SUPERMOMS! Animal Kingdom and Humans, Too.

 HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY to the amazing moms among my family and friends. Each is SUPER in countless unique ways. Those SUPERMOM qualities are sometimes best known to their families, but many are also observed "in the wild" by the rest of us. Thank you for all you do, seen and unseen. 

In honor of those amazing MOMS and their SUPER POWERS, here's  a brief review and nod to a nonfiction book and its creators. 

CANDLEWICK PRESS, 2023

SUPERMOM, one of the AMAZING ANIMALS series, is written by HEATHER LANG and illustrated by JAMIE HARPER. This entertaining and informative picture book uses comic-style illustrations and speech bubble text  combined with short segments of "supermom" descriptive text. The facts are impressive. Paired with the illustration details these pages demonstrate to young toddlers and inform older audiences about some of the ways in which offspring in animal families are fed, protected, instructed, transported, and otherwise raised by their moms, specifically. 

The habitats and species range from mammals (far beyond the expected primate patterns) to fish and birds. Each critter and its young merits a colorful, lap-friendly, double-page spread. Some are familiar, like the remarkable penguin moms who travel fifty-plus miles to feed for two months storing much off their harvest inn their guts. Then they retrace their lengthy treks to feed the young by regurgitation. Other examples are far less familiar, like Pacific octopus moms who maintain vigilant care of their more than thousand octopi eggs, without a break for about five months. The final spread features spot illustrations and "mom" statements from each of the eighteen species, indicating both an added fact and bonus, "GUESS WHAT?" lines.

CANDLEWICK PRESS, 2024

There are plenty of animal patterns on Earth in which both parents, or even mainly the dads, share the heavy lifting of raising the next generation from birth to adulthood. In fact, just in time for FATHERS' DAY in June, this same creative pair will release SUPERDADS!, the next title in Candlewick's ANIMAL HEROES series.

Meanwhile, if you're looking for other titles celebrating Moms, here are some of my posts from the past:  

A MOM memory post HERE. 

A post about the more subtle but invaluable ways in which parents teach the next generation, HERE.

The power of positivity and resilience so often modeled by mothers, including the ways that model instills strength and identity in young humans, here.

If you enjoyed the deft quality of Heather Lang's nonfiction writing, check out some earlier offerings I reviewed in prior posts HERE, and HERE.

Here's LOOKING At You, Margaret Lowman!

 When a picture book hits the sweet spot of my admiration radar, I'm on board before even opening the cover. In this case the author (Heather Lang), genre (biography), subject fields (rainforests and environmental issues), meeting someone new (Margaret Lowman), and inspiring young readers to activism are combined in a book that has me cheering.

Calkins Creek
Imprint of Boyds Mills & Kane 2021

I hope this picture book will do the same for you, and that you'll join me in singing its praises and sharing it widely. THE LEAF DETECTIVE: How Margaret Lowman Uncovered Secrets in the Rainforest is written by Heather Lang and illustrated by Jana Christy. It's hard for me to imagine anyone who is not a fan of the rainforest, and anyone who doesn't have a strong impulse toward both curiosity and concern when that subject is mentioned.

 

Before the main text begins, a quotation by Margaret "Canopy Meg: Lowman is showcased on its own page:

"We are PART of our ecosystem, not outside it."

With that quotation and nickname as my introduction to this pioneering rainforest scientist, the author follows with a full spread that anchors a pattern of three things I especially enjoyed and admired: revealing Meg's emotional inner life, including a significant quotation that summarizes specific elements of her biography, and brief science information displayed on a lower corner "leaf" inset on most pages. In the case of this first spread, Meg has spent two decades focused on leaves: thinking, reading studying, researching, hypothesizing about rainforest canopy leaves and ecosystems, but frustrated that no one had ever reached that biome directly.

It's a tricky challenge for a biographer to engage young readers with the adult lifestory of noteworthy folks, with many authors following a cradle-to-grave sequence, launching the "hook" of the childhood years on the first page. In this case, Lang's  opening spread plants adult Meg at the base of a towering rainforest canopy tree with a sense of her pent up frustration about finding a way "UP". What child can't identify with that feeling?

