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Celebrating children's literature was a joy for me as a special education teacher in the classroom. I decided to share my ideas with parents, homeschoolers, and enthusiastic teachers, as I take time off to be a stay at home dad. I hope you enjoy the format of this blog to study an author each week to celebrate their birthday. Check back often to celebrate more author birthdays!
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Our family reads a tremendous amount of picture books and most of those books are fiction. Fictional picture books are my preference. I really like a good story paired with beautiful artwork. My children enjoy a good story too, but they really like non-fiction books loaded with facts and photographs. Sometimes, I worry it is my fault we are not reading more non-fiction.
This week, we found Elisha Cooper's non-fiction books to be the best of both worlds. His books are packed with the details you would expect from a non-fiction book, but he manages to highlight unique aspects of a topic and present them in a way that make his books story-like. His watercolor illustrations are loose and spontaneous, but realistic at the same time. I wasn't surprised that Elisha's books grabbed the attention of everyone in our family.
Elisha Cooper is the author and illustrator of over fifteen books for children including Homer, Building, and Train. He grew up on a farm and apple orchard in Connecticut. His family did not farm the land, but there were many goats, cows, cats and a pony. Elisha loved to draw the animals. "Carrying a notebook is something I did when I was young and something I do now. That hasn't changed. " (You Know for Kids). After graduating from Yale, Elisha was carrying his notebook when he was a messenger for The New Yorker. The sketches he made around the city became his first book, A Year in New York. "It was after [this book] that someone suggested I write children's books." (You Know for Kids).
Elisha's first children's book was Country Fair. "I spent a fall sketching country fairs in New England. I drew huge bulls, huge pumpkins, and lots of pies. I liked watching oxen pulls. Also log chopping and sheep shearing. What interested me most may have been different from the reality; fairs are a mess of fried food and funnel cakes and spilled soda." (Elishacooper.com). At the Mazza Museum Summer Conference 2015 Elisha Cooper said that to draw it he has to be there. Furthermore, he told Publishers Weekly,"Sometimes I do my best work when I'm driving and am able to stop, walk in fields, and draw clouds."
After Country Fair, Elisha Cooper went to create more non-fiction picture books on many interesting topics including Ballpark, Beach, and Farm. When asked about his process, Elisha Cooper said "I'm just looking for anecdotes, or gestures or images, that amuse me. Or that tell me something. I guess you could say I'm a believer in how little things add up to make something bigger that the thing itself." (You Know for Kids). His latest book is 8: An Animal Alphabetwhich is an ABC, counting, search-and-find book, and animal encyclopedia all in one! Our family highly recommends!
The non-fiction book that inspired our birthday celebration activity was Ice Cream. The book starts with the cows and the farm where the milk is gathered and then transported to the milk co-op. Our family loved the next part of the book when the milk arrives at the ice cream factory. We learned about the small laboratory that creates the ice cream recipes, the special cartons that are printed with logos, and the machines that are used to package the ice cream before it is shipped to stores.
On Friday night, my youngest two children and I were at home by ourselves. The big kids and Mom had other social engagements. I thought it would be fun for us to pretend to be a small laboratory at an ice cream factory and invent our own ice cream!
We gathered up all the ingredients we would need to make our ice cream.
My daughter added heavy cream to the milk and sugar mixture.
We talked about the small laboratory featured in the book and how they create the recipes.
They prepared small bowls of ingredients to add to the vanilla ice cream.
Their recipe included chocolate chips, marshmallows, crushed Oreos, sprinkles, M and Ms, and crushed graham crackers.
They checked the progress of the ice cream in our ice cream maker. It took about 15 minutes to make our ice cream.
My son wanted to add "just a touch" of peanut butter to the vanilla ice cream. It was "just a touch" because he knew his older sister wouldn't like it if there was a lot of peanut butter.
While the ice cream machine was working hard they designed their labels. They decided on PARTY ICE CREAM as a name. My son drew a happy-face-ice-cream-scoop.
Then, he used his watercolors.
I asked my daughter, "What things do you find at a party?" Then, she drew party bags and balloons. Hold that thought...our ice cream is done!
Once the ice cream was finished I scooped the ice cream into a bowl and they added the ingredients.
Yummy!
Then, they scooped the ice cream into individual paper cups.
Caramel sauce and chocolate syrup were added to each.
We placed the ice cream cups in a container and put them in the freezer until we finished our labels.
Wait! We couldn't forget the most important job at the ice cream factory -- the "Ice Cream Taster"! They tried the leftover vanilla ice creamfrom the machine and it tasted "marvelous!"
After we cleaned up the mess, she finished her illustrations for the labels.
We scanned their drawings, added type, and printed out the labels.
The labels were cut...
and placed on each cup.
Party Ice Cream! It's Yummy!
My son said, "It would be cool if we could go to the grocery store and see our ice cream there."
My daughter couldn't wait to show her mom the ice cream label!
My two older children woke up on Saturday morning and wanted to invent their own ice cream too!
We were excited to find a 5B pencil without an eraser in our art kit which is what Elisa Cooper uses for his artwork! He described his approach to drawing, "I like to draw quick (I like sketching more than painting). I want my pencil to be pretty free, to capture gesture and motion." (Publishers Weekly).
Voila!
Introducing MIXED BERRY WITH A TWIST. It's fruity with caramel.
Introducing CHOCOLATE DELIGHT. It's chocolately and peanut butter loaded!
In closing I thought I would share this quote from Elisha Cooper from an interview with Brian Floca and Publishers Weekly as they discussed his book Train, "With luck, Train is another piece of work that describes the world around us, whether it's dance or farms or trains. I just love being out in a field, sketching and taking notes, and I hope that children and parents come along for the ride."
Elisha, our family came along for the ride this week and it was a treat! We wish you a wonderful birthday. We hope you have a couple BIG scoops of ice cream with your cake! Thank you for sharing your birthday with me at Mazza!
In the summer of 2014, I heard Pamela Zagarenski speak at the Mazza Museum in Findlay, Ohio. During the keynote, as I often do, I wrote down an activity idea to do with my children for a birthday celebration. The idea was to create a large painting with mixed media that included family symbols and artifacts much like Pamela's artwork.
When February 18, 2015 came around I couldn't quite wrap my head around how I was going to pull it off with my children. We had created large paintings in the past, but this idea seemed bigger. Pamela's birthday passed without a celebration from us.
This year, I was still committed to the idea of creating a large painting and started planning my thoughts earlier with hopes of figuring out the project. But, I had nothing. I didn't know how I would help my children start the painting. I felt stuck. I needed something to focus on to make the idea manageable. So, I reread all of Pamela's books. At this point, I even tried to think of a different activity, but my mind kept searching for a way to make the large painting.
This weekend, my mom gave me old family photos, documents, and my dad's old passport. I thanked her, but told her that I didn't think the project was going to happen. At that moment, I gave up on the idea once again. Another year was going to pass without celebrating the birthday of an illustrator I greatly admire.
That night I went to bed and decided to grab Pamela Zagarenski's book Sleep Like a Tiger, the book she signed for my children in 2014. I read the book again. This time without the pressure of that original idea. My mind was completely open. Like magic, I had a new idea. I knew right away how to accomplish the project and with the help of a snow day and some very creative children it turned out better than my original idea ever could have.
Pamela Zagarenski always wanted to be a children's book illustrator but she majored in mathematics when a high school guidance counselor told her not to waste her time on art. Later, she secretly changed her major to graphic design, and never took an illustration course. (Mazza Museum Keynote). After college, she worked for Weekly Reader making illustrations and published her first book Windmill Hill. (Seven Impossible Things).
After her second book, My Big Dictionary, which hassold over 500,000 copies, Pamela stopped illustrating to sort through changes in her personal life. During that time, she began working at a retail shop that featured unique gifts, but she never stopped creating art. In fact, her art took on a BIG change. It got bigger. She painted art as big as 16 feet by 6 feet. She told Seven Impossible Things, "I painted nonstop, every free moment I had, painting huge paintings, no longer tight and small. Freeing myself up. Moving on. Changed my life and my illustrations. That is why my earlier books to my books now, the illustration styles are very different." In 2006, the her change in illustration style was evident with Mites to Mastodons: A Book of Animal Poems by Maxine Cumin.
Sleep Like a Tiger is the book that inspired our birthday celebration activity for Pamela Zagarenski. I love this book because Pamela's unique illustrations shine brightly. You will notice tea pots in many of the illustrations because she thinks better with tea and she used to drink tea with her grandmother. You will find sperm whales in many of the illustrations too because of her experience finding one washed up on the beach by her home. You will see foxes because she once encountered one that walked into the retail shop when she was working. If you look closely at her illustrations, you will see how Zagarenski uses elements from her great-grandmother's passport too. You will see wheels under the feet of people, animals, and things because we don't stop moving. And the crowns. There are so many crowns! I get lost in her paintings.
Sleep like a Tigeris a story about a child who doesn't want to go to sleep. Her many toys are close by as she puts on her pajamas, brushes her teeth, and gets tucked into bed. She asks her parents, Does everything in the world go to sleep?. Her parents answer this question and many others. As they leave the room they tell her she can stay awake all night long. But, she soon falls asleep and her dreams are full of the thoughts and images from the bedtime conversation with her parents.
The night I went to bed without the burden of the my original project idea, I was drawn to the girl's whale toy with wheels. When I saw this whale toy I was inspired to make one instead of the large painting. This smaller object gave me the confidence that I needed to create a piece of art with my children.
I thought I could make a whale toy with wheels and add elements of family and personal experiences like Zagarenski does in her artwork.
We had many pieces of scrap wood. We sketched our whales with a pencil.
I told my boys they could make their whale however they wanted. I suggested using the edges as much as possible to make it easier on me when I carved them out.
I used a coping saw to carve out the whales. In this photo, I was holding the wood by hand. By the third whale my arm was tired and I used the vice in the garage to hold the wood as I cut.
Each whale was sanded.
The scraps of wood were fun too. My youngest two children were pretending the curved pieces of wood were a skateboard park.
Five unique whales were sanded and ready to be painted. There were reports of a snowstorm coming. I hoped it would bring a snow day so we could work on our whales together.
The snowstorm came at the perfect time. It dropped four inches of heavy snow early in the morning. It was enough to cancel school.
I made a fire first thing in the morning. I knew I would need this warmth after shoveling the driveway.
After shoveling, the kids built forts outside, but I couldn't wait to come inside the warm house to work on my whale. I copied pages from my father's passport and a map of Belgium to add to my whale.
I think best with coffee.
My oldest daughter was the first to come back inside and she set to work on her whale right away.
She used a paper towel to blot her whale which gave it some texture.
My youngest daughter came in next and she wanted to paint her whale pink.
Once my whale was dry I needed to figure out how to attach the wheels. I painted four wooden toy wheels that I bought at Michael's craft store and I cut a dowel rod to size. The dowel rod should fit snugly in the wheel.
I drilled two holes in the whale approximately 3/8 of inch from the edge. The holes were slightly bigger than the dowel rod to allow the wheels to spin.
It wasn't long before my boys were inside and painting their whales too. My youngest son painted his whole whale silver including the wheels.
After some hard work, all the whales had wheels.
My daughter was thrilled with her Shopkins whale. She chose to add papers from her Shopkins toys after I asked her, "What do you really like?" She said, "My Shopkins." So to make this whale her own we added the Shopkins paper.
They played with the toy whales!
My oldest daughter made her whale her own by adding things from Harry Potter and a rhino which was the mascot of her Lego Robotics team. My oldest son painted a basketball and baseball on his whale to make it his own. My youngest son added a Poke Ball to his. Five unique whales inspired by Sleep Like a Tiger.
Pamela, thank you for sharing your birthday with me at Mazza. We hope you have a wonderful birthday. Your books and artwork are an inspiration. I enjoyed getting lost in your artwork with my children.
Check out Pamela Zagarenski's latest book, The Whisperand her next book Henry and Leo is available for pre-order (available October 2016):
All this week my children worked hard making their valentine cards to give to their friends. They were so excited to take them to school on Thursday. When I was an elementary teacher I was always baffled by the intense excitement children had for this holiday. I thought, This holiday is not as cool as Halloween!
This week, a retired teacher told my wife that Valentine's Day was her favorite day of the school year. She said, "It is the one day of the school year children are given the opportunity to tell their classmates, I like you." Wow! I really liked her explanation. All of their excitement totally makes sense now!
In the same spirit, our family would like to take the opportunity to tell you how much we like children's author-illustrator, Stephen Savage and his amazing picture books.
We met Stephen Savage at the National Book Festival 2015 and he shared his birthday with us when he signed our poster. He also signed our copy of his awesome book, Supertruck, which was awarded a 2016 Theodor Geisel Honor Award.
Stephen Savage is the creator of ten books for children including Little Tug, Ten Orange Pumpkins, and The Fathers are Coming Home by Margaret Wise Brown. As a child, Stephen's parents encouraged him to "make art for the sake of making art." (Publishers Weekly). His love of art led him to University of Wisconsin at Madison where he graduated with a degree in art history. After graduation (1989), he entered the world of books by working in production at Franklin Watts, a publishing company. During this time he had his first experience making books when he created two interactive pull-the-tab books, Making Tracks and Animals Under Cover. These books led him to pursue a master's degree in illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York City where he graduated in 1996.
After graduation, Stephen started working as an editorial illustrator for Entertainment Weekly and has since published artwork in many other publications including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Using the style from some of his editorial work he submitted a children's book manuscript to Scholastic. It wasn't his story, but the artwork that caught the attention of the editors, particularly an image of a "ghost bear in the moonlight." (Click here to see the image). Lauren Thompson, an editor at Scholastic, wrote Polar Bear Night to feature Stephen's art. (Click here to watch Stephen's process of linoleum cut printmaking). Polar Bear Night went on to win many awards including being selected as a New York Times best illustrated book of the year in 2004.
When asked at the National Book Festival which of his books is his favorite Stephen Savage responded, "Where's Walrus?." He chose this book as his favorite because it was the first book he made that he both wrote and illustrated.
Where's Walrus? is a wordless picture book that starts with Walrus escaping from the zoo as the zookeeper is taking a nap. On each page, Walrus hides from the zookeeper in a new place by blending in with his environment and always with something on his head. Walrus sits wearing a fedora with the other gentlemen at a diner. He puts on a construction hat and helps the bricklayers build a wall. He wears a swimming cap in a diving competition. The zookeeper looks on as the now cap-less walrus receives a gold medal and he has an idea that would happily bring Walrus back to the zoo.
Every Valentine's Day our family bakes heart-shaped cut-out cookies. As I looked at Walrus from Where's Walrus?, I thought he could easily blend in with our cookies this year.
Cut-out cookies have been a favorite of mine since my mom made them for me as a child.
Before we decorated this year's valentine cookies we needed to get dressed up.
My son dressed up just like the zookeeper in the book.
A happy zookeeper!
We had enough mustaches for everyone in the family.
As I read this wordless book to my children, I found myself saying "WHERE'S WALRUS?" with each page turn.
My son acted out the book as I read it. He was hilarious!
After reading the book and decorating many cookies with pink frosting and red sugar, I made a small amount of grey frosting. My children knew right away that I was going to ask them to make one of the heart-shaped cookies look like Walrus.
As I was researching for this blog post, I learned that Stephen Savage traces the initial idea for Where's Walrus?, a book that took over six years to develop, to a sketch of three walruses wearing hats he made for a school assignment. (Click here to see the image.) The assignment was to go to Coney Island Aquarium and create an illustration. He told Pen and Oink, "I kept thinking during my visit how much walruses looked like old guys from Brooklyn." Stephen's editor at Scholastic saw the illustration and said, "I think you should do a book with this character in it. Where a hat falls on his head and everybody thinks he is a man." (National Book Festival).
My children did not have school on Friday and Mom still had to work, so I thought it would be fun to visit our local aquarium with our sketchbooks.
