A Celebration of the Arts

As I look back over the last five years of posts by I.N.K. bloggers, I’ve discovered what I suspected all along, which is that this group has covered in our books for young readers an astonishing variety of non-fiction subjects, ranging from biographies of the famous to the obscure to great and small moments in history, from science and math, to inventions, food, and the environment to the wild and wacky. The list is endless. Along with these books we’ve shared our back stories, challenges, classroom activities, some pet peeves and we’ve recommended lists of excellent non-fiction books by other authors. Today, in celebration of us, since the work I do concentrates on the arts, I’d like to offer an I.N.K. blogger feast of books that do the same in dance, music, and visual arts. Since I haven’t read all of them, I’ve  researched reviews and descriptions on Amazon.com and will include some excerpts here.

The Young Musician’s Survival Guide: Tips from Teens and Pros

by Amy Nathan

Learning to play an instrument can be fun and, at times, frustrating. This lively, accessible book helps young people cope with the difficulties involved in learning a new instrument and remaining dedicated to playing and practicing. In this revised and expanded edition, Amy Nathan has updated the book to address today's more technologically-minded young musician. Expanded sections cover the various ways students can use technology to assist in mastering an instrument and in making practice time more productive, from using the Internet to download pieces to be learned and playing along with downloaded tunes to practicing with computer-based practice programs, CDs, and videos/DVDs of musical performances. The book's updated Resource Guide suggests where to get additional help, both online and off.

Meet the Dancers: From Ballet, Broadway and Beyond

By Amy Nathan

Lots of kids enjoy dancing, but what motivates them to push past the sore muscles, early-morning technique classes, and crazy schedule required to become a professional dancer? In this book, dancers from many backgrounds talk about their different paths to success in ballet, modern, jazz, Broadway, and hiphop.

They also share advice and helpful tips, such as:  
 practice interpreting the music and the mood of a movement, even when you’re doing a standard warm-up exercise
• try to be in the front row at auditions so you can see what’s going on and so the judges know you’re eager to be seen

Clara Schumann Piano Virtuoso

By Susanna Reich

A piano prodigy, Clara Schumann made her professional debut at the age of nine and had embarked on her first European concert tour by the time she was twelve. Clara charmed audiences with her soulful playing throughout her life. Music was a constant source of inspiration and support for this strong and resilient woman. After the death of her husband, Robert Schumann, Clara continued her brilliant career and supported their eight children. Clara Schumann's extraordinary story is supplemented with her letters and diary entries, some of which have never before been published in English. Gorgeous portraits and photographs show the members of Clara's famous musical community and Clara herself from age eight to seventy-six. Index, chronology.

Painting the Wild Frontier: The Art and Adventures of George Catlin

By Susanna Reich

George Catlin is one of America’s best-known painters, famous for his iconic portraits of Native Americans. He spent much of his life in the wilderness, sketching and painting as he traveled. A solo trek across 500 miles of uncharted prairie, an expedition to the Andes, harrowing encounters with grizzly bears and panthers, and tours of the royal palaces of Europe were among his many adventures. In an era when territorial expansion resulted in the near annihilation of many indigenous cultures, George Catlin dedicated himself to meeting and writing about the native peoples of the western hemisphere. With his “Indian Gallery” of paintings and artifacts, he toured the United States and Europe, stirring up controversy and creating a sensation.
Award-winning author Susanna Reich combines excerpts from Catlin’s letters and notes with vivid depictions of his far-flung travels. Generously illustrated with archival prints and photos and Catlin’s own magnificent paintings, here is a rollicking, accessible biography that weaves meticulously researched history into a fascinating frontier and jungle adventure story.

Jose! Born to Dance: The Story of Jose Limon

By Susanna Reich

José was a boy with a song in his heart and a dance in his step. Born in Mexico in 1908, he came into the world kicking like a steer, and grew up to love to draw, play the piano, and dream. José's dreaming took him to faraway places. He dreamed of bullfighters and the sounds of the cancan dancers that he saw with his father. Dance lit a fire in José's soul.
With his heart to guide him, José left his family and went to New York to dance. He learned to flow and float and fly through space with steps like a Mexican breeze. When José danced, his spirit soared. From New York to lands afar, José Limón became known as the man who gave the world his own kind of dance.
¡OLÉ! ¡OLÉ! ¡OLÉ!
Susanna Reich's lyrical text and Raúl Colón's shimmering artwork tell the story of a boy who was determined to make a difference in the world, and did. José! Born to Dance will inspire picture book readers to follow their hearts and live their dreams.

Sandy’s Circus: A Story about Alexander Calder

By Tanya Lee Stone and Boris Kulikov

As a boy, Alexander (Sandy) Calder was always fiddling with odds and ends, making objects for friends. When he got older and became an artist, his fiddling led him to create wire sculptures. One day, Sandy made a lion. Next came a lion cage. Before he knew it, he had an entire circus and was traveling between Paris and New York performing a brand-new kind of art for amazed audiences. This is the story of Sandy’s Circus, as told by Tanya Lee Stone with Boris Kulikov’s spectacular and innovative illustrations. Calder’s original circus is on permanent display at the Whitney Museum in New York City.

