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Title: Plant a Pocket of Prairie

Author: Phyllis Root

Illustrator: Betsy Bowen

Publisher/Year: University of Minnesota Press/2014

 

Hurrah for nonfiction picture books! If authors and illustrators of nonfiction picture books accomplish their goals to create top-notch books on subjects they are passionate about, then children will learn about captivating people, places, and things in a fun and engaging way. Nonfiction picture books must, just like fictional stories, grab and keep the attention of young readers. Often this is done through story-like text and eye-catching illustrations.

In Plant a Pocket of Prairie, author Phyllis Root and illustrator Betsy Bowen introduce us to an endangered ecosystem, the native prairie of the United States, and many of the plants and animals that can be found there. Through sparse, flowing text that connects each page to the next and large, beautiful pictures, Root and Bowen succeed in capturing prairie life and conveying to readers the importance of not only cherishing it but helping it continue on. Plant a Pocket of Prairie is a fascinating look at native species that may be in our own backyards and yet we take them for granted.

Did you know that native prairie once covered almost forty percent of the U.S.? But now less than one percent remains! Due to the encroachment of people (farming, grazing, building, etc.), prairie is one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world. And unfortunately, as it says in the back of the book, “We can’t bring back the prairie as it once was.” But there is hope for at least some of the native prairie plants and animals. All you have to do is “plant a pocket of prairie”.

Planting prairie plants and attracting prairie animals, especially various species of birds and butterflies, as suggested by this book, would be a perfect outdoor project for parents or teachers to work on with their kids or students.

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A Cool Summer Tail

by Carrie A. Pearson
illustrated by Christine Wald
Arbordale Publishing      3/01/2014
978-1-62855-205-8
Age 3 to 5      32 pages

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“When summer heats up, animals find ways to stay cool. In A Cool Summer Tail animals wonder how humans stay cool too. Do they dig under the dirt, grow special summer hair, or only come out at night? This companion to the award-winning A Warm Winter Tail features many of [the] same animals but this time, with their summer adaptations, offering an important ‘compare and contrast’ opportunity.”

Opening

“How do humans stay cool in the summer, Mama?

Do they hang out their tongues,

like a spring that’s been sprung,

breathing fast in and out like this?”

Review

The cute fox baby continues on panting, as example for its mama, but she tells it no, humans sweat through their skin. Each animal wonders if humans stay cool the same way they stay cool in the summer. I like this for a reason the author may not have intended. I like that these animals assume we might cool down as they do, because we humans have a tendency to think others behave as we do and this can help kids learn not to make those assumptions. For example, a new kid at school may have different holidays or customs and kids should not assume that child celebrates as they do, or knows the same playground games, or even have the same after school activities.

Back on track to the meaning of A Cool Summer Tail, the animals all want to know how humans stay cool in the summer. In the process, kids will learn about the ways various animals stay cool, from panting, as in the example above, or as in “sliding into a pond” as turtles do, to “hang from their hive,” as bees do to stay cool (flapping its wings to cool the Queen Bee) That one I did not know. In each scenario, the Mama animals tell their children no, and then explains why humans would not stay cool as they stay cool.

Interestingly, with the bees as an example, instead of explaining that humans do not live in a hive, or that they do not have wings to flap, (or even that humans do not cater to a Queen Human), the mama tells her babies that humans would not “bee” willing to hang by their toes (from a hive). That example, in particular, will have children laughing and laughing children will remain interested in the story. Each four-line question on the left page and three-line answer on the right page rhymes two lines. The flow is easy to read and the change in line size in the first and fourth lines from the second and third keeps the question verses interesting to both read and hear.

The very last animal may surprise you. Young children enjoy learning about animals, especially how they compare to themselves. A Cool Summer Tail does this with creative and fun verses that will entertain as well as teach young children. The illustrations are accurate renditions of the animals in each verse, using lots of color in the natural habitat. Interestingly, and often humorous, is a small black and white child cooling off as the baby animal has described. This too will have children laughing and more than one or two trying to imitate this drawing. The entire book is aid out nicely from the fox babies to the very last animal, which might just surprise you. As might this: The author is from Michigan and the illustrator Ohio yet they cooperated on this second book without any Buckeye-Wol . . . wof . . . whatever the other is called, rivalry.

A Cool Summer Tail makes a good story time book, and though written for ages three to five, could be used in kindergarten and first grades, satisfying a science common core. The book is also available as a bilingual (English-Spanish) interactive eBook, with flip-pages and audio. After the text, is a section Arbordale Publishing (formerly Sylvan-Dell Publishing), calls For Creative Minds. This section includes fun facts, comparing the story’s animals from summer to winter, and a matching activity that will check retentive skills as kids match the animal to a method of cooling off in the summer, as learned in the text.

A COOL SUMMER TAIL. Text copyright © 2014 by Carrie A. Pearson. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Christina Wald. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Arbordale Publishing, Mount Pleasant, SC.

Purchase A cool Summer Tail a Amazon—B&N—Book Depository—iTunes—Arbordale Publishing—at your favorite bookstore.

Learn more about A Cool Summer Tail and find additional activities HERE.

Meet the author, Carrie A. Pearson, at her website:  www.carriepearsonbooks.com

Meet the illustrator, Christina Wald, at her website:  www.christinawald.com

Find more non-fiction at Arbordale Publishing’s website:  http://www.arbordalepublishing.com/

Sylvan Dell Publishing is now  Arbordale Publishing.

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Also by Carrie A. Pearson with Christina Wald

 

 

 

 

 

Also by Christina Wald

 

 

 

 

Read Review HERE.

