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They All Saw a Cat
By Brendan Wenzel
Chronicle Books
$16.99
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5013-0
Ages 4-7
On shelves now

It’s funny. Unless you’re a teacher or librarian, a grown adult that does not work or live with children will come into very little contact with picture books. Then, one day, they produce a few kids and BLAMMO! They are shot into a world they haven’t visited since they were young themselves. They grab frantically at the classics, discover that a lot of them don’t work with very very young children (since when did Horton Hatches the Egg have so many words?!?), and then occasionally turn to the experts for help. And why? Parents’ reasons are not united on this front. Some read to their kids to instill a love of reading. Others to build little brains. Others to simply fill the long hours of the day. Occasionally a parent will also use a book to teach some kind of a lesson. If the parent is unlucky they will get stuck with a book sticky with didacticism (an unpleasant book that sucks all the joy out of the reading experience). But if they are lucky (or they are in the hands of a capable professional) they might find just the right book, teaching just the right lesson. Here’s an example: Let’s say you wanted to teach a kid empathy or how our perceptions change depending on our own experiences and who we are. How do you show that in 32 pages? Well, you could pick up some cloying, toxic dribble that overuses words like “hugs” and “friendship”. Nine times out of ten, that’s what’s going to happen. Or, if you are a clever parent, you pick up a book like They All Saw a Cat. It looks at first glance like it’s just about a cat. Delve a little deeper and you’ll find it about science and art and perception and empathy. And it does it all with very simple sentences, repetition, and a lot of white backgrounds. Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all.

“The cat walked through the world, with its whiskers, ears, and paws . . .” In that walking it is seen. It is seen by a child, a dog, and a fox. It is seen by a fish, a mouse, and a bee. It is seen by a bird, a flea, a snake, a skunk, a worm, and a bat. And what’s important is that this “seeing” changes with every creature. For mice and dogs, the cat is perceived through the lens of their own interactions with it. For worms and bats the cat is only visible through the ways in which it moves through space (vibrations through the ground and the ways in which echolocation shape it). By the end we see a hodgepodge cat, a mix of how each animal sees it. Then the cat comes to the water, viewing its own reflection, “and imagine what it saw?”

The book this actually reminded me of the most was that old Rudyard Kipling story “The Cat Who Walked By Himself”. Unlike that tale we never really get this book from the cat’s perspective. Indeed, the cat is often only visible when others see him. The similarity to Kipling comes with the language. That very first sentence, for example: “The cat walked through the world, with its whiskers, ears, and paws . . .” And as in the original art for that story, the cat here is often pictured from the back. There’s a lot of debate about whether or not a book written by one person and illustrated by another can ever be as strong as a book that is written and illustrated by the same artist. They All Saw a Cat makes a fairly strong argument that artist who are also authors are the better way to go. Wenzel’s sentences are so perfectly layered here. If anything, they match the personality of a cat. There aren’t many words, true. But the measured tone is at once soothing and scintillating. I liked how the book broke up the animals. The first three are potential predators. The second three are potential prey. The final six are strict observers. It also ends perfectly with the best possible sentence. Not all picture books, no matter how beautiful they look, are capable of sticking their landings. This one does.

In this book the publication page (where they tend to describe the artist’s process) gets a little slaphappy. It reads (and I am quoting this precisely), “The illustrations in this book were rendered in almost everything imaginable, including colored pencil, oil pastels, acrylic paint, watercolor, charcoal, Magic Marker, good old number 2 pencils, and even an iBook.” The other day I was listening to a podcast where one of the speakers speculated that including this kind of information in a book changes the adult reader’s perspective. Would I think less of this book if I found out it was done in digital ink? Possibly, though I should note that I was blown away by the art long before I ever turned to see how it was made. And while digital art is great and has its place, I’d like to see the program that replicates what Wenzel’s done here.

The sheer beauty of the book is what strikes you first when you read it. Consider the two-page spread where on the left-hand side you see the cat through snake vision, and on the right-hand side you see the cat through skunk vision. The snake’s view is a vibrant shock of color, all yellows and reds and blues. The skunk’s in contrast, looks like the soft grainy sepia-tones of an old film. Maybe Casablanca. Put together, side-by-side, the same cat is its own opposite. But if Wenzel were constantly wowing you with eye-popping images that wouldn’t really support the narrative flow. That’s why the pacing of the book is key. Wenzel starts the book out very slowly, with lots of white backgrounds and views akin to what we see as people. The child, dog, and fox all see the cat similarly (though I loved the oversized bell around its neck, indicating the fox and dog’s superior sense of hearing through a visual medium). The fish is the first moment you start to separate from human visuals. The cat’s large, yellow eyes are 80% of the two pages. But it is the mouse’s Basquiat-esque view of the cat that steals the show. The red background, and the cat all teeth and claws, and terrifying eyes is a far cry from the cuddly creature at the start of the story. It’s also the moment when the child readers come to realize that perception is personal.