My children couldn't wait for the aquarium to start sketch. They sketched the whole car ride to Cleveland!
We approached the first fish tank at the Greater Cleveland Aquariumand my youngest son said, "Oh...I NEED to start drawing NOW!"
And he did...
I love that he is making a fishy face as he is drawing.
Well done.
I wish you could have seen my boys trying to sketch this big fish. They followed it back and forth as it swam in the tank.
I love this sketch!
The Greater Cleveland Aquarium has a SHARK SEATUBE that is 169 feet long. It was amazing!
This shark swam right over our heads!
This stingray said hello!
My boys took advantage of the large viewing area to sketch once again.
A boy with his sketchbook making art for the sake of making art.
We thought this fish looked sleepy.
My son's in-progress sketch of a sand tiger shark.
The aquarium had many opportunities for us to touch sea critters.
These cleaner shrimp picked at our fingernails.
We touched some stingrays too!
It was a great day inspired by a book we really like!
Stephen, our family wishes you a very happy birthday. We hope you have a wonderful day! Thank you for sharing your birthday with us!
Stephen Savage's next book, The Mixed-Up Truck is available for pre-order with a release date of July 5, 2016:
I celebrate author and illustrator birthdays to create family memories. The books we read together inspire unique projects, crafts, and family outings. I have found that we can easily recall our experiences when the authors' birthdays come back around years later or when we see the books at the library, a book store, or on our book shelf. This week, to celebrate Brian Wildsmith's birthday I tried not only to create a memory but to preserve a memory.
Brian Wildsmith is the author and illustrator of over eighty books for children including Carousel, Pelican, and Professor Noah's Spaceship. He was leaning toward a career in music or science, but decided to follow "an inner voice" to study art. (Books for Keeps, Carey). He recalled, "One morning I was going into a physics class and I remember thinking 'Is this really what I want to do with my life?' and the answer was no. I want to create." (Books for Keeps, Authorgraph 16). Brian Wildsmith listened to his heart and went first to Barnsley School of Art and then Slade School of Fine Art.
Later, after time spent in the National Service he became an art teacher, but it really wasn't what he wanted to do. He wanted to paint and create. "I read that 28,000 books a year were published and I thought they'll all need book wrappers, so I spent my evenings designing them." (Independent, 2010). He was a teacher by day and an artist by night. His freelance work led him to Mabel George, at Oxford University Press, who had the idea to put the "artist on the same business footing as the writer." She gave Brian a few projects including four full-color illustrations for Tales from the Arabian Nights(1961) which was not well-received by critics and Brian's art was described as "aimless scribbles...drawings splashed lavishly and untidily with bright smudges of paint." (History of Oxford University Press).
Mabel George was undeterred by the critic's remarks and asked Brian Wildsmith to create an ABC book. He created Brian Wildsmith's ABC and described it this way, "The logical function of an ABC is to teach. To teach how? Through basic shapes, colors and textures. It was a new concept: to produce pictures of value in their own right which would stimulate and excite children. And I wanted a new design. Most ABCs say 'A is for Apple.' A is not for apple. A is for A. I wanted this book to say that." (Books for Keeps).
Brian Wildsmith's ABC was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1962. Brian Wildsmith explained the shift this book brought to picture books, "[Before ABC] the text was the most important thing and pictures would just accompany it, diagrammatically explaining what was going on in the words. But I could limit my text so the illustrations explained what actually happened. And not just the physical event of what was happening, but the vision of the people or the animals or the landscape around them. I was expressing in color the wonder and beauty of the world in which we live, which had never happened before, and would have been difficult to explain in words for children." (Independent, 2010).
Brian Wildsmith went on to create more picture books; a Mother Goose collection, fables including The Hare and the TortoiseandThe Lion and the Rat, and many books about animals, Wild Animalsand Fishes. He has sold over 20 million copies of his books worldwide. "From the beginning, what I wanted to do above all for children's literature was to try and span the whole spectrum from an ABC to counting -- through puzzles, myths, nursery rhymes, and stories." (Children's Books and their Creators). "A lot of illustrators have one central character and then they develop it, and all their books are based around it. But that was not my wish. I wanted to introduce children to the whole creative side of many aspects of life." (Independent, 2010). "I use whatever colors I feel like. When I paint a fish, I paint the kind of fish I would like to see. The same is true of my trees. I don't care if they're not the colors in the photographs. I paint what I see with my eyes and feel in my heart." (SGI Quarterly).
I wanted to preserve the memory of what it is like to take my young children to church on Sunday; trying to find seats for our large family when we are running late, the large bag of activities and books, their wiggles and need for movement, their curiosity about God, their attempts to sing the songs with the hymnal, "I have to go to the bathroom", our walks in the prayer garden, and the feeling of relief and accomplishment when mass is over and no one has freaked out. As I looked around church this Sunday, most of the families I saw had older children. Someday that will be my family.
My young children need a opportunity to get their wiggles out at church. I bring many activities to keep them busy; crayons and paper, books, stickers, but my kids need to move. A few years ago, I started taking my children for a walk after Communion. They walk with me in the line for Communion and then we walk to the lobby of the church instead of returning to our place in the pew. When the weather is warm we continue our walk outside in the prayer garden.
In the prayer garden we stop at the small pond to see if we can see any frogs or tadpoles, then we talk about statue of the Holy Family, and then we say hello to Saint Francis. I remember saying to my children countless times, before they learned it was St. Francis, "Who is that statue of?" I think took it so long for them to learn his name because I had nothing more to offer them besides, "He really liked animals and he was from Assisi."
I found Brian Wildsmith's book, Saint Francis at the library and I thought to myself, I am going to read this book and then the next time we take a walk I will be able to tell them something about his life. In the back of the book it states, "Brian Wildsmith's first encounter with St. Francis of Assisi occurred as a young boy, when he was taking his first communion in St. Helen's Church Hoyland, a small mining town in English Midlands. He recalls kneeling at the edge of the altar rails, feeling more embarrassed that the holes in his shoes could be seen by the congregation than terrified at receiving the Host for the first time. And then, looking to his right, he saw a statue of St. Francis, a lamb in his arms and a squirrel perched on his shoulder. There was a look of kindness on his face. His clothes were shabby and drab. He doesn't seem to mind so why should I worry about the soles of my shoes? thought young Wildsmith. St. Francis seemed to say, It's not the soles of your shoes but the soul within your body that I am looking at."
The passage went on the say that the statue inspired Brian Wildsmith to take a great interest in St. Francis and later led to large amounts of research and visits to Assisi. I immediately thought about our walks and our St. Francis statue. I thought about how this statue is an important part of our Sunday church experience.
At church this week, I asked my son to carry the book about St. Francis when we went to Communion. He knew right away what it was for.
We don't walk through the prayer garden in the winter and instead we hang out the in lobby for a few minutes and then head back into church. But, on this day, we sat on the floor in the lobby while overlooking the prayer garden and the statue and read Saint Francis. We learned that Saint Francis was from Assisi and loved animals, especially birds. We also learned that he grew up in a rich family but chose to live a life among the poor. He rebuilt churches that were falling down, tried to stop people from fighting, got others to live a life of prayer, and had many visions from God.
After mass my children wanted to walk through the prayer garden.
No frogs or tadpoles to see today. Each time I have to remind them not to step on the rocks. One of these days one of them is going to fall in and we will return to church with wet pants.
This is the statue of the Holy Family. On our first walks I asked them, "Who are these people?" Identifying Mary and Jesus was easy. It took them time to learn Joseph's name.
Here is the statue of St. Francis. We had not noticed that a bird sits on the book he is holding until today. In Saint Francis, we heard the story of a time when Saint Francis saw a great flock of birds and told them "God loves you. He has given you wings and beautiful feathers. He has made you free to fly wherever you want. It is your duty to sing to God all day long."
This book made me realize the significance of taking my children for a walk during church. After writing this post my memory of this time with my children will be stronger and will stay clear for years to come.
This week my youngest son said, "Dad, when are we going to celebrate another author's birthday?" I thought to myself, Argh! I wish I knew.
Then I said to him, "Well, actually, I am working on that. I just don't know. I am reading lots of books by Raymond Briggs, Blair Lent, and Brian Wildsmith. I hope I come up with something for us to do."
I was hoping for something. Actually, I was hoping for snow. The Snowman by Raymond Briggs has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. I thought it would be so cool to make a giant snowman just like the book, but the weather wasn't cooperating and I was running short on time before his birthday.
We had about an inch or two of snow on the ground leftover from a snowfall earlier in the week. No more snow was in the forecast. In fact, it was going to be 45 degrees! Then, I thought, Wait! The little snow we do have will start to melt and might be perfect for making a snowman. Maybe this could work....
Raymond Briggs is the author and illustrator of many books for children and adults including The Snowman, The Bear,Father Christmas, andThe Man. At the age of fifteen, he left school and applied to Wimbledon School of Art with aspirations of becoming a cartoonist. The principal said, "Good God, boy, is that all you want to do?" Instead of illustration, he followed the path suggested by the school and studied painting for four years and continued his studies later at Slade School of Fine Art where he graduated in 1957. Raymond Briggs stopped pursuing painting soon after graduation and started work in illustration.
In 1958, he published his first book, Peter and the Piskies: Cornish Folk and Fairy Talesby Ruth Manning-Sanders. He met the idea of working on his first children's book with apprehension, "How has it come to this? Six years of fine art and now talking fairies...But it was absolutely marvelous. I realized fairy tales and nursery rhymes were the absolute crème de la crème for an illustrator. They are just brilliant. Full of magic. Full of madness. Full of craziness. Full of a kind of wisdom as well." Later, in 1966, he won the Kate Greenaway Medal for The Mother Goose Treasurywhich includes over 800 of Briggs' illustrations. "It slowly dawned on me that the best field for an illustrator is the picture book." (The Guardian, 2010).
The next stage of Raymond Brigg's life brought great change. He lost both of his parents in 1971 and his wife also died two years later. During this tough time, he remarkably created some of his best children's books, Father Christmas, Father Christmas Goes On Holiday, and Fungus the Bogeyman. Then, in 1978 he published his most popular book, The Snowman.
"I'd been involved in Fungus for over two years, immersed in all that slime and muck, so I dug out this thing out of my files - it had been in there for about six years - this idea of a snowman coming to life: nice and simple, clean and silent." (The Telegraph, 2007). The Snowman has sold over 8 million copies and the animated version of the story was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short in 1983.
Raymond Briggs explained his work this way, "I never think about my audience. Some people write for particular children, but I haven't got any kids, so I couldn't begin to think in that way. I just take something I want to explore - like Father Christmas, where he lives, what it's like to be him - and try to get it out of my head and on to the paper so that I'm satisfied with it." (The Guardian, 2014).
There really wasn't much snow on the ground, but it was melting just enough to become perfect packing snow for a snowman. Our neighbor had a reasonable amount of snow piled at the end of her driveway from the truck that plowed her driveway earlier in the week. I thought, I could carry the snow from there if I needed. It wasn't cold out either -- it got as high as 46 degrees. I thought, it might actually be enjoyable to be outside for a change. So, I decided to make THE SNOWMAN with my children.
Here is where we started. Not much snow at all.
A snowman this big just wasn't impressive enough.
So, I brought over more snow, but it was too skinny.
I shoveled snow from the yard, the neighbor's pile, the side our driveway that had extra snow from where I shoveled earlier in the week. It was getting there, but our gloves were soaked and it was time to get my son from school.
We picked him up from school and he already had his snow gear on because it was "Friday Fun Day" and his class got to play outside. He helped me carry snow to the snowman, and then we rolled a big ball for the head. I don't have a picture because there was really now way to taking a picture of me carrying the big ball of snow!
Once the head was in place my son said, "Dad, I have coal for the eyes and buttons." He had pieces of cinder from our fireplace that he had confiscated and put in his box of driveway chalk. I said, "Where did you have that?" He replied, "I like to draw on the driveway with it sometimes."
After some hard work carving and smoothing, we added a hat, a scarf, an orange for the nose, and the "coal" to bring The Snowman to life.
My daughter said, "You don't need anything for the mouth. Just use your finger like the boy from the book."
They were so engrossed in the show that I was able to surprise them with snowman-shaped sandwiches -- raisins for the eyes and buttons, a carrot for the nose, and a caramel syrup smile.
The warm weather was creating problems for our snowman. I went out a few times throughout the day to strengthen and repair. But, after dinner we found him really leaning forward. To make matters worse, the weather forecast changed and it was going to RAIN! The Snowman would surely fall over by morning if we didn't do something. By morning the temperatures would be back below freezing so there was a chance to save him.
We had to try something. So, we did the unthinkable. We cut him in half, repositioned him, and patched in some snow.
He was standing much better, but I was sure our snowman was destined for the same fate as THE SNOWMAN in the book. If you know the story, the boy finds the snowman melted the next day -just a small pile of snow, a hat, a scarf, and the pieces of coal.
The whole family worked diligently to save The Snowman!
Things looked up. (so did his posture!)
We really hoped he would be there in the morning.
Goodnight, Snowman.
My oldest son woke me up in the morning. "Dad, the snowman is still standing." He survived the warm temperatures, being sawed in half, and the rain! He only lost his eyes, buttons, and his orange nose which were easily replaced. Now all we need is a little more snow to get him to stand up straight again.
Kate McMullan's new book I'm Cool! is cool. Going to a hockey game with your son is cool. Watching a Zamboni smooth the ice is cool, too.
Also, it's pretty cool that our family is celebrating Kate McMullan's birthday for the seventh time! Each of the past six years my oldest son has baked and decorated a cake inspired by one of Kate's books for her birthday. This year's book, I'm Cool!, had my son more excited than ever to continue the tradition!
On Christmas morning my son received I'm Cool! as a gift from us! He couldn't help reading the book despite all the commotion around him. He was excited to find that the book starts with the announcer calling out the action of a hockey game. This past year, my son has attended a few Lake Erie Monsters hockey games in Cleveland with his best friend. He said, "Dad, at the Lake Erie Monsters games they have two Zambonis."
The announcer from I'm Cool!says, as a player falls to the ice, "Nobody can skate on ice this rough. I mean NOBODY!" At intermission Zamboni enters the rink to repair and smooth the ice. The announcer urges him work fast, "Hurry up so we can get back to the game!" But, Zamboni doesn't lose his cool and urges the announcer to relax and let him do his work. Zamboni shaves the ice, washes, sucks up the extra yucks, spritzes warm water to fill in the ruts, and makes the ice as "S-M-O-O-T-H as glass" all before the buzzer sounds. The announcer applauds Zamboni for a job well done, the hockey players return to the ice, and Zamboni knows he has the coolest job in the world. SHAZAMBONI, BABY!
Shortly after receiving I'm Coolmy son opened another gift to find tickets to go another Lake Monsters game.
About a week after Christmas, my son and I went together to the hockey game. We took I'm Cool! along with us. We were excited to be in the fourth row!
Here is the first Zamboni. You can see the smooth ice it leaves behind.
Here is the second Zamboni. We loved the page spread in I'm Cool! that shows the path a Zamboni takes around the ice rink. "Around and around and around and around and around and around I go, 'til the whole rink's S-M-O-O-T-H as glass." It was so COOL to see this part of the book in action.
Quicken Loans Arena had entertainment on the ice for the first ten minutes of intermission which left less time for the Zambonis to work. The two Zambonis worked together to get the ice smooth before the players returned.Intermission is only 18 minutes.
Shazamboni, Baby! We were happy to be at a hockey game together.
We got to see a winner too! The Lake Erie Monsters won 2-1!
A few days later, our local school district's hockey team offered a Family Night. My whole family was able to attend the game for free. Here I am showing my daughter and the kids around her the path a Zamboni takes to smooth the ice.
My youngest daughter got to see the Zamboni up close!
After the game, my kids were allowed to ice skate too!
This was my youngest son first time ice skating!
