Easy to raise, they just want to eat mulberry leaves. They spin beautiful silk cocoons, and emerge as moths. Many of these silkworms' siblings are living in Johnson County and Kansas City libraries as picture book mascots. In fact, they are The Official Mascots of Picture Books Being Awesome.
Now, for the books! This month's theme is Save the Bookworms! (and the Picture Books They Eat,) featuring books about insects and books about books.
Thank you to the authors and publishers who have generously donated their books to be used as prizes.
Here is one of our insect books:
Adios, Oscar
By Peter Elwell
Scholastic, 2009
ISBN-13: 9780545071598
Oscar is a caterpillar. Talking to a monarch, he assumes he'll become one himself. But when he metamorphoses, he's a clothes moth. Will he still go to Mexico?
Now, in real life, caterpillars eat clothing from the get-go. (They wouldn't live on a plant.) Grown moths, on the other hand, don’t eat clothing. The author notes this in the back matter. It's all in good fun, and I LOVE the illustrations.
The clothes moth thing got me thinking about verisimilitude in insect books (one of my favorite things to think about. That and the Lost finale.) Since I write nonfiction, I have to stick to facts. But fiction authors can decide where to draw the line. They can take what they know about the natural world--or leave it--and write a book that feels real about following your dreams. I like that!
Scribble
By Deborah Freedman
Random House, 2007
ISBN-13: 9780375839665
Metafiction...Most books don't know they're books. Not so with metafiction. Somebody knows. Maybe it's a character. Maybe it's the narrator. Maybe it's the world of the book. The latter is true of Scribble. In this sweet story, you'll see two sisters and their drawings of a kitten and princess create the very story you’re reading.
An illustrator friend of mine, Kerry Meyer, said that an editor told him that your illustrations shouldn't be "posing for the camera." It should be more like the reader is seeing them through a window, going about their daily lives. This book captures that feeling perfectly. Which is pretty incredible considering that it's a book that knows it's a book!
The Pencil
By Allan Ahlberg, ill. by Bruce Ingman
Candlewick, 2008
ISBN-13: 9780763638948
Pencil draws a world. At first, its inhabitants only ask, "What's my name?" (Even the ball wants a name.) But then they complain: They don't like their hats, etc. So pencil draws an eraser. But eraser is overzealous. How will pencil stop him?
Love this. It's one of the most real outlandish stories I've ever read. I don't mean that it's "real outlandish." I mean that it's real and outlandish. Of course someone would complain about her hat. Of course she would. It's just so real. Except that she's complaining to the very pencil that drew her!
It reminds me of the old cartoons where you'd see the illustrator drawing. Remember those? I tried to look them up but I can't even remember if they were Disney or Warner Bros. or what. If you know the details, please let me know!
What to Expect When You're Expecting Larvae: a Guide for Insect Parents (and Curious
Children)
By Bridget Heos, ill. by Stephane Jorisch
Lerner, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-0761358589
Oh, how darling! Who wrote this book? Oops, I did. Well, this is awkward. Obviously, I can't review my own book...but it is about insects and it is one of the prizes and it does have books (and bookworms) in it. Instead I'm going to go back to the question of verisimilitude in insect books. My book is illustrated by the brilliant Stephane Jorisch. The sketches were sent to me, and since the book is nonfiction, I "fact checked" them. But at some point, I thought, "The bee babysitters are sitting in rocking chairs and feeding the larvae bottles. I am crazy to be fact checking this!" I finished fact checking it, because indeed, I am crazy when it comes to fact checking. But I came to realize that the text was going to be factual and the illustrations whimsical. And I love that.
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