L is for Librarian: The ABCs of Los Angeles Central Library is an Amazing, Beautiful, Captivating, delightful, and Energizing tour of the Los Angeles Central Library. From Awesome Adventures to Zombies in the makerspace, readers of all ages will enjoy this alphabetical exploration of Los Angeles’s beloved icon.
Author Interview:
Welcome to the blog, Susan. It’s an exciting time at L.A.’s Central Library, so it’s wonderful you could join us!
GoodReadsWithRonna: Why did you write L Is for Librarian: The ABCs of Los Angeles Central Library?
Susan Lendroth: For the simple reason that library staff asked me to write it! I have been writing picture books for more than 20 years–this is my 10th book–so the organizers of Central Library’s 100th birthday celebration invited me to create an alphabet book for the centennial year. I wrote it as part of my job since I work for Los Angeles Public Library’s public relations department.
GRWR: How was it different writing a book as part of your “day job,” as opposed to writing one of your previous books?
SL: The first obvious difference is I worked on L Is for Librarian during my “day job” instead of squeezing my writing time into weekends or evenings. Plus, I knew from the start it would be published. What a wonderful feeling that was! I also worked with a small team on this book, who had the right of approval before it even went to the editor. I should add that they gave me free rein on structure, allowing me to make the Library itself the narrator of its story and to create dual-level text—a primary sentence or two for young readers for each letter, with additional facts in a smaller font below.
GRWR: With input from several sources, were there any lively discussions about which feature/aspect would be named for each letter?
SL: About 80% of my original letter subject choices made it to the finish line, with the other 20% being alternate suggestions from the team. I rewrote text for those letters. The “liveliest” discussion centered on the letter “O.” I discovered an octopus carved into a door lintel and fell in love. Others wanted O for Owls, which decorate the building in stone and metal. I won Octopus a place in the book, but the illustrator, Alexander Vidal, added multiple owls anyway, an “I Spy” game where the same stone owl is depicted as an earring or a book cover or one of the spots on a giraffe. The funny thing is, no one told him about the Owl versus Octopus debate!
GRWR: How did you decide on the approach of having Central Library itself narrate the book?
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SL:Whenever I begin a new book, somehow I simply know how I want to structure it; it only works for me if I write it that way. Very early on I felt like Central Library wanted to tell its own story, sharing the building’s attributes and all it had to offer, and that developed into first-person text.
GRWR: Some of the ideas and terms in the book seem a little sophisticated for young children. How did you handle that aspect?
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SL: Our goal was to present a full picture of Central Library, from its physical features to its history to how it serves the community. Whenever possible, I tried to find an angle that would appeal to young children, such as describing interesting animals in art, asking questions, or infusing action into the text: “D is for Down. Ride down, down, down to the bottom floor of the atrium …” Because I wrote the text at two levels, I tried to cover the more complicated elements in the secondary text. Also, I believe children are capable of learning more sophisticated words if those are explained, and pictures help younger readers/listeners grasp new concepts.
GRWR: Illustrators often add elements to a book that are not covered in the text. What are some of the elements added by Alexander Vidal that surprised and pleased you?
SL: The owls, definitely the owls. If you read a copy of the book and search carefully, you will find owls depicted in 18 different places, including a couple of duplicate illustrations on the endpapers. However, there are more actual owls than that because sometimes they repeat in a design!
GRWR: Your publisher, Angel City Press, is owned by Los Angeles Public Library. How did that relationship begin?
SL: A few years back, the couple who created and operated Angel City Press wanted to retire. They had worked for decades building a publishing house that celebrated stories connected to the Los Angeles area and wanted to keep that purpose, as well as the publishing house’s backlist, intact. So they donated Angel City Press to Los Angeles Public Library rather than trying to find a buyer.
GRWR:This is the first children’s book published by ACP. Did they take any special steps to add a children’s book to their list?
SL: Because it was a new endeavor for them, they hired a freelance, experienced children’s editor to review the text and illustrations.
GRWR:ACP released the book recently at Central Library’s Centennial Festival. How has it been received?