The page turn then draws readers into Meg as a child, a painfully shy, studious girl who "wrapped herself in nature like a soft blanket". That quote is Lang's lovely text, which lands on this spread among colorful and sketchy images of Meg observing, collecting, preserving, and viewing her own backyard leaves from an eye-level tree house, all of which foreshadow the life she would eventually lead. 

The propulsive text and  active images as Meg enters adulthood sustain a sense of her determination and persistence that she developed in her youthful sense of purpose, her physicality and adventuresome approach to direct investigation and science. Despite the voices and forces of convention: "You can't do this. You're a woman. Women don't climb trees", Meg did. Just as in her childhood, she respected her inner voice. She steadily developed the science behind her insight that trees rely on defenses, like toxins and nettles and thorns and poisons, to preserve their lives, and that those very adaptations might be of value to humans, too. She was also increasingly aware of the local and corporate destructive forces that threatened rainforest ecosystems that had been centuries in the making and were disappearing by the minute.

Meg's childhood fascination with leaves, and the ways in which leaves fed and served other life forms, continued as the central driving force for her observations and investigations. Her early attempts at tree climbing and direct observation eventually led to collaborations that improved study for herself and others, that allowed eco-tourists to visit rainforest canopies on elevated walkways.She helped develop ways to establish "emergent layer rafts" as a base to gain, literally, a bird's eye view of life at the top of a rainforest. 

The concluding pages include a photo of Meg, grinning directly at the reader while hanging from a rope sling on the side of a canopy tree. This is followed by a glorious double spread labeled RAINFOREST MAGIC, which requires reorienting the book to a vertical display. That reveals the labeled ayers of the sub-biomes (forest floor, understory, canopy, and emergent) with brief text, size markers, scaled and labeled lifeforms, and color/shade tones indicating the relative penetration of the sun. The final page turn is a wealth of nonfiction resources, including bibliography, video, Meg Lowman's website (check it out!), and source notes for each and every quotation included. 

I'm well aware that picture books are the result of an amalgamation of extraordinary talent, including the author, illustrator, editor, art director, and many more. In this case the physical book is a victory of design and content, from the vertical trim size with stacked text that suggested the rising components of the rainforest, to the lush and dense illustrations that somehow reflect the nearly blurred impact of packed foliage while managing to reveal specific details, curious characters, and dramatic shifts in perspective and size. 

In my first paragraph I mentioned that author Heather Lang was among one of the attractive factors in my pursuit of this book. I had the privilege of sharing an interview with her in a post that is nearly ten years old now, but her responses remain timeless and made me a fan. Her thorough research and writing style make her books irresistible to young readers (and older ones, like me!). 

Meg's pioneering attitude about the significance and value of the rainforest follows a direct course from her childhood personality and interests, The result of her self-acceptance and self-direction have been a lifetime pursuit that has sparked global studies, preservation movements, and improved lives for rainforest residents. This is a book for anyone at any age, but especially for kids who may not see themselves as "fitting in" but will be inspired by Meg's example.

Baseball's Opening Day!

Anyone who has been following my posts is aware that I'm a fan of baseball.  Today (March 29, 2018) is Major league Baseball's OPENING DAY! For the first time in fifty years, every team is participating in a game today to open the season, and I hope it won't another fifty before it happens again. My own team, The MILWAUKEE BREWERS, will have our home opener on Monday, April 2, but I'll be watching today, hanging my hopes on an eager and building team that includes players who feel like old friends and those with new names and faces who are already becoming familiar from spring training. 

I think it's safe to say that every player on every MLB field today had his start in Little League, or his nation's version of such a program. It's also safe to say that every player on the field (and in the dugouts) today will be male. Which calls to mind several picture books I've reviewed in the past about the role of girls and women in baseball, on the field and in the management offices. It also makes me want to share a new release from prolific profiling picture book author, Heather Lang,   work has been featured here in the past.

