Author Archives: rosinskynatalie

Picturing Butterflies

Posted on May 1, 2018 by rosinskynatalie

A brand new, sumptuous picture book biography is my focus today. Its illustrations refreshed my winter-weary eyes, even as its crystal-clear language movingly revealed an exceptional woman, from girlhood through old age. And, whether by remarkable coincidence or fate, my … Continue reading →

Posted in biographies, picture books | Tagged 17th-century women, art history, butterfly metamorphosis, Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis, Don Larsson, entomology, Jeyaraney Kathirithamby, John Jacques Audubon, Joyce Sidman, Julie Paschkis, Kim Todd, Margarita Engle, Maria Merian, Maria Sibylla Merian: Artist/Scientist/Adventurer, naturalist, Peter Kuper, Ruins, Sarah B. Pomeroy, science, Scott Pakudaitis, Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian, Surinam, Susanna Centlivre, The Bassett Table, The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science, women artists, women scientists | Leave a comment

On Earth Day: Poetry Embracing Science

Posted on April 21, 2018 by rosinskynatalie

I was shocked—an editor had just told me that poetry had no place in science books! This young man had been assigned by the publisher to shepherd my completed work-for-hire, about watersheds for middle school readers, into print. The poetry … Continue reading →

Posted in articles | Tagged A Place in Space:: Ethics Aesthetics and Watersheds, Anna Dumont, Beckie Prange, Beth Krommes, Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow, Cathie, Cathie Felstead, Chris Brubeck, Christopher Wormell, Convergence, Damia Lewis, Dirt: The Scoop on Soil, e.e. cummings, Earth Day, Earthshake: Poems from the Ground Up, Frederica von Stade, Gary Snyder, J. Patrick Lewis, Joyce Sidman, Light: Shadows Mirrors and Rainbows, Lisa Westberg Peters, Matthew John, Patty Schlutt, picture books, poetry, River of Song, River of Words: Young Poets and Artists on the Nature of Things, Rocks: Hard Soft Smooth and Rough, science, Sheree Boyd, Song of the River Boatman and Other Pond Poems, Swan Song: Poems of Extinction, watersheds | Leave a comment

Being Brave and Bold

Posted on April 1, 2018 by rosinskynatalie

Awkward middle schoolers gaining confidence and becoming brave— two great graphic novels about this transition are my focus today, inspired by current events. How do young people learn to be brave and bold? I have been thinking about this since … Continue reading →

Posted in graphic novels, manga | Tagged art club, Awkward, Be Heard! A Comic for Student Rights, Brave, bullying, civil rights movement, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Crush, Dr. Martin Luther King, Great Graphic Novels for Teens, I Am Alfonso Jones, manga, March Book One, March Book Three, March Book Two, March for Our Lives, middle school, Night School, Parkland Florida shooting, Representative John Lewis, science club, Svetlana Chmakova, The Silence of Our Friends, Yolanda Renee King | Leave a comment

Of Mice and Middle School

Posted on March 1, 2018 by rosinskynatalie

Babymouse is growing up! I recently learned that the perky heroine of twenty graphic novels for young kids started this school year as a middle schooler. Yet the safe haven that school provides this fantasy character is not what students actually … Continue reading →

Posted in graphic novels, hybrid books | Tagged Babymouse, Babymouse Tales from the Locker, Forgive Me Leonard Peacock, friendship, Gail Sidonie Sobat, growing up, guns, humorous books, hybrid novel, Jamie's Got a Gun, Jennifer L. Holm, Kerlan Award, Lights Camera Middle School!, Matthew Holm, Matthew Quick, Miss Communication, Mouseketeers, Parkland Florida, school shootings, Shaun David Hutchinson, Spyder Yardley-Jones, teen age shooter, Violent Ends: A Novel in Seventeen Points of View | 1 Comment

In War and Peace

Posted on February 1, 2018 by rosinskynatalie

What happens when peacetime resembles war? I will be pondering this question in coming weeks as we celebrate Black History Month, also known as African-American History Month here in the U.S.A. This year there will be a special focus on the … Continue reading →

Posted in graphic novels, war | Tagged "Hamlet", African-American History Month, All-American Boys, Amadou Diallo, Angie Thomas, Anthony Baez, Black History month, Black Lives Matter, Brendan Kiely, Canaan White, Damian Duffy, Eleanor Bumpurs, Harlem, Henry Dumas, hip-hop "Hamlet", How It Went Down, I Am Alfonso Jones, Jason Reynolds, John Jennings, Kekla Magoon, Kindred, Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, Max Brooks, Michael Stewart, New York City, Octavia Butler, police violence, racism, Sergeant Henry Johnson, Stacey Robinson, teenager, The Harlem Hellfighters, The Hate U Give, Tony Medina, World War I | Leave a comment

