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Happy Dia De Los Muertos!

Actually, not sure that’s an appropriate salutation, but I do know that I love the art and culture of this Latino holiday! So in honor of the day and of all our dearly departed I thought I’d do a quick skeleton sketch… skeltch if you will.

Oh, and since this wee boy skeleton is so shyly presenting his gift, I thought maybe he’d like to toddle on over to Illustration Friday.

……………….

So, wow, quite a few ambitious sketchers decided to join in on the fun of SkADaMo! Welcome one and all!

Although there are absolutely no rules to this, (unless you count the rule that there are no rules,) there were a few questions.

Some wanted to know how to use the badge. I would say simply put the badge in the sidebar of your blog. If you want to link it up, maybe put the URL to the original SkADaMo post on my blog, so people can give it a gander and maybe join us: http://sketchedout.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/skadamo-2012/

Some wanted to know how we could keep track of each other’s posts as the days go by. Perhaps the folks who are joining could leave the URL where they will be posting their SkADaMo sketch, in the comments of this post and I will create a list that I will add to the end of each of my daily posts. (Please note that I will be out of town until Tuesday, so I probably won’t get to this until then. Thanks guys!)

How to organize the sketch posts? Perhaps we could also add the tag SkADaMo to each post, which will be the static link that I’ll use for the list of everyone.

If anyone has an idea of something that would work better, please let me know. This is just a very easy, breezy, unorganized thingy. So, pretty much anything goes. But if we can make it easier to keep in touch and be inspired by each other and root each other on, that is all the better!

And that my dears is the extent of my organizational skills! I am spent, spent I tell you! (0;

I've heard authors say, “Well, we can’t take responsibility for what a reader will take from a book. It could be anything.”Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris could have been reading Judy Moody just as easily as The Catcher in the Rye.It's a... Read the rest of this post

       In Russia Beyond the Headlines Phoebe Taplin reports that: 'Female authors regularly outsell their male colleagues, and are gaining increasing international recognition', in Women conquer Russia's literary Olympus.
       Three of the six finalists for the Russian Booker are women, and quite a few seem to have established themselves, locally and internationally.

       Even Bhutan has already held a literary festival, and now, in another sign of Burma opening up, they've announced: "the first ever English language literary festival in Burma / Myanmar", the Irrawaddy Literary Festival, to be held 1 to 3 February 2013 in Rangoon.
       It's nice that they'll have: "some of the best local authors (writing in English) as well as a rich mixture of writers and artists from elsewhere", but I hope they have some local-language talent as well .....
       See also the report in Mizzima, Suu Kyi to lead Burmese literary festival.

       The Guardian has Jeanette Winterson in conversation with A.M.Homes.
       "We judge the content of what men and women write very differently" maintains Homes; who is this we wonder I ...... Read the rest of this post

       In the Financial Times Anna Metcalfe has a Q & A with C.K.Stead.

I can’t believe it’s already November! PiBoIdMo, 12X12 and Picture Book Month are all in full swing, proving that the venerable picture book has merit and value. It is because of because of you, writers and lovers of picture books, that we have reason to celebrate! So I begin this post with a thank you. Thank you for your passion and commitment to picture books.

Now on to the subject of my post. The Space Between. It sounds like some ethereal place that might exist in a Lois Lowry book but it is a very real place that exists, especially in picture books. Joe Wos, a friend who is a cartoonist and curator of the Toonseum in Pittsburgh, Pennsyvania, once taught me about “the space between” in comic strips. It’s that blank space that exists in between each comic box. What is so important about The Space Between are not the words before and after it, but the words and actions that are left unsaid.

I thought about it. As writers, we all rely on The Space Between without even realizing it. In novels, you’ll see two passages divided by a set of asterisks. The moment you see it, you know moments, actions, and words have passed, all shrouded in The Space Between. The writer leaves it up to you to decipher what happens between one scene and the next. The device is also used in movies. Movement from scene to scene relies on The Space Between to create a smooth transition.

So how does this fit into writing picture books? For picture book writers, The Space Between is the page turn. It is the breath or the pause between pages. It can be dramatic and full of suspense, ushering the next bit of action in the book. Eric Litwin’s New York Times best-selling book, Pete the Cat does this so brilliantly that listening audiences automatically chime in the answer when the page is turned.

