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From New York Times best-selling author Cristin Harber and Amber Addison comes an exciting collaboration...
Being married young isn't a thing of the past in Louisiana. And for Madelyn and Seth, it's a way of life. Except, no one prepared them for the road ahead.
Moving to new places more times than either of them could count with new battles to fight at every stop, their road to happiness is bumpy.
Between Air Force Pararescue school, deployments, a baby, and the strain that military life can put on a family, they've discovered life has to fall apart in order to fall back together again.
When a terrorist attack puts Maddie's life in grave danger, their lives definitely fall apart, and Seth knows saving her might be the only thing that saves them.
There will be an early release on iBooks on 1/16 - and it will release everywhere else 1/24!
Amber Addison is a southern mama who writes about real life love in small town USA. She enjoys writing contemporary romance that has it's ups and downs just like the trials that we face in our day to day. Love isn't perfect and she doesn't pretend that it is.
Amber writes anything from swoon worthy military guys to sexy soccer players. When she's not writing about hot guys and strong women, she's reading or cleaning up an endless trail of toys left behind by her dogs and daughter or getting tattoos.
For a year or two I helped sit on the committee for the New York Historical Society’s book prize. Each year it goes to books that, “… honor the best children’s historical literature and encourage authors to continue to create engaging and challenging narratives that provide a window into the past for middle readers and their families.” And, oh ye poor starving middle grade historical fiction writers, it gives you a whopping $10,000, so get your publishers to submit your name next year.
I’m in Illinois now, but I miss it. It used to be that I’d gather up a bunch of names of potential candidates each year. The books would have to highlight a specific moment in American history. After all, just because a book is set in the past, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily saying something about a distinct historical moment. And when I started putting these lists together, I thought about doing the same thing. Only this time I’m going to include picture books as well.
Here is a collection of some of the most interesting American historical works for kids out this year. Split, as you can see, into Fictional Picture Books, Non-Fiction Picture Books, and Middle Grade Novels.
2016 American History for Kids
Fiction Picture Books
Diana’s White House Garden by Elisa Carbone, ill. Jen Hill
Historical Moment: WWII.
Doing Her Bit: A Story About the Women’s Land Army of America by Erin Hagar, ill. Jen Hill
Historical Moment: WWII.
Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford, ill. R. Gregory Christie
Historical Moment: American slavery in 19th century Louisiana
Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan
Historical Moment: Slavery in America. Specifically in 1828.
Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph by Roxane Orgill, ill. Francis Vallejo
Historical Moment: 1958 when Art Kane gathered together the greatest living jazz musicians for one photograph.
Miss Paul and the President: The Creative Campaign for Women’s Right to Vote by Dean Robbins, ill. Nancy Zhang
Historical Moment: Women’s suffrage. Culminates in 1920.
My Name is James Madison Hemings by Jonah Winter, ill. Terry Widener
Historical Moment: Slavery in America. Specifically during and after the presidency of Thomas Jefferson.
Steamboat School by Deborah Hopkinson, ill. Ron Husband
Historical Moment: 1847 in St. Louis after the passage of a Missouri law prohibiting the education of African-Americans.
Non-Fiction Picture Books
Around America to Win the Vote: Two Suffragists, a Kitten, and 10,000 Miles by Mara Rockliff, ill. Hadley Hooper
Historical Moment: Women’s Suffrage. Specifically it begins in April of 1916.
Elizabeth Started All the Trouble by Doreen Rappaport, ill. Matt Faulkner
Historical Moment: Women’s Suffrage from the beginning to the end.
The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial by Susan E. Goodman, ill. E.B. Lewis
Historical Moment: Segregation. Follows the 1847 (the same year as Steamboat School!) Supreme Court case that ended segregation in Boston’s schools.
Lincoln and Kennedy: A Pair to Compare by Gene Barretta
Historical Moments: The presidencies of both Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy.
The Navajo Code Talkers by J. Patrick Lewis, ill. Gary Kelley
Historical Moment: WWII.
