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One Winter's Day by M. Christina Butler. Hedgehog must find a new home. Along the way, he discovers friends who are even colder than he is. Adorable pictures, simple words tell the story of kindness repaid.
The Most Perfect Snowman by Chris Britt. Drift, one of the first snowmen of the winter has been thrown together and forgotten. Then, he gets everything he dreams of, scarf, hat, gloves. When a terrible storm blows in, Drift has to decide... does he keep his wonderful gifts or share them with others?
0 Comments on Books of December - Kindness (Candlewick - Publisher Spotlight) as of 1/1/1900
It playfully follows the sun as dawn breaks in different locations around the globe, introducing readers to all sorts of children and their families and showing a moment in time that we all love to experience whatever our backgrounds and wherever we are in the world: the delight that the first rays of sunshine can bring – the warmth, the hope, the sense of adventure and optimism. Eventually the sunshine makes it to Coco’s home, presaging a day of joyous outdoor play with friends, leaving readers with a gentle and lovely glow of joy and delight in something so simple and universal.
Graham’s storytelling is full of tiny but magical moments – capturing the sun shining on a kid’s bicycle bell or making shadows in the snowy footprints of a young child. Lyrical and understated, you’ll appreciate the first rays of sun you see after reading this in a brand new light (if you’ll pardon the pun).
Whilst capturing the drama of beams of light when all around is dark has been brilliantly achieved by others (for example Klassen’s illustrations for Lemony Snicket’s The Dark), Graham dazzles with his sunbeams even when they are surrounded by brightness. Equally successful in bringing focus and intensity to vast landscapes as capturing the epitome of personal warmth felt in homes, between loved ones, Graham’s soft, pastel-hued illustrations really bring the world alive, helping us find wonder again in the everyday.
Having delighted in How the Sun Got to Coco’s House I gave my kids a slip of paper with the word ORRERY on it. Words are such fun, and this one is a real delight. The challenge was to find out what an orrery is, why it’s relevant to this book and then to build (a simple) one. This treasure hunt introduced us to:
“Graham portrait” by Unknown – http://cosmone.com/timepiece/agenda/look-graham-london-legacy. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Graham_portrait.jpg#/media/File:Graham_portrait.jpg
and then eventually led us to this:
and finally to this:
Watch our play in action!
This small orrery shows the relative movement of the moon around the earth, and the earth around the sun, enabling me to explain to my girls how it is not that the sun actually moves around the earth (the descriptions of the sun’s movements in How the Sun Got to Coco’s House might lead listeners to think that this is the case). Rather, what’s happening is that the surface of the earth facing the sun changes as the earth rotates, giving the illusion of the sun moving around the earth.
Now I can’t claim any of the honours for this fabulous orrery. During our treasure hunt for information about orreries we discovered the inspirational videos created by the amazing Mr Newham who works at Ivydale Primary School in South London. In this video he shows how to make a simple orrery with very basic materials:
What’s even more brilliant is that Mr Newham sells kits to make these orreries (and many other brilliant D&T projects) and so we thought we’d give one a go. At £6 I don’t think I could have bought the materials cheaper myself and the service provided by Ivydale Science & Technology Service (Mr Newham’s shop front) was super swift and efficient.
I don’t normally recommend specific products of companies but I can’t resist doing so in this case because the kit and service was so good, and what’s more, the kits are available for entire classes, or individually for families at home. I’ve ordered a whole selection of kits now and so far every one of them has been a huge hit with my girls. So a big hurrah for Mr Newham and the way he’s facilitated my kids (and me!) getting excited about all sorts of aspects of science, design and technology!
Whilst making our orrery and space background (by running our fingers over toothbrushes covered in white paint) we listened to:
What a great idea for a picture book! My daughter has two clocks in her room – on on British time and one on Chinese time (she is adopted from China). So we often think about what children on the other side of the world are doing at a particular time which keeps the big, wide, world in our minds. This book tunes right into that.
