Ruby's Hope: A Story of the Girl in the Most Famous Photograph of the Depression

Written by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Sarah Dvojack

Page Street Kids

978-1-62414-818-7

40 pp.

Ages 6-10

September 2019

In 1936, photographer Dorothea Lange would take a picture at a pea-pickers' camp in California and capture a time, an existence, a struggle that would become the iconic "Migrant Mother" piece of art. Though it would be decades later that Florence Owens Thompson and her children would become known as the subjects of that photograph, Monica Kulling brings us a fictionalized account of the background of those captured forever as the face of the Great Depression.

From Ruby's Hope, written by Monica Kulling, illus. by Sarah Dvojack

Ruby's Hope begins with the little girl's family leaving Oklahoma after the economic tragedies of the late 1920s and early 1930s. With the stock market crash in 1929, followed by the drought that brought dust storms and the ruin of farms, seven-year-old Ruby's parents decide that, unlike the thistle that persevered in the field, they needed to move on, hopeful of a better life in California.

It sometimes seemed to Ruby that Ma pushed hope to its limits.

First the family–Ma, Pa, older siblings Leroy and Viola and babies Katherine and Norma–took to the lettuce fields. But when they head to the pea fields for the next round of picking, they run out of gas and a frost kills the crop, leaving the family desolate in a camp of migrant workers similarly unsettled. Pa and Leroy head to town to earn any kind of money, while

Days passed and food dwindled.

Ruby's hope dwindled too.

From Ruby's Hope, written by Monica Kulling, illus. by Sarah Dvojack

When a lady photographer comes to the camp to take images of the migrant farm workers for the government, Ruby brings her to see her mother. Though reluctant–"I don't see what good they'll do. We need gas to leave this place. We need food, not photographs"–Ma agrees, swayed that perhaps they might convey to others how hard the migrant workers' lives are. 

Though the story of Florence Owens Thompson and her family may not be as Monica Kulling envisions it–her Author's Note and discussion of How the "Migrant Mother" Came to Be provide more details about the facts as known–it accurately depicts a family on the move for work, eking out a living wherever possible and carrying on through drought, dust storms, frost and more. I like that Monica Kulling gives the story to Ruby who, while quite young, knows the hardship of leaving the only home she'd known and the worries of her parents and still keeps hope in her heart. Though her words are heavy with worry, hunger and poverty, I suspect the story would have been far harsher if written from the perspective of Ma, Pa or an older sibling. 

From Ruby's Hope, written by Monica Kulling, illus. by Sarah Dvojack

Still, the tragedy in the family's story is pervasive in Ruby's Hope. It's like the dust clouds that spread across prairies and plains: oppressive, stifling out air and sun, and crushing.  American artist Sarah Dvojack's pencil drawings coloured digitally extend that feel of hardship. The earthiness of the family's circumstances, environmental and economic, are conveyed in her lines and colours. From the actions of her characters, in the slump of their shoulders, of the dirt of their clothes and bodies, and the landscapes of their situation, Sarah Dvojack embeds the art with the burdens of the time and place.

Ruby's Hope: A Story of the Girl in the Most Famous Photograph of the Depression may be a fictionalized account of that image but its accuracy comes from the awareness of how people like Ruby's family laboured through horrific circumstances and how change can be be inspired with the right attention.

Migrant Mother, Photograph by Dorothea Lange (Retrieved from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/50989)

Aunt Pearl

Written by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Irene Luxbacher

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-153-5

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

August 2019

Six-year-old Marta's mother has decided that her Aunt Pearl should come and live with them rather than living on the street or couch surfing. Not only does Pearl bring her shopping cart loaded with her "worldly goods" but a man in an old van brings more boxes and bags with the same miscellany. While Marta and Dan's mother tries to keep their home tidy and organized as she prefers it to be, Aunt Pearl fills her room, as well as the garage and basement, with her stuff, and the clash of sensibilities begins.

From Aunt Pearl by Monica Kulling, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

Marta is quite fascinated with Aunt Pearl who is respectful of her new surroundings and family though she still feels the need to be true to herself.  Soon Marta is emulating Aunt Pearl, from her eclectic clothing choices to joining her on her forays to scour the neighbourhood’s garbage for treasures, always asking questions of Pearl and how she lived. Marta loves the drama of Aunt Pearl and always finds opportunities to role-play something she hears or sees associated with Aunt Pearl which unpredictably the older woman thinks strange.

From Aunt Pearl by Monica Kulling, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

But things are very different for Aunt Pearl now and over the summer and into the fall, she becomes more and more reserved, “staring into the ravine at the bottom of the yard where the trees grew tangled and green” and, with her mental health affected, she leaves.