An interesting criticism of this book is linked precisely to the more science-y aspects of the text. One of the commenters on a blog post I wrote, that included this book, said that, “I desperately wanted some nice science-y back matter to tell us how and why different animals see the cat the way they do. Sure, we can go OH, this animal must be colorblind! This animal ‘sees’ by sonar! But c’mon, throw us an edu-bone here. It felt like such a missed opportunity.” This is an interesting note. We’ve grown used to useful backmatter in this post-Core Curriculum world of ours. Would this book have been stronger if it had contained a science element to it? Yes and no. It would have been a real boon to teachers, you betcha, and probably to perceptive parents who could have turned it into a lesson for young readers. If I had to guess I’d say the reason it wasn’t done may have had something to do with the fact that Wenzel is mixing his fact and fiction here pretty closely. Each animal is “seeing” as it would in the wild, but that is not to say that the art is by any means scientific. The cartoonish quality to the animals (no better exemplified than in the mouse’s bulbous eyes) doesn’t hold up to close scrutiny. I would have very much liked notes on the accuracy of the art, but I can understand the fear of asking the reader to take the work too seriously. I don’t necessarily agree, but I understand it.

How do you discuss this book with kids? Well, you might read it to them, start to finish, and then ask them which picture shows what the cat really looks like. When they select (some will go with the human view but I’ve no doubt a couple will prefer the dog or bird p.o.v.s) you then tell them that actually all the pictures in this book are true. And if you really want to blow their little minds, you tell them that there’s a good chance that the way you see the world isn’t the same way the person next to you does. Everyone, everywhere sees the world different from his or her neighbor. Is it any wonder we have problems? The solution is to try and see things from another person’s view. Now, if the kids think you’re speaking literally or figuratively, it doesn’t really matter. You’ve planted the seed. Or, rather, the book has.

Let us do away with the notion of “cat people” vs. “dog people”. This book is for “people”. End of sentence. And if I got a little crazy in my first paragraph here, filling you in on my view of world peace via picture books, you’ll understand when you read this book. That tired old phrase to “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” makes no sense to a kid. But travel a page through another animal’s eyes? There’s never been a better fictional picture book that allows you to do this. If we all see something as simple as a cat this differently, what else might we not see the same? It’s a treat to eye, ear, and mind, but don’t forget. We’re all going to see this book through our own lenses. What will your kids see when they look at it? Only one way to find out.

On shelves now.

Source: Galley sent from publisher for review.

Like This? Then Try:

• Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young
• Elephant in the Dark by Mina Javaherbin
• The Sound of Colors by Jimmy Liao

Professional Reviews:

• A star from School Library Journal
• A star from Publishers Weekly
• Kirkus
• The Boston Globe
• The Washington Post

Other Mentions:

• BookPage
• Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Videos:

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The Sandwich Thief
By Andre Marois
By Patrick Doyon
Chronicle Books
$14.99
ISBN: 978-1-4521-4659-1
Ages 7-9
On shelves March 1st

Injustice, that sweet universal quality, makes for great children’s books. Whether it’s a picture book or a young adult novel, if you can tap into a reader’s sense of unfairness you have yourself some children’s book gold. It’s the instantaneous gateway to identification. Adults too often forget how painful those early lessons about how the world is an unfair place feel. Children’s books tap into that feeling, while also giving kids a sense of hope. Yes, the world is a mad, bad place sometimes. But there are times when things work out for the best. And if its takes disgusting flavor balls in delicious sandwiches to reach that cathartic ending, so much the better. I wouldn’t argue that Andre Marois’s The Sandwich Thief is the greatest book on this subject I’ve ever seen (it could use a little work in the empathy department), but when it comes to tapping into that feeling of unbridled rage in the face of a cold, calculating world, this title definitely knows its audience.

There are upsides and downsides to having foodies for parents. On the one hand, they can seriously embarrass you when they overdo your school lunches. On the other hand, delicious sandwiches galore! Marin’s a big time fan of his mom’s sandwich constructions, particularly when graced with her homemade mayonnaise, but then one day the unthinkable occurs. Marin goes to take his sandwich to the lunchroom only to find it is gone! When it happens a second time on a second day Marin is convinced that a thief is in his midst. But who could it be? A classmate? A teacher? Everyone is suspect but it’s Marin’s clever mama who knows how to use her mad genius skills to out the culprit, and in a very public way!

