Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: When Sue Met Sue Guest Post with Toni Buzzeo

When Sue Met Sue” Sue Hendrickson Discovers Her T. Rex
by Toni Buzzeo, Illustrated by Diana Sudyka
Abrams Books for Young Readers (May 14, 2019)
Nonfiction * Biography * Women
Audience: Ages 6 to 9
Indiebound | WorldCat

Thank you Toni Buzzeo for stopping by Kid Lit Frenzy and sharing a little more about your new book WHEN SUE FOUND SUE.

What a fascinating research journey I embarked upon for my new book, When Sue Found Sue: Sue Hendrickson Discovers Her T. Rex! I set out to learn everything I could about Sue Hendrickson, the self-made paleontologist who discovered the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered. Writing a picture book biography is incredibly challenging in that the author must generally research as though she would be writing a 40,000-word middle grade biography and then pare it back to a tidy 1000 words, with a single page allotted for an Author’s Note that summarizes everything she’s left out.

During my research, I learned that in childhood Sue honed her skills of observation, taking long walks of discovery, noticing everything worth noticing. As I am a person who lives very much in my mind (perpetually spinning stories, I suppose!), I was very curious about this habit of keen observation that began when Sue was young and has continued into the present. The proof is that Sue Hendrickson has been a professional diver since 1971, a specialist in fossil inclusions in amber from mines in the Dominican Republic and Mexico, a specialist in paleontology field work (especially dinosaurs), and a long-standing member of the Franck Goddio marine archaeology team. Not only has Sue searched for lost things throughout her life, she has possessed an uncanny ability to find them.

Having learned so much about Sue, my first several drafts were quite different from the book I published. Those early drafts covered all of Sue’s finding adventures in some detail, ranging widely across the span of Sue’s life because Sue Hendrickson has not just been a dinosaur-finder. Instead, Sue has been an everything-finder. So, in those drafts, I worked hard to highlight her propensity—present even in childhood and continuing in her many adult professional pursuits—for finding all manner of things.

However, my wise editor, Tamar Brazis, encouraged me to focus in more closely on the discovery of Sue the T. rex. But as I condensed the information about Sue’s other pursuits and concentrated primarily on Sue’s paleontology efforts, I never lost sight of Sue’s almost-magical ability to detect, to locate, to find what has long been lost.The long-lost skeleton of Sue the T. rex was no exception. During the summer of August 1990, her fourth spent digging duck-billed dinosaurs in the blistering heat of South Dakota, Sue felt pulled to a sandstone cliff in the distance. She couldn’t say why, but she says she was called to that cliff. On the last day of the dig, in the absence of her team members who had gone to town to get a tire fixed, Sue finally answered the mysterious call. She hiked for four hours over seven miles of rugged ground, and there she found the three enormous backbones of Sue the T. rex protruding from the cliff. As Sue Hendrickson herself tells it, “For two weeks this dinosaur was doing something to me, calling me. I didn’t actually hear voices. But something kept pulling me there. Something wanted it to be me that went there and found her.” (Tyrannosaurus Sue: The Extraordinary Saga of the Largest, Most Fought Over T. Rex Ever Found by Steve Fiffer, 2000.)

For me, then, the most intriguing piece of researching Sue was learning about her preternatural gift for discovery and the exciting life she has built in using that gift to enrich human knowledge—simply by finding things!

About the author: Toni Buzzeo is the author of the Caldecott Honor Book and New York Times bestseller One Cool Friend and many other books for children. She lives in Arlington, Massachusetts.

About the Illustrator: Diana Sudyka is a Chicago-based illustrator who got her start designing and screen-printing posters for musicians such as St. Vincent, Andrew Bird, and the Decemberists. She also volunteers at the Field Museum in Chicago, where Sue the T. rex is housed.

Look for WHEN SUE FOUND SUE in your local indie bookstore or community library.

