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Loren Long’s Little Tree gave me a great idea for a “two fer” for young readers; back to back readings of two “tree” themed books.
The first is Hans Christian Andersen’s classic, called TheFir Tree, and the second, is Loren Long’s Little Tree.
Both are stories with a surface tale to tell, but with deeper meanings both you and your young reader may want to talk over, or they may simply intuit on their own.
Trees have always appeared to me as symbols of strength, growth and adaptability to change. They go with the flow, so to speak. Most change with the seasons and take what comes…gently.
These two authors appear to depict opposite ways of a tree looking at adaptability to change. And there are truly wonderful lessons to be learned in both books!
In TheFir Tree, readers meet a small fir tree in a fresh forest awash with stately firs, towering tall over him. He can’t wait to be as they are. But their fate, and use, is to be chopped down and carted off to be the masts of tall ships.
The sun and wind admonish him to rejoice in his youth, his fresh growth and in the young life in him. Does the tree listen? Nope! He wants more… the next big thing. Perhaps, Mr. Andersen was keying in to the impatience of youth? Can’t you hear those voices?
I’ll be happy when… I can stay up late…have a two wheeler…have a sleepover… go to the mall or the movies alone… drive a car… go to high school… go to college… live on my own!
Sound familiar, parents? Well, some maybe not quite yet.
Yet, a passing bird tells the fir tree of a glorious future awaiting decorated trees in a households that he has seen.
The tale unfolds of the fir tree experiencing being felled as a Christmas tree, the excitement and moment of splendor on Christmas Eve as candles glow on his branches, and later he is pillaged of the gifts that fill his branches.
He sadly thinks there are more moments such as these to come, as he ponders his future, and unceremoniously stuffed in a garret.
Yet even here, he is hopeful entertaining the passing parades of mice and rats that listen to his retelling of the tale of Humpty Dumpty, he first heard on Christmas Eve.
What’s next? That seems to be his constant topic of conversation, and sadly the reader knows what’s next for all Christmas trees past their expiration dates!
Savor the moment seems to be the message here; revel in it, bathe in its beauty, and do not wish it too soon gone. For it will never come again. How do we teach our children to embrace and value the now? Just maybe with books such as these!
These are pretty sobering thoughts for a picture book, no? But then, the truly great authors both entertain and enlighten.
Loren Long’s Little Tree takes an entirely different tack:
“Life is perfect just the way it is.”
He loves those leaves that cool him in the summer’s heat, and as the autumn winds ruffle his leaves, and those of the towering trees in the forest that surround him, he will not let go of his browned and dried up leaves.
The other trees surrender effortlessly to the harsher winds of the coming winter that strip the leaves bare. But not Little Tree.
Then one by one, the trees began to
drop their leaves. But not Little Tree.
He just hugged his leaves tighter.
A squirrel, passing doe and red fox query Little Tree as to “What are you doing with your leaves still on you?” His answer is a tighter grip on what he knows. And the pattern continues as the seasons come and go.
All around him, trees of his original height are now burgeoning with new altitudes and lofty with leaves. But not Little Tree. He is safe and …stuck where is in his comfort zone, clinging tighter as successive season pass.
At last, one winter, with snow falling in buckets, he looks at the trees, bare limbed that were once his size, now dwarfing him. And he gets it and lets go of his leaves.
Loren Long has written a simple parable about a number of things, and perhaps among them are:
Let nature take its course. She’s a great teacher.
Don’t be afraid of the unknown.
Too much stubbornness stunts growth.
It takes courage to let go of what
we know.. to find what we need.
Time, acceptance and love can be the great healers and facilitators of growth in us as well.
Even though Little Tree feels the harshness of winter minus his leaves, over time
…something happened.
And hopefully, that something will resonate through the growth cycles of young readers in your own life, as it does wonderfully in the life lessons taught by Loren Long’s Little Tree and The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen.
Growing, whether in child or tree, is a journey and a gift. Sometimes we want to stay where we are because it’s safe.
Children need to sense and savor that fully as it fills them with security, to be sure. And maybe it even works for us for a time.
But, we will never know how far we can journey, if we stay where we are.
The colder months in the Northern Hemisphere are upon us and it's reflected in this list of best selling picture books. As per usual, we've shared our hand selected titles of the most popular picture books.
