Alice Cary

Children's & YAPicture Book

Let the snow days begin!

Feature by Alice Cary

By March my friends are usually ready to shoot me, because I never get tired of snow. There's so much fun to be had, as these new picture books confirm.

PLAYGROUND BATTLES
Barbara Reid’s Perfect Snow does just what its title suggests, by beautifully capturing the joyful rush of newly fallen snow. Reid’s sharply written text begins with the utter glee of kids waking up to snow, and their growing excitement as recess approaches.

Reid’s unique artistic approach adds a three-dimensional quality to her illustrations that makes readers feel as though they, too, are out amid the icy drifts. She molds figures out of Plasticine, a modeling clay, and combines these creations with ink and watercolor panels. The resulting scenes are colorful and lively, such as a bird’s-eye view of a schoolyard filled with kids, and the words, “The recess bell set off a stampede. Kids swarmed the snow like ants on a dropped ice cream cone.”

This playground becomes the scene of possible conflict: Jim is determined to build a “totally massive, indestructible Snow Fortress of Doom,” while Scott labors to make a team of snowmen. Happily, when Jim’s resulting “blizzard of destruction” threatens to destroy Scott’s creation, Jim deftly steps in and saves the day.

ALONG FOR THE RIDE
Preschoolers will enjoy Lita Judge’s Red Sled, the story of a little girl who lives in a mountain cabin and leaves her red sled out on her front porch. A curious bear approaches one night and decides to take the sled for a joy ride, and soon finds himself zooming with wild abandon down the snowy slopes. Before long the bear is joined by a menagerie that includes a rabbit, moose, possum, porcupine and mouse.

Judge deftly illustrates the fun as the animals bask in their growing speed. Her text is nearly wordless except for onomatopoeic words that parallel the animals’ adventures: “alley-oop,” “gadung gadung,” “whoa,” and finally, upon landing, “fluoomp……ft.” Parents and kids will enjoy this sweet, energy-filled tale, and will be amused to see what happens once the little girl discovers that her sled has been “borrowed.”

SAYING GOODBYE
The fun always comes to an end, and Alison McGhee’s Making a Friend addresses the inevitable cycle of falling and melting snow. A little boy carefully makes a snowman, but later wonders where his beloved friend goes after it melts. As spring arrives, the boy observes, “Look. He is in the falling water / and the rain upon the ocean.”

In what becomes a gentle meditation not only on snow, but on the changing of the seasons and the cycle of life, the text repeats the message, “What you love will always be with you.” The boy enjoys summer and fall, and finally, winter returns, as does his snowman. Marc Rosenthal’s illustrations add resonance to the book’s message, managing to be wistful, meditative and yet concrete, focusing on the transforming elements of this youngster’s world.

After a cold winter’s day, grab one of these books, a steaming cup of cocoa, and let it snow!

By March my friends are usually ready to shoot me, because I never get tired of snow. There's so much fun to be had, as these new picture books confirm.

PLAYGROUND BATTLES
Barbara Reid’s Perfect Snow does just what its title suggests, by beautifully capturing the…

Children's & YAPicture Book

Poetry springs up everywhere

Feature by Alice Cary

Every year I look forward to the spring crop of children’s poetry books, which always brings a bouquet of creativity. This year is no exception.

UNEXPECTED FINDS

The Arrow Finds Its Mark: A Book of Found Poems, illustrated by Antoine Guilloppé, is a fascinating collection sure to captivate young and old alike. Just leave this book out in plain sight and watch what happens!

What is a “found” poem, you might ask? It’s a piece of already existing text that is then “made” into a poem, as explained by editor Georgia Heard, who collected these examples. Such text might be a line from Twitter, a note found on a floor, a photo caption, a sign or graffiti.

For instance, here’s a poem called “Pep Talk” that consists of phrases from a box of OxiClean detergent:

   Keep cool.
   See a brighter solution.
   Mountain freshness.
   Boost your power!

This little book makes for fun perusing. There’s a poem created by crossword puzzle clues, another from a dictionary entry and another from the book titles on a young girl’s shelf. This is a collection guaranteed to inspire family fun or give students a new way to look at poetry.

SEND THE KIDS OUTSIDE!

Run, jump, blow bubbles or stomp in a puddle: That’s the refreshing theme of A Stick is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play. Prolific poet Marilyn Singer doesn’t disappoint in this celebration of classic children’s fun, which is likely to remind adults of their own experiences hosing friends with sprinklers, rolling down hills and playing hopscotch or hide and seek.

Singer captures the endearing exuberance of childhood with poems like “Really Fast”:

   Skateboard races,
   pigeon chases,
   running bases.
   Backyard dashes,
   racecar crashes,
   puddle splashes.
   Everything’s a blast
   when you do it really fast!

LeUyem Pham’s illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to these lively poems. Her colorful pages are full of smiling kids who laugh, leap and lunge. But be forewarned: This book isn’t a great choice for bedtime, because the poems will make readers want to head right out the door.

Outdoorsy kids are likely to adore a new poetry collection with the engrossing title Nasty Bugs. Children’s poetry connoisseur Lee Bennett Hopkins has collected another winning swarm of poems, with names sure to entice kids, such as “Stink Bug,” “Ode to a Dead Mosquito” and “Barbed and Dangerous.”

Will Terry’s illustrations are truly glorious, with a spread on the stink bug swirling in a fiery background of orange, red and yellow as a huge green bug leers at the reader, with fumes rising. Terry brings readers eye to eye with a litany of malevolent creatures, such as fire ants, boll weevils, lice and bedbugs.

Many mothers will (not!) appreciate the first verse of Amy Ludwig Vanderwater’s poem, “Lice”:

   Ridiculous Pediculus
   O tiny vampire louse
   You crawl from head
               to head
                       to head
   from house
              to house
                      to house.

Not only are these poems fun, they also contain facts that will keep kids entertained, educated and grossed out, all at the same time. In addition, an explanatory section at the end contains a short but intriguing entry for each bug mentioned.

For more outdoor poems, dip into the exceptionally clever A Meal of the Stars: Poems Up and Down. Dana Jensen has written a series of “vertical” poems, with each line containing just one word. Some of these poems read from top to bottom, while others read from bottom to top. Kids will love this form and no doubt want to try to write their own.

Jensen writes about such upward and downward topics as giraffe necks, popping balloons, rockets blasting into space and kites soaring in the wind. Tricia Tusa’s illustrations add the perfect touch of humor, personality and motion.

DOUBLE TAKE

When my identical twin girls were born 13 years ago, I dearly wish I’d had Take Two! A Celebration of Twins. This is a treasure chest of poems for parents, siblings and twins, sprinkled here and there with interesting facts. (Imagine, for instance, this hard-to-believe item: “In the 1700s, Mrs. Feodor Vassilyev of Shuya, Russia, had sixteen sets of twins. She also gave birth to four sets of quadruplets and seven sets of triplets!”)

Written by the dynamic children’s literature duo of J. Patrick Lewis (a twin himself) and Jane Yolen, these fun poems address many aspects of twinhood, including the novelty, fun and frustrations. Best of all, the poems are both heartfelt and humorous. Consider these lines from “What’s It Like to Be a Twin?”:

   ’Cause a twin’s a double rainbow
   Or the fork that goes with the knife.
   He may wear around the edges,
   But he’s guaranteed for life.

This is a beautifully designed book as well, with layouts pleasing to the eye and doubly adorable illustrations by Sophie Blackall. Even though my twins become teenagers this month, I’m keeping this book on our shelves for years to come.

BOOK SENSE

BookSpeak!: Poems about Books is a lively, lovely literary collection. Laura Purdie Salas writes verses about things like coming to the end of a book, falling asleep while reading and an avid reader begging for a sequel. One particularly clever poem asks readers to pay attention to the indexes of books and says: “So I’m telling you, kid: / ignore the rest of the book. / All you really need is me.”

Josee Bisaillon’s illustrations are varied and wonderful, adding an extra dimension of fun and whimsy.