 

When Crabs Cross the Sand: The Christmas Island Crab Migration   2015

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copyright © 2014 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews

 

Filed under: 4stars, Children's Books, Library Donated Books, NonFiction, Picture Book, Series Tagged: animals, Arbordale Publishing, Carrie A. Pearson, children's book reviews, Christina Wald, cooling mechanisms of wild animals versus humans, nonfiction picture book, SylvanDell Publishing

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Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City by Janet Schulman, illustrated by Meilo So

Reviewed by Erica Moore

What would you do if your neighbors destroyed your home of nine years? Well thankfully Pale Male had many fans and friends to protest for him.

Pale Male is New York City’s famous red-tailed hawk who came to Central Park when he was very young and stayed. He and a mate built a nest atop an apartment building across from the park. This was the first time people witnessed a red-tailed hawk nest on a building. Pale Male would raise more than 20 chicks in nine years in the nest on 5th Avenue.

In 2004 the building owners removed the nest thanks to the Bush Administration’s weakening of environmental protections. This set off an international outcry accompanied by local New Yorkers protesting. Pale Male’s nest was soon restored.

The story of Pale Male is inspiring--something wild adapts and survives in an urban environment. The writing is smooth and full of information as it unfolds. This is an easy book to share with kids. There is factual information as well as a great story with tension, drama and a perfect resolution. This should inspire new bird watchers. I know it made me get my backyard birding books out of the kitchen drawer and look up the birds at the feeders with my kids.

The illustrations by Meilo So are beautiful. The reader is given a hawk’s eye view as most of the pictures are from a hawk’s perspective as he flies around the park and buildings. The water colors capture the movement of the hawks. I love the picture of the babies leaving the nest and landing nearby. The end papers are the red tails of the hawks, and even the dust jacket has a hawk in flight wrapped around the book with a stick in his beak ready to rebuild that nest.

There have been several picture books about Pale Male since his nest was taken down, and this is my favorite. Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City has received many starred reviews and is sure to show up on recommended book lists.



What Other Bloggers are Saying:

Chicken Spaghetti: "The ensuing bird-related goings-on make an exciting picture book, and young readers have a fine avian protagonist to cheer for." (read more...)

Fort Lee Children's Room Blog: "I recommend Pale Male for all ages because it is a story anyone can appreciate and it may just inspire you to learn more about this great animal." (read more...)

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast: "I have one word for you: Endpapers. Man, I wish I had them to show you here. They’re sublime: Pale Male’s auburn hawk feathers, all spread-out and larger-than-life atop a bit of blue sky. Gorgeous, I tell ya. Thank you, Meilo So, for that moment of beauty." (read more...)

Texas Trifles: "Though I already knew about the New York City hawk's story, this book turns it charmingly into an avian adventure with a heartwarming ending." (read more...)

More Info:

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (March 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375845585
• ISBN-13: 978-0375845581
• Source: Review copy from publisher
  

Visit Picture Book of the Day for more Nonfiction Monday delights!

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Seven Miles to Freedom: The Robert Smalls Story by Janet Halfmann, illustrated by Duane Smith

Continuing with this week's theme of nonfiction children's books for classrooms, today, I'm bringing you a biography of a hero about whom I'd never heard until I read Betsy Bird's review at Fuse #8. So, when I saw this book sitting on the "new nonfiction for kids" shelf at my library last week, I immediately picked it up.

The book tells the story of Robert Smalls, who was born a slave in 1839 on a South Carolina plantation. All his life, he dreamed of freedom. When his daughter, Elizabeth was born in 1858, he worked out a deal with his master to buy his wife's and daughter's freedom for $800 even though he would remain a slave. It would take a long time, but when the Civil War begins and Robert becomes a wheelman on a Confederate steamer, he devises a plan to escape, knowing that if he's caught, he, his entire family, and every other slave on the steamer would be killed. The rest of the book focuses on Smalls' daring escape that will leave readers on the edge of their seats. The back of the book includes an afterword with more information about Smalls, including a photograph, as well as a list of sources.

I really love Lee & Low's books because they choose to publish books that tell the stories of virtually unknown heroes and role models. I've been impressed with every one of their biographies that I've read: A Song for Cambodia (my review), Louis Sockalexis: Native American Baseball Pioneer (my review), Hiromi's Hands (my review), Surfer of the Century: The Life of Duke Kahanamoku (my review).


Seven Miles to Freedom: The Robert Smalls Story is no exception. From the moment I opened the book, I was drawn into Smalls' story, and by the time, I got to the escape, I was tense and nervous and almost afraid to turn the page. What if he got caught? What if his wife and children were killed?

On my first read, I was so entranced with the story that I didn't even look at Duane Smith's oil paint impressionistic illustrations, and as I looked at the book a second time, I have to say that they really aren't my favorite. Don't get me wrong. They're not bad; it's just that I couldn't really tell what the story was about by just looking at the illustrations. They merely accompanied the story rather than tell it.

That aside, the story is fascinating, and I think children will truly admire Robert Smalls' courage and tenacity. They'll also appreciate learning about a Civil War hero they may have never heard of, and I'm sure teachers will also find this refreshing.

Classroom Recommendations:

• This would go nicely with units on biography, the Civil War, African American history, heroes, slavery, US history, and more
  
• While it's a true account, the story itself is an excellent example of building excitement and tension and developing conflict and could be used in a writers' workshop or creative writing class
  

More info:

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Lee & Low Books (April 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600602320
• ISBN-13: 978-1600602320
• Source of book: Local Library

What Other Bloggers are Saying:
Fuse #8: "As it happens, the story of Smalls' escape and bravery is particularly ideal for a picture book. There's danger and suspense and a clear-cut hero involved. Now all that remains is for someone to write a full-length biography of the man for kids." (read more...)