The walker allowed my youngest daughter to try ice skating too!
We had so much fun watching hockey, seeing Zambonis, and ice skating, but there was still one thing to do to celebrate Kate McMullan's birthday. We had a cake to make! Last year, Kate made a post on her Facebook page and my wife commented. It was Kate's reply that gave us an idea for this year's cake.
We had never made an ice cream cake before, but my sister has made a few for my nephew's birthday parties and they were delicious! We couldn't wait to make one of our own!
I found my son making sketches the morning we were to make the cake. He wanted an oval cake, like an ice rink, with Zamboni in the middle.
He had two helpers making this year's cake.
I taught him how to make homemade whipped cream.
We made a layer of ice cream sandwiches and covered it with the whipped cream. His brother added a layer of crushed Oreo cookies.
His sister stacked up the second layer of ice cream sandwiches. We put the cake in the freezer for about a half and hour before we started the next step.
He sketched a Zamboni with a toothpick into the top of the ice cream sandwiches.
Then, added orange and purple buttercream icing. He used black icing from a small tube to outline his design.
We added a little blue food coloring to his homemade whipped cream and then smoothed it out around the Zamboni.
I added I'M COOL to the top with whipped cream from a can.
After a few hours in the freezer we took our yearly photo!
We are looking forward to our 7th year of celebrating children's author and illustrator birthdays.
Of course, we had to read I'm Cool! again while we ate!
For those of you who are new to our blog, it all started with an I STINK cake in 2010. The I STINK cake made me realize that it would be fun to celebrate author and illustrator birthdays with my children. I never anticipated that baking one cake would spark so many other family reading experiences. It has been quite a journey, and I looking forward to seeing what is next. If you would like to follow along, join us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest. You can sign up to receive emails too!
Kate, our family wishes you the best of birthdays! Your books have brought so much joy to my family! Thank you for your creativity and imagination! Have a great birthday!!
Our family is not quite ready to travel on an airplane. My children are intrigued but are not begging to fly. My wife and I are concerned we won't be able to manage all of our children and all of their stuff on a flight. Driving works for now and will be our preferred method of transportation until all our children can at least carry their own luggage and activity bags.
Therefore, when we travel we hit the road in our 1997 Dodge van. My youngest son defines a road trip by whether or not we go on the highway and for him going on the highway takes way too long. Whether we're going on a short road trip to Grandma's house or a long road trip all the way to Washington D.C. for the National Book Festival they are equally painful for him. However, he really likes when our long road trips to Washington D.C start in the middle of the night to get a jump on the day. (Don't you think breakfast tastes so much better after a few hours on the road.)
This week, we went for a short road trip on the highway for our family reading experience to celebrate Brian Floca's birthday. After reading, Five Trucks and watching airplanes through binoculars it is possible that my children may push us a little harder for a family adventure through the air. (Hmmm...I wonder what my youngest son would think of the wait at the airport?)
Brian Floca is a children's author and illustrator of numerous award winning books including Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11(2010 Sibert Honor Book), Lightship(2008 Sibert Honor Book), and The Racecar Alphabet(ALA Notable Book). He also illustrated the Poppy series by Avi. During his undergraduate studies at Brown University Brian Floca, took a class taught by children author and illustrator, David Macaulay, at the neighboring Rhode Island School of Design. At the same time, children's author, Avi mentioned to Macaulay that he needed a student to help illustrate a proposal for a comic-book novel. Brian recalled, "I did an independent study with Macaulay, working with Avi's story. At the end of the semester, I had four sample chapters mocked up, which Avi sent with the complete manuscript to his editor, Richard Jackson, and in October, Dick signed us up for the book." (SLJ, 2014). The book, City of Light, City of Dark was published in 1993. Then, in 1995, Brian Floca illustrated his first picture book, Luck with Potatoes by Helen Ketteman.
Four years later, Brian Floca wrote and illustrated his own picture book, Five Trucks. Since then, most of the picture books Brian has written and illustrated have been about some type of transportation including his latest, Locomotive which was awarded the 2014 Caldecott Meal. When asked about the transportation theme of his picture books he said, "I don't think those books really start even with the vehicles that I end up writing about so much, as with the sense of what it is like to travel, to go from one place to another, to move through a space or a landscape. And then I start thinking about the things that make those trips possible. And then start asking how do they work and figuring those out. My own figuring out becomes the book." (Meet the Author - Fairfax County Public Schools - YouTube).
In Five Trucks, Brian Floca helps readers "figure out" that five drivers and five trucks help prepare an airplane for its take off from the airport. His simple text and detailed ink and watercolor illustrations taught us about the catering truck, tractor with baggage carts, baggage conveyor, another smaller tractor, and the push-out tractor. At the end of the book, the five trucks have finished their work and look on as the airplane takes off.
Sometime last year, I wrote on a post-it note, "Five Trucks. Visit airport to watch planes." I placed this post-it in my author birthday calendar so I would remember to do it when Brian Floca's birthday came back around. Once I saw the note, I did a quick search on the internet for plane spotting locations for Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. There was one location that came up over and over again. The 100th Bomb Group Restaurant on Brookpark Rd. and it looked like the perfect location to see FIVE TRUCKS and airplanes taking off.
It really turned out to be the perfect place to view the airport. The restaurant parking lot was huge and we were able to pull into a parking spot far away from the restaurant so we didn't interfere with business.
The blue Southwest airplane caught our eye right away.
We came with a pair of binoculars to share, but my youngest son somehow found a paper tube in the van and used it to watch the planes.
When it wasn't their turn looking through the binoculars they enjoyed being in the van without their seat belts strapped.
We read Five Trucks to familiarize ourselves with the vehicles we were looking for.
The first truck we found was actually the fifth truck mentioned in the book. The truck that moves up and down. We saw the big X lifting the container.
Next, we saw the truck that twists and turns with the baggage. It was easy to spot this truck with the three carts in tow.
If you look close you can see the "small and quick" truck. This one was easier to spot in person because of the way it zipped around.
This photo shows the baggage conveyor. The only truck we had didn't photograph was the push-out tractor.
I think we invented a new past time -- instead of plane spotting it is FIVE TRUCKS spotting!
We could have watched the planes takeoff all day.
We watched the airplane "speed down the runway..."
"faster and faster, until..."
"...takeoff!"
My crew!
"Those planes are loud!"
We took this goofy photo as we awaited the next plane that was coming in for a landing. You can see the small speck above the brown building.
Wow! A great book, lots of trucks, and some really cool airplanes!
Our family had another fun year celebrating 43 author and illustrator birthdays! We have celebrated 281 different children's authors and illustrators since 2010 and we wanted to thank you for reading along with us as we share our family reading experiences. We are already looking forward to 2016, but I wanted to take a moment to reminisce.
I was curious to see which of our blog posts from 2015 were the most popular. The top ten blog posts with the most page views were: (click on the blog title to view the original post)
1. Happy Birthday, Alice Provensen (August 14) -- The most viewed birthday blog post of the year featured our visit to the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio. We toured James A. Garfield's home and stood on the porch where he delivered many campaign speeches. This reading experience was inspired by Alice Provensen's The Buck Stops Here.
3. Happy Birthday, Rafael López (August 8) -- We had a jam session with family friends to celebrate Rafael López's birthday. We learned about many different types of drums including congas and bongós. This reading experience was inspired by Drum Dream Girl.
5. Happy Birthday, Kate McMullan (January 16) -- This post features our annual tradition of making a birthday cake for Kate McMullan. This year's cake was inspired by I'm Brave. It was the 6th cake my oldest son has decorated based on one of McMullan's books. He will never forget what happened when I was taking a picture of him and the finished cake. (Here's a hint...SPLAT!)
6. Happy Birthday, Chris Van Allsburg (June 18) -- We celebrated Chris Van Allsburg's birthday by trying Black Mission Figs for the first time. We found out that figs are delicious with vanilla ice cream! This reading experience was inspired by The Sweetest Fig.
I asked my children which celebration was their favorite of the year. They said, "Do we have to pick just one?" So, they chose their top 3:
My 8 years old son's favorite reading experiences of 2015 -- 1. Happy Birthday, Brian Selznick (July 14) -- We traveled all the way to Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum in Michigan to see real automaton. This was one of the most unique places I have ever visited and the whole family loved it. This family reading experience was inspired by The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
3. Happy Birthday, Loren Long (April 24) -- We read Toy Boat and made our own toy boats out of corks and took them to our small neighborhood lake. My oldest son let go of the string that was holding his boat and we had to rescue it with a really long stick.
My 5 year old son's favorite reading experiences of 2015 -- 1. Happy Birthday, Elisa Kleven (October 14) - This was our longest author birthday celebration ever. It took almost two weeks to make our apple dolls inspired by The Apple Doll. It was worth the wait as the dolls turned out fantastic.
2. Happy Birthday, Lou Fancher (September 13) -- During our annual trip to Washington D.C. for the National Book Festival we celebrated Lou Fancher's birthday by reading A Boy Named FDR at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial.
My 3 years old daughter's favorite reading experiences of 2015 --
1. Happy Birthday, Dan Santat (October 2) -- We met Dan Santat at the National Book Festival. My daughter loved his presentation and she loved his book Crankenstein. We made our own Crankenstein Halloween decorations for our front yard.
2. Happy Birthday, Marilyn Sadler (November 17) -- I was not surprised by this pick either. She loves macaroni and cheese and to celebrate Marilyn Sadler's birthday we read Tony Baroni Loves Macaroni. We decorated bowls with Sharpie Markers and ate homemade macaroni and cheese to celebrate.
Would we ever celebrate an author or illustrator whose birthday is on Christmas Day?
There was no snow on Christmas Eve this year in Ohio.
Over the years I have asked myself this question. I guess it was a fair question to ask, since author, Pam Muñoz Ryan, whose birthday is on Christmas Day, has often been asked whether or not she celebrates her own birthday on December 25th.
She said, "I was born on Christmas Day. As a child, all of my birthday cakes were thematic, often with plastic reindeer and a Santa, or a sheet cake with white frosting and red and green piping. All of my life people have asked me, 'Do you really celebrate your birthday on Christmas Day? Or do you do that thing where you celebrate six months later?' Of course I celebrate on Christmas Day! It feels special to me. When I was a preschooler, my uncles told me that the reason people put up all the colored lights in December was for my birthday. And I believed them, until a mean-spirited first grader told me otherwise." (School Library Journal, 2010).
Pam Muñoz Ryan is the author of over ten picture books including Tony Baloney and Mice and Beans. She has also written many chapter books including Riding Freedom and Echo. After starting her career as a bilingual Head Start teacher, Pam Muñoz Ryan spent twelve years at home caring for her four children. During that time, she went back to school to earn a master's degree in Post-Secondary Education. After class one day, her professor asked if she had ever done professional writing. (Scholastic). Pam had not since she was busy raising her family, finishing her master's degree, and was back working as an administrator of a early childhood program. However, Pam "couldn't stop thinking" about what her professor said. She described the encouraging words as "a seed that couldn't stop growing."
A few weeks later a colleague asked for her assistance in writing a book for adults and she jumped at the chance to start writing. Pam Muñoz Ryan spoke with PaperTigers about her first book, A Family is a Circle of People Who Love You (1988), "I co-authored that book, but from the onset of that project I knew I wanted to do a spin-off for young children."
Our family reading experience to celebrate Pam Muñoz Ryan's birthday was inspired by Amelia and Eleanor Go For A Ride, a book I wanted to read ever since we celebrated Brian Selznick's birthday in July. (We were so busy with Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret that we did have a chance to read it.)Amelia and Eleanor Go For A Ride is based on actual event of Amelia Earhart and first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt spontaneously going for a night flight over Washington D.C.
Pam Muñoz Ryan explains how the book came to be in this short video clip from Reading Rockets.
I read Amelia and Eleanor Go For A Rideand I knew it was a book all of my children would enjoy. I just needed a cool place to read it to them. I googled "Amelia Earhart, Cleveland, Ohio" and I found that the International Women's Air and Space Museum was located at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio.
The International Women's Air and Space Museum was less than an hour from our house and had FREE admission! Thankfully, the whole family was able to go since it was Winter Break!
Inside the museum we found a few Amelia Earhart artifacts.
We found a few comfy chairs at the front of the museum.
I love reading books to these kids!
Christmas trees were nearby as we read the book.
The perfect book for wide range of readers.
Thank you for stopping by to read this blog post during the busy holiday season. We wish you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!
I left one of my many author birthday calendars out on my desk. My daughter found it and pointed to the picture of the book, How to Teach a Slug to Read, that wasin the box for December 21st next to Susan Pearson's name. She said, "Can we read that book?"
I told her, "We don't have it here at home, but we could look for it at the library."
Her curiosity made me curious. Who was Susan Pearson? What other books did she write? After trips to two libraries, I found the slug book my daughter wanted to read plus another book about slugs. One of the other books in the stack was about feet. I wondered, Could we combine these three books into a birthday celebration?
Slugs. Feet. Sure! Of course we could...Now are YOU curious? Susan Pearson is the author of over 30 books for children including We're Going on a Ghost Hunt, Happy Birthday, Grampie, and Who Swallowed Harold?: And Other Poems about Pets. She wrote her first book, My Booklet, in the third grade. Mrs. Anderson, her teacher, would ask her and her classmates to make booklets about the topics they were learning in class. "I think I got tired of making booklets for Mrs. Anderson and started making booklets for me." She followed up My Booklet with My Booklet 2 and many other sequels. (Minnesota Reflections).
She continued writing in her adolescent years, mainly in journals, and then decided to major in English in college. During her senior year she needed a few more credits to graduate. She was granted permission for an independent project and she chose to write and illustrate a children's book. The book she made, If I Were a Circle, was shown to publishers but was never published. However, Susan enjoyed the positive feedback and decided to develop a portfolio to pursue children's book publishing.
On one of her visits to a publisher to show her portfolio she was offered a job as an editorial assistant with Viking Press. This job helped her "learn more about writing...than anywhere else." One of her duties was to read the hundreds of unsolicited manuscripts sent to the publisher. She said, "I learned what NOT to do in my own manuscripts." (Minnesota Reflections).
Susan took everything she learned from her first job and then while working as Assistant Editor at The Dial Press she published her first book, Izzie, which was named New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year in 1975. Her success with this book was the beginning of a steady career as a children's book author and editor. Susan served as editor at Carolrhoda Books and many other publishers all while publishing a variety of children's books. Her latest book, Arlo Rolled was published in 2014.
I couldn't wait to read How to Teach a Slug to Readto my daughter. In this book I learned 10 steps to teach a slug to read including Finding a really good book or your slug will lose interest and Be patient. Reading isn't learned in a day. I was also excited about Slugs in Love, a story about love at first slime!Marylou, a slug who wears pretty pink bows, admires Herbie from afar and begins writing poetry to him with her slime around the farm; on the watering can, on veggies in the garden, and on the scarecrow. Herbie responds with his own poetry, but the two never meet until Marylou writes on the roof of the barn, "Your rhyme is sublime, Herbie, dear, I am here!". The slugs finally meet, fall in love, and live happily ever after.
I read the two books about slugs to my youngest two children and then I pulled out Hooray for Feet!, another book by Susan Pearson that I found at the library. It is a cute rhyming book all about the cool things feet can do. After finishing the book, I said to them, "OK! We are going to do a craft about slugs and feet." My daughter was excited. My son was skeptical and resistant. So, I explained, "We are going to paint our feet. Stamp them on paper. Then, make them look like slugs."
My daughter was even more excited because she did a similar activity in preschool where they made feet and handprints look like a reindeer. My son however was not happy. But, can you blame him. Slugs and feet. What a weird idea, Dad! I told my son to join us later if he wanted.
So, my daughter and I went into the kitchen to try it out. Try it out. Yes, I didn't try this activity before I did it with them. I had no idea if it was going to work.
