SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: SPACE MICE
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.lorihaskinshouran.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 331
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in ME; married James Houran; children: Jameson, Michael.
EDUCATION:Bates College, B.A. (English), 1992.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and editor. Random House, New York, NY, assistant editor, 1992-94, editor, 1994-95, senior editor of Random House Books for Young Readers, 1996-97, senior editor of Golden Books, 1997-98, then editorial director, 1998-2002. Freelance writer and editor, beginning 2002.
MEMBER:Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
AWARDS:Children’s Choices selection, International Reading Association (IRA), 2007, for Sled Dogs; Society of School Librarians International Honor Book selection, 2009, for Bloody Horned Lizards; IRA Children’s Choices selection, 2010, for Pug; Garden State Children’s Book Award, 2012, for Too Many Cats; Paterson Prize For Books For Young People, 2018, for Warts and All.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
A former senior editor at Random House, Lori Haskins Houran is the author of more than fifty books for young readers. Houran has written easy-reading works of nonfiction such as Sled Dogs, A Trip into Space: An Adventure to the International Space Station, and How to Spy on a Shark as well as picture books such as the lyrical I Will Keep You Safe and Sound and the comical Space Mice.
Aimed at beginning readers, Dig Those Dinosaurs concerns a team of paleontologists that excavates fossils in the desert, cleans and ships them, and then assembles the bones for a museum exhibit. “Houran’s rhyming text is just right for chanting … at storytimes,” Martha Simpson reported in School Library Journal. Noting that Houran provides more detailed information about the fossil-collecting process at the book’s end, Booklist reviewer Connie Fletcher explained that Dig Those Dinosaurs offers “solid factual info for pint-size dino fanatics heading to the museum.”
Like Dig Those Dinosaurs, Houran’s A Trip into Space features illustrations by Francisca Marquez. In this tale, readers follow a group of astronauts boarding a rocket laden with supplies for the space station. Upon their arrival, the crew members help with repairs, take space walks, and rest in tethered sleeping bags. The work, which includes up-to-date information verified by NASA staff members, was described as “simple and cheerful, just right for the youngest of aspiring space travelers” by School Library Journal contributor Alyson Low.
[NEW PROSE]
How to Spy on a Shark follows a team of young marine biologists as they net, tag, and track a mako shark pup. Houran’s rhyming narrative and Marquez’s softly colored illustrations garnered praise from reviewers, including School Library Journal critic Martha Rico, who deemed the work “a splendid bridge for introducing very young readers to expository texts.”
[END NEW PROSE]
In The $25,000 Flight Houran recounts Charles Lindbergh’s legendary transatlantic journey aboard the Spirit of St Louis. In 1919, hotel owner Raymond Orteig offered a prize of 25,000 dollars to the first pilot able to make a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. The purse went unclaimed until 1927, when Lindbergh flew from New York City to Paris, France, in just over thirty-three hours. In addition to reconstructing Lindbergh’s extraordinary achievement, the author also discusses the failed efforts of other famed aviators of the era, including René Paul Fonck and Richard E. Byrd. The $25,000 Flight is “good fun wrapped in a cracking piece of characterization and history,” a writer in Kirkus Reviews observed.
[NEW PROSE]
A rhyming tale, Space Mice concerns two hungry rodents who build a spaceship to rocket themselves to the moon so they can they take a bite from the deliciously cheesy satellite. “There’s lots of humor on the pages,” a Kirkus Reviews contributor observed, futher noting that the story is “a winner for young sky watchers with stars—or cheese—in their eyes.”
Houran offers a cheeky paean to all things cute and cuddly in her picture book Next to You: A Book of Adorableness, which contains winning artwork by Sydney Hanson. A Publishers Weekly contributor applauded “Houran’s irreverent tone,” and a writer in Kirkus Reviews described Next to You as “a refreshing alternative to hypersentimental entries in the ‘I love you more than anything!’ genre: sincere without being goopy.” Houran and Hanson also joined forces on Warts and All: A Book of Unconditional Love, a celebration of the bond between parents and children. A Kirkus Reviews critic praised the volume’s “wry tone.”