SL: The book definitely found a receptive audience with thousands of book and library fans! The publisher sold many copies of L Is for Librarianas well as several other titles. I enjoyed one of my best-ever encounters with a young fan there. A little girl named Evelyn approached the signing table. I complimented her sparkly jewelry and velvet dress, and she told me it was her “library outfit.” Ok, you’ve got my attention. Then, after I inscribed her book and said my writing might be a little hard to read, her father asked Evelyn to tell me what she calls cursive. “Fairy writing.” Awwwww. Definitely, that was one of the highlights of my day, especially when Evelyn ran back to the table a few minutes later and said, “I LOVE your book! It has a zombie in it.” Good old letter Z.
SL: As ever, I’m juggling multiple projects. I have a long list of ideas and a finite number of hours to write, so I’ll see where the road takes me. Though I have to say, writing an alphabet book was fun, and I’d definitely enjoy writing another.
Thank you for giving me the chance to talk about my new book. Proceeds benefit Los Angeles Public Library.
Author Susan Lendroth at Los Angeles Central Library. Photo Credit: Gary Leonard
Bio:
Libraries have been Susan Lendroth’s second home for as long as she can remember, so joining the staff of Los Angeles Public Library a decade ago felt like docking with the mother ship. L Is for Librarian is her tenth picture book, following such titles as Here We Go Digging for Dinosaur Bones, Hey Ho, to Mars We’ll Go! and Maneki Neko: The Tale of the Beckoning Cat. Find Susan on social media here:https://www.instagram.com/susanlendroth/
SKYBOUND!:
Starring Mary Myers as Carlotta, Daredevil Aeronaut and Scientist
Written by Sue Ganz-Schmitt
Illustrated by Iacopo Bruno
(Calkins Creek; $18.99, Ages 7-10)
★Starred Reviews – Kirkus, Foreward
I’m always happy to read nonfiction picture book biographies about lesser-known women who did extraordinary things. Mary Myers nee Mary Breed Hawley was one of those women so I’m glad that Sue Ganz-Schmitt and Iacopo Bruno have shined the spotlight on her fascinating story in Skybound. To be honest, I’m surprised that, considering the amazing feats of derring-do that she accomplished, we haven’t heard about her sooner.
Readers meet women in a parlor circa 1850 doing what women were expected to do in the 19th century, “land a husband, have children, and stay tethered to their homes.” Only Mary had other ideas and did not picture herself bound to traditional norms. She dreamed about flying, and found herself preoccupied with aeronauts; people who chose to reach great heights in the only way they knew how, in a hot air balloon.
Mary soon married a fellow aficionado, and together they read, planned, and even invented! “… she helped her husband, Carl Myers, invent a “groundbreaking” balloon fabric. I love the clever use of ballooning terms, often in colored font, when describing different aspects of Mary’s life. Bruno’s art, which I adored in Mesmerized, takes us back in time with attention to period clothing and other details that lift this illuminating story to another level.
Using their new material, Mary and Carl experimented with different balloon shapes and even hired a professional to try them out. But they also wanted their balloons to do more than just fly way up high. They wanted an aeronaut who’d be able to gather scientific data while also entertaining crowds.
Mary made the case for how she could do this and, after much thought, she transformed herself into Carlotta, an exotic name for a performer. She would take her aerial act aloft and remain there “for five miles or thirty minutes.” Even the rain did not stop her! Even the risks, and there were many! Mary’s intrepidness could not be denied. Ganz-Schmitt builds up the tension with her prose as does Bruno’s art. Would Mary, on her solo journey skybound, remain safe? Would the inclement weather prove detrimental? Would she gather the information she needed? I couldn’t wait to find out! And neither will readers.
Eight delightful pages of backmatter delve into more detail about Carlotta’s interesting life including tales of her many close calls while up in the air. I enjoyed the timeline, and seeing a hand-tinted postcard of the Balloon Farm in Frankfort, NY where it was “the only aeronautic institution of its kind in the world.” As a former New Yorker, I wondered why the Balloon Farm was not better known because I’d love to have visited it. Skybound and other picture books that highlight women’s achievements in the 19th and 20th centuries are great for children to read. There are many instances of women who were ahead of their time and these books serve as important reminders that perseverance and vision pay off in myriad ways.
From the Publisher: “Discover how a tree’s wounds and decay bring new life to the forest ecosystem in this lyrical nonfiction picture book for fans of Because of an Acorn and A Stone Sat Still.”
From Horn Book: a starred review “Lively, poetic writing and beautiful illustrations . . . Even the youngest of readers and listeners will grasp the concepts of ecosystems and the continuity of life. A model of what an excellent STEM-focused picture book can be.”