Don’t forget to link up your nonfiction reviews…

Born to Ride: A Story About Bicycle Face - Guest Post by Larrisa Theule

Born to Ride: A Story About Bicycle Face
by Larissa Theule, Illustrated by Kelsey Garrity-Riley
Abrams Books for Young Readers (March 12, 2019)
Fiction * History * Women’s History
Audience: Ages 6 to 10
Indiebound | WorldCat

Thank you Larissa for stopping by the blog today to talk about your book Born to Ride: A Story About Bicycle Face. and close out Women’s History Month.
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I first read about ‘bicycle face’ around the time my daughter was learning to ride a bike. Because learning to ride a bike is now a universal rite-of-passage, I was jolted to remember there was a time when most of society believed girls had no business on wheels.

During the bicycle craze of the 1890s, ‘bicycle face’ was a made-up medical affliction supposedly caused by the strain of balancing a bike. Allegedly, it affected women more than men because they were weaker, and its purported symptoms included permanently bulging eyes and a closed-up jaw. It was bad science, but a good example of the kind of silly threats issued women who dared to ride. With regard to single women in particular, the implication was this: ‘bicycle face’ makes one ugly, and if one is ugly, one will never marry.

But say the call of the open road was too much for a woman to resist. In that case, there were recommended rules and precautions. This list of “Bicycling Don’ts for Women” from New York World, 1896, is indicative of the tremendous constraints placed on women’s behavior generally, and their riding behavior specifically. “Don’t cultivate a ‘bicycle face’” appears near the beginning.

[List of “Bicycling Don’ts for Women” New York World, 1896]

This list seems ridiculous and regressive to us, and it probably seemed so to wheelwomen of the time, too. Early wheelwomen were some of the toughest dames around and they ignored most rules and precautions except the practical ones, and in the face of frequent harassment, fought back, sometimes with their fists.

[image: “Thrashed by a Lady Cyclist” The Illustrated Police News, July 1899]

This anecdote is one of my favorites. Such spirit! However, the degree of harassment faced by the “Bolton lady known for her athletic powers” was not the worst that wheelwomen faced. Wheelwomen were criticized for being unfeminine, for being bad mothers and wives, for going against nature and becoming like men. You have only to peruse old comics in Punch to comprehend the ridicule heaped upon them. Public objection was sometimes sinister.

The ‘New Woman’ was a term that took hold in the late 19th century; it defined a feminist ideal. A New Woman sought higher education, suffrage, some degree of financial independence, and, more than likely, she rode a bike. The bicycle came to symbolize women literally riding into traditionally male spheres of influence.

In 1897, male Cambridge University undergraduates protested the admission of female students by hanging an effigy of a ‘New Woman’ on a bicycle from a window.

[image: Effigy of ‘New Woman’ on bicycle, https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2018/02/22/cambridge-boys-celebrate-when-women-are-refused-degrees/]

Later, to celebrate the ruling that women would be denied full degrees, the crowd tore the effigy apart. The ruling wasn’t reversed until 1947.

In Born to Ride: A Story About Bicycle Face, I wanted to reclaim “bicycle face” and turn it into something strong and proud the way women have done with other words intended to disparage, such as “nevertheless, she persisted,” and the words that spurred on millions to march in pink pussy hats. I wanted to make a little space in male-dominated history for wheelwomen. But Born to Ride also captures the simple, timeless narrative of a child who learns to ride a bike and in doing so feels free—that feeling of being free is, after all, the whole point.

About the author: Larissa Theule holds an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is the author of three forthcoming picture books. She lives in Pasadena, California, with her family.

Look for Born to Ride: A Story About Bicycle Face at your local indie bookstore or community library.

Little Elliot Blog Tour & Giveaway: Guest Post by Mike Curato

Today, I am very excited to have Mike Curato stop by Kid Lit Frenzy and share about his inspiration for writing Little Elliot, Big City.  I had a chance to read this picture book several months ago and even shared it with a group of first graders and they loved it. 

We all feel small at times, no matter our age or height. We all have moments of feeling ignored or lost in this big world. These were the motivations behind writing Little Elliot, Big City. The dedication reads “For anyone who feels unnoticed.”

When I was very young, I went to the deli one day on an errand. I was too short to see over the high counter, and grown ups were cutting in front of me to place their orders. This went on for some time, until a man asked me if I was in line, finally getting the clerk's attention. This was the memory that I chose to build the story around (after many attempts at other plots).

