Bill the Boy Wonder

Title: Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman
Author: Marc Tyler Nobleman
Illustrator: Ty Templeton
ISBN: 9781580892896
Pages: unpaged
Publisher/Date: Charlesbridge, c2012.

Bob told Bill that Bat-Man would be published and asked Bill to write it–without credit. Because such an arrangement was fairly typical, and because writing gigs were tough to get, but mainly because Bill was an agreeable sort, he said yes.
With that, Bill took on his second secret identity.
However, he would soon realize that he had been blind about this Bat.

I’ll be the first to admit that while I know slightly more than the uninitiated about comics, I do not follow them religiously like some people I’ve met in my journey. I can have a conversation about the movies, but whether or not they follow the “cannon” or the comic books is beyond what I know. So I was somewhat comforted to find out in my reading this book that MOST people wouldn’t know about this secret second creator of the superhero who become Batman. It’s incredible to think that this story first came to fruition 1939 and is still, over 70 years later, going strong and attracting new followers.

While Nobleman makes a valiant effort to present the facts in an impartial manner, you can tell that this lack of recognition sticks in his craw. Bob Kane hired Bill to do the writing and other artists to do the drawings, and insisted they all work anonymously. Nobleman reveals that even after word got out that Bill wrote the stories and at the very least contributed to the creation of Batman (although it was never proven how much), Bob still would not amend his contract “requiring that he always be listed as the sole creator of Batman.” And then, readers find out in the extensive author’s note that Bill’s only granddaughter wasn’t receiving any of the few royalties that Bill could claim for his contributions to such an iconic piece of our culture. Nobleman’s passion for this topic really shows by the work, and he strongly suggests that the only reason DC Comics hasn’t added Bill’s name is that their hands tied by legalities.

Templeton’s artwork is very eye-catching, and distinctly suited for a story revolving around the early age of comics. With very minimal shading, the bright and bold pen drawings use vibrant colors that really draw readers into the story. The layout also mimics panels of a comic book, although understandably the text boxes are larger than what you usually find in a comic.

The author’s note reveals the research that went into writing this book, with references to interviews, published articles and books, and containing previously unknown photos of Bill. And just like Batman, Nobleman’s research ultimately resulted in “writing” a wrong. While he can’t do anything about the legal side or the past, Nobleman has ensured that future generations will know the truth behind the mask. A definite point of interest considering all the recent Batman movies, this book could serve as a possible bridge for comic book fans to pursue non-fiction titles.

This post is in honor of Nonfiction Mondays. For the entire round-up of all the bloggers who participated, check out Lizann Flatt over at The Flatt Perspective.

The Fairy Ring

Title: The Fairy Ring:  or Elsie and Frances Fool the World
Author: Mary Losure
ISBN: 9780763656706
Pages: 184 pages
Publisher/Date: Candlewick Press, c2012.

Sometimes Elsie drew gardens in faraway countries.
Once, she drew Titania, the queen of the fairies from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The fairy queen lay sleeping on a bank, her lovely dark hair spread all around her.
Elsie had copied her out of a book illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Arthur Rackham was a real artist, famous for his illustrations of fairies.
But Elsie’s own fairies–the dancing ones that everyone said were so beautiful–were torn up and buried in the beck. The painted paper gnome was long gone. Their photographs lay forgotten in a drawer. For all Elsie knew, no one would ever look at them again.
And maybe that’s what would have happened if, one winter day, Elsie’s mother hadn’t decided to go on an outing. . . . (55-57)

Nine-year-old Frances was tired of being made fun of when she claimed to see fairies in her cousin’s backyard where she was staying during the war. Her older cousin Elsie had an idea to prove that the fairies existed by painting paper fairies and taking Frances’ picture with them. Once the photos were developed, that sure put a stop to the teasing. It was only meant for their parents, but things got out of hand and eventually people were requesting more photos and using these photos as proof that fairies actually existed. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote those great mysteries about the detective Sherlock Holmes, thought the pictures were real! What are Frances and Elsie going to do, and how far should they go to save their secret?