What do we expect from our friends? It can lead to the question of what exactly IS friendship? It certainly does seem to involve expectations on both sides, right? But what if a small red and cream tractor could model to kids that it doesn’t ALWAYS have to be like that? It’s easy to be nice to those that are NICE to us and who reciprocate in kind, our friendship overtures. That’s pretty much a given. But what about when they do NOT?
In Loren Long’s newest adventure of the beloved tractor named Otis in “Otis and the Scarecrow”, Otis models to readers that sometimes it’s enough to just BE with someone, that the kindness shown by a person’s mere presence is a gift of friendship in and of itself.
The familiar farm scene is here where the friendly red and cream tractor resides and it’s dressed for fall. Cornfields are filled with crows; despite the appearance of a lonely stern faced scarecrow that stands in solitary silence in the middle of the wind blown field. Overtures of friendship are made to the newcomer by former “newbies ” to the farm such as a puppy and small calf. They too, were once the “new kid on the farm.”
And in turn, the friendly tractor named Otis went out of HIS way to make THEM feel welcome – for one on a dark and stormy night, he tractored to the rescue and for the other, caught in the middle of a Mud Pond, he brought the calf to safety.
But what do you do with a non responsive type lIke the scarecrow whose job and reason to be is to stand silently ALONE in a cornfield? First, Otis models to others what it’s like to just BE with someone in companionable SILENCE. Hmmm. Sounds easy. But here we enter quite a long learning curve for some of the farm inhabitants, especially the puppy, bull, calf, ducks, horse – well you get the picture. It’s downright HARD to be quiet as any child can tell you, yet Otis makes even THIS into a GAME.
In a very serenely sweet scene amid a downpour of a deluge, Otis MODELS what it is to BE there for someone, when they are unable to respond as we wish. He departs from the group huddled under an apple tree and engages quietly and kindly with the scarecrow – on the scarecrow’s terms. He STANDS UP while the others hunker down. Kids will get this quietly noble action of the small tractor named Otis.
And maybe, just maybe, THEY might emulate their OWN version of his soft “putt puff puttedy chuff shhhhhh” attempt at friendship with someone THEY may know!
Smiling faces gazing up at you when you’re lonely are pretty hard to resist – and so is “Otis and the Scarecrow.”
This scarecrow is welcome at our farm anytime – and so is OTIS!!
So last week I shared a bit about my experience at ALA. Here is the rest of the dirt. This time no pictures of me (possibly), just fawning over famous-er and hugely (brilliantly) talented people (and therefore this post will get lots of hits).
Seriously.
It was like Wonderland (or WondLa- land, but I didn't get to see Tony DiTerlizzi). A famous face at every turn. Fun to say hi, to have a chance conversation, to meet a hero and be inspired. Here are some inspiring moments and inspiring people ...
The charming, enchanting and legendary Ashley Bryan, signing his book 'Word's to My Life's Song'.
If you haven't read it yet, GO get it.
And then I got to sign my book for Ashley when he dropped by Charlesbridge Booth! A-MAZ-ING.
A hug from Mr. Bryan can keep you warm and inspired a long time, let me tell you.
Here is the wonderful David Small. I love David's work .. his loose and yet controlled line work is so awesome. He's signing 'One Cool Friend' by Toni Buzzeo of MAINE. So I had to get a copy ....
LUUURRRRVVV this drawing he did!!!
4 Comments on What happened at ALA Anaheim 2012 - Part deux, last added: 7/10/2012
Love, love, love this post. The next best thing to going to an event like this is pictures from someone who was tickled to be there. Thanks for putting faces to some of the names I've heard of for so long.
And yes, to have a character come to life and walk around a show is an admirable goal. Make it happen.
The National Education Association (NEA) has teamed up with the NEA Foundation to host “The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse Charity Auction.”
The proceeds derived from the Internet auction will benefit the NEA Foundation’s “Art Inspires Learning, Learning Inspires Art” initiative. This project funds arts education grants for teachers. Follow this link to check out the artwork.
Here’s more from the release: “This initiative was inspired by Eric Carle‘s picture book The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse, which celebrates imagination and artistic freedom. Each donated piece of art will feature that artist’s interpretation of a horse and celebrates imagination and the many and varied ways that each artist sees the world around him/her. The auction will include three waves of art: Group 1 will take place October 17th-27th. Group 2 will take place October 31st-November 10th. Group 3 will take place November 14th-24th.”
This is amazing good news. Great news, in fact. I’m happy and proud to say that my book, Bystander, is included on the ballot for the 2012 New York State Reading Association Charlotte Award.