Saved By the Boats: The Heroic Sea Evacuation of September 11 by Julie Gassman, ill. Steve Moors
Historical Moment: September 11, 2001.
The Seagoing Cowboy by Peggy Reiff Miller, ill. Claire Ewart
Historical Moment: Post-WWII America’s aid to Poland in 1945. Review of the book at the WWII children’s book blog The Children’s War here.
The Secret Subway by Shana Corey, ill. Red Nose Studio
Historical Moment: New York City in the 1860s and 1870s. Specifically the time of Boss Tweed.
A Spy Called James: The True Story of James Lafayette, Revolutionary War Double Agent by Anne Rockwell, ill. Floyd Cooper
Historical Moment: The Revolutionary War.
Middle Grade Fiction
Makoons by Louise Erdrich
Historical Moment: The Great Plains of the Dakota Territory in 1866.
Snow White: A Graphic Novel by Matt Phelan
Historical Moment: The Great Depression in New York City.
Interested in the other lists of the month? Here’s the schedule so that you can keep checking back:
December 1 – Board Books
December 2 – Board Book Adaptations
December 3 – Nursery Rhymes
December 4 – Picture Book Readalouds
December 5 – Rhyming Picture Books
December 6 – Alphabet Books
December 7 – Funny Picture Books
December 8 – Calde-Nots
December 9 – Picture Book Reprints
December 10 – Math Picture Books
December 11 – Bilingual Books
December 12 – International Imports
December 13 – Books with a Message
December 14 – Fabulous Photography
December 15 – Fairy Tales / Folktales
December 16 – Oddest Books of the Year
December 17 – Older Picture Books
December 18 – Easy Books
December 19 – Early Chapter Books
December 20 – Graphic Novels
December 21 – Poetry
December 22 – Fictionalized Nonfiction
December 23 – American History
December 24 – Science & Nature Books
December 25 – Transcendent Holiday Titles
December 26 – Unique Biographies
December 27 – Nonfiction Picture Books
December 28 – Nonfiction Chapter Books
December 29 – Novel Reprints
December 30 – Novels
December 31 – Picture Books
By:
Monica Gupta,
on 12/22/2016
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छोटी शिक्षाप्रद प्रेरक बातें – जिंदगी को बदल सकती हैं – कई बार कुछ काम की बातें जोकि जिंदगी से जुडी होती हैं इसलिए जानना जरुरी हो जाता है- प्रेरक बातें जिंदगी को बदल सकती हैं. छोटी शिक्षाप्रद प्रेरक बातें जिंदगी को बदल सकती हैं नेट भी भरा पडा है प्रेरक प्रसंग कहानियाँ , प्रेरक […]
The post छोटी शिक्षाप्रद प्रेरक बातें – जिंदगी को बदल सकती हैं appeared first on Monica Gupta.
Another favorite. P
ortrait by Frank Cadogan Cowper
Spot the odd monster out in each row,
a puzzle from Silly Monsters ABC
The candles sometimes drop their flames;
The lions lose their tails.
The stars come out all crooked;
Some ineptitude prevails.
The wine jugs might have missing tops;
The dreidels look all right.
The flaws won’t matter, hopefully,
When loved ones take a bite.
For Chanukah’s the time when I
Roll out that dough and bake,
My grandma’s cookie cutters
And her recipe at stake.
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
“People are looking for Russians, but what we had is a real Jim Crow election.”
Like a gyroscope gone out of whack, the destabilized U.S. duopoly system is spinning out of control on a course to self-destruction. In a breathtaking rush to they-know-not-where, the Democrats have deliberately whipped up an anti-Russian war hysteria not experienced in three generations.
The Russians, however, have virtually nothing to do with the crisis, which is very soon likely to degenerate into something resembling civil war at home.
The ruling class is undoing itself. Refusing to accept
Electoral College defeat, the bipartisan War Party that coagulated in Hillary Clinton’s big campaign tent in terror of Donald Trump’s “softness” on Russia and his heresies regarding the unfettered flow of capital, now stacks dynamite under the very system that has kept the rich in power throughout the history of the Republic. They hope to create a crisis that might -- at maximum -- reverse the election outcome. At minimum, they seek to force the new administration to abandon any notions of peaceful coexistence with those states that present obstacles to U.S. global domination.
