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Kids Learn about the “Neighbors”: Mercury, Venus…
Today’s children – the generation that may put a colony on Mars – will grow up knowing that Earth, Mars and the other planets are part of a “family of planets,” in a “neighborhood” that circles the Sun. The books they grow up with, such as Going Around the Sun: Some Planetary Fun, take that kind of perspective in stride.
As a former director of children’s theater as well as a former teacher and librarian, Marianne Berkes has just the aptitude to pull off a book about astronomy that is both entertaining and informative. To the tune of the old ballad “Over in the Meadow,” children count the planets, learn their names, and discover some amazing things about them. Jupiter for instance, is “A gigantic ball of gas/ Here is planet number five.” A ball of gas? Yes, that’s right!
Real-life astronomers love this little book. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, wrote, “If the Sun were a poet, then Going Around the Sun captures just what it would say to its beloved family of planets.” And Bruce Betts, Director of Projects at The Planetary Society, said, “Going Around the Sun combines good science with good fun.”
Illustrator Janeen Mason of Stuart, Florida, has since 1989 studied and painted life in the oceans. Janeen is a prominent Florida artist and a member of the Florida Arts Council, the advisory board to the Secretary of State regarding culture in the state. She created the backgrounds to each of the planetary illustrations by melting crayons on heated paper, which created a unique and textured background suggestive of space.
A Mother’s Bond
Fran Hodgkin’s book, If You Were My Baby: A Wildlife Lullaby, shows the life-giving bond between mothers and babies, regardless of their species. A duck and her ducklings, a mountain goat and her kid, a bison and her calf, as well as a human mother and her baby – all are tenderly guiding their young in ways associated with their own animal kind.
There are many books about love on the market, but they either fictionalize the bond through talking animals, or focus solely on humans. If You Were My Baby highlights the real relationship in lullaby-like poetic form, as the adult animals fulfill their parental roles in a factual way.
“People ask me if this is fiction or non-fiction,” Fran often says. “I call it ‘creative non-fiction,’ because the facts are there but they don’t hit you over the head. So often, non-fiction is seen as boring. Yet children love books that portray real life. The challenge for the writer is to be a little more creative. Just make sure you have your facts straight.”
The book grew out of a lifetime love of wild creatures. Fran says that her mother taught her “how to watch and how to really see” the squirrels, jays, sparrows, bugs, worms… “One of my earliest memories involves watching a garden spider build a web in my tire swing. I seem to remember staying put for hours just to see what would happen as the spider worked.”
Now as a mother herself, Fran passed her love of “Watching and seeing” animals on to her daughter Rosie. “Rosie inspired the book through her questions about nature and animals,” Fran says, so in a meaningful way, If You Were My Baby is the product of three generations of women nature lovers.
Book of the Week: In One Tidepool
Congratulations to last weeks winner Rena Jones. Rena was the winner of a free copy of Amy’s Light by Robert Nutt.
This week we’re giving away a copy of In One Tidepool: Crabs, Snails and Salty Tails to one lucky eNewsletter subscriber.
Have you ever ventured to the edge of the sea and peered into a tidepool? A whole community of creatures lives there! This salty, splashy habitat book by Anthony Fredericks is unique and colorful. Vivid close-up art by Jennifer Dirubbio, and amusing text make this both fun and educational for children.
Book of the Week: Amy’s Light
Congratulations to last week’s winner Traci Grider. Traci was the winner of a free copy of A Swim Through the Sea by Kristin Joy Pratt.
This week we’re giving away a copy of Amy’s Light to one lucky eNewsletter subscriber. From under her bedcovers on a warm summer’s night, Amy peers at dark shadows on the wall that seem at least twenty feet tall. Suddenly she sees a faint flicker of light from the window! Amy discovers a magical light in her own backyard. As she learns about the light, she also learns about the light within herself. Here is a story to brighten one’s evenings – any time of year. Inspiration for the book came to author Robert Nutt one summer evening when he and his wife were walking and came up on a house with a yard full of dancing, flickering lights. At that moment, he knew he would write about it. That night, in bed, the verse just started to come – it “just started spilling out of me, and I wrote it down.”
Authors Out-&-About: Jennifer Morgan Visits the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab
Caption: Jennifer Morgan with Andrew Zwicker, Ph.D., program head, science education program, Princeton Plasma Physics Lab.
