A Boy Rescues a Starfish in Lovely New Book

On Gull Beach

Written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Bob Marstall

The Cornell Lab Publishing Group, Apex, N.C., 2018

“On Gull Beach” tells a story of a boy discovering a starfish on a beach, and then watching as a group of gulls play with it, tossing it from one to the other. Finally, they drop the starfish and the boy gently returns it to the ocean.

The story is told slowly in rhyming couplets and picks up momentum as the boy chases after the gulls.

It begins:

              As I was walking on Gull Beach,

              I saw a starfish within reach.

              But as I bent by wave and spray,

              A gull flew down, snatched star away.

As the tale picks up, the boy watches as the gulls pass the star from bill to bill. He chases them.

              I raced more swiftly, running after,

              Following their gullish laugher.

              Ran by rocks and smooth sea glass.

              Stumbled over dunes and grass.

Finally, he sees a gull drop the starfish, and he reaches up to catch it.

              My fingers touched her rays, and caught her!

              Saved her from that gullish slaughter.

The story concludes as the boy returns the starfish to the ocean.

            There she sank down in the sea.

Hurrah for starfish! Huzzah for me!

As I walked home from Gull Beach.

Bob Marstall illustrates the story with beautiful full-page watercolor paintings. He shows the excited looks of the gulls and the worried face of the boy. And he adds small details: shells, crabs, colored stones, grasses in the sand, and sanderling shore birds.

The author, Jane Yolen, is an award-winning poet and author and has been called a modern-day Hans Christian Anderson.  

At the back of the book, information is included about several sea birds and crabs. Children also learn what they can do to help preserve beaches and wildlife.

“On Gull Beach” is the third and last in the On Bird Hill and Beyond series for The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, an environmental organization at Cornell University dedicated to the study and conservation of birds.

Thirty-five percent of net proceeds from the sale of this title goes directly to the Cornell Lab to support projects such as children's educational and community programs.

About the Author

Jane Yolen was born and raised in New York City, and now lives in Hatfield, MA. She attended Smith College and received her master's degree in education from the University of Massachusetts. The distinguished author of more than 170 books, Jane Yolen has earned many awards over the years: the Regina Medal, the Kerlan Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Society of Children's Book Writers Award, the Mythopoetic Society's Aslan Award, the Christopher Medal, the Boy's Club Jr. Book Award, the Garden State Children's Book Award, the Daedalus Award, several Parents' Choice Magazine Awards, and many more. Her books and stories have been translated into Japanese, French, Spanish, Chinese, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Portuguese, and Braille.

About the Illustrator

Bob Marstall is a nature illustrator and landscape painter. He has illustrated many children’s picture books and enjoys visiting schools. He used to be a classroom teacher. He lives in Easthampton, MA.

Lovable Hound Helps City Family Become Farmers

George, the Hero Hound

Written and Illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler

Two Lions, an Imprint of Amazon Publishing, New York, 2018

“George the Hero Hound” is a fun story for children who love dogs and are curious about farm life. The lively illustrations are especially entertaining.

The story is simple. The Gladstones come from the city and buy a farm that comes with George, a hound dog. Throughout the story, folks in the Gladstone family have problems and George helps them.

There are a couple running gags. One is about the cows who are always plotting to escape into the cornfields for a feast. The other is about everyone in the family always suggesting new names for George: Rusty, Dusty, Rover, and Red.

 The dad has trouble getting the old, rusty tractor started. George helps by finding the right missing piece.

Then the tractor runs off and busts through the fence, allowing the cows to escape and head for the cornfield. George corals the cows back into their pen.

Owen, the boy in the family, tells George he has lost his baby sister Olive. George smells her ribbon, and leads Owen on a hunt, searching high and low. They finally finds her having a picnic with a rooster on the other side of the farm.

George is a hero. He has found his place in the family, herding Olive, helping mom and dad with farming, and keeping the crafty cows in line.

Now if only everyone could remember his name. 

About the Author and Illustrator

Jeffrey Ebbeler’s parents always wanted to live on a farm. One day, they moved their family from the city suburbs to the country. Jeff’s dad and uncles built their house and a barn. Just like the Gladstones in “George the Hero Hound,” they raised all kinds of animals and owned a rusty old tractor that hardly ever worked. Occasionally, their neighbor’s cows would break through the fence and feast on their cornfield. When Jeff’s sister got a pony, everyone in the family wanted to give him a name, so they ended up calling him Rusty Dusty Rover Red George. (In this story, Jeff made George a dog, so George could help a bunch of city folk, like Jeff’s family, learn to be farmers.)

