Jim Henson

The Guy Who Played with Puppets

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 

hosted today by Tales from the Rushmore Kid

Random House 
(pub. 8.23.2011)  40 pages

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top
  
A uthor: Kathleen Krull

      and Paintings: Steve Johnson and Lou Fancherr

C haracter: Jim Henson

 

O verview from the jacket flap: 

        "What do you want to be when you grow up? A teacher? A poet? The president? Well, Jim Henson wanted to play with puppets.  If you want to make the world a better place, making people happy is a great way to start ..."

 

T antalizing taste:

       "Jim hesitated. The show had a weird name - Sesame Street. Joan [the TV producer] explained that just as the command 'Open Sesame' in the old Arabian tale opened a door to treasure, she wanted her show to open doors in young minds.  Jim wasn't sure he wanted to limit his Muppets to children. But years of watching his own children convinced him... Maybe TV could be a good influence." 

and something more:
Kathleen Krull was awarded the 2011 Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award, and I liked what the site said about her writing and biographies: "What draws her to writing biographies?  As a self-confessed 'nosy' person, Krull enjoys researching the details that spice a life and offer insight into personality and accomplishments.  But biographies also 'fill a great need,' she says.  'We read them to find out who we are.'  By discovering how we resemble and differ from others, be they ordinary or extraordinary, says Krull, we learn 'something about our own identity, our goals, our possibilities in life.'  She considers it a privilege to help young readers in this search."  I couldn't agree more!

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Orani

My Family's Village

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 

hosted today by Wrapped in Foil

Frances Foster Books (Farrar Straus Giroux)

(pub. 7.19.2011)  40 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor and illustrator: Claire Nivola
  
C haracter: Claire Nivola and Orani, her childhood village

 

O verview from the jacket flap: 

        "As a child, Claire Nivola loved visiting Orani, a tiny village nestled among the mountains of central Sardinia in the heart of the Mediterranean.  It was there that her father had been born, one of ten children in a family so poor that he had to share a bed with five of his siblings. And it was there, when Claire returned with him years later, that she learned about life and death, about the ways of nature and of the human family..."

 

T antalizing taste:

       "More cousins appeared and we scattered like birds. Our sandals clattering on the paving stones, we flew along the alleys - up to the right, down sharply to the left, out into the blazing brightness of a piazza." 

and something more:
I savored Claire Nivola's description of her village in the Author's Note in Orani My Father's Village: "Orani was a complete world and just the right scale for a child. Everything happened there - all the tragedies and joys - but they happened in a contained place, among family and neighbors, where everyone knew and cared so that as a child I could comprehend and feel that each part fit into life's whole.  It was there that I saw where the things I ate came from - the tree, the plant, the animal - and how each food was made by the work of someone's hands. In Orani, I felt at the literal source of everything, and how thrilling that was!"  And her wonderful detailed illustrations convey this sense of connection.

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My Hands Sing the Blues

Romare Bearden's
Childhood Journey

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 

hosted today by Playing By The Book

Marshall Cavendish Children

(pub. 9.1.2011)  40 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Jeanne Walker Harvey
     and Illustrator:  Elizabeth Zunon

C haracter: Romare Bearden

 

O verview from the jacket flap: 

         "As a young boy growing up in North Carolina, Romare Bearden listened to his great-grandmother's Cherokee stories and the whistles of trains steaming through town.
     When Romare's family, faced with Jim Crow laws, decided to head north, tears stung Romare's eyes as he watched the world whiz by out the train window.  Later he captured his childhood memories in a famous painting, Watching the Good Trains Go By.  Using that painting as inspiration and creating a text influenced by the blues and jazz that Bearden loved, Jeanne Walker Harvey has created a story of Bearden's childhood.  She describes the patchwork of daily southern life that he saw from the train's window and the story of his arrival in shimmering New York City." 

 

T antalizing taste: 

     " I snip a patch of color and add a cut-out face.
      Oh! I glue on jazzy blue for sky and add another face.
      People walk into my work as if it's always been their place.

