My 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Clark, was very fond of poetry. She would stand behind our chairs and recite poems by heart. Robert Frost, John Masefield, Carl Sandburg. It’s a memory I’d mostly forgotten about until a few years ago. She had been the principal of the school for many years, and returned after her retirement to teach again because she missed the daily interaction with students. In a way that I didn’t realize until many years later, she was one of the first people to plant the seed of poetry in my heart.
At some point during that year, one of our assignments was to write about a poet and I chose Emily Dickinson. That was many years ago…
To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee.
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.
Recently, wanting to read more about Dickinson, I picked up BECOMING EMILY: The Life of Emily Dickinson by Krystyna Poray Goddu. With photos, excerpts of letters, a time line, and many full-length poems, this wonderfully researched and engaging biography for young readers (or readers of any age, really) is the perfect introduction to those interested in learning more about Dickinson’s life and poetry.
Here’s a list of other books for those young readers who’d like more:
ON WINGS OF WORDS: The Extraordinary Life of Emily Dickinson by Jennifer Berne, illustrated by Becca Stadtlander
EMILY WRITES: Emily Dickinson and Her Poetic Beginnings by Jane Yolen, illustrated by
EMILY by Michael Bedard, illustrated by Barbara Cooney
This week, I’m excited to share author Roberta Gibson‘s debut picture book, HOW TO BUILD AN INSECT, illustrated by Anne Lambelet. I met Roberta at a recent (virtual) gathering of local SCBWI PAL members in Arizona and couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy of her book.
This clever STEAM title invites children to “build” an insect, talking readers through the various body parts in a relatable way, using questions and comparisons. (“Below our head, we have shoulders and a chest. An insect’s chest is called its thorax.”) The reading is both informative and interactive:
“How will the insect move?
Give it some legs.
How many legs?
Two like us?
Four?
Eight?”
Too many. Eight legs would make it a spider…
What about ears?
An insect can have its ears anywhere. …
on its thorax, on its abdomen, or even on its knees!”
See what I mean?? This book is brilliant! I’m so glad Roberta was kind enough to answer a few questions:
DIANNE: Hi, Roberta. Congratulations on your debut picture book!
HOW TO BUILD AN INSECT came together rather quickly after you saw an open call for K-3 nonfiction submissions on Lerner’s blog in early March 2018. The timeline started ticking and you got to work. Can you share a little of that story?
ROBERTA: Thank you for having me. I would be happy to share. When Lerner posted an open call for STEM picture book manuscripts, I knew it was a golden opportunity. However, they also wanted topics presented “in playful or unconventional ways.” None of my polished manuscripts fit and with a deadline of May 1, 2018, I had about six weeks to come up with one that did.
I wrote the first draft almost immediately. Author Dusti Bowling, who was writer-in-residence at the Tempe (AZ) Library at the time, critiqued it for me. It was good, but it lacked something, like a stew that needs that one more ingredient to take it over the top. The last bit to come together – which was comparing insect and human anatomy — happened early one morning a few days before the deadline. I keep a running notebook for each of my projects and I even wrote down the time: 4:30 a.m. on April 25, 2018. I submitted the manuscript a few days later. Whew!
DIANNE: That’s amazing! Sometimes a time crunch works in our favor!
I was really charmed by your book and wished I’d had it when I was teaching. I remember back-in-the-day doing a hands-on AIMS “build-an-insect” project with students using clay and toothpicks. This book would have been perfect to share before we began!
What was the inspiration? How did you land on this fun, call-and-response – “What else should we add? What about bones like ours? Should we give it a skeleton?” – format?
ROBERTA: I’m so glad you like the book. I’ve had kids use marshmallow and toothpicks to make model ants, but I was always afraid someone is going to eat their creations and bite into a toothpick. I’m going to have to give clay a try.
The call-and-response format came from my days doing workshops for children. As you probably know, asking questions is a way to gauge prior knowledge (cued recall) and check how engaged the students are. Having to think about a problem also makes the solution more memorable. It seemed natural to use it in the text.
