A Book By Any Cover?

Happy Passover! And almost Happy Easter!

I am taking this day to talk about something related to my post last month: art. This month it's about covers, and specifically the covers of two of my books--Celebrate Passover and Celebrate Easter. First of all let me just say this is not some sneaky way of getting you to buy my books. Since Passover has already begun and Easter is just days away, it's too late for this year. If I were a truly savvy marketer I would have written this post a month ago. But I'm not that savvy. Not even slightly. This came about because I took out the books to bring them to the family seder (o.k., just one of the books, guess which one?) and remembered that they changed the covers before they put them in paperback. Can you guess why?

Above is the cover of the hardcover edition of my Passover book.

Below is the cover of the paperback edition, out about a year later:

Why the change?

Here's a hint, by way of my book about Easter. Hardcover:

And the paperback:

First of all, although National Geographic was amazingly great to work with on these books, and I had a lot of input on the photographs inside (Lori Epstein, the photo editor, is a genius, so she didn't need much of my input at all!), they changed the covers without telling me.

That's fine, really it is, because they know what they're doing.

The hardcovers were mainly marketed to grown-ups--teachers, librarians, parents. And the softcovers to kids. So the covers reflect that marketing. This just brings home once again that the job of writers and publishers of children's books is different from the job of those who make books for grown-ups. We are aiming at more than one audience at a time. In this case the wizards at National Geographic decided to kind of split the market with the different editions.

Which makes me wonder, what's next? How will the new technology affect the way publishers design the different editions of our books? Will e-books look different graphically than paper books? What about books for Ipads and Iphones vs books for Kindles and Shmindles? I think this is an especially interesting question for nonfiction books and especially for us--the writers, publishers and gatekeepers of nonfiction for children.

I think this is one of those cases when technology will change the way books are written. We've known for a while that once electronic books are the norm we will no longer need picture books with a certain number of pages. But what about the look of these books, from the covers on in? What do you think?

By the way, I am part of a panel at ALA this summer called the Nonfiction Book Blast. Other I.N.K.ers are on it, too. I wrote a post yesterday for that panel's blog that might interest you. You can go here to see it.

Janis Joplin and Ann Angel

JANIS JOPLIN: RISE UP SINGING by Ann Angel, won the 2011 YALSA Nonfiction Award. “From the cover art and the interior design to the compelling personal narrative, this is a pearl [!] of a book,” said YALSA Nonfiction Award Chair Don Latham.

I was delighted about the award, since I know Ann from Vermont College days and Joplin’s music long before that. (Just the other day I was shopping at Trader Joe’s and Joplin's “A Piece of My Heart” began playing, stopping me in my tracks in the olive oil and pasta aisle) However, I must admit, I was surprised by the award. Not because it’s not a superb book, but considering the ruckus “scrotum” caused a few years ago, how would the public respond to a plentitude of sex, drugs, and rock & roll? To Janis Joplin as YA role model? I asked Ann…..

Why Janis Joplin?

I loved her unique style and powerful, powerful voice. She just blew me away the first time I heard her and, somehow, her story has always broken my heart even as it encouraged me to be an individual. Her independence gave me the courage to be independent and her uniqueness gave me the courage to be me. When I listen to her, the experience is actually visceral in the way I fall into her blues.

What does she offer to young adults today?

I think she's a flawed hero who continues to serve as a role model for teens who are looking for their own talents, unique style, and independence. She also serves as a cautionary tale because of her death.

How did the book come to be?

I've wanted to write Janis's biography for as long as I can remember. At first, I thought she'd be a good chapter in a book about women in rock and roll. But then Susan Van Metre, my editor for Such a Pretty Face, and I were talking and I told her I'd always wanted to write about Janis. She also loved Janis. I wrote a proposal and it was accepted. I had no idea how I was going to obtain new interviews because I'd heard that most family and friends were pretty untrusting of writers who wanted to analyze Janis.

Whom did you interview about her? How close to her – family, friends – did you get?

It took quite awhile, but I managed an off-the-record interview with Laura Joplin [her sister] who said the book was a good idea but didn't want to be included in formal interviews. From there I interviewed photographers who had met Janis, Janis's old bandmates, and her road manager. Much of my interviewing was with guitarist and friend Sam Andrew, and with Janis's good friend and publicist Myra Friedman. Myra herself had written Buried Alive, which chronicles Janis's stardom and struggle with drugs. Myra and I continued to talk with one another in Sunday afternoon telephone conversations long after the interviews were done. She died this past October and I miss hearing from her. She had so many more stories to tell.

