Where On Earth: Geography As You Have Never Seen it Before

Where On Earth: Geography As You Have Never Seen It Before     DK  2013

This is an extremely versatile atlas that is divided into six sections

Section 1:    Land, Sea, and Air

In this section, you get all of the standard, expected views that one would expect from the format, plus many exciting features that do not ordinarily appear in atlases.

The panels are distributed on double page spreads that incorporate infographic style elements. For example, the spread on global earthquake distribution has a layout of a world map that shows recorded quakes of the last 100 years and their relative intensity. The 5 strongest and the 5 deadliest earthquakes on record are identified and detailed in information boxes. This visual layout is especially strong in    

highlighting connections and relationships.

The format is uniformly fantastic throughout the section. Other notable parts include…

A Map of the Ocean Floor

A Map of Global Ocean Currents

Major Rivers of the World

Global Climate

Rain & Snowfall

Hurricanes

Time Zones

Section 2:     The Living World

Notable sections include…

Predators,         Dangerous Creatures        Invasive Species    Bird Migration

Biodiversity        Unique Wildlife     Endangered Animals    Extinctions Due to Human Activity

Section 3:     People & Planet

Notable sections include...

Global Population Density    The Median Ages of People Throughout the World

Life Expectancy       Global Poverty    Global Distribution of Billionaires 

Food Production         Food Intake    Literacy     Poolution

Garbage and Waste Production     Fossil Fuel Distribution  Climate Change Impacts

Section 4:     Engineering and Technology

Notable sections include...

Air Traffic     Global Shipping Routes     Armed Forces

A View From Outer Space of the Space Junk Orbiting the Earth

Section 5:   History

Notable sections include...

Fossilized Human Remains     Prehistoric Cultures     

Ancient Wonders (Includes 7 wonders of the ancient world & others that were unknown to the Greeks)

Medieval Wonders        Medieval  Empires       Historic Battles   The Last Empires

Revolutions

Section 6:     Culture

Notable sections include... 

Languages    Religious Sites     Distribution of World’s Religions

Density of TV Ownership Around the World

Simply put, there is a tremendous wealth of information presented in this book that lends itself to a staggering number of potential uses. The format is easily digestible, yet it can illuminate some complex connections and interactions.

I, Too, Am America

I, Too, Am America Poem by Langston Hughes, Illustrations by Brian Collier

Simon and Shuster   2012

For our purposes, let’s start at the back of the book and refer to the illustrator’s notes. The poem is written in a collective voice in which the narrator’s identity is not specified. Collier’s execution of the artwork provides a fantastic example of using cross curricular connections to link the text of the poem to African American history.

He highlights the practice of Pullman porters collecting newspapers, magazines, and blues & jazz records that were left behind by passengers in order to toss them out of the last car of the train so that people who could not afford or otherwise obtain these items could access them.

This practice became the central metaphor for Collier’s treatment of the poem. The items that the Pullman porters gather travel through time and space across the deep South of the time to contemporary New York as a reflection of the progress that has been made. Regardless of time or distance, the recipients are elated to receive the objects and the messages that they contain.    

In another historical parallel, the objects that the Pullman porters release follow the trajectory of the Great Migration. This book would be an ideal match for Jacob Lawrence’s Great Migration book and The Jerry Pickney illustrated “God Bless The Child”.

Another use for this book would be to have this as a template for students' artistic interpretation of the poem. Who would they pick as their narrators, and how would their sentiments be expressed artistically? Those are very interesting questions.  

Barbed Wire Baseball

Barbed Wire Baseball        Written By Marissa Moss     Illustrated By Yuko Shimizu      2013

Abrams Books For Young Readers

Brilliant, brilliant book that presents a fascinating story that is little known.

The subject of the book is Kenichi “Zeni” Zenimura (1900-1968). He is considered the father of Japanese-American baseball, and he also popularized the game in postwar Japan. Zenimura was an extraordinarily talented player who played all nine positions. He pitched right handed, but he bat left handed.

Zenimura was born in Japan, and he moved to Hawaii when he was 8 years old. There, he fell in love with baseball. After he graduated from school, he moved to Fresno and formed a baseball team. In October of 1927, he was one of four Japanese–American players picked to play in an exhibition game with the Yankees in Fresno. There is a photo of Zenimura standing in between Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig that is reproduced in the artwork of the book. The actual photo appears in the afterword.

