The Scraps Book by Lois Ehlert

Small and square, The Scraps Book: Notes from a Colorful Life (Beach Lane Books, 2014) by Lois Ehlert is actually bursting with images and inspiration drawn from the picture book maker's long career. It's unmistakably Ehlert, down to the round typeface of the main text (I think it's Century Schoolbook) and the handwritten notes (in place of the sans serif labels used in most of her books) adding another level of detail. Maybe a little messier, though, since The Scraps Book is all about process (and, Ehlert tells us, "I'm messy when I work"). In words and images, she shares where her book ideas come from, how to make a storyboard, the art technique of collage (often using recycled or natural materials), a recipe for bird treats...The Scraps Book is stuffed full of interesting things to inspire young (and not-so-young) readers, writers, and artists, right where they are. 

Instead of a bibliography, there's a double-page spread of Ehlert's book covers at the end. I was surprised at how many of them we had read and remembered: Planting a Rainbow, Eating the Alphabet (the IJKL page was our favorite, followed closely by the letter Pp, which got two pages), Waiting for Wings, and Feathers for Lunch (a good choice to read alongside The Scraps Book, which includes a series of spreads showing how Feathers for Lunch went from idea to finished book).

The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau

Henri Rousseau was a toll collector for the city of Paris when, at the age of 40, he decided to become an artist--a famous artist. Michelle Markel's picture book biography The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau (illustrated by Amanda Hall; Eerdmans, 2012) begins with that surprising decision. Her precise and poignant text balances Rousseau's love of nature and growing confidence in his own work (he was self-taught) with his lifelong desire for critical recognition.

Poor Henri! No sooner does he paint something we might consider a masterpiece(The Sleeping Gypsy, The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope, and The Dream are referenced in the text or in Hall's illustrations) than the experts say mean things about it: "They say it looks like he closed his eyes and painted with his feet."

But Rousseau keeps painting. Eventually, near the end of his life, younger, more well-known artists befriend him. One of them, Pablo Picasso, even throws a banquet in his honor (that's Picasso with Fernande Olivier on the right; a key at the back of the book identifies the other historical figures in the illustration below).

At last, and over one hundred years later, Rousseau's paintings hang in museums around the world. [There are three on view at the National Gallery; I'm excited to see them after having read the book.]

Amanda Hall's illustrations, rendered in watercolor and acrylics, really capture the feel of Rousseau's work, from the lush foliage and flowers to the faces of people and animals. In an illustrator's note (there's also an author's note, but sadly no sources), Hall writes that she "decided to break the rules of scale and perspective to reflect [Rousseau's] unusual way of seeing the world. For some of the illustrations, I drew directly on his actual paintings, altering them playfully to help tell the story." My favorite example is this image of a tiger literally crawling out of the canvas as Henri paints:

The understated text reads, "Sometimes Henri is so startled by what he paints that he has to open the window to let in some air."

Aside: Kids might be interested to know that the jungle in the computer-animated movie Madagascar was inspired by Rousseau's work. My own kids were also interested to know that I had a cheap print of Sleeping Gypsy in my college dorm room.

It's still my favorite Rousseau.

The Nonfiction Monday Roundup

Hello and welcome to Nonfiction Monday at books together!  My contribution this week is Gifts from the Gods by Lise Lunge-Larsen [review coming later this morning]. Please comment with a link to your Nonfiction Monday post (and a brief description if you'd like), and I'll round them up here throughout the day.  Thanks for participating in this edition of Nonfiction Monday!

The night before (good morning, UK!)

Zoe at Playing by the Book reviews What Mr Darwin Saw by Mick Manning and Brita Granström in association with London's Natural History Museum.

Morning edition

Medea of Perogies and Gyoza reviews Japanese Celebrations for her first Nonfiction Monday post.  Welcome, Medea!

Also contributing for the first time, Tara of A Teaching Life reviews The Harlem Hellfighters, an account of the brave regiment who fought in World War I.  Welcome, Tara!

Jone of Check It Out reviews Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom by Shane Evans.

Gathering Books reviews The Boy on Fairfield Street: How Ted Geisel Grew Up to Become Dr. Seuss.

Jeff of NC Teacher Stuff reviews The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont.

Two reviews at Ms. Yingling Reads: a book about lost cities (Pompeii) and a book about vampires in Transylvania.

Shelf-employed is featuring some light reading today with 1st and Ten : Top Ten Lists of Everything in Football.

At Ana's NonFiction Blog, three articles from kids' science magazines featuring confused spiders, revealing bandages, and scuba spiders.  Congratulations, Ana Maria!

Roberta of Wrapped in Foil took a look at Cybils nominee Digging for Troy: From Homer to Hisarlik.