From Aunt Pearl by Monica Kulling, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

Aunt Pearl is a tough story about family and love and appreciation and authenticity.  Author Monica Kulling makes it clear that Marta’s mother wants to do what’s best for her aunt but it might not actually be what’s right for Pearl. Many would think it generous and appropriate to give Pearl shelter in the family home but it’s obviously not what’s best in the long run for Pearl. Whatever the reason for Aunt Pearl choosing to return to the streets, and there are those who do, she was still able to make a connection with Marta, to learn that she had a place she could go, and that there were still choices within her control.

Monica Kulling's words never criticize either Aunt Pearl or Marta and Dan's mother for their living choices. She is an observer not a judge, seeing the circumstances as a clash of two worlds in which all try to accept their differences with open hearts. Irene Luxbacher's rich collage illustrations, a mixture of pencil, watercolour and acrylics finished with found papers and gouache, push that same idea. While Irene Luxbacher makes Aunt Pearl a sympathetic character with her soft eyes and quiet smile, Pearl's clothes are usually loud and her presence larger than life. In the words and the art, Aunt Pearl is both subtle and bold, trying to fit her world into someone else's and ultimately that just doesn't work.

Aunt Pearl is a bittersweet story about homelessness and the power of family to love and accept and let go. It teaches compassion and urges us all to better understand what it means to be homeless and to love those who are.

From Aunt Pearl by Monica Kulling, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

Dr. Jo: How Sara Josephine Baker Saved the Lives of America's Children

Written by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Julianna Swaney

Tundra Books

978-1-101-91789-3

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

October 2018

Sara Josephine Baker (1873-1945) had always been an unconventional person. She didn't hold by conventions that only boys played ball and climbed trees and became doctors. Fortunately, the Women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary had been established in 1868 and accepted her as a student of medicine. But, after setting up a practice with a fellow female physician, Florence Laighton, in 1898 and providing excellent care to her patients, Dr. Jo realized she did not have enough patients to stay in business and instead she became a health inspector for the city of New York.

Working in the neighbourhood of Hell's Kitchen, Dr. Jo was saddened to see so many immigrant families living in harsh conditions and subject to terrible illnesses and health issues, especially the children. She helped establish courses for midwives, nurse visits for new mothers, milk stations, and antiseptic beeswax containers for silver nitrate drops used on newborns. She even designed infant wear that was less restrictive and could regulate temperature–preventing heatstroke from typical swaddling–in babies. Her efforts on behalf of the children helped reduce New York City's infant mortality rate to levels not seen in other major American cities.

From Dr. Jo: How Sara Josephine Baker Saved the Lives of America's Children by Monica Kulling, illus. by Julianna Swaney

Monica Kulling always tells a good story in her illustrated biographies. (Check out all the books in her Great Ideas series including Clean Sweep! Frank Zamboni's Ice Machine and Zap! Nikola Tesla Takes Charge) She knows the right balance of information and text to educate and enlighten. Although she provides a brief page "More about Dr. Jo" with a few more details, Monica Kulling never makes the information read like an encyclopedic notation about the doctor's accomplishments. Instead, it focuses on Dr. Jo's motivations and achievements in terms of service to others, specifically children. Young readers will know about pediatricians, hopefully through their own health care, but will be surprised to learn that Dr. Jo was the first. Moreover, they will learn about a time and place when health was not a given, and the most vulnerable, children such as themselves, needed someone to advocate for them and care enough to help. Personally I appreciated hearing about a woman who broke down barriers in the medical field while managing to do extraordinary things.

From Dr. Jo: How Sara Josephine Baker Saved the Lives of America's Children by Monica Kulling, illus. by Julianna Swaney

Monica Kulling's stories come to life with exceptional illustrators like American artist Julianna Swaney who balance the real with the fictionalized. Images depicting the conditions of Hell's Kitchen would have been tragic yet Julianna Swaney shows the reality with a subtle touch of colour and shape. It is honest without being scary, and bright without being saccharine.

Learning about great people through illustrated biographies is always a winner for children. There's history being told but at a level relevant to them. I'm especially delighted that Monica Kulling has shared one about a female physician who never let societal conventions hold her back and was able to achieve much good by not doing so. It's an important lesson for all of us.

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A free educator's guide for Dr. Jo is available from Tundra Books at https://tundrabooks.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/dr-jo_educator-guide.pdf

Mary Anning's Curiosity

Written by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Melissa Castrillón

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-898-3

116 pp.

Ages 7-12

May 2017

I could wait until May 21st, the 218th anniversary of Mary Anning’s birth, but that’s on the weekend and I don’t want to wait.  This extraordinary woman who began life as a miracle girl, surviving a bolt of lightning that killed three women including the woman who held her, has waited long enough, being the woman whom American scientist and writer Stephen Jay Gould declared to be “probably the most important unsung (or inadequately sung) collecting force in the history of paleontology.” (1)

From a very young age, Mary Anning had traipsed the beaches and cliffs of her home in Lyme Regis with her father Richard and older brother Joe.  They would scour the Black Ven cliffs of limestone, shale and clay for treasures called curiosities that they could clean and sell, supplementing her father’s carpentry income. Mary loved going hunting for ammos (ammonites), thunderbolts (belemnites), “devil’s toenails” (Gryphaea) and all shells but she always hoped to find the giant crocodile (a misnomer) of local lore.  After a cliff fall in 1807 prevents her father from ever fossil hunting again, the family’s debts begin to accumulate. Mary who’d always been sneaking out to go hunting decides to leave school in 1810, at age twelve, and continue excavating and selling curiosities, as well as doing odd jobs whenever possible.