A Look at Cubism

By Sneed Collard

Cubism was one of the most influential visual art styles of the early twentieth century. The Cubist painters rejected the inherited concept that art should copy nature, or that they should adopt the traditional techniques of perspective. Picasso and Braque, the pioneers of Cubist painting are highlighted in this title, as well as the evolution of the Cubist art form. This title will allow students to distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.

A Listen to Patriotic Music

By Sneed Collard

Patriotic music helps us feel pride for our country. The songs bring a unity and sense of togetherness to the people who live there. Written for many different reasons, and sung everywhere from baseball games to presidential elections, this title lists examples of some of our country's most cherished patriotic songs and information on the people and events that inspired them. This title will allow students to explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.

Books by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan

The Mad Potter: George E. Ohr Eccentric Genius

Age Level: 7 - 11 | Grade Level: 2 - 6

When George Ohr's trove of pottery was discovered in 1967, years after his death, his true genius was discovered with it. The world could finally see how unique this artist really was! Born in 1856 in Biloxi, Mississippi, George grew up to the sounds of the civil war and political unrest. When he was 22, his boyhood friend introduced him to the pottery wheel. The lost young man suddenly found his calling.

"When I found the potter's wheel I felt it all over like a duck in water." 
He started creating strangely crafted pots and vases, expressing his creativity and personality through the ceramic sculptures. Eventually he had thousands at his fingertips. He took them to fairs and art shows, but nobody was buying these odd figures from this bizarre man. Eventually he retired, but not without hiding hundreds of his ceramics. Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, authors of the award winning Ballet for Martha,  approach this colorful biography with a gentle and curious hand.

Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring (Illustrated by Brian Floca)

Martha Graham : trailblazing choreographer, Aaron Copland : distinguished American composer, and Isamu Noguchi : artist, sculptor, craftsman  Award-winning authors Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan tell the story behind the scenes of the collaboration that created APPALACHIAN SPRING, from its inception through the score’s composition to Martha’s intense rehearsal process. The authors’ collaborator is two-time Sibert Honor winner Brian Floca, whose vivid watercolors bring both the process and the performance to life.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Through The Gates and Beyond

In 1981 two artists -- Christo and Jeanne-Claude -- proposed an installation in New York’s Central Park that would span twenty-three miles. They received a 185-page response from the Parks Department that could have been summed up in one single word: “no.” But they persisted. This biography of contemporary artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude is a story of the power of collaboration, and vision, and of the creation of the spectacular Gates and other renowned artworks.Christo and Jeanne-Claude is a 2003 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Action Jackson (Illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker)

One late spring morning the American artist Jackson Pollock began work on the canvas that would ultimately come to be known as Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist).
Award-winning authors Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan use this moment as the departure point for a unique picture book about a great painter and the way in which he worked. Their lyrical text, drawn from Pollock's own comments and those made by members of his immediate circle, is perfectly complemented by vibrant watercolors by Robert Andrew Parker that honor his spirit of the artist without imitating his paintings.

Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist

 Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist was named a Robert F. Sibert Honor book by the ALA. This is the enthralling biography of the nineteenth-century Dutch painter known for pioneering new techniques and styles in masterpieces such as Starry Night and Vase with Sunflowers. The book cites detailed primary sources and includes a glossary of artists and terms, a biographical time line, notes, a bibliography, and locations of museums that display Van Gogh’s work. It also features a sixteen-page insert with family photographs and full-color reproductions of many of Van Gogh’s paintings. Vincent Van Gogh was named an ALA Notable Book and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and has been selected as a Common Core State Standards Text Exemplar (Grades 6–8, Historical/Social Studies) in Appendix B.

Andy Warhol: Prince of POP

The Campbell’s Soup Cans. The Marilyns. The Electric Chairs. The Flowers. The work created by Andy Warhol elevated everyday images to art, ensuring Warhol a fame that has far outlasted the 15 minutes he predicted for everyone else. His very name is synonymous with the 1960s American art movement known as Pop.
But Warhol’s oeuvre was the sum of many parts. He not only produced iconic art that blended high and popular culture; he also made controversial films, starring his entourage of the beautiful and outrageous; he launched Interview, a slick magazine that continues to sell today; and he reveled in leading the vanguard of New York’s hipster lifestyle. The Factory, Warhol’s studio and den of social happenings, was the place to be.
Who would have predicted that this eccentric boy, the Pittsburgh-bred son of Eastern European immigrants, would catapult himself into media superstardom? Warhol’s rise, from poverty to wealth, from obscurity to status as a Pop icon, is an absorbing tale—one in which the American dream of fame and fortune is played out in all of its success and its excess. No artist of the late 20th century took the pulse of his time—and ours—better than Andy Warhol.

Who was The Mad Potter of Biloxi?

 

Back in the 1980’s an art dealer in L.A.  invited me to see his collection of pottery by an artist named George Ohr, who had died in obscurity in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1918.  “Ohr called himself The Mad Potter,” my friend told me. “The ceramics establishment thought his personality, as well as his pottery, were too flamboyant. He was ahead of his time.” Fascinated by the Arts and Crafts Movement, I had started my own modest collection of green matte pottery from that era, which I found at various flea markets, “antique” malls and junk stores. But I’d never seen anything quite like the crinkled, wrinkled, distorted, abstract pots by George Ohr that lined the shelves of this man’s study. I ended up buying a small mug with a metallic glaze and a whimsical snake wrapped around it.

