By: Elliott Kaufman,
on 5/31/2012
This book has been in my mind ever since I started taking photographs in the '70s. It seemed to be the perfect visual exercise — seeing the everyday environment in a whole new, albeit detailed, way. Though it took me a while to finally approach this particular project, the experience has been tremendously gratifying, but [...]
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By: andrea joseph,
on 5/21/2012
By: andrea joseph,
on 5/9/2012
The Green Door is short and admonitory and — before I forget — by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman. It’s also a timeslip book, which is the reason you’re hearing about it; books in which exciting adventures make young girls decide to be more boring in the future have very little appeal for me.
Letitia Hopkins is, from the start, a bit of a drip. Her Aunt Peggy seems like a pretty nice adoptive parent, and she provides Letitia with a nice home, but, as Letitia doesn’t actually like to do anything but sit still and daydream, she’s dissatisfied. She’s also really curious about the green door in the cheese-room, which doesn’t seem to exist on the other side of the wall — curious enough that one day while Aunt Peggy is out, she steals the key and opens it.
She finds herself in the time of her great-great-great grandparents, and her great-great-great grandparents are the first people she meets when she gets there — them and their three daughters, Letitia’s great-great grandmother and great-great-great aunts. They are confused by the fact that her name — Letitia Hopkins — is the same as the name of the great-great-great grandmother and also the great great grandmother (and to be honest, so am I, because surnames are generally patrilineal) but they take her in and teach her how to cook and clean and sew and things.
In another book, this would be the making of Letitia. But no, she continues to be a drip. Then she meets a young boy she went sledding with once in her own time. He too has travelled into his family’s past, although he used a book rather than a door. He finds a corresponding book in his ancestors’ house, and Letitia finds a corresponding door in hers, and then they go home and eat cake and Letitia apologizes to her aunt Peggy, who says, “Well, it was a hard lesson to learn, and I hoped to spare you from it, but perhaps it was for the best.” Implying, I guess, that the Hopkins family uses their weird time traveling door for the purpose of keeping discontented children in line. Which seems like kind of a waste.
I guess I just don’t understand why anyone would want to write a children’s book about how miserable time travel is.
6 Comments on The Green Door, last added: 4/19/2012
By: andrea joseph,
on 3/30/2012
You may remember that some time back I created this drawing, above, as the publicitiy image for Buxton Festival's production of James and the Giant Peach.
Well, they kinda liked it and asked if I would do a series of illustrations that would become the back drop for the actual prodcution. I've never done anything like that before and I thought it would be cool to see my illustrations become something bigger, so to speak.
I thought it might be interesting to blog this process, starting these are the first rough sketches. At this point I am just mapping out the drawings.
I was a Roald Dahl freak when I was young. In fact, Danny Champion of the World is still in my top ten favourite books (maybe even top 5). I have a vague memory of reading James, but I've never seen the film. I did consider watching it but decided against it in the end. I don't really want to be influenced by anything else.
I shall watch it after the event. Which will be a nice way to end a project. I'll post all ten (!) of the drawings as I complete them.
By: Paula Becker,
on 3/5/2012
Happy Monday, all! Just a quick posting to thank Highlights for Children for selecting me for “Illustrator of the Month”. That was the month of February, so I’m a little late in posting this. : )
Highlights is the only magazine (rather, publishing company) I know of that expresses such great appreciation like they do to illustration, illustrators, and the illustrators that they contract. These platters and letters are just a part of their way of conveying the value they have for illustrators. The party they throw each year is amazing (I attended two years ago. Wow!), not to mention the relationship they build with their contractors. It’s got a family-feel to it all.
So thank you, Christine, Cynthia, Kelley and staff, for choosing me for the month of February! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you guys, too!
And, below, is the spread that they are talking about…”The Champion Of Quiet”, a cute story written by Tracy Stewart.
Below: A pull-out of the first spot from the spread.