However, in their frenzy to abort the Trump presidency, the Clintonites and their bipartisan national security establishment allies are showing the world just how fragile the U.S. political system really is when faced with serious contradictions between ruling elites. The duopoly arrangement, through which the bourgeoisie control both major parties, is the glue that stabilizes the system. There is no magic to the American structure of government that automatically sustains the hegemony of the rich.
If the ruling elites fail to uphold the gentlemen’s agreement that is the heart of the duopoly, then the system can fall apart. Radicals are not expected to be protectors of the duopoly system, but when the bourgeoisie behave so recklessly it is a sign of crisis in the ruling class.
“They hope to create a crisis that might -- at maximum -- reverse the election outcome.”
Donald Trump violated the agreement when he signaled a desire for a thaw with Russia, an end to the regime change offensive, and opposition to so-called “free” trade -- and then took a wrecking ball to the Republican Party establishment. The GOP fat cats fled, to the extent that they could, to Hillary Clinton’s Big Tent, hoping to return to their old turf after The Donald was crushed by the expected Clinton landslide. With their desertion, the GOP-Dem duopoly became dangerously lopsided, unbalanced -- an instability made even more complex by the Democrats’ Bernie Sanders insurgency.
When Trump was declared the winner, Clinton’s Big Tent -- the de facto headquarters of the “truer and more fully explicit ruling class party” -- panicked. The gyro went whacky. For multinational capital, the quest for worldwide full spectrum dominance is an existential issue; they must achieve it, or die. What they have shown over the past several weeks is that they are willing, and even eager, to bring down the whole edifice of U.S. social and political “checks and balances” -- freedom of speech and other civil liberties -- to sustain the momentum of their neoliberal offensive in the world.The true hegemony of the ruling class consists of more than simply control of the “commanding heights” of the economy and positions of governmental power, but also of the authoritative political narrative.
The “fake news” bugaboo is a Trojan Horse for speech and thought control, a ruse to reestablish the imperial narrative in all its domestic and international dimensions. It ain’t about “pizza-gate” -- it’s about corporate global power. The mass of folks that are repelled and frightened by Donald Trump and his gang of generalissimos and billionaires may think that they are in a common struggle alongside Clinton and Jill Stein and much of Black leadership against “fascism” in the person of Trump, but the forces in Clinton’s Big Tent are fascists, too, of the global corporate, endless war and deepening austerity kind, who are now drawing up lists of who can speak and what subjects can properly be discussed.
The same people that brought us the Mass Black Incarceration State and preventive detention without charge or trial, too big to jail, systematic Black urban displacement, Kill Lists, proxy jihadist wars and universal surveillance of humanity. The Democrats are emphatically
not waging a fight against “fascism.” Instead, they have unleashed a
war hysteria.
“The ‘fake news’ bugaboo is a Trojan Horse for speech and thought control, a ruse to reestablish the imperial narrative in all its domestic and international dimensions.”in 2007 – but Putin continued to pursue good relations with the U.S.)
There is nothing “grassroots” about this orchestration of hearings, investigations and legislation aimed at implicating Russia in some conjured aggression against the United States electoral system -- actions that not only did not happen, but should have no legal implications for Americans even if what is alleged to have occurred -- that the Russians selectively released hacked (factual) documents to embarrass Democrats -- did happen.
What is most shocking about the whole affair is that the orchestrators of this War Hysteria/Dump Trump campaign seem to be oblivious to the effect it will have on the people that voted for Trump, representing roughly half of the country. A recount is one thing, but Trump’s supporters will surely not accept the negation of their vote by
Hamilton Electors or other machinations. The U.S. criminal justice (and now “Homeland Security”) systems were designed to contain, control and incarcerate the “Others” of society, mainly Black and brown people. If the whites of that political space called “Middle America” decide to burn the house down, there will be no stopping them. Most of the “first responders” are Trump people.
