, Susanna Reich uses lively, lyrical, rhythmic language that mimics Limon’s dance technique. Reich builds character by weaving Spanish phrases and words into the text. (A glossary appears in the front matter of the book but really the context of most phrases makes the Spanish understandable.)

Reich hooks the child reader by starting the story with 15 pages about Limon’s childhood. Instead of focusing on historic events that might seem dry to a child, Reich magnifies the feelings associated with the events: the happiness and energy of José’s dancing birth in Mexico, his quiet visits with his grandmother, experiencing new things such as theater, being scared during a bullfight, feeling left out as a new kid in America, and his feeling of inadequacy as an art student in Manhattan. Every child can relate to José’s feelings even if the events of his life are foreign. The event that changes José from an aspiring artist to an aspiring dancer takes place only four spreads from the end of the book. Here, Reich still focuses on the emotion, José’s exuberance at finally finding the thing he was born to do.

I was wowed by the texture in the watercolor and color pencil drawings by illustrator Raul Colon. His color choices magnify the emotion in the Reich’s language.

I have a many other wonderful PB biography examples. Next week I’ll look at Yellowstone Moran: Painting the American West by Lita Judge and You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?! by Jonah Winter and André Carrilho. If you can’t wait until then, check out this archived post about Caldecott Honor winning A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams.

Book Review Wednesday: Pennies for Elephants

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Judge, Lita. Pennies for Elephants. Hyperion. New York, 2009.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should tell you that Lita Judge is a dear friend who I met when she was just starting in the world of children’s book illustration. In the following years, she illustrated covers, and picture books written by others. Most recently she has had a string of amazing, award winning picture books published (see awards listed here) that she both wrote and illustrated. Lita comes from a background of fine art which is crystal clear from her command of color and composition. She also comes from a science background and knows how to research a subject. Pennies for Elephants, shows-off Lita’s command of research and painting technique.

Pennies for Elephants is based on the true story of the children of Boston in 1914 who purchased three elephants for the Franklin Park Zoo. The story follows Dorothy and her brother Henry who earn and save pennies, nickels, and dimes to help make the purchase of the elephants a reality.

One of the most interesting editorial and design decisions for the book is the use of newspaper clippings to update the reader on the fundraising developments and provide information about the sale of the three elephants. These bits of newspaper are masterfully painted gray scale reproductions of the Boston Post by the author. This is where Lita’s research really shines. The newspaper clippings throughout the book and on the endpapers contain wonderful old ads (Children’s 49¢ rompers at 29¢, The Grant Car $495) that pull us right into Boston at the turn of the century.

The reader is immersed in setting and mood through the vibrant full color watercolors of Dorothy, Henry and their neighbors as they navigate Boston and the purchase of the elephants. I know that as reference for the people, Lita had a costume party for local kids in her New Hampshire community. The cityscapes reveal Lita’s research of clothing, style, automobiles and transportation, economics, and architecture.

The prose, told from Dorothy’s point of view is well written and engaging. While the text in the news clippings adds to the content, I found that while reading the book aloud, the clippings sometimes hindered the flow of the story.

The book recently received the 2009 New Hampshire Literary Awards as an Outstanding Work of Children’s Literature. Pennies for Elephants, like Lita’s One Thousand Tracings, and the newly released Yellowstone Moran, is a wonderful example of a literary nonfiction for children. Teachers and parents should make sure to visit the Pennies for Elephants webpage with young readers for wonderful activities, a book trailer with a Scott Joplin soundtrack, and old photographs from the era.

Thank you for such wonderful book, Lita!

Book Review Wednesday: Kittens and Wombats, Oh my!

And now for a quick update in book review land… I’ve reviewed two books this week. However, this is the third week I’ve written book reviews and while I’m enjoying it and keeping up, my other work (critical essays and my novel for my MFA program) is falling behind. Therefore, I’ve decided that each week I’ll only do one review and it will either be a picture book or a book for middle grade kiddos. I’ll try to alternate but I don’t want to promise anything.

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Newbery, Linda. Illo: Rayner, Catherine. Posy. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. New York, 2008.

Posy is a delightful picture book for the youngest children in your life. Linda Newbery’s sparse, rhyming text describes different situations that Posy the kitten gets into. “She’s a whiskers wiper, crayon swiper…”

Catherine Rayner has created a sweet-faced kitten to embody the text. The mixed media illustrations have a lovely texture. Heavily applied, metallic, acrylic paint makes up Posy’s fur and is paired with a fluid India ink line that captures the playful gestures of the kitten. The design of the book is simple and classic with a brown serif font and plenty of white space.

This is one of those books that, if it was picked off the slush pile, an editor might call “slight.” However the author’s history as an award-winning novelist probably helped make this manuscript into a book. Young children don’t always need complex and they don’t always need story, sometimes play: word play, and image play is enough. This is one book that your toddler will ask for over and over and you will be happy to oblige.