Say hi to Inez Haynes Gillmore. I know some of you are familiar with her, but I suspect most of you are not. She could easily be your new favorite author. She’s pretty good. But mostly what she is is versatile.
I read a book of hers the other day called Gertrude Haviland’s Divorce. It made me re-examine three of Gillmore’s other books, just because it seemed so unlikely that they all could have come from the same person. So, there’s Gertrude Haviland, a divorce novel — and please don’t try to tell me that’s not a genre, because I won’t listen — and then there’s an adorable children’s book, a fluffy romance/adventure/ghost story/paean to old furniture, and a disturbing, bloody, and terrifyingly upbeat allegorical feminist fantasy. All of them are, in their separate ways, perfect.
We’ll start with Maida’s Little Shop. It’s the most innocuous. There were fifteen Maida books, two of which are in the public domain, but although the series ran until the 1950s, it was obviously never intended to be a series at all — there wasn’t so much as a sequel for eleven years. I’ve only read Maida’s Little Shop and Maida’s Little House, but that’s enough to be glad there was a sequel, and to take the rest of the books on faith, because they’re lovely. Maida is the daughter of the kind of fictional millionaire of whom, despite the fact that he’s clearly a great guy, everyone is terrified. She’s also a bit of an invalid, only capable of walking because of a recent operation by one of those specialists who are always curing crippled fictional characters. All she needs to complete her recovery is to take a real interest in something, so when she expresses a desire to run a store, her father buys it for her. I might have liked to hear a bit more about the actual running of the shop — logistics, and the kind of financial detail you only get from Horatio Alger, and things like that — but the friendships she forms with the children in her new neighborhood are completely satisfactory. Based on Maida’s Little House, I expect the rest of the series revolves around Maida and her friends being happy and industrious in a variety of settings while her father spends vast amounts of money on them. And what more could you want?
Then there’s Angel Island. I don’t know how it was received when it was first serialized in The American Magazine, but right now it’s probably the most famous thing she wrote, because of all the feminism. I kind of wish it was even more feminist, though. Or maybe a bit less pessimistic about human nature. This is the story of five young men who are shipwrecked with a lot of dead bodies and even more supplies. After they’ve been hanging around on their new island home for a while, they discover that they’re sharing it with some winged women — conveniently, five of them. In spite of the language barrier, they begin to pair off, “Peachy” showing off for Ralph, “Chiquita” hanging out with Frank as he writes, etc. And then Ralph is like, “So, obviously the next step is to capture them and force them to marry us.” The other men are initially horrified by this, but eventually they all come round to the same point of view, at which point they trap the women in a cabin the’ve built and cut off their wings. That was a but of a surprise for me. There’s all this talk about capturing the women, and then once they’ve done it Gillmore is like, “and then they pulled out their freshly sharpened shears.”
Then the men proceed to “tame” the women. Which, you know, if it’s going
By: Morgan R.,
on 2/6/2012
Eeee! This book will fill you with an endless supply of the warm fuzzies. And, who knew, but when the title was first published in 1958 it was banned! Adorable bunnies equals controversy? Unfortunately, yes. It was banned because it supposedly encouraged interracial marriage. Sigh. Luckily times have changed (sort of), and The Rabbits' Wedding [...]
By: andrea joseph,
on 2/5/2012
A quickie post. Here's a little drawing I made at the beginning of the year for a local project. I wanted to show something of the Derbyshire landscape in the drawing, and had the idea of making the procession of children resemble a dry stone wall as it fades, over the hills, in the distance. Not sure if that was successful but I tried!
Click on drawing for a better view.
By: Emily Winfield Martin,
on 2/2/2012
Describe your new book/project/work. Oddfellow's Orphanage is a series of stories/vignettes that tell the tale of the newest arrival to a curious orphanage, a mute girl named Delia. Through her eyes, we meet the orphanage itself, as well as the kind, but unusual family that calls Oddfellow's home. This is all nestled into the form [...]
