Dreams of Freedom: In Words and Pictures
edited by Janetta Otter-Barry, designed by Judith Escreet, with a Foreword by Michael Morpurgo
(Amnesty International/Frances Lincoln, 2015)

All royalties donated to Amnesty … Continue reading ... →

Add a Comment

Welcome to our third week of our Bookjumper Summer Reading Series! This is my way of inspiring parents who are looking for creative ways to keep their kids reading this summer!

Our summer reading program will be a combination of some really neat things. All of our protagonists are girls or women and most of our showcased authors are women as well. I will be offering up a combination of themed weeks, great novels, booklist giveaways, and blog post recaps so be sure and stop by to discover more wonderful ways have A Book-jumper Summer while Exploring Our World and Beyond!

This week I want to focus on the wonderful works of one of our favorite authors, Pam Munoz Ryan.

I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to share The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan with you. The Dreamer is an invitation into the imaginative world of Pablo Neruda. Pablo Neruda is one of my favorite poets !! The Dreamer has allowed me to share my love of this poet with my children as we wander through his world and life in Chile.

It is a tale of day-dreaming, gathering those little items which catch our eye, while guarding and savoring them into a collection of our childhood. Pam Munoz Ryan does an incredible job of weaving facts into an incredible story of magic, nostalgia, and intrigue. Pablo Neruda’s real name was Neftali Reyes. He had a very stern and unbearable father. Protecting him were his step-mother, uncle, and sister. Along with everyday situations in his household and school, we are invited on a wandering journeys to the rainforest where Neftali’s imagination is taken away by all of the fauna, insects, and animals which live in the forest.

 

Another trip takes us to the ocean where Neftali meets a librarian who gives him his hide-out for the summer. This turns into a spectacular adventure with his sister of trying to save a swan. Later Neftali learns of the movement to kick indigenous people out of their homeland from his uncle. As he grows, he takes up the cause to protect them. Making sure that he doesn’t seek the wrath of his father, he uses a pseudonym. His new last name Neruda was derived from a poet from Czechoslovakia.

One of the elements that makes this book such a treasure to read and hold are the simple but powerful illustrations of Peter Sis. His contributions to this magical story gives us a look into the world of a poet through the heart and eyes.

Equally as interesting is Pam Munoz Ryan’s telling of what inspired her to write this story. Also in the back are several beautifully selected poems of Pablo Neruda’s. This book is a poetic magical tale that is sure to inspire all of us to look at those simple things around us with the eye of a poet. Life is for living and experiencing and this book is an invitation to do just this.

Something To Do

A Word Box

In the story The Dreamer, Neftali Reyes loves to collect things. One of his most beloved collections are his words. Writing them on a piece of paper, folding it gently , and then placing it in his drawer; Neftali can return anytime he wants to and remember the words that caught his imagination. Let’s remember our friend Neftali by making a word box.

Supplies:

• One unfinished wood or paper mache box found in a craft store.
• Scrapbooking word stickers
• Mod Podge matt finish
• Brush
• Paper

Instructions:

1. Taking your wooden box and the word stickers, put words all over your box in a design of your choosing.
2. Once you’ve finished sticking your words on the box, brush Mod-Podge all over the words and let it dry.
3. You can use any kind of paper. We like to use paper with pretty colors on one side but white paper works just fine. Cut little pieces of paper that fit into your box. Start writing your favorite words down and saving them in your word box.

Beautiful Spanish Words

The Dreamer uses a beautiful mix of English and Spanish. I liked the way the Spanish was woven throughout the story without it being distracting. Each Spanish word followed with its English meaning. By using the Spanish language in this way, it brought the essence of Chile into the story.

Here’s a Spanish lexicon from The Dreamer. Be sure to write these words on colorful cards and put them into your word box.

• Adios:: Good-bye
• el viento:: the wind
• Porfa :: Please
• buena suerte:: good luck
• mapuche:: indigenous people in Aranucania
• Bravo:: Good Job
• la empanadas y el bistec:: Potato turnovers and steak
• Aqui Estoy:: I am here.
• El pan amasado:: Home made bread
• futbol:: soccer
• Amigo:: friend
• un escondite:: a hideout
• una chismosa:: a tattletale
• Amor:: Love

Poetry Explorations

In The Dreamer author Pam Munoz Ryan poses many questions to get us thinking in words. Let’s look at those questions and write a short poem about the Wind. Remember when Neftali’s hat and gloves gotten blown away by the wind. What do these questions inspire in you ?

