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Just Like Me, by Nancy J. Cavanaugh, is a funny, uplifting summer camp story about unlikely friendships and finding your place in the world from the award-winning author of This Journal Belongs to Ratchet.

Arwen Elys Dayton, author of Traveler, selected these five family favorites.

Author Padma Venkatraman‘s most recent novel A Time to Dance was an Honour Winner in the 2015 South Asia Book Award and was chosen for inclusion in IBBY’s 2015 Selection of Outstanding Books for Young … Continue reading ... →

When Christmas rolls around, I am sometimes asked to read a "children's" story at the Christmas Eve meeting.   Some years, I choose better than others. 

Ooh, the weather outside is ... perfect for snuggling inside with one of these best selling picture books. Snow, by Cynthia Rylant, is this month's best selling picture book from our affiliate store—it's a beautiful book.

Ever since I sold my first book a million trillion years ago (okay, okay...1991), I've kept scrapbooks of book-related stuff.

I call them my Ego Books because during those times when I'm feeling insecure and inadequate, like a has-been and a loser (You know you've been there, right?), I can whip one out and thumb through it and I sometimes feel better about myself. (Saves me a ton of money on therapy.)

I read the nice letters folks wrote and see how blessed I am to have lovely, supportive friends and to have achieved some wonderful goals, I'm back in my groove.

So I recently decided to look through them.

Here are some of the highlights from the first one, which is 1991 to 2000.

Children notice and point out differences all the time, and it’s natural. But hopefully as we mature, we learn that all individuals are unique and that everyone is “different.”

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Writing voice.

Hard to define.

Difficult (impossible?) to teach.

But there's nothing I love more in a book than a distinctive writing voice.

I may not be able to define it, but I know it when I see it. Or, more correctly, I know it when I HEAR it.

And if you think about it, that is really the literal meaning of the word "voice" - something that you HEAR.

To me, a distinct writing voice is one that sounds unique. It has a rhythm and flow and melody to it that sets it apart from another author's writing voice.

So here are a few examples of voice that I love:

From Patricia MacLachlan's Sarah, Plain and Tall (even the TITLE has a wonderful voice):

He was homely and plain, and he had a terrible holler and a horrid smell. 

and...

Cammie McGovern is the author of the adult novels Neighborhood Watch, Eye Contact and The Art of Seeing. She was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, and received the Nelson Algren Award in short fiction. She is one of the founders of Whole Children, a resource center that runs after-school classes and programs for children with special needs. Say What You Will is her first book for young adults.

 (Caution: cheating ahead. This is a post from September 2008)


If I were ever going to stalk anyone - which I AM NOT - it would be Cynthia Rylant.


For one thing, I adore her writing.


I consider her the person who inspired me to find my own writing voice.


She is notoriously introverted, which fascinates me.


I have spent unhealthy amounts of time trying to find out information about her.


Here are some things I know:


She used to have a white dog named Martha Jane who liked pizza.


She once had a cat named Blueberry.


She worked in the children's department of the Cabell County Public Library in Huntington, West Virginia when she was 23.


She has a son named Nate, who was born "in the oranges and reds of the fall."


For many years, her "sweetheart" was Dav Pilkey.


She likes to go to the movies in the afternoon.


There are 8 boxes of cool stuff of hers in the special collections department at the Kent State University Library, including "an interesting written dialogue between a TV movie producer seeking the rights to Missing May and a reluctant Rylant."


I love that: "...a reluctant Rylant."


(A side note: That library has a cool online feature where you can "talk" to a research librarian in real time. They are amazing and very helpful.)


This is part of the letter she got from ALA when she won the Newbery:


And, I'm saving the best part for last.


She has written me two letters:

0 Comments on The Stalker as of 1/1/1900

By Phoebe Vreeland, The Children’s Book Review
Published: November 4, 2010

Thanksgiving is a celebration of abundance and there is a virtual cornucopia of children’s books about this holiday.  You can find a Thanksgiving themed book featuring every child’s favorite character from Amelia Bedelia to Scooby Doo.  Bookstore shelves are laden with picture books about the first Thanksgiving as well as ones about today’s holiday tradition.  There even seems to be a whole genre of entertaining books about turkeys on the run.