DIANNE: The illustrations are fantastic. I loved the way that Anne Lambelet opens the book with a spread that is part mad scientist lab, part art studio.
Most people don’t realize that picture book authors don’t generally communicate with the illustrator, but with your entomology background, were you asked, or did you find you needed to weigh in along the way?
ROBERTA: Isn’t Anne Lambelet a fabulous illustrator? She brought such vibrancy and fun to every page. I hope one day we get to do a joint program together. Or in a perfect world, maybe work together on another book.
True, most people don’t realize that the illustrations, and even the choice of the illustrator, are totally out of the author’s hands. I’ve been saying the pairing is like a blind date. That said, our book was probably more collaborative than usual. Editorial Director Carol Hinz asked me to provide insect anatomy resources beforehand and I did check the illustrations for accuracy during editing. Questions came up that I could help with, such as how many legs does a centipede have (not exactly 100, but somewhere above 30).
DIANNE: I noticed on your website that, in addition to picture books, you write poetry and mysteries. What projects are you working on now? Do you have any tips to share with writers who are looking forward to their first publication?
ROBERTA: I do feel tugged in opposite directions sometimes because I enjoy writing both for adults and for children. I’m a member of Sisters in Crime as well as SCBWI, so my next publication is a mystery short story coming out in Volume #9 of the Desert Sleuths Anthology sometime this year. I’m working on a mystery with an amateur sleuth that features a lot of cool cars in addition to some nonfiction middle grade and picture books.
Because I’ve written for adults, I know writing children’s books is not as easy as people seem to believe. My tip for children’s writers is to learn the craft first and don’t rush to publishing. You probably have heard when starting something new that students don’t know what they don’t know (the four stages of competence). It is so true. When I look back at old manuscripts, I see all sorts of things that don’t work, starting with main characters with alliterative names. The stories are embarrassingly bad. It takes everyone, no matter who you are, time and study to become competent.
One of the best ways to learn is to read new children’s books. I was a CYBILs judge for several years and read hundreds of titles that were nominated as the best of a given year. I also regularly review new books. Reviewing books makes you look deeply at what works and what doesn’t, plus helps you spot publishing trends.
Even though it may seem like it is impossible to break in, there are opportunities all the time if you plug into the children’s literature community. For example, if you attend SCBWI conferences and training events, often agents and editors will read manuscripts as part of the program. Follow publishers who offer open calls. If you see your opportunity, try to make sure that your manuscript fits their requirements and tweak it if it doesn’t. If you have a quality manuscript that fits their needs, publishers are going to be interested.
DIANNE: Thanks for sharing these wise and helpful tips for writers and congrats on your upcoming publication in the Desert Sleuths Anthology! We’ll keep our eyes open for more of your work. Nonfiction picture books and middle grade? Yes, please!!
***
Want to learn more about Roberta’s journey from first draft to acquisition?
Carmen’s Mama and Papa have bought a new house on a fancy street in Barcelona and the family will be moving from their home in the country to the city. Carmen is none too happy because she will have to leave Dragon, her imaginary salamander.
“But what would she do without her friend and the wild beauty of the woods they roamed together everyday?…
Could Carmen ever feel at home in the gray, stiff, steel city?”
Though the interactions between the architect Antoni Gaudí and Carmen and her family are creations of author Susan Hughes’ imagination, readers will enjoy this engaging introduction to Casa Batlló, the unique home Gaudí redesigned and renovated between 1904 and 1906.
Using color, mosaics, and the creative diffusion of light, Gaudís Casa Batlló, sometimes known as the “House of the Dragon” because of its colorful roof resembling the spiny back of a dragon – or perhaps Carmen’s salamander? – is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Stunning watercolor illustrations by Marianne Ferrer bring the magic of Hughes’ story and Casa Batlló to young readers.
DIANNE: Hi, Susan! Thanks for introducing young readers to Casa Batlló.
In your bio for the book, readers learn that a trip to visit Casa Batlló inspired you to write about this unusual UNESCO World Heritage site. In the backmatter, you indicate that although the interactions “between Gaudí and Carmen and her family are imaginary, the descriptions of the architect’s ideas about design and beauty—although they seem fantastical— are based on facts.”
