ME AND MOMMA AND BIG JOHN by Mara Rockliff and THE 57 BUS by Dashka Slater

At our July meeting we discussed our picture book first: Me and Momma and Big John by Mara Rockliff. We all loved this book! We loved that it highlighted a female worker/artist who was a stonecutter, one of the many 'little people' who actually do the work to create landmarks, and whose hand cut stone was ultimately hoisted high up on the front of the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City ("Big John") We loved the illustration that showed where 'her stone' was finally placed on the facade. We loved the authentically childlike voice of the storyteller -- a young boy who knew that his mom worked hard every day and did very important work. We loved his pride in his mom's work, and his wish that she be adequately honored for it, as well as his description when he entered "Big John" for the first time and was amazed by its size. We loved the illlustrations, and were astounded to learn that they were entirely done on a computer...they looked like original paintings! We also appreciated the information in the 'back matter' which explained more about this historic church, and the apprenticeship program that hired many young workers and taught them the art of stonecutting. We learned that it was inspired by Carol Hazel, a young mother who actually did this work.

We all felt that our 'novel' -- a nonfiction book, The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater -- contained a very important story. We agreed that it was excellent journalistic writing, and a few readers felt that it had literary qualities as well. The story of Sasha, an agender teenager who liked to wear skirts and Richard, a fun-loving, 'goofy' 14-year-old boy who set Sasha's skirt on fire -- on an Oakland, CA bus -- raised so many issues about identity, teen-aged behavior, accepting consequences for one's actions, the juvenile justice system, and the importance of support from family and other adults. We loved the fact that the students in their respective high schools united in support of both of them. We thought it would be very accessible for young readers because of the very short (often just 1- or 2-paged) 'chapters' which alternated between Sasha's and Richard's stories. One reader stated that her 8th-grade granddaughter had read and loved this book, and said that she vacillated between rooting for Sasha and/or Richard while reading it. We were pleased to know that Sasha survived and is now a university student, and that Richard, who had written an early letter of apology that was not delivered until after his trial, will be released from custody soon, after serving his 'time' in juvenile detention taking classes, learning, and exhibiting exemplary behavior. We all wish him well in the future. We also liked the Glossary, early in the book which defined the various terms for gender, sex, sexuality, and romance. We thought it was a timely story, well-told.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ALICE by Mara Rockliff and THE GIRL WHO DREW BUTTERFLIES by Joyce Sidman

We were very happy to read nonfiction books about the contributions of two little-known women to science and the arts. We began with our picture book, Lights, Camera, Alice by Mara Rockliff, the story of how Alice Guy Bache, who lived in France, produced, directed, filmed, colored, and edited movies as early as 1907, preceding some of the men who are usually given this credit. We were happy to know about this revolutionary woman, but after a few great beginning sentences we felt that the remaining text of this picture book didn't really do her justice. It told little about her except that she liked to tell stories and decided to create moving pictures....and we all hated the ending, which was like being dropped off a cliff. The back matter, fortunately, presented many more details about her life and work, and we felt much of that information could have been included in the text of the story, and would have definitely made it richer and more interesting. There were also links to two of her 1907 short films, which we watched on a laptop, and all agreed that she was amazingly talented as a producer/director, PLUS she had a great sense of humor.

Our longer book was about another somewhat undersung heroine: The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science by Joyce Sidman. There was a considerable amount of information about this enterprising scientist/artist who, from a very young age, was fascinated by caterpillars and worms, and kept track of their metamorphosis by drawing and painting EXACT pictures of their various stages of development, including the actual plants and flowers that provided their habitats. She was the first to present insects in exactly that way, and it became the norm years later. We loved how persistent and daring she was, 'bucking the system,' and even traveling along with her daughter from Germany to Surinam in 1699...a rare action for a woman at that time. We unanimously loved her original illustrations throughout the book, which were photographically perfect, and beautifully colored. However, we were put off by many of the editorial decisions made for this book. One- or two-paged boxed explanations of various historical events/issues/entities, were seemingly inserted to present historical context but instead created breaks in the continuity of Maria's story and most of us found them annoying. We felt they could have been included in the 'back matter' or even aluded to in the text with a few explanatory sentences. We didn't object as much to the boxed quotes from Maria in Italics on yellow background throughout the book. A few readers objected to the little 'poems' that introduced each chapter...especially since Sidman is known for her poetry, which is usually much better than the 'vapid poetry', according to one reader, that was presented in this book. We were glad that we read both books and learned about these amazing women of yesteryear.