I love the ‘treasure hunt’ you gave the girls with the word ‘orrery’. It’s got me thinking – what words could I do it with….
Thank you.
Zoe said, on 1/21/2016 2:17:00 AM
Love the idea of two clocks Claire!
Bob Graham said, on 1/21/2016 7:53:00 PM
Thank you Zoe for your insightful and generous review of “How the Sun got to Coco’s House.” My publisher, Walker Books emailed it to me last night, and I loved the creative ideas and activities coming off the story. “Sunny Day,” by Elizabeth Mitchell provides a great soundtrack to the book. I so liked the banjo and the little girl’s voice together, and the animation too.
Normally I try not to go too far to find my stories. They are elusive and hard to recognise even when I’ve found them; often they just reveal themselves over time. So I try to keep them in reach of my drawing board.But somehow “Coco’s House” unfolded in a wintry northern hemisphere, a long way from my desk down here in Australia.
I just wrote it down quickly,( the sun already knew where it was going,) drew the pictures and finally received your comments. That’s a pretty good cycle of events in itself.
Cheers,
I have such a lovely book to share with you today! And guess what? As promised, it doesn't rhyme :) I have noticed something else, though, which is that all three of the books I've chosen so far this Perfect Picture Book season have been authored and illustrated by the same person. Interesting... don't you think? Given that all three are new titles, I wonder if this is a reflection of the state of the publishing industry... and if I should learn to draw! (Yeah, okay, stop laughing!) :)
Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this one!
Title: How The Sun Got To Coco's House Written & Illustrated By: Bob Graham Candlewick, September 2015, Fiction
Suitable For Ages: 4-6
Themes/Topics: nature, writing (personification), language (poetic)
Opening: "It had to start somewhere. While Coco slept far away, the sun crept up slowly behind a hill, paused for a moment, and seemed to think twice... before it plunged down the other side and skidded giddily across the water."
Brief Synopsis: The sun comes up and takes a poetic journey across the world to Coco's house.
Why I Like This Book: How can you not love a book that contains phrases like "skidded giddily across the water"? The whole story is a gentle, lovely, poetic description of how the sun comes up, travels across the world touching everything in its path with light and warmth, and finally arrives at Coco's house to spend the day. It's a very quiet book, but one that can be enjoyed for the beauty of the language, the deceptive simplicity of the art (wait until you see the pinks and golds), and the feeling of comfort bestowed by the fact that, come what may, the sun rises each morning and makes a new day.
PPBF bloggers please be sure to leave your post-specific link in the list below so we can all come visit you! I can't wait to see what treasures await us this week!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! :)
0 Comments on Perfect Picture Book Friday - How The Sun Got To Coco's House as of 9/25/2015 5:20:00 AM
The scent of Spring is in the air. But that’s not all that’s lifting us up. From the tiny details to the wider world, our environment has so much to offer. For different reasons, these following picture books discover beauty and how the elements of nature can capture our hearts and strengthen our human kindness. […]
Thanks for talking to Boomerang Books, Claire Smith. You’re the marketing assistant at Walker Books, Australia, and you’re going to share your Christmas picks with us. But first let’s find out about you and some books you’ve been working with. Walker Books (based in Sydney) is known for its children’s and YA books. Which do […]
My girls were away for a couple of days last week staying on their own at their grandparents and whilst I LOVED having a bit more time to myself, I couldn’t resist a special welcome home picture book party; a day spent reading, playing, eating and dancing.
On the evening they arrived home I gave them invites inspired by the artwork in The Zebra who Ran Too Fast by Jenni Desmond. Set on the African plains, this book explores rings of friendship, how they can break and make up again – a simple, kind and non-threatening exploration of a situation many children find themselves in at one time or another. Desmond’s use of muted stone and moss colours is stylish, and the illustrations feel loose and free with lots of “scribbles” and splashes.
I used Desmond’s sun motif to form the basis of the party invites; a round piece of watercolour paper with flamecolour centre, surrounded by drops of ink, blown outwards using a straw.
