Interview with Laurie Wallmark: Woman in STEM (who is NOT DEAD!)

I've shared picture books by Laurie Wallmark in recent weeks (HERE and HERE) and among my thousands of Goodreads reviews. When you read as many books as I do, there truly are stand outs among them. Wallmark's titles about WOMEN in STEM are such books, and are included on my MATH recommendations page. Now it is my great honor to host Laurie for an interview about the March 2 release of her latest title, CODE BREAKER, SPY HUNTER: How Elizebeth Friedman Changed the Course of Two World Wars, illustrated by Brooke Smart.

 

Code Breaker, Spy Hunter
Harry N. Abrams, Inc. March 2, 2021

Without further ado, let's get started. 

(My questions are marked SB, and  Laurie's responses are LW.)

SB: Laurie, thank you so much for spending time with the blog readers here, and for sharing the excitement of this upcoming release with us. I’m eager to hear more about your work on Code Breaker, Spy Hunter: How Elizebeth Friedman Changed the Course of Two World Wars, but I’d like to begin with a “chicken-or-egg” question related to your WOMEN IN STEM titles.

The first picture book, Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine, was published in 2015. I enjoyed reading several interviews about that book and I know other readers will, too.

(Readers, I suspect you'll want to read Laurie's interview here to find out more about Laurie's  latest book, but I urge you to check out her earlier blog interviews. She provides quick links to them on her website, but I suggest you begin HERE and HERE.)

Laurie, your comments in those interviews make it clear that your personal interest in math and computers began in childhood, and that you enjoy writing about strong women in STEM. This series feels as if it might have been a lifelong dream for you, but did you intend to write a series of picture book biographies about historic women in STEM, or was it a consequence of Ada’s success? 

 

LW: I truly never thought of writing a book series. As an unpublished author, my main focus was on getting someone to buy any of my manuscripts—fiction or nonfiction, picture book or middle grade. I knew it was important to try different categories and genres of writing to see what was best for me. What if it turned out that picture book biographies weren’t my strong suit? But I couldn’t help myself. Even before Ada sold, I had already started on Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code. As a computer scientist, I so wanted to share the stories of these two important people in the field and maybe inspire a child in becoming a software engineer.

 

SB: I can fully understand that goal of having your work published, particularly considering the amount of time and effort that you invested in researching and writing the nonfiction titles.

The depth and breadth of your research is impressive to me as a writer and educator, but even more so as a reader. Your thorough knowledge forms a seamless scaffold for your narratives so that the subjects of the biographies come to life on the page as fully formed humans, living and achieving within the societies of their times. The research details never bog down the page-turning quality of your storytelling. I complete your books feeling as if I knew these women. How familiar were you with any of them before you begin your research?

LW: At this point, I’m so familiar with both Ada and Grace, it’s hard to remember this wasn’t always the case. Because of my interest in math and computers, I certainly knew their names and the basics of their achievements. But that was it. I knew nothing about their lives—the part that draws children into a book. Having the opportunity to dig deep into their stories—their failures and successes, challenges and victories—was a gift. 

 

SB: Let's move on to some CODE BREAKER, SPY HUNTER questions!

I find the inclusion of quotations by your subjects in each of these titles to be powerful and revealing. That is particularly true in CODE BREAKER, SPY HUNTER. Your bibliography includes some recent books about Elizebeth Friedman, but you also accessed primary sources. Elizebeth Friedman lived during the twentieth century, which should have made material like this easier to find. But she was a SPY, for goodness sakes, and worked for/founded the secret agency that eventually became the CIA! Please share some aspect of your research that felt as if YOU had broken a code or found your way into Elizabeth’s life despite frustrating obstacles.

 

LW: Luckily for me, Elizebeth’s papers are archived at the Marshall Foundation in Lexington VA. Their online collection contains correspondence, personal materials, newspaper clippings, photographs and more. Even more luckily for me, research librarians are wonderful resources, so when I couldn’t find the information I needed, librarian Melissa Davis was able to help me. Browsing through Elizebeth’s archive was invaluable in helping bring her story to life.         

SB: Yay, librarians!

 

LW: A resource that wasn’t available to me while I was researching is a book for teens coming out in October, by Amy Butler Greenfield, The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Friedman and Her Hidden Life. It will be interesting to see how another kidlit author, albeit one writing for an older audience, handles different aspects of Elizebeth’s life.