      My hands sing the blues when I paint and cut and paste.
      I never know what I’ll create when I paint and cut and paste.
      I use paper, fabrics, photos, and nothing goes to waste.”

and something more:   At first I hesitated to write this post about my own book, My Hands Sing the Blues - Romare Bearden's Childhood Journey, which was released this week!  But then I decided I wanted to sing about it from the rooftops (and my blog) -- it's such an exciting event for me.  A dream come true! 
        I first had the idea to write this book in 2004 when, as a docent at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, I gave tours to school groups of an incredible Bearden exhibit organized by The National Gallery (Ruth Fine, curator and author of the comprehensive The Art of Romare Bearden which I studied).  During my tours at SFMOMA, I could barely move the students to the next painting because they were so fascinated by Romare Bearden's huge collages and the stories they told. 
         So many people have been part of this book journey with me.  I dedicated the book to my mom -- "For my mother, June, who always inspires me to put a beat of color on an empty canvas." It's true -- she embodies creativity and instilled a love of it (and modern art) in me.  My dear husband and my wonderful sons have always been my biggest supporters and early readers of my drafts.  And I also owe heartfelt thanks to my dad, my family and wonderful friends who always encourage me, the San Francisco Docent Program that inspired me to write this book, my writer mentors (including Uma Krishnaswami who kept my writing spark lit when I was doubting myself, and Anastasia Suen whose courses kept me focused and inspired, and Amy Novesky who has included me in the warmth of her writing groups), and Margery Cuyler, an amazing editor at Marshall Cavendish (and author of many children's books also), who artfully guided me to rethink the text in just the right spots, and the incredibly talented artist Elizabeth Zunon, who is truly the best illustrator I can imagine for this book, and Lucy, my 11 year old black Lab who patiently listened as I read my many drafts aloud over and over and over again.  Thank you to all!

            "When I put a beat of color on an empty canvas,
                  I never know what's coming down the track." 

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The Incredible Life of Balto

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 

hosted today by Capstone Connect

Alfred A. Knopf (Random House)

(pub. 8.9.2011)  40 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor and illustrator: Meghan McCarthy

C haracter: Balto, a famous Alaskan dog

 

O verview from the jacket flap: 

         "Most people know the story of Balto, the world-famous dog who led his sled team through a blizzard to deliver a liefesaving serum to the stricken people of Nome, Alaska, in 1925.  Balto shot to instant stardom - a company named dog food after him, a famous sculptor erected a statue of him that stands in New York's Central Park to this day and the dog even starred in his own Hollywood movie.
         But what happened to Balto after the hoopla died down?  With a lively, informative text and humorous, vibrant illustrations, Meghan McCarthy captures the extraordinary life of Balto beyond his days as a celebrity." 

 

T antalizing taste: 

       "Sadly, Balto and the team were sold again, this time to a man who ran a sideshow.  There Balto and the others were all but forgotten.  For a dime, people could go into a room and see the once-celebrated dogsled team."

and something more:   As a author of narrative nonfiction picture books, I was fascinated by Megan McCarthy's discussion of her research experiences and how she dealt with contradictory accounts regarding Balto, including what color fur he had.  As she explains in her "Detective Work" section at the back of The Incredible Life of Balto, "No matter where information comes from, it gets filtered through many perspectives over time.  As a nonfiction writer, I make it my job to take all of the information and piece it together like a giant jigsaw puzzle.  But there's more to it than that.  I like to choose subject matter that hasn't been covered before or shine a new light on a known topic."  Yes!  A true tale with a cherry on top, as a I see it.
         Meghan explains her focus for this book: "Many children's books about Balto tout him as a hero, but none mentions the fact that he was essentially abandoned, sold off, and shown as a live attraction in a dime show.  What inspired me about Balto's story was the happy ending after all his struggles.  I knew that the whole story needed to be told." 
         Meghan's student activities included in the book remind me of my high school journalism class.  Unbeknownst to us, one day our wonderful teacher, Mrs. Hallenbeck, asked two students to argue and push and shove right before class began.  And after we learned that it was a staged argument, we had to write everything we had seen and heard --- we ended up with a roomful of different reports.  It certainly made an impression on us regarding the reliability of "eyewitness" reports.

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The Bravest Woman in America

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 

hosted today by Ana's Nonfiction Blog

Tricycle Press (Random House)

(pub. 7.12.2011)  32 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top 

A uthor: Marissa Moss
and illustrator:  Andrea U'Ren

C haracter: Ida Lewis, lighthouse keeper

 

O verview from the publisher: 

        "Ida Lewis loved everything about the sea, so when her father became the official keeper of Lime Rock Lighthouse in Newport, Rhode Island, she couldn’t imagine anything better. Throughout the years, Ida shadowed her father as he tended the lighthouse, listening raptly to his stories about treacherous storms, drowning sailors, and daring rescues. Under her father’s watchful eye, she learned to polish the lighthouse lens so the light would shine bright.  
        She learned to watch the sea for any sign of trouble. And, most importantly, she learned to row.
        Ida felt ready for anything—and she was."

