A friend recently pointed me to this NPR link on colors and how our choices of crayon colors has increased exponentially in the last century.
Crayola options from 1903 to 2010. (Courtesy of Stephen Von Worley)
With these technological advances in color identification now enabling us to break down the spectrum of possible colors down to such discrete variations, I think it's time the children's book community caught up with the times and used Crayola's full compliment of colors. So look for new editions of your favorite childhood classics to be released in the spring. Now you and your children will be able to fully enjoy revitalized classics such as:
The Bittersweet Shimmer Balloon (A. LaMorisse)
No longer are you confined to the clumsy brushstrokes of an antiquated rainbow... finally, you can enjoy the surreal beauty of the full color spectrum in all it's bizarre glory!
Now where did I put my copy of Fuzzy Gargoyle Gas Ducklings?
By: Minh,
on 8/23/2009
Blog: Bottom Shelf Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Movies, Miscellaneous, Old School Classics, Add a tag
This controversial children's book classic is just begging to be adapted for the big screen... I can see it now:
Title: The Five Chinese Brothers
Tagline: If They Can’t Tell Us Apart, They Can’t Pick Us Out Of A Line-Up.
Plot: In this subversive action-adventure, five Asian-American friends, sick of people not being able to tell them apart, decide to use their anonymity to their advantage and plan the crime spree of a lifetime.
Director: Wai-keung LauProducer: Quentin Tarantino
Screenplay: Claire Huchet Bishop
Art Direction: Kurt Wiese
Note: In case you didn't recognize the poster, here is the original.
By: Minh,
on 4/15/2009
Blog: Bottom Shelf Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Judging a Book By Its Cover, Kids These Days, Old School Classics, Aalphabetical: P, Add a tag
Author: Robert Munsch
Illustrator: Michael Martchenko
The moral of The Paper Bag Princess is a welcome and subversive take on your standard fairy tale fare. A pretty princess loses her clothes and realizes in the end that she doesn't need all those pretty clothes to be a princess. She emerges stronger, more independent, and wielding a new vision of femininity that serves her well as she battles dragons, close-minded boyfriends, and the wedding industry.
Unfortunately, I think the message of this book may have been too subtle because the moral seems to have been lost on some of our modern day princesses. Whereas the original Paper Bag Princess shed her clothes in a bold act of defiance, bravely discarding the trappings and confines of traditional femininity, today's female royalty are shedding their clothes for an entirely different reason.
The phenomenon was thoroughly examined in Ariel Levy's Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture, and will be further explored in Almeta Grayson's new book Paper Bag Princess, which profiles the disturbing trend of sexual exploitation as a route to fame. (exhibit A: Paris Hilton; exhibit B: Kim Kardashian).
From Publishers Weekly: "These sobering portraits force the reader to question a society that not only encourages this brand of sexploitation, but rewards it with prime time TV deals and endless magazine covers. A well-balanced but jarring social critique, Paper Bag Princess will change the way you watch TV... and how you see the world."
Note: This started out as a standard satirical post, but I have to admit that I am legitimately disturbed by this. Maybe it's because I'm getting to the age where the idea of fatherhood is not just a distant and abstract concept, but I consistently find myself flipping through the TV saying to myself (or my wife), "Our children will not watch TV. We are moving to a remote cabin in the woods where E! cannot find us." Call me a prude, but the idea of raising a daughter in a world where sex tapes are a legitimate path to stardom scares the sh!t out of me.
A Lighter Note: For a more thorough discussion of the actual Paper Bag Princess, see Fuse #8's profile of the book, which came in at #70 in her Top 100 Picture Books List.
By: Julie Fortenberry,
on 7/29/2007
Blog: Children's Illustration (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: D. D. Ryan, Hilary Knight, Eloise, Kay Thompson, Add a tag
D. D. Ryan, Fashionable Godmother to ‘Eloise,’ Dies at 79
I don't know much about cayons and color but the cover of 'The Bittersweet Shimmer Balloon' has me entranced.
Maureen. www.thepizzagang.com
Thank you! I just spend some happy minutes at wikipedia, reading the crayon colors and wondering at the stories behind them...
I do not ever think I want the shampoo crayon.
I love the colors in Eric Carles books. Check out all the shades of green in the Hungry Caterpillar!
http://www.amazon.com/Very-Hungry-Caterpillar-board-book/dp/0399247459/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1264701995&sr=1-1-spell
1) I was always scared of the red balloon growing up... but the Bittersweet Shimmer Balloon... if i were emotionally complex enough to feel melancholy at that age, that's probably what i could have felt. And is it just me or does Bittersweet Shimmer Balloon sound perfectly French?
2) I actually shampoo with a crayon right now to get to all the hard to reach places.
3) Effie, don't you mean "check out all the shades of alien armpit?"
Alien Armpit is precisely the right shade of "green" for Dr. Seuss! Good looking out.
After heading over to Wikipedia to ensure that Alien Armpit is a for-real color name I wonder what exactly a Dingy Dungeon smells like--not to mention Sasquatch Socks. How has Crayola managed to catch and extract sock scents for one of the most elusive "mythological" creatures of all time?!