Writing a good early chapter book takes some daring. The form is so incredibly limited. It’s best to have a story that can be read in a single sitting by a parent, or over the course of several attempts by a child just getting used to longer sentences. In this book Marois sets up his mystery with care. There are lots of red herrings, but the author also plays fair, including the true villain amongst the innocuous innocents. The adults made for particularly interesting reading. For example, I loved the portrait of Marin’s principal Mr. Geiger, a man so rumpled and ill-fed you wonder for quite some time how he got his current position (he redeems himself at the end, though).

I like to tell folks that we are currently in a new Golden Age of children’s literature. This is, admittedly, a fairly ridiculous statement to make since few people can be aware of a Golden Age, even if they are already waist deep in it. Still, the evidence is striking. Never before have authors or illustrators had so much freedom to play around with forms, construction, colors, art styles, etc. It’s not a free-for-all or anything (unless you’re self-publishing) but ideas that publishers might have balked at twenty years ago are almost commonplace today. Take The Sandwich Thief as one such example. Here you have an early chapter book that draws heavily on the classic comic tradition. But speech balloons aside, artist Patrick Doyon makes every single page an eclectic experience. A French-Canadian editorial illustrator who had never made a children’s book prior to this one, in this book Doyon moves effortlessly between two-page spreads, borderless panels, sequential art, the works. You might be so wrapped up in the form that you’d miss how limited his palette is. Working entirely in orange, red, and black, Doyon’s talents are such that you never even notice the missing colors during your reading experience.

Sadly, there are some aspects to this brand new book that feel like they were written twenty or thirty years ago (and not in a good way). When identifying the potential thieves in his classroom, Marin falls back onto some pretty broad stereotypes. We’re in an era when body acceptance makes old-fashioned fat shaming feel downright archaic. With that in mind, the identification of one student as “Big Bobby” whose “main hobby is eating” is particularly unfortunate. Add in “Poor Marie” whose mom lost her job and can’t afford to eat, and you’ve got yourself an odd avoidance of sympathy. Another reader of this book mentioned that the villains is of a similar lower-socioeconomic level, which is questionable. There are also a couple insults like “Numbnuts” floating about the text that will pass without comment in some households and be a major source of contention in others. FYI.

Winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Illustrated Children’s Literature, French Language, Marois and Doyon’s first collaboration is for any kid that comes in looking for a fun read with a mystery component. With its classy format and striking cover it may even appeal to the Wimpy Kid contingent. Hey, stranger things have happened. It’s a true bummer that the book dumps on so many people along the way but it may still appeal to any kid who craves a little justice in the world. Particularly if that justice comes with the taste of chalk-textured cat pee.

On shelves March 1st.

Source: Final copy sent from publisher for review

Like This? Then Try:

• The Great Cake Mystery by Andrew McCall Smith
• The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake by Robin Newman
• The First Case by Ulf Nilsson

Professional Reviews: Kirkus

Other Jackets:

It can’t really compare to the English language version, but the original French cover is pretty cute too:

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by Davide Cali illustrated by Benjamin Chaud Chronicle Books 2015 Excuses, excuses, but it's the SIZE of the lies that impresses here. When asked why he was late for school a boy goes into a lengthy, imaginative journey into all the obstacles in his path. From a story perspective it's exactly what one teacher once described as "one dang thing after another," and the twist on the last page

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On this day, ahead of a predicted storm, I'm happy to share these three images—snapshots of books living forward.

Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir will be released in a month or so by Avery—its fourth printing—with a newly crafted afterword (featuring some of the newly read memoirs and evolving memoir theories I've had since Handling was first released in August 2013).

Going Over will be released by Chronicle as a paperback in November, following a happy run as a hardback (thank you, kind librarians, teachers, readers).

Small Damages has just been released by Speak (Penguin Random House) in its second edition paperback—slightly different packaging, same story, and much gratitude to those who found and read the book either as a Philomel hardback or a first-edition Speak paperback.

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It’s a new year but the librarian previews just ah-keep on coming.  Generally you’ll read my previews of “The Big Six/Five” (they haven’t really gone down to a proper five yet, but it’s coming).  My heart always belongs to the little guys, though.  The folks who aren’t necessarily located in NYC.  Folks like Chronicle Books, located more in the San Francisco area part of the country.  If Candlewick is the publisher of books that are gorgeous in a classical sense then Chronicle is her mod younger sister.  Here are some of the treats we’ll be seeing pouring out of that particular co. soon.

