Molly Bang has won many awards for her picture book illustration over the past forty years. She is also the author of Picture This, a book for adults about how pictures work. In 2009 Molly teamed with MIT ecologist Penny Chisholm on Living Sunlight, a picture book explaining how light interacts with the world around us. Their new book is Ocean Sunlight: How Tiny Plants Feed the Seas, an impressively complete and accessible look at how light collaborates with all the ocean’s systems. I wanted to find out how they collaborate with each other.

1. You share writing credit for Ocean Sunlight. How did you work together on the text?

Molly Bang. Photo by Jim Green.

Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm: Penny decided what she thought were the most important concepts to explain in order to understand how the oceans function as an integrated biological/chemical/physical system. Her goal was to cover topics that are not usually included in children’s books but that she feels are fundamentals for everyone (not just children) to understand. Once we had the key concepts down, we worked together to shape them into a story. This was the most difficult part. Where was the narrative? Where was the suspense? The drama? We were striving for that sense of awe at being part of nature, part of our world. When the language was too scientific, we tried to make sure the ideas could be understood in some other way. That’s where Molly’s pictures come in.

2. Molly, you’re the illustrator, but did Penny have a role in conceptualizing or editing the pictures?

Penny Chisholm. Photo by James Long.

MB and PC: The typical approach to collaborative children’s books is that there is an author and an illustrator and the two do not communicate until the book is finished. This is not that kind of book. Once we had a rough idea of the concepts and the general narrative, Molly made thumbnail sketches that we reworked until we were fairly sure about how the story would “move.” Then we started writing. Molly wrote a first draft, then Penny edited to make it more scientifically accurate. We went back and forth, over and over. Penny found wonderful examples of the ocean plants and critters for Molly to paint, and Molly often painted the same picture several times before we were both satisfied. The good news is that we almost always agreed on what changes were needed.

3. Penny, you usually teach college and graduate students. Was it difficult to distill this information for children?

MB and PC: Extremely difficult! But also very satisfying. There are fundamental scientific truths about how our planet works that most people, even college graduates, do not understand. This book (along with Living Sunlight) is our way of distilling these ideas and making them accessible to everyone. It is our hope that parents and teachers will also gain insights as they read the books to children, and more importantly when they read the extensive end notes.

4. Your book contains many visual representations of abstract ideas (e.g., the yellow outline around plants and animals that’s meant to show the absorption of energy). Tell us about this process.

MB and PC: So glad you noticed. This was one of our goals, and one of the more difficult tasks (not only in the pictures, but in the writing itself). For example, we wanted to show that we understand the sun’s energy both as waves and as individual packets of energy or photons. So we showed the light as waves of separate yellow polka dots. This became a sort of meditative exercise for Molly, as she not only had to paint each dot, but since the background was dark, she had to paint first a white dot and cover that with a yellow one. Or two.

We tried as much as possible to have the illustrations not only elucidate the text but complement it as well, so a more visual learner could look at the picture, go back to the text, and continue back and forth until understanding evolved. We hope that when teachers and parents use the book with children, they will spend a good amount of time just concentrating on what the pictures themselves are saying and have the children describe what’s happening in them as they read the book.

5. Ocean Sunlight and its predecessors Living Sunlight (2009) and My Light (2004, written and illustrated by Molly) present sophisticated science ideas in an inviting picture book format. When you were children, what books illuminated the natural world for you?

MB and PC: Penny’s childhood was not full of books, but it was full of nature. The only children’s book she remembers is Holling Clancy Holling’s Paddle-to-the-Sea. This book had special meaning for children growing up on Lake Superior, as she did. She found the adventures of the little carved wooden Indian in the canoe enchanting. Molly spent summers in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where she went to the Woods Hole Science School and was subjected to many, many books about science. But the only one she remembers with great fondness is…Paddle-to-the-Sea! This shared childhood memory is probably the unconscious road map that is guiding us, making our task easier. In fact, the next book we would like to make — Sunlight Moves the Waters — is inspired in part by Holling’s classic.

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Roger Sutton
Editor in Chief

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Under-the-sea reading for kids
In the Sea written by David Elliott, illus. by Holly Meade, Candlewick, 3–6 years.
Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems written by Kate Coombs, illus. by Meilo So, Chronicle, 5–8 years.
Dolphin Baby! written by Nicola Davies, illus. by Grita Grandstom, Candlewick, 5–8 years.
Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle by Claire A. Nivola, Foster/Farrar, 5–8 years.