Every year I look forward to the spring crop of children’s poetry books, which always brings a bouquet of creativity. This year is no exception.

UNEXPECTED FINDS

The Arrow Finds Its Mark: A Book of Found Poems, illustrated by Antoine Guilloppé, is a fascinating collection…

Children's & YAPicture Book

Olympic fever for pint-sized readers

Feature by Alice Cary

Olympic fever has been building in my little town (Groton, Massachusetts) for a year, since we are sending our high school chamber chorus off to London to perform at the games. If Olympic anticipation is growing in your part of the world, check out these fun- and fact-filled Olympic books for young readers.

A MARVELOUS MELTDOWN

Michael Phelps he's not, but take one look at the cover of Olympig! The Triumphant Story of an Underdog, and you'll fall in love with an Olympic hopeful named Boomer. This plump porcine competitor is dressed in sweats and ready to go, undeterred by having to compete with the likes of an elephant in weightlifting, a gorilla in wrestling and a leap frog in hurdles at the Animal Olympics.

"Oh, I'm sure I will win!" says Boomer. "If you practice and try your best, you can do anything."

Not so fast, Boomer! He loses every competition, managing to get the lowest score in Olympic history for his gymnastics routine. What's more, he throws a tantrum and quits. Frankly, this sort of goodhearted underachievement is refreshing in children's books.

In the end, Boomer rallies, determined to compete again. This book is full of visual delights, thanks to the lively art of author/illustrator Victoria Jamieson, whose bighearted, bigmouthed Boomer practically plops right off each page.

OLYMPIC DREAMS

How do you get to be an Olympic athlete? Curious spectators will enjoy Dream Big: Michael Jordan and the Pursuit of Olympic Gold, written by Deloris Jordan, Michael's mother, and illustrated by Barry Root.

The year is 1972, and nine-year-old Michael watches the best basketball game he's ever seen on TV, as the U.S. Olympic team loses to Russia by one point. When Michael tells his mom that he wants to become an Olympic champion, she challenges him to do something about it, not simply dream.

Michael's older brother Larry invites him to a high school scrimmage, and when Michael gets on the floor and scores three points, he feels like a champ.

Dream Big is a straightforward tale about dreaming and doing (parents will be delighted to know that focusing on schoolwork is also a recurring theme). Michael quickly learns that practice and perseverance are what it takes to succeed. An afterword explains that "Michael never gave up after that game. Not for a day. Even when he was cut in the tryouts for high school basketball, he just practiced harder and harder."

Michael's hard work paid off, of course, as he went on to achieve NBA glory and his long-coveted Olympic gold medal.

ANOTHER LONDON OLYMPICS

The London Olympics of 1948 were a very different affair from this summer's gala competition. As Europe recovered from World War II, there was no Olympic Village, and athletes, who were often hungry, had to watch out for bomb debris in the streets.

Despite these hardships, these Olympics were a rallying point for the world, and a dream come true for a young high jumper from Georgia named Alice Coachman, who became the first African American woman to win Olympic gold. Author Heather Lang tells her story beautifully in Queen of the Track.

Lang starts with Coachman's childhood in the rural, racially divided small town of Albany, Georgia, writing: "Alice Coachman was born to run and jump. On morning walks with her great-grandmother Rachel, Alice skipped ahead through the fields. She hopped on rocks. She vaulted over anything that got in her way."

Lang deftly weaves in historical details of segregation, as Coachman is noticed by a track coach and receives a scholarship at Tuskegee Institute. The tension heats up in London at the high jump competition, as Coachman becomes America's last hope for a gold medal in women's track and field, and as the king and queen of England watch her compete, along with thousands of others.

Floyd Cooper's pastel illustrations capture Coachman's beauty, grace, energy and determination. This excellent book also contains interesting historical notes at the end, as well as links to related websites and videos.

GET YOUR BRITISH BEARINGS

Olympic fever often goes hand in hand with a case of London Mania, so brush up on this historic capital with Pop-Up London. Don't be fooled by the listed age range, because adults as well as kids will find this tour fascinating. The River Thames winds along each spread of the book, surrounded by a variety of flaps and paper engineering feats (engineered by Richard Ferguson).

Artist Jennie Maizels has included a multitude of irresistible facts and intrigues, along with many pop-ups, including Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, the Tower Bridge and, finally, the Olympic Village and Park. Facts and fun are squeezed in everywhere: This is a book that must be inspected closely to find everything (including a variety of seek and find challenges).

Did you know, for example, that St. Paul's Cathedral has a whistling ghost and a secret room? Or that a pair of Queen Victoria's underpants are on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum? Maizels excels at finding unusual tidbits with guaranteed kid-appeal.

OLYMPIC HISTORY

For a historical glance at different Olympic venues, check out Richard Platt's Through Time Olympics. This book begins with an overview of the games, and then travels through time with full-page, colorful spread on a variety of different locations, from Paris in 1900 to this summer's London games.

While this isn't a fully comprehensive history, it presents intriguing bits of the past, along with colorful illustrations and graphics by Manuela Cappon. Combine this book with Pop-Up London, and young fans will be ready to watch the Olympics with a knowledgeable perspective.

Olympic fever has been building in my little town (Groton, Massachusetts) for a year, since we are sending our high school chamber chorus off to London to perform at the games. If Olympic anticipation is growing in your part of the world, check out these…

Children's & YAPicture Book

Treats for little tricksters

Feature by Alice Cary

Friendly ghosts can be comforting, especially to young goblins who may find Halloween a little overwhelming. I’m dating myself with this admission, but I grew up watching “Casper, the Friendly Ghost” every Saturday morning on TV. Here are some newly created ghosts waiting to befriend the latest generation of Halloween revelers.

A GHOST OF YOUR VERY OWN
Start with My First Ghost by Maggie Miller and Michael Leviton, which is loads of fun and, as the cover boasts, comes with a “Free GHOST INSIDE!” Just turn the page, the text says, to claim yours, but first be sure you’re ready to take on the responsibility.

Miller and Leviton offer a humorous owner’s manual, explaining, for instance, how ghosts are better than pets and siblings (“Your ghost will never punch your arm” or “sing annoying songs for hours on end”). Young readers will enjoy the activity suggestions (hide and seek, invite another ghost over), as well as the warnings (“Ghosts are very bad at catch”).

Stephanie Buscema’s energetic illustrations have a delightful retro feel, reminiscent of the 1960s and 1970s, yet with a modern twist. My First Ghost will bring reassuring smiles to young trick-or-treaters, who will be pleased to learn that “If you love your ghost, your ghost will haunt you forever.”

SURPRISE GUESTS
Halloween has finally arrived in Leo Landry’s Trick or Treat, which means that a charming little ghost named Oliver is getting ready to throw his annual party. As he cleans house and doles out invitations to several witches and skeletons, he unknowingly drops one, which is found by two young trick-or-treaters.

When this twosome arrives at Oliver’s doorstep on party night, Oliver and his guests are initially perplexed about what to do. Not to worry, of course—much fun ensues, and new friendships are formed. Landry’s watercolor-and-pencil illustrations are a perfect match for the text: gentle, straightforward and sure to please anxious, eager youngsters.

NEVER FEAR!
Another comforting book is Susan Hood’s Just Say BOO!, which is sure to be a read-aloud hit with its resounding chorus, featured in the title and throughout the book. Fun and fear go hand in hand on this creepy holiday, and Just Say BOO! will help youngsters navigate that wobbly tightrope between the two.

As a group of trick-or-treaters ventures out, the book tackles the pre-school fear factor by asking a series of rhymed questions like, “If a yip and yowl make you shiver and scowl, what do you say?” Just Say BOO! gives little ones the ammunition they need to conquer their jitters in a boisterous, humorous manner. Jed Henry’s illustrations feature cute young trick-or-treaters quaking in their little boots, and then shouting “boo!” with wild abandon.