1. What does the wind give ?
2. What does the wind take away?
3. Where is the storehouse of lost and found ?

Let’s experience Time through words. By answering the following questions you can experience time in a new way. Write a little poem about time.

1. What is the color of a minute? A month ? A Year ?

Reader’s Theater

A great way to instill active reading in our young readers is to practice in a Reader’s Theater setting. Set for four voices, author Pam Munoz Ryan has created this Reader’s Theater edition to her book The Dreamer.

I’d like to know…..

Have you read this book? If so, share your thoughts and comments below!

***Don’t forget! Our Pam Munoz Ryan Great book Giveaway has just begun! Be sure and pop by to enter-to-win SXI great books from this author!

Homeschooling can be complicated and frustrating, especially if you are overloaded with information. The good news is that you don’t have to figure it out alone. Donna Ashton’s The Waldorf Home School Handbook is a simple and step-by-step guide to creating and understanding a Waldorf-inspired homeschool plan. Within the pages of this all-in-one homeschooling guide parents will find information, samples of lesson plans and curriculum, helpful hints and the secrets behind the three Areas for Optimum Learning. Join Donna as she guides you through the Waldorf method and reveals how to educate your children in a nurturing and creative environment. Visit the Waldorf Homeschool Handbook info page HERE-The Waldorf Homeschool Handbook: The Simple Step-by-Step guide to creating a Waldorf-inspired homeschool.

The post The Book-jumper Summer Reading Series: The Dreamer Book Review and Activity appeared first on Jump Into A Book.

Add a Comment

Peter Sis's new picture book, Ice Cream Summer, is all about fun (and ice cream!) and family (and ice cream!) and learning (about ice cream!). It's the ice-creamiest ice cream in the whole-wide ice cream world! Books mentioned in this post Ice Cream Summer Peter Sis New Hardcover $17.99

Add a Comment

 

We Are All Born Free: The Universal Declaration of Human … Continue reading ... →

Add a Comment

I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to share The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan with you for National Poetry Month. The Dreamer is an invitation into the imaginative world of Pablo Neruda. Pablo Neruda is one of my favorite poets !! The Dreamer has allowed me to share my love of this poet with my children as we wander through his world and life in Chile.

It is a tale of day-dreaming, gathering those little items which catch our eye, while guarding and savoring them into a collection of our childhood. Pam Munoz Ryan does an incredible job of weaving facts into an incredible story of magic, nostalgia, and intrigue. Pablo Neruda’s real name was Neftali Reyes. He had a very stern and unbearable father. Protecting him were his step-mother, uncle, and sister. Along with everyday situations in his household and school, we are invited on wandering journeys to the rainforest where Neftali’s imagination is taken away by all of the fauna, insects, and animals which live in the forest.

 

Another trip takes us to the ocean where Neftali meets a librarian who gives him his hide-out for the summer. This turns into a spectacular adventure with his sister of trying to save a swan. Later Neftali learns of the movement to kick indigenous people out of their homeland from his uncle. As he grows, he takes up the cause to protect them. Making sure that he doesn’t seek the wrath of his father, he uses a pseudonym. His new last name Neruda was derived from a poet from Czechoslovakia.

One of the elements that makes this book such a treasure to read and hold are the simple but powerful illustrations of Peter Sis. His contributions to this magical story gives us a look into the world of a poet through the heart and eyes.

Equally as interesting is Pam Munoz Ryan’s telling of what inspired her to write this story. Also in the back are several beautifully selected poems of Pablo Neruda’s. This book is a poetic magical tale that is sure to inspire all of us to look at those simple things around us with the eye of a poet. Life is for living and experiencing and this book is an invitation to do just this.

Something To Do

A Word Box

In the story The Dreamer, Neftali Reyes loves to collect things. One of his most beloved collections are his words. Writing them on a piece of paper, folding it gently , and then placing it in his drawer; Neftali can return anytime he wants to and remember the words that caught his imagination. Let’s remember our friend Neftali by making a word box.