And then Joseph, after his work as an upholsterer’s apprentice, discovers the massive eye socket fossil of the giant croc.  But it’s Mary who must excavate it and the rest of the skull while keeping their fossil-seller competitor Captain Cury at bay.  With tireless devotion to her task, and the support of the wealthy and educated fossil collector Miss Elizabeth Philpot, Mary locates the long snout with jagged teeth and rest of the skull which are removed with the stone to the privacy and indoor warmth of her house for cleaning and preparation.  By putting the skull on display, Mary is able to help earn additional funds for the family while pursuing the remainder of the great animal’s fossilized body.

Though Mary Anning (1799-1847) is a part of history, the story that Monica Kulling tells is a creative retelling of her early life and first major discovery, one which helped define her as one the world’s greatest fossilists.   As was the case for those living to pay rent and food and the uncertainty of health (her mother loses many of her babies), Mary Anning’s beginnings were shaky.  But the lightning strike that she survived miraculously heralded a new beginning, apparently taking her from dull child to one with brilliant curiosity and fever for learning.  Like the curiosities she hunted on the beaches and cliffs of Dorset, Mary Anning was a marvel, she of determination and  inquisitiveness, both which served her and her family well.

As with her earlier picture book biographies, Monica Kulling has highlighted a significant figure of original thought and action whom we should know but probably don’t.  With Mary Anning’s Curiosity, Monica Kulling has demonstrated that she too can be innovative, now extending her biographic storytelling into chapter books, helping young readers delve deeper into lives of significant individuals whose stories need to be told to understand our worlds today.  And Monica Kulling is the storyteller to do so, giving life to lives lived in different times and places so that they might be truly appreciated.


(1) From  Purcell, Rosamond Wolff and Gould, Stephen Jay. Finders, Keepers: Eight Collectors (1992). W. W. Norton & Company. 155 pp.

On Our Way to Oyster Bay: Mother Jones and her March for Children’s Rights (A CitizenKid Book)

by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Felicita Sala

Kids Can Press

978-1-77138-325-7

32 pp.

Ages 6-9

September 2016

Kids Can Press’ newest title in its CitizenKid series of books that promote children’s global citizenship has at its core the fight for those very rights.  Monica Kulling, who excels at sharing biographies of key individuals from science, engineering, the arts and social justice by partnering with illustrators to convey those stories, focuses this time on a pivotal moment in child labour activism.

From On Our Way to Oyster Bay

by Monica Kulling, illus. by Felicita Sala

Eight-year-olds Aidan and Gussie are fictionalized cotton mill workers in 1903 but they could be any child of the time: working twelve hour days, six days a week to help their families with much-needed earnings, yet yearning to be able to go to school.  The matronly Mother Jones, a labour activist who had helped organize picket lines and strikes and fought for better wages and working conditions, saw a new challenge in ending child labour.  Her plan was to get the message out to President Theodore Roosevelt that child labour was unacceptable and that children should be taken out of the work force and given the opportunity to attend school.  Her plan was to march with a contingent of adults and children from Kensington, Pennsylvania to the President's summer home in Oyster Bay, over a hundred miles away.

The July 1903 march required long days of walking in hot temperatures and camping out at night.  Not surprising that some marchers quit along the way, though Monica Kulling's fictionalized characters Gussie and Aidan stick by Mother Jones to the end.  Even with a partial train ride and local townspeople offering their support with food and shelter, the march took weeks.  Banned by the major of New York City from speaking at Madison Square Gardens and from holding a public parade, Mother Jones still found a way to spread her message and give the remaining thirty marchers the treat of a day at Coney Island.  But, when they finally arrived in Oyster Bay, the President refused to speak with Mother Jones.

Many might feel that Mother Jones and her march for children's rights had been a failure, but not Mother Jones, and she shares this with Gussie and Aidan on the train ride back home.  She had drawn attention to the problem of child labour in their country and that small step would become a massive step in getting children out of the mills and factories and into schools.

The story of Mother Jones a.k.a. Mary Harris Jones is an important one in the fight for children's rights and, though her march for children's rights took place in the United States, her cause was a just and global one, still being fought in some countries today.  Not only does Monica Kulling help readers understand the daunting task that Mother Jones took upon herself, she encourages them to take action themselves, providing references of current organizations fighting against child labour, and background information about child labour today and the work of other activists like Craig Kielburger and Kailash Satyarthi.

