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Title: With a Name Like Love
Author: Tess Hilmo
Series: None
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Released: September 27, 2011
Website: http://tesshilmo.com/

Book Summary:

When Ollie’s daddy, the Reverend Everlasting Love, pulls their travel trailer into Binder to lead a three-day revival, Ollie knows that this town will be like all the others they visit— it is exactly the kind of nothing Ollie has come to expect. But on their first day in town, Ollie meets Jimmy Koppel, whose mother is in jail for murdering his father. Jimmy insists that his mother is innocent, and Ollie believes him. Still, even if Ollie convinces her daddy to stay in town, how can two kids free a grown woman who has signed a confession? Ollie’s longing for a friend and her daddy’s penchant for searching out lost souls prove to be a formidable force in this tiny town where everyone seems bent on judging and jailing without a trial.

With a Name Like Love is a wonderful middle, grade historical fiction, read that reminded me of Little House on the Prairie.

Ollie's dad is a traveling preacher. Every three days her family moves on to a new town. That's the way life is, the way it has always been and the way it seems like it will always be. At least until the family arrives in Binder, Arkansas. When Ollie befriends lonely Jimmy Koppel the family's way of life is turned upside down and they find themselves in a battle to help Jimmy and his mother.

This book is a heartfelt story that would make a great read aloud.


Content: Clean

Rating: 4.5 Stars - Highly recommend

Source: Review Copy

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How to Be God's Little Princess: Royal Tips for Manners, Etiquette, and True Beauty by Sheila Walsh:

A fun guide book for God's little princesses.


What does it take to be a princess? Sheila Walsh has some important answers to share for every little girl. This trendy design features black & white line art and a two-color pink and black interior. The art will tie to each how-to topic in the book-how to make the best pink cookies, how to wear a tiara, how to earn money at home, how to care for a royal dog, how to be respectful, how to use good manners, how to help Mom, how to follow Jesus, how to act like a princess when things go terribly wrong, and many more.

What a cute book!  The idea of manners and etiquette seems to be lost in today's world.  This book is aimed at about 8-11 year olds and is filled with a wide variety of information.  With everything from Internet Safety to planning a party, from meal time etiquette to being a good friend, from modesty to using time wisely...  There is a little bit of everything found within the pages of this book.

There are fun illustrations and quizzes that teach valuable lessons.  This is a book that is sure to be a hit with tween age girls.  Obviously you can tell by the title that this book is aimed at a Christian audience.  There are scriptures on the first page of each chapter with the overall message being:

"You are God's beautiful, incredible princess - a crowning jewel in His kingdom"

My review copy of this book will definitely be finding its way into my daughter's Easter Basket.



Content: Clean

Rating: 5 Stars

Source: For Review as part of a blog tour

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All year the half-bloods have been preparing for battle against the Titans, knowing the odds of a victory are grim. Kronos’s army is stronger than ever, and with every god and half-blood he recruits, the evil Titan’s power only grows.


While the Olympians struggle to contain the rampaging monster Typhon, Kronos begins his advance on New York City, where Mount Olympus stands virtually unguarded. Now it’s up to Percy Jackson and an army of young demigods to stop the Lord of Time.


In this momentous final book in the New York Times best-selling series, the long-awaited prophecy surrounding Percy’s sixteenth birthday unfolds. And as the battle for Western civilization rages on the streets of Manhattan, Percy faces a terrifying suspicion that he may be fighting against his own fate.

Such it a fabulous end to an amazing series. I LOVED The Last Olympian. Rick Riordan is such an amazing storyteller. This book made me laugh so many times while reading it.  I've never had much interest in mythology until reading this series.

I highly recommend these books to readers of all ages. All my children love these books. The Percy Jackson series weaves elements of mythology into one great big adventure that will have you laughing and cheering for the Demigods.  The Last Olympian was full of everything I loved about this series and seamlessly wrapped up story lines from the previous four books.  If you have not read this series you are missing out!

I'm sad this series is over but looking forward to being reunited with the characters I love in Rick's next series Heroes of Olympus.






Content: Clean

Rating: 5 Stars

Source: Audio download from Audible

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Clara Lee likes her best friends, her grandpa, kimchi, candy necklaces (her signature look!), and the idea of winning the Little Miss Apple Pie contest.


Clara Lee doesn't like her mom's fish soup, bad dreams (but Grandpa says they mean good luck!), speaking in public, or when her little sister is being annoying.


One day, after a bad dream, Clara Lee is thrilled to have a whole day of luck (Like!). But then, bad luck starts to follow (Dislike!). When will Clara Lee's luck change again? Will it change in time for the Little Miss Apple Pie contest?

Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dreams is a great book for girls in 2nd - 4th grade.  A wonderful early chapter book with great illustrations.  I enjoyed the multi-cultural element in this book.  Clara is an American born Korean.  Being able to learn a little more about Korean culture such as foods and dream interpretation brought a unique twist to this book.  Clara shows us what it means to be as American as apple pie.  If you enjoy Junie B Jones, Judy Moody & Clementine give Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream a try.



