Non-Fiction Wonders

              I continue to be grateful to Alyson Beecher's Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge at Kidlit Frenzy.  I have learned much from her and those who link up to share fabulous non-fiction picture books.  

        Happy Reading! By this time next week, the ALA awards will have happened. 
Some have a mock Sibert post up today, predicting what books they believe will win. Although I've enjoyed many this year,  Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White by Melissa Sweet is still my favorite.
Others I believe might be on the list of honor books:
         Jazz Day:  The Making of a Famous Photograph by Roxane Orgill 
         Coyote Moon by Maria Gianferrari. 
         Giant Squid by Eric Rohmann and Candace Fleming, finally read this week!
There are some that have been praised that I still need to read. Best wishes to all the authors and illustrators who create such wonderful books!

           

        Wow, finally I have this marvelous book. So many have praised it, and now I know why. Eric Rohrmann's illustrations emerge the reader deep and deeper into the ocean, down in the dark where only a glimpse of a tentacle might give shivers, or at least put one into escape mode. There is a marvelous fold-out four-page spread showing this giant in the deep. In poetic words, Candace Fleming tells some of what little is known about these mysterious creatures, like having eyes as large as soccer balls. And, one page toward the end surrounds a drawing with the facts known, and there is an additional author's note and a source page.
         There is a special intro written by Candace Fleming even before the title page. I liked that very much.

          At the beginning of this amazing book, there is an introduction telling the story of the author Margriet Ruurs' journey of discovering, then connecting to Nizar Ali Badr, an unknown artist, whose work she saw through happenstance on Facebook. She searched further, and through negotiations with a publisher, with Nizar, and lots of passing picture back and forth, this book was born. The artistically created scenes, with rocks/pebbles, are photographed. It is a story, showing the happy family life before the bombings began, and then leaving home, the terrifying journey to and across the ocean, and finally a new home, and hopes for peace. "The lucky ones, they call us. New memories, new hopes, new dreams. Not of war, but of peace." Nizar Ali Badr still lives in Syria,  brings great emotion to these pages using stones he collects as he walks along the seashore. One added great thing is that the text is also presented in Arabic with the English, something these immigrants will surely love seeing.