Star Wars Epic Yarns by Jack and Holman Wang

A New Hope (9781452133935)

The Empire Strikes Back (9781452134994)

Return of the Jedi (9781452135007)

A little context might be in order here.  Since we’re already on the topic of small publishers, are any of you familiar with Simply Read Books?  That’s a small company that cares so much about children’s literature that they pay extra money so that the glue in the bindings of their books smells better.  I am not making that up.  Simply Read was plugging along for a while when they hit upon Jack & Holman Wang.  The result was their remarkable Cozy Classics series of board books.  We’ve seen plenty of tongue-in-cheek board book editions of stories like Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice but the Cozy Classics excelled by being the most beautiful and meticulous out there.  Jack and Holman’s attention to detail is paramount.  They care as much about the simplified language as they do the natural lighting in a given scene.  Now Chronicle has lured them over to their team so as to present all three of the original Star Wars films in the same kind of format.  As you can see they are felt (felt droids!) and incredibly fun.  We were told that the only digital aspects you’ll find in these photographs are the light sabers.  Other than that, it’s all natural, baby.  You know you want one.  Or three.

You know, the most consistent surprise I found during this preview was how many familiar names I was already a fan of (the aforementioned Wangs, Mark Siegel, Amy June Bates, etc.) started cropping up as part of the Chronicle roster.  I love learning about new folks, but there’s something infinitely comforting about finding someone you already love in a new location (so to speak).

Polar Bear’s Underwear by Tupera Tupera (9781452141992)

If your first thought upon seeing this was to think of the Blue Apple Books series Bear In Underwear by Todd Doodler, you aren’t alone.  However, aside from the obvious similarities of ursine undies, Tupera’s book goes in a different direction.  Translated from what I believe was the original Japanese, in this book a polar bear’s underwear has gone AWOL.  Various pairs are located but each belongs to a different animal.  The zebra’s have colorful stripes, the butterfly’s are tiny, etc.  In the end this is less “Bear In Underwear” and more “I Want My Underwear Back” (should Jon Klassen be looking for a sequel to his smash hit, I think we’ve found a winner).  There’s even an “underwear bellyband” that has to be removed from the cover so as to open the book (thereby rendering our titular hero naked as the day he was born).

Interstellar Cinderella (9781452125329)

Anyone out there a fan of Cinder by Marissa Meyer?  Then consider this Cinder for the 4-7 year-old set.  Written in rhyming text this colorful concoction stars a parts-loving Cinderella.  Thanks to her fairy bot mother she goes off and ends up becoming not the prince’s paramour but his mechanic.  Love it, love it.

Rude Cakes by Rowboat Watkins (9781452138510)

I don’t want to shock you folks, but the truth about Rowboat Watkins?  That’s not his real name.  I know, I know, I was as dismayed as the rest of you when I heard.  Living as we do in a world where names like Robert Quackenbush, Mary Quattlebaum, Sara Pennypacker, and even the occasional Betsy Bird proliferate, you kind of hope for the best when you run across a guy with a name you can’t say three times fast.  Alas, tis not to be.  A former Sendak fellow (how many were there in the end, I wonder?) this book features pastry without manners.  A perfect pairing with Scholastic’s recent Please, Mr. Panda, in this tale a cake has to learn a thing or two about being a bit of a boor.

Sea Bones by Bob Barner (9781452125008)

First off, love that cover.  It makes me feel as though someone should seriously consider doing a Halloween ocean tale.  In any case, bone-obsessed Bob Barner is back.  You loved his Dem Bones and thrilled to his Dinosaur Bones.  Now check out this remarkably effective little nonfiction title for younger readers.  Note the infographic feel and how it incorporates older and younger texts.  Behold the underwater informational chart!  And see this picture up above of the different parts of the fish.  Am I crazy or shouldn’t this be a poster?  I would hang it up.  Yup yup.

Beach House by Deanna Caswell, illustrated by Amy June Bates (9781452124087)

Ah.  The beach.  It lends itself to lovely art, does it not?  It’s never too soon to start mooning over the seaside.  Indeed here in the cold of January it’s sounding particularly nice.  Using lots of oranges and reds, Bates brings to life Caswell’s rhyming text.  There are lots of nice little details as well, like hanging towels up on a clothesline to dry.  This is why we have watercolors, folks.