Whilst I made these invites, the process is definitely easy enough for kids to enjoy too (if you’re worried about kids drinking up the paint/ink accidentally you could use food colouring instead).
The following morning we started as we meant to go on. We made vanilla ice cream (without a freezer) and tested different vanilla flavoured icecreams to discover our favourite. This was inspired by Vanilla Ice Cream by Bob Graham. Graham is THE master of global perspective. He knows how to zoom in and out of scenes and stories like no other teller of tales I know, and once again he works wonders with this understated story, following a sparrow who hitches a lift on a cargo ship. Masterful picture books often include a clever “reveal” in their final pages, so I should have known something was coming. Still, I was taken by great (and joyous) surprise with the twist Graham pulls off in this colourful, delightful story endorsed by Amnesty International.
To make icecream without a freezer you need cream, sugar, icecubes and salt. The cream and sugar go in one bag – here’s the cream, sugar (and vanilla in our case):
And below you can see it having frozen; the cream-containing bag is put inside a larger bag full of ice and salt. Because salt lowers the freezing temperature of water, the icecubes melt, extracting heat from the cream as they do so. After about 5 minutes shaking the icecubes were mostly melted and the cream mixture was like soft icecream.
And here’s the final result – definitely the most luxurious vanilla icecream I’ve ever eaten!
I love a good book about books and storytelling and Herve Tullet has created a mischievous and inventive interactive piece of theatre exploring story characters, plot and the need for a title in his Help! We Need a Title!. A motley collection of characters are in need of a good storyline and a punchy title. They appeal directly to you the reader/listener for help. With plenty of surprises this book is lively and highly amusing.
Taking our lead from characters who walked in and out of the pages of Help! We Need a Title! I set up a book “stage” with the help of the patio doors, a basket of dressing up costumes and a selection of liquid chalk markers (you could also use whiteboard markers).
My girls love drawing on photos in newspapers and magazines so it was a natural extension that we then drew “on” the characters who walked into our patio-door picture-book.
And finally the contents of our picture book were included too.
After lunch, for some chill-out time, we got out good old staples: lego and the wooden railway, this time brought to life by Bruno and Titch: A Tale of a boy and His Guinea Pig by Sheena Dempsey. Bruno has always wanted a guinea pig. Titch, a guinea pig, has always wanted to be taken home from the pet shop by a Big Person. One day their paths cross – but does it work out how they’ve each always imagined it would? Deadpan guinea pig humour (yes, really!) and fabulous illustrations full of new details upon each reading add something special to this tale about friendship, imagination and looking after pets. We especially loved Bruno’s passion for invention, right down to the poster of Einstein by his bed.
Our interpretation of Bruno and Titch’s lego/railway play:
Put your cynical adult brain to one side and remember a time when the phrase “dance like no-one’s watching” felt like something utterly joyous and liberating. Sif’s book is all about holding on to that freedom and not being afraid of a little bit of exuberance mixed in with a good shot of rhythm. It’s an encouraging story about holding on to what you care about, even when others seem to doubt you, a message I think every child deserves to hear time and time again.
For a book bursting with so much heart and happiness, the colour scheme is particularly interesting; there are lots of natural greens and browns rather than the bright sparkly jewel tones often used by illustrators to convey intense happiness. For me this speaks of the impact being connected to the outdoors can have on feeling content and happy; indeed all of the scenes showing Frances Dean dancing take place in parks and forests surrounded by space, trees and wildlife.
We reused embroidery hoops and ribbons to create waves of colour we could dance with.
Jumping for joy? Yes, that pretty much sums up our 2014 Picture Book Party An all day festival of playing and reading – just what summer holidays are made for.
You three are just utterly amazing and inspiring! There’s so much magic dancing around you all – it’s a joy to read/see!