So with the Thanksgiving spread overflowing, what will you look for in books for your children? What you choose to serve your children helps create the tradition we wish to carry on.  If you want a book that teaches history, it can be tricky.  That harvest feast of 1621 has inspired many an author to use it as a tableau and many an illustrator has romanticized and created beautifully idealized images.  Take care to choose books that are accurate and respectful towards everyone at that table.  Rather than choosing books for their familiar story and warm illustrations, take time to read a book through carefully by yourself before sharing it with your child.  Guidance offered here may inform your choice: http://www.oyate.org.

Today, the Thanksgiving tradition encompasses many things. For some, it is a time to travel, a time to gather with family and friends and feast.  It is a time to watch a football game, attend a school play or a parade.  Above all, the holiday is about giving thanks.  This makes it a wonderful opportunity to evoke gratitude in children.  The list includes several books to encourage this.  It also offers educational books that aim to be culturally sensitive and historically accurate.  The other selections are simply unique or just plain silly—usually about a turkey in trouble.

Happy Thanksgiving!  May your holiday be filled with gratitude, good will, and good books.

Hardscrabble Harvest

by Dahlov Ipcar

Reading level: Ages 4-8

Hardcover: 32 pages

Publisher: Islandport Press (September 15, 2009)

Source: Library

What to expect: Hardscrabble Harvest uses rollicking verse and Ipcar’s distinctive illustrations to tell a charming story about the running battle between a farm family and the mischievous animals that plunder their fields. Crows peck at freshly sown seeds, ducks eat new strawberry plants, rabbits nibble on tender lettuces, and raccoons dine on ears of ripening corn. All summer long the young farmer and his wife are ha

We've just had an extended family visit, which has put me in mind of this jaunty and joyful collaboration between Cynthia Rylant and Stephen Gammell. Combining oft-repeated text, numerous references to food, and energetic colored pencil illustrations, The Relatives Came perfectly expresses the loving claustrophobia of a family visit, and then the bittersweet stillness when they are gone. The

Snow

If I were ever going to stalk anyone - which I AM NOT - it would be Cynthia Rylant.

For one thing, I adore her writing.

I consider her the person who inspired me to find my own writing voice.

She is notoriously introverted, which fascinates me.

I have spent unhealthy amounts of time trying to find out information about her.

Here are some things I know:

She used to have a white dog named Martha Jane who liked pizza.

She once had a cat named Blueberry.

She worked in the children's department of the Cabell County Public Library in Huntington, West Virginia when she was 23.

She has a son named Nate, who was born "in the oranges and reds of the fall."

For many years, her "sweetheart" was Dav Pilkey.

She likes to go to the movies in the afternoon.

There are 8 boxes of cool stuff of hers in the special collections department at the Kent State University Library, including "an interesting written dialogue between a TV movie producer seeking the rights to Missing May and a reluctant Rylant."

I love that: "...a reluctant Rylant."

(A side note: That library has a cool online feature where you can "talk" to a research librarian in real time. They are amazing and very helpful.)

This is part of the letter she got from ALA when she won the Newbery:

And, I'm saving the best part for last.

She has written me two letters:

(She is recommending a book called I Am One of You Forever by Fred Chappell and anything by James Agee.)

(She is telling me that my novel was "lovely." That is such a perfect Cynthia Rylant word: lovely.)

Draft II: A Letter Back to a Student Originally uploaded by teachergal This note is a response to a student who turned-in her second draft yesterday. She did a phenomenal job mentoring herself after Cynthia Rylant’s Book When I Was Young in the Mountains, changing it [...]

Deb asked me which texts I’ll be using on day one of the memoir unit. Well, the answer is that I will be reading When the Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant or rereading What You Know First by Patricia MacLachlan. That being said, I’m actually having the kids spend their independent writing time [...]

Allyn Johnston Leaving Harcourt...

I've known since last week that Editor-in-Chief Allyn Johnston was leaving Harcourt after 22 years there. The news just broke in PW Children's Bookshelf yesterday. Today is Allyn's last day at Harcourt. Over the years she's worked with authors and illustrators the likes of Jane Dyer, Lois Ehlert, Mem Fox, Cynthia Rylant, Debra Frasier and Marla Frazee.

Allyn wrote a wonderful piece for me focusing on picture books for the 2009 CWIM, finishing it up soon after she was let go. Reading her piece, feeling her love of picture books, getting a glimpse of what an insightful editor she is, made me sad to think that someone who it seems was put on this earth to edit picture books could be let go as a result of a corporate merger (Houghton with Harcourt).

