Reblogged from moralcoral:

For those of you who have been lucky to catch ‘Great Barrier Reef’ on BBC2 over the New Year, you will have been rewarded with breath-taking scenery and an insight in to the underwater world in high definition. However for some, the great continent of Australasia may seem very far away. So why should we be interested in coral reefs and what’s in it for us as a nation to protect them? Well coral reefs are actually a lot closer to home than you may think. The world’s largest marine reserve, home to …

I can’t wait to watch the BBC documentary entitled ‘Great Barrier Reef.’ The latest ‘moralcoral’ post is awesome! Be sure to check out her blog.

Keegan drew the above picture of Sea Horse. His question on the back of the picture reads: ”How did sea horse hear coral, a plant, singing to him?”

Great question, Keegan! Coral is not a plant. Coral looks like a plant, but she is actually a group of tiny animals. A choir or chorus is an organized group of singers, and since Coral is an organized cluster of tiny animals, I thought she ought to sing like a choir.

Learn more about why Coral sings in the story by reading Coral as Greek Chorus or click on a question below to learn more about corals:

What is a coral polyp?
How do polyps eat?
How are corals named?
Why are corals important to sea horses?
Do coral polyps have eyes?

Preslee likes my jellyfish. I like Preslee’s jellies (above), too!

Nick also drew jellies (above). Nick asks, “Why did you pick jellyfish for the dedication page?”

Jellyfish are a symbol for acceptance, so the appearance of jellyfish before the story even begins foreshadows or predicts that acceptance will be an important theme in the story. The poor Sea Dragon is misunderstood! Sea Horse learns to ignore gossip and accept Sea Dragon for who he really is.

From page 28 of "Sea Horse, run!" ©2011 by Tammy Carter Bronson

The sea horse has an amazing life cycle that begins with the courtship dance. Once the courtship is complete, the female fills the male’s brood pouch with eggs. Baby sea horses grow in the male’s brood pouch, and as you can see in my illustration above, the male sea horse gives birth. Depending on the species, one birth can produce about 1,500 babies. What a fascinating fish!

Sea Horse Courtship Dance at the Monterey Bay Aquarium:

More Blog Posts About Sea Horses:

Fun Facts About Sea Horses

This post answers basic questions such as…

• Where do sea horses live?
• Why do they hide?
• How do they move?
• What do sea horses eat?
• What is the largest and smallest sea horse?

Why are corals important to sea horses?

Sea Horses in London

Draw Sea Horse with the Dot-to-Dot Activity.

Label and color the Sea Horse Diagram.

Recommended books and resources are on my Teacher/Student page.

Consider that poetry and picture books have a lot in common.

1) Both are generally short.

2) Both are usually read aloud.

3) Most importantly, word choice is paramount.

Let’s consider each in depth.

1) Picture books are generally under a thousand words, and new or early readers require many one syllable words. Both ‘run’ and ‘swim’ are one syllable, so the length of the words did not help me choose between them. But…

2) Poetry and picture books are usually read aloud. When I wrote the version entitled, “Sea Horse, swim!”, it was awkward to read, especially aloud. The words ‘sea’ and ‘swim’ slur together, and since the phrase is often repeated, I grew tired of stumbling over the words. I knew if I had a hard time reading it out loud then a child would have trouble, too.

3) So ‘run’ sounds better, but why? Word choice. It comes down to a battle of consonants: hard versus soft. Consonants create hard or soft sounds. Hard consonants stop the flow of air by blocking it with the tongue or lips, whereas soft consonants only partially block air flow. In “Sea Horse, swim!” both ‘sea and ‘swim’ begin with soft consonants. This is a problem because the sentence as a whole is a command and using a soft consonant for the verb is not very commanding. By contrast, the ‘r’ in ‘run’ is a hard consonant which stops the flow of air, a nice compliment to the soft ‘s’ in ‘sea’. Using a hard consonant for the verb ‘run’ also gives the statement a more authoritative ring.

Poetry uses words in new, unconventional, or even playful ways. That’s what makes poetry fun. Picture books do likewise. I play with words in “Sea Horse, run!”. For example, Coral is choral in my story, and using ‘run’ instead of ‘swim’ is just another playful use of words.

But before I considered poetic license, I researched the word ‘run’ with respect to fish. If you google ‘fish’ and ‘run’ you’ll find lots of associations and sentences using the two words. For example:

Why do fish run when hooked?

Why do fish run away when you tap the fish bowl?

When are the salmon running?

Water runs.

Rivers run.

Why not let Sea Horse run?

But I liked “Sea Horse, swim!”, too, so I kept it on one page. Octopus exclaims, “Sea Horse, swim!”, on page 13. Octopi are clever, so I thought his sentence structure should be beyond reproach.

Finally ‘swim’ does not communicate a sense of urgency or direction, whereas ‘run’ does. But did you know that some fish can even walk?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_fish

Walking Catfish

Will my next book be, “Catfish, walk!”? Probably not, but I will add that title to my ever-increasing list of potential books.

