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I am so glad that the 48 Hour Reading Challenge bumped
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, to the top of my reading pile. It is my favorite sort of non-fiction--combining tons of interesting science with people one can care about, and leaving the reader changed by the experience of reading.
The book weaves together four stories.
One is the story of a woman named Henrietta, who loved to paint her toenails red and go out dancing, who loved her children dearly, who was poor, and black, and died of cancer in 1951.
One is the story of what happened to a sample of cells taken from Henrietta's cancerous tumor, and how this HeLa line of cells, with its extraordinary robustness, was used, and is still used, to make many marvellous advances in medicine and the study of cell biology. The first great contribution Henrietta's cells made were in the development of the polio vaccine, but the list goes on and on and on.
The third is the story of the dark side of medical practice in the mid twentieth century, and how the black, the poor, the incarcerated, and the marginalized suffered at the hands of medical research.
And the fourth is the story of Henrietta's children, especially her daughter Deborah. It was years before they learned that part of their mother was immortal--that her living cells had been bought and sold for the cause of medical research, while they struggled with poverty and inadequate health insurance. To learn that part of their mother, who Deborah never knew, was still alive, brought heartache, confusion, and anger.
Into their lives comes Rebecca Skloot, a white woman determined to make the story of HeLa the story of people. It is a difficult journey for Deborah and for Rebecca. This book, weaving the four stories together in a utterly readable, mesmerizing, shattering, and poignant way, is the result.
Read it (if you haven't already).
And then read
this op ed piece in the New York Times from 2013 that continues the story. (or you could read the op ed piece now).
Happy Earth Day!
By Happy Chance I got three new picture book non-fiction books for little kids last week, all of which are great picks for Earth Day (or any day) reading.
Ocean Counting, by Janet Lawler (National Geographic Little Kids, May 2013), with photographs by Brian Skerry, starts thus:
"Explore our beautiful blue ocean while learning how to count. Visit colorful coral reefs, warm and sunny seas, sparkling ice packs, and other special spots where marine animals live and play. And on your way, discover new ocean friends on a worldwide counting adventure." For the numbers one through ten, there are double spread pictures, and short blurbs and supplemental "did you know" insets that offer interesting information. A very nice book!
The cute baby seal and its mama (for Two) are particularly kid-friendly, although I myself was especially taken by the four reef squid--a stunning picture in which the squids obligingly arranged themselves in a line by size (sweet squids!).
Flowers by Number, by David Shapiro, illustrated by Hayley Vair (Craigmore Creations, April 2013).
This is one for the child who appreciates beautiful illustrations--the flower paintings are lovely, in a calm, painterly way. They aren't your common or garden flowers either--instead, they are wildflowers from across the country, including new ones for East Coast me, like the six Pacific Starflowers. The text is minimal, but interest is added by occasional metaphorical language. For the nine lupines, for instance, the text says "Named after the wolf, they howl in purple when many flower at once."
The Latin names of the flowers are included, though a little note explaining what these foreign words are might have been useful.
This one is strong on aesthetics and floral interest, could for peaceful appreciation of the beauties of nature. I particularly liked that it started with Zero, which so often gets overlooked--it's a snowy landscape with no flowers at all.
The World is Waiting for You, by Barbara Kerley (National Geographic Children's Books, March 2013), is a photographic invitation (and a very compelling one) to get outside!!! From woods to water to fossil hunting in the desert, the imperative commands, like "Dig deeper" or "Take a peek. Go on--get a little nosy" reinforces the beautifully clear message of the pictures that there are wonderful things to do out there in the great big world of nature. And if that cave full of huge crystals really is real (I assume it is, but it boggles the mind!) I want to go there myself! It is a joyful celebration of the outdoors that manages to enthuse without any sense of didactic preaching.
This is a truly inspiring one that I wholeheartedly recommend.
So, have a happy Earth Day! And just to close, here is my own go-to saving the earth tip--keep a bucket in your shower, to catch the water while its warming up, and use that water to flush the toilet. If you have four shower-ers in your family, like me, and an old plumbing system that takes ages to warm the water, you'll save hundreds of gallons a year.