The voting is broken down into four categories and includes forty books. Bystander is in the “Grades 6-8/Middle School” category. Really, it’s staggering. There are ten books in this category out of literally an infinity of titles published each year. You do the math, people.
For more background stories on Bystander — that cool inside info you can only find on the interwebs! — please click here (bully memory) and here (my brother John) and here (Nixon’s dog, Checkers) and here (the tyranny of silence).
Below please find all the books on the ballot — congratulations, authors & illustrators! I’m honored to be in your company.
-
GRADES pre K-2/PRIMARY
Bubble Trouble . . . Margaret Mahy/Polly Dunbar
City Dog, Country Frog . . . Mo Willems/Jon J Muth
Clever Jack Takes the Cake . . . Candace Fleming/G. Brian Karas
May 2-8, 2011, is Children’s Book Week. Each year, during this week, The Children’s Book Council hosts the Children’s Choice Book Awards. These are the best awards because the children are given a voice! I highly recommend checking out the thirty books that have been nominated for the six categories: k-2nd, 3rd-4th, 5th-6th, Teens, and author of the year. Then, along with your kids or classroom, go and vote for their favorite(s)—you have until April 29. The winners will be announced on May 2 at the Children’s Choice Book Awards Gala.
This year’s Children’s Choice Book Award finalists are as follows:
Kindergarten to Second Grade Book of the Year
Shark vs. Train
by Chris Barton (Author), Tom Lichtenheld (Illustrator)
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; 1 edition (April 1, 2010)
Publisher’s synopsis:Shark VS. Train! WHO WILL WIN?!
If you think Superman vs. Batman would be an exciting matchup, wait until you see Shark vs. Train. In this hilarious and wacky picture book, Shark and Train egg each other on for one competition after another, including burping, bowling, Ping Pong, piano playing, pie eating, and many more! Who do YOU think will win, Shark or Train?
Publisher’s synopsis: Learn to read with this New York Times-bestselling picture book, starring an irresistible dog named Rocket and his teacher, a little yellow bird. Follow along as Rocket masters the alphabet, sounds out words, and finally . . . learns to read all on his own!
The 2011 finalists for the Children’s Choice Book Awards have been revealed. Kids can vote from March 14th to April 29th, and the winners will be announced live at the Children’s Choice Book Awards gala in May. Individual title nominees have been divided into four groups classified by different school grades.
In the Author of the Year category, teen fiction writers dominate. The nominees include Suzanne Collins for Mockingjay, Stephenie Meyer for The Second Short Life of Bree Tanner, Rick Riordan for The Lost Hero, Jeff Kinney for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth, and Cassandra Clare for Clockwork Angel.
Children of all grades are encouraged to vote for the Illustrator of the Year award. Those nominated for in this category include Loren Long for President Barack Obama‘s Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters, David Wiesner for Art & Max, Mo Willems for Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion, Robin Preiss Glasser for Fancy Nancy and the Fabulous Fashion Boutique, and Nancy Tillman for Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You. Who do you want to win?
Barack Obama is the forty-fourth president of the United States. Born in Hawaii to a mother from Kansas and a father from Kenya, he himself is now the father of two daughters, Malia and Sasha. It was spending time with them that inspired him to write Of Thee I Sing. After Barack Obama became president, he and his wife, Michelle, and their daughters moved into the White House in Washington, DC, where they currently live with their dog, Bo.
About the illustrator:
Loren Long is the bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator of many beloved books for children, including Drummer Boy and the New York Times bestseller Otis. Born in Missouri and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, he is also the illustrator of Watty Piper’s The Little Engine That Could, as well as Toy Boat, I Dream of Trains, and Wind Flyers. He lives in Ohio with his wife, Tracy, their two sons, Griffith and Graham, and their dogs, Elle and Moon.
About the book:
In this tender, beautiful letter to his daughters, President Barack Obama has written a moving tribute to thirteen groundbreaking Americans and the ideals that have shaped our nation. From the artistry of Georgia O’Keeffe, to the courage of Jackie Robinson, to the patriotism of George Washington, President Obama sees the traits of these heroes within his own children, and within all of America’s children. This book was written before Barack Obama become President. All proceeds from the book’s sales go to a scholarship fund for military children with a parent who was killed or disabled.
President Obama’s attorney, Robert B. Barnett, handled the negotiations for the manuscript back in 2009. Knopf executive editor Michelle Frey edited the book. Children’s book artist Loren Long provided the illustrations.
