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Hello everyone, first I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year. It has been a hard year for many of us and lots had happened. Now is the time to start a fresh in 2013. I want to welcome Scholastic Inc. to my every growing publisher list. I am very happy to have them aboard. Last update I reviewed three Young Adult Novels. In this update I will be reviewing three picture books. 

Picture Books

1) "The Never- Ending Greenness. We made Israel Bloom."- The book was written and illustrated by Neil Waldman. Published by Boyds Mills Press Inc. 1997. Originally published by: NY Morrow Junior Books 1997. Summary: "When his family comes to live in Israel after the end of World War II, a young boy begins planting and caring for trees, a practice that spreads across the whole Country." The author tells us the story of one Jewish family who escaped the horrors of the Holocaust and settled in Israel. After witnessing the terror of World War II and the bareness of his town of Vilna, a boy decides to plant trees to bring the spark of life to his new home. The amazing  Illustratrations add vividness to the story.  

2) "Has a Donkey Ever Brought you breakfast in bed"- This book was written by Pat Brannon and illustrated by Karen Deming. Published by Freedom of Speech Publishing Inc., Leawood KS 2012.  This author creates a funny world of "mighty" animals who can: "juggle lemons," "wear red go-go boots", or "tap dance all day long." It is a funny book with very simple illustrations that catch the eye. Even though it does not focus on one character, it is still a good story.  Your child will be laughing and pointing out the wacky animal events in the book.  If you want your child to have a good time get a copy.

3) "Dawn"- This book was written and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz. Published by Sunburst Books an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux 1974. This is the second edition 1987. It is a great book to read to your children before they go to sleep. Simple words and simple illustrations make them live and feel in the moment. We usually do not take a moment to observe our own surroundings: the star shining in the sky above, the bird singing, or the blooming flower below our feet. This book will encourage your children to live in the moment. I highly recommend this book for everyone. It is amazing how one picture and a few words can tell a story. Go out there and get  your child a copy of this wonderful book.

Thank you everyone for following me on my blog. I will be celebrating two years in February, and I will try my best to make an update twice a month. Happy 2013 let your life shine life. Next time I will review Middle Grade books. 

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We made ornaments this week...for the birds.

Because they ate all our cherries this year?

 
But then we went birding.
Squinting into far off brambles.
And peace is what we all need this time of year.

So we made gifts for the birds.
 
I never thought I'd buy lard.  
 Or thistle seeds, for that matter.
Who needs more thistles? Birds, I guess.
So we squished together birdseed "cookies,"
I cut up felt and old jeans and t-shirts into bird-ish shapes
 And then we gathered our bounty
 
and strung it up

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The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

I recently completed a class, "The Caldecott Medal: Understanding Distinguished Art in Picture Books," offered by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), and taught by K.T. Horning.

In addition to learning much that I didn't know about art, I had the opportunity to encounter or revisit some Caldecott Medal winners that predate my career as a librarian. I have been working in a library since 2005, and received my masters degree and first professional librarian position in 2007. The Caldecott Medal has been awarded since 1938. Clearly, I had a lot of catching up to do.

Though I did not read them all, I did read many older winners. Here are some of my favorites from the years prior to 1990:

(In order by publication date - award dates are the January following the publication year)

• Langstaff, John. 1955. Frog Went A-Courtin'. New York: Harcourt Brace. Illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky.

Richly detailed and expressive animals illustrate this favorite old folk song.  (If you don't know the song, Frog Went A-Courtin', Burl Ives' rendition was a classic)  This is my favorite of all the older Caldecotts.

• Mosel, Arlene. 1972. The Funny Little Woman. New York: Dutton. Illustrated by Blair Lent.

Humorous, with inventive illustrations, the funny little woman travels to a world beneath her simple home in Japan.

• Yorinks, Arthur. 1986. Hey. Al. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux. Illustrated by Richard Egielski.

Generally disliked by most of my classmates, this quirky, surreal story about a man and his dog really grows on you.

• Yolen, Jane. 1987. Owl Moon. New York: Philomel. Illustrated by John Schoenherr.

I have been fortunate enough to hear owls in the night many times, though the only ones I have been able to spot are the low-flying burrowing owls.  In Owl Moon, the thrill of a night-time owling expedition is captured brilliantly in both illustration and prose.

• Young, Ed. 1989. Lon Po Po:A Red-Riding Hood Story from China.  New York: Philomel.

A masterpiece of danger, suspense and courage - a classic folktale. The only one of my picks written and illustrated by the same person, it's no surprise that it's a pitch-perfect pairing of text and art.

A complete list of Caldecott Medal winners 1938-present, may be found here.


