Non-Fiction Monday: Food For Thought

I picked up this lovely-looking book at the library yesterday and, judging it by its cover, thought it would make a perfect Non-Fiction Monday post AND would be a possible Sibert contender for next year. And by gum, I'm going to review it even though I didn't like it.

Food for Thought: The Stories Behind the Things We Eat by Ken Robbins, Flashpoint/Roaring Book Press, 2009.

I thought this looked good, even though I generally relegate foodie books for kids to the same category as art museum and modern poetry books for kids--it's what adults would really, really like kids to enjoy. They think "if I was a kid, this is what I would want to read". But even though I like going to art museums better than just about anything else as an adult, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been interested in books about going to art museums when I was a kid. And even though I love everything about food--food-blogs, food-books, food-stores, food itself--when I was a kid, I was much more interested in reading Frank Asch's Popcorn or Tomie de Paola's Strega Nona than anything that might be termed, like this, a "foodie" book.

Robbins supplies a mishmash of mythology, history, and biology for each section (Apples, Oranges, Corn, Bananas, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Pomegranates, Grapes, and Mushrooms). Some of the facts are interesting and at least a little esoteric--the history of ketchup, as told in the Tomatoes chapter, is the kind of thing kids thrive on--but others are so obvious as to be kind of silly; a list of the ways people eat potatoes? In an already-short chapter, "We do like them baked, roasted, boiled, and perhaps most of all, fried" is not particularly compelling.

I also quote from the strange Grapes chapter, which is all about wine: ..."if you are a child, you're generally not allowed to drink it until you're older. The reason for this is simple: a little bit of alcohol, when it is drunk, makes people feel good, but just a very small amount more also robs them of their ability to think clearly. Adults, who may legally drink, tend to believe that children don't think all that clearly in the first place and should, therefore, never drink. It should be noted that some of those adults who drink probably shouldn't either."

...I find that reasoning behind laws and cultural beliefs about children and alcohol... sort of skewed.

There also aren't any references or back-matter of any kind. I would have been really into a timeline showing when these foods were introduced or popularized, or a For Further Reading list, or something like that.

I give this one a pass, but will take recommendations for foodie-books-for-kids that are good--even if kids don't really like them, maybe I would.

See more Non-Fiction Monday posts at Tales From the Rushmore Kid.

Onion John, and the Story Behind the Story

Peter at Collecting Children's Books is always turning up the best bits of information--I've already passed along the Paula Fox/Courtney Love connection to everyone I talk to who could possibly be interested--and today he's got a great post about the history behind Joseph Krumgold's Onion John.

Onion John was one of my favorite Newbery discoveries; I thought it was a very funny and honest exploration of fathers and sons, kind of like It's Like This, Cat (but if you're one of the many people who mysteriously dislikes that title, don't let my comparison turn you off Onion John). I had dreaded reading it, but found it immediately delightful.

Peter mentions that today, when a book is based on a true story, we generally know a lot about it from the beginning; with older books it's harder. I LOVE finding out the stories behind books, even if it's just finding out what inspired the author. But do others find that half the fun is in the exploration and fact-finding? Most of the time, the true story isn't nearly as interesting as the book; or if the book follows the true story too closely, it can be disappointing to discover that the author wasn't as creative as she seemed.

Digging through archives to discover whether a particular magazine cover really existed is great--I spent a splendid afternoon at the Carleton library looking for yearbook photos of the "real" Molly, Tina, and Janet from Tam Lin, and a few mornings finding every scrap of information I could in the archives about the "real" Carney from the Betsy-Tacy books, who spent a miserable year at Carleton before going off to Vassar--but seldom, when the hunt is over, am I left with anything that really enriches the fiction. And sometimes when you find a true story, you wish you hadn't--I never reread Beverly Cleary's The Luckiest Girl now without remembering that Cleary wrote in her memoir that the family hadn't invited her back for a second year in California.

Non-Fiction Monday: I Face the Wind

When I was compiling Sibert thoughts a while back, I went through the past winners and honor books to estimate how many of them are historical. (Ans: about 20 out of 32, depending on your definitions and based solely on what I can guess from the title.) I had assumed at first that I Face the Wind (a 2004 Sibert Honor) was some kind of inspiring biography, and amused myself by trying to guess whose biography it might be. John Muir's? A Revolutionary War hero's? A Dust Bowl survivor's?

