The park has an Equilibrium, as all natural places do, and the Bison watch it and protect it. They are the Keepers of the Equilibrium.
                             from The Eyes and the Impossible
                                         written by Dave Eggers
                                      illustrated by Shawn Harris
                       Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2023
                     Winner of the 2024 John Newbery Medal 
    “for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature”                      
      You can access the complete list of all winning titles here. 

    Last Monday, January 22, 2024, the American Library Association announced its most prestigious awards in children’s literature. Every other year, I tuned my radio, logged in to the ALA home page, or most recently, set up my computer to live stream the announcement.
    Sometimes I was at my desk at work. After I retired, I tuned in from Florida, where I was vacationing. I compared the list of books I loved with the list of winners and immediately sought out the ones I hadn’t read. That list was short. Sometimes I loved a book so much that I just knew it would win an award. Sometimes I was even right.
    This year, the announcements flew under my radar. Actually, I didn’t even turn on my radar. I caught the winners’ titles as a news announcer made a “by-the-way” comment. It’s a good thing ears can’t blink. I believe I would have missed it.
    I reserved the Medal winner right away.
    The Newbery Award is given to the author of the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature. It is named for John Newbery, (1713 -1767) the Father of Children’s Literature. When he noticed a lack of appropriate literature for children, Newbery decided to do something about it. He published and wrote over 200 books. Two are notable. A Pretty Pocket-Book (1744) is called the first children's book and The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes (1765) is a Cinderella variant. Newbery was a bookseller, too. He marketed his books with toys and bright colors. He was not only the first writer of children’s books, he was the first to make the endeavor profitable. And both titles are still in print. (Verified 1/28/24)
    The winning book must be published in English in the United States during the preceding calendar year. Some other criteria the committee considers include 
    theme or concept
    accuracy, clarity, and organization of information
    plot development
    artistic portrayal of characters
    artistic portrayal of setting
    appropriateness of style
    The Caldecott medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association. It is given to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children and named for Ralph Caldecott, a nineteenth-century English illustrator. According to Gleeson White, an art critic in the mid to late 1800s, [Caldecott] “studied his subject as no one else ever studied it ... Then he portrayed it simply and with inimitable vigor”
    With criteria identical to the Newbery, the winning Caldecott book must also exhibit excellence of execution in the artistic technique employed. 
    The 2024 Caldecott Medal winner is Vashti Harrison for her book Big. Her main character is teased for being too big. Even though she uses her words to explain how others have hurt her feelings with their words, she comes to understand that she is just fine as the size she is. A good lesson, subtly stated, for us all, whether we are the hurt-er or the hurt-ee.
    So I’m a week late in reflecting on what makes good and lasting literature. My list of “want-to-reads” has grown, but in a very good way.

I just finished The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. You can find my comments at the end of last week's post. So far it has been named Amazon’s Best Book of 2023, Barnes and Noble’s Book of the Year, and has won two awards from the National Jewish Book Council, The JJ Greenberg Memorial Award for Fiction and the Miller Family Book Club Award. The reserve list is long at most libraries, but well worth the wait.  
               -—Be curious! (and curl up with an award-winner)

    The next day was Sunday again. The caterpillar ate through one nice green leaf, and after that he felt much better.
from The Very Hungry Caterpillar
written and illustrated by Eric Carle
World Publishing Company, 1969


