Bug Girl And Small Wonders -- Perfect Picture Book Friday.

Summer weather has finally arrived. The mosquitoes are busy making us itch, the worms are close to the surface of the garden soil, butterflies and bees flit from flower to flower drinking nectar and spreading pollen. It's a great time to be outside. When you need a break from the heat and mosquitoes, head to the library to check out these two book and learn about two incredible entomologists.

Title: The Bug Girl: Maria Merian's Scientific Vision
Author: Sarah Glenn Marsh
Illustrator: Filippo Vanzo
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company, 2019

Opening: As a young girl growing up in the 1650's, Maria Merian was curious about everything. Her hometown of Frankfurt Germany, was full of creatures that crawled, flew, and scuttled. Butterflies were her favorite insect because their wings held a rainbow of colors. She could watch for hours as the butterflies flitted around the flowers blooming near her home.

Why I like this book:
This is a wonderful picture book biography about Maria Merian and her scientific illustrations.  I had never heard the phrase "spontaneous generation" before reading this book. It opens the door to so many topics of discussion.
* Encourages kids to study the living world around them.
* Women scientists in the 1600's
* Spontaneous generation -- seeing how taking the time to understand the world around us changes our world view.
* Women artists
* Curiosity
*Forging ahead even when it is not the popular thing to do.

Title: Small Wonders: Jean-Henry Fabre & His World of Insects
Author: Matthew Clark Smith
Illustrated by Giuliano Ferri
Publisher: Two Lions, 2015

Opening: Once there was a village in the sunny south of France: a village much like any other, where the cocks crowed and the church bells rang, and everyone seemed to know his or her place. Everyone, that is, but one.
At the very edge of town, behind high walls and plane trees, there stood a pink house. In the house lived an old man with beetle black eyes and a black felt hat who talked to animals. Whether he was a sorcerer, or simply a madman, no one could agree.

Why I like this book:
I love learning about people who studied nature and paved the way for us to have a better understanding of the world around us. Jean-Henry Fabre loved nature and insects and spent his life studying them and writing about them.

This book starts like a scary story with the old man in the black coat and hat coming from the pink house. We don't know who is man is and yet, the President of France is coming to visit him. How curious.

Activities for both books:
Make your own Nature Journal.

Start a Nature Journal. See what you notice throughout the year about the insects and nature around you. Here are some tips about nature journaling.

Raise a caterpillar and watch the metamorphosis process. Keep track of it in your nature journal. Then set your butterfly or moth free. This time of year, you can find eggs and caterpillars to bring in and raise on your own. You probably already know that Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed. Did you know you might find a swallowtail egg or caterpillar on a dill plant.  I wonder where you might find a Cabbage White caterpillar?

Learn about a cocoon and a chrysalis. What are the similarities? What are the differences?

You can download and read books by Jean-Henri Fabre.

Learn more about Maria Sibylla Merian

Be sure to check out Susanna Hill's Blog where you can look for reviews by book, title, and by themes.

Perfect Picture Book Friday . . . On Sunday. Three for the Price of One

Well, the days got busy and here we are on Sunday. Any day is a good day to read a picture book; even better is to read three picture books. The first two books, I  learned about from other #PPBF bloggers, the last I found at my local public library. They are all beautiful in their own way.

Title: The Boy Who Grew A Forest: The True Story of Jadav Payeng

Written by: Sophia Gholz

Illustrated by: Kayla Harren

Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press, 2019

Opening: "The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is now. -- proverb 

In India, on a large river, among farms and families hard at work, there lived a boy who loved trees. Trees meant shade, food, and shelter for many.

Themes: trees, biography, ecology 

Why I love this book: 

🌞 Trees, ecology, protecting the earth.

🌞 Such beautiful  illustrations. 

🌞 This is a beautifully written biography of an unknown person who made a big difference  for his community.  While it's a story about a young man in India planting trees, it goes beyond that, Jadav Payeng's efforts, helped to protect his people from flooding, provided wood for building, and provided habitats and shelters for wildlife. It is a story that shows not only a person willing to work hard to protect and improve the land, it's a story about how everything is connected.