By: andrea joseph,
on 12/19/2011
This was a nice little surprise in my mail box today. I sold this drawing earlier in the year. It was destined for a little girl's bedroom wall on the other side of the world to me. How great does it look all mounted and framed? I would never have considered such vibrant colours or patterned mounts ('matts' in the US?). I probably would have gone with white. These photos make me totally reconsider how I'll frame my drawings in the future. I think it looks fabulous.
Do you have any of photos of my drawings in your homes? I'd love to gather some together for a future post.
Thanks, Oli, for these lovely pics.
By: Darcy Pattison,
on 11/8/2011
In celebration of National Picture Book Month and Veteran’s Day:
11 Ways to Ruin a Photograph book
When her father goes soldiering for a year, a girl decides that without Dad at home, it’s not a family photo album. Though her beloved Nanny is in charge of the album that year, the girl makes sure that photographs of her never turn out well. Photos are blurred, wind blows hair in her face. April rains bring umbrellas to hide behind. Halloween means a mask. This poignant, yet funny family story, expresses a child’s anger and grief for a Dad whose work takes him away for long periods of time. It’s a tribute to the sacrifices made by military families and to those who care for children when a family needs support.
Darcy Pattison’s story, “11 Ways to Ruin a Photograph” is the winning children’s story. It is a free download at www.takepart.com/thehelp, or download it here (pdf download).
You can also order it for your:
Read more at www.11WaystoRuinaPhotograph.
PLEASE pass this along to anyone who might know a military family or to anyone in the military that you know.
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By: Aaron Blecha,
on 11/3/2011
By: Darcy Pattison,
on 9/19/2011
Random Acts of Publicity DISCOUNT:
$10 OFF The Book Trailer Manual.
Use discount code: RAP2011
http://booktrailermanual.com/manual
Guest post by Anastasia Suen
For years I have been saying that writing is rewriting, and now I have a book that shows it quite clearly, my new picture book, Road Work Ahead (Viking 2011).
This picture book is short, like most of my books. It’s only 120 words, but those words have been rewritten over and over again. Yes, this one has been a lo-o-o-ong time coming. I started this book when my son was 2…and now he’s 27!
When my son was 2, he loved to look at all of the trucks and machines along the road, so I started snapping pictures for him. I made him a “look book” that later turned into a picture book. I loved the story in that book, so I sent it out to editors, but it kept coming back, over and over. Editors said they loved it, too, but it wasn’t quite ready. So I kept rewriting it and sending it out…and now 25 years later, it’s finally a book you can hold in your hand.
So what made the difference? I used ALL of the 6 Ws this time. I made sure the story had who, what, when, where, why and how. Using all 6 Ws made it a story, not just a list of machines along the road. Stories sell, but lists…well, not so much.
New Beginning and Ending. After the story finally sold I thought it was ready to go, but my editor thought it needed something more. She asked me to write a new beginning and ending, so we knew why the little boy was on the road looking at all of the road work. That also added a who, by showing us the little boy before he got into the car.
So I added my mother and her famous homemade oatmeal cookies to the book. (We used to eat them right after they came out of the oven. Yum!) Driving to Grandma’s house for fresh, warm, homemade oatmeal cookies is definitely a reason to keep going despite all of the traffic delays due to the work along the road. And when you get to eat them at the end of the book, ah, sweet reward! Adding 2 short stanzas was all it took.
The change I made was used by the Publishers Weekly reviewer to describe the book.
“A batch of Grandma’s homemade oatmeal cookies beckons, but for this backseat narrator, the sights and sounds along the road to her house are equally compelling:
“Road work ahead./ Move over. Go slow./ Jackhammers crack./ Look at them go.’”
The text quoted in the review was the original beginning of the story. I had jumped too far into the action. What worked better was taking a few steps back and letting the reader know who the narrato
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Here’s part two. You may notice that the formatting is unbelieveably horrible. I tried to fix it, but I’ve given up now.
