(Click to enlarge)

Last week at Kirkus, I chatted briefly with Bryan Collier about his latest picture book, an adaptation of Langston Hughes’s iconic poem, “I, Too, Sing America.” This is called I, Too, Am America and was published by Simon & Schuster in May.

Here is that link.

I’ve got a couple of spreads in this post today. Enjoy. (more…)

Display Comments Add a Comment

From the editorial submissions:

Artist: Massimiliano di Lauro is an italian illustrator who just published his first book with OQO Editora, “Mi primer viaje“. His work is very painterly, scratchy and textured. Here he shows us how to paint Pinocchio with a woodblock.

View more on his blog.

 

Add a Comment

Gymnastics fever has taken over our house hold the last couple of weeks.  But not because of the upcoming Olympics, it's because of the newest American Girl movie: Mckenna Shoots for the Stars.

The movie follows McKenna Brooks - McKenna is an energetic, determined girl who lives for gymnastics—at least she thinks she does, until an injury and a wise tutor help her see that there are other things that she cares about, too. She’s goal-driven and wants to make her family proud, which is why she’s so embarrassed when her grades start to slip. At the gym, McKenna is super competitive, but she puts that competitiveness aside to support her teammates. She makes mistakes sometimes, but she always strives to be a good student, gymnast, and friend.

To Buy - Mckenna Shoots for the Stars is available on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack – Featuring DVD, Digital Copy & UltraViolet™ – and DVD after July 3rd, 2012. It's sold Exclusively at Wal-Mart, American Girl Stores and americangirl.com. 

To Celebrate - We recently had the chance to throw a pre-screening party for my daughters and all of their friends, and they fell in love!

I wanted to keep things easy so we had a gymnastics themed play date. All of the girls arrived in their gymnastics finest, and we kicked off the evening by making gold medals.


Then we all gathered in the living room to watch the movie and enjoy some snacks.  Most of the girls weren't familiar with the American girl franchise, so it was really fun to watch their faces as they connected with McKenna's story.

After the movie it was time for some gymnastics fun.  First we practiced a floor routine across my living room floor.  The girls were at all different levels so some did cartwheels, while others just did somersaults or twirls.
Then we did a little balance work on our homemade beam.


We were going to turn our monkey bars into uneven bars, but because of the rain we had to skip it.  So we did a little leap frog vaulting.


To round it out we did some rhythmic gymnastics with hula hoops and homemade ribbon twirlers.  We played simon says, had a hula hoop contest, and watched an impromptu routine.

Add a Comment

You know when you find an amazing book, and you never want it to end? How do you find another book to read after that? Our answer: Readalikes to the rescue! We hope our Readalikes will rescue you from the what-to-read-next question, and help you find lots of new amazing books.

Today's Readalikes are for The 39 Clues series. When their grandmother dies, Amy and Dan Cahill find out that they are members of the most powerful family in the history of the world, descendants of people like Thomas Jefferson and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! But the secret to that power lies in 39 clues hidden around the world, and Amy and Dan must find them -- before they fall into the wrong hands.

There are a bunch of books in that series. But once you've finished all those, what to read next? Look for these other adventure books about secret agents, danger, and intrigue for ages 9-12. Click on the book cover below to see a whole bunch of other The 39 Clues Readalike books you might also love.

 

 Hope you enjoy our Readalikes!

—Emily, Scholastic Booktalker

Add a Comment

Adding Custom Colors to your blog just got simpler than ever! Now you can change your entire color scheme with the single click of a button. Color has impact: it sets context and should complement your message.

You’ll find the most popular palettes and patterns from COLOURlovers are sure to delight whether you want to paint the town red or always bet on black.

Adjust your color palette by using drag-and-drop to swap colors, view suggestions and variations, or pick colors manually.

To appeal to your inner fashionista, dress up your blog in a gorgeous background pattern—they’re preloaded based on your chosen color palette.

