McMillan, Bruce 1947-

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McMillan, Bruce 1947-

Personal

Born 1947, in Boston, MA; son of Frank H., Jr., and Virginia M.W. McMillan; married V. Therese Loughran, 1969 (divorced 1989); married Lori Beth Evans, 1997 (divorced, 2000); children: (first marriage) Brett. Education: University of Maine—Orono, B.S., 1969.

Addresses

Home—Shapleigh, ME. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Maine Public Broadcasting Network, Orono, director and photographer, 1969, producer and director, 1969-73; island caretaker, McGee Island, ME, 1973-75; photographic illustrator and writer, 1975—. University of Southern Maine, instructor in children's literature, 1985-97; University of New Hampshire, instructor in children's literature, 1988—. Book Adventures, Inc., puffin tour guide in Iceland, 1997-2000; public speaker, 1980—. Apple Island Books, publisher.

Member

Authors Guild, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

Awards, Honors

American Booksellers Association (ABA) Pick of the List designation, and Parents magazine Best Kid's Book designations, both 1983, both for Here a Chick, There a Chick; ABA Pick of the List designation, and Library of Congress Children's Book of the Year, both 1984, both for Kitten Can …; American Library Association (ALA) Notable Book designation, 1986, for Counting Wildflowers; Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children designation, National Science Teachers Association/Children's Book Council (NSTA/CBC), 1986, for Becca Backward, Becca Frontward; Parenting certificate of excellence, 1989, for Super, Super, Superwords; Time to … included among 100 Best Books for Reading and Sharing, New York Public Library, 1989; Parents Best Kid's Book designation, and Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children designation, NSTA/CBC, both 1990, and ALA Notable Book designation, 1991, all for One Sun; Parenting certificate of excellence, 1990, and Adkin Robinson Award, 1991, both for Mary Had a Little Lamb; Library of Congress Children's Book of the Year award, 1991, and Scientific American Young Reader's Book Award, 1996, both for The Weather Sky; Parents Best Kid's Book designation, 1991, for Play Day; ALA Notable Book designation, and Parents Best Kid's Book designation, both 1991, both for Eating Fractions; ABA Pick of the Lists designation, and Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children designation, NSTA/CBC, 1992, for The Baby Zoo, and 1995, for Puffins Climb, Penguins Rhyme; Parenting certificate of excellence, 1992, for One, Two, One Pair!; Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children designations, NSTA/CBC, 1992, for Going on a Whale Watch, 1993, for Penguins at Home, and 1995, for Summer Ice; John Burroughs Nature Book for Young Readers award, 1993, for A Beach for the Birds; ABA Pick of the Lists designations, 1994, for Sense Suspense, and 1997, for Wild Flamingos; Parents' Choice Honor Book, and Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children designation, NSTA/CBC, both 1995, and ALA Notable Book designation, Maine Librarians Association Lupine Honor Book designation, and named a Hungry Mind Review Children's Book of Distinction, all 1996, all for Nights of the Pufflings; Jelly Beans for Sale cited among New York Public Library 100 Best Books for Reading and Sharing, 1996, and ALA Notable Book designation, 1997; Parent's Guide Children's Media Award for nonfiction, 1998, for Salmon Summer; Best Children's Book of the Year selection, Bank Street College of Education, 2002, for Days of the Ducklings; Notable Social Studies Trade Book, NCSS/CBC, 2006, for Going Fishing; Katahdin Award, Main Librarians Association, 2006, for outstanding body of work of children's literature in Maine.

Writings

FOR CHILDREN; AND PHOTOGRAPHER

Finestkind o'Day: Lobstering in Maine, Lippincott (Philadelphia, PA), 1977.

The Alphabet Symphony, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1977.

The Remarkable Riderless Runaway Tricycle, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1978.

Apples: How They Grow, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1979.

Making Sneakers, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1980.

(With son, Brett McMillan) Puniddles, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1982.

Here a Chick, There a Chick, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1983.

Ghost Doll, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1983, revised, Apple Island Books, 1997.

Kitten Can …, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1984.

Counting Wildflowers, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1986.

Becca Backward, Becca Frontward: A Book of Concept Pairs, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1986.

Step by Step, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1987.

Dry or Wet?, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1988.

Growing Colors, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1988.

Fire Engine Shapes, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1988.

Super, Super, Superwords, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1989.

Time to …, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1989.

One, Two, One Pair!, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1990.

One Sun: A Book of Terse Verse, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1990.

The Weather Sky, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1991.