Anatomy of Nonfiction features Marc Tyler Nobleman on Heroes--Super and Otherwise with a review of Boys of Steel and interview with the author.

Wild About Nature reviews Sea Stars: Saltwater Poems by Avis Harley.

At Bookends, Cindy and Lynn review Every Thing On It by Shel Silverstein.

And Shirley at SimplyScience introduces Enterprise STEM, a new Rourke book by...Shirley Duke!  Congratulations, Shirley!

Afternoon update

Learn about animals through their ears, noses and tails in What Do I Do with a Tail Like This?, reviewed by Camille at A Curious Thing.

Kids' travel guides from Arcadia reviewed by Jennifer at Jean Little Library.

At The Fourth Musketeer, a review of Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz, a new nonfiction title for adults that's also suitable for high schoolers.

A picture book biography of an artist, just for books together's focus on art and artists: Jeanne at True Tales & A Cherry On Top features Diego Rivera: His World and Ours.  Thanks, Jeanne!

Jennie at Biblio File reviews Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and its Legacy.

Wendy at Blog from the Windowsill reviews Celebrate Hannukah. Welcome back, Wendy!

Good evening

Heidi highlights a series called Fall's Here at Geo Librarian.

The Nonfiction Detectives have a review of Balloons Over Broadway on the blog today.

Janet at All About the Books reviews A Wizard from the Start: The Incredible Boyhood & Amazing Inventions of Thomas Edison written by Don Brown, .

That's all for now!

Before They Were Famous for Nonfiction Monday

The latest entry in Bob Raczka's series of Art Adventures, Before They Were Famous: How Seven Artists Got Their Start (Millbrook, 2011), takes a look at the earliest known work of artists ranging from Albrecht Durer to Salvador Dali. Thank goodness for Paul Klee, whose drawing of a carousel (made at age ten; you can see it on the front cover next to a photo of a young Klee) looks like it might actually have been drawn by a child; because the early work of some of the other artists is already incredibly accomplished. Michelangelo, I'm looking at you.

Before They Were Famous gives kids a natural entry point into the lives and work of the seven artists featured. Each gets two double-page spreads, including one page of text about his or her childhood and apprenticeship or training in art, one example of his or her mature work, and at least one portrait, self-portrait, or photograph of the artist (another of Raczka's Art Adventures books, Here's Looking at Me: How Artists See Themselves, focuses on artists' self-portraits). Even the author photo is of Bob at age 11, although we don't get to see any of his early work.

Raczka shares the story behind the book in a guest post on the Lerner blog, in which he discusses the Picasso painting (made at age eight) that inspired him to look for the childhood artwork of other artists. Here is Picasso's Little Picador in the context of the book:

Raczka also talks about how hard it was to find at least one female artist to include (he ended up with Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi, whose earliest known work was painted when she was between the ages of seventeen and nineteen).  He says in the interview that would have loved to include this 20th century female artist, but didn't locate her early work in time.  Can you guess her identity?

[It's Georgia O'Keeffe, who made this drawing of an animal head when she was about fourteen.]

A Walk in London for Nonfiction Monday

A mother and daughter take A Walk in London in this lively, lovely picture book guide to the city by Salvatore Rubbino (Candlewick, 2011). Their day begins at 11am in Westminster and includes Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard, the lions in Trafalgar Square, lunch at Covent Garden, a climb up to the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, the Bank of England, the Tower of London, and a boatride on the Thames. For the record, it took my daughter and I ten days to do all of that! (But we went to the British Museum, too.)

While the main text recounts the day's events in the daughter's voice ("Hello! There's me, and that's my mom!"), spot text in a smaller font highlights related trivia (during a sudden shower, "London is Europe's third rainiest city. About twenth-three inches of rain falls here every year"). Rubbino's mixed media illustrations, often double-page spreads of city scenes, are carefully laid out and layered with just the right amount of detail. They also have lots of retro appeal. Here's an example from his first picture book, A Walk in New York (Candlewick, 2009; I couldn't find any interior images of London online):

London features a foldout Thames Panorama that would have come in handy on the London Eye, while the endpapers trace the mother and daughter's route on a map of the city. Don't forget to look for the royal family's car along the way!

Reminiscent of but more child-friendly than M. Sasek's classic This is London (1959; reissued by Universe, 2004), the picture book we referred to most prior to our trip, A Walk in London is the one we read to remember it. Mr. Rubbino, if you're reading this, please take us on a walk in Rome next!

My Havana for Nonfiction Monday

My Havana: Memories of a Cuban Boyhood by Rosemary Wells with Secundino Fernandez (illustrated by Peter Ferguson; Candlewick, 2010) encompasses the decade of my own parents' childhoods, and the city young Dino describes in it is almost as familiar to me as if I remembered it myself:

Until I [Dino] am six years old, in 1954, my world is sweet. "We live in a city built by angels," Papi says. There is no cold in Havana, only sunshine and warm rain. The city's avenues are lined with arcades of coral stone archways, ancient doors, and window frames....