Interior images: Code Breaker, Spy Hunter. (Capturing a Nazi spy ring!)
Wallmark/Smart
Harry N. Abrams, Inc. March 2, 2021

SB: I'll look forward to reading it, too. (Blog readers, I've linked the author and title above if you care to check out this resource later.)

 Back to your picture book which is, in my opinion, highly accessible for curious young readers, but equally intriguing for middle grade and teen readers, as well as for adults. In part that's due to the illustrations of Brooke Smart, and to the art designer for effective page layout, including that continuous reel of coded messaging. The visual excitement and suspense surrounding  your compelling text supports the emotional content, high stakes, and pace of the developments in the field of cryptography. Curious readers will examine every inch of coded tape weaving throughout the book. In a story spanning two wars and using extensive technical terminology, as well as both Elizebeth’s family and professional lives, were you concerned that this complexity could confuse young readers? Would you share your reactions to and involvement with the visual side of Elizabeth’s story?

 

LW: I’ve had the benefit of being paired with the most amazing illustrators and art directors (not to mention editors) for my books. I was involved in the illustration and layout process from the beginning, starting with the rough sketches. I gave feedback—some that was taken, some that wasn’t—but all my suggestions were seriously considered. I had the privilege of seeing Brooke’s illustrations come to life step-by-step.

 

My biggest contribution to the illustrations, other than supplying the quotations, was figuring out the codes that are in the artwork. I gave Brooke streams of seemingly random letters, and she had the hard task of hand-illustrating them. I’m sure it was a lot of hard work. Once she was done, the codes came back to me to check. My biggest fear is that a ten-year-old reader will find a mistake I made.

 

SB: I doubt there are errors,  but I have NO doubt that countless kids will be busily solving that code and will let you know if you've slipped up at any point. By the way, I am thoroughly impressed with the various ways in which Friedman's quotations appear on the page. Perfect!

Moving on...

I devour the extras that authors choose to include in back matter, but even more so when it comes to your work in these pages. You consistently organize and write this supplemental material with clarity and flare that demand my attention and make me want to tug someone’s elbow and share the information. Rather than a basic glossary, your CODES AND CIPHERS page presents readers with integrated understanding of challenging vocabulary, as if in a conversation with the author. The CRACK THE CODE challenge page will be a hit, and your lightly-illustrated timeline reads like a bite-sized synopsis. CRYPTOGRAPHY TODAY advances the history of code-breaking directly into our handheld and other digital devices. The quotation citations and bibliography are essential, and remind readers that documentation for nonfiction works separate fact from imagination.

 

Please tell us something about your approach to back matter, in terms of what and how you choose to include material, and how you decide what has to hit the cutting room floor.

 

SB: I adore back matter. When you research a picture book biography, there’s so much information that you can’t include in the main text. Sometimes it’s because it would interrupt the flow of the story. Other times, the concept is complicated and needs a more extensive explanation. And of course, there’s that limited word count in picture books. Very often what ends up in the back matter I had originally included in text. 

 

In Code Breaker, Spy Hunter, one piece of back matter came as a suggestion from the publisher. In Elizebeth’s time, most code breaking was still done by hand or by dedicated machines like Enigma. The publisher thought educators would want students to know more about cryptography today. I agreed. Now, I had to research and understand how computers code and decode messages, so I could explain it to kids. Luckily for me, I love doing research, especially when it involves math and computers.

 

One of my books, Numbers in Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics, has a piece of back matter that’s unrelated to STEM. It’s about why Sophie’s name is written so many different ways (Sofie, Sofya, Sophia, Sophie—along with variations of her surname). I talk about how her name was transliterated from the original Cyrillic alphabet and the common way Russians assigned surnames. The nerd in me found this fascinating, so I thought kids might, too.

 

SB: Wow, I am so anxious for readers to get their hands on this book and begin to explore the many aspects of Elizebeth Friedman's life on the page. You've been more than generous with your responses, but I'll push my luck...

I must ask who is next to come under your intense biographic investigation, if you are able to share that.

LW: My next picture book biography about a woman in STEM, astronomer Maria Mitchell, comes out in Fall 2022. She was the first American to discover a comet, one of the first paid astronomers in the United States, and the first female astronomy professor. In addition, she worked to convince others of the need for women in the sciences.  

