A PLACE FOR RAIN: Such a FUN Way to Take Action

 If you live where the recent spring rains turned gardens and farm fields into soggy swamps, you might also recall that last summer was a scorching drought. Much of the drippy midwest has been warned of likely droughts again in coming months.  The irony of those extremes, the damage of feast or famine in precipitation, provide reliable topics for casual conversations. This has been true in the past and is becoming a pattern across wider regions and with more dire consequences expected. Ask a farmer. 

NORTON KIDS PRESS, 2024

A PLACE FOR RAIN is written by  Michelle Schaub and illustrated by Blanca Gómez. I read about and reserved this delightful picture book while a downpour racketed outside my windows. The many good words I'd read about it also nudged me to take a closer look. 

I'm happy to say I was not disappointed!

The essential story is one of environmental stewardship, as achieved by young kids with some adult guidance and support. It could serve as a how-to book for anyone with the intent to make a personal contribution to improving imbalances and producing a better personal space and communities in need of balance with nature. Or, it's just a truly fun read with an underlying insight. 

In the first few pages we meet a diverse group of kids in their rainy-day school environment. The rhythmic and cleverly rhymed text can read as if describing a single day event, but easily suggests that this is a multi-stepped project taking days to accomplish, one that will serve the environment for years to come.

A raincoated, booted woman with a wheelbarrow enters in images, serving the project throughout, but without a single ext mention. That allows the busy, cartoonish kiddos to take center stage in this problem-solving process. 

And what is the issue? Well, early pages focus on an onomatopoetic engagement with rain, in the moment, unthreatening. Then a few spreads reveal that when rain becomes a downpour, it creates gushing, rushing, sogging flows that flush various detritus from roofs, gutters, asphalt, and more, flooding that debris into our waterways. That raincoat-clad adult and a couple of kids raise and answer this central question: 

"Can we lessen that mess?  Yes!"

Using available space and materials, they roll a barrel under a downspout, note the overflow when full, create a winding, shallow trough to channel that flow to a catchment area. That collection site is planted with water- and drought- tolerant native plants to absorb water and sludge. The bonus benefit of a colorful perennial garden that serves as insect and bird habitat is delightfully portrayed. This diversion from urban sewers and waterways that feed into lakes, rivers and oceans is unmistakable.

Illustrations are vibrant and vital, with  nearly geometric shapes and  soft-edged style that suggest universality among the diversity. The text is a terrific mentor pattern for those attempting to write in rhyme. That's not because it follows the usually mandatory strictness of meter and rhyme scheme. Instead, a rollicking but regular rhythm develops throughout, with lines that celebrate internal rhyme (see that masterful line above), interjections, sudden stops, and perfected pacing to enhance page turns. Granted, this would not be a challenging approach to mmimc, but it does confirm that those who choose to step aside from strict rules need to be VERY sure they can do it well. Schaub does exactly that!

I expected back matter, but there is none. As i considered the target age and intentions of the text, the thoroughness of embedded construction instruction, I could see why backmatter was not necessary. In fact, on the page that shows preparing the collection basin readers find a helpful chart explaining how to easily determine how well your chosen area drains and how to calculate an effective depth. Very clever, indeed!

I hope that many schools, families, day care centers, libraries, and others will find and share this entertaining and inspiring picture book.The language invites repeated readings, and the suggested project can be scaled;ed up or down to allow possible success for any readers. The more who take part, the greater the benefit to Earth, Water, and all of us. 

WOLVES of YELLOWSTONE:A Rewilding Story

 Have you heard of 'rewilding"? This is an organized effort to restore wildlife to an area or habit where they belong. When I first heard/read about the dramatically successful program to restore wolves to Yellowstone National Park my first thought (after gratitude) was that this needs to be a picture book. I was not alone with that thought, obviously, and this book is a worthy representation of the remarkable wolves, the program, and the significant impact the wolves have had on restoring THE PARK ITSELF and its other native species to a more sustainable (and original) environmental balance.

THE WOLVES OF YELLOWSTONE: A Rewilding Story is written by Catherine Barr and illustrated by Jenni Desmond. 

With straightforward text that is readable and speaks clearly about every step in the process, the text and the illustrations reveal the imbalances that developed in this particular national park after wolves were eliminated there. Early pages reveal the complex teams and intricate teamwork needed to safely transport and successfully adapt Canadian wolves to the park. The wolves were each tagged and monitored, their movements and actions recorded, analyzed, and reported. 

There are equally informative and fascinating details about the wolves' adjustments over time, including how individual and entire packs adapted and expanded. They were not artificially confined to the park . Efforts were made to inform nearby stock owners about the value of the wolves natural lives within the park, but some were killed once they crossed those lines. Despite that, their successful existence  and expansion generated changes in the park's deer and other herds, in beaver activity, and in other significant aspects of wildlife. The combination of those shifts eventually reshaped rivers, repopulated some species and reduced other overgrown herds, and helping to restore the park ecosystem to the patterns of nature.Such an intricate process over long spans of time are not easily explored in a picture book, m and yet this creative pair accomplished it  with grace and accuracy.

