SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Dodo Dodgeball
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.heidieystemple.com/
CITY: Hatfield
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 381
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1966, in Hatfield, MA; daughter of David Stemple (a professor and ornithologist) and Jane Yolen (a writer and editor); children: Glendon, Maddison.
EDUCATION:Eckerd College, B.A. (psychology).
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and educator. Smith College, Northampton, MA, instructor. Worked as a probation/parole officer in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, beginning 1990; also worked as a private investigator and a waitress. Highlights Foundation, faculty member; affiliated with Jane Yolen’s Picture Book Boot Camp.
AVOCATIONS:Traveling, cooking, reading, sewing, birding, spending time with her daughters.
AWARDS:With Jane Yolen: Quick Picks for Reluctant Young-Adult Readers selection, American Library Association, 2014, for Bad Girls; Northern Lights Book of the Year selection, 2019, for A Kite for Moon.
WRITINGS
Contributor of recipes to How Do Dinosaurs Eat Cookies? by Jane Yolen, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2012. Work represented in anthologies, including Great Writers and Kids Write Spooky Stories, edited by Martin H. Greenberg, Jill M. Morgan, and Robert Weinberg, Random House (New York, NY), 1995; and Me, Myself, and I! Poems, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, Sadlier-Oxford (New York, NY), 1998. Contributor of poems and short stories to periodicals, including American Girl, Baby Bug, Nick Jr., and Scope.
The Barefoot Book of Ballet Stories was adapted for the stage by the Amherst, MA, Ballet.
SIDELIGHTS
Born into a literary family, Heidi E.Y. Stemple often works in collaboration with her mother, Jane Yolen, an award-winning writer and editor for children. Together with Yolen, Stemple has authored original stories, verse collections, cook books, and children’s picture books such as You Nest Here with Me and I Am the Storm. Turning to nonfiction, mother and daughter collaborated on the multi-volume “Unsolved Mystery from History” series and teamed up by Stemple’s younger brothers Adam and Jason Stemple to create several nature-themed books. In addition to creating several original self-illustrated children’s books, Stemple contributed her cooking talents to her mother’s “Fairy Tale Cookbooks” series.
Together with her brothers, Stemple grew up on a former tobacco farm where one of the drying barns had been converted into workshops housing silversmiths, potters, and leather workers. Her father, David Stemple, taught at the University of Massachusetts, while her mother wrote from home. Reflecting on her upbringing as the child of a noted author, Stemple remarked to Cynsations interviewer with Cynthia Leitich Smith that “I honestly didn’t know any other life. Many of the adults around me were book people—Eric Carle, Trina Schart-Hyman, just to name-drop a few. I spent many of my summer vacations at conferences. I posed for book illustrations and covers—photographs and as an artist’s model. It was just how I grew up.”
Despite Yolen’s celebrity, Stemple had no intentions of becoming a writer. While a student at Eckerd College in Florida, she volunteered her time working with illiterate adults, troubled youth, and emotionally disturbed children. After earning a bachelor’s degree in human resources and social work, she landed a job as a probation and parole office in Ft. Lauderdale. Work as a private investigator and a waitress also engaged Stemple before she tried her hand at writing.
Stemple and Yolen’s first collaboration as writers resulted in “Daffodils,” a ghostly tale that was included in the 1995 anthology Great Writers and Kids Write Spooky Stories. A year later, they released their first picture book, Meet the Monsters, an introduction to vampires, werewolves, golems, and other spooky creatures. Often focusing on nature, they have continued their collaboration in the years since, often focusing on subjects in the natural world.
In Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep the mother-and-daughter writing team describes the activities of a dozen cuddly creatures that prepare to hibernate as winter approaches. “Sweet and warmly comforting, this is the picture book equivalent of a cup of hot cocoa,” noted a Publishers Weekly critic, while in School Library Journal, Susan Weitz dubbed Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep “soothing, soporific, and magnetic” as well as “a special winter bedtime book.”
Another nature-themed tale, You Nest Here with Me features a rhyming text about nesting birds that is brought to life in illustrations by Melissa Sweet. “Science meets wonder in this deeply satisfying collaboration,” asserted Susan Dove Lempke in Horn Book while also citing the coauthors’ “gracefully” written verse. Birds are also Yolen and Stemple’s focus in Counting Birds: The Idea That Helped Save Our Feathered Friends, which highlights the accomplishments of ornithologist Frank Chapman. At the turn of the twentieth century, Chapman successfully changed America’s Christmas Day tradition of wild-bird hunting to one of wild-bird counting. His means of doing so—establishing the Audubon Christmas Bird Count—is a “conservation success story,” noted a Publishers Weekly critic in appraising this work.