Friendly ghosts can be comforting, especially to young goblins who may find Halloween a little overwhelming. I’m dating myself with this admission, but I grew up watching “Casper, the Friendly Ghost” every Saturday morning on TV. Here are some newly created ghosts waiting to befriend…

Children's & YAPicture Book

Clever books to engage young hands and minds

Feature by Alice Cary

Here's a variety of snappy, fun-filled books designed to keep young friends and family members happily entertained for hours. Children's gift books seem to be getting better and better every year, with amazing feats of paper engineering and creative activities designed to appeal to all ages.

SLEEPY TIME

Are the kids going haywire with excitement? Open up either of these two collections before the holidays if your young preschoolers are in desperate need of some calming activity.

A great value, The Family Bedtime Treasury contains eight complete books in a large, colorful format, as well as a variety of poems and a CD containing an hour’s worth of classical music. The large format brings these stories alive, showing off a lively variety of children’s artists and writers.

The unifying theme is sleep, that often elusive state for the preschoolers for whom this book is meant. Story titles include such classics as Don and Audrey Wood’s The Napping House; one of Eileen Christelow’s perennial favorites, Five Little Monkeys Reading in Bed; the (hopefully) suggestive title, The Quiet Book; and the bound-to-be-a-favorite The Goodnight Train. Despite the “sleepy” theme, there’s plenty of bed-jumping action, and the book is sure to be a hit with kids and parents alike, night after night. 

Both young and slightly older children will enjoy dipping into a year of poems with Julie Andrews’ Treasury for All Seasons: Poems and Songs to Celebrate the Year. The poems are arranged into monthly themes, along with several bonus sections celebrating such occasions as birthdays and new babies.

The authors include such luminaries as Robert Frost, Dr. Seuss, Jack Prelutsky, Emily Dickinson and E.B. White, all accompanied by colorful, lively illustrations by Marjorie Priceman. These pages will brighten any day, as Priceman’s energetic art swirls across the page with a zooming skateboarder, a swooshing bicycle or a canoe floating downstream.

This is the sort of gift book children can enjoy for years, first as a read-aloud and later as an anthology to explore on their own. Julie Andrews and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, have done a good job of combining lighthearted verses about childhood with those by renowned voices such as Langston Hughes and Billy Collins.

EXPLORE!

Elementary-aged children are likely to spend hours with the information-packed visual treat My Pop-Up World Atlas. Did you know, for example, that the largest lake in Australia, Lake Eyre, is almost dry for part of the year? This is just one of the many geographical tidbits presented here in easily digestible form.

Starting with a spread of the world, the book contains pop-up spreads for each continent, filled with flaps, information wheels, pullouts and a “Fact File” for each. Budding geographers will find much to devour, as each map is jam-packed with illustrations and facts.

Adults as well as elementary students will be mesmerized by the striking Legendary Journeys: Space, which bills itself as “the Slide-Out, Lift-Up, See-Through Story of the Greatest Voyages in Space.” This historic overview is well organized and full of visual appeal, discussing the first rockets, early space pioneers, moon voyages, the space shuttle and modern missions, including missions to Mars. In addition to tracking the “big picture” of space exploration, the book offers a variety of entertaining minutia, such as a brief discussion of spiders that traveled into space, or photographs of the first television images broadcast by satellite Telstar on July 23, 1962.

The book’s pull-out flaps allow for expansive visualizations of, for example, the solar system as well as the Saturn V rocket with its many stages. Diagrams and flaps are fun and focused, accompanied by photographs that bring the subject to life. Readers can’t help but enjoy these sophisticated tidbits, which jump off the page like an intriguing museum exhibit.

PLAY & LEARN

Mo Willems’ pigeon is an irrepressible character, the star of a beloved series that began with Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! So what better guy to direct the fun-filled Don’t Let the Pigeon Finish This Activity Book! Perfect for advanced preschoolers (there’s some reading to be done) and young elementary students, its perforated pages are packed with Willems’ wonderful humor, along with games, mazes, coloring, puzzles and things to build. Since this isn’t just any pigeon, this activity book is more creative than most.

Seven- to nine-year-olds will also stay busy with Dan Waddell’s How To Be a Detective, which comes complete with a magnifier, an ink pad for fingerprints and a periscope-making kit. This engaging book serves as a nice introduction to Sherlock Holmes, who’s mentioned throughout. Jim Smith’s cartoon-like illustrations add personality and humor to these pages, with thuggish suspects who look bug-eyed and furious, while a sweet grandma sweats nervously in a police lineup.

This guidebook explains things like fingerprints, surveillance and handwriting analysis, with activities on every page. Once these pages have been studied, “graduates” are ready to tackle the mysterious case of a missing painting, complete with fingerprints and handwriting samples for each suspect. Kids will love diving into their own CSI world.

Clear a good-sized workspace for mechanical-minded kids who want to Make Your Own T. Rex. The good news is that there’s no need for glue, tape or scissors; this three-foot model is made of 71 heavy cardboard bones that get slotted together, along with a base upon which the skeleton model stands.

An accompanying booklet gives step-by-step instructions, along with plenty of dinosaur facts and photos. The finished product looks fierce and on the prowl, with a mouthful of teeth ready to bite.

It’s impressive how much kids can learn with Super Science: Matter Matters!, part of a superb new science series written by TV producer and science expert Tom Adams. Who knew a pop-up model of the element boron could be so appealing, or that Jell-O is so wobbly because it’s a colloid? This book contains fabulous flaps to pull and turn, along with a variety of simple experiments to try at home.

Thomas Flintman’s bold illustrations immediately grab readers’ attention, pulling them into the informative text, which explains, for instance, that hot water freezes faster than cold, and that scientists aren’t sure why. The text is simple, yet never simplistic, touching on a variety of important topics, including surface tension, the periodic table, and acids and bases, all presented in an appealing way (think “Killer Chemicals!”).

POP-UP TREATS

Star Wars fans of all ages will be overjoyed by the intricate paper engineering in Matthew Reinhart’s fantastic Star Wars: A Galactic Pop-Up Adventure. Rein­hart is a superstar in the field, having created previous Star Wars pop-ups and partnered with paper engineering legend Robert Sabuda on projects like Encyclopedia Mythologica.

The book’s five wondrous spreads tackle the themes of planets, beasts, enemies, technological wonders and finally, Darth Vader. Each spread contains one giant pop-up that leaps out of the pages, along with many flaps and smaller pop-ups, like a wonderful box of secret treasures.

This is pop-up at its artistic best, exploring the characters, creatures and wondrous worlds of the Star Wars universe, even including a color-changing, light-up saber for the 3-D Darth Vader. As readers open the page, they first see the face of Anakin Skywalker, which is then replaced by that of Darth Vader in a nearly magical transformation.

On a much calmer note, preschoolers will squeal with delight at the pop-up version of Itsy Bitsy Spider. Despite the smaller scale, however, this book also features true paper engineering, complete with a clear-paned window that opens and closes above the waterspout.

Caldecott-winning artist Richard Egielski injects new life into this simple rhyme, creating an imaginative storybook village that springs to life on every page. Youngsters will be thrilled by the rush of rainwater shooting the heroic spider out of the drain spout, and cheer on the valiant little hero as he dries himself off and completes his mission.

Here's a variety of snappy, fun-filled books designed to keep young friends and family members happily entertained for hours. Children's gift books seem to be getting better and better every year, with amazing feats of paper engineering and creative activities designed to appeal to all…

NatureAnimals

Life on the pale blue dot

Feature by Alice Cary

Amid the rush of daily life, it’s easy to forget the marvels that exist in nature. Some are far away, like the swirling blue meltwater that laps the edges of a glacier, while others lurk just under our feet, like an ant waving a leaf like a victory banner. These new nature books are filled with hundreds of such phenomena, discussing everything from backyard birds to the edges of the cosmos.

LAST LOOKS

Ice: Portraits of Vanishing Glaciers is truly a book like no other. In 2007 author/photographer James Balog founded the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS), which currently uses 27 cameras at 18 glaciers around the world, from Alaska to Nepal, to record chilling changes every half hour. These efforts are the subject of an Academy Award-winning documentary, Chasing Ice, and now this gorgeous book.