    My two favorite foods are salad and ice cream. I try not to let a day go by without a tossed salad, lightly dressed with honey mustard dressing, homemade using my grandson’s recipe. I haven’t met an ice cream flavor I don’t like, except for Chuncky Monkey which, in my book, is yucky. I bought a small carton of it once. The picture on the package was so cute! I wish I had focused on the banana instead of the monkey, though. 
    When my kids were small, we belonged to a natural foods co-op. Later on, I joined Grow Youngstown, a CSA (Community Sustainable Agriculture) group. I, along with dozens of other ecology sustainers, met in the parking lot of our local YM/WCA to pick up fresh produce from local farms. 
    I educated myself about nutrition, even before that was the “thing to do.” I know what’s good for me (and my family) and I know what is not. I wish I could say that knowledge made me thin and healthy. Alas, I’m pretty healthy, but not even close to thin. Close to normal, though, which is almost good enough.
    Lately, I’ve heard that no matter whether we eat only healthy foods or the junkiest junk, our bodies are full of PFAS. 
    WHAT? What even is that?
    PFAS are a group of thousands of synthetic chemical ingredients used in a lots and lots of agricultural and consumer products since the 1940s. They are chains of carbon and fluorine atoms. Their bond is one of the strongest known, making them persistent in the environment. Some take thousands of years to degrade. Really. They are called “forever chemicals.”
    Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) are two of the most widely used and studied chemicals in the PFAS group. 
    They’re found in everything from drinking water, fish caught in contaminated water, grease-resistant fast food wrappers and paper, pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags, some shampoos and dental floss. And stain-repellent carpet, upholstery, and fabric, including fire-resistant baby clothes. And fertilizer from wastewater treatment plants. This runoff is used on agricultural land that can affect ground and surface water, and can be ingested by the animals that graze there.
    We are probably exposed to PFAS daily. They are that ubiquitous. 
    According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “exposure to certain PFAS may lead to adverse health outcomes.” Research is ongoing regarding different levels of exposure to different PFAS. Since the research is ongoing, I will only point you to a list of possible health effects provided by the EPA at the link above.
    Several states have already passed laws regulating certain PFAS in drinking water. The PBS NewsHour reported last March, that the EPA has proposed a new federal standard to regulate them. The EPA’s definition of a regulation is “a mandatory requirement that can apply ti individuals, businesses, state or local governments, non-profits, and others.” And while the EPA said the legislation would be ready by the end of 2023, it is not. Here’s the good news. A draft measure is available for public comment here. Instructions are included.
    So, if PFAS are ubiquitous, and if they are seemingly unavoidable and probably dangerous, what’s a person to do?
    The National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) has some suggestions on how we can protect ourselves. 

•     Filter your water. Reverse osmosis filters are the “gold standard” for filtering out PFAS in drinking water. Activated carbon filters used in some pitchers are also effective. Boiling your water will not remove PFAS and may even concentrate them more.
•     Replace non-stick pans, if it is feasible. 
•     Don’t heat food wrapped in grease-resistant packaging.
•     Pop popcorn on your stovetop instead of in PFAS-treated microwave bags.

    While three PFAS chemicals have been banned from use in food packaging since early 2016, others are still being used. 
    If your plastic container is labeled certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI), it does NOT contain PFAS and is safe to use.
    My goal has always been to leave this post with at least a drop of optimism. But forever chemicals are here, well, forever. The best we can do, I’m afraid, it not make any more. That is easier said than done. 
    The National Institutes of Health (NIH) continue to test PFAS in different environments, including our human bodies to discover cause-effect relationships.The EPA is working on regulations. Non-profits like NRDC, BPI, and others are working hard on their own, with each other, and with governments, both state and federal. 
    Beginning in 2023, California and New York have banned PFAS in paper-based food packaging. Other states are beginning to take action, too, but …
    In this election year, it might be effective to send a letter or two or three to your representatives. Write a letter to the newspaper. Ask questions on your favorite social media platform. Make friends and family aware. I think that’s the first step. 


I’m reading The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Riverhead Books/Penguin Publishing Group, 2023). Mr. McBride shows us how a Jewish couple and their Black neighbors in a dilapidated section of Pottstown, PA, called Chicken Hill, live and work together, watch out for each other, and share each others’ joys and sorrows. Oh, and there’s a murder mystery to solve. Oh, and a little magic around the edges to keep things interesting. Recommended.
—Be curious! (and aware)


FB: Oscar nominations will be revealed this evening. Many movies are still on my “to watch” list. I might have to wait till the Library gets them on DVD. I’ll skip the microwave SkinnyPop and go for a bowl of popcorn, freshly popped on my stovetop.
    
        

This is the flower the bee has chosen,
This is the flower the pollen grows in,
This is the flower, its color so bright,
It’s sweet, blooming scent
Calls the bee from its flight.
                                              from The Honeybee
                                           written by Kirsten Hall
                                  illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
                    Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2018

