To the Library for nonfiction books

I, 2, 3, Go (Henry Holt, 2000) written and illustrated by Huy Voun Lee, who was born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and moved to the U.S. in 1975. A simple introduction to 21 characters in the written language of China. The numbers (1-10) and words (catch, stomp, hit, push, carry, pull, tiptoe, jump, kick, run, go)-- are presented on double spread pages with energetic, bold illustrations of children demonstrating the characters, e.g. "eight" and "jump" has a stop-action illustration of eight girls and boys jumping. I love Author's Notes, and Huy Voun Lee's is informative and helpfully placed at the beginning of her unpaged picture book. I'll see what Sophie thinks of this book tomorrow. Gettysbury; A Graphic Novel, caught my eye as I was leaving the library with my stack of books; so I grabbed it and returned to the checkout counter. (I've been curious about graphic nonfiction ever since the concept appeared in the last book contract I signed.) I skimmed through it with mild interest; the blue lettering and images are effective (note: there are graphic depictions of dead soldiers). His series of illustrations for Lincoln's words will delight progressive readers and are/could be a springboard for interesting discussions. I reread it with great interest after I got to the end and discovered Butzer's excellent Author's Note in which he describes each frame and gives the source for quotes and information. If you decide to check out this book, read the Author's Note first! Butzer includes women and for more check out "Women at the Battle of Gettysburg: Understanding the Civil War from a Different Perspective," an excellent presentation (there's a link to a video on YouTube with more links to interesting videos) by historian Jane Peters Estes at the Camden County Historical Society at http://historiccamdencounty.com/ccnews111.shtml

On Writing and Music

I was just writing chapter 22 of Stirring Up The World and listening to a recording of Beethoven's Concerto for Piano No. 5 in E Flat, Op 73 and had to stop--it was soooooo beautiful! On Friday we saw "33 Variations," a play in previews written and directed by Moises Kaufman, at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre (a wonderful space). It's about Beethoven's Diabelli Variations and a dying musicologist's quest to discover why Beethoven wrote them. There's also a mother/daughter plot line, plus a romance, etc. We went because I love Beethoven's music, Linda loves the theater, we were both curious to see Jane Fonda, at the age of 71, who plays Dr. Katherine Brandt. We were captivated--fast-paced complex, but clear and engaging (and funny at times) script; terrific cast; clever staging and set design; gorgeous music. There were times I wished I had a replay button, especially the scene when Zach Grenier as Beethoven stands alone, center front, and "composes" one of the variations as the pianist, Diane Walsh, plays it--intensely and intricately coordinated--took my breath away!

"Women Making America"

Check out Women Making America a fabulous new book by my dear friends Heidi Hemming and Julie Hemming Savage. This is a page-turning comprehensive, chocked-full of prints and photographs, clearly and compelling written book--a must have for readers of all ages. Suggestions for book groups and teachers are at www.womenmakingamerica.com

Today, Sat., Feb. 21st, The Washington Post printed a letter to the editor from Heidi and Julie critiquing the "idea that it is men who make history and women who help them." Their issue was with a caption the Post published on 2/19 for a photograph of "Thurgood Marshall and some of the Little Rock Nine on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court" in which the the woman standing beside Marshall was identified as the teenagers' "chaperone." To which Heidi and Julie responded, "It doesn't seem like too much to ask that women be recognized as co-participants in historical events. . . . Chaperone? The woman is Daisy Bates, who recruited the young people who made the stand at Little Rock Central High School . . . . According to Ernest Green, the first black graduate of Little Rock High, 'Daisy Bates was the poster child of black resistance. She was a quarterback, the coach. We were the players.'"
For some reason, I can't directly link to their letter, but you can search for it at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com

To the Library for nonfiction books

Today I wandered through the stacks of the Queens College library juvenile children section. A title caught my eye--Built to Last: Building America's Amazing Bridges, Dams, Tunnels, and Skyscrapers by George Sullivan (NY: Scholastic, 2005). It's longer--12 inches--than high--nine inches which allows for two-page vertical spreads (24 inches!) of picture e.g. the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Flatiron Building in New York. I checked it out because I wanted to read about the Hoosac Tunnel (Susan B. Anthony went sightsighting there during its construction in the 1850s), the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, which I've driven over/under several times,; and the U.S. Interstate Highway System, which over which I've travelled gazillion million, etc. (And why do we pick book? 1. we connect with the topic.) Sullivan organized the book into 4 time periods: The Early Republic 1790-1850; Invention and Discovery 1850-1910; Hard Times 1920-1940; A Golden Age 1950-1965; Megaprojects 1990-Present and described 17 projects. It's amply illustrated with full color and black and white photographs. The text is clearly written and engaging. Sullivan is adept at weaving in relevant context and interesing details. NOTE: he fails at writing inclusive history 101; e.g. he completely ignore Emily Roebling's indispensable role--memorialized on a plaque attached to the Brooklyn Tower--in taking over after her husband Washington suffered two attacks of the bends and was paralyzed.
She only appears as having been "given the honor of being the first to ride over the bridge." This is an inexcusable lapse on the part of the author and editors at Scholastic in a book published in 2005.
For my taste the page design has too many elements--thin and wide vertical lines of different colors that divide this from that--looks to me as if the designer was trying to simulate/evoke architectural structures. The title of each structure appears in a multicolored oval that must--at least for me--be consciously overridden in order to focus on the texts. This is a book that I would read for my enjoyment, also talk-read with Sophie, i.e. pick and choose from the text and caption to read aloud, who is interesting in bridges. (Her apartment building is beside the George Washington Bridge--one of our pending adventures is to walk across it.)