As Balog explains, “Ice matters. It’s the place where we can see and hear and feel climate change in action.” If you’re wondering about the nature of ice photos, he explains, “Glaciers are alive, evolving, bestial. Glaciers respond hourly, daily, monthly, yearly to air and water around them.”

These stunning shots capture the gleaming ice of the Khumbu Glacier near Mt. Everest, as well as otherworldly images such as deep blue ice formations on Greenland’s ice sheet, the artful sea-green swirls of Alaska’s Mendenhall Glacier and diamond-like fragments from Iceland. In this amazing volume, readers experience both the big picture of giant glaciers as well as up-close views of this precious commodity.

CREATURE LOVE

A sense of wonder is key in the best nature books. As animal photographer Tim Flach explains, “When I began photographing animals, my inspiration came, in part, from a sense of wonderment in nature—something I have felt since childhood and that still informs my imagery today.” After publishing Equus and Dogs, his latest endeavor is More Than Human, a book of animal photographs guaranteed to dazzle viewers with their color, detail, clarity and, most of all, their uncanny “humanity.”

Flach’s portrait of a turkey seems full of wisdom, certitude and grace, like that of a wizened old warrior. A series of close-ups of fruit bats brim with personality, as though these strange, sly creatures were runway models in a Ralph Lauren ad. A comb jellyfish swirls like a piece of modern art, its neon colors shining like an underwater rainbow.

There are cute animals within these pages, but this is by no means a book of cutesy animal photos. More Than Human is an art book, pure and simple, full of elegance, drama and beauty.

ON THE WING

On a much more practical level is the Bird Watcher’s Bible. Rather than a field guide, this book is a wide-ranging compendium of birding lore, with chapters on such topics as bird anatomy; how birds live, fly and migrate; and the science of their evolution. Historical discussions tackle the mania for feathered hats in the early 20th century and the 19th-century trend to shoot and stuff bird specimens.

A variety of fun facts are sprinkled liberally throughout the book, under the heading “Bird Brain.” There are entertaining lists as well, such as the Top 10 Most Common State Birds and the Top 10 Words for Bird Congregations. A number of sidebars make for engaging reading, such as a discussion on the hobby and importance of egg collecting, and a profile of a talking African gray parrot named Alex whose speech skills were studied for 30 years.

As with any National Geographic book, the photographs and artwork are fully featured, including antique illustrations, historical photographs and the colorful photos for which NatGeo is so well known.

THE STARS ABOVE

Similarly informative and entertaining is Martin Rees’ Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide, a new edition of an earlier visual guide to outer space, including constellations and planetary charts with positions until 2019.

Encyclopedic in breadth, this updated volume discusses both the beginning and possible fate of the universe (Big Crunch? Big Chill?), star motion, astronomy, the Milky Way and everything from the sun and our planets to comets, meteors and space exploration.

Amid the science and data are a variety of short profiles, such as a sidebar on Carolyn Shoemaker, who took up astronomy at age 51 and has since discovered more than 800 asteroids and 32 comets. A multitude of charts, diagrams and illustrations help clarify the many topics discussed in this vast volume, such as the age-old question: Is anybody or anything else alive out there?

Amid the rush of daily life, it’s easy to forget the marvels that exist in nature. Some are far away, like the swirling blue meltwater that laps the edges of a glacier, while others lurk just under our feet, like an ant waving a leaf…

NonfictionArts & CultureArt

Images of beauty, truth and the absurd

Feature by Alice Cary

Surround yourself with the creative vision on display in a variety of new art books. Curl up with essays likely to change or challenge your outlook, or dip into survey books for old favorites and new discoveries. As photographer Elliott Erwitt explains, “It’s about reacting to what you see, hopefully without preconception.”

Start with a new edition of The Art Book, a massive A-to-Z collection first published in 1994 and now updated with 70 new artists and 100 new artworks. The volume’s large format and 600 color illustrations make it a joy to peruse, a fun, informative juxtaposition of classic and contemporary, with everything from Da Vinci and van Gogh to Warhol’s “Marilyn.” The latest additions are varied and eye-catching, such as Thomas Demand’s “Kitchen,” a photo of a life-size cardboard reconstruction of the farmhouse kitchen where Saddam Hussein was found hiding in 2003.

The Art Book is indeed a grand anthology, featuring paintings, sculptures, photographs, performance art and installations. Each page or spread spotlights a work of art and its artist. Brief glossaries define technical terms and artistic movements; there’s also a list of museums and galleries where the works can be found. This diverse assortment is guaranteed to fascinate and provoke a variety of art lovers.

THROUGH THE LENS

Also comprehensive, yet more narrowly focused, is another massive volume, Roberto Koch’s Master Photographers, filled with 20 game-changing artists from the 20th century. Editor Koch devotes 22 pages to each photographer, including an introduction, short biography and a collection of phenomenal photographs with brief commentary.

The artistic range is broad, from the joyful humanity captured by Elliott Erwitt to the iconic Depression portraits by Walker Evans. Englishman Martin Parr “has made supermarkets, country fairs, and working class beaches his own personal trenches,” brilliantly capturing, for instance, a woman biting into a burger at Disneyland in Tokyo.

In stark contrast are the haunting political statements by James Nachtwey, such as the brutally scarred face of a Rwandan death camp survivor, the dying body of a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan or the horrific sight of a skeletal famine victim crawling through dirt in the Sudan.

A TRAINED EYE

Two new books will help art lovers fully appreciate the artistic world’s vast array of styles and goals, the first being John Updike’s Always Looking: Essays on Art. The prolific novelist published two companion books before his 2009 death (Just Looking and Still Looking), and this new collection is accompanied by more than 200 color reproductions. Most of these exhibition reviews first appeared in The New York Review of Books.

Updike’s noted treatise, “The Clarity of Things,” tackles the question, “What is American about American art?” in a discussion exploring artists such as John Singleton Copley and Winslow Homer, along with more modern names like Joseph Stella and Mark Rothko. Reading these insightful essays feels like wandering through notable galleries with Updike as your docent, leaving his audience informed and fulfilled.

PAST MADE PRESENT

For a more lighthearted but no less valuable learning experience, dive into Will Gompertz’s What Are You Looking At? The Surprising, Shocking and Sometimes Strange Story of 150 Years of Modern Art. A former director of the Tate in London and now BBC arts editor, Gompertz explains his hope to offer “a personal, informative, anecdotal and accessible book that takes the chronological story of modern art (from Impressionism to now) as the basis for its structure.”

In these highly readable essays, Gompertz calls Cézanne “the greatest artist of the entire modern movement,” and his description of Duchamp’s creation of his famous urinal (called “Fountain”) reads like a short story, concluding, “It is Duchamp who is to blame for the whole ‘is it art’ debate, which, of course, is exactly what he intended.” His final chapter, “Art Now,” makes mention of Shepard Fairey’s Pop Art treatment of a 2008 Barack Obama poster and British street artist Banksy. Gompertz writes, “I suspect if Marcel Duchamp were alive today he would be a street artist.”

AMERICAN LANDSCAPE

For an in-depth look at one artist, try Georgia O’Keeffe and Her Houses: Ghost Ranch and Abiquiu by Barbara Buhler Lynes and Agapita Judy Lopez. This absorbing book shows how O’Keeffe’s two New Mexico homes and their surroundings affected her art, comparing, for instance, a photograph of a patio and door with the painting that it inspired, “Black Door with Snow.”

When O’Keeffe purchased Ghost Ranch in 1940, she wrote her husband, Alfred Stieglitz: “I would rather come here than any place I know. It is a way for me to live very comfortably at the tail end of the earth so far away that hardly any one will ever come to see me and I like it.” Five years later she purchased Abiquiu and restored it, using that house in winter and Ghost Ranch in summer. This book is filled with photographs, art reproductions and numerous anecdotes about O’Keeffe and the luminous art she produced in these special places.

