Sy Montgomery

32 and counting!

How many books do we read in a year?  We have no idea.  So, this past January my son and I decided this would be the year to track the number of books.  Reporting midway through 2024:  32 books on the tally sheet.  Currently in the stories and studies book basket:

Studies – 

Arctic Tern Migration, Susan H. Gray.  In the autumn, these global traveling birds take 3 months to fly from the Arctic to the Antarctic.  In springtime, they head back to the Arctic – this trip taking less than two months due to wind currents.  We have layers and layers of “how do they do this and why do they do this?” questions.

Birdology, Sy Montgomery.  Favorite chapters:  “Chickens” (because each and every one is wacky) and “Pigeons”  (author Montgomery takes the reader to a pigeon racing club and we learn the specifics – we love it when a book opens a whole new world for us).

Mother Teresa, Navin Chawla.  This particular book – based upon extensive interviews with those who influenced (or were influenced by) Mother Teresa –  is the only authorized biography of Saint Teresa of Calcutta (as per her canonization by the Catholic Church in 2016).  It is THE book.  We were riveted by the work of this brilliant visionary leader.  How could one person, with no income, starting with 1 room and 2 postulants, turn this into a multi-national effort (hundreds of homes for the destitute, dying, leprosy affected, poorest of the poor) with a support system of 4,000 enthusiastic, committed nuns? 

Can I Recycle This?, Jennie Romer.  This is not our first recycling book, but this one leaves the other one (which was patronizing and jammed with platitudes) in the dust.  This author is interesting and specific.  We learned what goes on at a recycling center.  We learned what cannot (at this point) be recycled:  plastic forks and knives, straws, restaurant “to-go” cartons that have been sprayed with a plastic coating, eyeglasses, coat hangers, plastic baggies, potato chip bags.  We are sort of feeling bad about all the potato chip bags we go through.

Footnotes from the Most Fascinating Museums, Bob Eckstein.  Each entry includes a short list of facts about the museum, charming illustrations, and a few personal reflections from museum goers/employees (this is the best part!).  I was happy to see one of my favorite, NAY, perhaps my favorite museum, included in the book:  The Museum of Bad Art (Boston).  Also, we learned that there are museums/museum grounds that host 200,000 bees (Clark Art Institute), and 1,000 dolls (Wenham Museum House).  We were touched to the soul by the “National Museum of African American History and Culture” and Baltimore’s “American Visionary Art Museum”.  We learned that a WOMAN (Betty Willis) designed the iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign (from The Neon Museum).  I learned of this book from James Breakwell’s hilarious Instagram site.  Many thanks!  This is the perfect type of book for us!

Stories – 

The Teacher’s Funeral – Author Richard Peck takes us to the one room country school house of the early 1900’s.  The surprisingly effective teacher is a high school student, sister of two of her 8 pupils (who do not want to be in school at all).  And then, just as we are settling into her spelling bees and geography lessons – WHAT THE H-E-DOUBLE-TOOTHPICKS??? –  the author takes us along to a neighborly gathering to observe the butchering of a pig.  Oh dear oh dear oh dear.  Do I skip over this part or do I come to terms with this part of long ago rural life?  I mean seriously, to be invited to a pig slaughter? Honored with the responsibility of handling the shotgun that would kill said pig?  Then the book goes right back to being its pleasant self (romance, school yard antics, teacher certification worries, the town poet mystery).  We do love Richard Peck’s books and have read loads of them.  This pig business was a jarring surprise.

The Trials of Hercules Beal, Gary D. Schmidt.  An excellent use of our reading time.  Yes, it is highly entertaining.  Yes, its writing style nudges close to poetic.  Yes,  we are learning about the mythical trials of the Roman god Hercules and how they parallel the life of current student, Hercules Beal.  But we are also given front row seats to the best of  thoughtful and focused teaching skills.  On so many levels, a superb book.

Schooled, Gordon Korman.  This is probably our 4th time through this book.  There is a clash and then a melding of 1960’s hippie style culture with a present day 8th grade social environment.  So well written, fun to read.   

Story Problem from Farmer Brown’s Roadside Stand – The 4 full time employees at Farmer Brown’s roadside stand will now be identified by the wearing of heavy duty green canvas aprons.  Each employee looks so professional now.  The aprons cost $15 and this includes “Farmer Brown’s Roadside Stand” embroidery work.  Farmer Brown decided to order 10 aprons.  Good thing he did.  The week after the aprons were ordered, the price shot up to $25 per apron.  How much money did Farmer Brown save by ordering before the price skyrocketed?

a)  $10     b)  $100     c)  $250     d)  $1,000 (answer at bottom of post)

Counting on Classical Music – 

The Cuckoo, from Ottorino Respighi’s suite, “The Birds” (1928).  Here is a tough assignment:  tally up the number of two-note cuckoo motifs in this 4 minute composition.  Sometimes the motif is produced by a  single instrument, sometimes full orchestra, sometimes the notes are high, sometimes low, sometimes the motif stands alone, sometimes it is mixed into a collage of sounds.  Like I said, tough.  Our tally sheet totals are different every time we try this. 

