Nonfiction

Review: Dare the Wind by Tracey Fern

| Tasha

dare the wind

Dare the Wind: The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud by Tracey Fern, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully

Ever since she was a little girl, Eleanor Prentiss dreamed of being at sea.  Her father had a trading schooner and though others thought he was a fool, he taught his young daughter how to steer it.  Most importantly though, he also taught her what few sailors and only some captains knew, how to navigate.  Ellen quickly learned how to navigate and started using her new skills on her father’s schooner every chance she got.  As she grew older, Ellen married a captain and served as his navigator.  Then the two of them acquired a clipper, The Flying Cloud.  It was a fast boat, one that could make them bonus money if they could make the trip from New York to San Francisco around Cape Horn in the fastest time ever.  It would be down to the innate speed of the Flying Cloud and to the navigating skills of Eleanor.  Sea journeys are never simple, especially ones done at high speed through stormy waters.  Take an incredible ride with the amazing Eleanor Prentiss, who proved that women can be right at home at sea.

Fern writes with a dynamism that matches this heroine.  She has an exuberant quality to her writing and a tone that invites you along on a wild adventure.  At the same time, she makes sure that young readers understand how unusual Eleanor Prentiss was at the time with the way she was raised and the knowledge she built and life she led.  The book reads like fiction particularly on the journey itself where a series of misfortunes plague their maiden voyage.  Even without the race against time, the journey would be harrowing, add in that pressure and you have a nail-biting read.

McCully’s art ranges in this book.  She captures Ellen both on land and at sea, her body strong against the roll of the waves.  She also paints water with a love for its greens and blues and the depth of color.  The storms are violently dark, the harbors a shining blue, this is water in all of its glory.

I grew up in a house named after the ship Flying Cloud and am so pleased to read a picture book about the ship’s history and learn more about the woman who navigated her.  This is one dynamic and well-told biographical picture book.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Farrar Straus Giroux.

Review: Feathers by Melissa Stewart

| Tasha

feathers

Feathers: Not Just for Flying by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen

Feathers do so many things for birds and this book looks at all of the ways that feathers help birds in the wild.  Sixteen different birds are featured in the book, each one with a specific focus on what they use their feathers for.  There is the wood duck who lines her nest with feathers to keep her eggs cushioned.  The red-tailed hawk uses their feather to protect them from the sun as they fly for hours.  Other birds use their feathers in unique ways like the rosy-faced lovebird who tucks nesting materials into her rump feathers to take back to where she is building her nest.  Towards the end of the book, the author looks at all of the different sorts of feathers that birds have.

Stewart tells readers in her Author Note that this was a book she had worked on for some time as an idea.  Her use of metaphors to show what feathers do is an inspired choice, making the book all the more accessible for children.  She provides details with specific birds, explaining how they use their feathers and also providing little pieces of information on how the birds live and their habitats.

The watercolor illustrations are done to look like a naturalists field journal with scraps of paper, loose feathers, notes, cup rings, and scraps of fabric.  All of the images of the birds have their locations as well, adding to the field journal feel.  The result is  richly visual book that may inspire readers to start their own bird journals.

This is a book that will instruct and amaze, just the right sort of science book for young readers.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Charlesbridge.

Review: The Noisy Paint Box by Barb Rosenstock

| Tasha

noisy paint box

The Noisy Paint Box by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Mary GrandPre

Enter the amazing world of abstract art with this picture book biography of Kandinsky.  Vasya Kandinsky was raised to be a very proper young Russian boy.  Then his Auntie gave him a box of paints and he started to hear colors as sounds.  No one else could hear the sounds, but to Vasya they were a symphony that he could paint.  Vasya grew up and stopped painting.  He still heard the colors around him, but he was going to be a lawyer.  When he attended the opera one evening, Vasya saw the colors emerge from the music and was never quite the same again.  He became a painter and tried to meet everyone’s expectations, but to be happy he had to paint in his own way, an abstract one. 

Rosenstock’s biography is very successful, focusing on Kandinsky as a child and younger man.  She doesn’t speak down to children at all here, instead bringing them up to her level and demonstrating what abstract art is, showing the struggle of an artist trapped in the wrong life, and finally beautifully displaying what a life well-lived looks like.  She celebrates the transformation from lawyer to artist, from conventional to unique.  This book joyfully exposes how we are all different from one another and how those differences can be incredible if allowed to sing.