Can you talk about the considerations that led you to decide to use this very engaging fictional approach?
SUSAN: Well, after my trip, I was certain I would write a picture book biography about Antoni Gaudí himself, but after researching about the architect and learning more about his ideas, I changed my mind. I decided the most compelling way to help kids really connect with his work and feel the excitement of his architecture was to do more than tell them about Gaudí’s life and his ideas. Instead, I decided I’d offer them a similar experience to mine: allowing them to enter into one of his structures and see his ideas in action for themselves. And I believed it might be more meaningful for kids if the story focused on a child rather than on Gaudí, if a child character engaged with both Gaudí and one of his buildings, if they saw how it came to be.
When I researched Casa Batlló and learned that one of the Batlló children, Carmen, would have been around 11 years of age at the time Gaudí was hired to renovate the house, I knew I had to write about this particular house, that my main character would be fictional but Carmen would be my “touchstone” for her, and that she would meet Antoni Gaudí. I would show their interaction having an impact on the design on the house—a completely fictional element but rooted in possibility!
DIANNE: Gaudí made many artistic and structural changes to the original house. What were some of the most interesting facts that you uncovered during your research? Was there a room or element of the house and/or house’s design that you found particularly fascinating?
SUSAN: I loved discovering that Antoni Gaudí used a special mosaic design technique called “trencar” in his work. “Trencar” means “to break” in Catalan. Gaudí used broken ceramic tiles to create mosaic forms and shapes on the façade of Casa Batlló and in its “light well”, and on many other of his amazing structures in Barcelona.
Also, like Gaudí, I love rooms with lots of natural light. In fact, when I write, I sit in front of big windows in my home, either in my living room or in my office space. So, I love the way Gaudí prioritized bringing light into Casa Batlló.
It was challenging because the building is essentially a low-rise apartment building or townhouse with 8 floors, bordered by other buildings, which means there is no possibility for windows on either side.
Of course, I love the large gorgeous front windows in Casa Batlló with their colorful stained glass borders. But I also admire how Gaudí found a creative way to add more light to the interior of the house. He created a “light well,” which is essentially a long shaft running from ceiling to basement, open to each floor level. Light pours in through the huge skylight on top and fills the house with light on each level. And Gaudí installed a lift in the shaft, and the wooden lift car is still functioning. I rode in it myself!
DIANNE: You’ve written more than 30 books – everything from board books to picture books, chapter books to middle grade, nonfiction, fiction, and even several chapter books series. What are you working on now? What can readers look forward to next?
SUSAN: As always, I have several manuscripts out on submission and I’m working on several others right now, all in different stages of drafting. I’m excited that I have one more picture book in my Science of How series with Kids Can Press coming out this fall—Light and Night: The Science of How Light Works, illustrated by Ellen Rooney—and two picture books coming out with Owl Kids Books next year!
Sidman’s newest, DEAR TREEFROG, illustrated by Diana Sudyka is another gem. Bright vibrant illustrations rendered in gouache watercolor on paper invite readers into the story (told in poems) of a young girl, who, upon moving to a new home, “discovers a treefrog perched in a secret spot.” Over time, the child slows down and begins to explore this new friendship:
… I look
and breathe
and
settle
growing
calmer
steadier
a little less lonely
As the months pass and the seasons change, each poem reveals more of the growing connection between the child and her wild companion. With fall comes a new challenge – the first day of school. Before long, the girl has found a friend and kindred spirit – a classmate as captivated by the treefrog and the changing seasons as she is.
When spring finally arrives, the two friends emerge from winter to the wide green world:
“Anything is possible…
when you are
a treefrog
or when
you are looking
for one.”
Each spread is accompanied by a short paragraph that complements the given poem and cleverly weaves in interesting facts about treefrogs, their habits, and habitats.