Activities:

🌳 Plant a tree.

🌍 Work in the garden.

🌳 Learn more about the author and illustrator. 

🌍 Learn about India and Jadav Peyeng's home

Title: You are Never Alone

Written by: Elin Kelsey

Illustrated by: Soyeon Kim

Publisher: Owlkids Books, 2019

Themes: ecosystems, Interconnections, earth

Opening Lines: Every moment this beautiful planet showers you with gifts. Clouds rain fresh water to quench your thirst. Your lungs swell with oxygen plants create. 

Why I love this book:

While this book is not technically non-fiction, it is based in non-fiction sharing many ways that we are all connected with each other and the earth. It is an earth hug. Soyeon Kim's illustrations feel like they come from the past of the Little Golden Book era of Mary Blair. The tiny people with the the grand world and micro worlds of the story are made up of all shapes and colors. They appear almost as fairies, and yet they are children connecting to the world, seeing and experiencing it up close. 

So beautiful.  Perfect for bedtime or after lunch and recess. A book to feel good about the earth and spark discussion.

Activities:

🌞 Spend time outside. Take a close up look at the world around you.

🌞 Learn more about all of the connections shared in this book.

🌞 Do something kind for someone you have never met.

🌞 Learn more about the author and illustrator. 

Title: Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets

Written by: Kwame Alexander with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth

Illustrated by: Ekua Holmes

Publisher: Candlewick Press, 2017

Coretta Scott King Award

Themes: Poetry, Poets

Opening: Part 1: Got Style? Poets love to make up their own rules about writing; that's what makes it so much fun. Sometime e.e.cummings and Nikki Giovanni use ellipses (...) to separate ideas and lowercase letters at the beginning of sentences. Langston Hughes, who loved jazz, was a master of repetition, rhythm, rhyming couplets, and quatrains. The poems in this section pay tribute to the poets being celebrated adopting their styles and rhythms.

How to Write a Poem

Celebrating Naomi Shihab Nye

Hush.

Grab a pencil

some paper and spunk.

Let loose your heart -- 

raise your voice.

. . . .

-- Kwame Alexander

Why I love this book:

The poems celebrating each poet are beautiful.  They introduce you to the writers through the eyes of the authors with poems written in each poet's style. 

At the end of the book there is a section with a short biography of each of the poets featured. It is a nice starting place to learn more about the poets.

This beautiful book of poetry celebrating poets, opens your eyes to the wonders of poetry, the beauty of the world as seen through poet eyes, and truly celebrates many poets from many cultures and time periods in history. 

Ekua Holmes' mixed-media collage art illustrations add even more life and color to each poem and poet.

Activities:
✏ Write some poetry.
✏ Read books by each of the poets featured.

Be sure to check out Susanna Hill's Blog where you can look for reviews by book, title, and by themes. 

Perfect Picture Book Friday -- Pocket Full of Colors

Hello World, It's #PPBF time!

Title: Pocket Full of Colors: The magical world of Mary Blair, Disney artist extraordinaire
Authors: Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville
Illustrated by: Brigette Barrager
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2017

Ages: 6 and up

Themes: Biography, Artists, Women


First page: Under a wide blue sky, on a red dirt road,in a lemon-yellow house, there lived a girl named Mary. Other children collected marbles or dolls, but Mary collected colors of every shade and hue.

Why I love this book:

I am sorry to admit that until Vanessa Brantley Newton talked about the art and style of Mary Blair in my character design class, I didn't know who she was. But, it's never too late to learn.

Over the past couple of years, I have taken a much closer look at who the artists and illustrators are in picture books. I try to figure out their medium and style. Vanessa talks about the little feet that Mary Blair incorporated into her drawings of people. I realized, I needed to put a face to those little feet. I looked her up and came across this picture book biography.

