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A few remarks on things we’ve read or are reading around here…

What Makes a Raphael a Raphael by Richard Muhlberger. About ten years ago, I heard that the What Makes a… series was going out of print and I snapped up the five titles I could find. I think they’ve since been reissued with new covers, so they’re not all lost and gone as I feared they would be. But I’m glad I made the purchase way back then. We love these books. They are slim paperbacks will full-color reproductions of paintings, many paintings, by the artist in question. The text is readable and engaging and in addition to providing biographical information about the artist, Muhlberger spends a lot of time taking close looks at individual paintings, discussing materials, technique, composition, and historical context in clear and vivid language. Beanie, my current seven-year-old, listens raptly. We pulled the Raphael book off the shelf on a whim a week or two ago, and several mornings have found the two of us poring over the details of one of the paintings in this book. Beanie will linger over the volume long after the little ones have called me away. Jane, overhearing scraps of our discussion, was herself drawn in and has been taking her own turn puzzling out the symbols Raphael uses to identify certain saints in his religious artwork.

The St. George painting made us think, of course, of Margaret Hodges’s classic picture book, St. George and the Dragon. May I just say (for the thousandth time) how much I adore Trina Schart Hyman’s work? We have an edition of Peter Pan which she illustrated, and Rose has read it to tatters—but we can’t part with it, taped up and raggedy as it is. Rose says that no one else draws the Lost Boys properly. I understand exactly how she feels, because as long as I live, there will be only one edition of The Secret Garden for me, and that’s the one illustrated by Tasha Tudor.

At the orthodontist’s office yesterday, Rose and Bean were asked to fill out questionaires about their favorite things and special talents. (I could write a whole post about those questionaires: good grief.) Rose was somewhat tortured by the small blank asking for her favorite book (”It’s impossible, Mom!”) and finally came to a compromise between space and reality by squeezing in Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. It pained her, though, to abridge the title of the latter in that fashion. Every true fan knows it’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Rose has not encountered many fill-in-the-blank experiences in her life, and she was not impressed by this one.

I can’t begin to keep up with Jane’s reading lists anymore. I make mental notes of the piles I see on end tables and bedsides around the house. Lately there’s a lot of James Herriot and Rick Riordan. Right here beside me on the sofa is Shannon Hale’s Princess Academy, which Scott, Jane, and Rose have all enjoyed, but I haven’t read yet myself. Rose keeps going back to Gail Carson Levine’s Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, which came by surprise from Uncle Jay last week and was jubilantly celebrated by all three girls. It had been a library favorite for months. We have a number of Levine’s earlier fairy tale books because Gail and I used to have the same editor at HarperCollins, and Alix kept me well supplied with Gail’s latest. Ah, those were the days.

I’m reading Understood Betsy to Rose and Beanie: one of our family’s favorite read-alouds ever. Beanie was about Rilla’s age the last time we enjoyed this book aloud. She doesn’t remember it at all, of course, and so I get the fun all over again of hearing the chuckles and giggles in all the right places. The first time I read this book aloud, Jane was about five years old. Scott was working at home in those days, writing, and I remember how he came out of his office for a cup of coffee and got sucked into the story, and that was the end of his work session for that day. After that I was adjured to save the read-aloud time for when he could join us. (The same thing happened with By the Great Horn Spoon years later.)

At bedtime, Scott is reading Watership Down to the younger girls for the second time in…a year? Two years? Doesn’t matter how long (or short) a time ago it was: it was time again. All three decreed it.

This may explain why Beanie came staggering out from bed yesterday morning and said, “Mommy, I just had the most realistic dream. We were all rabbits…”

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Author: Lynne Jonell
Rating:
Reading Level: 4th - 6th grade

Pages: 352
Publisher: Henry Holt
Edition: Hardcover, 2007

It's impressive how Jonell manages to inform the readers of all characters' personalities, feelings, and actions without ever straying away from Emmy's perspective: readers only know what she sees, hears, and thinks. The outlandish circumstances with all the super(magical?)-powers of the rodents are accompanied by a gentle tale of friendship, longing for parental love, and the essence of stable families. I mentally applauded the several jabs at the absurdity of the over-scheduling of our children.

The illustration with the flip-book margin of Rat falling and Emmy catching him ceases being a gimmick when it visually sums up the spirit of the story: "Don't worry. We're friends. I will catch you if you fall."

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Author: Sandi Toksvis
Rating:
Reading Level: 5th - 7th

Pages: 191
Publisher: Roaring Brook (originally Randomhouse, UK, 2005)
Edition: Hardcover, 2007

What a feat... a tender, courageous, and often wryly humorous tale about the horrors of the Nazi occupation of Denmark. (Even if it's just a small corner of the world the Nazi's had a hold on.) Because of the courage and ingenuity and the strong belief in human equality of the Danish people, most of the 8000+ Jews were sheltered, transported to safety, and survived. This story from pre-and-early-teen Basme's (Teddy Bear) view point should be introduced to as many young readers as we can! It does not have extremely gruesome depictions that will upset young readers who have yet to know this part of our history, but it has plenty of nerve-wrecking moments and conflicts to hold one's attention and interest. There is great sacrifice and a few upsetting events (at least two quite irrevocable sufferings) toward the end of the tale, justifiably depicted. I cried, laughed, and gasped with terror, during the great theatrical scene that Mama staged to save their neighbors. Knowing that the story is inspired by family histories and relatives of the author I bought the story even more.

