Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea

Marie Tharp Maps
the Ocean Floor

A Paula Wiseman Book
(Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
(published 1.15.2016) 40 pages 

A True Tale
with A Cherry On Top 

A uthor: Robert Burleigh
      and Illustrator: Raul Colon

C haracter: Marie Tharp

O verview from the jacket flap: 

    "Marie Tharp always loved maps. Traveling with her father to make surveys, she felt like maps talked to her. Then in college, a teacher pointed out that though the oceans cover more than half the earth's surface, scientists knew very little about the bottom of the seas. She wondered, how deep are the oceans? Is the seafloor flat or are there mountains on the ocean floor?
     In the 1940s Marie entered a world where it was not easy to be a woman and a scientist. And having a woman on a ship was thought to be bad luck. Still she persevered. Today Marie Tharp is considered one of the twentieth century's most important scientists, though she is little known.
     Award-winning author Robert Burleigh tells the story of Marie Tharp's imagination and determination. Luminously illustrated by Raul Colon, Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea is a book that will inspire readers to follow their dreams."
    
T antalizing taste: 
     
    "People had long attempted to measure the depth of the oceans. Sailors once lowered weighted ropes to make such measurements. More recently, scientists had begun using machines that sent sound waves from a ship to the seafloor and back again ... These measurements are called 'soundings'...
     You have to think big, I told myself. I hauled a large table into my workroom and covered it with a huge sheet of paper. To me it was a blank canvas filled with possibilities. I couldn't wait to get started.
     ...It was like piecing together an immense jigsaw puzzle. I felt like a detective solving a great mystery.
     I was a scientist at last ...
     I was a kind of artist, too... I couldn't see it with my eyes, yet a 'portrait' of the ocean floor was coming into view."

and something more: The back matter of Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea explains that Marie Tharp "was a key figure in helping to map and understand the seafloors around the world. Her work was also valuable in proving the theory of continental drift: that all the continents on earth move very slowly, toward or away from one another, over time... It took years for Marie's work and achievement to receive full recognition... Marie Tharp died in 2006. Among the many tributes that she received, one scientist put it very simply, 'Marie didn't just make maps. She understood how the Earth works.'"

Clean Sweep

Frank Zamboni's
Ice Machine

Tundra Books
(published 1.5.2016) 32 pages 

A True Tale
with A Cherry On Top 

A uthor: Monica Kulling
      and Illustrator: Renne Benoit

C haracter: Frank Zamboni

O verview from the jacket flap: 

    "In 1940, Frank Zamboni, along with his brother and cousin, opened their own skating rink in California. Their biggest frustration was the time it took the crew to resurface the ice - up to an hour and a half! Skaters grew impatient with the wait. Could Frank turn a ninety-minute job for five men into a ten-minute task for only one?
     Working in the shed behind his ice rink, Frank drew designs and built models of machines he hoped would do the job. Frank worked on his invention for nine years, making each model better than the one before. Finally, in 1949, Frank tested the Model A and it did exactly what he wanted it to - it gave ice a smooth finish in a fraction of the time. The Zamboni ice resurfacer had arrived, and ice rinks haven't been the same since."
     
T antalizing taste: 

   "Frank labored in a workshop behind Iceland. Sometimes folks stopped to ask what he was doing. When Frank told them, they often offered advice, such as 'It can't be done,' or 'Sounds crazy to me.'
    So Frank dug in his heels and tried harder.
     But the Second World War came along and put a stop to Frank's work.
     When the war ended, Frank was able to buy military parts, like an engine and axles, cheaply. He built his ice-resurfacing machine on the chassis, or base frame, of a Jeep...
     Over the years, Frank would build many models, each one an improvement on the last...
     In 1951, Sonja Henie, Norway's figure-skating superstar, bought two Zamboni ice-resurfacing machines. Henie had won gold medals three times in a row at the Olympics. Now she was making movies and performing ice shows.
     Frank painted Henie's machines fire-engine red."

and something more: The last page of CLEAN SWEEP features fun facts about the Zamboni machine, including ...  
     "The machine can remove up to 60 cubic feet of ice in one pass. That's enough shavings to make 3,661 snow cones.
     In 1960, it appeared for the first time at the Olympic Winter Games.
     In 2001, a Zamboni machine, with a top speed of nine miles an hour, was driven across Canada, from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Victoria, British Columbia, a trip that took four months.
     Zamboni machines are on every continent except Antarctica."

