Here’s a fun conversation for #nErDCampNJ I had with wonderful authors, Oona Craig Abrams, Laurie Wallmark, and Andrea J. Loney.
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George Washington Carver is best known as an agricultural expert who discovered versatile uses for the peanut. This story focuses on his first garden. Hidden beneath the trees where no one could tease or belittle him, Carver studied nature and the “more he experimented, the more he learned.” The narrative starts in 1921 with Carver addressing Congress on the importance of the peanut and impressing an audience of white men at a time when “African-Americans were…treated as second-class citizens.” Readers are then transported back to 1874, to the Missouri farm where Carver was born into slavery, and then to the end of slavery and the planting of his first garden. The narrative then focuses on Carver’s determined search for education and finally his work as a teacher at the Tuskegee Institute. The beautiful oil on board illustrations show the wonder of young Carver as he contemplates the petals on a flower or the first green sprouts of spring. Barretta’s prose, combined with Morrison’s art, fully illuminates the depth of Carter’s considerable contributions to the science of agriculture, the farming community, and racial equality. Back matter includes a time line of Carver’s life, a ¬bibliography, and suggestions for further ¬reading. VERDICT A well-thought-out biography that highlights a different side of Carver and will be a first purchase for school and ¬public library collections.
–¬Suzanne Costner, ¬Fairview Elementary School, Maryville, TN

George Washington Carver addresses a room full of white U.S. congressmen on the value of the peanut. Though initially met with racist derision, he quickly earns their respect. The scene then shifts to his childhood. Born into slavery in 1864, Carver lost both parents before freedom came the following year. Childless, his former owners raised him and his brother as their own. Carver, who loved flowers, created a secret garden in the woods, watering his plants, talking to them, and experimenting. Eventually, he began taking in his neighbors’ sickly flowers, becoming “the plant doctor.”
At twelve years old, Carver left home to pursue a good education, and he found success despite poverty and racial prejudice. Throughout his life, he worked tirelessly, experimenting, learning, and sharing his knowledge with others. In an expressive picture book that focuses on the subject’s childhood more than his later accomplishments, Barretta creates a strong impression of Carver’s delight in nature, drive to learn, and sense of purpose. The oil paintings by Morrison, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor recipient, reinforce those impressions with glorious scenes of the woodland garden as well as sensitive, dignified portrayals of Carver-both the boy and the man. A biography illuminating the path, chosen in childhood, that Carver continued to follow.

The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver.

Barretta opens this sensitive biography on a moment of triumph as Carver overcomes the scorn of a roomful of white congressmen in 1921. Told he has only 10 minutes to make his case, he enthralls them, then talks for another hour. A portrait by Morrison shows Carver leaving the chamber, glad to have “share[d] what he knew.” This incident anchors an exploration of his young life. Forbidden an education, Carver teaches himself by patient experimentation with flowers that he cultivates in secret “so no one could find them or tease him.” Eventually, he becomes a local asset: “Here comes the Plant Doctor,” neighbors say. Barretta explains why peanuts were crucial (cotton had exhausted the soil) and celebrates Carver’s formidable success as peanuts become the South’s most popular crop. “Regard Nature. Revere Nature. Respect Nature” were his prescient commands. Through myriad lush garden scenes and impressive portraiture by Morrison, Carver emerges as a generous figure, a “living folk hero,” able to do whatever he set out to and “always ready to serve humanity.”

The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver.

George Washington Carver tended a secret garden of flowers before becoming known for his skill in agriculture. The book opens in 1921 as Carver addresses the U.S. Congress, astounding them with dozens of uses for the peanut. The narration then takes readers back to Carver’s childhood to discover how he reached that career highlight. As a child, he loved flowers, but he was warned not to waste time on plants that couldn’t be eaten or sold, so he kept his colorful garden hidden in the woods. Shut out of schools because he was black, he studied nature independently and learned through experimentation. Eventually, he started caring for neighbors’ sick plants, becoming known as “the Plant Doctor.” At 12, he left the farm on which he was raised and attained a formal education, after which he taught students at the Tuskegee Institute and farmers with a mobile classroom mounted on a wagon. This journey through Carver’s childhood and accomplishments ends with Carver’s simple but memorable words, “Regard Nature. Revere Nature. Respect Nature.” The substantial text holds readers on each spread long enough to appreciate not only the subject matter of the painted illustrations, but Morrison’s artistic techniques—strong strokes and careful dots, artful combinations of textures and shapes—which create lush forest scenes and portraitlike human faces and forms. The childhood story feels more cohesive than the final pages, which list his adult accomplishments but lack the narrative thread. Memorable art earns this biography a respectable place on the shelf. (timeline, bibliography, further reading) (Picture book/biography. 4-9)

On Monday, April 4th, I was honored to speak at the prestigious 92nd St.Y in New York about my picture book: “Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo Da Vinci.” If you’d like to see it, here’s the link:
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So cool to see that Now & Ben is on sale at The Benjamin Franklin House in London! Thanks for the photo, Bill Ochester!

IT’S OFFICIAL! Another Publisher’s Weekly announcement. Finally getting to make my passion project! Thank you, Christy Ottaviano.

It’s official in Publisher’s Weekly! Illustrator Craig Orback and I are going to bring some much needed attention to a guy named Spielberg.