The Space Between can also be subtle and gentle. In the nearly wordless picture book, Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathman, the device is used ingeniously. The Space Betweeen becomes the thread that ties every scene together, creating a story so seamless, you don’t even notice what is not shown. On one page, the zookeeper’s wife wakes up. On the next page, she is on the lawn, walking the animals back to the zoo. What happens in between needs no explication.

The Space Between can also be intentional. Stories that are poems have a natural break between stanzas such as those in Dr. Seuss books. In the book, Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky, The Space Between is used to create deliberate tension. Moose vies for a spot in the alphabet and Zebra is the referee trying to corral Moose and keep him from ruining the procession of letters. At one point, Zebra says, “No! Now, move off the page.” The page turn reveals whether or not Moose moves and what his next antics might be.

The next time you are reading or writing a picture book, think about The Space Between. Think about the words and actions you commit to paper as well as the ones you don’t. Think about that pause, the breath that is the page turn. What does your “space between” say?

November is Picture Book Month. Read * Share * Celebrate!

Dianne de Las Casas is an award-winning author, storyteller, and founder of Picture Book Month, who tours internationally presenting author visit/storytelling programs, educator/librarian training, and workshops. Her performances, dubbed “revved-up storytelling” are full of energetic audience participation. The author of twenty books, her children’s titles include The Cajun Cornbread Boy, Madame Poulet & Monsieur Roach, Mama’s Bayou, The Gigantic Sweet Potato, There’s a Dragon in the Library, The House That Witchy Built, Blue Frog: The Legend of Chocolate, Dinosaur Mardi Gras, Beware, Beware of the Big Bad Bear, and The Little “Read” Hen. Visit her website at diannedelascasas.com. Visit Picture Book Month at picturebookmonth.com.

LATEST NEWS

Artie’s poem Ceiling to the Stars was published by Families Online Magazine on October 3rd. To read the poem, please click on the illustration below. This poem was illustrated by the talented young artist Chung Oh. To learn more about Chung, visit her online at www.chungoh-illustration.com.

Artie’s children’s story The Hummingbird Who Chewed Bubblegum is being published in a book collection by the Oxford University Press in India. More to come.

Artie’s new story The Race for Space was published in the September issue of the Teachers.net Gazette. To read the story please click on the image below. (This story is dedicated to the memory of Neil Armstrong, whose courage and heroism will live on forever)

Artie’s children’s book Living Green: A Turtle’s Quest for a Cleaner Planet is now available as a free video for kids through StoryCub. A shortlist finalist for the national 2012 Green Earth Book Award, Thurman the turtle is tired of seeing the land he loves cluttered with trash and decides to take action.

To watch the Living Green video on Youtube, please click on the cover below. StoryCub videos are one of the most watched programs on Apple’s iTunes Kids & Family section.

Use of any of the content on this website without permission is prohibited by federal law

Greatest. 7-Eleven. Product Placement. EVER! Directed by Cal Brunker, Escape From Planet Earth opens on Valentines Day, February 14th, 2013 from Weinstein Company and Rainmaker Entertainment.

Bob Ostrom Studio Bzzzz, a photo by bob ostrom studio on Flickr.

Happy Coloring!

bob ostrom studio

When my parents worked in Arizona, they lived on a street where everyone knew their neighbors. Dad especially enjoyed the humorous side of any situation, and presidential elections were not excluded. One such time, Dad got up early, made a big pan of his famous buttermilk biscuits, dug out Mom's 20 cup holiday urn, and brewed it full of fresh coffee. He then left to cast his vote. A short while later he returned and loaded a cart with the fresh baked biscuits, the coffee urn, a stack of picnic cups, a bowl of sugar, and a pint of cream. Mom, my ex and I were curious, but we didn't ask what he was up to. Later that day several of the neighbors stopped by and we found out. Dad visited each neighbor and shared his special breakfast treats. Afterwards, with a serious face, he told them they did not need to vote, because he'd already voted and he did not want anyone else's vote to cancel his out. Some of the neighbors thought he was serious. Most of them knew Dad well enough to know he was laughing himself silly all the way home. Thinking about that today, I cannot help but have a good chuckle. Dad was an original.

Kid-Lit Cares: Superstorm Sandy Relief Effort:

What is KidLit Cares?

It’s an online talent auction to benefit the Red Cross relief effort for Sandy. Agents, editors, authors, and illustrators have donated various services to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, with donations being made directly to the Red Cross disaster relief fund.

What kinds of things are included?