ANYBODY'S GAME: Kathryn Johnston, the First Girl to Play Little League Baseball is as lively and appealing as the cover art and character. You can learn about spunky and sporty Kathryn and her clever decision to PROVE that girls can play baseball as well as boys in the book trailer linked HERE.
Backmatter includes an author's note, timeline, and acknowledgements. At a time when girls were expected to be playing hopscotch and jumping rope, in a an all-white setting that was typical of mid-century America, Kathryn's slightly-fictionalized persistence still inspires and parallels some of the race-struggles for equal treatment that were happening in the same era. In her case, she could cut her hair and disguise her gender to prove herself while skin color did not offer the same options. Illustrator Cecilia Puglesi creates slightly cartoonish but lively and expressive characters.

Albert Whitman Company, March, 2018

To launch this opening day, I'm linking here to some of my many previous baseball-related picture book posts, beginning as far back as my first year of blogging:
April 6, 2012:  BATTER UP!  Biographies and profiles.
May 12, 2012:  BASEBALL STRIKES AGAIN  Two biographies, a nonfiction history of the role of women in baseball, and a novel in verse framed on a baseball-loving narrator.
June 16, 2012:  Here's to the Boys, Young and Old: An all-time favorite picture book story, with an unforgettable message.
January 13, 2013: Never Too Soon for Baseball... or Too Late!   Biography
April 14, 2013: An"Anti-Theme Month Post  Women with untold stories, including baseball.
July 13, 2013: Finding Inspiration in Biographies, AGAIN!: Biography, of course.
July 28, 2013: Who Do You Trust: Sports Heroes?  Biographies and profiles.
April 3, 2016: Baseball Biographies: Who Makes the Line-Up in Literature? Picture book biography of a woman in baseball management, and link to a middle grade historical novel with roots in Milwaukee and the earliest days of baseball, the Civil War era HATTIE'S WAR. (Note: offer for free download of ebook has expired)
July 11, 2016: Trauma and Racism: Picture Books Open Hard Conversations Baseball (and other) picture books about diversity and courage (fiction and nonfiction titles)

So you're officially invited to explore some of these baseball-based posts, now or after the game ends. And whoever your team allegiance supports, good luck on this opening day and throughout the season ahead. 

THEME MONTHS: Black History and Others

I've long considered Theme Months to be double-edged swords, including BLACK HISTORY MONTH, right through to POETRY MONTH and beyond. I addressed the question, here, in one of my earliest posts on this blog. 

Some tools and strategies can do as much harm as good.

The double-edged sword, to me, springs from the fact that a spotlight is long overdue for many topics. Certainly theme months are a step to correct that situation. That's better than nothing, one might argue.
 True, a month of attention is more than those topics might otherwise receive, but then the calendar page flips and the spotlight moves on to the next topic. 
Why would I view that as a curse? Doesn't fairness count for anything?

My concern comes from years of experience in classrooms, at many grade levels. When a month is designated it is all too easy (and often happens) that a limited collection of books, poster images, and activities is "brought out" to be displayed and shared, then packed away again when the next topic rolls around. The very fact that topical themes, especially in history, gain such designations reflects the absence (or disproportionately small amount) of attention devoted to those subjects throughout the rest of the year. 

A fairly recent development has begun making inroads to changing that pattern. Just last week Multicultural Children's Book Day celebrated a vast array of books that feature our world-- our REAL world. By that I mean a world of diverse and unique people. When you click the link you'll connect to multiple posts with outstanding recommendations by teachers, librarians, parents, and kids. These books span genre, topics, and target audiences. What they have in common is that they are appealing, engaging, and thought-provoking books in which readers can find themselves and the people who surround them without waiting for an event or occasion to do so.

That is, indeed, a blessing. It's also sending the message we want readers to receive- that people (and books) offer world-views that defy categorization or limitation to a single day, week, or month of our attention. The deepest cuts of that double-edged sword come when a theme-month offers unstated but implied messages of "otherness". It arbitrarily declares  that certain topics or books offer nothing of merit apart from those designated periods, nothing that would engage our attention when offered freely throughout the year.

