From Smoke to a Force: An Interview with Henry L. Herz About I AM GRAVITY

The older I get, the more I begin to appreciate nonfiction/informational books for kids. And I’m not alone. For a lot of people of my generation, we grew up with really paltry nonfiction titles. Occasionally you’d get a good one, but the standards just weren’t up to what we insist on in our books today. Often they were nice but dry, and the art? Please. Unless you had the rare gorgeously illustrated nonfiction picture book, it tended to go unnoticed. Not like now. Today great swaths of books fill our shelves, full of scintillating facts and jaw-dropping images. The book we’re talking about today, I Am Gravity? Case in point.

You may recall I Am Smoke by Henry L. Herz, which was released in 2021 and essentially showed a life cycle not dissimilar to that of water. At the time I said of it:

“Smoke speaks in mesmerizing riddles: “I lack a mouth, but I can speak…. I lack hands, but I can push out unwanted guests…. I’m gentler than a feather, but I can cause harm…”. This rhythmically powerful narration is complemented by illustrations in which swirling smoke was captured on art paper held over smoky candle flames, and the dancing smoke textures were then deepened and elaborated with watercolors and Photoshop finishes. With this unique method, Merce López “let the smoke decide how the idea I had in mind would dance with it, giving freedom to the images.” The resulting illustrations are astounding, and they resonate with the otherworldly text.”

Well, today we have the follow-up to that book and to be perfectly honest, I like it even more. Out on shelves everywhere April 15th, the book comes to us via the publisher Tilbury House and is perhaps the finest book I’ve ever witnessed on the subject. But don’t just take my word for it. Take my word and the word of author Henry Herz, in discussion with me:

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Betsy Bird: Henry, thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions today. Those readers that saw your book I AM SMOKE (which basically did for smoke what a lot of books do for the water cycle) won’t be surprised to hear that I AM GRAVITY is absolutely brilliant (and I do not make such statements lightly). Did you always intend to follow up smoke with gravity or was it a surprise to even you?

Henry Herz: Thanks for the kind words, Betsy. Your compliment about GRAVITY shouldn’t be taken lightly.

My choice of gravity for book two wasn’t a surprise, per se. I actually didn’t plan any follow-on books to I AM SMOKE until after it sold. At that point, I considered a number of physical phenomena to anthropomorphize. I was drawn to gravity (see what I did there?), because I recalled from academic classes it was a fascinating topic. And, why not make my job even more challenging by choosing a subject that is invisible and only detectable by its influence on other things?

BB: Okay, I have almost forgiven you for that gravity pun you started with, so we shall proceed. Part of what you do so well in this book is to make an invisible force not just comprehensible to kids but understandable. Identifiable even. What kind of research did you have to do for this?

HH: Identifiable, perhaps even attractive? (dad joke alert). I knew some of this from my college days (back when Ulysses S. Grant was president). But I definitely had to brush up on my physics, astronomy, and cosmology. After the manuscript was drafted and edited, I also ran it by a PhD physicist and a PhD astronomer to ensure I hadn’t inadvertently violated the laws of the universe, which I am wont to do. Nobody puts baby in a corner.

BB: Nice. And your writing manages to be lyrical while remaining scientifically accurate. No small feat. How many drafts of this book did you go through? And what did your editor bring to the process?

HH: You made me check my computer. I wrote thirteen versions of I AM GRAVITY. The transition from science to lyrical imagery came naturally because gravity’s fingers brush so many subjects. And yes, that’s a parallel to the fact that every object in the universe exerts a gravitational effect (even if infinitesimally small) on every other object. To achieve the narrator’s voice, I thought of myself (temporarily, mind you) as a relentless, eternal force, so my words became powerful with gravitas. There he goes again.

My editor encouraged me to employ the contrasting language of I AM SMOKE, e.g., I lack fingers, but I can push out unwanted guests. Spoiler alert: I wasn’t able to do that for I AM GRAVITY. He also asked me to structure the manuscript to be cyclical, and I was able to accomplish that. Thanks, laws of the universe!

BB: Ah! Editors always have their ways. At the end of the book you’ve an Author’s Note about gravity that includes even some of the newer discoveries we’ve made about it. How did you decided what to include and what to cut out of the picture book’s text?

