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By:
Lizzy Burns,
on 11/27/2009
Blog:
A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy
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Only a Witch Can Fly
by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo. Feiwel & Friends, 2009. Review copy supplied by publisher. Picture book.
The Plot: A young witch desperately wants to fly.
The Good: This story of learning to fly is written as a sestina. The repartition both lulls the reader and reassures the reader, while cheering on the young witch in her goal: flight. This also makes it a great read aloud; there is something about poetry that just works better when read.
On the surface, this is a story of try, try again, similar to stories of learning how to ride a bike or swim. But, this is flight. Something so much more than just riding or swimming; flying is about growing up and leaving childhood behind, it's about not accepting limitations, and it's about freedom.
Here is the young witch, finally flying, and its words that could cheer and encourage anyone: "Hold tight to your broom
and float past the stars,
and turn to the heavens and soar.
For only a witch can fly past the moon.
Only a witch can fly."
And I read those final words and thought, "and we are all witches."
Let me tell you, that photo of the cover doesn't give the actual cover justice. The moon is a soft, light butter yellow that matches the font of the title and it just makes you go "oooohhhh... I must pick this up. I must touch this cover." The colors throughout the book are warm: black, brown, orange, green. Yoo shares details about her art at an interview with Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. And the young witch has striped stockings. I so, so want those types of stockings but alas, at my age cannot carry off that look.
The Poetry Friday round-up is at Becky's Book Reviews.
Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.
© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
By:
Becky Laney,
on 11/24/2009
Blog:
Becky's Book Reviews
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Preller, James. 2009. Bystander. Feiwel and Friends. 226 pages.
The first time Eric Hayes ever saw him, David Hallenback was running, if you could call it that, running in a halting, choppy-stepped, stumpy-legged shamble, slowing down to look back over his shoulder, stumbling forward, pausing to catch his breath, then lurching forward again.
Bystander is a book about bullying. Eric, our narrator, fits strangely into his new school. New and slightly confused, he begins associating with the wrong crowd. Kids he knows to be bullies. Because--at least at first--he's not the target of the bullying, he accepts everything. There are a few instances here and there that make him squirm. But at the same time, it's easy to laugh along with the other kids, the other witnesses or bystanders. As long as the bullying isn't too much--then he's not willing to speak up about it. But there comes a time when it does get to be too much. When what he witnesses makes him so uncomfortable that he wakes up and gets a conscience. But now that he doesn't want to be all buddy-buddy with his former friends, will he become the next target? Will standing up for what he knows to be right lead to his own fall? And can he live with that if it is?
What's a boy to do when so many of the kids around him are bullies? True, not everyone bullies with kicks and punches, but there are so many different ways of bullying. Why does everyone have to be so mean in middle school?
This is more of a message-oriented novel.
© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
(from The Wind Dancers, published by Feiwel & Friends) .
The puppies are *finally* finished.
.
Goodbye puppies.
.
Now on to pickup trucks and County Fairs....
.
Griffiths, Andy. 2007. Cat On The Mat Is Flat. Illustrated by Terry Denton. Feiwel and Friends. 167 pages.
This early reader is heavily illustrated. So don't be intimidated by its length! It's a fun little collection of stories--rhyming stories--that are just about right. Mostly. I read The Big Fat Cow That Goes Kapow first. So I was comparing this earlier effort with his newest effort. But I *still* think this one is a lot of fun. There are nine little rhyming stories in all. Some stories have more substance than others. But all are simple and meant to appeal to a young audience.
My personal favorite is Bill and Phil and the Very Big Hill. I just thought that one was hilarious.
Here's how it starts out:
There was a man.
His name was Bill.
Bill had a friend.
His name was Phil.
One day Bill and his friend Phil
climbed to the top of a very big hill.
"I dare you to roll down the hill,"
said Bill.
"I will if you will, Bill,"
said Phil.
"I will if you will, Phil,"
said Bill.
So Bill and Phil rolled down the hill.
Of course that is just the
start of this story. With nine stories, there is something for everyone, I think. You may not love all of the stories. But there will probably be a few--at least--that you think work.