“A recount is one thing, but Trump’s supporters will surely not accept the negation of their vote by Hamilton Electors or other machinations.”
Are the orchestrators deliberately provoking a civil war, or have they lost their minds over the prospect of better relations with the Russians? I think it’s clearly the latter; they haven’t even begun to consider the mass blowback from Trumpland. But, December 19, the date for certification of the electoral vote, is almost upon us.
The election was, of course, stolen – in the usual manner, by Republican Americans. As investigative reporter Greg Palast told
Democracy Now!:“Well, you know, people are looking for Russians, but what we had is a real Jim Crow election. Trump, for example, in Michigan, won by less than 11,000 votes. It looks like we had about 55,000 voters, mostly minorities, removed by this racist system called Crosscheck. In addition, you had a stoppage—even before the courts ordered the complete stop of the vote in Michigan, you had the Republican state officials completely sabotage the recount. They said, in Detroit, where there were 75,335 supposedly blank ballots for president—75,000—they said you can’t count 59 percent of the precincts, where most of the votes were missing. There were 87 machines in Detroit that were—that didn’t function. They were supposed to count about a thousand ballots each. You’re talking about a massive blockade of the black vote in Detroit and Flint, enough votes, undoubtedly, to overturn that election.”
The Democrats never mount a challenge when Jim Crow steals presidential elections. Denying Black people the franchise is kosher, under the gentlemen’s duopoly rules. But, when it comes to improving relations with Russians, the folks in Clinton’s Big Tent go Black Lives Matter on the election process: “Shut It Down!” they scream, “Shut It Down.”
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at [email protected].
GIVE ME THE CROWN:-(Mark 9:23) "Jesus said unto him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”Here are some common misconceptions about success: (1) We think success is impossible, so we criticize it. We want to believe life should be easy, so we assume anything difficult must be impossible. Then when success eludes us we throw in the towel and say, "Who needs it anyway? And ...if someone we consider less deserving than ourselves is successful, we get really upset. (2) We think success is mythical, so we search for it.
Author/entrepreneur Seth Godin says: "We need to stop shopping for lightening bolts. You don't win an Olympic medal with a few weeks of intensive training. There's no such thing as an overnight opera sensation. Great companies (churches, schools, teams) don't spring up overnight...every great thing has been built in exactly the same way: bit by bit, step by step, little by little." There are no shortcuts; you must be willing to pay the price.
(3) We think success comes by chance, so we hope for it. We say, "Oh, he or she just happened to be in the right place at the right time." The chances of that happening are about as good as chances of winning the lottery-18 million to one. If you're serious about succeeding, you'll concur with the small-business owner who posted this sign in his store: "The 57 Rules of Success:Rule one: Deliver the goods. Rule two: The other 56 don't matter!- "You Should Crown Me" from the album The Evolution of an MC: Pocket Full of Ghetto Poems Vol. 2 by Eric D.Graham
By: Jerry Beck,
on 12/22/2016
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An animated short about growing old and the fear of losing the beauty of youth.
The post Annecy 2016 Student Winner ‘Depart at 22’ Debuts Online [Exclusive Premiere] appeared first on Cartoon Brew.
Lucky Lazlo. Steve Light. 2016. Candlewick. 32 pages. [Source: Review copy]
First sentence: Lazlo was in love. He bought a rose from the flower-seller. The last red one--how lucky!
Premise/plot: Lucky Lazlo follows the adventures--or misadventures--of a young man, Lazlo, in love. His love is starring in a play, Alice in Wonderland. In fact, she's the star of the show, Alice. The show is premiering on a Friday at the Peacock Theater. This picture book is a comedy. The simple act of buying a flower for the one you love becomes a chaotic, hilarious riot of a book. And it all starts with a CAT who snatches Lazlo's rose.
My thoughts: I thought this one was charming even before I read the author's note. But. After reading the author's note, it went from "really like" to LOVE. Light has taken a LOT of theater superstitions and woven together a story that uses just about all of them--for better or worse! And his illustrations are both simple and complex. His use of color is simple, understated. But his use of detail is very complex indeed.