Though Monica Kulling does provide valuable information about the fight against child labour in her story text and afterword, On Our Way to Oyster Bay: Mother Jones and her March for Children's Rights is still at its heart a picture book, and Australian-born Felicita Sala's bold illustrations support both a lightness and the importance to the story.  Felicita Sala's artwork, which appears to be a mixture of pencil, ink and watercolours, shows the strength of Mother Jones and her supporters' commitment while balancing that against the Herculean nature of their task.  Bold outlined characters and placards give way to expansive landscapes in which the marchers seem insignificant.

From On Our Way to Oyster Bay 

by Monica Kulling, illus. by Felicita Sala

On Our Way to Oyster Bay: Mother Jones and her March for Children's Rights illustrates in text and pictures an important historical event in labour activism while bringing that event into the 21st century and inspiring children to think about what they can do to support children's rights. Mother Jones would be proud.

Zap! Nikola Tesla Takes Charge

by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Bill Slavin

Tundra Books

978-1-77049-522-7

32 pp.

Ages 6-10

August 2016

Sure everyone is talking about the Tesla car but this is the story of the great inventor who inspired that motor car’s name by devising a multitude of inventions, not the least of which was the alternating current useful for effective distribution of power across great distances.

The extraordinary Nikola Tesla was born in Croatia in 1856 and came to America in 1884 with a dream of finding a job with Thomas Edison, the “electrical wizard” who hired young men to help develop new ideas.  Though Niko Tesla showed astonishing prowess with motors and machinery, astounding even Edison, his idea of a motor that ran on alternating current electricity was discouraged by the famous man who was determined to continue to invest in his direct current systems.

It wasn’t until Tesla met the entrepreneur-engineer George Westinghouse (who founded Westinghouse Electric and Westinghouse Appliances) that he was able to put his ideas into practice.  And, though Thomas Edison waged a nasty smear campaign against Tesla’s efforts, the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago proved to the world that alternating current was the more efficient system of providing electricity.  But it was the realization of Tesla’s dream to build a generator at Niagara Falls that sparked one of his greatest achievements, witnessed by the world in 1895.

From Zap! Nikola Tesla Takes Charge 

by Monica Kulling, illus. by Bill Slavin

Zap! Nikola Tesla Takes Charge is a great story of a young man with dreams and skills that even the malicious machinations of the celebrated Thomas Edison could not encumber.  Monica Kulling focuses on Tesla’s perseverance through repeated complications to stick to his aspirations, demonstrating that good ideas will not die.   It’s a positive message and an inspiring story of determination and engineering brilliance.

I’m saddened that Zap! Nikola Tesla Takes Charge is the final book in the Great Idea Series by Monica Kulling from Tundra Books.  Just as Zap! will undoubtedly do, these illustrated biographies have delighted young readers with the accomplishments of great inventors, from George Eastman to Elijah McCoy, covering cameras, paper bags, household management, the Zamboni, to steam engines, each story providing a glimpse into the lives of those who developed ideas that progressed our worlds in so many ways.  It’s especially gratifying that Bill Slavin, who was the original artist for the first book, It’s A Snap! (Tundra, 2009), has illustrated this final book.  His pen-and-ink artwork, coloured in PhotoShop (see images at http://www.billslavin.com/p/picture-book-illustration.html) enhance the story and bring the series full circle, electrifying Nikola Tesla’s story with a brightness and the authenticity so necessary in illustrated biographies. Congratulations to Monica Kulling and Bill Slavin on this culminating tome, a publishing achievement to rival those of the inventions in the Great Ideas Series.

From Zap! Nikola Tesla Takes Charge

by Monica Kulling, illus. by Bill Slavin

**Please check out Monica Kulling's comment below.  Seems one last book, #10, will be forthcoming.  Yippee!

Happy Birthday, Alice Babette

by Monica Kulling
Illustrated by Qin Leng
Groundwood Books
978-1-55498-8204
32 pp.
Ages 4-8
April 2016

Happy birthday to Happy Birthday, Alice Babette, the new picture book from Monica Kulling and Qin Leng and their first collaboration.  While a fictionalized account of an April birthday of Alice B. Toklas which her friend and life partner Gertrude Stein seems to have forgotten, Happy Birthday, Alice Babette provides a enchanting glimpse into the Parisian life of the two women and their fondness for eachother and life in general.

While Alice spends the day walking the streets of Paris, enjoying a carousel ride, a puppet show and thwarting a would-be jewel thief, Gertrude secretly prepares a meal and a birthday poem for her dear friend.  But Gertrude is not familiar with cooking or the stove and oven, and she is distracted by her writing of the birthday poem.

Gertrude worked on Alice’s poem.  She wanted it to be as beautiful as a rose. Meanwhile, the pots on the stove bubbled and boiled.  Smoke rose from the oven. (pg. 26)

From Happy Birthday, Alice Babette

by Monica Kulling, illus. by Qin Leng

When Alice returns home after “a day of marvels”, she resumes her role of cleaning and cooking and supporting her writer friend, unaware that the real surprise for her birthday is still to come. 

