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Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, Everyone!

There's nothing like Friday, is there?  Especially before a long weekend :)

And Perfect Picture Books just make Fridays even better - tons of great new reading material for your weekend, be it regular or long :)

This was one of those odd weeks when my pile of picture books failed to wow me.  I read book after book thinking, "meh" - not what you want in a perfect picture book!  I'm always a little depressed when this happens.  I wonder if I'm missing something, since clearly a whole team of people thought these books were great enough to publish.  But whatever the reason, there was no perfect picture book in this week's collection, so instead of one of the newer titles from my pile of meh, I went with an older title from my bookshelf (signed to my daughter by Michael Garland :)) a book I have loved for years.  I hope you'll enjoy it!

Title: Leah's Pony
Written By: Elizabeth Friedrich
Illustrated By: Michael Garland
Boyds Mills Press, February 1996, Fiction (historical)

Suitable For Ages: 6-9

Themes/Topics: historical fiction (1930s Dust Bowl), family, love, sacrifice

Opening:  "The year the corn grew tall and straight, Leah's papa bought her a pony.  The pony was strong and swift and sturdy, with just a snip of white at the end of his soft black nose.  Papa taught Leah to place her new saddle right in the middle of his back and tighten the girth around his belly, just so."

Brief Synopsis: Leah's pony was swift and strong.  She loved him dearly, and together they raced across the fields under summer skies.  But then came a year when the corn didn't grow, locusts blackened the sky, and the earth turned to dust, the beginning of the great drought (the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.)  Leah's family is faced with losing their farm and their livelihood.  It takes Leah's strength and courage to save them.

Links To Resources: Facts about the Dust Bowl with links to further resources; Lesson Plan for the Dust Bowl (aimed at 5th grade but can be altered); Dust Bowl info and lesson plans for grades 2-5; Photo Gallery - The Dust Bowl; Dust Bowl Facts & Summary

Why I Like This Book:  This is historical fiction at its best, bringing a slice of history to life in a way that is not only accessible but irresistible for young readers.  The story is simply told with all the right details, and so emotionally compelling I dare anyone not to get choked up at the end!  Michael Garland's art is absolutely stunning and a perfect fit for the story.  With slightly longer text as well as the historical context, this is a wonderful choice for older picture book readers.

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

PPBF bloggers please be sure to leave your post-specific link in the list below so we can all come visit you!

Have a wonderful long weekend, everyone, and Happy Columbus Day!  I'm hoping to post the guidelines for the Halloweensie Contest...soon-ish...so stay tuned!!!

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Fasten your seat belts and prepare for take off!  It's finally here!

the fact that this particular illustrator resembles a female is in no way meant to deter any male illustrators! :)

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Whoopeee!  Yahooo!

I'm excited!

Can you tell I'm excited?

It's because I'm about to launch a new hare-brained scheme and you guys are all going to get to be part of it!

(And no, just because it's April 1st and we just had a contest, this is NOT an April Fool.  I just couldn't add this to yesterday's Winner Celebration Post or tomorrow's WYRI!)

I've been thinking for a while that children's authors get all the fun.  Contests and prizes and being able to claim top finishes in Pretty Much World Famous Writing Contests. . .

It isn't entirely fair.

In the world of picture books, authors are only half the story.

We couldn't do what we do without our illustrators!

I think it's high time to let the illustrators have some fun and a contest and prizes and be able to claim top finishes in a Pretty Much World Famous Illustration Contest!

So that's what we're going to do!

Are you ready?

Announcing

the fact that this particular illustrator resembles a female is in no way meant to deter any male illustrators! :)

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by Michael Garland

Thank you Tara, for inviting me to participate in PiBoldMo.

Picture book ideas…I never seem to have a problem coming up with ideas for picture books. The problem is finding a home for even some of them, in an ever-contracting marketplace. I don’t really expect to find a place for everything I write. I have folders upon folders stuffed with picture book concepts in varying forms of completion, from a title only, to a brief outline, to complete texts, to fully sketched out dummies.

When it comes to developing a concept, I always go with my heart instead of my head. By that I mean, I rarely try and calculate what the marketplace is looking for at the moment, I just begin by developing a concept for a book that I would love to illustrate and love to read if I were a child.

My mind is flooded with ideas for stories. However, I know not all of them are worthy of further consideration. Real creativity comes from keeping an open mind. Perhaps I should, but I never say “Oh no, they won’t like that.” After the first spark of inspiration, I write down in a brief outline of my new story concept. Sometimes, that’s as far as that idea ever gets. Other times the story just flows out in a rough first draft, beginning, middle and end in thirty-two pages. More often than not, the first concept is like a seed that gets planted and slowly grows. I use this metaphor in my school author visits and lectures to aspiring professionals when I’m asked, ”Where do get your ideas?”