Loren Long (a fellow Cincinnatian and amazing illustrator) is the #1 NY Times best-selling authors of WATTY PIPER'S THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD and Madonna's MR. PEABODY'S APPLES. Other titles that he's illustrated include Angela's Johnson's I DREAM OF TRAINS, Randall de Seve's TOY BOAT, and OTIS which he wrote and illustrated. He is also part of the illustration team for Jon Scieszka's TRUCKTOWN series.
What we learned about Loren as he spoke:
He's won 4 Golden Kite Awards
He acquired a large contusion on his bottom playing paintball in a TRUCKTWON jumpsuit
He learned that illlustrators must take text and own it, make it their own
The get into a project, his goal is one sketch on one day, then onto the next (how do you eat and elephant--one bite at a time)
Some facts about Loren:
He uses acrylic paint, paiting thin with washes, building it up in layers.
He used guache for his most recent book OTIS.
It takes him 2 to 3 months to make th sketches for a book and to 6 months on the final art.
He does 2 books a year, but it takes him a year and a half
0 Comments on KEYNOTE: Loren Long: The Picture Book--My Two Cents Worth as of 1/1/1900
Should You Be on Facebook? Is Tweeting Really Necessary? Talking Online Presence with Loren Long...
I took Monday and Tuesday off work this week for no other reason than to use up some PTO (that expires at the end of the year). One of my Monday activities way having lunch with illustrator Loren Long and his wife Tracy. (Loren also lives and works here in the Nati.)
During lunch at the cafe at Joseph-Beth Booksellers (because I thought it appropriate and because they have great vegetarian chili), Loren, Tracy and I talked a lot about online presence. Loren has a website but has not ventured much beyond that. Does an author with more than a dozen fabulous books under his belt--who works with publishers like Philomel and Simon & Schuster, who is on the Jon Scieska's Trucktown team--need to be blogging? Be on Facebook? Twitter? It couldn't hurt.
It's no secret that authors/illustrators have a big responsibility in their own promotion. The more you're out there, the more connections you make, the more friends you have, the more conversations you get into, the better. Networking should start before you get published (see Christina Katz's Get Known Before the Book Deal)and keep rolling along once you have a book or two or ten out in the world.
That doesn't mean you have to use every social network avenue available. Twitter is not everyone's cup of tea. And heaven help us if everyone had a blog. But if you've got a blog's worth of things to say that would be interesting/useful/informative/inspiring then go for it. If you enjoy being part of the conversation and can fit it into your schedule, tweet away. But if these things aren't you, if they'd be drudgery, move along. But at least try things out to see what fits--you might really enjoy participating in the conversation. (And sometimes that conversation will be about your work.)
Speaking of work, here are a few of my favorite Loren Long covers. So so beautiful. (And now I'm off to hang up my autographed Otis poster.)
The series weaves baseball history, American history and fantasy into the story of the three Payne kids, Griffith, Ruby, and Graham, who are trying to understand the magic in a special baseball that belonged to their father. Along with the Travelin' Nine baseball team, they travel from city to city, around the country to earn money to pay off the Payne family's debt. When the games begin, strange things start to happen.
Loren Long's characters bend, twist, stretch, and arch. To me, his style evokes the New Deal/WPA art of the 1930s /40s. The pictures anchor the series with a strong sense of Americana and history.
The PubMed Central (PMC)National Advisory Committee was established by the National Institutes of Health in 1999 to guide the development of a new, open-access digital repository of biomedical research reports. Headquartered at the National Library of Medicine’s National Center for Biotechnology Information, PMC has achieved significant technical accomplishments, including a recommended publisher document type definition for digital archiving, but little interest in the use of the new digital archive has been shown by the medical publishing community. This article chronicles the evolution of the initial concept from digital publisher to digital archive and includes issues related to technology and the culture of scientific communication.
The PubMed Central (PMC) National Advisory Committee was established by the National Institutes of Health in 1999 to guide the development of a new, open-access digital repository of biomedical research reports. Headquartered at the National Library of Medicine’s National Center...
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I have been trying to get in the habit of posting a digital painting or writing tip each week. But what is that saying about the road to hell….something about it paved with good intentions? Every week might just be a little too ambitious with my schedule.
So here is the tip for this week…
Many of you have probably already upgraded to the newPainter XAnd if you have not then here is one of my favorite new features. It is called the Divine Proportion tool.