In May, I had the honor — and very deep pleasure — of meeting and giving a program for members of the science education department at the DOE Princeton Plasma Physics Lab (PPPL) last month. PPPL works with researchers around the globe to create on earth the conditions inside of stars in order to release fusion energy, a safe, clean and abundant energy source for the future. My program was about using the Montessori Cosmic Education Curriculum (Born with a Bang) as a scaffolding for teaching science and all subjects at the elementary level. Then the conversation took a turn that completely surprised me.
They were most fascinated with the combination of art, photographs, story, and science writing in a single book. Jerry Ross, one member of the science education staff had recently won the “Art of Science” competition held at Princeton, that selects images of beauty created in the course of scientific research. Dr. Andrew Zwicker, program head of the science education program speculated that now we see the beauty and artistic value of scientific inquiry… is there a way to flip that and use art to help further science discovery? He went on, “Is there a way to use art to see things differently?” Hmm, What a fascinating conversation inside a mega science research facility, one that I never expected!
A Seed is Planted, a Book is Born
From the Dawn Publications newsletter archives, by Jennifer Ward, author of Forest Bright, Forest Night.
I am a writer. I am also: a parent, a daydreamer, a quiet observer, a voracious reader, obsessed with picture books, and highly fond of nature and animals.
Not a day goes by that I don’t observe something in nature that I’d love to communicate to children in the form of a book. As I sit here writing this on a chilly winter morning, I note a hint of spring as I state out my office window and spy a finch playing tug-of-war with the old mesquite that guards my office. The bird the victor, off it flies beak full of green, with an addition for its nest. Viewing this, I am given nature’s promise of a new season, one that will offer new growth and new lives.
With my book Forest Bright, Forest Night, I wanted to communicate diurnal & nocturnal animal activity, using juxtaposition in a manner that would be fun and simple. The original manuscript I wrote was set in a desert, something I know very well, as it’s my home. I’ll never forget when Dawn Publications rejected this manuscript. The publisher called me on the phone to tell me they wouldn’t be publishing my story. Now that’s not as dire as it sounds. As a matter of fact, I was elated to get the phone call. It’s not everyday a publisher telephones to reject you! (Usually they simply mail your manuscript back to you with a ‘no thank you’ letter.) Dawn stated that they liked the nocturnal/diurnal concept very much, and they liked my writing style, but would I consider rewriting the manuscript set in a different habitat? Hence, the seed was planted and a new book was born.
I love writing about animals. I read a lot of non-fiction as it is, but each writing project I embark on gives me an opportunity to learn and grow as a writer and as a nature enthusiast. Of course, I jumped at the chance to resubmit a different version of my diurnal/nocturnal theme to Dawn. I read and researched and scribbled and crafted and wrote and revised over the course of months.
I spent time observing animals in the wild while visiting my hometown in Illinois. Driving by a clearing near a forest one early evening I spied a flock of turkeys,: Strut and woddle, turkeys gobble. A verse was born (my mind often thinks in terms of text!), and a page came to life.
Camping with my family in the Colorado mountains, my daughter and I patiently observed chipmunks quickly and warily dashing to and fro from under a large boulder: Chatter and chase, chipmunks race.
Visiting my parents, my childhood home, afforded a great opportunity to spy on squirrels and jays. Seems that squirrels were always gathering and jays were always jabbering when I was a child. They still are today! Store and stash, squirrels dash. Jabber and talk, blue jays squawk.
And so, I embraced my book. With it I have had many new opportunities, too: the opportunity to meet new friends as I travel and speak and share my writing with others. I hope my book brings new awareness and growth to others as well – an appreciation of nature and earth, and a love of reading and books.
Book of the Week: A Swim Through the Sea
Congratulations to last week’s winner Chris Leach. Chris was the winner of a free copy of There’s a Babirusa in my Bathtub by Maxine Rose Schur and illustrated by Michael Maydak.
This week we’re giving away a copy of A Swim Through the Sea to one lucky eNewsletter subscriber. In this illustrated tour of the plants and animals of the undersea kingdom, Kristin Joy Pratt highlights a selected species on each page with a full-color illustration and a paragraph of fascinating facts. The alliterative storyline and alphabet book format provide parents and teachers with an engaging way of sharing this special ecosystem with their children.