Manuscript critiques, in-person and Skype author visits, virtual writing workshops, school & library marketing consultations for authors… you name it.

See also: Six Ways for Geeks to Help with Hurricane Sandy Relief at GeekMom.

http://vimeo.com/51920265

Josh wants to know:

Are there people out there who actually like George Tucker more than Wade Kinsella?

I vote no, but he wants to hear from YOU.

...at USA Today. 

This is Patton O. talking about the books that had the biggest influence on him:

Probably all of the Beverly Cleary books, for the weird crossover feeling, as well as The Great Brain books, which actually show the main character growing up and out of his "Great Brain" persona. Those were the earliest books that made an attempt to mimic life as I was living it.

By the Numbers
Teen: 18
Tween: 7
Children: 7

Sources
Review Copies: 9

Purchased: 1
Library: 17

Standouts
Teen: TIE
Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst
She was supposed to give up her life for her goddess. But her goddess never showed. What now? The core of this book was its amazing main character: Liana's faith and yet her practicality, her strength in the face of the upending of everything she'd ever believed. This is a beautiful and unique book with a setting that I loved. I'll stop gushing now, because the only book that could have rivaled it this month was . . .
Hush by Eishes Chayil
Raise your hand if you haven't heard of this one. Yeah, that's what I thought. Powerful, fascinating for its nuanced portrayal of an insular religious community and its secrets, and what it truly means to be a Woman of Valor.
Tween: Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities by Mike Jung
A superhero fanboy discovers Captain Stupendous's secret identity: he's a twelve-year-old girl. Well, now he is, anyway. And there's a supervillain, and mayhem, plus the usual angst and trauma of being a twelve-year-old. There's just oodles of fun awaiting you in this book.
Children: Me and Momma and Big John by Mara Rockliff
A boy watches his mother work on New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and comes to realize that though her work may be small, the great cathedral couldn't rise without it. A very different look at art and artists, when the individual isn't recognized but their contribution is invaluable to a larger endeavor.

Because I Want To Awards
Consistently Excellent Series is Consistently Excellent: The Hive Detectives by Loree Griffith Burns
This whole series is strong on the science, but this one is particularly good about it, showing how scientists are using the scientific method to formulate and examine theories related to Colony Collapse Disorder, and what the process teaches them even if they don't get The Big Answer to Everything.
No Easy Answers: Fall for Anything by Courtney Sheinmel
Struggling to understand her father's suicide, Eddie falls into a strange relationship with his protege. I really appreciated that this didn't offer one simple thing that made everything better for Eddie, because it doesn't work like that.
Yipppeeee, Finally!: The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson
I've been waiting to read this ever since I devoured The Girl of Fire and Thorns last year. This book is more complex as Elisa struggles with the mantle of ruling that she took on at the end of the last book. The end was a little ARGH but I did love this book.

We may not be living in the Diamond Age quite yet, but Neal Stephenson’s Primer is here. My friend Andy Diggle (who’s the reason I read The Diamond Age in the first place) sent me this link about a learn-as-you-go software project influenced by (and named in honor of) The Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, that amazing smart-book device from Stephenson’s nanotech masterwork:

“Ethiopian kids hack OLPC in five months with no instruction”

“We left the boxes in the village. Closed. Taped shut. No instruction, no human being. I thought, the kids will play with the boxes! Within four minutes, one kid not only opened the box, but found the on/off switch. He’d never seen an on/off switch. He powered it up. Within five days, they were using 47 apps per child per day. Within two weeks, they were singing ABC songs [in English] in the village. And within five months, they had hacked Android. Some idiot in our organization or in the Media Lab had disabled the camera! And they figured out it had a camera, and they hacked Android.”

“OLPC” stands for One Laptop Per Child:

The One Laptop Per Child project started as a way of delivering technology and resources to schools in countries with little or no education infrastructure, using inexpensive computers to improve traditional curricula. What the OLPC Project has realized over the last five or six years, though, is that teaching kids stuff is really not that valuable. Yes, knowing all your state capitols how to spell “neighborhood” properly and whatnot isn’t a bad thing, but memorizing facts and procedures isn’t going to inspire kids to go out and learn by teaching themselves, which is the key to a good education. Instead, OLPC is trying to figure out a way to teach kids to learn, which is what this experiment is all about.

OLPC created special learning software for the tablets in this project, specifically modeled on the Primer.