“Sea Horse, run!” 

is a FINALIST in the

2011 USA Best Book Awards  

in the

Children’s Picture Book Hardcover Fiction Category.

Read the Press Release for the 2011 USA Best Book Awards

The winner in my category is by far one of my favorite books of the year:

Memoirs of a Goldfish

Written by Devin Scillian and illustrated by Tim Bowers.

Congratulations Devin, Tim, and Sleeping Bear Press!

I bought a copy, and

I must say…

You made a spectacular book!

]]> http://seahorserun.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/sea-horse-run-wins-second-award/feed/ 0 tambronson Memoirs of a Goldfish http://seahorserun.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/wildlife-update-from-the-tropics-to-the-thames-seahorses-discovered-in-london/ http://seahorserun.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/wildlife-update-from-the-tropics-to-the-thames-seahorses-discovered-in-london/#comments Sun, 30 Oct 2011 11:22:20 +0000 Tam http://seahorserun.wordpress.com/?p=866 ]]> Wildlife Update : From the tropics to the Thames: Seahorses discovered in London.

Image via Wikipedia

London is one of my favorite cities, and when a sea horse was discovered in the River Thames earlier this month, I planned to write about it on my blog. Instead, I’m recommending this wonderful article posted on Henricus Peters’ LEARN FROM NATURE blog.  

Image via Wikipedia

Art for pages 14 and 15 of "SEA HORSE, RUN!".

Violet Snails are rather small. They only grow as large as 1.2 inches, but they like to live near the top of reefs so they can quickly hitch a ride with a wave. This amazing little snail surfs with bubbles. In fact, the Violet Snail can build a “raft” out of bubbles, and by clinging to his bubble raft, a Violet Snail can float to the surface of the water and travel for hundreds of miles from one reef to the next. Surely this makes the Violet Snail the most widely-traveled snail in the world.

In “Sea Horse, run!” the Violet Snail is seen on page 15 hitching a ride a with a wave in order to flee the approaching Sea Dragon. Although the Violet Snail only appears on two pages in my book, he is making many appearances lately in the news due to some groundbreaking work by scientists. A team of researchers led by University of Michigan graduate student Celia Churchill reported their findings October 11th in the journal Current Biology. The Violet Snail is featured on the journal’s cover, and Celia Churchill says the bubble raft (which has the consistency of bubble wrap) is actually a modified version of an egg packet.

Art ©2011 by Tammy Carter Bronson

My favorite article is “Snails Ship Out On Scrambled Eggs” at Science NOW online.

Additional news with great photos is on-line at MSNBC News October 10, 2011.
The same article (“Snails Sail Through Life on Mucus Bubbles”) is published at livescience.com.

NPR did a 30 second news snippet this morning entitled: Biologists Solve Surfing Snails Mystery.

Rafting Snails Float Around On Bubbles (RedOrbit.com, Oct 11)

Current Biology October 11, 2011

National Geographic October 19, 2011

October 10, 2011 University of Michigan News Service: “In bubble-rafting snails, the eggs came first”.

http://io9.com/5850750/scientists-sort-out-the-secrets-of-bubble+rafting-snails

Even the UK’s Daily Mail picked up the article on October 11, 2011.

Here is an older article about Violet Snails…

October 20, 2008, National Geographic: How Snails Walk on Water is a Small Miracle

Sea horses

Where do sea horses live?
Most sea horses live in shallow ocean water near land. Sea horses may be found in estuaries, mangrove swamps, sea grass meadows, or reefs around the world.

Why do sea horses hide?
Larger fish like tuna or red snapper eat sea horses. Sea turtles, sting rays, sharks and even penguins munch on sea horses, too. Sea horses hide from these predators by changing color to match their environment.

How do sea horses move?
Sea horses move slowly by means of fins that beat as fast as 70 times per second! The dorsal fin propels the sea horse forwards. Sea horses have two, small pectoral fins (one behind each gill) that allow the sea horse to hover or change direction.

Sea Horse Diagram by Tammy Carter Bronson

What do sea horses eat?
Sea horses do not have teeth, so they swallow their food whole. Sea horses suck food into their long, narrow snout, but the food must be tiny to fit through their mouth. Sea horses eat zooplankton, little shrimp, and the larvae of fish, crab, or worms. Sea horses do not have stomachs either. Without a stomach, sea horses cannot digest food well, so they have to eat large amounts in order to survive. Sea horses may eat for up to 10 hours per day, and they may swallow 50 to 300 tiny animals per hour!

What is the largest sea horse?
The Big-Bellied Sea Horse (Hippocampus abdominalis) is the largest species. These sea horses may reach fourteen inches in length!

What is the smallest sea horse?
Hippocampus denise is a pygmy sea horse that measures about half an inch in length.

More About Sea Horses…

Sea Horses and Corals

Sea Horse Diagram for the Classroom

Draw and Color a Sea Horse with a Dot-to-Dot Activity

*My Favorite References…

Seahorses, Pipefishes and Their Relatives: A Comprehensive Guide to Syngnathiformes. 
Author Rudie H. Kuiter. TMC Publishing, Chorleywood, UK. Revised 2003.