This book is somewhat unique in that it is a work of nonfiction but it reads like a novel. Readers are in on the joke from the very beginning as we see Frances and Elsie scheme to trick the adults. But Frances maintained until her death that she had seen real fairies in that glen and that while they had staged most of the photographs, one of them wasn’t staged and was real. Nonfiction typically doesn’t leave questions, but this book does. There’s still a mysterious quality about fairies and their existence that I think the author intentionally attempts to leave open-ended.

I think the other interesting aspect of this story is that they never meant for it to draw international attention to themselves. In fact, they were very hesitant and reluctant to talk to the press, and I get the impression they wanted to bury the story but just didn’t know how. But they also continued to tell people close to them, such as their ultimate husbands and children, so in a way they were continuing the story even as they told their children to never mention it again. Their attitude about it seemed so fluid that’s hard to really know what they were thinking, especially since the trick seemed to last about 60 years until it was conclusively determined to be a hoax. But as I mentioned before, Frances and in turn the author maintains that pestering feeling that something is missing and not quite determined. I think I’ll end with the fact that these uncertainties create a slightly unsettling story out of a very well researched and documented occurrence.

Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass

Title: Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass: The Story Behind an American Friendship
Author: Russell Freedman
ISBN: 9780547385624
Pages: 119 pages
Publisher/Date: Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, c2012.

Douglass and Lincoln had never met, but they had some things in common. They had both risen from poverty and obscurity to international prominence. Both were self-educated. Lincoln, born dirt poor, had less than a year of formal schooling. Douglass, born a slave, wasn’t permitted to go to school. He taught himself to read and write in secret, hiding the few books he was able to get his hands on. And in fact, the two men had read and studied some of the same books.
Even so, in the year 1863 it required plenty of ‘nerve,’ as Douglass put it, for a black man to walk unannounced into the White House and request an audience with the president. [...]
He was determined to wait. (3)

Describing the relationship that Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass had as a friendship might be hard for us to believe, considering they only met each other three times. But since some friendships these days are formed solely through digital communication means like the phone and the Internet, it might not be so hard for people to accept this description as I might think. In this book, Russell Freedman returns to his roots. Having already written a Newbery Medal winning photobiography about Lincoln, I can only imagine the resources he has at his disposal to investigate the relationship between Lincoln and Douglass.

But really the book isn’t just about those three meetings. It covers Lincoln’s and Douglass’s lives before they met up to Lincoln’s assassination. The unique part about this book is it discusses the evolution of Lincoln’s thoughts about slavery. Most students only learn about the Emancipation Proclamation and that Lincoln was against slavery. Freedman’s book shows that Lincoln’s actions and beliefs were never that black and white (pardon the pun). Lincoln maintained during the early part of the war that his only goal was to restore the Union, and didn’t end up issuing the Emancipation Proclamation until over a year into the war. He appears to be a political strategist from the beginning, and he always hesitated before slowly enstating further liberties for African-Americans because of his fear of the public’s response. Douglass had so such fears, and actually fled the country twice to avoid the public backlash against him and his beliefs.

While I can see it being added to numerous African-American History Month reading lists, students will probably have to consult other sources in order to get a complete view of these two influential men and the circumstances that brought them together.

This post is in honor of Nonfiction Mondays. For the entire round-up of all the bloggers who participated, check out Jennifer Wharton over at Jean Little Library.

Knucklehead

Title: Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Mostly True Stories About Growing Up Scieszka
Author: Jon Scieszka
ISBN: 9780670011063
Pages: 106 pages
Publisher/Date: Viking, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, c2008.