If this all reminds you of a certain science fiction book by a certain well-known author, it’s not a coincidence: Nell’s Primer in Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age was a direct inspiration for much of the OLPC teaching software, which itself is named Nell. Here’s an example of how Nell uses an evolving, personalized narrative to help kids learn to learn without beating them over the head with standardized lessons and traditional teaching methods…

(Read the rest of the article to see how it works.)

An excerpt from my 2010 booknotes on The Diamond Age:

Neo-Victorians, nanotech, and education: this novel had me at hello. Top-notch world-building; there’s a little dose of cyberpunk in the opening, with a ruffian named Bud getting himself fitted up with a skull gun that fires explosive bullets upon his mental command; and then we’re whisked off to New Atlantis/Shanghai, the home base of a thriving Neo-Victorian community, where the upper crust are Equity Lords (aristocrats by dint of their corporate ties) and the birthday entertainments involve creating fairylands that rise out of the sea for a day, thanks to the limitless possibilities of molecular manipulation. There is something delightful about this melding of Dickensian characters and futuristic tech.

One of the upper-crustiest of the Equity Lords is an elderly gent who, for all he esteems his phyle and works to protect and promote it, rues the loss of opportunity for young Neo-Victorians to experience character-building adversity. His adult children missed out on something important, he believes—after all, he himself grew up on an Idaho farm, was homeschooled until age fourteen, pulled himself up by his bootstraps and all that. He determines to offer his granddaughter an alternative to the soft Vicky upbringing, in which status and comforts are often taken for granted by those born and raised in the phyle. To this end, he hires a gifted techno-engineer, one John Hackworth, to create a sophisticated, interactive book-slash-computer, the Primer, which will provide his granddaughter with personalized instruction in academic subjects, ethics and morals, handcrafts, self-defense, computer programming—pretty much everything under the sun.

Hackworth rises to the challenge…Hackworth, who, as it happens, has a young daughter of his own. He attempts to procure a bootleg copy for four-year-old Fiona, and therein lies the tale. The illicit copy of the Primer goes astray and winds up in the hands of a young thete child—thetes belong to no phyle at all—named Nell. As in “little Nell”—a Dickensian waif full of pluck, growing up in dreadful circumstances in a cold, cruel world. If ever a child needed a Magic Book, it’s Nell. Well, and Pip, and David Copperfield, and Oliver Twist…but no, really, Nell’s in worse straits than all those lads (her mother, Tequila, has worse taste in men than David Copperfield’s mum), and we’re thrilled to see the Primer offer her some tools for digging her way out of the squalor.

As first-responders are working to provide these families with electricity, water, and other critical resources, First Book—in partnership with our local volunteers and partners—is raising funds to restock school and home libraries. After distributing more than 5 million books in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we know new books can be valuable lifelines for those whose worlds have been turned upside down.

Your help will ensure that children in need will have new books — stories at bedtime, the chance to be transported to another world, and the opportunity to return to normalcy.

Every $2.50 you contribute will provide a new book to a child affected by the storm.

Your impact will also be DOUBLED as each gift of $2.50 will be matched by an additional book from First Book’s publishing partners.

Who? Who will win the Oscar this year, at the 85th Academy Awards? Hey Krishna? The Mystical Laws? Walter & Tandoori’s Christmas?

Maybe – or maybe Pixar’s Brave, Sony’s Hotel Transylvania, or Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph will be among the five nominees. Today, the Academy announced the twenty-one features which have been have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category.

Listed in alphabetical order by title (click on highlighted title to see trailer), they are:

“Adventures in Zambezia”
“Brave”
“Delhi Safari”
“Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax”
“Frankenweenie”
“From Up on Poppy Hill”
“Hey Krishna”
“Hotel Transylvania”
“Ice Age Continental Drift”
“A Liar’s Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman”
“Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted”
“The Mystical Laws”
“The Painting”
“ParaNorman”
“The Pirates! Band of Misfits”
“The Rabbi’s Cat”
“Rise of the Guardians”
“Secret of the Wings”
“Walter & Tandoori’s Christmas”
“Wreck-It Ralph”
“Zarafa“

Several of the films listed have not yet had their required Los Angeles qualifying runs. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules before they can advance in the voting process. The nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10th, 2013, at 8:30am EST/5:30am PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The winners will be announced on Sunday, February 24th, 2013.

Which ones do you think will be nominated?

(Thanks, Janet Hoffman)

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