Surround yourself with the creative vision on display in a variety of new art books. Curl up with essays likely to change or challenge your outlook, or dip into survey books for old favorites and new discoveries. As photographer Elliott Erwitt explains, “It’s about reacting…

Children's & YAPicture Book

Brave women who made a difference

Feature by Alice Cary

Need a lift? You’ll feel inspired after reading about five women who accomplished big things, all subjects of engaging new picture book biographies aimed at young elementary school students.

A VOICE THAT ROARED

When a steamship pulls into the New York City harbor in 1903, a surprise is on board. So begins Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909. And never fear if a story about a strike doesn’t sound exciting; believe me, it is—especially in the hands of writer Michelle Markel. She begins by explaining:

“The surprise is dirt poor, just five feet tall, and hardly speaks a word of English.
Her name is Clara Lemlich.
This girl’s got grit, and she’s going to prove it.
Look out, New York!”

Instead of going to school, Clara joins other young women working long hours sewing in a factory under harsh conditions. Markel writes: “Clara smolders with anger, not just for herself, but for all the factory girls, working like slaves. This was not the America she’d imagined.” Thus the stage is set for Clara to lead the largest walkout of women workers in U.S. history.

Enriching this tale of might and right are fabulous illustrations by Caldecott Honor-winning artist Melissa Sweet, whose use of fabric and stitching within her art reminds readers that they’re reading about garment workers. In one wonderful spread, she creates an overhead shot of hundreds of tiny heads hunched over their sewing machines, while the adjacent page shows a timecard with notations of low pay and fines for being late. Sweet and Markel’s collaboration brings this strike to life in an immensely appealing way.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our Q&A with Michelle Markel for Brave Girl.

REACH FOR THE STARS

Henrietta Leavitt made an important contribution to astronomy, and Look Up! Henrietta Leavitt, Pioneering Woman Astronomer does a great job of explaining her role in a way that young readers can easily grasp. Robert Burleigh writes: “In an astronomy class, she was one of the very few woman students. But Henrietta wanted to follow what she loved, wherever it took her.” Leavitt’s journey took her to the Harvard College Observatory, where she and other women worked as “human computers” who counted stars for 30 cents an hour.

Studying stars became Leavitt’s life work, and thanks to a phenomenon she noticed, she helped scientists calculate how far away certain stars are. Burleigh’s lively text brings her discovery to life, while Raúl Colón’s illustrations are not only gorgeous, but inventively luminescent, filled with swirling cosmos, colorful stars and reminders of great astronomers like Copernicus and Galileo. This well-rounded portrait contains a nicely detailed afterword that includes a glossary and resources for additional information.

A DARING DOCTOR

Young Elizabeth Blackwell didn’t like the sight of blood, and was horrified when one teacher brought in a bull’s eyeball to show students how eyes work. These are the sorts of engaging details that Tanya Lee Stone includes in her lively ­biography, Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors? The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell.

When Elizabeth was 24, an ill friend lamented that she would love to have a woman doctor, and that Elizabeth would be perfect for the job. That suggestion changed Elizabeth’s life, and she wouldn’t take no for an answer once she decided to attend medical school. She first had to face 28 “no”s before finally getting a “yes” from New York’s Geneva Medical School. There, the male students ridiculed her, but she had the last laugh, graduating first in her class in 1849.

Stone repeatedly reminds readers that Blackwell’s hardships are unimaginable in today’s world, where more than half of the medical students in the U.S. are women.

Adding to the book’s appeal are whimsical, energetic illustrations by another Caldecott Honor-winning artist, Marjorie Priceman, whose style here brings to mind Ludwig Bemelmans and his famed Madeline books. This dynamic biography is sure to speak to a wide range of young readers.

TAKE THIS BOOK, PLEASE!

My, how the world has changed. Miss Moore Thought Otherwise: How Anne Carroll Moore Created Libraries for Children describes a time when children weren’t allowed inside libraries. A young woman from Maine became one of the leading forces of change, a pioneer in her position as head of the children’s rooms in the New York Public Library system, beginning in 1906.

Jan Pinborough’s biography unfolds in storybook fashion, with the title serving as an often repeated refrain. Miss Moore allowed children to borrow books, and she got rid of the “SILENCE” signs that hung in many libraries. When the New York Public Library opened its doors in 1911, Moore had designed a warm, welcoming children’s room brimming with the best books she could find, child-size furniture and art by the likes of N.C. Wyeth. Pinborough brings this literary crusader to life, explaining that upon retirement, Moore hit the road in an effort to improve libraries across the country.

Debby Atwell’s folk-inspired art perfectly suits this story of a little girl whose big ideas helped change how children live and learn. Atwell’s final tableau, showing Miss Moore setting off across America as the countryside spreads before her, is particularly charming. No doubt Miss Moore herself would give this book quite the stamp of approval!

A LITERARY NURSE

Older students will be mesmerized by Louisa May’s Battle: How the Civil War Led to Little Women. Award-winning writer Kathleen Krull focuses on a life-changing slice of Louisa May Alcott’s life, when she headed to Washington, D.C., to act as a Civil War nurse.

Krull paints a rich historical portrait of both Louisa and the desperate times, infusing her text with quotes from Alcott’s own account of her experiences, Hospital Sketches. Krull describes the extraordinary difficulties Louisa experienced while traveling from New England to Washington, and Louisa’s jubilation on the night she looked out her window and saw African Americans celebrating the ratification of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Carlyn Beccia’s illustrations are equally radiant with historical details, showing Louisa’s long hair reaching down to her ankles, the broad expanse of Pennsylvania Avenue, the unfinished Capitol Building without its dome and the lush countryside around Washington as Louisa ran up and down its hills.

The impact of Louisa’s experiences stayed with her forever, leading directly to her success as a writer. While much has already been written about this famous author, Louisa May’s Battle is a fascinating contribution to the canon.

Need a lift? You’ll feel inspired after reading about five women who accomplished big things, all subjects of engaging new picture book biographies aimed at young elementary school students.

A VOICE THAT ROARED

When a steamship pulls into the New York City harbor in 1903, a surprise is…

Children's & YAPicture BookMiddle Grade

Having fun with rhythm & rhyme

Feature by Alice Cary

These six sparkling poetry books speak to young readers of all ages, addressing a symphony of subjects with creativity, humor and style.

STARTING SMALL

In the introduction to Wee Rhymes: Baby’s First Poetry Book, longtime collaborators Jane Yolen and artist Jane Dyer explain how vital poetry is: “Children who are given poetry early will have a fullness inside. Mother Goose rhymes, baby verse—that kind of singsong, sing-along rhythm—is as important as a heartbeat.”

In this charming collection, Yolen includes a few Mother Goose rhymes alongside her own poems for babies (such as “Five Little Fingers” and “Baby Snores”) and toddlers (“My Slide” and “Soap Dragons”). All are filled with warmth and sometimes a dose of well-placed humor, such as these lines from “Sitting in the Quiet Chair”:

When you’re bad
And make a riot
You must go
And be real quiet.

Dyer’s pencil-and-watercolor illustrations are lovingly sweet and a perfect blend of classic nostalgia and modernism.

THE NATURAL WORLD

Older children and even adults will be charmed by the short, thought-provoking poems in Pug: And Other Animal Poems. These short verses were crafted by the late poetic virtuoso Valerie Worth, whose talents are apparent in each selection. Take, for example, the last lines of “Fox”:

Streaking the
Dark like
A fabulous
Comet—
Famous, but
Seldom seen.

Illustrator Steve Jenkins’ bold illustrations are a vibrant match for each poem, filled with color, texture and depth. Never cutesy, Jenkins creates animals whose fur can practically be touched, such as an opossum “Staring with serious/Eyes at nothing.” The eyes of Jenkins’ creatures will grab your attention, including those of a soulful pug, a fierce fish and a singing wood thrush.

Although no one has ever seen the imaginary critters in Stardines Swim High Across the Sky, they are indeed intriguingly beautiful. This creative venture by the king of children’s poetry, Jack Prelutsky, and fine artist Carin Berger is presented as though it were a naturalist’s field guide.

