Gone Fishin' ~ a bucket of fishy tales

 by Sue Heavenrich

A couple months ago, Kathy Halsey interviewed Pam Courtney about her new book, A Season For Fishin’: A Fish Fry Tradition. And that got me thinking of all the fish stories my uncles and cousins used to tell – about the ones they caught, the ones that were “this big” (imagine arms spread as wide as they can go), and mostly about the ones that got away. And THAT got me wondering … 

how many ways could we tell a fish story?

We could stick with the facts, like Debra Kempf Shumaker does in her book, Freaky, Funky Fish: Odd Facts about Fascinating Fish. To be a fish, she writes, you have to have certain characteristics: scales, gills, maybe fins. But not all fish are alike. Debra shows, in rhyming text, the different ways fish are adapted to survive in their world. Some fish zap, some sing, some produce copious amounts of slime – and one even has a see-through head! What I love about this book is how she rates each fish on a funkiness scale of 1-5. 

We could profile a specific fish, like Elaine M. Alexander does in Anglerfish: The Seadevil of the Deep. The anglerfish looks like a very scary monster, what with that big mouth and sharp teeth. But she wasn’t always so big, or so toothy. In this book, we follow the anglerfish from fry to fierce predator to releasing eggs for the next generation. What I particularly like about this book is how the dark, mysterious illustrations bring us right into anglerfish’s deep, dark world.. I also like the comparison of the different species of angler fish. I didn’t know there were so many!

We could tell stories about the people who study fish. Like the students in Emmy’s class that Mary Boone follows in School of Fish. They watch salmon eggs from the day they’re dropped into the fish tank to the day they release the fry into a river. Along the way, the students learn about more than fish; they learn about ecosystem connections. And they learn how to work together for the good of the fish.

Or like fish scientists, such as Cristina Zenato, profiled in Sharks Unhooked, The Adventures of Cristina Zenato, Underwater Ranger, by Patricia Newman and Else Bostelmann, the underwater artist profiled in Else B. in the sea : the woman who painted the wonders of the deep, by Jeanne Walker Harvey. Not only are these fish stories, but they are about amazing women in science!

We could write about the important work fish do, like the cleaner fish in Susan Stockdale’s book, Don't Eat the Cleaners! Tiny Fish with a Big Job. When fish get dirty (like … how does that even happen? They live in water!) they head to a cleaning station. Cleaner wrasse and cleaner shrimp hang out there, ready to nibble dead skin and parasites of their fishy customers. These cleaner fish also slip between sharp teeth, pulling out bits of food, and nibble algae from sea turtle shells.

Or how tiny fish no longer than your finger are helping to save an important biome, in Sy Montgomery’s Amazon adventure : how tiny fish are saving the world's largest rainforest. They save not only the rainforest but the culture and economy that depend on them.

And of course, we could tell stories in the tradition of  an authentic “fish story” – absurd tall tales that get taller with each telling. Here are two that had me chuckling:

Don’t Trust Fish, by Neil Sharpson which begins with some matter of fact explanations of how to tell a mammal from a bird but quickly goes off the rails when it comes to fish. Why? Because you can’t trust fish! They spend all their time in the water, some are as big as a bus, and what are they teaching in those “schools” anyways?

I Need Pants! by Susan Sweet in which Fish desperately wants a pair of pants. Octopus points out that Fish can’t wear pants because fish don’t have legs. But once Fish finds a pair of pants and struts around the ocean in style, Octopus decides to try a few pairs on for size … 

So grab your tackle box – or your pencil and notebook, paints and sketchpad – and head to the river. What sort of Fish Story will you come back with?

What makes a Bird Book?

by Sue Heavenrich

I love to watch the titmice and cardinals (and chickadees, jays, juncos…) at our feeder. They bring color and action to an otherwise monochromatic and tedious landscape. Plus, watching them makes me wonder things. And wondering about things makes me think: hey, maybe I could write something about…

… birds. During the last decade of the previous millennium, my kids and I participated in Project Feeder Watch. Back then we had a couple field guides and a lot of questions, but most of the books about our feathered friends had the title “Birds” and were pretty general. 

Over the years books have changed and there are as many ways to write about birds as there are birds to watch. Here are some of the ways authors and illustrators have gone … Beyond-the-Field-Guide. I know I missed a bunch, so please share your favorite kid's bird books in the comments!

You could watch birds from a different perspective

Look Up! by Annette LeBlanc Cate is a middle-grade book that uses humor to encourage kids to get outside with a sketchbook and capture some of the cool birds living right outside their windows. The birds talk back to the author, and make up songs about their lives, sport cool hairdos (feather-doos?), and show off their feet.

Fans of Jane Yolen’s book, Owl Moon might like to check out Night Owl Night, by Susan Edwards Richmond. In this picture book, Sova’s mom disappears each night. She is a scientist who studies owls, and Sova wants to join Mama on a night walk where they (eventually) capture, measure, and release a saw-whet owl.

Another person who studied birds?  That would be Roger Tory Peterson – a name that’s become nearly synonymous with field guides. For the Birds by Peggy Thomas is a fun biography for kids who love their field guides.

If you’ve got kids involved in the Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend, or Project Feeder Watch, they might enjoy reading one of these - and you might get ideas for a different angle on your own counting story.

Finding a Dove for Gramps, by Lisa J. Amstutz plunks us right into the Christmas Bird Count with Jay and his mom. You can almost hear the snow crunching underfoot, the calls of chickadees and jays, the rat-tat-tat of woodpeckers drumming on a tree. You can feel your toes freeze and, at the end, the warmth of a mug of hot cocoa.

In Bird Count, by Susan Edwards Richmond, Ava is excited because this year she gets to keep tally of the birds “her” crew finds during the annual Christmas Bird Count

There are a couple of recent middle grade novels that have bird watching at their core. The Secret Language of Birds, by Lynne Kelly is about a girl who discovers a pair of endangered birds nesting in an unusual place. She breaks a few camp rules to watch them - will she get sent home before the egg hatches?

Bird Nerd by Jennifer Ann Richter features a birding tournament between two schools that gets a bit more competitive than expected. But it's also about and finding your own flock

or focus on feathers…

Bird Show, by Susan Stockdale is a plumage fashion show! Eighteen brilliantly dressed birds show off their jackets, aprons, and headdresses. Well … at least they show off their wing bars, frilly feathers, long tails, and feathery crowns.

Melissa Stewart highlights the more practical uses of feathers in Feathers ~ Not Just for Flying. Not all feathers are the same. They have so many different jobs to do, from distracting predators and keeping warm to carrying nest materials and making music.

Or maybe your passion is:

beaks

feet 

flight or 

family.

There are a whole bunches of books about those topics ... and there are bunches of books about bird behavior. In Bird Talk, Lita Judge shows how birds use song to attract mates, proclaim their territory and call their chicks. But not all birds are born knowing the family song – some have to learn their song by listening to their parents.

or maybe you'd like to write about one particular bird...

I feel like the newest charismatic brainy bird is the crow. They are intelligent, have great memories, and can solve problems that confound squirrels. For three different ways to look at a crow, check out Crick, Crack, Crow! by Janet Lord; How to Know a Crow, by Candace Savage; and Crow Smarts, by Pamela S. Turner.

Where will your bird-curiosity take you...

and your book?