The first time I heard the name Knucklehead, it wasn’t being used as a particularly good name. I think it was my dad, finding that his toast tasted like melted green plastic army man, who first asked the question, “What Knucklehead put an army man in the toaster?”
The answer was Jim. He was trying to get one of his riflemen to aim a little higher. But that didn’t seem like the best answer. So Jim, me, Tom, Greg, Brian, and Jeff all said, “I don’t know.”
Over the years, there were a lot more questions. (105)

Since he grew up in Flint Michigan, I tend to count Jon Scieszka as one of “our” authors, even if he doesn’t live in the state anymore. So I have a soft spot for his work and his accomplishments. His autobiography of his time in Michigan growing up as one of six brothers is a laughable account. Proof that biographies don’t have to be about stuffy old dead people, Scieszka instead relates tales of boyish high-jinks like making money by charging your siblings and friends for various things, getting in trouble for using bad words, and all aspects of sibling rivalry and one-upmanship including Halloween costumes, grades, and sharing your room.

This is one of my go-to books for parents who are serving as guest readers in the upper elementary schools. Filled with dozens of very short stories, most kids and especially the boys find quite a bit to laugh about, and parents can read as many or as few as necessary to fill their time slot. Teachers and librarians should take a look too.

Amelia Lost

Title: Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart
Author: Candace Fleming
ISBN: 970375814989
Pages: 118 pages
Publisher/Date: Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House, c2011.

The fear in Earhart’s voice made Leo Bellarts’s skin prickle. “I’m telling you, it sounded as if she would have broken out in a scream. . . . She was just about ready to break into tears and go into hysterics. . . . I’ll never forget it.”
Seconds turned into minutes. Minutes became an hour. But the sky above Howland Island remained empty.
And in the radio room, Leo Ballerts and the other crew members sat listening to the “mournful sound of that static.” (5)

Amelia Earhart is probably one of the most well-known female pilots due to her unsolved disappearance. During her flight over the Pacific Ocean, she lost radio contact and was never heard from again. Rather than entertain ideas of what might have happened after that assumed fatal flight, Fleming instead focuses on Amelia’s accomplishments and the reports of what was heard over the radio.

I’ve read quite a bit regarding Amelia Earhart’s flight, so I already knew a few of the more interesting tidbits. I already knew that Eleanor Roosevelt was friends with Amelia Earhart, and they had taken a flight together. I knew that Earhart was inexperienced with the plane and the radio systems on the plane when she planed to fly around the world.

But Fleming was still able to provide infrequently revealed information and her research skills impressed me. Like did you know that people as far away as Florida picked up Amelia’s voice on the radio? And that Amelia Earhart had 5,000 stamp covers in the nose of her plane that she refused to jettison because it was a financial fundraiser for the flight? It’s these fascinating aspects of the flight that really bring Amelia Earhart to life and will encourage readers to find out more. What also impressed me about this book was that Fleming was not afraid to portray Amelia’s flaws. She brings up the less than flattering and questionable purchase of an airplane with funds that were donated to Earhart’s “Fund for Aeronautical Research” for developing “scientific and engineering data of vital importance to the aviation industry.” (85)

I would have liked to have seen more details regarding her early life, but overall, it’s an intriguing look that tries to dispel the myths from the truth and set the record straight for students.

This post is in honor of Nonfiction Mondays. For the entire round-up of all the bloggers who participated, check out Tammy Flanders over at Apples With Many Seeds .

Friday Feature Scribbling Women Blog Tour

I’m part of my first blog tour!

The publisher, Tundra Books, is running a huge giveaway contest during the blog tour!
The prize: A collection of Marthe Jocelyn books – for the very young to young adults!
All you have to do is follow the blog tour and leave a comment on any of the participating blogs, but it must be on their “Scribbling Women” blog tour posts. So go visit their posts!
Details: Here’s the best part, you can leave a comment on ALL of the blogs and that will count as 31 entries! Spamming doesn’t count, so one thoughtful comment per blog please.
Dates: Contest starts on Monday, March 28, 2011 and closes on Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 11:49pm EST. One winner will be randomly selected and announced on Monday, April 11, 2011 to receive the prize.

