A FOREST BEGINS ANEW: FIRES VS FUTURES

 If you didn't catch my recent notes about JUST ONE OAK, feel free to read that or other posts-from-the-past in praise of books that reveal and celebrate the remarkable role of trees and forests of all types. When such essential anchors of bio-systems are left to the forces of nature, they can and do serve years, even centuries of purpose within our planet's survival and evolutionary success. 

The role of a single tree, let alone a forest full of trees, spans centuries, landscapes, and lifetimes, demonstrating impressive generative intelligence to rival anything AI might offer. (In my humble opinion, ahem). 

Fires do occur naturally, and can be launched intentionally for regenerative purposes. This has been true across cultures and time. Measurable changes in climate patterns are producing earlier and hotter seasons, more extremes in drought and rainfall, deeper and longer el niño and el niña seasons, with winds and other conditions that result in forest fires far more extensive and destructive than in recorded history. And these reoccur more frequently and severely with each passing year. 

ASTRA YOUNG READERS
2026

As the author's dedication in A FOREST BEGINS ANEW states, this book is "For EVERYONE SEARCHING FOR HOPE". I appreciated that and also a quote from youth activist Greta Thurnberg: "You are never to small to make a difference."

This is a debut from author Louise M. Aamodt and her rhymed text is effectively illustrated by Elly MacKay. 

The lyrical lines unfold in the rhythm of "this is the house..."  but don't rely on that template completely. Rather than accumulating and repeating stanzas or locking exclusively into the original pattern, occasional short phrases signal transitions and progressions, while each stanza and page spread is focused on a phase of the timeline from the assumption that readers won't need to learn what a forest is, but can be led immediately into the launch of a heat-lightning strike on a single tree. Tension is instantaneous as cloud becomes strike becomes flames. Each rapid development is illustrated with informative details that reveal the plant and animal life affected at each stage while allowing readers to predict and question throughout each anticipated page turn. 

Lightning storms in themselves can be overwhelming to young audiences, and forest fires are even more so. (Think Bambi!). The grace and strength of this narrative and visual journey is that the pages with threat and devastation all incorporate survival, while moving readers through to hopeful management and adaptation within the first third of the book. Moving forward, the means through which both nature and humans can preserve and restore a healthy habitat is less stressful and much more reassuring and promising. Animals and youth all have agency and purpose in assuring a continuation of life, concluding with this sample of the undulating text:

"New signs of life

fill the burnt trees:

Critters/ and flitters/ and creepers/ and bees.

Budding and blooming

where fire swept through, 

this is a forest--

beginning anew.

The main text deserves praise and attention, but it's the back matter that reveals the teaching background of the author, including a posed and then explored question: 

Are fires good for forests?

Also an author note addresses readers, directly posing concern for shared feelings of helplessness and overwhelming emotions that arise during natural disasters. Brief and accessible added facts follow that short message, revealing the extensive research behind a seemingly simple text. For those seeking sources and validation of content or added information, multiple pages of references conclude this wonderful addition to any school, classroom, home, or nature collection.

We are currently immersed in a trajectory of global climate change that, in the scope of our planet's timeline, is barely a blink of the eye. And yet, we live our lives in his comparatively slo-mo space in which we can and should take actions. This remarkable picture book provides reassurance for all (yes, for worried young folks, but for older folks like me, as well). Fires, even those accelerated by human-caused environmental extremes, are recoverable, can even be beneficial, when we give nature time (and a hand) to regenerate and restore itself. That helps to know, and offers some science-based initiatives to suggest for young activists. Fire season, especially in western north America, is already upon us. Hurry to obtain a copy and read this, then share it with young people in your life.

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.

Nothing more HOPE-filled Than EGG

Anchoring this post in Covid19 time:
A struggle is underway, at least in this country, between those who believe we must "OPEN UP" to save "the economy" or persist with a SaferAtHome policy. I've been heartened by the fact that young people seem to be adjusting to a cautious approach better than many who claim the title of "adult". 
Social media and YouTube are awash in innovative ways to learn at home, to celebrate proms, graduations, and other landmark events while making smart choices for the greater good. 
Even so, the longer this goes on, the more distant we seem to be from a conclusion, the harder it is to hold on to HOPE.

Astronomical and meteorological SPRING has arrived. Here in the northern Midwest the weather has been remarkably mild and warm, and yet...
Despite greening lawns and vegetative sprouting, the colorful blooms in my own yard have been very reluctant to unfold. Perhaps they sense the worrisome atmosphere.
Or, perhaps, I am just having trouble waiting.
But I haven't stopped HOPING.

A recent board book helps me hold on to that hope.