How did you decide how much to include?

I was limited to 100 pages by my contract, so that limited me a bit. My editor told me to be honest and thorough, while keeping in mind this is an introduction to Janis for most YA readers. She and I both agreed that I would include the drugs and sex and alcohol and, if it became too heavy-handed, it would be dealt with in editing. I don't think much, if anything, was removed in that way.

Tell me about the photo research.

The pictures took almost two years to research and select. I would contact photographers whose work I had seen, and they would email me with all of their Janis photos. I'd select a few that represented Janis at different periods of her life. The web was an invaluable tool here. Toward the end, I had to fill in periods of time when few photos were taken, or that were only recorded by family who had promised childhood photos, but a change in the estate's management made them too slow in coming. I spent long hours trying to fill those in. Sam Andrew helped a lot with photos he owned. But I also found some of the strongest photos though the Port Arthur Library, the Museum of the Gulf Coast, and the Smithsonian collections.

Did you have input to the book design?

I was fortunate in that Susan, my wonderful editor, asked me what I hoped to see. As I recall, I told her I wanted a book with large images that were woven throughout the book, pages large enough so that the book could be set down and remain open to the photo pages. At one point, I mentioned that I would like to see a collage effect. I'm not sure if that influenced the amazing designer Maria Middleton, or if she came up with the psychedelic collage effect on her own. But I just love it. When I first saw the page designs, I had trouble setting them down and actually found myself petting the pages.

What sort of response have you gotten from young people, teachers, librarians?

High school teachers and librarians who work with teens get it that flawed heroes are important to the teen experience. Janis can do for teens now what she did for many of us back when we listened to her the first time. In my award acceptance speech, I said that I believe Janis has a necessary place in young adult nonfiction. "Who better to show teens that theirs are not the only messy and imperfect lives?" Who better, then, to show hypercritical teens that, despite their own flaws, "they can rise up and become the heroes in their own stories." From the responses I'm getting, almost all extremely positive, teachers, librarians and young people recognize that value.

What was your reaction to winning the YALSA award?

It felt like I was walking with diamonds on the soles of my shoes for at least a month. I still can't believe it! But then I think about Janis. I used to dream about her and she loved the idea of a do-over in my dreams. I think her energy and voice -- both of which have survived over all these years --made this award possible. I'm so grateful to her influence even from the grave. And I'm so grateful to the entire editorial team that loved this book enough to give it their very best.

PS. Ann will answer comments and questions from you on the Comments page.

Breaking News from Ann: "I just learned yesterday that Janis Joplin won the 2010 Council for Wisconsin Writers Kingery/Derleth Book-length Nonfiction Award. As a YA crossover book, I'm pleased that the book was in competition with adult nonfiction, showing that it truly bridges generations. The book is also a CCBC Choices 2011 book in Biography and Autobiography.

GIRL BOOKS, BOY BOOKS, UNISEX... AND MORE

I recently attended an SCBWI workshop in Los Angeles about girl books and boy books. Cecil Castelluci (YA novelist) and Michael Reisman (middle grade sci fi) led the discussions, and everyone in the room had plenty to say about the subject. We talked about girl books, boy books, and “unisex” books. [Unresolved question of the day – without Hermione Granger, would Harry Potter be a boys’ series?]

We’ve all heard the axiom that girls will read books about girls and boys, but boys won’t read about girls, unless the protagonist is a girl in an outdoor/wilderness/dangerous setting and or/surrounded by boys. Hard-core sci fi and thrillers are seen as boys’ books. “Relationship” books about girls are for girls.

Throughout the day, not a word was spoken about nonfiction, but that didn’t stop me thinking about it. Looking at the Sibert award books and the YALSA nonfiction award books this year, (see http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pr.cfm?id=6048) it’s harder to assign gender categories, and it seems to me that nonfiction appears more “unisex” than fiction.

Robert F. Sibert Medal

Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot, by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop; Part of Scientists in the Field series.