Play Day: A Book of Terse Verse, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1991.

Eating Fractions, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1991.

The Baby Zoo, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1992.

Beach Ball—Left, Right, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1992.

Going on a Whale Watch, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1992.

Mouse Views: What the Class Pet Saw, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1993.

A Beach for the Birds, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1993.

Penguins at Home: Gentoos of Antarctica, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1993.

Sense Suspense: A Guessing Game for the Five Senses, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1994.

Nights of the Pufflings, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995.

Puffins Climb, Penguins Rhyme, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1995.

Summer Ice: Life along the Antarctic Peninsula, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995.

Grandfather's Trolley, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 1995.

Jelly Beans for Sale, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1996.

(With Kathy Mallat) The Picture That Mom Drew, Walker (New York, NY), 1997.

Wild Flamingos, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1997.

In the Wild, Wild North, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1997.

Salmon Summer, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1998.

Gletta the Foal, Marshall Cavendish (Freeport, NY), 1998.

Days of the Ducklings, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2001.

Going Fishing, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2005.

OTHER

Punography (adult), Penguin (New York, NY), 1978.

Punography Too (adult), Penguin (New York, NY), 1980.

(Photographer) Raffi, Everything Grows (children), Crown (New York, NY), 1989.

(Photographer) Sarah Josepha Hale, Mary Had a Little Lamb (children), Scholastic (New York, NY), 1990.

The Problem with Chickens, illustrated by Gunnella, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2005.

Postcards from the Other Side (adult), Sulka (Reykjavik, Iceland), 2006.

Puffins from the Other Side (adult), Sulka (Reykjavik, Iceland), 2006.

How the Ladies Stopped the Wind, illustrated by Gunnella, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals, including Natural History, New Advocate, Down East, Life, US, Scandinavian Review, and Yankee.

Adaptations

The Remarkable Riderless Runaway Tricycle was filmed by Evergreen Productions and Phoenix/BFA Films & Video.

Sidelights

Photographer and children's author Bruce McMillan specializes in "photo-illustration," which he describes as photographing ideas. "The book as a whole starts in the mind of the illustrator," he once commented. "The book's ideas flow from the illustrator's mind to what he creates in front of him. He paints the scene with light. He sketches the scene with preliminary photos. The finished work flow back into the camera, the photo-illustrator's tool."

Many of McMillan's publications for children are concept books, which illustrate such things as counting, color, money, geometry, growth, opposites, and time, and counting, using a creative approach that invites readers to look at the world around them with fresh eyes. Praising his Counting Wildflowers as a "deftly constructed multipurpose concept book" in a review for Horn Book, Mary A. Burns added that McMillan "excels in clarity of design and striking representation of an appealing subject." Catherine Wood made a similar assessment of McMillan's work in School Library Journal, noting that Counting Wildflowers "will be enjoyed by children and can be used in a number of ways by creative educators."

Raised in Maine, McMillan acquired his first camera when he was five, and by the time he reached high school he was proficient enough to be chief photographer for his school newspaper. A university degree in biology reflects his interest in science and the wildlife that has provided the basis for many of his concept books. As McMillan stated on his home page, "Counting Wildflowers was about my fascination with wildflowers, and it became my own taxonomy lesson. Growing Colors was an extension of my interest in orchards and gardens. Going on a Whale Watch was my way of introducing readers to my newfound neighbors, the whales off the coast of Maine."

McMillan's love of the sea found him spending much of his time along the Maine coast, and assignments he received as a freelance photographer for magazines soon found him globe-hopping: from the Antarctic to Venezuela to the Caribbean to California. McMillan developed an interest in writing in his adult years; after a stint with the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, he recalled, "I stayed in Maine as an island caretaker on McGee Island off the coast of Port Clyde, Maine. There was neither electricity nor running water. In the summers I tended the island, and in the winters I taught myself to write." Those skills meshed with his talent as a photographer to make him a successful artist-illustrator for children. "My books demonstrate experiments with different artistic styles and techniques," he noted on his home page. "I photographed Grandfather's Trolley in black and white, and then hand tinted the photos with oil colors, just as they did in the trolley era. Growing Colors was for me an exploration of color and how far I could take it within the limits of conventional color film. Mouse Views: What the Class Pet Saw was a lighting challenge: make the photos look natural so that no reader will realize the entire book is photographed using electronic flash."