Creative Editions, 2020

EGG, written by Amy Sky Koster and illustrated by Lisel Jane Ashlock, is a gorgeous example of the best elements in this format. Libraries and parents can be expected to consider the value of the physical object: durability, size, age-appropriate content, long-lasting appeal. 
Check. 
I, too, appreciate a board book that can live in a toddler's hands with as much joy and survivability as a favorite toy. I've shared many of these in past posts.
Even more, though, I adore board books that bring all those assets to tiny hands while offering outstanding aspects of quality picture books. 
EGG does just that.
Quite a few outstanding picture books and their characters find new identities in board books using a modified version of the original. In this case I'd advocate for the advantages of developing a picture book version from this original board book. 
Each open spread provides an illustration and two-word line regarding a specific egg, with the double spread resulting in a simple rhyme: 

Opening double-spread interior- EGG, 2020 Board Book, Creative Editions

For each of thirteen actual eggs (and one fun ringer) the ornithological/botanical images have the luminosity, accuracy, and beauty of classical paintings, showcased on bright white background and free of distracting details. The distinctions among eggs in size, shape, color, habitat, and life-stage are as captivating as the perfectly metered text and page turns. The final turn provides a science bonus, labeling thumbnail images of each with the birds' common names. 

For an added dose of related bird/egg/hope/Spring encouragement, check out some previous reviews about ROBINS and NESTS,  BIRDS both real and imagined, and LIFE CYCLES in nature.

As for me, the toughest of nests of eggs, downy hatchlings, and fuzzy fledglings give me HOPE. May we all hold on to the wisdom of eggs, opening up in Nature's own good time, emerging gradually and safely, and only when the time is right.

And for those of us whose brains keep reverting to Covid-related issues, here are some things that I found intriguing this week:
A link to an interview with a Milwaukee area COVID19 survivor, a young woman whose account has led to a blog and website that allows others to share their individual stories. 
A link to the background on how "the ECONOMY" actually became a force in American politics.

Meet HONEYBEE: A Masterclass in Text and Images

Recently, public awareness of the plight of the honeybee, species apis mellifera, has gained public attention, concern, and efforts to intervene. Trends vary, from steady declines in populations for decades to some recent encouraging news about stabilizing colony collapse in some regions. 
That's the macro-view of HONEYBEES. 

NEAL PORTER BOOKS/Holiday House, 2020

The recent picture book by author Candace Fleming and illustrator Eric Rohmann presents a micro-view, an up-close-and-personal introduction to the life of an individual honeybee, called Apis for short. 
HONEYBEE: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera allows readers to absorb the remarkable complexity and necessity of the species while feeling a personal connection throughout every event in the short life of a single, particular honeybee.
This is much more than the theoretical biography of a single honeybee. 
It is also much more than a "how-to" book for wannabe honeybees. 
It could serve both purposes well. 

And yet...
any mundane comparison of this book to any other on the topic would miserably understate the combination of superb text and remarkable illustration, both of which reveal deep and accurate research with sensitive and lyrical artistry. 
The large trim size with impressively-scaled images set the stage for little Apis to meet us eye to eye. From that vantage she conveys her big role in the world and has readers cheering her on through each stage of her short but essential life. 
The familiar honeybee role-- gathering nectar and pollenating plants -- is a climax known from the start. Even so, the reader observes Apis developing from her infant-gray hours through to her eventual, glorious launch from the hive, cheering and caring for her at every dramatic page turn.
Apis begins her life cycle before the title page when she first cracks the surface of her wax cell and emerges into a massively interdependent social system. The question of how and why she so successfully progresses through each important life stage and hive-service is not addressed, but readers can sense that she is driven to do so, as is true of her thousands of sisters, bee after bee, life cycle after life cycle. That is a miracle of nature that we allow to decline and disappear at the risk of Earth's survival.
An equally powerful miracle is the way this pairing of storytelling and images left this reader feeling as if we just might be meeting an actual individual bee. 
I have always appreciated and respected bees, even though I stepped on one barefoot at age five. (Full confession-- I did not actually appreciate that particular bee.) 
I have followed many of the suggested actions to support honeybees that the author included in the excellent back matter. I have helped students learn much of this content and would have loved to use this book to do so- including the outstanding, labeled, double-page spread honeybee diagram at the conclusion. 
Despite all those positive attitudes about honeybees, I have NEVER before felt such an affectionate and protective reaction to the concept or the embodiment of honeybees.

Do not imagine that this was accomplished through an anthropomorphized portrayal. Apis does not adopt a first person voice. There is no contrivance needed, beyond the magic of gifted writing and illustration, to achieve this magic. Rather than making Apis seem human, readers are drawn so deeply into her world that we become one among the hive. 
At least that is how I felt.
Many readers are likely to have had a scary-or-painful encounter with a honeybee at one time or another. Some children may even have developed anxiety reactions about bees. Even so, I am convinced this astonishing picture book would convert them to become fans of honeybees. 

The creators of this book paired their brilliance on several prior projects, and I'm counting on them to do the same with future results. GIANT SQUID is a topic that is far less familiar to readers (or to science). It's a topic that might captivate some, but lacks the wide and deep fan base of honeybees. 
Until you read the book.
The award committees agreed: it was named Sibert Honor Book, NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book, and Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book, among other recognitions.
I feel safe in predicting that HONEYBEE: The Busy Life of Apis Melliflera will meet or exceed those accolades. You can bet on it.