Supplies:

• One unfinished wood or paper mache box found in a craft store.
• Scrapbooking word stickers
• Mod Podge matt finish
• Brush
• Paper

Instructions:

1. Taking your wooden box and the word stickers, put words all over your box in a design of your choosing.
2. Once you’ve finished sticking your words on the box, brush Mod Podge all over the words and let it dry.
3. You can use any kind of paper. We like to use paper with pretty colors on one side but white paper works just fine. Cut little pieces of paper that fit into your box. Start writing your favorite words down and saving them in your word box.

Beautiful Spanish Words

The Dreamer uses a beautiful mix of English and Spanish. I liked the way the Spanish was woven throughout the story without it being distracting. Each Spanish word followed with it’s English meaning. By using the Spanish language in this way, it brought the essence of Chile into the story.

Here’s a Spanish lexicon from The Dreamer. Be sure to write these words on colorful cards and put them into your word box.

• Adios:: Good-bye
• el viento:: the wind
• Porfa :: Please
• buena suerte:: good luck
• mapuche:: indigenous people in Aranucania
• Bravo:: Good Job
• la empanadas y el bistec:: Potato turnovers and steak
• Aqui Estoy:: I am here.
• El pan amasado:: Home made bread
• futbol:: soccer
• Amigo:: friend
• un escondite:: a hideout
• una chismosa:: a tattletale
• Amor:: Love

Poetry Explorations

In The Dreamer author Pam Munoz Ryan poses many questions to get us thinking in words. Let’s look at those questions and write a short poem about the Wind. Remember when Neftali’s hat and gloves gotten blown away by the wind. What do these questions inspire in you ?

1. What does the wind give ?
2. What does the wind take away?
3. Where is the storehouse of lost and found ?

Let’s experience Time through words. By answering the following questions you can experience time in a new way. Write a little poem about time.

1. What is the color of a minute? A month ? A Year ?

Reader’s Theater

A great way to instill active reading in our young readers is to practice in a Reader’s Theater setting. Set for four voices, author Pam Munoz Ryan has created this Reader’s Theater edition to her book The Dreamer.

I’d like to know…..

Have you read this book? If so, share your thoughts and comments below!

 

Homeschooling can be complicated and frustrating, especially if you are overloaded with information. The good news is that you don’t have to figure it out alone. Donna Ashton’s The Waldorf Home School Handbook is a simple and step-by-step guide to creating and understanding a Waldorf-inspired homeschool plan. Within the pages of this all-in-one homeschooling guide parents will find information, samples of lesson plans and curriculum, helpful hints and the secrets behind the three Areas for Optimum Learning. Join Donna as she guides you through the Waldorf method and reveals how to educate your children in a nurturing and creative environment. Visit the Waldorf Homeschool Handbook info page HERE.

The post Ready to Celebrate Poetry Month with The Dreamer? appeared first on Jump Into A Book.

Add a Comment

The New York Times Book Review has unveiled its annual list of the “10 Best Illustrated Children’s Books” of the year.

Shelf Awareness children’s editor Jennifer M. Brown, Caldecott Medal-winning artist Brian Floca, and Caldecott Medal recipient Jerry Pinkney sat on this year’s judging panel. See the complete list below.

Here’s more from the press release: “Since 1952, the Book Review has convened an independent panel of three judges from the world of children’s literature to select picture books on the basis of artistic merit. Each year, judges choose from among thousands of picture books for what is the only annual award of its kind. Lists of past winners of the Best Illustrated Children’s Book Award can be found on NYTimes.com/Books, along with a slide show of this year’s winners.”

(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Add a Comment

In Eric Carle’s What’s Your Favorite Animal, he collaborates with fourteen renowned children’s book artists to create mini storybooks about a favorite animal.

Add a Comment

This is a hard post to write. I love Peter Sis’s work, and his latest book, The Pilot and the Little Prince, is getting lots of starred reviews, but I’m having trouble jumping on that bandwagon.

Most of my issues with this book wouldn’t fly in a real Caldecott committee discussion. The art is gorgeous and thought-provoking, but I don’t love the text. As you know, the committee is only allowed to compare books to other titles published the same year. This one might stack up well against other 2014 picture book biographies, but I just don’t think it’s as good as Sis’s previous books.