Title: Scribbling Women: True Tales From Astonishing Lives
Author: Marthe Jocelyn
ISBN: 9780887769528
Pages: 198 pages
Publisher/Date: Tundra Books, c2011

“A quick search in the library and on the Internet told me there were not dozens, but thousands of women who had recorded their lives–joyful, challenging, illuminating, wearisome, and passionate–on countless pages, throughout history and around the world. [...]
Most of ‘my’ women would be surprised to find themselves inside a book. They might not be surprised, however, to know that the title began as a sneer, made by a famous male writer named Nathaniel Hawthorne in a letter to his publisher in 1855, where he complained about what he considered the irritating fad of ‘scribbling women.’
Everyone has trials and sorrows, and moments of boredom or immense delight. But these scribbling women wrote it down, passed it along, told us they were here, and took the time to illuminate their worlds.” (x)

Marthe Jocelyn features eleven relatively unknown women — with one notable exception — who recorded their lives in journals, newspapers, and letters. Through these slivers of every day occurrences, readers are privy to the experiences that in many cases are only recorded in the pages these women wrote. If these pages hadn’t survived, then no one would know about the Chinese court over one thousand years ago, the life on a whaling vessel in the early 1800s, or the failed expedition to the Arctic in the 1920s where the only survivor was a Eskimo woman.

It’s hard to pinpoint what is the most impressive about the lives of these women; the fact that all these are true stories and these women really did the things they claimed, or that accounts of their lives still exist. Jocelyn is right when, in her introduction, she questions whether these types of accounts will continue in the digital age, where so little is printed. The only woman with what I consider a recognizable name was Nellie Bly, who some readers might already know of from her undercover reports that resulted in better standards of care for the mentally insane. But upon reading, I realized that I’d also heard of Harriet Ann Jacobs, a run-away slave of who hid herself for years before finally being able to reunite with her children and Doris Garimara who wrote Rabbit-Proof Fence about her Aboriginal mother’s experience in keeping her heritage alive amongst the white colonists.

However interesting these stories are, they are all just a little weak in my opinion, probably because of the lack of background information available on quite a few of these women. In some instances, these written records are the only thing remaining that these women actually existed. Additional information is nearly impossible to come by. Jocelyn does a good job in connecting the stories together, and weaving the women’s original words into her narration. But I really didn’t feel the fascination that Mary Kingsley must have felt when she spent a night with cannibals, possibly because of this contextual narration. I guess you can’t have the urgency when reflecting on past events, but I thought I would find the stories more gripping and that wasn’t the case.

The title originally gave me the impression of Louisa May Alcott’s character Jo in Little Women, scribbling away in her alcove with that jaunty little hat of hers. And that’s obviously the wrong impression, because the women in these books did everything but lock themselves in an attic. They saw the world in every way possible, and their stories live on through their writings.

Full disclosure: I received a copy of this book free from the publisher.

Soar, Elinor!

Title: Soar Elinor!
Author: Tami Lewis Brown
Illustrator: Francois Roca
ISBN: 9780374371159
Pages: Picture Book
Publisher/Date: Farrar Straus Giroux, c2010.

Six-year-old Elinor Smith took her first airplane ride in 1917. Less than fourteen years later, she had become the youngest licensed pilot in the United States, male or female. A successful and acclaimed pilot in her own right, she was “voted the best woman pilot in the United States by the nation’s fliers, selected over Amelia Earhart as well as other women aviators.” (author’s note) This picture book biography focuses almost exclusively on her successful attempt at flying under not one, but all four of the bridges spanning New York’s East River.

While I really would have appreciated more concrete information regarding this widely unknown pilot, the information that is given is presented in a straight-forward manner. Brown provides the background information needed to put the flight in perspective, such as that flying under the bridges was both dangerous and against the law. While younger readers might get confused by the actions of the government, who “issued her a short suspension from flying [then] asked Elinor to name the plane in the city’s honor,” older readers and adults will realize the internal conflict and struggle of recognizing her bravery and skill along with her unlawful actions.

