Tony Chamberlain's Review of Nelson Telson

Enjoy this review!

NELSON TELSON: The Story of a True Blue Blood

By Heidi Mayo

REVIEW/By Tony Chamberlain

I approached Nelson Telson as a grandfather of three boys (2,7,10 YO, two of them

readers) as to consider the book for their future reading. And now we slip a little too

close to that library-generated genre known as “Young Adult.” Does that mean old adults stay out of the clubhouse? I was thinking this just before a little girl named Mariah found an ancient Indian spearhead that gave her the magical power of being able to converse with an old horseshoe crab she finds in the tidal flats. A bit further along and Mariah finds herself in a room full of rowdy sixth-graders and a classically mean teacher, Mrs. Tarbox, followed by a classically obnoxious cousin, Travis, complete with BO and a tendency to cheat off Mariah’s school work, who comes to live with her family. No wonder this shy and lonely 11-year old would rather be among the wild animals and

escape the dreariness of her human surroundings.

By this point in Mayo’s novel, I (who have roughly sixty years on Mariah) was thoroughly engaged in her tale, which has the appeal of so many human monomythic adventures into the natural world. E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web and Trumpet of the Swan come quickly to mind, and of course they have been read and enjoyed by adults as well as “young adults” for decades.

The story of Nelson Telson (yes, you will learn that a telson is an object in nature) takes many swerves and upendings, as Mariah lives and grows and learns both in her natural and human worlds. This is a classic tale told with such fresh insight and awareness of nature, that it stands as a must read for young adults. And their parents. And their grandparents.

STEM + Art = STEAM

Full STEAM Ahead!
As an art teacher, I find so many ways that art education melds with the STEM initiatives, and from now on I'm adding the A.  In the junk drawer of my mind, I see so many relationships where Art is an integral part of the business of getting kids, not just girls, excited about observing the world around them and applying what they learn to their everyday lives in so many positive ways.  Both science and art are all about observation.

A 2nd grader's perspective work

   Part of my curriculum includes perspective and proportion.  Students learn how to use parallel lines, horizons, and vanishing points to recreate in 2D much of the 3D reality around them.  There's some geometry involved, too.

Understanding perspective in the landscape

   In summer we warm up with what I call Backyard Naturalist.  We get quiet and listen to the world, and note what we hear.  We notice the air and how it feels; we pay attention to the weather.  We observe the world with each of our senses one at a time, and look all around us and record the details. We use field guides to identify the plants, trees, insects and animals we see, and each student keeps a nature journal.

Backyard Naturalists

   When we work on faces and figures, not only are we learning the art of proportion, and the math of comparative measurement; we learn a lot about anatomy, and how negative space is equally important to the actual subject we are recreating. 

We learn how values create the appearance of volume.  

We find ways to create visual energy on a piece of paper!

It was no surprise to me that others were thinking the same thing:
STEM + Art = STEAM

Rhode Island School of Design thinks Art and Design must be added to the STEM model as "America is once again turning to innovation as the way to ensure a prosperous future.Yet innovation remains tightly coupled with Science, Technology, Engineering and Math – the STEM subjects. Art + Design are poised to transform our economy in the 21st century just as science and technology did in the last century."

Many schools are also hot on adding Art to the STEM curriculum, as noted here in THE Journal: For These Schools, Adding Arts to STEM Boosts Curriculum.

And this article in Education Week talks about the equal importance of Art in bringing about the innovative thinking necessary for STEM initiatives to work in developing 21st century citizens.

STEAM is the perfect balance of our universal nature as observers and innovators

So, I'm not just blowing hot air here.  All this STEAM business got me to thinking about a few STEAMy people I know, and how far-reaching the associations can go.

Next installment: STEAMY Women

STEMGirl Part 2

Yesterday I had a wonderful exciting experience.  I was on my running route on my little beach here in North Plymouth, and after my one mile stretch at my usual stretching spot, I noticed something out of place, something unusual.  It was a big blob of rockish stuff that had once been molten.  It appeared to have been picked up and dragged onto the beach by the ice from last week's cold spell.  It looked like it had been the water for awhile since it was quite degraded.  I could see iron and sulphur and all sorts of interesting colors and textures.  Could it be a meteorite?

Unlimited potential

It was pretty heavy; I guessed around 10 pounds as I carried it to the flat rock I use as a canvas for impromptu beach artworks to snap this photo with my phone.  I was excited.