Text: 5 out of 5
Illustrations: 5 out of 5
Total: 10 out of 10
© 2016 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
Will's Words: How William Shakespeare Changed The Way You Talk. Jane Sutcliffe. Illustrated by John Shelley. 2016. Charlesbridge. 40 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: Dear Reader: We have to talk. I have failed you. I set out to write a book about the Globe Theatre and its great storyteller, William Shakespeare. About how the man was an absolute genius with words and wove those words into the most brilliant and moving plays ever written. But that's just the trouble. You see, I wanted to tell you the story in my own words. But Will Shakespeare's words are there, too, popping up all over the place. It's not my fault. Really. Will's words are everywhere. They're bumping into our words all the time, and we don't even know it.
Premise/plot: Sutcliffe's picture book for older readers does a great job introducing readers to the sixteenth century theatre. And her emphasis on "Will's Words" shows the relevance Shakespeare still has in today's world. It is part narrative. But on each spread, she focuses on words--phrases--Shakespeare either invented himself (coined) OR kept alive (sustained) through the longevity of his plays. She uses the word or phrase in her narrative, and then explains it. Each word is explained and/or defined. Sometimes this includes "what it meant then, what it means now." But she also always includes: WHERE it came from--which play, which act, which scene.
Words include:- for goodness' sake
- what's done is done
- too much of a good thing
- outbreak
- excitement
- of a sudden
- wild goose chase
- fashionable
- money's worth
- hurry
- with bated breath
- a sorry sight
- heart's content
- well behaved
- send him packing
- good riddance
- love letter
- laugh oneself into stitches
- foul play
- make your hair stand on end
- cold-blooded
- hot-blooded
- bloodstained
- dead as a doornail
- seen better days
- into thin air
- amazement
- the short and long of it
- not budge an inch
- eaten out of house and home
- green-eyed monster
- household words
My thoughts: I really loved this one. It is for older readers. I don't think the typical preschooler is going to care about the word origin of the phrase "dead as a doornail." But for older students (mid-to-upper elementary on up) what a treat!!! Be sure to watch the Horrible Histories music video about Shakespeare! © 2016 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
Once you have the scene outlined, it is time to develop the content.1. Opening Line: Set up the conflict in the scene.
2. First paragraphs: Orient us: where are we, when is it, who is present, and what do they want?
3. Introduce theme and make sure the goal is understood.
4. Follow a logical chain of events: The action or conversation is followed by a visceral response, then a conscious response, then recovery/thinking/planning, then the outcome which should result in a new goal.
Make sure you show a recovery after all key scenes and turning points.
5. Vary the speed to create a flow that keeps a reader interested.
1) Slow, fast, slow.
2) Slow, medium, fast.
3) Fast, medium, slow.
4) Medium, fast, slow.
Vary sentence structure. Vary the speed within the scene. Nonstop action without resting beats is too fast. All internal narration and narration without action beats is too slow. Highlight the fast parts. Are there peaks and valleys? Have quieter, slower conflicts between big turning points and reveals.
Every tense action scene should have a rise, impact, and fall. Every tense conversation should have a lead up to a tense exchange, a verbal zinger, and a response. Show the recovery, leave a hook with the new complication.
Slow speed includes blend of description, narrative, internal dialogue and narrative, and exposition (i.e. background information). Long cumulative sentences are slow (use sparingly). Facts, review, summary, backstory, and flashbacks are slow.
Use Medium/Normal pacing when the story is progressing but nothing special is happening. Good for setting a scene or transitioning between two dramatic scenes. Give readers a break from the action and slow down the pace. Use an even blend of description, dialogue, narration, and exposition. Include step by step detail. Use compound sentences with limited detail. Use fleshed out dialogue interposed with action beats and short internal thoughts. Focus on a specific encounter or activity.
Use Atmospheric pacing to create a mood or feeling in a chapter. Set a scene, establish tone, or foreshadow events, often all at the same time. Blend physical and psychological description to set the mood. The story is moving forward but the blend of descriptions suffuses the scene with the desired effect.