For more great non-fiction for kids, visit this Monday's Non-Fiction Roundup at
A Mom's Spare Time disclaimer: review copies received from publicist
Writing Children's Books for Dummies, by Lisa Rojany Buccieri and Peter Economy (John Wiley and Sons, 2013).
Someday, hopefully sooner rather than later, I hope to have written a children's book--non-fiction, drawing on the archaeology side of my life. I've even taken the plunge and joined the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and will be going to the May New England Conference. So when I was offered a review copy of the newly released revised edition of
Writing Children's Books for Dummies, I said "yes, please."
And I found it good--knowledgeable, practical, and helpful.
It's divided into sections that pass from an introduction to the various genres of children's books, into the nuts and bolts of writing (characters, dialogue, setting, etc.), then moving on to editing, and finally tackling the mysteries of publishing and publicity. Helpful icons in the margins identify especially useful tips and things to remember.
I started out bookmarking every page that had what seemed an especially useful tip, but soon the book had so many pieces of paper sticking out of it that I realized I couldn't share them all. So you'll have to trust me--there are lots of useful tips!
For instance, there's a valuable section entitled "Defend your prose--or let it go" (page 137). If your words aren't moving the plot forward and making the story proceed at a nice pace, or developing a main character, chances are it should go. The section on what makes good dialogue seemed especially spot on, and if I were a teacher of writing to even quite young kids, I might well share it with them! The examples of good and bad dialogue, and why the former works and the later doesn't, are spot on.
I could go on. Short answer--lots and lots of good advice on how to write and publish a children's book.
As an incidental bonus, I found the sections on the mechanics of good writing rather enlightening from my perspective as a reviewer.
Jean Kerr, a favorite author of mine was married to a drama critic, and often went to the theater with him--she has a pithy little line that resonates a lot for me:
"The critic says: this is an extremely bad play--why is that? The audience says: This is an extremely bad play--why was I born?" (
Penny Candy, page 88)
I myself have trouble getting past the "why was I born" approach, and now feel more able to make informed judgements (look for "the dialogue does not advance either the plot or the characterization" (or, one can hope, the opposite) in future reviews).
It wasn't perfect. For instance, the book examples used in the early section on genres of children's books seem somewhat cobbled together (one obscure book is shown twice, for instance), and the pictures of the books float in isolation with no little line why the books were chosen, or what they illustrate. If I myself were giving a new author lists of books, I wouldn't just offer a list of my own; I'd refer readers to the lists of ALA award books--which, since they are updated every year, would keep current. (I myself would also include the
Cybils lists).
The sections on publicity and social marketing are not desperately helpful for authors who wish to get their books reviewed on blogs--I think that a future edition could usefully expand that section, with more on what book review blogs are, and who they reach, with the does and don'ts of how to find bloggers who are a good fit for your book (contrary to the advice given here, the best blogs to approach are not necessarily the ones that get the most traffic), and how to request a blog review.
But still--a very valuable book from which I think every new and aspiring writer of just about any age could learn lots.
Courtesy of the authors, I'm hosting a giveaway of Writing Children's Books For Dummies. (International entries welcome!). Just leave a comment by midnight EST next Sunday (March 31), with some way to contact you. If I haven't convinced you that you might well want to enter to win this one, here's another blog review at
Ms. Yingling Reads--she called it "an indispensable tool for writers."
Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher at the authors' request.
Home Front Girl: A Diary of Love, Literature, and Growing Up in Wartime America (Chicago Review Press, November, 2012, Young Adult) is the actual diary of Joan Wehlen Morrison (1922-2010), beginning in 1937, when she is fourteen, and continuing to February, 1942. Joan Wehlen was clearly destined to become a writer--her diary entries, transcribed by her daughter after her death, are funny, coherent, thoughtful, and diverting.