Content: Clean

Rating: 4 Stars

Source: From Publisher for Review

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Artemis the Brave
(Goddess Girls #4)

All of Artemis's friends and classmates depend on her to be the most courageous goddessgirl in Mount Olympus Academy. Little do they know that despite her expert archery skills, the smelly geryons, ring-nosed Minotaurs, and stinging scorpions in Beast-ology class scare her as much as anyone else! But what's really bothering her now is that funny feeling she has whenever she looks at foreign exchange student Orion. She's never had a crush before--could this be what all the fuss is about? And will she find the courage to talk to her crush, make him see her as more than a pal, and to ace Beast-ology class?


Series scoop:
Join the class at Mount Olympus Academy with Goddess Girls, a new series that puts a modern spin on classic Greek myths!
Aladdin paperbacks, ages 8 ~ 12.
Athena the Brain
Finding out she’s a goddess and being sent to Mount Olympus brings Athena new friends, a weird dad, and the meanest girl in mythology—Medusa!
Persephone the Phony
Hiding her feelings works fine for Persephone until she meets a guy she can be herself with—Hades, the bad-boy of the Underworld.
Aphrodite the Beauty
Sure Aphrodite is beautiful, but it’s not always easy being the goddessgirl of love.
Artemis the Brave
She may be the goddess of the hunt, but that doesn’t mean Artemis always feels brave.



Coming Soon:
Athena the Wise
Zeus says Heracles has to do twelve tasks or he'll get kicked out of MOA! Although she's not sure it's wise, Athena agrees to help out. (April 5, 2011)
Aphrodite the Diva
Isis claims she's the goddess of love? Ha! But to keep the title all to herself, Aphrodite has to find the perfect match for Pygmalion, the most annoying boy ever. (August 2011)
Two more Goddess Girls books to come!


Review:

I love this series.  It's perfect for girls ages 8+.  A great introduction to Greek mythology in a way that is entertaining and fun. 

Artemis is Goddess of the Hunt and thinks she shouldn't have any fears while hunting,

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Lost on Spirit River by Tommy Batchelor:

Thirteen-year-old Tony's parents are in the middle of divorce, his mother sends him to his Grandpa's along the banks of the Flint River in Southwestern Georgia. With his younger cousin Kathryn, they set out to look for a Christmas tree for the holidays, along with Grandpa's aging beagle, Sally. The three become lost in a snowstorm, which has not hit Georgia in three hundred years. Finding shelter in a hidden cave, stumbling upon Native American art. Now the adventure begins...

In Lost on Spirit River, author Tommy Batchelor has written an entertaining young-adult novel with a multi-pronged message. He uses suspense and adventure to capture his audience's attention...The dialogue is crisp...The characters are well developed... Readers glimpse the spirit world of ancient native tribes in a way that will stir imaginations...Kim Reale's illustrations solidify the images already created by Batchelor's exceptional ability to describe scenes and setting. Highly Recommended by William Potter for Reader's Choice Book Reviews.

Book Trailer:


Lost on Spirit River is an adventure story for middle grade readers. Kathryn and her cousin Tony set out to find the perfect Christmas tree. Tony takes them further and further from home until they find themselves lost in a sudden snow storm. What follows is an adventure story that mixes elements of Native American folklore with Tony and Kathryn's quest to find their way home.

The back cover of the book bills this as a young-adult novel but it is most definitely aimed at a younger middle grade audience. There are a few editing errors mainly with punctuation and the way the pages are laid out that were a little distracting but otherwise a great adventure story. The illustrations really added to the book and helped bring the story to life.



Content: Clean

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Source: Received a review copy from the author through The Teen Book Scene.

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Tiny Angel by Nancy Carti Lepri
When her dad is transferred to a new town, Macy Carver leaves behind her best friend and everything she knows. Suddenly she is the new girl…alone and bullied. An unexpected flash announces guardian angel Jody, who teaches her how to fit in and become a forever friend.

Read an Excerpt:
“Hey, chubbo quit hogging the sidewalk!” Kenny Thompson yanked the front of his bike off the ground, circled around eight-year-old Macy Carver, and stuck out his tongue.

“Don’t,” she yelled. Kenny cut the bike’s front wheel, covering her with dirty water. Laughing, he sped toward school.

“Creepazoid!” Macy said, brushing mud from her jeans, which made a worse mess. Mud even splattered her favorite top. Tears filled her eyes. Stupid North Carolina! Why did her dad have to move here? She hated being the new kid in class. Thanks to Kenny, the kids either ignored her or were mean. To make things worse, she had to sit next to him. Sighing, she trudged on, hoping that when she got to school, Kenny would have sprouted huge warts on his nose.

The first bell rang. Macy walked to her desk and tripped over Kenny’s outstretched foot.

“Hey four-eyes.” He laughed when she stumbled. “Are you a klutzo, too? Aw, poor Macy, dirty and klutzy.”