Disappointment is part of the publishing game. I’m fortunate to have written thirty published picture books, but for every one that makes it to the bookstore, there are more than a few others imprisoned in those reject folders forever. I try and analyze my rejection letters for clues to my proposal’s shortcomings. I listen carefully to the advice, but in the end I still believe most of them would have made good books. I never take one editor’s rejection as the final word. A number of my books were published after being previously rejected. Editors and publishers are guided by their own experience. If they were all-knowing, every one of their books would be a best seller. In today’s world of publishing, a committee made up of the publisher, sales people, editors, art directors and even interns manages the proposal acceptance process. This “don’t rock the boat” climate makes an offbeat, more creative concept, harder to sell; it’s easier to publish sequels than a new idea. Yes, I’m guilty as charged.

Back to where my ideas come from. They come from anywhere and everywhere. I try not to have a severe critical filter initially, but a good idea will reoccur to me until I feel compelled to write it down.

I have two new picture books coming out next year: TUGBOAT from Holiday House and WHERE’S MY HOMEWORK? from Scholastic. The idea for TUGBOAT struck me like a thunderbolt while I was driving north along Manhattan’s FDR drive. It was late in the afternoon and a tugboat was chugging south. I felt like I could reach out of the car touch the bright red vessel as it sailed south, bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun. I realized how much I had loved tugboats since the days of my childhood growing up in Manhattan and Staten Island. The story became a reality-based book about all the different jobs a tugboat can do around New York Harbor. It should fit the “Core Curriculum”, but best of all, the pictures are illustrations that I loved creating.

The other new book came about in a different way. Two years ago I was invited by two local colleges (Marist and Mount Saint Mary) to teach graphic design. I enjoy teaching, but not every student is as dedicated as I was in art school. I give pretty easy homework assignments, but there are always a number of students who contrive inventive reasons why they were unable to complete their given tasks. I started mentally filing their lame excuses in the “The Dog Ate My Homework” draw. The title continued to rattle around in my head until I came up with a story where the dog really does eat a little boy’s homework. The pressure builds because he has to leave for school. He begins to speculate in a series of outlandish fantasies about what really happened to his homework. He never suspects the dog that is present in every illustration, until the very end, when he discovers his beloved pet gobbling up the last bit of his homework. There’s more to the story, but when I had a coherent beginning, middle and end plot in a sketch dummy, I sent it off to my editor at Scholastic. He loved it, but suggested we think of a new title “The Dog Ate My Homework” gives away the surprise ending. He was right, of course, so I came up with “Where’s My Homework?”

A bizarre postscript to this story: my students are supposed to archive their assignments on flash-drives. At the mid-term, one student handed me a dysfunctional flash drive covered in dog teeth marks, explaining that her work on the drive was lost, because the dog ate her homework (I’m paraphrasing).

After so many picture books, a new challenge has inspired me. I am currently writing my first YA novel. I’m about three quarters done and happily enjoying the process.

Open your mind to inspiration and it will come.

Award-winning author and illustrator Michael Garland has been out on the New York Times Best Seller list four times.

Michael Garland’s greatest success has been for writing and illustrating children’s picture books. Garland’s Miss Smith’s Incredible Storybook recently won the California and Delaware State Reading Awards. He is currently working on his thirtieth book as author and illustrator.

Michael Garland has illustrated for celebrity authors like James Patterson and Gloria Estefan. His illustrations for Patterson’s SantaKid were the inspiration for Sak’s Fifth’s Avenue’s Christmas holiday window display in New York City. Garland’s Christmas Magic has become a season classic and is currently being developed for a for a TV special.

His work has won many honors and is frequently included in the Society of Illustrators and the Original Art of Children’s book show as well annuals from Print, Graphis and Communications Arts magazines. Recently, Michael Garland was included on the list of the top one hundred Irish Americans by Irish American Magazine.

Michael Garland is frequently asked to speak at schools, literary conferences and festivals across the country.

Visit him at GarlandPictureBooks.com.

Michael is generously giving away signed copies of his MISS SMITH books.

These prizes will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You are eligible for these prizes if:

1. You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
2. You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
3. You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge. (You will have to sign the PiBoIdMo Pledge at the end of the event.)

Good luck, everyone!

 

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