© Becky Laney of
Young Readers
These covers, which took *much* longer than I had anticipated, are finally 'in the mail'. (Which is also an amazingly time-consuming process: pressing, scanning, labeling, slip-covering, wrapping in plastic, reinforcing with cardboard, packaging in yet more board, labeling, and then taking it out to a FedEx shipper! *whew* It's always another half-a-day just to get mailed. Some days, digital art looks appealing...)
I have from now 'til the end of the year to hurry up and finish all the interiors! It's going to continue to be crazy-busy for the next few months....
Sorry. I miss you....
Am trying to marathon my way through the last bit of these covers so that they will be ready to ship before we leave on our fall retreat this weekend...!!
Someday I will post again.
Someday I will read your blogs again.
Someday these covers will be done....
And here would be some of the process on the final (12 of 12) book cover for the Wind Dancer series.
The final drawing - on vellum, scanned and then printed out on 140# cold press Arches watercolor paper.
I started by laying in the miscellaneous ancillary color.
Part of the appeal of using morning glories is their luscious, vivid color...
So I painted in pretty intense pigment (which is quite a bit brighter than the photo suggests. Was too busy to scan). Too intense. Scary intense. Staining pigments used. Argh.
So - I tried scrubbing them back. As I said, staining pigments (Quinacradone Rose and Cyan) so not much came off. Tried light washes to even things out. Just. Not. Working. :-p
*sigh* So, I printed it out again and started over....
Tried a different pigment combination (Opera pink and French ultramarine) and used a much lighter touch...
Color/value balance still isn't working all the way but it is much easier to continue to layer and *add* than it is to scrub off... More layers to come...
These four covers are about 80% finished. I'm now trying to finish up the last 20% on all four concurrently. Hopefully by the end of this week! I have seriously underestimated how long these would take - but I did manage to cover *every*single*inch* of the paper with flowers that need to be painted on each of these covers.
And I continue to ask myself - What was I thinking...??
Cover painting crawls on...
Here is the final drawing, scanned, cleaned-up and printed out on cold press...
The first, preliminary masking fluid and initial color set down...
Here is a layer of color across the entire piece...
Secondary washes and initial modeling... Now on to the next one - I'm bringing them all to about this level of finish and then will tighten them all up together.
Makes me crave rose flavored yummies. One of my favorites to make is rose petal syrup. I grow highly fragrant, heirloom roses that are wonderfully flavorful. Steep in boiling sugar water, strain, lightly tint and pour into pretty bottles. Then use in tea, splashed over ice and seltzer, drizzled over vanilla ice cream.... You can do the same thing with lavender, mint, anise hyssop, lemon verbena, orange-geranium, cinnamon basil, chamomile, tangerine sage.... Color them all differently and you can have window sill of pastel rainbow syrups for your taste bud pleasure
(which unfortunately, I did not take photos of - stole these from google images...)
I'm taking too long with these. I may never get a chance to read your blogs again until they are finished. Sorry. I miss you.
Trouble Gum
Written and illustrated by Matthew Cordell
Feiwel and Friends, 2009
Hardcover Picture Book
This new picture book is about fun – pink fun, stretchy fun, bubble fun – yes, gum fun. And as the title states it’s a book about trouble too.
On a rainy day, Rueben and his younger brother are playing inside and soon the piglets’ raucous behavior unnerves their mother and visiting grandmother. Grammy offers gum while Mom invokes the three rules, “Don’t swallow your gum. Don’t play with your gum. And don’t blow big, sticky bubbles with your gum.” How long do you think it takes to break those rules? How long before fun becomes trouble? Cordell does a fine job with pacing and juxtaposing art with text so that readers are simultaneously laughing while exclaiming Oh no! The black line cartoon-y art with just small bits of pink, red and gray is perfectly placed against a white background. There’s plenty of room for changing perspectives, lots of action, and text that is both story and art. Some text in hand-lettered font -- SMAK! Stuuuuuuuuuurch Pop! -- creates a soundtrack of the misbehaving brothers. Cleverness and hilarity run throughout the story.
Thanks to Feiwel and Friends for the f & g given at their reception for bloggers during ALA.AND they gave us these terrific promo gifts -- guess what's inside the tiny box? 