The pictures, by Francois Roca, provide a wonderful perspective. Readers alternately feel as if they are either in the plane with Elinor or watching the plane fly towards them. Her brilliant, bright red plane literally pops from the page. The graphics are engaging and beg for a second look or a lingering gaze.

As a big fan of Amelia Earhart’s, it’s become apparent to me that she is simply the most well known due to her untimely disappearance. Amelia Earhart was not the only female pilot during the years she flew, and it’s amazing how many stories are still relatively unknown. The author’s note in the back sets the record straight and provides photos of Elinor and her flight. Brown also sites her sources, although most of them seem to be intended for adults.

This post is in honor of Nonfiction Mondays. For the entire round up of all the bloggers who participated, check out Anastasia Suen over at Picture Book of the Day where — ironically enough — she also is featuring Soar, Elinor!.

Wonder Horse

Title: Wonder Horse: The True Story of the World’s Smartest Horse
Author: Emily Arnold McCully
ISBN: 9780805087932
Pages: Picture Book
Publisher/Date: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, c2010.

Born Bill Key a slave on a plantation in 1833, “Doc” Key’s way with animals soon became well-known. An Arabian mare that he saved from a circus whipping soon gave birth to a homely horse. Named Jim Key, Doc recognized how smart his horse was after he opened the drawer the apples were kept, ate them all, and then shut the drawer. Curious how smart the horse really was, Doc taught him to recognize letters, colors, and simple math. Wanting to spread his message that animals have feelings and require kindness, Doc took his show on the road and had Jim perform for audiences. But was it all a hoax, as one newspaper questioned, that an uneducated former slave could teach an animal all these things?

I had never heard of Jim or Doc Key, and I thoroughly enjoy finding these unknown stories to share with others. Caldecott Award winning author and illustrator Emily Arnold McCully expounds on what few facts we have regarding this story in an author’s note after the story. Featuring a photo of Doc and Jim, you see how accurately she portrayed the couple in her artwork. I thought she did a great job of combining the stories of Doc and Jim, although that makes it difficult to put it in the biography section. This book is an African-American biography that doesn’t hit you over the head with African-American rights, slavery, or prejudice, something that I really appreciate and might make it suitable for younger readers. Horse nuts are also sure to pick it up with that cover and title, although they might be a little suprised by the first few pages that focus on Doc before Jim.

Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix

Title: Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix
Author: Gary Golio
Illustrator: Javaka Steptoe
ISBN: 9780618852796
Pages: 32 pages
Publisher/Date: Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, c2010.

The cover should give you a clue that this picture book just explodes with color! At times, the double page spreads are a little overwhelming, but they are also so engaging that you sometimes forget to read the text. Is it collage? Is it painted? Is it wood, paper, paint, or a combination of the three? Whatever it is, and however it was done, it is very cool.

The text is also accessible for the intended audience, which I feel is probably early elementary students. Beginning the story when Jimi Hendrix was 14, it talks about how he started playing his “one-string ukulele”, could “imitate guitars and trumpets with his mouth and hands”, bought his first used guitar for five dollars, upgraded to the cheapest electric guitar after joining a band, and finally “played for audiences far and wide.” It handles very few details in the text, saving them for the “More About Jimi Hendrix” which follows the text. Instead, it stresses how Jimi grew up observing the world and trying to infuse his music with the life, color, and vibrancy he found around him.