 In the book, Elliot faces many challenges being small, both outside in the city and at home. He faces it all with a grin-and-bear-it attitude, until he is unable to obtain his favorite joy--a cupcake. Feeling dejected, Elliot walks home, but on the way discovers someone even smaller in need. After helping Mouse, the favor is returned, and Elliot finally gets his cupcake. However, he gets something even better, a new friend (one that will stick around, as you’ll see in the second book, Little Elliot, Big Family).

I hope that kids are able to take away a sense of perspective and an appreciation for friendship. Our size is relative, it grows and shrinks depending on our situation. What Elliot and Mouse show us is that no matter what your size, you can make a difference. Though Elliot feels small, he is still bigger than Mouse. Meanwhile, though Mouse is smaller than Elliot, their combined efforts achieve Elliot’s goal. I hope that the book illustrates that friendship is the real prize in life. Elliot may have thought that a cupcake was the sweetest thing in his life, but he finds out that having a friend is even sweeter.

Check out the official book trailer for Little Elliot, Big City:

About the author: Mike Curato has the fortune of possessing a designer's brain, an illustrator heart, and an artist vision. You can find him on any given day walking around the city eating a cupcake (or thinking about it).  Where to find Mike online: website | blog | twitter | facebook  

Check out the other stops in the blog tour:

Little Elliot, Big City by Mike Curato | On sale August 26, 2014

 Tuesday, August 26           Librarian in Cute Shoes | @utalaniz

Wednesday, August 27     Teach Mentor Texts | @mentortexts

Thursday, August 28         Read. Write. Reflect. | @katsok 

Friday, August 29               Kit Lit Frenzy | @alybee930

Saturday, August 30          Daddy Mojo | @daddymojo

Sunday, August 31             Sharp Reads | @colbysharp 

                 Watch. Connect. Read. | @mrschureads

                 Nerdy Book Club | @nerdybookclub

Monday, September 1      Miss Print | @miss_print 

Thank you Macmillan for this great giveaway:
Enter the rafflecopter below for a chance to win a copy of Little Elliot, Big City book, a tote bag, and a sheet of stickers.  All participants must be 13 years or older and have a US mailing address in order to be eligible.

Good luck everyone! 

Spirit's Key Author Edith Cohn Talks About Writing & Shares a Giveaway

Today I am excited to welcome middle grade debut author, Edith Cohn to Kid Lit Frenzy.  Edith shares about teaching, writing and her new book SPIRIT'S KEY. 

Writing a Book for the Teacher in Me

I used to teach 7th grade English, but I only taught for a few years. I foolishly took the job thinking I’d have time to write. Teachers are finished by 3pm. Teachers get summers off. I reasoned. I’ll have soooo much time to write my novel. As a teacher, I’d never worked so hard in my life, and I’ve had a ton of jobs, so that’s really saying something. There ought to be an extra special pot of gold at the end of each day for English teachers in particular. The grading! Please, someone give these folks a raise for all those hours spent after school. And forget summers. Those are for professional development, reading new books for the kiddos, and making new lessons. The whole twelve-week summer is gone in a blink.

It’s too bad, because I liked teaching. But I’ve wanted to write novels since I could read them—perhaps even since my mother could read them to me. So every job I ever took, I took asking myself the question, “How much time will this give me to write?” I hated most of the jobs I had to take to pay the bills (the salary for a budding novelist being sadly, zero), but I’m grateful for my time as a teacher.

I took invaluable things from that experience. I would not trade it. When I realized I had an idea for a middle grade novel rumbling around in my head, the idea came with a list of ways I hoped to make the book classroom friendly. As a teacher, I wanted certain things from the novels I taught. As a novelist, I aimed to include them. So what things did the teacher in me want to include?

Rich themes. Themes are the body and soul of great essays for the classroom. In my debut novel SPIRIT’S KEY, I decided to tackle the theme of tolerance (I was nothing if not ambitious!). This is a theme I wanted so desperately to teach my students. My kids came from all difference backgrounds and cultures. Those cultures clashed. I wanted a book that might teach them to love each other. I wanted a book that could spur essays where they could write about their own experiences with injustice. I wanted a book that might make them look at their own world in a slightly different way. I hoped the insiders vs. outsiders theme in my book might strike a personal cord. I hoped the theme of fear might provide a common ground on which to build a discussion.