Click here to go to Matthew Cordell’s website.
Here's a play-by-play of the current cover I'm working on...
This is the final, slightly revised from
my previous post, drawing, which I scanned, cleaned up a bit and then printed out on cold press watercolor paper.
Initial washes (it is surprisingly difficult to find vibrant, transparent oranges. They seem flatten out the minute they dry)....
A layer of color all around....
More resolution.. although I'm still uncertain about *how* to resolve the dandelion seed heads... Who had the bright idea of including white-puffy-dandelion things that need to be painted in watercolor???!!! Oh yeah, that would be me...
I've finally finished up the last cover drawing in this series -
Initial thumbnail idea (which was subsequently revised) and the color comp -
Morning glories - which are fast growing, and scrumptuously and intensely colored - are not considered herbal/medicinal in this country. In China, the seeds have traditionally been used for their laxative quality, but be warned that in pets and young children they are "also considered poisonous and may cause digestive upset, stupor, hallucinations or even coma if enough are ingested". So, not recommended for anything but decorative applications.
They do make darn cute fairy hats though!
Here is the sketch for submission to publisher and Breyer...
...Aaaaand, the final drawing. I have a few tweaks to go back and resolve on all four covers, then will re-scan, print and start the marathon painting stage...
Books number 5 and 6 in the Wind Dancer series are due to be released on September 1st. My covers of which you see above, and the interiors I co-illustrated with my good friend Jo Gershman.
I received a hefty box of them today. And from my abundance, I wish to share with you, gentle reader, a signed copy of each for the lucky commenter whose name I shall draw on the eve of Sunday, August 30th. Just in time to mail off to you by their official release day.
So if you would like to toss your name in the hat, just leave me a comment on this post by 7pm Pacific Time, 8/30/09.
Wishing winged horses your way.....
This is the cover drawing that would never end! Took forever this week to finish it up.
In my initial thumbnail, I attempted to have a significantly different pose from the previous two. However, the publishers did not like this one, so re-draws were required. I had already worked out the color palette and elements to include....
So I went reference hunting - for both references for the elements I already knew that I needed, and much searching for rearing, 3/4, tucked-head horses... Since flying-horse-pose reference is not so easy to come by, it take compiling what you can come up with and for me at least, quite a bit of working and re-working until the anatomy feels somewhat believable...?
...And of course, here is the flower featured on this cover. Herb-lore for the day:
An Anglo-Saxon herbal of the 11th century speaks of a conserve of rose petals "taken in the morning and fasting at night, it strengthenest the hearte and taketh away the shakings and tremblings thereof."I grow very old heirloom roses. They are not the most beautiful varieties, but their scent is heavenly and intense, their petals make for very flavorful candied garnishes and the most fragrant syrup you've ever tasted, and they have huge, plump hips. Decorative *and* tasty (jelly, tea, etc...) These wild roses above have been fun to draw and made me acutely aware of the occasional waft of deliciously intense rose fragrance from the roses that grow beneath my studio window...
Here is the revised sketch, which was approved-
-and here, at LONG last, is the finished cover drawing...
Three down, one more to go.
Book #10 in the
Wind Dancer series features Brisa, the 'glamor' horse. She's pink and pretty and loves to be covered in jewels and sparklies, as well as enjoying them wherever she comes across them.
Here's one of the initial thumbnails, utilizing a 'charming' girly pose and plant-life that is known for jewel-like dew drops,
Lady's Mantle.
Lady's Mantle
(Alchemilla - 'the little Alchemist'
), is one of my favorite herbs - with all kinds of folk medicine and folk-lore associated with it. The scalloped, serrated-edged leaves are covered with soft hairs which hold water drops on the surface and around the edges. My favorite medieval recipe calls for the collection of this dew from its leaves which was said to have magical properties:
"It is said to preserve youth if a woman collects dew, in May, alone, in full moonlight, naked, with bare feet."I want to grow me a field of this stuff! :-)
Rough color comp to make sure I'm going in the right direction...
The comp sent to the
publisher and
Breyer for approval and anatomy check...
And here, finally after any number of dew-drops and sparkly jewels, here is the final drawing...