No, in fact, I Face the Wind (written by Vicki Cobb, illustrated by Julia Gorton) is a science-based book about wind for very young children. And it's good.

Offhand, I can't remember ever reading a non-fiction book for this age level (pre-school?). Are there any classics? Or is this a newer phenomenon?

I Face the Wind is for children so young that the author doesn't even expect them to be able to read; a page titled "Note To the Reader" is aimed at parents. Since this is the first page of the book, I was immediately suspicious: would this book really WORK?

It does. In fact, I wanted to go out and do the simple experiments myself--especially the one where you prove that air is heavier than... well, more air is heavier than less air. Fascinating!

While the book is apparently meant for a readaloud, and I'm sure it functions well that way, Cobb and Gorton successfully make this a book that transcends levels. It isn't babyish in the slightest--the multimedia illustrations are actually kind of cool. A second-grader could read this to herself and conduct the experiments without ever thinking that she was reading a baby book.

Wind struck me as a strange topic to choose for a book, but in the end, this is all about "science is cool"--the topic doesn't matter much, and they make it work. I'd recommend this for ages 3-9.

For more Non-Fiction Monday posts: Mother Reader.

Caldecott Roundup 2009

I don't have much faith in my ability to judge picture books; as I've mentioned in the past, I can formulate some ideas about the text as text, and I'd like to think I'm pretty good at looking at art (my BA was in art history), but as for putting the two together? I get lost. Add in the fact that my own picture-book-reading era was pretty short, and you can see why I felt cast adrift when I started reading Caldecott possibilities before the awards were announced.

Winner: The House in the Night, illustrated by Beth Krommes, written by Susan Marie Swanson

This was one of the first picture books of the year that really impressed me, so I wasn't surprised when it won. The text and illustrations do fit together quite seamlessly. The pictures are great, but I will say that I didn't think this was one of the most child-appealing books of the year; I think it's a little busy for young eyes. But I've no doubt that this will be a special book for many children, one that they will keep on their shelves after others have been given away. What we have here is an excellent example of an artist making the most of her medium, and that, in my opinion, is what really makes this book distinguished. I think it was a worthy choice.

Honor: A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, written and illustrated by Marla Frazee

I can pull out the "just not my thing" card once in a while, right? When I read this I was puzzled that it was being put forth as a possibility for the Caldecott; I didn't think they could be serious. Surprise on me! I would be pleased to hear praise for this one if it IS your thing. To me, it was sort of comic-booky (wait, just realized that's not a universal insult...), and really felt like it was from an adult's point of view. But probably when kids read it they get something different.

Honor: How I Learned Geography, written and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz

I felt incredibly pedantic when I read this and mostly felt the mother's annoyance at the father coming home with a map instead of food. "Your child is hungry!" I wanted to shout. Yeah, yeah, physical hunger loses to spiritual hunger... I also couldn't get past being annoyed that the character was supposed to be learning all about these different places from the map, but obviously he had access to an encyclopedia or something. I'm as bad as Ramona Quimby. Anyway, I did like the pictures a lot, but I was even more interested in the author's teenage version of one of the illustrations in the back. Of course the ones in the book were technically better, but I loved the liveliness of the youthful one.

Honor: A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, written by Jennifer Bryant

Okay, I have heard that there are children out there who love William Carlos Williams. Any time he was introduced when I was in school, though, none of us were impressed. (I am maybe, maybe, finally coming to some appreciation. I can see now why my elementary school teacher said "This is Just to Say"--the one about the plums--was one of the great love poems of the English language.) I approached this book with suspicion, thinking it was probably one of the many picture books that's nothing more than what adults want children to enjoy. I liked it much more than I expected to, though. I'm not convinced on child appeal, but I found it very lively, creative, and well put together. This was my favorite of the Honor books this year.

So, I'm still bummed that my favorites of the year didn't make it (What to Do About Alice, Wonder Bear, Twenty Heartbeats, Dinosaur vs. Bedtime), but I'm putting my lack of enthusiasm for the honored books down to ignorance. I reserve the right to appreciate them more in the future.