How to Read a Story by Kate Messner, illustrated by Mark Siegel (9781452112336)

It’s unfortunate that even at as big a scan as this, you can’t quite make out the covers of the books surrounding the boy on the book jacket here.  If you could, you’d be able to see how Mark Siegel has cleverly worked in a wide array of picture books, both classic and contemporary, into his art.  Pairing two of my favorite children’s book creators together, this is a kind of picture book guidebook on . . . well, you read the title.  It sort of reminds me of the text for How to Train a Train, honestly.  Fun stuff.

Stella Brings the Family by Miriam B. Schiffer, illustrated by Holly Clifton-Brown (9781452111902)

Slowly, ever so slowly, we’re moving away from the books in which having two dads or two moms is the sole point of the title.  Still, it’s good to remember that there are a LOT of kinds of tales we’ve not seen before.  This book serves more as a story about how there are many different kinds of families out there.  When Stella’s class has a Mother’s Day celebration she’s a bit out to sea.  After all, she has two daddies.  So how can she invite them to the party?  It’s a good little tolerance-based tale.

Pool by JiHyeon Lee (9781452142944)

Wordless is the name of the game here.  Beautiful might be the other word that comes to mind.  From Korean born JiHyeon Lee comes a story of what happens to two kids when they meet at an incredibly crowded pool.  Contrasting the nightmarishly crowded pool with a kind of beautiful chaos and underwater adventures, this is one of the riskier and more interesting picture book debuts of 2015.

Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal (9781452119366)

Rejoice, oh ye fans of Messner and Neal’s Over and Under the Snow.  They’re baaaaaack!  And this time they’re looking at spring springing.  What’s in the dirt?  What’s hidden on the underside of the leaves?  It’s a tiny little world out there and this looks like a perfect recommendation for any teacher searching for new nonfiction spring-based picture books.

A Nest Is Noisy by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long (9781452127132)

Speaking of delightful returns, Aston & Long are back with the fifth book in their natural-objects/critters-have-adjectives series (I mean what would you call it?).  If you already loved An Egg Is Quiet, A Seed Is Sleepy, A Butterfly Is Patient, and A Rock Is Lively then check out the latest.  As with their other books, the duo upset expectations from the get go.  You thought this would just cover bird nests?  Think again, my friend.  Everything from tiny bees to orangutans are on display here.

The Land of Lines by Victor Hussenot (9781452142821)

Because you just cannot have enough wordless books in a given year.  The format may be picture book sized but the interiors are pretty darn graphic novelly.  Originally French, this philosophical wordless picture book uses just blue and red with the occasional dash of yellow along the way.  It sort of reminds me of that old PBS show Secret City, where you’d be shown how to draw in much the same way.

Farewell Floppy by Benjamin Chaud (9781452137346)

Chronicle previews happen in NYC in a restaurant.  That’s just how they do.  And on this particular day the table of attendees got into a big debate about this book.  Created by the remarkable Benjamin Chaud (see my post You Know Him. You Just Don’t Know You Know Him) this tale features a boy who decides to abandon his rabbit Floppy in the woods.  Why?  Well, the kid is growing up and he’s fairly certain that having a bunny for a best friend keeps you from maturing properly.  Trouble is, while losing Floppy might be hard, finding him again once he’s been successfully “set free” is even harder.  The debate at my table?  Is Floppy a real rabbit or a stuffed one?  You’ll have to read it yourself to be the judge of that.

Bigfoot Is Missing by J. Patrick Lewis and Kenn Nesbitt, illustrated by MinaLima (9781452118956)

As the art here shows, the interesting thing about this Lewis/Nesbitt pairing (both have been Children’s Poet Laureates with Nesbitt currently holding the title) is that it’s poetry.  Cryptid poetry!  With the rather lovely art of Miraphora (best first name ever?) Mina and Eduardo Limo at play (put them together and they become MinaLima) we see poems here disguised as street signs, milk cartons, graffiti, newspaper headlines, etc.  I’m always on the lookout for new poetry books.  This fits the bill.

The Water and the Wild by K.E. Ormsbee (9781452113869)

Chronicle specializes in picture books, generally.  So when they decide to invest in a work of middle grade fiction, they do so with their heart and soul.  This book is being sold as for fans of A Wrinkle in Time and The Wizard of Oz.  A lone girl must find a cure for her best friend’s rare illness.  It requires going through a door in an apple tree and discovering her roots (ha ha) along the way.  This is a debut for Ormsbee, so let’s keep an eye on it, please.

Boats Go by Steve Light (9781452129006)

One word: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!