 Bolero, Maurice Ravel (also 1928!) – ya gotta feel sorry for the percussionist who ends up playing snare drum for this 15-plus minute piece.  It is calculated that the snare drum is struck 5,144 times.  The worst part is that the musician has to play the same short rhythm over and over and over and over.  We would go bonkers.  That being said, we cannot resist anything that is conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. 

3,000 and counting! – According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the most prolific classical composer (with over 3,000 compositions) was Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767).  We are not sure we found the final composition (our goal), but his Overture-Suite in G minor was written during his final year.  We listened to the short second movement (the “Gavotte en Rondeau”), a marvelously fussy piece – clearly baroque – that moves right along.

 Welcome to the best part of my day,
– Jane BH
(story problem answer:  b)  $100)

January Jabber

Here is something we didn’t know: the number of books we read a year.  So, the plan for 2024: TRACKING OUR READING –  How many books will my son and I read this year?  How many will we start?  How many will we finish?  How many are good enough to make it into the re-read basket? 

Speaking of reading (from our Farmer Brown story problem collection) – Farmer Brown has a library in his farmhands’ bunkhouse.  The library has 200 books, some on ranch animal care, some on tending crops, some are rip-roaring tales of the old west.  Farmer Brown noticed that 20 of the books have never been read (mostly books on personal hygiene and healthy snacks).  

– What percentage of books have been read by the farmhands?
a)    10%     b)     20%     c)     75%     d)     90%

– There are 60 wild west fiction books that have been read over and over by the farmhands.  These books comprise what percentage of the bunkhouse library? (answers at bottom of post)
a)  15%     b)  30%     c)  45%     d)  60%

Our Current Sy Montgomery Books – Sy Montgomery is an author whose writing appeals to us.  Her journal-style books take us around the world as we join her in following the work of dedicated animal researchers (and we especially love her “researcher bios”) –

 – The Hyena Scientist”:   For this study, Sy Montgomery journeys to Kenya to join a team of scientists focused on and fascinated by hyenas.  For us, the most intriguing takeaway:  hyenas gather in tightly knit clans (and there are CLAN WARS) with an extremely structured hierarchy, and the females RULE.  Do not mess with the matriarch.

– “Amazon Adventure – How Tiny Fish are Saving the World’s Largest Rain Forest”:  Cardinal Tetras, bitty sized fish from the Rio Negro (a tributary of the Amazon River, near Barcelos, Brazil) are sought after by home aquarium owners all over the world, and Montgomery spells out why this fish gathering/transporting industry is ecologically important.  OK, OK, but here is the best part of this book:  learning about Barcelos’ FESTIVAL OF ORNAMENTAL FISH!  Oh my gosh, THE FESTIVAL!  Citizens of this teeny town spend months preparing parade floats, stitching flamboyant costumes, and rehearsing for grand “cast-of-a-thousand” performances in the town stadium.  The festival is also a competition:  town citizens are either on the Cardinal team or the Discus (another small aquarium fish) team.  Teams are judged on costumes and performance AND how politely team members watch their rival’s performance! Yes!  Etiquette always!  The Festival of Ornamental Fish is so on the bucket list.

January Jeopardy – We are quiz show ready!  A sampling  of quirky info from our latest batch of books –

1.  The hippo is the most dangerous animal in Africa.  (from “The Hyena Scientist”,  Sy Montgomery)
2. The didgeridoo is the oldest musical instrument in the world.  (from “A Time to Celebrate”, a Lonely Planet Kids book)
3.  Some of the Olympic swimming medalists from the 1948, 1952 and 1956 games started their aquatic training in Maui’s sugar plantation irrigation ditches.  (from “Sakamoto’s Swim Club”, Julie Abery)
4.  Omaha, Nebraska was the home town of dancing sensations Fred Astaire and sister Adele. (from “Footwork – The Story of Freed and Adele Astaire”, Roxane Orvill)
5.  Crescent-shaped, sword-shaped, and star-shaped are three different types of sand dunes found in Algeria’s Sahara Desert.  (from “Algeria, Enchantment of the World”, Martin Hintz)
6.  According to botanists, there are 8 different types of vegetables (leaf, bulb, flower bud, root, tuber, stem, fruit, and seed veggies – it grieves me that my son does not acknowledge 7 types of vegetables). (from “The Vegetables We Eat”, by Gail Gibbons) (answers at bottom of post)