Let me get the non-valid stuff over with in this paragraph so we can get on to what the committee would be talking about. The Pilot and the Little Prince follows a format very similar to The Tree of Life, Sis’s biography of Charles Darwin. But  Tree had a clear reason for its three distinct narrative threads and provided insight into what made Darwin tick. Pilot‘s structure is less clear and doesn’t go into much detail about who Saint-Exupery was on the inside. Given the title of this book, I was hoping to learn more about what led to his writing the extraordinary and mysterious Little Prince. Instead, I don’t feel as if I know Sis’s subject any better than I did after reading Saint-Exupery’s Wikipedia entry.

Phew, that’s done.

What the committee CAN discuss about this book is the art and how it works as a whole with the rest of the book’s elements. Sis never takes the easy path. His pointillist style allows him to include myriad small details and references. As a designer, I know how hard it is to put so many images and ideas together on one spread and end up with something balanced and harmonious rather than busy and dissonant.

For example, look at the first spread in the book. We see two small circles showing young Antoine: on the left he is in bed being read to by his mother and on the right he’s a bit older reading by himself. Surrounding these circles we see what he imagines as he absorbs these stories. How do we know that’s what we are seeing? The text doesn’t tell us that the central circles are fact and the surroundings are imagination. It reads, “It was an exciting time of discovery in the world. Things people had only dreamed about were being invented — including flying machines.”

There is a LOT going on in this spread, but the circles showing Antoine use cool colors surrounded with a nearly white background, egg-like. Everything else is warm: red, orange, yellow. There is so much to look at here. I see references to works by Jules Verne and early filmmaker George Melies, both active at the time of Saint-Exupery’s birth and likely to have fueled young Antoine’s interest in flying. There are lots of other references that undoubtedly mean something. I understand the elephant under the hat (from The Little Prince, of course), and Icarus, and the Pterodactyl. But what about the big face in the center that seems to be part of the land? It’s repeated later in a wordless spread after Antoine has started to fly. What does it mean? I like that this book is smarter than I am. There are so many reasons to keep looking and thinking.

I love nearly every visual choice Sis makes in this book. I would love to hear your theories about one choice that I don’t understand. Early in the book, Sis uses negative space to illustrate people in Saint-Exupery’s life who have died. We see his father, who died when he was four, as a white silhouette against a stark landscape and later see his brother and sister, who died in 1917 and 1926, the same way. So what does it mean when Saint-Exupery is shown as a large white silhouette against a map of Paris? Is this foreshadowing? But why on this particular spread? Or is it just a way of designing this spread that doesn’t have anything to do with the visual language he set up earlier?

I think the real committee is likely to spend a lot of time discussing this book. As it should. And as we should right now.

 

The post The Pilot and the Little Prince appeared first on The Horn Book.

Add a Comment

In the last few days, I've been looking at picture books about Christopher Columbus. Peter Sis did one, titled Follow the Dream: The Story of Christopher Columbus. 

Sis has won a lot of major awards for his work in children's literature, but none (that I know of) for his biography of Columbus.

Published in 1991 (likely timed to coincide with the 500 year 'anniversary' of Columbus landing in the New World), the reviewer at Publisher's Weekly called it flat, while the one at Kirkus called it uncontroversial, and the reviewer at School Library Journal said to "make room on your crowded Columbus shelf" for this one.

Sis grew up in Czechoslovakia. In a 2009 article in Bookbird, Sis wrote (p. 45):

I grew up with the myth of Columbus's voyage and his discovery of the "new world." I thought I had found a perfect explorer in him. Someone who was determined to find the way, just like me. I remember how surprised I was by the voices raised against Columbus and against the consequences of his "conquest." It sounded especially strong on the 500th anniversary of his voyage and it scared me. I was not used to this "free" discussion and I still have to remind myself that everyone has a point of view, even today. 

His use of quotes around the word 'conquest' suggests he doesn't agree with the people who raise voices against Columbus. He probably wouldn't like what I have to say about this illustration (I took this photo with my phone today while at the library reading books about Columbus):



The page on the left shows Columbus when he "landed on a beach of white coral, claimed the land for the King and Queen of Spain, knelt and gave thanks to God, and expected to see the treasures of the Orient..." Not a word about the people he is looking at...