To be honest, when my son was skeptical about the activity I was starting to doubt myself. But, I was curious to see if painting my daughter's foot and two of her toes would actually look like a slug when it was stamped on paper.
My daughter suggested having a bucket, washcloth, and a towel ready to clean her feet. I guess they did this at preschool when they made the reindeer.
It wasn't long before my son came into the kitchen. I asked him if he would take pictures for me. I knew if he stayed in the kitchen long enough he would want to participate in the activity.
I held my daughter's foot and pressed the paper onto it. I thought this would work better than having her try to stamp her foot onto the paper. Once, my son saw that the stamp looked like the shape of a slug, he wanted to try it!
We made many slug stamps in a variety of colors. We let them dry for about ten minutes before we started the next step. My son said, "This is a lot cooler than I thought it was going to be."
The next step was to add eyes.
It already looked like a slug, but it needed one more thing...
A smile! This activity turned out to be a lot cooler than I thought it was going to be too!
Here are the first two slugs my daughter made.
Next, she decided to paint a heart around two purple slugs because they were in love.
She asked me to paint pink bows on one of the slugs to make it look like Marylou in the book.
A serious artist painting a silly face on a slug.
She painted eyelashes above the eyes for these two yellow slugs.
My son made slug pirates and slugs with goatees! These were inspired by illustrations in How to Teach a Slug to Read.
My daughter made a few slugs with their tongues sticking out!
We are in love with these slugs and these books!
In closing, I found a birthday story Susan shared on her website , "I was born in Boston, Massachusetts on December 21, 1946 - so close to Christmas that my parents sent my birth announcement as their Christmas card." (Click here to see the announcement.)
Susan, our family wishes you a very happy birthday. We hope you had a wonderful day with family and friends. Thank you for making books that sparked our curiosity and creativity!
Henry Cole was telling a few stories about his mom during his keynote presentation at the 2015 Mazza Museum Fall Weekend Conference when he said,"You don't need a lot of stuff to make a magic moment happen." His mother was a fashion illustrator during the Depression in New York before moving to live on a dairy farm in Virginia. (Click here to see a childhood drawing Henry Cole did of his mother.)
"Mom could make big things happen from nothing." Henry told a story about the time his mom set up a cardboard box to make viewing a lunar eclipse much more exciting. Another story he shared was when his mom drew pictures of things around the dairy farm on scrap pieces of paper; the doghouse, peony bush, etc. She placed the drawings around the farm with one drawing leading to another like a scavenger hunt. Henry and his friend, from a neighboring farm, ran around so excited to see where they would go next. At the end of the hunt they were led to the lilac bush where two small shovels sticking out of the ground awaited them. At first, Henry and his friend didn't know what to do. Were they supposed to dig? Maybe there was buried treasure! So, Henry and his friend dug and dug until they found real treasure -- GEMS! Lots of them! Henry recalled the excitement he felt unearthing the dead Christmas tree bulbs that magically became treasure that day.
Henry is right. "You don't need a lot of stuff to make a magic moment happen."
Henry Cole made a magic moment at the Mazza Museum with only a piece of paper and a crayon.
I spoke with Henry Cole after his keynote presentation. I told him that I loved the stories he told about his mom and that I thought creating a scavenger hunt for my children from scraps of paper just like his mom did for him would be a great way to celebrate his birthday. I clarified, "As long as it is not snowing!"
I am huge fan of this guy!
On December 8th, Henry Cole's birthday, it wasn't snowing in Ohio. It wasn't cold either! So, I drew eight things from our yard on scrap pieces of paper. I taped each of the drawings, with exception of the first one, to one of Henry's books and placed them around the yard.
The first thing I drew was our rain barrel. I thought Jack's Garden was the perfect book to place there. We use the water from this rain barrel to water our wildflower garden much like Jack's garden in the book. The clue on the book would lead my children to our Little Free Library.
Big Chickens and a drawing of our playground were waiting at our Little Free Library.
Unspoken and a drawing of the big maple tree were hiding at our playground.
The Worrywarts and a drawing of the bench in our wildflower garden were behind a stump around the campfire. (There is no need to worry. We didn't have a campfire going on this day!)
Clara Caterpillar and a drawing of our woodpile were under the bench in the garden. I doubt Clara would come to our wildflower garden since she is a cabbage caterpillar, but we would welcome monarch caterpillars again next year.
Some Smug Slug and a drawing of a bush were on the wood pile. I am sure if we looked close enough we could find many smug slugs here.
I buried dead Christmas tree bulbs for treasure in front of the bush in the front yard.
I hid Moosletoe under the bush and stuck two shovels in the ground.
My youngest two children were ready for the scavenger hunt. I gave them the first drawing of the rain barrel to start.
I strategically placed the clues so they were running back and forth all over the yard.
She was proud of herself for climbing up to get Unspoken.
At the end of the hunt she found the book, but it didn't have a drawing taped to it. They didn't know what to do. My son said, "What are these shovels doing here?" I said, "I don't know. Why do you think they are there?"
"Maybe we should dig."
They found all ten dead Christmas bulbs -- I mean all ten rubies, emeralds, and pearls!
After the hunt, we went inside for a cup of hot chocolate and read Moosletoe. I didn't need a lot of stuff to make this magical moment happen.
Henry Cole has created over 120 books for children including the Katy Duck series by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, Chicken Butt! by Erica S. Perl, and the Bad Boys books by Margie Palatini. His mother encouraged him to be plumber or a teacher when it came time to go to college. (Mazza Keynote). He studied forestry at Virginia Tech and became an elementary science teacher for 17 years.
His elementary school brought in many well-known authors and illustrators to visit including Steven Kellogg, Jon Scieszka, and one of his favorite authors, Jean Craighead George. Henry told Publisher's Weekly about his brave encounter with Jean George, "I found the courage to tell her, out of the blue, that I had created a little book about bats -- inspired by a unit I'd done with second graders -- and to ask if she could recommend an editor I might send it to. Well, she stared at me for a few minutes, and then wrote the name of Katherine Tegen, at HarperCollins, on a napkin that was on a nearby table." Henry contacted Katherine, visited New York, and was offered a contract to illustrate a manuscript they had just acquired by Ann Earle. His first book Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats was published in 1995.
He went on to create numerous books with his colleague and children's librarian, Pamela Duncan Edwards. Their first books together were Some Smug Slugand Four Famished Foxes and Fosdyke. Henry Cole is now a full-time children's book creator, but still reconnects with his love of teaching by visiting many schools each year! I am looking forward to one of Henry's upcoming books, a wordless picture book, Spot, the Cat (available March 1, 2016).
Our birthday celebration didn't stop with the scavenger hunt. I discovered Henry Cole's The Littlest Evergreen. A book Henry dedicated to his Aunt Marion. "After she died I found in her papers and things...a few sentences told from the point of view of a Christmas tree." (Reading Rockets). Henry took those few sentences from Aunt Marion and added his own words and pictures to create a story about a Christmas tree that was too small to be cut but was dug up and bound with cloth. The tree was purchased by a family who decorated it for Christmas. Then, they planted it and gave it everything it needed to become tall and proud.
I had never been to a Christmas tree farm. I have always had an artificial Christmas tree. My children had experienced Christmas tree farms numerous times with their grandparents (my wife's parents). Many years ago, when my wife and I were newly married, her parents bought Christmas trees that were dug and bound. Then they planted them in their backyard. I loved this idea, but I never had a reason to try something new. When I saw The Littlest Evergreen I decided this was the year for a real Christmas tree.
All four of my children were along for this family reading experience. It was the perfect December day with temperatures in the sixties!
There were plenty of photo opportunities at the Christmas tree farm. My daughter wore her Christmas dress for this special occasion!
First, we found a tree for Grandma and Grandpa. They no longer have room in their backyard to plant Christmas trees! We each took a turn at cutting the tree.
We walked to the other side of the farm; around the small lake, through some mud to the hill with the Christmas trees that could be dug and bound.
We came to a quick decision that this was the tree for us and marked it with yellow tape.
One of the farmers dug it out of the ground for us. He said, "I can get it out for you in ten minutes."
I was going to read The Littlest Evergreen while he was digging out the tree, but we had some visitors that interrupted the story. Nine cows and one donkey live on the hill with the Christmas trees. I learned today that my wife and children are extremely afraid of cows. Who knew?
The trees on this hill were planted with a wrap around the roots to make it easier to dig up.
The cows finally left us alone long enough so we could read the book.
Our Christmas tree was carted away right after I read the page about the Littlest Evergreen being put on the truck. My daughter said, "Hey, our Christmas tree is just like the one in the book."
The cows decided not to stay for story time. They followed the trailer down the hill.
At home, we decorated our first real Christmas tree with tinsel and lights. After Christmas is over we will plant it in our backyard and care for it for "many, many seasons."
Last June I saw an announcement that Shutta Crum would be teaching a week-long writing course during the Mazza Museum 2015 summer conference. Shutta's name was familiar to me, but I couldn't remember the book she wrote. I visited her website and said, "Oh, my! She wrote Who Took My Hairy Toe?!" I didn't hesitate. I went right to the Mazza Museum website and signed up for the summer conference.
My youngest son checked out Who Took My Hairy Toe? over and over again from our local library. He knew how to find it on the shelf because it had a special orange Halloween sticker on the spine. He would run over to me with the book and a huge smile to say, "Hey, Dad! Look!"
I must be honest. Sometimes when my children check out the same book over and over again I try to hide the book at the bottom of the stack or try to keep it hidden in the library bag to avoid having to read it again, but that never happened with Who Took My Hairy Toe?. It is one of our family's favorite books. Now my son no longer checks it out from the library. He has his own copy and it is autographed to him by Shutta Crum!
Shutta Crum was a youth librarian for twenty-four years and was named Michigan's youth librarian of the year in 2002. She often retold versions of Who Took My Hairy Toe?, a southern folktale, during story times, but "felt the story was ripe for a better ending and a better beginning." (Shutta's website). To make this happen she invented the character Old Tar Pockets (which was the original title for her book) who is a greedy old man that snitches some tar from his neighbor while he is fixing his roof. With no place to put the tar he decides his pocket would be the best place for it. Then, Old Tar Pockets finds that the neighbor still has some sweet potatoes in his garden and decides to take some of those too. While digging he discovers a hairy toe and puts it his pocket. At home, Old Tar Pockets realizes that the hairy toe is stuck in his pocket because the tar cooled. Then, the wind picks up and he hears the words, "Who took my hairy toe?" The words get closer and louder until the door to Old Tar Pockets' log cabin is blown down. The story ends with Old Tar Pockets getting what he deserves for being such a greedy old man.
This week, while I was planning a shopping trip for our family's Thanksgiving feast, I wrote "pie crusts" on my list. This gave me an idea for a family reading experience that will have my children reminiscing every time we read Who Took My Hairy Toe?.
My youngest son looks on as I read one of his favorite books. When Shutta autographed the book for him she wrote, "Don't put any toes in your pockets! Happy Shivers!" This book is perfect for young readers, like my son, who love to hear a story that is just a little bit scary! Who took my hairy toe? WHO TOOK MY HAIRY TOE? WHO TOOK MY HAIRY TOE?
"So Old Tar Pockets began to dig. And he dug up a hairy toe!" After reading the book I told my children we would be making hairy toes and tar pockets for an afternoon treat.
We cut two Pillsbury pie crusts into quarters with a pizza cutter.
Then, we filled the pie "pocket" with chocolate pudding. We used a fork to crimp the edges so the hot tar wouldn't ooze out while in the oven.
We baked the "tar pockets" in the oven for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. We let them cool to the touch before handling and eating.
While the tar pockets were in the oven we made the hairy toes. The coarse brown fur was homemade chocolate frosting.
The toes were Keebler Vienna Finger cookies.
My son looked for the perfect "long yellow toenail curving over at the end." Corn chips were perfect for this.
My oldest daughter was quite pleased with her hairy toe and it looked just like the illustration in the book.
Some of our hairy toes had more than one toenail!
We discovered that corn chips with chocolate frosting was quite delicious!
We cut open the tar pockets and carefully stuffed in the hairy toe. Yum!
A happy reader and eater!
Please pin this picture of our Hairy-Toe-Tar-Pockets on Pinterest and follow Happy Birthday Author!
Shutta, my family wishes you the happiest of birthdays. I learned so much from you about writing picture books during the writing strand at the Mazza Museum Summer Conference. Your encouragement, advice, and wisdom were invaluable!
Last July, at a local author fair, my family had the opportunity to meet Marilyn Sadler. At the time, we knew her only as the author of the P.J. Funnybunny books, but this week we learned so much more! We learned she is one of the most successful children's authors from Ohio, a children's television producer, and has written picture books for over 30 years. Plus, one her latest picture books is about one of our favorite foods, MACARONI AND CHEESE!
Marilyn Sadler is the author of over 35 books for children including P.J. Funnybunny Camps Out, Alistair in Outer Space, and Ten Eggs in a Nest. She attended college at Ohio State University and earned a degree in fine arts. Her first job was at the Cleveland Museum of Art as the registrar. (Cleveland.com). As her website states, "she assumed she would be an illustrator," but after working as a freelance copywriter on a project with artist, Roger Bollen, things went a little different than expected.
She started writing books with Roger and discovered that "writing was her true love." (Cleveland.com). The duo sold their first book, Alistair's Elephantin 1983. Their next book was It's Not Easy Being a Bunny featuring P.J. Funnybunny. This book was very successful as it was included in Dr. Seuss's Beginning Book Series. The book was ranked #144 on Publisher's Weekly list of top selling children's books of all-time. My family highly recommends both the Alistair series and any book with P.J. Funnybunny!
In addition to her children's books, Marilyn Sadler found success in children's television. Her chapter book, Stuck on Earth: Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century became one of Disney Channel's most successful movies. Alistair was featured on Reading Rainbow and P.J. Funnybunny starred in three television shows. Also, Marilyn Sadler created the highly acclaimed Handy Manny show for Disney Junior. "Handy Manny started with Marilyn Sadler and Roger Bollen; I guess it was some execs at Disney who were looking for a preschool show for boys. Marilyn and Roger were sent off with that mission and they came back with this idea of a repairman with talking tools. They pitched it to them, and it was off and running." (Handy Manny Producer Rick Gitelson, Wired.com).
Marilyn Sadler autographed one of those new books, Tony Baroni Loves Macaroni for our family at the local author fair. When I opened the book this week I immediately had two activity ideas that I knew would be perfect for Marilyn Sadler's birthday celebration; macaroni heart-shaped ornaments and "I Love Macaroni" bowls.
Two activity ideas from one page spread.
Tony Baroni really loves macaroni. His Nonna Sofia wishes he didn't eat macaroni for breakfast, at noon, and then at dinner with a big serving spoon. She tries to break his eating habit by preparing many tasty pasta dishes, but Tony refuses. Then one day, all by himself, he decides enough is enough and asks Nonna to make him a new meal. The new meal is a winner, but Tony now wants it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Nonna Sofia can only smile and so will your family when they read this book!
My youngest two children were in a crafty-mood one day after school this week. I seized this creative energy by asking my son to draw a heart on the back of a cereal box. I said, "Can you draw one bigger?" He drew another heart. I said, "Can you draw a bigger one?" He drew another heart. I said, "Perfect." We used this drawing for their macaroni heart-shaped ornaments.
They cut out the heart shape, punched a hole near the top, and threaded and tied a green ribbon.
Then, things got sticky.
My children squirted glue all over the cardboard heart and pressed in the macaroni noodles. My daughter said, "Oh, we can put these up on the Christmas tree when they dry!"
My son piled more and more macaroni noodles. He squirted glue all over the top to make sure the all the noodles would stick when dried (and they did!).
The macaroni ornaments dried on a piece of aluminum foil. I thought it would be better for them to stick to the foil than to the table!