The architecture of the colonial capital fascinates Dino (he grows up to be an architect), and he fills his sketchbooks with drawings of buildings, windows and doorways. As if taken from Dino's sketchbook, pencil drawings of architectural details are overlaid on a view of the rooftops in this wordless double-page spread:

Peter Ferguson's painterly illustrations, done in oil with spot art in pencil, capture a city suffused with golden light: very different from both Madrid, where Dino lives with his maternal grandparents from 1954-56, and New York City, where he and his family settle in 1959 after Castro comes to power in Cuba. They're an integral part of this relatively short (65 pages), yet surprisingly rich book.

Rosemary Wells was inspired to write My Havana after hearing an interview with Secundino Fernandez in which he described his intense homesickness for Havana, and his attempt to alleviate it by building a cardboard model of the city on the floor of his bedroom in New York (that episode makes it into the book, too). It's a beautiful and evocative example of the power of place in childhood memory, and one for which I am especially grateful.

A note on politics: The text of My Havana touches on the repressive Franco regime in Spain as well as on the Batista dictatorship and the Cuban revolution under Castro. I only wish the author's note had not.

Nonfiction Monday

Welcome to Nonfiction Monday at books together! My contribution is Me, Frida by Amy Novesky, illustrated by David Diaz (Abrams, 2010), which won a Pura Belpre Illustrator Honor this year. Please comment with a link to your Nonfiction Monday post (and a brief description if you'd like), and I'll round them up here throughout the day.  Thanks for participating in this edition of Nonfiction Monday!

Amy at Hope is the Word reviews Martin Jenkins's new book about endangered species. I've read Can We Save the Tiger? and agree that it is gorgeous.

The Coelocanth is in the news again! Robin of Bookmuse knows where to find more information about this mysterious fish.

Alex as The Children's War reviews a workbook for teaching World War II using primary sources. Be sure to check out Alex's other reviews of World War II-themed books for children and young adults, too.

Roberta at Wrapped in Foil has a glowing review of the newest book by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long, A Butterfly is Patient.

Jennifer at Jean Little Library reviews Puppet Play, a craft book that would be great for a teen puppet program.

Jeff at NC Teacher Stuff reviews an Augmented Reality book about dinosaurs from DK.

And Lori at Lori Calabrese Writes! reviews National Geographic's Dinosaurs for emerging readers.

Shirley at SimplyScience reviews Hummingbirds by Jeanette Larson and Adrienne Yorinks, which offers an interesting combination of facts and folklore about hummingbirds.

Roll up your sleeves for Nonfiction Book Blast's projects from Explorers of the New World by Carla Mooney.

Tammy at Apples with Many Seeds is looking at all kinds of animal eggs.

Brenda at Proseandkahn writes about forces of nature.

Carol at Rasco from RIF features an ABC book that tells a story.

Paula at Pink Me is in with a review of Flesh and Blood So Cheap by Albert Marrin, a middle grade book about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that took place one hundred years ago this year.

At Bookends today Cindy and Lynn review Meadowlands by Thomas F. Yezerski.

Heidi at Geo Librarian reviews Tom Thumb: The Remarkable True Story of a Man in Miniature by George Sullivan.

Jeanne at True Tales and a Cherry on Top reviewed a picture book biography of artist Josef Albers specifically for books together.  Thank you, Jeanne! N.b., Jeanne's next picture book, My Hands Sing the Blues: Romare Bearden's Childhood Journey (illustrated by Elizabeth Zinon, will be out in September.

And Anastasia Suen is in with Spiky, Splimy, Smooth: What is Texture at Picture Book of the Day and The Story of Oil: How it Changed the World at Chapter Book of the Day.

Thanks, everyone!

The Nine-Ton Cat and giveaway winner

Thanks to everyone who participated in last month's giveaway for How the Sphinx Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland (Blue Apple Books, 2010).  In that post, I asked commenters for their best behind-the-scenes-at-the-museum questions (such as this one from Janelle's daughter, who asks, "Why can't I touch that?").

Some of those questions--about curatorial work, exhibition design, conservation and more--are answered in The Nine Ton Cat:  Behind the Scenes at an Art Museum by Peggy Thomson with Barbara Moore; edited by Carol Leon (Houghton Mifflin, in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1997).  Now out-of-print (and maybe slightly out-of-date as well), The Nine-Ton Cat is a book for older readers (9-12 and up), who might be inspired to consider a museum-related career.  It's loosely organized around a day at the National Gallery, beginning at 6am with a guard patrolling the halls and ending at 6m with a planning meeting for this very book.