Macy grabbed the side of her desk to keep from falling. She glared at Kenny, ready to stick out her tongue, but decided he didn’t need anything else to tease her about. Biting her lip, she sat at her desk. She wanted to go home—fat lot of good that would do her. She knew she wouldn’t feel better there.

The letter she got yesterday from her best friend, Emily burned in her back pocket. Darn Emily! At least they’d been best friends back home. When she thought about everything Emily wrote, Macy’s stomach tightened and jerked as if she’d dropped three floors in a runaway elevator, and those muscles wouldn’t relax. It was the same feeling she got in the pit of her tummy every time she lied to her mother about something. Guilty.

But what do I have to feel guilty about? I haven’t done anything wrong. It isn’t like I wanted to move away.

Betrayed. That’s how Macy felt every time she thought about Emily telling her how she and Tricia Mitchell rode the school bus together now, played games and how they were always at each other’s house. Emily told Macy how much fun they were having, even saying they were going to the roller rink on Saturday then having a sleepover at Tricia’s house…something she and Emily loved doing together. Tricia Mitchell! Funny, Emily never liked Tricia before. She always called her stuck up. Now they’re best friends? What’s up with that?

Maybe Emily didn’t miss her at all. Macy suddenly felt lonelier than ever and she really wanted to cry.

A thwack to the back of her head reminded her that her misery was endless. She grabbed the runaway pencil from her lap and held it up. Kenny reached and snatched it from her. Macy blinked hard to keep the tears away. Please don’t let me cry in front of the other kids.

“Hey, I think Macy forgot her pencil. She’s trying to steal mine.” He leaned in with a nasty smirk and whispered, “Hey, chubbo, do you get a royalty every time someone up-sizes their burgers at Wendy’s?”

Choking with anger, Macy bal

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Lizzie's father finds himself out of work during the General Motors Strike in 1970. He packs up his family and takes them to his mother's farm in Virginia where the city girls are in for an adventure.
They meet country neighbors, learn how to milk cows, fish with a cane pole and feed the chickens.
Lizzie learns about death but encounters many joyful experiences along the way as she meets extended family members.

I met author Virginia Elisabeth Farmer at the St. George Book Festival last month. She gave me a copy of her book Lizzie's Blue Ridge Memories to review.

This book brought to my mind my own memories of visiting my grandparents when I was younger. Like Lizzie, my grandparents lived on a farm. This book is based on events from the authors life and a summer spent living with her grandparents.  The book is told in a way to help young children visualize what life was like when their parents & grandparents were younger.

Lizzie's story made me nostalgic for my childhood and the simpler times of the past. It also reminded me that I need to take more time to create memories with my own children and that I need to write experiences and stories down before they are forgotten.

This is a heartwarming read for children ages 8-12.

Content: Clean

Rating : 4 Stars

Source: From Author For Review

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The seventy-five games in this book revive the tradition of game playing without computers, joy sticks, boards, or game pieces. All you need for these games can be purchased at the local super center, big box, or hardware store. With tools such as balls, bean bags, broomsticks or canes, and ropes, parents and teachers can organize dozens of hours of fun and challenging activities for parties, summer camps, neighborhood gatherings, and school groups. For all ages, from elementary children to grandparents.

I received a copy of The Pocket Guide to Games by Bart King to review about a month ago. I pulled it out today because I had to come up with a game that a group of 50 kids ages 4 to 11 could all play together. I flipped to the index in the back and quickly came up with a couple games that would work - Circle Stride Ball as an active game and Find the Ring as a quieter game. We only had time to play Circle Stride Ball at the activity. It managed to keep a large group of kids entertained until their parents arrived to pick them up.

This book is full of games for many different settings and occasions. The games are broken down into 4 sections: Miscellaneous active games, Quiet games, Bean bag & ball games and Contests, feats & tussles. At the back of the book is an Index where you can search for games by the type of game, number of players, playing area or age group. All in all it's a useful little book that I literally put in my back pocket and took with me to the activity today.

A handy little book to have around.

Rating: 5 Stars

Source: From Publisher for Review

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Percy Jackson isn't expecting freshman orientation to be any fun. But when a mysterious mortal acquaintance appears on campus, followed by demon cheerleaders, things quickly move from bad to diabolical.

In this latest installment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos's army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop them, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth-a sprawling underground world with stunning surprises at every turn. Full of humor and heart-pounding action, this fourth book promises to be their most thrilling adventure yet.

Another great book in the Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan. Everyone in my house loves this series. I laugh out loud during these books. The Battle of the Labyrinth is the 4th book in the series and did not disappoint.

I love how Riordan adds a fun twist to his book by adding elements of history, such as Harriet Tubman using the Labyrinth in her underground railroad operation. These books are just good clean family fun. As I've said before this is the way I like my mythology.

If you haven't read this series you are missing out. I'm looking forward to the 5th & final book. Although I've already read the last few chapters. My daughter used The Last Olympian for a book report and ran out of time to get it finished so I read the last few chapters out loud to her. Even knowing the ending I'm looking forward to reading the entire story.