Themes that have Custom Colors support have been set up so each color value can easily find its place. Not only that, color contrast is carefully calculated to make applying colors as easy as pie.

To get started, go to Appearance → Themes, click the Live Preview links or the Customize button for your current theme, and select the Colors & Backgrounds panel. Custom Colors is part of the Custom Design upgrade. When you save changes, your colors will be stored and then you can apply them live on your blog once you have purchased the upgrade. See the Custom Colors help page for more details.

Whether you want something bold, understated, or with just enough oomph, you can make your message stand out from the crowd by selecting colors that fit your style.

Choose your colors with purpose. Worlds of difference await!

13 Comments on Go Ahead—Add a Splash of Color, last added: 7/11/2012

Display Comments Add a Comment

Display Comments Add a Comment

When setting up the workshops for the 2012 June Summer Conference, I wanted to ask Connie Hsu to share some of her vast knowledge with the attendees.  Knowing that she is drawn to books that include illustrations, we talked about doing a workshop that focused on that aspect and “How to Pitch and Submit Illustrated Projects” was born.

Diana Patton offered to take notes and write an article that I could share with you.  Here is what Diana wrote: 

Connie Hsu, editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, says that her talk was inspired by meeting with artists and seeing what works. She first talked about what a children’s book illustrator must show in their portfolio. It’s imperative that it reflects your interest in children’s books, no extraneous works, please. Unlike some art directors, who prefer to see only one (or at best, two) styles, Connie would like to see:

1.  Your range of styles, in a variety of mediums.

2.  Full color and in black and white. 

3.  Both animal and human forms, and animals anthropomorphized.

4.  Work that reflects your ability to convey sequential story-telling.  Each piece should tell a story, have narrative content. Your illustrations should hint at the greater story behind it. There can be (several) layers of meaning in one picture.

5.  Picture book work and illustrations suitable for MG and YA.

6.  Include literary and commercial pieces.

7.  Make sure you show your ability to draw the same character over and over again using different body language and facial expressions.

Here is an illustration by Sandra Salsbury that I (kathy) think is a good example of what Connie is talking about when she says to use body language, facial expression and providing narrative content. Sandra was featured on Illustrator Saturday. Here is the link: http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/illustrator-saturday-sandra-salsbury/

Connie feels that showing a range in styles and mediums broadens your opportunities, as does including illustrations that show your ability to age your art style for different age groups.  For example, you might include cover images for two popular books.  Including both a literary and a more commercial style will help find a place for your work.

You want to convey the personality of the character(s) in your portfolio, in body language as well as facial expression. Including black and white samples is useful because that is often used in middle grade and even YA books. You might also take an old fairy tale or folk tale and illustrate it in a new way, your way, exhibiting what you do best.

As for submitting stories to Connie Hsu, you’ll want to mail the full manuscript in Word format, and include your full-length sketch dummy, whether 32 or 40 pages long, with text.  You’ll also want to include a finished color sample for the story. Connie loves graphic novels but feels that the bookstores often don’t know how to shelve them. In submitting a graphic novel, submit the fully formed synopsis with the story arc, characters, and plot. If possible write out all the text.  Complete about a three to five panel sketch page and convert it to a PDF.  Also, complete a full chapter with finished art.

Connie also gave hints for your websi

Display Comments Add a Comment

One of the advantages of the new blogger format is that we can see how many people read a post.  This post, which originally ran on May 2, not very long ago, had almost 800 views. This is substantially more than the average post.  For this reason, as per our July reruns, I'm posting it again.








One person I’ve gotten to know well and admire this year is Dr. Myra Zarnowski, Professor of Children’s Literature at Queens College School of Education, part of the City University of NY.  Myra specializes in teaching undergraduate and graduate students how to teach nonfiction literature in the classroom.  She has studied the books written by iNK authors and she is an expert on the Common Core Standards, now the new educational objectives adopted by 47 states.  Recently she gave a webinar for

Display Comments Add a Comment

       It's not literature at risk, first and foremost, but if this is an issue .....
       In the Daily Star Hannah McNeish reports on Salvaging South Sudan's history from dust and termites.