The second birthday celebration activity was to make personalized "I Love Macaroni" bowls just like Tony Baroni's bowl in the book. The goal of this project was for my children design their own macaroni bowl with their name and then we would use the bowls to eat homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner.
I researched this project to make sure it wouldn't fail. I investigated numerous "Design Your Own Bowl" activity kits but found them too expensive. I found many DIY Sharpie Marker projects online but results were varied. I couldn't decide what to do so I went to Wal-Mart to see what I could find. I thought maybe I could find plastic bowls they could draw on.
Surprisingly, I couldn't find white plastic bowls. But, I did find inexpensive ceramic bowls in the dinnerware aisle. While at the store I read more articles about people using Sharpies to decorate mugs, but there was no clear successes on how to keep the marker from washing off. Since, the bowls were only 88 cents I decided to give it a try.
While all of my children were at school I wrote with red Sharpie marker on the bottom of a bowl. Then, put the bowl in the unheated oven, turned it on and brought it to a temperature of 450 degrees. Once, it was at 450 degree, I set the timer for 30 minutes. The theory behind this approach was that the glaze on the bowl would heat up and incorporate the ink. Then, when it cooled the ink would be a part of the glaze. This approach made sense to me.
The ink looked like this before the 30 minutes in the oven.
And like this after the 30 minutes in the oven. The red ink faded to orange, but it didn't wash off! This was good enough for me. I decided to try it with the family.
Later that day, I assembled the family and they started decorating right away. I said, "Wait! Stop!" I had a few things to tell them. "First, your colors may change, so don't be mad if you write your name in blue and it turns gray. Second, turn your bowl right-side-up to write your name otherwise it will be upside down!"
My youngest son used a red marker to draw a sun because he knew it would turn orange.
She turned her bowl right-side-up to write an important message.
What's itironophobia? I had no idea. She told me it means having a fear of noodles. Who knew? My daughter just wrote a story for a school assignment about a girl with this unfortunate phobia. How awful would that be? Tony Baroni definitely doesn't have itironophobia!
All the decorating was added to the outside of the bowl. If the Sharpie did come off we didn't want purple macaroni!
My youngest son thought he was finished with this project a few times, but felt he could add just few more designs.
Our bowls were decorated, but I was a little nervous for the next step.
Remember -- put the bowls in a cold oven, bring to 450 degrees, and then bake for 30 minutes. Let the bowls cool on the kitchen counter.
The bowls worked! Some colors faded more than others, but overall they turned out great. I hand-washed them twice without problems. I would suggest hand-drying them too!
The next night for dinner I made homemade macaroni and cheese. Here is a link to my favorite recipe.
A family meal served in bowls we designed! This family loves macaroni and cheese and Tony Baroni Loves Macaroni!
Marilyn, our family hopes you have a wonderful birthday. It was so nice to meet and talk with you at Loganberry Books last summer. Thank you for writing books that kept our family entertained all week!
Every November 1st, for the past five years or so, I make sure our stack of books by Lois Ehlert is visible for my children -- a few books on the floor in the family room, a couple on the couch, and the rest on the bookshelf upstairs. I have found that my children can't resist reading her books when they see them. They will sit and independently read or choose for me to read them for before bedtime reading. For me, her books always have a way of inspiring an activity idea for us to do as family.
"There's a fruit and vegetable store near my house that I've gone to for many, many years. At the beginning of my creation of Eating the Alphabet, I went to the grocery store once a week, usually on Saturday to buy fruits and vegetables alphabetically. I started with the A's: apples, artichokes, and asparagus. And then I would take them home and do a painting of all of them (this is before I even had the format of the book figured out), and then I'd eat them. The next week I'd go back to the store for the B's and so on. I wondered if someone at the store would notice and start to talk about this lady that would come in and buy only fruits and vegetables that began with the letter A, or B, or C, but they were very discreet. The employees never did question me about it. But when I had the whole book finished, I showed it to them."
I wanted to try this with my two youngest children. It was such a simple idea -- go to the grocery store, pick out fruits and veggies, and do a painting of them. I knew they would love it.
I told them, before we went to the store, about Lois Ehlert and how she shopped every Saturday, alphabetically. My son said with a smile on his face, "Are we going to do that for the whole alphabet?" I said, "If you want to, but I was thinking today you could pick out two of your favorite fruits and veggies, tell me what letter they start with, and then you can do a painting of them." He thought it was a good idea once he realized he would need to go to the grocery store every Saturday for about six months to get through the whole alphabet.
They had a burst of excitement and energy when they got to the market. They wanted to pick the first thing they saw. I encouraged them to check out all the fruits and vegetables in the produce section to make sure they were choosing something they wanted to paint and EAT!
His first choice was a zucchini. He said, "We can use this to make bread."
She almost picked a carrot, but changed her mind.
We were surprised to find baby bananas and red bananas.
We found papayas in the store and in the book.
He said, "I don't like to eat watermelons, but I really do like to look at them."
We found sweet potatoes, but were surprised to not find them on the S page. Then, we saw the sign in the bin that said "yams" and found them on the Y page.
She picked a navel orange to "suck out the juice."
This red pepper was too beautiful not to buy.
We made few more choices before we left -- strawberries, grapes, a blood orange, and a pepino melon.
"For Eating the Alphabet I made those papers -- the watercolor, the texturizing. I did a lot of that before I even got to the illustrations. And quite honestly I didn't know what would turn out well and what wouldn't. You have to allow a lot of extra time. Somebody once said to me, 'You know, you could get some of those textures on a computer.' My answer was, 'Why would I want to do that?' Because to me part of the pleasure of being an artist is that you see and you touch. I don't want to hurry it." (Lois Ehlert from an interview with The Horn Book). I told my children, before we started painting, that Lois Ehlert did watercolor collage for the final illustrations of Eating the Alphabet. I offered that they could just paint papers with different watercolors and then cut and paste shapes to make their fruits and veggies.
My children decisively said, "No. We just want to paint."
And paint they did.
My daughter started by painting a strawberry.
My son painted an orange. He was quite pleased with the brown spot he painted on the orange.
"Daddy, can I eat a strawberry now?"
He was pretty excited about this activity.
I picked this pepino melon because I thought it looked like it was painted with watercolors.
Strawberries and grapes! Yum! (Well, not so much. He didn't like the grapes for some reason.)
Their paintings of fruits and veggies inspired another set of paintings. This time they painted trees and flowers.
Later for dinner he really enjoyed the blood orange. He squeezed out the juice and drank the "blood juice" like a vampire.
This was such a fun experience with my children. I am already looking forward to next year to see what our stack of books by Lois Ehlert will inspire us to create. Check out Lois Ehlert's latest book, Holey Moley (just released October 2015):
Our routine for celebrating an author birthday, typically, is to begin reading as many books as we can the week before the birthday and culminate with a family activity. Then I write up a blog post about our reading experience in time to share with you on the author's birthday. However this time, to celebrate Elisa Kleven's birthday, we started our celebration on her actual birthday and finished our family reading experience eight days later! This author birthday celebration didn't follow our normal routine and the activity took lots of patience, but it was one that was worth the wait!
Elisa Kleven is the author and illustrator of The Paper Princess, Sun Bread, and A Monster in the House. As a child, Elisa was blessed to have a grandmother and mother who were both artists. Her grandmother was sculptor and her mother was a print maker. Elisa said, "Both of these women encouraged my creativity. They often took me and my sisters and brother to museums, and gave us art supplies for birthday and holiday gifts." (elisakleven.com). Elisa decided at a very early age that she wanted to be a children's author and illustrator, but she claims "I didn't practice drawing as much as [a future children's author-illustrator] ought to have." (Seven Impossible Things).
After studying literature and education at University of California at Berkley she became a teacher. She taught fourth grade, art, and loved reading books to children. These experiences helped her recall her childhood dream of making picture books. In 1988, after working hard to improve her artwork she published her first book, The Merry-Go-Round Dog. Her second book, Ernst, was a huge hit and led to over fifteen more books with her publisher. Elisa Kleven latest books are Cozy Light, Cozy Night and Glasswings: A Butterfly Story.
Last year, I checked out many of Elisa Kleven's books and read them around her birthday. My favorite book was The Apple Doll. In this story, Lizzy is nervous about making friends as a new school year starts. She makes a doll out of an apple and a twig from her favorite tree and takes it to school on the first day. Her teacher informs her that she will not be allowed to have the apple doll at school, but she could bring it back on sharing day. The next week is a lonely time for Lizzy at school without her apple doll. To make matters worse, the apple doll was starting to get mushy. Lizzy's mother remembered making an apple doll when she was younger and helps Lizzy dry her apple so her doll could last forever. This allows Lizzy to show the class the dried apple doll on sharing day. The other children love her apple doll. Soon, "apple people dance in the classroom" and Lizzy has "many new friends to play with at home" in the apple tree.
When I read The Apple Doll last year, I noticed the instructions to make apple dolls in the book. We had just picked apples at the orchard, but life got busy and we never completed the project. This year, when we picked the apples at the orchard I remembered the book and hoped we would have time to make the dolls.
Thankfully, we had a free afternoon to start this project and it happened to be Elisa Kleven's birthday! We started by each picking an apple for our doll.
We peeled the skin.
Elisa Kleven said, "As a child, I spent hours making up stories about the dolls and characters I'd make from clay, paper, and anything else that appealed to me (walnut shells, dried apples, etc.) Giving these characters stories and settings was great preparation for my work as a picture book creator." (KIDSBOOK Friends).
I gave my children a plastic knife to carve a nose. This was hard for them. They wanted to poke instead.
So, I helped carve a nose that they liked.
They were really good at poking holes for eyes.
My son even poked holes for the nose.
We filled a container with lemon juice.
Then, we dissolved a tablespoon of salt.
"Now we'll soak her in a lemon juice bath so bugs and worms won't eat her."
The apple must be completely submerged in the lemon juice. We used the other apple to hold it down. The apple soaked in the lemon juice for 30 minutes.
"I want to try that lemon juice...Ooooooo."
We placed our apples in the oven at 170 degrees. Small pieces of aluminum foil covered the noses to prevent burning. Over the course of the week, I had the apples in the oven for many hours when we were at home.
After about eight days, they looked like this.
On the day we planned to dress our apple dolls we started by making applesauce.
Crockpot applesauce is so easy. Just cut the apples, add cinnamon, and cook on low for about 4 hours.
Yum!
We began making the apple dolls by piercing a hole through the center.
Then, we pushed a pipe cleaner through apple. The pipe cleaners will allow you to pose your apple doll when you are finished.
We wrapped more pipe cleaners to make it more sturdy.
Then, we added arms, legs, hands, and feet.
Beads were added for eyes.
A pink marker was used to make rosy cheeks.
Elisa Kleven said in an interview with PaperTigers, "I think imagination is crucial to a child's development, and I fear that it is endangered." This may or may not be true, but I know children's authors and illustrators are doing their best to provide children opportunities to let their imaginations run wild.
This is my apple doll as a work in progress.
We each had our own ideas for making the clothes. I used felt and hot-glued pieces together to make a shirt and pants.
My daughter cut various fabrics into a shirt, a skirt, leggings, and hair. It was like she was a fashion designer.
My son used pipe cleaners to hold the fabric on his doll.
We used hot glue to attach a piece of cotton to his apple doll's head. His favorite thing was giving his doll a hair cut.
Our craft was completed and our apples were cooked in time for dinner.
I saw her determination during the craft and when she made the applesauce.
This author birthday celebration may not have been followed our traditional schedule, but it was just as memorable. Happy belated-birthday to Elisa Kleven! Thank you creating picture books that inspire imagination and creativity!
Our family's experience at this year's National Book Festival was our best yet. Sure, it helped that my four children are three years older than they were when they first attended the festival. (Thankfully, they are all potty trained now! Those first two years were rough.) It also helped that my children have developed an appreciation for meeting an author/illustrator in person. (They really didn't have a choice.) My wife and I learned from past mistakes and prepared much better, too; we packed lots of great snacks, iPads were available for long book signing lines, and we had a clear understanding of the festival's schedule to make sure everyone in the family got to do everything on their list. (iPads at a book conference? Yes, it was necessary, those lines can be over an hour long, but worth every minute of the wait!)
All of these things contributed to us having our most enjoyable time ever, but there was one other thing that was vital to keeping smiles on our faces.
We arrived at the National Book Festival at around 9:30am. We listened to numerous author presentations, walked all around the convention center, ate PB and J sandwiches while sitting on the floor, and waited in many long autograph lines. I looked at the phone and it was time for my children to enter the "crankiest" part of the day which starts around 3:30 and ends as soon as we feed them at dinner time (and dinner wasn't going to happen until 7:30 on this day). Thankfully, right at the beginning of "cranky time" Dan Santat was scheduled to give a presentation with a book signing immediately following.
There was nothing for my children to be cranky about during Dan Santat's presentation. He was entertaining, funny, and all my kids loved him! If you ask them what they learned about Dan Santat they would probably tell you that he is from "Los Angle-lees".
Dan had lots of fun with the sign language interpreter during his presentation. He said, "I like chicken" numerous times just so she would have to sign it.
Also, he signed our National Book Festival poster. He shares a birthday with another Caldecott Medalist, David Diaz.
Dan Santat has published over 60 books for children in eleven years. Over twenty of those books are picture books including Carnivores by Aaron Reynolds, Oh No!: Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World by Mac Barnett, and Kel Gilligan's Daredevil Stunt Show by Michael Buckley. Dan's parents encouraged him to pursue a career as a doctor and he graduated with a degree in microbiology from University of California, San Diego. However, he switched gears and went to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and met other artists interested in illustrating children's books including Peter Brown. Upon graduating in 2001, he began preparing an art portfolio while working as a video game art designer. In 2002, he attended a Society of Children's Book Writer and Illustrator (SCBWI) conference and attracted the attention of an editor. "I was sitting in the illustrators display showcase and had my art portfolio on a table with a loose dummy version of the book. [My editor] came up to me and asked me if the book had been acquired, I told him "No." Then we talked things over and a week later I got a contract for a two book deal sent to me via FedEx." (Geek Dad). In 2004, that loose book dummy became his first book The Guild of Geniuses. The second book in the contract later became Side Kicks, a graphic novel.
Over the past eleven years, Dan Santat's efforts have earned him the title of "One of the hardest-working people in publishing" by Minh Le of Huffington Post. In 2014, thirteen books were published with his artwork. For Santat, it is not just about the quantity of the work but the quality. One of those books in 2014, the third book he also wrote, The Adventures of Beekle: An Unimaginary Friend, awarded the Caldecott Medal in 2015. "Beekle may not be perfect for everyone, but I was happy to know that it was perfect for fifteen people on the committee. Thank you for being my perfect other half. Thank you for changing my life, and letting me, for the first time, feel that I was good enough." (Caldecott Medal Acceptance Speech, ALA). Santat talked at length in his Caldecott Medal Acceptance speech that he has worked so hard over the years to overcome his own insecurities about his work and to solidify that he made the right career choice as a children's book creator. About five years ago, Santat turned down a job offer from Google to be a Google Doodler. (The Horn Book). Our family and countless other families around the world are thankful that Dan choose children's books!
Our family's favorite books we read this week by Dan Santat were Crankenstein and Crankenstein's Valentine, written by Samantha Berger. Both books start with, "Have you seen my Crankenstein?" The adult narrator is clear that you can't miss him because as soon as you say "Good Morning" or "Happy Valentine's Day" Crankenstein responds with loud monster voice, "MEHHRRRR!" It sort reminded me of the our first National Book Festival, four years ago, I would say, "We are going to wait in one more line to get an author autograph." My children all turned into Crankensteins, "MEHHRRRR!" But, just like my children at this year's National Book Festival, the boy in the book doesn't stay Crankenstein forever. He finds someone he really likes. Someone that makes him laugh. (Thanks, Dan for making us laugh during the "cranky" time of the day and for making our National Book Festival a memorable family experience.)