Monica Kulling persuasively portrays the companionable, caring, and supportive relationship between these two iconic women of the early twentieth-century as they wrote and nurtured writing by creating a scenario in which their personalities are perfectly complementary.  Gertrude may fail at cooking and baking, unlike Alice Toklas who ultimately wrote a cookbook, but her genius at writing is clear.  And the two women together make for any extraordinary couple.  

From Happy Birthday, Alice Babette

by Monica Kulling, illus. by Qin Leng

I have used the term “lightness” for Qin Leng’s illustrations and in Happy Birthday, Alice Babette, the artist displays that same subtlely with every line and shape and colour.  Her depictions of the two women are remarkable, but it’s the elegance of her illustrations that bring forth the beauty and refinement of the time and place and characters.  

Help Gertrude celebrate Alice’s birthday (139 years ago on April 30, 1877) with Happy Birthday, Alice Babette and get a snapshot into what life must have been like for these two memorable literary figures of the early 20th century.

To the Rescue! Garrett Morgan Underground (Great Idea Series)

Written by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by David Parkins

Tundra Books

978-1-77049-520-3

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

January 2016

The son of former slaves, Garrett Morgan, came from humble beginnings, working on a Kentucky farm alongside his family before heading north at 14 to find something more.  His first invention came by simple observation from the clothing factory floor which he cleaned.  Sewing machine belts were often breaking and Garrett Morgan's development of a stronger belt resulted in a promotion to sewing-machine repairman.  Garrett Morgan relayed this success into his own sewing-machine shop and tailoring shop, and was on his way.

Garrett Morgan could well have been considered a success at this point, owning his own house, and running his own businesses.  His successes were all the more because he was an African American man in a time of great prejudice and ignorance.  But he continued to develop new products, serendipitously developing a cream for hair straightening which led to his first patent and the beginnings of the G. A. Morgan Hair Refining Company.

But the key product for which Garrett Morgan is showcased in To the Rescue! came from the man's shock at the death toll from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City in 1911.  Determined to help the firefighters breathe while inside burning buildings, Garrett Morgan developed a safety hood, the precursor to the gas mask, that utilized long hoses to draw breathable air from ground level and allow the wearer to exhale safely, with a sponge to filter out smoke.  He called it Morgan's Safety Hood and Smoke Protector.  Though it worked, it was often shunned because the inventor was black.

It wasn't until a gas explosion trapped more than thirty men underground in Cleveland that Garrett Morgan's safety hood was utilized and applauded as valuable. Not surprising the safety hood was developed further for use as a gas mask during World War I.

With Black History Month upon us and To the Rescue! Garrett Morgan Underground just published last month, it seems appropriate that I share the book with readers now.  Everyone knows the big inventors like Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison but Monica Kulling continues to shine some publishing light on the accomplishments of lesser known but just as notable inventors.  The safety hood was a great idea and Garrett Morgan is deserving of recognition for this achievement.  It’s heartbreaking that the colour of his skin may have prevented earlier implementation of his invention and perhaps could have saved lives sooner.  Fortunately, some were able to see beyond that and accept the significance of the safety hood for everyone.

Surprising, Tundra’s Great Idea Series uses a variety of illustrators, though the text is wholly Monica Kulling, and I like the selection of David Parkins to illustrate To the Rescue! Garrett Morgan Underground.  David Parkins, who also illustrated In the Bag! Margaret Knight Wraps It Up and Spic-and-Span! Lillian Gilbreth's Wonder Kitchen by Monica Kulling, is reknowned as a cartoonist, including an editorial cartoonist for The Globe & Mail, and there’s a retro cartoon feel to the art that works well for To the Rescue! The illustrations of pen and ink with watercolours are embedded in realism, necessary for non-fiction, but still gentle and detailed, conveying much about the time and the people, critical for a biography.

I understand that there will only be ten books in the Great Idea Series and this one is the eighth.  So, if you haven’t already, get with it and start your collection of illustrated biographies with To The Rescue! Garrett Morgan Underground to recognize the inventiveness of one African American while talking up safety and necessity as the mother of invention.

Clean Sweep! Frank Zamboni’s Ice Machine (Great Ideas Series)

Written by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Renné Benoit

Tundra Books

978-1-77049-795-5

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

January 2016

It’s always a great day when another of Monica Kulling’s Great Ideas Series books comes out.  These illustrated biographies, enhanced with artwork by an assortment of talented Canadian illustrators, highlight key individuals whose innovations we have come to rely upon but about whose stories we often know so little.  There’s been George Eastman’s photography, Elijah McCoy’s invention for oiling train engines, Elisha Otis’ elevator, Margaret Knight’s paper bags, Lillian Gilbreth’s efficient kitchen, Marconi’s wireless and now an invention dearly loved by hockey fans the world over, the Zamboni invented by Frank Zamboni.