 

I also have a picture book coming out in 2021—Dino Pajama Party (Running Press Kids). So now, in addition to writing about dead women, apparently I also write about dead reptiles. I’ve had people ask if the book is nonfiction, because they know my other books. Um, no. I'm pretty sure dinosaurs didn’t wear pajamas.

SB: Congratulations! That will be an exciting and fun experience for you, and the first of many fiction titles, I hope. Variety is always an energizer for writers. 

Readers, Laurie was kind enough to extend her responses to include a question for our recent giveaway winner, Susan Wroble:

 SW: I think of series as coming out of the same publisher, but this series seems to have three publishers. Did the publishers think that your books would compete with ones you had previously written for them, or what is the story behind the different publishers?

 

LW: Although all of my books up until now have been about (dead) women in STEM, they’re really not a series. I wrote each one as a stand-alone book. 

 

As to why they’re not with the same publishers, that’s an easy question to answer. Just because an editor accepted one book, that doesn’t mean she’ll accept the next one. She might not like it, the publishing house might have a similar book coming out, or it just doesn’t fit with their list. My Numbers In Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen Of Mathematics was rejected by one publisher for a funny reason. They had a book about another mathematician named Sophie (Germain) on the way. 

 

I was lucky enough that after Sterling Kids started the series “People Who Shaped Our World” (originally called “Women Who Shaped Our World”) with Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code, the editor also accepted Hedy Lamarr’s Double Life.

SB: Thanks, Susan, for that great question. 

I wondered about it, too.

Laurie Wallmark
Woman in STEM who is NOT dead!

SB: On behalf of readers here, and from me personally, THANK YOU, Laurie, for taking time from an obviously busy writing and working life to share so much of your book-background with us. Congratulations on this March release, on your Dino PJ party (that should be a fun launch!) and on your continued success in whatever you pursue. I for one will stay tuned for anything and everything you write.

Readers, you can follow Laurie at her: 

Blog: All News, no Schmooze

on Twitter: @LaurieWallmark

on Facebook: Laurie Wallmark Author

and view a video on her website in which she speaks about why she writes, HERE.

 

 

Warming Up for Cybils Nonfiction Decisions

I'm so excited to be knee-deep in Cybils Nonfiction Nominees for Elementary and Middle Grade readers. (Nominations are still open until October 15, 2019, so click on that link to look over this list and add your own nominee if it is not there!) My library hold list is long enough to wrap a Halloween mummy. My TBR (To Be Read) pile grows and grows. My stack of likely shortlist titles is NOT short at all! 
I had already posted reviews and comments on a few of these nominees earlier in the year when they first caught my eye. I'll share links to those posts next time. After that I'll begin posting new reviews and comments on many of the the other nominees in the coming days and weeks.

WORDSONG, An Imprint of Highlights

For now, though, I want to share one set of titles that combine the glory of informative, intriguing, and unusual nonfiction content about subjects found in nature, but do so using poetic forms. That means that they won't be evaluated in my nonfiction category. In fact, this trio of titles from talented author/illustrator teams were all published before the Cybils 2019 qualifying dates. 
But, oh, they do deserve some attention, and three are wonderful examples of the ways in which nonfiction books can sparkle and shine. 
They provide a closer look at a talented author, David L. Harrison, who writes and successfully publishes MANY books, including fanciful fiction and other appealing approaches to nonfiction content. Illustrator Julie Bayless is also prolific. Her style is hard to characterize, other than being very kid-friendly while incorporating both scientifically accurate details and playful twists on those details. 
For example, their recent pairing wins grins in lyrical nature romps: CRAWLY SCHOOL FOR BUGS: Poems to Drive You Buggy. 
The premise of this clever bug fest is a "bug school" located in a rotting log. Vaguely familiar school issues and relationships unfold, depicting the various personalities of 

"...hummers,

tweeters, 

SINGERS,

diggers,

LEAPERS, 

creepers, 

wingers."