Use Suspenseful pacing to keep readers on the edge of their seat. Focus on step by step detail and action that work toward but delay the ultimate payoff. Use short, choppy rhythm, then long beats, then short, choppy beats. Suspense is slow but seems fast because the reader speeds up as he rushes to see how events play out.
Someone is being hunted or struggling. Allow the reader to feel anxiety. Dialogue with a little action and description thrown in can be suspenseful, tense. Use description to set up scary mood. Drag out tension. The verbal camera is at a wide angle. The catalyst could be sights, smells, sounds, touch, anxiety. Zoom in closer until on the face or inside head. The climax should be in virtual slow motion, blow by blow focus on the words and actions.
Use fast pace to create tension. Dialogue is fast with little action or thoughts and lots of white space. High action scenes or characters engaged in emotional confrontations are fast. Short summary can be fast. Short dialogue and action beats, base clauses, and short sentences add speed. The verbal camera is zoomed in all the way. Save high speed for important turning points. Focus on one element to the exclusion of all others, just dialogue or narration of action. Leave out description beyond physical action. Use short snappy sentences. Avoid details like left and right that force your reader to think about it. Once involved in the action, switch to longer compound and cumulative sentences. Pause when characters pause to maintain the illusion.
6. Closing line: End with a hook to set up next scene and convince the reader to turn the page.For more about how to craft plots using conflict check out, Story Building Blocks: The Four Layers of conflict available in print and e-book and check out the free tools and information about the series on my website.
Walk This World At Christmastime. Illustrated by Debbie Powell. 2016. Candlewick. 24 pages. [Source: Review copy]
First sentence: Walk this world at Christmastime. Let's take a stroll around the world, to all four corners of the globe. Peek through windows, open doors, watch as Christmastime unfolds.
Premise/plot: Readers "visit" many different countries at Christmastime. Each two-page spread takes readers to a new destination. The stops include Canada and the United States; Mexico, Bolivia, and Brazil; Nigeria, South Africa, and Ethiopia; Spain, France, Italy, and Greece; Holland, Austria, and Germany; U.K., Sweden, Norway, and Finland; Poland, Ukraine, and Russia; Lebanon, Iraq, Pakistan, and India; China, Japan, and the Philippines; Australia, New Zealand, and Samoa. Each two-page spread features a riddle, of sorts, asking readers to guess where they are. Each two spread also features a LOT of flaps to open. Behind each flap is a fact.
Some of the things we learn on this journey:
- During Las Posadas, children dress as Mary and Joseph and go from house to house asking to be let in.
- Leave out your shoes to get presents from the Three Wise Men.
- Calabar Carnival, in Nigeria, is Africa's biggest street party. Get ready for parades, masquerades, and dancing.
- An old Greek custom, recently revived, is to decorate real and model ships with lights at Christmastime.
- In Holland, leave out your clogs for Saint Nicholas. Don't forget a carrot for his horse!
- A Nutcracker doll is a traditional German gift.
- The first Christmas card was sent in the U.K. in 1843.
- In Russia, Father Frost brings children presents, accompanied by the Snow Maiden.
- In Iraq, Christian families light a bonfire and recite passages from the Bible.
- In India, banana trees are decorated for Christmas.
- The Chinese give gifts of apples on Christmas Eve.
- In Samoa, people feast on December 24, then go to church, dressed in white, on Christmas Day.
My thoughts: This one is packed with information. I definitely found it interesting. I'm not the biggest fan of lift-the-flap books. But I think this one works.
© 2016 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
This was a rough year for many of us, crazy election, many beloved famous people gone, and I think it is fair to say we are all ready to wave 2016 good-bye. For me, personally, this has been a pivotal year in terms of my illustration work. I am currently illustrating my third children's book in a row and have discovered that I love the entire process of both writing and illustrating children's books. The story telling aspect is so challenging and rich and exciting whether through words or art or both. Here is another sneaky peeky into my illustration process for Hidden City which I believe is going to be released Spring '17. I thought it would be appropriate to post this tiny wintry scene which is cropped from a much larger illustration. Here was my sketch idea and my color version.