In between, The Nine-Ton Cat takes you into the "private spaces" of the museum:  the design studio, conservation lab, library, and greenhouse (yes, the National Gallery has its own greenhouses on site) for a close look at the work that goes on there.  Detailed text, with lots of quotes from unnamed Gallery staff, and photographs contribute to the behind-the scenes appeal.

I would love to see an updated edition of The Nine-Ton Cat, perhaps in a larger, more clearly organized format (it's easy to lose your place, in much the same way that it's easy to get lost at the Gallery).  In the meantime, congratulations to Christine Mingus, winner of How the Sphinx Got to the Museum!  I think her elementary school students will love it.

[One of my favorite anecdotes from The Nine-Ton Cat:  The head of the horticultural staff wishes that Rubens Peale (in a portrait painted by his brother Rembrandt, 1801) would water his geranium! It does look a little wilted, doesn't it?]

Bones by Steve Jenkins: Not just for Halloween!

Children's book author and illustrator Steve Jenkins sets the standard for cut paper collage illustration in every one of his books (What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?, made in collaboration with Robin Page, won a Caldecott Honor in 2004).  His newest nonfiction book is Bones: Skeletons and How They Work (Scholastic, 2010).  You might think that bones, being mostly white, would be less interesting visually than the range of fins, fur, and feathers rendered in the rest of Jenkins's books about the animal kingdom (I might have, anyway); on the contrary, Bones is Jenkins at his best.

The bones themselves, cut from a limited palette of mottled creams and grays, glow against the solid background colors, but the best part is the arrangement of bones on the page, to inviting, eye-opening, often humorous effect (the gatefolded human skeleton waving at you is just one example).  Jenkins's background in graphic design really shows here.  Witty headings and compact text plus a More About Bones section at the back round out the book.

Bonus:  Add up the number of bones in the human body as you read; you should end up with Jenkins's total (which would be...?).

[Nonfiction Monday is at Mother Reader today.  Thanks, Pam!]

Dave the Potter

I'm looking forward to Dave the Potter by Laban Carrick Hill; illustrated by Bryan Collier (Little, Brown, 2010), and reviewed in today's Shelf Awareness (9/15/2010).  Dave was a 19th-century potter and poet from South Carolina, where he was enslaved for most of his life.  He inscribed some of his pottery with two-line poems, practical ("put every bit all between / surely this jar will hold 14," indicating that the jar would hold 14 gallons) as well as personal ("I wonder where is all my relation / friendship to all--and, every nation").  In any case, reading and writing, even signing his name (which he also did, in beautiful script, "Dave") was forbidden to slaves, making Dave the Potter's work even more powerful and rare.

Hill's text, fittingly, is also a poem about making a pot, crafted of short, strong lines; Bryan Collier's earth-toned watercolor and collage illustrations provide the larger context (the pairing is described in Brown's review as "a glorious collaboration").  The back matter is thorough and includes some of Dave's poems (I quoted my favorites from them) as well as photographs of his work.  You can even peek inside Dave the Potter using BookBrowse.

Grownups like me who want to know more about Dave should try Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of Slave Potter Dave by Leonard Todd (Norton, 2008).  Todd is a descendant of one of Dave's owners; he began his research after finding out about his family's connection to Dave in this New York Times article ("In a slave's pottery, a saga of courage and beauty," 1/30/2000).  Finally, local folk can see an alkaline-glazed stoneware jar made by Dave the Potter in 1862, on display in the Civil War collection at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.

How the Sphinx Got to the Museum, review and giveaway

Most of us only get to see Ancient Egyptian artifacts in museums far from Egypt--like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, which has one of the finest collections of Egyptian art outside of Cairo.  And while there are lots of books for kids about Ancient Egypt, this book answers the question that at least one kid on every school tour is likely to ask:  How the Sphinx Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland (Blue Apple Books, 2010).

Hartland uses the school tour to frame the story of the Sphinx of Hateshepsut's journey over 3,000 years (and 5,000 miles), from the quarry at Aswan where the granite was obtained all the way to the galleries of the Met.  The cumulative story format--think The House that Jack Built--introduces some of the people and professions involved in her journey; on the museum side, those include archaeologists, art movers, curators, conservators, even the registrar, who uses "red oil paint and a teeny, tiny brush" to paint the the official number (31.3.166) on the Sphinx.

These vignettes are fascinating (trust me, kids ask about this sort of thing all the time).  Hartland varies the repetitive parts of the text just enough to keep things interesting; the use of a variety of fonts also helps here.  The ink-and-watercolor illustrations themselves are worth the price of admission, though:  colorful, detailed but not busy, expressive and entertaining (keep an eye on the Sphinx's face throughout).  Hartland worked closely with the staff at the Met, and the book has an authentic museum feel.  N.b., the docent is wearing sensible shoes.