 

A few years later when Sandra Jordan and I began writing books together, we often took breaks by going on what we called “field trips.” Museums, galleries, movies, plays, bookstores, gardens, restaurants, even a party or two constituted these forays away from the computer, out of the study.  Wandering around flea markets or antique stores were favorite outings.  Sandra was on the lookout for glass fan vases, while I hunted green pots. In Lambertville, NY, after a presentation at a Children’s Literature Festival, we stopped by David Rago’s gallery and discovered we both were fans of George Ohr’s pottery.

And so the years went by, as we wrote twelve books on the arts and settled into a collaboration that sometimes makes us behave like an old married couple. At an ALA conference in New Orleans several years ago, a field trip in and of itself, we had a free day between an award ceremony and a panel, and decided to drive to nearby Biloxi, Mississippi, where the architect Frank Gehry (we’d written a book about him) had designed a museum in honor of George Ohr.  It had been leveled in 2005 by a gambling barge that had been lifted off its’ moorings during hurricane Katrina.

 

The Gehry museum buildings finally were in the process of being rebuilt. We’d been invited for a hardhat tour. There we discovered through vintage photographs and reference books that not only were George Ohr’s pots wild and interesting but so was his life.

 

Then there were coincidences, besides our shared interest, along with Frank Gehry, in Ohr’s work. When we researched Andy Warhol’s life for Prince of POP, we discovered Andy collected Ohr pots. Here is a photo of some pieces that were in his house in New York City.

 

 

 The artist Jasper Johns collects Ohr pots and even reproduces them into his paintings.

 

Now The Mad Potter: George E. Ohr Eccentric Genius is out and people are saying Who? Who is George Ohr? It seems like a remarkable turn of events to find out that he died in 1918, mostly unappreciated, and more than fifty years later was heralded  America’s most important turn of the century potter.  A tale of redemption for an artist, who, like Van Gogh, believed passionately in his own talent, worked hard, and finally received the attention he deserved.

 

FYI: If anyone happens to be in Pittsburg, visit the Carnegie International art exhibit, where a French artist, Pierre Leguillon, has created an amazing artwork, a vitrine filled with photos of George Ohr and pieces of his ceramics, placed on a sandy surface, perhaps a nod to the beaches of Biloxi. 

 

In Biloxi, Mississippi,  visit to the Ohr/ O’Keefe  Museum of Art  designed by Frank Gehry. https://www.georgeohr.org/

Common Core Connections: In the Classroom

The Common Core State Standards, voluntarily adopted by more than 45 states, is, according to Joel Klein, former chancellor of the New York City public schools, “one of the most promising education initiatives of the past half century.”  For those of us who write nonfiction, it is an opportunity to not only continue to write books that provide students with knowledge and inspiration but also to share with teachers ways that our books can be used in the classroom. Here are some suggestions for implementing the Common Core standards with some of my books, by Sylvia M. Vardell, professor of children’s and young adult literature at Texas Woman’s University, and published in Book Links, November 2012.

In the classroom:

Use Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring, as a springboard for discussing the power of collaboration in creating a work of art. This is the behind-the-scenes story of how the famous Martha Graham ballet, “Appalachian Spring,” came to be from its inception through the composition of the score by Aaron Copland to the design of the innovative sets by Isamu Noguchi. Invite students to identify key moments of interaction between the players in the narrative and in direct quotes (such as when Graham gives Copland a script and he responds with comments that motivate her to rewrite).

But this book provides additional examples of collaboration, too. Check out Greenberg’s web site (jangreenbergsandrajordan.com) for the back-story on her collaboration with writing partner Sandra Jordan, editor Neal Porter, illustrator Brian Floca, and even book designer Jennifer Browne. Or share the audiobook adaptation of the book narrated by actress Sarah Jessica Parker that includes a performance by the Seattle Symphony of the very score that inspired the ballet. As a natural follow up, invite students to form partnerships or small groups for their own collaborative projects, creating a picture book, digital trailer, or audio podcast of their own.

 

Common Core Connections

RI.5.3. Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.

 In the classroom: Asking questions is a big part of how Jan Greenberg approaches art and writing about art and artists. While she was growing up, her parents encouraged her with questions like these:

“What do you see?”

“What is the feeling expressed in the painting?”

“Which is the best picture in the gallery?”

Even within the narrative of several of her books, she frequently poses questions to invite the reader to wonder, interpret, and speculate. On p. 11 of Frank O. Gehry Outside In, for example, she uses his famous Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, to pose a series of questions that guide readers in “breaking down” the building and considering it from multiple “angles.” Walk through these questions with students to talk about the Bilbao Guggenheim or apply the same questions to the buildings that are right there in their own environments (such as their school building) since EVERY building is situated in a specific landscape, made of various materials, and created in certain shapes, evoking different feelings. Compare their responses and viewpoints with one another and with the author.

 

Common Core Connections

RI.3.1. Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

RI.3.6. Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.