Jeff has illustrated and written several picture books, including Arlo Rolled by Susan Pearson. He lives in Cincinnati with his wife and twin daughters. Learn more about him online at www.JeffIllustration.com.

Beautiful Book Introduces ‘Charlotte’s Web’ Author to Kids

Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White

Written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, New York, 2016

“Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White” by Melissa Sweet is a beautiful picture book for middle grade readers. Children will enjoy the story and the photographs, colorful watercolor paintings, and collage images in this book about a favorite children’s author of the much-loved classics, “Charlotte’s Web,” “Stuart Little,” and “The Trumpet of the Swan.”

The many images give the reader a sense of White’s love of nature and animals, qualities that made him the writer he was. They also give a feel for the different time he lived in, with images of old fashioned manual typewriters, his handwritten and typed letters and notebook pages, and the author from childhood through old age.

Elwyn Brooks knew he was a writer when he was seven or eight years old. He looked at a sheet of paper and thought, “This is where I belong, this is it.” His brother Stan taught him to read when he was five. If he came upon a word he didn’t know, his father made him look it up in the dictionary. At dinner, his dad recited limericks, and the six children (Elwyn was the youngest) would try to finish the last line.

His sweet mother loved gardening and raising baby chicks in Mount Vernon, the New York City suburb where En (as he was called) grew up. En also enjoyed the chicks, as well as lizards, pigeons, and a dog Mac, who met him every day after school.

He was a shy child and remembered being mortified to read a poem out loud in class when he was in first grade. As an adult, he said he was a frightened but happy child. His large family was like a “small kingdom unto ourselves.” His father worked at a piano company, and their home was always well supplied with musical instruments.  “We were practically a ready-made band. All we lacked was talent,” he wrote.

Growing up, Elwyn spent his summers in Maine next to a lake, and he fell in love with the area. For the rest of his life, he would divide his time between New York City and Belgrade Lakes in Maine, where he drew inspiration for his children’s books.

He began writing poems and short stories as a child and published some of them in a children’s magazine. He won prizes for his stories about animals. Some of his childhood writings are included. In high school, he wrote for the school newspaper. Being skinny and small, he didn’t care much for athletics.

Elwyn enjoyed attending Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Friends gave him the nickname Andy, which stuck for the rest of his life. He became editor of the school newspaper, the “Cornell Sun,” and began to consider writing for a living.

Young people may be surprised to learn that as an adult, Andy primarily worked for the “New Yorker,” writing short pieces for adults. He wrote captions for cartoons, short articles on current events, and humorous column fillers that poked fun at errors and typos in other newspapers and magazines. He published many books for adults, including collections of his “New Yorker” pieces, poems, essays, letters, and “Elements of Style,” a grammar book with his former college professor William Strunk.

Andy met his wife Katherine Sergeant Angell at the “New Yorker,” where she worked as the fiction editor. They married in 1929 when he was 30 and remained married until she died in 1977 after a series of long illnesses. Together they had a son, Joel McCoun.

Andy published his first children’s book, “Stuart Little,’ in 1945, when he was 46. Interestingly, some children’s librarians criticized the book for blurring the line between fantasy and reality. In it, a human couple have a baby who turns out to be a mouse. Some libraries banned it, but children loved it and the book sold 100,000 copies in its first year.

He published “Charlotte’s Web” in 1952 and received a Newberry Honor for the book. Sweet tells about his writing process and includes images of handwritten early drafts and pictures of the illustrator’s early sketches of Charlotte, the spider.

In 1970, Andy published “The Trumpet of the Swan.” Later, the Philadelphia Orchestra set it to music delighting Andy. “What a life I lead!” he said. “How merry! How innocent! How nutty!”

He once said, “Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down. Children are demanding. They are the most attentive, curious, eager, observant, sensitive, quick, and generally congenial readers on earth.... Children are game for anything. I throw them hard words, and they backhand them over the net.”

About the Author-Illustrator

Melissa Sweet has illustrated nearly 100 children’s books from board books to picture books and nonfiction titles. Her collages and paintings have appeared in the “New York Times” and Martha Stewart Living, on Madison Park Greetings and Smilebox cards, and on a line of eeBoo toys. She received a Caldecott Honor Medal for a “River of Words” by Jen Bryant and two “New York Times” Best Illustrated citations. She lives on the coast of Maine, not far from E.B. White’s home.