**For those who would like to learn more,Joyce and Diana will be talking about the origins and creation of this book on Thursday, June 10, 2021, courtesy of the Wild Rumpus Bookstore. The event is free and you can register HERE.**
About a month ago, Kim Tomsic and I were (finally!) able to schedule our first lunch together in over a year. We’d both been vaccinated and had a lot of catching up to do. Kim’s newest book, THE ELEPHANTS COME HOME, was publishing in May, and I was anxious to learn more. As we sat and talked, Kim shared the remarkable story of the seven elephants of Thula Thula – a private game reserve in Zululand, South Africa – who had been welcomed and cared for by Lawrence and Françoise Malby-Anthony.
This was no run-of-the-mill animal rescue story. This was a story about connection and friendship, love and mutual respect. An extraordinary reminder of the interconnectedness of our world and a story that readers of all ages would find hopeful, heartwarming, and inspiring.
I was thrilled when Kim agreed to a short interview. Writers will be encouraged by Kim’s perserverance. Students and teachers will learn more about the process of following a story, finding the heart, and working through multiple revisions until the writing is polished and ready for a reader’s eye.
Dianne: Welcome to ReaderKidZ, Kim! I’m excited to share your newest book, THE ELEPHANTS COME HOME: A True Story of Seven Elephants, Two People, and One Extraordinary Friendship (gorgeously illustrated by Hadley Hooper) with our readers.
You carried this story for a number of years. Those who aren’t writers don’t often understand that even a picture book, as short as it can sometimes be, takes time to germinate and find its way to the “just right” words. Can you talk a little about the timeline and your process as you began to dig into the “story behind the story,” the research, the drafts, and, finally, the published book?
Kim: Hi, Dianne! Thank you so much for inviting me for this interview.
THE ELEPHANTS COME HOME has been my passion project for nine years. I first learned of these seemingly magical elephants in March 2012. The New York Times had posted an article about Lawrence Anthony and the amazing herd at his wildlife sanctuary, Thula Thula, which is located in Zululand, South Africa. The connection he had with the herd seemed supernatural to me—for example, every time he returned home from a business trip, somehow the herd knew when his flight landed, and they would meet him at the gate upon his arrival. Naturally, I had to know more.
I began my research journey by reading The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence (read it—you’ll thank me later!). Then I dug up as many articles about these elephants and the people behind them as I could find. I learned that the elephants had been hunted and then displaced from one home to the next until they finally came to Thula Thula. They were scared and angry when they arrived, and they did not trust humans. The more I researched, the more I wanted to know. I watched documentaries and YouTube videos on Lawrence and Françoise Anthony, and I uncovered articles here and there. After a respectful amount of time and research had been given to the project, I reached out to Françoise. She was immensely helpful. Ahhhh, so that brings me to the timeline. Here it is in a snapshot!
CLICK TO ENLARGE!
Dianne: In your recent (virtual) book launch, you mentioned that your editor, Melissa Manlove of Chronicle Books, asked the question, “Where’s the placeholder for the child’s emotions?” What did you understand her to mean, and what was your process for finding the emotional center of this beautiful story?
Kim: I initially pitched this story to Melissa with a bunch of fascinating details and also (ugh) several subordinate clauses. In case you’re like me, I had to look up “subordinate clauses”—come to find out, it’s a clause that cannot stand alone as an independent sentence, i.e. “When so-and-so drank the potion, she sprouted wings and flew.” As you can see, “When so-and-so drank the potion” is a fragment by itself—it’s a clause subordinate to “she sprouted wings and flew.” Melissa explained that subordinate clauses are hard for the picture book audience (usually a young age group) and also that something else was missing from my story. Essentially, she gave me a revise and resubmit.
I revised my sentence structures and word choices, but I still didn’t know what the elusive missing “something” was. Melissa rejected the revision, and I knew she was right—fascinating details do not a book make.
Later that same year, I attended a “first pages” session at an SCBWI conference (first-pages sessions include a team of agents and editors who read the first page of a manuscript out loud to an audience and then unabashedly give their first impressions and the whys behind their statements). I did not have a page submitted. But in the gift of listening to the publishing genius in front of me, I had my ah-ha moment— The elephants would be the placeholder for the child’s emotions. They would carry the emotions of the child reader, meaning: this is where the reader would insert themselves into the story. Once the child had a place, they would be able to pick up and follow the treasure map to the heart of the story.