Stemple and Yolen encourage readers to look upward in A Kite for Moon, a picture book featuring art by Matt Phelan. In their story, a small boy feels empathy for the lonely moon he views in the night sky. When kites do not reach high enough to reach the sad star, the boy is inspired to become an astronaut and reach higher. Praising the “wistful story” shared here, a Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote that it evokes “the simple awe of a most wonderful journey.” Speaking with interviewer Sally Lodge for Publishers Weekly Online, the coauthors discussed the genesis of A Kite for Moon, noting that it was inspired by the life of U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong. “We … hope readers relate to the boy in this book making his dream a reality through hard work,” Stemple added.
Stemple and Yolen retell seven classic tales from around the world in The Barefoot Book of Ballet Stories, which includes “Swan Lake,” “The Nutcracker,” and “Daphnis and Chloe.” “Magic intermingles with movement in nearly every story here,” noted Booklist critic Abby Nolan, and in School Library Journal, Carol Schene described the anthology as a “well-conceived and colorful look at some of the great classical ballets.” A companion volume, The Barefoot Book of Dance Stories, comes to life in illustrations by Helen Cann and includes dance-related tales from around the world.
Stemple and Yolen profile twenty-six notorious figures from history in Bad Girls. Featuring illustrations by Rebecca Guay, the volume includes mini-biographies of biblical temptress Delilah, pirates Anne Bonney and Mary Read, espionage agent Mata Hari, and gangster Bonnie Parker, among others. The coauthors also engage in spirited debates about the guilt or innocence of each femme fatale, inviting readers to form their own conclusions. “Yolen and Stemple make an honest effort to lay out the life stories in as neutral terms as possible,” commented Elizabeth Bush in her Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books review, while in School Library Journal, Paula Wiley stated of Bad Girls that “this book respects its readers as much as it does its subjects.”
Also authored by Stemple and Yolen, The Mary Celeste became the first work in their critically acclaimed “Unsolved Mystery from History” series of true tales. In this work a young narrator—the daughter of a detective—investigates the bizarre case of an abandoned merchant ship, the Mary Celeste, which set sail from New York City on November 7, 1872, and was discovered, abandoned, less than a month later drifting off the coast of Gibraltar. According to a contributor in Publishers Weekly, the coauthors “spin a suspenseful account and add further significance and factual detail through the clever informal format” they employ. In Booklist, Carolyn Phelan described The Mary Celeste as “an intriguing book for history buffs, mystery buffs, and classroom discussion.”
In The Wolf Girls, another book in the series, a budding detective/narrator examines the story of Kamala and Amala, two feral children who were discovered in rural India in 1920 by Christian missionary Joseph Singh. Believed to have been raised by wolves, the girls—who walked on all fours and howled like animals—were taken to Singh’s orphanage, where he attempted to reeducate them. The Wolf Girls serves as “tasty fodder for emerging detectives,” according to Anne Chapman Callaghan in her review of this “Unsolved Mystery from History” installment for School Library Journal.
Continuing their “Unsolved Mystery from History” series, Stemple and Yolen’s inquisitive narrator explores a travesty of justice in The Salem Witch Trials. During the summer and fall of 1692, nineteen men and women were convicted of witchcraft and executed in the village of Salem, Massachusetts. Here the coauthors offer five theories to explain the hysteria that gripped the region. Their book “effectively introduces an intriguing subject,” observed Ilene Cooper in Booklist, while School Library Journal reviewer Elaine Fort Weischedel asserted that the unusual narrative approach in The Salem Witch Trials “encourages readers to evaluate the evidence and draw their own conclusions.”
