Librarian’s Corner: Biographies, Part 2

Posted on 11/22/2012

By necessity, every biographer must select from the many details that make up a life, deciding what is important to include and what can be left out. Some information may be omitted from the story because the facts can’t be verified or, most often with biographies for young readers, because the materials would reveal foibles and weaknesses that would damage the subject’s reputation or show young readers the person’s faults and unsavory behavior. The best offer a well-rounded look at a person who did much with their life.

For the youngest readers:

SEED BY SEED: The Legend and Legacy of John “Appleseed” Chapman by Esmé Raji Codell and illustrated by Lynne Rae Perkins (Greenwillow, 2012)

Writing a biography about an iconic figure requires great to separate fact from mythology. With almost lyrical text, two modern day children are transported back to an earlier time that sets the stage for readers to learn a bit about Chapman’s deeds, his philosophy on life, and on how, seed by seed, he made a difference. Codell is careful to recognize the fiction and folklore in the story, especially important since facts about Johnny Appleseed are scarce. The illustrations are rich and varied, and the book ends with suggestions for how to celebrate Johnny Appleseed and a recipe for apple pie.

For the transitional readers:

ANNIE AND HELEN by Deborah Hopkinson and illustrated by Raul Colón (Schwartz & Wade, 2012)

Through a longer picture book, the life of Helen Keller and her legendary teacher, Annie Sullivan, unfolds. Setting this book apart from other biographies are excerpts from Annie’s letters about her experiences with Helen and Colon’s exceptional illustrations that show the range of emotions and moods the two experienced working and living together. Today many students are learning ASL to fulfill school language requirements and Hopkinson explains the difference between sign language used by deaf people and the finger-spelling Helen was taught because she could not see. Once Helen could communicate she devoured words! An interesting lesson from Helen’s work with Annie is how knowledge builds on knowledge and how once Helen could communicate she was able to move on to learning Braille. The book jacket includes the Braille alphabet and raised printing.

For the older readers:

HOW THEY CROAKED: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg and illustrated by Kevin O’Malley (Walker, 2011)

This compilation of biographical sketches focuses on the deaths of 19 subjects, from King Tut (“more famous for being dead than alive”) through Marie Curie (for whom science was her life and her death). While enjoying this irreverent look at the demise of famous writers, scientists, presidents, and explorers, readers also gain a lot of interesting information about the lives of legendary figures throughout history and the times in which they lived. O’Malley’s illustrations add to the macabre focus and an intriguing chart shows how the lives of these 19 people were oddly connected.

Librarian’s Corner: Biographies

Posted on 11/20/2012

Many of us love reading biographies, the history of all or part of a person’s life. Maybe it is the urge to live vicariously or the need to satisfy our curiosity about how someone developed into the person they became. I grew up reading the Childhood of Famous Americans series (Sacagawea, Bird Girl) and the Landmark History books (Custer’s Last Stand). The books were appealing because they wove facts into a good story narrative; they were story as history. By today’s publishing standards, those books are more fiction than biography, in part because the writer’s made up too much of the story. However, they also set the stage for many excellent biographies, like these mentioned here, that tell a story  filled with documentable facts that will inspire, intrigue, and delight young readers.

For the youngest readers:

MONSIERU MARCEAU: Actor Without Words by Leda Schubert and illustrated by Gerard DuBois

Children may recognize Marceau from videos of his character Bip, or they may not have a clue who he is. Doesn’t matter. The opening lines introduce the man and mime and lead readers through an interesting, exciting, and sometimes tragic life. The story is written in a poetic style with an economy of words and the pastel illustrations reflect the mood of the moment, either joyous and jubilant or somber and sad. Biographies for the youngest readers have to be simplified to be accessible but there is nothing simplistic about this picture book biography of the master of mime.

For the transitional readers:

ELECTRIC BEN: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by Robert Byrd (Dial, 2012)

What is truly amazing about this story is that Byrd reveals information that most of us never knew about someone about whom so much has been written. Considered by some to be the first American celebrity, the book is jam-packed with information about Franklin and his life and work. The simple narrative, two column layout that is reminiscent of a newspaper, and embedded illustrations keep the book from feeling cluttered while readers discover Franklin’s many amazing accomplishments.

For the older readers:

THE PLANT HUNTERS: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth by Anita Silvey (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2012)

Think Indiana Jones! The introduction to this collection of biographies tells us that one explorer was eaten by tigers, another fell to his death, and many others faced horrid deaths by other means. What reader wouldn’t want to know more? The plant hunters, mostly men, were more adventurers than botanists, and they braved extreme dangers journeying into the unknown to find plants there were useful for medicine, commerce, and science. The focus is as much on the exploration, the hunt, and the close encounters with danger as on biography but readers discover the roots of each explorer’s passion and the results of their work. The book is enriched by maps, photographs, and sketches that illustrate the biodiversity of the world and the people who helped identify and catalog it. And the journey continues today with modern “plant geeks” and their journeys.

A Boatload of Bustard Biographies

Posted on 11/18/2012

Biographies are author Anne Bustard’s passion, so much so she has blogged about them for years. In her blog entitled Anneographies, not only is her list of picture book and middle-grade biographies extensive, she’s categorized her posts in order of the featured person’s date of birth. What an amazing resource!

Ready to celebrate some November biography birthdays? How about lighting up some candles for Will Rogers on the 4th, Marie Curie on the 7th, or ‘tweedle dee’ La Vern Baker on the 11th? Shake, rattle, and roll!

Or indulge your egocentricities, as I did, and look up your own birthday. (Kids will love doing this.) Being born on June 24th, I discovered that my special day is nestled between Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by David Diaz on the 23rd and Flora and Tiger: 19 Very Short Stories from My Life by Eric Carle on the 25th. Good company, I’d say.