I have an extra copy of How the Sphinx Got to the Museum to give away!  If you'd like to be entered in a random drawing (and you do; it's a gorgeous book), please leave a comment by midnight Monday, September 13.   Bonus entry if you comment with a behind-the-scenes-at-the-museum question you'd like to see answered in picture book form.

[Review copy from Blue Apple Books via Media Masters Publicity.  Thank you!]

Ballet for Martha

Sometimes art is made by one artist, working alone, but sometimes it is the result of artists working together--collaborating--to forge something new.

At this point, I'm just adding my voice to the chorus of praise (including five starred reviews) for Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan's latest collaboration, the picture book Ballet for Martha:  Making Appalachian Spring (illustrated by Brian Floca; Roaring Brook, 2010).  Actually, authors Greenberg and Jordan (Action Jackson, 2002; Christo and Jean-Claude: Through the Gates and Beyond, 2008) also collaborated with Floca and editor Neal Porter (not to mention book designer Jennifer Browne) to an unusual degree in the making of this book; see Booklist's Story Behind the Story (June, 2010) for their process.

Back to the book itself, which is about the collaboration of choreographer Martha Graham, composer Aaron Copland, and artist Isamu Noguchi in the making of Appalachian Spring (link is to a filmed version from 1959; the first performance was on October 30, 1944 at the Library of Congress).  Somehow Ballet for Martha beautifully conveys a Graham-like sense of movement, music, and spaciousness; all qualities that would seem to resist the book form.  It's in the spareness of the text, and the line of the illustrations.  And--a point that has not yet been made, I don't think--it's a book about ballet that's not pink.  No tutu required.

I did wonder who had designed the costumes (Martha Graham herself); an original cast member was able to describe the colors to Floca.  I should note that in the final image, of an imagined performance, the Bride is wearing a pink dress!  It must have been impossible to resist.  The back matter ("Curtain Call") includes brief biographies of Graham, Copland, and Noguchi, each accompanied by a photograph of the artist dating to the 1940s; as well as extensive source notes and bibliography.

Ballet for Martha is a masterpiece--both of them.  Don't miss it!

Urban Animals

No,  not pigeons, rats, or raccoons.  Urban Animals by Isabel Hill (Star Bright Books, 2009) is about animals in architecture, and it works as an introduction to architectural terms (like keystone, column, and bracket), as well as an I Spy book that might inspire you and your kids to look for the animals in your own built environment (or in a nearby city; author and photographer Isabel Hill found all of these animals in New York).

I like the design details of Urban Animals itself:  Colorful cartoon animals correspond to the mostly monochrome architectural ones, and coordinating accents (photo corners on the detail shots, the hand-printed font used for architectural terms) brighten things up.  The rhyming text (it's all in couplets) is relatively utilitarian.  Here's a typical double-page spread:

There's also an Architectural Glossary at the back of the book, helpfully keyed to a line drawing of a city block; and a list of "Animal Habitats" that gives the NYC street address (as well as the architects and construction dates) of the buildings featured in the book.

It's interesting to think about why a particular animal might have been incorporated into a building's design:  the cow on the Sheffield Farms Milk Plant makes sense, and so does my favorite, the squirrel on the Kings County Savings Bank, but what about the alligator on Liberty Tower?

[Local folks, check out the National Building Museum's Calendar of Events for animal sightings in Washington, DC.  I'll let you know if we spot any more!]

Life-Size Zoo

Life-Size Zoo by Teruyuki Komiya (Seven Footer Kids, 2009 for English edition) is better than a trip to the zoo.  There, I said it.  At least when it comes to seeing the animals up close, that is.  An "actual-size animal encyclopedia," Life-Size Zoo is beautifully designed (it's a Japanese import) and illustrated with vivid color photographs of 21 zoo animals.

Each animal gets a double-page spread.  Occasionally two animals share a spread that highlights their similarities and differences; prairie dog and meerkat, hedgehog and armadillo.  There are also a couple of gatefolds (giraffe, elephant, rhinoceros) and vertical layouts: it's a very interactive book.  The standard format looks like this (link is to a PDF of the tiny image below):

Here, the right-hand column gives information about the animal in the photograph (including its name! This tiger is called Baito) and more information about what you can see in the picture ("Time for a Close-Up"), as well as facts to keep in mind when you see the animal at a zoo (note: these are often poop-related).