As the cover flap cheerfully explains: “While many creatures (two dozen species in all) were discovered and recorded and their precise qualities examined, we are presenting sixteen here for the first time and for the enjoyment and education of the general public.” Berger’s illustrations continue the ruse, consisting of dioramas, shadow boxes and a variety of other materials, giving this book unique visual appeal.

“Chormorants,” for example, are birds who never stop doing chores, and you can easily guess the characteristics of “slobsters,” “jollyfish” and “sobcats.” Prelutsky brings humor and verbal acrobatics to his poems, as would be expected, while Berger has created perfect pairings of artistic wit and cleverness.

Very much back on terra firma, Forest Has a Song is a lovely compendium of woods-related poems by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. A girl and her dog wander through the forest in a variety of seasons, inviting readers to share their discoveries.

Poems such as “Bone Pile,” “Colorful Actor” (about a cardinal) and “First Flight” (chronicling an owl) nicely convey the discoveries that an observant hiker might make. Gentle watercolors by Robbin Gourley add just the right suggestion of realism, while bringing the poems together into a narrative whole.

FOR OLDER READERS

The zany poems found in If You Were a Chocolate Mustache remind me of Prelutsky’s beloved antics. Instead, they are written by J. Patrick Lewis, the current children’s poet laureate. He is certainly deserving of the title, judging from the smiles you’ll see if you put this volume into the hands of any elementary student.

Fun is the operative word here, with plenty of poems, some very short, such as “Rules for Tightrope Walking Between Tall Buildings”:

1. Whatever you do, don’t laugh.
2. Avoid looking down at the traf—

Matthew Cordell’s simple line drawings add plenty of whimsy—in this case showing a terrified tightrope walker making his way over honking traffic.

There are riddle poems, too, to keep readers engaged, and slightly snarky humor throughout, such as the short and sweet “A Special Bond”:

Each time a child folds her hands,
She may be saying prayers for you,
Or else she just misunderstands
How to use the Elmer’s glue.

Young readers will also relish the abundant humor in Tamera Will Wissinger’s Gone Fishing: A Novel in Verse, also illustrated by Cordell. The poems here tell the story of a memorable summer day of lake fishing.

Young Sam is excited to spend the day with his dad, and righteously dismayed when his younger sister decides to tag along. What’s worse, she quickly catches eight bluegills while Sam still has none.

Happily, Sam soon lands a big one, and the trio ends up having an unforgettable day. Using varied poetic forms, Wissinger captures the fun and family dynamics of this fisherman’s tale.

These six sparkling poetry books speak to young readers of all ages, addressing a symphony of subjects with creativity, humor and style.

STARTING SMALL

In the introduction to Wee Rhymes: Baby’s First Poetry Book, longtime collaborators Jane Yolen and artist Jane Dyer explain how vital poetry is:…

NonfictionParentingMemoir

A mother’s gifts last a lifetime

Feature by Alice Cary

How do you approach Mother’s Day? With reverence and joy, or sorrow and trepidation? Are you fulfilled, exhausted or both from being a dutiful child or caretaking parent? No matter what your emotions, these engrossing books about mothers, children and parenting are bound to speak to you.

Particularly wonderful is a collection gathered by Elizabeth Benedict, What My Mother Gave Me. Benedict, who had a trying, distant relationship with her mother, found herself surprised by the intense feelings she had about a long woolen scarf her mother gave her in the last years of her life. She began to wonder: “If this one gift meant so much to me, if it unlocked the door to so much history and such complicated feelings, might other women have such a gift themselves?”

Indeed they do, and their answers come to life in stories from such writers as Ann Hood, Mary Gordon, Elinor Lipman and Mameve Medwed. Lisa See’s mother taught her to pen “a thousand words a day and one charming note,” a work ethic that involves writing steadily and aiming high. Joyce Carol Oates describes the first days of her widow­hood, when she wrapped herself in a rainbow-colored quilt made by her late mother. The quilt became “a sign of how love endures in the most elemental and comforting ways.” And Emma Straub ponders gifts less tangible, such as tickets for a rainy, rather miserable but memorable cruise around a Wisconsin lake. Straub writes: “My own happiness during every terrible minute of the Betty Lou Cruise came from knowing that when it ended, I would get to tell [my mother] about it.”

BIG FAT GREEK LOVE

For some, the road to motherhood can be fraught with formidable roadblocks, as was the case for actress Nia Vardalos, the famed actress and writer of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. She tells her story in Instant Mom, which is as compelling, witty and wonderful as her now-classic movie about Greek family life. While Vardalos filmed the movie, went on press tours and was eventually nominated for an Oscar, she was desperately enduring a series of fertility treatments and heartbreaking miscarriages. Her dream of becoming a mother was finally fulfilled in 2008 when she and her husband became the unimaginably proud parents of a 3-year-old daughter that they adopted via the foster-care system. “After years of praying to be parents,” Vardalos says, “this little miracle simply appeared.”

The first few months involved exhausting efforts by all to acclimate and build trust, and Vardalos never sugarcoats the details, though she always buffers them with her and her husband’s complete joy and adoration of their headstrong, vivacious little girl. Vardalos brings readers along for a delightful ride as she navigates the toddler and preschool years, ending the story with a helpful question-and-answer section about the adoptive process. Her goal is to educate her readers about adoption, and she achieves it in an endlessly entertaining fashion.

SHARED LAUGHTER

Comedian Carol Burnett also has a powerful mothering story to share. Like many, I grew up watching “The Carol Burnett Show” and still grin at the thought of her Tarzan yell and the unflappable Mrs. Wiggins. Now Burnett bares her soul in her touching memoir, Carrie and Me.

Carrie Hamilton was the oldest of Burnett’s three daughters, a young woman who shared both her mother’s looks and her wide-ranging talent as an actress and singer. Burnett highlights the great triumphs and tragedies of her beloved daughter’s life, filling in details with stories, diary entries and letters. The pair went public in 1979 about Carrie’s adolescent struggle with drugs and alcohol—a multi-year battle from which she ultimately emerged victorious. Mother and daughter later collaborated on a play about Carol’s early life, and the adult Carrie lived in a Colorado cabin while writing a story called “Sunrise in Memphis,” which is included in the book.

Sadly, Carrie’s bold spirit and artistic talent were cut short by lung cancer in 2002. Carol and Carrie were lucky to have each other, and their ironclad bond shines through in this short but sweet memoir.

A LIFE RENEWED

Like Nia Vardalos, Glennon Doyle Melton became something of an instant mom, but in a very different way. On Mother’s Day 2002, this unwed 26-year-old was shocked to discover she was pregnant. What’s more, she was battling bulimia, alcohol and drug addiction. Happily, her life of struggle has become one of triumph, which she describes in Carry On, Warrior.

Becoming a wife and mother was a turning point for Melton, who is now the mother of three and the successful creator of the blog Momastery.com, some essays from which are collected here. She calls herself a “reckless truth teller,” and like Anne Lamott (one of her favorite writers), Melton has dedicated her life not only to her family but to religious faith and humor. She explains that once her husband and first child entered her life, she realized, “If two such good, kind, full people needed and wanted and loved me, could I really be so worthless? Suddenly, it seemed that there might be parts of life that were beautiful and good and meant for ME.”

All four of these books will make readers laugh and cry in recognition, and think more deeply about their own roots and relationships.

How do you approach Mother’s Day? With reverence and joy, or sorrow and trepidation? Are you fulfilled, exhausted or both from being a dutiful child or caretaking parent? No matter what your emotions, these engrossing books about mothers, children and parenting are bound to speak…

NonfictionPhotographyBiographyArt

A century’s worth of artistry

Feature by Alice Cary

Art and photography are wonderful windows to the world through which we are able to see things in new, often unexpected ways. These five books all contain intriguing stories about a variety of artistic visions and are certain to delight any lucky recipients this holiday season.

You can’t help but cheer for Brandon Stanton, creator of Humans of New York, a book that has drawn lots of recent attention. In 2010, after losing his job as a bond trader, Stanton decided to become a photographer, despite his lack of formal training. When the Georgia native went to New York City for the first time, he started an online photo album called “Humans of New York” (HONY). His album eventually morphed into a popular Tumblr blog, as he began pairing his portraits with brief stories or quotations from those he encountered.