       (Currently, of course, it is the dreadful situation in Timbuktu that should be the world's immediate priority; I keep meaning to write about it but find myself too overwrought to manage.)

Add a Comment

       One might think there is nothing lower than the 'literary' agent (well, in the literary field; there are of course real estate agents, those employed in financial services, politicians, .... oh, the extra-literary list is endless), but the literary agents of the old Eastern European variety make for a particularly sordid, sorry lot: at hlo they now review Szőnyei Tamás' Titkos írás. Állambiztonsági szolgálat és irodalmi élet, 1956-1990 ('Secret Writing. The State Security Services and Literary Life, 1956-1990'), which appears to give some insight into the nastiness; see their piece on Literary spies.

Add a Comment

       They've announced the jury for the 2013 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, which will be headed by K. Satchidanandan.
       (And if it helps make more of Satchidanandan's work readily available in the US/UK, I wouldn't complain either .....)

Add a Comment

       The American National Endowment for the Arts Announces $1 Million in Grants for The Big Read, with 78 organizations divvying up the money; see the full list (with many going for the same authors/books).

Add a Comment

       In the Irish Times Arminta Wallace profiles Australian author Alex Miller.
       When I read the title of the piece -- A well kept secret in a world of hype -- I guffawed (yes, guffawed; I often find myself doing that when reading literary coverage in newspapers). Alex Miller, one of Australia's most famous authors (a two-time Miles Franklin Award-winner), a well-kept secret ? In what strange universe ?
       But seeing as how neither Autumn Laing -- his most recent work -- nor most of his fiction seems to have a US publisher ..... Read the rest of this post

Add a Comment

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Nancy Huston's Infrared -- just out, as a paperback original, in the US (a year after it came out in ... Australia, sigh).

Add a Comment

A new version of the query featured in Face-Lift 1046 is now in the comments there, awaiting your input.

Add a Comment

Several days ago, we posted a call for suggestions of titles for the 2013 Randolph Caldecott Medal. In addition, ALSC personal members are invited to suggest titles for the following 2013 children’s book awards:

Pura Belpré Award

The Pura Belpré Award is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. Please remember that only books published in 2012 are under consideration for the 2013 award. You may send recommendations with full bibliographic information to Chair Charmette Kendrick at ckendrick-kuhn@cvrls.net. For more information about the award, visit the Pura Belpre Award homepage.

John Newbery Medal

The John Newbery Medal is awarded annually to the author of the most distinguished American children’s book.  For the 2013 award, only books published during the 2012 calendar year are eligible for consideration.  Please send recommendations with full bibliographic information to Chair Steven Engelfried at engelfried@wilsonvilllelibrary.org. For more information about the award, visit the Newbery Medal homepage.

Notable Children’s Books

The Children’s Notable Book Committee selects, annotates, and presents an annual list of notable (important, distinguished and outstanding) children’s books for all age levels through age 14.  The committee examines board books, picture books, informational picture books, early readers, fiction and nonfiction books.  Please remember that only books from this publishing year are under consideration.  You may send recommendations with full bibliographic information to Wendy Woodfill at notables2013@gmail.com. For more information about the annual Notable lists, visit the ALSC website at http://www.ala.org/alsc.  Click on ‘Awards and Grants” in the left-hand navigation bar, then click on ‘Children’s Notable Lists”.

Take notice, ALSC members! Now is your opportunity to suggest titles to the Award committees!

Add a Comment

Sorry for the short notice about this, but I wanted to make sure I posted about it so you don't miss this awesome opportunity!

This week's theme for Sync's free audiobook downloads is "women dressed in white".  The classic title is The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, which is cool, but the really cool part is the contemporary YA title: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake! This is one of the most popular books they've had available so far, and it's only available through July 11th. So make sure you grab it while you can!

Add a Comment