"Time for a Close-up" is my favorite feature of Life-Size Zoo; it encourages careful looking by asking the reader to notice specific details of the photographs such as, in the case of the tiger, four huge fangs; black lips; thick whiskers on his cheeks, and a short mane all around his face.  I also love the Contents, designed to look like a zoo map, and the endpapers, which include full-body snapshots of the animals in their zoo habitats.  My kids like the little cartoons that illustrate the animal facts, too.

If you like lions or prefer penguins, check out More Life-Size Zoo and Life-Size Aquarium (May and September, 2010).  You might also want to compare Actual Size by Steve Jenkins (Houghton Mifflin, 2004), which is illustrated in his trademark cut and torn paper collage (there's a tiger in it, too).  What's the same or different about the books' content, images, and design?

[Nonfiction Monday is at the SimplyScience Blog this week.  Thanks!]

Look out! Nonfiction Monday is here

Books together is back from a blog break just in time to host Nonfiction Monday.  Now with added Barbarians!

[Barbarians include Goths, Huns, Vikings, and Mongols and are courtesy of author Steven Kroll and illustrator Robert Byrd (Dutton, 2009).  Handsome cover barbarian is Alaric, chief of the Goths and responsible for the sacking of Rome on August 24, 410 ad (ce). Look inside for more on Attila et al.!]

Who are your favorite barbarians?  Or are you loyal to Rome?  Let me know in the comments, and leave a link to your Nonfiction Monday post.  I'll add your links to this post throughout the day.

Early morning edition

Our first vote for Vikings!  Zoe at Playing by the book had a lot of fun writing about some pretty barbaric looking Creatures that glow -- a fantastic book by Anita Ganeri, illustrated by Obin, Roger Stewart and Peter Sarson.

Two posts from Redtedart's Blog this week:  Duckie's Rainbow (and rainbow cookies, yum) and three books about post (mail to US folks).  Thanks, Maggy!

Midmorning

Laura Salas put together a handy chart about nonfiction signings at ALA later this month. Authors/illustrators can add their own signing info, and attendees who want to go to some nf signings will be able to use the chart to figure out who's where at what time!

Shelf-employed is featuring award-winning nonfiction author, Jim Murphy.  Murphy is this year's winner of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for his significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.

Abby the Librarian has a review of If Stones Could Speak: Unlocking the Secrets of Stonehenge by Marc Aronson (and the first vote for the Mongols).  Be sure to check out her lovely new blog layout, too.

The Wild About Nature blog has a review of Little Black Ant on Park Street by Janet Halfmann, from the excellent Smithsonian's Backyard series.

Bookends has two great new dinosaur books this morning: Dinosaur Mountain: Digging Into the Jurassic Age by Deborah Kogan Ray and Born to Be Giants: How Baby Dinosaurs Grew to Rule the World by Lita Judge.  They do look great, and we're overdue for some new dinosaur books around here.

At Lori Calabrese Writes!, Lori reviews National Geographic Kids Almanac 2011. She says it's an amazing book filled to the brim with everything you can think of.

Jennifer is off for another day supervising the sacking of the library by hordes of children, but is in with a quick post on The Hive Detectives at her blog, Jean Little Library.

Brenda posted about a picture book biography of Ted Williams and his .400 season on her blog, proseandkahn.  Speaking of baseball, go Nats!

Jeannine Atkins wrote about the picture book Emma’s Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty by Linda Glaser with paintings by Claire A. Nivola.  It's an insightful analysis, particularly with respect to the representation of 19th century women writers, of a lovely book.

Midafternoon

Shirley wrote about Pika at SimplyScience today.  They're very cute!

Tammy wrote about Black-Canadian history at Apples with Many Seeds.  She recommends three books and is looking for suggestions.

Jeff at NC Teacher Stuff posted about a picture book biography of jazz legend Mary Lou Williams titled The Little Piano Girl, written by Ann Ingalls and Maryann Macdonald and illustrated by [books together favorite] Giselle Potter.  See his comment for a Mongol-related tongue twister that's vintage Calvin and Hobbes, too.

Anna J. chimes in this week with a review of an international picture book/artist at Full of Grace.  I'm always interested in international children's literature, and Sara Fanelli's The Map Book sounds intriguing.

BookMoot issues a "global warning" about Seymour Simon's Global Warming that emphasizes the importance of research, documentation, and sources.

Early evening

At Moms Inspire Learning, Dawn recommends If America Were a Village: A Book about the People of the United States, by David J. Smith. She says, "It's an extremely thought-provoking picture book for the 9-12 age range, and pulls in social studies, science, language arts, and math."

Three Turtles and their Pet Librarian have a "totally cheating but highly enjoyable" review of their favorite comic strip.  Hint:  It stars youth librarians.

Bedtime

Doret of TheHappyNappyBookseller is in with another review of A Little Piano Girl, a biography of jazz artist Mary Lou Williams.  I have a little piano girl of my own and will definitely add this one to our list.