7. The Trumpet of the Swan, by E.B. White
The dust jacket on my copy is long since lost.
So, here’s an unpopular opinion for you: this is the best E.B. White book. Charlotte’s Web is pretty good. I like it a lot. Stuart Little coasts on the fact that tiny things are cute. The Trumpet of the Swan is better than either of them. When I was little, I also thought it was completely hilarious — I would reread bits and sit there giggling to myself — but it’s probably only moderately funny. That’s okay, though, because it’s clever and thoughtful and enormously weird, and when it comes to children’s books, that’s what I want most.
The Trumpet of the Swan, for those of you unlucky enough not to have read it, is about a mute trumpeter swan named Louis. He can’t attract a mate without being able to make trumpet-y noises at her, so his father goes off and steals him a trumpet, and the rest of the book is all about people being wowed by his excellent trumpet-playing skills, which makes me happy because one of my favorite things in books is characters who are really good at what they do (cf. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, two of the three books in the final section of this list, and that post I will someday write on Trustee from the Toolrom). Anyway, it’s a wonderful book all around, and a deeply satisfying one. Most books that I like leave me wanting to know more, but I think it’s actually better when a book gives you exactly as much as you need, and this is one of those.
***
6. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, by Jean Lee Latham
I think this cover is gorgeous.
Okay, here’s one I read several times when I was, oh, maybe twelve? I ran across it at a used bookstore last summer, and thought, “I adored that book. Why haven’t I thought about it for the last dozen years?” And then I reread it, and, as it turns out, I still adore it.
This is a fictional take on the life of Nathaniel Bowditch, who revolutionized navigation in the late 18th century. Latham introduces us to Nat as a kid about to be apprenticed to a ship chandlery in Salem in the 1770s, and from there we follow his struggles to educate himself and others. It’s a sad book, because massive numbers of people die, but it helps to know that they’re real people who died, rather than characters the author is gratuitously killing off. And also, it’s an incredibly moving book, and I think it owes some of that to the historical environment. Nat’s family is very poor, and a career at sea includes the possibility of death, and Latham doesn’t minimize those things.
And then there’s the people-being-really-good-at-what-they-do thing. It’s fun to see Nat surprising people with his surreptitiously acquired book-learning, and it’s even better to see him winning over his shipmates with his expertise on practical matters. Especially
Timbuktu is the first iPad based magazine specifically designed for children. The magazine combines imagination and technology to engage youngsters in news and stories centered around interesting topics. With a bold and brave graphic style and clear and focused interaction design, Timbuktu is on the cutting edge of educating kids in a fun and informative way.
Art Director Olimpia Zagnoli, whose work we’ve featured previously on the site, chats with us today about her latest project, giving us insight to her new role as well as some juicy tidbits about the magazine.
Where did the name Timbuktu come from?
Timbuktu is the title of a book by Paul Auster. Timbuktu is a place everyone has heard of but only a few know exactly where to find it. Timbuktu is a name that usually indicates something remote and unknown, unreachable by definition.
Instead it’s a place that really exists! It’s in the desert of Mali and now it’s also on the iPad!
On It’s Nice That, you mentioned discussing being the Art Director of Timbuktu with Editor-in-Chief Elena Favilli and Creative Director Francesca Cavallo over tea and cake, which sounds fantastic. What are some of your favorite aspects of your role thus far?
I have to say I love this role. I’ve always worked on the other side before, so this was a new thing for me. Elena and Francesca gave me total free rein, so I was able to play with a few ideas I had in mind and take them further together with Graphic Designer Francesco Ceccarelli at Bunker Studio. I like to put things together nicely, so this was a good exercise for me. Having the opportunity to work with designers and illustrators from all over the world was a real honour and a very energizing experience.
What artists can we expect to see in the first issue?