‘Big Bear, Small Mouse’ Teaches Kids Comparisons

Big Bear, Small Mouse

Written by Karma Wilson and illustrated by Jane Chapman

Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2016

              “Big Bear, Small Mouse,” the latest in Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman’s Bear series, is a warm, cheerful simple story of animal friends gathering in Bear’s lair to stay warm and enjoy time together.

              Told in an easy pattern, the story teaches children comparison words, such as big and small, slow and fast, and low and high.

              ‘Mouse hops onto Bear

              He is careful not to fall.

              Bear is big, big BIG!

              Mouse is small, small, small!’

It is a cumulative narrative, beginning with bear and mouse, and growing as new pairs of animals join the group. Each pair is described using a pair of opposite adjectives.  

‘Bear and Mouse both wave

to their friends as they go past.  

Badger moseys slowly,

but Hare runs very fast!

Rhyme is used effectively in an A-B, C-B pattern with four-line, three-foot stanzas.

Each time a new pair of animals joins the group, they are added to the list. So, it begins,

‘Small Mouse

big Bear.’

The list grows.

‘Slow Badger, fast Hare.

Small Mouse, big Bear!’

And grows.

‘High Owl, low Wren.

Slow Badger, fast Hare.

Small Mouse, big Bear!’

Until finally, it is six lines long, with a rhyming pattern of A-A, B-B, C-C. 

‘All together, gathered there,
Cold night, warm lair.

Quiet woods, loud friends.

High Owl, low Wren.

Slow Badger, fast Hare.

Small Mouse, BIG BEAR!’

The growing list builds momentum, until the story ends with Bear smiling and clapping, surrounded by his friends in his lair that is decorated with strings of daisies.

The colorful, expressive pictures of the animals complement the story, and tell a few new details of their own. Mouse tickles Bear with a feather, Badger wears a necklace of daisies, a bird gives Badger another daisy, and Badger shares his necklace with Mole.

One small criticism is the overuse of exclamation marks, a lazy man’s way of expressing emotion. This story could have let the words and pictures do that without resorting to them.   

About the Author 

Karma Wilson is the bestselling author of several picture books for Simon @ Schuster, including the Bear series and “Where Is Home Little Pig? Karma lives in Montana.

About the Illustrator

Jane Chapman is an illustrator of over one hundred books for children, including “Dilly Duckling,” by Claire Freedman and “I Love My Mama” by Peter Kavanagh, as well as Karma Wilson’s “Bear Snores On,” “Bear Wants More,” “Bear Stays Up for Christmas,” and “Mortimer’s Christmas Manger.” She lives with her family in Dorset, England. Visit Jane at ChapmanandWarnes.com.  

Seuss-like Dinosaur Tale Entertains while Teaching

Welcome to Day #1 of the “Sticks ‘n’ Stones” Blog Tour

To celebrate the release of “Sticks ‘n’ Stones ‘n’ Dinosaur Bones,” written by Ted Enik and illustrated by G.F. Newland, blogs across the web are featuring exclusive content about this humorous tall tale and giving away chances to win a copy of “Sticks ‘n’ Stones ‘n’ Dinosaur Bones.” 

Sticks ‘n’ Stones ‘n’ Dinosaur Bones: Being a Whimsical ‘Take’ on a (pre)Historical Event

Written by Ted Enik and illustrated by G.F. Newland

Schiffer Publishing, Philadelphia, and Pixel Mouse House, New York, September 2017

“I’ll tell you a story – and some of It’s true – that explores and explains what the Bone Hunters do.” So begins this story about a feud between two paleontologists during America’s Gilded Age in the 1870s and ‘80s.

The story is told in a rollicking rhyme with lots of humor, and is reminiscent of Dr. Seuss in its writing style and sense of fun. It is about the frenzied competition to find dinosaur bones that grew between Edward Drinker Cope of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and O. Charles Marsh of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University, New Haven, CT.

  

“Each paleontologist used less-than-ethical methods to outdo the other – lying, stealing, blackmail, even destroying fossils,” writes Enik in a prologue. “Both obsessed and vengeful men attacked each other in professional journals as well as in newspapers targeted at the general public, in an all-out attempt to ruin his rival’s credibility and have his funding withdrawn.”

