Who's Afraid of BUGS? Not THE SPIDER LADY, Nan Songer!

"Nonfiction" is easy to extol as needed information, but in our times of TIK-TOK, Substack, YouTube, and Reddit, posts voiced by unvetted sources, not to mention traditional media outlets, once reliable sources, are diminishingly trustworthy. They now present "truth" but materials are produced by downsized-overworked-nonspecialized  staff and AI generators, both equally doubtful. I've come to believe that the most reliable truths, ones I can trust, come not even from my own eyes, since AI plays a role in so many distortions and outright misrepresentations. What I turn to are works from well-vetted publishing groups for youth (ages 0-20), ones who willingly claim the label NONFICTION. Even adult works in those categories too often reflect agendas and intentions toward what is or is not included or emphasized. In works for nonfiction for  youth, the guards are still at the gates and  turrets. Material is scrutinized to prevent distortions, half-truths, and even an excess of flourish or creativity that could confuse young audiences. 

This branch of the publishing industry, on the creative, production, and marketing sides, have gone so far as to identify works as "informational fiction" or ":creative nonfiction", offering readers a full understanding that the factual content can and will be identified even if told in imaginative ways. These works (including direct nonfiction) go so far as to incorporate back matter to expand and validate the facts shared, to offer suitable  resources for curious investigators, and to clarify aspects that may have been used for storytelling purposes only. I challenge all purveyors of "information" from any of the outlets noted above to step up with comparable assurances of the TRUTHS they offer to readers.  (Bottom line following this rant? READ MORE NONFICTION for kids!)

 

CALKINS CREEK, 2025

In both text and illustration, some nonfiction picture books take original twists on familiar people or topics, but others capture attention by introducing new individuals, discoveries, burgeoning fields of study, and so much more, all of which can capture attention just as well as digital media while providing validity and references to learn even more. THE SPIDER : Nan Songer and Her Arachnid Army is written by Penny Parker Klostermann and illustrated by Anne Lambelet. This unsung hero story would be remarkable even if it didn't involve a major aspect of winning World War II. 

But it does.

It begins as an intriguing and colorful account of Nan Songer's unique childhood as the eager mentee of an expert female neighbor-entomologist then moves through Nan's emerging sense of nature and its appreciation. Rather than focus on displaying or dissecting amazing bugs, she was fascinated by their behavior. Studying that meant keeping them alive. The hearts of many wannabe scientists will resonate at the spreads showing how Nan transformed her bedroom into a living insect zoo.  (Parents may cringe, but it's worth sticking with this unfolding story.)

As WWII loomed, Nan encountered a need from the armed forces-  for precision spiderweb threads to use as crosshairs in many kinds of munitions.I learned so much about Nan but also about spiders in this bio-profile-career story. (That's despite my academic respect for spiders with no willingness to become roommates with them!) Among the most amazing new information is that aiming crosshairs needed to be from spider web threads because they're not susceptible to heat or cold or moisture, making the marksman's aim reliably accurate. Who knew? I certainly didn't. And I certainly didn't know how spider thread could be collected without taking it from the web! Silk thread, yes: soaking silkworm cocoons allows easy unthreading and re-spooling. But spider web threads? You won't believe it!

But you should. And you will, because it is so well told and visualized. And documented.

Nan Songer's long "hobby" meant she worked with live spiders regularly, overcame any worries about Black Widow spiders producing the most ideal threads, and so much much more. That background made her the ideal innovator for acquiring and providing threads of exacting specifications in quantities, reliably, without injuring the spiders who served our country so well. I wondered (and learned) if those same threads would  have any signifcant purposes after the war ended. The story is woven as effectively and with as much complexity as actual spider webs. Both the story and the webs have strength, purpose, and jaw-dropping intricacies. Don't miss the back matter for added details and insights. 

And could we all try holding reportedly "true" stories and images to the same high standard as we achieve in nonfiction for children. At a minimum, indicating when and how much AI is involved in images and reports? Deepest thanks to all who write, illustrate, proofread, crosscheck, and validate the contents so that young readers can actually trust such work.

MARIAM'S DREAM: More Than a Food Truck!

Mariam Al-Shaar, the subject of this delicious new picture book profile, was born in a Lebanese refugee camp, into a Palestinian family that had fled there years before her birth. It didn't matter that she was born there, Mariam and the other refugees (arrivals and those born in the camp) had no way to claim identity or rights. They were forbidden the rights of citizens of Lebanon, and Palestine has no country to declare rights to its members. Life in a refugee camp offers few opportunities to make money or improve conditions, but women had even fewer rights. 

CHRONICLE BOOKS, 2025

The author's note and other back matter for MARIAM'S DREAM: The Story of Mariam Al-Shaar and Her Food Truck of Hope provide fascinating details about refugees, recipes, and specifics that are not part of the main text and illustrations.

Author Leila Boukarim and illustrator Sana Avedikian created a text and visual narrative that delivers a genuinely tragic story, one that reflects its seriousness but also celebrates the promise of hope and commitment. Refugees live "between worlds", surrounded by walls, witnessing the struggles of those contained within the camps. 

Despite this grim reality, portrayed clearly but without extremes, the joyful journey and success of young Mariam is trumpeted in vibrant endpapers, active scenes, and Mariam's process of rallying the women to learn, share, produce and supply traditional foods within their camp. 

(Full disclosure, I am not an adventurous eater and avoid spicy foods because of a touchy gut, but the images of food prep and products had me nearly drooling!)