Joan starts her diary as a high school sophomore in Chicago, at a time when the country was recovering (mentally and materially) from the Great Depression. Her journal entries are full of the everyday doings of a bright, friendly girl--thoughts on her teachers, classmates, a bit about whether she's thin, what she thinks about religion, watching her paramecium inexplicably die in biology, her work on the school paper, boys she's crushing on....and darker things too. She is tested for tb, and found to be on the borderline of having it--she must periodically have her chest x-rayed. And even in 1937, the shadow of war haunts her nightmares.
As the war in Europe progress, and as Joan grows up, she (naturally) moves beyond the light-hearted school girl she was. Though I found these years less immediately entertaining, from a social history point of view, they were interesting as all get out. I was powerfully reminded that it was not clear in the late thirties in the US that this was a war that we were inevitably going to have to fight. Joan is terrified by the thought of it, thinks of Winston Churchill as "pig face," and rejects patriotic fervor. And then, only a few months before Joan puts down her diary, Pearl Harbor is bombed. There's a forced brightness to these entries, with Joan talking more about boys than about the war, but under that gloss, it's clear that it's filling her mind.
This is one I'd give in a second to anyone who loves historical school girl stories and stories of home front girls--I was variously reminded of Daddy-Long-Legs, Betsy-Tacy, and Rilla of Ingleside. If you like those books, you will almost certainly join me in loving Joan's high school diary entries with a passionate intensity, laughing out loud at both her words and her doodles, and sharing with her the sometimes painful process of growing up. I wish I could have been her friend, because she really does sound like a kindred spirit:
"Sometimes I wonder if I'm really laughing at the things I say or if I mean them. I catch myself saying things and find myself grinning at something--inside I mean." (page 23).
Here's one example of a passage that made me laugh out load--Joan studying biology on her bus ride home in 1938:
"Then I went back to the difference between man and animals. Very slight, it seems. I was testing myself out to see if I was human. Seeing if my thumb was opposable (by wiggling it) and if I had a definite chin (thrusting it out) and if my great toe was opposable (very hard in shoes). By this time, the man next to me also seemed to need proof that I was human and took quite an interest in my experiments. In most points I seemed human so I gave up and went back to one-celled animals. Man went back to his magazine" (page 77).
Joan may be naive in some ways, as so many young teenagers are, but she is not the product of a "more innocent time." In one searing entry written in 1940 (pages 140 to 146), she reflects on her generation--how their parents, coming out of WW I "...had the awful feeling of being "timed"-that they must hurry and gobble life or it would leave them." How "...though most of us were loved, we were, most of us, lucky not to be abortions." Then came the Great Depression, and Joan tells how her family, like so many others, lost their house and became poor. And how those lean years shaped the physical health of her generation.
"Oh you, my generation! --we were lovely lot! Sharp minds -- arguing all the time and brittle bodies and even more brittle laughter--and all the time knowing that we were growing up to die. Because we weren't fooled, you know. All through those bright-colored years of adolescence we knew we were growing up to disaster. For at least four years--well, three, before it happened, we knew it was coming. Some sort of inner sense of war lay upon us." (page 143)
And having read Joan's descriptions of her nightmares of war, I believe her.
In one of her last entries, she says that she thinks she's written her diary "with the intention of having it read someday....I rather like the idea of a social archaeologist pawing over my relics" (page 229). And indeed, this is one I'd recommend with great conviction to social historians.
I just really truly wish she'd kept on writing in her diary! The ending comes too soon (and I was expecting from the title that we'd see more actual "home front-ness), and though we know, from the introduction her daughter wrote, that Joan went on to a happy marriage, three kids, and a career as a writer, still, I would have liked more of her own words...and I would really have liked her thoughts on the 1950s and the Cold War! She did, however, go on to write, with her son, a book about the sixties--
From Camelot to Kent State: The Sixties Experience in the Words of Those Who Lived It (1987).
Review copy gratefully received from the publisher. Will be kept for re-reading and sharing.
