“If kids like a picture book, they’re going to read it at least 50 times, and their parents are going to have to read it with them. Read anything that often, and even minor imperfections start to feel like gravel in the bed.” – Mark Haddon
I’ve just returned from speaking at a magnificent writing retreat weekend at Bethany Hegedus’s Writing Barn in Austin, Texas. That quote was one that Bethany read before Alexandra Penfold’s presentation and I like it quite a lot. Someone should start a picture book blog called “Gravel In the Bed”. If you need a good treat, I do recommend The Writing Barn wholeheartedly. The deer alone are worth the price of admission. And if you’ve other children’s book writing retreats you like, let me know what they are. I’m trying to pull together a list.
- I just want to give a shout out to my girl Kate Milford. I don’t always agree with the ultimate winners of The Edgar Award (given for the best mysteries) in the young person’s category but this year they knocked it out of the park. Greenglass House for the win!
- As you know, I’m working on the funny girl anthology FUNNY GIRL and one of my contributors is the illustrious Shannon Hale. She’s my personal hero most of the time and the recent post Boos for girls just nails down why that is. Thanks to bookshelves of doom for the link.
Not too long ago I was part of a rather large gathering based on one of my blog posts. The artist Etienne Delessert saw a piece I’d written on international picture books and how they’re perceived here in the States. So what did he do? He grabbed local consulates, flew in scholars, invited friends (like David Macaulay) and created an amazing free day that was hugely edifying and wonderful. You can read the SLJ report We need more international picture books, kid lit experts say or the PW piece Where the Wild Books Are: A Day of Celebrating Foreign Picture Books or the Monica Edinger recap International Children’s Books Considered. Very interesting look at these three different perspectives. And, naturally, I must thank Etienne for taking my little post so very far. This is, in a very real way, every literary blogger’s dream come true. Merci, Etienne!
- There’s a lot of joy that can come when when a British expert discusses their nation’s “forgotten children’s classics“. The delightful Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature is out and its editor Daniel Hahn has recapped the books that he feels don’t get sufficient attention in Britain. Very funny to see one of our American classics on this list (I won’t ruin which one for you).
- How do we instill a sense of empathy in our kids? Have ‘em read Harry Potter. Apparently there’s now research to back that statement up. NPR has the story.
- Ooo. Wish I lived in L.A. for this upcoming talk. At UCLA there’s going to be a discussion of Oscar Wilde and the Culture of Childhood that looks at his fairytales. It ain’t a lot of money. See what they have to say.
- Because of I have ample time on my hands (hee hee hee hee . . . whooo) I also wrote an article for Horn Book Magazine recently. If you’ve ever wondered why we’re seeing so many refugees from the animation industry creating picture books, this may provide some of the answers.
- Over at the blog Views From the Tesseract, Stephanie Whelan has located a picture book so magnificent that it should be reprinted now now now. Imagine, if you will, a science fiction picture book starring an African-American girl . . . illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. Do you remember Blast Off?
Of course you don’t. No one does. Stephanie has the interiors on her site. And since the number of books that show African-American girls as astronauts are . . . um . . . okay, I’ve never seen one. Plus it’s gorgeous and fun. REPRINT REPRINT REPRINT!
- Speaking of girls in space, I’ve never so regretted that a section was cut from a classic book. But this missing section from A Wrinkle in Time practically makes me weep for its lack. I WISH it had been included. It’s so very horribly horribly timely.
- As you’ll recall, the new math award for children’s books was established. So how do you submit your own? Well, new submissions for 2015 (and looking back an additional five years) will begin to be received starting June 1st. So FYI, kiddos.
Know a librarian getting married? Or an editor? Or an author? Gently suggest to them these for their registry.
Thanks to Stephanie Whelan for the link.