Music + Academics = A+

  • Philip Glass’s “Negro River”, from his 9 movement “Aquas da Amazonia” (composed for a ballet in the late 1990’s), transports us to the site of our “Amazon Adventure” reading experience.   We hear rhythms and echoes of the river – birds, bugs, frogs, water bubbles, an intruder (a snake?) –   

  • Who wouldn’t want to hear the music of the didgeridoo, the oldest instrument in the world!  The didgeridoo (traditionally made of eucalyptus) in this video clip is certainly elegant.  For us, the drone sound it produces takes us by surprise every single time – 

  • And how about some background music for Farmer Brown’s farmhands as they read through the novels of the American west?  We are really liking Virgil Thomson’s “Cattle” movement from his suite that accompanied the 1936 documentary, “The Plow that Broke the Plains”. This short piece is a comforting patchwork of old west melodies –  

Welcome to the best part of my day,
– Jane BH
(story problem answers:  d)  90% have been read, b)  wild west fiction comprises 30% of the library)
Left over from last post:  our San Francisco family member finally sent us a photo from aboard a cable car: 

Old Business, New Business, Funny Business

This meeting will now come to order.

Old business:

The chairman requests a report on the Clem and Clyde Reading Comprehension project: 

In the latest reading comp mini stories, fictional characters Clem and Clyde: 

– have learned to juggle – shown proficiency walking with stilts –

– purchased backpacks – painted their bedrooms – participated in a tractor race –

– ventured into the cat tending business – visited a caboose museum in Canada –  

I am continuing to provide a weekly edition of Clem and Clyde adventures and follow up questions. Independently, my son reads the stories and answers the questions.  Is he comprehending what he is reading?  YES!  A continuation of the reading comprehension project is recommended.

The chairman requests a report on the tracking of sharks off the east coast of the USA:  

We’ve been following a group of tagged sharks online at ocearch.org.  Seriously, this is quite entertaining.  Currently, the sharks have been circling the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada and are starting to head south to Florida.  We have a new favorite shark:  Breton.  While other tagged sharks seem to hug the coast of eastern USA, Breton is zigzagging all over the the Atlantic – he has even propelled himself over to the Sargasso Sea (which we studied in August, 2017 – view the “Sea Hunt” post for proof positive).  Breton is a scamp.  A continuation of our Monday night shark tracking is recommended.

The chairman requests a report on current re-reads – 

Surviving the Applewhites – I think this is our 4th time through Stephanie S. Tolan’s never-a-dull-moment treasure.  It is about school projects, an uncontrollable goat, the cuisine of India, “The Sound of Music”, but mostly it is about family and creative passion and personal transformation and it is continually funny.  We love this book and we will read it again.

Cheaper by the Dozen – My son and I seem to read this book about every other year, and as an educator, I benefit from the “pep talk” it delivers.  I am not sure I can summon the high energy that Frank Gilbreth put into teaching his 12 kids, but his rollicking, unconventional, brassy verve inspires me.  The book, published in 1948, was written by two of the Gilbreth children, Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.

It’s Halloween – My son and I read through Jack Prelutsky’s Halloween themed poem collection several times every October.  At this point, we know all the words to every poem.  This slender book is a welcomed part of our annual autumn experience.

New business:

The chairman requests a report on new books in the Cool School book basket:

Saving the Ghost of the Mountain – another engrossing journal by Sy Montgomery, documenting a research trip to to Mongolia (Mongolia!!! get the globe out) to track snow leopards.  These darn snow leopards are nigh impossible to find;  their pale spotted fur blends in too well with the surroundings.  By the end of the book, although it is clear that the research team was hiking in snow leopard territory, not one had been spotted (the heartbreak of research).  Nonetheless, this book was a pleasure to open every single night. If we couldn’t get up close and personal with a snow leopard we did become familiar with Mongolian ger housing and ibex goats (preferred gourmet treat for snow leopards).  

Amazing Rivers, by Julie Agnone, illustrations by Kerry Hydnman – so smartly put together, lovely illustrations.  This book covers more than 20 issues relating to rivers,  illustrating these topics with specific rivers of the world.  Maybe our favorite entry in this book:  the New Meuse River (Netherlands) hosts the world’s first FLOATING DAIRY!  It houses 40 cows, robots do the clean up, cow manure is recycled as fertilizer.  This is not our first river book, but it is the best.