Thanks to everyone who participated in Nonfiction Monday this week!

The Humblebee Hunter by Deborah Hopkinson, for Earth Day

"One summer afternoon Mother and Cook tried to teach me to bake a honey cake."

The narrator of Deborah Hopkinson's The Humblebee Hunter, Inspired by the Life and Experiments of Charles Darwin and his Children (Hyperion, 2010) is Darwin's daughter Henrietta, or Etty.  I suppose I can't blame her for not wanting to be in the kitchen on a summer afternoon (I have a pet peeve about girls in books who are interested in science never liking needlework or cooking).  She is otherwise a wonderful narrator, at first reflective about her father and family's scientific curiosity, and then excited to take part in an experiment--counting the number of flowers a humblebee visits in one full minute--that also gets her out of the kitchen.

Deborah Hopkinson was inspired to write about Darwin's family life by a visit to the Darwin exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History (the image above is of the garden at Down House, where the experiment would have taken place) and The Humblebee Hunter, while technically historical fiction, captures what it must have been like to grow up in the Darwin household.  There's no reason (apart from scary Colony Collapse Disorder) you couldn't observe a humblebee in your own garden, though--I did, and my count was the same as Etty's!

A note about the pictures:  I always adore Jen Corace's work.  Its slight formality is perfectly suited to the period and the story of The Humblebee Hunter, as are its precise and graceful brown ink line and watercolor palette.

Read more about The Humblebee Hunter in Deborah Hopkinson's "Behind the Book" column for BookPage and her post at Wonders and Marvels (my new favorite blog, subtitled "A Community for Curious Minds who love History, its Odd Stories, and Good Reads").  And go humblebee hunting on the next sunny afternoon!  Or, if you're so inclined, bake a honey cake and read this book instead.  Highly recommended.

Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday is at bookstogether today!  This is the first time I've hosted Nonfiction Monday since announcing my new (although not exclusive) focus on art and museum-related children's books, and to celebrate I'm featuring an interview with Bob Raczka, author of The Vermeer Interviews: Conversations with Seven Works of Art (The Millbrook Press, 2009) and many other books about art, the seasons, and poetry.


Please leave a link to your Nonfiction Monday post in the comments, and then check out the interview (and read the book!) to find out more about Vermeer's gossipy milkmaid, among others.  I'll update this post with your links throughtout the day.  Happy Nonfiction Monday!

Early birds

MsMac is in with a review of Becky Levine's book on critique groups at Check It Out.

Mary Ann Scheuer at Great Kid Books is sharing the Wimpy Kid Movie Diary.  She says, "This movie-tie in goes beyond the simple repackaging, and is a fresh look at what it's like to make a movie - interesting info and lots of fun!"

Practically Paradise explores teaching standards with Enslow's series America's National Parks.  "Let's get those students interested in nature and our great parks again."

Zoe at Playing by the Book reviews a cookbook that's great for kids today.  N.b. her five year old daughter has been making dinner from it every Saturday night!

Sarah posted about Dinosaurs Roar, Butterflies Soar at In Need of Chocolate.

Over at Abby (the) Librarian, Abby's got a review of FDR's Alphabet Soup.

Jama has a review of Jill Esbaum's Everything Spring at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup.  By the way, that is the cutest duckling ever.

Angela reviewed Spies of Mississippi at Bookish Blather today.

Jennifer of Jean Little Library reviewed Jane Yolen's new picturebook biography, All Star!

Shirley has The Grand Canyon today at SimplyScience.

The Wild About Nature blog has a review of The Robin Makes A Laughing Sound: A Birder's Journal.  They were also able to interview the author, Sally Wolf.

On Bookends, Cindy and Lynn are reviewing a terrific multi-age picture book, Shake, Rattle & Turn That Noise Down!: How Elvis Shook Up Music, Me and Mom by Mark Stamaty.

Afternoon delight

Today at The Book Nosher Robin is looking at a picture book about Jacob Lawrence.

Jeannine posted Biography Meets Mary Poppins and Peter Pan, which is about knowing a bit about an author before approaching a book.

Launching a week of Russell Freedman at Challenging the Bookworm, Freedom Walkers. Upcoming attractions include Who Was First? and Children of the Great Depression, with a bibliography at the end of the week.

Jen is in with a review of Nubs this week at Jen Robinson's Book Page.

Shelf-employed's post is on Sonia Sotomayor: a judge grows in the Bronx.

This is Lauren's first time participating in Nonfiction Monday (welcome, Lauren!)--she's got a review of Lois Ehlert's Planting a Rainbow at A Boy, A Book and A Dog.

Anna of Lost Between the Pages is in with The Forbidden Schoolhouse.