Fearless Flyer

Ruth Law and 
Her Flying Machine

Calkins Creek
(published 3.1.2016) 40 pages 

A True Tale
with A Cherry On Top 

A uthor: Heather Lang
      and Illustrator: Raul Colon

C haracter: Ruth Law

O verview from the jacket flap: 

    "Before 1916, no pilot had attempted to fly from Chicago to New York City in one day. 
     No pilot would think of making the trip with an old flying machine and an out-of-date engine.
     And if the pilot was a woman? 
     Impossible!
     So the experts said.
     But they didn't know Ruth Law.
     On a windy November morning, she revved her plane's engine and took off on that impossible cross-county flight.
     What Ruth Law did next amazed America."

T antalizing taste: 

   "Slowly she gained altitude.
    As quickly as the wind had gusted, it vanished. Would she have enough gasoline?
    Ruth held onto the left and right levers at all times. One wrong move would send her tumbling from the sky.Holding the right lever with her knees, she turned the knobs on the map box, strapped to her leg. 
    I had a tremendous feeling of freedom, of exhilaration, of power. I was steering my own course by a little six-inch map." 

and something more: The Author's Note of Fearless Flyer explains that "Ruth never let barriers set by society hold her back...When Orville Wright refused to teach her to fly, she found another instructor. Ruth took flying seriously... Ruth believed the key to her success was her mechanical knowledge. She spent many hours learning her plane - the engine, the nuts and bolts, the wires. She whittled struts and grinded valves until her hands blistered."  
     The book begins with this quote:  "When I was a little girl, I used to dream of flying, not with terror ... but with wonder and delight. I would be a swallow flying south, or an eagle swooping down from the clouds, and then, all of a sudden, I'd wake up, just a little girl ready to cry because she had no wings." And then she gained her wings, by persevering to become a pilot!

Alicia Alonso

Prima Ballerina

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 

hosted today by Rasco from RIF

Marshall Cavendish Childrens

(pub. 9.1.2011)  32 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Carmen T. Bernier-Grand
     and Illustrator:  Raul Colon

C haracter:   Alicia Alonso

 

O verview from the jacket flap: 

         "Alica Alonso's artistic achievements are remarkable, considering that she became partially blind and lost her peripheral vision at age nineteen.  From childhood, she exhibited a passion for dancing, studying first in Cuba and later in New York City, where she became an overnight sensation in Giselle and was promoted to principal dancer in the Ballet Theater. Returning to Cuba in 1948, she founded her own company ... In 1959, the Cuban government gave her enough money to establish a new dance school, Ballet National de Cuba, which Alonso directs to this day.
           In elegant free verse and with stunning artwork, Carmen T. Bernier-Grand and Raul Colon have captured the seminal events in Alonso's life.  Her drive to put her art above all other concerns and influences, no matter how difficult, will impress any aspiring artist."

 

T antalizing taste: 

     "I Still Have Time

Although Alicia
is not performing,
she is still
on center stage.
She listens
to the music,
choreographs
in her mind,
explains
to ballet masters.
How would you like
to be remembered?
'I'm telling you,'
Alicia answers.
'There is a future
ahead. Ask me
in two hundred years."

"When I live, I take advantage of the little time I have to live.
When I dance, I take advantage of the little time I have to dance."
              -Alicia Alonso
               Prima Ballerina Assoluta

and something more:   I've always thought that the cover of a picture book should not only include the names of the author and illustrator, but also the names of the editor and art director who have the vision and expertise to bring the book to fruition.

But a dedication is the next best thing. Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, author of Alicia Alonso - Prima Ballerina, dedicates the book "To Margery Cuyler, choreographer of this ballet of words."

I too am so thankful that Margery Cuyler, Publisher of Marshall Cavendish Childrens, was the editor of my book, My Hands Sing the Blues.  In that book, I recognized Margery as "editor extraordinaire." Throughout the editing process, Margery gently and expertly guided me. Her suggestions were always spot on, and showed a respect for my vision.

And, thank you to Anahid Hamparian, the art director who chose the amazing Elizabeth Zunon to illustrate My Hands Sing the Blues, and also designed the wonderful layout and chose the varied intriguing typefaces for the book.

Thank you Margery and Anahid!