Here's a excerpt of her CWIM piece:

“Authors and illustrators are our most important resource. Without them none of us would be here. Our primary job in the editorial department is to maintain—and build—strong, trusting, collaborative relationships with them so they keep bringing their projects to us. And when those projects are wonderful, great. The editorial development process is relatively smooth. But when talented folks bring us weaker ideas—or ideas that don’t quite make sense yet—we must try our best to help them figure out how to make the project work and to coax it out of them without being discouraging.
I think our biggest role, then, is to believe in our authors and illustrators, to believe great things can happen.”

During our common planning time today, my colleagues and I brainstormed a list of texts we’re going to have students select from for their literary essays. Many people think that kids should pick whatever book they’re reading, I’ve come to believe that having children select from a pre-selected set of short texts is better. [...]

Walt Disney’s Cinderella
Retold by Cynthia Rylant
Illustrated by Mary Blair
Disney Press, 2007

I really never thought I’d write this review. I don’t spend time ranting about books I don’t like. I really thought I wouldn’t like this book. But I loved it. I will admit Disney’s name on the front of the book biased me against it. Cynthia Rylant’s name on it convinced me to give it a chance. Honestly, I got through the whole book and wondered, “Hmm, what is the Disney connection here.” Yes, it was that good. The front flap lets you know that Mary Blair was the original painter for the Disney Cinderella movie when it came out many moons ago. Disney Press published it. But the Disney saccharine didn’t mess with Cynthia Rylant’s unbelievable writing. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever felt the beauty of this story until I read this retelling.

Here is an excerpt from the scene of the night of the ball and Cinderella wishes she could go:

“Tears have a wondrous magic about them. They often change everything. And for Cinderella, on this night, tears created a miracle.”

Cynthia Rylant spreads her magic of the story with her words, but she also clearly articulates the theme of the story: Love.

Beautifully written! Disney got something right this time around—they hired a phenomenal spinner of tales to bring this story to life again.

I’m posting from sunny Tucson where I am attending the 7th Regional Conference of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), hosted by the U.S. section (USBBY) of which I am the past president. What a terrific event! It’s a gathering of a few hundred people dedicated to promoting international understanding through children’s literature, a cause near to my heart. Our first speaker was the effervescent artist Yuyi Morales who inspired me with her odd and clever juxtapositions of Mexican folk art and wisdom, pop culture connections, and pithy use of language. She used a colorful character, Señor Tlalocan (rooted in Mexican folklore) to guide us through her presentation and presented various prayers of this character both visually and verbally. Here was one of my favorites:

Señor Tlalocan's Prayer

“Mighty impulses of mine, give me the courage to follow you always. Might I remember that there is no right or wrong decision, but only commitment to what I choose. Help me stick with my favorite option and work on it with conviction and passion so as to make everyone believe it was the only choice I had.”

I love this thought and I send it out to all of you and especially to my daughter in honor of her 24th birthday today. And here’s a poem that echoes that conviction, as crazy as the connection might seem.

God Went to Beauty School
by Cynthia Rylant

He went there to learn how
to give a good perm
and ended up just crazy
about nails
so He opened up His own shop.
"Nails by Jim" He called it.
He was afraid to call it
Nails by God.
He was sure people would
think He was being
disrespectful and using
His own name in vain
and nobody would tip.
He got into nails, of course,
because He'd always loved
hands--
hands were some of the best things
He'd ever done
and this way He could just
hold one in His
and admire those delicate
bones just above the knuckles,
delicate as birds' wings,
and after He'd done that
awhile,
He could paint all the nails
any color He wanted,
then say,
"Beautiful,"
and mean it.

From God Went to Beauty School by Cynthia Rylant (HarperColllins, 2003)

Emily, just be who you want to be where you want to be it. All the rest will take care of itself. Thinking about you…

I know it's late to join the Poetry Friday round up, but here's the link for those who are interested.
Picture credit: tlacuilopilo.blogspot.com

by Renee Kirchner, Teaching Tips Contributing Editor

Prediction is an important reading skill that children must develop. It helps them to understand stories and create meaning as they read. Teachers can help children learn how to use clues from a story to predict what will happen next. One of the best types of text for teaching predicting is the circular story.

