Oil

December 2, 2019
Marking the 30th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, lyrical prose and textured illustrations in layered colors distinguish this picture book treatment of the environmental disaster. Using repetition in both narration and artwork (“From deep inside the earth it comes,/ hot and black, black and hot”), the creators follow the initial extraction of crude oil and its pipeline journey through a fauna-rich wilderness, to the Exxon Valdez’s grounding, spill, and deadly and far-reaching aftermath. Sleek and monochromatic, human-engineered items occur amid land- and seascapes populated with mottled, multihued wildlife—“across what had been/ unspoiled land, home to Native people.” Scenes of rescue workers juxtapose depictions of oil-coated otters (“thousands of them, dead and dying”), underlining the importance of taking action in a calamity. Ending on a cautionary note, the seemingly clean beach is revealed as a deception: “If you lift a rock.../ oil/ seeps/ up.” An author’s note offers more spill facts, touching on culpability and a need for alternative energy sources. With this latest, the mother-son team behind The Secret Project again demonstrates an aptitude for clear and concise storytelling, here around detrimental alterations to the natural landscape. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Ginger Knowlton, Curtis Brown Ltd. Illustrator’s agent: Susan Cohen, Writers House.

December 15, 2019
In 1977, the oil carrier Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil into a formerly pristine Alaskan ocean inlet, killing millions of birds, animals, and fish. Despite a cleanup, crude oil is still there. The Winters foretold the destructive powers of the atomic bomb allusively in The Secret Project (2017), leaving the actuality to the backmatter. They make no such accommodations to young audiences in this disturbing book. From the dark front cover, on which oily blobs conceal a seabird, to the rescuer's sad face on the back, the mother-son team emphasizes the disaster. A relatively easy-to-read and poetically heightened text introduces the situation. Oil is pumped from the Earth "all day long, all night long, / day after day, year after year" in "what had been unspoiled land, home to Native people // and thousands of caribou." The scale of extraction is huge: There's "a giant pipeline" leading to "enormous ships." Then, crash. Rivers of oil gush out over three full-bleed wordless pages. Subsequent scenes show rocks, seabirds, and sea otters covered with oil. Finally, 30 years later, animals have returned to a cheerful scene. "But if you lift a rock... // oil / seeps / up." For an adult reader, this is heartbreaking. How much more difficult might this be for an animal-loving child? Like oil itself, this is a book that needs to be handled with special care. (author's note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 9-12)

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Starred review from March 1, 2020
Grades K-3 *Starred Review* On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez ran aground off the coast of Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of oil across 11,000 square miles of ocean. Jonah Winter recounts this incident in simple, straightforward text: thick, hot oil is pumped from deep underground into gigantic pipelines that cross miles of pristine wilderness to a port where it is transferred onto enormous ships. As one tanker glides past icebergs and sea creatures, it wrecks, causing crude oil to gush into the water, killing wildlife and spreading over miles of ocean and shoreline. Jeanette Winter's simple, uncluttered art depicts both the machinery of the oil industry and the natural beauty of the Alaskan Arctic and northwest reaches of the Pacific, filled with snow, tundra, wildlife, mountains, and icy ocean vistas. Two wordless spreads pause the narrative and allow young readers to fully absorb the leak's impact. One depicts the initial breach with oil flowing all around unsuspecting sea creatures; the other offers an overhead ocean view, revealing the enormity of the disaster. Perhaps most moving, however, are the illustrations that show seabirds and otters covered in oil. Concluding with an author's note, suggested readings, and a final spread that reminds readers that some of the spill remains uncontained, this is an accessible and important contribution to environmental science.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2020
When the Exxon Valdez runs aground in 1989 and dumps oil along the Alaskan coast, the damage done is brutal, extensive, and long-lasting. With confidence in his young audience's ability to grasp the seriousness of the spill and its environmental repercussions, Jonah Winter begins with an explanation of how oil is extracted from the earth and carried by pipelines through a tundra that Native people call home. When disaster happens, Jeanette Winter's initially bright illustrations turn dark, as inky blobs and streaks of oil overtake the land and its inhabitants, turning birds and otters into oil-soaked lumps within sinister pools of browns and blacks that change to purples and yellows on the ocean's surface. The efforts of environmentalists to save and clean the creatures bring some hope, but "most of the animals die." Even decades later, when renewal of the animal populations has occurred, oil still seeps from the ground. It's a sobering but necessary reminder that these disasters are not easily tidied up. An appended author's note is clear on the timely importance of addressing this issue: "our dependence on oil will make the earth uninhabitable for many life-forms, including humans." The book concludes with a list of further reading.

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

March 1, 2020
When the Exxon Valdez runs aground in 1989 and dumps oil along the Alaskan coast, the damage done is brutal, extensive, and long-lasting. With confidence in his young audience's ability to grasp the seriousness of the spill and its environmental repercussions, Jonah Winter begins with an explanation of how oil is extracted from the earth and carried by pipelines through a tundra that Native people call home. When disaster happens, Jeanette Winter's initially bright illustrations turn dark, as inky blobs and streaks of oil overtake the land and its inhabitants, turning birds and otters into oil-soaked lumps within sinister pools of browns and blacks that change to purples and yellows on the ocean's surface. The efforts of environmentalists to save and clean the creatures bring some hope, but "most of the animals die." Even decades later, when renewal of the animal populations has occurred, oil still seeps from the ground. It's a sobering but necessary reminder that these disasters are not easily tidied up. An appended author's note is clear on the timely importance of addressing this issue: "our dependence on oil will make the earth uninhabitable for many life-forms, including humans." The book concludes with a list of further reading. Danielle J. Ford

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)