So Kailana (
The Written Word) and I are teaming up again...this time to celebrate CHRISTMAS. 25 days of answering questions! You are definitely welcome to join in on the fun!
Christmas traditions...
family time--eating together, opening presents, talking, listening to music, watching movies.
© 2016 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
I mean the snow was already falling here in Winthrop, WA... but last night it finally FELL!!! Nothing too crazy just yet, but the skiing was grand this afternoon and we'll be gliding for weeks to come! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at Harts Pass Comics!
Time has not lately been my friend. I'm way behind on reading. I've got stacks of books here, begging for attention. I've got books behaving (for all the world to see) like furniture.
A few days ago I began to read the big book of the moment, an adult novel that has received every manner of acclaim, both from the prize givers and the lists. I wanted to love this book. I'd spent good hardcover money on it after all (something I thought about, something I must consider), and my friends were (mostly) enthralled. I chose it from the overwhelming pile, and I tried, believe me, I tried. Between sheets of baking cookies. While my husband watched Alaska shows. While I waited for the food shopping crowds to thin. I tried. I read. I tried.
Dutifully, I read. The story was important; I felt that on every page. But oh, those sentences. So relentlessly declarative. So devoted to moving the plot along at such a feverish pace that characters felt far more like symbols than people and scenes felt more like stage sets and philosophy felt stylized, rushed.
The book was an idea. But was it a
book? And what kind of snob am I, to be asking such a question about a novel of what will be enduring prestige?
Had I, in the rush of my real life, in the daily swell of recommendation letters, bill writing, house cleaning, research, present wrapping, food buying, novel writing, forgotten how to read?
I needed to find out. I needed to get up early (this very morning) and reach for another book and determine whether I had lost my readerly touch, my patience, my gratitude for stories on the page. I chose
Everywhere I Look, the new essay collection by the Australian Helen Garner. I opened up. I took a breath. I settled.
I settled and swelled. It took just a single page to believe in books again.
"When I was in my forties I went on holiday to Vanuatu with a kind and very musical man to whom I would not much longer be married, though I didn't know it yet," Garner writes—the fist lines of the first essay, "Whisper and Hum." She hates the tropics, she tells us, in the very next sentence, then:
And what I hated most was the sight of a certain parasitic creeper that flourished aggressively, bowing the treetops down and binding them to each other in a dense, undifferentiated mat of choking foliage. I longed to be transported at once to Scotland where the air was sharp and the nights brisk, and where plants were encouraged to grow separately and upright, with individual dignity.
Can't you just see it? Don't you marvel at how she chooses to introduce herself? As almost not married, as oppressed by density, as longing for sharp air and dignity?
I'm halfway through this collection now. I'll write more of it in the January edition of
Juncture Notes, our memoir newsletter. I'm just here, on this blog, to say, Thank you, Helen Garner. Thank you, very much. For shaping and breaking and delineating your life in ways that bring about a pleasant startle.
Finally, a word on the photo: That is a photo I took in Berlin, a city for which we mourn over this holiday weekend, a city I came to love during my travels there and during my subsequent research for the Berlin novel,
Going Over. We keep getting our hearts broken out here by losses, individual and obscene, suffered at the hands of cruel ideology. We don't know what to say. We remember the wild beauty of a place shedding a dark history and hope for that wild beauty to carry forward, while those who have been lost are remembered widely.
Question: My question is basically that when writing certain addresses, should real house numbers be taken or we should fabricate entirely different numbers
By: Mary Nida Smith,
on 12/22/2016
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LITTLE ONE
by Jo Weaver e: What is your medium?
Jo: I generally work with willow charcoal and a putty rubber on slightly toothed paper. Willow charcoal is very soft which makes it difficult to get crisp lines, but it has a wonderful texture to it and is great for tonal work. I love the earthiness of charcoal. And there is something deeply gratifying about producing a whole artwork with only one little stick of burnt wood!
e: What do you think makes an illustration magical, what I call "Heart Art” - the sort that makes a reader want to come back to look again and again?