(open new)Stemple collaborated with Yolen on the companion volumes, Eek, You Reek!: Poems about Animals That Stink, Stank, Stunk and Yuck, You Suck! Poems about Animals That Sip, Slurp, Suck. In an interview with Yolen and Stemple on the Lerner Books website, Stemple revealed that the concept for the former book was Yolen’s and that she was initially doubtful that her mother would be able to convince a company to publish it. Indeed, Yolen succeeded, and the book became a success. Stemple was no longer skeptical when she was approached about writing Yuck, You Suck! In the same interview, Stemple explained: “One of the cool things about writing a book like this is that almost everything is new. When we started thinking about it, we thought, what animals suck? Vampire bat, remora, butterfly, hummingbird, mosquito. What else? Then we dug in and started looking for other critters that suck—in different ways and for different reasons. But, ALSO, we found out that vampire bats don’t suck at all—they kind of bite then lap up the blood of their victim and that remoras don’t actually suck.” She added: “What’s exciting about writing nonfiction poetry is you are allowed to have fun with those facts that you find in your research (as long as they’re accurate, of course). And, you get to use similes and metaphor and word-play—these are a few of my fa-vo-rite things.” In the book, Stemple contributes poems about the animals featured, and Eugenia Nobati provides illustrations. Reviewing the volume in School Library Journal, Tamara Saarinen described it as “a delightful book that amuses and educates.”(close new)
Illustrated by Anastasia Suvorova, Adrift is one of several original stories authored by Stemple; other tales include Flamingo Bingo and Toucan with Two Cans, both illustrated by Aaron Spurgeon. Writing in School Library Journal, Susan Lissim characterized Adrift as “a sweet parable” about the then-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, when people were encouraged to keep their distance from others and wear a face mask. In her story, Stemple focuses on a small, frightened mouse that is sailing a small boat in a vast and choppy ocean. Although other animals appear in boats also tossed by the waves, the mouse’s fear continues. Finally, land is spotted. Happy at last, Little Mouse joins the others in paddling his boat toward the same sandy shoreline. “Compelling enough to engage children,” according to Lissim, Adrift carries a message that “will be crystal clear to adults.”
“We actually work so well together because our processes are so much alike and, at the same time, very different,” Stemple once explained, discussing her collaboration with Yolen during the with Cynsations interviewer with Smith. “We both just sit down and write, sometimes stumbling around for a plot. When it arrives (often very much unannounced) we are excited and surprised. And, we keep writing.” Her advice for young authors? “Read and write every day. Study good books—if you want to write picture books, go to the library or book store and read dozens of picture books. Read what you write aloud. Write for yourself, your children, or the child you used to be. If it happens to get published, that is great, but it is not the only thing. Write for the love of writing.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, October 15, 1999, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Mary Celeste, p. 447; May 1, 2000, Donna Seaman, review of Mirror, Mirror: Forty Folktales for Mothers and Daughters to Share, p. 1632; March 15, 2001, Hazel Rochman, review of Dear Mother, Dear Daughter: Poems for Young People, p. 1393; July, 2003, Carolyn Phelan, review of Roanoke, the Lost Colony, p. 1888; September 1, 2004, Ilene Cooper, review of The Salem Witch Trials, p. 118; November 1, 2004, Ilene Cooper, review of The Barefoot Book of Ballet Stories, p. 498; November 1, 2006, Gillian Engberg, review of Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook for Young Readers and Eaters, p. 62; January 1, 2011, Abby Nolan, review of The Barefoot Book of Dance Stories, p. 78; February 15, 2013, Ilene Cooper, review of Bad Girls: Sirens, Jezebels, Murderesses, Thieves, and Other Female Villains, p. 68; June 1, 2024, Carolyn Phelan, review of She Sells Seashells: Mary Anning, an Unlikely Paleontologist, p. 76.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, February, 2013, Elizabeth Bush, review of Bad Girls, p. 316.
Children’s Bookwatch, December, 2004, review of The Barefoot Book of Ballet Stories; December, 2018, review of Fly with Me; June, 2019, review of A Kite for Moon.
Horn Book, March-April, 2015, Susan Dove Lempke, review of You Nest Here with Me, p. 87.
Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2003, review of Roanoke, the Lost Colony, p. 865; August 15, 2004, review of The Salem Witch Trials, p. 815; July 15, 2006, review of Fairy Tale Feasts, p. 731; January 15, 2013, review of Bad Girls; August 1, 2021, review of Adrift.
Publishers Weekly, November 22, 1999, review of The Mary Celeste, p. 56; March 27, 2000, review of Mirror, Mirror, p. 61; September 20, 2004, review of The Barefoot Book of Ballet Stories, p. 65; December 18, 2006, review of Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep, p. 61; May 24, 2010, review of Not All Princesses Dress in Pink, p. 50; January 7, 2013, review of Bad Girls, p. 63; October, 2018, review of Counting Birds: The Idea That Helped Our Feathered Friends, p. 138; April 1, 2019, review of A Kite for Moon.