Melissa @ Honey Bee Books said, on 8/24/2014 7:38:00 PM
What a wonderfully fun way to spend the day! Amazing! Will definitely have to try making ice cream with my kids
SIMONE FRASER said, on 8/25/2014 12:43:00 AM
Again, I want to be adopted by Zoe and her family.
Thanks for revealing some books I haven’t yet seen and of course, sharing your delightful family creative time.
You might as well know my weakness. It’s ice cream. Any flavour, most kinds, regardless of country of origin. I am extremely ice cream tolerant and I wonder if Bob Graham had similar thoughts when he penned his latest picture book masterpiece, Vanilla Icecream.
Vanilla Icecream is an eloquently articulated tale about a young curious sparrow whose world revolves around a dusty truck stop in the heart of India. He enjoys his existence and relishes his freedom with the blithe objectivity of all wild things until one day his pluck and appetite hook up with fate, which escorts him south across rough seas and through dark nights, eventually delivering him ‘into a bright new day’.
Unperturbed by his new environment in a different land, the truck stop sparrow chances upon a new eating hole and Edie Irvine, a toddler whose young life is inextricably changed forever because of him.
Graham’s dramatic narration of the little sparrow’s epic journey stuns you with its beautiful brevity and makes you want to follow the courageous new immigrant and know if Edie’s and his paths will ever cross again. This is a largely self-indulgent desire on my part as I get quite caught up in Graham’s snapshots of life, wanting them to never end. Nonetheless, end they must and this one’s delicious denouement is as immeasurably satisfying as a bowl of vanilla ice cream.
There are numerous wordless pages in this picture book as Graham shapes much of the narration visually with his splendid, slightly sassy, culturally sensitive illustrations. Graham has the unique, unaffected knack of suffusing modern day nuances with old-fashioned appeal into his pictures that draw the eye of young and old alike deep into the story in spite of the apparent simplicity on shown on the page.
This story allowed me to sift through memories, mostly glorious of my own ‘firsts’ and it reminded me of my daughter’s wonderment when discovering her first time, life-changing tastes, notions, and realisations. What Vanilla Icecream evokes in you depends entirely on your own memories and attitude towards new people and new experiences, and your fondness for ice cream of course. However, you will be hard pressed to find a better way to introduce the complex ideals of human rights, fate, and immigration to young ones where a lightness of touch is more readily comprehended than harsh dry facts. As Amnesty International UK proclaims through its endorsement of Vanilla Icecream;
‘…we should all enjoy life, freedom, and safety. These are some of our human rights.’
Vanilla Icecream is quite simply a stunning picture book. Quiet and unassuming in its appearance. Complex and multi-layered enough to warrant spirited discussion with 3 to 103 year olds.
Thanks to the very generous folk at Walker Books I got to do something which makes me very happy earlier this week – read aloud lots of fabulous picture books with friends and their kids, and then give the books away, all part of a Picture Book Picnic…
The day started early, baking “Walker Bear” Gingerbread biscuits…
With the first of our “emergency supplies” ready for scoffing, we got to to the main business of the day – reading together!
Full of chocolate chip cookies (we used this recipe) and cold milk I then read How to Get a Job by me The Boss, actually by Sally Lloyd-Jones & Sue Heap. After a long conversation about what everyone wanted to be when they grew up, I interviewed the kids for the post of Explorer. All the kids sailed through their interviews (Do you like being outdoors? Yes! Are you afraid of snakes? No! Do you like climbing trees? Yes!) and so we got down the map of our local area and off we set on our bikes to have an adventure.
We set up our first camp by a sunny stream, perfect for a reading of Arthur’s Dream Boat by Polly Dunbar.
After the story we made paper boats and floated them off down the river.
*Picture book, contemporary urban fable, for preschoolers through first graders *Young boy as main character *Rating: How to Heal a Broken Wing’s beautiful illustrations tell this heartwarming story along with a few simple words.