NEON SQUID, 2022

This is an outstanding (and appealing) picture book for a wide range of readers, including some young audiences who will engage with the  artfully crafted text content and images even if not yet able to read for themselves.

For more examples and details about this process in many settings and species, check out a more advanced picture book: REWILDING: Bringing Wildlife Back Where It Belongs by David A Steen and illustrated by Chiara Fedele.

Steen is a herpetologist and it shows in this expensive view of the rewilding process across all animal kingdoms and global habitats. I recommend this for established readers who care about the EARTH.  In fact, for those who don't express interest or concern, these two titles might be just the ticket to a new and invested attitude.

Both are among the CYBILS NONFICTION AWARD nominees for 2022. Check out these and other nominees in the extensive list HERE.

What's in YOUR Parking Lot?

I'm excited to share the news that I will again serve as a CYBILS AWARDS Round One Panelist. In the past seven years I've been involved with several different categories, including fiction picture books, board books, elementary and middle grade nonfiction, and poetry. For 2021, I'll be taking a very close look at elementary and middle grade nonfiction titles with these other amazing panelists. To learn more about the CYBILS AWARDS, including how to nominate your favorite titles in any/all categories, click HERE. Public nominations open from OCTOBER 1 to OCTOBER 15, so I'm going to squeak this nonfiction picture book recommendation in before I begin hauling home stacks and stacks of your nominated titles. I won't be surprised is this one is among them.

 * * *

 I never doubted that there would be books of many kinds related to the 2020-21-and-counting pandemic. Those Covid 19-inspired books are hitting the market now. As a global event that cost millions of lives, this is an important way to process the reality for current kids and for future young readers, in my opinion. Even so, the quality of storytelling, information sharing, writing, and illustrating should be as high or higher for these as they are for any other published works, whether incorporated into fictional stories, inspiring poetry, of explored in picture books. 

MINEDITION: A Maria Russo Book. 2021

SEA LIONS IN THE PARKING LOT: Animals on the Move in the Time of Pandemic is written by Lenora Todaro and illustrated by Annika Siems.

Todaro is an ecological writer/activist/guide who shares her thoughts about this new book in a brief interview that deserves a careful listen, HERE.

Siems is a master of scientific illustration (with a background in fashion design!) who clearly identifies and reveals the lives inside the creatures she brings to the page.

This timely nonfiction picture book is a tremendous documentation of ways in which our "built human landscape" was reclaimed by nature and animals during the "anthropause". What is that, you ask? Anthropause is a term coined when the pandemic led to a pause in typical human patterns, effectively removing humans from public spaces. This allowed scientists and naturalists to observe changes in animal patterns, globally. 

With brief but informative and accessible text blocks that describe particular species and their changes, readers are invited to a dozen places across our planet in which animals wasted no time at all in noting newly-available territories and found their places among them.

Several of these fabulous illustrations call to mind images that spread via social media during past months. Others feel  like entirely new revelations. In expansive and artful  double page spreads they are rendered with accuracy and perspectives that celebrate their natural/scientific qualities while placing them in settings that they would normally avoid. A gentle humor and wryly ironic point of view surfaces in several of these, 
The curiosity, resilience, and (temporary) adaptations of various land and water species from around the world are eye-popping and smile-inducing, while the often lyrical text remains accessible and clarifying about the places, circumstances, and consequences of this human-absent effect on  otherwise nature-unfriendly environment. 

As gloriously fascinating as this new picture book is, it should also be considered a valuable resource for readers of all ages, including older ones who will find rich connections and content for discussion regarding climate change, habitat, wildlife behavior, and finding balance between progress and environmental responsibility. Back matter includes an epilogue (with real-time and future action plans), along with brief notes about each of the twelve species and their natural biomes. A few kid-friendly resources are provided along with links to  more materials about the "anthropause".

I encourage you to take a close look at this, to suggest it to teachers and families, and to reflect on the compelling question of your/our place in the world.

Too Much Rain? Noah Buillds an Ark

Candlewick Press 2019

Our recent astonishing spring rains, nearly Biblical in duration and volume, merit serious treatment. Flooding is generally disastrous. 
Even so, a picture book can bring a degree of comfort, or at least diversion. With hurricane season building fast, here's a story to warm your heart and offer a sunny respite from the worst of storms.
NOAH BUILDS AN ARK is written by Kate Banks and illustrated by John Rocco. In this layered story the young boy Noah is a devoted naturalist who appreciates the various wildlife in his urban backyard. Banks writes a direct but appealing narrative, interspersed with lyrical word choice, strong verbs, and delightful figurative language:

"It started with a cloud peeping over the hill like a curious ghost."