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French, Jackie. Illo: Whatley, Bruce. How to Scratch a Wombat: where to find it…What to feed it…Why it sleeps all day. Clarion Books. New York, 2009.

How to Scratch a Wombat: where to find it…What to feed it…Why it sleeps all day is the perfect book for all of the animal lovers and “infokids” out there. Infokids like to find out how, and why, and they hang out in the nonfiction section of the library. While the book is a republication of an Australian edition published by Harper Collins in 2005, this edition features a humorous word list in the beginning so that you can translate between the Australian bum, pong, rubbish, scat, and torch to the American bottom, stink, trash, dung, and flashlight.

The book keeps kids reading and laughing with funny sidebars: “Are you a wombat?” and “Who’s the greatest- you or a wombat?” French has made her home on the edge of the bush in New South Wales and she intersperses nimbly written information about wombats with wonderful stories of the personal relationships she has had with these wild creatures who live around her home.

If your kiddos are anything like mine, they will be acting like wombats for days, trying to bite each other on the bum and head butting you in the stomach. Enjoy!

Book Review Wednesday

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I am thrilled to review fellow Maine illustrator, Chris Van Dusen’s, new book The Circus Ship. You may already know Chris from his illustrations of Kate DiCamillo’s, Mercy books. He is also the author of the rhyming Mr. Magee books, and If I Built a Car. I happen to know that Chris did some circus posters for Barnum early in his career. The story of The Circus Ship is based on a true story and is also told in rhyme. When the mean and selfish Mr. Paine, the circus owner, runs into bad weather while transporting the circus off the cost of Maine, he abandons the animals and saves himself. The animals, all bedraggled, end up on an island of Mainers not too thrilled with their new guests. A heroic act by the tiger endears the animals to the island residents who then cleverly fool Mr. Paine so the animals can safely stay with them.

The illustrations for this book are so lush and vibrant that you will be mesmerized by each spread. Incredible sunrises with gradients as smooth as silk will have you reaching for your sunglasses. This is one good reason to read this book with a child who will nudge you after a few minutes and remind you to turn the page. The other good reason is to share the intense emotions with some one you love. From Mr. Paine’s yellow toothed screams, to the weary and worried expressions on the animals’ faces, to the look of surprise and relief of the island folk when one of their own is saved, Chris Van Dusen connects with the core of the reader/viewer. Finally, you will need a small friend to help you find all the animals when Mr. Paine comes to town to claim them.

Chris is an expert of exaggerated angle and point of view. If you are a Van Dusen fan like me, you may remember the impossibly large waterfall in Camping Spree With Mr. Magee. In Circus Ship, when the ship carrying the animals crashes, Chris puts the viewer in the middle of the action. Mr. Paine and the circus animals are propelled overboard and right into the reader’s lap. (click to see this image on Chris’ blog) The reader is treated to this in-your-lap 3-D action in the image of the tiger leaping from the flames and when Mr. Paine strides into town to claim his animals. Both times, Chris uses elongation so that the subject of the illustration straddles the spread creating movement and tension for the reader.

As with many beautiful books that feel like a work of art, this one is published by Candlewick and includes many lovely design elements. The end papers are a lovely two-toned gold stripe that mimic the tents of the big top. The book starts right after the title page with a lush spread and the front matter is in the back. The back matter page contains an author’s note that let’s us know more about sadder true story that sparked The Circus Ship, the sinking of the the Royal Tar in 1836.

On the flap text, Chris says, "I’ve focused on light sources and textures in the artwork for this story– on details like paint peeling off the clapboards of the houses. This makes the book more complex and richer overall than my previous work." The reader is the richer for The Circus Ship. Congratulations, Chris!

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Colfer, Eoin. Half-Moon Investigations. New York, NY: Miramax Books/Hyperion Books for Children, 2006.

Doubtless, Eoin (pronounced Owen) Colfer does not need me to help him with marketing. However, I could not pass up a review of Half-Moon Investigations. Fletcher Moon is a kid with curiosity coursing through his veins and an eye for details. After graduating from FBI Detective Bob Berstein’s online investigators course, Fletcher has the know-how and a badge to prove it.

Colfer uses the old-time, hard-boiled detective as his mold for Fletcher Moon, but he makes it accessible to kids with a theft mystery that is completely believable to his readers. The language in this style is so fun to read but sometimes authors overdo it or use similes that don’t mean anything to kids. Colfer gets it right.

The book is filled with the usual cast of characters: bullies, princesses, and nerds, but Colfer manages to use the stereotypes to the advantage of the mystery– leading the reader and Fletcher down various paths of inquiry and surprising them with a twist of character. Colfer’s Artemis Fowl books are far from tame but the violence in this book is minimal and propels the plot.

If your reader enjoys connecting to other on-line resources connected to the books they read, this Puffin Publishing sponsored website has plenty to offer. There is a web comic version of some of the cases in the book as well as a newsletter with cases your young detective can crack.

Half-Moon Investigations is an engaging book to offer boys ages 10 and up but the book is great for any mystery or an adventure fan at home.