Short, short summary: A little boy finds a bird with a broken wing in the middle of the city. He convinces his mom to let him take the bird home and fix its wing. With his parents’ help and a lot of time and patience, the bird heals. The family takes the bird back to the spot where they found it and let it fly away. Here’s what Bob Graham (author and illustrator) has to say about his book How to Heal a Broken Wing: “I wanted to show that there is still hope in a coming generation of children who have curiosity and empathy with the world around them, and that care and attention can sometimes fix broken wings.”
So, what do I do with this book?
1. Books like How to Heal a Broken Wing where illustrations tell a large part of the story are perfect for use in the classroom or with home school students. Your children or your students can provide the text for the illustrations that Bob Graham did not. You can work on dialogue and punctuating dialogue as a shared writing activity. What are the parents and the little boy saying to each other about the bird’s broken wing? Children can also write about what the boy or even the bird might be thinking in their reading response journals.
2. How to Heal a Broken Wing is considered an urban fable. So a good discussion to have with children about this book is, “What should you do if you find a wild animal hurt? Who should you call or tell?” It’s always a good idea to call your local humane society even if they can’t help because they will have numbers for who to call. Children should NOT touch these animals, and adults should always wear gloves. Use Bob Graham’s book to start a safety discussion.
3. What else can time and patience do? Although you will be reading this book to younger children, you can still talk to them about how this book has a message that time and patience can do remarkable things in our world–look at the Grand Canyon. Make a list with your students. If they are having trouble getting started, you could help them think about things that grow–such as time and patience to get a seed to grow into a seedling OR time and patience to teach a dog to sit and so on.
I love books that bring a sense of hope and bring good feeling. How to Heal a Broken Wing does this beautifully.
A bird hits a building and falls to the ground, its wing breaking, and no one sees it or notices it–until a young boy does. He picks the bird up and takes it home, caring for it tenderly and patiently. Over time, the bird’s wing heals, and eventually when the boy sets the bird free, the bird flies away, well once more.How to Heal a Broken Wing reminds readers that kindness and empathy can make a difference, that taking action is important, and that sometimes it’s important to take the time and energy over something that others ignore. This is a book that promotes kindness and is full of hope.
Graham’s (, Max) story text is brief, without unnecessary detail, and has a good story voice. Graham’s text immediately evokes emotion, pulling at heart strings and engaging the reader with the opening text–that no one heard the soft thud of feathers against glass. It’s a powerful opening. Anyone who’s ever been hurt and ignored will be able to relate to it. Graham repeats “no one” twice (heard, saw, looked down) which increases the emotional power, and can bring a potential loneliness or sense of sadness–until the next sentence, when a boy sees and rescues the bird. The reader is given instant relief and lightness, and it works beautifully.
The story text moves from the specific (the boy, Will, seeing the bird with the broken wing), to the more general, the general text reading as a metaphor as well as being specific to the story: “A loose feather can’t be put back…but a broken wing can sometimes heal.” This can easily be taken to mean that a wounded spirit–or a wounded nation–can heal. It’s a powerful message, and an important one. Graham includes wise advice that readers can take for themselves–that to heal, the bird (or the reader) needs rest, time, and a little hope to heal. And the metaphor of flying once again after having been broken is also incredibly powerful. These metaphors and wisdom will, I think, give the book a wide readership, speaking to what each reader needs.
Graham’s illustrations and text work together beautifully, seamlessly, the illustrations showing us things the text doesn’t, sometimes complementing the text, sometimes standing in for the text.
Will, the boy in the illustrations, stands out sharply from the gloomy grey of everything and everyone else with his bright red jacket and blue pants, and his not being in a grey wash like everything else, or in dull drab colors that the other people wear. This brings visual attention and interest to the boy. And when the boy leans down to help the bird, a soft yellow light surrounds him and the bird, bringing even greater visual focus, and bringing a sense of goodness, of rightness, of bringing the first bright light in the gloom through his actions, lighting up the day. This is symbolic, and works well on many levels. The color brightens, the grey wash leaving, after the boy brings the bird home–working, again, on an emotional as well as visual level.