Opening with a poem called Bone Blades that emphasizes “a way to fly around, when ice is on the ground”, Monica Kulling takes young readers to the early 1940s when Frank Zamboni and his brother and cousin opened their Iceland Skating Rink.  Resurfacing the ice, while skaters waited, was a time-consuming endeavour of a tractor levelling out the pits and grooves, a crew shovelling away the shavings, washing the surface and then spraying with fresh water, and all before a gleaming finish was added by hot water.

Having learned to tinker with trucks and tractors on their Idaho farm and working at his brother’s auto repair shop in California, as well as studying at an electrical school in Chicago, Frank was a busy man, working with his brother Lawrence doing electrical work, drilling wells, installing pumps and then making ice for home ice-boxes.  It wasn’t a big jump to making ice rinks with the smoothest surfaces ever.

But it wasn’t until after the war that Frank was able to buy military parts that became the foundation for his ice-resurfacing machine and a version of his famous Zamboni machine was created.

Oh, how I wish that the Zamboni had been a Canadian invention.  It seems so quintessentially Canadian.  But Monica Kulling still makes the reader applaud for the innovation and brilliance of Frank Zamboni to find a ground-breaking solution to a common problem.  By sweeping in details about his early years and training, as well as family and engineering development, in addition to some Zippity Zamboni! fun facts appended to the story, Monica Kulling again demonstrates how extraordinary developments can arise from very ordinary circumstances.

Having Renné Benoit, whose artwork has graced award-winning picture books such as Lily and the Paper Man (2007), Proud as a Peacock, Brave as a Lion (2009), and The Secret of the Village Fool (2012) as well as the recent A Year of Borrowed Men (2015), do the illustrations for Clean Sweep! seems intuitive, as she creates memorable work that feels like old photographs from a bygone era.  Her colours and lines are soft and sepia-like, both light and substantial, depicting people and places of a different time so naturally.

Clean Sweep! Frank Zamboni’s Ice Machine is a fresh take on a historic innovation told simply but with sparkle by Monica Kulling and perfected by Renné Benoit’s art.

********************************************
I encourage teachers to consider using this wonderful series for teaching biographies to young children.  Clean Sweep! and others in the series demonstrate an innovative way to share someone’s life story without the boring parts that are so often embedded in the teaching of biographical literature.

Here is a complete list of Great Ideas Series books, including upcoming releases:

1. It’s a Snap! George Eastman’s First Photograph (Tundra, 2009)
2. All Aboard! Elijah McCoy’s Steam Engine (Tundra, 2010)
3. In the Bag! Margaret Knight Wraps It Up (Tundra, 2011)
4. Going Up! Elisha Otis’s Trip to the Top (Tundra, 2012)
5. Making Contact! Marconi Goes Wireless (Tundra, 2013)
6. Spic-and-Span! Lillian Gilbreth’s Wonder Kitchen (Tundra, 2014)
7. Clean Sweep! Frank Zamboni’s Ice Machine (Tundra, Jan/2016)
8. To the Rescue! Garrett Morgan’s Underground (Tundra, Jan/2016)
9. Zap! Nikola Tesla Takes Charge (Tundra, Aug/2016)

Groundwood Books' Book Party: November 21, 2015 (Toronto)

Groundwood Books 

is having a party!

Join authors and illustrators

Maureen Fergus and Carey Sookocheff

Reviewed here

Monica Kulling and Sydney Smith

Reviewed here

Deborah Hodge

and

Danielle Daniel

Reviewed here

for an afternoon of activities and presentations for children ages 4-9

on Saturday, November 21, 2015

from 1 to 4 p.m.

at

the Koffler Center of the Arts

180 Shaw Street

Toronto, ON

In addition to the fun activities, 

Another Story Bookshop will have the books available for purchase.

Grant and Tillie Go Walking

by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Sydney Smith

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-446-6

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

August, 2015

Although I’m feverishly trying to catch up on overdue book reviews since health issues have me backlogged, I dreamed over and over again about the book Grant and Tillie Go Walking last night and felt compelled to review it today.  

A farm boy in Iowa, Grant was a part of the rural landscape, though he dreamed of adventure and excitement beyond the farm or so he tells his cow Tillie, his faithful companion and great giver of milk.  So off he goes to Paris, hopeful of becoming a true artist.  But, try as he might look like an artist in his beret and goatee, his artwork is missing something.  Just as Tillie is missing Grant, Grant is missing home,  “the place he loved and the people he knew best.” (pg. 31).  And returning home, a place he’d thought he hadn’t belonged, brought the inspiration for one of his most famous paintings, that of his sister Nan and the family dentist as a stern farming couple.