[END NEW PROSE]
Houran has also produced several easy-reading stories based on characters popularized by other authors. Diary of a Worm: Teacher’s Pet, based on tales by Doreen Cronin and Harry Bliss, chronicles Worm’s efforts to find the perfect birthday present for his teacher. A Kirkus Reviews contributor applauded the “slightly gross humor” for attracting reluctant readers to Houran’s story. Jackie Urbanovic’s wacky Max the Duck takes center stage in Ducks in a Row, a humorous story by Houran. Laura Scott, writing in School Library Journal, commended the “lively plot and full cast of characters” in this easy-reading adaptation of a picture-book favorite.
[NEW PROSE]
Jeff Brown’s beloved character Flat Stanley takes center stage in a number of titles written by Houran. Featuring artwork by Macky Pamintuan, Flat Stanley and the Lost Treasure concerns the protagonist’s efforts to free a trapped dolphin while also retrieving a gold bar from a shipwreck. According to Booklist reviewer Carolyn Phelan, young audiences “will enjoy the light tone of the story.”
[END NEW PROSE]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, February 15, 2009, Patricia Austin, review of Too Many Cats, p. 88; March 15, 2013, Carolyn Phelan, review of I Will Keep You Safe and Sound, p. 90; January 1, 2014, Carolyn Phelan, review of A Trip into Space: An Adventure to the International Space Station, p. 92; January 1, 2015, Carolyn Phelan, review of How to Spy on a Shark, p. 82; July 1, 2016, Carolyn Phelan, review of Flat Stanley and the Lost Treasure, p. 72.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, September, 2013, review of Diary of a Worm: Teacher’s Pet, p. 24.
Children’s Bookwatch, January, 2018, review of Warts and All: A Book of Unconditional Love.
Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2012, review of Dig Those Dinosaurs; February 1, 2013, review of I Will Keep You Safe and Sound; June 1, 2013, review of Diary of a Worm: Teacher’s Pet; January 15, 2014, review of A Trip into Space; August 15, 2014, review of The $25,000 Flight; January 15, 2015, review of How to Spy on a Shark; December 15, 2015, review of Next to You: A Book of Adorableness; June 1, 2017, review of Warts and All; May 15, 2019, review of Hide and Peek; January 15, 2020, review of Space Mice.
Publishers Weekly, December 14, 2015, review of Next to You, p. 84.
School Library Journal, July, 2012, Susan Lissim, review of Happy Go Ducky, p. 64; March, 2013, Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, review of I Will Keep You Safe and Sound, p. 113; April, 2013, Martha Simpson, review of Dig Those Dinosaurs, p. 149; June, 2013, Melissa Smith, review of Diary of a Worm, p. 88; July, 2014, Mary Elam, reviews of Diary of a Worm: Nat the Gnat and Show-and-Tell, Flat Stanley, p. 68; March, 2015, Martha Rico, review of How to Spy on a Shark, p. 170.
ONLINE
Lori Haskins Houran website, http://www.lorihaskinshouran.com (July 1, 2020).
I grew up in Maine, where I often could be found perched in a tree, reading.
After college, I moved to New York to work in children's publishing. Eventually I became a Senior Editor at Random House Books for Young Readers, then an Editorial Director at Golden Books, overseeing hundreds of books in the process!
I also started writing books of my own. My first book was published in 1996. I've published about forty more since then.
These days I live in Massachusetts with my husband, four teenage boys, and two dogs! We go to Maine every summer, where you might find me perched in a tree, reading.
Lori Haskins is a former editor of children’s books and the author of some of our most successful Step into Reading titles, including Ducks in Muck and Too Many Dogs.
Lori Haskins Houran is the author of several easy-to-read books, including Ducks in Muck, an ALA Booklist Top 10 Easy Reader. She lives in New York City with her sons, Jameson and Michael. Neither of them is flat.
Lori Haskins Houran likes to spy on sharks…from the safety of the beach! She and her two sons live near the ocean in Florida, where they sometimes see sharks leaping right out of the water. She is the author of more than twenty books for kids, including A Dozen Cousins and A Trip Into Space.