And that’s all she wrote, folks.  Now to go tackle the seven OTHER previews I have waiting in the wings presumably *gulp* before summer.

Many thanks to Chronicle for presenting us this list.

 

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It’s been a busy few weeks around here. I’m still trying to figure out where the summer part of summer is!

But.

It’s all been fantastic things.

I taught a Photoshop and Graphic Design to kids in a Summer Session up at my school, and it was so much fun. Exhausting and crazy-making, but it was awesome to spend a couple weeks with kids who were creative, fearless, and super engaged.

That graphic at the top?

A fifth grader’s. She’d opened Photoshop for the first time in her life about twenty minutes earlier. We studied Brian Won’s work (and his process post here!) for texture and shape, and I made them this guy as an example. He’s kinda cute, right?If you don’t know who these guys are, you’ve got to check out a student film (I think?) of Jon Klassen’s, An Eye for an Annai. The kid who made this said it if it had been a book it would be her very favorite of all time.

(My students dropping hyperbole on the glory of stories?! Are you shocked?!)

And for those story-crazed students and their story-crazed librarian, a huge expansion is in the works. I’ve always had the greatest job in the school, but now I’m going to have the most gorgeous spot in which to do it. Lucky.And ALA!

A few weeks ago, one of the highlights of my weekend was meeting my editor. Cause this book I wrote is happening, and I’m still pinching myself to make sure this is real life. Taylor is the most kismet-y match for this book, and I can’t wait to bring this thing into the world with her. SUPER SQUEAL. I know.

And then somewhere along the way this blog picked up over 10,000 followers. Ten thousand! That’s a huge, humbling number, and I’m so so grateful for each of you.

So I looked up my top ten posts, and I’d like to give away these ten books. You made them popular, so perhaps you’d like one of your own?!

Pantone Colors

Bruno Munari’s ABC

I Want My Hat Back

Symphony City

Flora and the Flamingo

The Lion and the Mouse

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

Iggy Peck, Architect

Ganesha’s Sweet Tooth

                                                           Hello, Mr. HulotAlso, I’m going to buy these books at Once Upon a Time in Montrose, CA. I love that bookstore anyway, but when they tweet you things like this:

  … I’d pretty much like to buy one of everything from them forever and ever.

All you have to do is leave a comment here by Monday, July 28th at midnight PST. And if you tweet this link so more people can play, I’ll give you an extra entry.

To books, to art, and to making lots more!

(Note: I can only open this giveaway to the US and Canada, so if you are farther flung than that, I send my love to you anyway! Thank you so much for spending time here with me.)

PS: If you’re commenting for the first time, I’ll manually approve it. Don’t panic if it doesn’t show up right away. Thank you!

 

Tagged: brian won, chronicle, giveaway, graphic design, jon klassen, photoshop

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Amazed and grateful, and oh, the company I keep on this treasured YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults list.

Thank you, librarians, for including me in this sweep of terrific books.

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I'm always honored when Peter Glassman of Books and Wonder notices a book I've written and invites me to his store.

So of course I said yes to his recent invitation to join Brian Conaghan, Padma Venkatraman, Lindsay Smith, and Marthe Jocelyn for


New York friends, I hope you will join us for this panel discussion and signing. More information is here.

And thanks, too, to two recent reviewers who found Going Over and had kind things to say. Miss Literati concluded her review with these words:

I found GOING OVER to be exhilarating to read. It was a great book and I’m excited to read other books by Beth Kephart! — Miss Literati

And then there was Ruth Compton, Librarian and Readers' Advisor, who wrote:

Ms Kephart has created a hauntingly lyrical and powerful story about lives in a divided Berlin, about choices and consequences, about love and loss that draws you in and won’t let you go long after you’ve put the book down. —  Ruth Compton

Thank you, Miss Literati and Ruth. And hello, Books of Wonder.

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Cinder, Scarlet & Cress
Marissa Meyer
YA

This review has me torn. On the one hand, I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Cinder. On the other hand, I had a hard time moving from book 1 to book 2 because main protagonists change. Is this a revolutionary way to avoid the sequel slowdown? Or does it kill the reading momentum?

But one thing at a time. First, Cinder.

Basic premise: A retelling of Cinderella as a cyborg/lunar girl living in a future Beijing in which the Queen of the Moon threatens to attack and enslave (or destroy) earth. Cinder, a mechanic and adopted daughter of the archetypically evil stepmother and one evil stepsister and one nice stepsister, is (spoiler alert!) secretly the rightful heir to the lunar throne. She doesn't know it yet. She thinks she's just a mechanic, who is also partly cyborg, and thus despised by most. Cyborgs are considered de-humanized by the cybernetic parts. Add to that, earthens suffer a plague caused by a viral strain introduced by runaway lunars.