Circular stories follow a pattern. They end the same way they began after following a series of predictable events. Talk to children about other things that follow a circular pattern such as seasons or an animal’s life cycle. Explain that every year we have four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall. We always have four seasons and we can predict the type of weather to expect because it follows a circular pattern each year. Let them know that some stories are predictable, just like seasons, because they follow a circular pattern.

There are many fine examples of picture books that you can use to teach prediction. Read some of the stories listed below and ask children to predict what will happen next when you read. It might be helpful to draw a circle on the board and write out the plot points. This will illustrate how the story comes back around to the place that it started.

Picture books with circular plots:

The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant

When relatives arrive from Virginia, the house is filled with people and good times. There are so many relatives that they can’t all eat at the same time and they sleep on top of each other. At summer’s end, the relatives leave and the house seems big and quiet again. But, the relatives will be back again next summer.

Stephanie’s Ponytail by Robert Munsch

Stephanie arrives at school one day with a ponytail. The next day, all the girls are wearing ponytails, too. Stephanie wears her hair differently every day trying to thwart the copycats. Finally she tells her classmates that she is going to shave her head. The story has a surprise twist ending. The cumulative text is great for teaching how to make predictions.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

In this modern-day classic, one simple act, giving a mouse a cookie, triggers a whole set of other events. The demanding mouse needs a glass of milk after eating the cookie and so on and so on. Children will enjoy guessing what the mouse will need next.

Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto

Maria thinks that she lost her mother’s diamond ring in a batch of tamales she was making for Christmas dinner. When her cousins arrive, she tells them the problem and they help her look by biting into each of the tamales. Soon all of the tamales are gone and they have to make another batch.

Seven Little Rabbits

Seven little rabbits go down the road to visit their friend toad. This repetitive text keeps children guessing if any of the rabbits will make it to toad’s house. One by one they get tired and need to take a nap. The rhyming text makes for a great read aloud.

Title: Little Whistle’s Dinner Party
Written by: Cynthia Rylant
Illustrated by: Tim Bowers
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Voyager Books, Reprint Edition
Ages: 4-8
ISBN: 0-15-205062-0
Publication: September 1, 2004

Little Whistle’s Dinner Party is an imaginative story with beautiful pictures. Tim Bowers’ oil painting illustrations are so crisp, and so alluring; readers will want to stare at the page long after the words have been read.

The story begins in “Toytown,” a wonderful little toy store. Toytown is a special place, because after the shop closes down for the night, all of the animals come to life. It’s great for Little Whistle, a small guinea pig, who is the only real “living” thing in the store.

One special night, Little Whistle decides to have a late-night dinner party. He invites all of his Toytown friends, and prepares the food for the feast.

“Little Whistle rode the train all over the store, inviting his friends to dinner.
‘I’ll run over!’ said Rabbit, who always ran after the shades were drawn.
‘I’ll bring a smile and a song!’ said Violet, the little china doll who liked to sing.”

But when midnight rolls around, Little Whistle is nowhere to be seen.

But, before his friends can get too worried, he arrives at the party with a surprise treat in-hand. It’s a wonderful night for Little Whistle and all of the friends in Toytown.

************************

Reviewed by Sylvia C. Hall

Alligator Boy by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Diane Goode. Harcourt, Inc. $16.00

I imagine that it must be the nicest thing in the world to have a collaborator with whom you’ve worked for twenty odd years or so. How comforting that must be. The pairing of author Cynthia Rylant and illustrator Diane Goode began long long ago when they first worked together to create “When I Was Young In the Mountains”. Badda bing, it wins a Caldecott Honor and the rest is history. I wasn’t aware that the two were still doing any shared projects, and then this lovely little book arrived on my desk. “Alligator Boy” is a small simple picture book that goes against expectations beautifully. If you happen to be in desperate need of a book that will delight your small children, boys and girls alike, but that falls on the understated side of the equation, I cannot recommend this story enough. Charming, charming, charming.