For older readers, there is an author’s note that details how Jimi Hendrix died of an overdose and what effect the drug use might have had on his career. Personally, I think this portion of the book was a little over the top. The author informs readers “As a clinical social worker who has worked with hundreds of teens and adults suffering from addiction problems, I have seen how alcoholism and substance use often follow physical or emotional abuse, depression, childhood poverty, and the loss of one’s parents at an early age.” It sounds like he is diagnosing or evaluating Jimi Hendrix, which I don’t think fits the tone of the rest of the biography. The added resources regarding substance abuse, while nice to have, seem like overkill. People are not reading this book for a “told you so” tale of substance abuse. The illustrator’s note talks about his inspiration, but offers little information about how the engaging pictures were produced, simply stating that he “used plywood [he] found at The RE Store in Ballard, a Seattle neighborhood.” and that he “layered and used bright colors” Don’t miss the very last page, which offers a list of sources and resources.

A solid interpretation of this musician’s life, the pictures alone are worth a look at this book. The lyrical text ends the story with Jimi Hendrix’s own words: “Don’t let nobody turn you off from your own thoughts and dreams.” In January, the book became a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book. Don’t feel too bad for illustrator Javaka Steptoe, since he’s already previously won the award.

The Voice That Challenged a Nation

This post is supporting my week long look at just some of Russell Freedman’s collection of work.

Title: The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights
Author: Russell Freedman
ISBN: 0618159762
Pages: 114 pages
Publisher/Date: Clarion Books, c2004.

Marian Anderson never expected to become an activist in the struggle for equal rights. Away from the concert stage she valued her privacy and preferred a quiet family life. She disliked confrontations. And she never felt comfortable as the center of a public controversy.
“I would be fooling myself to think that I was meant to be a fearless fighter,” she said in her autobiography. “I was not, just as I was not meant to be a soprano instead of a contralto.”
Actually, Anderson had to fight hard to win her place in American music history. As she pursued her career, she was forced to challenge racial barriers simply to succeed as a singer. (91)

Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897, as Russell Freedman points out three decades after the end of slavery. It’s astonishing the things this woman went through before making her mark by singing an Easter concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial nearly 40 years later. Originally earning just twenty-five or fifty cents to sing a song or two, the support of her church and family, as well as the president’s wife and her amazing voice elevated her to becoming an international phenomenon.

I had only a vague idea of who Marian Anderson was before reading Russell Freedman’s book. I knew that she was originally denied the use of Constitution Hall (owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution) for a concert because she was African-American. The incident gained national attention when Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the organization and publicly announced it in her national column. With the help of Roosevelt, Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes, and NAACP chief Walter White, Marian Anderson was invited to sing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for a free Easter Day concert.

What I didn’t know about her could fill a book, and that’s exactly what Freedman did. Citing several books, including Anderson’s autobiography, Freedman compiles a thorough look at her early life before her thrust into fame. Most interesting was her courtship with a singer named Orpheus Fisher, which began in high school and finally ended when they finally got married in 1943 over 20 years later. I find it funny because I’ve been dating my boyfriend for almost five years and people are already asking us when we are going to get married. I can only imagine the look on their faces if they had to wait another 15 years!

The one complaint that I have about the book is that the included newpaper clippings covering the events in the book are not included in their entirty. I would have liked to read these first hand accounts of people’s perceptions of these events, especially since someone took the trouble of scanning them in and adding them to the book. But the book gives a nice perspective of Marian Anderson’s growth in the musical arena, detailing her trip overseas and the criticism she received upon first singing at New York City’s Town Hall. It also goes to great lengths to emphasize the practice and hard work that went in to developing her voice, which kids trying to learn anything should take to heart.

The book gives just a cursory look at her life after the famed performance, glossing over her service as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations. But one thing that stands out is that she exited life as she came into the world.

At a memorial service in Carnegie Hall, attended by two thousand admirers, a silent piano stood at center stage, flanked by flowers. James DePriest told the crowd that on the single occasion when he and his aunt had discussed the idea of a memorial service, she had told him ‘Jim, don’t let them make a big fuss. And no speeches.’
And so there were none. As DePreist left the stage, Marian Anderson’s recorded voice rose up and filled the hall with the words of the spirituals she loved. Fourteen of her recordings were played with neither comment nor applause between them. And when the last one ended, the audience responded with a standing ovation. (88-89)