Poseidon’s Steed: The Story of Seahorses, From Myth to Reality. 
Author Helen Scales, Ph.D. Gothan Books, New York, NY, USA.  ©2009.

Project Seahorse.
Author Pamela S. Turner. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, New York, NY, USA. ©2010.

Visit Project Sea Horse Online.

The Fayetteville Public Library was the recipient of Library Journal's 2005 Library of the Year Award. Photo by me!

Today I read “Sea Horse, run!” at 10:30 am in the Walker Community Room at my favorite library. A wonderful audience filled with children, parents, and educators heard my dramatic reading (yes, I sang Coral’s part!), then I launched into how I created my new, award-winning picture book. I’ve written a few blog articles about some of the topics I discussed such as…

Rewriting the end of “Sea Horse, run!”. (Spoiler Alert!!!) This post includes the video I showed during my presentation. You’ll see step by step how I research and draw characters for the book.

The Power of Three. The number “3″ defines story structure and is an important number in children’s stories.

One thing I forgot to discuss during my presentation is why Coral sings in the story. Read Coral as Greek Chorus to find out.

I brought markers, boxes of crayons, and copies of activities for the kids. Several children came up the stage and colored the pictures while I read the book.

You can check out a copy of “Sea Horse, run!” at the Blair Library (a.k.a. the Fayetteville Public Library), or purchase a hardcover in Fayetteville at Nightbird Books on Dickson Street, French Quarters Antiques on Block Street, or Barnes & Noble across from the Northwest Arkansas Mall.

Fayetteville's Blair Library.

Blair Library became the first building in Arkansas to register with the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification program. The library received its LEED silver certification from the USGBC in December 2006. Read more or visit  Fayetteville’s Blair Library online at: www.faylib.org.

Want to learn more about me (Tammy Carter Bronson)? Visit my personal blog or read a recent post that sums up 2011 so far: “Summer 2011 in Review.”

The key to knowing whether or not you are finished rewriting is to test your story with your audience. Of course a picture book should be tested on children, but usually every child will like your story. In addition to kids, seek out a dozen or more teachers, librarians, and parents. Ask your adult readers to give you feedback. Granted, sometimes it’s hard to get an honest response. Most readers want to say, “That’s great! I love your story,” or “Good job!”  That isn’t necessarily what you want to hear. You want readers to be as critical as possible. If there are major flaws with your story, you have to know BEFORE you publish it. That’s why you test it with so many people. Out of a dozen readers, one or two will be brutally honest, but their feedback could mean the difference between an “okay” book or a “great” book.

I speak from experience. My new picture book, “Sea Horse, run!”, went through eighteen rewrites over the course of a year. I thought the story was finished, but when I was looking for feedback on the art (only weeks before the book went to press), one librarian spoke up and said,

“I don’t like the end of your story.”

Ribbon

In that version (the 18th draft), Sea Horse, Coral and Sea Dragon laugh at the Shark, Eel and Octopus for not realizing the “Sea Dragon” was only a harmless, Leafy Dragon. This concerned parent/librarian pointed out how inappropriate my ending was for children. I listened and realized that I needed another revision. I was mortified. At least a dozen other people had told me they liked the book. Should I really rewrite it AGAIN based on the feedback of one person? The answer is, “Absolutely!” Why not write it one more time? After all, as a writer, you can always go back to the old version. It never hurts to write your story from a different angle or with an alternate ending. You may like the new version better. That’s exactly what happened for “Sea Horse, run!”.  With only a few weeks left before the book went to the printer, I took the story apart, piece by piece, desperately seeking the perfect finale.

The ending came to me as I studied the art. Since the book takes place on a coral reef, I drew a variety of fish for the background. One fish was the ribboned sea dragon. I asked myself, “Why is Leafy Dragon coming to the reef in the first place?” Answer: “To visit his cousin, Ribbon.” I not only revised the story, I revised ALL of the art by hiding Ribbon in every picture so that in the end, Sea Horse realizes that a sea dragon lived on the reef all along. The new ending increased the story to 849 words, a real drawback since I was committed to keeping it under 800, but the story improved so much, I decided not to worry about the length.

The revelation that there were three sea dragons instead of one made for a better ending, and it was far more appropriate for children. The new ending also allowed me to put three sets of “three” in the book, a nice touch since the number three is so important in children’s literature. (Read my previous blog post, “The Power of Three in Children’s Books.”) Although it was an enormous challenge to revise my “final” draft,” the extra effort was well worth it. When I tested the book on readers again, they were more enthusiastic than ever. I knew the 19th version would be the last, and a character that began as just another fish in the background took on a much larger role. In retrospect, I’m fairly certain that final revision helped transform “Sea Horse, run!” into an award-winning book.

Want to know more about ribboned sea dragons? Read my blog post entitled, “Ribbon,” or watch the video below. Remember: Don’t be afraid to REVISE!!!