Honor Books

Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring, by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, illustrated by Brian Floca (art/music/dance history)

Lafayette and the American Revolution, by Russell Freedman

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults

Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing, by Ann Angel

Finalists

They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement, by Rick Bowers

The Dark Game: True Spy Stories, by Paul Janeczko

Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates, by Jill Rubalcaba and Peter Robertshaw

So,

One for dance/music/art history

Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring, co-authored by our own Jan Greenberg.

Apart from the occasional Billy Elliot, ballet is usually meant for girls, but the composer and set designer were men, and so this book has hooks for girls and boys.

Two for science.

• Kakapo Rescue combines biography, zoology, and conservation. All kids love animals and saving them is a challenge that attracts both genders. Unisex all the way.

• Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates Forensic science, history, mystery, archaeology – the appeal is broad enough for both genders.

Two biographies

• Lafayette and the American Revolution Lafayette - a male subject and war stories: boys like those; but all biographies are about relationships and girls like those.

• Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing – about a girl, but full of sex, drugs, and rock and roll – what’s not to attract any YA?

Three histories

• They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group

• Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement

• The Dark Game: True Spy Stories

All three of these books are multi-faceted: part mystery, part thriller, part civil rights history. The first two books feature men; the third includes women spies as well. The sensationalism of the subject must surely cross the gender line.

I began this posting meaning to discuss the issue of gender in writing nonfiction. But I see that it has morphed into the multi-disciplinary approach that award-winning nonfiction authors are pursuing. Don’t you love it?!

Picture book possibilities

I.N.K. readers may recall the much-discussed NY Times article about how some parents were supposedly pushing children away from picture books and towards chapter books, among other claims. I.N.K.’s own David Schwartz blogged about it recently. As was discussed in the comments section of that post, nonfiction picture books cannot easily be replaced by a chapter book precisely because the images convey so much.

If anyone needs more persuasion regarding the worth of picture books, please check out this article, Expert: Picture Books Still Work for Kids in which Dr. Deborah Pope, executive director of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation discusses why a rush-kids-into-chapter-books strategy may backfire. Included are excellent tips about how to choose a title that is right for a particular child based on his/her learning style, current interests, a book’s potential to inspire, and several other criteria.

In keeping with the current holiday shopping season, here are a few titles that may be perfect for a young reader on your list. Titles are linked to Amazon:

O Christmas Tree: Its History and Holiday Traditions
Written by Jacqueline Farmer
Illustrated by Joanne Friar
Artwork: gouache paintings
Charlesbridge, 2010

Starting with pre-Christian practices in ancient cultures then proceeding through history to modern times, readers can find out the many ways people have used trees for holiday celebrations. A visit to tree farms and information about the different species of evergreens used for Christmas trees is also included.

A video trailer for this title gives a peek at the lovely detailed artwork.

The Twelve Days of Christmas in Georgia
Written by Susan Rosson Spain
Illustrated by Elizabeth O. Dulemba
Artwork: digital
Sterling, 2010

There are fourteen states and two cities (NYC and D.C.) in this series so far by a variety of authors and artists (click here to see the others.) The Georgia story takes Jacob and Ava to the Martin Luther King, Jr. historic site in Atlanta, along the Appalachian Trail, and other regional highlights. Free coloring pages and other activities are available on the illustrator’s web site.

The Grand Adventure: A True Story of Survival and Determination on an Amazing River Journey into the Grand Canyon and Other Canyons of the West
Written by Mark A. and Donna E. Hicks
Illustrated by Mark A. Hicks
Artwork: watercolor and pencil
Published independently in 2010

An adventure unfolds as John Wesley Powell embarks on a 1,000 mile expedition into the uncharted territory of the Grand Canyon in 1869. Interested readers can check out several spreads of the book using the “Look Inside” and “Surprise Me” features on Amazon.

Calico Dorsey: Mail Dog of the Mining Camps
Written by Susan Lendroth
Illustrated by Adam Gustavson
Artwork: oil paintings
Tricycle Press, 2010

Based on the true story of a stray Border collie that became an official U.S. Postal Service letter carrier in California during the 1880’s. A photo of the real dog, Dorsey, who delivered mail to the town of Calico is included.

Off Like the Wind! The First Ride of the Pony Express
Written by Michael P. Spradlin
Illustrated by Layne Johnson
Artwork: oil paintings
Walker Books, 2010

In 1860 a rider started out from Missouri on the way to deliver mail overland for the first time to the West. It took eleven days and many riders braving harsh conditions and wild animals to accomplish the feat. An excerpt and reading guide are available on the author’s website.