I've left off many other wonderful old medal winners, I know.  Feel free to chime in with your favorite Caldecott winners from the 1930s-1980s.

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Hoots In Hats #5 ACEO on Etsy

Here are some sunny yellow hoots and a happy green bird buddy. They are on their way to one of the last baseball games of the season. Clearly two of them need a little nap before the game... But I'm not pointing fingers here—no judgements! I love a good nap, too!

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Hoots in Hats Series #7 ACEO art print on Etsy

I LOVE SLEEP.

There was a time in my life—a time up until fairly recently—when I could get by on little sleep for extended periods of time. Those days are gone! Nowadays, I can get by on limited sleep, but only for a very specific, short-term period of time. Basically, I really need my sleep, or I am simply not functioning. It is as simple as that. Sleep: it's just one of those things that forces me to keep my priorities in order!

On that note... Good morning! Tired yet?

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My calendar's packed. I just returned from a trip. I'm in the midst of a class. I'm presenting at a forum this week. But wait, four great new picture books are sitting on my table waiting to be reviewed!

What to do? Do it Twitter-style! Here they are in 140 characters or less:

• Willy. De Kockere. 2011. Erdman. Celebrating the peculiarities that make Willy the elephant special. Monty Python-esque art, a perfect foil to a quirky tale. Love it!

• Train Trip. Caswell. 2011.Hyperion. Cheerful and rhyming, a boy and a train bond during a trip. “Special treat. “Come on in!” “Sound the whistle?” Eager grin."

• Little Owl’s Night. Srinivasan. 2011. Viking. An owl observes the night’s activities. Dark colors, cheery wide-eyed creatures. Simple and serene.

• Shaggy Dogs, Waggy Dogs. Patricia Hubbell. 2011. Marshall Cavendish. Happy, rhyming, romping dogs. Dogs, dogs and more dogs! A storytime gem.

And one more of Willy, in case you didn't get enough!

©Copyright Carll Cneut

(Yikes! I forgot that MSWord doesn’t count spaces. Now I’ll have to be more clever!)

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 I really had fun with this one!

All illustrations are in colored pencil on Bristol Board. To visit my blog Click Here. To purchase prints Click Here.

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All this month I’ve been paying tribute to Dr. Seuss by creating a Seuss themed image combined with the Illustration Friday prompt. For the previous weeks, I tried to incorporate Seuss’s style into my art.

This week, however, I’ve moved away from his art to show my style.

The prompt for Illustration Friday this week is Swamp. I combined that with Sue from Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss. (Sue is SWAMPED with sock orders and has to sew six thousand socks!) Fox in Socks is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, and I’ve always liked Sue, so it was fun to re-imagine this part of the book. In case you’re not familiar with the original, here’s what Mr. Fox says when Sue enters the book:

New socks.

Two socks.

Whose socks?

Sue’s socks.

 

Who sews whose socks?

Sue sews Sue’s socks.

My Sue has similar hair and clothes to the one in Fox in Socks, but she likes polka-dots and sewing lots of socks. They’re not all for her though, because really, who needs 3000 pairs of socks? Not Sue. You’d be swamped if you had to sew six thousand socks too! (Note: not all 6000 socks are pictured here, because that would have made me more than swamped. It would have made me crazy to draw that many in such a short time.)

Who is Sue sewing socks for? I’m glad you asked.

Sue sews Sue’s socks, because with that many, at least some of them have to be for her!
Sue sews Moo’s socks, because Moo helps keep the thread from tangling.
Sew sews Lou’s socks. (Lou is the dove on Moo’s back, the one saying, “coo coo.”)
Sue sews Who’s socks, right away, because Who has owl things to do.
Sue sews Foo’s socks (a.k.a. Bunny Foo-Foo).
Sue sews Boo’s socks … not really, ghosts don’t wear socks (or at least Boo doesn’t).

The original sketch had a few more characters, but it got too crowded. Here’s a close up of the bunny:

Bunny Foo-Foo was fun to draw and I love how his socks turned out. Another character that was fun to draw was Moo:

You can tell by the expression on her face that she thinks Sue is crazy for trying to sew six thousand socks, or maybe she is getting sick of having thread wrapped around her horns. Moo has striped socks because I thought they’d be a nice contrast to her spots and I liked how the blue and white stripes looked on her. It’s hard to see, but Lou also has striped socks. They’re blue and yellow.

If someone asked you to sew six thousand socks, would you do it?

I wouldn’t. I leave the sock sewing to Sue!

4 Comments on Sue Sews Six Thousand Socks: Swamp for IF and Dr. Seuss, last added: 3/28/2012