A Pair of Poets: Mary Oliver and William Carlos Williams Biographies

 Mary Oliver is among the most beloved of poets in America, and throughout the English-speaking world. 

Countless lines from Oliver's poems are recognizable, quotable, remembered without being actively memorized. 

Example:

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?”

― Mary Oliver

BEACHLANE BOOK, 2025

Yes, THAT Mary Oliver is the subject of an appealing new picture book biography. WOODS & WORDS: The Story of Mary Oliver is written by Sara Holly Ackerman and illustrated by Naoko Stoop.  Her troubled early life is stated as fact without elaboration, providing an effective connection to many readers who will, on their own terms, imagine their troubles as hers and find her example offers paths to  solace. 

Mary escaped her pain in the woods, in the wild, from early on. Childhood patterns continued throughout her life- carrying a small notebook in a back pocket, stashing a bundle of pencils in small tree cavities along her regular paths. Always noticing, always identifying with and learning from the natural world.

The ensuing years as an adult reflect her ongoing bond with nature, with quiet, with reflection and observation. This is  a well-paced non-fiction account of her life, yet it offers readers of any age a roadmap to inner pursuits and validation, of taking ourselves to our own places of peace. 

The narrative provides specific details of her locations, of her natural observations, of her personal and professional pursuits. it also offers side text, strings of words related to the things she notices, the kinds of thoughts and words she inserted in her notebooks that later became building blocks for poems. Her writing, despite winning international awards, was not always seen as "good enough" by traditional editors. But Mary persisted, following her inner compass. She insisted that poetry and the natural world were necessary partners. She found fans who soon tucked her poems into pockets and squirreled away favorite lines. 

A brief author note provides added details of her life and awards, but the treasure in this book is the main text and illustrations. Natural tones, fluid statements, combining as naturally as ocean and beach, without artifice. Readers will not only learn information about Mary Oliver but will sense a kindred spirit in a poet whose life and words fit like a familiar glove. 

Schwartz & Wade, 2019

Another biography of a poet is a favorite picturebook of mine, although not a recent release. It sprang to mind as soon as I read WOODS & WORDS. 

16 WORDS: William Carlos Williams & "The Red Wheelbarrow" is written by Lisa Rogers and illustrated by Chuck Groenink. 

This award-winning book profiles William Carlos Williams, another poet who noticed the world. But his was the everyday world of his home and community that captured his vision, corralled his thoughts. Williams was the local doctor, serving a small community of people who were his neighbors in the best sense of the word. Through the window of his home0-based practice or during walks to and from home visits, details called to him. Things like the red wheelbarrow, the plums in a dish in the fridge, cats, trees, people. Williams chose his words as carefully as he chose prescriptions or treatments, making sure each was the perfect fit. Like Mary, he often scratched down words and ideas as they occurred, returning to them later to develop a poem of even a few lines, one that captured everything he had seen and felt in the moment. 

Both books use soft-edged illustration styles, in natural tones and media, with views from varied perspectives, any of which a reader might have similarly experienced. Each engages with brief narrative that is not so much poetic as it is lyrical and direct. Both made me want to go back to the bodies of work and reread, reconsider every poem, every line.

Both are books i highly recommend, as well as the works of the poets.

Two Information Picture Books - from Two Angles

 I've started gathering some nonfiction picture books to consider from 2023. First, though, I remind readers that fiction picture books are superb sources for learning about the world. Please don't dismiss that statement as applying only to tots and kiddos! Many fiction titles provide intentional, incredible amounts of reliable information about fascinating topics, including STEM subjects.  Picture book editors and fact checkers are unrelenting in crosschecking to assure the latest and most accurate content for those young minds. Authors rely on MANY sources, providing useful author notes and resources in back matter, including safe online links.

G. P. Putnam and Sons, 2023

The first book I'm loving is a great example of incredible care in research and writing. Author Scanlon is a master of using facts within a fiction picture book, especially with lyrical rhymed text. (See some recent posts of other titles by Scanlon). In this case, she includes information about wolf pups and packs in a picture book written and illustrated with delightful charm and appeal. FULL MOON PUPS is written by Liz Garton Scanlon, delightfully illustrated by Chuck Groenink.

Once again, the opening and closing end paper illustrations provided a visual synopsis of what to expect. Both spreads feature wolf, helping even youngest readers sense the changes of time with the initial scene featuring a single adult wolf moving through misty mountainsides under a left-of-page full moon. The final endpapers feature the same evocative background, but the full moon has reoriented to a right-of-page location, subtly suggesting that months have passed. In the lower foreground, what appears to be that same wolf is trailed through the night by five wolf pups, maturing into the next learning phase of their lives.

Lyrical excellence inspired the illustrator to such detail-packed images that support even the youngest audiences in understanding of longer time passages and actual wolf pack/pup development/behaviors within this particular fictional example. Scanlon's straightforward, expansive, themed text draws attention to transitions among the new littermates, the changing landscape, and the pups themselves. The author's note and brief information about the phases of the moon augment this fact-packed fiction offering.

Candlewick Press, 2023

The second title also moves readers through a particular time period and setting, focusing instead on the survival and developmental stages of an amphibian. Treefrogs are certainly a species with visual appeal but is far from cuddly, to most of us. ONE TINY TREEFROG : A Countdown to Survival is a vibrant and revealing creation from Tony PIedra and Mackenzie Joy 

The word choices in this simple, count-down-from-ten text are vivid, energetic, and wonderfully descriptive. I'd go so far as to say smile-inducing. The subject of this book, the truly TINY treefrog, is portrayed on oversized, nature-hued pages as ten egg/tadpoles progress through their growth cycle while diminishing in number. Each page reveals threatening habitat or predator that reduces their likelihood of survival. Fear not, though, that the eventual arrival of ZERO means none survive. The conclusion is, in fact, exciting and very satisfying. 

The countdown text is in large, bold font while tiny text labels various living things on each spread with its common name and scientific designation. Brief back matter includes directly addressing the treefrog's  life cycle patterns, the specific habitat (in lowland wet forests of Costa Rica), and a lovely spread of that setting within which the thirteen other named creatures are pictured, circled, and numbered along side a numbered naming list. This poses a seek-and-find challenge that drips with learning potential and sparks close observation. That back matter spread is followed by the concluding double spread that provides spotlight images from the eleven counting page stages and stars, including briefly extended details about each. 

Animal life and wildlife settings provide endless appeal across many ages. Whether the young ones you know are traveling to such places or spending summer on STAY-cations, these two titles are first class tickets to explore, experience, and learn about them.