While the Grant of the title is modern artist Grant Wood (1891-1942), the story Monica Kulling has created about the American is a fictionalized account of how he became an artist and the artist of the iconic painting American Gothic (1930).  It’s about trying to belong and be who you think you are and of coming home.  Whether illustrator Sydney Smith feels any connection with Grant Wood’s modernist ways, I don’t know.  But I do know that both artists’ work demonstrates the heart of his community at its core.  Sydney Smith might live in Toronto and not in rural Iowa (see his sketches at http://sydneydraws.tumblr.com) but his subtle, speckled illustrations in Grant and Tillie Go Walking radiate the down-to-earth art of Grant Wood without mimicking it.  Grant and Tillie Go Walking is an exemplary story of how an artist came to be an artist appreciatively told through the words and pictures of two artists in their own right.

The Tweedles Go Online

Written by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Marie Lafrance

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-353-7

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

For release May 2015

Monica Kulling and Marie Lafrance's endearingly old-fashioned family, the Tweedles, has returned and this time they're looking to go online.  Telephone line, that is.

"I see we are going modern," sighed Papa. "Again."

First they moved from bicycles and horse and carriage to electric car in The Tweedles Go Electric (Groundwood, 2014).  Now Mama, with children Franny and Frankie, is ready to embrace the new technology that has their neighbour Mrs. Hamm raving about staying connected with her sister and friends, and about ordering her groceries online.  Papa still prefers the olds ways of getting about, i.e., walking and horses, and spending time with family playing crokinole.  And the noisy bells, the incessant chatter at all hours, and the time the new contraption takes away from their family time has him quietly resentful, though he says nothing. Papa is too much of a gentleman and wants to keep his family happy.  But when the telephone would surely have been useful in communicating an emergency, it falls short and the Tweedles recognize its limitations, with charming acceptance.

It seems the new developments of the first half of the 20th century produced similar effects to those of our 21st century: suspicion, caution, acceptance, overuse, disappointment, and finally comfort.  And how Monica Kulling is able to pack all that into a mere 32 pages, while still creating an engaging family of individuals—Papa, Mama, Franny and Frankie are completely unique and recognizable—with friends–Gladys Hamm is surely a woman we all know or knew–is astounding to me.  I said it before and I’ll say it again: I love the Tweedles!  They are refreshing, honest, unique and their take on all things new and 20th century is enchanting.

And Marie Lafrance puts colour and form to Monica Kulling’s Tweedles and story that I’m not sure anyone else could do so completely.  From their hair to their clothes, and the manner of their movements or even stances, Marie Lafrance has given life to the Tweedles and established a calming and rich environment–her colour palette is impeccable!– in which they can thrive, nay, progress.

Spic-and-Span!: Lillian Gilbreth's Wonder Kitchen

by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by David Parkins

Tundra Books

978-1-77049-380-3

32 pp.

Ages 7-10

August, 2014

I join young readers regularly in the pleasure of reading the Great Idea Series, illustrated biographies of little-known but vastly-important innovators from history.  Monica Kulling's newest edition in the series focuses on American Lillian Gilbreth who was at the leading edge of workplace and household efficiency. 

Though she came from a wealthy California family, Lillian looked beyond an easy life, choosing first to attend university and then working as an industrial engineer and psychologist with her husband (whom she married in 1904).  Their company, Gilbreth Inc., used motion picture technology to assess the efficiency of workers at different tasks with the aim of increasing productivity and reducing worker fatigue.  With eleven children at home, the "Gilbreth System" helped keep the household running well and the children's tasks and progress charted.

But the unexpected death of her husband and partner in 1924 thrust new challenges upon Lillian, not the least of which was caring for her children.  Her eleven children.  But, because she was a woman, her vast experience meant little to those hiring industrial engineers, until Macy's department store hired her to improve their cash-room operations.   And the same principles that she applied there to save space and steps were implemented successfully into kitchen design. (We have Lillian Gilbreth to thank for the circular design of counters, appliances and sinks in most of our kitchens today.) By always examining how work could become more efficient, Lillian Gilbreth continued to innovate, even designing the first electric mixer.

Monica Kulling has again shared a fascinating individual, here Lillian Gilbreth, whose contribution to our world has been far-reaching and yet largely unrecognized.  And the wealth of that contribution is even more remarkable as it flourished at the turn of the twentieth century when women had fewer opportunities to extend themselves beyond work in homes and factories.  The busyness of the technologically advancing times and Lillian Gilbreth's large household are effectively depicted in David Parkins' illustrations, which are historically detailed, from the clothing, shoes and hairstyles to the kitchen appliances and flooring, and to the architecture at the time.  With Monica Kulling's illuminating text and David Parkins' comprehensive drawings, Spic-and-Span is a wonder in itself!  Lillian Gilbreth would be pleased with their collaborative efficacy in telling her story.

When Emily Carr Met Woo

by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Dean Griffiths

Pajama Press

978-1-927485-40-8

32 pp.

Ages 5+

May 1, 2014

When Emily Carr Met Woo is the second picture book biography from author Monica Kulling, illustrator Dean Griffiths and publisher Pajama Press that introduces young readers to famous artists through their relationships with animals.  Lumpito and the Painter from Spain (2012) introduced Pablo Picasso and his work via the little dachshund named Lumpito.   While the title of When Emily Carr Met Woo may give away the basics about the story, be assured that you won't get it all until you read Monica Kulling's words and take in Dean Griffiths' artwork.