HH: I gave myself freedom to be unconstrained in the language of my Author’s Note. Conversely, I carefully limited the content and lexile level of the manuscript. I feel that the lyrical illustrated tale is made more powerful by the reader by understanding that the story is supported by contemporary scientific theory. But I don’t want to slow the reading, so I put the heavier content in the Author’s Note.

BB: This next question may not have an answer, but I want to dig a little bit more into how an author takes complex concepts and not only simplifies them for kids (while maintaining accuracy) but also makes them fun and interesting. Can you tell us a little bit about your process?

HH: I used the same technique as when I held learning conversations with my kids when they were younger. I reduced concepts to their lowest common denominator, using terms they would understand. But I also injected elements to increase the kids’ interest level, like humor or relating the topic to their personal experiences.

I AM GRAVITY doesn’t have the former, but it offers the latter. Gravity is something everyone experiences every second of their life. Gravity controls how far you can throw a ball. It limits how far you can jump. Gravity keeps you from floating away like a balloon. Mommy, why is Timmy way up there?

Gravity is interesting because of its awesome scope and influence. It’s the effect of mass warping space-time. It creates planets and stars. It bends the path of light. It causes stars to ignite. It keeps the Earth at just the Goldilocks distance from the sun (not too hot, not too cold). It keeps our atmosphere from floating away. I hate when that happens. The heavier elements in our bodies are literally forged in the heart of stars. What the what? Humans could not exist without gravity. Heavy, right? Sorry.

BB: Once more you’ve been paired with the incredible Mercè López, just as you were on I AM SMOKE. Her art in this book is stunning. What were some of your thoughts about it?

HH: I think your word is exactly right – stunning. She went dark, on many spreads almost sepia-toned, not just for celestial scenes but even terrestrial ones. Mercè chose a pale orange to show the influence of invisible gravity. I think she experimented with iron shavings and magnets to develop the patterns. That’s not accurate from a physics perspective, but it creates evocative graphics. There are fun little winks in there, like a dandelion puff from I AM SMOKE, an apple in homage to Sir Isaac Newton, and a spaceship that’s awfully familiar-looking. Captain, we need more power. She created a couple of spreads where the right side mirrors and complements the left in a visually stunning way. I’m so thrilled to be paired with her again.

BB: Finally, I have to ask it. What are you working on next? And does it happen to be another I AM book?

HH: There are two more I AM books written, I AM LIGHT and I AM WIND. So, I’m not working on any more at the moment. I have several fiction picture books out on submission, as well as a time travel middle grade novel and a few anthologies. We’re in the midst of negotiating a three-picture book deal I think will tickle your fancy, Betsy – fractured origin stories of sidekicks from classic adult novels. The first, THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY, tells of young Ishmael’s attempts to catch a wily white fish. The artist for those does stunning work, too.

Three anthologies I edited that are scheduled for 2024 release:

• THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS (contemporary middle grade, Albert Whitman & Co.) – with Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Nancy Churnin, Stacia Deutsch, Bridget Hodder, Nancy Holder, Alan Katz, Gini Koch, Nancy Krulik, Joanne Levy, Terri Libenson, Leslea Newman, Erica Perl, Rachael Romero, Alan Silberberg.
• WINK (young adult fantasy, Brigids Gate Press) – with James Aquilone, Kendare Blake, Leah Cypess, Stacia Deutsch, David Gerrold, Tara Gilboy, Nancy Holder, Alethea Kontis, Jonathan Maberry, Seanan McGuire, Wulf Moon, Henry Neff, Alex Shvartsman, Maggie Stiefvater
• RED STARS & SHATTERED SHIELDS (adult sci-fi, Yuriko Publishing) – with David Brin, Jennifer Brody, Jennifer Brozek, Adam-Troy Castro, Keith DeCandido, David Gerrold, Elana Gomel, Jonathan Maberry, Jody Lynn Nye, Cat Rambo, Alex Shvartsman, Susan Schwartz, Robert Silberberg, Adam Stemple, Ian Randal Strock.

So, as you can see, I’m not letting gravity pull me down. Thanks so much for hosting this Q&A.

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Big thanks to Henry for answering my questions today. You can find out more about this and other books he’s done at www.henryherz.com. I Am Gravity? releases everywhere April 15th, so be sure to look for it then.

Filed under: Best Books, Best Books of 2024, Interviews