He juxtaposes the illustration of Columbus-the-man with the one on the right. It is a statue of Columbus. It reminds me of the one in Barcelona. Looking closely, I think the figures gathered 'round the statue are schoolchildren. Makes sense, maybe, if he images them to be the children who are intended readers of his book. Fair enough, but nonetheless, the juxtaposition bothers me. On the left are Native people. On the right are children. Another read of the two pages is to equate Native people with children. That is, unfortunately, all too common in children's literature and society, too. Surely you're familiar with the phrase "wild Indian" as used to describe children who are a bit out of control...

Needless to say, I don't recommend Sis's book about Columbus. If you want to read the article in Bookbird, its title is "My Life With Censorship" and it is in volume 47, issue #3, in 2009.

Add a Comment

In honor of Václav Havel, and Seamus Heaney

Add a Comment

Peter Sis: Cartography of the Mind

Add a Comment

In an age when everyone and their niece has written a tell-all book, when even fictional characters like Ron Burgundy are penning the stories of their lives, how does a memoir stand out among its peers? What qualities make it like nothing we've seen before? Sometimes truly extraordinary experiences can launch a memoir into uncharted [...]

Add a Comment

In honor of PaperTigers’ 10th Anniversary, Cathy Mealey (who blogs at Bildebok), sent  us a photo of  lovely tiger drawn by her 9 year old daughter Grace. Grace’s  “Carrotiger” was inspired by her love of children’s poet laurerate Jack Prelutsky’s  book Scranimals, illustrated by Peter Sis (Greenwillow Books, 2006).

We’re sailing to
Scranimal Island,
It doesn’t appear on
most maps….

Scranimal Island
is where you will find
the fragrant RHINOCEROSE,
the cunning BROCCOLIONS.
And if you are really, really lucky
and very, very quiet,
you will spot
the gentle, shy PANDAFFODIL.
(You may even hear it yawning
If the morning’s just begun,
Watch its petals slowly open
To embrace the rising sun.

Thank you so much for your lovely drawing Grace! With this submission,  Grace and her mom Cathy are entered in our 10th Anniversary give-away. The closing date for entries is midnight PST on Saturday Nov 10th with winners being announced here on the blog on Monday Nov 19th. There are 10 fabulous prizes to be won so don’t delay, get your entry in too. Click here for all the details!

 

Add a Comment

Awards, translations, migrations and a mix of people from 52 countries, were all part of the hectic week-end that comprised the International IBBY Conference hosted by IBBY UK here in London at the end of August.

There were too many absolutely brilliant workshops and talks to identify individually. UK authors and illustrators - Michael Rosen, Marcus Sedgewick, Michael Morourgo, Aiden Chambers and Anthony Browne were there but into the mix came other heady spice, texture and flavour from international experts in children’s literature and luminaries such as Shaun Tan, Peter Sis, Bart Moeyaert and Kitty Crowther, winner of the Astrid Lingen Award for Illustration.

Highlight of the week-end had to be the Hans Christian Andersen Ceremony with the Author award going to María Teresa Andruetto from Argentina and Illustrator award going to Peter Sis from the Czech Republic. I couldn’t help feeling that the venue of the Science Museum at night with its surreal spotlights was the perfect setting for Peter Sis’s drawings. The machines seem to take on a life of their own...

Some of the work of the short-listed illustrators and some IBBY Honour titles are shown below - exciting, unusual, different.  For more events and people see Candy Gourlay’s blog. The fine linear work of Roger Mello from Brazil who was short-listed...,

And finally I was delighted to meet Australian author, Mark Greenwood and his illustrator wife, Frane Lessac from Freemantle...
delighted to have Peter Sis sign my books...
and delighted to be in the heady atmosphere of such creative energy. Thank you IBBY UK for playing such excellent hosts.

Display Comments Add a Comment

 

 

Everybody has a song,
be it short or be it long,
in the right or in the wrong key,
Like the hee-haw of a donkey,
Twitter, tweet, tu-whit, tu-whoo,
howl or growl or quack or moo.
[…]
Don’t be silent
nor afraid,
you must sing
as you’ve been made.