Resource Links, June, 2013, Victoria Pennell, review of Jewish Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook, p. 61.
School Librarian, spring, 2010, Louise Ellis-Barrett, review of The Barefoot Book of Dance Stories, p. 41; autumn, 2013, Janet Dowling, review of Jewish Fairy Tale Feasts, p. 166.
School Library Journal, March 1, 2000, Katherine K. Koenig, review of Mirror, Mirror, p. 102; May, 2001, Susan Scheps, review of Dear Mother, Dear Daughter, p. 174, and Cynthia J. Rieben, review of Mirror, Mirror, p. 178; August, 2001, Anne Chapman, review of The Wolf Girls, p. 174; October, 2003, Nancy Palmer, review of Roanoke, the Lost Colony, p. 157; November, 2004, Elaine Fort Weischedel, review of The Salem Witch Trials, p. 174; December, 2004, Carol Schene, review of The Barefoot Book of Ballet Stories, p. 172; November, 2006, Lauralyn Persson, review of Fairy Tale Feasts, p. 126; February, 2007, Susan Weitz, review of Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep, p. 98; June, 2010, Lauralyn Persson, review of Not All Princesses Dress in Pink, p. 86; December, 2010, Carol Schene, review of The Barefoot Book of Dance Stories, p. 98; November, 2021, Susan Lissim, review of Adrift, p. 56; January, 2013, Rachel Kamin, review of Jewish Fairy Tale Feasts, p. 135; April, 2013, Paula Willey, review of Bad Girls, p. 181; August, 2022, Tamara Saarinen, review of Yuck, You Suck!: Poems about Animals That Sip, Slurp, Suck, p. 102; April, 2024, Jennifer Miskec, review of Dodo Dodgeball: Ready-to-Read Level 1, p. 126.
WebOnlyReviewsSLJ, February 17, 2023, Katie Loomis, review of Chicken Karaoke, p. 1.
ONLINE
Cynsations, http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/ (July 10, 2006), Cynthia Leitich Smith, author interview.
Heidi E.Y. Stemple website, https://www.heidieystemple.com (October 25, 2024).
Lerner Books website, https://lernerbooks.blog/ (October, 2022), author interview.
Only Picture Books, https://www.onlypicturebooks.com/ (January 13, 2020), Ryan G. Van Cleave, author interview.
Publishers Weekly Online, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (April 5, 2019), Sally Lodge, interview with Jane Yolen and Stemple.
Smith College website, https://www.smith.edu/ (October 25, 2024), author faculty profile.
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators website: Southern Breeze Chapter, https://southern-breeze.scbwi.org/ (January 28, 2022), “Heidi E.Y Stemple.”
Heidi didn’t want to be a writer when she grew up. In fact, after she graduated from college, she became a probation officer in Florida. It wasn’t until she was 28 years old that she gave in and joined the family business, publishing her first short story in a book called Famous Writers and Their Kids Write Spooky Stories. The famous writer was her mom, author Jane Yolen. Since then, she has published more than thirty-five books and numerous short stories and poems, mostly for children.
Heidi lives and writes on a big old farm in Massachusetts that she shares with one very large cat who lives inside, and a dozen deer, a family of bears, three coyotes, two bobcats, a gray fox, tons of birds, and some very fat groundhogs who live outside. Once a year she calls owls for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count.
Heidi Y. Stemple
Summer Precollege Programs Creative Writing Instructor
Biography
Heidi E.Y. Stemple didn’t want to be a writer when she grew up. In fact, after she graduated from college, she became a probation officer and then a private investigator. It wasn’t until she was 28 years old that she gave in and joined the family business, publishing her first short story in a book called Famous Writers and Their Kids Write Spooky Stories. The famous writer was her mom, author and Smith alum Jane Yolen. Since then, Stemple has published more than 35 books and numerous short stories and poems, mostly (but not all) for children. She has even collaborated on two books with her brothers. Presently, she is working on a verse novel, a trilogy of chapter books, a poetry collection and about a dozen picture books.
QUOTED: "One of the cool things about writing a book like this is that almost everything is new. When we started thinking about it, we thought, what animals suck? Vampire bat, remora, butterfly, hummingbird, mosquito. What else? Then we dug in and started looking for other critters that suck—in different ways and for different reasons. But, ALSO, we found out that vampire bats don’t suck at all—they kind of bite then lap up the blood of their victim and that remoras don’t actually suck."