GrandPre’s art is glorious.  She shows what Kandinsky must have seen when hearing the opera and what he heard when the colors spoke to him.  The music of the paint box and the noises that emerged for him are shown in flourishes of sound, bringing Kandinsky’s synthethesia vividly to the page.  Her art is filled with motion when Kandinsky’s art is being expressed and then dims down to the staid and quiet when he is trying to conform.

Beautiful and choice, this picture book biography is one of the best.  Get this for elementary art classes, museum visits, and young artists.  Appropriate for ages 5-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Random House Children’s Books.

Review: Handle with Care by Loree Griffin Burns

| Tasha

handle with care

Handle with Care: An Unusual Butterfly Journey by Loree Griffin Burns, illustrated by Ellen Harasimowicz

When I started this book, I expected a beautiful book about the life cycle of butterflies, but then discovered this was so much more!  In Costa Rica there is a farm that raises butterflies.  The book begins by showing what a container received in the mail that is full of butterfly pupae looks like.  The life cycle of butterflies is explained as is the pupa stage in particular.  Then we head to Costa Rica and the farm itself and here is where the book turns into an amazing tour of sustainable butterfly farming.  Readers get to see inside the greenhouses where the butterflies live and lay their eggs.  The roles of the farmers are shown in detail as is the beauty of the natural world around the farm.  Food for the butterflies, their transformation from egg to caterpillar to pupa, and the harvesting process are all detailed out for the reader.  This book takes a familiar yet captivating transformation and turns it into a trip to Costa Rica and back again.

Burns text is very engaging.  She describes the processes in detail but also throws in words that show how she too is excited by what is happening.  Cabinets are described as “crawling with caterpillars” and the pupae are “sturdy and tightly sealed…ingenious packages ready to travel.”  Her own delight at what is being described is evident and makes for very pleasurable reading.

The photography by Harasimowicz is simply beautiful.  All of her work is not only clear and crisp but also demonstrates the various steps in the process.  She uses different perspectives and different levels of distance to create a dynamic feel throughout the book. 

A wonderful and lovely surprise of a butterfly nonfiction book, this one is a superb pick for butterfly fans and library collections.  Appropriate for ages 7-10.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Netgalley and Millbrook Press.

Review: Florence Nightingale by Demi

| Tasha

florence nightingale

Florence Nightingale by Demi

This picture book biography shines thanks to its rich artwork.  It tells the story of Florence Nightingale’s life beginning with her wealthy childhood in England.  Florence’s mother was known for her parties, but Florence liked to spend time by herself and even as a child pretended that her dolls were sick and needed to be in a doll hospital.  Florence traveled in Europe as a teenager and realized that she was called to help people.  Her parents were dismayed when she declared that she wanted to be a nurse.  Then later Florence got a chance to help in an orphanage and her parents allowed her to choose her own way.  Florence excelled at organization, documentation and hygiene.  She transformed the different places she worked at, eventually going to Turkey to help the soldiers during the Crimean War.  Florence grew ill later in her life, but never stopped working on improving nursing and patient care around the world.  She was an inspiration for many both as a nurse and a woman. 

Demi writes with depth and detail in this biography.  She paints a clear picture of Nightingale from childhood through her development as a nurse and finally as a world-renowned expert in nursing.  It was fascinating to learn of Nightingale’s wealthy background and her unwillingness to turn her back on her calling. 

Demi’s art is as rich as ever with her saturated colors that give way to other pages with rich yet delicate texture.  Nightingale appears wearing her deep blue dress that somehow shines on the page even though it is often the darkest color there.  Ones eye just travels straight to her and the heart of the story.

Rich and detailed, this is a winning picture book biography to introduce children to a major female figure from history.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt and Co.

Review: Searching for Sarah Rector by Tonya Bolden

| Tasha

searching for sarah rector

Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America by Tonya Bolden

This nonfiction book takes a detailed look at a period in history that most of us know nothing about.  It is the history of Indian Territory and the slaves who worked and lived there.  It is the story of Oklahoma becoming a state, the establishment of black towns, and the changes that the oil boom brought to that area.  It is also the story of one girl who is caught up in this history, made rich by the circumstances, and just like many other black children trapped by the corruption of those around her. 