Enik is a master of rhyme and rhythm. A Goodreads reviewer said she found herself nearly singing when she read the book aloud to her daughter.

The story begins:

“Wrinkled professors from northeastern colleges/ saw there was room to expand certain knowledges.”

“Edward D. Cope was the man that School “A” / felt was perfectly suited for digging away!

“O. Charles Marsh represented School “B.” / Who could think of no Bone Hunter better than he!”

“If any bone promised a glimmer of glory, / a scout set about telegraphing the story

To big city newspapers – holding their deadlines -- /and poised to report it in EXTRA LARGE headlines.”

Before long, both paleontologists decide to stoop to less ethical means of winning the most accolades.

“To heck with science,” Marsh hissed to his shovel, / Outshining my rival’s the goal, far above all.

“It’s much more important to outdo my foe, / and if fibbing comes into it, who’s going to know?”

Both men spread rumors that they found something far greater than any bones so far discovered. Each gathers crowds and crows about their amazing discoveries.

“Behold!” bellowed Cope/ like a one-person chorus. / An animal never on Earth seen before!!!!

“My NeverTopThisOne-Ginormous-asaurus!”

His opponent Marsh tries to one-up him:

“Exclaiming, ‘Good People, look here! Feast your eyes! / What I’m holding before you – though tiny in size—

“Is by far-and-away, of the hundreds I’ve found, / quite the topmost dead treasure I took from the ground!”

Despite the scientists’ raving superlatives, their audiences see through their insincere claims.

“Like that! The Bone Hunters were fired, and broke. / Where once they were famous they now were a joke.

“And why not/ They were phonies/ and Bone Buccaneers

“Who swindled their sponsors and spoiled their careers.”

Regardless of their childish competition, these two scientists each discovered the bones of many dinosaurs and the two of them were responsible for the flowering of the science of paleontology, Enik writes.

Marsh discovered and named the Allosaurus, the Apatosaurus (originally named Bronotosaurus), the Diplodocus, the Stegosaurus, and the Triceratops. Cope discovered and named the Camarasaurus, the Coelophysis, and the Dimetrodon. He named the Elasmosaurus, which was discovered by another paleontologist, Dr. Theophilus Turner.

G.F. Newland’s illustrations are charming, stylistic, and colorful, and keep the story moving at a gingerly pace. Their old-fashioned look suits the historical subject.

This is the second time “Sticks ‘n’ Stones ‘n’ Dinosaur Bones” is being published, now by Schiffer Publishing, Philadelphia, with Pixel Mouse House, New York, and available in hardcover.  It was originally published in 2013 by Pixel Mouse House and was selected as a Finalist for American Book Fest’s 2014 Best Children’s Nonfiction and a Finalist for American Book Fest’s 2014 International Book Award for Best Children’s Nonfiction.  It is an Unhinged History Book, the first in a Seuss-inspired series about history and science that Ted is writing and Newland is illustrating for children.

About the Author

Ted Enik has worked as an illustrator for most of the well-known New York publishing houses, applying his versatility to both original art as well as classic and current children’s book characters, including the Magic School Bus, the Eloise books, and the popular “Fancy Nancy I Can Read” series. This is the first picture book Ted has authored. It was first published in 2013 by Pixel Mouse House, New York, and honored as a Finalist in the American Book Fest’s 2014 Best Children’s Nonfiction and a Finalist in American Book Fest’s 2014 International Book Award for Best Children’s Nonfiction. Learn more about his books at unhingedhistory.com and his illustration at tedenik.com.

About the Illustrator

G.F. Newland is a part-time illustrator and the systems administrator at the School of Visual Arts, New York, NY. His doodles have found their way onto buttons, bags, posters, and T-shirts, and have been published by Scholastic, Hachette, and Pixel Mouse House. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and a pet fish named Enki. Visit his website at gfnewland.com.

Schedule of Blog Tour

November 6: Can You Read Me a Story?

November 7: A Fuse #8 Production

November 8: Books My Kids Read

November 9: Rockin' Book Reviews

November 10: Kid Lit 411

November 11: Shelf Employed

November 12: Frog on a Blog

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‘The Night Gardener’ Spins Gorgeous, Magical Tale

The Night Gardener

Written and illustrated by The Fan Brothers

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2016

“The Night Gardener” is a gorgeously illustrated picture book that tells a magical tale of the transformative power of art and the kindness of an old man.