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The opinions and questions of children often fascinate and delight me. As an author of non-fiction children’s books, I receive many letters from young readers. One that stands out came from a nine-year old girl named Lisa who wondered about the accuracy of various statements in my first book, How Much Is a Million? I was thrilled to receive her letter, for I am always happy to learn that my books are being read critically.

Lisa wondered about the truth of my book’s claim that counting from one to one billion (saying each number individually) would take 95 years. After questioning a few other statements in my book, she closed her letter:

“I had mixed up feelings about your book. That’s where the magic comes from the world of books. The magic of books is not knowing whether the facts are true or not.”

In my presentations at schools, I often tell children, "Wondering is wonderful." I find it wonderful that Lisa is wondering about the truth of statements in my books.

I wish more readers of my books—of all books—would wonder about them the way Lisa does. Active minds read critically, questioning what they have read as the reader blends his or her own experiences, knowledge and observations with the author's raw ingredients. Critical readers ingest a nourishing stew that is more than a bowl of information.


I feel privileged to have seen many examples of readers extending or challenging statements in my books. The members of a 2nd/3rd grade class doubted that the average height of elementary school students is 4'8" (142 cm), as reported in the backmatter of How Much Is a Million? Using 4’8” as the average height, I had figured that average shoulder height would be about 4’, and I multiplied 4’ by 1,000,000 to estimate the height of a one-million child tower, which came out to about 757 miles (1,218 km): “If one million children climbed onto one another’s shoulders,” the book begins, “they would be taller than the tallest buildings, higher than the highest mountains, and farther up than airplanes can fly.”

The members of this particular class doubted that the average elementary school student is only 4’8” tall, and to prove me wrong, they measured every child in the school. They found the median, mode, and mean, and they graphed their data in several ways. Finally, they declared that the average height is only 4'4" (132 cm).

But they didn't quit there. Like a journal article by professional scientists, the report included a section devoted to reflecting upon their results. Scientists would call it the “Discussion” section. In it, the students wondered aloud if there were a legitimate explanation for the four-inch discrepancy between the average height I reported and what they found. They proposed some possibilities: Their school stopped at Grade 5. Maybe I used data from an elementary school that went up to Grade 6 or 8. That might explain why my average height was higher than theirs. Alternatively, their school could have been shorter than normal... or perhaps mine was taller than normal. Or maybe I just measured a single child and declared him or her to be normal! “He’s 4’8” and he looks normal,” I might have said, “so that’s the average. Done!” I find their out of-the-box thinking quite impressive.

In If You Made a Million, my book on money (using United States currency), I write that one million dollars would be equal to "a whale's weight in quarters." A group of children wondered if a whale really did weigh the same as four million U.S. 25-cent pieces. They looked up the weight of a blue whale (appx. 60 tons or 54,400 kg) and calculated that the blue whale’s 60 tons is the weight of about 10 million quarters or $2.5 million— not $1 million, as my book says! They wrote to tell me their results, and in my reply I pointed out that the book does not name a particular species of whale. It simply says a million dollars is equal to “a whale’s weigh in quarters.” And in the back of the book, where I provide the calculations, I specifically note that the weight of a million dollars in quarters (about 50,000 pounds or 22,680 kg), is "the approximate weight of many kinds of whales, including the sperm whale." Then, as if anticipating their objection, I had added the fact that blue whales can be much heavier.

I thought my arguments had absolved me of error in their minds, but these students were not convinced. They sent me a color copy of the illustration in the book, with an arrow pointing to the blue-tinted caricature of a whale. Handwritten in thick block letters were their final words on the matter:“This is a blue whale!”

After recovering from laughter, I wrote back to suggest that they take it up with the illustrator, Steven Kellogg.

To me, the point isn't who is right and who is wrong. Often it’s a matter of interpreta-tion, as in the case of the whale. The point is that wonderful things happen when children wonder about what they have read. They can pursue their wonders through research and, if appropriate, mathematical calculations or estimations. As nine year-old Lisa wrote, “The magic of books is not knowing whether the facts are true or not.”

It truly is magical.

_______________________




________
* Note: I am using the American definition of “billion” as 1,000,000,000 or 109. Traditional British usage is different, although the American form is being used increasingly in Britain.

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I See a Kookaburra!: Discovering Animal Habitats Around the World by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page (Houghton Mifflin, 2005)

Parents, teachers, and homeschool parents, here is a great resource for animal lovers and for lessons covering geography, ecosystems, species, habitats, colors, adjectives, and much much more. The superstar husband and wife team, Steve Jenkins and Robin Page, introduce children to interesting information about animals and their habitats around the world in a very fun hide-and-seek format.

The book covers animals in six different habitats:

• Desert (American Southwest)
  
• Tide Pool (southern coast of England)
• Jungle (Amazon River basin of South America)
• Savanna (central Africa)
• Forest (eastern Australia)
• Pond (American Midwest)

Jenkins and Page introduce each habitat with a spread of eight animals hiding in the flora of the habitat illustrated with Jenkins' familiar cut and torn paper collages.

For example, on the page that covers the desert, we see a kit fox's nose and ears hiding behind a cactus, the rattle of a diamondback rattlesnake poking up behind a rock, the legs and eyes of a trapdoor spider peeking out of its tunnel in the ground, and more. Here, the only text on the page is, "In the desert I see... This desert is in the American Southwest.