Content: Clean Read

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Source: Audio Download from Overdrive

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Turn your doodles into a personal journal and into art to boot! In the tradition of Keri Smith (Wreck This Journal, This Is Not a Book), Dawn DeVries Sokol has created a fun, easy artist's journal to get kids started with the basics. Doodle about your day; makes lists of your favorite things; write goals and daydream; try different mediums like pens, watercolors, and found art; add in family photos or ticket stubs; use Xerox transfers; and much, much more to create a casual, playful, and often thoughtful journal of your life.

From the time I was young I was always encouraged to write in a journal. I was raised hearing quotes such as this one:

“Every person should keep a journal and every person can keep a journal. It should be an enlightening one and should bring great blessings and happiness to the families." ~ Spencer W. Kimball

I started my first journal when I was 8 years old and have sporadically kept a journal throughout my life. I look back on those early entries and laugh. Most of them consist of "Did the same thing as usual today." Same thing as usual? 30 years later I have no idea what that was.

One of my personal favorite ways to keep a journal is to answer a prompt such as:

What is your favorite memory from childhood?
Who are your close friends?
Who was your favorite teacher in school? why?

I was thrilled when I received a copy of Doodle Diary to review. It's an adorable little book with colorful pages full of "prompts" for journaling.

What makes me happy?
My favorite place to be...
My embarassing moments:
What's in my backpack:
My heroes:
My future self:
I think the
perfect day would be:

This book is perfect for my 10 year old daughter. She is not currently keeping a journal but is really into art so I know she'll love this book and I think she will actually use it. I'm putting it away as a stocking stuffer for Christmas.

Content: Clean

Rating: 5 Stars

Source: From Publisher for Review

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This beautiful re-imagining of Charles Dickens's timeless fable, A Christmas Carol: A Pop-Up Book features artist Chuck Fischer's richly painted depictions of the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, brought to life in intricate pop-up scenes by paper engineer Bruce Foster. The entire text of A Christmas Carol is reproduced in five removable, illustrated, keepsake booklets. An introductory booklet provides a biography of Dickens and an illustrated feature on the enduring appeal of this beloved story. The perfect gift, A Christmas Carol, now in pop-up form, will brighten the holidays for young and old.

Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol: A Pop-Up Book by Chuck Fischer and Bruce Foster is an amazing pop-up book. I've never seen a book with so many intricate details. On the front cover it says "Paper Engineering" - that's a much better description than calling it a mere pop-up book.

The book itself is basically wordless. On each page is a small removable booklet that contains the text of Charles Dickens' classic Christmas story.

This would make a great gift book but it's not a book I would hand to a child to read. They would most likely ruin the beautiful pages if left unsupervised. This is a book to share with a child by sitting them on your lap and allowing them to look at the book with you.

This book will make a fantastic Christmas gift and I know just who I'm going to give it to!

Rating: 5 Stars

Source: From Publisher for Review

Children's Book Wednesday is a feature started by The Crazy Bookworm. Since I adore children's picture books I'll be joining The Crazy Bookworm by sharing at least one picture book each week.

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Ned’s dad and I were watching At the Movies the other night when Margaret and David reviewed the new animated - Performance Capture animation - film version of A Christmas Carol. We both agreed that we thought the story was very dark and not really appropriate for little kids, although maybe many people will be drawn in by the fact that it is animated - so beautifully. I guess it is the same question about audience that has been debated with the Spike Jonze film version of Where the Wild Things Are.

A Christmas Carol is a dark and grim story that I have never really related to Christmas even though that is the theme of the novel. There have been countless film adaptations of Scrooge and his redemption and my main memory is of the Disney charcter version with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Today I saw this book trailer for a version of A Christmas Carol illustrated by the amazing Brett Helquist.

I cannot think of a more appropriate illustrator for this classic story, his Scrooge reminds me a bit of Count Olaf! Having not ever owned a copy of the Dickens story (although this one is an adaptation) I think this will be the version I lash out and buy this Christmas because although it’s grim I think it’s one I should have.

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We haven’t often reviewed books for the over-8s at We Heart Books, but over the next few months we will be including a few more, and adding some new books for over-8s in our store too. This time we are very lucky to have had Georgia (aged 11) write this review for us of Sara Pennypacker’s Clementine. Georgia was given a copy of by her aunt Lisa who also contributes to this guest post …

Georgia writes:

I had a great time reading this book. As soon as I got home I started reading it, and finished it really quickly. The trouble Clementine got into reminded me of Judy Moody. It says something about her on the back of Clementine. My favourite chapters were 4, 5 and 9, besides the first chapter. My favourite part I can’t say because it will spoil the story for you but some really funny ones I can tell you, like Clementine has a war with a flock of pigeons and she thinks she’s growing a beard like her Dad. When her Mum scrubs her head Clementine says to herself, “No more cartwheels, just in case my brains fall out ‘cause of the big hole she made.”
I really want to read the second book Talented Clementine, it sounds good too.