Anna J. is in with an older post about poet and children's author Michael Rosen at Full of Grace.

Helaine is in with a snort-worthy (her adjective!) post on how to get boys to read in which nonfiction figures prominently:  Get Those Guys Reading!

Nonfiction Monday: The Vermeer Interviews

There's something about Vermeer that speaks to me and, I think, to a lot of people who are familiar with his work.  But he's never spoken to me quite as clearly as the figures in his paintings speak to Bob Raczka in The Vermeer Interviews: Conversations with Seven Works of Art (The Millbrook Press, 2009).  I knew I wanted to feature The Vermeer Interviews at bookstogether, so--naturally--I asked if I might interview Bob himself, and he kindly agreed.  Read on for more about The Vermeer Interviews and Bob Raczka's latest Art Adventures.

Anamaria Anderson (AA):  Bob, your approach to Vermeer’s paintings in this book is so intriguing.  Which came first, the interview format or the subject matter?

Bob Raczka (BR):  Definitely the subject matter. Vermeer is one of my favorite artists, and I had wanted to do a book about him for a long time. I actually wrote four or five different versions before I settled on the interview format. In my slush pile at home, I have a Vermeer alphabet book, a book of cinquain poems about Vermeer, a “house that Jack built” approach to Vermeer, and a “day-in-the-life” version.

Interestingly enough, the idea to interview the paintings came to me when I was reading Ways of Telling by Leonard Marcus, his book of interviews with several children’s book authors.

AA:  What kind of research did you do to prepare for The Vermeer Interviews? Were you able to look at any of the 7 paintings you interviewed in person?

BR:  Unfortunately, I have never seen any of Vermeer’s paintings in person. My “bucket list” includes seeing every Vermeer that still exists.

However, I have read many books about Vermeer–everything from Girl with a Pearl Earring, a fictional account of how that painting came to be, to Vermeer’s Camera, a nonfiction investigation into his use of the camera obscura, an early version of the camera. And I spent a lot of time poring over details of the paintings in those oversized art books you can find at the library.

AA:  Which of the figures was the most forthcoming? Which was the hardest to get to know?  Do you have a favorite?  (I’m partial to The Milkmaid myself.)

BR:  The Milkmaid was very easy to talk to. I get the feeling she likes to gossip. The Geographer was also very forthcoming–a man of science who enjoys sharing his knowledge of the world.

The student in The Music Lesson was very hard to get to know. She seemed shy about her feelings for her tutor.

It’s tough to pick a favorite, but I would have to say Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, The Geographer and The Milkmaid rank at the top of my list.

AA:  I visit the Woman Holding a Balance at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. fairly frequently. Is there anything you would like me to ask her next time I see her?

BR:  First of all, apologize for me. I was limited to seven interviews for my book, and she was not included.

One thing you could ask her is whether or not she is Vermeer’s wife, Catharina. Many art scholars suspect that Catharina was the model for at least a few of the women Vermeer painted, but no one knows for sure.

AA:  The Vermeer Interviews is the 11th book in Bob Raczka’s Art Adventures series, published by The Millbrook Press. Would you tell me a little about some of the recent and forthcoming books in that series?

BR:  Of course. Action Figures: Paintings of Fun, Daring and Adventure, was the 12th, published in the fall of 2009. Designed to appeal to young boys, it features paintings of a boxing match by George Bellows, a cattle stampede by Frederick Remington and a shark attack by John Singleton Copley, among others.

AA:  What a great concept!  I think I know where to find one of those paintings, too [Copley's Watson and the Shark is part of the NGA collection].  What's next?

BR:  Speaking of Art: Colorful Quotes by Famous Painters is being published this spring. For each artist, I pair an interesting quote with a representative work. For example, Paul Klee once said, “A line is a dot that goes for a walk.” Pablo Picasso said, “To draw, you must close your eyes and sing.”

This fall brings Before They Were Famous: How Seven Artists Got Their Start. This book features paintings by Picasso when he was 8, Dali when he was 10 and Michelangelo when he was 12.

AA:  Congratulations!  I understand you also write children’s poetry. Do you have any poetry books forthcoming?

BR:  As a matter of fact, Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys is being published this fall by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It’s illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, of The Dot and Ish fame, and I’m very excited about it.

AA:  Me, too; I'll be sure to look for it in the fall.  Til then, where can readers find more information about you and your books?

BR:  Readers can visit my website at bobraczka.com.

AA:  Thank you so much, Bob, and congratulations again--this looks like an exciting year for you!  I hope you'll keep us posted at bookstogether, too.

Now, inspired by The Vermeer Interviews, I have a few questions of my own for Vermeer's paintings--and for my readers:  Which is your favorite Vermeer?  What might you ask it?