Cable Cars of San Francisco – a favorite family member has recently moved to San Francisco and we are so patiently waiting for him to take a series of selfies on a cable car.  Is that too much to ask?  In the meantime, we have contented ourselves with the quick read through of “San Francisco Cable Car”, by Julie Murray.  A thin book with lots of really good photos (but not as good as a selfie from said favorite family member) and just enough information for us.

Key Player – 4th book in a series by Kelly Yang (we’ve previously read “Front Desk”, “Three Keys”, and “Room to Dream”).  We don’t love opening this book every night, because we know we are going to be confronted with some tough realities.  How about the tough reality of racism?  We are heartened to know there are role models, like brave protagonist, Mia.  Important book.

Funny business:

Tom Gates Epic Adventure – It is a happy day in our study room when we have a new Tom Gates book to laugh through.   Author Liz Pichon’s perfect ensemble cast, fabulous doodles, non-stop originality captivates us on every single page.  In this book, Tom desperately needs a haircut, is worried that he is the only one in class who isn’t invited to a birthday party, has to navigate between a family outing and the school “Tropical Disco”. I think we’ve read all 20 books in the series.

The chairman requests an unnecessarily complicated story problem:  

Big excitement!  The  local diner now offers a new item on the kids menu:  “Spell-a-Lunch”.  To place an order, kid customers must create a 5 letter word from the diner’s alphabet menu. The lunch plate will thusly be filled. 

A – apple slices     B – burger     C – carrots ’n’ celery     D – dill pickles    
E – egg salad sandwich     F – fries     G – grilled cheese     H – hot dog    
I – ice cream sandwich     J – jello     K – ketchup     L – lemonade     M – mini raisin box     N – nachos     O – olives     P – peanut butter sandwich     Q – quesadilla    
R – radishes ’n’ ranch dressing     S – sugar snap peas     T – tomato juice    
U – upside down cake     V – vanilla wavers     W – watermelon chunks    
X – extra napkins     Y – yogurt     Z – zucchini bread

For example:
If the child orders a “SHARK” lunch, the plate will offer (S) sugar snap peas, (H) a hot dog, (A) apple slices, (R) radishes with ranch dressing, and (K) ketchup.

– What will be on the lunch plate if the kid orders:
The “FANCY” Lunch?
The “CLIMB” lunch?

– Now for the arithmetic part of the story problem: 

1).  If the “Spell-a-Lunch” concept is a gigantic hit, and the diner sells 50 a week, how much will the diner profit at the end of a year, if each “Spell-a-Lunch” costs the diner $3, and the diner sells each lunch for $7.  

2).  At the end of a year, will there be enough profit money for the diner to donate $1,000 to the local elementary school library? (answers at bottom of post)

To conclude the meeting, the chairman requests a few short and funny orchestral pieces:

  • “Banjoland Buffoonery” –  from Grant Kirkhope’s music score for the the 2008 video game, Banjo-Kazooie:  Nuts & Bolts.  A variety of instruments get their spotlight moment in Kirkhope’s zippy composition, making it easy for my son to recognize the sounds of the bassoon, clarinet, flute, oboe, and I think xylophone.  Boisterously performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. 

  • “The Clog Dance”, from the comic ballet, La Fille Mal Gardée (essentially, The Poorly Supervised Young Lady), composed by Ferdinand Hérold in 1828.  We have been smiling over this bit of music (via iPod) for a few months, and when I showed my son this video clip he was entranced.  The ballet’s basic premise:  young girl in the French countryside has found true love in the handsome Colas, but her widowed mother  (traditionally played by a large man) wishes her to marry the Alain (think village idiot), son of the village’s wealthiest citizen.  The “Clog Dance” hilariously puts the widowed mother front and center.  BTW, the costuming in this production:  charming.

  • “The Typewriter” – yes, yes, yes, we know, all sorts of people have no idea what a typewriter is these days, but can one put together a list of humorous orchestral pieces without including Leroy Anderson’s out-of-left-field composition of 1950, “The Typewriter” ?  No.  Using the typewriter as percussion was inspired AND funny!

This meeting has been adjourned.
Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(Story problem answers:  
The “FANCY” lunch – fries, apple slices, nachos, carrots ’n’ celery, yogurt
The “CLIMB” lunch – carrots ’n’ celery, lemonade, ice cream sandwich, mini raisin box, burger
1).  $10,400  and 2).  the diner can easily afford to donate $1,000)

What took us so long?

What took us so long to discover books by science journalist/author/Sibert medalist Sy Montgomery?  

– We loved “Condor Comeback” because who doesn’t love a success story?  