In the classroom:

Pairing nonfiction and poetry may seem to be an unlikely partnership at first, but these two different genres can complement one another by showing children how writers approach the same topic in very different and distinctive ways, but both strive to convey key concepts in clear language. After sharing some of Greenberg’s picture book biographies (such as Action Jackson, Romare Bearden, Frank O. Gehry Outside In, and Ballet for Martha), guide students in discussing key ideas in the life and work of the book’s subject. Jot those ideas down, focusing on key words that are particularly vivid and descriptive. Then challenge students to create “found” poems by arranging words (of their choosing) from the list into poems. Share the poems and then add them to a library display of the books. For examples of found poems from a variety of nonfiction (and other) sources, see The Arrow Finds its Mark edited by Georgia Heard.

 

Common Core Connections

RI.3.2. Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

RI.4.2. Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.

RI.5.2. Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those orange books and other non-fiction favorites

As a child, I was drawn to novels, especially those in my parent’s library, a small room lined with bookcases, tucked next to our living-room. My brother and I called it “the dreaded piano room,” where we were sent daily to practice. I spent more time curled on the couch reading than banging notes on the piano. Yes, of-course, now I’m sorry. I have become a famous concert pianist, despite my lack of talent. If only… Instead I devoured scintillating novels. such as Forever Amber and Gone With the Wind. When I did read non-fiction (those not assigned at school), it was always a biography of a famous American woman - Dolly Madison, Amelia Earhart, or Clara Barton. I called these books, long disappeared from library shelves, “those orange books.” They were actually from a series called Childhood of Famous Americans published by Bobbs-Merrill Co. Now I would label them creative non-fiction, as they contained fictionalized scenes and dialogue. Some were republished by Patria Press in the late 1990’s with a new format and cover design. They are still available.

 Why did I love these books? I think because they were stories about women who persevered, despite living in a male-dominated culture, women who took risks and dared to follow their dreams. Did I notice then that many of these "famous women" were wives of American presidents? The message was subliminal but I got it.

The book that seems life-changing to me now, as I look back, is The Diary of Anne Frank, which was translated into English in the 1950’s. I attended a private girls’ school in St. Louis. There were very few Jewish girls in my class. Despite the fact that the Holocaust had occurred in our very recent past, there were no references to it in our classes. I received The Diary of Anne Frank as a gift from my uncle. Not only did the story startle and move me, it also gave me a sense of my Jewish heritage. By the time I graduated this memoir had captured the attention of the whole world and my own small world, as well. But when I first read it, I felt as if I had somehow discovered it.

My writing partner Sandra Jordan wanted weigh in with her favorite, as well.

“My parents both loved to read and our book shelves were a hodge podge of novels, poetry, and old, battered volumes that no one remembered buying.  Yard sales perhaps.  Of course I read everything.

An American Doctor's Odyssey: Adventures in Forty Five Countries by Victor Heiser, MD.  It begins with a thrilling first person account of 16 year old Victor Heiser surviving the Johnstown, Flood.  After that it's on to doctoring as an international public health official.  Plague, small pox, leprosy, typhoid, cholera and  hookworm.  I was fascinated by major epidemics.”

For more books that deal with “major epidemics,” read Jim Murphey’s I.N.K. blog!  Sandra and Jim ought to get together!!

The non-fiction book about art that inspired me to write my own is H.W. Janson’s classic introduction to art in the Western World, History of Art for Young People (revised in 1997 by his son the art historian Anthony F. Janson).  This is the cover of the copy I have from some years ago.

I learned a great deal from this book, but I also wanted more, more info, more detail, more story. I realized that a book that focused just on looking at contemporary American art would be a complement to Janson’s encyclopedic volume and fill a gap in the bookshelf. Janson’s History of Art is just the beginning.

Since The Painter’s Eye: Learning to Look at Contemporary American Painting and its’ companion book The Sculptor’s Eye: Learning to Look at Contemporary American Sculpture (with Sandra Jordan) was published, we've moved on to write many books about individual artists, including an architect, a choreographer/dancer, and a ceramicist in our new book The Mad Potter. 

In addition many wonderful books for young readers about the arts have been published in the last fifteen years. I am compiling a list of recommended books for young readers on all the arts in America. Some of my favorites have been written by our I.N.K. bloggers I’ll share what I’ve gathered in my May I.N.K. post.

Jan Interviews Bravo's Andy Cohen

Andy Cohen is Bravo TV’s executive vice-president of programming and development and the mastermind of such hits as Top Chef and the Real Housewives franchise. He also hosts a fast-moving, outspoken talk show Watch What Happens. What is wonderful about Andy is that, despite his success and friendships with “stars,” he is still the same funny, friendly kid who hung out at our house in St. Louis with our daughter Jackie, loves his family (especially his Mom), and keeps up with all of us. Andy grew up knowing he was gay and keeping it a secret until his senior year at college. His new memoir Most Talkative: Stories from the front lines of pop culture tells that story, but also chronicles his meteoric rise in the world of T.V.

As a student at Boston University, Andy began to follow his dream to be a journalist. A hilarious chapter describes a hard won interview for the school newspaper with his all time idol Susan Lucci. Most Talkative gives a candid, inside view of life in television, as well as a poignant and often funny account of his life as a teenager in the Midwest. Several of us, including Sue Macy, Karen Romano Young, Cheryl Harness, Susan E. Goodman, and Gretchen Woelfle, have written posts about the need for nonfiction books for kids about growing up gay in America. I hope Andy Cohen’s memoir will fill this gap.