Bummer

Please don't stop reading this blog if I say... I didn't think Coraline was very good.

I haven't read the book, and I plan to; I expect to like it. The movie was very pretty and well-put-together, but I thought the plot development was off--that it took a long time for anything exciting to happen, and then when it did, those scenes went way too fast without enough exposition. And not that this is a question of "good" or not, but I didn't think it was that scary, either--not compared to, say, Sleeping Beauty--and neither did the kids in the theater, as far as I could tell.

I did think Teri Hatcher (whom I have liked ever since I saw her in MacGyver; Love Boat is before my time) was fantastic, and the hands-made-out-of-needles were awesome.

Newbery Roundup 2009

I actually finished my last book of this year's Newbery list a few days ago, but I've been reluctant to write up the roundup because I wasn't wildly enthusiastic about one of the books. Now I understand the rest of you book bloggers better. When I started this I vowed to myself that I would review both books I liked and books I didn't like; I never know whether to trust a reviewer who's always positive, and anyway I like reading thoughtful negative reviews as much as (maybe more than) positive ones. But it just feels WRONG, doesn't it? I blithely post negative reviews on Goodreads--I think there's sort of an illusion of privacy there, even though I have more people following my reviews there than I do here. Or maybe it feels all right because I know that even though I'm posting a bad review there, the author or lover-of-that-book can find a dozen stellar reviews with a mere click.

WINNER: The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman)

I was really trying to read every possible book that might win the Newbery, but I didn't get to this one, which I thought had some pleasing mild irony. The public library system in my city is troubled, it takes forever to get new books in, and this started life with a lot of holds on it. After it won, I gave in and bought a copy, as a souvenir of my year of Newbery reading. (I almost never buy books I haven't read before.) Yes, I thought it was terrific--funny and scary and complex; squarely in the Newbery age range, which was pleasing. The structure and magical realism reminded me of Mary Poppins. It won't bounce anything off my Newbery top five, and I can't really say whether I would have chosen it over my own top Newbery pick, The Porcupine Year, but I can see well why it was chosen. My sister Laurie's thoughts are here, and don't miss Monica Edinger's New York Times review.

I thought about updating the Newbery Statistics, but I think I'll leave that as it is. But the effect of this winner: boy protagonists increase their lead further, historical fiction takes a tiny step back in its domination, male authors gain a point.

Honor: The Underneath (Kathi Appelt)

What I found distinguished here: the poetic and mesmerizing writing, which really gave us something different; the sense of place. I thought the story was a bit muddled, but this is a special book--the kind of thing the Newbery Honor is made for.

Honor: The Surrender Tree (Margarita Engle)

This is the other book I didn't read beforehand, but I found it astonishing. This is a powerful book, a fascinating exploration of Cuba's history. Unlike most novels-in-verse I've read, each passage in this book is a whole, complete poem in itself. It doesn't matter if you're not that interested in Cuban history; after reading this you will be. The Spanish-American War suddenly made sense to me, and it makes you think about occupying forces in general. I might have been tempted to vote for this for the gold medal.

Honor: After Tupac and D Foster (Jacqueline Woodson)

I enjoyed this, but it was really the other participants in the Oakland Mock Newbery who pointed out the distinguished features to me--a strong voice and, in a very different way from The Underneath, the sense of place. Previous thoughts here.

Honor: Savvy (Ingrid Law)

Savvy has a fast-paced, of-the-moment plot, and possibly the best first line of the year: "When my brother Fish turned thirteen, we moved to the deepest part of inland because of the hurricane and, of course, the fact that he'd caused it." A movie is in the works for 2011.


I love that there's such a mix of book types on this list (and was surprised to see a blogger claim that except for The Graveyard Book, they're all girl books again. For one thing, except for the winner? That doesn't really work. For another, neither The Underneath nor The Surrender Tree are "girl books". And for yet another, "again"? Except for 2007, there's just... no way). Thanks to the committee.

Non-Fiction Monday: Sibert 2009

I'm not sure yet how I feel about the Sibert Medal, which was first awarded for excellence in children's non-fiction in 2001. There's an eternal complaint that non-fiction doesn't get recognized enough with the Newbery, which, okay, is maybe true, if not as true as I think most people assume.