When you flip the page, all of the flora has disappeared, and you see where all eight animals were hiding on the previous page. Beside each animal is a short passage that completes the "In the desert I see..." sentence. For example, "...a sharp-eyed kit fox leaving its burrow," "...an angry diamondback rattlesnake buzzing a warning," "...a trapdoor spider waiting patiently in its tunnel."

As an added surprise, somewhere in each habitat is an ant because as the authors explain in the book's introduction, "they live almost everywhere on earth."

The back of the book includes a longer paragraph about each animal featured in the book and more information about the habitat in which they live.

I'm a huge fan of Page and Jenkins because they really do make nonfiction and learning fun, and I See a Kookaburra!: Discovering Animal Habitats Around the World is no exception. The interactive hide-and-seek element engages children and encourages them to turn the page and find out where the animals are hiding. Without even realizing it, they're learning and having fun at the same time.

While some of the critics have said that the disproportionate sizes of the animals may confuse kids, I think kids are smart enough to see that these are just depictions of animals. They know that a jaguar is bigger than an iguana and won't mind that the animals are not drawn to scale. I often think adults don't give kids enough credit when I see comments like these.

As I mentioned earlier, the teaching possibilities are endless and can be used across curricula. If you're looking for interesting and engaging nonfiction, you can't go wrong with Jenkins and Page.




What other bloggers are saying:

Fossil Hill Book Blog: "This dynamic, captivating book encourages critical thinking and influences readers to take a closer look at the world around them." (read more...)

awwilcox: "I believe this book would be an excellent choice for a study on ecosystems, animals, camouflaging, and habitats." (read more...)

Betzen Book Reviews: "The colorful double-page spread design of cut and torn paper collage creates attractive, but accurate renditions of the habitats and animals discussed." (read more...)


More Information:

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; 1 edition (May 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618507647
• ISBN-13: 978-0618507641
• Source of book: Library
  

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Guess What Is Growing Inside This Egg by Mia Posada

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Library Binding: 32 pages
Publisher: Millbrook Press (December 22, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0822561921
ISBN-13: 978-0822561927
Source of book: Copy from publisher


This beautiful nonfiction book for younger children begins with an interior spread of the bottom of a white feathery animal with black talons sitting on a big egg along with this text:

This egg sits snuggly on its father's feet.
He warms it with his body's heat.
Under his feathered belly, it's cozy and warm,
Safe from the icy Antartic storm.

Can you guess what is growing inside this egg?

When you flip the page, you get the answer: an adorable baby penguin covered in gray down is sitting between its father's feet, the father proudly looking down at it. Readers then learn more factual information about the baby penguin and its parents.

The book continues in the same pattern, revealing baby alligators, ducklings, spiders, and more. At the end of the book are white life-sized shapes representing the actual size and shape of the different eggs featured in the book. In addition, a two-page spread details the 28-day incubation of a duck, with simple descriptions and diagrams that are easy for children to understand. We also learn the incubation period for the other animals in the book.

Mia Posada's detailed and expressive water color collages are enchanting and provide visual clues to help children guess the animals that are growing inside the eggs.

The rhyming verse and guessing game will keep kids entertained, and even younger children who can't quite grasp the content will love the illustrations. My little girl just pets and pets the baby sea turtles and the big, fuzzy spider egg sac. For all you teachers out there, this would be a fun choice for a science unit, and it's interactivity makes it a great book for story time.


What Other Bloggers Are Saying:

Books Together: "It's an especially good choice for reading aloud to kids of different ages!" Read more...

The Miss Rumphius Effect: "This is another great book for looking different animals that lay eggs." Read more...


If you have a review of Guess What Is Growing Inside This Egg, leave a comment with your link, and I'll post it here!

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Ever since I read Moses and Henry's Freedom Box, I've been excited about Kadir Nelson's artwork. And ever since I attended the SCBWI conference in LA, I've been looking forward to getting my hands on Kadir Nelson's first solo book project, We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, ("words and paintings by Kadir Nelson"). The book takes its title from the motto of the Negro National League, taken from a quote from Rube Foster, the League's founder: "We are the ship; all else the sea." About ten days ago, I found the book in my local bookstore. And now that I've read it, I want to shout about it.



From the cover art to the rich brown endpapers to the forward by Hall of Famer Hank Aaron to Nelson's folksy narration of the text to the glorious paintings inside the book (including one amazing double fold-out spread showing the complete lineup for the first Colored World Series), to the author's note to the bibliography to the index, this book is a gem.

Nelson organized the book into ten chapters (nine innings, plus another chapter called "extra innings"). The only thing this book is lacking is (and I hate to be picky, but here it is): a Table of Contents. Just so you get an idea how the book is organized and what the scope is, here's what the annotated Table of Contents would look like:

Foreword by Hank Aaron
p. 1 1st inning: Beginnings Tells of the start of baseball and of the participation of African Americans
p. 17 2nd inning: A Different Brand of Baseball: Negro League Game Play Explains how Negro League play differed from the white leagues with more showmanship and speed, and that stats weren't always kept (and/or weren't always accurate)
p. 23 3rd inning: Life in the Negro Leagues Talks about the traveling conditions, both on the road and off, including discussion of segregation and field conditions
p. 31 4th inning: Racket Ball: Negro League Owners The effect of the depression on baseball and how it was funded (sometimes not quite on the right side of the law), and the development of night games
p. 41 5th inning: The Greatest Baseball Players in the World: Negro League All-Stars Stories about some of the greatest Negro League players, going well beyond household names like Satchel Paige
p. 53 6th inning: Latin America: Baseball in Paradise A discussion of the many Negro League players from Latin America, and of the Negro League tours in Latin America
p. 57 7th inning: Good Exhibition: The Negro Leagues vs. the White Leagues Barnstorming, playing against the House of David, and more
p. 63 8th inning: Wartime Heroes: World War II and the Negro League All-Star Game Some information about African Americans in the service and the upswing of the Negro League All-Star game and the East-West game and how it affected integration.
p. 69 9th inning: Then Came Jackie Robinson Jackie Robinson's decision to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers
p. 77 Extra innings: The End of the Negro Leagues The gradual re-integration of minority players into the major leagues and how it decimated the Negro League.
p. 79 Negro Leaguers Who Made it to the Major Leagues A list of names
p. 79 Negro Leaguers in the National Baseball Hall of Fame A list of names
p. 80 Author's Note How Kadir Nelson got interested in the topic, did his research, created the art, and wrote the book, with a bit of inspiration to boot.
p. 81 Acknowledgements
p. 82 Bibliography & Filmography
p. 83 Endnotes
p. 86 Index

This book is a must-have for (1) all libraries, (2) all baseball fans, (3) all Kadir Nelson fans. That's a lot of categories, but it's true.

We Are The Ship explains what the Negro Leagues were, and what it felt like to be a part of them, including being the brunt of name-calling and being subjected to the thousand cuts of segregation (not all of them being small cuts, by the way). The narrator's matter-of-fact tone and folksy stories is a pleasant companion throughout the text. He tells how the business of the leagues was conducted is examined. He talks about the heroes of the league (many of them in the 5th inning, which features breathtaking pictures). Throughout, the narrator's voice sounds very much like an old Negro League player talking about people he actually knew, good points, bad points, and all.



If you'd like a further look inside the book, Kadir Nelson offers one on his site (it's where I took these images from). But if you're a librarian or a baseball fan or someone who, like me, has a bit of a crush on Kadir Nelson, then you need to BUY THIS BOOK. Now. Before it wins awards next year. Because it's going to win them.

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Kate S. of the truly fine blog, Kate's Book Blog, has been a strong force behind getting readers interested in short fiction, and has gone a step further this year, taking on the setting up of the Short Story Reading Challenge.  It's a new blog with over 40 contributors at this point.  These contributors are either planning on reading a specific amount of collections, or specific stories, or, well, wander on over and read the various plans they have for the year.

I've put up my own first post at this site (as if I wasn't going to participate in an Short Story Reading Challenge) and personally, anticipate getting excited about dozens, if not hundreds, of new stories, journals and collections during the course of reading the posts of others during the course of the year.

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Well, considering it's the 23rd of JUNE, I don't know how well I can call it Short Story Month.  Plus I didn't hit the original goals of reading and reviewing a short story from both a literary journal AND a short story collection for each day of May.

I did end up reading, and commenting upon 50 individual stories, 25 from literary journals and 25 from story collections.

Of the 25 stories from literary journals, they came from 18 different journals, the majority of them of the independent variety.

Of the 25 stories from story collections, 22 different publishers were represented, all but a trio of which were independent or University run.

Gender division came out an equal 25 apiece, and two of the pieces were translated (one from a collection and one from a journal!).

Hopefully the project has led to one or two of you remembering how much you enjoy the story, and found you reading some additional journals, or buying a story collection or two.

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SHORT STORY MONTH

High Lonesome, a collection of stories by Barry Hannah, was published by Atlantic Monthly Press in 1996.  From this collection comes "A Creature in the Bay of St. Louis," a fanastical story set around one BIG fish.  While there's nothing bad, at all, with this story, where Hannah completely had me reading compellingly was during his descriptions of action:

     "It took place in no more than half a minute, I'd guess, but it had the lengthy rapture and terror of a whole tale.  Something bit and then was jerking, small but solidly, then it was too big, and I began moving in the water and grabbing the butt of the rod again because what was on had taken it out of my hands.  When I caught the rod up, I was on it, and that was the only noise around.  I went in to my neck in a muddier scooop in the bottom, and then under my feet something moved.  I knew it was a giant stingaree instantly.  Hard skin on a squirming plate of flesh.  I was sorely terrified but was pulled even past this and could do nothing, now up to my chin and the stiff little pole bent violently double.  I was dragged through the mud and I knew the being when it surfaced would be bigger than me and with much more muscle.  Then, like something underwater since Europe, seven or eight huge porpoises surfaced, blowing water in a loud group explosion out of their enormous heads, and I was just shot all over with light and nerves because they were only twenty feet from me and I connected them, the ray, and what was on my hook into a horrible combination beast that children who waded too far would be dragged out by and crushed and drowned."

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SHORT STORY MONTH

"The Train, Stopped," by Jodee Stanley, was published in an online version of Hobart a while back. 

From within the story:

"You feel panic welling up. Recalling it thirty years later, you still feel the shortness of breath: get out, get out, get out. Weak daylight grays the shadows under the boxcars, making the space beneath not uninviting. But the train could roll. It could roll now. It could roll in five minutes. The longer you wait, indecisive, the greater the chances it will roll. And you can’t wait. The wait is forever. You can’t."

Stanley does a great job of expressing the thoughts and fears of the protagonist/narrator, to the point that the reader is almost experiencing the same shortness of breath while completing the paragraph - realizing as they near the completion that they've been holding their own breath for the last four or five sentences.  An extremely well-done job.