Houran, Lori Haskins WARTS AND ALL Whitman (Children's Fiction) $15.99 9, 1 ISBN: 978-0-8075-8658-7
A second slam of cuteness from the creators of Next to You: A Book of Adorableness (2016)."So here's the thing. I love you." Houran matches the wry tone that saved the previous outing from dissolving into total goo, and Hanson again supplies a "squee"-inducing gallery of fuzzy, soft-focus baby animals with big, wide eyes. Unfortunately, this labored effort at a follow-up is really just more of the same--with the addition of a baby skunk surrounded by a light green cloud ("Oh. Hoo, boy") to challenge (unsuccessfully, even for a moment) the "unconditional" part of the premise. The title, which echoes the climactic line's "I love you warts and all," will require explication despite the smiling toad on the facing page and may even be worrisome to more self-conscious young listeners. The illustrations may confuse young listeners as well. While the prickly porcupine cub nestled snugly amid a snoozing heap of little darlings may be taken for visual license, a fish-food snack offered to a goldfish in one scene doesn't look much like a token of motherly love, nor does an earlier trio of baby kangaroos seem all that "wound up." Parents who have OD'd on the previous outing may welcome this as an alternative, but goodness knows, similar treacly reassurances that are also free of potentially confusing bits abound. (Picture book. 2-5)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
"Houran, Lori Haskins: WARTS AND ALL." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2017. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A493329346/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e20f3cc4. Accessed 26 Feb. 2020.
Houran, Lori Haskins HIDE AND PEEK Whitman (Children's Fiction) $12.99 8, 1 ISBN: 978-0-8075-7208-5
With a loud "Eek!" an ostrich named Bird hides its head in the sand at every "peep."
Elephant encourages ostrich to "Peek, Bird!" The originator of the "peep" turns out to be only the friendly Ape. This simple scenario is repeated when Sloth peeps, but when it's a mouse that peeps, Elephant is the one crying, "EEEEEEK!" Now it's Bird's turn to encourage Elephant to "peek," before all the animals play a game of hide-and-seek. In companion title Stop, Fox! the action focuses on the talkative Fox, who bothers Bird, Ape, and Cub (a bear) with incessant chatter. But Fox's talking puts Sloth to sleep. The uncluttered layout in both titles is a plus, but the artwork is otherwise undistinguished. The simply rendered animals have a generic look that nevertheless may result in confusion. Ape, for instance, has a tail even though apes are tailless, and masked Sloth may well easily be initially mistaken for a raccoon. Bird has an ostrich's characteristically luxuriant lashlike fringe at the eyes and is the only animal gendered female in the publisher copy (no characters are gendered in the text). The sentences are brief and repetitive, but the text's brevity means that words may not be repeated frequently enough to be absorbed by the youngest readers. Hide and Peek uses just 17 words with three basic sentence patterns. The 30-word story in Stop, Fox! is more fully developed, with sentences and phrases repeated more frequently.
A slight story that's more useful than it is satisfying. (Early reader. 4-7)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
"Houran, Lori Haskins: HIDE AND PEEK." Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2019. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A585227141/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f3f33556. Accessed 26 Feb. 2020.
Houran, Lori Haskins SPACE MICE Whitman (Children's Fiction) $16.99 3, 1 ISBN: 978-0-8075-7553-6
With that big ball of cheese hanging so temptingly in the sky, what's a pair of hungry mice to do?
Marching to a pared-down rhyme of just three or four words per line, Alpaugh's cute and capable mice determinedly gather tools and materials, design and build a rocket, and blast off. They touch down on a surface more like Roquefort than regolith and emerge from the capsule, equipped with a cleverly designed lunar backhoe: "Landing, standing / on the moon. / that's one small step-- / and one big spoon!" After they've stuffed themselves, there's nothing left for an astonished young human astronomer back on Earth to see but a thin crescent. Presenting white, this child gapes up at the suddenly no-longer-full moon as the mouse astronauts tow their reentry capsule--and one last piece of moon--off the page. There's lots of humor on the pages, from the mice wielding full-size human tools to a cheese-loving stowaway ant. A Right Stuff head-on view of the spacesuited mice, helmets under their arms, is particularly chuckleworthy. The venture recalls Andy Mansfield's Journey to the Moon (2015), with its similarly cheesy climax, but it also pairs well with other extraterrestrial trips such as Dan Yaccarino's Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! I'm Off to the Moon! (1997; tragically, out of print) and Nancy Shaw and Margo Apple's Sheep Blast Off! (2008).
A winner for young sky watchers with stars…or cheese…in their eyes. (Picture book. 5-7)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
"Houran, Lori Haskins: SPACE MICE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2020. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A611140339/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=fb12f8ac. Accessed 26 Feb. 2020.