As Fate would have it, the crown prince, Kai, is looking for the lost lunar heir, and comes to Cinder to repair  a broken android that may hold the answers to the lost princess's whereabouts. Cue: meet-cute.

The rest of the book is action-packed unraveling of the plague, who the princess is, the love interest between Cinder and Kai that all lead up to the annual ball where (spoiler alert!) the princess does not get her prince. In fact, he sacrifices her to the Lunar Queen to save earth.

Despite how much is going on in this story, it held my attention and was a fun read. Definitely a dessert book. My youngest loved the book so much, she asked if we could get the second book. We listened to both as audio books. We got it. We almost didn't get through.

Scarlet begins with a wholly different protagonist, namely, a character based on Little Red Riding Hood, with a parallel story about the people who helped Cinder escape from the moon, hide her and transform/heal her as a cyborg. It was very jarring to trade out one main protagonist for another, and in this instance, Scarlet is a very angry 18 year old, which makes it hard to feel empathy for her. She constantly lashes out. But we stuck with it (partly due to a very long car ride) and eventually, about halfway through the book, were able to listen without checking the clock.

I'm not sure I'd have bought the third book, but Scarlet ended in the middle of said long car trip, so we did. Cress follows the same pattern as Scarlet, introducing yet another new main protagonist and another retelling of a fairy tale, Rapunzel.

All of the main female lead's stories are connected and interwoven. The writing is tight and filled with action. And I admire Meyer for coming up with a novel way to avoid the sequel slowdown. I'm not sure introducing a new protagonist as the lead works particularly well. The reader is forced to alter heroes from one protagonist to another, while also following the original protagonist's main story as it unfolds in a sort of b-story role.  Clearly, these books have sold exceptionally well, so something is working. Maybe it's my misperception that I'm getting hung up on. This isn't a trilogy. These are chronicles, loosely related stories that are nevertheless connected and do move forward toward a common goal. Still, it was jarring to move from book 1 to 2. And yet, here I am on book 3. Like I said, these books have me torn.

For other great May treasures, click on over to Barrie Summy's website. Happy reading!

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This is it! We’ve officially begun!  Here is, without a doubt, the very first Librarian Preview of the Fall 2014 season.  I’m so thrilled to be presenting it in its full unaltered glory.  Chronicle Books, that plucky little Californian publisher, has really made a name for itself in the past few years.  And now, with their very first (can you believe it?!) Caldecott Honor, it seems like their star is on the rise.  All the more reason to see what wares they’re hocking.  After all, if Candlewick rules the Beautiful Picture Book World of the East Coast, Chronicle rules the West.

But before we begin, let’s look at a little book they have coming out of their adult division:

Goodnight, Darth Vader by Jeffrey Brown

How do androids go to sleep?  How do wookies?  Ewoks?  Whatever the heck Admiral Ackbar is?  It was bound to occur. With the phenomenal success of Darth Vader and Son (to say nothing of Vader’s Little Princess) it didn’t take long for a play on the old Goodnight Moon trope.  Jeffrey Brown, for the record, is to be commended.  Can anyone else truly say they have two Star Wars related book series out with two different publishers for the trade book set?  Nay.  I’m just sad the adult book division of my library lays claim to these.  I would have bought this one anyway as juv.

Mix It Up by Herve Tullet

Awwwwwwwww, yeah!!  It’s exactly what you think it is.  The one.  The only.  The SEQUEL TO PRESS HERE!!!!!!!!  Could such a thing be possible?  Could such a thing even work?  It could if said sequel were to go the logical next step.  This book?  It’s all about mixing colors together.  You can kind of tell from the cover that inside it’s huge fun.  Kids can squish pages together to make new colors.  They can tip the pages so that the colors run together into new hues.  It’s the same feel as Press Here but with amazing educational applications.  My kid is really into color mixing right now but all we have for her is Mouse Paint by Ellen Walsh, Blue Goose by Nancy Tafuri, and The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown.  Time to shake things up a little (literally).

The Bear’s Sea Escape by Benjamin Chaud

Remember The Bear’s Song, which was released last year?  It was sort of Where’s Waldo with very French bears.  Well the whole story built to an ending wherein the bear and his cub decide to hibernate after discovering the bee hives on the top of the Paris Opera House.  In the sequel, the Paris Opera House’s roof turns out not to be the most ideal place to sleep.  The bears move into a department store but next thing you know the baby has been mistaken for a toy and the papa has to follow him once more.  The energy in these books makes me feel as though I’d like to see them animated into little French shorts for the enjoyment of the masses.  Wouldn’t that be awesome?  It could happen.