Draw Plus Math
Written and illustrated by Freddie Levin
Artwork: colored pencils and digital
Peel Productions, 2010

This step-by-step drawing guide incorporates math concepts including counting, addition/subtraction, sets, patterns, graphs, and much more in an appealing way. The activities are based on the standards developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (I wish a book like this had been around when I was in elementary school!)

Baby Owl’s Rescue
Written by Jennifer Keats Curtis
Illustrated by Laura Jacques
Artwork: acrylic painting with digital enhancements
Sylvan Dell, 2009

A fictional story about two children who find a young owl displaced by a storm conveys accurate information about how animals can be aided by a wildlife rehabilitator. Included are facts about great horned owls, suggestions about how to proceed if you find an injured bird. The publisher’s web site has more resources including teaching activities, related web sites, and online quizzes.

All of the above books were illustrated by members of the Picture Book Artists Association, which I also belong to. Happy reading and happy holidays to all!

Serendipity

Almost ten years ago I met the writer/illustrator Debra Frasier at a Children’s Literature Festival in Idaho. She told me that one of her greatest moments in her life was narrating her picture book “On the Day You Were Born” accompanied by a full symphony
orchestra. Standing at the podium, hearing the music surrounding her, she said, was an extraordinary experience. I must admit I was a little jealous. I mean I could do that. Stand up there and read one of my books. I could listen to the sound of violins and cellos and flutes washing over me. How wonderful would that be? Alas I hadn’t written a book that would qualify for such a thing. But from time to time I thought about Debra and her story. Remembering it gave me a vicarious thrill.

So you can imagine my excitement when, by chance, I found myself on a plane seated next to David Robinson, the musical director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Sandra Jordan and I were just finishing the third or fourth draft of Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring. David and I chatted about the book and the music. He could actually hum the whole score, which Aaron Copland had composed for Martha Graham’s dance first performed in 1944, when America had entered WWII. Isamu Noguchi had designed the sets. It was a great collaboration between choreographer, composer, and artist. I told David we were having trouble describing the last, lingering notes of the music. “They seem to ask ‘What will happen tomorrow?’ ” David said. Yes! I mentioned that I had a vision of the text narrated with illustrations, accompanied by the music. I wanted the book to make a contribution to family concerts, a modern alternative to Peter and the Wolff. I wanted to stand up like Debra and hear the full orchestra playing behind me. (I didn’t tell David that part of it.)

He was enthusiastic about the idea, as one of his interests is showing audiences the way the arts interconnect. Two years from that serendipitous meeting, Ballet for Martha was presented with the St. Louis Symphony performing Appalachian Spring. Brian Floca’s illustrations appeared on an overhead screen. We were all there, Sandra, Brian, and our editor Neal Porter. It was exhilarating! In November there will be four performances for younger audiences of Appalachian Spring, along with the narration and images from Ballet for Martha. I guess you’re wondering if I will be up there narrating. Well, no. David, himself, will read excerpts from the text with the images overhead. The orchestra will play fragments of the music as they relate to the story, followed by the complete symphony. As for me, I’ll be sitting happily in the first row with my grandchildren and humming along. But I’m working on the next performance, which will be in Aspen, Colorado next summer. Maybe that will be my big chance!!!

Come on Barbie, Let's Go Party!

My post this month is going to be a tad different than usual because I firmly believe that every milestone in this tough business of ours should be celebrated—and that’s exactly what I did last night. Celebrate.

You may think that nonfiction books and a rockin’ party don’t go together—but you would be wrong! Last night was the official launch party for my new book The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie: A Doll’s History and Her Impact on our Culture. And let me tell you, people were In the House to celebrate nonfiction!

The place: Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne, Vermont.
The time: 7:30 p.m. on a Wednesday evening.
The crowd: SRO!



Even after a long day of working, shuttling kids to play rehearsals and soccer games, nonfiction aficionados showed up to usher in this newest addition to the Dewey Decimal shelves. There were parents, teachers, librarians, and kids armed with questions (as well as a few Barbie dolls). Who says nonfiction is dead? Phooey!

On hand were Karen Pike--the photographer I hired for the bulk of the interior images--and Peter Harrigan--the theatre professor/Barbie collector who made the photos possible.