As you read in my opening lines, this isn't the first time I've raised the issue on this blog. As I was about to add "nor will it be the last", I stopped to reflect. Could the day actually dawn when the need for THEME MONTHS disappears? Yes, I believe it could. When multicultural, diverse children's literature is so ubiquitous, when books fully represent ALL people, a "history month" would suffice. 
We're a long way from that day, but we're closer than we've ever been before.
This is no time to rest. I've linked to just a few previous posts in which I celebrate books without an eye on the calendar. If you're new to this  blog, I hope you'll check them out.
Folk Tales and Facts: Marvelous Cornelius

Heather Lang and Floyd Cooper Launch a Winner: Queen of the Track 

Drum Dream Girl: A Trio of Titles
and
NON-Fiction Notes: Kid Athletes and Other  Biographies

If you have other titles to recommend, or other posts to suggest, please add your comments!

Heather Lang and Floyd Cooper Launch a Winner

The 2012 London Olympic Games are officially underway!
In recent posts some notable Olympic winners of the past were featured, including Dr. Sammy Lee, Wilma Rudolph, and Michael Jordan.
A spring release from Boyds Mills Press features the first African American woman to win an Olympic Gold Medal. Her story is told in QUEEN OF THE TRACK: Alice Coachman, Olympic High Jump Champion, by Heather Lang, illustrated by award-winning Floyd Cooper.

Alice grew up in the South in a time when race and gender defined you, restricted your options, and narrowed your horizons.

Unless you were Alice Coachman.

She shot hoops with the boys, created high jumps with sticks and rags, and succeeded far beyond anyone's expectations. Her running, jumping, nearly flying legs broke records and won championships. They also carried her  from a time and place in which water fountains and bathrooms were segregated to standing on the podium in London and shaking the hand of the King of England.
More extensive reviews of this accessible, detailed biography can be found in The Denver Post and the NonFiction Detectives blog.

I'm very pleased that both  Heather Lang and Floyd Cooper were kind enough to participate in an interview about this book. Their combined responses created a longer post than usual, but I think you'll agree it's worth it.

The timing of the release of this book is ideal- spring of the Summer Olympic season, taking place in London for the first time since Alice Coachman was there in 1948. Was it always your intention to create an "Olympics season" story?

 Heather: I wish I could say that I was super savvy and this was all planned! The truth is—the timing of the Olympics and the fact that the 2012 Olympics are in London again was just one of those happy coincidences. I began searching for a sport heroine to write about in 2008, and it wasn’t until I was well into the research and had done some writing that I made the connection. I screamed out loud and did a happy dance. And then I was a little embarrassed that I hadn’t figured it out earlier.Floyd: For me, the art took about a month to complete. There were other deadlines on the plate and travel so the actual, real time was about 6 months.

Can you describe your approach to research for this project?

Heather: I first came across Alice Coachman while reading about famous female firsts. My immediate reaction was: if she’s famous why haven’t I heard of her before? She was the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal. She overcame poverty and discrimination. She paved the way for Wilma Rudolph. How was it possible that I’d never heard of Alice Coachman?            

I began by doing some general research online and in the library. I was struck immediately by Alice’s spirit and determination in the face of so many obstacles. I could imagine her story so well in the picture book format—running barefoot and making her own jumps out of sticks and rags. At that point I knew I had to try to contact her or her family. Her son replied to my email and agreed to help. He called his mom any time I had questions he couldn’t answer and reviewed the manuscript for accuracy. My library tracked down a copy of a privately printed adult biography about Alice. I sifted through newspaper articles and conducted historical research about the Olympics and the South. There are also some fabulous video interviews with Alice online. All of these sources helped me determine how best to focus the story.          

Then I began writing. But the research didn’t end there. New questions came up and facts needed clarifying. For example I came across conflicting information about whether the landing pit at the Olympics was filled with sand or sawdust. This was in the very early days of broadcast television, so I couldn’t verify this with video footage. Alice thought it was sand, but she wasn’t positive. This became a treasure hunt, which eventually led me to an Olympic historian in England. She got confirmation from silver medalist Dorothy Tyler that the landing pit was filled with sand.

Floyd, were you aware of Alice Coachman's story before receiving this assignment?
Floyd: I was not! That is why I love my job- it is always a learning experience. Primarily, (my research relied on) the internet. Heather Lang, the author, sent me an amazing bio book about Alice along with her story of Alice. That was very helpful.