Graham’s pen, watercolor, and chalk illustrations are strong and evocative. They have an almost comic-book feel, with sometimes multiple panes of illustrations per page or spread showing a sequence of events, and dots for characters’ eyes. The illustrations vary in size and number on the spreads, keeping visual interest, and there is always a lot to look at.
The illustrations show us events and scenes that aren’t in the text, and that greatly add to the story, such as that Will’s parents are initially flustered by him bringing the bird home, but ultimately encouraging and accepting. And they show the boy’s and his parents’ tenderness and gentle care–how carefully the bird is wrapped to prevent further injury and carried; how the bird is fed water through an eye dropper; how they lay newspaper in a box with holes for the bird; and how, when the bird starts to get better, they try to encourage it to fly, and show it other birds through the window. Readers will enjoy poring over the illustrations, seeing everything that happens that isn’t in the text, and looking at all the details in the illustrations.
Graham uses light and dark to underscore mood and emotional tone. Light on the boy’s and parents’ faces and the bird bring a sense of hope. Graham also visually shows us the movement of time with the moon’s cycles. This worked very well for me, though some children might need an explanation.
How to Heal a Broken Wing is an uplifting, feel good book, one you’ll want to share with many people. Give this book to anyone who needs a sense of hope, of lightness, or to know that things will work out. Highly recommended!
Bob Graham's understated and touching How to Heal a Broken Wing is the recipient of the 2009 Charlotte Zolotow award. I'm pleased to see not only recognition for this book, which is ineligible for the Caldecott due to the fact that Graham is not an American illustrator, but also recognition for Bob Graham himself. I have always admired his gentle storytelling, his humorous illustrations, and the
0 Comments on Bob Graham Snags Zolotow Award as of 1/1/1900
The Charlotte Zolotow Award was announced and the 12th annual winner is...
How to Heal a Broken Wing Author: Bob Graham, Publisher: Candlewick Press (August 2008) Reading Level: Ages 4-8
The award is given by the Cooperative Children's Book Center, a library of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for outstanding writing in a picture book published in the U.S. It is named to honor the work of Charlotte Zolotow, a distinguished children's book editor for 38 years with Harper Junior Books, and author of more than 70 picture books.
The 2009 Zolotow Award committee named five Honor Books:
How I Learned Geography written and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz, edited by Margaret Ferguson, and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
How Mama Brought the Spring written by Fran Manushkin, illustrated by Holly Berry, edited by Julie Strauss-Gebel and Donna Brooks, and published by Dutton
In a Blue Room written by Jim Averbeck, illustrated by Tricia Tusa, edited by Samantha McFerrin, and published by Harcourt/Houghton Mifflin
What a great idea for a picture book! My daughter has two clocks in her room – on on British time and one on Chinese time (she is adopted from China). So we often think about what children on the other side of the world are doing at a particular time which keeps the big, wide, world in our minds. This book tunes right into that.
I love the ‘treasure hunt’ you gave the girls with the word ‘orrery’. It’s got me thinking – what words could I do it with….
Thank you.
Love the idea of two clocks Claire!
Thank you Zoe for your insightful and generous review of “How the Sun got to Coco’s House.” My publisher, Walker Books emailed it to me last night, and I loved the creative ideas and activities coming off the story. “Sunny Day,” by Elizabeth Mitchell provides a great soundtrack to the book. I so liked the banjo and the little girl’s voice together, and the animation too.
Normally I try not to go too far to find my stories. They are elusive and hard to recognise even when I’ve found them; often they just reveal themselves over time. So I try to keep them in reach of my drawing board.But somehow “Coco’s House” unfolded in a wintry northern hemisphere, a long way from my desk down here in Australia.
I just wrote it down quickly,( the sun already knew where it was going,) drew the pictures and finally received your comments. That’s a pretty good cycle of events in itself.
Cheers,
Bob Graham