    Several summers ago, I was stung by a bee. It was my fault. My thyme was draping itself beyond its square foot of my square-foot garden, flowing into the parsley and tarragon. I like the wild-ish look of a slightly overgrown garden. The plants are showing me they are healthy and strong. 
    But even I have limits. I got my pruners and began snipping away, parting the leaves and tiny flowers as I went. My bees must love thyme flowers, because they were in there buzzing around, doing the work they do. I was an intruder.
    I felt something tickle my neck below my right ear. Silly me for not connecting the tickle with the bees I disturbed. The first bee sting of my life was sharp and fast. The severity of it lasted only a second, but I felt a dull pain for the rest of the afternoon. 
    Turns out it was a yellow jacket, which is a good thing, even though it didn’t hurt any less. Yellow jackets are aggressive scavengers, not pollinators. Also, they’re wasps, not bees. 
    Today during a cold snap, the sun is bright and I’m dreaming of another summer, which started me thinking about wasps and yellow jackets, and hornets. And honeybees. Sometimes the universe is lined up. At least that’s what I thought when I heard a news story on the radio about a vaccine for honeybees. 
    Honeybees pollinate 80% of all flowering plants, including more than 130 types of fruits and vegetables. And you’ve probably heard, for a pretty long time, that honeybees are in trouble. Pesticides and climate change are challenging our bee population. But disease is also a threat. 
    In an interview for NPR’s Morning Edition, Emily Jones spoke with Marcus Pollard, a beekeeper who lives in Atlanta. They discussed American foulbrood, a bacteria that can quickly devastate a bee colony. 
    Honeybees are social. They communicate with each other. All worker bees are female (of course). They divide up the jobs needed to run a successful hive including feeding larvae and drones. They collect pollen and nectar, tend the queen, keep the hive clean, and even perform guard duty. The drones’ only job is to procreate with the queen. When it’s cold, drones and workers cluster around the queen to keep her warm. Clustering together keeps the workers and drones warm, too. And they all buzz around and eat honey. 
    But a hive smells rancid if its honeybees are infected with American foulbrood. 
    First discovered by apiologist G. F. White in 1906, American foulbrood is common in the United States and Europe. But only among honeybees. It is a larval disease and not highly contagious. It will run its course and usually destroy the larvae before they pupate. While adults do not contract American foulbrood, they can carry it and spread it in their pollination journeys. 
    An infected hive is a risk to others nearby, too. If a bee visits an infected hive she could spread it to her home hive. In just a few weeks, whole colonies can be wiped out. That’s why Pollard, the beekeeper in Atlanta, says there’s no choice but to burn infected hives. 
    According to the United States Department of Agriculture, American foulbrood is one of the most widespread and the most destructive of honeybee diseases. 
    The new vaccine developed by biotech firm Dalan Animal Health could be a game changer. It works by feeding a safe version of the American foulbrood (AFB) pathogen to the queen. Each egg she lays will have a small amount of the safe AFB pathogen and when the adult finally emerges, it will already be immune. Whole colonies can pretty quickly become immune to this threat.    
    The vaccine has been available for about a year (since January of 2023).. Studies to ensure its efficacy are being conducted. It is the first insect vaccine in the U.S. 
    There are 2.8 million honeybee colonies in North America (Scientific American) with about 30,000 bees per colony. That’s a lot of bees and a lot of honey. And while climate change and pesticides remain problematic for bees, this vaccine discovery provides an opportunity to conquer American foulbrood. and add to the health of their hives.

I just started reading Our Missing Hearts (Penguin Press, 2022) by Celeste Ng. I’m reading it with my book club and I’m not sure if I would have picked it up on my own. Another dystopian novel from the looks of the first chapter. Authoritarian government, children separated from their parents, discrimination of pretty much everyone but white men, book banning. Feels very close to home! Stay tuned.
                -—Be curious! (and start planning your garden)

    Inside are all sorts of knobs and buttons.
    “Wow!” says Papa. “It’s just like an Old Bear Truck TV show.
    “You may look around,” says the guide. “But do not touch anything." 
                         from The Berenstain Bears Blast Off
                  written and illustrated by Michael Berenstain
                                  Harper Collins Publishers, 2023
                                    accessed on YouTube 1/7/24
    