   Most people would have left it on the beach, but I had to take this baby home and find out more about it.  As I lugged it along the shore I ran into a women who is often out there collecting fossils.  I showed it to her, and she thought it was awesome.  She mentioned that some meteorites have gold in them. Suddenly my find became even more exciting!

   The weight of it had slowed my run into a brisk walk where I would alternate carrying it on my right or left shoulder, and then cradle it for a few minutes in one arm or the other, switching the burden as I ascended the half-mile and 114 feet above sea level to my house at the Top of the World.  I mention this because this morning I have exquisite pain in both biceps.

My potential meteorite at home

Once home, I gave it a good weighing and measuring.  It actually weighed 15.75 lbs, and was approximately 8x10" with a girth of around 23/24 inches.  I posted it on Facebook and got all sorts of people excited.  Then, I started my investigation.

   I found a few meteorite sites such as this So, you think you found a meteorite? and this one: Meteorite Market and this one: Meteorite Home Tests.  

   My first test was the magnet test.  We used to have all sorts of strong magnets around here, and I couldn't find one of them so I popped down to Benny's and got some of those small round ones.  I put a magnet on a piece of tape, and moved it near my subject whereupon the magnet, attracted to my piece of potential, swung over and stuck.  It passed the magnet test!

   Next I had to ask with magnifying glass in hand: Did it have Chondrules? Chondrules are small, colorful, grain-like spheres that occur in most stone meteorites. Chondrules are not found in earth rocks. There were a few colorful grain-like spheres and one that looked like a mini BB, but I wasn't so sure they were actual chondrules.
   And then there was this little problem of vesicles - holes.  My blob of previously molten whatever had way too many holes in it to be a meteorite. :-(  So, I took it outside and smacked it a few times with a sledge hammer.  It broke apart easily showing me a punky core of iron and such.
   It was not a meteorite; it was a meteorwrong -  a big blob of slag likely an artifact from the old brick kiln nearby.

My MeteorWrong

Was I disappointed?  No, I was not.  The discovery, excitement, investigation, and pure potential were worth its weight in gold.  I had found a treasure as valuable as the arrowhead I found on that same beach 20 years ago that caused my imagination to go off on the journey that resulted in Nelson Telson - The Story of a True Blue Blood.

The treasure is in the potential, the springboard to imagination, the star stuff that dreams are made on.

   My MeteorWrong is the Right Stuff sitting out on the back porch calling to my imagination saying, "I have a story to tell, and you will help me tell it."

   So, when we talk about this STEM business and getting girls excited about science, what we are really talking about is creating a sense of wonder and curiosity, an attitude of openness, of limitless possibilities.  

   In today's world of school, scheduled activities, and electronics, kids often don't have the freedom to explore, experience and imagine outside in the natural world.  For STEM Girl initiatives to work, kids need to be fortified with a good helping of AWE PIE:
AWE WONDER EXCITEMENT POTENTIAL INVESTIGATION EXPLORATION 

You really want to get your mind blown?  Check this out:  NASA releases largest picture ever taken.

Mariah, STEM Girl

When I was writing Nelson Telson – The Story of a True Blue Blood I had no idea that I was writing a work that would fit right into the national STEM Girls initiative.  I had no idea the book would have such value in the realm of science education.  I didn’t even think about the book’s potential to get girls excited about careers in science.  I knew Mariah had many important lessons she needed to learn and share with readers, but when I was writing it I was just compelled to create this story with a deep sense of place and purpose.

STEM Girl Mariah at Associates of Cape Cod facility 

   A few weeks ago a helpful friend who is in the business of educational systems called to say he had read the book, and mentioned this STEM thing.  That was the first I’d ever heard of it, so after we hung up I googled it, and I’m still googling it because there are endless aspects where Nelson Telson serves STEM Girls.  Thanks, Joseph!

   What is STEM, you ask?  Science, Technology, Engineering, Math. 

   Why is it so important these days?  Because girls and women have been getting the shaft when it comes to being encouraged to study for and enter into STEM-based careers.

   During my first googling session I ran into an article in The Onion: “New STEM Education Initiative Inspires Girls To Earn Less Than Men In Scientific Careers”  that takes that whole concept of girls and women getting the shaft in science and technology education and careers a bit deeper to the core issue of the glass ceiling in these fields, but I digress.