"What’s exciting about writing nonfiction poetry is you are allowed to have fun with those facts that you find in your research (as long as they’re accurate, of course). And, you get to use similes and metaphor and word-play—these are a few of my fa-vo-rite things."
Yuck, You Suck!: An Interview with Authors Heidi E. Y. Stemple and Jane Yolen
Prepare to get sucked into a hilarious poetry collection in Yuck, You Suck!: Poems about Animals That Sip, Slurp, Suck. Sixteen slurpy poems introduce a suction-filled selection of animals, and spectacularly sticky illustrations from Eugenia Nobati spotlight these stupendous suckers.
Today we’re joined by the incredible author team Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple to hear about their writing journey! Read on to read about their experience and watch a fun read aloud video.
How did YUCK, YOU SUCK! develop?
Jane Yolen (JY): Yuck, You Suck! is a follow-up book of poems Eek, You Reek!: (Poems abouts Animals that Stink, Stank, Stunk). I have been a poet, writer of lyrics for bands, writer of verse novels, etc. since I was very young. (Am writing operas now!) My daughter Heidi and I have written more than 25 books together, a number of them in rhyme because she is as good (or better!) than I am at it. Besides it’s fun. Also we are big nature lovers, and both together and apart have written many books about nature. (Hint: She is the child in my Caldecott-winning book Owl Moon.)
Heidi E. Y. Stemple (HEYS): The funny part of this collaboration is that when my mom pitched the first book Eek, You Reek!, I thought it was a silly idea that would never sell. After all, it seemed too narrow. How many animals stink? All I could think of were skunks. So, I told her I would be happy to write my poems IF she sold the book. I thought it was a long shot. Well, she wrote her half of the poems and sold the book. Then she got to sit back, say “I told you so,” and watch me do the second half of the work. But, in the process, I did a lot of research making sure the book wasn’t at all narrow. She had written about very similar animals—skunks and weasels, but also a bug or two. So, I researched and found a bird, a turtle, and an ox that stank. Once Eugenia Nobati came aboard as the illustrator, it got really fun! Anyway, as you can imagine, I didn’t hesitate to be excited about Yuck, You Suck!. I knew right away it could be a great book. We knew we wanted to squeeze in a few more poems than EEK, and we also knew that we wanted to have the same amazing backmatter. We are hoping to do a third…
What are some fun things you learned while writing YUCK, YOU SUCK!?
HEYS: One of the cool things about writing a book like this is that almost everything is new. When we started thinking about it, we thought, what animals suck? Vampire bat, remora, butterfly, hummingbird, mosquito. What else? Then we dug in and started looking for other critters that suck—in different ways and for different reasons. But, ALSO, we found out that vampire bats don’t suck at all—they kind of bite then lap up the blood of their victim and that remoras don’t actually suck (which I used as the title for the poem about the remora), because suctioning is a different thing scientifically than sucking. The mechanisms for what these animals do is fascinating. Don’t get me started on the hummingbird. It also doesn’t suck and I couldn’t even begin to explain it in a poem. What’s exciting about writing nonfiction poetry is you are allowed to have fun with those facts that you find in your research (as long as they’re accurate, of course). And, you get to use similes and metaphor and word-play—these are a few of my fa-vo-rite things. In order to make sure all the facts that you can’t squeeze into a poem are still available to the child reader, we added extensive backmatter. I am pretty nerdy—the backmatter is often my favorite part of any book.
JY: For me, finding all these new, fascinating (and sometimes YUCKY facts is the fun part of working on these books. Writing the poems is secondary. After we were both done individually researching and writing, Heidi and I get to critique one another’s poems while sitting across from another at my dining room table. No blood is shed (or sucked) in these critique sessions, but we are both honest with one another, and give praise where it is due. Listening to an honest critique and then going back to work on the piece is part of our every day. No bad feelings. And sometimes . . . wonderful surprises,
Have you done anything else besides write for a living?
JY: Yes. I was an editor for the first few years of my writing life. First for adult science fiction and mystery books, and after that strictly for children, which I much preferred. I have also taught in both college (“Children’s Lit” at Smith College) and at workshops (writing picture books, mostly).