After taking a trip to a museum and seeing a life-sized stuffed alligator in all its reptilian glory, a young boy decides that becoming an alligator is his life’s goal. His aunt, who hears this wish over the phone, is happy to help the kid live his dream and sends him an easily worn alligator head and tail. Though his father is fine with the change, his mother worries about his health and a vet (the doctor wouldn’t come) is quickly dispatched. But as it turns out, there’s nothing wrong with the little alligator, so it’s off to school he goes. And wouldn’t you know it but it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him. Now he can do everything the other kids can, but he’s also adept at scaring away the school bully and rescuing dogs from dogcatchers. The last image in the book is of the little alligator, tuckered out at the end of a long day, sitting sleepily and happily on his loving mother’s lap.

Now when I read this story I full expected the boy to tire of his gatorial garb at some point in the proceedings so as to learn a rote lesson. Perhaps he’d find that people didn’t trust him as much or that he scared kittens. Then he’d go back to being a boy and we’d get some twist ending where he starts wearing a panda outfit on the last page. This is the standard procedure that a whole heckuva lot of picture books follow, and it’s deathly deadly dull. How much more interesting then to find that the boy wants to be an alligator, becomes one, and is then accepted by friends and family alike. The last image in this book is of the boy snuggled contentedly on his mother’s lap, seemingly without a care in the world. Now, I don’t like to read too much into a book, but this is a picture book that’s going to speak to a lot of people on a lot of different levels. For anyone who has ever felt that they were born in the wrong body and want to change their appearance drastically, this is the perfect gift of a book. This title also struck me as a subtle (and better illustrated) follow-up to Charlotte Zolotow’s, “William’s Doll”. Basically, it's about accepting someone for being what they want to be. Yet unlike those didactic children’s stories out there, this tale is sweet enough that the message (if indeed there is one at all) goes down so smoothly you won’t even realize you’ve learned it until a great deal of time has passed. Kudos to Ms. Rylant then for her good taste.

Of course, equal consideration/congrats/rose petals should be thrown at Ms. Diane Goode. Over the years Ms. Goode has pared down her style to its essential elements. In this story you’ve picture created with line on paper alongside watercolors and gouache. The color palette is a comfortable series of greens, blues, and serene (though certainly NOT pastel) shades and tones. As for the characters themselves, Goode places them in an abundant amount of white space. She knows how to show them off. To let them stand and pose and prance about without cluttering up the images. Yet for all this simplicity, she also conveys some very tender and dear emotions. Cleverly, the alligator head is able to show the emotions of the boy inside of it. And aside from his human hands and legs, you might begin to believe (as the kid himself undoubtedly does) that he really is an alligator incarnate. Now Ms. Goode chose to set this story in a time that never existed, which is rather interesting to look at. By the clothing, you might think that this story took place in the early 20th century (maybe the 30s). Heck, the bully in the book (who proves easy enough to frighten) wears a soft cabbie hat and blue suit. All the boys are in short pants, all the girls are in dresses, and the teacher is prone to a bow tie or two when he feels the yen. On the flip side, this is a fully multicultural books. The vet is black, the schoolmates are all sorts of ethnicities, and there’s even a girl in a wheelchair in one of the scenes. So while this is a time and place in world history that probably never happened, you’ll come to wish that it had.

Ah, but I did have one objection to this book and I’m afraid it deals with the choice to make this a rhyming text. It’s always a dangerous decision on any author’s part. Now by and large and for the most part Rylant does very well by her words. “His days were quite happy, his days were a joy . . . / What a good green life for an alligator boy.” That’s all well and good. Unfortunately, there are times when the rhymes don’t scan. “He found his dear dad and told him the story / of being a lizard, no longer a boy.” Now insofar as I can tell, that’s supposed to rhyme. The entire book is ABABAB. Um… this line doesn’t. Also there is the brief moment of awkwardness here and there. “She asked a good doctor to come and to see / this boy who could not a boy now be.” Doesn’t scan all that well and it’s doggone difficult to say properly aloud.

Quibbles aside, I have a very special place in my heart for this book. Really, it belongs in the same camp as “Imogene’s Antlers” by David Small. By sheer coincidence, it also is coming out in the same year as Emily Jenkins’, “Daffodil, Crocodile”, about a little girl who dresses up in a crocodile head to distinguish herself from her sisters. But where “Daffodil, Crocodile” is madcap and crazed, “Alligator Boy” is small and quiet and supremely sublime. A fantastic book for one-on-one sharing and a great story for any kid who has ever wished to take their dressing up to an entirely different level.

On shelves June 1, 2007