The Strange Voyage of Neptune's Car

The Strange Voyage of Neptune's Car

Joe Lasker 1977

 This is a pretty incredible true story about young Mary Patton who took over command of her husband's clipper ship, Neptune's Car, when he became ill.  Not only was she only 19 years old, but she was pregnant at the time!  Able to navigate and read charts, Mary brought the ship to harbor in San Francisco after rounding the most treacherous path of Cape Horn.  Joe Lasker's retelling is accompanied by his illustrations that resemble old photographs.

Sojourner Truth's Step-Stomp Stride

Sojourner Truth's Step-Stomp Stride

Andrea Davis Pinkney

illustrated by Brian Pinkney 2009

Here is a brief biography of the abolitionist and suffragette, Sojourner Truth.  These kinds of books are good starting points to delving more into the history and biography of such an incredible individual.  Sojourner Truth is famously known for her speech "Ain't I a Woman" which is also depicted powerfully here.  But the truth of that speech is much more interesting and complicated.  Sojourner was born in New York State speaking Dutch and didn't speak with the southern vernacular that the speech is known for.  Activist Frances Dana Barker Gage transcribed the speech years later and seems to have taken liberties with Sojourner's words.   What is undisputed and what the Pickney's capture is that Truth was an incredible woman who worked tirelessly for women and Black rights and equality.    

Pencils, Pens and Brushes

Pencils, Pens and Brushes

Mindy Johnson

illustrated by Lorelay Bove

My husband LOVES Disney World.  While it's not my top choice to travel to, I've always enjoyed our vacations there.   (Mostly because my husband does all the planning and I'm just along for the ride.)   Being a detail oriented person, I do appreciate the intentional attention to detail that Disney employs in even the smallest ways.  For example, artists had to create a fake rust color and texture to coat the walls of one of the rides and sections of the park.  And I noticed how the entrance to Galaxy's Edge (the Star Wars portion) was designed in such a way to join the rest of the park via a tunnel angled to create a slow reveal.  Say what you will about the consumerism and inauthenticity, there are some amazing creative minds at work in that place!

 Aside from liking amusement park rides, I'm always on the lookout for artwork that I like.  (Hello Mary Blair!).  After seeing the incredible Cirque Du Soleil show at Disney Springs, I spotted this book in the gift shop.  It's biographical snippets of some of the creative women that have worked for Disney in the past.  Mary Blair was there of course, and I had forgotten that Gyo Fujikawa had also done a stint at Disney.  And lately I've really liked learning about Milicent Patrick.  She created the Creature from the Black Lagoon.     

This book covers not just illustrators, but the women who were writers, paint chemists, or modeled for characters and movements.  At the time these women were embarking on careers outside of what was expected for women.  It's no surprise that many of them were adventurous in other aspects of their life- like becoming pilots or serving during WWII.   I would have liked to have seen more photographs and samples of their own work, but I like Lorelay Bove's illustration style.

Suffragette The Battle for Equality

Suffragette 

The Battle for Equality

David Roberts 2019

We first discovered this book at the library and I was smitten!  The artwork is fantastic!  I actually don't know much about the Suffragette movement, except for the incident with Emily Wilding Davison who ran out onto the racetrack during the Epson Derby and was trampled to death by a horse (this is included and illustrated in the book).  David Roberts does a thorough job in the best sense of the word to describe the beginnings and necessity of the Suffragette movement.  He biographies key characters and explores the movement historically, its ties to labor unrest, violent clashes, the cultural differences between the movement in America and England, and the effect of WWI.  It's all fascinating stuff and the illustrations make it a feast!

 

The Blueset of Blues

 I really was meant to be a 19th century naturalist!  Our house is filled with collected natural treasures- shells, rocks, bits of seaweed, insects, nests, etc...  I am happiest outside, always observing the big and the small.  I think of Thoreau, "We can never have enough of nature".  

What makes the 18th and 19th century study of Nature so alluring is how it was all interconnected with other sciences, art and literature.  At that time so many naturalists had to be artists and draw their observations.  This biography of Anna Atkins enters just at the time when photography (a burgeoning science of its own!) was being utilized..

The Bluest of Blues

Fiona Robinson 2019

This wonderful book tells the story of Anna's work as a botanist and her use of cyanotypes to publish the first photography book of her collection of seaweed.  The illustrations are in shades of blue with only a pop of momentous red, and best of all many of Anna's cyanotypes are duplicated.  

These "sun prints" are quite easy to make and I love how well they suit botanical treasures.  Fiona Robinson took some liberties with the early unknown years of Anna's life, but she perfectly captured a father sharing his love of discovery and curiosity with his daughter, and the spirit of the times.

"Anna is a treasure hunter.  Anna is an artist.  Anna is a scientist!"

"Her work is both scientific and beautiful."