HEYS: I didn’t start out writing. I had other jobs before. You would think that with a family like mine who write a lot about nature, my job before writing must have been as a biologist, a science teacher, or even a veterinarian. But, nope. I started my career as a probation/parole officer and worked for a while as a private investigator. That seems so completely different, right? But, truthfully, I use a lot of the same skills I learned in those jobs. Writing, especially writing a book like Yuck, You Suck!, is a lot about researching and finding answers to things you don’t yet know. Those are the same things I did when I worked in the courts and as a private eye. So, my two careers aren’t as far apart as you would think.
How often do you write?
JY: Every single day (unless I am traveling or sick.) I get up, get dressed in my “work clothes” (i.e. as if going out to an office to work), and begin before breakfast and quit usually with only a few meal breaks and to hold conversations with my husband and my daughter until bedtime. I do sometimes take breaks for walks outside, for movies, or for trips to interesting places (where I take lots of notes for possible books or poems). And I write a poem a day and send it out to over 1,000 subscribers.
HEYS: I do not write every day. I can’t. I have another job that takes up a lot of my time. I do try to write as much as possible. But, even when I am working on a book on deadline, that doesn’t mean writing every day. Today, for example, I spent about three hours watching videos about building motorized bikes and scooters out of parts you have in your house. I did this because a character I’m writing needs to do this and I know nothing about it—yet. So, I didn’t write anything, but I was researching. When we were working on Yuck, You Suck!, we spent as much time researching as we did writing. Probably more. When I’m working on nonfiction poetry such as the poems in YUCK, I keep notes while I research. I also have long lists of words that I find associated with each animal. Many of those words work their way into the poems.
Can you say “suck” in a book? Isn’t that a bad word?
HEYS: Well, we definitely gave this a lot of thought while we were writing. Our argument was that we are using the word in its correct scientific meaning. We are taking the word back! OK, though seriously, we did worry that the publishing company wouldn’t like the title and we worked feverishly with our phenomenal acquiring editor Carol Hinz to come up with alternative titles in case the acquisitions committee didn’t think it was appropriate. But everyone loved it and I’m sure the kid readers will too. The jury is out on whether their parents will find it as funny… but, really, we are using it contextually correctly and we hope that this leads to discussion about word use and how words can be changed to mean many things. Even perfectly good (and accurate) words such as “suck.”
JY: I have little to add to Heidi’s memory of how much worrying (unnecessary, as it turned it) we did about using that word, that title. And yet, in books for young readers, often there will be questions about words or concepts or facts that should be kept in, taken out, defined and redefined. So this wasn’t a new problem for either one of us. And we both have raised children. Both have wrestled with “bad” language in family situation. Both, as poets, are very aware of how potent a single word can be, And also aware that this is a book that can and will be used in schools. And finally we are both great punsters, aware of how words can make you laugh even in uncomfortable situations.
QUOTED: "a delightful book that amuses and educates."
YOLEN, Jane & Heidi E. Y. Stemple. Yuck, You Suck!: Poems About Animals That Sip, Slurp, Suck. illus. by Eugenia Nobati. 32p. Millbrook. Oct. 2022. Tr $20.99. ISBN 9781728415666.
Gr 2-6--Exuberant, busy, and brightly colored full-page illustrations show a variety of creatures who "sip, slurp, suck." Insects, birds, sea life, and animals are drawn with exaggerated features and expressions that give them a cartoonish appearance. The poems are printed directly, but unobtrusively, on the illustrations in a fun font. Most of the poems are bouncy rhymes, with a concrete poem and a haiku also included. Common and uncommon creatures are explored. Lampreys are described: "It looks like a flower, with petals of gold. Keratin fillings. Oh--beauty--behold! Get set to go nearer, through ocean and muck. Does that flower smell pretty? 'Tis a pity. Oops. Suck." Prologue and epilogue poems tie the theme together. End notes include an explanation on why animals suck, additional resources, anatomical terms for body parts that suck, informational paragraphs on each creature featured in the book, and a glossary of scientific terms. With a book talk or a display, it will be a hit in libraries or classrooms. VERDICT A delightful book that amuses and educates. Strong first purchase recommendation.--Tamara Saarinen
KEY: * Excellent in relation to other titles on the same subject or in the same genre | Tr Hardcover trade binding | lib. ed. Publisher's library binding | Board Board book | pap. Paperback | e eBook original | BL Bilingual | POP Popular Picks | SP Spanish
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Saarinen, Tamara. "YOLEN, Jane & Heidi E.Y. Stemple. Yuck, You Suck!: Poems About Animals That Sip, Slurp, Suck." School Library Journal, vol. 68, no. 8, Aug. 2022, p. 102. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A711673885/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=91b0ad34. Accessed 12 Sept. 2024.