It is a beautiful book which takes you through Mary's life and ties it all together with her love of color and her unique and daring style of art.

As you can see, Brigette Barrager used the bright swirls of color throughout Mary's life to show her never ending love of color.  In the last image above, you get a glimpse of the men she was working with at Disney. The are all in brown and white. While Walt Disney loved her colors and vibrant style, the other men's ideas and acceptance of Mary's style paled in comparison. Mary never gave up her dreams. She went off and created illustrations for many books with Little Golden Books.

When I was 10, our family went to Disney World. I fell in love with the "It's a Small World" exhibit/ride. Little did I know, that this was the work of Mary Blair. I wanted to go through that ride over and over again. Today, it would be kind of boring compared to the glitz and glamour of rides today, but back then, when the world felt so big, before everything was on the internet, when we hardly talked about all the cultures of the world, the It's a Small World, boat ride through tunnels and animated characters from around the world, inspired my love of people, color, and art. If Mary Blair were alive today, the ride would likely be bigger and brighter, and even more exotic, but it would have her same flair.

So I love this book because it tells me the story of a courageous artist who didn't give up, when others wanted her to be different. She persevered and created exciting art for her time inspiring artists to create and experiment with their own style and flair.

It is beautifully written and illustrated.

Activities:

Learn more about Amy Guglielmo
Learn more about Jacqueline Tourville
And Brigette Barrager
Learn more about Mary Blair

Create a Color Bingo game to collect colors when you travel.

Find your color. A friend posted this video of Sam Adams skin color comedy routine on Facebook, and it feels so appropriate here. It's good clean comedy. I am currently three colors: Indulgent Peach (sun tan/burn), Provincial peach (where the sun hasn't shined), and my freckles are Reindeer Herd according to Sherwin Williams color charts. What's your color/colors?

Make art!

Sing along: It's a Small World After All

Perfect Picture Book Friday -- Hidden City

I woke up this morning and couldn't understand why I had Perfect Picture Book Friday blog posts in my email feed. It's only Thursday and I have a whole day to finish writing my #PPBF post. Then it hit, it really is Friday. Good thing I had the post planned out and didn't have to totally scramble. 

Title: Hidden City: Poems of Urban Wildlife
Author: Sarah Grace Tuttle
Illustrated by: Amy Schimler-Safford
Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2018

Themes: Poetry, nature, mixed media art

Opening Poem:

Nesting
In the night
under the table
a mother mouse
scurries back and forth. She
rips paper
carries
rips paper
carries
rips paper
carries
forgotten paper away
to build her nest.

Why I love this book: 
Observational poetry is such a lovely way to capture little details that you notice on any given day.

Each poem focuses the mind and the eye on one element of nature. It creates curiosity to want to see it for ourselves.

There are no rhymes in sight. Not that rhyming is bad, I just enjoy poems without rhymes too.

Amy Schimler-Safford's art is beautiful, colorful, and full of the life and wonder of urban wildlife.

Activities:

• Go outside and play.
• Write an observational poem about something you see in nature.
• Connect with a local community garden and get your hands dirty.
• Make art. Use scraps of paper and garden dirt as your art media.
• Check out Sarah Grace Tuttle's website
• Check out Amy Schimler-Safford's website
• Check out Jilanne Hoffman's blog post about When Grandma Gives You a Lemon Tree  Pick that book up at the library while you are out. It's a great companion to Hidden City.
• Another book of nature poetry to pick up with this selection is Boom! Bellow! Bleat! Animal Poems for Two of More Voices written by Georgia Heard and illustrated by Aaron DeWitt. This one is great for reading together and making lots of noise.

Yesterday, (yes the real Thursday) I sat on my front stoop with my little dachshund at y side and painted the fairy house in my garden.

I spotted a daisy fairy. I wonder if a poem is in there too?

Be sure to check out Susanna Hill's Blog where you can look for reviews by book, title, and by themes. And you can check out her weekly #PPBF post along with links to many more wonderful posts here.