The questions from the audience were fabulous. We talked about writing process, how do you know when it’s time to stop your research, and the many, many cultural questions that come up when people start to talk about Barbie.

The question I addressed first seems to be the most frequent and obvious one surrounding the publication of this book. The question posed to me, in its many forms, always comes from this place: “YOU wrote a book about Barbie? Really? Barbie? You?”

Although I actually anticipated and dreaded this questions several months ago, now I really enjoy it. Why? Because the question is at the heart of why any nonfiction writer (any writer, really) chooses to write about a topic—and why they are the right person to tackle it. It opens up all kinds of avenues for thought and discussion.

Yes, I often write what might be called feminist books, or books that have at the heart of them a desire to empower girls. And yes, on the surface, the topic of Barbie seems at odds with that. But that’s what’s so fantastic about immersing yourself in a topic of nonfiction, looking at the back story, discovering the who, what, why, where, and when of a topic, looking at it from all sides and ultimately synthesizing an understanding of it.

I won’t give away what my conclusions are, lest I be accused of treading into Spoiler territory. But I will tell you that every time I answer the question of “Why, why, why, would YOU of all people choose to write about Barbie?” I am rewarded with the facial changes, head nodding, and verbal feedback that indicate I have made a connection with my audience. I have expressed myself. I have initiated a thought process out in the world that leads to discussion.

This is why I write nonfiction. And THAT is definitely something to celebrate.

So come on Barbie, let’s go party!

Time for prehistory

My earliest memories of learning about the prehistoric era include an orange plastic Triceratops and the Flintstones. A few years later when a set of Time Life books about paleontology appeared on our shelves at home, the real story began to take shape in my mind. We didn’t have much instruction on the topic during my years at school, but I kept a casual interest going over the years by reading an article or book here and there.

When my longtime editor, Margery Cuyler at Marshall Cavendish Children, suggested doing a book of dinosaur jokes, that seemed like a fun project. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what happened, but let’s just say things escalated a bit. After browsing through a few books, it became clear that I had missed out on a lot of wonderful fossil discoveries and insights made in recent years. (For a post about some of the resources used, click here.) 

An aspect that jumped out at me was the number of books available and what topics are covered. Here are some very simple “infographics” to illustrate. In general, most nonfiction (and fiction) books take place within the context of recorded history, right?

Fine, now let‘s compare the quantity of Prehistoric time vs. Historic time:

Obviously these are not mathematically accurate proportions, but it conveys the idea. Prehistory is far bigger than History, in terms of the sheer number of years.

Then, when we look only at prehistoric time, the dinosaurs showed up 250–200 million years ago, then dominated the Earth for a relatively small chunk of Earth’s entire 4.5 billion years (minus 65 million years since the asteroid fell.)

However, when we look at the actual books written about prehistoric topics for children, it looks more like this:

This is my (perhaps long-winded) way of saying that there are a heck of a lot of books about dinosaurs, but the rest of prehistory? Not so much. I felt compelled to include the whole shebang in my book, or at least the highlights that would fit into a mere 48 pages. Without any further ado, here is my fall book, My Teacher Is a Dinosaur and Other Prehistoric Poems, Jokes, Riddles, & Amazing Facts...

It begins with the newly-formed Earth under a hail of comets and asteroids, then deluged by millions of years of rain. The next spread shows the era of volcanoes, huge tides, and a moon so large it would almost require sunglasses (moonglasses?) Life appears in the form of microorganisms, with cyanobacteria being the most important because they made oxygen. Many pages and many incredibly diverse lifeforms later, the book winds up in the Ice Age.


Along the way, each spread has cinquain poems and/or longer rhyming verses, silly but topical jokes, riddles in the form of limericks, fun facts, and of course, full-color artwork of the fantastic array of plants and animals that once populated this planet, or in some cases still do. (Such as the coonties growing in our yard, a cycad plant whose ancestors grew during the Permian period.)

The poems include:
The Bad Old Days
Plant Pioneers
The Fish That Wanted Legs
Reptiles on the March
How to Stay Alive
Did Hadrosaurs Quack?
Doodlesaurus
A Warning from the Mammals


About the poem My Teacher is a Dinosaur...there was some opposition from the publisher about using it for the book’s title (too young? too insulting?) so just to be sure I read it aloud to a group of reading teachers. My editor did the same, and both groups overwhelmingly urged us to keep this title, so yay! While I intended the title to sound a little subversive, the poem itself negates the idiomatic meaning of dinosaur (i.e. old or outmoded) and favorably compares teachers to various dinosaurs. The first couple of lines should make it clear:

My teacher is a dinosaur, but I’m not sure which one—
could she be Gallimimus, who was always on the run?...