This book, a compilation from his blog, is a fascinating tapestry of Big Apple personalities. A sveltely dressed defense lawyer holds his dog and says, “I always work my dog’s name into my closing argument.” A teenage boy in shorts says, “A kid wore shorts to school yesterday and the headmaster got really mad, so today the whole class wore them.” An incredibly frail man in a wheelchair turns out to be Banana George, who at age 92 set a world record as the oldest person to water-ski barefoot.

Stanton presents a colorful panorama of fashion and style, tattoos, wild shoes, Rollerblades, bikes, skateboards, hand holding, kisses, costumes, undying family devotion, babies, kids, old folks, visitors from afar, dancers, artists, dogs, performers and more.

A GLOBAL VISION

Sometimes a photograph becomes so embedded in our brains that we yearn to know the rest of the story. Award-winning photojournalist Steve McCurry takes readers on an amazing global journey in Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs. In 1978, McCurry left his job as a photographer at a Philadelphia newspaper and headed to India with a one-way ticket, his camera and film. Before long, he found himself dressed in native garb and sneaking over the border into war-torn Afghanistan. The rest of his journey has been prolific, earning him the Robert Capa Gold Medal for exceptional courage and enterprise in photographic reporting from abroad.

McCurry is best known for his portrait, The Afghan Girl, taken of a green-eyed schoolgirl in a refugee camp in Pakistan, used on the cover of National Geographic in June 1985. The child’s piercing gaze is haunting, and it became one of the most recognizable photographs in the world. One chapter of this book tells the story of that particular expedition, and a remarkable follow-up in 2002, when McCurry returned to Pakistan to find his memorable subject, now married and a mother.

This is a book suitable for both browsing and focused reading. Other chapters recount, for instance, McCurry’s September 11 experiences in New York City, as well as trips to Tibet, India, Kuwait, Kashmir, Cambodia and more. Portraits of Tibetan children are intensely beautiful, and McCurry is haunted by his experiences in Vietnam, where he traveled in 2007 to photograph a father suffering from AIDS and tuberculosis in a remote village. McCurry reflects: “I hope my photographs will inform people and inspire them, and in some way help those people who have been gracious enough to allow me into their lives.”

ARTISTIC TREASURES

Art Is . . . is a little book in which the Metropolitan Museum of Art tries to tackle a big question: What is art? Nearly 200 artworks from the museum’s collection are paired with simple observations about the nature of art. For example, the words Art is advertisement are paired with a colorful 1880s ad for baking powder that features circus elephants and a clown. Art is woven is exemplified by a 15th-century tapestry of a unicorn. John Singer Sargent’s striking portrait of Madame X shows that art can be provocative. People of all ages will enjoy browsing through these lovely pages, and the small format makes the book all the more inviting—and the perfect stocking stuffer.

AMERICA’S ARTIST

For many, Norman Rockwell’s paintings represent the epitome of American homespun goodness: moments big and small, sad and triumphant, filled with Boy Scouts, policemen, soldiers, doctors, grandmothers and all sorts of grinning, gangly kids. Biographer and art critic Deborah Solomon has written a comprehensive new biography of the master artist, American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell. Ten years in the making, the book is a fascinating look at a man who was himself depression-prone, anxiety-ridden, obsessive and lonely, despite his three wives and three sons. Though Rockwell wasn’t an athlete himself, he seemed to prefer the company of physically strong men, a topic that Solomon delicately explores.

Born in New York City in 1894, Rockwell was likely dyslexic and immersed himself in his drawings at an early age. His first cover for the Saturday Evening Post was published in 1916. It was well received, and he became a regular contributor. Sadly, the happy scenes he painted weren’t from his own life. In 1948, for instance, he painted a cover called Christmas Homecoming, in which all five members of his family appeared. In reality, he was living in Hollywood for a few months while his wife was in Vermont. Rockwell is a beloved figure in American art, and Solomon’s compelling portrait offers the attention and insight that this complex man deserves.

A LIFE OF BEAUTY & DESIGN

Equally comprehensive is Eva Zeisel: Life, Design, and Beauty by Pat Moore. Less immediately recognized than Rockwell, Zeisel (1906-2011) was a highly influential ceramicist whose stylish designs revolutionized American dinnerware in the 1940s and 1950s. Born in Hungary, she evolved from a pottery artist into an industrial designer when a German manufacturer hired her to design tableware in 1928. After being unjustly imprisoned for 16 months in Russia after a colleague falsely accused her of being part of a conspiracy to assassinate Stalin, Zeisel immigrated to the U.S. in 1938.

The works from Zeisel’s long, prolific career are not only beautiful, but also practical and useful. Her line of “Museum” dinnerware was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in 1946, the institution’s first show devoted to a woman designer. Crate and Barrel has sold her designs, and her ceramics, furniture, rugs and lighting can be found in a variety of museums around the world. Zeisel was a pioneer in bringing well-made, well-designed and affordable items to the marketplace. This volume is a loving look at both her life and her work, with stunning photographs that beautifully showcase Zeisel’s creations.

Art and photography are wonderful windows to the world through which we are able to see things in new, often unexpected ways. These five books all contain intriguing stories about a variety of artistic visions and are certain to delight any lucky recipients this holiday…

PhotographyNatureAnimals

What a wonderful world

Feature by Alice Cary

This summer my family and I had frequent visits from a ruby-throated hummingbird that would peer quickly into our large kitchen window. More recently, I was lucky enough to be hiking in the Colorado prairie, surrounded by a vista of distant mountains. Nature can be equally mesmerizing whether viewed from up close, from afar or from an armchair. These books will take you on quite the tour around the world, offering glorious glimpses of natural wonders big and small.

AERIAL VIEWS

What does Earth look like from very far away—from space? Not only is the view breathtaking, but the perspective also offers valuable insights about the fragile state of our planet. This is the premise of Earth from Space, from Yann Arthus-Bertrand, one of the world’s leading aerial photographers and the founder of GoodPlanet, an environmental foundation.

This unique volume features more than 150 satellite photos coupled with interviews with scientists and activists, and is a natural follow-up to Arthus-Bertrand’s wildly successful Earth from Above. At first glance, some of these images resemble beautiful abstract works of art, such as the intricate, ink-like swirls on the opening and end pages. These mysterious views capture, for instance, a forest fire in Siberia, the rising waters of Venice and the sandbanks and algae sculpted by waves in the Bahamas.

Chapters address issues such as world hunger, climate change, pollution, urban sprawl and disasters, explaining the challenges we face and how satellites help us monitor these issues. Earth from Space gives readers an opportunity to understand and visualize global issues in a tangible, intriguing way.

MUSEUM TREASURES

Another remarkable offering awaits in Extraordinary Birds: Essays and Plates of Rare Book Selections from the American Museum of Natural History Library. The perfect package for bird lovers, it consists of a sturdy, book-like box containing 40 frameable prints from the museum’s Rare Book Collection, plus a paperback book of accompanying essays by Paul Sweet, collection manager of the ornithology department. Sweet offers a history of ornithology and explains the significance of each print.

This book is a follow-up to Sterling’s popular 2012 release, Natural Histories: Extraordinary Rare Book Selections from the American Museum of Natural History Library. For both collections, editors spent hours in the museum’s vault, carefully selecting prints for inclusion. Certainly the editors must have lost track of time as they worked, and it’s easy to get lost in these pages.

Each print represents its own story of adventure. For example, two are by Edward Lear, better known today for his nonsense poems, but at age 18, he was hired as a draftsman for the Zoological Society of London. His Red-capped Parrot is stunning; his Eurasian Eagle-Owl is formidable. Readers also learn about the excellent artist Elizabeth Gould, who drew 2,999 plates for her naturalist husband, John, without receiving any credit! At least she got her own species, Mrs. Gould’s Sunbird, named in her honor.