The story begins as the orphan William traces an owl into the dirt and a strange old man walks by carrying a ladder, a bag of tools, and a rolled-up rug over his shoulder.

During the blue-tinged night, the old man clips away at a tree in front of the dreary Grimloch Orphanage.

William wakes up and looks out his window to see a commotion on the street. He quickly dresses, runs downstairs, and races outside. As if by magic, the tree has been shaped into a wise old owl like the one he drew in the dirt. William spends the entire day staring at it in wonder.

As the days go by, every morning brings a new animal shape in a tree: a cat, a rabbit, a parrot, an elephant, and finally a dragon. William is very excited, and more and more people are coming out to see the artistry.

The pictures begin in black and white, but as the town’s excitement grows, more dabs of color appear in man’s blue suspenders, a boy’s red tricycle, and a man’s yellow tuba.

Finally, many townspeople gather and enjoy a day outdoors next to two trees that make a dragon.

As William begins to head home, he spots the night gardener. He turns to William and invites him to help him transform Grimloch Park.

They work together deep into the night until William falls asleep under a tree. In the morning, William awakens to the sound of happy families walking by and a gift of garden sheers from the night gardener.

The whole town comes out to admire the night gardener and William’s work. Every tree is a different animal: a giraffe, a dinosaur, a rhinoceros, a whale, and a bear. 

As the seasons change and time goes by, the trees lose their animal shapes. The night gardener never returns, but the townspeople are forever changed. Now instead of a dreary black and white, the town is full of color and life.

And William becomes an artist with his sheers. On the last page, he is cutting a squirrel from a shrub.

“The Night Gardener” won the 2016 Dily Evans Founder’s Award, which is given by the Society of Illustrators, New York, to the most promising new talent in children’s book illustration.

   

About the Author and Illustrator

Terry Fan received his formal art training at Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, Canada. His work is a blend of traditional and contemporary techniques, using ink or graphite mixed with digital. He spends his days (and nights) creating magical paintings, portraits, and prints. “The Night Gardener” is his first book. Born in Illinois, he now lives in Toronto. Visit him online at Krop, Society 6, and Facebook.

Eric Fan is an artist and writer who lives in Toronto, Canada. Born in Hawaii and raised in Toronto, he attended the Ontario College of Art and Design, where he studied illustration, sculpture, and film. He has a passion for vintage bikes, clockwork contraptions, and impossible dreams. “The Night Gardener” is his first children’s book. See more of his work at his Society 6 shop and on Facebook.

New Book Celebrates How Our Children Teach Us to See

Through Your Eyes: My Child’s Gift to Me

Written by Ainsley Earhardt and illustrated by Ji-Hyuk Kim

Aladdin, An Imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, October 17, 2017

“Through Your Eyes: My Child’s Gift to Me” is a sweet book told in rhyme about how a little girl teaches her mother to see, hear, and feel the everyday beauty and miracles in the world.

The mother and daughter spend the afternoon at Central Park, get caught in a brief rainstorm, watch the clouds in the sky, and then walk home as the sun sets.

Ji-Hyuk Kim’s soft, pretty illustrations complement the gentle story.

“Squealing with joy/When you spotted a dog/Eyes smiling with wonder/At the croak of a frog.

“You smelled every tulip/Gentle beauty so real/Who would have thought/You could teach me to feel.”

“You danced in the puddles/When the rain pattered down/First we waltzed, then we sang/What a heavenly sound.”

“You counted the clouds/My heart pressed to your ear/Who would have known/You could teach me to hear?”

“To slow down, take small steps/Make each moment last/The world is a blur/If you’re spinning too fast.”

Earhardt will donate a portion of her proceeds from “Through Your Eyes” to Folds of Honor, an organization that provides scholarships and assistance to the spouses and children of fallen soldiers in service to the United States.  

  

About the Author

Ainsley Earhardt is the cohost of Fox & Friends. This is her second picture book. Her first, “Take Heart, My Child,” 2016, cowritten with Kathryn Cristaldi and illustrated by Jaime Kim, was a New York Times bestseller. Ainsley lives in Manhattan with her husband and daughter, Hayden.

About the Illustrator

Ji-Hyuk Kim is a freelance illustrator who has clients in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He is known for his literary illustrations, which embrace the atmosphere and light. He has worked on numerous books and media both in print and online, including children’s book covers, newspapers, magazines, advertisements, and album covers. He lives with his family in Korea. This is his first picture book. Visit him at jihyukkim.com.