My kids and I have been busy decorating our house for Halloween. After reading Crankenstein and Crankenstein's Valentinefor the third time to my children, I had the idea to combine the books with our Halloween decorating expertise to make Halloween yard decorations.
We started with a rectangular piece of scrap plywood. My son saw the sanding blocks and said, "Yes! I love sanding. That is my favorite thing."
Once the wood rectangles were smooth we painted them green with just a light coat of acrylic paint so it would dry quickly.
There were lots of different greens to choose from.
Then, we painted Crankenstein's face; black triangle hair and straight-thick eyebrows, white eyes and teeth.
On the cover of Crankenstein, the boy is cranky because he dropped his pink ice cream out of the cone. There is pink ice cream around his mouth. My children had the idea to paint brown around the mouth to make it look like our Crankensteins ate Halloween chocolate bars. (Doesn't that make you cranky when you sneak a Halloween chocolate bar, but forget it is in your pocket. Only to be excited to find it later, but then it is melted! MEHHRRRR!)
The big kids came home from school, saw all the supplies, and wanted to make a Crankenstein too.
That is a lot of chocolate around the mouth -- Reese's peanut butter cups, maybe?
Our Crankensteins dried on the kitchen counter.
I love using plastic container lids for paint trays.
The next day, we cut a thin piece of wood to make the poles to hold our Crankenstein faces. My son painted the wood the same color as Crankenstein's shirt on the cover of the book.
Notice the yellow star. We bought wooden stars at Michael's craft store for 29 cents each. This addition was inspired by the star on Crankenstein's shirt.
You can't paint your pole orange when you are wearing a purple hair bow and a purple shirt.
While they were painting the poles, I sprayed the Crankenstein faces with clear enamel. I like that the enamel brightens the paint color and protects the artwork from the weather.
Once all the paint dried, it was time to put everything together. We placed wood glue on pole.
Then, attached the pole to the Crankenstein face with a few nails.
We stapled the star to the pole.
Then, painted over the staple.
Our Crankensteins dried over night.
The next day, my son had the idea to line the driveway with the Crankensteins.
Dan, we hope you have a relaxing 40th birthday! Thank you for working so hard to create children's books for families to enjoy together. Enjoy your day!
For years I have had copies of Robert McCloskey's book, Make Way for Ducklings on my bookshelf. First, I had a small paperback copy and then I upgraded to a large, full-size paperback. Then, I found an ex-library hardcover version which I later replaced with my current edition, a nice 1969 hardcover version. The strange thing was I never read the book despite always having a copy in my possession. It was a book I wanted in my library because I knew it was a significant book in the history of children's literature, but I never took the time to enjoy it. About a month ago, I thought of the book, pulled it off the shelf, sat down to read it for the first time, and loved it.
I identified with the ambitious and brave Mrs. Mallard as she took her little ducklings for a stroll in the city. Readers of this blog know I love to stroll and try new things with "my ducklings" and just like Mrs. Mallard I get "an extra swing" in my waddle when people say to me "Well, now, ain't that nice!" when we are out and about. So, this week, I said to my youngest two children, just like Mrs. Mallard, "Come along, children. Follow Me," as we went on a surprise adventure with this classic book that will no longer sit on my bookshelf unread.
Robert McCloskey wrote and illustrated eight books for children including Blueberries for Sal and Homer Price. He also illustrated an additional ten books for other authors including Journey Cake, Ho! written by Newbery Medalist and McCloskey's mother-in-law, Ruth Sawyer. Robert McCloskey was born in Hamilton, Ohio where they continue to celebrate him at the Heritage Hall Museum. The museum is home to many pieces of McCloskey's artwork, his harmonica, his artist box, and his two Caldecott Medals. Robert McCloskey was the first children's book artist to be awarded two Caldecott Medals; (1942) Make Way for Ducklings and (1958) Time of Wonder.
Robert McCloskey went to art school in Boston and New York, but his art career never took off the way he had hoped. He couldn't sell enough paintings to support himself. Also, in the mid 1930s, he met with a children's book editor, but he left without a book contract. In the meantime, McCloskey tried to find his way. He went home to Ohio and then returned to Boston and found work painting murals. Then, three years after meeting with that children's book editor he returned with a manuscript that became his first book Lentil(1940), a story about a boy that lives in a town much like his childhood home of Hamilton, Ohio. (Click here to read more about the influence his hometown.)
After, Lentil came Make Way for Ducklings, a book about Mr. and Mrs. Mallard trying to find a new home to build a nest and raise their ducklings. McCloskey purchased real ducks, brought them to his apartment, let them swim in his bathtub to help him draw them more accurately for the book. Legend has it that he gave the ducks wine to drink so they would slow down so he could draw them better. (Children's Book-a-Day Almanac).
After reading Make Way for Ducklings that first time, I knew it would be the perfect book for my youngest two children. I thought of Price Park in North Canton, Ohio, a park my wife and I used to walk around during our college days. I remembered there always being lots of ducks in the pond. Once, my wife was frightened because so many ducks approached her and surrounded her legs. I thought my little ones would love seeing all the ducks. I just hoped ducks still visited the pond since I hadn't been to the park in many years.
After picking my son up from half-day Kindergarten, we went to the local feed store to pick up some duck food. I opted for normal duck food instead of peanuts like Policeman Michael fed Mr. and Mrs. Mallard in the book.
We arrived at Price Park and my children wanted to feed the ducks immediately. My son threw in handfuls of duck food.
Then, he made it rain duck food! We talked about throwing one piece at the time because the ducks can't possibly eat all that food at once.
Mr. and Mrs. Mallard were swimming in the pond.
I wish I would have clicked a few more photos after this one, because shortly after this photo the ducks ran after my daughter scaring her. I am lucky she didn't run into the pond. She was that frightened (like mother, like daughter!).
It didn't take long for her to start feeding the ducks again.
My son was excited that the Canada Goose would eat right out of his hand.
We read Make Way for Ducklings right by the pond. Some of ducks came right up to us while we were reading. I think they liked the book, too!
We finally ate our lunch around 1:45pm. They had so much fun feeding the ducks for over an hour. I am glad my children followed along. This was another fun adventure.
Our family attended the National Book Festival in Washington DC for the fourth year in a row over Labor Day weekend. Each of the past three years I have planned an author/illustrator birthday celebration during our time in the nation's capital. We celebrated Bob Staake in 2012, Andrea Davis Pinkney in 2013, and Paul Fleischman in 2014. This year, we continued the tradition with a birthday celebration for Lou Fancher; artist, writer, dancer, book designer, and illustrator.
Lou Fancher has published over 45 books including My Many Colored Dayswrittenby Dr. Seuss, New York's Bravest written by Mary Pope Osborne, and It's Milking Timewritten by Phyllis Alsdurf. She has collaborated with her husband, Steve Johnson, on most of her books. Their collaboration in children's books began in 1989 when they published No Star Nightsby Anna Smucker which was awarded an International Reading Association Children's Book Award for Young Readers.
In addition to being a talented artist, Lou is a talented dancer. She studied dance at the University of Cincinnati and has worked as a ballet instructor and choreographer. Lou's dancing brought her together with Steve when he was photographing ballet dancers as reference for his artwork and Lou was at the ballet studio. Later, Steve offered her the painting he did of her and the rest is history.
Lou and Steve's artistic collaboration is very unique. It is a "fluid" arrangement. Both artists paint on the same painting. Both may start paintings in the same book. They say, "It just depends on who is better at it." Their artwork also changes for each book. For example, they used potato stamping in Cat, You Better Come Home by Garrison Keillor, painted on fabric for TheKing's Taster by Kenneth Oppel, and incorporated photographs of their own family for BeBop Express by H.L. Panahi. They explained the reason for the variety in their work, "Our artwork is different for each book because the author's voice has been different in each one."
In addition to creating children's picture book art with Steve, Lou has contributed as the author on three books including Star Climbing and The Quest for One Big Thing. Currently, she is writing for many publications in the California area and has two upcoming books with Steve Johnson; Dr. Seuss: The Great Doodler by Kate Klimo (January 2016) and Shh! Bears Sleeping by David Martin (January 2016).
At the Mazza Museum Summer Conference 2015, Lou Fancher said The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg inspired her and Steve to want to make children's picture books.
"Working together with Steve became addictive."
"Together we can do things we can't do alone. If I work with him, I can do it."
In 1955, The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Commission began work to create a memorial "that will do him the honor he deserves and transmit his image to future generations." (National Park Service Pamplet). The Memorial was completed in 1997 and the Commission's goal was certainly achieved. Our family learned a lot about our 32nd president with the help of this amazing memorial and the perfect picture book.
A Boy Named FDR chronicles Franklin Delano Roosevelt from birth until he started his campaign to run for President of the United States. FDR grew up in a very wealthy family. He had all the toys, teachers, and toilets he needed and then some (there were nine bathrooms in his house!). FDR learned many childhood lessons from his parents and teachers on the importance of caring for people less fortunate. Some of the greatest lessons came from his fifth cousin Teddy Roosevelt who taught him, "You are not entitled...much has been given to you; therefore, we have the right to expect much from you." At Harvard, FDR began expressing his aspirations to become President and it was there, his future wife, Eleanor showed him "how people lived, and he never forgot." After a successful start to his career as a New York state senator, at the age of 39, FDR came down with polio. The disease left him unable to stand without assistance. My son said after reading the book, "I guess you can be in a wheelchair and still be President of the United States."
We visited the Bureau of Engraving and Printing before we visited the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. It was too much for my youngest daughter who fell asleep in the stroller. This photo was taken at the end of the Memorial. If you start at the beginning you will first come to the Prologue Room and then pass through four outdoor rooms, one for each of FDR's terms as President.
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, March 4, 1933. FDR said these words during his first inaugural address. This quote is carved into the stone wall in Room 1 of the Memorial.
This sculpture was designed by George Segal. It depicts a 1930s breadline. The quotes above and below read, "I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished." [and] "The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." (January 20, 1937). This sculpture is in Room 2 of the memorial.
Also, in Room 2 of the Memorial is this waterfall.
It is hard to miss the large statue of FDR with his dog Fala in Room 3 of the Memorial.
In Room 4 of the Memorial there is a statue of Eleanor. In A Boy Named FDR we learned FDR felt strongly that with Eleanor's help he could become someone who would make a difference in the world. Additionally, it was Eleanor that "urged him to get back into politics" three years after contracting polio.
"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This quote was from a speech FDR was preparing to give on April 13, 1945 for Jefferson Day, but he died on April 12th. Harry S. Truman took office after his death. This quote is in Room 4 of the Memorial.
After touring the whole Memorial we returned to the Prologue Room to read A Boy Named FDR. We thought this was the quietest and most peaceful spot.
Outside the gift shop, we saw this wheelchair which is a replica of the one that FDR designed and used. It was a combination of a commercial wheelchair and a kitchen chair!
Before we left the Memorial we visited the gift shop. We were happy to see A Boy Named FDRwas on the shelf!
Lou, our family hopes you have a wonderful birthday! It was so nice to meet you at the Mazza Museum!
Would you like to read more about our experience at the National Book Festival in Washington DC? Click here!
I didn't know there was such a thing as a "book launch party" before I started writing this blog. But, in the past few years I have learned that these events are a big deal to an author/illustrator. I have also learned that as a fan of children's books I need to attend events like these to support the efforts and creativity of our children's authors and illustrators. Besides, it's a fun way to spend a few hours with friends and/or family.
It can take years for an author/illustrator to publish a picture book. There are many different paths to publication and none of them happen overnight. The author/illustrator's initial idea goes through many transformations before a reader holds the book in their hands. During the transformations the author/illustrator experiences a wide variety of emotions; excitement, frustration, worry, joy, exhaustion. The book launch party is a celebration of all the hard work the author/illustrator has endured during the process of publishing the book.
The book launch party celebrates the end of the publication process, but it also marks the beginning of the marketing process. The author/illustrator endures all the hard work because they want their story to be read and enjoyed. The book launch party is a great way for friends, family, and fans to purchase a copy of the book for themselves or as a gift. A successful book launch party can help create a buzz that can inspire the author/illustrator as they begin to market their book.
At a book launch party you will feel a buzz of excitement. There's a new book, an excited author/illustrator, and hopefully lots of people attending. Additionally, there are usually activities for children, a book reading, and many tasty treats. It truly is a great time for everyone.
One of the first book launch parties I attended was for Lindsay Ward's picture book, Please Bring Balloons in 2013. I learned of the book launch party by following her Facebook page. (Following your favorite authors and illustrators on Facebook and Twitter are a great way to learn of upcoming events.) I was excited to take my children to the book launch party to meet Lindsay Ward because one year earlier we celebrated her birthday and they loved all of her books.
The book launch party was at a local cupcake shop which was another reason I thought my children would love the event.
Lindsay read her new book to large group of children and adults.
I loved the book and picked up a copy as gift. It was a very successful event with many people supporting Lindsay. Quite some time later, I asked Lindsay how well the book did and she said it was one of her most successful picture books.
When I was planning our author birthday celebrations for the month of August I saw Lindsay's birthday on my calendar and I remembered attending the book launch for Please Bring Balloons. I remembered Lindsay reading the story about Emma who visits the Grand Carousel in the park only to discover a simple note under the saddle of the polar bear. The note reads, "Please bring" with a drawing of a balloon. Emma brings a red balloon with white polka dots the next morning. Upon returning in the afternoon the balloon is still there and so is another note that reads, "Please bring MORE!" with a drawing of a bunch of balloons. Emma brings more balloons and it was just what the polar bear needs to take Emma on an adventure she will never forget.
Please Bring Balloons incorporates two of my youngest children's favorite things; balloons and merry-go-rounds. Last week, with my oldest two children off to school, it was the perfect time to go on an adventure of our own inspired by this wonderful book.
First we needed balloons. My children and I picked out two balloons each. There were so many different colors, shapes, and designs of balloons to choose from.
My excited children looked on as their balloons were filled with helium.
My son picked a regular silver balloon and one that looked like a purple donut. My daughter picked one blue and one clear balloon with floral patterns. I picked a red balloon with white polka dots just like the balloon Emma first gave the polar bear in the book and a "Happy Birthday" balloon.
We took our balloons to the Merry-Go-Round Museum in Sandusky, Ohio. In 1988, the U.S. Postal service issued a series of postage stamps featuring carousel animals and one of the animals was a carousel horse from the Kiddieland Carousel at Cedar Point (also in Sandusky, Ohio). A celebration of the postage stamps and the carousel animals was held in an unused Sandusky post office building. Over 2,000 carousel enthusiasts attended the celebration. Two years later, the Merry-Go-Round Museum was opened in the same location. This year the museum celebrates its 25th anniversary of "preserving and promoting the art and history of the carousel."
Carousel horses greet you as soon as you enter the building. My son was drawn to the eagle carved on this carousel horse.
Inside we did not find a polar bear carousel animal, but we did find a zebra.
A giraffe with a snake around its neck and it is swallowing a frog!
A ferocious tiger!
We learned about The Brass Ring that could be grabbed by a carousel rider to earn a free ride.
This giraffe had eyes that followed you as you walked passed.
We learned that these carousel animals are very valuable. This rooster is insured for $400,000!
The museum raises funds each year by auctioning a hand-carved and painted carousel horse. This year's horse is still a work-in-progress.
These two cows were actually on the same carousel made for the 1900 Worlds Fair in France. These were two of the 72 cows on the carousel under the Eiffel Tower. It shows the difference between the original and a restored version.
Inside the museum is a fully restored Allan Herschell carousel. You get to ride the carousel with your paid admission.
Pure joy!
You can see grandma peeking over the shoulder of my daughter. Having her along on this adventure made it extra special.
Before we left the museum we were treated to a song from this carousel music machine. I had no idea these machines were so complex. Inside are tons of hoses and bellows and wheels all working together make the music.
It was great day!