Aunt Lisa (also mum to Finn and Daisy) writes:

I loved reading this series, and had to send them to my niece Georgia to read.
They’re beautifully realised, humorous tales, in the best tradition of feisty, funny and unique characters like Pippi Longstocking and Judy Moody. There are some important and wonderful messages about being your unique self, but it’s not heavy handed. Clementine’s parents sometimes despair of the results, but always encourage Clementine’s problem solving and creative thinking skills. Marla Frazee’s fabulous illustrations add weight to the reader’s impression of Clementine’s restless energy and quirkiness.

Sara Pennypacker has beautifully captured the voice and motivations of an unusual pre-teen in all three of the Clementine books. I laughed out loud more than once, especially at Clementine’s well-intentioned hairdressing escapades, her vocal duels with a harassed school principal and her creative refusals to use her baby brother’s real name. When was the last time an adult book made you laugh out loud on the tram ‘til people looked at you?

Boys will love how she gets into trouble, girls will admire her ability to get out it! Highly recommended for readers from Year 3 to Year 5.

Interview with Sara Pennypacker

||Also in the series Clementine’s Letter and The Talented Clementine||

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Robin Klein is indelibly linked with my memories of primary school years. The school ballot for Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Awards, waiting lists for books at our library, and swapping favourite books with my friends - all these aspects of my late primary school years feature Robin Klein’s books. 

Klein’s series of Penny Pollard books stand out as being some of my favourite books of primary school, starting with Penny Pollard’s Diary. It’s written in the irresistable style of a diary by 10-year-old Penny, who hates pink, loves horses and is definitely not the teacher’s pet. Penny meets the equally idiosyncratic Mrs Edith Bettany (’Mrs B’) on a school excursion to an old people’s home, and this first book follows the development of their friendship. There are some fabulously funny passages as the two swap stories.

Mrs B told me she used to have a carpet snake for a pet when she was my age and lived in the bush. Wow! Next to a horse, a snake would be the best pet ever! Told Mrs Bettany about when I was in kindergarten and I wanted a pet snake and mum kept saying Santa might bring one. And that Christmas I found a stupid big patchwork stuffed snake under Christmas tree. Mrs Bettany agreed it must have been a terrible disappointment. I told her about trying to flush patchwork snake down loo only it wouldn’t fit. She said when she lived in the bush they kept a stick to kill real snakes with next to their loo because it was miles down backyard. Told her there weren’t miles any more, only kilometres.

Mrs B appreciates Penny’s taste for double-headed lime Interplanteary Missiles from the milkbar and in turn Penny learns about how different - and how similar - life was growing up in the 1920s. And unexpectedly, both gain much from their unusual friendship. The feelings of not always living up to expectations and of being a bit different to everyone else are concepts that most primary school kids can relate to, and I think it is this aspect that my friends and I all loved so much in Robin Klein’s writing.

The diary is made to look ‘real’ with sketch drawings, photos and hand-drawn maps - all annotated by Penny. The illustrations are actually by Ann James, who does an amazingly convincing job. The original design is an exercise book-sized production, and the cover design graffiti no doubt inspired my own secret diary cover which I started in Grade 5 (and which I surprisingly managed to find this evening… The big question is: where is the key?!).

For some reason, the Penny Pollard books went out of print for many years, and I remember when working in bookshops being asked for them many, many times. They were thankfully re-issued by Hachette Australia in 2004 - but unfortunately (in my opinion) the format was not retained and they are now regular sized mass market paperbacks. As I had only borrowed copies when I first read them, I felt very lucky when I found the first two books from the series at the Lake Daylesford Book Barn a few years ago. Just a couple more books that I will treasure…

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The lovely bookish posts just keep coming this week. Design Mom has posted some gorgeous photo’s of Jennifer Khoshbin’s cut paper artwork. I have poured over and over Khoshbins’ website and she has an etsy store, so much goodness. 

Also 123 Oleary, Media Macaroni and Crooked House have all been excited about the release of a trailer for the animated film Coraline, based on Coraline by Neil Gaiman and due for release in 2009. Now I’m excited TOO!

While on Youtube I also found this clip of a Disney animation test in 1983 for Where the Wild Things Are, obviously it was never made but the test is very cool.

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One of the things I used to love about working in bookstores was when new boxes arrived from publishers. It was like Christmas every month, the anticipation and the joy of finding out what was inside.

Now I get that feeling when I walk into a bookshop to see what is new on the shelves and also when I’m browsing the internet, checking out other peoples blogs for new and exciting books.

A couple of days a go I came across Suzy Lee on Amazon. The book is Wave and it is wordless.

Suzy Lee is amazing and I must now have Wave on my bookshelf; have a look at her website here to learn more about this very gorgeous artist.