A few days ago, I posted pictures of the covers for the last 8 Wind Dancer books. Since I am working on the next four covers right now, I thought I might show you a bit of the process. The first step is to come up with an approach that will unify this set of four covers, while still making them distinct from the previous sets. After a number of thumbnails exploring different options, we settled on close-up floral backgrounds.
- eventually we refined this to be more of a 'portrait' of the horse rather than a full-body view as the previous covers had been.
That decided, I did a round of rough mock-ups of all four covers, with varying poses and flora.
And then some color thumbs to sort out the various palettes and make sure they are appealing as a group.
Here's the next batch of refining the cover drawing for cover #9 - with a requested pose revision on the right.
The next round - fairly refined drawing to submit to
Breyer for an anatomy check and approval.
And then a large, clean, refined drawing ready to scan, print and then paint. (Who knows where you can buy translucent drawing vellum by the roll? I'm currently enamored of doing this stage of drawing on that surface, but the vellum I can find by the pad is never quite large enough).
It takes me longer when I switch gears between drawing and painting, so I'm going to take all four covers to this level and then will print and paint them all at the same time.
So after eleventy-hundred dandelion petals, it's on to dew-drops and Lady's Mantle for book #10!
This afternoon we met some fellow bloggers, as well as librarians and authors, at a bloggers reception hosted by Feiwel and Friends. We were happy to put faces with names and have a chance to reconnect with some folks. We enjoyed talking with Betsy Bird, Sue Kusel, Travis Jonker, Karen Romano Young, Matthew Cordell, (thanks for the bubblegum) Yuyi Morales, Esme Raji Codell, April Halprin Wayland, Wendi Old. And of course the F&F people, who went out of their way to make everyone feel welcome. We really admire Jean Feiwel, Liz Fithian, and their team for what they're doing in publishing.
We looked at many books while there and went home with a few galleys which we'll report on soon.
By:
Mark G. Mitchell,
on 5/4/2009
Blog:
How To Be A Children's Book Illustrator
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Could it have been the book trailer that led to the exciting publishers’ auction for the picture book proposal Toast Friday?
Or was it just the exquisite digital and mixed media paintings by illustrator-author and animation concept artist Clint Young.
Young’s imagery for his story of Toast, a sweet pig on a quest for someone to love him has been causing jaws to drop wherever it’s been shown at gatherings and critique groups and Austin chapter meetings of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI.)
Agents and editors first noticed his portfolio at the annual regional conference of Austin SCBWI that was held last May at the University of Texas Club. There Young met Little, Brown and Company Editor Alvina Ling and agent Erin Murphy who both expressed a strong interest in the project.
Over the many months that the work sat at the offices of Little, Brown, Toast portraits began to show up in Young’s art blog, as the former LucasFilm animation concept artist developed and redeveloped his notions and story and talked about his attachment to his character.
Young’s agent Erin Murphy put the project up for auction last week and it wasn’t just publishers bidding, but a film studio, The Weinstein Company.
In the end, Toast went under contract to Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan. Liz Szabla will edit.
We’ll have the fun of covering this story as it unfolds in coming months since
Clint is a regular member of our Central Market Cafe Inklings, (picture book author-illustrator critique group.)
* * * * *
The series that I have been working on this year (along with my friend Jo) will be released any minute now. We got to peruse advanced copies a couple of weeks ago at the Inside Story event, and they are beautifully printed. With sparkly covers.
Speaking of covers, it is always interesting to see how they shift from their original form to their printed version. Sometimes it is subtle, like in this example.
Sometimes less subtle. (I am not a big fan of turquoise and bright greens. Ah well...) You can see large versions of the final covers on the
macmillon site (where magically, they are listed as 'bestsellers' - which is a trick given that they haven't actually been officially released yet).
***
And on another note entirely: the
Urban Sketchers blog has now gone live. It is a wonderfully artsy example of sketchbook goodness.
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I love the idea that we are all witches! ha!
Thanks for the review.
I must look for this one, particularly if it's a sestina that made a picture book - I'd love to see how she did it!
I was just working on fantasy-themed sestinas with a group of teens. I'll have to take a look at this book!