It took much more time to create this book than I originally expected, but (with all due modesty) it turned out to be unique, entertaining, and informative. My hope is that it will entice reluctant readers to explore its pages as well as enlarge the perspective of dinosaur-loving kids (aren’t they all?) For a peek at a spread featuring Brachiosaurus and Archaeopteryx, click here. To preview and download a coloring page of Allosaurus, click here.

Happy back to school, everyone!

Interactivity Is as Old as Ancient Greece

Before there were interactive video games, or choice on a computer of alternative endings to a story, or the ability to download your own play-list of songs there was a simple verbal way to invite thought and interactivity---namely, the question. Asking interesting, thought provoking questions is one of the most effective ways to educate according to Socrates, who lived almost 2500 years ago. The Socratic method of inquiry was supposed to produce critical thinking as well as alter incorrect perceptions in the pursuit of real knowledge. “Socrates once said, ‘I know you won't believe me, but the highest form of Human Excellence is to question oneself and others.’” Such questions are the basis of the law and of science as well as education.

Kids ask a lot of questions, often to the point of annoyance. What are the reasons for these questions? Sometimes it’s to get a response from an inattentive adult, sometimes it’s to verify something they already know is true, sometimes it’s because of real curiosity. Often, in school, it’s to get an answer quickly and easily because there is a test coming up. And when this last kind of question gets the quick answer, what happens? The inquiry stops dead. That was not Socrates’ intention.

My new book, What’s the BIG Idea? Amazing Science Questions for the Curious Kid is an attempt to honor the question itself, before rushing into an answer. I explain in the introduction that a “BIG Idea” is one that has no quick or easy answer and that there are four BIG ideas in this book: motion, energy, matter and life. Science tackles big ideas. How? The same way you eat an elephant, one bite at a time and each bite is a question. Sometimes the question can seem really dumb. So each question in the book is a double page spread with an illustration of kids making editorial comments on the question. The idea is to get the reader to really think about the question before turning the page and launching into an explanation that ultimately contributes to understanding a fundamental scientific principle.

Here is the art for the first question about motion: Why does a rolling ball stop rolling?

Why is the question so important to learning? Because it gives the student time to pause, to prepare for an answer, to suggest hypotheses to him/herself. Questions even work well in speeches because they keep an audience engaged. Even if one person is doing all the talking, answering one’s own questions makes a speech more conversational—more of a two-way street. The emphasis on testing in schools today produces a culture that is too answer-oriented. There is such finality to an answer. Some answers simply discourage any further inquiry but for many people there is discomfort in not-knowing an answer. Didactic systems that provide all the answers are anti-intellectual and suppress curiosity but their comfort zone creates illusion of safety and an excuse for mental laziness. Children and scientists both enjoy “dancing with mystery.” And that's what I hope to encourage that with this book.

One last thing, I’ve made a video promoting What's the BIG Idea? and it’s located here.

Exploring the thing that makes the light bulbs glow

Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, so it’s nice to be able to talk about The Shocking Truth about Energy (I just received my copies last week.) The characters include a lightning bolt named Erg and a gaggle of household appliances, toys, and tools. With their help, young readers learn how energy can change into many different forms such as heat, light, or electricity. To begin with, kids find out that their own bodies can convert the energy embedded in fuel (food) into motion via muscle power. 

A power plant burning coal to generate electricity is shown, then various sources of energy are discussed from fossil fuels to nuclear power to solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and plant-based (i.e. biofuels) in colorful spreads. 

Included are simple explanations of how prehistoric plants and algae became fossil fuels, how atoms are split to release heat, plus multiple ways to capture energy from the Sun, water, and green plants. 

One of the most important aspects of this project to me was to include both the positive aspects of each power source as well as the downsides. For example, the good news about fossil fuels is that they are a very concentrated form of energy. The bad news is that they cause pollution, are not renewable, and contribute to climate change (an abbreviated list, by necessity.) The next spread explains how the extra carbon dioxide from fossil fuels causes global warming, and shows the negative results such as higher sea levels, drought, more wildfires, and habitat loss.