We highly recommend a visit to Sandusky's Merry-Go-Round Museum and if you visit take along a copy of Lindsay Ward's Please Bring Balloons!
The book launch party for Please Bring Balloons was two years ago. More recently Lindsay Ward has published a new book that is super cute and clever. My children really enjoyed, Henry Finds His Wordwhich which was published in February 2015. Please check it out!
My youngest is on the right with his sippy cup. He was probably just waking up from his afternoon nap to find us finishing up The Great Bumblebeeto" piñata.
After my youngest daughter saw this picture she asked, "Was I born, yet?" Her brothers and sister said, "no" and then she replied, "I must have been in mommy's belly." That part was true.
One of the reasons I write this blog is so I can have conversations like this with my children. I love hearing them recall a fun time we had together that was inspired by a picture book. I like to call them memorable family reading experiences.
I said, "Yes!" to my children and on August 20th, Judy Schachner's birthday we reread Skippyjon Jones, a book I still love to read aloud. Then, we made a piñata just like the one we made four years ago and the one that is in Skippyjon Jones' closet the day he became Skippito the Great Sword Fighter and met the Los Chimichangos, a group of colorful chihuahuas and saved them and their frijoles from the Great Bumbleeto.
After this year's family reading experience, which I have dubbed Bumblebeeto 2.0, my oldest children will have an even stronger memory of reading Skippyjon Jonesand my youngest children will now have their own memory of reading the book and making the "bumblebee." My hope is that I have something else my children will want to talk about when they get older, like when they are teenagers. (Here's to hoping! I hear those teenage years are rough on parents' self-esteem.)
We pâpier machéd a balloon to make The Great Bumblebeeto. We used a paper towel tube for the nose, aluminum foil balls for the eyes, pipe cleaners for the antennae and legs, and a cereal box for the wings.
Four years ago we used 1 part water to 1 part flour for our pâpier maché mixture. This year, I used 5 parts water to 1 part flour. This year's recipe required me to bring the mixture to a boil on the stove and then let it cool.
The next day, August 21st, after the pâpier maché dried my youngest two children painted the piñata.
The Great Bumblebeeto looks like he is smiling!
One of the most exciting parts of both our celebrations was going to the store to pick out candy to put inside the piñata. For Skippyjon Jones, his piñata was filled with jelly beans, kitty suckers, little colorful mice, and beanbag doggies. My children chose Starbursts, Gummi Bears, and Tootie Rolls.
"Holy Frijoles!" cried Skippito as he thrust his sword into the air.
Four years earlier there was another Skippito with a sword in our backyard.
My youngest daughter, who wasn't around the first time we made a Bumblebeeto piñata, is now three years old. She used her sword as the "bean-eating Bandito hovered only inches away" from her face.
My oldest son, now seven years old, tried to send the Great Bumblebeeto over the right field wall with his swing.
My oldest daughter, now 10, , she fears "not a single bandito."
We didn't even make it twice though the rotation before, "POP! went the Bandito."
"Yip, Yippee, Yippito! Our hero is El Skippito!"
I was thankful that The Great Bumblebeeto was not too damaged. I will be able to keep him as a keepsake of this memorable family reading experience.
Thank you, Judy Schachner for creating a book that has entertained our family for years! We hope you had a wonderful birthday. We are looking forward to your new book, DEWEY BOB!
0 Comments on Happy Birthday, Judy Schachner - August 20 as of 8/23/2015 11:14:00 PM
Our family believes celebrating author and illustrator birthdays is a SUPER fun way to read together. Over five years ago, I started collecting the birthdays of our favorite authors and illustrators. In the beginning, I found most of the birthdays we celebrated on author-birthday-calendars provided by publishers. Now, I learn most of the birthdays directly from the authors and illustrators themselves by asking them at book signings. Occasionally, I learn a birthday in a different way; an author emails us, I find it on an author's website, or in a very unique case; an author I follow on Facebook, congratulates another author on their birthday about their new book and I write it down, wait almost a year, and then contact the author just to verify that it is indeed their birthday. This is exactly how I learned Deb Pilutti's birthday.
Last week, I saw Deb Pilutti's birthday on my calendar (exactly where I wrote it down after author-illustrator Laurie Keller shared it on her Facebook page). Also last week, I found her latest book at our library. However, I wasn't completely comfortable celebrating Deb's birthday without verifying it first. Thankfully, Deb responded SUPER fast and confirmed her birthday! I hope after you read this blog post you will FLY right out and grab a copy of her book!
When Deb was younger she "loved reading more than anything" (Vicki Lorencen's Blog), but also loved to watch cartoons. Her father was a storyteller and a writer and her mother was an artist which Deb speculates "maybe filtered in" to her becoming a children's picture book creator. Or maybe it was because she had the opportunity to take a design workshop from Leo Lionni when she was a junior in college. Deb talked about this experience on the Let's Get Busy Podcast, "One of the things I took away from the week of studying with him was to have a child-like sense of play. Look at things like a child. Be playful in your work even when it is something serious."
Deb started her career as a graphic designer where she has designed everything from websites to logos to amusement park environments to toys. After many years of working as a freelance graphic designer she began to think about making children's books. She sent out postcards and samples of her work to publishers and was later contacted by an editor with a book idea. This led to her writing her first book, The City Kid and the Suburb Kid. On the contrary, her second book, The Twelve Days of Christmas in Michigan, she didn't write but illustrated it. Then, with her third book, Ten Rules of Being a Superhero she "had the whole vision," and wrote and illustrated the book. (Let's Get Busy Podcast).
Ten Rules of Being a Superhero is about Captain Magma, an action figure, and an imaginative young boy, aka Lava Boy. Captain Magma has three superpowers but he wishes he could fly. Lava Boy knows so much about being a superhero that he shares his "ten rules of being a superhero" as he plays with Captain Magma. The book starts with Lava Boy playing with Captain Magma in his room. This is where we learn Rule #1, "A superhero must ALWAYS respond to a call for help even if the odds are against him." The illustrations show two creature-like toys chasing and tying up two human-like toys. As the day progresses, Lava Boy shares more rules at clean up time, morning snack time, sibling nap time, and more. Our favorite rule was "Rule #6, "A superhero needs a tasty snack to be in top form." Captain Magma is pictured burping after eating a cupcake as Lava Boy is running around and jumping off rocks after getting energy from peanut butter and celery. By the end of the book, it is clear that Lava Boy and Captain Magma are the best of friends and would do anything for each including helping out after someone's first time flying doesn't go so well.
I had an idea for how to bring Ten Rules of Being a Superheroto life for my children after reading it the first time.I thought it would fun to make our own action figures. My son received a jar of InstaMorph for his birthday in June. It was still unopened. Don't know what InstaMorph is? I really didn't know either, but it ended up being a SUPER awesome way to celebrate Deb Pilutti's birthday.
InstaMorph is a non-toxic, moldable plastic. The package stated only six easy steps; heat, pour, wait, remove, shape, create. It seemed like it would be exactly what we would need to make our own superhero action figures. (At least, that is what I hoped.)
I had no idea how much InstaMorph we would need to make an action figure. I was concerned we wouldn't have enough to each make our own action figure. So, I went into the project with the idea we would make one action figure together as a family.
We loved the superhero names Captain Magma and Lava Boy. We came up with a list of TEN possibilities for our superhero. The finalists were; Lightning Man, Thunder Boy, Electric Man, Dragon Boy, Speed Boy, Fire Boy, and Rock Boy. Chosen from the finalists was Dragon Boy. My children decided that his superpowers would be that he could fly and breathe fire. His favorite snack is not cupcakes like Captain Magma but CHILE PEPPERS!
We had a 12 oz. container of InstaMorph. When we opened it we saw that it was filled with little white beads of plastic. The directions said to heat water to 140 degrees before adding the plastic beads.
We added the beads and waited two minutes. The beads turned from white to clear.
We removed the beads from the water. The plastic was quite warm, but not burn-your-skin warm. My boys were immediately able to start molding.
Our initial thought was that we make moveable arms and legs and carve eyes and faces. I am sure this possible if you were to make molds, but we didn't have the time or the patience for this.
So, we put our InstaMorph back into 140 degree water. This was the best thing about this stuff. We could fix mistakes and reform just by putting it back into the hot water for a minute.
I told my boys not worry about moveable parts and to just make their action figure's body, head, legs, and arms (or in the case of Dragon Boy -- wings!). I told my children not to worry about faces because we could paint those on later.
Dragon Boy was starting to take shape. We put him back in the water to make sure his wings were attached to his back.
We discovered that there was plenty of InstaMorph for everyone to make superhero action figures. After this project we still had half the container of plastic beads. I would estimate that you could easily make six action figures with a 12 oz. container. (It is also available in a smaller 6 oz. package.)
It did not take long for our action figures to cool. Once they changed from clear to white we started painting.
We used acrylic paints. They painted a base coat and let it dry before adding details with other colors of paint.
My daughter painted her own action figure which she named Fire Girl.
I made little capes out of scraps of fabric. I also sprayed the action figures with clear enamel to make them shine like a new action figure.
"Whoosh." I can fly!
Introducing -- Fire Girl, Dragon Boy, and Speed Boy! My youngest son was afraid to paint the face on his yellow action figure so I did my best for him. I was inspired by Captain Magma, but a friend said he looks more like Homer Simpson. Regardless, I know these superheroes will have no problem with Rule #8 "A superhero is always brave."
Deb, we hope you have a SUPER birthday!! Thank you again for responding so quickly to our email. Thank you for making such a fun book! We can't wait for the next one!
You won't have to wait long for Deb's next book, Bear and Squirrel are Friends...Yes, Really!. But from now until September 15th, you can watch the trailer, a couple hundred times :) There is an amazing pre-order price of under $9 right now for the book! Pre-order it now!!
It is our family's last full week of summer vacation. The final few school supplies are being purchased after visits to multiple stores. We are finally doing the activities we planned to do earlier this summer, but never got around to doing them -- i.e. hitting golf balls at the driving range. The calendar is beginning to fill up with ice cream socials, meetings, and other events. My wife and I are not overwhelmed yet, but we know the beginning of the school year will be hectic. I am thankful we were able to carve out time to celebrate Alice Provensen's birthday despite all the end-of-summer responsibilities and emotions.
In 1943, after college at the University of California, Alice began working in the animation department at Walter Lantz Studios, the studio responsible for creating the Woody Woodpecker cartoons. While working there she met, Martin Provensen who previously worked at Disney, but was assigned to Walter Lantz Studios to make training films after joining the Navy. Alice married Martin the following year in 1944.
Alice Provensen's career has been full of awards and recognitions. In 1982, she and Martin received a Caldecott Honor for A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nancy Willard, a book that also received the Newbery Medal. Two years later, they received the Caldecott Medal for The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot. Their books landed on the New York Times Top Ten Best Illustrated list seven times; The Animal Fair (1952), The New Testament (1953), The First Noel (1959), Karen's Curiosity (1963), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1964), The Mother Goose Book (1976), A Peaceable Kingdom: The Shaker Abecedarius (1978). Alice received one additional mention on the list for Punch in New York (1991) which was published after Martin's death in March, 1987. In 2010, Alice and Martin were recognized with a lifetime achievement award from The Society of Illustrators. Alice described her partnership with Martin, "We were a true collaboration. Martin and I were really one artist." (Today's Inspiration). Alice has published seven children's books on her own including The Buck Stops Here: The Presidents of the United States and My Fellow Americans: A Family Album.
As an Ohioan, I feel very blessed to have many presidential historical sites within our state. My family visited the President William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum in Canton, Ohio when we celebrated Judith St. George's birthday in 2014. This year, I wanted to bring to life Alice Provensen's The Buck Stops Here: The Presidents of the United States with a visit to another presidential site.
We decided to visit the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio.
Next to the Garfield home, a large Windmill greets you as you drive to the parking lot. This windmill was used to pump water to a storage tank in the house.
"Garfield, Twenty, in a station, Departed by assassination."
My boys were excited to find out what awaited them inside the Visitor's Center.
Inside we found a small museum dedicated to the life of James A. Garfield. We learned that Garfield fought in the Civil War, served as a congressman for 17 years, and was shot by Charles Guiteau after only 4 months as President.
My children played James A. Garfield Bingo throughout their visit. This activity was provided by the National Park Service Junior Ranger Program.
We decided to take a guided tour of the home. It cost $7/adult and children under age of 16 were free.
On this porch, James A. Garfield gave many speeches during his campaign. My son pretended he was giving a speech to hundreds of voters.
The first bedroom we saw was downstairs. It was used by James and his wife Lucretia during the warm summer months.
This beautiful fireplace screen was in Eliza Garfield's bedroom. Eliza was James A. Garfield's mother who lived in the home and also in the White House during his brief term.
This portrait is of Lucretia Garfield. After James' death, Lucretia added onto the home with money from public donations to preserve a memory of her husband.
The addition to the home included the first ever President Memorial Library. James A. Garfield and his family loved to read.
Just a few of the books in the library.
Lucretia also added a vault to preserve all of James' important papers.
"Hey, that's Abe Lincoln."
James A. Garfield had a "man cave"! The focal point of the room was his reading chair.
Our visit concluded with this photo on the porch of the campaign office. All of us were impressed with James A. Garfield Historic Site and would recommend a visit.
We hope you are enjoying your final days of the summer with your children (if they haven't gone back to school, yet). We wish all of you a successful start to your school year.
Links:
1. Provensens - BrainPickings 2. Carle Show Draws on Couple's Colorful Life's Work - Boston.com 3. Illustrations of Martin and Alice Provensen - Flickr Group
0 Comments on Happy Birthday, Alice Provensen - August 14 as of 8/14/2015 12:24:00 AM
Rafael López shared his birthday with my family at the National Book Festival in 2013. Two years later, all the stars aligned for us to celebrate this amazing artist. What were the stars? First, Rafael came out with a new book, Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music. Second, I bought Drum Dream Girl and Rafael autographed it for my children less than a month ago at the Mazza Museum Summer Conference. Third, my wife knew the perfect person to help us with our celebration and he agreed to help. Plus, another book inspired a bonus activity for us to share with you. All of these things gave our family a very memorable reading experience this week.
Rafael López is the illustrator of seven books for children including Yum! ¡Mmmm! ¡Qué Rico! America's Sproutings by Pat Mora and Tito Puente, Mambo King/Rey del Mambo by Monica Brown. He was born in Mexico City and grew up surrounded by bright colors. His parents, both architects, "instilled the love of Mexican culture" in him and taught him to love books, especially old art books. At the age of ten, his parents sent him to live in England with artist, Felipe Ehrenberg. This was an amazing experience for Rafael. He made his first book; a journal where he recorded his experiences to share with his family upon his return to Mexico. (Mazza Museum Keynote). "I found myself immersed in a world of new hues, pale whites, grays and greens with vast open spaces. Visiting London was like a book that had come alive and each time I flipped the page it was thrilling." (Raphael López Studio Blog).
Rafael López at the Mazza Museum Summer Conference 2015.
In 1982, Rafael graduated with a Fine Arts degree from Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. After graduation he worked as an illustrator and later also as a muralist when he founded the Urban Art Trail Project in 1997. This project was dedicated to revitalizing urban areas through art and community involvement.
Rafael never planned to make art for children's books. He was stunned one day when an art director, who followed his editorial illustration, called to inquire about him illustrating a children's book. "I thought she had the wrong phone number, because I had never done any children's subjects prior to that, just devils, flames, and skeletons -- you know the stuff that makes Creative Directors feel a bit nervous. Thankfully, she was relentless, and I didn't hang up the phone." (Seven Impossible Things). In 2006, he published his first book My Name is Celia/Me Llamo Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz/la vida de Celia Cruz by Monica Brown. This book was his first of three Pura Belpre Honor Awards for Illustration. (Click here to learn more about the Pura Belpre Award.)
