By
Brian Anderson for
Cynthia Leitich Smith's
CynsationsHave you ever wondered why the spacecraft that carried the first U.S. astronaut into space in 1961 was named the Freedom 7? Was
George Lucas already planning six prequels, or what?
When my daughter Amy turned 21 years old in July 2014, she was doing summer research in astrophysics at
Baylor University. Her birthday coincided with a stargazing party at
Meyer Observatory, so I offered to make a piñata and have the star party double as a birthday party.
I started making
custom piñatas when Amy was five years old, and over the years her birthday party piñatas had grown increasingly elaborate.
"How about a black hole piñata," I joked. I imagined one round balloon, decorated all black. She would never agree to that.
"That'd be fantastic!"
I knew right away something was wrong. I told her nothing escapes the gravity of a black hole, not even light. It's just a black dot in space. That's when she told me about accretion disks and X-ray emissions and Hawking radiation. Apparently, I had a lot to learn about black holes, and now I also had a challenging piñata to make.
The following summer my friend and fellow Austin children's book author
Christina Soontornvat told me that
Prufrock Press was looking for an author to write an astronomy dictionary for kids.
Christina and I are both science educators as well as children's book authors, and she thought I'd be perfect for the job. But after the way that black hole piñata joke backfired on me the summer before, I knew I didn't know enough astronomy to write a book about it.
But I knew someone who did.
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| Brian & Amy--back in the day. |
Amy had just graduated from college and was taking the summer off before starting graduate school in the fall.
When I suggested we write it together, her first question was the same as mine – isn't there something like this already available online for free?
Her search turned up the same thing mine had: some highly technical glossaries that were clearly not intended for kids, and a scattered collection of incomplete and sometimes incorrect astronomy glossaries for students.
My nine-year-old self was screaming at me that space-loving kids needed this book. Amy felt the same way, and agreed to help write it. We have liftoff!
We compiled a word list of about 450 terms, grouped them into five subject areas, then dived into researching and writing.
The fact that Amy understood the science content much better than I did is part of the reason our collaboration on
Space Dictionary for Kids (Sourcebooks, 2016) worked so well. She brought content mastery and I brought a learner's perspective.
Together we were able to create an astronomy dictionary that's both scientifically accurate and understandable to young readers.
Collaborating with my daughter will always be one of the highlights of my writing career, and Amy taught me a lot of astronomy along the way. I finally understand retrograde motion!
I already knew quasars were the brightest objects in the universe, brighter than an entire galaxy of stars, but until I started working with Amy I never knew exactly what a quasar was. And I also learned (a little too late) that I should have offered to make Amy a black dwarf piñata instead of a black hole piñata.
Cynsational Notes To answer the opening question, each of the Project Mercury astronauts, known collectively as the Mercury 7, was allowed to name the ship that would carry him into space, and each ship's name would end with the number 7. In addition to Freedom 7, the other Mercury spacecraft were Liberty Bell 7, Friendship 7, Aurora 7, Sigma 7, and Faith 7. If you're keeping score, you probably noticed that that was only six. To find out what happened to the seventh Mercury astronaut, flip to page 144.
Learn how 'The Iron Giant,' 'Shaun the Sheep Movie' and other animated standouts came to be at Spark's annual conference.
Illustrators and comic book creators hunkered down two weekends ago to produce original comic book content. They did this in cities all over the world. It was Twenty Four Hour Comics Day – an annual happening launched some years ago by cartoonist and teacher Scott McCloud, the author of Understanding Comics. (You can read the rules at that link.) This year the event was sponsored by Bawls, one of those caffeinated energy drinks.
In Austin they conclaved at a store, Dragon’s Lair Comics and Fantasy, where lots of tables had been set up for the artists. There were all kinds of things going on in the store that rainy night — people were putting models together, browsing the shelves, visiting their friends.
I wasn’t a participant. Only curious. Plus a pal, cartoonist and writer Erik Kuntz, part of our enchanted SCBWI tribe, was doing the marathon again this year. Erik is the author-artist of Hex Libris, a witty, kid-friendly webcomic with wonderful characters.
Erik's laptop with a panel from his new comic --work in progress.
I don’t do comics much anymore but they were important to me growing up. I read them and drew them.
My own formidable classical education came from reading Classics Illustrated comic books — as many as I could get my hands on. (They were a whole lot better than CliffsNotes.)
(L. to R.) Bonn Adame, Erik Kuntz, Justin Rogers and Jeremy Guyton create at their table during 24 Hour Comics Day in Austin, Texas recently.
Another SCBWI and Inklings Group pal, illustrator Martin Thomas is a professional colorist of comics.
Mary Sullivan, supremely talented illustrator for Highlights and many other magazines and books and part of our Austin clan — has illustrated a beautiful and funny children’s comic book. She draws in comic panels for her own amusement.
Austin SCBWI illustration chair Christy Stallop does great black and white comic strip panel style illustrations
A panel of sketches for "Action Packed Gorillas", a new web comic being developed by Erik Kuntz. The dialogue balloons always come first. (Note: The character featured here is a chimp, not a gorilla.)
My stepson Glenn remains a connoisseur- collector of graphic novels. School librarians are increasingly making room for graphic novels on their shelves. Scholastic Books wants to whip up its own graphic novel brand.
For years the “comic book look” has been finding its way into wildly popular “chapter books ” for upper elementary and middle grades. w. Dav Pilkey is one example. The Zack Proton series by Austin author Brian Anderson (of our SCBWI Mafia family) with illustrator Doug Holgate is another.
Kads and Matt. Matt has the webcomic http://ayellowworld.com
The Toon Books are comics for toddlers and children just begining to learn to read.