Celebrating a New Year

Posted on January 1, 2018 by rosinskynatalie

Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. These words from a Tennyson poem are one traditional New Year’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, comics | Tagged African American, Afro-Latino, anti-globalism, Bat Man, Chinese Superman, Chinese-American, DC comics, DC superheroes, diverse superheroes., Flash, Gene Luen Yang, globalism, I-Ching, January 1, Justice League of China, Kamala Khan, Kenneth Grahame, Kij Johnson, Kong Kenan, Lunella Lafayette, Miles Morales, Moon Girl, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Ms. Marvel, Muslim, New Super-Man Volume 1: Made in China, New Super-Man Volume 2: Coming to American, New Super-Man Volume 3: Equilibrium, New Year celebration, Pakistani-American, President Trump, rewritten classics, Richard Friend, Shanghai, Sonny Liew, Spider Man, teenage Superman, Tennyson, The River Bank: A Sequel to the Wind in the Willows, The Shadow Hero, The Wind in the Willows, Viktor Bogdanovic, Wonder Woman | Leave a comment

States of Mind

Posted on December 1, 2017 by rosinskynatalie

What is your state of mind right now? Festive . . . as you think of upcoming winter holidays? Fearful . . . as you contemplate current political events and crises? Or are you calm and content because you enjoy … Continue reading →

Posted in biographies, picture books | Tagged Ana Juan, Andrew Standing Soldier, Ann Nolan Clark, architect, artist biography, Christmas, Duncan Tonitiuh, Eve Chwast, Frida, Frida Kahlo, Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos, Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras, George Lawrence, Georgia O'Keefe, Grandma's Latkes, Hanukkah, Jeanette Winters, John Parra, Jonah Winters, Malka Drucker, Monica Brown, My Name is Georgia: A Portrait, Native American picture books, Native American Picture Books of Change, New Mexico, painter, Rebecca C. Benes, Rosemary Zibart, The Hen of Wahpeton, The Night of Las Posadas, The Slim Butte Raccoon, The World is Not a Rectangle: A Portrait of Architect Zaha Hadid, Tomie de Paola, True Brit--Beatrice 1940, winter holidays, Zaha Hadid | Leave a comment

Holy Lands

Posted on November 16, 2017 by rosinskynatalie

One Navajo, one Jew: two distinct “holy lands.” Our recent ten day sojourn in Santa Fe, New Mexico reminded me of how culture and personal vision determine which particular portions of Mother Earth we hold sacred. Writing from the small … Continue reading →

Posted in articles | Tagged Abiquiu, adobe house, Ayelet Waldman, Bears Ears National Monument, cathedral, Catholic missionaries, Christianity, Death Comes for the Archbishop, Georgia O'Keefe, holy land, Israel, Judaism, KIngdom of Olives and Ash:Writers Confront the Holocaust, kivas, Michael Chabon, missionaries, Muslim, Native American, Navajo, New Mexico, non-Christian gods, Palestinian, Pecos National Monument, President Trump, proselytizing, Pueblo, religion, sacred, Saint Kateria Tekawitha, Santa Fe, secular, secular humanism, Spanish priests, Temple Mount, The Yiddish Policeman's Union, Willa Cather | Leave a comment

Korean Tales

Posted on November 1, 2017 by rosinskynatalie

North Korea remains forefront in U.S. news, as both countries’ boastful, ambitious leaders toy childishly with nuclear threats. We here in the U.S. can only hope and work within our political system to avert such disaster. Novels such as Adam … Continue reading →

Posted in graphic novels, manga | Tagged Adam Johnson, adolescence, Booklist"s Top Ten Graphic Novels for Youth, fantasy, frequently challenged book, goblins, Hangul, Julie Kim, Kim Dong Hwa, Korea, Korean American, Korean folk tales, Korean folklore, manhwa, Moon Rabbit, mother-daughter relationship, nine-tailed fox, North Korean, Sejong Cultural Society, sex, sexuality, South Korea, The Color of Earth, The Color of Heaven, The Color of Water, The Orphan Master's Son, Where's Halmoni, writing competition, YALSA Top Ten Graphic Novels for Teens | Leave a comment

Hurricane Times

Posted on October 1, 2017 by rosinskynatalie

Cartoonists around the globe responded swiftly to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Some artists focused on the political or scientific conflicts that swirled around these storms, while others focused on the disasters’ human dimensions. Now Maria has entered the fray. I … Continue reading →

Posted in comics, graphic novels | Tagged A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, controversy, Dark Rain: a New Orleans Story, FEMA, government leaders, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Maria, Hurricane Sandy, hurricanes, Josh Neufeld, Lee Loughbridge, Mat Johnson, natural disasters, neighbors, New Orleans, Pat Brosseau, relief efforts, Simon Gane | Leave a comment