Kirkus Starred Review
REVIEW:
I couldn’t agree more! What begins as a “basic” tree book from STEM author, Leslie Barnard Booth’ and illustrator Stephanie Fizer Coleman …
quickly becomes a poetic look at the life cycle of a forest tree that survives despite wind and ice and drought; despite fire, and animal and human activity …
begging the question, “Does anything in life ever truly end?”
A perfect pairing with Whale Fall by Melissa Stewart (Random House Studio, 2023) for use in the classroom. This beautiful book’s simple, poetic language and gorgeously detailed nature illustrations will have kiddos clamoring for re-readings and personal time with the book to look more closely at the illustrations.
THE FABULOUS FANNIE FARMER:
Kitchen Scientist and America’s Cook
Written by Emma Bland Smith
Illustrated by Susan Reagan
(Calkins Creek; $18.99, Ages 7-10)
Starred Review – School Library Journal
Written by Emma Bland Smith and illustrated bySusan Reagan, The Fabulous Fannie Farmeris a humorous and fascinating story of a quiet, kitchen revolutionist who transformed the notion of home cooking from “meaningless” work to a serious business.
Interior spread from The Fabulous Fannie Farmer: Kitchen Scientist and America’s Cook written by Emma Bland Smith and illustrated by Susan Reagan, Calkins Creek Ⓒ2024.
Like many girls during the late 1800s, Fannie Farmer most likely grew up learning how to cook in her home kitchen, using recipes that had been in her family for generations. Yet recipes in Fannie’s day were more poetic than precise. Phrases like “a suspicion of,” “a good lump,” and “as many as may be necessary” not only hindered consistent results but perpetuated the myth that cooking was “all about feminine instincts.” I love how author Emma Smith emphasizes the strangeness and silliness of this misguided belief by adding humor to her storytelling. Sentences like, “instructions were often cloudier than clam chowder” and “… who needs standard measurements when you’ve got your trusty feminine instincts, right?” create a light-hearted, conversational tone that brings Smith’s retelling of culinary history to life. Susan Reagan’s period-perfect illustrations add whimsy and authenticity, allowing readers to see what life was like at the turn of the last century.
Despite suffering the aftereffects of (what many believe was) polio, Fannie continued to cook and bake in her kitchen, testing out recipes with precision by using measuring cups and spoons. When she enrolled in the Boston Cooking School at age thirty-one, Fannie truly excelled. As a student, then assistant, and finally a principal, she taught her students to think like “kitchen scientists.”
Interior art from The Fabulous Fannie Farmer: Kitchen Scientist and America’s Cook written by Emma Bland Smith and illustrated by Susan Reagan, Calkins Creek Ⓒ2024.
When she fulfilled her wish to rewrite the school’s old cookbook, she and her students tested every recipe, transforming the school’s kitchen into a chemistry lab. Fannie paved the way for cooks and bakers everywhere to finally have access to clear and precise recipes with reliable results. But more than that, Fannie created a cultural shift in the way people thought about home cooking. Since it involved “planning and budgeting, health and nutrition,” she insisted the work deserved serious recognition.
The Fabulous Fannie Farmer opens readers’ eyes to the importance of Fannie’s impact on our everyday lives. A great resource for teachers, this book can also be fun for readers at home, learning a bit of culinary history while snacking on a treat. Two recipes from Fannie’s book and extensive back matter are included.
This mouthwatering, treat of a book introduces readers to Edna Regina Lewis, with illustrations that pair deliciously with the prose. I was ready to book a trip to the South to sample all the tasty cuisine mentioned in Chef Ednawritten by Melvina Noeland illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera. Just look at that inviting cover! It speaks to exactly what this picture book is all about.
Growing up on a farm in Freetown, Virginia, Edna was one of six children. She spent her childhood “cooking with her mother, Mama Daisy.” Life on a farm offered fresh fruit, vegetables, meats, and fish year-round as well as the opportunity for young Edna to learn every recipe. She made her mama’s biscuits “so many times she could make them by heart.” That and other tricks, such as listening to a cake to know whether it’s done (A bubbling sound meant it needed to cook more. No sound meant it was done.) became ingrained in Edna.