Dianne: Ah, yes! I see! Your original drafts were missing an entry point for the child reader. And the elephants became that stand-in for a child reader. Thanks for clarifying that!
The language, the pacing, the way you have carefully crafted the repetition of certain phrases like: “The elephants come…”, “ … live with you by day and camp with you by night by night… stay with you and you will not be alone.” The whole book is such a beautiful example of the Samuel Taylor Coleridge quote I often refer to when talking about how picture books are like poetry – that is, they should use only the “best words, in their best order.”
Kim: Thank you for appreciating these nuances, Dianne. Right back at you—I love the lyrical beauty you deliver in your picture books. Short picture books seem deceptively easy, yet we writers spend hours turning over single sentences. We toil over word choice. We think about sonic resonance. Everything matters and it should. Our readers deserve the best words in their best order.
Dianne: What’s up next? Can you share with readers what you’re working on now and what we can look forward to?
Kim: Next up, THE TRUTH ABOUT 5TH GRADE (HarperCollins, 2023) by me and co-writer Mark Parisi. It’s a he-said/she-said diary telling of “true” about fifth-grade friendships, pranks, and drama illustrated a-la Wimpy Kid style by comic genius Mark Parisi. If you want a peek at Mark’s art, check out OffTheMark.com which is an award-winning daily newspaper comic.
Dianne: Oh! That’s sound fabulous. We’ll be looking for that in 2023. Thanks, again, Kim for sharing THE ELEPHANTS COME HOME with readers!
For more about Kim, you can visit her website HERE.
On a windy day, unannounced, Nicky’s favorite uncle, Uncle Everton, knocks on the door. He’s going on a trip around the world and he has a surprise for Nicky. In one hand, he held a leash. At the other end of the leash was… Barkus, Uncle Everton’s very big brown dog. He’d be staying with Nicky!
Barkus does not like travel, but he sure does love Nicky. The two make a great pair – Barkus can sit quietly, jump and whirl, and even go to school! He’s the perfect house guest.
This sweet and humorous early chapter book by Newbery award-winning author, Patricia Maclachlan, with vibrant and endearing illustrations by Marc Boutavant, will appeal to dog and animal lovers everywhere.
For Sydney and Taylor, the whole wide world up to this point had been their small burrow under Miss Nancy’s potting shed.
“Sydney, being a skunk, likes to nap in the burrow… warm his feet by the fire, … listen to the strong, steady heartbeat of the earth…
“Taylor likes those things, too. But sometimes Taylor gets ideas. Big Ideas!”
Sydney wanting his friend to be happy, makes a decision. This day, they will launch an expedition. They’ll see new places, try new things, even meet… strangers.
Suddenly, Taylor isn’t so sure his Big Idea is a good one. But the more they talk it through, the more exciting and adventurous they feel. Bags packed, and a map of the Whole Wide World in tiny paws, Taylor and Sydney are off!
This endearing first book in a series about friendship, bravery, and adventure is a winner.
Take one “Get Started Intro” + 3 Stories + Mini-Comics sprinkled in-between + 1 “Fare Thee Well” + 1 Super Mega Bonus How-to-Draw ALL Four Friends = Wow! Wow! Wow!
Meet: Baloney – the adorable and happy-go-lucky pig. Peanut, his best friend, Bizz, the bee, and Krabbit – the crabby and skeptical rabbit.
Together, these become the perfect recipe for an adorable and totally fun graphic novel for emerging readers. Don’t miss this new series!
At first, there was Hedgehog and Mutty. They played. Imagined. Dreamed. But when a Terrible Storm whistles, huffs, swoops, and whisks away Muffy, Hedgehog is suddenly alone. She cries and cries, but eventually, takes a deep breath, jumps into the rough river and begins the winding search for her friend.
This tender story of a loyal friend and the new friends she makes along the way – Mole, Owl, Beaver, Hen and Chicks, and Annika Mae – is sure to be a classic.
Enjoy these other early chapter books!
PRINCESS POSEY series by Stephanie Greene, illustrated by Stephanie Roth Sisson