For another take on HONEYBEES check out my Goodreads notes about THE THING ABOUT BEES, A LOVE LETTER, written and illustrated by Chabazz Larkin.

BIRDSONG: Connections Across Age and Space and Time

GREYSTONE KIDS- Canada, 2020

Some picture books transcend time and space and age with a feeling that they have existed for all time, and yet are ever-fresh. BIRDSONG is such a book, written and illustrated by award-winning Cree-Metis artist-author-creator-maker Julie Flett.
A seemingly simple story is launched when an artistic young girl and her mother move away from their urban home by the sea, away from their loved ones, away from the tree outside her window, to live in the country in a house with creaky stairs. 
The story is structured around the seasons, using minimalist sweeping scenes and the young girl's art impressions of surrounding nature to adjust and settle into her new home--frog, pond, snowdrop flowers, and birds. 
So many birds. 
The author/artist uses a subdued and limited palette for this mother-daughter pair, suggesting their Native identity in word and image.  The passing seasons tint those subtle color tones her so slightly with hints of green, coffee, salmon, and yellow. 
Even stronger revelations of cultural patterns and values occur in the pacing of their adjustments, the gradually developing trust and concern for older neighbor Agnes, their appreciation for nature and neighbor, and their gentle engagement with wildlife. 
I agree with the Kirkus review, which calls it "Emotionally stunning", here.
Then, rather than read more about the book, go READ THE BOOK.
If you enjoy it even half as much as I do, you'll want to check out some of her other books, here.
I'd love to read what you think of it in the comments. 

Mysteries of Life...and Death

Leaves turn, blaze, drop.

Birds flock, feed, migrate.

Animals store, burro, hibernate.

Life cycles.  Instincts.  Mysteries.

Curiosity about these begin early in life. The lucky ones among us never outgrow this curiosity, never cease to be amazed at these patterns and cycles, relishing opportunities to explore and investigate them with children.

Chronicle Books, 2011

A great place to start is with A BUTTERFLY IS PATIENT, written by Diana H. Aston and illustrated by Sylvia Long. Check out the Kirkus review, and read it the very first chance you get.

This gorgeous, poetic view of butterflies includes scientifically accurate illustrations, labels, and lyrically described facts as part of the highly acclaimed series of titles by this twosome. The original effort is AN EGG IS QUIET,  which earned awards and acclaim.  Science exploration links for An Egg Is Quiet are offered on many teaching sites. This was followed by  A SEED IS SLEEPY, another acclaimed title. The latest, A ROCK IS LIVELY, is a 2012 release.

Chronicle Books, 2006

Chronicle Books, 2007

Chronicle Books, 2012

Another cycle is evident at this time of year. Halloween pop-up stores fill strip malls, jumbo candy bags overflow on store shelves, and magazine covers feature peeled-grape eyeball snacks, all of which mean that kids will  clamor to share Halloween picture books. Blogs will feature titles from charming to silly to spooky to sentimental, but within a few weeks most will be relegated to closet shelves or holiday storage boxes while Thanksgiving and Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa books fill displays and blog lists.

Seasonal transitions in nature, especially the highly visible changes here in the midwest,  present perfect opportunities to explore and extend natural curiosity to life cycles, even birth and death. It's an ideal time to share titles like the ones above, titles that can sustain interest and relevance beyond the latest commercial sales push.

Holiday House, 2010

Here are two other titles that are worthy of space on bookshelves year around. THE DAY OF THE DEAD: A Bilingual Celebration, is written and illustrated by Bob Barner, translated by Teresa Mlawer. This is a simple bilingual description of the traditional Day of the Dead commemoration,  including numerous illustration homages to artist Jose Guadalupe Posada's iconic skeletons. The vibrant colors, minimal text, and celebratory images combine with the extended information in the back to make this an interesting and appealing cultural tradition for all readers, and shares Mexican traditions without waiting for Hispanic heritage month in May.
See Kirkus review here.

Chronicle Books, 2001

Every bookshelf should include GHOST WINGS, written by Wisconsin author Barbara Joosse, illustrated by Giselle Potter. As Barbara Joosse always does, she has created a powerful story embedded with rich cultural background. In this case a young girl's close relationship with her grandmother is portrayed in the first few pages. Then the girl deals with stages of grief across several seasons, tying  it all together with the science and tradition of Day of the Dead, monarch migration, and loving memories.  Back matter includes a cultural discussion (with  glossary), science details about monarch butterfly migration,  and a simple guide for adults to explore feelings and activities when reading this book.
Kirkus review here.

In the midst of Halloween sugar highs and strictly seasonal titles, "keepers" like these are the real treat to read,  discuss, reread, and return to throughout the year. After all, death is inevitable, for ourselves and for everyone we care about. Children will be better equipped to deal with the pain and specificity of personal loss when it occurs if they are familiar with the concepts in advance. What better place to find that familiarity than in nature and in books?