When Edna’s father passed away, she left home at age 15 to work to help support her mother and the family. She headed to New York and did a host of jobs. Her seamstress skills brought her to the attention of celebrities and soon she was “making clothes for movie stars.” One of my favorite illustrations not shown here is of Edna strolling down a Manhattan street wearing one of her own designs with African motifs and “bright, bold colors.” And, while this brought in much-needed money, Edna still yearned for the farm in Freetown, being with family, and enjoying all the delicious Southern food she was raised on.
Edna met many people through her seamstress work. She “catered events and threw dinner parties for her new friends.” Everyone appreciated her scrumptious cooking infused with a love of the South. Demand grew. It’s easy for us to forget that today, with such a variety of food available that, in late 1940s New York, a female chef, let alone a Black female chef, serving up flavors of her hometown down south, was not common on the Upper East Side where she opened a restaurant with a partner. Famous people including poets, playwrights, and even a First Lady flocked there to see for themselves what Southern cuisine was all about.
With New York now her home, Edna continued to seek out “fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, and fish. Fresh seasonal farm-to-table ingredients for Southern cooking,” at Union Square Green Market. When I was growing up that market had long disappeared but it’s back again which I know would make Edna smile. Cabrera’s artwork in muted tones with brush strokes showing, conveys a thriving market of a bygone era.
In her lifetime, Edna the granddaughter of formerly enslaved people, worked at many different jobs where her creativity was put to good use whether as a window dresser, a seamstress, a cooking teacher, a cookbook author, or a chef. This “Grand Dame of Southern Cooking” worked in her later years to preserve Southern food, and was honored not only with numerous awards, but was featured on a U.S. Postal stamp in 2014! Since dates are not mentioned, readers may not always get a clear sense of the timespan in this biography but it’s clear from the art and backmatter that Edna never really slowed down noting that Edna worked “well into her early seventies.” The author has chosen an inspiring subject for this picture book that might even influence young readers to pursue a career as a chef.
After you finish the book, be sure to read Noel’s interesting Author’s Note and try your hand at Edna’s “Biscuits for Two or Three.” I know I will! Don’t forget to look under the book jacket for a sweet “undies” surprise from Cabrera.
Reviewed by Ronna Mandel
Want to read more for Women’s History Month? Click here.
This book is chock full of holes—shallow and miles deep, microscopic and visible from space, human-caused and natural, mysterious and maddeningly familiar.
When you think of holes, what comes to mind? Maybe the irritating hole in your sock. Or the hole on the shelf where you plucked out this book. But did you know there are holes that suddenly devour entire gas stations? Big holes in the ocean that are visible from space? Small holes in balls that prevent a backyard home run?
A hole is a part of something where there’s nothing at all. Holes are investigated by scientists, used by artists, designed by engineers, and fixed by problem-solvers. They can be natural or human-made, big or small, plentiful or scarce, mysterious or painfully familiar. Many are important to our everyday lives, whether we give them credit or not.
INTERVIEW:
Katrina Tangen:THIS BOOK IS FULL OF HOLES is so fun and fascinating! You cover such a wide range of holes. How did you decide what to include and how to organize them?
Nora Nickum: Brainstorming all different kinds of holes was a fun part of the process. But the book did require a good structure so it wouldn’t be just a list. I was intrigued by the fact that a hole seems like empty nothingness, but in fact, it can be really useful, or annoying, or dangerous, or life-saving. And holes appear in all different STEAM disciplines, from engineering and ecology to music and art. I began writing about all the different qualities that holes could have, and eventually shaped it into a consistent opposite structure on every spread. Readers will find fascinating examples of how holes can be tiny or enormous, form slowly or quickly, be used to speed something up or slow something down, and so on.
KT:The idea of a hole is both really concrete and really abstract. For example, the idea that a hole can be closed on the bottom as well as open. I wouldn’t have said an indentation was a hole, even though there are other holes with bottoms that I do think of as holes, like golf holes. So it gets a little mind-bendy when you start thinking about what makes a hole a hole! Were there challenges in figuring out how to explain those concepts?
NN: That’s one of the things that made this topic so fun for me! I spent time researching definitions of holes, and felt like I got to a place where I had a solid one that wasn’t full of holes itself (haha). And I started the book with that definition: “A hollow place. An empty space. A part of something where there’s nothing at all.”
KT:That’s such an intriguing definition! Which type of hole is your favorite? I was fascinated by blue holes and the holes in airplane windows—I hadn’t heard of either before!