INTO THE WILD

Biologist and photographer Paul Nicklen provides plenty more armchair adventures with Bear: Spirit of the Wild. He grew up on Baffin Island, Canada, and has traveled the globe, spending bone-chilling hours submerged in icy water photographing polar bears, boating up the Yukon in search of grizzlies and trekking the Great Bear Rainforest to observe spirit bears. As two bear experts write in the book’s epilogue: “To roam the last corners of the Earth where wild creatures still thrive is a privilege reserved to only a select handful.” Luckily, with this book, readers get to tag along.

The result is a truly dazzling display of photographs: a white spirit bear chomping on salmon while relaxing on a mossy green carpet in the forest; a young grizzly splashing through a river like a torpedo; a pair of polar cubs peeking over their mother’s back. Essays by Nicklen and other environmentalists offer perspectives on various bears’ habitats and the threats they face.

Nicklen is also a contributor to The Masters of Nature Photography, a compilation of winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition sponsored by BBC Worldwide and the British Natural History Museum. Portfolios of 10 photographers are included, along with an artist profile and discussions of each photograph.

Here, for example, is Frans Lanting describing his glorious shot of a herd of bull elephants in Botswana: “For a short time, a group gathered across the water from me, just as the full moon started to rise, with the pink light of the dying sunset reflected back onto the landscape and the elephants?a primeval scene of ancient Africa. To capture the full reflection of the elephants, I had to wade waist-deep into the water. That was tricky, as a bull coming behind me could have put me in an uncomfortable position.” Reading anecdotes like this makes these wildlife masterpieces all the more impressive and enjoyable.

AWE-INSPIRING LANDSCAPES

In celebration of the travel publisher’s 40th anniversary, Lonely Planet offers its own photography collection in Lonely Planet’s Beautiful World. Here are more than 200 large-format glimpses of places both familiar and remote. A supercell storm near Alvo, Nebraska, forms over grasslands with unimaginable force and fury. Green turtles swim amid a sea of brilliantly colored fish in the Galápagos. Antlered red deer in London’s Richmond Park peer ahead like enchanted beasts of long ago.

This is a book chock-full of photographs, with no text except a short introduction that describes how the beauty of Yosemite Valley “can make you catch your breath.” The editors continue with a valuable message that applies to all of these books: “The world is full of places like that. But we don’t see them every day and sometimes we need to be reminded that they are there.”

This summer my family and I had frequent visits from a ruby-throated hummingbird that would peer quickly into our large kitchen window. More recently, I was lucky enough to be hiking in the Colorado prairie, surrounded by a vista of distant mountains. Nature can be…

Children's & YAPicture Book

Gather ’round for holiday fun

Feature by Alice Cary

Light the fire, grab a mug of hot cocoa and cozy up with the kids for some holiday reading. You’re sure to find magic in a fine Christmas picture book—the best of which will earn a place in your heart and become a treasured part of your family traditions.

That special magic is brilliantly captured in The Christmas Wish, a family project that involved photographer Per Breiehagen, his wife Lori Evert and their young daughter, Anja. Just imagine the warmth and Nordic charm of Jan Brett’s The Wild Christmas Reindeer. Now envision a book that uses breathtaking photographs instead of illustrations to tell its story, and you have The Christmas Wish.

Breiehagen grew up in the mountains of Norway, and a photo he took of Anja with a reindeer inspired his stylist wife Evert to write this holiday story. The result is an exciting tale about a Scandinavian child who dreams of becoming one of Santa’s elves. We first see Anja in her cozy home and at school, tackling holiday chores while contemplating her heart’s desire. One day she simply whooshes away on skis to head to the North Pole, fearlessly plunging into the deep wilderness snow.

Breiehagen’s photographs take readers on a journey up and down mountains, through Northern Light vistas, past frozen waterfalls and across the northern tundra. Along the way, Anja is guided by a cardinal, a giant horse, a musk ox, a polar bear and a reindeer, until she finally reaches the North Pole and sees the big man himself. This unique tale makes readers feel like they’re a part of Anja’s exhilarating journey.

POOR LITTLE SANTA

Children will also enjoy Jon Agee’s Little Santa, an amusing tale about Santa’s childhood. In contrast to the photographic opulence of The Christmas Wish, this story features minimalist illustrations that spin a yarn about a down-on-their-luck family living a dreary life at the North Pole. Young Santa lives in a drab cabin with his parents and six brothers and sisters, all of whom hate the winter chill and dream of moving to Florida. Santa, on the other hand, adores winter fun and can’t stop baking gingerbread cookies and sliding down their chimney.

Just as the family prepares to move, a blizzard buries the house and traps the Claus family. Santa is sent up the chimney to get help. He encounters a buried reindeer, and together they fly to a house that happens to be jam-packed with elves.

Little Santa is a lively romp in which elves say things like “Holy Snowflake,” and young Santa saves the day, meeting a gang of friends who will obviously become his North Pole mainstay.

TRACTOR TROUBLE

Kids will clamor for An Otis Christmas, Loren Long’s fourth story about a spunky little tractor who lives on a hillside farm. Everyone there is happily preparing for Christmas, and Otis is thrilled when the farmer presents him with a shiny new horn on Christmas Eve.

Otis’ sense of holiday cheer quickly turns to dismay, however, when Doc Baker is desperately needed for a horse in labor. Unfortunately, a blinding snowstorm makes his arrival seem impossible, until our trusty tractor sets out bravely into the dark, stormy night, “with snow up to his chin.” Plenty of excitement awaits as Otis chugs up a steep hill and comes to the edge of a cliff, shining his headlights into the abyss.

Long’s gouache-and-pencil illustrations are full of heartfelt charm, yet never stoop to cutesiness. His wonderful Otis series provides a classic new option for vehicle and adventure lovers alike.

CHRISTMAS CATS

I’m not a cat person, but Fuddles completely wins me over. A Very Fuddles Christmas is the second book about this charismatic cat, written and illustrated by Disney animator Frans Vischer and based on his family’s pampered, fat cat. Spoiled “endlessly,” Fuddles thinks Christmas is just for him. He lights up at the sight of a fancy turkey dinner, a gingerbread house and a twinkling Christmas tree. He has a rude awakening, however, when he knocks the tree over and flees in dismay, only to find himself stranded outside in the cold.

Vischer adds humor every step of the way, both to text (“Like a pioneer frontiersman, Fuddles bravely faced the elements”) and to his endearing depictions of Fuddles’ escapades. His illustrations practically leap off the page with energy and imagination. Rest assured that Fuddles does find his way back inside, arriving via a dramatic holiday route.

On a very different note, Maryann Macdonald was inspired to write The Christmas Cat when she saw Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing “La Madonna del Gatto,” showing young Jesus holding a cat. What if Jesus had a cat, she wondered. In Macdonald’s fresh take on the Nativity story, she begins: “Jesus was beautiful, like all babies. And like all babies, he cried.” Baby Jesus is inconsolable, in fact, until a curious kitten begins to nuzzle him and purr.  Thus a friendship is born, and later, when Mary, Joseph and Jesus flee Bethlehem to escape into Egypt, this faithful kitten saves the day when danger is near. Softly evocative illustrations by Amy June Bates enhance this gentle biblical tale.

MOVE OVER, GOLDILOCKS

After watching polar bears frolic at the Central Park Zoo, Maria Modugno went home and wrote Santa Claus and the Three Bears, a Yule-themed take on Goldilocks. These three polar bears live in a Nordic cottage filled with Scandinavian decor, and everything is picture-perfect until a hungry, sleepy Santa drops in and makes himself at home.

After all is said and done, Santa, of course, has the last word of the day, saying: “Sorry about the chair. I’ll bring you a new one next year.” Preschoolers will relish this festive spin on a beloved tale, illustrated by award-winning artist Jane Dyer and her daughter Brooke Dyer.

Light the fire, grab a mug of hot cocoa and cozy up with the kids for some holiday reading. You’re sure to find magic in a fine Christmas picture book—the best of which will earn a place in your heart and become a treasured part…

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