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SHORT STORY MONTH

Not only did Curtis Smith write "My Totally Awesome Funeral" (does this sound like an MTV series title to anybody else?), which was originally published in Hobart 6, and can now be found in his story collection, The Species Crown (Press 53, 2007) - he also penned "My Totally Awesome Funeral:  A Response," which I highly suggest you take a peek at.

"My Totally Awesome Funeral" is just what it sounds like, a list of things the protagonist wishes to have at his funeral.  I'll list a few here to give you a flavor of the writing:

"Buy me a suit coat at the flea market, a sherbet-colored eyesore at least three sizes too big, and fill my pockets with verses of poetry and the old photographs that never made it into the family album, the shut-eyed portraits, the embarrassing shots of pale skin and tummy rolls taken from our beach vacations."

"Carry me to the backyard and lay me on a picnic table beneath the stars -- I've always preferred the company of outcasts and smokers."

"And while you're at the zoo, procure a giraffe or two to lope around the perimeter, their curious headspoking through the screen's tattered panels."

"Construct my eulogy with dialogue snippets culled from old Brat Pack movies and deliver them with a straight face."

That last one is my personal favorite wish and one I may steal for my own funeral.

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SHORT STORY MONTH

Steven Gillis' latest story, "Farensteen Here and There," can be found in the recently published issue of Front Porch Journal.  It's another excellent story by Gillis (note - yes, he's my partner at Dzanc, I'd like to think everybody knows by now it has no affect on my reading taste;  if I didn't really like his work, I just wouldn't review it).

From within the story:

"“How do I?” Farensteen hadn’t expected the question. He kept his eyes closed and wondered how to explain that he felt like yesterday’s model twice marked down and left for good on the discount rack. How? That was the question. He weighed the odds again, tried to predict with charts and graphs, plugged in what he knew and didn’t know, thought in terms of SAS programs, conjoint analysis, discrete choice, and multidimensional preference mapping, none of which worked."

It's something I think Gillis does with the best of them.  Not many of his stories go by without some sort of science being involved - be it physics, chemistry, or in this case, statistics.  And in each case, he's extremely adept at getting some of that science's jargon into the story, without bogging it down with a bunch of jargon nobody understands.  The above paragraph flows very nicely, and that's it.  He dips into the jargon, dips out, the readers understands that Farensteen "knows" what he's doing, a little additional credibility is established, and the story moves on.

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SHORT STORY COLLECTION

Owen Egerton's story collection, How Best to Avoid Dying (Dalton Publishing, 2007) came out recently and his stories span the spectrum from fictions (Ed Falco's word to describe short shorts) to full blown, lengthier, stories.  While I've enjoyed both, it's been a bit of time since I looked at a shorter piece.

Holy

     We have a new holy machine.  It will make you a saint.  But it will cost you everything.  To the world you'll seem two steps north of brain dead.  Dribbling and moaning.  You'll wear a diaper.  But you'll be seeing God the whole time.  You just won't be able to tell us about it. No words, no profound acts.  just God.  That's what you want, right?  Just God.  Come on.  Let me strap you in.

Man, get the feeling Owen had been preached to by a fundamentalist just one too many times?  An interesting dilemma for many.  And probably no dilemma at all for just as many.  I have not finished the full collection, but must say, interesting as this is, I'd love to see it turn into a full blown, lengthier, story.  One with characters and plot and examination of what actually happens.

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MacAdam/Cage has just recently (8 days ago!) released Pia Z. Ehrhardt's debut story collection, Famous Fathers, and her fans have been waiting for quite some time.

The story, "A Man," starts off:

"A man's been in jail for six weeks awaiting trial."

From there it goes to the point of view of the woman that he kidnapped, raped, chopped off her hand with an axe, and then left in the desert to bleed to death.  Her life was spared when a teenage boy found her, but doctors could not save the hand.

Ehrhardt has created with this story, a reminder that no story is over until the very last period.  The story first delves into the relationship between the woman and the young boy/man who saved her.  It then dips into her head, to the problems she's having in that nobody is paying any attention to her story, the full story, as well as the fact that she was raped.  Her family and the doctors, etc. are all marvelling at the fact that she's doing so well without her hand, instead.

It then gets to the final point, wherein she tells the boy the full story, the one she's been trying to get out the whole time.  It's shocking, and, as said before, a solid reminder that one should always read through to the end of the story intently, and never just assume you can coast on home.

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SHORT STORY MONTH

Another great story that can be found in the latest issue of Other Voices - Michael Czyzniejewski's "My Lover's Name" is one of those stories you worry about - is it just going to be this catch?  What catch?

"One Saturday last June, my lover lost her name, and has since been unable to get it back" is how the story begins.  However, Czyzniewjewski turns the story into a great search into what identity means to us, both our own identity and the identity of those we interact with.  A bonus - he does this with great wit, bringing some odd scenarios of where her lack of name come into play. 

It's a great type of story - one that is playful and seems entertaining, but you end up thinking about the topic for days after you finish reading.

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SHORT STORY MONTH

Hannah Tinti, editor of the wonderful One Story, is also a very fine writer in her own right.  Her debut collection, Animal Crackers (Dial Press, 2004) {Side note - 2004???  Good Lord, have I really had this book for over 3 years and never peeked into it for more than a page or two?  Monstrous apologies to Ms. Tinti - who I know I approached about doing an interview when I knew this was being published, and to Dial Press for the speed with which I've approached this project}, has received tons of great reviews and the story Hit Man of the Year is a good example of just why that is.

"Ambruzzo came out fists first.  He was wet, and blue, and his grandmother, in a panic, wrapped him in her apron and set him in the oven to keep him warm.  As she bent and peered at her grandson nestled between the metal racks, Nonna felt an eerie dread that stayed with her even after she saw the color rise in his skin, like one, she would later say, coming back from the dead.  She said a Hail Mary quickly under her breath and used the mitts to pull him out of the oven."

And so Tinti begins her story and I ask, could you really not move onto the second paragraph?  I could NOT answer yes to that question.  Tinti's storytelling alone kept me in the game until the very end of the story, and her observations on solitude made the story that much more enjoyable.  Add in a humorous anecdote or two and some very nice sentence play and what's not to like?  That's correct, nothing to not like in this effort. 

Wander on out and pick up a copy of Animal Crackers - seeing as I waited a whole three years, it's even available in paperback nowadays.

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SHORT STORY MONTH

Rebecca Kanner is burrowing her way into my mind as one of the better writers on the topic of obsession working in fiction today.  Her story, Distance, can be found in the current issue of The Cincinnati Review (summer 2007).

"When he saw me, he stopped and smiled.  'My little bloodhound,' he said.  All I paid attention to was the 'my.'  I smiled back."

And later:

     "I took my stand:  'I'm not sleeping with you again before you take me out.'

     He looked at me and laughed.  'I'm not in it for the sex.'

     In it, in it, in it, reverberated happily through my head.  'Then we don't have to sleep together,' I said, 'but you still have to take me to dinner.'"

Kanner is able to sneak things into her stories like these little moments.  She doesn't pull out the big frying pan to hit her reader over the head with to make her announcements.  This particular story twists and turns a bit, with the obsessions going into corners that I certainly did not expect when I began the story, where to me it was obviously going to be a girl wants boy, does she get him? story.

Kanner is a more than solid two-for-two as far as I'm concerned, and has become a name for me to look for in Table of Contents.  Kudos to The Cincinnati Review for snapping up this one.  Wander on over and order it or subscribe!

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SHORT STORY MONTH

Stacey Richter originally published My Mother the Rock Star in the Mississippi Review (2002), but I didn't find it until it was collected in Twin Study (Counterpoint, 2007), her second story collection.

The story allows the reader to spend a day with the thirteen year old protagonist, the daughter of the Rock Star mother.  Actually, not even a day, but a couple of hours worth of a meal.  At the restaurant they go to, the boy who sits in front of our protagonist, whose neck is so damn cute she can't help but swoon through her classes, is celebrating his Bar Mitvah with his family (which includes his very well-to-do, gets-whatever-he-wants father).  The day he, Elliott, becomes a man.

We, the readers, get to watch the transformation, not of Elliott becoming a man, but of our protagonist becoming a woman.  Going from a little girl who might be at least slightly embarrassed by her mother's outlandish actions (which must be read - the things she does and says to others need be seen in full context of the story to be really appreciated - and not in a simple post such as this) to one ready to accept her position in life as an outlandish person herself.

It's a subtle bit of writing Ms. Richter tosses our way as I have to say that the ending actually surprised me.  I didn't see the story going the way it did, but not because it was some trick, HA!, gotcha ending.  Instead it was through the maneuvering Richter did with her main characters;  her allowing them to grow a bit through the story, as people really do in life.

Having skimmed my way through another two or three stories in this collection, I recommend it greatly (not to mention it has Aaron Burch's stamp of approval - what more could you ask for?)

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SHORT STORY MONTH

Repossession by Bridget Bentz Sizer can also be found in the latest issue of Other Voices.  She previously had a story published in The Kenyon Review that I also enjoyed quite a bit.

In Repossession, Gabriel is a repo man.  He has his daughter in the back seat and his cell phone is ringing.  It's Della, his ex (well actually, it's Kent, her new boyfriend, but the call is from her) calling to say she's going to the emergency room (she's just a bit of a hypochondriac) and he can't bring Carla (the daughter) back -- all this, while he's on his way to work, to repossess automobiles.

What Bridget Bentz Sizer does very well in this story is allow the puzzle pieces to work their way into place without forcing anything.  The relationships Gabriel has with Della, with Carla, with his partner Steve, and even with Kent, slowly are explained and pulled out through his actions and memories, not through a slam-bam here-you-go explanation by the author in the first paragraph or two of the story.

She even works a bit of humor into what seems like a difficult story to do so:'

"The first thing people want to know when they find out I'm a repo man is if I've seen the Emilio Estevez movie.  Not just if I've seen the movie, but did it change my life and put me on the path I am now.  'Is that why you do it?'"

The story truly comes to a great ending, I never would have guessed the mere sight of a carseat could hold as much power as one does in this story - but it certainly makes sense once you read to the end.

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SHORT STORY MONTH

Wait, you're all thinking!  Wasn't May short story month at the ol' EWN?  Isn't it now Reading the World month?  Well, you're correct on all aspects and if I could cut my sleeping hours down to 2 or 3 instead of 4 or 5 I'd be all caught up with this, but thus begins the attempt at doing so.  I will be weaseling a little bit, taking on the last twelve days of May with only one story apiece, instead of the earlier method of one story from a collection and one from a literary journal.  Some of the other stories that I had plans for will now slide their way in as normal Works of the Day later in the year.  And I really am reading for Reading the World month - there'll be reviews of a trio of novels, hopefully, over the weekend, and the latest issue of Absinthe:  New European Writing is excellent as usual, and will be dissected piece by piece as I catch up as well.