Translation by Stan Dragland of the South African poem “Elke outjie…” by Philip de Vos

Welcome, everybody, to this week’s Poetry Friday, which we are delighted to be hosting.  Please leave comments below with links to your “songs” and I’ll be updating this post throughout the day.

The above poem comes from the joyous anthology Under the Spell of the Moon: Art for Children from the World’s Great Illustrators.  This superb book, first published by Groundwood in Canada in 2004, then in the UK in 2006 by Frances Lincoln, is now available for the first time in paperback (Frances Lincoln, 2012). Produced by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), the book is edited by erstwhile President of IBBY and founder of Groundwood Patsy Aldana, and has a thought-provoking Foreword by award-winning author Katherine Paterson.  It provides a fantastic showcase of 32 illustrators from across the globe, who have all donated their work to benefit IBBY – indeed 12.5% of the book’s proceeds go to IBBY.  Illustrators include Piet Grobler, who illustrated the poem cited above, as well as many others of my personal favorites such as Mitsumasa Anno (Japan), Peter Sís (Czech Republic/USA), Anthony Browne (UK), Isol (Argentina), Pulak Biswas (India), Luis Garay (Nicaragua) – and the book has also introduced me to many illustrators whose work I intend to explore further…

Each illustrator was asked to “illustrate a text of his or her own choosing, be it a poem, nursery rhyme, song, piece of prose, riddle or street game.”  The result is a wonderfully eclectic gathering of mostly verse that is given in its original language, sometimes incorporated into the artwork, and, where necessary, in English translation: and indeed a special shout-out must go to Stan Dragland’s virtuoso translations.  The quirkiness of the collection probably comes from this freedom of choice given to the global spread of illustrators: so each page turn brings a surprise, both in text and artistic style.  The one thing that links every page is the joie de vivre of the texts and the virtuosity each illustrator has brought to his or her contribution.

And n

Add a Comment

Peter Sis won the Hans Christian Andersen Award! for best illustrator in 2012.  Congratulations, Mr. Sis!  The best thing about the Hans Christian Andersen Award is that the award includes authors and illustrators from around the world.  This award is presented each year by the International Board on Books for Young People.  Winning is a huge honor. 

The 2012 Han Christian Andersen Award winner for writing is Maria Teresa Andruetto from Argentina.   Andruetto won this award not only because of her novels for young people but also for her work promoting literacy among children and teens.

So one of today's Kids Book Websites is IBBY - The International Board on Books for Young People.

Check back in an hour or two for another Kids Book Website and a book review.  This post should stand alone.

Add a Comment

The Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature is pleased to state that registrations are still being accepted  for the following conference:

“Peace the World Together with Children’s Books” is the theme of the International Board on Books for Young People regional conference hosted by California State University, Fresno this fall.

Co-sponsored by the Arne Nixon Center at Fresno State, IBBY’s 9^th United States Regional Conference will be held at Fresno State on Oct. 21-23.

Conference chair Ellis Vance of Fresno said about 250 people – professors, librarians, teachers, authors, illustrators, publishers, collectors and fans – are expected. Registration so far includes participants from 48 states and every continent except Antarctica, Vance said.

The conference offers an opportunity to interact with authors and illustrators around the world, including Alma Flor Ada, Shirin Yim Bridges, F. Isabel Campoy, David Diaz, Margarita Engle, Kathleen Krull, Grace Lin, Roger Mello, Beverly Naidoo, Pam Muñoz Ryan and Peter Sis. Petunia’s Place Bookstore will sell books.

Activities will include exhibitions (including one by the International Youth Library), book discussion groups and tours. Optional activities are available to those who stay on beyond the conference closing at noon on Oct. 23. They include a tour of the Shinzen Japanese Garden in Fresno and a one-day bus trip to Yosemite National Park.

For information on the conference and registration visit www.usbby.org/conf_home.htm.

Add a Comment

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: January 10, 2011

As announced by the American Library Association (ALA) …

Pura Belpré (Author) Award

Honoring a Latino writer whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience:

“The Dreamer,” written by Pam Muñoz Ryan, is the 2011 Belpré Author Award winner. The book is illustrated by Peter Sís and published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

Three BelpréAuthor Honor Books were named:

“¡Olé! Flamenco,” written and illustrated by George Ancona and published by Lee & Low Books Inc.; “The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette’s Journey to Cuba,” written by Margarita Engle and published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC; and “90 Miles to Havana,” written by Enrique Flores-Galbis and published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing.

Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award

Honoring a Latino illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience:

“Grandma’s Gift,” illustrated and written by Eric Velasquez, is the 2011 Belpré Illustrator Award winner. The book is published by Walker Publishing Company, Inc., a division of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.

Three Belpré Illustrator Honor Books for illustration were selected:

“Fiesta Babies,” illustrated by Amy Córdova, written by Carmen Tafolla and published by Tricycle Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.; “Me, Frida,” illustrated by David Diaz, written by Amy Novesky and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS; “Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin,” illustrated and written by Duncan Tonatiuh and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS.

Add a Comment

Well, we’ve finally started this year’s Reading the World Challenge in our household!

As our together-read, we’re “doing” Europe at the moment. We’re about half way through Dickens’ Oliver Twist, which I’m really enjoying, since it’s a good few years since I read it, and the boys are revelling in. I suggested it because I was getting a bit fed up with continued allusions to Oliver via the musical Oliver! and felt (poor kids, purist that I am!) that they needed to get back to grass roots here… I did wonder if we were biting off a bit more than we could chew but in fact they are completely caught up by the narrative and Dickens would be happy with his effect on their social consiousness/consciences! It’s definitely proving to be one of those books that they wouldn’t read on their own but that, with frequent, unobtrusive asides to gloss the meanings of words, they are more than able to enjoy having read to them. It’s just very long and now that term-time is back in full swing, it’s hard getting the sustained reading time all together that we would like.

We have also read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne (David Fickling Books, 2006). This is an extraordinarily powerful book about a nine-year-old German boy, Bruno, who becomes an unwitting witness of the Holocaust when his father becomes the Commandant of “Outwith” concentration camp (as Bruno mistakenly calls it), and who makes friends with a Jewish boy, Shmuel, on the other side of the perimeter fence. If you have read this breath-taking, punch-in-the-stomach book, do take a look at the discussion that Janet got underway here on PaperTigers on the Tigers Bookshelf. Although it says on the back cover that despite being a book about nine-year-olds, “this is not a book for nine-year-olds”, and I therefore, again, had some reservations of reading it with the boys, I was glad we did. Because we were reading it together (and not at bedtime – this is definitely not a book to read just before you go to sleep), we couldn’t read it in one sitting as has been recommended – but we all mulled over it deeply and all brought our own ages to it. I know that Little Brother’s nine-year-old perspective was very different to mine (as, indeed was Older Brother’s), but it was still valid; and I hope they will both read it again independently when they are older.

Little Brother’s own read was also focused on Europe with Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei by Peter Sís – this is what he says about it:

I liked The Starry Messenger because you could always recognise Galileo in the pictures because there were always stars near him. Sometimes he was wearing them and sometimes he was drawing them in the sand. It was hard to rea

0 Comments on Reading the World Challenge – Update #2 as of 1/1/1900

Add a Comment

Display Comments Add a Comment

Peter is telling jokes and amazing stories about 10 anecdotes every 5 seconds. I am only getting the tip of the iceberg, sorry:

As a child, Peter's parents encouraged him to paint and draw, his father was a film maker.

When Peter was four, his father was drafted into military service for 19 months where he met the young Dalai Lama! He had a photo up of him on the slide show, but I am too slow with my camera.

Here's a picture of a light switch in Peter's childhood home in Prague. He painted the chairs and the refrigerator, too! Except he forgot to tell his mother and her friends that had just come over to visit that the chair was not yet dry...

In school, Peter learned how to do illustration, film posters, costume design, animation, Communist-era album covers, basically any practical application of the arts.

In his early twenties, Peter wanted to be an animator and focused on building his career in that direction. In Eastern Europe at that time, animation didn't mean Tom & Jerry, but more like arty short films. Here's a shot of Peter's first short film. Peter did the 1984 Olympics commercial animations and was soon tapped by MTV in Los Angeles to do some animations.

That MTV work didn't go well, and Peter was stuck in America without a paying job, so he started teaching art. Peter didn't last as a teacher very long as his mantra for his students was, "You want to do art, you will have to suffer for your art." (He'd give them an assignment the day before it was due so they'd have to stay up all night working on it in proper Czech Art School Fashion.)