McMillan's picture book Here a Chick, There a Chick uses the life of a yellow chick from hatching through its discovery of the world as a way of illustrating the concept of opposites. According to a New York Times Book Review contributor, "the miracle of new life, almost palpable in these pages, lingers long after the lessons become rote." In Kitten Can … McMillan uses the antics of a frisky kitten to demonstrate a variety of verbs, from "stare" to "crawl" and "dig." His work prompted Horn Book contributor Ann A. Flowers, to note that McMillan's "excellent colored photographs and the engaging calico kitten make an irresistible sequence." Growing Colors teaches children to recognize color by matching hues with fruits and vegetables. A Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books reviewer deemed Growing Colors "consistently well designed," and "a treat for kids and an example of photography as an art form in picture books." Dry or Wet? introduces the concepts mentioned in its title, and photographs feature children in before-and-after poses. In Super, Super, Superwords McMillan presents a colorful grammar lesson, as a group of children engage in activities kindergartners can relate to—measuring, sitting, carrying, playing—as a way to illustrate the concept of comparison. Another reviewer in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books stated that the book's author "demonstrates the concept with clarity, humor, and occasional wit."

In addition to concept books, McMillan has been inspired by the beauty of the chillier parts of planet Earth. In Summer Ice: Life along the Antarctic Peninsula he captures the wildlife and scenery of this southernmost region during the warm season, when humpback whales, penguins, and seals traverse the icy glaciers. In Booklist, Carolyn Phelan called Summer Ice a "handsome introduction to the wildlife of the Antarctic Peninsula," while School Library Journal contributor Melissa Hudak praised the fact that McMillan's photography—"brilliant in its beauty and attention to detail"—is augmented by information on plants and animals. Other books with a similar focus include Penguins at Home: Gentoos of Antarctica and Going on a Whale Watch, the latter a documentary of a trip taken by a group of children off the coast of Maine. Praising McMillan's photographs as "bright, intense, and absolutely sparkling," School Library Journal contributor Valerie Lennox found Going on a Whale Watch "first-rate nonfiction" for young children. "Every choice McMillan makes here is informed by intelligence and an awareness of his audience," added a Kirkus Reviews critic.

McMillan has written and photo-illustrated more children's books set in Iceland than any U.S. author. Many trips to Iceland during the 1990s and 2000s provided McMillan with the opportunity to produce such works as Night of the Pufflings, his signature book to date, as well as Gletta the Foal, and Going Fishing. In My Horse of the North he introduces nine-year-old Margrét and follows her as she and her Icelandic pony Perla learn to herd sheep in preparation for réttir—the annual fall roundup that takes place in the island's rocky, mountainous interior. "The text flows smoothly," noted Carol Schene in School Library Journal, "capturing the young girl's activities and also providing informational insights into this way of life." Gletta the Foal is a gentle story about a young Icelandic foal—one of the smallest breeds of pony in the world—as it attempts to find the source of a sound it has never before encountered. Praising the "vivid blues and earth tones of the vast Icelandic landscape" captured by McMillan's camera lens,

[Image not available for copyright reasons]

School Library Journal contributor Lee Bock called Gletta the Foal a "beautiful, quiet book for youngsters who enjoy solving a simple mystery."

Days of the Ducklings follows the efforts of a schoolgirl and her family to reintroduce the endangered eider ducks to a remote island off the coast of Iceland. After gathering more than 200 eggs from adjoining islands, young Drifa must nurture the ducklings to adulthood while ensuring that they retain their self-sufficiency. "McMillan's photographs are of extremely high quality, a wonderful blend of artistry and emotion," remarked Booklist contributor Lauren Peterson. In Going Fishing, a young boy ventures to a small coastal village to catch cod and lumpfish with his grandfathers. "Both the conversations in the text and the photos have a natural air," remarked Booklist contributor Carolyn Phelan, and Kathy Piehl, writing in School Library Journal, commented, "All of the images are eye-catching, beautifully composed, and crystal clear."

McMillan has also written a pair of well-received picture books that are set in Iceland. The Problem with Chickens, illustrated by Icelandic artist Gunnella (the pseudonym of Gudrun Elin Oladsdottir), concerns a group of women who purchase a flock of hens to stock their town with eggs. When the chickens decide to mimic the ladies instead of laying eggs, however, the women devise an ingenious plan to rehabilitate the birds. "The playful text is both silly and joyous, without a wasted word," noted Mary Hazelton in School Library Journal, and a Publishers Weekly contributor stated that "the juxtaposition of McMillan's minimal deadpan text … and … Gunnella's comically literal paintings makes for some unlikely hilarity."