   Last year Barack Obama said, “One of the things that I really strongly believe in is that we need to have more girls interested in math, science, and engineering. We’ve got half the population that is way underrepresented in those fields and that means that we’ve got a whole bunch of talent…not being encouraged the way they need to.”    And The Office of Science and Technology Policy, in collaboration with the White House Council on Women and Girls is dedicated to changing that.

Mrs. Tarbox explains Einstein's special theory of relativity 

   Even before I’d heard of this STEM business, I was very excited that Lars Helgeson, PhD and his Life Science for Elementary Teachers class at the University of North Dakota identified more than 20 teachable themes in the book, some of which Lars will be using to create a full-blown companion curriculum of lessons in the format accepted by the National Science Teachers Association.  The book is jam-packed with lessons in science, marine biology, ecology, evolution, history, relativity theory, to name a few.  And Mariah, the main character is quite the role model when it comes to curiosity and critical thinking. STEM-ishly cool, eh?

  

 Even the Girl Scouts are in on it with a bunch of new STEM proficiency badges for Naturalist, Digital Art, Science and Technology, Innovation, AND to help them tackle that pesky problem of unequal pay for equal work (see Onion article above), Financial Literacy badges. That’s the M in STEM, baby.

   The possibilities are endless for Mariah and her natural STEM-Girlishness. There’s the National Math + Science Initiative; many schools are hell-bent on offering girls after school STEM opportunities.  The National Girls Collaborative Project is Advancing the Agenda of Gender Equality by encouraging girls to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.  PBS has a show, SciGirls  produced by Twin Cities Public Television where middle grade girls are getting hands-on experience piquing their interest and encouraging them to succeed in STEM-based projects.  The National Science Foundation is all over it to too.

   I've always been a STEM Girl myself, so it's no wonder that Mariah just fell into it magically.

   

Dream big, Girls!

My low tech fitness band

 Last night I read a wonderful blog post by Lucky Lady LaFrance about how she is using her new fitness band to count her steps into a more physically fit new year.  First, I need to thank Erica for being an inspiration to me to make my own blog a little more physically fit, colorful, and lively.
   Mover and shaker that I am, I have been employing my fitness band long before the electronic ones were ever invented.  Erica posted a picture of her band displaying a red line that tells her when she hasn't been moving around enough.

Mine has the same function.  I call it the Oyster Not-So-Perpetual.

A cherished treasure of the salad days, I have been using my Oyster Not-So-Perpetual fitness band for nearly 20 years.  This is how it works, or doesn't:  I wake up in the morning and put it on.  When I take my daily run, I refer to it as "winding my watch."  If I don't move around enough, my Not-So warns me by slowing down and losing time. How's that for a fitness band? It exudes both beauty and functionality.  If I fail to wear it, it stops altogether, silently demanding my attention.  It's a lovely piece of jewelry that tells time, sort of.  One thing it never fails to do is to remind me of just how grateful I am for all of the abundance in my life. And thanks to Erica I was reminded of its value to my own low tech fitness routine. 

In addition to that, I am also reminded that I need to employ the social media matrix more broadly. So, please follow me on twitter and instagram and make sure to visit Lucky Lady LaFrance's inspiring blog.

I have arrived!

The other day Nelson Telson – The Story of a True Blue Blood received its first negative “review” on amazon.com.  There is a reason why I put the word review in quotation marks.  Was it a review?  Or was it simply a bad rating by a disgruntled person on Christmas Day?  The “reviewer” (pardon the quotes, but I just can’t help it) didn’t say what it was that made her not like it.  All she wrote was, “Kids didn't like it and neither did I. No one even finished it.“  And that was that.  No explanation.

   Based on sales, school donations and Kickstarter rewards, I’m guessing about 400 people have read the book.  To date on Amazon it has twenty-four 5-star reviews where reviewers explain why they love and recommend the book; one 4-star, “It was perfect for young readers! A lot of useful knowledge introduced in a easy read...,” and then this little 1-star Christmas gift.  Yes, it is a gift.

   At first I was perplexed. What?  Someone, not just one person but a whole family, didn’t like my book, and didn’t even have the courtesy to say why they didn’t like it - on Christmas Day, no less.  I looked at her other reviews; she was a real person and not just a troll.  She’d reviewed only one other book, non-fiction, a movie, and a bunch of consumer items.  Who is this person/family who didn’t like my book?  And why didn’t they like it?  It wasn’t so much the lousy rating as the lack of substantiation that irked me.  But it got me to thinking:  What are the differences between reviews, opinions, and ratings? In this world of instant messages, texts and quickie online ratings, it only takes a few seconds to rate a book.  Just a click of the mouse and a few curt words is all it takes to be a “reviewer.”

