As our Raising Star Readers column kicks off another school year, educators and caregivers both continue to face the kind of challenges few of us could have imagined last fall. Here, Ann Angel describes how her Reading Team is countering the “pandemic bubble” by adding nonfiction books to their list of favorite reads:
Hey there, parent or grandparent, raise your hand if you’re a pandemic teacher. I’m guessing many hands just went up. My hand is up, too, and I hear from many other grandparents that as the school year begins, we’re providing childcare and the classroom for toddlers, kindergarteners, and even some grade schoolers. At least we know that although we may be isolated in this pandemic, we’re in this together.
While we hadn’t really planned to be called into service this way, there are some amazing upsides to educating our little ones. The best upside is that we get to sift through and share new books and authors with our kids and grandkids. In my new role as Nana and teacher, I’m seeing such a wonderland of nonfiction books, and I’m learning about the universe alongside my little students. For instance, I now know that diadem snakes have windpipes that open into the bottom of their jaws so they can breathe and eat at the same time; an octopus has eight brains; and the earth’s inner core is made of solid iron, which grandson Teddy always reminds me is also what Ironman’s suit is made of.
Entertainment, art, and education are all combined in some of the best illustrated books I’ve come across. Marion Dane Bauer’s The Stuff of Stars is surely the most beautiful weave of these elements, with abstract illustrations by Ekua Holmes that allow a glimpse of nature made of star dust. You can make out the forms of horses, feet, birds, butterflies, and a caretaker hugging a child. The first time I read this with my grandson Teddy, he exclaimed at the exploding stars, “I’m beginning to love this book!” It has become a favorite, and Teddy and I enjoy finding new images every time we share it. He reads along with me, loving the idea that before there was you, there was a universe, and we’re all made of star dust. (Note: this book actually inspired the name of this column.)
Other favorites that focus on a single element include Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move by JoAnn Early Macken and illustrated by Pam Paparone, a poetic perspective of the way seeds travel and implant across the land. Sheri Mabry Bestor has captured details from the world of insects with Good Trick, Walking Stick! and Soar High, Dragonfly!, both colorfully illustrated by Jonny Lambert. Sidebars provide additional details about these insects and encourage kids to discover the tiniest creatures in our world.
With well over 100 pages of illustrated information, the DK books from Penguin Random House provide hours of fun for my younger grandkids when we’re together in our pandemic bubble. Andrew, 6, Teddy, 4−1÷2, and Emma, 4, might not always have the patience to sit through listening to all of the text, but they do pick their favorite animals, planets, and explorers to share with one another. Two favorite books include the DK Smithsonian Did You Know? Amazing Answers to the Questions You Ask and My Encyclopedia of Very Important Things. I’m guessing that, if they don’t grow up to become explorers, they could well end up environmentalists or zoo keepers or even actors, seeing as part of reading always entails acting out everything from lightning strikes to snakes breathing through their mouths.
And of course, kids can learn anywhere, so we are also making the most of time outdoors. Why not take your books and your Reading Team outside to enjoy the early fall weather?
There is such a wide variety of nonfiction available for all age levels. Feel free to leave your favorites in the comments below so we can all build our nonfiction libraries.
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Bookology is always looking for new Reading Teams to help us celebrate the joys of reading aloud together. Contact Lisa Bullard for further information if you’re interested in participating.
This addition to Raising Star Readers features the theme “If you read it, they will come.”
As Connie (Gigi to her grandchildren) explains: “Our reading team hit a bump in the road! On a recent trip to Colorado, I introduced the picture book Grumpy Monkey (written by Suzanne Lang and illustrated by Max Lang) to Priya (now 2½) and Nikhil (now 10 months). This is a funny, sweet story about allowing yourself to have a bad day every once in a while for no particular reason.
“Nikhil absolutely did not want to sit on my lap to look at the book. He did, however, want to manhandle the bright red shiny dust jacket.
Priya did not want to sit and read either, though she was intrigued by the title. She kept repeating, “grumpy monkey” as she puttered around the porch with her armful of toys. It wasn’t until Grandpa picked up the book, began to read aloud, and clearly enjoyed the story, that Priya couldn’t resist coming in for a look. Hence the moral of the story: If you read it, they will come!
“With the addition of Grandpa, our reading team has now grown by one. And Priya’s dad reports that since we left, Grumpy Monkey is Priya’s most requested bedtime story. It seems she has added Jim Panzee, Marabou, and Norman to her list of beloved book friends.”
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Bookology is always looking for new Reading Teams to help us celebrate the joys of reading aloud together. Contact Lisa Bullard for further information if you’re interested in participating.
Bookology readers first met Brenda Sederberg’s Reading Team partner Sylvie when she was only two days old. At that time the two were sharing one of their very first read-alouds. Now Gram and Sylvie have had the chance to share a whole wonderful year of reading together!
To celebrate Sylvie’s first birthday, Brenda is highlighting the three books that have become Sylvie’s favorites over that special year. As Brenda says, “Sylvie now brings books to me to read — which is such a joy for me, both as a former elementary school teacher and as Gram.” Sylvie’s First Birthday Favorites are: The House in the Night, written by Susan Marie Swanson and illustrated by Beth Krommes; Big Red Barn, written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Felicia Bond; and “More More More,” Said the Baby by Vera B. Williams.
Brenda continues, “Sylvie loves being read to: when she isn’t feeling well, before a nap, and just anytime!”
Brenda and Sylvie conduct their read-alouds in Minnesota. Brenda also shares her passion for children’s literature by reading to an elementary classroom and by belonging to the Duluth branch of Bookology’s Chapter & Verse Book Clubs, which meets at the Bookstore at Fitger’s.
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Bookology is always looking for new Reading Teams to help us celebrate the joys of reading aloud together. Contact Lisa Bullard for further information about how to participate.
About Raising Star Readers
The original inspiration for this column was Marion Dane Bauer’s book The Stuff of Stars and her suggestion for using that book as an ongoing scrapbook to document reading aloud with a child. More details about that suggestion can be found on this PDF. The Stuff of Stars is illustrated by Ekua Holmes and published by Candlewick Press. Brenda has been having fun putting together just such a scrapbook for Sylvie and is delighted to share this peek at it with Bookology readers.
When I first read The Stuff of Stars by Marion Dane Bauer and Ekua Holmes, I was captivated by the beauty of the book and its lyrical thoughts about the earth and our environment. Ms. Holmes’ illustrations invite us to look closer, to discern the creatures she’s so artfully included. Ms. Bauer’s text includes a list of animals that roam the earth, bringing to mind all of the stories and facts about these specific animals, birds, insects, and reptiles.
We thought it would be helpful to pull together a Quirky Book List that you could use for discussions in your classroom, research units, book displays on The Stuff of Stars theme, or independent reading. Be sure to refer to Bookology’s Bookstorm for The Stuff of Stars for more resources that complement this book.
BEETLES
Bonkers about Beetles written and illustrated by Owen Davies
Flying Eye Books, 2018
Fun and fascinating information about the toughest bugs in the world. The illustrations are incredible but the facts will astound young readers.
Masterpiece written by Elise Broach
illustrated by Kelly Murphy
Henry Holt, 2008
Marvin, the beetle, lives under the kitchen sink in the Pompadays’ apartment. James Pompaday is an eleven-year-old boy who lives in the same apartment. When James receives a pen-and-ink set for his birthday, Marvin surprises him with an intricate drawing. Soon, these two friends are drawn into a staged heist of an Albrecht Dürer drawing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
One Beetle Too Many: The Extraordinary Adventures of Charles Darwin written by Kathryn Lasky
illustrated by Matthew Trueman
Candlewick Press, 2009
A childhood of collecting specimens, especially beetles, Charles Darwin was a naturalist to his very toes, happiest when he was sailing The Beagle to South America to observe the flora and fauna. Lasky writes the story of Darwin’s life in a way that reveals the complex man who challenged the world’s thinking.
BLUEBIRDS
Bluebird written and illustrated by Lindsey Yankey
Simply Read Books, 2014
Little Bluebird awakens one morning to find the wind missing. She and wind always fly together. Determined to find the way, Bluebird sets off on a clever, well-illustrated, heartwarming journey.
Bluebird written and illustrated by Bob Staake
Schwartz & Wade, 2013
In this emotional picture book, readers will be captivated as they follow the journey of a bluebird as he develops a friendship with a young boy and ultimately risks his life to save the boy from harm.
Captivating Bluebirds: Exceptional Images and Observations written and photographed by Stan Tekiela
Adventure Publications, 2008
Although not strictly a children’s book, Tekiela’s outstanding photographs will keep children’s attention as you share some of the intriguing facts on each page.
What Bluebirds Do written by Pamela Kirby
Boyds Mills Press, 2009
After a male and female bluebird select a place to nest, they raise a young family of hatchlings, feeding them and encouraging them to fly off on their own. Excellent photographs illustrate this book.
BUTTERFLIES
Caterpillar to Butterfly written by Laura Marsh
National Geographic Kids, 2012
This early reader gives kids an close-up look, through stellar photographs, at how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. The book includes information about the different types of butterflies and poisonous caterpillars.
How to Hide a Butterfly & Other Insects written and illustrated by Ruth Heller
Grosset & Dunlap, 1992
Each page invites the reader to hunt for the butterfly or bee or inchworm, all the while narrated by Heller’s distinctive poetic text.
A Place for Butterflies written by Melissa Stewart
illustrated by Higgins Bond
Peachtree Press, 2006
By framing butterflies as a vitally interconnected part of our world, this book teaches about behavior and habitat, while encouraging efforts to preserve forests and meadows, cutting down on pesticides.
CRICKETS
CLASSIC A Cricket in Times Square written by George Selden
illustrated by Garth Williams
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1960
When Chester Cricket hops into a picnic basket, lured by the smell of liverwurst, this country cricket is transported to Times Square. There, he’s given a comfy home by Mario Bellini, and becomes friends with Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat. And yet, Chester’s country home calls to him. A favorite of young readers for more than 50 years!
Oscar and the Cricket written and illustrated by Geoff Waring
Candlewick Press, 2009
A beginning science book that teaches about moving and rolling. One day Oscar sees a ball in the grass. “Try pushing it!” says Cricket. Oscar learns that the ball rolls slowly in grass and faster on a path, until it bounces off a tree and changes direction. Some things need a push to move, and others use their muscles to move themselves — and to move plenty of other things, too.
Quick as a Cricket written by Audrey Wood
illustrated by Don Wood
Child’s Play Library, 1982.
“I’m as quick as a cricket, I’m as slow as a snail. I’m as small as an ant, I’m as large as a whale.” The young child plays with imagination and words, illustrated with fun and rambunctious interpretation.
FROGS
CLASSIC Frog and Toad Are Friends written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel
HarperCollins, 1970.
The beloved tale of two friends who are always there for each other, whether it’s finding a lost button or going swimming or writing letters.
The Frog Book written by Robin Page
illustrated by Steve Jenkins
HMH Books for Young Readers, 2019
With more than 5,000 different frog species on the planet, in every color of the rainbow and a vast number of vivid patterns, no creatures are more fascinating to learn about or look at. Jenkins and Page present a stunning array of these intriguing amphibians and the many amazing adaptations they have made to survive. An excellent nonfiction picture book.
It’s Mine!
written and illustrated by Leo Leonni
Scholastic, 1986
Three frogs constantly fight and bicker over who gets to eat the latest hapless insect. But a toad and a storm help them realize that there are merits to sharing.
GIRAFFES
Giraffes
written by Linda Marsh
National Geographic Readers, 2016
A true book, with interesting facts and teaching points for beginning readers. Giraffes are fascinating creatures. The text and photos in this book are engaging and memorable.
Giraffes Can’t Dance written by Giles Andreae
illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees
Orchard Books, 2001
Gerald the giraffe is excited to go to the dance but the other animals tell him he can’t dance because he has knobby knees and skinny legs and he’ll look silly. Gerald slinks away, unhappy, until a kind voice tells him to dance to a different song. Soon Gerald is dancing so beautifully that the other animals gather to watch and admire.
Stay Close to Mama written by Toni Buzzeo
illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka
Disney / Hyperion, 2012
Twiga is curious and wants to explore, but Mama knows about the dangers of the savannah and wants to protect little Twiga. An excellent read-aloud with engaging illustrations.
HAWKS
Hawk Rising written by Maria Gianferrari
illustrated by Brian Floca
Roaring Brook Press, 2018
A father red-tailed hawk hunts prey for his family in a suburban neighborhood in this thrilling, fierce nonfiction picture book. Informative book written in sensory, poetic, perceptive text with Brian Floca’s stunning illustrations.
Tale of Pale Male: a True Story written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter
Harcourt, 2007
When a red-tailed hawk makes its nest on top of a New York City apartment building, the residents remove the nest, protesters raise their voices, and eventually birders rejoice.
Birds of Prey: Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, and Vultures of North America written by Pete Dunne, with Kevin T. Karlson
HMH Books for Young Readers, 2017
A book of nature writing that doubles as a field guide, this is a well-researched and ‑written book with accompanying photos.
HIPPOPOTAMUSES
A Mama for Owen written by Marion Dane Bauer
illustrated by John Butler
Simon & Schuster, 2007
When an African baby hippo is separated from its mother during the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, it bonds with a giant tortoise. This is a gentle perspective on the true story.
I’ve Lost My Hippopotamus poems by Jack Prelutsky
illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic
Greenwillow, 2012
Short, rhythmic poems about animals that are ideal for early readers.
How to Clean a Hippopotamus: A Look at Unusual Animal Partnerships written by Robin Page
illustrated by Steve Jenkins
HMH Books for Younger Readers, 2010
A nonfiction book about animal symbiosis, featuring the hippopotamus as well as other animals.
Saving Fiona: The Story of the World’s Most Famous Baby Hippo written and illustrated by Thane Maynard
HMH Books for Young Readers, 2018
The story of the first premature baby hippo born in captivity, raised at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.
CLASSIC George and Martha written and illustrated by James Marshall
HMH Books for Young Readers, 1972
Legions of fans love these stories about two hippos who revel in being friends.
HORSES
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses written and illustrated by Paul Goble
Atheneum, 2001
Though she is fond of her people, a girl prefers to live among the wild horses where she is truly happy and free.
Leroy Ninker Saddles Up written by Kate DiCamillo
illustrated by Chris Van Dusen
Candlewick Press, 2014
Leroy Ninker has all the trappings of a cowboy, but he doesn’t have a horse. Then he meets Maybelline, a horse who loves spaghetti and having sweet nothings whispered in her ear. Will their relationship mean an end to Leroy’s loneliness?
CLASSIC Misty of Chincoteague written by Margaret Henry
illustrated by Wesley Dennis
Rand McNally, 1947
On the island of Chincoteague off the coasts of Virginia and Maryland lives a centuries-old band of wild ponies. Among them is the most mysterious of all, Phantom, a rarely seen mare that eludes all efforts to capture her — that is, until a young boy and girl lay eyes on her and determine that they can’t live without her.
Rosie’s Magic Horse written by Russell Hoban
illustrated by Quentin Blake
Candlewick Press, 2013
Rosie puts a discard ice-pop stick into a box, but the stick wants to be something! When Rosie dreams of a horse named Stickerino, the ice-pop stick transforms, galloping out of the box. “Where to?” he asks. “Anywhere with treasure!”
JELLYFISH
I Am Jellyfish written and illustrated by Ruth Paul
Penguin, 2018
Jellyfish is chased into the ocean depths by Shark. Shark is attached by Squid. Who will save Shark? Jellyfish!
Peanut Butter and Jellyfish written and illustrated by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Knopf, 2014
Peanut Butter, a seahorse, and Jellyfish are best friends. Crabby is NOT their best friend. But when Crabby gets into trouble, will Peanut Butter and Jellyfish help? Of course they will.
The Thing About Jellyfish written by Ali Benjamin
Little, Brown, 2015
For a middle grade reader: Suzi convinces herself that her friend Franny drowned because she was stung by a rare jellyfish. Suzi explores her theory and comes to realize many truths that make it possible for her to grow past her grief and remorse.
LARKS
Ostrich and Lark written by Marilyn Nelson
illustrated by the San artists of Botswana
Boyds Mills Press, 2012
This picture book about an unlikely friendship is the result of collaboration between the award-winning poet Marilyn Nelson and the San artists of Botswana. The story, which captures the feel of a traditional African folktale, is brought to life with vibrant illustrations inspired by the ancient rock paintings of the San people’s ancestors.
LIONS
Deadliest Animals written by Melissa Stewart
National Geographic Children’s Books, 2011
Fascinating facts about the most threatening animals in the world, including lions, written on an early reader level.
Eli written and illustrated by Bill Peet
HMH Books for Young Readers, 1978
A decrepit lion despises a vulture, but he soon learns about friendship from his pesky visitor.
Library Lion written by Michelle Knudsen
illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
Candlewick Press, 2006
Miss Merriweather is a librarian with a lot of rules for her library. When a lion appears one day, there isn’t a rule to cover it. What will they do? The lion rescues the library, which finds a place for him.
The Lion and the Mouse written and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
Little, Brown Books, 2009
A book about a developing friendship between an unlikely pair, with elements of family bonds woven into the familiar fable. African animals are beautifully depicted in the Caldecott-winning illustrations for this book.
SHARKS
Great White Shark Adventure written by James O. Fraioli and Fabien Cousteau
illustrated by Joe St. Pierre
Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2019
Graphic novel. Junior explorers Bella and Marcus join famed explorer Fabien Cousteau and his research team as they embark on an ocean journey off the coast of South Africa, where the world’s largest concentrations of great white sharks are found. Their mission is to investigate a sighting of a massive white shark and tag it so they can track and protect it.
If Sharks Disappeared written and illustrated by Lily Williams
Roaring Brook Press, 2017
Even though sharks can be scary, we need them to keep the oceans healthy. Unfortunately, due to overfishing, many shark species are in danger of extinction, and that can cause big problems in the oceans and even on land.
Shark vs Train written by Chris Barton
illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
Little, Brown, 2010
Smack talking, Shark and Train are pitted against each other in this wild and crazy book about what would help them gain supremacy in a variety of situations. Fun!
SNAILS
CLASSIC The Biggest House in the World written and illustrated by Leo Lionni
Knopf, 1968
A young snail is determined to have the biggest shell in the world until his father tells him a gentle fable about the responsibility and weight of carrying around that type of shell.
The End of the Beginning: Being the Adventures of a Small Snail (and an Even Smaller Ant) written by Avi
illustrated by Tricia Tusa
Harcourt, 2004
Avon the snail sets out on an adventure because that’s what everyone does. They encounter a dragon in disguise, the beginning of the sky, and a magic castle. Along the way, they discover friendship. It’s a great read-aloud for kindergarten and up.
The Snail and the Whale written by Julia Donaldson
illustrated by Axel Scheffler
Dial Books, 2004
A tiny snail and a humpback whale set out to travel the world, exploring the oceans, underwater caves, and the skies. When the whale is stranded on the beach, will the snail be able to save him?
SPIDERS
CLASSIC Charlotte’s Web written by E.B. White
illustrated by Garth Williams
Harper & Bros, 1952
Some Pig. Humble. Radiant.These are the words in Charlotte’s web, high up in Zuckerman’s barn. Charlotte’s spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur’s life when he was born the runt of his litter.
Spiders written by Laura Marsh
National Geographic Children’s Books, 2011
Spiders are everywhere. And there are so many kinds of spiders! Some red, some blue, yellow, and more … all fascinating. Amazing photography and easy-to-understand text makes Spiders a hit.
CLASSIC Very Busy Spider written and illustrated by Eric Carle
Philomel, 1985
Early one morning a little spider spins her web on a fence post. One by one, the animals of the nearby farm try to distract her, yet the busy little spider keeps diligently at her work. When she is done, she is able to show everyone that not only is her creation quite beautiful, it is also quite useful!
WHALES
CLASSIC Amos & Boris written and illustrated by William Steig
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971
Amos the mouse and Boris the whale: a devoted pair of friends with nothing at all in common, except good hearts and a willingness to help their fellow mammal. They meet after Amos sets out to sail the sea and finds himself in extreme need of rescue. And there will come a day, long after Boris has gone back to a life at sea and Amos has gone back to life on dry land, when the tiny mouse must find a way to rescue the great whale.
Breathe written and illustrated by Scott Magoon
Simon & Schuster, 2004
A good book for young children, this looks at the life of a baby whale who ventures out on his own for the first time, engaging in adventures, and returning home to his mom.
Whales written by Seymour Simon
Collins, 2006
This nonfiction book is full of information about cows, calves, feeding, habitat, and the 90 species of whales around the world. From a master researcher and writer of nonfiction for young readers.
For this addition to our Raising Star Readers feature, we’re delighted to be showcasing another new Star Reader: Baby Nikhil was just 2 months old when he joined the Reading Team that also includes his grandmother Constance Van Hoven (Connie) and his big sister Priya (2). The team was celebrating Connie’s first opportunity to meet her new grandson, who lives with his family in Colorado.
Priya, “Gigi,” and baby Nikhil share their first read-aloud together.
Connie (or Gigi, as she is known to her grandchildren) chose Owl Babies, written by Martin Waddell and illustrated by Patrick Benson, as the team’s first read-together title. Connie notes that the book is gentle and reassuring and adds “who doesn’t love owls?” She also says that new big sister, Priya, enjoyed pointing out each owl sibling on every page and that she cheered when their Owl Mother returned to the nest. Nikhil clearly sensed something good was happening, because he stayed awake for two readings! Of course, Connie admits that their spontaneous “whooo-whooo-whooo’s” also helped keep his attention. Connie comes from a family of birders, so she is especially happy to share that love and anticipates reading this book with them many times in the future.
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We here at Bookology wish Connie, Priya, and Nikhil many wonderful hours of reading and owl-hooting together! We especially look forward to a photo of the three of them enjoying Connie’s newest picture book when it is published next year. If you would like us to feature your Reading Team, contact Lisa Bullard for further information about how to participate.
Sylvie and Gram begin a read-aloud tradition together.
For this addition to our new Raising Star Readers feature, we’re honored to be showcasing a brand-new Star Reader: Baby Sylvie was only two days old when this photo was taken! She’s pictured with Gram (Brenda Sederberg), as the two of them share Debra Frasier’s classic picture book On the Day You Were Born at Sylvie’s home in Duluth, Minnesota. The milestone they were celebrating was, of course, Sylvie’s safe entry into the world.
Brenda is a retired elementary teacher with a passion for children’s literature. When she retired, she didn’t take much else from her classroom, but she did bring home 24 boxes of books! They are now on shelves in her home, and she takes certain ones out to read to visiting children and now her new granddaughter as well. Brenda also reads in a 4th grade class each week and belongs to the Duluth branch of Bookology’s Chapter & Verse Book Clubs, which meets at the Bookstore at Fitger’s.
Sylvie is now five months old and Brenda cares for her two days a week. They read together each time. This is important to Brenda, being a teacher, and knowing the importance of books. Her wish for her granddaughter is to grow up with a love of reading, and Brenda is delighted to report that Sylvie is already listening and focused.
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We here at Bookology wish Brenda and Sylvie many, many happy hours of reading together, and we look forward to sharing other milestones with their Reading Team in the future. If you would like us to feature your Reading Team, contact Lisa Bullard. She can answer questions and provide further information about how to participate.
Before the universe was formed, before time and space existed, there was … nothing. But then … BANG! Stars caught fire and burned so long that they exploded, flinging stardust everywhere. And the ash of those stars turned into planets. Into our Earth. And into us. In a poetic text, Marion Dane Bauer takes readers from the trillionth of a second when our universe was born to the singularities that became each one of us, while vivid illustrations by Ekua Holmes capture the void before the Big Bang and the ensuing life that burst across galaxies. A seamless blend of science and art, this picture book reveals the composition of our world and beyond — and how we are all the stuff of stars.
The Stuff of Stars is an ideal book for home, reading aloud, life celebrations, and as a way to begin discussions about science.
In the classroom and library, The Stuff of Stars is a a poetic and breathtakingly beautiful way to open science units about animals, the earth, outer space, human beings, and evolution. It will ignite imaginations when used as a mentor text for poetry units.
In each Bookstorm™, we offer a bibliography of books that have close ties to the the featured book. You’ll find books, articles, websites, and videos for a variety of tastes and interests.
Animals of the Earth. The author and illustrator include many animals in The Stuff of Stars, from hippopotamuses to horses to larks. Look closely for them in Ekua Holmes’ illustrations. Use The Stuff of Stars to begin your learning about animals everywhere.
Babies. Babies and older children (and adults) love books about babies. The Stuff of Stars is a celebration of birth. You’ll enjoy exploring these books.
Human Body. How amazing our bodies are! We recommend books that will help you talk in age-appropriate ways about the wonders of human beings.
Marbling. Illustrator Ekua Holmes uses a paper marbling techhnique to begin her art for The Stuff of Stars … and then she lifts that artform to a new level. Perhaps you’d like to try paper marbling in a classroom or after school setting?
Our Earth. From Todd Parr’s The Earth Book to Lisa Bullard’s Earth Day Every Day to Oliver Jeffers’ Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth, you’ll find inspiration for studying fascinating aspects of our home planet.
Our Universe is Born / Evolution. We offer a number of books that will bring scientific theories of evolution into sharper focus. How was our universe born?
Planets and Stars. A website with a star wheel, a video demonstrating how to use a star chart, and several excellent books will help you along your way to navigating the planets and the stars.
Poetry. Marion Dane Bauer’s poem can be used as a mentor text in your classroom, along with books on showcased subjects by Douglas Florian, Joseph Bruchac, Laura Purdie Salas, and more.
Resources for Adults. The author was originally inspired by Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos.” That book and several others are recommended.
Let us know how you are making use of this Bookstorm™. Share your ideas and any other books you’d add to this Bookstorm™.
We’re delighted to feature Bookology follower Deb Andries and her grandchildren to kick off our new Raising Star Readers column! The column’s goal is to showcase different Reading Teams as they read together during milestone celebrations.
Grayson, Grammy, and Finley share The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg (HMH Books for Young Readers).
Deb, a.k.a. “Grammy,” was able to enjoy two milestone read-togethers to kick off her Christmas season. In the photo above, Grammy shares The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg, with grandsons Grayson (5) and Finley (3) in Wisconsin. In the photo below, she shares the same book with granddaughter Emmersyn (5) in Minnesota.
Emmersyn and Grammy share a read-aloud tradition.
Deb told Bookology about the special rituals her family enjoys as they read this holiday favorite together every year: “All three grandchildren know the story and have favorite pages on which we linger and share our thoughts. We also keep our bells in our pockets or close by to ring at the end of the story. My original bell is as old as the book publication as that’s when I started reading it with my daughters!”
Deb is a retired elementary teacher and literacy coach of 35 years from Minnesota. Currently, she is a National Literacy Consultant for Benchmark Education Co. She talks about the importance of books in the life of her family: “Time together with these special people in my life is cherished. We all have bookshelves in our homes, and at each visit, whether that’s for a day, or a weekend, we make time to celebrate special books together. Sometimes, we read the same ones over and over, and other times, there’s an opportunity to read a new treasure!”
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We here at Bookology look forward to sharing other read-together milestones with Deb and her Reading Teams in the coming years! And if you would like us to feature your Reading Team, contact Lisa Bullard. She can answer questions and provide further information about how to participate.
I’ve been anxiously awaiting the book birth of The Stuff of Stars by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Ekua Holmes. I heard the text a year ago and forgot to breathe while the author read it out loud. And then I heard who the illustrator was. Let’s just say, what a pairing!
When I opened my much anticipated copy — after oohing and aaahing over the cover — and read the first page, I heard cello. A deep deep cello note, under the words.
In the dark,
in the dark,
in the deep, deep dark….
As I continued to read, I continued to hear cello music — almost a synesthesia kind of experience, though thoroughly explained, I suppose, by my intense love of cello.
And so, when it came time to read it to an audience — storytime in worship at church — I contacted a wonderful cellist in our midst and asked if she was the sort of person who liked to improvise, drawing pictures with her cello, etc. She is that sort of person, luckily enough. I emailed her the text and she emailed back her excitement. I said, “Wait ‘til you see the art….” (She gasped when she saw the art.)
I gave her complete artistic freedom. We agreed to meet before church to run through it a couple of times. I sat so she could see the pictures as I read. We ran through it twice — different both times. Wonderful both times. We did it another two times in each of our church’s services — different those times, too, and wonderful in all new ways because the kids were listening.
She’s an extremely talented musician working on a degree in composition — obviously not everyone could do this. But it was just glorious, my friends.
She played how “the cloud of gas unfolded, unfurled, zigged, zagged, stretched, collided, expanded…expanded…expanded….” My heart nearly burst when she played that expansion. The children sat rapt, their eyes wide at the collaged marbled papers illustrating the first moments of our cosmos.
The cello illustrated for our ears how the starry stuff turned into “mitochondria, jellyfish, spiders…” It helped us hear the ferns and sharks, daisies and galloping horses. The galloping horses were fantastic.
When the dark refrain returned…
…one day…
in the dark,
in the dark,
in the deep, deep dark…
…so did that low low note on the cello. The children noticed. Their heads turned to look at the cello…and then back at the marbled darkness in the book.
It was powerful.
The Stuff of Stars is powerful without cello music, I assure you. I’ve since read it to young and old alike without accompaniment, and it’s a delightful — I will even say holy—experience every time. If you’ve not seen this book, you must! Pick up a few copies — it makes a wonderful new baby or birthday gift; for the story of the birth of the cosmos moves to the birth of our planet…and then to the birth of the individual child “special as Love.”
We need more books like this one — books that hold together wonder, science, awe, love, and our place in nature alongside the inevitable tensions of life. We need gorgeous books for children. Too much of the world is ugly right now. Children need beauty, stories, and art. They need to hear:
You
and me
loving you.
All of us
The stuff of stars.
For further reading, I highly recommend the following:
Marion Dane Bauer and her books are respected and loved by children, parents, educators, librarians, editors, and writers. She began her career as a novelist, turning to picture books later in her career. Celebrating the release of her newest picture book, the charming Winter Dance, we were curious about how she writes these short books so we asked! And this long-time teacher of other writers provided heartfelt answers.
Marion Dane Bauer (photo credit: Katherine Warde)
When you sit down to write a picture book, what has inspired you?
Sometimes I begin with an idea I want to share. If You Were Born a Kitten, for instance, comes out of my very impassioned belief that the miracle of birth is hidden from most young children in our society — from most of us, really. I wanted to celebrate birth in a way that would show it both as miracle and as part of our solid, everyday reality.
Sometimes the concept comes from something I read or something someone says to me. Winter Dance came from an editor’s saying, “What about celebrating the first snow?”
But the actual picture book begins, always, with language. I can’t even begin to flesh out my idea until the opening line is singing in my head.
Do you know the ending of your picture book before you begin to write?
I always know the end of a novel before I begin to write, and if a picture book is a story, I know the end of that, too. So when I began writing The Longest Night, I knew before I put down the first word that the little chickadee would bring back the sun. When I write concept books, though, like How Do I Love You?, I have to find my ending in the playing out of the language.
Do you write with a specific child in mind?
I write always for a child, and in the case of picture books for the adult who will be sharing the book, but I have no particular child in my heart … except maybe the small child I was so many years ago.
Do you envision the illustrations while you are writing?
I envision space for the illustrations, which is a very different thing. I don’t think what the illustrations will depict, specifically, and I certainly don’t think about what they will look like. That’s the artist’s territory. But I make sure I have created an active changing world for the illustrator to take hold of.
How much do you consider the level of the reader’s vocabulary when you write a picture book?
Honestly? Not at all. Because picture books are usually read to a child rather than by the child, I never consider vocabulary. Sometimes a totally new word is, in itself, a kind of enchantment for a child. Think of Peter Rabbit for whom lettuce had a “soporific” effect! No, I’ve never used the word soporific or anything like it, but isn’t it a wonderfully resonant word?
I should add, though, that there is one basic rule I use with all of my writing. I believe the best word in any piece of writing for any audience is always the simplest one. Sometimes, though, that best word might just happen to be soporific.
Do you ever begin a picture book feeling at a loss for how to write it?
Yes, and when I do I always stop, set it aside, give it time. When it begins to sing to me—if it begins to sing to me — then there will be no more loss.
Winter Dance, my newest picture book, actually began with an editor’s committing to a picture book I had written about spring. For a complicated series of reasons the text the editor contracted had to be altered substantially, and during that process, my drafts got farther and farther away from anything the editor wanted. I mentioned earlier, it was the editor who finally came up with the idea that I write about the first snow instead. Great idea, but first I had to find my fox, and I had to discover that foxes mate in winter so he would have a reason to rejoice over snow. And then, of course, I had to find the song to carry him through.
What is the word length you aim for in a picture book?
A maximum of 450 words. Even that can be too long for some books.
You were best known for your novels for middle grade and teen readers. What influenced you to try a different book form for a different reader?
The truth is I always wanted to write picture books. In the beginning, I simply didn’t know how to write them, even though I had read them endlessly to my own children and to various foster children in my home. Picture books are a bit technical to learn, and I had no one to teach me. In fact, I started out trying to write picture books and discovered I didn’t know what I was doing. So I moved on and found it easier, not knowing what I was doing, to muddle through a novel.
The other piece, though, was that my first editor, at a time when we writers were owned by our first editors, said to me when I showed him what I thought was a picture-book manuscript, “Marion, you are not a picture book writer.” Now, he could legitimately have said, “Marion, that’s not a picture book.” Because it wasn’t. But even when the publishing world opened up and I did learn and began publishing successful picture books with other houses, he refused to alter his vision of me as only a novelist. So I have him to thank for my career getting established in novels. Picture books are so much fun, if he had been open to younger work from me, I probably would have been off playing with picture books much sooner.
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Thank you, Marion, for sharing your thoughts about picture books in such an instructive way. We’re always happy to learn from you.
Why is “older” an acceptable word and “old” almost forbidden?
To answer my own question, I suppose it’s because we’re all growing older, even the four-year-old next door. But old … ah, old smacks of incompetence, of irrelevance. Even worse, old smacks of that truly obscene-to-our-society word … death.
I am approaching my birthday month. It won’t be a “big” dividable-by-five birthday, but still one that feels significant for the number it stands close to. I will be 79 next month.
Can you name the number?
Forty didn’t trouble me a bit. I had a friend, several years older than I, who, when I turned forty, said, “Forty is such a fine age. It’s the first number you reach that has any authority, but you still feel so young.” And she was right! I sailed into 40 feeling mature, confident … and still young.
Sixty-five slipped past without much fanfare. As a working writer I wasn’t facing retirement, after all. Moreover, I could sign up for Social Security and Medicare, and for the self-employed that is no small thing. I’d been paying in, both the employee and the employer side, for a long time, and at last it was going to come back to me. Given the difficulty and expense of buying health insurance that isn’t handed down through an employer, being able to get Medicare was an even bigger deal. (I will never understand the flap in this country about “socialized medicine.” That’s what Medicare is, and it works! It works better than any other pay-for-care system this backward system offers.)
When I turned seventy my daughter threw me a big party … at my request, I should add. It was a lovely party, and it exhausted me. Mostly it reminded me that I’ve never liked parties.
“I won’t ask you to do that again,” I said.
She, who has always been a loving and willing daughter, said, “Good!”
But this is 79! And yes, I might as well name the number. Eighty is a very short hop, skip and hobble down the road!
It’s the first time I find myself facing changes in my body that I know I don’t have the power to fix. Not that I’ve given up trying. I walk vigorously two of three times a day. I do Pilates three times a week. I stretch and I meditate and I eat healthfully and I practice excellent sleep hygiene. Actually, my sleep hygiene is better and more reliable than my sleep. But my body continues on its ever-so-predictable downward trajectory.
From time to time, bits fall off.
And my mind? That’s harder to define and even harder to talk about. I can still produce a workable manuscript. I can still offer a useful critique of someone else’s manuscript, too. But I find myself too often going back to the refrigerator to locate the eggs I’ve just set out on the counter or struggling in the evening to remember some detail of what I’ve done that morning.
My omelets still please the palate, though, and I’ve shown up wherever I was expected to be in the morning and done whatever I said I would do.
Arriving at a place called old in this culture is a matter for some amazement. Who is ever prepared? After all, old has never been something to aspire to … despite the alternative. A friend said recently, “I went from wolf whistles to invisibility in a heartbeat.” And I went from “cutting-edge” to “veteran author” in the same incomprehensibly short time.
I find I want more than anything else to use these years I’ve been gifted, however many or few they may be. I want to use them to deepen my acceptance of my own life, blunders and accomplishments all. I want to use them to enrich the peace my presence brings to a room.
I want to use these years to live. Not just to move through my days stacking accomplishments, one on top of another. I have enough of those. We all have enough of those.
I want to use these years to breathe, deeply and mindfully. And now, being old, I want use these final years to be grateful for every, every breath.
There are times when I don’t know my own mind. Worse, there are times when I think I know my mind perfectly well and then find an entirely different mind on a later visit to my opinions.
Which feels almost as though I have no mind at all.
Some time ago one of my favorite writers came out with a new novel. I had been waiting for her next book for years, so, of course, I signed up to have it pop into my electronic reader at the first opportunity. It did, and I read it eagerly.
I was disappointed. Profoundly.
It wasn’t that the novel was badly written. This author isn’t capable of bad writing. It was just that I didn’t care about the people she explored so deeply. And even knowing their complexities, one layer exposed after another, didn’t make me want to spend time with them.
I didn’t have to wait nearly so long for her next book. This time, though, I read it with caution, with my newly acquired discontent. (Once burned.) This novel was … okay. But I wasn’t in love. I had been in love with her early novels. Besotted, really.
Now another book is out. In a series of interwoven short stories my once-favorite author explored many of the characters from the previous novel, the one I didn’t dislike but that had never quite captured me.
And before I had quite decided to do so, I had finished the latest offering and gone back to reread the previous novel. The okay one. And I found myself rereading the book I had been so tepid about with new respect, even full-blown appreciation. Obviously, the book hadn’t changed on the page.
Next I intend to return to the first book that disappointed me. Will the change in me, whatever caused it, now make room for that one, too?
As someone who has for many years mentored my fellow writers, I find myself wondering. Is my opinion any more reliable, any less emotionally based when I am evaluating a manuscript than it is when I approach a published novel?
When I critique a manuscript I always try, if I possibly can, to read it twice. Sometimes a strongly held opinion from my first reading dissolves on the second. When that happens, I usually trust the second reading. And, especially if it’s a long manuscript, I rarely risk a third.
Is nothing in my mind solid, certain? Are my opinions based on anything except emotion? Is all the logic in the world simply something I pile around me to justify my mood?
When I’m responding to published work and the opinions I hold are only my own, the question is merely a matter of curiosity. Something to take out and wonder at in wondering moments. How solid is this thing I think of as self with all its supporting framework of opinion?
When I’m responding to a manuscript-in-process, the question is one of profound responsibility. My opinion will impact another person’s work. And what if my response is, indeed, a product of my mood? What harm might I do to a piece of writing in the name of helping?
The question is even more disconcerting when I face my own work. Some days I am utterly confident of this new novel I’m pecking away at. Others I’m equally convinced that my entire premise is bogus.
I have long known that nothing impacts my writing output more than my confidence. If I’m certain that this piece I’m working on is truly good and I’m loving writing it, the words flow. (The true value of what I produce is a matter for later discernment, my own and others.) When I doubt myself, each word arrives after a slog through mud.
How I wish there were a reliable way to keep my writing flowing, to keep my soul brimming with confidence.
Emotions are slippery, often hard to recognize and name, certainly impossible to keep marching in a straight line, and yet I’m convinced this supposedly logic-driven world is more accurately an emotion-driven one.
We hope you enjoyed reading Little Cat’s Luck as much as we did. Didn’t Marion Dane Bauer and Jennifer A. Bell capture the nature of cats and dogs well? If you love puzzles and games, we hope you have a good time solving this Word Search.
Simply use your mouse or touch pad to draw a line over your found words and the program will mark them off for you. Words can be found forwards, backwards, horizontally, vertically, and diagonally. As you find a word, it will be highlighted on the board and it will disappear from the word list.
In this interview with Jennifer A. Bell, illustrator of many endearing books, we’ve asked about the process of illustrating Little Cat’s Luck, our Bookstorm™ this month, written for second, third, and fourth graders as a read-aloud or individual reading books.Jennifer was also the illustrator for Marion Dane Bauer’s earlier novel-in-verse, Little Dog, Lost.
What media and tools did you use to create the soft illustrations in Little Cat’s Luck?
These illustrations were rendered in pencil and finished in Adobe Photoshop.
Do you use real animals for models? Are they animals you know?
I do have a cat. I find Google image searches to be a bit more helpful when I need to find details of different animal breeds or specific poses.
How are the decisions you make about drawing in black-and-white different than those you make about drawing in color?
I love working in black-and-white. I get to narrow my focus onto lighting, value contrast, and textures. It’s much faster than working in color. Color adds another layer of decision-making and can make things more complicated.
The covers for Little Cat’s Luck and Little Dog, Lost are so vibrantly colored. Do you get to choose the color palette for the covers or are you asked to use those colors?
Initially, I had submitted many cover sketches for Little Dog, Lost. Most of them were moody nighttime scenes with the exception of a daytime park sketch. Simon and Schuster thought that image worked the best and we went from there. That cover went through many revisions. The dog changed, the composition was adjusted, and the colors got brighter and brighter. When we started working on Little Cat’s Luck the cover needed to look different than the dog book but still coördinate.
How did you interact with the art director for these books?
There was a lot of back and forth on the covers but I had more freedom working on the interior illustrations. I had a set number of illustrations to come up with and they set me loose with the manuscript. The art director then used my sketches to lay out the book. Once they could see how it all came together we made some adjustments and I was able to work on the final artwork.
When does the book designer get into the process?
The art directors for these books were also the designers.
What does the book designer do beyond what you’ve already done?
So much! They design the cover and book jacket. They choose the fonts. They paginate the text and illustrations and prepare the book to be printed.
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Jennifer, thank you for taking the time to share these insights into your work with our readers. One of the reasons we fell in love with both Patches and Gus, and with Buddy in Little Dog, Lost, is because you have such a deft way with characterization.
For use with your students, Marion’s website includes a book trailer, a social-emotional learning guide, and a teaching guide that you’ll find useful as you incorporate this book into your planning.
In this interview with Marion Dane Bauer, we’re asking about her novel-in-verse, Little Cat’s Luck, our Bookstorm™ this month, written for second, third, and fourth graders as a read-aloud or individual reading books. It’s a good companion to her earlier novel-in-verse, Little Dog, Lost.
When the idea for this story came to you, was it a seed or a full-grown set of characters and a storyline?
I began by sitting down to write another Little Dog, Lost, but not with the same characters, so it was easiest to start with a cat. When I begin a story, any story, I always know three things: who my main character will be, what problem she will be struggling with (knowing the problem, of course, includes knowing about the story’s antagonist, in this case “the meanest dog in town), and what a resolution will feel like. So I knew Patches would be lost and I knew she would encounter “the meanest dog in town” and I knew she and Gus must be believable friends in the end. I wasn’t sure, though, how their friendship would evolve. So I sent her out the window after that golden leaf and then waited to see what would happen.
You’ve stated that Little Cat’s Luck is a “companion book” for your earlier novel-in-verse, Little Dog, Lost. What does that term mean to you?
It’s not a sequel, because it’s not the same characters or the same place (though it’s another small town). I have however written it in the same manner — a story told in verse through a narrator — which gives it the same kind of feel. The same artist, Jennifer Bell, did the illustrations, too. Each book stands alone, but they could also be read side-by-side, compared and enjoyed together. One significant difference is that Little Cat’s Luck is entirely devoted to the world of the animals where Little Dog, Lost is focused more on the humans. In Little Cat’s Luck we see the humans only tangentially as they affect the animals, and because the animals stand at the center of the story I allow them to converse with one another. That doesn’t happen from the human perspective of Little Dog, Lost.
When you’re writing animal characters, which you do so well, from where are you drawing knowledge of their behavior?
I have always had animals in my life, cats when I was a child, both dogs and cats as an adult, though in recent years I’ve grown somewhat allergic to cats so no longer have them in my home. But I have lived with dogs and cats, paid close attention to them, loved them all my life, and when I turn to them as characters in a story I know exactly how they will be. In fact, since I can’t cuddle real cats any longer without ending up with itchy eyes, I found deep pleasure in bringing Patches to life on the page.
In creating Patches, you’ve imbued her with characteristics and dialogue that could be identified as human and yet you’ve maintained her animal nature. At what part of your process did you find yourself watching for that border between human and animal?
The moment I give an animal human speech, I have violated its animal nature. We are who we are as humans precisely because we talk, and we do it constantly, with good and bad results. We converse to understand one another, and we call one another names. In stories it can be very difficult to hold onto the animal nature of a dog or cat while human words are coming from their mouths. When I wrote my novel Runt, about a wolf pup, I chose to give the animals speech, following the pattern of marvelous writers such as Felix Salten, the author of Bambi, a Life in the Woods. And while that was a very intentional choice, it was a choice I found myself not wanting to repeat when I considered writing a sequel to Runt. I returned to my wolf research in preparation for writing that second book and found myself so impressed with the subtle, complex ways wolves actually communicate with one another that I put the idea for a sequel aside. I found I didn’t want to put speech into their mouths again. However, when I wrote Little Cat’s Luck I put that concern aside easily, partly I suppose because cats are domesticated animals, so speech felt less a violation. I gave them roles that are familiar in our human world, too, for Patches be a mother and for Gus to be a hurting bully, which made it easy to know what they might say. Throughout, though, I retained their animal nature by staying close to their physicality. Describing the way they move and the things they do with their bodies kept their animal natures in view.
Gus, the dog, is at once the “meanest dog in town” and the character who earns the most sympathy and admiration from readers. Was the “villain” of your story always this dog? Did he become more or less mean during your revision process?
Gus was always the villain, and he always started out mean. In fact, I didn’t know how mean he could be until he took possession of those kittens … and then of Patches herself! But by that time I understood Gus, understood the need his pain — and thus his meanness — came from, and thus knew he was acting out of desperation, not out of a desire to hurt. So that meant my story could find a reasonable and believable solution, that Patches, the all-loving, all-wise mother, could succeed in reforming “the meanest dog in town.”
How conscious are you of your readers, their age and reading ability, when you’re writing a novel like Little Cat’s Luck or Little Dog, Lost?
When I’m writing, I’m focused on my story and my characters, not my readers. I hope there will be readers one day, of course, but I’m writing through my characters, through my story without giving much thought for what will happen to it out in the world. If I can inhabit my story well, and if my story comes out of my young readers’ world, it will serve them. However, reading ability is another matter, and one I must take into consideration. I have written many books for developing readers, and I love the kinds of stories that work for young readers, so I have loved writing them. I wrote a series of books for Stepping Stones aimed at developing readers, ghost stories The Blue Ghost, The Red Ghost, etc., The Secret of the Painted House, The Very Little Princess, and more. And they were a great pleasure to write. But after I time I grew restless over having to write in short sentences to make the reading manageable for those still developing their skills. So when I came to write Little Dog, Lost, I said to myself, What if I wrote in verse? If I did that, the bite-sized lines would make it easier to read, and I wouldn’t have to alter the natural flow of my style. I did it, and it seemed to work, not just for reviewers and the adults who care about kids’ books, but for my young readers themselves. And I have been very happy with having discovered a new — for me — way of presenting a story. That’s why I decided to do Little Cat’s Luck in the same way.
Little Dog, Lost was your first novel-in-verse. With Little Cat’s Luck, are you feeling comfortable with the form or do you feel there are more challenges to conquer?
I was much more comfortable with the form with Little Cat’s Luck. When I started Little Dog, Lost I felt tentative. Could I really do this? Would anyone want it if I did? Was I just dividing prose into short lines or was I truly writing verse? So many questions. But after a time, I grew to love the form, and when I was ready to start again with a new story, I knew verse was the right choice. The one change I brought to verse form in Little Cat’s Luck is that this time I began experimenting with concrete verse, letting a word fall down the page when it described falling, curl when Patches curls into a nap and more. That was fun, too, but the challenge was to play with the shape of the words on the page without making deciphering more difficult for young readers. I’m guessing there will be more discoveries ahead if I return to this form.
Do you think visually or primarily in words?
Totally through words. Absolutely and totally. In fact, when I receive the first art for one of my picture books, I always go through the entire thing reading the text. And then I say to myself, “Oh, I’m supposed to be looking at the pictures!” and I go back to look. I didn’t have to prompt myself to be more visual, though, to play with the concrete poetry. Once I’d started doing it, opportunities to do more kept popping up, so even though I was using only words my thinking became more visual.
What is the most important idea you’d like to share with teachers and librarians about Patches and Buddy that you hope they’ll take with them to their students and patrons?
I believe that the most important thing a story does, any story, is to make us feel. By inhabiting a story, living through it, we are transformed in some small — or sometimes large — way. I know that when stories are used in the classroom, they are used for multiple purposes, and that is as it should be, but I hope adults presenting Patches and Buddy will first let the children experience the boy, the dog, the cat, will let them feel their stories from the inside. After the stories have been experienced, as stories, there is plenty of time to use those words on the page for vocabulary lessons or as a prompt for children to write their own verse stories or anything else they might be useful for. But always, I hope, the story will be first.
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Thank you, Marion, for sharing your thoughts and writing journey with us.
For use with your students, Marion’s website includes a book trailer, a social-emotional learning guide, and a teaching guide that you’ll find useful as you incorporate this book into your planning.
Many people love cats. You might be one of them. Many children consider their cat or their dog to be one of the family. Marion Dane Bauer understands that. She wrote Little Cat’s Luck, the story of Patches, a cat, and Gus, the meanest dog in town, out of her deep affinity for both cats and dogs. You can tell. These are real animals who have adventures, challenges, and feelings that readers will avidly follow … and understand. Written as a novel-in-verse with charming use of concrete poetry, Little Cat’s Luck is a book that will interest both avid readers and those still gaining confidence.
We are pleased to feature Little Cat’s Luck as our March book selection, written by the perceptive Marion Dane Bauer and illustrated by the playful Jennifer A. Bell, storytellers both.
In each Bookstorm™, we offer a bibliography of books that have close ties to the the featured book. You’ll find books for a variety of tastes and interests. This month, we’re focusing on books for primary grade readers. We’ve included some books for adults with background information about cats, information texts, narrative nonfiction, and plenty of memorable cat characters.
Don’t miss the exceptional resources on the author’s website. There’s a book trailer, a social-emotional learning guide, and a teaching guide that you’ll find useful as you incorporate this book into your planning.
BOOKSTORM TOPICS
Memorable Cat Characters. You may know and love these books but have your readers been introduced to Macavity, Pete the Cat, the Cat in the Hat, Atticus McClaw? From picture books to early readers to middle grade novels, there’s a wide range of books here for every taste.
Friendship. There have been excellent books published about animals who are friends, many you wouldn’t expect, both as fictional stories and true stories.
Smart Animals. Do you know the true story of Alex the Parrot? Or how smart an octopus is? Do you know what animals think and feel? There are books here that will amaze you and deepen your appreciation for animals and birds.
Caring for Animals. These fictional books are good discussion starters for the responsibility of having an animal pet, especially a cat.
Spirit of Adventure. Animal adventures have been favorites ever since Jack London published Call of the Wild. These are some of the best stories, just like Little Cat’s Luck and Little Dog, Lost.
Animal Mothers and Their Offspring. How do animals care for their young? We’ve included a couple of books that will fascinate young readers.
The Truth about Cats. From The Cat Encyclopedia to How to Speak Cat, these are information texts filled with facts. Good choices for your students’ book bins.
Best of all? There are so many good books about cats!
Let us know how you are making use of this Bookstorm™. Share your ideas and any other books you’d add to this Bookstorm™.
Who doesn’t love a puppy? Well, admittedly there are some folks who don’t, especially considering how difficult both ends of such creatures are to keep under control. So let’s rephrase the question: Who doesn’t love a puppy in a children’s story? Or even a frog or a toad, for that matter?
Something happens to a story when it is populated by animals, something easy to feel but difficult to define. Perhaps it’s what a sales rep for one of my publishers once referred to as “the aw factor,” not awe but aw-w-w‑w! He predicted my upcoming picture book would be successful because it had “the aw factor.”
Animal characters are so completely themselves, so utterly without layers or complications. The big, bad wolf will always be big and bad. Lassie will always faithful and true, making her way home. And we respond to each with our whole hearts, hating or loving.
I once had a student, a mature woman, who refused to read any story that threatened injury or death to an animal, no matter how well written, no matter how well earned the story’s traumatic action might be. But that same reader was not in the least offended by On My Honor, my novel in which a child dies. I suspect she is not alone in her response.
To take her side, at least for a moment, I’ll admit it is entirely too easy to elicit tears through an animal’s death, especially when the animal is somewhat peripheral to the story. I used such a plot device myself in a long-ago novel, Rain of Fire. Perhaps, were I to rewrite that story, I would still decide to kill the fictional cat, though I’m aware these days of my own increasing caution about such dramatic/traumatic plot turns. In part that may be because I have learned to employ more subtle devices. Maybe the shift has come, too, from growing older and wanting the world around me to be a bit … well, gentler, I guess.
In Runt, my novel in which the characters are members of a wolf pack, animals die, too, and the deaths are affecting. The difference, however, is that I entered the story knowing some death must occur if I intended to represent accurately the reality of the wolves’ lives. And as with any other strong action, to be effective — to be drama rather than melodrama — the plot moment must rise out of the necessity of the characters, not be imposed from on high.
But what about the picture-book lamb that goes out into the world and gets lost from his mother, the story I demanded be read to me again and again and again when I was a preschooler? Or the baby hippo who is separated from his pod during a tsunami and ends up bonding with a giant male tortoise, his real-life story presented in my picture book, A Mama for Owen? Or what about another of my picture books, If You Were Born a Kitten, in which I lead up to a presentation of a child’s birth through first depicting the births of various animals? How does the animal nature of the characters impact us as readers?
Animals, the living ones as well as those that rise off the page, seem to call forth a purity of response from us. They capture our whole hearts: Jane Goodall’s chimps, the dog who lies at my feet as I write this, the little cat mother in my upcoming verse novel, Little Cat’s Luck. They all touch into the most tender, the most human part of ourselves.
And because they are so fully themselves, we become more fully who we are capable of being, caring, generous, grateful.
Blessed to share our planet — and our stories — with other species.
This month, we are pleased to feature Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall, written by Anita Silvey, with photographs and book designed by the incredible team at National Geographic. This book is not only fascinating to read, it’s a beautiful reading experience as well.
It’s not often that a book offers us a glimpse into the childhood of a woman who has followed a brave, and caring, career path, but also follows her through more than 50 years in that chosen profession, describing her work, discoveries, and her passion for the mammals with whom she works. I learned so much I didn’t know about Dr. Goodall and her chimpanzees, Africa, field work, and how one moves people to support one’s cause.
In each Bookstorm™, we offer a bibliography of books that have close ties to the the featured book. For Untamed, you’ll find books for a variety of tastes and interests. The book will be comfortably read by ages 9 through adult. We’ve included fiction and nonfiction, picture books, middle grade books, and books adults will find interesting. A number of the books are by Dr. Jane Goodall herself — she’s a prolific writer. We’ve also included books about teaching science, as well as videos, and articles accessible on the internet.
Jane Goodall and Her Research. From Me … Jane, the picture by Patrick McDonnell about Jane Goodall’s childhood, to Jane Goodall: the Woman Who Redefined Man by Dale Peterson, there are a number of accessible books for every type of reader.
Primate Research. We’ve included nonfiction books such as Pamela S. Turner’s Gorilla Doctors and Jim Ottaviani and Maris Wick’s Primates, a graphic novel about the three women who devoted so much of their loves to studying primates: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas.