He ended up painting eggs in LA until he got a collect phone call from Maurice Sendak who convinced him to move to the East Coast, get into children's books, and attend things like ALA.


With the money Peter made for doing the AMADEUS poster he bought an old Mustang and WITHOUT A MAP started driving cross country from LA.

Peter says, when he got to San Antonio he thought he should turn left and asked a patrol car there for directions.

!

He finally did get to New York and started doing editorial illustration work. He wanted his work to stand out to companies like the NYT and so that is how he came up with the fine, dotted style he's famous for.

Peter says, twenty-five years later and with a pinched nerve, that that style idea was the wrong life move. I'm sure we all disagree with that, but do feel bad about the pinched nerve.

Peter used Tomi Ungerer as a career path model and hoped to, like Tomi, be earning a living as an illustrator in seven years (not knowing that Tomi had actually made s

Display Comments Add a Comment

His keynote is called "Making Sense of Life Through Books"

He is happy to be here in our big group because he feels like he belongs -- and is otherwise home alone all day making pictures.

Add a Comment

I promised you the rest of the Cybils books and then never delivered, didn't I? Well, have no fear, my opinion is here!

Also, my Top 9 for March is up at the Biblio File store. Check it out!

But first, I showed a bunch of kids the Glister books. They have pronounced them "Awesome" and "Totally cool."

Marie Curie: Giants of Science #4 Kathleen Krull

A very well done biography of the chemist Marie Curie. I learned a lot I didn't know and Curie's life is always easy to book talk to kids who need a biography. She's not well known and she's, you know AWESOME. Krull makes this fascinating story accessible and engaging. The only problem is kid appeal-- kids will LOVE it if they ever read it, but I don't seem them ever reading it unless they have to. Curie's not famous enough and the book itself isn't eye-candy enough for them to pull it off the shelf. Also, some photos would have been nice.

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

When I was in the 4th grade, one day we were lining up in the cafeteria to go outside for lunch-time recess. Miss Anderson (who I would have for 6th grade, but now her name is Mrs. Gosz and she teaches kindergarten) came in to tell us that the Berlin Wall was being torn down. It was the first time I had ever heard of the Berlin Wall. She was extremely frustrated that this room full of kids had no idea the history that was taking place at the moment.

Peter Sis understood. He grew up in Prague, during the Cold War. This autobiography straddles the line between graphic novel, biography, and picture book. He tells the story of a little boy who wanted to draw, of having to draw approved things, of getting in trouble for drawing the wrong thing. He tells of the story of trying to escape, of Western music, of crackdowns, of neighbors spying on neighbors.

The book is scant on background information though, so, like the 4th grader I used to be, it might confuse some children. It's beautiful and well done, but the older audience it's aimed at might need some selling, as it looks like a picture book on the surface.

Smart-opedia: The Amazing Book About Everything

This is more of a browsing book then a sit-down and read book. Think DK Eyewitness style to a bunch of different topics. It's a fun read, but I had 2 main complaints:

1. It's heavily illustrated with cartoon-y pictures, and real photographs would have worked just as well and would have been better.

2. Because it covers everything, it doesn't cover anything in depth. Because of this, some things are glossed over to the point of no longer being entirely correct. They're not wrong, but they're not right either, you know? You lose the subtleties of a situation.

And there's the nonfiction report!

Picture Book of the Day has the round up!

Add a Comment

I treated myself to some new art toys recently.

The one on the left is the newest love of my life, my X-acto School Pro electric pencil sharpener. This thing is amazing! It sharpens to the sharpest point I've ever seen, and FAST. Its designed for school use, so you know its built to last. You can adjust the hole size to accommodate whatever kind of pencil you're using. And its pretty quiet too. (Office Depot isn't the only place that has them. I bought mine at the art store here, and the prices vary a lot, so maybe shop around.)

The other thing is my "Tool Turn-about" from the Pampered Chef, which I'm using as a pencil caddy. (Thank you Nicole Caulfield for telling us about this!) Its spins, and is very sturdy. You can see how it was put to use on my last piece (the little tomatoes from down below).

Both things have made my life easier, and that's always a good thing.

Display Comments Add a Comment