When actress Lena Dunham started talking in the news about how she wanted to turn Catherine Called Birdy into a film, I was intrigued. And apparently she’s not a fly-by-night children’s book lover either. All her tattoos are children’s literature inspired. Hearing this I figured she’d have the usual suspects. Eloise, sure. And she does have some normal ones like Ferdinand the bull and Olivia. But then she starts talking about her Little Golden Book tat (for Pals). The kicker, however, is the Fair Weather by Richard Peck tattoo. I think I’m safe in saying that this may well be the only Fair Weather tattoo in the history of the world. Now she’s created a documentary on Hilary Knight called It’s Me, Hilary. Some additional info:
Thanks to Michael Patrick Hearn for the link.
And now a lovely little video in tribute of my workplace. I do love that main branch. It would be awfully nice if a video like this was made of each of the branches as well. We have 86+ but boy would it be cool.
The art of the book trailer, and I would call it an art, requires a certain level of absurdity. After all, we’re talking about a video medium celebrating a literary one (by extension, my Video Sunday series is a regular exercise in peculiarity). So when a trailer comes along that is purposefully absurd and sets the correct tone (music, voiceover, visuals, etc.) it is worth highlighting. Behold Night Circus by Etienne Delessert. It works, man. It works.
Night Circus from ZauberGuitarre on Vimeo.
Full credit to Travis Jonker for locating this next one. In case you missed it, it’s Dr. Seuss and how he created Green Eggs and Ham.
And while it’s not really off-topic, let’s just end with a cheery video of Lori Prince and I reacting to Yuyi Morales’ Pura Belpre win. This is pretty typical for both of us, I’d say.
Reacting to the ALA Youth Media Awards from School Library Journal on Vimeo.
Last August I had some fun highlighting The Creative Company’s series of short stories published as individual books. You know. The Monkey’s Paw. The Lottery. The Most Dangerous Game. That kind of stuff. While looking at their covers I couldn’t help but notice that quite a few were done by the artist Etienne Delessert. Delessert’s one of those creative types you see around and about but perhaps never get a firm grasp on. You may have seen the Seven Impossible Things post on Delessert in January of 2010. You may even have come across some of his better known books, like Moon Theater or The Big and Bad. But until now you’ve just had a vague sense of him. You know he’s cool, but what do you really know about the guy?
Well recently I discovered that the illustrious Eric Carle Museum (located in scenic and snowy Amherst, MA) is now hosting a one-of-a-kind Etienne Delessert exhibition. Yep. Tis true. Now part of what I love about this, aside from the obvious, is the fact that the exhibit was created in part with the help of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and was organized by the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature, Abilene, Texas. I’m a fan of any presentation that constitutes a worldwide effort. And here’s a challenge for you Americans out there: Name me all the Swiss-born authors or illustrators of children’s books you can. Tough, eh?
The exhibit is described in this way:
This retrospective of Delessert surveys his distinguished career that comprises more than eighty books collectively translated into fourteen languages. From his early collaboration with Eugene Ionesco to surreal and politically-charged interpretations of Big and Bad and Humpty Dumpty, Delessert intrigues his readers, young and old, with his imaginary creatures and landscapes.
Ionesco? Really? In that case I think this is the first time I’ve heard of the children’s literature/Ionesco connection. It’s funny which authors and playwrights choose to write for kids (in a perfect universe I’d love to see something like The Edward Albee Counting Book). And in case you didn’t believe me:
Not that the exhibit is the only Delessert thing to see at the museum. There will be showings of the man’s animation as well. Actually, you can get a taste of it yourself, if you like. Travel to his website and you’ll find a variety of different videos of Delessert pieces (much of it made for Swiss television). Some of it looks to me like nothing so much as Terry Gillian’s Monty Python animation if you classed it up and gave it some style. Observe:
Last August I had some fun highlighting The Creative Company’s series of short stories published as individual books. You know. The Monkey’s Paw. The Lottery. The Most Dangerous Game. That kind of stuff. While looking at their covers I couldn’t help but notice that quite a few were done by the artist Etienne Delessert. Delessert’s one of those creative types you see around and about but perhaps never get a firm grasp on. You may have seen the Seven Impossible Things post on Delessert in January of 2010. You may even have come across some of his better known books, like Moon Theater or The Big and Bad. But until now you’ve just had a vague sense of him. You know he’s cool, but what do you really know about the guy?