Jo: This is a tricky question and I’m not sure I can answer it very eloquently. I think that the emotional response an illustration provokes in the viewer is what makes it magical, rather than any specific technique used to create it. For me, one of the most important ingredients of a truly magical illustration is relationship, or rather the depiction of a connection between characters. This could be between two or more characters in the illustration or between the reader and a character. I consider the environment, the setting for the story, to be a character in itself. Because often books are about the relationship between a character and their environment. Certainly this is a big theme in my own work. A magical illustration, I think, often has a strong sense of relationship in it.
e: What was your path to publication?
Jo: My path to publication probably began way back in my childhood with my absolute adoration of AA Milne's Winnie the Pooh. The joy I experienced in pouring through those books and copying E.H. Shepherd's drawings sparked a life-long love of illustrated stories. But it took me a while to turn my hand to illustration professionally. In my teens I turned down a place at art school because I couldn't visualise where it would lead me. I never wanted to be a fine artist and somehow illustration had never occurred to me. Throughout my twenties I worked in international development and as a support worker for homeless people. I loved my job, but had always had a quiet desire to follow a creative path and had started painting pictures for friends and family. My brother picked up a leaflet in a local cafe advertising evening classes in children’s book illustration with the artist/author Claire Alexander. It was the first time that book illustration had entered my mind as a possible career and it was a bit of a lightbulb moment. I took the class and loved it so much I decided to apply for an MA in Children’s book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. I had no formal arts training and my portfolio was pretty meagre at this point, so I was astounded to be accepted. The course completely transformed my artwork and story-telling capabilities. For my final degree project I began to work in charcoal for the first time. Up to this point my work had been very mediocre watercolour, but the moment I picked up a stick of charcoal, it took on a life of its own. My editor at Hodder Children’s Books, the lovely Emma Layfield, happened to visit the college towards the end of my time there. She had a look through my portfolio where she met my charcoal bears and offered me (and them!) a book deal – a very exciting moment!
e: Is there something in particular about this story you hope readers will take away with them, perhaps something that isn’t immediately obvious?
Jo: I hope that that book has a meditative quality about it. When I was creating it, I always had a sense of quietness in mind as something for the reader to take from it. I believe that there is magic to be founds in stillness, and in maintaining a strong relationship with the natural world. So aside from the story about a mother and her little one, I hope that the book promotes a sense of calm and connection to nature.
Jo's studio...
e: What are you working on next or what would be your dream project?
Jo: I’m currently working on two books - one is the follow up to Little One, for Hodder Children’s. I’m not sure I can say much more about it yet but I am enjoying it enormously. The other is a very different project. Endorsed by Amnesty International UK, its a novella by the wonderful writer Gill Lewis about the power of music to overcome oppression. Its protagonist is a young Syrian refugee. Its a deeply moving and important story which I feel honoured to be illustrating. It's wonderful working on two such different projects and between them I think they pretty much cover what would be my dream project.
e: Thanks Jo! Can't wait to see them both!
Dreamworks continues to revamp its operations under Comcast-NBCUniversal's ownership.
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This is a my final post on Christmas designs for 2016. (Although I do have something different to share tomorrow for P&Ps final post.) But for now we round off this current holiday season with a last look at some fab festive designs. We begin with The Art File where this colourful Christmas Tree pattern on cards and wrap was one of my absolute faves this year.
Below : Two gorgeous
 |
Snow Birds, Frances Tyrrell 2015 |
For day 22 of Woodland Advent, two visiting "snow birds". And from
Woodland Nutcracker, here are the guests arriving at the home of the Bear family.
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Great choices. Jennifer L. Holm’s Full of Beans is also superb historical fiction providing a vivid sense of Key West during the Depression.
The sole reason I didn’t include it is that I couldn’t figure out exactly what moment in American history it ties into. The revivification of Key West? It didn’t say as much about the Depression as it would if it were a “Depression book”. I think it’s great historical fiction, but if someone’s looking specifically for American history . . . I dunno. Thoughts?