1982:  Only 22 California condors (huge, majestic members of the vulture family) remain on planet Earth.  That is it.  22.
2019:  450 California condors and the numbers are growing!

This book introduced us to Dr. Estelle Sandhaus, director of conservation science at the zoo in Santa Barbara, California.  From Dr. Sandhaus we learned why condors were on the endangered list since 1967:
– the ingesting of microtrash
– poisoning from lead bullets found in carrion that condors feast upon 
Sandhaus and Montgomery reveal the work required to phase out lead bullets, educate about microtrash, supervise condor breeding, conduct health checks for every condor, and oversee the  “captivity-to-flying-free” protocol.  

– We loved “Chasing Cheetahs”, another success story!  The book focuses upon Laurie Marker and the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia.  Challenge:  cheetah numbers in Namibia were dwindling fast because farmers were killing the cheetahs who were killing their livestock.  The CCF Solution:  education, Kangal dogs and goats (and the cheetah population has risen dramatically).  (Seriously, my summary is simplistic.  I do a disservice to Laurie Marker and Sy Montgomery.  Apologies.  The point is that Laurie Marker and her team have brilliant, common sense ideas and admirable follow through and Sy Montgomery conveyed this to us in a way my son could understand).  

– We really loved “The Great White Shark Scientist”, introducing us to Greg Skomal, shark biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.  A basic theme of the book is that sharks are not as dangerous as portrayed by the media.  Example:
In 1996 – the number of Americans injured by sharks:  13 
In 1996 – the number of Americans injured by toilets:  43,000  
Also, we learned that sharks like to eat seals.  So, question:  is it smart to swim around seals?
Saving the best for last:  Sy Montgomery suggests following sharks who have been fitted with a tracking device at ocearch.org (look for “Shark Tracker”).  My son and I are having more fun checking in on the sharks nightly, watching them cruise up and down the east coast of the US.  The tagged sharks have been named and our favorites are Penny, Frosty, and Maple. 

– But we REALLY  loved “The Book of Turtles”.  Worth the price of the book: 1)  Matt Patterson’s superb life-like illustrations.  WHOA.  and 2)  the section on CELEBRITY TURTLES!   Our favorite entry:  the story of two Galapagos tortoises at the Klagenfurt Zoo (Austria), Poldi and Bibi, who had lived happily together for 115 YEARS until one day Bibi  decided that she had “had it up to here” with Poldi. She hissed at him, she bit off part of his shell.  Dear, me!  Zookeepers tried to bring them back together with romantic dinners, but to no success.  The two are now permanently separated.  It is the stuff of Greek tragedies.

What else we are learning –
1)  how to use a Chinese abacus     2)  state birds (we are puzzled that 7 states need to claim the Northern Cardinal as “their” bird.  Was there not choice enough among the remaining 1,100 bird species in the United States?)     3)  history of the circus

Story Problem:  “Sack Lunch Sides” at The Local Diner!  To celebrate the start of the school year, the diner is offering a “sack lunch sides” workshop. For $15, junior chefs will learn how to make home-made chips, home-made pickles, and home-made brownies. 

– If 20 students signed up for the class and 18 actually attended, what percentage of students forgot to show up?  
a)  2%     b)  10%     c)  20%     d)  22%
– If 9 of the attendees did not like the “home-made pickles” (yikes!  recipe fail!) what percentage of the junior chefs liked the pickles?  
a)  2%     b)  9%     c)  33%     d)  50%
– And finally, if it cost the diner $8 to provide for each of the 18 students, what was the total profit the diner realized?
a)  $36    b)  $126     c)  $180     d)  $270  (answers at bottom of post)

Classical music to enhance the opera-worthy Poldi and Bibi story – 

– Bibi can no longer abide Poldi, and she has a long, long list of things he does that drive her to madness.  We teamed this scenario with Beethoven’s melodramatic “Rage over a Lost Penny” (composed around 1795).  My son and I are glad not to be at the receiving end of this tirade – 

– The Zookeepers set up a dinner of romance to encourage Poldi and Bibi to patch things up.  Music to set the scene?  What better than Carlos Gardel’s très dramatique tango “Por una Cabeza” (composed 1935).  If this doesn’t get things moving in the right direction, nothing will.  Alas, it fails –

– A broken-hearted Poldi slowly trudges away from the love of his life – Nothing less than “Gymnopedie No. 1”, Erik Satie’s slow tempo soul crusher (composed 1888) can capture Poldi’s despair.  Did 115 years of companionship mean nothing?  –

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers:  b)  10%,  d)  50%,  b)  $126)