Since no energy source is devoid of drawbacks, the final few pages include energy-saving tips because efficiency is one of the largest resources we have. As Erg says, when you save ENERGY, you also save the Earth! A question posed in the end notes asks Does it matter if one kid tries to save energy? Most people agree that it matters a great deal for each one of us, and my hope is that this book can be part of the solution.

An excellent online resource for kids and teachers on this topic (one of several listed in the book) is the Energy Information Administration’s web site for students, Energy Kids.

The Birth of a Blockhead

This month, I happily cede my space on this blog to a friend and former Scholastic colleague, Joe (Joseph) D'Agnese, in honor of the upcoming publication of his long-awaited picture book, Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci (Holt BYR) on March 30. Enjoy!

--Sue Macy

I have a confession to make. I don't belong here. I wanted to write a nonfiction book, honest, but something got the better of me: a divine being more powerful than us all.

In 1996, I was floundering with a manuscript on the life of the medieval mathematician Leonardo of Pisa, better known as Fibonacci. Leonardo helped convert Europe from I-II-III to 1-2-3, and bequeathed to us the world's most important nonentity: zero. Without it, we'd have no concept of place value. He is best known for a problem about multiplying rabbits, and the number pattern derived from it called the Fibonacci Sequence.

My dilemma was two-fold: First, Leonardo never knew that Fibonacci numbers recur in nature. Either I wrote about Fibonacci or I wrote about the Sequence. I had trouble unifying the two because it didn't happen that way.

Second, facts on Leonardo's life are sparce: He grew up in Pisa, sailed to Algeria to keep his merchant father's accounts, and later traveled the world studying mathematics. A few of his math tomes have survived, but they tell us little of his internal life. To write a picture book about him, one ought to know what made him tick.

What, I wondered, drives a person to chase numbers across the seas?

I was intrigued by Leonardo's Latin nickname, Bigollus. A funny name could make a good book title, but I couldn't find an authoritative translation. The Fibonacci Association offered an expert. I dreaded making that call. I'm not a mathematician. Indeed, who was I to write such a book?

Herta Taussig Freitag, a professor emeritus of mathematics, took the call in Virginia. She had a thick German accent, and proved to be a delightful, friendly, patient person who was tickled to be speaking with a (then) editor of a math magazine for children. She had wanted to be a teacher of mathematics since age 12. We had a long chat, and she reassured me that no one was satisfied with the translation of Fibonacci's nickname. It could mean "wanderer," "daydreamer," or "absent-minded." The words seemed in line with modern stereotypes of academics.

Days later, a note from the professor came in the mail. "As I have said over the phone," it read in part, "I feel like praising you and thanking you for doing such valuable service to our Goddess Mathesis!"

The note cheered me. Mathesis is a feminine divine creature said to inspire math scholars. She inspired me now: What if Fibonacci knew the secret of his famous numbers all along? What if this book was in fact his sly manifesto written only for children?

I've never told anyone the secret of my numbers, he could say, but now I've told you.

Having Fibonacci speak directly to the reader could make the book playful. Kids--not to mention a certain octogenarian academic--might like it. The manuscript came together nicely, and a year or so later, Holt offered to publish it. I called it Blockhead. An illustrator got to work on the sketches. I phoned the professor to tell her the news. It had been a while since our first talk, and her fragile voice spoke volumes. I rang off, apologizing for disturbing her. She and I never spoke again. She died in 2000 at the age of 91.

Soon after, the book became a problem project, dragging on for years with little progress. Finally, the illustrator quit, forcing us to start from scratch. All told, the book took fourteen years to come to fruition. I was frustrated and angry, but now consider myself fortunate. I had time to polish the prose, understand my hero, and learn about the woman who brought Mathesis to my doorstep.

Professor Freitag had earned a degree in mathematics in Austria, but fled her homeland after Hitler's invasion. For six years, she put her dream of teaching on hold while working as a domestic in England, angling for a visa to the USA. She finally came by freighter. She earned her PhD at Columbia University at age 45. She built the math department at Hollins University in Roanoke, and for decades inspired young women. She published papers well into her last decade, gave a "last lecture" for 20 years, and never missed a meeting of the Fibonacci Association. (This color photo of her was taken in Lucca, Italy, during a conference at Leonardo's hometown, Pisa.)

How can I complain about a book's long genesis? Imagine leaving your home forever, and putting your career on hold for six years while you worked as a chambermaid. How many of us would have given up? Yet she clung to her passion.

With time I came to understand him through her. A young boy boards a medieval ship and sets sail on a journey to a faraway land. A young woman steps on a freighter bound for New York with only $10 in her purse. I picture them both and know they are plying the seas toward something only they can hear: the ancient call of Mathesis.

I now believe that Mathesis speaks to us all. She is Passion, Inspiration, Imagination, and she strikes young and old alike. Hand a book to a child and you never know what will enchant them. With her voice in their ears, some kids chase math, others art, still others music, rocks, dance, nuclear physics, whatever. She goes by various names, but she is the same goddess.

You can download a bibliography of other Fibonacci books for kids and a Fibonacci scavenger hunt on the teacher page of Joe's website.

Illustrating nature

How do artists go about envisioning the natural world for their books? This month’s post again features some of my colleagues from the Picture Book Artists Association. To read the previous related post, please click here.

Author-illustrator Karen Patkau’s Creatures Yesterday and Today pairs prehistoric animals with their modern descendants. For a view of a spread that shows the vibrant artwork, visit Karen’s web site. As can be true of many ideas, it was easier said than done. She found that it became more like “The History of LIfe on Earth in 32 Pages”... a challenge indeed. For example, soft-bodied jellyfish did not much fossil evidence behind, so it was hard to find a reliable specimen to include (she chose Rhizostomites.) She consulted experts, who didn’t agree about whether Anomalocaris was truly a crustacean, which forced her to find a different animal. 

Other issues that arose included how to render the scales, feathers, or fur that a critter may have worn. Karen asks, “Did saber-toothed cat Smilodon have striped or spotted fur for camouflage? Did ‘terror bird’ Phorusrhacos blend in with the background or sport colorful plumage to attract a mate? Decisions to portray animal coverings in a certain way were a blend of research, common sense, and artistic license.” The settings were important, too, which required an education in paleobotany. Readers will certainly enjoy seeing how ancient creatures match up with their living relatives.

Speaking of Anomalocaris... crustacean or not, it makes an appearance in a recently-finished book of mine. Like Karen, I immersed myself in the prehistoric world for this project, digging through numerous resources to find just the right species to fit into the sequence of events. For example, here is an in-depth site about the “anomalous shrimp” by biologist Sam Gon lll, complete with the body plans of several species of this giant-for-its-time predator. My Teacher is a Dinosaur begins about 4.5 billions years ago with the formation of Earth, so there was quite a bit of ground to cover. To be released next fall, I’ll chat more about the book in a future post.

Ocean Soup: Tide Pool Poems was written by Stephen R. Swinburne and illustrated by Mary Peterson. She says, “Before I began illustrating, I visited every tide pool between Santa Barbara and San Diego. I needed to feel like I knew the habitat as well as my own living room. It’s a mysterious ecosystem and a rough one, so these creatures are strong, adaptive and clever, especially at hiding.” She dodged high tides, endured cold, wet weather, and climbed over slippery rocks while being careful not to step on her models. Reference photos and online resources were helpful, but she found that her on-location sketches were the most useful.

The book has fictional elements such as singing and dancing, which can be especially difficult to depict for animals without legs, arms, or eyes. She aimed to give the characters a degree of personality to suit the poems. Another consideration was the “gruesome factor” such as a crab that snips off a starfish’s arm in one poem. That kind of everyday fact of tide pool life is a challenge to illustrate for grades 1–3 without being gross, she explains.

Lastly, here is a glimpse of a work in progress written and illustrated by Stephen Aitken. This is a detail of a sketch for one of a 6-book series on climate change; Fever in the Oceans will explore the impact of climate change on the marine environment. The entire sketch plus several others with dolphins, sharks, whales, and more can be seen on Stephen’s blog. 

The sketch was drawn with pen and ink, then further developed in Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter. Though it has no color yet, the artwork already promises to both attractive and effective in addressing such an important topic. The books are scheduled to be released in the fall of 2011 by ABDO Publishing. 

While putting in very long hours to research and illustrate the prehistoric life in my own project, one thought kept occurring to me... although it was a lot of work to create the artwork depicting these animals, it was also a great privilege to be able to do so. I’m certain that my fellow artists feel the same way.