Review - A book review usually consists of these basic elements:

• A brief description of what the book is about without being a plot spoiler.
• What you liked and/or didn’t like about it (characters, plot, pace, style, emotional impact, denouement, etc.) and why.  Was it satisfying, or were you left wanting in the end?
• A summary to wrap it up – the type of reader you recommend it to (or why you can’t recommend it); any authors or books you’d compare it to, its value, stuff like that. 

Opinion - Due to the nature of the beast, and the modern reader’s time constraints, an Amazon “review” a.k.a. opinion is shorter.  Opinions are just that, but still require a modicum of supporting evidence.

• Give it a star rating between one and five
• Briefly explain what you liked and/or didn’t like about the book and why you rated it the way you did.  “I didn’t like it.” isn’t sufficient, however, “I didn’t like it because it is poorly written, the plot feels contrived, and it contains gratuitous violence that I find offensive…” would suffice on a quickie online opinion.

Rating - Click the star, and because the program demands it, write a few words.  No explanations necessary, unless you’re in the mood to write an opinion or review.  If you are too lazy or disillusioned  to actually read a book to the end, this is the perfect option for you.

   The thing that all three of the above have in common is that they are subjective in their nature, and as with the judgment of any work of art, be it writing, painting, theater, music or whatever, it’s what the experiencer brings to the table that colors his opinion.   And in the case of the 1-star “reviewer” I respect that with all of my being.

Why have I arrived?

It’s not because I sold a million copies or went to St. Louis with the companion science curriculum in hand.  It’s not because the book has become part of many schools’ core curriculum. It’s not because a few literary “gatekeepers” reviewed it favorably. It’s not because I got a movie deal with Disney.  It’s because I know now that my book is part of the bigger picture. It made me feel whole. Thanks unhappy Christmas Day rater for the perfect gift.

Lists Not Resolutions

People often ask me how I manage to find the time to do all of the things that I do.  In addition to my teaching classes each week, I also manage to run regularly, and get a painting in now and then.  In the first six months of this year I illustrated, designed, formatted, made final edits, did a Kickstarter campaign, fulfilled rewards and thank-you notes for over a hundred backers, and released my book.  That was the easy part.  With the daunting task of marketing, I’m navigating unknown waters.  From the outside it might look like I’m highly productive, but internally I feel like I’m spinning my wheels.  As my son keeps reminding me, frequent blogging is a very important part of market visibility.  With Christmas less than a week away, I’m writing this while my eggs dry.  Every year since 1984, I’ve been making these intricate painted eggs as gifts.  No shopping for me, just egg-making.  At one point I was cranking out 48 eggs for the people on my list.  This year I tried to whittle down the list and made a dozen to sell and another 30 to give.

So, people ask, “How do you do it?”

I awoke this morning with the answer: Lists

I dream up my lists in my sleeping hours, wake up, and jot down the stuff I dreamt about. I even have a list to make on my list!   My list today includes:

• Make holiday food list (from planned recipes for beef Wellington, lava cake, duxelles, bordelaise…)
• Grocery shop - that can wait until Monday
• Finish eggs (that means personalize the eggs, put the final finish on, let them dry, pack up the ones that need to be mailed, go to the post office, and move forward into the holiday)
• Get Phoebe’s gift, wrap grands’ gifts, pack and mail
• Call Perry’s – order 2.5 lb tenderloin (no silver)
• Horn Book award submission
• Order art supplies from Dick Blick
• Vacuum and wash floor – doubt that’ll happen
• Write blog post

Never before have I put blogging on my list, and when I woke up this morning I knew the only way I’d get it done is to put it on the list.  The list gets triaged, and some things can wait for another day.

The photo shows how I operate. 

There’s my egg list, today's list, art supply list, calendar with student list.

All the while I’m dreaming up my list for the New Year.

• Get a companion curriculum prepared for Nelson Telson
• Make a piece of really compelling collateral for the book that includes curriculum
• Make a reservation to the IRA convention in St. Louis in July (airline and hotel, too)
• Figure out how to engage educators and home schoolers
• Get the book in schools
• Sell the movie rights to Pixar, Disney or Spielberg
• Sell a million

You get the picture.  Now I can check that one off the list

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – no resolutions here, just lists.