Chimpanzees. Dr. Goodall’s research is specifically about chimpanzees so companion books such as Michele Colon’s Termites on a Stick and Dr. Goodall’s Chimpanzees I Love: Saving Their World and Ours are suggested.
Fiction. Many excellent novels have been written about primates and Africa and conservation, ranging from realism to science fiction and a novel based on a true story. Among our list, you’ll find Linda Sue Park’s A Long to Water and Eva by Peter Dickinson and The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.
World-Changing Women and Women Scientists. Here you’ll find picture book biographies, longer nonfiction books, and collections of short biographies such as Girls Think of Everything by Catherine Thimmesh, Silk & Venom by Kathryn Lasky, and Rad American Women: A to Z by Kate Schatz.
Africa. The titles about, or set on, this continent are numerous. Learning About Africa by Robin Koontz provides a useful and current introduction to the continent. We also looked for books by authors who were born in or lived for a while in an African country; Next Stop — Zanzibar! by Niki Daly and Magic Gourd by Coretta Scott King Honoree Baba Wague Diakiteare are included in this section.
Animal Friendships. Children and adults alike crave these stories about unlikely friendships between animals who don’t normally hang around together. From Catherine Thimmesh’s Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships to Marion Dane Bauer’s A Mama for Owen, you’ll be charmed by these books.
Animals In Danger of Extinction. We’ve included only two books in this category but both of them should be stars in your booktalks. Counting Lions by Katie Cotton, illustrated by Stephen Walton, is a stunning book — do find it! Dr. Goodall contributes a moving book, Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink.
Teaching Science. If you’re working with young children in grades K through 2, you’ll want Perfect Pairs by Melissa Stewart and Nancy Chesley. For older students in grades 3 through 6, Picture-Perfect Science Lessons will inspire you.
Let us know how you are making use of this Bookstorm™. Share your ideas and any other books you’d add to this Bookstorm™.
Our Bookstorm™ book, The Shadow Hero, is the origin story of a superhero, The Green Turtle. While this character is not an actual chelonian — though that would be an awesome super hero — there are many turtles and tortoises in children’s literature. Some might even be, technically, terrapins. Here are some notables.
[I]f you are interested in the neurological impact of reading, the journal Brain Connectivity published a paper “Short- and Long-Term Effects of a Novel on Connectivity in the Brain.” Basically, reading novels increases connectivity, stimulates the front temporal cortex and increases activity in areas of the brain associated with empathy and muscle memory. [Read the whole article.] —Jennifer Michalicek on ChildLit
It’s something we all know — all of us who are writers, readers, teachers know it, anyway — that reading fiction, engaging in the process of inhabiting another human being, feeling our way into another’s thoughts, feelings, desires, enlarges our hearts. It teaches us to understand those who are different from us. Equally important, if not more so, it lets us know that in the deepest possible ways we human beings are the same.
We don’t need a study to tell us this is so, and yet I am grateful for such a study, and I would guess that you are, too. Long ago I knew teachers who had to close their classroom doors least the principal pass in the hall and discover them “wasting time” reading a story. And in these days of renewed emphasis on nonfiction, I would guess that attitude surfaces again more than occasionally.
Not to dismiss the importance of nonfiction. What better way to gather information, to increase our understanding of the world than through the fascinating, expressive nonfiction available today? But there is a larger understanding we owe our children — and ourselves, for that matter — than that which can be gained by comprehending facts. It is an understanding of ourselves as human beings.
How is it that story reveals so deeply? After all, the folks talking and acting, thinking and feeling on the page are fabrications created in some stranger’s mind. Our Puritan foreparents used to forbid the reading of novels, damning them as lies! And from a totally literal perspective, it is so.
But if a writer is creating truly, she is creating out of her own substance. She is creating out of the truth of who she is, what she knows about herself and about the people around her. (Forgive me for making all writers female. The he or she dance is burdensome.) If she is writing honestly, she is revealing on the page what she has allowed few others to know. In fact, she is probably exposing far more of herself than she herself realizes, because it is part of the magic of the writing of story that we are seduced into exposing even more than we may comprehend ourselves.
And that is the secret of the revelation of fiction. Those who create stories bring their hidden humanity to the writing. Those who read stories discover their own humanity in the reading … and learn to extend that humanity beyond the confines of their own skins.
What deeper learning can there be from the written word?
A mechanical study of the brain isn’t needed to understand any of this. But it’s a marvel of our times that such a study is possible, that what most of us know in our hearts can now be proven.
I hope this new understanding makes it possible for every classroom door to stand wide open while such learning takes place.
My proudest career moment I suppose should be the day in 1986 when On My Honor won a Newbery Honor Award. But though that was the moment that changed my career more than any other, it’s not my proudest.
My proudest was when I was just beginning writing, had finished my first novel and had no idea whether what I was doing had any value at all. I had no one to read it to tell me. So I presented this first manuscript — it was Foster Child—at a writer’s workshop where the Newbery-Award-winning author Maia Wojciechowska read it. She made an announcement telling the entire conference that “Marion Dane Bauer has written a novel called Foster Child, and it’s good! It’s going to be published!”
That’s the moment when I knew for the first time that I could do this thing I wanted so badly to do, and I’ve never been prouder. From that moment on I’ve believed in myself and my work.
Describe your favorite pair of pajamas ever
They were newly made, pink with cheerful kittens all over them, and they were coördinated with pajamas made new for my identical-twin friends, Betty and Beverly. Their grandmother had made the pajamas for the three of us and finished them just in time for an overnight together. The only problem — and this is what makes the pajamas particularly memorable — was that their grandmother’s sight was no longer very good, and she simply sewed all the straight pins into the seams and left them there. We spent the whole night, all three of us in the same double bed, saying “Ouch!” every time we moved and pulling out more pins.
What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done?
No question … having children was the bravest thing I’ve ever done and, as well, as being the thing I’m most grateful I did. I didn’t have children because I was consciously brave but because I had no way of knowing what lay ahead, all the difficulties, all the joys. When you have a child you connect yourself to another human being — a complete stranger — for the rest of your two lives. No divorce possible. And that, if you stop to think about it, is really scary! Fortunately, few of us stop to think those thoughts before we bring a child into our lives.
What’s the first book you remember reading?
I’ve forgotten the title and have no idea who the author was, but I can still see the fuzzy pink lamb on the pale blue cover. It was a story of a lamb with pettable pink fuzz who got lost and couldn’t find his mother. Things got so bad that on one turn of the page lightning cracked in the sky and rain fell and the pettable pink fuzz went away entirely. All the colors went away, too. That whole spread was done in grays. I remember touching the smooth gray lamb again and again, wanting to bring the pink fuzz back. Of course, another turn of the page brought everything back and the lamb’s fuzzy, pink glory. The lamb’s mother came back, too. Such a surprising and satisfying ending!
What TV show can’t you turn off?
I seldom watch TV, but I’ll admit to being in love with Downton Abbey. When an hour’s show ends, I always want more!
Peace is elusive. It is a goal of some people at some time in some parts of the world. As John Lennon wrote: “Imagine no possessions / I wonder if you can / No need for greed or hunger / A brotherhood of man / Imagine all the people sharing all the world …”
Is peace possible? Do we give up because there will always be people who want power, money, land … or just plain don’t like the kid next door?… more
Children aren’t the only kids who get bored during the summer. Teens are looking for something to do in more subtle ways. If they’ve got the writing bug … or if they don’t have it yet … you might tempt them with one or more of these books. You’ll find something for every taste, with enough pizzazz and enough detail to satisfy the most reluctant and the most avid writers-to-be.… more
We eagerly await the annual list of books chosen by the Bank Street College of Education as books that work well with children from birth to age 14. Each year, the Children’s Book Committee reviews over 6000 titles each year for accuracy and literary quality and considers their emotional impact on children. It chooses the best 600 books, both fiction and nonfiction, which it lists according to age and category.… more
Hey, Joyce Sidman, your new book, Ubiquitous, has done the Most Unusual … five starred reviews! In 2009, only 13 books received five starred reviews (if you’re curious, check out the Seeing Stars 2009 document, stored on Radar, the CLN members’ home page). Booklist, The Horn Book, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal all think so highly of this book, illustrated by Beckie Prange and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, that they’ve given Ubiquitous the coveted star.… more