Leonardo da Vinci

Google is celebrating the birthday of Leonardo. He was born on April 15, 1452 in Vinci, Italy, near Florence.



Diane Stanley's book Leonardo is a well researched and elegantly illustrated work.




My favorite "Leonardo" book is Leonardo's Horse by Jean Fritz and illustrated by the incomparable Hudson Talbott. From the moment you see that curved top you know you are in for a treat. Fritz and Talbott weave the story of the magnificent horse sculpture Leonardo designed for the Duke of Milan. Sadly, the giant bronze horse was never completed during his lifetime. The centuries zoom forward to 1977 when Charles Dent decided he would make Leonardo's horse a reality. This moving story is enjoyed by folks of all ages.

I love Hudson Talbott's work.

Picture books about the Holocaust

Writing for children about the Holocaust takes a special gift. It can be difficult to communicate the horror of those years to young readers without graphic descriptions of atrocities and concentration camps.

There are many amazing and touching novels for young people that deal with this time period but when you do not have the time to teach a multiweek novel unit, picture books can say it all.

These are four picture books I share with elementary students.



Forging Freedom: A True Story of Heroism During the Holocaust by Hudson Talbott
The true account of Jaap Penraat's efforts to help Dutch Jews escape persecution by forging papers and documents for them.
Talbott's wonderful illustratons include a map of Europe with Hitler's head, like an octopus with barbed wire tentacles, reaching into every corner of the continent. This picture is truly worth a thousand words.



The Cats in Krasinski Square by Karen Hesse
The opening lines of the story set the scene, “The cats come from the cracks in the Wall, the dark corners, the openings in the rubble." The abandoned cats of the city help the Resistance smuggle food to the starving people trapped behind the wall around the Warsaw Ghetto.



The Butterfly by Patricia Pollaco
Monique is a young French girl who discovers her mother is hiding a Jewish family in the basement. Kids listen thoughtfully to the story but they REALLY get mad when the German soldier cruelly crushes a butterfly in his gloved fist.



Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story by Ken Mochizuki
Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania in 1940. As the Germans invaded Poland, thousands of refugees flooded into Lithuania begging for visas that would allow them to travel to safety. Despite orders from his government, Sugihara signed travel visas around the clock and saved thousands of lives. The drama of the events and the courage of Sugihara and his family make this true story unforgettable.

The Flopsy Bunnies' Garden

From BBC News:

The garden at Gwaenynog Hall in Denbigh (Wales) served as the setting for The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies and those other "rabbit" books Beatrix Potter wrote. The current owners of the hall are restoring the garden to how it appeared when the author visited.

"Beatrix Potter's mother and my great-grandmother were sisters and she came here to stay with her Uncle Fred. This is going back to the 1890s and she came some 13 times," said the mother-of-three.

Owner Janie Smith describes the garden:

"It's full of herbaceous plants, we have apple trees, pear trees, we have apricots, peaches and damsons and lovely green gardens to walk on.

"In June it is in tremendous flower," she added.

The potting shed is still there.

Author: Neil Schusterman

One of the joys of attending a library conference like the Texas Library Association annual meeting last week is the opportunity to hear thoughtful and creative authors talk about their work. There are plenty of sessions on "how-to-run-my-library-well-and-get-along- with-the-powers-that-be-and motivate-my-students-to-read" but I find my renewal and inspiration by listening to the authors.

In the question and answer time at the end of the presentations they are often asked about their personal reading habits. YA author Neil Schusterman made my day when he confessed that the majority of reading is YA literature. He said he judged a Golden Kite award a few years ago and had to read hundreds of titles under consideration. He was hooked. He also shared that he asks school librarians for their favorite picks when looking for new books to read.
(I have never understood HOW you can be a children's/YA librarian and NOT read the books, but that's just me.)

He said had just finished The City of Ember and The People of Spark and loved them and was beginning The Sea of Trolls.

