Michael Hearst’s Unique Approach to Children’s Nonfiction
Michael Hearst’s book for children—a collection of profiles of odd animals—is as unique as its title suggests. The format, Hearst says, is a less dry form of the mail order Safari Cards sold on TV when he was a kid. Each profile tells us the Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species of the animal, the geographical location, and just what makes it so unusual. For example, the Hammer-headed is a loud-mouth and has a honk that rivals most car alarms. While Unusual Creatures is loaded with information, Hearst’s writing style is clear and easy to understand. It’s perfect for a young audience, and yet if you read the other essays he’s written for grown-ups, you’ll see that he hasn’t really changed his natural voice all that much. There’s no condescension, but there are plenty of jokes—fart jokes, poop jokes, vomit jokes, all the requisites for nine year olds.
But none of the joking around gets in the way of all the cool information. Despite his insatiable creative urge, and his editor’s initial reluctance, Hearst had no interest in making anything up. The truth was far too interesting. “I don’t want to make up a fake animal. I don’t want to have a real animal and make up fake information about it. That’s just not cool!” He promised his editor that a purely factual book, presented imaginatively, would be far more interesting. And he was right.
Unusual Creatures is fun nonfiction, which is in high demand right now. Its release this past fall was perfectly timed with the implementation of the Common Core Curriculum in New York. I’m sure lots of people will approach the book with this in mind. But after meeting Michael Hearst over coffee at Red Horse Café, I felt that considering this book merely in light of the newest education trend is missing the point. Michael Hearst is an unusual thinker. A creative thinker.
According to Hearst, growing into his imagination wasn’t always easy. When he was in High School his attention started to drift and he was having trouble in school. “My parents sent me to a therapist and they put me on Ritalin,” says Hearst. “I was constantly drawing in my notebooks instead of paying attention in class. After I started taking Ritalin my drawings became much more elaborate. That’s just what I wanted to be doing!” You can stick a kid in the classroom, but you cannot make him think about what is on the board. But in Michael Hearst’s case, that wasn’t such a bad thing.
Hearst did not illustrate his book, despite the drawing anecdote. He is known for being a composer, musician and a founding member of the band One Ring Zero, the house band for McSweeney’s, whose albums include As Smart As We Are and Songs for Ice Cream Trucks. He’s also written and published essays and articles in addition to his book Unusual Creatures. He draws mostly for fun.
“You’re creatively omnivorous.” I said.
“Yeah, that’s my curse.”
It’s clear from Hearst’s description of his childhood that his parents were very engaged. They didn’t let their son slack off. But it seems like they also understood him. Several times as we spoke he indicated that his mother “forced” him to do one thing or another: take piano lessons, go to college….But he said it gratefully—glad that he wasn’t left to succumb to his own lack of will or inclination.
He was eventually allowed to stop taking piano lessons, but the damage was done. Two years of piano was enough to plant the seeds for a lifetime of making strange and beautiful sounds. Piano led to guitar which eventually returned to piano when he studied composition in college. After college Hearst started to branch out even more. While working at Hohner as a harmonica technician he was introduced to the Claviola, a strange, short-lived take on the accordion. This odd instrument, along with many others such as a theremin, glass harmonica, stylophone, Daxophone, LEMURbots, polyphonia, bass harmonica, and toy piano comprise the Unusual Creatures sounds.
Michael Hearst’s Unusual Creatures project is a convergence of his varied interests. Perpetually fascinated by Camille St. Saens’s Carnival of animals, Hearst had long wanted to create his own musical menagerie. “[St. Saens’s Suite] wasn’t really meant for kids, but kids love it. I love Program Music…the idea of music representing something else.” But where St. Saens covered the familiar members of the animal kingdom, Hearst wanted to celebrate some of its unsung heroes. He started with the Blue Footed Booby who, Hearst says, does a funny mating dance that looks “kind of like the hora.” While The Weddell Seal makes an appearance on the album, a lot of these animals don’t even have known vocalizations. It’s fun to close your eyes and imagine the animals in concert with their themes. “I love They Might Be Giants and I love Dan Zanes. What they do is great. But I wanted to do instrumental music. And kids have imaginations! They can use them!” He points to the scene at the beginning of Moonlight Kingdom where the kids are lying around listening to Prokofiev and St. Saens on a little record player. “That’s what I grew up listening to.”
But Hearst’s fascination did not end with the music. The book came next: a fresh take on a retro schoolbook format—distinct, nostalgic and… unusual. There are jokes, quizzes, and sidebars to break up all the information and, as I’ve mentioned, there’s plenty of information. Hearst’s website has videos of interviews and presentations that further expand on his Unusual world. The varied media gives his audience multiple ways into his subjects. A child may hear a piece from the CD and say, “Whoa, what made that noise?” and discover more about a Polyphonia. Or he may read a profile and wonder “How slow is a Slow Loris?” then look for video online. At schools and other venues, Hearst does what he describes as a TED talk for kids “I play video of the animal, I talk about the animal. But then I’ll show them a Theremin and say ‘this is an instrument invented by Leon Theremin.’” Then he plays and even lets the kids try out the instrument. No one has to force this kind of lesson on a kid.
From here a child may want to invent his own instrument or create an Unusual Creature profile and, indeed, Hearst receives lots of fan mail along these lines. The reader/listener’s knowledge grows web-like, organically. So, the effect of the project on its audience mirrors the way it was created—the magical combination of following one’s natural inclinations and being forced to stay with certain pursuits. It was only completed with so much care and infectious energy because Hearst remained interested, and his interest branched out in new and sometimes unexpected directions.
In reference to his earliest misadventures with piano, Hearst says, “I guess as a parent you sometimes have to….force.” It’s true. But sometimes you also have to know when not to force, and let a kid follow his imagination.
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