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Goodnight Moon Tribute for world book day!

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Filed under: Brian Tappin, journeys, love, one-tooth dog, sea

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I’m sometimes called the Bread-Bike-Book Woman by people who recognise me in the community but don’t know me by name; I go everywhere by bike and my basket is nearly always full of either baguettes and or books.

Shop assistants will ask what I’ve borrowed from the library, or let me know when the fresh bread is cheap at the end of the day. It’s a sobriquet I’m quite at ease with

Tom McLaughlin‘s The Cloudspotter is actually called Franklin, but because of his passion for watching the sky and imagining what he can see high above him, everyone calls him after his hobby.

To some, the Cloudspotter might appear isolated; Indeed, he doesn’t have many friends.

But what he does have is bags and bags of imagination. He can look at the sky and imagine stories galore in which he’s a hero, and adventurer or an explorer. Simply put, he’s very happy with his head in the clouds.

One day, however, Scruffy Dog arrives on the scene. The Cloudspotter doesn’t want to share his adventures and poor Scruffy is sent packing. But could it be that Scruffy wasn’t trying to take anything away from Franklin? Perhaps he was trying to offer him something? Something kind and full of heart, to make adventures and exploring, on earth or in the sky, even more enjoyable?

Tom McLaughlin’s quiet and thoughtful story is a lovely celebration of the power of imagination to provide comfort and joy, as well as solace. The Cloudspotter also acknowledges that it’s quite OK to be a bit different, to daydream. It shows how when friendship comes knocking it’s about doubling – rather than halving – fun and games through sharing.

The summery, soothing, pastel palette enhances the story’s gentle and charmingly whimsical feel. McLaughlin’s style makes Franklin feel like a cousin to Oliver Jeffers’ boy in How to Catch a Star.

All in all a delightful book to encourage us all to be open to spotting more adventures in the world around us.

After sharing The Cloudspotter with my girls, I prepared somewhere comfortable to do a bit of our own cloud spotting…

…we lounged around and saw lots of scenes like this…

…then we went over to the paint station…

…and started covering large sheets of paper with various shades of blue, mixing in PVA as we went. The large sheets of paper were strips of wallpaper lining. The PVA (glue) was mixed in so that we could start sticking “clouds” onto our skies as soon as the paper was covered:

We used a mixture of cotton wool and toy stuffing for the clouds, exploring the different ways these materials stretch and becoming wispy.

Whilst our sky scenes dried, it turned out that cleaning up after painting was almost as much fun as creating our art!

A few hours later, our skies were ready to go above beds, enabling hours of relaxing cloud spotting. Here’s what the kids can now see as they lie with their heads on their pillows:

What can you see in our clouds?

Music to spot clouds by could include:

Blue Clouds by Elizabeth Mitchell and You Are My Flower

Baby Cloud by Caspar Babypants

Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell

Other activities which could be great fun to try out alongside reading The Cloudspotter include:

Making hot air balloons! I’d like to try these ideas over on Project Kid.

Creating atmospheric (geddit?) cloud mood lighting – this project from DIY for Teens looks fun.

Having edible sky and clouds for dessert. YUM YUM.

Reading my review of another of Tom McLaughlin’s books – The Story Machine.

Do you have a nickname like Franklin or me?

Wishing you and yours many happy hours of cloud spotting, creating stories with all the amazing characters you imagine!

Disclosure: I was sent a free review copy of this book by the publisher.

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Filed under: finding norway, journeys, sea

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Splish! Splash! A Book About Rain (2003), written by Josepha Sherman and illustrated by Jeff Yesh - This book uses fun pictures and simple vocabulary to explain where rain comes from and why rain is important to the earth and to humans. Sherman also delves into what happens when too much rain (flooding) or not enough rain (drought) occurs.



The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter's Wonder (2009), written by Mark Cassino with Jon Nelson  - Mark Cassino is a fine art and natural history photographer. Jon Nelson is a teacher and physicist who studies ice crystals and clouds. Together they have given us a stunning volume on the formation of snow. A perfect mixture of art and science, Cassino's photographs are accompanied by clearly written text that explains a very complex process in terms kids will understand. Readers will learn what snow is made from, how it forms, what shapes it takes, and more! Photos of snow crystals are included with a comparison of the enlarged images to a snow crystal of actual size. In the back matter you will find directions on how to catch snow crystals and examine them. For more ideas for extending the text, download a teacher's guide for this title at the Chronicle web site.

Snow is Falling (2000), written by Franklyn Branley and illustrated by Holly Keller - This book in the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series describes the benefits and importance of snow, as well as the danger of too much of it. Back matter includes experiments and activities for cold, snowy days.


Poetry Books


That's it for this essential part of the water cycle. Since we've hit upon important components of weather, that will be the topic of the next list. See you soon!

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This makes for quite an interesting voyage!

Working on fun things this week. Starting with a fun little spread about a family of birds. I love that I get to flex some background work in this one..I always loved working on buildings and such.

 More work talk of work to come.

Until then Happy Week!

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It got me thinking about skies. I do them all different - depending on the house or building, and I guess what mood I'm in. Sometimes a certain kind of sky just goes with a building - some are light, some strong, some have no clouds, some have lots, some are pretty blah, some more dramatic, etc.

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eli's slumberland ©the enchanted easel 2013

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eli in slumberland ©the enchanted easel 2013

©the enchanted easel 2013

©the enchanted easel 2013

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I was watching the clouds one rainy afternoon.  And as they sailed swiftly across the sky in an ever-changing variety of shapes and squiggles I remembered a quote from Thomas Browne.  In 1635 he wrote, “Nature is the art of God.”  I thought, I believe it because right now, the entire sky looks like His own personal Etch a Sketch.  I mean, first there was a hole in the clouds that morphed into a five-pointed star before it got sucked into a shrunken pinpoint that was suddenly the eye of an alligator that chased a hump-backed snake.  Highly entertaining.  Almost started singing, “I know an old lady who swallowed a fly . . .”

Can’t tell me that God doesn’t have a sense of humor. The alligator made me wonder briefly if animals ever marvel at God’s Etch a Sketch? After all, my two pooches are pretty smart and I do catch them scanning the sky every so often.  Speaking of pooches, who cannot see God’s hand in all of creation:  from the perfection of a playful puppy’s soft, furry paw to the swiftness of a hungry cat’s claw . . . to the flawless symmetry of a daisy or black-eyed Susan.  Happenstance?  Occurring by chance? I think not.  After all, according to Genesis 1:24, “. . . and God said, let the earth bring forth every kind of animal — livestock, small animals, and wildlife.  And so it was . . . and God said it was good.

Seen my books? “The SEED” a Novel of suspense that placed as a top ten finalist and was nominated to be put on a college required reading list.  And the Johnny Vic historical adventure series (mixing treasure hunting, adventure and American history!).   Go to http://www.annrichduncan.com.

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Lots coming together.  It took a couple days to detail the sky.  Last time, I had used a combo of Cerulean and white for the clouds (see photo in last post).  But, the clouds were too "blue." Afterwards, I went in with a fairly dry brush and added white on it's own to poof the clouds.

Doing the sky in the last couple panels took a while because I had already brought the figures and grape clusters to a greater degree of completion.  Since I really don't want to rework them, I needed to be extra careful going around them.


I also opted to not put clouds behind the figures themselves.  There's already a lot going on in that panel and it would be too busy overall.

After the sky, I went back over the mountains.  It's time for the camera to do it's talking - to make clear any problems (as it always does).  Of course, they are not "done."  There will be layers of shrubbery, trees, and flowers that are so common to the Santa Maria hillsides.  But, those are a top layer and will happen after the lower layers are completed.

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