"The sun snapped off its light. A curtain of darkness drew across the sky."

"The rain splashed down like silver swords thrown from heaven."

The text provides parallels between Noah and his parents: using tools, stocking up food, preparing for the worst. Once the storm sets in, Noah's indoor story reveals both the worry and the comfort of a family surviving a multi-day storm, depicted in charming spot illustrations.  That clears the stage for expansive illustrations to reveal the parallels of outdoor survivors to indoor residents. The story is realistic and practical in many regards, although some kids will raise questions about the likelihood of these particular animals sharing close quarters for several days: Won't the toads each the insects? 

These observations and questions open doors to discussions of intentionally stretching realism, extending and comparing readings and research in other genre, and determining themes for picture books. 

Rocco's illustrations are luminous and nuanced, precise enough to verge on photographic, at times. The yard-dwelling creatures are not anthropomorphized, although alert and attentive. Young Noah and his family convey expressive features to suit the changing conditions throughout the story. Explorations of empathy and trust will spontaneously arise from these rich images and the engaging story.

The central character, Noah, wasn't the only thing that reminded me of a classic picture book.

THE SALMANDER ROOM is written by Anne Mazer and illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. This book resembles NOAH BUILDS AN ARK in its illustration mastery of nature's plants and animals, of luminous focus and contrasting shadows, of shifting perspectives, angles, and distances, and of enhancing the text with layers of visual meaning. Originally published in 1994, it has been reissued in paperback, featured on Reading Rainbow, and read/discussed on You Tube, often.

There are so many ways to compare these two titles. Elements of the concrete story similarities and differences are only the first step. Explore the sensitive and attentive natures of the boys, their individual good intentions, and the surprising appeal of what are often considered yucky critters. The illustration techniques, effects, and page designs invite comparisons, too. 

The books also abound in contrasts. Note closely the use of dialogue for parent-child interactions, including use/lack of dialogue tags. Overall these books, taken together, offer prime material for a variety of graphic organizing tools: from simple Venn diagrams to T-charts, to pro-con lists delineating personal preferences and offering supporting evidence for opinions.

Despite those opportunities for developing analytic skills, please do the creators of both books the justice they deserve. Each is a work of art and craft, worthy of a fluent, mindful reading without disruption by commentary. Only then, following some moments for reflection, should the stories and books themselves be discussed as literary works. 

Finally, perhaps even days or weeks later, those analytic approaches are well-suited. But I urge you to keep the books readily available for readers to simply choose and repeat, examining and delighting in the remarkable power of well-crafted picture books.

Whether you are still recovering from Spring floods or anticipating hurricanes during summer months, or just looking for a great pair of picture books, I urge you to give these a try. 

PREDATOR and PREY: A Conversation in Verse

Candlewick Studio, 2019

This new picture book, PREDATOR and PREY: A Conversation in Verse, explores pairs (and groups) of animals "locked in a battle for survival". 

Predators need to eat. 

Prey need to avoid being eaten. 

This never-ending fight is depicted in verse and informational text by author Susannah Buhrman-Deever. 

The author introduces the topic in an introductory verse that describes the "tricks" prey and predator might use, many of which are a sort of conversation: using voices, listening in on others, even "talking" to each other. The ultimate goal, of course, is to survive and raise the next generation. Successfully raising young is necessary for species survival.  Babies must be fed and protected. This reality drives both predators and prey to never stop trying.

Each spread is gorgeous, and  includes an inset text box presenting factual information about both predator and prey. Their specific interplay and the possible outcomes of their encounters is described simply and clearly, with enough detail to spark imaginations. 

These passages are accessible science that allow readers to visualize the various battles as  action videos. On each page one or more poems adopts the voices of the animals pictured. The inset text combines with the images to enhance the meaning of the poems.This approach with parallel text provides excellent content to explore writing craft: voice, figurative language, sequential narration, cause/effect, and poetic forms, including reverso poems and poems for two voices.

Illustrator Bert Kitchen  has produced natural, representational full page scenes that appear, at first glance, to be photographs. Some of the double spreads are designed with half-page foldouts, providing nearly panoramic habitat scenes that are as informative as the 

the informational text. The oversized, square trim format results in double page spreads (some with extra wide fold-outs) that are perfect for sharing. 

The animals depicted represent global locations and species, with accurate names provided in every case. The bibliography includes primarily adult scientific resources, which allows authentication of science, but does not offer options for young readers whose curiosity will surely be sparked by these animals. I believe this would have been improved with a page or two of kid-friendly back matter such as poetry form notes, a food-chain diagram, and a few titles or links for kids. Despite that, I'm eagerly recommending this impressive and inspiring new book.