Wordless picture books are of course an art because the whole story must be conveyed convincingly in the illustrations. They are very important in education for prompting children to learn how to interpret stories and also to recognise a beginning, middle and end in story telling. Wordless books are great at home as well; younger children can enjoy explaining what is happening in the illustrations and older children can take it further by imagining alternate endings and additional plot lines. Wordless picture books are rewarding.

weheartbooks top 5 wordless picture books

1. Up and Up (Shirley Hughes)

I love Shirley Hughes and one of my favorite books as a child was Dogger, or David and the Dog as it is known in the USA (I’ll post about that one another time). She is one of the best known children’s author/illustrators in the world. Set out in comic strip style Up and Up consists of black line drawings against a sepia background. The story of a little girl who longs to fly, it is purely magical as you follow her journey: she gets her wish and off she goes up and up. Her personality is infectious and she always makes me smile as she drifts along until she is finally rescued by a man in a hot air balloon. There is so much to look at in this book which makes it a great tool for encouraging children to make up their own stories. It doesn’t even have to be about the main character, you could make up different stories for the others she meets along the way. Ages 3+

2. The Arrival (Shaun Tan)

Well I just think this award winning book is incredible, in fact Shaun Tan is incredible. The Arrival depicts the journey of a man who leaves home for a strange, fantastical land in order to support his family. The hundreds of drawings Tan worked on for this stunning book are partly a reflection of his own father’s journey to Australia and his struggle to fit into an alien culture. More than a book The Arrival is an awe-inspiring artwork; every time I pick it up I find new and amazing elements that I had missed before. Ages 8+

3. The Snowman (Raymond Briggs)

Regarded as a cult classic this picture book tells a story in pictures - 175 frames to be exact - of the one night friendship of a boy and his snowman. The boy lovingly creates the man out of snow and when he looks out of his window that night he discovers the snowman is alive. They take each other on a tour of their worlds, the boy of his house and the snowman of his wintery world. In the morning when the boy wakes up the snowman is gone, he has melted and all that is left are pieces of coal. This book is all about the joy of exploring and discovering new things, it is about new friendships and then the fond memories of those friendships. This book really does give children the opportunity to imagine their own ending to the story. 4+

4. Sunshine and Moonlight (Jan Omerod)

These are favorites of mine from childhood, I can remember borrowing them from the school library numerous times. In the last few years they have been re-published and are just as beautiful as I remember them way back in primary school. Sunshine follows the progression of a little girl’s day as she gets up out of bed and begins her daily routine. My favorite scenes are when she hops into bed with her parents while they read their morning papers; everyone in this house has a routine and they all fit into each other’s. Toddlers can compare their routine in the morning before childcare/preschool with this little girl’s. Jan includes so much detail that this is perfect for beginning discussion with children about their own routines. Sunshine won the Australian Children’s Book of the Year Award in 1982. Moonlight is similar to Sunshine but of course follows the routine on the other end of the day; cleaning teeth, bathtime and bed. Ages 2+

5. Tuesday (David Wiesner)

Reading Tuesday is like watching an M. Night Shyamalan film; it is weird, quirky, funny and enthralling. On this particular Tuesday around 8 in the evening a strange thing begins to happen, suddenly frogs/toads start to invade the town levitating on lily pads and seemingly having a great time. The frogs eventually return to their rightful homes BUT the big surprise is what is going to happen on the following Tuesday? Tuesday won the prestigious Caldecott Medal and Wiesner’s amazing speech is here. I love this quote from that speech

Fortunately, kids know funny when they see it. If, after reading Tuesday one evening before bed, they look out the window and see frogs flying by—well, we should all be so lucky.

Wiesner’s art is incredible and I can guarantee that parents will love this as much as their children. Ages 4+

Although we have used some very classic choices here there is also room for a special mention for the fantastic wordless books by wonderful Australian illustrator Gregory Rogers, The Boy, the Bear, the Baron and the Bard and sequel Midsummer Knight. Ages 6+

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The mahl stick is a rod with a padded or cork tip held in the non-painting hand.


The brush hand rests on the the mahl stick to give it control and to keep it from touching the wet paint.


My plein air mahl sticks are made from metal or wooden dowel rods. But in the studio I use a 26 inch section of a wooden yardstick instead of a dowel. It is sanded and finished with tung oil.


On the underside of the tip is a wooden spacer. This holds the stick at a constant height of about ¾ inch above the paint surface. The inside of the tip is hooked so that the mahl stick can hang vertically onto the top of the drawing board when not in use.


The yardstick markings make it handy for measuring and for ruling lines in the pencil stage. Wood-burned into the top surface is the classic maxim from Ovid: “ARS EST CELARE ARTEM” (it is art to conceal art); in other words, "true art conceals the means by which it is achieved." You might find another maxim that fits you better at this link or this link.


From time to time I use an acrylic bridge. This also stands about ¾ inch off the drawing surface on two legs. This is especially good for inking with a dip pen or Rapidograph.

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The taboret is a little drawer unit that sits to the right of me me when I’m painting in oil in the studio. It holds paints, brushes, pens and pencils.