STEMPLE, Heidi E.Y. Chicken Karaoke. illus. by Aaron Spurgeon. 32p. (Ready-to-Read). S. & S./Simon Spotlight. Jan. 2023. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9781665913904; pap. $4.99. ISBN 9781665913898.
PreS-Gr 2—This story of a karaoke-singing Duck has a rhyming narrative with music-related vocabulary that will pull in even the newest reader. Color illustrations of various types of fowl and adorable yellow ducklings enhance the story of overcoming fear of the unknown—specifically, singing in public and stage fright. Flamingos, a toucan, a rooster DJ, and a flock of chickens cheer on Duck as she finally makes her way to the stage. Karaoke machine issues present shenanigans from secondary characters, which make the book quite humorous. However, the illustrations convey the setting of the story as a bar, including tables with drinks found in several of the page spreads, which is more mature than a beginning reader would expect.
VERDICT: This title is very clever with its message about overcoming fears and supporting friends, but the mature illustrations present an issue with the overall book.—Katie Loomis
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 Library Journals, LLC
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviews/xpress/884170-289/xpress_reviews-first_look_at_new.html.csp
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Loomis, Katie. "Chicken Karaoke." WebOnlyReviewsSLJ, vol. 69, no. 2, 17 Feb. 2023, p. 1. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A741290764/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=958f7707. Accessed 12 Sept. 2024.
STEMPLE, Heidi E.Y. Dodo Dodgeball: Ready-to-Read Level 1. illus. by Eva Byrne. 3 2p. S. & S./ Simon Spotlight. May 2024. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9781665952095; pap. $4.99. ISBN 9781665952088.
PreS-Gr 1--The ducklings and the dodos are gearing up for a rousing game of dodge-ball--which is all in fun, so don't be mean! But while everyone seems to enjoy the gym class game, Chick sits in the corner with a book and reads. When asked to join, Chick simply says, "I prefer to read. No, thank you." The balls fly and smash benches, chairs, and the trophy shelf. As the rambunctious game continues, Chick carefully gathers the broken wood and builds a tiny book shelf loaded with books. After the game is over, Chick distribute books to everyone, even the coach. Stemple includes high frequency sight words: "Look!" exclaim several students in the class to their coach. Active play and quiet reading are equally praised in this early reader. VERDICT Encouraging the love of reading in newly independent readers without discounting the importance of physical fitness could be a difficult feat here, but this sweet volume accomplishes just that.--Jennifer Miskec
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Miskec, Jennifer. "STEMPLE, Heidi E.Y.: Dodo Dodgeball: Ready-to-Read Level 1." School Library Journal, vol. 70, no. 4, Apr. 2024, p. 126. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A790645099/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=822a664e. Accessed 12 Sept. 2024.
She Sells Seashells: Mary Anning, an Unlikely Paleontologist. By Heidi E. Y. Stemple. Illus. by Emily Paik. July 2024. 40p. Charlesbridge, $17.99 (9781623543280); e-book, $9.99 (9781632899958). K-Gr. 3. 560.92.
Mary Anning spent her childhood helping her father chisel fossils from the seaside cliffs near their home on England's Jurassic Coast. After his death, she continued his work in order to support her family. Her clients were vacationers looking for souvenirs, as well as scientists (all men) who saw fossils as a way of studying creatures living on Earth in the distant past. As she grew older, Anning took an interest in those creatures and formulated theories that others debated and adopted or rejected. Men studying paleontology received praise for their "discoveries," while as a woman, Anning, who had found the fossils, was not allowed to join the scientific societies or attend the meetings where theories were discussed. She simply returned to the cliffs, chiseled fossils from the rocks, and sold them to put food on the table for her family. In the appealing text, Stemple transports readers to early 1800s England, when girls received little education, "and girls from poor families certainly didn't become scientists." Soft, colorful illustrations support the text. An informative biography with built-in social commentary.--Carolyn Phelan
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Phelan, Carolyn. "She Sells Seashells: Mary Anning, an Unlikely Paleontologist." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 19-20, 1 June 2024, p. 76. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A804018326/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8cc3b9f1. Accessed 12 Sept. 2024.