 A strong girl character that the boys could get behind. I found (and this might have to do with my inexperience as a teacher) that if I didn’t teach a book that the boys liked, I had terrible classroom management. I *had* to engage the boys. So what did I do? I only taught books with boy main characters. I feel terrible about this to this day, because it isn’t fair. It was unbalanced. I’m not saying there aren’t great books out there for boys with girl main characters. But the many years ago when I was teaching, I couldn’t find them or I just didn’t know about them. Or I was too scared to even take the chance. Remember, I was inexperienced and didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to write, much less read. So anyway, when I set out to write my own book, I was determined to give it both girl and boy appeal, while still having a girl main character. This meant including a girl that wasn’t too girlie. This also meant including an interesting secondary character that was a boy.

My main character Spirit Holden, a girl psychic waiting to inherit her future-telling gift, was born. Spirit is a dog lover, a bike rider and strong swimmer. She’s a girl unafraid to stand up for what she believes in. Her friend is Nector Hatterask—a boy haunted by hurricanes and superstition whose greatest desire is to pilot an airplane.

A genre bending book. Spirit’s Key is a mystery novel with light fantasy elements. I wanted a realistic appeal with school, friendships, and family—for the contemporary lovers in my class, as well as action, mystery, a bit of magic and world building for the fantasy lovers. Again with the ambition! I know, I know. But my students were fiercely opinionated youngsters, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the student who would only read contemporary or the one who swore she would only read fantasy forever and always Amen. Do you know these kids? They make picking a book the class can read together a real challenge. So I set out to provide something for everyone. Often this is the kiss of death. Try to please everyone, you lose everyone. But books that defy genre are my personal reading favorites. The ones some people call magical realism. So really, even though I do hope to please a classroom full of very different kids, I was first hoping to please myself, which brings me to my next goal.

A book that would appeal to both adults and kids. Middle grade novels face an interesting challenge. They must first appeal to teachers and librarians in order to be put into the hands of kids. They must win over the gatekeepers. Kids between the ages of 8-12 are in the sweet spot for reading. This is the age where they develop the passion to become lifelong independent readers. And I believe that passion is born in the classroom, as it was for me as a child. It’s a big responsibility.

As a teacher, I had to be over the moon about the book I was teaching, because the students were a reflection of my enthusiasm. If I wasn’t jazzed, they weren’t jazzed. So when I sat down to write SPIRIT’S KEY, I aimed to create a book that would appeal to the adults who teach the class and the kids in front of them.

How did I plan to do that? With an action plot balanced with deep character relationships. Most kids like a page-turner. The popularity of books like The False Prince and The Hunger Games are a testament to the fact that kids enjoy high stakes and characters who are running for their lives. I like those books too. And my favorites are the ones that do a good job combining thrills with rich characters. To me, this was the key to appealing to adults and kids.

In SPIRIT’S KEY, Spirit goes on dangerous adventures through the woods with kids who have very different beliefs than she does. She battles wild dogs and must fight the currents of the ocean in a kayak. In quieter moments, she has interesting discussions about the island’s legends and spirits with her Dad, her new friends and her crazy neighbor, a fur-wearing agoraphobic named Mrs. Borse.

Does SPIRIT’S KEY accomplish everything I set out to do? I was so worried it wouldn’t, it took me a year and a half before I found the courage to begin. But I finally did. I pushed fear aside and wrote a book for the teacher in me.

A video of Edith talking about her book and sharing the arrival of a finished copy: 

About Edith Cohn:

Edith Cohn was born and raised in North Carolina where she grew up exploring the unique beaches of the Outer Banks. She currently lives in the coyote-filled hills of Los Angeles with her husband and fur-daughter Leia. All of these things provided inspiration for her debut middle grade novel, SPIRIT’S KEY, a mystery about a girl and her ghost dog coming soon from FSG/Macmillan.   website | facebook | twitter | goodreads

Thank you to Macmillan, one lucky reader will win a copy of Edith's book SPIRIT'S KEY. And Edith is offering a copy of a poster she created. To learn about how to get a copy of the Be the Breed that Reads Poster click here.  To enter for a chance to win a copy of the book you need to be 13 years old or older and have a US mailing address. Complete the rafflecopter below.