NN: Those two kinds of holes were the genesis of the book! I used to travel a lot and often wondered why there was a tiny hole in the airplane window. And later, when I read about blue holes in the ocean and saw beautiful photos taken from the air, I was really intrigued and thought about doing a picture book focused on those, but it turned out there hadn’t been a lot of research about blue holes yet. Then a light bulb went off in my head and I combined them into a book about holes, which let me add lots of other fascinating examples. My favorite hole in the book is actually the seal’s breathing hole in the Arctic ice–I liked that I could make the same hole represent both of the opposing concepts, danger versus safety. And I love how Robert Meganck illustrated it with one scene carrying across both pages, with the seal and the polar bear.
KT: Wow, that’s such a fun origin story! I love it when things come together like that. Were there holes that didn’t make it into the final book?
NN: Yes, sadly. Buttonholes, groundhog burrows, swimming holes, and holes in pinhole cameras were on my list at one point or another, but ultimately cut. Some types of holes didn’t make it in because they didn’t fit the opposites structure as nicely as I wanted. Others were too straightforward to feel interesting or to merit any sidebar text. Fortunately, all of my favorites made it in!
KT:I’m glad you didn’t have to cut any of your favorites! The illustrations are great and add so much humor. Did any of them surprise you?
NN:Robert Meganck’s illustrations are so creative and funny, while also being accurate in the ways that are important for a nonfiction book. The one showing a person threading a needle was his idea–I hadn’t been that specific in the manuscript, and I updated the sidebar text to reflect his art. And I love how Robert has hidden other kinds of holes in the background of several illustrations (see what you can find in the “speed something up…slow it down” spread). But the illustration that might surprise readers the most is the one they’ll find on the flip side of the book jacket–it’s a big hide-and-seek playground scene where kids can search for all different kinds of holes!
KT:Kids will love that! I think my favorite is how the front and back cover play off each other. So clever! I also love the backmatter—how did it develop? Including hole-related idioms was such a good idea!
NN:The idioms in the back matter–like “loophole” and “square peg in a round hole”–were originally in the main text, but as my editor and I worked more on the opposites structure, we decided they didn’t quite fit there. I also revised the back matter later to discuss the actual holes that those terms refer to, like loopholes in castle walls, before talking about their current usages in English. I was so eager to see how Robert would depict those idioms, and of course his fabulously quirky art there is delightful.
KT:Do you have any suggestions for other great picture books that could be paired with yours?
NN: Definitely! A bundle of books about holes would be a whole lot of fun. I’m excited about Skylaar Amann’s new picture book, Alone Sometimes: Everybody Needs a Hole in the Ground, which also releases in March 2024. And I love Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen’s funny book Sam and Dave Dig a Hole. Melissa Stewart and Amy Hevron also have a wonderful nonfiction book about animals called Tree Hole Homes: Daytime Dens and Nighttime Nooks.
KT:What do you hope young readers will take away from your book?
NN:Some giggles, for one thing. But I also hope it will make readers look at the world around them differently, seeing holes and patterns and making connections they hadn’t made before. It was really fun for me to brainstorm different kinds of holes with my family, looking at things in our kitchen, outside on walks, and other places, and I think kids will have fun doing the same!
KT: I know I definitely will! Thanks for sharing with us—it’s been a “hole” lot of fun!
BUY THE BOOK:
Click here to purchase a copy and support independent bookstores via Bookshop.org.
Nora Nickum is the author of This Book is Full of Holes (Peachtree, 2024) as well as the middle-grade book Superpod: Saving the Endangered Orcas of the Pacific Northwest (Chicago Review Press, 2023). Both are Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections. Her stories and articles have appeared in children’s magazines like Cricket, Ladybug, and Muse. Nora also leads ocean conservation policy work for the Seattle Aquarium. She lives on an island in Washington state. Learn more about her at www.noranickum.com.
Katrina Tangen lives in Southern California between Disneyland and the beach. At Harvard, she studied Folklore & Mythology, History of Science, Psychology, and Religion, so she knows a little bit about a lot of things. This turned out to be excellent training for writing nonfiction for kids! Her debut Copy That, Copy Cat!: Inventions Inspired by Animals (Barefoot Books, 2023) was a Bookstagang Book of the Year and a Cybils Award Finalist. Find her at katrinatangen.com.
AUTHOR BIO: