When I was growing up, we children heard stories of the “Blizzard of ‘88″ and my grandparents’ experience.  In the eastern part of the United States, the storm began on March 11 and paralyzed cities, towns, and the countryside.  My grandfather told of shoveling snow from the house to the barn that was above his head.  Others tales related how people got lost in it and froze to death.

An earlier blizzard occurred in the western part of the United States in January of 1888.  In those days before weather forecasting and communications like we have today, the day went from warmth to blizzard conditions in a matter of hours.  To hear some tell, it was a matter of minutes.

For further reading about this phenomenal winter of 1888:

City of Snow: The Great Blizzard of 1888 by Linda Oatman High.

In All Its Fury: A History of the Blizzard of January 12, 1888 by W. H. O’Gara.

Blizzard! The 1888 Whiteout by Jacqueline A. Ball.

Blizzard!: The Storm That Changed America by Jim Murphy.

Blizzards and snowstorms of other years:

One to Remember: The Relentless Blizzard of March 1966 by Douglas Ramsey

Northeast Snowstorms by Louis W. Uccellini

Fiction:

Lost in the Blinded Blizzard (Hank the Cowdog) by John R. Erickson

(For information about the sources for the above “blizzard books,” check out my page, Books About the Blizzards of 1888 and More.

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Snow, Snow Go Away…We’re Ready for Spring…Not the Blizzard of ‘88

Whether you’re gardening by yourself or as a family, here are some books and resources that may be helpful.  More people than ever are likely to plant gardens and raise their food this year, along with some flowers to boost their spirits. 

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Gardening Books & Resources

Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2008:
“The scrapbook technique . . . remains fresh and lively, a great way to provide a huge amount of information in a format that invites both browsing and in-depth study.”

Review, New York Times Book Review, November 9, 2008:
“The format of ‘The Lincolns’ may be aimed at young readers, but, given Candace Fleming’s unerring eye for the dramatic quotation (with the Lincolns, there were a lot of those), this birth-to-death biography of Mary and Abraham is hard to put down even for readers who know the story.”

This is one of the best designed Lincoln books that I have seen. The scrapbook design is a fabulous way for kids to learn about history because it is so easy to read. In fact, I used to teach Non-Fiction in this manner to my middle school students because so many text-books were moving to this layout. Graphs, charts, recipes (Mary’s recipe for Abraham’s favorite cake!) are easy to view instead of mountains of text that become overwhelming to kids. Even adults will love browsing this book and finding tidbits of information about Mary and Abraham.

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The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary

As youngsters study Obama and the Presidency, you may want to acquire books, too, for your own library or home study program.

A few suggestions:

Barack Obama, President for a New Era (Gateway Biographies) by Marlene Targ Brill

Barack Obama: Our 44th President by Beatrice Gormley

Barack Obama: Out of Many, One (Step Into Reading) by Shana Corey

Michelle Obama: Meet the First Lady by David Bergen Brophy

The U. S. Presidency (Our Government) by Muriel L. Dubois

The American Journey of Barack Obama by the Editors of Life Magazine

The Story of Abraham Lincoln by Patricia A. Pingry

Time Line Presidents

Presidents Learning Placemat

Presidents of the USA Floor Puzzle

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(For more information about these items, check out my Obama & the Presidency Books Page)

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Children’s Books about Obama & the Presidency

Benedictus and Burgess have captured the “spirit and quality of those original books,” stated Michael Brown, the trustee of the estate.

Look for the book in early October from Penguin Young Readers. As Jeffrey A Trachtenberg of the Wall Street Journal said today, even Eeyore might smile about this one.

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Winnie the Pooh Returns to Print

On Monday, I wrote about National Bird Day.  Then I began thinking about the books out there that mentioned birds, either non-fiction guides and informational ones or fiction stories.  I’ve often written about birds in nature stories and in fiction pieces, too. 

What did I find?  Here are 13 of them for Thursday Thirteen.

1. Birdscapes: A Pop-Up Celebration of Bird Songs in Stereo Sound by Miyoko Chu and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; illustrated by Julia Hargreaves
2. Wesley the Owl by Stacey O’Brien
3. Alex and Me by Irene M. Pepperbert.  (About a scientist and a parrot who develop a special relationship.
4. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
5. A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kaska
6. Are You My Mother by by P.D. Eastman
7. National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America
8. The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman
9. There’s an Owl in the Shower by Jean Craighead George
10. The Grail Bird: The Rediscovery of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker by Tim Gallagher
11. A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific by Pratt, Bruner and Berrett
12. Who Says Quack? (Pudgy Board Book) by Jerry Smith
13. Why Do Cockatiels Do That? by Nikki Moustaki

Also check out my Pages for more information on these books.

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Thursday Thirteen – 13 Books About Birds

Now, after a year of paperwork, DNA tests, and waiting, we are on the airplane to bring him home. Ironically, as I was looking through my emails and media information a few days ago I came across this new book that is said to have gorgeous artwork and a “message that sparkles with hope”.

Wish: Wishing Around the World by Roseanne Thong begins with Guatemalan children flying giant kites to honor the dead and carry wishes up to the gods. Oh, how I would love to see this in person. How I would love to see the festivals and the colors, the people and the joyfulness they possess.

The rest of the book includes wishing traditions from countries like Russia (another country very close to my heart), Japan, China, Thailand, Iran, Israel, India, Australia, South Africa, Italy, Ireland, Brazil, Mexico, and the US. For adoptive families this is a wonderful book, as many adoptive countries are included.

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Wish: Wishing Around the World

The third in a recent flurry of autobiographies has been proven a contrived story, one that was praised on Oprah’s show, as well as by others.  Berkley Books cancelled a Holocast love story, Angel in the Fence, due to come out in February, after they found out the story was not true as initially claimed.

This book follows two published books, A Million Little Pieces and Love and Consequences, which the authors eventually admitted were fabricated.  A children’s book, Angel Girl, based on the supposed Holocaust love story, appeared in print earlier this year.

With these widely publicized books coming to light as contrived stories, it becomes difficult to know what’s true and what isn’t when you’re reading about someone’s life.  Some, perhaps all of the books, may have made good fiction novels if labeled as such.  It’s when the author tries to pass them off as true stories of his/her life that the trouble begins.

One’s memory of their life often become hazy without notes and journals.  Also, members of a family will remember incidents somewhat differently, yet they know that those things happened.  My sister and I frequently discuss childhood incidents, and one recalls more details than the other.  However, we know that they occurred.

What do you think?  Have you begun to doubt the truth as written in autobiographies you read, whether they’re for children or adults?

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How Do We Know When To Believe Autobiographies?

  Today we have as our guest at One Book Two Book, Susanna Reich, author of Painting the Wild Frontier: The Art and Adventures of George Catlin. 

I’ve traveled over much of the country Catlin painted and have seen his work in museums. I’ve also written about him, so I was fascinated by Susanna’s book. 

It’s a “must read” for anyone who wants to learn more about the Old West and enjoy the adventures and paintings of Catlin.  Susanna has written this as a fun-to-read story, even though it’s a biography.  (Yes, I know, some people think biographies aren’t exciting.  But when someone leads the life George Catlin did, his life story is an adventure.)

I’d like to ask Susanna a few questions so she can share with us unique aspects of the book and her writing.

Mary Emma - Probably most everyone wants to know, but I’ll ask again….what led you to choose George Catlin as the subject of your book?

Susanna – One of my goals as a writer is to help kids understand what it means to be an artist, why someone becomes an artist and perseveres despite the challenges, and how the arts contribute to and shape society.  My mother is a music historian, my husband is a visual artist (and soon-to-be-published children’s book author), and prior to becoming a writer, I worked as a dancer and then as a floral designer.  So for me, the arts have been a lifelong fascination, and these have been important questions.

Having written a biography of a musician (Clara Schumann: Piano Virtuoso), a picture book about a dancer (Jose! Born to Dance), and a novel about a girl who wants to be an actress (Penelope Bailey Takes the Stage), I was looking for a visual artist for my next subject. 

I settled on George Catlin for a number of reasons.  His paintings of American Indians are beautiful, and I thought the subject matter would appeal to kids.  There’s plenty of primary-source material (including books by the artist himself), and illustrations are readily available.  Best of all, as you pointed out, Catlin’s life was like an adventure story, full of drama and suspense. 

Mary Emma – How did you get started writing biographies? You’ve also written about Clara Schumann.

Susanna – I was always a good writer, thanks to a fantastic high school English teacher.  But until I was in my mid-thirties, I didn’t feel I had anything to say.  Then I started writing articles about floral design, and the words began to flow.  At the time, our daughter was young, and we read a lot of picture books together.  We were also friends with Ed Young, the children’s book author and illustrator.  Ed liked to share his work and tell interesting, funny stories about children’s publishing.  He made it sound so easy.  I had no idea how hard it was.  So in blissful ignorance, I started writing picture books and accumulating rejection letters.  This went on for a couple of years.  I was still working as a florist.