For this issue we called artists from San Francisco, New Delhi, Milan, Lisbon, Berlin and Barcelona. They belong to different fields of art as theater, fine art, photography, illustration or motion graphics but they all created something especially addressed to kids. You will find Planeta Tangerina, Massimo Caccia, Jan Von Holleben, and many more.
What can kids look forward to in this as well as future issues of Timbuktu?
They can expect a digital magazine with visually stunning content and intuitive interaction design. They can expect a place where they can cultivate their curiosity and strengths. Plus, they can expect to get in contact with everyday news told in a
By: L. M. Baldwin,
on 3/30/2011
Full name: Wendy Wan-Long Shang
Hometown: Fairfax, Virginia
Current location: Falls Church, Virginia
Website/Blog: wendyshang.com; I also belong to a blog of middle-grade writers called fromthemixedupfiles.com
Genre: middle-grade fiction
WiP or most recently published work: The Great Wall of Lucy Wu
Writing credits: The Great Wall of Lucy Wu, plus some legal publications. I have an article in The 4:00 Book Hook, a monthly e-newsletter on children's books, coming out next month.
How frequently do you update your site? monthly
Is your site designed for reader interaction? no
Post of note, something in particular you want readers to check out:
On the Mixed-Up Files, we really pride ourselves on covering everything related to middle-grade books. I was very proud to showcase a children's book club for teachers at my son's school. Here is the link.
Top 5 books that turned you into a writer?
Blubber, by Judy Blume: This was the first book I ever read that had a contemporary, Chinese-American character. This book taught me the importance of having characters that children can relate to.
Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri: Her prose is so delicate yet powerful. I have to say that the first time I read her work, I felt as though I was reading in a whole new way.
Take the Cannoli, by Sarah Vowell: Her work makes me laugh and think in equal measure. I would love to have that effect on a reader.
Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster: For me, Juster didn't color outside the lines. He invented new colors, and molded the lines into new dimensions. Rarely a day goes by without some quote from that book popping into my head.
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Kongisburg: Everything about this book is a marvel to me: the structure, the voice, the style. I love that in the mid
By: Aaron Blecha,
on 3/13/2011
By: L. M. Baldwin,
on 3/2/2011
Full name: Candy Gourlay
Birth date: April 19, 1962
Hometown: Born Davao City, Philippines - though I'd call Cubao, Metro Manila [Philippines] my real hometown
Current location: London
Website/Blog: http://tallstory.net
Genre: I'm not sure - is there such a thing as culture clash as a genre (though the clash is very gentle)?
WiP or most recently published work: Tall Story 
Writing credits:
I was a journalist in the first 20 years of my working life. Now I am attempting a career in writing fiction for children. I have written for Cbeebies the BBC baby radio channel, and contributed to anthologies. Tall Story is my debut novel.
How frequently do you update your site?
I blog on candygourlay.blogspot.com and I update my website tallstory.net whenever I have any new reviews and I try to create materials that teachers and librarians can use to supplement any work they do with Tall Story. Increasingly though, in terms of an internet presence, I find that all roads seem to lead to my Tall Story Facebook page!
Is your site designed for reader interaction?
Yes! Readers can interact with me via my guestbook and there are lots of things for teachers and librarians to download. My Tall Story Facebook page is great for sharing images, links and videos. Or for readers to drop by to say hello or to tell me they've read my book.
Post of note, something in particular you want readers to check out:
My most recent notable post is a reflection on the 1986 People Power Revolution in the Philippines, in the light of recent events in the Middle East.
Top 5 books you’re looking forward to in 2011?
I am desperate to read the third book of Kathleen Duey's The Resurrection of Magic but I don't think it's coming out in 2011.
My friend L.A. Weatherly's new Angel trilogy
Angel's Fury by Bryony Pearc
By: admin,
on 1/27/2011
Though I can’t show you the text I can show you were it is going to go. One of the tricks in illustrating a picture book is the leave space for the text without leaving a gaping whole in your illustration.