Jan: The text reads just the way you talk- funny, honest, anecdotal and fast-moving. Most Talkative is an apt title. How did you come to it?

Andy: I WAS VOTED MOST TALKATIVE IN HIGH SCHOOL AND IT SEEMED SUCH AN APT TITLE WHEN I LOOKED BACK AT MY LIFE AND HOW MY MOUTH HAS NOT ONLY GOTTEN ME IN A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF TROUBLE OVER THE YEARS, BUT HAS ALSO HELPED ME ACHIEVE MY PROFESSIONAL DREAMS.

Jan: Your descriptions of growing up in St. Louis were so vivid and immediate. Did you keep a journal all those years?

Andy: I KEPT JOURNALS FROM 1987 THROUGH '98, SO THIS WAS AFTER I'D GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL BUT CERTAINLY DURING THE PERIOD WHEN I WAS WRESTLING WITH COMING OUT OF THE CLOSET AND THEN THE AFTERMATH OF THAT DECISION. THE JOURNALS WERE PAINFUL TO READ - AS THEY ALL CAN BE - BUT PROVIDED ME WITH SOME VERY SPECIFIC DETAILS ABOUT MY FEARS ABOUT COMING OUT, AS WELL AS SOME HILARIOUS COLOR COMMENTARY DURING MY TIME AT CBS NEWS.
Jan: You are a people person. You are known as a TV talk show host and you appear as a guest on other interview shows. As a writer myself, I know how much alone time it takes to write a book. Was writing the memoir difficult for you to do in terms of time, concentration, or the writing process?

Andy: WRITING THIS BOOK WAS SUCH A CHALLENGING AND ENERGIZING EXPERIENCE. I HAVE NEVER FELT MORE ACCOMPLISHED ABOUT ANYTHING I'VE DONE IN MY LIFE THAN I DO ABOUT THE BOOK. I AM VERY DEADLINE ORIENTED, AND I HAD A TIGHT, ESSENTIALLY FOUR MONTH DEADLINE FOR THIS ENTIRE BOOK TO BE WRITTEN AND EDITED. (I STARTED IN LATE AUGUST AND IT WAS DUE JAN 1.) PLUS I HAVE TWO JOBS (EVP OF DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION AT BRAVO AS WELL AS HOSTING 'WWHL'). I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID IT BUT I SPENT EVERY MINUTE THAT I WASN'T WORKING - AND MOST ESPECIALLY EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND NONSTOP - WRITING NEW PAGES AND EMAILING CHAPTERS IN VARIOUS STAGES OF EDIT BACK AND FORTH TO MY PHENOMINAL EDITOR AT HOLT, GILLIAN BLAKE. I ALSO SPENT 30-60 MINUTES DAILY ON THE PHONE WITH GILLIAN, USUALLY FIRST THING IN THE MORNING, TALKING ABOUT EVERYTHING RELATED TO THE BOOK - NEW IDEAS, THEMES THAT WE WERE SEEING ABOUT MY LIFE, DIFFERENT WAYS TO TELL MY STORY, HOW TO CONNECT THE PUZZLE PIECES OF MY LIFE IN A WAY THAT WAS FUN FOR THE READER. THE TWO THINGS IN MY FAVOR WERE THAT I KNEW EXACTLY WHAT STORIES I WANTED TO TELL, AND I FEEL CONFIDENT WITH MY VOICE AS A WRITER, AND I'M NOT AFRAID TO WRITE. I JUST KNEW I HAD TO GET IT DONE, THAT I HAD TO BE HAPPY WITH IT, AND THAT I WOULD SUCCEED. AND I DID!

Jan: The reason I wanted to interview you for I.N.K. about Most Talkative is that I think this is a crossover book. It will appeal to adults but junior high and high school kids will find it interesting, amusing and moving, as well. What is the most significant message you might hope kids will get from reading your book?

Andy: I THINK THE BIGGEST MESSAGE, WHETHER IT'S SAID DIRECTLY OR JUST INFERRED, IS TO BE YOURSELF AND FOLLOW YOUR PASSION. I HAVE BEEN LUCKY ENOUGH TO KNOW FROM A YOUNG AGE THAT I WANTED TO WORK IN TV, AND THIS IS ON ONE HAND A HOW-TO OF HOW I DID THAT, BUT ALSO A ROAD MAP OF MISTAKES I MADE ALONG THE WAY. I WAS ALWAYS A BIT FEARLESS, FOR BETTER OR WORSE, AND THAT SEEMS TO HAVE WORKED FOR ME. I HOPE PEOPLE FIND IT FUN AND FUNNY, AND ALSO REALIZE IT TAKES A LOT OF HARD WORK AND CONFIDENCE TO GET WHERE YOU WANT TO BE.