Disney bought Marvel.
By the way, Matt’s blog has a good recap of his experience of the 24 Hour Comics Day here.
Artist-writer Meghan Regis and technical consultant Jeremy Zunker (an engineering student.) Meghan is the creator of the comic series "Yours Truly" published in "The Paisano", the weekly newspaper of the University of Texas at San Antonio. The main main character in the strip is a young woman who lives on the moon. So seriously, that's why Meghan needs a technical consultant around her when she's working. "Because there are a lot of technical terms that are used in the dialogue," Zunker explained.So
And Yes. Women really do participate in 24 Hour Comics Day. In addition to Meghan (above) there was Kad (who will let me know when she has her website up) and Melanie Moore working on her strip “Sacred Junk” with Amy Middleton (not shown.)
Meghan Regis with her panels.
The teamwork of Jason Poland and Austin Havican ( below) can be seen here and here.
Colored comic panels (watercolor washes) on the comic strip "The Ortolan" created by a collaborative team, Jason Poland, and Austin Havican, whose hands you see here. They described their work as deceptively simple child-like and simply but "definitely not child-friendly." See more of their work at www.robbieandbobby.com. S
Erik Kuntz laughs at one of his digital cartoons as he draws on a Wacom tablet while Justin Rogers works with traditional comic artist materials -- paper, pencil, eraser, pen, triangle, T-square, etc. (In the background with beard is comics writer Tony Franklin. )
As you see, there were fun moments and lots of hard work– or should I say heart work? I guess they go together — being done by a lot of people in that comic book store.
Erik is suggesting that we get together next year for something a little less intense than a They Shoot Horses Don’t They? draw-a-thon.
He’s calling it the “geriatric version of 24 Hour Comics Day.” I can’t say that I’m in favor of the name. It sounds, you know, a little ageist — and hits a little close. But the idea intrigues. Instead of laboring over pages of comic panels, we could be blitzing through picture book thumbnails and storyboards, or maybe even a dummy.
A children’s book illustrators lockdown. Check back with us in September next year to read our rules.
Seraphine
I don’t want to go without mentioning that I saw the movie Seraphine recently, about an early 20th century painter most of us have never heard of – Seraphine Louis or Seraphine de Senlis.
Seraphine offers an unblinking look at the dilemma of art vs. reality that confronts all artists and would-be-artists sooner or later in their lives.
It’s being promoted as a fictionalized portrait of Seraphine and also of the kindly German art collector who discovered her. But I felt its spirit to be honest. My friend and I were both moved. I recommend that you see it, then give me your thoughts on it. Leave a comment and I’ll share another of mine.
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Austin SCBWI illustration chair
I was invited to party in Austin, Texas on Friday in celebration of Cynthia Leitich Smith's new book, Tantalize. I was telling Treebeard about Cynthia and Greg on the way to the capitol city Friday afternoon. After listening to my mini lecture, he commented that they sounded like extremely generous people.
Generous is the perfect word to describe them.
Their home was the setting for the party, the food was beautiful and delicious (very important.) There were these beautiful melt in your mouth roasted tomatoes and salmon and wraps and this amazing Italian cream cake.
I should have taken a picture.
Greg describes the menu at his blog.
There were so many people there and I was secure in the knowledge that I didn't know a soul besides Cynthia and Greg.
Aaacckk ...
Then I saw Julie Lake, author of the historical fiction novel, Galveston: Summer of the Storm about the 1900 Galveston hurricane. I hosted Julie at my library for an author visit a few years ago. She is so nice and rounded up people to meet me.
I should have taken a picture.
Brian Anderson writes the Adventures of Commander Zack Proton series. His series echoes the light hearted spirit of comic books (not Graphic Novels) of old. I met YA author Brian Yanksy (need to read his books) and Jo Whittemore author of The Silverskin Legacy.
I should have taken a picture.
Even though the party was in honor of Tantalize, Cynthia used the opportunity to introduce and showcase books by other Austin writers (generous, remember?) Kathi Appelt (I've cataloged and shared so many of her books with kids,) Helen Hemphill (I just received a copy of Runaround but did not get to talk to her,) Brian Yanksy, Jo Whittemore and April Lurie.
Then I got to meet Don Tate and his wife!!! It is sort of surreal and wonderful to meet people-you-feel-like-you-know-because-you- read-their-blog-but-you-don't-really-know-them but then they turn out to be even nicer and kinder than you could have ever imagined.
I was dazzled by the company and impressed by the community of writers in Austin, Texas. Their support and enthusiasm for each others' work is inspiring. It was an honor to be included Friday and I marvel again at the blessings the kidlitosphere has brought me.
Oh, sometimes I really wish I still lived in Austin! Glad you had such a great time.
It was SO nice to meet you! And I know what you mean about it feeling surreal. I didn't really know you by name at first, but then you said: "I'm Book Moot."
I was like, Hey!— I know who you are! Of course! It was truly a treat to meet you — a highlight of the evening by far.
Wow! That sounds like a blast! Very cool.
From my NYC trip, I totally get the thing about meeting people you feel like you know. It is a strange thing.
I've had that "should've taken a picture" feeling so often lately it's not funny... but sometimes you've just gotta live in that surreal moment!
This sounds like it was SO cool.
I'm sorry I missed you, Camille -- I was in Houston while you were in Austin.
Treebeard did indeed nail Cynthia and Greg when he described them as extremely generous. Every local community of writers and illustrators should have a pair.
I'm honored to have had the pleasure of meeting you! Don't give up on Edward Tulane! :o)
I will read Edward Tulane, but right now I am reading Escape from Arylon.
You're too sweet! :o)