    It seems like by now we should all be used to the images we receive from the James Webb space telescope. It’s been transmitting photos of object in outer space since July 12, 2022. But how can we accustom ourselves to the spectacular? the exquisite? the phenomenal universe? Until a year an a half ago, it was all invisible. 
    In 1996, a committee called Hubble Space Telescope (HST) & Beyond suggested a project to create a larger, infrared-sensitive telescope that could “see through” the visible debris and clouds of dust shed by newly forming stars. Like ultraviolet rays, infrared rays illuminate what is invisible to our human eyes.
    At a cost of $10 billion dollars, NASA collaborated with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to develop what became the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). 
    Hubble and Webb both use light rays beyond the spectrum visible to humans. Remember Roy G. Biv? Colors we’ve named Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet are the only the part of light’s spectrum we can see. Red light waves are the longest and slowest moving visible waves. Violet waves are the shortest and fastest. Waves longer and slower than red are infrared. Waves that are shorter and faster than violet are ultraviolet. 
    So I wondered how can we see images that Webb is sending to us if the light waves are invisible to us? Now I wonder if I can explain it!
    Here’s my oversimplification.
    An electromagnetic wave is made of changing electric and magnetic fields. This is how energy is transported in our world. Light waves are made of photons, particles that carry energy. Light waves are transmitted, reflected, absorbed, refracted, polarized, diffracted, or scattered depending on what the object they encounter is made of. Light waves bumping into a tree, for example, bounce off the tree and reflect waves we perceive as various shades of brown and gray in all their variations.
    Data from beyond the visible spectrum are collected by satellites and space telescopes. They are stored and then converted into images we can see by using the amount of heat they generate. To photograph infrared (IR) light, you need a special filter on your camera that blocks out light waves in the visible spectrum. The resulting photographs are the extraordinary ones that James Webb is sending us. 
    Its cameras photograph the invisible. 
    Because NASA’s entire website is in the public domain, all its images and all its content are available to everyone. It’s remarkable. Here's the link to the James Webb photos including the most recent one dated 1/3/22.
     Try this image of a nebula. You can zoom in and out to get the feeling of being in outer space. Here's one of some galaxies.
    Some people still question the purpose of space exploration.
    In an article that explains why humans need space exploration, the authors remind us that we need “tinkerers, engineers, and scientists.” It goes on to say “people explore to learn about the world around them, find new resources, and improve their existence.” 
    Through scientific exploration, NASA can “explore the secrets of the universe.” 
    Over 50 years ago, NASA was created with the mission to begin finding answers for some of life’s most basic questions. Why are we here? How did life begin? Can we find life elsewhere in our own galaxy or beyond? How can we make our lives better?
    The International Space Station (ISS) connects people from many countries who work together. Even if no discoveries were made, even if no research proved beneficial, even if no new technology was developed, nations across our whole world are working together to benefit us all.     
    Since its cooperatively built beginning, the ISS maintains a full-time crew of six people whose current study is microgravity. Their research has been applied here on Earth to improve medical devices. Data the ISS has sent back to Earth is used by engineers and city planners to find ways to increase the absorption of heat hitting city surfaces and help farmers water their fields more efficiently.  
    By studying the world around us, we learned how hurricanes form. We can discover resources on the moon, or Mars, or on another planet in another galaxy. We can find out the medical implications of the weightlessness of space on humans, other animals, and plants.
    The James Webb Space Telescope has provided opportunities for scientists to invent new technology and astrophysicists to begin to learn how our world came to be, how it is evolving, and how we can anticipate, cope, adapt to inevitable changes.
    A tennis court sized sunshield on the telescope reduces by more than a million times the amount of heat absorbed from the sun. The technology was developed to prevent the force of the sun’s heat from destroying the telescope. Can the same technology be applied to our oceans’ coral reefs?
    Eighteen mirror segments work as a single giant mirror to perfectly reflect images to 1/10,000th the thickness of a human hair. Could the same tech be used (on a much smaller scale) in a microscope to discover the workings of viruses and other germs?
    Photos of the birth of a star will not allow us to start over on this satellite of our own sun we call Earth, but scientific discoveries, continued cooperation with people across the globe, and insights into the vastness of our universe in time and space will help provide a perspective we can all live with for a long, long time.