Books by the nonfiction poet and illustrator, Ruth Heller, are stacked high in my personal library. Yes, a nonfiction poet, i.e. she doesn't make up anything. I love her writing--great use of vocabulary--clever and bold--and her vivid illustrations. Heller died a few years ago, but left a legacy of words and images about animals, colors, grammar, flowers, etc. Over the years, teachers in my classes report that students love and remember Heller's first book, Chickens Aren't the Only Ones.

To the library

This is a new feature: A huge library-fan, I'm going to write a weekly post about some or all of the books I check out on Wednesdays (the day I go to the library to get books to use in my children's literature classes at Queens College). Since the kidlitosphere and classrooms are dominated by fiction, I'll feature nonfiction books--my preference & what many teachers report kids prefer, when given a choice.

"In 1928, an artist named Wanda Gag created her first book for children. The lively tale was about an old man in search of one kitten. Except that he didn't just find one cat, he found. . . ." That's how author/illustrator Deborah Kogan Ray begins her marvelous book Wanda Gag: The Girl Who Lived to Draw (Viking, 2008). The subject--Wanda Gag, the creator of Millions of Cats--caught my attention. The lush illustrations grabbed my eyes and the engaging text had me turning the pages. There are 18 half- and 3/4-pages of brightly colored, evocative illustrations. Each text page begins with a quote in italics from Gag's writings. Ray doesn't shy away from Gag's difficult growing up years and highlights her resilience and determination. In her author's note, I wish Ray would have told readers whether or not the Gag's father really told her: "Always look at the world in your own way, Wachachen." Guess I'll need to find out myself because that matters in nonfiction! Tomorrow I'll see whether or not it grabs Sophie.

Going Back Home; An Artist Returns to the South, pictures by Michele Wood, story interpreted and written by Toyomi Igus (Children's Book Press, 1996) It's Wood's story of her search for her family history in the southern United States that Igus interprets. Her crisp and clear narrative is just the right accompaniment for Wood's richly detailed powerful paintings. I love her use of blues, the hen, her reds and brown. Igus includes explanations of details in various paintings, e.g. the square on Wood's forehead in her self portrait on the last page.

I selected Making Your Mark, Franklin Roosevelt by Judith St. George, illustrated by Britt Spencer (Philomel, 2007) to take to my "History Through Literature" class, but never did take it out of my bag. Why? Most likely because I'm ambivalent about the book. The illustrations are caricatures, even cartoonish. The text bounces from straight forward to cutesy. Although some teachers report that kids like that style, I think it trivializes history. I'll try again next week and see what everyone thinks. There's a brief author's note that does what most author do re FDR--give him all the credit for everything. As the biographer of Frances Perkins (A Woman Unafraid: The Achievements of Frances Perkins), his secretary of labor from twelve years, that's always irks me!

As for my other reading, I am, of course, still immersed in the stacks of materials by and about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony for my project Stirring Up the World. I'm also reading Adam Cohen's excellent book--he does do justice to Frances Perkins--Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America.

On writing

So I didn't come up with relevant Scrabble words for what the police officer called "mischief" but I did have an afterthought--It was vandalism, not mischief! Lots of differences in meaning, in particular--now, I need to find the time to repair the damage; perhaps when Sophie is here on Thursday--never too early to learn how to fix things.

On writing

People ask where I get my ideas--everywhere, I reply. For example, about 45 minutes ago Linda and I were in the kitchen. Our chatting was interrupted by a huge crash, a thud that shook the house. Stunned silence broken by "What was that?!!" We searched all four floors--nothing, no collapsed bookshelf, no, nothing. Then I opened the front door & discovered that someone had smashed in the bottom panel of the storm door; left a mighty big footprint. The police were efficient--"mischief," he said, by a group of kids dispersing after a basketball game. We weren't the only call. "Kids, today," the officer, who looked pretty young to us, "they're out of control--middle school and up, girls and boys, they're out of control."
There's a story there; just have to figure out what & if I really want to write it. But now it's time for our nightly Scrabble game--think I'll try to make words that describe the incident.

On reading

Update re what kids are reading from Dot Emer (i.e. Dot Chastney--her pre-marriage name--whose memories of WWII I quote in my book Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II), my dear friend and passionate, savvy children's librarian (see blog post 3/19/08). Currently she is a middle school librarian:

"I'm sure you've probably heard about the "Twilight" series of four books about a teenage girl, a senior in high school who falls in love with a boy in the class who is a vampire. The books are almost 500 pages long and have been flying off my shelves. I finally decided I had to read the first one and I can understand why teenage girls like the series, but one was enough for me. One thing about the series is that girls who always drag their feet about reading were reading!"

I haven't heard about the series, and I'm not drawn to the topic. However I am interested in the "what and why" makes books go "flying off" shelves, whether in a bookstore, library, home.
What do you think? And are you of the "at least they're reading" school or "reading THAT is not real reading"??

Car in our front yard

It's snowing. We're both home writing--Linda in her second floor office facing the road, me in my basement office. Vaguely I hear Linda's voice saying something about a car in our front yard. Pulling my mind out of the 19th century, I call out, "What?"
"A car--there's a car in our front yard."
And indeed there was--a young woman, driving her SUV way too fast for the slippery conditions, hit a truck and ended up clipping our magnificent cedar tree before stopping in our front yard. No one was hurt--and we hope the tree is OK(& grateful that it prevented her from careening into our living room). She insisted she wasn't driving too fast. A witness said she was. The guy she hit said she was. The police officer said she wouldn't give her a ticket for speeding 'cause she didn't witness the accident; she'd let the "insurance company sort it out." I was glad that I had been too preoccupied to move our cars from the back end of our long driveway to the front; our habit when it's snowing so that we don't have to shovel the whole thing on teaching days. And that noone was walking on sidewalk. And that Sophie wasn't playing in the front yard. But now that I'm distracted, guess I should go shovel.