Then, at an SCBWI conference, an editor mentioned that it was easier to break in with nonfiction than with picture books.  My mother had written an adult book on Clara Schumann, and suggested Clara as a subject.  I laughed and said, “Oh mom, that’s your thing.”  

But after my local children’s librarian told me that the library could really use more biographies of woman, I thought about it more seriously.  Why not write about Clara Schumann?   I wasn’t attached to writing fiction or nonfiction, to any particular genre or age group.  I just loved to write.  By then, of course, I really wanted to sell a book.  It took three years of research, writing, revising, and submitting before I finally sold Clara Schumann: Piano Virtuoso.   It came out two years later.

Mary Emma - How did you go about choosing the paintings for illustrating the book?

Susanna – From the moment I began researching Painting the Wild Frontier, I was thinking about the illustrations.  Catlin painted hundreds of portraits of North and South American Indians, as well as landscapes, animals, and scenes of village life, so deciding which ones to use was a huge job.  I knew the book would need other kinds of images, too-prints and photographs of people Catlin knew and places he lived, paintings by other artists of the period, maps, and artifacts that would flesh out the story, such as newspaper ads advertising the “Indian Gallery.”  

When I was ready to choose the illustrations, I laid out copies of several hundred images in chronological order on my dining room table and, over the course of several months, chose the ones I thought would best compliment the text.  At the same time, I began negotiating permission fees with museums.  I was also working on the captions, which would give readers interesting bits of information that didn’t necessarily fit into the narrative. 

My editor, Lynne Polvino, and I initially thought the book would need about 70 images, but by the time the manuscript had been revised and edited, the text had grown to 100 pages.  It became clear that I was going to need many more images than originally planned.  So the xeroxes went back out on the dining table, and more were chosen.  Of course, this meant additional negotiations with museums, and more captions, too.

During this time, Lynne made a lot of very helpful suggestions, and towards the end we met with Joann Hill, Clarion’s Creative Director, who helped us make the final cuts.  Joann kept asking, “Does this image give us information that we don’t get from the text?” If the answer was “no,” the image got pulled.  We ended up with 100 illustrations, 8 of them in color.  They come from 18 different museums, and contracts had to be negotiated with each one.  The whole process took about a year and a half.

Mary Emma – Did you travel throughout the West (the Wild Frontier) to learn more about George Catlin’s adventures?  If so, did you have any adventures?

Susanna – While I’ve traveled throughout the West in the past, I didn’t do so in the course of writing this book.  The wildest frontier I visited was Washington, DC, where the paintings from Catlin’s original “Indian Gallery” hang in the Smithsonian.  I interviewed several Catlin experts (curators and art historians) while I was there.

Mary Emma – How would you suggest teachers and parents use the book?  There is enjoyment, but I can see much, much more.  Also, what age would you consider the book written for?

Susanna – At the beginning, I had in mind a ten-year-old reader. As the book grew, I realized that older kids, and even adults, would enjoy it.  A friend of mine read it to his boys, who are younger.  It can be appreciated on many levels. 

In the home, I think the book will prompt great family conversations about our nation’s past, Native American cultures, travel, natural history, art.  In school, it could be used equally well in English, Social Studies, or art classes.

 There’s a discussion guide with activities and online resources on my website.

Mary Emma – Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

Susanna – I’d like to thank you for hosting me on One Book Two Book.   A writer works alone at her desk, sometimes for years, all the while dreaming of the day when her book will make its way into the hands of young readers.  I’m glad that day is finally here.

Thank you, Susanna, for visiting One Book Two Book on your blog tour.  If our readers would like to know more about Susanna, you can visit her web site:  http://www.susannareich.com/ .

Susanna continues her blog tour by visiting Monday, November 10, “On the Books,” at Susan Thomsen’s blog, Chicken Spaghetti.

(Amazon image)

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Susanna Reich – Author of Painting the Wild Frontier

With that said, here is your list of stocking stuffers for 2008, complete with our favorites. All of the “Best of” books were published and released in 2008.

The Best Holiday Books, 2008

The Best Non-Fiction Books, 2008

The Best Board Books, 2008

Best Picture Books, 2008 

The Best Books for Middle Readers/Tweens, 2008

Best Books for Young Adults, 2008

Mary Emma’s Favorite Books 

Marcie’s Favorite Books

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Holiday Book Buying Guide 2008