I just started reading Daisy Darkly by Alice Feeney (Flatiron Books, 2022). I don’t usually pick up murder mysteries, but it’s my daughter’s January book club selection. I’m reading out of my comfort zone, but so far, the characters are relatable, the setting is realistic, the plot seems plausible. So till next week, I’ll keep reading!
                                 Be curious! (and wish on a star)   

    


    [Pooh] looked up at his clock, which had stopped at five minutes to eleven some weeks ago.
    “Nearly eleven o’clock,” said Pooh happily. “You’re just in time for a little smackerel of something,” and he put his head into the cupboard. “And then we’ll go out, Piglet, and sing my song to Eyeore.”
from The House at Pooh Corner
written by A. A. Milne
illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard
 Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1928


    Happy New Year! And happy Public Domain Day to thousands of works published in the United States in 1928. 
    In the US, a work is protected for 95 years after publication. A. A. Milne published his second book about Pooh and his friends in 1928. Copyright protection extends in the US for 95 years after publication so, while Winnie the Pooh has enjoyed public domain status for a couple of years, Tigger only bounced into the public domain yesterday, 1/1/24. 
    Each country’s laws are different, though. The British copyright doesn’t expire until 70 calendar years after the author’s death. In Milne’s case will be January 1, 2027. And just because the text is now in the public domain, (in the US) the illustrations are not. Different laws govern visual art, sound recordings, and film recordings. Since 2020, short digital works like blogs can be copyrighted, also.
    Copyright laws protect artistic creation. Fair use protects artists from others using their work. So, I began to worry about the quotes I’ve used to introduce each of my blogs for the past 8 and 1/2 years. 
    I think I’m okay. 
    First and foremost, I’ve never called the work my own. I always give attributions prominently. “Under the fair use doctrine of the U.S. copyright statute, it is permissible to use limited portions of a work including quotes, …” (copyright.gov) 
    Some places I checked said 50-100 words is permissible. Some said under 1,000. While there is no set acceptable word count, less is more in this instance. I hope if anyone has an issue with any of the quotes I’ve chosen to use, please know that my intention is to call attention to children’s literature and show that every subject under the sun and stars, earth, and sea is represented in at least one children’s book.
    Arguably the most famous character to enter the public domain is Mickey Mouse as he appeared in his (and Minnie’s) debut in 1928’s Steamboat Willie. But copyright law is complex, complicated, and subject to interpretation. Mickey and Minnie still have lots of restrictions. You can find a discussion of what is allowable and not in this article by Jennifer Jenkins, Director, Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain.
    Her list of Books and Plays now in the public domain includes Wanda Gág’s Millions of Cats. It’s the oldest American picture book still in print. I used it in story time until I retired. The kids (and parents) still love it. I do too. 
    You’ll also find J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, the book, not the movie (The movie starring Mary Martin was released in 1960, so will enjoy many more years of copyright protection.) 
    Besides Books and Plays, Ms. Jenkins’s lists are highlights, not all-inclusive: Films; Musical Compositions; and Sound Recordings are here.    
    The public domain includes works whose copyright has expired or never existed. Some aspects of modern works like ideas, stock elements, and unoriginal material are not copyrightable. They begin their lives in the public domain.
    Protecting original work from use by people who did not create that work ensures the creators freedom to dream wildly, without fear of someone else profiting financially or from their reputation for a set number of years. The laws have been extended twice in the recent past. 
It stands now at 95, plus 70 after the author’s death).
    But, says the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) in a 2007 article, the public domain “is the major source of inspiration, imagination and discovery for creators.” 
    Examples of creators using works found in the public domain include many, many of Walt Disney’s works. He retold tales of the Grimm Brothers (Snowwhite and others) Perrault (Cinderella) and J. M. Barrie (Peter Pan)..The hit play Rent is based on La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini. West Side Story a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliette.
    Many classic pieces of literature have been digitized and made available to everyone with access to the internet. Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women has been turned into a successful movie, twice.
    Fairy tales and folk tales have inspired too many new works to mention. While a long life under copyright protection might seem like a good thing for society’s creators, most rights are not executed.
    Film rights to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (1964) were purchased from the author. The work has sparked the imagination of Paul King. He wrote Wonka’s origin story and together with Simon Farnaby developed a screen play showing now. 
    Ninety-five years plus 70 more after the death of the creator is a long time in anyone’s book.
I’m reading The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman (2009, Penguin Young Readers Group/Razorbill). It’s a dystopian story that takes place 18 years after the (next) Great Flood. Earth Mother is in charge of the world that has been destroyed by humans like us. The parents of our main character are Free-thinkers and at risk of being “disappeared.”  This is my first children’s book by Goodman who is a National Book Award finalist for her adult fiction.    
Be curious! (and read wildly)


FB: The calendar page is turned. The days are getting longer. And I’m going to bounce into the kitchen for a delicious little smackerel of breakfast. Wishing everyone a happy, health, and creative 2024!
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