The Germination of an Idea
On writing Under One Rock: Bugs, Slugs & Other Ughs – by Anthony D. Fredericks
One of the great pleasures of being a children’s author is the opportunity to travel to schools around the country to share the joys of writing. Like many visiting writers, I am well prepared to answer the four most frequently asked questions of children’s authors: 1.) Where do you get your ideas? 2.) How much money do you make? 3.) How old are you? 4.) Is your wife pretty?
But, it is the first question that seems to be on the minds of most youngsters (and many aspiring writers). As a former teacher and reading specialist, I share with kids the fact that the writing steps they use in the classroom are the same stages children’s authors use. Like students, I engage in Pre-writing, Drafting, Revising, Conferencing, Editing, and (hopefully) Publishing. Yet for me, the Pre-Writing stage is the most important. This is the stage where ideas are generated and an audience is selected. It’s also one of the most exhilarating stages for any writer.
The trick is to actively search for ideas and record them immediately. I always keep a small notebook and pen in my pocket, and frequently jot down ideas when I read the newspaper, talk with a colleague, drive down the street (I pull over, of course), or walk in the woods.
The idea for Under One Rock came about quite unexpectedly. One evening while giving a presentation to a local chapter of the Audubon Society, an elderly woman told how her grandson loved to look under rocks in his backyard. I’m not sure if it was the enthusiasm in her voice or the way she told the story, but I immediately wrote “under one rock” in my notebook.
Several weeks later I re-read this idea. Light bulbs flashed in my head as I realized the simplicity of the woman’s comment. Of course, I thought, what better way for children to begin their appreciation of nature than with the nature right in front of them? Many children’s books present the grand sweep of nature – oceans, deserts, wetlands, rainforests – large entities that may not be within the conceptual background of many readers. But, what about a little slice of nature – one that could be found in any child’s backyard or schoolyard?
It wasn’t long before I was walking around my neighborhood upending rocks to see what I could discover (my apologies to all my neighbors for my strange behavior). I would carefully turn over a rock and study the creatures that emerged or disappeared into the soil. I became transfixed by the wonderful array of discoveries that any child could find here.
I took pages of field notes and spent hours in library research. I knew that some of the best children’s books are those that tap into the base knowledge of children. So, I decided to create a story about a boy (perhaps me at a younger age) and his personal discoveries.
The story illustrates the community of critters unearthed beneath a rock: millipedes, ants, beetles, crickets, earthworms and a spider. My primary intent was to draw some parallels between a community of animals and the communities in which youngsters live.
A secondary intent for this book is to help children appreciate the marvels of nature right at their feet. Wrapping those potential discoveries around one boy’s adventures allows me to share the information in a personal way. I chose the cumulative rhyme to help readers enjoy those explorations in a dynamic and enjoyable format.
Under One Rock was also the genesis for a series of children’s books that examines easily-accessible animal habitats. Through this series, I hope young readers will find a world of wonder right out their doors.
Book of the Week: There’s a Babirusa in my Bathtub!
Congratulations to last weeks winner Martha Freeman. Martha was the winner of a free copy of For Baby (For Bobbie) by John Denver and illustrated by Janeen Mason.
This week we’re giving away a copy of There’s a Babirusa in my Bathtub! Fact and Fancy about Curious Creatures written by Maxine Rose Schur and illustrated by Michael Maydak to one lucky eNewsletter subscriber. Humorous rhymes and both realistic and fanciful illustrations illuminate the lives and careers of little-known animals. There’s a loris in your chorus? He’s quite a singer! Care to play bingo with a dingo? Watch out, he’s a sharp one. A babirusa in your bathtub? Better leave him there–he loves water! A variety of witty, lively poems makes learning about these unsung animals fun – and fun to imitate by writing similar poems about well-known animals.
Making a Splash with Marianne Berkes
Thanks to the Collaborative Summer Library Program kids across the country are “making a splash” with Marianne Berkes. The 2010 Summer Library Children’s theme is “Make a Splash, READ!” and many libraries have chosen to include Over in the Ocean and Seashells by the Seashore into their programs. In this video excerpt with Riley Roam from Page Turner Adventures, Marianne talks about how to enhance the books with learning activities. Many of the activities mentioned in the video can be downloaded from our website. In addition, you can download MP3 files of Marianne reading and singing Over in the Ocean. Librarians — and parents! — have found these tools valuable in helping to connect children with both nature and reading.