The charming appeal of the rhymed verses  and colorful illustrations is their artful balance between scientific accuracy and anthropomorphized details in expressions and costuming. The premise is established with the school rule: NEVER EAT A FRIEND AT SCHOOL. Then various insects and other bugs each deal with species-specific coping lessons, ranging from ticks with sore bottoms (from being extracted), stink bugs who are unpopular, a wasp who zaps a nosy dog, a school nurse who tends toward drawing blood (mosquito, naturally), and a janitor who happily gathers muck and dung (Mr. D, the dung beetle) to name a few. Smiles are generated on every page, while science slips in as slick as slime.

CHARLESBRIDGE

NOW YOU SEE THEM, NOW YOU DON'T: Poems About Creatures That Hide takes the science a step hider, wider, and deeper. This light-hearted but image- and information-dense collection of verses is organized by animal classes: sea life, amphibians/reptiles, mammals, insects/spiders, and birds.

This title provides the back matter I longed for in the above book, offering common species names and latin labels, with just enough explanation to clarify references in the main text. Each  animal family page also provides a kid-friendly science resource for curious readers. 

The rhymed verses in this title are less giggly and more informative, as are the illustrations. Giles Laroche uses an artful layering of drawing, cut paper, painting, and gluing, with the resulting scenes suggesting an authentic natural world, but one that will likely inspire young artists to explore similar techniques. The verses, too, are laced with intriguing specifics and evocative moods, inviting further observation and investigation. 

CHARLESBRIDGE

A PLACE TO START A FAMILY: Poems About Creatures That Build is another creation combining the considerable talents of Harrison and Laroche. This, too, organizes the information about animal homes in categories: underground, on the land, in the water, in the air, (with a bonus surprise at the final turn). It, too, features the delightful rhymed revelations of familiar and unusual critters and their nesting patterns. Laroche's complex media and layering technique results in surprisingly natural and scientifically accurate scenes. 

The back matter is helpful in this title, too, and the "Learn More" resources noted for each category are ideal choices for curious young minds to pursue. 

When it comes to delivering information, details, and other facts- real facts that can be verified and confirmed- there are many formats to use, for any age. In these books the blend of rhymed verse, skillful art, helpful back matter, and reliable resources elevate entertaining books to learning tools. That's a winning combination for any age. 

ARTISTS at WORK: Creativity Sparks Reflection

Two vastly different picture books arrived in my mail recently, both sent to me by PHAIDON PUBLISHERS. Their focus is on global publishing of books devoted to the arts, and these are two new additions to their CHILDREN's book catalogue. I will be donating them to my library system now that I've read and shared them, but not before I dive into each several more times. 

Phaidon Publishing

WRINKLES is created by JR, a photographic/installation/public spaces artist whose work and canvas ARE global.
I'd be tempted to classify this book as free-verse poetry. The seemingly simple and accessible text, suitable for a very early reader, can also be viewed as an ode to life and love and human nature. With artfully framed photographic portrayals of wrinkles on portions of faces of individuals from around the world,  every aspect of expression becomes an artistic revelation. Without the back matter, this is a glorious invitation to step away from our absorption with youth and beauty and screens to realize how many stories and how much excitement and drama and laughter can be read in the lines of the faces that surround us. In our agist, interventionist society, the message is automatically conveyed that wrinkles are not something to be desired or appreciated in others. 
One pass through this book proves the opposite.
Repeated passes allow readers OF ANY AGE to dive deeply into the truth of the text and the images. 

Excerpts from Amazon.com/Books

But about that BACK MATTER: 
Each of the pictured faces belongs to someone in the world who participated in a global art project designed and executed by the artist/author, JR. Each photo is reproduced in thumbnail format in the back with a brief personal biography delivered in first person voice, including age and location.
Following those pages is a map and short text describing this art project, in which each photo was enlarged to mural size and mounted on an outdoor surface of a building in their home town/city.
Following that is a short autobiographic note from JR with some photo images of him at work/play with his "tools of the trade". 
Finally, the end papers are a quirky surprise.
Let's just say that if you ever tried to apply wallpaper you'll appreciate those end papers even more.

The second title is YVES KLEIN Painted Everything Blue and Wasn't Sorry, by Fausto Gilberti.  

Phaidon Publishing

 The Italian author/illustrator of this bio-profile of artist Yves Klein took an innovative approach to share Klein's rule-breaking and boundary-stretching approach to art. 