(I've thrown this into this week's Non-Fiction Monday round-up, hosted today by
The Flatt Perspective)
Feel the Force! is a physics pop-up book by Tom Adams, illustrated by Thomas Flintham (Templar, Sept. 13, 2011, 20 pages), that explains the basic concepts of physics (friction, gravity, light, sound, magnetism, movement, and electricity) in clear language that a 6-9 year old can follow. It's brightly illustrated (with pop-up elements and pull tabs), it applies the principles discussed to everyday life (well, race cars aren't an every day occurrence in my life, but you know what I mean), and it includes experiments kids can try at home to drive home the information.
Here's an example of what I think is spot-on science writing for a young kid:
"A cube of gold weighs more than a cube of steel, even though they are the same size, so gold is denser. If something is more dense than water, it'll sink. If it's less dense, it'll float. Gold is more than twice as dense as steel and almost twenty times denser than water (which is why pirate treasure always sinks)."
Here's why I particularly like it-- the contractions. So friendly.
The information is presented in your basic little text and picture clusters, making this not a book to read cover to cover, but one where you stop at each two page spread, and read the bits, and pull the tabs (they seem to be tough tabs, which is good) and talk them over, and then if you wish you can do the experiment for that section. It's a book that would work very well paired with Magic School bus, reinforcing the science behind the fiction.
In short, a very fine introduction the principles of physics, and how these principles are at work in the world around us.
If I were homeschooling, I'd build on this foundation with Physics: Why Matter Matters, one of the lovely non-fiction books by Basher, which goes into more of the sub-atomic details in a very kid friendly way (my review).
I've said it before, but sheesh. The kids of today are so lucky! When I started high school physics I had little understanding of what "physics" actually was--except that it involved math and I would probably be bad at it (I was brainwashed into thinking I was bad at math. I blame my mother (who doesn't read my blog, so that's ok)).
On the other hand, my boys (now 8 and 11) have been known to have arguments about Newtonian motion and Einstein's troubled relationship with gravity. And this is not because they are little savants, which they aren't. Nope, they simply have had access to books and non-fiction dvds (
Explorers of the New World, by Carla Mooney (ages 9-12, 128 pages), is a recent edition to Nomad Press' excellent Built It Yourself series. Mooney takes readers from the Silk Road and the search to find a water route from Europe to Asia, to 16th century European ventures to North America, describing the advances in cartography and technology (there's a particularly nice description of why caravels were different and important) that made European explorers capable of extending their reach around the world.
Interspersed with this account are 22 activities that bring the world of the explorers to life--from blending spice mixes to making your own compass and sailor's lanyard. The inclusion of a make-your-own Dream Catcher craft was a tad jarring, though-- this was not something the European explorers would have had any interest in doing!
As the title of the book promises, it is the European explorers who are the focus of the story. All the familiar names are here, as well as some I don't remember learning about in school, such as Pedro Alvares Cabral, the first Eruopean to land on Brazil, and Martin Frobisher, an English explorer who set out in 1576 to find the Northwest Passage.
Mooney includes mention of the horrors that exploration brouht to the people whose lands were being explored, with such as statements as this:"When the Aztecs surrendered, there were only about 30,00 people remain in the once-proud city of 300,000" (page 79), and a section on killer diseases. But I wish that the ending of the book had been less up-beat and pro-explorer.
Here's how the book ends:
"The brave explorers of the New World risked their lives and fortunes with each voyage into the unknown. Their journeys to the New World left a lasting legacy. It can still be seen in the languages, religions and cultures of the people who live in North and South America today" (page 107).
I don't think this adequately underscores the European efforts to commit genocide that began here in the age of exploration, and the long-term consequences of colonization, such as the slave trade, and the rise of European empires. Although the last sentence is true, the fact that "I am reading this book in English here in New England because the English colonists were very successful in killing, enslaving, displacing, and imposing their culture on many (but by no means all) of the original people of this place" is not the message it conveys.
Despite that (especially if what happened next can be expanded on by an adult), this book seems one that should be welcomed wholeheartedly by educators seeking clearly written and detailed (but not overwhelmingly so) accounts of the men who came from Europe to explore the "new" (irony) world.
Non-Fiction Monday (a recurring Kidlitosphere event) is hosted by Amy O'Quinn today.
(Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher)
Looking for a great book to use to help your young child understand the driving force behind evolution? Try Charlie and Kiwi: an Evolutionary Adventure (Atheneum, June, 2011, 48 pages). Peter H. Reynolds, Fablevision, and the New York Hall of Science teamed up to create a picture book that does a brilliant job clearly explaining the principle of survival of the fittest, with the science set in an engaging narrative of a time-travel adventure.
Young Charlie picks the kiwi as the subject of his bird report in school, bringing in his own newly acquired stuffed kiwi as an example. But the other children are doubtful--"Izzat a bird? Where's the wings?" asks one. And Charlie, when asked why the kiwi is so very different from other birds, draws a blank.
Fortunately, his stuffed kiwi is ready to help out, taking Charlie back in time (the box Kiwi came in magically becomes a time travel machine) to meet his many times great grandfather. Together Charles Darwin, Kiwi, and Charlie go on an evolutionary adventure, to observe first hand the ancestral proto-kiwis of New Zealand. And then they head back even further in time, to see for themselves how birds evolved from dinosaurs.
My kids and I thought this was a great book--we were charmed by the stuffed kiwi, and thought the explanation of natural selection/survival of the fittest was interesting and clearly explained. It might be a bit wordy for some picture book affectionados, but for kids with an interest in science and nature, I recommend it highly.
Here's Grandpa Charles beginning his explanation of natural selection:
"Long ago, maybe kiwis were more like regular birds.
Maybe they had wings and flew.
But say one family was a little bit different.
Say some stayed on the ground a little more and smelled bugs
a little better. They'd be safer, and catch more dinner...."
I love the idea of using a time-travel story in an educational way--I vaguely feel that lots of books say "let's go back in time," but one like this, that uses a fictional narrative, with engaging characters and touches of humor, is very rare indeed. (It's the first time I've ever applied my fantasy label and my non-fiction label simultaneously!)
(and it's awfully nice that Charlie is a kid of color)
How the Sphinx Got to the Museum, by Jessie Hartland (2010, Blue Apple Books)
I love a picture book that I can leave lying around the house, certain that my ten year old will pick it up and enjoy it! Which happened as planned, and so I was predisposed to like this one. And there's the fact that I'm an archaeologist, and I've worked in museums, and done some conservation work...so this one seemed an obvious choice for me!
Hartland starts with specific question--how did the battered and broken sphinx of the Pharaoh Hatsheput get from a pit in Egypt to the Metropolitan Museum of Art? Her answer mirrors the story of "This is the house that Jack built," taking the sphinx from its beginning back in 1470 BC, when the Pharaoh ordered it, all the way to the museum.
Along the way we meet the cast of characters who played parts in its life story, starting with the ones that aren't a great surprise--the sculptor, the stepson who destroyed it, and the archaeologist who found it. But then things get really interesting, when we meet all the people who worked in the background -- the representative of the Egyptian Dept. of Antiquities, the art movers, the curator and conservators...and other staff members of the museum that the public seldom get to meet.
As the list of all the people involves grows, Hartland keeps things interesting with her discussion of each one's role in the process. The cumulative list is, by nature, repetitive, but it's spiced up by using different words to describe everyone's role each time the come around (and it seemed to amuse my children). The the illustrations, detailed but with a simple friendliness, help move the sphinx along nicely. And the sphinx's story is a fascinating one, not just for the fateful life of the sphinx itself, but because its journey required so many people bringing their particular areas of expertise to its journey from Egypt.
A perfect book to read to the young child who you think might do well later in life working museum (I liked the nice gender balance--the curators, for instance, are split fifty/fifty), or anyone with an interest in museums and Egyptology (a section with "more history" at the end will add to the book's appeal for this later audience). This is definitely one to read to your child before your first visit to see Antiquities, but it might well be enjoyed lots by any random kid who likes a swinging story with real life people.
The Non-Fiction Monday round-up this week is at Great Kid Books.
Case Closed? Nine Mysteries Unlocked by Modern Science, by Susan Hughes, illustrated by Michael Wandelmaier (Kids Can Press, 2010, 88 pages, ages 8 on up).