The history here is completely fascinating.  Bolden brings it to life by focusing on one girl, but that focus really is a way to enter the story rather than the bulk of the story itself.  Instead the story is the history and the twists and turns that it created.  Bolden manages to piece together the story of Sarah Rector against this history, displaying the corruption of the adults and the system, the rush of wealth that comes and goes so quickly, and the racism that drove it all.

Bolden always creates nonfiction that is compellingly written.  She shares sources at the end, offers a complete index, and her dedication to accuracy is clear throughout her books.  Using primary documents, she has managed to bring together text and illustrations that paint a complete picture of the time.

Fascinating and powerful, this look into an unknown section of our history makes for one amazing read.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Henri’s Scissors by Jeanette Winter

| Tasha

henris scissors

Henri’s Scissors by Jeanette Winter

When Henri-Emile Matisse was a young boy, he longed to make art the way his mother did. So he drew as much as he could and then painted after receiving paints as a gift.  But when he was on old man, he had to remain in bed or a wheelchair and didn’t have the energy or ability to paint.  As he recovered, Matisse started to draw and then picked up a pair of scissors and started cutting paper.  Matisse started a second phase of his art career with assistants who painted pages for him to cut from, dreams of the shapes to cut out, and surrounded by the bright colors of his art.  He created a garden that he could visit right from his bed. 

Winter starts with Matisse as a boy finding art and quickly moves the book to his paper cutting phase in the latter part of his life.  For a picture book biography, the text is very simple yet conveys his great attachment and gift for creating art.  It also speaks to the creative process and trying new things that fit with life’s limitations. 

Winter fills her book with bright colors both in Matisse’s art itself but also as the backgrounds to her images.  When Matisse is without art, the book becomes dark yet star-filled.  As he returns to creating pieces, the book lightens and blossoms visually.

A very successful picture book biography, this book will be welcome in elementary and preschool art classes.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Beach Lane Books.

Review: 1000 Things about Holland by Jesse Goossens

| Tasha

holland 1000 things about holland 

Holland and 1000 Things about Holland by Jesse Goossens and Charlotte Dematons

Breathtakingly lovely, this is a unique way to approach explaining a country to children.  There are two volumes in this set and they must be read together but how you do that is up to you.  One volume, Holland, is all images of Holland showing different scenes and parts of the nation and culture.  The illustrations are large, two-page spreads filled with small details.  In the second volume, the details in the illustrations are explained.  Pulling out various elements of the images, many things are revealed from favorite foods to festivals to children’s book characters.  There are paragraphs on each element so that readers truly start to understand Holland. 

This book would not work in the same way without this format.  Taking the time to linger on images makes for almost a journey to Holland as if you are gazing out a window and taking it all in.  Then when you begin to wonder about something, you can turn to your guidebook and see what it is with wonderful details.  But it is that first immersion visually that makes the entire set work so well and be so compelling. 

A wondrous visit to Holland, this book set demonstrates why innovation in children’s book making is so important.  Appropriate for ages 8-12.

Reviewed from copies received from Myrick Marketing & Media.

Review: The Secret Pool by Kimberley Ridley

| Tasha

secret pool

The Secret Pool by Kimberley Ridley, illustrated by Rebekah Raye

Vernal pools are easy to miss, but also necessary to the life of many animals.  This nonfiction picture book explores the amazing things that happen in vernal pools throughout the seasons.  It begins with defining what a vernal pool is and then quickly moves into spring.  The fascinating lives of frogs are described, including the way they make it through the winter.  Soon salamanders join them and breed in the pool.  Tiny fairy shrimp appear too.  As summer comes, the eggs of the salamanders and frogs hatch and soon there are tadpoles and larvae in the pools.  Now the race begins to see if they can climb ashore before the pool dries up.  The vernal pool disappears and the animals that live there and were born there move away.  They will return again with the spring and the vernal pools.

Ridley has nicely created a book that can be used at two levels.  The larger text can be shared as almost a story about the pools.  Then the smaller text provides deeper information about the vernal pools and the animals.  Her words work together well, the simpler text offers a poetic voice to the factual information that serves to remind us how amazing all of this actually is.

Raye’s illustrations are lush and minutely detailed.  She offers both larger scale images of the animals and then others done with finer lines that show more details and more animals on the page.  You never know what you will see on the next page, and I guarantee a jump of surprise when you see the bullfrog with the tadpole hanging out of his mouth like a tongue. 

This book reveals a world right under our feet that most children never knew existed.  Appropriate for ages 5-9.

Reviewed from library copy.