My oldest daughter noticed that his book publication is becoming more frequent with Tito Puente, Mambo King/Rey del Mambo, a 2014 Pura Belpre Honor Award Recipient, Drum Dream Girl in 2015, and the upcoming Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood by F. Isabel Compoy and Theresa Howell in April 2016. We know Rafael's success will continue and we look forward to seeing Rafael's artwork in many children's books in the years to come!
My family began our celebration for Rafael by reading The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred by Samantha R. Vamos, a 2012 Pura Belpre Honor Award Recipient. I discovered this book at the library and I loved it! The text pattern is much like The House that Jack Built, however spanish words words are introduced after the text is repeated. ("This is the pot that the farm maiden stirred. This is the butter that went into the cazuela that the farm maiden stirred.") When, I reached the end of the book I found a recipe for rice pudding/arroz con leche. I didn't waste any time. I went to the grocery store right after the library to pick up the ingredients I needed to make this recipe with my family.
My oldest son took the lead on this cooking activity. He rinsed the rice/arroz and added it to the milk/leche.
My children had never seen cinnamon sticks before!
In one cazuela he had his milk and rice, and in the other he had cream/crema, butter/mantequilla, sugar/azúcar, lime/limón zest, and the cinnamon stick.
Once the pudding thickened he scooped it into bowls for his siblings. We let the rice pudding cool before serving.
¡Mmm!
¡Que rico!
She only ate the whipped cream on top. I ate the rice pudding :)
Remember all the stars were aligned this week! We are only at the halfway point of our birthday celebration for Rafael López.
In March 2015, Rafael López released a new book Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music, written by Margarita Engle. It is the story about Millo Castro Zaldarriaga as a young girl in Cuba during the 1930s when it was "believed that only boys should play drums." On the contrary, Millo was a drummer. She was a drummer because dreamed about drumbeats of congas and bongós and timbales. She was a drummer because she heard the rhythms of drumbeats everywhere, even in her own imagination. She was drummer because she played not only drums but also on tables and chairs. Millo was a drummer but she was told only boys were drummers. So she dreamed. She dreamed until her big sisters, then her father, then a music teacher, and finally the world realized that girls can be drummers, too.
Rafael López shared his process of illustrating Drum Dream Girl at the Mazza Museum Summer Conference 2015. He said the story reminded him of his mother, an architect who often confronted "girls cannot be architects."
Rafael said that he struggled through two weeks of sketching Millo until he discovered exactly how he wanted her to look for the book. (View a few early sketches of Millo here.)
Rafael shared many sketches including this one of carnival dancers on stilts (my favorite illustration from the book). The carnival dancers are featured on a double-page spread that forces you to rotate the book to feel the height of the three masked-entertainers as they tower of Millo. Rafael traces his sketches onto wood which he has sanded by hand. He joked, The workers at Home Depot run and hide when they see me coming because I need 40 pieces of wood cut to size! He uses acrylic paint that he purchases in large jars when he is in Mexico. He works on a painting for no longer than three days otherwise he gets tired of it. (Mazza Museum Keynote).
I absolutely LOVE Drum Dream Girl. I wanted to bring the book to life for my children. I asked my wife, "Do you know anybody at your school that has drums we can play? Maybe the music or orchestra teacher?" She said, "No, but I know just the person who knows a lot about drums."
She was thinking of one of our former students. Our families are now very good friends and are nearly neighbors. My wife and I had him in first and second grade and now he is going into ninth grade!! Thankfully, he agreed to have us over to his house to show us his drums.
When we arrived at his house a variety of drums were arranged in the living room. I was blown away! I thought my children might get to play the bongós and maybe the conga drums. I never anticipated learning about so many different drums.
In this photo, my oldest son plays the djembe which is an African drum. It was the drum that started his collection.
We got a lesson on how to play the bongós. Millo plays the bongós in Drum Dream Girl. We learned there is a larger drum and a smaller drum in a pair of bongós.
It was extra special to receive the drum lessons from our former student. His love of drumming reminding me of Millo from Drum Dream Girl. In our town's most recent Fourth of July Parade he played and marched with his bass drum as a part of the high school marching band. His father built him a customized apparatus out of PVC pipe to hold the large bass drum. I heard there is an aluminum version of this apparatus in the works!
My son played the bongós as his shy brother looked on.
A few jam sessions broke out during our visit.
Notice some of the other drums we learned about -- the silver one is a doumbek. My daughter got the courage to play a shaker.
Soon she moved on to the conga drums. She is my Drum Dream Girl. If she becomes a drummer we will look back at this day as the beginning of something special.
We took a break from the music to read Drum Dream Girl. My former student asked, "Is this a book for little kids?" I said, "It is written with small children in mind, but can be enjoyed by older children and adults, too." He poured over the illustrations paying close attention to the drums.
A huge THANK YOU to our former student for teaching us so much about drums! You helped make this a very special illustrator birthday celebration for our family.
Rafael, thank you for sharing your birthday with us at the National Book Festival. I really enjoyed your presentation at the Mazza Museum, too! We hope you have a fantastic birthday! Enjoy your day!
I planned for all four of my children to participate in this author/illustrator birthday celebration, but other obligations left only my youngest daughter available to come with me. Initially, I was a little disappointed that all of us wouldn't be together. Thankfully, I didn't cancel the activity.
My youngest daughter and I had an amazing day. She picked all the activities -- that never happens with three older siblings expressing their opinions. I focused all my attention on her observations and comments -- this never happens since usually at least two people are talking at once. We stayed as long as we wanted -- this never happens because there is always another activity scheduled for later in the day that we need to get back for. This birthday celebration for John Manders is one that I will remember for a long time and it reminded me how important it is to spend one-on-one time with my children.
John Manders is the illustrator of over thirty books for children including Where's My Mummy? by Carolyn Crimi, Goldie Socks and the Three Libearians by Jackie Mims Hopkins, and Such a Princeby Dan Bar-el. He claims he was born with a pencil in his hand, and it was people like his father, a "great drawer," who influenced John's early art. Later as a teenager, he became interested in famous comic strip artists and cartoonists like Al Capp. (Examiner).
His childhood love of drawing led him to the Pittsburgh Institute of Art where he graduated in 1979. After graduation, he spent 10 years in New York doing graphic design, but moved back to Pittsburgh after "life in the big city got to be too daunting." (Pennsylvania Center for the Book). In Pittsburgh, he continued his graphic design work, taught classes, and began illustrating for children's magazines. An editor from a children's book publisher saw his magazine work and offered him his first book contract for King Snake by Wendy Shotbloom. John went on to illustrate books about dinosaurs, cats, Santa Claus, a Dirt Boy, and more! In 2011, he published, The Really Awful Musicians, the first book he both wrote and illustrated. His latest book is P is for Pirate: A Pirate Alphabet by Eve Bunting (2014).
In 2011, John Manders was at the Mazza Museum Summer Conference. This was the first conference I ever attended at the museum. He read Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies and did a live painting of Henry, the main character from the story.
For his presentation, John used watered-down acrylic paints. However, for his children's book illustrations he often uses gouache (his favorite medium) and Prismacolor pencils. He said, "I love to use big brushes. I use them as long as I can."
John started his live painting by sketching Henry. He begins his children's book illustrations with a pencil sketch which he then transfers onto watercolor paper. (Click here to read more about his sketching and his underpainting technique.)
This painting of Henry is a great example of the style that you will find in John's books; fun, cartoonish, and caricature-like.
My daughter and I were headed to one of her favorite places, Lake Farmpark in Kirtland, Ohio. We took with us two books illustrated by John Manders, Prancing Dancing Lily by Marsha Diane Arnold and The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend. Lake Farmpark would be the perfect place for us to celebrate John Manders' birthday!
We left early in the morning and we were just a little bit excited for the day ahead!
It was a special day at Lake Farmpark. They were celebrating their 25th anniversary with free admission, many activities, and birthday cupcakes! Lake Farmpark's mission is to "help our urban society understand how farmers raise food, fiber, and other products that sustain and enhance human life."
The first thing we did at Lake Farmpark was visit the Dairy Parlor to read Prancing Dancing Lily. This book is about Lily, a cow who dances all over the pasture and has a hard time walking in a line for milking time. The other cows warn her that she would never be a Bell Cow acting like that and Lily wonders what is wrong with her since she comes from a long line of prized Bell Cows. Lily leaves the farm hoping to discover a place to fit in and dances all over the world. She dances with the Rockettes. She dances on a cruise ship. She even dances as a flamenco dancer. Unfortunately, her dancing causes chaos just like it did on the farm. It wasn't until she hears conga drums in the Caribbean that Lily finds the perfect dance for her.
Clang-a-lang. Clang-a-lang. I wore this cow bell at the farm for only a short time. I realized I was startling people when I overheard them saying, "I swear I heard a cow bell right behind me."
My daughter and I looked at the cows in the book. We wondered if there was a cow just like Lily in the Dairy Parlor.We found a brown and white cow at the end of the row.
This cow's name was not Lily, but Deva. She is a Guernsey cow, which are known for their golden milk that is high in butterfat and protein.
Then, we read Prancing Dancing Lily on the bleachers and noticed that the author, Marsha Diane Arnold, dedicated the book to her "father, his Ayrshire dream, and all the Highland Ayr dairy farm." I thought, Oh, no! We took a selfie with the wrong kind of cow!.
After finishing the book we went back down to the cows and found Mimi, an Ayrshire Cow.
Upon closer look, Mimi looked more like the cows illustrated by John Manders in the book.
Here's my little cutie of a cow!!
After seeing the cows we walked to the barnyard. My daughter really wanted to find the pigs. The last time we visited Lake Farmpark my daughter dropped her mitten in the pen with the newly born piglets. A farmer had to help her get it back. I think she wanted relive that moment. We found some pigs in the barnyard, but they were really big and fat -- no piglets! One of big pigs grunted at her and she was startled. Thankfully, the chicken coop was close by -- I said, Let's go see the chickens!.
She loved watching the chickens.
We read The Perfect Nest right by the coop. The Perfect Nest is a story about a cat that builds the perfect nest in hopes of a chicken laying the perfect egg so he can make the perfect omelet. However, not only does a chicken lay an egg, but so does a duck and a goose. The three birds end up fighting over the perfect nest and the cat can't get to the eggs. The cat struggles but finds a way to get them to leave the eggs alone. Then, he is in for a huge surprise when the eggs start to hatch and he is left with three babies to care for.
Mrs. Chicken, thank you for not bawking and clucking while I was reading the book.
Thank you, John Manders for illustrating two fun books that inspired us to spend the day together. It is moments like this that remind me of the reason I write this blog and celebrate author/illustrator birthdays.
We needed to put Plan B into action after our initial plans for this week's author birthday celebration fell apart. Luckily, we were celebrating Bagram Ibatoulline's birthday. He has illustrated such a wide variety of books, including The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo, Crow Call by Lois Lowry, and The Scarecrow's Dance by Jane Yolen, and I had oodles of activity ideas floating around in my head.
Celebrating Bagram Ibatoulline's birthday was very important to me. I fell in love with his illustrations in The Animal Hedge and The Matchbox Diary last September when we celebrated Paul Fleischman's birthday. Then, in November, I had a chance to meet Bagram Ibatoulline at the Mazza Museum Fall Conference 2014.
I learned that Bagram Ibatoulline was born in Siberia; "The cold part of Russia." He went to Moscow State Academic Art Institute after spending much of his childhood studying art. He has lived in the United States since 1991. Bagram explained in his keynote speech that when he illustrates his books he tries to remember the emotion he felt when he read the manuscript for the first time, because that is often the truest one. When Bagram read the manuscript for The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo he said he was "moved by the whole text." He poured his emotion into his illustrations and Kate DiCamillo said, "He has done an incredible, amazing job. True art that should be hanging on a wall in a museum is in this book. He's done something that is truly extraordinary. It was like he was digging around inside my brain." (Candlewick).
I learned that Bagram uses acrylic-gouache for most of his illustrations, but has also used watercolor, ink, and even bleach. Bagram finds his own source material like photographs to get "deeper" into his illustrations and often creates clay models. The result of this process are beautifully realistic and historically accurate illustrations.
In 2001, Bagram Ibatoulline illustrated his first book, Crossing by Philip Booth. It was named the Best Book of 2001 by Publishers Weekly. The text was originally published in a book of poetry, A Letter from a Distant Land, by Philip Booth in 1957. Crossingstarts with the words, "STOP LOOK LISTEN" with an illustration of a railroad crossing, a track, and a cloud of billowing smoke rising above the treetops. When I read those three opening words and my children saw the illustration they were hooked and ready to experience the whole book.
Bagram Ibatoulline talked about Crossingat the Mazza Museum Fall Conference and said, "I loved the freedom the text gave me," and "I relied on memories of seeing trains when I was little." Crossing is a celebration of a child's innate desire to count the cars of a passing train while sitting at the crossing. Booth's words introduce today's readers to railroad names such as Union Pacific, Frisco, Phoebe Snow, and more. Ibatoulline's illustrations are so realistic that readers are transported back in time to observe the train cars with as much intrigue as the children in the book.
Our Plan B author birthday celebration activity was to read Crossing along the railroad tracks. Then, I thought that the experience would be even better if I could guarantee that we would see a train too. The best place for our family to do this was in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park along the Scenic Railroad.
We decided to read the book right by the railroad crossing signal.
I explained to my oldest son that I got to see the artwork from this page at the Mazza Museum.
"Hopper of Coke" was on display during my visit to the museum in July 2015.
On the third-to-last illustration spread in Crossing, Bagram Ibatoulline illustrated 99 train cars heading into a tunnel on the circular track. I can't imagine how many times Bagram counted the train cars to be sure he had only 99. The next page is the grand finale -- #100, the CABOOSE!
After reading the book, my children walked along the tracks back to the station.
We were at Boston Mill Station. The station featured in the book is the Big Ear Station.
The crossing was quiet on this sunny morning.
Until we heard a "warning whistle" from the oncoming train.
Soon after the whistle, the railroad crossing "gate stripes" swung down, the red signals flashed, and the traffic stopped.
Toot! Toot! The train was right on time!
The train stopped briefly to pick up a few bikers before it was off to the next station.
Then, the gate swung back up to the top, the signals stopped flashing, and the traffic rolled across the tracks.
My daughter knew it was safe to once again test her balancing skills.
The others ran up and down the tracks.
It was a fun morning at the railroad tracks. We will never look at a railroad crossing sign the same way again.
After our time at the crossing, we went for a bike ride on the Towpath Trail.
We also couldn't resist heading to downtown Peninsula to visit a few of the local shops. We happened to catch the Northbound train pulling into the Peninsula Depot at 11:30am. My son waved to all the conductors.
We also counted all the cars; 2 engines and 11 passenger cars.
Plan B (or in this case Plan "Bagram") turned out to be a really fun family day! And the best part is we already have an idea for celebrating Bagram Ibatoulline's birthday next year!
Elisha Cooper is the author and illustrator of over fifteen books for children including Homer, Building, and Train. He grew up on a farm and apple orchard in Connecticut. His family did not farm the land, but there were many goats, cows, cats and a pony. Elisha loved to draw the animals. "Carrying a notebook is something I did when I was young and something I do now. That hasn't changed. " (You Know for Kids). After graduating from Yale, Elisha was carrying his notebook when he was a messenger for The New Yorker. The sketches he made around the city became his first book, A Year in New York. "It was after [this book] that someone suggested I write children's books." (You Know for Kids).
After Country Fair, Elisha Cooper went to create more non-fiction picture books on many interesting topics including Ballpark, Beach, and Farm. When asked about his process, Elisha Cooper said "I'm just looking for anecdotes, or gestures or images, that amuse me. Or that tell me something. I guess you could say I'm a believer in how little things add up to make something bigger that the thing itself." (You Know for Kids). His latest book is 8: An Animal Alphabet which is an ABC, counting, search-and-find book, and animal encyclopedia all in one! Our family highly recommends!