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Author:Jeremy Tankard (illustrator)
Rating:
Reading Level: Pre-k to 2nd

Pages:
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Edition: Hardcover, 2007

I LOVE the grumpiness of Bird and his host of 4-legged friends who totally are so clueless to his mood. The Wahaha-WOW ending is so unexpected and satisfying. There is a great momentum building through this seemingly simplistic picture book. Tankard's thick-black-outlined endearing group of animals and brush-painting trees, accompanied by bleached photo background is dexterously done. There is just so much to look at and such a joy to read aloud and to share!

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Author: N.D. Wilson
Rating:
Reading Level: 4th to 7th

Pages: 224
Publisher: Random House
Edition: Hardcover, 2007

A great survival story, a thrilling adventure, an intriguing mystery, and a tall tale. It reminds me of Paulsen's survival stories but seems to have even more layers and with incredibly enjoyable wry humor: "It was a face deciding what to say and how to say it, and the truth didn't look as if it was a factor in the decision making."

"The bottom of the trash bag was full of boiled crawdad dead. Those remaining in the pool wandered about, confused by the sudden spaciousness."

"Jeffrey was dragged out by his shoulders and then propped up with his back against the couch. The bag was still blood-glued to the back of his head and stood out around it like a white plastic halo."

Yup, a few gruesome scenes: for example: dealing with and collecting useful things from a dead body. I loved those scenes.

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Author: Patrick Carman
Rating:
Reading Level:

Pages: 330
Publisher: Little, Brown
Edition: Hardcover, 2007

This grabbed me and wouldn't let me go the entire time! Instantly, I was intrigued by the Frankeinstein quote and the strange conversation between the two disembodied voices. Edgar's tale then unfolds with lots of fast paced action and suspenseful plot twists, a cast of well-delineated major and minor characters, and wonderful illustrations (I'd like just a few more... um... maybe a dozen more, of Squire Broel's pencil drawings, actually!) I know that there is quite a bit of environmental message attached and all the science might not be accurately scientific and border on magical elements, but I bought it all: the world, the characters, the events, and wasn't even that distraught to find no ending to this particular portion of the tale.

I was reluctant to start reading the book, since there is a half-wrap dust jacket and a Bonus CD-ROM -- gimmicks that made me skeptical: the book must not be that great if they need to include special cover design and extra materials to draw readers! Glad that I did read it, really glad!

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Googled on dead presidents and came across the wikipedia site they had a list off all the presidents. These four where listed as "killed by a gunshot". Hope you like it?

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I didn't get an answer on this question of whether or not Uncle Sam qualifies as a Dead President, so I thought I'd post another Uncle Sam,... fleecing a citizen. This one was for Playboy.

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This one was done for a magazine about 7 years ago.
Can not remember what the story was about.

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I did this for a children's book around 2001... it's a book called "Look, my tooth is loose!"
Still available on amazon.com!

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Blogged with Flock

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Although my favorite dead president is William Henry Harrison, depicting Abraham Lincoln's assassination was, visually, much more exciting. It was a giant, ill-conceived conspiracy that eventually ended with John Wilkes Booth being tracked down and shot by Union soldiers...and Lincoln appearing on the five-dollar bill.
At a tavern on the night of the assassination, a patron allegedly heckled Booth that he'd never be the actor his father was. Booth replied, "After my appearance on stage tonight, I'll be the most famous man in America." This incident is most likely not true.

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Remember these?

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Well this is my contribution to the "Dead Presidents" thread. This piece was done awhile ago (obviously) for Comedy Central (even more obvious) as a give away at a trade show where they were making a presentation. Funny thing, this was not the first time I was asked to be a counterfeiter!

Altamore Unabashed

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Does Uncle Sam count as a dead president?

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I did this for a magazine a few years ago. Can't remember their title for some reason... Read the rest of this post

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For this weeks challenge I chose an old neon sign that has a dead president's name on it as the subject of my composition.

I first created the vector illustration in freehand. See below.


I then imported sections of the vector into photoshop and applied textures to give the sign a weathered "dead presidential" feel.


I think I'm going to do a series of these signs. They have been a lot of fun to produce.

Enjoy!

Steph D.

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Here is a progress pic of the SFG Challenge I am working on this week...
I always begin a portrait with my favourite part - the face... thought I would share it with you all...

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I did this for a young adult book cover two months ago. I think it's coming out in the fall or winter.
It was for Holiday House in New York.
Ghosts in the White House!

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An ideal situation for the current President?

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This week's theme: Dead Presidents.

This week's theme was suggested by our very own Daniel Davis. Thanks Daniel!

For you newcomers, the SFG Challenge runs Thursday to Thursday, and was created to offer every member an opportunity to stretch their creative muscles and post their interpretations on a specific theme. It's a lot of fun!


Be sure to label your illustrations with the appropriate labels as well. I prefer you label your entries with your name or screenname, and the challenge label, SFG: Dead Presidents.

Remember, this is a completely voluntary challenge designed solely to stimulate creativity and promote participation. Please don't hesitate to post your other work as normal.

Be sure to check out the SFG Forum, some great stuff going on over there every day.

One last thing, if you're a new member, and you haven't been added to the members list yet, shoot me an e-mail with your full name, url and join date. Thanks!



The next challenge begins Thursday, July 26th, 2007.

Challenge yourselves SFG'ers and have a great week!

-Jeff

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