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9May

All That Trash

Posted by: annettepimentel@gmail.com Categories: Review
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Cover of All That Trash shows a pile of garbage.I love Meghan McCarthy’s new book, All That Trash. It’s about the 1987 New York garbage barge scandal. That year, a barge full of garbage floated around the Atlantic Ocean, looking for a place to dump it. Eventually, it ended up back where it started, but in the process it illuminated for the entire nation both how much garbage we produce and also what a huge disposal problem we have.

The story is complicated. It involves lots of people and lots of places. McCarthy doesn’t shy away from the complex, though. She introduces us to many, many people–politicans, businessmen, workers on the barge, reporters–and we hear their voices. But she ingeniously helps us keep them straight by creating tiny portraits of each person, captioned with name and title, to stand next to voice bubbles with what they had to say. The portraits are drawn with her familiar wit. I especially loved that the recurring portrait of the captain of the barge always appears in a cloud of flies. She uses a map to help us keep track of where the barge goes.

The story is compelling and she keeps us moving through it with really effective page layouts and page turns. I especially loved the page where she recreates the photo of the Greenpeace protest–a huge banner unfurled on the barge, which says, “Next Time…Try Recycling.”

The back matter gives even more detail about the story of the barge (the Mob’s involvement!) as well as information about how much garbage we produce as a nation today. A photo essay shows useful and beautiful items built of recycled garbage, an inspiring prompt for kids to be inventive.

All that Trash: The Story of the 1987 Garbage Barge and Our Problem with Stuff by Meghan McCarthy. Paula Wiseman: 2018.

Picture of children surrounding a globe

Alyson Beecher hosts the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge at kidlitfrenzy.com. Visit there for more great nonfiction picture books!

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6Apr

Miss Mary Reporting

Posted by: annettepimentel@gmail.com Categories: Review
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Cover of book showing many men, including athletes in full uniform, surrounding a tiny woman holding a pencil and a notepadMiss Mary Reporting is vintage Sue Macy–it’s the rollicking story of a woman breaking barriers in the world of sports. But this time, the woman isn’t an athlete but a reporter.

This picture book biography tells the story of Mary Garber, one of the first and arguably the most prominent early female sportswriter. We learn about many of the stories she covered–from football to Soap Box Derby racing–and about her experience reporting on Jackie Robinson as he broke the color barrier in major league baseball.

Mary Garber not only reported on a trailblazer but also became one in her own right. She insisted on covering black high school athletic events, not just ones from the white schools in her hometown of Winston-Salem. And of course being a female sports reporter brought its own set of challenges. Something as small as a press pass could prove a challenge for her:

Even after she was allowed in [the press box], Mary had to wear the football writers’ official press badge, which proclaimed, “Press Box: Women and Children Not Admitted.

As you would expect in a book about a reporter, the narrative voice is straightforward and sometimes reportorial. The back matter is lively and helpful. I especially loved seeing all of the quotes in the book–13 in all!–fully attributed.

C.F. Payne’s illustrations reminded me of editorial cartoons. They’re fun to look at and good cartoon likenesses of famous faces.

This video is long, but if you watch even a few minutes of it, you’ll be able to see the real Mary Garber and hear her voice.

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30Mar

Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea

Posted by: annettepimentel@gmail.com Categories: Review
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Cover of book shows woman looking across ocean sceneI love to find nonfiction picture books about women in science! This lovely new picture book tells the story of Marie Tharp, a cartographer and ocean researcher. She didn’t live that long ago, but she still encountered lots of opposition to her working in science. She managed to carve out a tiny place for herself at the ocean-studies lab at Columbia University and with a colleague came up with the idea of mapping the ocean floor.

Because she was a woman, she wasn’t allowed to actually do the research required to make the map, but she gathered all the data and figured out how to put it into a usable form. In her work, she became convinced that the theory of tectonic plates was accurate and then used her maps to convince her colleagues. What a great role model of a gutsy, persistent scientist!

The book is written in first person, a choice that makes it easy for the reader to identify with Marie Tharp’s passions, patience, and success.

The back matter includes an interesting glossary (interesting! a glossary!) of terms related to Marie Tharp’s work: Pangaea, Ring of Fire, seafloor spreading. There’s also an interesting section titled “Things to Wonder About and Do” which invites young readers to do things like make soundings in a lake, to research deep ocean spots online, and to speculate about the center of the earth.

Raul Colon’s art is beautiful and lovely accompaniment to this biography. This video profiles another book he did using the same materials he used in this book.

Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea, by Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Raul Coloon. Paula Wiseman Books (Simon & Schuster): 2016.

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