How to use this Page

Fuse#8 announced her Picture Book poll and I decided to be brave and come up with my own list of the Top Ten Picture Books Of All Time According To Me.

Consider that, although I have read many many picture books, I still wonder which I might have missed since I began reading them fourteen years ago after I arrived to the USA. Because I was already an adult when I started, I did not grew up with the titles I am about to mention. Instead, I grew some more with them.

These books are in this list because perhaps they made me cry, or because I kept thinking about them years after I met them for the first time, or because I couldn’t stop imagining what it would be like to make a book like those, or because they changed my mind, or my heart, or my body, or taught me something I still live by, or simply because I adore them with inexplicable, irrational fervor. But only ten books? I’ll do my best…

A Small Tall Tale From The Far Far North. Peter Sis.

The most powerful and unforgettable of Sis' books. I literally drank this book with my eyes when I found it.

Amos and Boris. William Steigh

My son and I would read this story at night over and over again, transpired by the sea and the love between this small mouse and a whale.

Chato’s Kitchen. Gary Soto and Susan Guevara.

Barrio cats in a picture book? I couldn’t believe my eyes the first time I saw this book! Chato is some kind of Pedro Infante of the children’s literature.

The Stray dog. Marc Simont.

Marc Simont is a genius. There is such a simplicity in his art, and yet, no emotion si too big for him. I cheered so much with this book.

A Mother For Choco. Keiko Kasza.

Some of the best endings ever in a picture book.

Calling The Doves. Juan Felipe Herrera and Elly Simmons

This book is soulful. A song itself.

Going home. Eve bunting and David Diaz

There is something in this story that makes me weep. Is it the longing?

Sitti’s Secrets. Naomi Shihab Nye and Nancy Carpenter

I love the letter at the end of this book. I just found that Shihab Nye wrote a different kind of letter one day.

Good Night Gorilla. Peggy Rathmann.

For the longest time I wanted to be just like Peggy Rathmman. I still do…

The Day I Swapped My Dad For A Goldfish. Neil Gaiman and Dave Mckean

Storytelling at its best. There are some many undercurrents in this story.

Dear Fuse#8, ten books would never be enough; a hundred books would never be enough…how could I leave out the following titles?

Lon PoPo. Ed Young

Monster Mama. Liz Rosenberg and Stephen Gammell

Freight Train. Donald Crews.

Madlenka’s Dog. Peter Sis.

The Arrival. Shaun Tan.

Emeline At The Circus. Marjorie Priceman.

Northern Lullaby. Nancy White Carlstrom, and Diane and DianeDillon

Wild Child. Lynn Plourde and Greg Couch

The Mountains Of Tibet. Mordicai Gerstein.

John Patrick Norman McHennessy: The Boy Who Was Always Late. John Burningham.

Add a Comment

I found with delight that fuse#8 has included Little Night in the selection of her favorite books of 2007.

Add a Comment

Say you are at a book signing by famous children’s author and illustrator Tomie dePaola. Do you...

1. get your books signed, tell him that you admire his work, and have your picture taken together?
2. plug your blog shamelessly and write your phone number on his arm with a black sharpie?
3. tell him of a vague connection you have to him and then ask him to read your manuscript?

While you think that over, let me back up. On Saturday of my New York City trip, I went to Books of Wonder at the suggestion of my friend Tim. I ended up there earlier than I had planned, but actually, in a cosmic way, just in time. As it turns out Tomie dePaola was reading from his new book Why?: A 26 Fairmont Avenue Book and signing books. I was so early — by chance — that I was number nine for the book signing. I picked out two books, and wandered around for a while.

Books of Wonder is a great store with art, rare books, and many signed books on the shelves. I picked up Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? signed by seven of the fourteen illustrators (including Mo) for the regular retail price. Very cool.

Mr. dePaola read a little from his book and took a few questions. Then it was time for the book signing. Back to my starting questions. What did I do? The answer is “a.” Though writing my digits on his arm would have been funny, in a “call security” kind of way. But the woman right in front of me choose “c,” which pissed me off. First, because even I — mistress of the brazen — know that it’s inappropriate to ask an author to look at your manuscript, especially at a book signing! Second, with her talking to him and his directing her to SCBWI, she totally bogarted my time with him! The bookstore assistant handed my books over while he and the woman were still talking, so he signed my books and was done with me before I could even open my mouth. Oh, and then the woman in her flustered state took my signed book, so I used the thirty seconds I had left to say, “Hey, that’s my book!” The word “dumb-ass” was left implied, as there were children present.

I did get my picture taken with the man, since the store had offered. I got to say, approximately,
“IreallyloveyourworkandIalwayshave Iamachildrenslibrarianandabookbloggerand IwassogladthatIhappenedtobeheretoday,”
before the music played me off.

Afterwards I went to tour Donnell Library with a Very Special Tour Guide. I saw Winnie-the-Pooh and friends, an original Newbery medal, and rare books. Betsy seems like her blog, if that makes sense to you. She had thrown me off by saying that she’s shy around famous authors, but I didn’t see much shy about her. Not that I’m a famous author, mind you, but she didn’t seem like the shy type. After the tour, Betsy and I chatted over beers (but each one was only five ounces in a sample set we shared) about blogging for fun and profit, the frustrations of the Newbery committee (including the frustrations of not being able to talk much about the Newbery committee), the great showing at kidlit drink night, and ALA in Washington, DC (my neighbor to the north). I think with the help of the lovely Liz at Tea Cozy (and I might want to tell her this), we’ll try to get something together for kidlit bloggers. Or bloggers and authors. Or both — still working on it. Anyone interested?

I’ve extended the deadline for submitting to the Carnival of Children’s Literature if you do so by email (at the end of my blogroll). If you use the Carnival site, it will forward on to the next host automatically, and she has enough to do without worrying about your wayward posts. You have Friday and Saturday to send something, and then I’m closing the door on this puppy.

Display Comments Add a Comment

Yes, yet another day wherein I review no books at all. Not a one. Kinda makes you wonder what I’m doing here. I ask myself that every day.

Out and about, Wonderful Things are going on. The results are in for Lisa Yee’s contest. Funny stuff. I was highly in favor of Green Eggs and ’Nam, especially because the name itself was the main joke (as opposed to the description). I liked Mr. Brown Can Poo, Can You? for the same reason, so it’s not like I’ve got some sort of intellectual bent.

My BFF Fuse#8 is back in town with excellent posts on her Newbery Experience (good band name) and her take on the awards that are not Newbery. She is also profiled on the Seven Impossible Things blog with a fabulouso interview. I’ve mentioned that S.I.T. is doing interviews of bloggers and authors, right? Well they are, and the first two — of themselves and of Liz from A.C.A.F.A.A.T.C. (that is the worst acronym ever) — were very interesting. I’m on the list to be interviewed also, and not because I begged... Not only because I begged.

While you’re over at post of the Newbery Experience (or maybe a drink name), check out the comments. KT (whoever that is) has questioned the authority of the Cybils judges and the judging criteria themselves. She mentioned checking out blogs where she “found some mean spiritedness and some inarticulate criticism,” and that can mean only one thing. She read Tulane Readers Theatre.

Anyway, mean-spirited is so ten years ago. I’d prefer snarky, because it’s hip to be snarky (possible new Huey Lewis song). I also wonder about her comment, “If we are to take your awards seriously, we must know that you are serious persons with a serious way of evaluating the books.” This sentiment concerns me — being that I am not a serious person — so we might want to keep my judging role on the down-low.

And worrying about a serious way of evaluating the books is totally going to put a dent in my Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo strategy.

Display Comments Add a Comment