This is an utterly fascinating book, in which science, history, curiosity and determination (and a bit of luck) come together to solve mysteries from the past. All the nine cases looked at here involve people, and places, that apparently vanished -- Hatshepsut, Hsu Fu (a great Chinese navigator), the City of Ubar, the Anasazi, Sir John Franklin, Anastasi, George Mallory (lost climbing Everest), a lost airplane, the Star Dust, and finally, an Israli sub, the INS Dakar.
Each section begins by describing the disappearance in crime reporting fashion. Then the historical background is given, describing in detail the case in question. And then, enter the scientists and historians! Using a variety of high tech techniques (DNA testing, satellite imagery, robotics) and sheer determination (exploration of inhospitable places), men and women determined to find out what really happen set to work. In almost all of the cases covered, enough evidence was found to provide pretty definite answers. But still, mysteries remain...
The writing is exciting, and the science and history top-notch. The geographic coverage is great, and although there is a male bias in the scientists, women are there too. The illustrations are a nice mix of data presentation, artist's reconstructions, and actual images. But what makes this book really cool is its presentation of how directly applicable science is to history. Forget the white lab coat stereotype--here we have scientists actually doing cool things out in the world, and finding answers to mysteries! Pretty neat stuff!
This book should appeal greatly to any kid with a bent toward science, mysteries, and archaeology (who doesn't mind a few dead people)--at least, my own son loved it to pieces (here's his review, at his own blog, Pickled Bananas). In fact, the reason I am posting this review so late in the day is that I didn't get the chance I'd counted on to read it and write about it last night, when the boys were off downtown with their father, at his regular Irish music gig. Case Closed? ended up going down to the pub too...where it was read for the third time in one week.
The Non-fiction Monday round-up is at Playing By the Book today!
(disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher)
Ask Me Everything: Facts, Stats, Lists, Records, and More (D.K. 2010, 303 pages) is a delightful smorgasbord for the information devourer. 137 questions are answered, ranging from the expected scientific side of things (Why does Saturn have rings? Which animals lived in the Ice Age?) but also moving into geography (Where is the rice bowl of Asia? Can you really ski in Dubai?), Society and Culture (Why do we have myths? When does an animal become a pet?), and History (What was the Scientific Revolution? What is globalization?).
The questions are answered DK style, with double spreads full of information snippets, curious facts (with headings such as "I don't believe it!), and lots of pictures. Obviously, double page spreads, packed as full as only DK packs 'em, still aren't going to be enough to cover these complex topics entirely. But it's a great book to dip into repeatedly; a book that might well whet the appetite for more.
It's not so great to read aloud to two young boys--they will (in my experience) each try to pull the book of their (long-suffering) mother's lap so they can look more closely at the fascinating pictures....or, in trying to look more closely at the pictures (many of which are quite small) they will block their mother's view of the words. It's much more a book to leave lying around (we have mastered this technique in our house), luring them back to graze repeatedly.
The Non-Fiction Monday Round-up is at In Need of Chocolate today!
(disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher)
Supernatural: Explore the Unknown, from Atlantis to Zombies, from DK Publishing (2010, middle grade, 96 pages) Ghosts. Mediums. Telepathy. Bigfoot. UFOs. These are just a few of the strange and scary topics are covered in DK’s Supernatural, which combines Seasonal Appropriateness, genuinely interesting content and lovely presentation.
The book is a thing of beauty, with silver boarder design and lettering, and a holographic image on the cover. It has much the same appeal, object-wise, as the –ology books (Dragonology, Monstorology, etc). It is given heft (enough so that it is a “tome’), by the thickness and sturdiness of the pages (almost board book thick). And inside is the usual combination that characterizes DK—the subject bites arranged in paragraphs, and accompanied by copious illustrations.