When he was interred at the Gila River camp, Zenimura began to covertly build a baseball field at the camp. When his efforts escalated to the point that he was going out under the cover of night to steal wooden posts from the camp fence so that he could build bleachers for the field, the camp guards noticed. However, they observed that he we only taking every other post, and thus leaving the structural integrity of the fence intact. The guards did not raise the alarm. They quietly watched Zenimura. Eventually, their position moved from quiet acquiescence to providing assistance to the effort.

As Zemimura’s efforts grew, more and more of the camp got involved. They pitched in to help weed the field, level it, plant grass, make uniforms, and they become players and spectators.

I am especially impressed by the insight that is offered in the artist’s note in the back of the book. I am always fascinated by the way that the real, the imagined, and the fanciful all interact and come together when non fiction stories are recounted in picture books. This illustrator’s notes are highly unusual because they present this interaction as its central theme.

The artist notes that while barbed wire was present at the early stages of the camp, it was later removed. He decided to maintain it in the illustrations in order to stress the fact that the camp was indeed a prison for those who were held there.

There are almost no photos of Zenimura during his concentration camp years. Actually there is one that was shot from distance in order to show the field. Zenimura and son appear in this photo, but the distance is too far to make out their features. The artist had to use photos of Zenimura from before the war to provide the model for his face.

I also appreciate the fact that the artist shares with us that while he did extensive research on the Gila River camp in order to depict it accurately, he also used photos from other camps in creating the art.

He could not find any visual images of the teams’ uniforms, so he adapted a homemade uniform from the period as a pattern, and he applied a bit of artistic imagination.

It is all too rare that we get such insights into how the creative process informs the depiction of nonfiction presentations.

The art is extraordinarily striking. Very stark and engaging, and yet with a fantastic range of expression preserved. There are elements of collage, older Japanese art styles, and a hint of Chinese propaganda poster style. The effect is very visually impactful, and it brings home the fact that this is a prison camp being depicted.

In emphasizing the starkness of the camp, the art highlights the humanity of the people held within.

Highest possible recommendation!

By all means, use in conjunction with “My Dog Teny” .

Zenimura standing between Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth

My Dog Teny

My Dog Teny     By Yoshito Wayne Osaki,   Illustrated by Felicia Hoshino

Published by the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California 2010

Locally published, yet hard to get. It is not available through any of our usual book vendors, nor does Amazon carry it. My local neighborhood book store cannot special order this title. However, you can check out a copy through the SFPL. You can also purchase a copy directly from the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. It is available both online and at the center in Japan Town.

This book needs a wider distribution!

This is a true story that was experienced by the author. It first appeared in a collection of short stories published by the JCCCNC in 2001 under the title “Our Side of the Fence “.  That version of the story ended when the author (a young boy at the time) was forced to part with his dog in 1942 when he was shipped to the Tule Lake concentration camp.

Fast forward to 2010 – the son of the picks up the story and updates it with subsequent events in the form of a picture book.

The story is as follows. When Wayne was a boy, his father gave him a puppy, which he promptly named Teny. Wayne and Teny were inseparable, and they were each other’s best friends. When the internment order was issued, Wayne was dismayed to find out that pets were not allowed in the internment camps. Since they could find no one willing to take care of a pet that was from a Japanese household, they simply had to abandon Teny.

In a heart rending sequence, Teny grows sad and despondent a few days before the family had to go to the camp. The author (the boy in the story) thinks that Teny somehow picked on the fact that he would be left behind. A day before leaving, Teny disappeared, and although Wayne looked everywhere for him, he couldn’t find him.

The next day, as Wayne climbs into the bed of the army truck that has come to take him to the internment camp, he gets on top of the baggage in order to try to see Teny one last time.  As the truck leaves and picks up speed, Teny bolts out from nowhere and attempts to catch up with Wayne. After about a mile, Teny is exuasted and can no longer keep up. That was the last time Wayne saw Teny.

Wayne spent the next 4 years at the Tule Lake (N. California) camp, and afterwards, he became an architect. After 49 years, he retired. Though his family wanted to send him on a trip to Japan or a cruise, all Wayne really wanted was another dog.

His family rescued an abandoned dog and gave it to Wayne. He promptly named him Teny.

Simply superlative! This book gets the highest recommendation possible from me. 

It would be a fantastic way to introduce students to this dark, and still very relevant part of our history. 

If you can, by all means secure a copy.