The white palette surface where I mix my paints rests on a hinged board which can can be set to any angle. If I need to refer to the color wheel (see Color Sunday posts), I can hook it above the mixing surface.


1. The blobs of paint rest on a 3x18 inch paint shelf. This is a wooden plywood surface that floats above the mixing surface.
2. I mix paints on a roll of standard freezer paper, which is coated with polyethylene. The roll hangs on a wooden dowel below the paint shelf.
3. Mixing cups with Grumtine and Liquin. Little wedges nearby hold the paper in tightly.
4. Peanut butter jar with kerosene for cleaning brushes. There’s a screen halfway down in the peanut butter jar to give something for the brush to scrub against.
5. Jar of Liquin, an alkyd based medium. It dries fast, but with a dull sheen that needs to be varnished later.
6. Plastic tub from a Chinese restaurant. I cut a rectangular hole in the lid with a mat knife. At the end of the day I scrape down the paints on the paint shelf using a palette knife, and the scrapings go in here. When it’s full, I dispose of the whole tub.
7. Paint rag with a wiggly wire to hold the brush handles. This is where brushes sit while they’re in use.
8. Note the door hinges under the mixing panel. This allows the whole panel to be raised up. Unseen beneath the hinged panel, is an adjustable sliding clamp that fixes the slope at any angle.
9. Brushes are mostly bristles and white nylon flats.


Here’s how the freezer paper fits under the edge of the tip-up palette. Fresh paper unrolls plastic side up and constantly gives a new surface for mixing. The old mixing surface tears off at the right of the palette. There's no need to scrape the paint off the palette every day.

In drawers below are pencils, pens, markers, paints, and mediums.

The whole thing is on wheels, allowing it to roll around.

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For centuries artist have used darkened mirrors and smoked lenses to help them view a real landscape in simplified tonal values.


By the nineteenth century these optical devices became widely known as “Lorrain mirrors” or “Claude glasses.” Their darkened reflections suggested the work of landscape painter Claude Lorrain (1604?-1682). Lorrain himself, though, probably never used them. The name appeared long after his death, and for a time the devices were associated with the English poet, Thomas Gray (1716-1771).


Antique Lorrain mirrors were usually elliptical and slightly convex to allow the viewer to see the entire scene in miniature.
Here’s a simple homemade Lorrain mirror fashioned out of an ordinary piece of glass painted black on one side. The backside and edges were then protected with tape. In a pinch you could get the same effect by looking at the reflection in a lens of your sunglasses cupped in your hand.

For artists nowadays, the benefit of studying a darkened reflection is that it desaturates the colors, reduces the detail, and organizes the tones. By grouping the darks together into large masses, the vista takes on a romantic or picturesque aura. You can immediately see how to proceed with your tonal design. It’s easier to compare the relative brightness of light values—such as clouds compared to white buildings.


Here’s a photo manipulated with Photoshop to simulate the effect. I occasionally use Lorrain mirrors to help me choose a motif, or study it before commencing to paint. They’re also helpful for a mid-course check during the painting. They guard against the tendency we all have to lighten the values of the shadows, which results from our eyes adjusting to the dark areas and seeing too much detail in them.

If you prefer looking through a transparent viewer rather than seeing a reflection in a mirror, you can improvise your own Lorrain glass using a dark gray filter, a welding goggle, or an unexposed piece of film.


In an era before photography, both artists and tourists enjoyed the novelty of looking at real landscapes through gold- or blue-tinted Lorrain glasses. A heroine from an English play dating from 1798 said, as she peered through her warm-tinted glass: “How gorgeously glowing.” Then switching to a dark glass, she said, “How gloomily glaring.” Finally, looking through a cobalt-tinted glass, she exclaimed, “How frigidly frozen.”

Final quote from Spectacles and Other Vision Aids: A History and Guide to Collecting, by J. William Rosenthal. p. 276,

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Do you have a drawer full of dried-up watercolor tubes? I do.


Here’s an idea to protect your newer tubes from suffering the same fate. Store them in tightly sealed canning jars, or if you’d rather, Tupperware. You can use one jar for warm colors and another for cools. This way they stay fresh forever.

Maybe someone out there has an suggestion for what to do with those dried up tubes. Someone once told me you could rehydrate them with a large hypodermic needle. I tried that but it didn't work. Maybe you could cut them open to regrind them. Hmmm. Any ideas?

Don’t miss a big Color Sunday post tomorrow….

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Now that winter is here, only the crazy people go out to paint.

I learned how to survive winter painting from one of my crazy friends, Jim Cramer. He’s far more intrepid than I am. He does all his paintings outdoors, year round. You’ll find him out there in the teeth of a gale or beside a frozen river down to about ten degrees above zero.

I wimp out below about 25 or 30 degrees Fahrenheit or about minus 4 degrees Celsius. But I love painting snow because the colors of light and shadow are much more obvious, especially around the “golden hour.”

Here are a few tips, mainly on what not to do:

--Fingerless gloves keep your hands warm without losing your grip on the brush. Put your non-painting hand in a warmer glove.