Many and various are the DK books that I have enjoyed reading with my children, but Supernatural is the first that I read cover to cover all by myself in one sitting! It relies heavily on authentic historical images, so that the reader sees the same photographs of ghosts that convinced the masses 100 years ago. There’s a picture of a medium with ectoplasm, a picture of a victim of spontaneous combustion (lying inside a fire place), and a picture of what a poltergeist did to an office back in the 1980s.. These historically-oriented topics I found tremendously engaging, and even more shop-worn topics (zombies and vampires) were not without interest.
This book is not intended to scare the reader, but to inform and educate. The creators of this book to side firmly on the side of disbelief, with “Dr. Doubt” (the self-proclaimed spokesman for “sanity and sense”) introducing the book and showing up to cast aspersions the reality of each topic covered. The book closes with a look at the two opposing sides of Spooked and Skeptic—fringe “scientists” vs. rational thinker and the reader is invited to choose their side. In my mind, at least, the perfectly rational explanations offered for some (but not all) of the supernatural mysteries presented, the gallery of famous hoaxes, and my own natural cynicism make the choice easy!
The Non-Fiction Monday Roundup is hosted by Mother Reader today!
(review copy received from the publisher)
Yesterday afternoon the boys and I had a very pleasant time drawing dragons, with the help of a new book -- Dragonart Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon, by J "NeonDragon" Peffer (Impact, 2010, 144 pages). It's the sort of book that just makes you want to open it up and start drawing....so we did!
In her book, Peffer emphasises the importance of getting a basic grasp of dragon anatomy--thinking how bones and muscles work together to create realistic creatures. She doesn't immediately plunge the book's users into step by step drawing of particular dragons, but encourages them to practice--the basic shapes, the framework, the building blocks. For particular aspects of detailed anatomy, she offers a variety of approaches.
I have tried dragon drawing in the past, and I have found that I have trouble with scales--all that repetition is daunting. But! I fear scales no more. With the help of Dragonart Evolution's six handy scale patterns, each presented in four steps, I feel that there is hope for my scale drawing (no pun intended). And this is just one of the many very, very detailed aspects of dragon drawing included in this book. Jaws, beaks, ears, wings, crests....all are offered to the book's user in a variety of shapes and manifestations. You can see the two page spread on Ears (and other pages of the book) here!
In the next section, the practitioner is encouraged to draw a wide variety of whole dragons, step by step from rough shapes to fine detail (I particularly liked the baby dragon, with its discussion of how the youngster would differ anatomically from the adult). It helps to have practiced hard with sketch after sketch of dragon anatomy before trying any of these; without doing that, one might not (and I speak from experience) get a decent final picture (there are reasons why I am not posting what I drew yesterday!). It's not a book for younger kids, who may well get frustrated (which my seven year old did, although he was the only one who actually finished a picture, but he's not allowing me to post it).
But creating perfect copies of particular dragons isn't the point of this book--it is more a set of practice templates, that can be used to build the skill set of the aspiring artist. I think that if I kept practicing, using this book's suggestions, I could create rather nice dragon drawings...They would look very different from Peffer's dragons (which I think of as the graphic novel/computer game sort of dragons), but they would, almost certainly, be more anatomically correct, and more diverse, than what I draw now!
In short, it's easy to recommend this book to any ten year old on up who wants to try their hand, or hone their skills, at dragon drawing.
I think this is the sort of a book that makes a great present (when you want to buy a book for a kid, and don't know what's on his or her shelves), especially when coupled with, perhaps, a deluxe watercolor set, or a copy of Photoshop. I include the later because a useful bonus feature of the book is a four page guide to digital painting, which is how the author creates her own artwork. I'm not sure it's enough in and of itself to teach novices how to create digital art, but it seems as though it would be helpful.
Here's another fine dragon drawing book, rather different in approach, that I reviewed long ago--
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Thanks for the reminder of Earth Day!! Wish I'd blogged about that now. :-( But I love that Ocean Counting book. That will make a lovely gift for a child.
I really like the trees and other greenage on the blog today!
C.
I think the kids would like The World is Waiting for You!
(My niece came home from Pre-K today going "It's Earth Day! Did you know that? How did you know that?"
The flower book looks like such fun; not anything I need, but very pretty!
Reading is my hobby.i like to read fun books.
book publicist
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