Divine proportion in art is sometimes referred to as the Golden Proportion, Golden Number or if you are a real geek, the Fibonacci Series. The golden number is basically 1.6180339887 otherwise known as phi. Inside of the big rectangle is another rectangle that has an exact ratio of 1:1.618. Inside of that rectangle is another rectangle with a perfect ratio of 1:1.618. Probably the most famous example of The Golden Ratio used in art is Leonardo's Mona Lisa The Golden Ratio can be found in Mona Lisa’s enigmatic face. Shown here:
I have always been fascinated with the idea of Math in art and always try to be aware of planning a composition so that that main action does not fall into a dead zone. The example above is the art I created for the 2007 SCBWI Publication Guide. (available to members at www.scbwi.org) Because this art was created to fit into a small space, I am going to use the divine proportion tool from edge to edge.
Here are the steps:
Step 1: Go to Window/Show Divine Proportion. The tool’s interface with look like this:
Step 2: Check the box for “Enable Divine Proportion” at the very top.
Step 3: You can now alter your Divine Proportion tool to match your composition. In this example, I selected a vertical orientation for my divine proportion because I want the eye to be carried up the stairs but the focus to be on the little girl’s expression. (In my original sketch she did not fall in this location so I moved her.
Here is an example with the image screened back so you can better see it:
You can also change the rotation and the scale of the divine proportion by tinkering with the controls below the orientation. In most cases, you will not want your divine proportion to go from edge to edge. This image is postcard size and there is not a lot of empty space so the viewer takes the whole thing in at once. In a larger painting this will not be the case.
So of course, I started to wonder if other artists use Divine Proportion in their art. Here is an illustration from the super talented Loren Long and a good example of when you would move the Divine proportion tool. In this painting the viewer would not take in the dark space in the back. It is intentional dead space – sort of like an area for the viewer to rest before they take in the main action. In music, we would call it the build up. So if you move the Divine Proportion tool to encompass only the man then you will see that it falls perfectly into a golden ration.
You move the Divine Proportion tool by selecting it in your main tool bar. It looks like this: When you move your cursor over your painting, your cursor will turn into a hand so you can position your Divine Proportion guides manually.
In Loren's painting, the first main rectangle encompasses the sweeping motion. The second rectangle encompasses the perfect hand to elbow to face ratio, and then the smaller rectangles encompass the concentrated look on the man’s face.
The composition is perfectly planed. Now let’s take a moment to hate him, but I suspect that Loren is not conscientiously aware of the math behind his art. Most artists do this naturally. For the rest of us….there’s the Divine Proportion tool. Loren has a New Book out now that is stunning as always.
But if all of this makes your head hurt then there is also the good old rule of thirds to go by. In the box below the Divine Proportion tool there is an option to turn on a layout grid. The layout grid will at least tell you if your main action is falling into the thirds of your painting. You can find this option here:
If you would like to learn more about how Math works in art then I recommend Rhythmic Form in Art by Irma A. Richter
I hope this tips help. If anyone is interested in how to do the same steps in Photoshop (not quite as easy) then please comment below and I will make that next week’s tutorial.
0 Comments on Ballyhoo Tip of the week….ok maybe for the next few weeks as of 1/1/1900
karen lee said, on 6/2/2007 10:50:00 AM
Carlyn, your piece is simply divine and the tutorial is facinating. Thanks, I'll be looking for the divine in everything from now on.
Karen
Kathy Weller said, on 7/8/2007 3:45:00 PM
Hi Carlyn, Thanks for this tip! I have to say that I still ave not quite wrapped my head around the Divine Proportion tool, but this post goes a long way towards helping me to do that.
I am now working with Painter X and figuring out how it all works. It was cool to hear how you work on one piece in both Painter X and PS. I am trying to figure out a workflow for myself which utilizes both - - or, if it even makes sense for me to integrate PS at all. Only time will tell!
The National Education Association (NEA) has teamed up with the NEA Foundation to host “The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse Charity Auction.”
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You write as fun as you draw. Judy Wirzberger
Thanks Judy! Praise indeed.
Love, love, love this post. The next best thing to going to an event like this is pictures from someone who was tickled to be there. Thanks for putting faces to some of the names I've heard of for so long.
And yes, to have a character come to life and walk around a show is an admirable goal. Make it happen.
Wendy
Thanks thanks thanks! It's great when you can share ... hope you get to go too!