Heather, did your research yield information that had to be left out of the biography?
Heather: Oh yes! I have a big fat binder of research. The hardest part about writing a picture book is leaving out so many golden nuggets. But if the nugget doesn’t serve the story, then it has to go. For example, Alice liked to have a lemon with her when she was jumping. She would squeeze a little juice in her mouth to quench her thirst and it wouldn’t weigh her down like other drinks would. She referred to them as her “lucky lemons.” In an early draft I included the lemons. Even though I knew deep down they were distracting, I liked them! I tried to squeeze them into this story about determination and perseverance. As soon as I acknowledged that the lemons were just clogging up the story and had to go, the story flowed much better. Luckily my publisher made QUEEN OF THE TRACK a 40-page book, so I was able to include lots of golden nuggets in the endnotes. 

Floyd, was anything particularly satisfying or frustrating while working on this project?

Floyd: Creating the art itself was “particularly satisfying” for me, knowing that I was helping to depict for many new readers the story of one of America’s heroes and contribute to her incredible legacy.

Heather, you shared this photo of Alice Coachman and you. Would you tell us something about that meeting?




Heather: It was a thrill to finally meet Alice in June. Her family generously invited me to join them for a few days in Albany while she was being interviewed and photographed for Time Magazine and the New York Times. During our time together, we sat and looked through the book together and talked further about some of those memories. We discussed her days in Albany and London. She is a very special lady with a great spirit and a wonderful sense of humor.   

The book jacket notes about each of you noted background in track and field-related activities. Did you find your emotional/physical experiences participating or competing affected your approach to this project?

Heather: As a child I played almost every sport and was very competitive. Some of that came from having a twin brother who I always wanted to beat. Like Alice, I played sports with the boys at recess, and in high school I played on the volleyball, softball, and tennis teams. I loved the thrill of competing, and winning was fun, too. These experiences and emotions allowed me to relate to that part of Alice’s emotional journey.
Floyd: I did not rely too heavily on any such experiences as I have blocked this particular torture from memory! 

I'm sure readers would enjoy hearing any take-away thoughts you'd share about working on this project.
Heather: While most of us will never face the adversity that Alice Coachman faced, I think we can all relate to having dreams and facing obstacles. Her story teaches us all to dream and to never give up on those dreams. As an unpublished writer who had received plenty of rejections, she inspired me to keep on going. I followed her advice as I worked on her story: “When the going gets tough and you feel like throwing your hands in the air, listen to that voice that tells you ‘Keep going. Hang in there.’ Guts and determination will pull you through.” 

Floyd: Alice Coachman’s life story reminds us of the power of determination and perseverance when applied to the pursuit of our dreams.  

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the Alice Coachman Foundation. Could you tell us more about that? 
In order to give back, Alice Coachman and her family created the Alice Coachman Foundation. Its mission is to provide support to deserving and proven young athletes in their track and field careers. The Foundation also set up the Alice Coachman Scholarship for student-athletes at Albany State University. I am honored to donate fifty percent of my royalties to the Foundation and Scholarship.

Thank you both for sharing your insights about creating Alice Coachman's biography. It deserves the current attention it is receiving due to the Olympic/London connection, but I am confident it will continue to appeal, inform, and inspire for decades to come.

Heather Lang's website offers a complete personal profile, but in summary she says: 

"I never gave much thought to what I wanted to be when I grew up until fourth grade when I read HARRIET THE SPY by Louise Fitzhugh. That's when I decided I wanted to be a spy. That's also when I started writing. I kept a top secret journal, just like Harriet. Since then I have always loved research and writing. For that reason I'm not surprised I initially chose law as a career. Honestly I never thought of being a children's book author until I started reading books with my kids. Once I started down that path, I knew it was my dream job. It combines all the things I have always liked--research, writing, and spying!

I also volunteer and write web articles for the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance's website." 

Floyd's bio link offers many interesting details, too. His illustration awards are extensive, but his note about creating books for children is even more impressive to me: 

"Giving kids a positive alternative to counteract the negative impact of what is conveyed in today's media is a huge opportunity."

Last week's Time Magazine and a New York Times Sports feature this week on the 1948 American Olympians, including, of course, Alice Coachman. This title was included in the People Magazine's summer picks for kids.