Jan: Writing a memoir can be a tricky business. I don’t mean the kind of exaggeration and outright lying that sometimes occurs in so-called memoirs. I’m talking about the challenge to make the work authentic, as well as compelling. Reading Andy’s memoir, I couldn’t help noting that even when the writer tries to give an honest account of events in his/her life, memory can be an unreliable witness. Several of the incidents he describes I am familiar with, but, from my point of view, they happened quite differently. To read about myself from Andy’s perspective was difficult. I wanted to shout, ”Hey wait a minute. It didn’t happen this way.” That said, Most Talkative is engaging and heartfelt, a fun read that offers many insights, not only for Andy’s many fans but also for young readers.

Jan Interviews Jill Evans Petzall

It’s not surprising that as a writer of nonfiction, I also enjoy watching documentaries. I don’t mean the cinema verite variety one often sees on You Tube, where folks perform narcissistic show and tell alls. I’m talking about videos and films that have a story with a beginning middle and an end. They are well researched, entertaining, and present  a consistent point of view. Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes funny, these documentaries are always thought provoking and believable. With non-fiction books, the same qualities are necessary. But as much as these two art forms – a documentary film and a nonfiction book- have in common, there are major differences.

I decided to sit down with my friend, Jill Evans Petzall, an Emmy award-winning documentary film maker, and explore these similarities and differences. Here is the edited text of our conversation at lunch one day, accompanied by lobster salad and glasses of Chardonnay.

Jan: How did you get into making documentaries?

Jill: It happened by accident. I was raising three children and working on a Ph.D. in Philosophy. I didn’t watch T.V. and I limited their screen time. But I always loved working with language and images and exploring the relationship between the two.

Jan: I remember growing up that you were the artist and I was the writer …but you also wrote poetry. Your husband, Claude, calls you “relentlessly creative”.

Jill: (laughs) Around this same time I decided I didn’t want to be a fulltime academic, which is what a Ph. D means.  I was having an exhibit of my photographs at a gallery. Someone from ABC-Hearst saw it and approached me about doing a video project. This was 1982 and cable television had just burst on the scene.. He’d been commissioned to do inserts of programming, ten pilots of two minute FYI segments on women’s issues. ‘I don’t watch T.V,’ I told him. ‘I don’t know the first thing about it.’

‘I’ll help you,’ he said.

I had already decided to not to pursue the Ph.D, so the timing was right. I didn’t know a thing about film and video production, but because the technologies were so new, I could grow along with them. What I needed, I had. I could write well and see photographically.

Jan: You also had content to draw on, as you read extensively and look at things philosophically.

Jill: Another coincidence happened. My boss from ABC-Hearst ran into local St, Louis newscaster Karen Foss and asked her to be the anchor (on-air-talent) for our short  programs. At that moment she was on a hiatus from anchoring her news show at the NBC affiliate. She looked at my scripts, loved them, and said yes.

At the same time Channel 9 public television was putting together a TV magazine. TV abounds with programs like this now, but at the time this was unusual, especially for public programming. They asked Karen to do five pilots on St. Louis artists over 5 months. She asked to bring me along. Karen would meet me early in the mornings at the TV station and teach me how to edit and essentially how it all worked.

Jan: Karen sounds like a wonderful mentor. What were some of the things she taught you?

Jill: For example, I learned about putting a story in a limited time frame in five to eight minute segments; here’s where story-telling in the media differs from story telling in print. Media story-telling occupies given amounts of time in the same way that  print story-telling occupies a given number of pages of text. That’s why it’s sometimes called ‘real-time media’.  So when you are given 1500 words for a story, in my field, I need to contain my story to a limited amount of minutes, which comes downs to frames per second on-screen.

And when someone is speaking on screen, you can’t speed-rush the time they take to say what they mean. If you were quoting them, either you can condense or paraphrase their words; in real-time media, you must electronically edit their sound bite and still do justice to their thoughts, their cadences, and word choices. Then you need to find other, related images to visually ‘cover’ where you spliced together what they said, or else it looks strange on TV. It’s always about the relationships between the sound and the image, the meanings in the words and the messages in the pictures – and how these inform one another

Jan: What do you think are some other differences between writing non-fiction and making a documentary film?

Jill: “In writing you can make magic happen anytime, if you write with authenticity, A writer crafts the words and the reader understands this. But in video, the viewer expects a carbon copy of reality. Some of this is an illusion as people forget about editing, (especially if the editing is done well), and when it is, people forget that the film maker has a distinct point of view. Even in a documentary film, the filmmaker is still creating an artificial world out of real sounds and images from the real world. The filmmaker selects what to shoot, what to ask, what to include in the final and what to leave on the cutting-room floor. The documentary ‘reality’ part is still an illusion of condensing time by framing the image and editing the moments. Ideally, it should all feel like a motivated, dramatic necessity. But this is always the filmmaker’s vision.

·                            Jan: Like writing nonfiction, the film maker chooses the important anecdotes. Tell me about “When the Bough Breaks: Children of Mothers in Prison,” which won an Emmy and is now part of permanent collections in libraries all over the country, used in schools and film workshop. It is the story of women in prison and the children they leave behind. You asked the controversial question, "Should nonviolent, female offenders be kept in prison? I know you did years of research.

Jill: It took four years to complete the documentary. By the time I began to interview people on tape, I went in with a list of questions that had been carefully put together after two years of off-camera interviews and tons of other research.

