School librarian Heather Jankowski continues to explore her inner Martha Stewart with her storybook pumpkins craft with her students. This year, she made an Ollie pumpkin, complete with tail!
November is Picture Book Idea Month (better known around the blogosphere as PiBoIdMo), and this is the first year I'm participating. Like the other 300 or so writers and illustrators taking part, I've been busy trying to come up with 30 new picture book ideas before the month is over. Luckily, I've been finding tons of inspiration on
Writing for Kids (the official PiBoIdMo blog) and on a new website celebrating November as the first annual
Picture Book Month. But I'm always looking for more...
Given this context, November seems the perfect time to talk about the picture book
I Love to Dance, by Australian author and illustrator
Anna Walker. The words in the book are few (only 88 of them) and the illustrations quite simple, but the book resonates with me strongly and inspires me deeply.
My six-year-old thinks the main character of the book, Ollie, is a zebra. My four-year-old thinks he's a dog. I'm not quite sure what I think he is, but perhaps this is one of the reasons I love the book so much. When I read it, I pretty much forget about...or don't even care...whether Ollie is a zebra, a dog, or some other creature. I only care that he loves to dance, and I feel happy for him that he dances so easily and with such abandon.
Ollie loves to dance loudly, and to dance quietly. He loves to dance like jelly. He loves to jump, roll, and flip. And he loves to hop! However, I think it is really Anna Walker's illustrations that let readers get to know Ollie and how creative he can be. When he jumps, rolls, and flips, the illustrations show him doing it all inside of a cardboard box. And when he hops, he doesn't hop the way you might expect he would. He does it upside down--in a one-arm handstand!
I love that Ollie thinks up new and exciting ways to do classic movements...kind of like the way picture book writers and illustrators must think up new ideas and angles for telling stories that have probably been told in other ways many times before.
Picture books and the ideas behind them can inspire. They can touch the hearts of readers and make them feel connected to the characters in a book and to themselves. That's how I feel about Ollie, and that's what makes me want to read more about him and the activities he loves. For now, though, I'm going to take the inspiration that Ollie has already given me and try to come up with some more picture book ideas of my own!
I Love to Dance
By: Jarrett J. Krosoczka,
on 11/7/2011
Blog:
the JJK blog
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I'm delighted to have created content for
"The Studio", a new initiative by the Girl Scouts of America. Girl Scouts will earn badges while learning all about how I wrote and illustrated
Ollie the Purple Elephant.
Perhaps I'll see one of those badges when they are selling Girl Scout cookies outside of my local supermarket. I can't get enough Do-si-dos. Seriously, I buy about $100 worth when I see them being sold and mostly love the expressions on the kids' faces. I just LOVE THOSE COOKIES!!!
By: Jarrett J. Krosoczka,
on 10/6/2011
Blog:
the JJK blog
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JacketFlap tags:
ollie,
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On Tuesday I will be connecting with classrooms and libraries all over the country with the Ollie Virtual Storytime! I hope that you are as excited as I am, not just for my new book but for the opportunity to connect in a way that technology makes possible!
Here are a few suggestions to make the experience as seamless as possible:
• Ensure that you are able to access my UStream channel UStream.tv/channel/StudioJJK. Rest assured that I have a paid Pro account and commercials won't pop up.
• After each reading, I will be taking questions via the chat function. Consider using two computers, one to project the video feed for your students (which you can maximize to be full-screen) and one for you to submit the questions. It may be distracting for your students to see all of the question being submitted.
• I will be starting each storytime at the top of the hour from 9a.m. to 5p.m. EDT. You are welcome to attend every hour if you wish! But please connect just a few minutes ahead of each reading. I will begin the broadcast a few minutes ahead of time, so you can know that you are connected and the readings will start soon after.
1 Comments on Tips and Suggestions for the Ollie Virtual Storytime, last added: 10/7/2011
With every pre-order made through the Odyssey Bookshop, I'll be giving away free window clings of the purple pachyderm. I'll be signing copies of OLLIE the day after the Virtual Storytime and the books will then be shipped out!
 |
| Won't this look handsome on your window? |
On October 11th, you are invited to zoom into the studio in celebration of
Ollie the Purple Elephant's publication.
Every hour on the hour from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., I will be hosting live storytimes and Q & A sessions via
UStream.TV.
I'm looking forward to sharing my new picture book with classrooms, libraries, home-schoolers, book aficionados, and readers everywhere!
Check out the Ollie Virtual Storytime page on my website for more information.And don't forget, you can order your signed copy of Ollie from the Odyssey Bookshop!
Learn more about the story of Ollie!
Marika from the Odyssey Bookshop wrote a very kind review of my next picture book.
You can read it here.I can't wait for the rest of you to read it, too!
So it's official! It's 2011. I've been very busy, as I've hit the ground running finishing up art for LL6 and working on the first draft of PPS1. Nothing beats starting out with a clean studio. (See the above photo created using a nifty iPhoto picture stitching app thingie.) I did a lot of reorganizing and bought an additional bookshelf. One of my goals this year is to take a few minutes out of each day to just sit with my art books. (Another goal is to actually paint on that blank canvas that has been mocking me for the past two years. I'd love to get to do some non-book art.)
Don't worry, nothing is alphabetized—just organized by type. Picture books, graphic novels for young readers, graphic novels for older readers, YA books, art books, etc. My toys continue to fight for shelf space. It's amazing how quickly you can feel like you're outgrowing a space.
Lots to look forward to this year!
Lunch lady and the Bake Sale Bandit was just published and
Lunch Lady and the Field Trip Fiasco will be out on September 13th. Also out on September 13th will be
Ollie, which will mark my return to picture books as an author/illustrator.
Chew, Chew Gulp!, a book that I illustrated for Lauren Thompson will be out on May 24th as well. And on February 15th,
Lunch Lady y el sustituto cibernético, the Spanish translation of LL1, will be available!
I'll also be busy this year working on LL7, LL8, PPS2, my next picture book and a second book by Lauren Thompson. (As of right now, those are all slated for a 2012 release.)
Another big thing to look forward to this year—my first book,
Good Night, Monkey Boy, turns ten years old on June 12, 2011! Such an odd feeling to think that I've been in print for nearly ten years as I feel like I'm just getting started. Look for lots of exciting announcements to come surround my 10 year printaversary. In the fall, the Worcester Art Museum will be holing a retrospective exhibit of the original works from my books. WAM is planning a big event surrounding the exhibit to benefit the
Joe and Shirl Scholarship. (October 23rd, if you have your calendar handy.) I'll also be sending some of my artwork down to Houston, TX. (Which, let's face it, I've spent enough time in Houston to consider it a second hometown!)
P
By: Kerry Aradhya,
on 11/14/2011
I love the illustrations for this book! It just happens to be one of the books my publisher gave away as a PiBoIdMo prize last year!
Thanks for stopping by, Tara! I love the illustrations, too, and really want to see some of the other books in the series. Luckily, one of my daughters wants to read I Love to Sing and I Love Birthdays, so I may be getting at least those two soon :)
I haven't met Ollie before and now I so want to know more about him. Thanks for the introduction, Kerry.
Thanks, Joanna. I'm happy you want to learn more about him, too. I just find him so simple and lovable...at least in I Love to Dance!