He appeared on a panel of other YA authors. His comments were so interesting, I would have loved a whole session devoted to him.

Becoming Naomi León

Becoming Naomi León by Pam Munoz Ryan, 2004

This story is so fine. Naomi and her brother Owen are happy children being raised by their grandmother. Naomi loves carving animals out of soap. Her brother Owen is a brain.

Like all children she is curious about her parents who are not part of her life. One day the children's mother, "Call me Skyla," appears and lavishes attention on Naomi. Skyla barely hides her revulsion over Owen's physical problems resulting from birth defects and does not appreciate his keen sharp mind.

Gram's misgivings are confirmed when Skyla announces she wants to take Naomi to live with her and her boyfriend in Las Vegas. Naomi realizes that she is only wanted for support money and to be a babysitter for the boyfriend's daughter. Her hopes for a happy ending with a loving mother are dashed. To find help for the upcoming custody battle, Gram takes the children to Mexico in hopes of finding the children's father.

This story line seems tragic but the the characters are so tenderly and finely drawn that we cheer their strength and courage. Naomi comes to know herself and finds her gift as a carver at the Christmas festival in Oaxaca. The reader cares deeply about this family and is thankful to Pam Munoz Ryan who created them. If you enjoyed "Esperanza Rising," you will love "Becoming Naomi León."

Pam Munoz Ryan's website

Science comic books

Another interesting NPR piece on two scientists who are bringing science to students using comic books.

Engineer Jim Ottaviani writes graphic novels about scientists. His first comic was about Hedy Lamar who was an inventor and scientist in addition to Hollywood star. He has also written about Niels Bohr, J. Robert Oppenheimer and Charles Robert Knight.


Dr. Jay Hosler is a biologist who also creates comics for his university classes. His books include Clan Apis, a biography a honey bee named Nyuki and The Sandwalk Adventures.

Hosler explains that comics are a perfect medium to explain scientific issues because they use shorthand to communicate ideas and science does too. He says comics tell stories in sequence, we have to understand time to understand comics. He points out that cave paintings were the original comic books. They are stories told in sequence through pictures.

Comic Books and Learning

More articles discussing how teachers are using comic books in order to reach students.

NPR has a story on a pilot program at Lisby-Hillsdale Elementary in Maryland to improve student performance by using comic books in the classroom. It is short and worth a listen.

The program illustrates an ongoing debate: do teachers give students a challenge, or offer less difficult material that is more likely to spark their interest?

The bottom line will be whether reading scores improve. Getting kids to put down the video games and open a book is the real challenge.

The Daily Collegian investigates the reasons that comic books are so popular with college students.

"It is not just about capes, it is about individuals who have these outstanding powers," said Jorge. Some comic books take on very serious subject matter, such as the Holocaust and Middle Eastern relations. No matter what you are looking for, a story exists about what you want in comic book form.

Comic books do not just depend on the written word. The written word is complemented beautifully with the artwork contained in its pages. These two work together to produce a story, both portrayed by word and visual art.

New Charlie Bone book

It is going to be a great summer! Jenny Nimmo has a new Charile Bone coming out in July 2005! According to Amazon it will be called, Charlie Bone And The Castle Of Mirrors. I really enjoy this series. I think it is an easier read for some kids than "Harry."

This summer will be a fantasy reader's dream with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Eldest (Inheritance, Book 2) and now Charlie Bone to look forward to.


The new The Opal Deception (Artemis Fowl, Book 4) is just out too. The ending of book 3 was so amazing, I can hardly wait to see how Artemis gets himself "back."

Children's/YA author interviews

KidsLit pointed me to Bill Thompson's EyeOnBooks website.

He features interviews with authors including children's and YA authors like Chris VanAllsburg, Meg Cabot, Gary Paulsen, Dave Barry, Christopher Paul Curtis, and more.

National Library Week

Thanks to Google for noting that this week is National Library Week!