Sometimes it takes a long time to get to the defining anecdote. In writing an essay, you can use back notes. Not in film. It needs to be spoken by the character while the camera is rolling and the mike is pointed in the right direction.

Jan: In a book, you use language, words on the page, to describe emotions. Vocal inflections and gestures need to be described through dialogue, action and sensory language. 

Jill: The good news is that you can catch facial expressions visually, but, unlike writing text on a page, you  can’t control your character’s vocal inflections. So it has to be a soundbite that takes its own time. Then this footage has to be edited down into a coherent scene, visuals and all, not just talking heads. And when the audience is watching, the story needs to have given them everything they need to know to arrive at that anecdote in the documentary. Because they can’t go back through pages of a book to recall the character’s name, they have to remember who is speaking and why it’s important just then.

Jan: But like in a nonfiction book, you have to build suspense and provide an element of surprise.

Jill: For months & months before, I hung out with the families and monthly went to the prison to see the Moms. Before I interviewed the kids, I needed both them and their caretakers (foster parents, real fathers, step moms) to trust me. I wanted to be constant, ordinary person - who was also special to them. For factual research, I mostly talked to the Moms and Dads – or foster parents or other kin - about the children. If I hear too much from the kids themselves before I ask them questions on film, then their answers when the camera is rolling get stale. No one tells their own story to the same person the same way twice. So I wait to ask kids the important questions for the filming. Kids and especially their mothers are not used to be taken seriously but the filmmaking setting makes them feel more important. I wanted them to feel surprised about how well they did. They got to learn this when they finally saw the edited documentary.

Jan: As a writer, videographer, and video artist, who has been vitally interested in women’s issues throughout your career, can you share what you think is the most important message, you can give to your audience?

Jill: It seems we are all imprisoned by expectations we have learned over the years of watching television and dramatic fiction films. The mass media in our everyday world has become the dominant story-teller around the globe. Electronic technologies stretch across barriers of language, class, race, and literacy. And then, media stories are absorbed into our real-life relationships. We believe that the authority of TV brings us what is. But I think it mostly teaches us to want what is considered sexy at the moment.

Usually, we are trapped into expecting stories about heroes, about men, about men who do or do not romance a woman; about women whose happiness depends on being chosen for romance by the man. Mostly we are taught to expect men who are strong and women who are needy; men who are providers and women who need to be saved. Everyone is taught to prize the dramatic tensions that please white men and make white men look good. So how easily what we are taught to want on TV is real-life distortion, what seems spectacular but without artistic surprises.

Yet, sometimes there are dramas where women challenge those norms. Here’s where we can see what might be, not what is. This is when the audience can be given important surprises, as Monk would say. For outside of the art of story telling (whether in music or fiction or documentary), in real everyday life, the lives lived outside our peripheral awareness are never so simple, with easy-to-recognize good guys and bad guys.  

We live in a real world where people cope in all kinds of ways, but most of their realities aren’t marketed as being plot-worthy for prime-time.  And sadly, mostly these realities are lived by women whose voices are not heard, who are not beautiful, nor sexy, nor stereotypically empowered. Still they have important things we can learn – about worlds that surprise us, and about making our culture into a more empathic, fair-minded society. These are the stories I like to find, to tell, and to show in real time.

Here is a link to learn more about Jill’s work.

www.beacondocs.com

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HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, I.N.K.!

Is it an anniversary or a birthday? Who knows. But I.N.K. was founded by Linda Salzman right around four years ago and it’s time to celebrate. So a few of our contributors have chimed in with reasons we think being part of this blog is so special.

Happy Birthday INK! Just seems like yesterday that Linda asked me if I wanted to write about art books on this new cool blog that she was creating. Four years later, I’m still on my soap box for art books... And, well, any other kid nonfiction book that I feel the need to talk about. Thanks to all the other amazing INK members for letting me hang out here for the past four years. Full STEAM ahead, INK! -Anna M. Lewis

The I.N.K. blog has been a great forum for sharing my own adventures as a picture book author-illustrator as well as reading what my fellow authors are up to. I've learned so much in the course of researching my own posts and while reading articles by my colleagues. New resources for creating, finding, and marketing books are popping up every day and since I'm checking them out anyway, it's great to have a place to trade information with interested readers. -Loreen Leedy

I like being part of this blog because it is a gathering of writers curious about the world and committed to their craft -- doing the best writing they possibly can to bring the world to kids. -Barbara Kerley

I wanted to be Erma Bombeck when I was growing up. I thought it would be the greatest job in the world to tell people what you think and be funny at the same time. Instead, I write books for children and teens, and I believe that is the greatest job in the world. With I.N.K., I get a little bit of that Erma dream, too--I get to tell people what I think about writing, about nonfiction, and sometimes even about life. Thank you, Linda and I.N.K.! -Deborah Heiligman

The blog has given me a real sense of community and shared purpose through the dedication, commitment and integrity of all the contributors. I LOVE reading the blog every day and I continually marvel at the intelligence and writing skills of each and every member. Thank you, Linda, for creating something that is larger than we are. -Vicki Cobb