Noah Webster & His Words – Word Play!

Posted on 11/15/2012

To my fellow citizens…

for their happiness and learning…

for their moral and religious elevation…

and for the glory of my country…

~Noah Webster

Why did Noah Webster devote his entire life to understanding the empowering qualities of the written word – all words? Why did he scour all corners of this glorious earth to discover the etymology of each and every word in the master lexicon? And why did Noah Webster believe that uniting the language of a new colony of people would unify the new nation? Because of his words posted above –  the dedication he scripted in his ever-so-famous Webster’s Dictionary.

Noah Webster & His Words (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2012) commemorates the linguistic passion of a humble, yet highly brilliant man to whom the act of syllabification was synonymous to a celebration. Author Jeri Chase Ferris shares Noah’s passion for education through the CCSSI Annotated Discussion and Activity Guide offered to all on her website. Not only is this guide brimming with in-depth discussion questions, manipulative word games and historical treasures, each activity is aligned with the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts – something of which Noah Webster would undoubtedly find to be fascinatingly delightful.

Noah Webster and His Words by Jeri Chase Ferris

Posted on 11/13/2012

Noah Webster and His Words by Jeri Chase Ferris, illustrated by Vincent X. Kirsch (Houghton Mifflin, 2012)

Dictionaries. Kids store them in their desks, pull them out for homework, and access them on-line. But how many kids (even adults!) know the story behind our first All-American dictionary? They need look no further than Jeri Chase Ferris’ NOAH WEBSTER AND HIS WORDS, a delightful new picture book that CEL-E-BRATES [verb: to honor] this American educator and patriot.

Noah Webster had plans. Big plans. And while he came from a long line of Webster farmers, “Noah did not want to be in that long line. He didn’t want to be a farmer at all.” Instead, Webster wanted to be a SCHOLAR [noun: one who goes to school; a person who knows a lot].

And so he was. Years later, in a letter to a friend, Noah declared, “I will write the second Declaration of Independence…An American spelling book!” It took almost two years, but when the “blue-backed speller” was finally published, it was a success. “At last, in 1783, an American schoolbook!”

Webster went on to write other books, including the very first 100 percent American Dictionary of the English Language. It took almost twenty years to collect nearly every word in the English language, but it was worth it! Noah’s hard work continues to live on – his dictionary is the second most popular book, after the Bible, to be printed in English. That’s some legacy!

Lively text and humorous illustrations make this book a “must-have” for every teacher, class, and school library list. Not only is it an excellent account of the man who wrote that “Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country,” but it’s a wonderful example of non-fiction writing at its finest.

Monsieur Marceau by Leda Schubert

Posted on 11/11/2012

MONSIEUR MARCEAU  by Leda Schubert and illustrated by Gérard DuBois

At night on stage in Paris, Marcel Marceau, the greatest mime of all time, delighted crowds with his silent drama.  But before he created silent magic on stage, Marcel used a different and dangerous type of silence to save many lives.

During World War II Marceau joined the French Underground to help efforts to resist the Nazis.  Marceau led hundreds of Jewish children from an orphanage over the high, rugged Alps to safety in Switzerland.  Marceau risked his own life to help hide American parachutists in a French monastery.  With “sleight of hand” he changed the information on official papers so children would not be deported to concentration camps.

Share this book with a child. Readers of all ages will be delighted with DuBois’s illustrations that surprise and delight.  Schubert’s text tells about the world’s greatest mime, on stage and off:

“He fights a bull, picks a pocket, hugs no one…

He  walks against the wind, but there is no wind.”

I asked the author, Leda Schubert: 

Why did you choose to write about Marcel?  Did you see him perform with the circus “school”  for children in Vermont, or on stage somewhere else? 

As you undoubtedly know, well-intentioned friends often approach writers with something like this: “I have a great idea for you to write about.” We have all developed different ways to reply. I usually encourage the approaching friend to talk about the great idea before trying to convince my friend that it’s her story to tell, not mine. But the day Marceau died, my agent contacted me and asked what I thought about a picture book biography of Marceau. The “idea” seed was planted. I started reading obituaries about Marceau. Lots and lots of obituaries. I became fascinated–then passionate.

I think I saw Marceau when I was very young, but I can’t confirm this. I certainly saw him on television. And I studied mime my senior year in college. (Some of the people with whom I took that class have gone on to work in theater arts.)  Mime is so physically and emotionally challenging, and I loved the brief introduction to the art. Most of the ‘street mimes’ we see these days are very far from being true mimes. I hope people will pick up my book and investigate further. Of course, Marceau’s story is about much more.

Did you already know about his work with the French Resistance or was that a discovery while doing research?

I knew almost nothing about him. I didn’t know he was Jewish, for example. I didn’t know he was also an artist. There was so much to learn!!! The research, as usual, took a long time, but I love doing research. Don’t you?

Do you recommend other YouTube videos that show a performance?

I’m sure readers would enjoy seeing the clip of M. Marceau and Michael Jackson together. Marceau taught Jackson to moon walk.

Here’s a piece from CBS Sunday Morning remembering M. Marceau

And there’s a long selection of his work in a tribute piece HERE. Feel free to watch without sound.

Let me add, I want to thank Gérard DuBois for his amazing, transporting art and Neal Porter and everyone at Roaring Brook Press for bringing this book to readers. And to you, Nancy, for this interview.

Leda

Thank you, Leda, for writing about this man who was an artist, a silent soldier, a lover of laughter and the human heart.  In this book a reader will see the magic of mime come alive in the illustrations and hear Marcel Marceau’s teasing voice:
“Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards,
for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.”

MONSIEUR MARCEAU is a picture book biography to be enjoyed by all, published by Roaring Brook, 2012.