 

T antalizing taste: 

       "The boys' faces were white with cold, their lips blue. One passed out, lying limp on the bottom of the boat.
        Ida didn't think. She rowed - harder and faster than she ever had. The waves crashed over her head, tilting the boat along a wall of green and gray. Ida kept on rowing, frantic to get them all to safety.
        'I can do it,' she told herself.  ' I have to do it.'"

and something more:  Marissa Moss' Author's Note in this picture book biography, The Bravest Woman in America, states that Ida Lewis "went on to rescue many more people after that first time when she was sixteen.  She was sixty-three when she made her last rescue.  Officially, she saved eighteen lives, but the real number may be as high as twenty-five."  And, I chuckled at Ida's quote: "Anyone who thinks it is un-feminine to save lives has the brains of a donkey."  Gotta love her spunk!

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The Firehouse Light

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 
hosted today by Amy O'Quinn

Tricyle Press (Random House)

(pub. 5.25.2010)  32 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top 

A uthor: Janet Nolan
         Illustrator:  Marie Lafrance

C haracter: a lightbulb

 

O verview from jacket flap: 

      "Here is the true story of a little lightbulb, located in a firehouse, that has stayed lit for more than one hundred years.  As horse-drawn carriages make room for automobiles, dirt roads give way to paved streets, and new buildings transform small clusters of homes into bustling neighborhoods, a small town grows and changes.  And fighting fires changes, too: fires once fought by bucket brigades and hand-pulled hose carts are now attended by full-time firefighters and modern firetrucks.  Yet now, just like then, the lightbulb grows, strong and steady, above the brave firefighters and their trucks."

 

T antalizing taste: 

       "Finding firefighting equipment in the dark was not easy. Then one day a businessman gave the firefighters a gift.  No longer would they have to waste time lighting lanterns.  A wire burning inside a ball of glass would light the way. Day after day, year after year, the ligthbulb did not burn out...
       Strong and steady, it still glows above the heads of firefighters - it burns when they leave to fight a fire and stays lit after they return."

and something more:   Of course, I had to check out the lightbulb's website which includes a link to a professor of physics and her grad student's interesting research paper regarding this amazing lightbulb that just celebrated its 110th anniversary this past June.
      And, as a writer, I'm always curious about the inspiration for books. Janet Nolan, the author of this nonfiction picture book, The Firehouse Light, explained her reaction to the lightbulb story in a Publisher's Weekly interview: "'I walked around in an excited daze for a while... I kept thinking of all the things that have happened—all the things that have been invented and all the wars fought —while this tiny lightbulb kept burning. In our disposable society, it struck me as awe-inspiring.'"  
      What a great way for children to think about history and culture -- the transformations in American society and firefighting, and the concept of quality.  The grad student's research paper states that the "intention of the [Shelby Electric] company [that developed this particular lightbulb] is not to make lamps to see how cheaply they can be made, but to see how well they can be made."  I only live a hour or so from the lightbulb's firehouse -- I'm planning a visit!

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Queen of the Falls

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 
hosted today by Apple With Many Seeds

Houghton Mifflin

(pub. 4.4.2010)  40 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top 

A uthor and illustrator: Chris Van Allsburg

C haracter: Annie Edson Taylor

 

O verview from jacket flap: 

      "Come and meet the Queen of the Falls and witness with your won eyes her daring ride!
       At the turn of the nineteenth century, a retired charm school instructor named Annie Edson Taylor, seeking fame and fortune, decided to do something that no one in the world had ever done before - she would go over Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel..."

 

T antalizing taste: 

       "'When I was nine years old,' she said, 'I stood here with my father, in this very spot. I'd never seen anything like that waterfall. It looked like the end of the world, beautiful and dreadful, all at once.'"

and something more:  I thought this book was perfect for today's Nonfiction Monday roundup at Apples With Many Seeds because it has the Canada - United States connection of Niagara Falls.  The photograph of Annie Edson Taylor, born in 1838, in Chris Van Allsburg's Author's Note captures the fascination of the picture book biography, Queen of the Falls. In her prim and proper dress, she does not look the part of a daredevil who would squeeze herself into a barrel she designed for her ride over Niagara Falls.  I can't imagine just riding down a river in that barrel, much less over the Niagara Falls!   

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