McMillan and Gunnella also collaborate on How the Ladies Stopped the Wind, "another amusingly unconventional tale," observed Horn Book reviewer Lauren Adams. When strong gusts make it difficult for the ladies to enjoy their daily walks, they decide to plant trees to act as windbreaks. What the women fail to realize, however, is that sheep enjoy the taste of the young plants, and they turn to an unlikely ally—their spirited chickens—for assistance. In the words of a Kirkus Reviews contributor, "The homey tale combined with the folksy, funny illustrations makes for an extremely winning combination."

"Three books into my career I realized that I made books with happy endings," McMillan once commented. "It wasn't a conscious decision. It was a reflection of me. I'm a happy person and I love a happy ending. Since then, I've consciously followed this with all my books. My photo-illustrated concept books are a combination of teaching concepts and relating a story—with a happy ending.

"I feel my best work is yet to come. My beloved Iceland continues to be a force in my work. I consider myself to be fortunate to be producing children's photo-illustrated concept books. To date, I'm one of very few people who have produced a body of work in photo-illustrated concept books."

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

Popular Nonfiction Authors for Children: A Biographical and Thematic Guide, edited by Flora R. Wyatt and others, Libraries Unlimited (Englewood, CO), 1998.

PERIODICALS

Arithmetic Teacher, May, 1994, David J. Whitin, review of Mouse Views: What the Class Pet Saw, p. 562.

Booklist, May 15, 1992, Deborah Abbott, review of Beach Ball—Left, Right, p. 1684; October 15, 1992, Carolyn Phelan, review of Going on a Whale Watch, p. 435; April 1, 1993, Kay Weisman, review of A Beach for the Birds, p. 1436; November 15, 1993, Elizabeth Bush, review of Penguins at Home: Gentoos of Antarctica, p. 620; December 1, 1994, Mary Harris Veeder, review of Sense Suspense: A Guessing Game for the Five Senses, p. 675; March 15, 1995, Mary Harris Veeder, review of Night of the Pufflings, p. 1331; April 1, 1995, Mary Harris Veeder, review of Puffins Climb, Penguins Rhyme, p. 1421; October 15, 1995, Hazel Rochman, review of Grandfather's Trolley, p. 412; November 1, 1995, Carolyn Phelan, review of Summer Ice, p. 468; September 1, 1996, Lauren Peterson, review of Jelly Beans for Sale, p. 139; September 1, 1997, Carolyn Phelan, review of In the Wild, Wild North, p. 129; September 15, 1998, Lauren Peterson, review of Gletta the Foal, p. 248; September 15, 2001, Lauren Peterson, review of Days of the Ducklings, p. 228; March 1, 2005, Carolyn Phelan, review of Going Fishing, p. 1190; September 15, 2005, Diane Foote, review of The Problem with Chickens, p. 74; October 1, 2007, Julie Cummins, review of How the Ladies Stopped the Wind, p. 64.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, April, 1988, review of Dry or Wet?, p. 162; October 13, 1988, review of Growing Colors, p. 48; December, 1995, Roger Sutton, review of Grandfather's Trolley, p. 133; October, 1997, Deborah Stevenson, review of In the Wild, Wild North, pp. 58-59.

Christian Science Monitor, September 25, 1997, Karen Williams, review of In the Wild, Wild North, p. 211.

Horn Book, October, 1982, Richard Gaugert, review of The Remarkable Riderless Runaway Tricycle, pp. 541-542; June, 1983, Nancy Sheridan, review of Here a Chick, There a Chick, p. 293; September-October, 1984, Ann A. Flowers, review of Kitten Can …, p. 583; September-October, 1986, Margaret A. Bush, review of Counting Wildflowers, p. 610; November-December, 1987, Margaret A. Bush, review of Step by Step, p. 727; July-August, 1991, Maeve Visser Knoth, review of The Weather Sky, p. 486; March, 1992, Margaret A. Bush, review of The Baby Zoo, p. 217; July-August, 1995, Maeve Visser Knoth, review of Night of the Pufflings, p. 480; September, 1997, Margaret A. Bush, review of Wild Flamingos, p. 593; May-June, 1998, Ellen Fader, review of Salmon Summer, p. 362; January-February, 2002, Danielle J. Ford, review of Days of the Ducklings, p. 103; November-December, 2005, Martha V. Parravano, review of The Problem with Chickens, p. 708; January-February, 2008, Lauren Adams, review of How the Ladies Stopped the Wind, p. 76.

Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 1992, review of The Baby Zoo, p. 54; July 15, 1992, review of Going on a Whale Watch, p. 922; March 15, 1993, review of Mouse Views, p. 375; April 1, 1993, review of A Beach for the Birds, p. 460; August 1, 1993, review of Penguins at Home, p. 1005; August 15, 2001, review of Days of the Ducklings, p. 1217; September 1, 2005, review of The Problem with Chickens, p. 978; September 1, 2007, review of How the Ladies Stopped the Wind.

Kliatt, July, 1996, Daniel J. Levinson, review of The Weather Sky, p. 35.

Language Arts, September, 1989, Janet Hickman, review of Super, Super, Superwords, p. 567; January, 1990, Susan Helper, review of Time to …, p. 79.

New York Times Book Review, March 27, 1983, review of Here a Chick, There a Chick.

Publishers Weekly, March 11, 1983, review of Here a Chick, There a Chick, p. 86; October 31, 1986, review of Becca Backward, Becca Frontward: A Book of Concept Pairs, p. 63; August 14, 1987, review of Step by Step, p. 101; January 15, 1988, review of Dry or Wet?, p. 93; May 12, 1989, review of Super, Super, Superwords, p. 290; September 29, 1989, review of Time Two …, p. 66; April 13, 1990, review of One Sun: A Book of Terse Verse, p. 62; January 1, 1991, review of One, Two, One Pair!, p. 57; October 4, 1991, review of Eating Fractions, p. 87; October 25, 1991, review of Play Day: A Book of Terse Verse, p. 67; January 30, 1995, review of Puffins Climb, Penguins Rhyme, p. 99; August 29, 2005, review of The Problem with Chickens, p. 55; July 23, 2007, review of How the Ladies Stopped the Wind, p. 67.

School Library Journal, January, 1983, William Spangler, review of The Remarkable Riderless Runaway Tricycle, p. 44; January, 1984, Leslie Chamberlain, review of Ghost Doll, p. 66; December, 1984, Margaret L. Chatham, review of Kitten Can …, p. 73; August, 1986, Catherine Wood, review of Counting Wildflowers, p. 85; October, 1986, Constance A. Mellon, review of Becca Backward, Becca Frontward, p. 164; September, 1987, Anna Biagioni Hart, review of Step by Step, p. 167; May, 1988, Jennifer Smith, review of Dry or Wet?, p. 86; October, 1988, Patricia Dooley, review of Fire Engine Shapes, p. 125; April, 1989, Leda Schubert, review of Super, Super, Superwords, p. 86; September, 1989, Lori A. Janick, review of Time Two …, p. 241; July, 1990, Judith Gloyer, review of One Sun, p. 73; February, 1991, Louise L. Sherman, review of One, Two, One Pair!, pp. 72-73; May, 1991, Margaret M. Hegel, review of The Weather Sky, p. 104; May, 1992, Ellen Fader, review of The Baby Zoo, p. 106; June, 1992, Mary Lou Budd, review of Beach Ball—Left, Right, p. 110; April, 1993, Myra R. Oleynik, review of Mouse Views, p. 100, Valerie Lennox, review of Going on a Whale Watch, p. 112, and Diane Nunn, review of A Beach for the Birds, p. 137; December, 1993, Lisa Wu Stowe, review of Penguins at Home, pp. 128-129; March, 1995, Patricia Manning, review of Nights of the Pufflings, p. 198; May, 1995, Dot Minzer, review of Puffins Climb, Penguins Rhyme, pp. 100-101; September, 1995, Melissa Hudak, review of Summer Ice: Life along the Antarctic Peninsula, p. 212; December, 1995, Virginia Opocensky, review of Grandfather's Trolley, p. 86; October, 1996, Beth Tegart, review of Jelly Beans for Sale, p. 115; April, 1997, review of The Picture That Mom Drew, p. 128; August, 1997, review of Wild Flamingos, pp. 148-149; September, 1997, Carol Schene, review of In the Wild, Wild North, pp. 204, 206; May, 1998, Susan Oliver, review of Salmon Summer, p. 134; December, 1998, Lee Bock, review of Gletta the Foal, p. 87; September, 2001, Anne Chapman Callaghan, review of Days of the Ducklings, p. 218; May, 2005, Kathy Piehl, review of Going Fishing, p. 112; September, 2005, Mary Hazelton, review of The Problem with Chickens, p. 177; December, 2007, Marian Drabkin, review of How the Ladies Stopped the Wind, p. 94.