On to Mr. LaMarche's wonderful Elevens.  It can be found in the latest issue of Other Voices, and is the story of a young girl in a home, of sorts, for children whose parents are deemed to not be fit any longer.  The story opens as follows:

"I know something about elevens.  When you multiply an eleven by any two-digit number, all you have to do is put the first number first, the second number third, and add the two and put that between them.  Eleven times twelve:  the first number is one, the third is two, and then you add them and put the three in the middle.  One-thirty-two.  Eleven times sixteen:  One-seventy-six.

     I do times tables here."

What a great device!  The usage of times tables and the little tricks of math to allow the protagonist to either reign things in when the story begins to get outlandish, or to delve into when things are so bad for the children that escape is where we'd truly expect them to go.  The rest of the story is very well-written as well, but it was this device that captured my attention and keeps me thinking about the story.

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Issue XXI of the Oxford American is online, and it contains a fine piece of meta-fiction from Andrew Ervin titled "Self-Portrait."  To date I've had the pleasure of reading four or five of Ervin's stories, and each one is wildly different from the rest of the pack.

This time around the narrator claims to be somebody who has taken on the person of one Andrew Ervin, and even goes so far as to link, within this story, to online efforts attributed to Andrew Ervin (stories, book reviews, etc.).

"Before the shitstorm begins I want you to hear the real story. For the past few years I’ve been writing newspaper articles and the occasional work of fiction under the pseudonym “Andrew Ervin.” I even earned a master’s degree and have a diploma that says “Andrew Ervin” on it, which is pretty fucked up when you think about it. For various legal reasons, I can’t get into all the details here except to say that I’ve become irrevocably trapped behind this name. At my lawyer’s insistence, I can’t even publicly divulge my real name for fear of being charged with theft and fraud and some other crimes I’ve never heard of.

Like it or not, I have in many ways become Andrew Ervin."

It's an opening that grabbed my attention and, perhaps especially as a fan of past work of Andrew Ervin, real or otherwise, wasn't going to let me push the story aside.

Ervin (real?  otherwise?) goes on to describe the theft of a painting, one that leads to the title of this story, not to mention the discovery by those who might care (financially) of the persona switcheroo.

Beyond the meta-aspects of this story, Ervin does a really nice job of allowing the reader to travel a little bit behind the eyes of a critic: 

"Freelancing turned out to be pretty easy and I soon found work at other, more impressive newspapers across the country. I continued to contribute to the City Paper too, but for that paper I soon developed a different voice: Andrew Ervin’s. I submitted the meanest, cruelest reviews I could come up with. Those formulaic little articles began to express my utter disdain for contemporary art, for my former colleagues, for people in general. Even if I adored a CD or a book, I would bash it in the City Paper just for kicks. Why not? None of it was under my real name. I found it all very amusing."

The story is entertaining, witty, and as one expects from Ervin, well-written.  Wander on over and take a peek.

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SHORT STORY MONTH

I seriously do not remember why I picked this collection - Super Flat Times (Back Bay Books, 2003) by Matthew Derby - up.  I know it was at a book warehouse, one of those clearance places.  So, I was certainly more willing to take a chance than my already rather risky self.  Turns out it might just have been one of the best "risky" choices yet.  As noted in an earlier comments section, "The Sound Gun" is a fantastic story.  One that left me afterwards just thinking about the situations the characters were caught in. 

"Behavior Pilot" is a heartbreaking story about a couple, the husband is a behavior pilot, one who flies with a squadron, spreading a daily behavioral medicine across the land (a land in what appears to be a future time period).  During this time (the Super Flat Times) period, the government has not allowed couples to have children.  The behavior pilot and his wife, Aescha, decide they are going to have one and begin to plan.  He finds a spot underneath a local amusement park and begins sneaking in items they'll need.  They believe that based on Aescha's body type and night job, that she won't begin to obviously be pregnant to outsiders up until the last month (a large miscalculation).

The world Derby has created is truly a creepy one, reminiscent of the futures brought to readers by Atwood in The Handmaid's Tale or Auster in In the Country of Last Things though maybe even less personal than in those.  Seemingly within minutes of getting themselves in place in their underground tunnel, the couple are confronted by "The Orange Jackets" of the government, who will certainly be taking the child away. 

Aescha lowers what must be a rather horribly premature child into a torrent of water and the story ends:

"The child was drawn under immediately, sucked down by the fierce undertow.  As the Orange Jackets made their way over the pathetic barricade we saw its tiny head surface for a moment farther down the way, as if to reassure us that nothing we ever did would go unnoticed."

I go back to my original, heartbreaking.

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SHORT STORY MONTH

Another from Quick Fiction 11, and another flash piece from Aaron Burch.

Like many of the flash pieces I find myself enjoying, "The Flying, The Hotels" seems to me a bit more about the idea itself than the writing.  This is not to imply the writing is of lesser quality than some of the other stories looked at this month - but to be honest, it's frequently a bit harder for me to make such a determination when reading really short works.

The idea behind this story though, is one that grabbed me and had me thinking while reading the story.  The protagonist, flying from city to city (a pilot? national salesperson?), highlights passages in the bibles left in the hotel rooms.  These passages vary from city to city and the methods behind his process vary as well:

"Sometimes I read until I find something fitting my place, physically, emotionally.  Other times, I open and highlight randomly."

Why?  "I think of myself as Hansel or Gretel, leaving crumbs behind for others to follow my path.  I am a missionary, I am Johnny Appleseed.  I am trying to help travelers find their way to God, or maybe just to me.  I'm not sure which I think is more ridiculous." 

I love that last sentence.

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