The figures representing the artist and his creative journey blend angular, surreal, and fluid images on pages limited to black, white, and the shade of blue Klein created and labeled INTERNATIONAL KLEIN BLUE. His career and recognition grew from his renowned sense of wonder- at the magnificence of this particular color of blue and at other ways to generate art, including fire, water, and wind applied to a variety of surfaces and with innovative techniques. His extraordinary explorations included rocket design, costuming, photography, and music, to name only some of the outlets for his imagination. 

Excerpt image from Amazon.com/books

Gilberti also created the picture book bio: Jackson Pollack Splashed Paint and Wasn't Sorry (2019). I hope these are only two of many more to come, since these picture books make contemporary art approachable and enjoyable to young readers.

This, too, has additional black matter to provide further details on the timeline, locales, and actual lived-life of this wildly creative man. His life was cut short at age 34 (heart attack) but he accomplished huge amounts and made a dramatic impact on the art world in those few years of productivity. The INTERNATIONAL KLEIN BLUE endpapers and interior blues provide an experience with a single, saturated color that allows even the youngest readers to imagine how and why "color" itself could fascinate an artist so deeply. 

Both books are a child-friendly square trim size and light weight with high quality interior papers. Both have a vibrance and clarity of presentation that mirror the author's subjects. Both are well-suited to art students, of any age, but also to the youngest readers who will find themselves within these stories and images. Readers of any age will be drawn to return to the books again and again, as I was. 

Both books were provided to me by the publisher with no promise of a review of any kind. 

Happy Birthday, MLK, Jr., My Hero.

Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King, Jr.

You’re a hero to so many, but I’d like to take a moment to tell you why you are mine.

When sharing your accomplishments with students, describing the doors you opened, opportunities you produced, changes resulting from your leadership in the USA and the world, my admiration is evident to them.

Then I tell them about my experience in high school.

I was on a mission since elementary school to go away to college, which would be out of the question without a major scholarship. I not only dreamed it, I worked for it: in academics, activities, social choices.  In senior year I achieved an incredible goal- earning a portable scholarship that would give me a “free ride” at any university of my choice, as long as I could get in. (You’ll remember those were the days when $10,000 could actually pay for four years at a premier school.)

And yet I could not even apply to Harvard, Yale, or Notre Dame, nor to any of the military academies. Acceptance at any one of these was an American benchmark of academic success. So whether or not I even chose to attend one of them, I was denied the chance to test my credentials against the best seniors in the country.

At that time, those schools didn’t even accept applications from “my kind” of people.

At this point I can’t resist asking students why I, with my fair skin and blonde hair, would be excluded.

Time after time, someone finally wonders aloud- “Are you really black?”

Once the laughing subsides, I tell them the truth.

I tell them that you are my personal hero because your leadership resulted in laws that ended discrimination against me. And I explain that those laws established the right for each and every one of them to choose goals and work toward them with their only limits being their own hard work and perseverance. 

And that if I wanted to attend any of those universities today I was now free to apply.

Because, thanks to your leadership, risks, and sacrifices, along with those of so many others, now every one of those schools accepts women. That change took place too late for me.

So, Martin, not just on your birthday or during Black History Month, I thank you for your vision and accomplishments. You threw open the doors of opportunity for me and for everyone else to live in a country that guarantees equality, or recourse when that has been denied.

And Martin, we still have a long way to go, but the story of the struggle continues to be told, with picture books often leading the way. Here’s hoping teachers and families will find some here to share.

Martin’s Big Words by Dorren Rappaport/Bryan Collier, 2001 Caldecott Honor Book. Hyperion Books for Children.

Don’t miss the inspiring author’s/illustrator’s notes and Collier’s dedication.

My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers by Christine King Ferris/Chris Soentpiet. 2003. Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Read the afterward in which Christine writes about her brother as a young child. Back matter includes the illustrator’s notes and the tribute poem by Mildred D. Johnson- share with kids!

Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. Kadir Nelson. 2011. Balzer and Bray (Harper Collins)  *Fingers crossed for Caldecott and/or Newberry *

One hundred pages of compelling artwork and first person narration by a fictional African America relating a personally connected history of Africans in America from the 1600’s to the present. Don’t overlook the dedication or the extensive back matter, including timeline, bibliography, author’s note, and index. 


See what young people in the  Milwaukee area have to say about MLKJr's  Legacy in their lives.