Summer fun for little ones
Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey by Mini Grey, Knopf, 3–6 years.
Summer Days and Nights by Wong Herbert Yee, Ottaviano/Holt, 3–6 years.
The Best Bike Ride Ever by James Proimos, illus. by Johanna Wright, Dial, 4–7 years.
The Shark King [TOON Books] by R. Kikuo Johnson, Toon/Candlewick, 5–8 years.

Great escapes (some quite literal!) for middle-grade summer reading
Tracing Stars by Erin E. Moulton, Philomel, 8–11 years.
Summer in the City written by Marie-Louise Gay and David Homel, illus. by Marie-Louise Gay, Groundwood, 8–11 years.
Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker, Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, 8–11 years.
Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage , Dial, 8–11 years.

Beach reads for teens
37 Things I Love (in no particular order) by Kekla Magoon, Holt, 14 years and up.
The Story of Us by Deb Caletti, Simon Pulse, 14 years and up.
Jersey Angel by Beth Ann Bauman, Lamb/Random, 14 years and up.
Seize the Storm by Michael Cadnum, Farrar, 14 years and up.

These titles were featured in the July 2012 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.

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Kekla Magoon’s 37 Things I Love (in no particular order) takes place during the last few days of sophomore year before summer vacation begins for Ellis. Along with typical high school issues—friends, dating, etc.—Ellis faces a more serious challenge: her father has been in a coma for years, and Mom wants to end life-support. What elevates this book above Afterschool Special is Ellis’s way with words as she describes juggling familiar teen concerns with life-and-death decisions. (14 years and up)

In Deb Caletti’s The Story of Us, Cricket’s future with longtime boyfriend Janssen is uncertain. Meanwhile, her mom is getting married, and college looms. Interspersed with a memorable week at a beach house are Cricket’s letters to Janssen in which she recalls the trajectory of their relationship. Authentically imperfect characters, clever dialogue, and observations that ring true will draw readers in. (14 years and up)

Angel, the star of Beth Ann Bauman’s Jersey Angel, is a confident, sexually experienced teen. She knows that her secret summer fling with her best friend’s boyfriend could inflict damage, but she rationalizes that she’s a good person and good people should be allowed to “fall” sometimes. This steamy beach book goes a level deeper as the characters find themselves faced with difficult choices. Angel isn’t sure whether she says or does the right thing—but she admirably tries her best. (14 years and up)

Michael Cadnum’s Seize the Storm chronicles seventeen-year-old Susannah and her family’s yacht voyage to Hawaii during which they sail into a deadly confrontation with professional criminals. Cadnum meticulously describes each character’s personality and motives, embedding them in an expertly constructed web of intrigue. Straightforward, elegant prose helps place the dramatic events into a grander scheme in which fortune, greed, fate, and death thrillingly play out. (14 years and up)

From the July 2012 issue of Notes from the Horn Book. For bibliographic information please click here.

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In Erin E. Moulton’s Tracing Stars, what begins as a typical last day of school for fifth-grader Indie Lee Chickory ends with a high-speed chase through her sleepy coastal town and the disappearance into the sea of her best friend (and pet), a rare golden lobster named The Lobster Monty Cola. Indie enlists the help of oddball new kid Owen, and the two hatch a plan to trap Monty. Moulton’s sensitivity to her characters’ emotions extends this quiet tale’s mood and setting. (8–11 years)

Sixth grade is almost over, and Charlie’s parents haven’t revealed the family’s summer plans yet. What great adventure is in store? Money is tight this year, so in Marie-Louise Gay and David Homel’s Summer in the City (the sequel to Travels with My Family and On the Road Again!), Charlie and his little brother Max will have a “stay-cation” in their hometown of Montreal. The summer begins relatively tamely—walking dogs, camping out in the backyard—but it quickly and humorously escalates. Energy and enthusiasm abound, and Gay’s black-and-white illustrations add visual appeal. (8–11 years)