(I count about eight non-fiction books among the medalists, not including poetry and folktales, but including Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! which is sort of half non-fiction, and Amos Fortune: Free Man, which if we're being honest is as much or more fictional than The Witch of Blackbird Pond or Johnny Tremain (hmm, there's an interesting idea); come to think of it, it's not unlike Island of the Blue Dolphins--but Amos Fortune is shelved as biography. I haven't read all the honors, but there appear to be quite a few non-fiction books among them. Not a LOT, but I wouldn't call them rare.)

But does the existence of the Sibert just give us an excuse for continuing to leave non-fiction out of most Newbery discussions? Does it imply that non-fiction Newberys are an almost-lost cause and move on?

And then, much as I'd like to see more non-fiction among the Newberys NOW, I can't forget my childhood disappointment when Lincoln: A Photobiography and Joyful Noise were chosen, when what I wanted was a good story.

I'm also disappointed to see that history still seems to dominate the Sibert winners and honors (all the Newbery non-fictions and almost all the Newbery honor non-fictions are historical). I love history, but I'd like to know what the most distinguished books in other categories are, too.

Anyway, I only discovered the existence of the Sibert recently, so I'm not familiar with discussions about it--I'm sure this has all been chewed over.

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I was surprised to discover this weekend that I'd actually finished all of this year's Sibert books already, so now I can round them up.

How do they choose the winners? I can't imagine, even after reading the criteria. There are so many good books, and they're so dissimilar... the same kinds of things people say about choosing any of the awards, but I really think it must be harder to make choices and comparisons on this one.

Winner: We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball (Kadir Nelson).

I had hoped for a win here, because I really, really liked this book but didn't think it was right for either the Newbery or the Caldecott. As I was contemplating what I would say in this post, I wondered why, if I didn't think it was "good enough" for the Newbery, it should be "good enough" for the Sibert, because I don't think of the Sibert as being lesser or having lower standards. I think it comes down to this: I didn't find the writing, as writing, to be as distinguished as some of the other books we saw last year. But as non-fiction narrative, I think this book excels: Nelson didn't just research his subject, he digested it (a nod to Mr. Gaston for the distinction). The book has a feeling of authenticity that is rare in any kind of non-fiction; one could easily believe that it was written by actual members of the Negro Leagues who had gotten together to reminisce. The depth of information is incredible. It's those qualities that, I think, push this book to the top when we consider non-fiction for children.

Honor: What to Do About Alice? How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy! (written by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham)

I encountered this book when I was reading Caldecott possibilities, and I'm still sorry it didn't find a place on the Caldecott podium; the illustrations are lively, energetic, creative, superbly suited to the text. The distinguished quality I noticed about this one was that Kerley managed to sustain energy and interest throughout the entire story, even after Alice grew up and her rule-breaking had to take different forms. I've read a lot of children's biographies--granted, most of them were written before 1960--and I've often found that they're really interesting through the subject's childhood, but bog down once the subject grows up--as if the author isn't really sure how to make the person's actual adult accomplishments interesting. (This is probably why there was a whole series called Childhood of Famous Americans--the authors could skip that messy problem.) There's just enough back matter to interest but not overwhelm young readers.

Honor: Bodies from the Ice: Melting Glaciers and the Recovery of the Past (James M. Deem)

I would have read this once I heard the title, even if I hadn't decided to read all the Sibert books this year. This is exactly the kind of non-fiction I loved when I was a kid--lots of informative tidbits, connections made around the world, constant drama, a bit of gore. (I was big on paranormal accounts, survival stories, and amazing animals.) I enjoyed it a lot, but I'm not exactly sure what makes this one stand out from the pack. Maybe it's the way it balances along the ooky/tasteful line. I used to tutor struggling readers for a Learning System company, and Deem's earlier Bodies from the Bog never failed to captivate, even when we could only make it through one page each day. I'm sure this book will be equally popular with both boys and girls.

Thanks to the Sibert committee for choosing such great, enjoyable books. They're all recommended.


For more Non-Fiction Monday posts, see Jean Little Library.