As a part-time blogger and full-time reader, I'm grateful to Linda for bringing I.N.K. into the cyber world. Writing is often a solitary profession, one where "process" is a sport played out in an empty field. Before I.N.K. I didn't spend very much time thinking about my own process, I just did it. Then my wonderful nonfiction colleagues came into my life. You help me think through what I do. Writing the blog forces me to articulate how to do it. Then, by reading the way you all approach a subject, I am able to refine and reinforce my own technique. You make me a better writer! Thank you dear colleagues. It's wonderful to have the backs of so talented a group. But I'm not there yet, so please don't quit. Imagine how much there is to learn the next four years. Happy Fourth Birthday I.N.K.ers! -Susan Kuklin

Happy fourth anniversary, INK! Reading the posts at INK has given me a peek into other nonfiction writers' passion and process. I'm continually drawn in by the kindness, humility, and humor my fellow bloggers exhibit. It's reassuring to hear about others' struggles and victories. INK's nonfiction discussion has expanded my knowledge of the nonfiction field and helped me teach educators and kids tackling nonfiction areas (such as history) that I don't cover in my own work. -April Pulley Sayre

Shortly after Linda invited me to join the I.N.K. blog (was it only four years ago?), a rash of memoirs for adults were "outed" as fiction, the most notorious being James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces." This discovery only boosted his sales figures. For many reasons, I was deeply offended by these fictional memoirs. I would bring the subject up with friends, most of whom would stare at me blankly. But then with our new nonfiction blog, I had a forum to voice my literary concerns and to get feedback from other writers who shared my passion for research, careful attribution, and chapter notes. My first blog was a rumination on the definition of nonfiction. Over the years, I've written blogs on a variety of subjects: editing, research, teachers guides, new book announcements, school visits, the creative process and many other topics about our genre for young readers. The open-ended range of subject matter inspires me. In addition I've enjoyed the dialogue with other I.N.K. bloggers, both in posts, in person, and in personal e mails. Thank you, Linda, for your commitment to nonfiction for children, for your vision and perseverance. This is my Valentine to You. -Jan Greenberg

I’ve learned so much from my I.N.K. colleagues. I’m continually reminded of the process we each go through as we try to pursue our ideas and write and draw and make books. I would love to hear that reading about our challenges has helped some young person decide to go into science writing or another nonfiction writing area -- and I know it’s going to happen. I’m grateful to be part of this group and to have a place to write about what I do. -Karen Romano Young

What else is there to say, but "ditto." Thanks, Linda, for creating the blog, and to all the writers who make it so interesting, and to our readers who inspire us to keep going. This is Susan Goodman, ready for another great year.

Field Trips, Parties, and Where do I Get my Ideas?

In response to Roz Schanzer’s hilarious post “Writing Right, Right?” about Rules for Writing, Jim Murphy commented, “You have to have some fun writing if you expect me to still be awake when I get to the conclusion.” That reminds me of a funny story.

Most of the books I do with Sandra Jordan begin with a field trip. But not all field trips turn into books. A few years ago Sandra and I had what we thought was a great idea. We set off for the Museum of Modern Art to do some research. After two hours there, we went back to my apartment, sat down, and promptly fell asleep. Later we realized if our great idea put us to sleep, what would it do to our readers?

Where do you get your ideas? That’s the question I’ve been asked hundreds of times for the last thirty years. Some of my ideas seem quite interesting when I come up with them, often in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep. But in the light of day (is that a cliché, Roz?) in the midst of researching, I get so bored I end up eating lunch at 9:30 in the morning or writing frantic e mails to my daughters about nothing.

Here are some of my favorite field trips that did work out:

1. A drive out to Storm King Sculpture Park resulted in our book “The Sculptor’s Eye.”


2. On a visit to the National Gallery in Washington DC, Sandra and I stood transfixed in front of Jackson Pollock’s painting Lavender Mist and featured it in “Action Jackson.”


3. A trip to the Isamu Noguchi Foundation in Long Island City to see his stage sets for dances by Martha Graham sparked our interest in doing a book on collaboration that resulted in “Ballet for Martha.”

Going to a party doesn’t constitute a field trip but it may inspire an idea. I once met the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude at a cocktail party and she and I struck up a conversation about …no not art…but her Issey Miake dress. She was so charming that when Sandra and I decided to do a book about the Christos, I knew we would enjoy interviewing them.

Although I usually don’t get ideas for books at parties, social events seem to produce a multitude of suggestions by well meaning friends. It usually begins like this: “I’ve got an amazing story that would make a great book for kids. If I had the time, I would write it myself.” Here are some recent offerings:

A children’s book about the Bhagavad Gita from my friend Maxine who’s a Buddhist.

A story about Lucy’s schnauzer Morgan, who recently ran away and went missing for 19 hours.

Stanley’s grandson’s 9th birthday party at Busch Stadium.

And so on…

Occasionally, I’ve felt compelled to explain that I write nonfiction about the arts. This pronouncement is sometimes followed by blank looks, which prompt me to discourse on the dearth of arts education in the schools and the fact that perception in the arts encourages abstract thinking skills and inspires creativity. More blank looks. Perhaps I’m preaching to the wrong audience, which is why I’ve vowed to avoid parties (except on Halloween) this month, and stay home and write (and have fun doing it).