Well recently I discovered that the illustrious Eric Carle Museum (located in scenic and snowy Amherst, MA) is now hosting a one-of-a-kind Etienne Delessert exhibition. Yep. Tis true. Now part of what I love about this, aside from the obvious, is the fact that the exhibit was created in part with the help of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and was organized by the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature, Abilene, Texas. I’m a fan of any presentation that constitutes a worldwide effort. And here’s a challenge for you Americans out there: Name me all the Swiss-born authors or illustrators of children’s books you can. Tough, eh?
The exhibit is described in this way:
This retrospective of Delessert surveys his distinguished career that comprises more than eighty books collectively translated into fourteen languages. From his early collaboration with Eugene Ionesco to surreal and politically-charged interpretations of Big and Bad and Humpty Dumpty, Delessert intrigues his readers, young and old, with his imaginary creatures and landscapes.
Ionesco? Really? In that case I think this is the first time I’ve heard of the children’s literature/Ionesco connection. It’s funny which authors and playwrights choose to write for kids (in a perfect universe I’d love to see something like The Edward Albee Counting Book). And in case you didn’t believe me:
Not that the exhibit is the only Delessert thing to see at the museum. There will be showings of the man’s animation as well. Actually, you can get a taste of it yourself, if you like. Travel to his website and you’ll find a variety of different videos of Delessert pieces (much of it made for Swiss television). Some of it looks to me like nothing so much as Terry Gillian’s Monty Python animation if you classed it up and gave it some style. Observe:
If you ever need motivation to get yourself organized, watch an episode of "Hoarders." It will scare the procrastination right out of you! Over the summer I had my hardwood floors refinished and had to move everything out of the first floor of my house which included a piano. The furniture and piano was the easy part, as I hired professionals to transfer everything to my garage and back into my house several weeks later. The hard part was putting back all the clutter. Not real clutter, but when you have a clean slate to work with, it's hard to bring all the "stuff" back into your house. I kind of liked the minimalist look.
I got most of it done, but my bookcase that stores my collection of picture books and artist reference books was a big mental roadblock. Lots of work carting all the books back into the house. I told myself I'd go through them and donate the ones I didn't really want anymore. A rather large undertaking. I procrastinated for months, looking at the poor things stored in my garage in bags and boxes everyday. A big pile of stuff now cluttering up my garage. But my fear was that putting them back on the shelf was also going to look like a big messy eyesore.
My sister Sherri, who is an interior designer, wrote a creative post about bookshelves on her blog. She talked about arranging books by color which really inspired me. So in came all the books from the garage. I sorted and donated and put the books back on the shelf and arranged them by their colors. Much easier on the eye, and actually much easier to find books I'm looking for!
3 Comments on Step by Step, last added: 12/6/2010
Animation by Etienne Delessert:
Back when I paid close attention to illustration annuals, Etienne Delessert was a mainstay. I had no idea some of his work had been adapted for animation as well.
Be sure to explore the gallery section oh his site if you’re not familiar with his work.
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Diversity to me is about inclusion. Seeing the book creatives who really did diversity before the current movement is refreshing and educational. A diversity movement without any history is just marketing. Always happy to see the Dillons recognized as diversity trail blazers whether or not their books are in or out of print.
That list by Daniel Hahn gave me a strong dose of nostalgia — over the book Fattypuffs and Thinifers. I think it was my 4th grade teacher who read that to our class. Only I think I was absent some of the days and missed some crucial pieces of the plot…. have always wanted to read it again.
And I’m being consistent about the Award Committee I now really really want to be on….