When I plan out an story illustration I always have a layer with the text on it in the size the publisher has said it will be. This way I don’t have to guess and hope it will fit in the end. This also goes for book covers. Where the text is going to appear you also want the colors to be low contrastThis means that the value of the colors in a particular area are relatively the same value so either dark with light text or vice versa.
When illustrating a picture book you don’t always have to have crazy angles for every shot. Take a queue from the film industry and go in for some close ups. If your working on a computer you don’t even have to re-sketch your scene just use a free-transform tool to expand your image. I wouldn’t advise doing this with a painted image in most cases because of pixelationPixelation is when you blow up or expand an image and the pixels, the bits of color information that make up your image, become jagged and much more visible..
When using the free-transform tool in Painter or Photoshop remember to hold down shift while moving the arrows on the box the tool creates. This will ensure your image scales proportionally.
This concludes the fourth segment of The Making of a Picture Book. Thank you for joining me on this journey and I hope you will join me again for further installments.
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0 Comments on The Making of a Picture Book 4 as of 1/27/2011 1:22:00 PM
By: ARIS,
on 11/15/2010
Take a look at that honkin’ apple! Philadelphia based illustrator Greg Pizzoli creates a fun whimsical environment in this illustration as he plays with the proportion of the massive textured fruit and the teeny tiny cars. There are so many neat colorful details to look at, such as the airplanes in the sky, buttons on the apple, and the varied shapes of buildings on the land.
Greg’s work has a sense of play that kids of all ages can enjoy. To see more of his work, visit his website and be sure to pick up some goodies from his shop. My pick would be his children’s book C’mon Go!.
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Like what you see? Peep this:
Tim Gough Interview
Nate Williams Illustration
Not signed up for the Grain Edit RSS Feed yet? Give it a try. Its free and yummy.
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By: L. M. Baldwin,
on 8/18/2010
Full name: Grace Lin
Birth date: Year of the Tiger!
Hometown: New Hartford, NY
Current location: Somerville, MA
Website/Blog: www.gracelin.com; www.outergrace.blogspot.com; www.facebook.com/authorgracelin
Genre: children's books for kids pre-school to 6th grade
WiP or most recently published work:
Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same!, an early reader (1st, 2nd grade)
Writing credits:
Author/illustrator of over a dozen picture books, including Dim Sum For Everyone! and The Ugly Vegetables. Author/illustrator of middle grade novels, including Year of the Dog and Newbery Honor Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.
How frequently do you update your site?
I update my blog approx. 3-4 times a week, my website twice a year.
Is your site designed for reader interaction?
My blog and Facebook page are, especially the Facebook page. The website, not so much.
Post of note, something in particular you want readers to check out:
For more about me, I was recently interviewed at the Smithsonian's BookDragon blog.
100 words or less: How would you describe your work?
8 Comments on Women Writers of Color: Grace Lin, last added: 8/21/2010
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By: andrea joseph,
on 3/15/2010
As well as shoes, I've been a little preoccupied with my other project recently; my children's book blog. It feels good to be doing something instead of just thinking about it. Today I finally added a page where people can say 'yes, I'd buy this book'. So, (yep, I'm getting around to asking another favour of you guys) if you think you'd like to buy my book, maybe, perhaps, then please add your name to the page. You can do that HERE. My future publisher needs to know!
And, er, yes, this is a drawing of an origami grasshopper automaton hair slide. Don't you have one yet?
Christmas, A Happy Time, by Alicia Catherine Mant (or, as the title page says, Miss Mant) is a typical children’s story of the 1830s, which means that nothing happens. Well, a dog dies, principally so that Miss Mant can make it clear just how important it is for children to obey their parents. Not that the children in this story do disobey their parents. It’s just — I really can’t see any point to this story. It’s not amusing, it’s not instructive, and it’s not Christmassy.
This is absolutely gorgeous.
Thank you, Intorverted Art!
I understand you're happy with this drawing... I should be too.