Though most Canadians now know of the majestic mystery of Emily Carr's artwork, her rise to fame was the slow one not unknown to many artists.  While she continued to feed her passion for painting, she made a living by selling ceramics, hooked rugs and renting rooms to feed herself and her menagerie of furry and feathery friends, which included a little monkey, Woo.  Woo liked to gather her found and stolen treasures, including plumes from the parrot named Jane, in an old candy tin.  And Dean Griffiths illustrates Woo with her inherent energy and impish smile, easily conveying her prankster nature.  But, the night before Emily and her friends left for the rainforest of BC, Woo selects a new treasure that puts all, including her life, in jeopardy.

In only 32 pages, Monica Kulling is able to share the tenuous nature of Emily Carr's vocation and the artist's determination to persevere for her passion with the emotional support of her companions.  Though it's obvious that others looked upon her as "a strange bird", including her sisters, Emily Carr's depth of love for Woo is evident as a force that she could draw upon (no pun intended) and share with others.  Her despair, just as evocative in Dean Griffiths' artwork, is sadly just as deep.  Luckily, the spirit and beauty of the rainforest provides both Emily Carr and Woo with the motivation to keep going and project that love and loveliness.

A charming story of friendship and artistry, When Emily Carr Met Woo will provide the perfect book for introducing young readers to a great of Canadian art and her devotions.

Groundwood Books: Spring Book Launch (Toronto)

Groundwood Books

invites everyone

to attend a spring launch of its newest picture books

Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress

by Christine Baldacchino

Illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant
Groundwood Books
978-1-55498-347-6
32 pp.
Ages 4-7

Reviewed here

The Tweedles Go Electric

 

by Monica Kulling 

Illustrated by Marie Lafrance

 Groundwood Books

 978-1-55498-167-0 

32 pp. 

Ages 5-8 

Reviewed here

Norman, Speak!

 

by Caroline Adderson 

Illustrated by Qin Leng 

Groundwood Books 

978-1-55498-322-3 

32 pp. 

Ages 4-7 

Reviewed here

Join authors Christine Baldacchino and Monica Kulling 

and illustrator Qin Leng

for readings, snacks and fun

at

Another Story Bookshop

351 Roncesvalles Avenue

Toronto, ON

on

Saturday, May 24, 2014

2 - 4 p.m.

(Readings at 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.)

The Tweedles Go Electric

by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Marie Lafrance

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-167-0

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

Released March 2014

With Earth Day 2014 soon upon us, and the world seemingly looking towards the future for greener technologies, Monica Kulling shows us that green was in our past and maybe we didn't always recognize it for its worth.  In The Tweedles Go Electric, the reader is taken back to the turn of the century–19th to 20th, that is–when the environment may not have been a focus but some wise people were looking beyond the popular when it came to transportation.

The Tweedles, an endearing family of Papa, Mama, twelve-year-old Franny and eight-year-old Frankie, are considered old-fashioned, even fuddy-duddies, because they still get around by walking or cycling, with an occasional foray into the country by horse and cart.  But everything changes (or does it?) with Papa's announcement that, "We're going modern.  We're buying a car!"

They buy a smart car.  A green car.  An electric car!  The family members' reactions to the new purchase are as varied as could be expected.  Papa is excited, though somewhat intimidated and needs to get used to it.  Mama is thrilled, just like Frankie, always having wanted a car.  Only the cerebral Franny takes it all in stride, less than engaged with their new purchase.  As with anything new and different, there are the critics.  However, when an emergency arises, the smart, green car impresses more than a few as to its indubitable value. 

The versatile Monica Kulling will delight readers with this newest book, just as she has with her illustrated biographies such as In the Bag! and Making Contact!, and her picture books of Mister Dash and Lumpito.  The text is fresh and lively, no matter whether the voice of a Tweedle or a salesperson or neighbour.  I love these Tweedles!  Marie Lafrance embodies her characters with the normalcy of members of a functional family but still with familial foibles and their own personalities. And the setting will easily transport the reader to a different time and capture that atmosphere of invention and growth.  With much kindness and no preaching, the Tweedles take the message of progress and fashion beyond the here and now (or there and then), and into the realm of open possibilities.

There is always a morsel of delightful learning in Monica Kulling's books, as there is in The Tweedles Go Electric. A little research reveals a plethora of electric cars were available in the early 1900's. In fact, in 1900 U.S., an astounding 38% of automobiles were powered by electricity. (1) Even though most of the vehicles were steam- or gasoline-powered at the time, and everyone's love of the automobile seemed to include the noise, consumption and pollution, it's easy to appreciate those who could see outside the box and open themselves to those new, albeit few, options. Definitely how we should always be seeing, wouldn't you say?


(1) Retrieved from http://www.edisontechcenter.org/ElectricCars.html on April 6, 2014.