--Don’t use a metal mahlstick like I’m doing here. A wooden one is much better.

--The glare of full sun on snow makes it hard to judge color. Try painting late in the day when the shadows lengthen.

--If you’re painting in watercolor in subfreezing temperatures, don’t replace the water with white wine, because that freezes, too. Use vodka instead.

--That white umbrella on the C-Stand is meant to cut direct sunlight from behind. If the wind picks up, the C-Stand should be weighted with a sandbag.

--Your feet and your fingers are the first to freeze. Wear insulated boots, and try standing on a carpet sample instead of directly on the snow.

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One of the virtues of oil paint is that you can paint in a drizzle or a downpour. Don’t even think of trying it in watercolor. In 100 percent humidity, watercolor washes won't dry.

Here's the setup I was using for a painting of a storefront scene. The umbrella was a cheap beach umbrella that came with a plastic clamp. It attached to the top of the pochade box. It kept the worst of the water off the painting, but instead an icy river flowed down my neck.

It poured for six hours with no let-up. You can see the painting here in its lay-in stage, drawn in loosely with a bristle brush using burnt sienna thinned with turpentine.

It was fun painting the puddles, but I had a devil of a time with the neon drug store sign, as you can see in the final painting. The neon is an intensely saturated color. But it’s also high in value. It’s impossible to capture in both the intense chroma and the high value in the same single paint mixture.

If you go for the bright red chroma, the value or tone of the paint goes lower, and if you try to capture the lightness, you can’t also suggest the color. Analyzing the photo now after the fact, I suppose the trick would have been to show the bright halo of intensely saturated color directly adjacent to the near-white neon tubes.

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When you’re setting up a model to paint from life, it helps to use a strong light source, placed well away from the model. If the light is set too close, you get a variation in light intensity: a hotspot on the top half of the figure, and the feet lit dimly from a different angle. Painting is hard enough! We don’t need obstacles like that.

The standard clamp-on reflector lights from the hardware store don’t cut it. Their light is just too weak. But they’re used all the time, even in art schools, which should know better.


It’s well worth investing in a professional light designed for use on the stage or movie set. Here’s a Mole Richardson Baby spotlight, a good solid workhorse for a small to medium-sized studio. It attaches to an adjustable tripod that lets you lift the light up to 14 feet in the air.

It will easily take a 600 watt bulb (about $30 each), which shines through a fresnel lens. If you want a lower intensity, you can use a smaller bulb. You can place the baby spot 20 feet away from a model and twirl a knob to zoom in the light just where you want it.

The baby spot also has adjustable “barn doors” to control how much light spills to the sides, and a rack for hanging the plastic gels or color filters in front of the light. The gels are made to withstand heat, but with a really hot light, you might want to clip the gels to the barn doors, farther from the heat of the bulb. In the photo I’m putting a blue gel in the rack.

It’s shining on a plaster cast of Abe Lincoln and a plastic chrome hemisphere. I mentioned the mirror ball on a previous post. It’s useful for recording the source and character of the light influences in a given scene.

Art supply catalogs don’t usually carry these lights, instead stocking wimpier equipment that isn’t worth investing in. I don’t want to sound like I’m giving anyone a commercial plug, so I’ll leave it to you to hunt down sources and brands. Try googling “stage or theater lighting supply” or search Ebay. The retail stores also sell C-stands, mentioned in an earlier post.


This 30-minute oil study of a model was painted using the baby spot set right up behind and above me for a fairly simple frontal lighting.

In tomorrow's post, (Studio Lighting II: Key, Fill and Edge) we'll take a look at strategies for placing the lights.

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To celebrate autumn, here’s a step-by-step painting demo from a local farmstand.


The pochade box is set up on a camera tripod, with the white umbrella mounted on a C-stand nearby. It’s an overcast day, so the umbrella isn’t really necessary as a light diffuser, but it protects against occasional sprinkles of rain.


To speed up the painting, I spent about 15 minutes premixing little piles of the main colors of the scene: dull yellow, orange, red, and cool gray. For each hue, there are about four or five separate steps of tone or value. The palette cups hold Grumtine turpentine and Liquin. The brushes and palette knife hang off the board on the left.


Here are the basic shapes sketched in with a bristle brush using burnt sienna and raw umber thinned down with turpentine.


Now the tones are lightly washed in transparently, just to cover the whiteness of the canvas.


Here it is about an hour and a half along, with the pumpkins in the foreground and the basket of ornamental gourds at left finished. Time is racing by, and customers keep coming up and trying to buy the gourds.


Here’s the finished painting after about four hours of work time. This was a "paint out" day, so it had to be auctioned off as a wet painting later that afternoon.

This amount of painting would have taken about four days in the studio. There’s something about the urgency of being on the spot that speeds up painting decisions. But the real secret to painting fast either in the studio or on the spot is premixing pools of color, because otherwise most of the time is wasted with color mixing.

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