Following Mariam's heroic efforts to gather the needed ingredients, personnel, and means to prepare traditional foods, at last... a SOUFRA IS BORN. A feast, a table full of food. Step one in Mariam's dream is achieved. The next steps are increasingly complex, centering around obtaining and operating a food truck to extend the reach of their success. Sometimes writers are encouraged to provide three obstacles to overcome, making a happy ending even more satisfying. In the case of Mariam and her food truck, the obstacles were countless! Some were based on money (of course), some on refugee status (sadly), and even more had to do with the birth-fact that Mariam and the others were WOMEN (tragic), without rights sometimes allowed even to male refugees. 

The text incorporates the language of WALLS, blockades to reaching a dream, but not simply walls of wire or brick. You and I both know that had she not succeeded we wouldn't be reading this book. That, though, is in no way a "spoiler" for a story worth reading. By anyone. At any age. This picture book is a terrific example of suiting many purposes and audiences. Read through and examine closely. It's a wonderful example of how nonfiction, even biographic profiles, can be original and clever in their storytelling and appeal. It is also suited for curricular connections involving geography, rights, and current events. It's a delightful invitation for cross-cultural menu discovery, and also a math-class bonus for considering small scale economics and government regulations and consequences.

 What I'm getting at is that this is a contemporary work that is an ideal way to launch WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH. This theme month is among many that are under assault in current politics, and the click/link for women's history has an undeniable focus on the past and on figures form USA history. In fact, even the most notable women of the past faced many similar obstacles and walls to the ones Mariam faced, and many did not have their stories documented. A topic so rarely dealt with in adult media let alone children's literature is presented here as a universal and uplifting one, a story and life that can teach lessons across geography and time. Dreaming. Persisting.  Dreaming. Innovating. And ... always... dreaming.

THE HISTORY OF WE: A Must-Read Marvel

 The back cover of the book jacket for THE HISTORY OF WE features a single sentence:

"In this fertile African cradle, the birthplace of civilization is found."

KOKILA, 2025

Words and painting by NIKKOLAS SMITH take readers on a time-travel adventure back to the origins of what we now call the HUMAN race. The journey confirms that human identity is not defined by skin color but by our capacity to create. These immersive, evocative spreads suggest the ways human beings developed language, art, music, tools, rhythm and dance, agriculture and architecture, navigation and astronomy, medicine and exploration. Those creations and innovations, confirmed by paleoanthropology, originated in the landmass we now call Africa. 

That is the WE of this title, the empowering glory of human beings who found strength and growth and improvement in community and communication. The final double spread is a mural-like expanse of human faces of every age and hue, revealing (as we already know) that humans are not BLACK OR WHITE OR YELLOW OR RED, but have skin tones/blends of these, adapted and suited to improving lives where they find themselves. It confirms that WE are all cousins, rooted in our common origins and accomplishments. That WE ALL reap the benefits of what each of us contributes to the improvement of our lives and species.

Double-spread back matter offers short statements about each spread-achievement that is referenced in the glorious art and minimal text. Those small passages provide enough technical accuracy and terminology to allow curious readers to pursue further information, and a simplified timeline scrolls across the bottom of that spread to pace human developments through millennia. The artist/author note indicates that this work moves beyond his previous works that expanded unvoiced histories to suggest and celebrate the markers of our entire species, our relationships in time and location, and to hint at the possibilities that we, as a related human race, might yet accomplish.

This is a work of visual beauty, but even greater awe occurs from considering the wonder of our shared human race. The only context in which race has real meaning.

CITY SUMMER, COUNTRY SUMMER: An Intimate Look At Ordinary Life

One of the more challenging things to help young writers learn is the power of writing "small moments". Early writers want to share adventures and magical tales, rockets and dragons. Those are fantastic topics and need more encouragement than they sometimes are given. Even so, few children are as emotionally affected by dragons as they are by small moments in their personal lives. Moments of joy or worry or loss or celebration. Reading and writing those stories from their own experiences provide insights and inner processing of the emotional landscape of daily life. 

During BLACK HISTORY MONTH, and beyond, many of the picture books that so wonderfully reveal major moments in our American history focus on "big" events and eras in our shared experiences. I've reviewed many of those, HERE, HERE, and HERE, for example. There is value in providing accessible stories that too often were untold or even denied. The BIG parts of history need to be shared and understood. 

KOKILA, 2025

 CITY SUMMER, COUNTRY SUMMER, written by Kiese Laymon and illustrated by Alexis Franklin, reveals a ubiquitous history of small summer moments with heart and joy. The faces on the cover only hint at the experiences of the boys portrayed, two local brothers in Mississippi and one New York City boy, all spending the summer next door to each other with relatives. 

Mississippi native Mildred D. Taylor's award-winning middle grade novels explored this multi-generational pattern often. After the Great Migration into Northern States, families would send children South during summers to visit and learn from extended family. This may not be the first picture book to examine this cultural pattern through a  contemporary Black lens, but I have not found others. 

The voice is a slightly reflective first person approach to the process of meeting, measuring, befriending, puzzling, and recognizing "safeness" in the others. Not safety, but safeness. A recognition of themselves in the others, for saying both "I love you" and "I am afraid" to the others without risking the spoken words. The vibrant colors, the glowing skin, the dense but nearly monstrous garden, the perspective of overhead smiling adult faces, hands spraying their bodies with water, the slides down a hillside all say what words dare not. 

Don't come to this thinking it is some kind of City Mouse/Country Mouse parallel, or that it is a series of "summer fun" antics, fun for the sake of fun. There are shadows of both, in this tentatively tender relationship story. But those elements only serve the bigger picture of young folks with dark skin who have lived in a world in which caution is an essential skill. The story and their adventures reveal the process of  exploring trust in a potentially hurtful world. 

Please read this. Experience the lively scenes and read the text several times. Find and feel the  layers of simple statements and underlying emotions and hopes. You will come away enriched.

And, perhaps, awakened.

Teacher friends who read this book will recognize wonderful mentor text for writing small moments.