Sara Pennypacker, acclaimed for her Clementine novels for younger readers, moves into middle-grade territory with Summer of the Gypsy Moths. Stella is living temporarily with her great-aunt Louise on Cape Cod (her mother has taken off—again); so is foster kid Angel. When Louise dies suddenly, the authorities-averse girls decide to hide the death—which means tons of subterfuge. The girls keep it up long enough to figure out what constitutes a home, and a family. Stella and Angel can be both irritating and endearing, and readers will cheer them on to the satisfying ending. (8–11 years)

In Three Times Lucky, Sheila Turnage places her unconventional characters—the inhabitants of Tupelo Landing, North Carolina—within a strong, well-plotted summertime story. Mo LoBeau, twelve, washed up during a hurricane when she was just a baby and was informally adopted by the Colonel and Miss Lana; now the three happily run the town’s popular café. Then a stranger comes to town, investigating a murder, and the book becomes a dandy mystery. Humor sweetens the mix; Mo’s colloquial narration will pull readers in, and the sustained tension will keep them engrossed. (8–11 years)

From the July 2012 issue of Notes from the Horn Book. For bibliographic information please click here.

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The action-figure hero of Traction Man Is Here!, along with his sidekick Scrubbing Brush, hits the beach in Mini Grey’s Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey. Traction Man’s valiant security patrol of the family picnic comes to an abrupt end when a wave whisks the pair away, landing them in the clutches of another young beachgoer. Once again, the duo entertainingly inhabits the world-within-a-world of creative play. (3–6 years)

A young girl celebrates summertime in Wong Herbert Yee’s Summer Days and Nights. During her busy day — which includes chasing butterflies, jumping into a pool, and taking an evening walk — she asks questions about the various insects and animals she encounters. Meticulously layered and blended colored-pencil art captures both the warmth of summer sunshine and the coolness of shade beneath trees. (3–6 years)

In James Proimos and Johanna Wright’s The Best Bike Ride Ever, Bonnie O’Boy is so eager to ride her new bike that she takes off before learning how to stop. She rides over mountains and elephants, through downpours and windstorms, up the Statue of Liberty and down the Grand Canyon. Careful observers will realize that this whole thrilling adventure takes place in the safety of Bonnie’s cluttered backyard. Energy springs off the page; it’s no wonder that Bonnie wants to ride off without training wheels…or even training. (4–7 years)

For primary readers, R. Kikuo Johnson’s graphic novel/beginning reader The Shark King retells the legend of an underwater shape shifter married to a mortal woman who bears their son, Nanaue. Nanaue’s aquatic superpowers make living among mortals a struggle, but eventually he discovers where he belongs. In the illustrations, the characters’ rounded black outlines convey strong energy and emotion, while the panels and spreads feature a lush, colorful Hawaiian setting. (5–8 years)

From the July 2012 issue of Notes from the Horn Book. For bibliographic information please click here.

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David Elliott and Holly Meade’s In the Sea combines poetry and art to create memorable portraits of twenty different ocean creatures, including an octopus, golden starfish, moray eel, and blue whale. The tone of Elliott’s very short poems varies nicely, from lightly humorous to evocative and majestic, and Meade’s full-spread woodcut and watercolor illustrations are at once striking and simple. (3–6 years)

The creatures and allure of the sea are captured in Kate Coombs’s twenty-three poems and Meilo So’s splendid illustrations for Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems. Some of Coombs’s poems are comical while others are thoughtful. The ocean itself is the star of So’s beautiful art, whether in translucent underwater greens, intense blue against a dazzling white horizon, or simply as splashes of color and light. (5–8 years)

Dolphin Baby! is a lively story with scientific details about the developmental milestones in the first six months of a dolphin’s life. While Nicola Davies’s main narrative concentrates on one particular dolphin as he matures, smaller text on each spread provides more general information about the species. Brita Granström’s illustrations, set at various depths in the ocean, feature broad brushstrokes of every watery hue. (5–8 years)

Claire A. Nivola’s picture book biography Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle focuses on Earle’s intimate knowledge of the creatures she has spent over half a century observing. Accompanying the informative text are Nivola’s exquisitely detailed watercolor illustrations that are perfect for depicting the natural world. An author’s note explains why we all need to get involved in efforts to curtail the threats of overfishing, climate change, oil spills, and other pollutants. (5–8 years)

From the July 2012 issue of Notes from the Horn Book. For bibliographic information please click here.

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