Telephone by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jen Corace

A Mac Barnett book at Chronicle?  Well, considering the fact that his girlfriend works there, it just makes good sense.  Mac’s back, baby, and this time he’s been paired with none other than the woman behind the art in those wildly successful Amy Krouse Rosenthal books Little Pea, Little Hoot, and Little Oink.  This is actually a pretty strong year for Ms. Corace.  Her other book I Hatched by Jill Esbaum only goes to show that she is in a SERIOUS bird phase right now.  Barnett’s book is fine and feathered and a play on the old telephone game.  It’s not the first book to go this route (the lovely Pass It On by Marylyn Sadler did it a couple years ago) but Barnett’s has a different tone and, quite frankly, a different gag at the end.  I also like how each bird hears a message that pertains to his or her own interests.  Just consider this whole enterprise a metaphor for hearing what you want to hear.

Planes Go by Steve Light

And SPEAKING of illustrators who are having good years, can we talk a bit about Steve Light?  Because here we have a guy producing crazy beautiful books with Candlewick like Have You Seen My Dragon? on the one hand, and then turning around to continue his incredibly popular “Go” series.  If you haven’t seen Trains Go, Trucks Go, or Diggers Go then you don’t know your board books.  The man specializes in readaloud board books, for crying out loud.  And nobody does it better.  When I saw that the next one was a plane book I had to ask if boats were next.  Ask and thou shalt receive.  Boats are on the roster for 2015.

Bonjour, Camille by Felipe Cano, illustrated by Laia Aguilar

Meet the Spanish Eloise.  That’s the only way I can accurately describe what it is that you’re seeing here.  Written by a Spaniard and illustrated by a Spaniard, the book is a gentle series of absurdities, each and every one logical to the petite young heroine.  Decked out in a top hat, black striped shirt, and black tutu (tell me that isn’t one of the more iconic visions I could conjure up), Camille is what Amelie might have been like as a child.  I’m seeing definite Urban Outfitters potential here.  In fact, it might even make a good graduation book, what with its wacky go-against-the-grain advice and all.

Flora and the Penguin by Molly Idle

And here it is!  The answer to your prayers.  Prayers you may not even have known you had.  As a sequel to the 2014 Caldecott Honor Book Flora and the Flamingo, Idle’s latest follows up its long and lanky avian from Book #1 with a cheery, squat, dumpling of a little fellow.  And like its predecessor, there are flaps to lift that advance the plot and show off the pair’s dance moves.  It would pair beautifully well with Kristi Valiant’s fellow dancing penguin book Penguin Cha-Cha, come to think of it.  Interestingly, this book is not the only sequel to a 2014 Caldecott Honor out this year.  Also keep an eye peeled for Aaron Becker’s Quest (the sequel to Journey) later in the fall.  Oh, and word on the street has it that the next Flora book might involve a peacock.  Squee!

In This Book by Fani Marceau, illustrated by Joelle Jolivet

Librarians get a lot of requests for “concept books”. Trouble is, folks never just come out and call them that.  They as for opposite books or color books or shape books, and that’s fine.  It’s when their requests get a bit more esoteric that you’re in trouble.  Imagine sitting at your reference desk one day and a well meaning soul comes up to you and asks for “books that deal with the concept of in and out”.  Don’t laugh, it’s happened and it’s a devil of a request to meet.  Now, at least, we’ve something we can hand over.  The fabulous French team of Marceau and Jolivet have paired together to create a truly beautiful variety of “in”s.  Now when I saw that illustrator Jolivet was involved I got a tad bit nervous.  Jolivet is best associated, to my mind, with these gorgeous but enormous picture books like Zoo-ology and Almost Everything.  They’re gorgeous but they don’t fit on my shelves.  In This Book, by contrast, will come in at a sweet 9 1/2″ X 11″.  In (ha ha) teresting.

Flashlight by Lizi Boyd

I wracked my brain and came up with nothing.  Maybe you’ll fare better.  Can you think of a single solitary book in which a kid walks around with a flashlight seeing the cool things that come out at night?  Boyd was the person behind that lovely little Inside Outside last year (a book that garnered no less than four starred reviews).  I liked it a lot but always felt that it suffered from its color scheme.  The color brown may get the literary credit, but certain types of people avoid it like the plague.  Flashlight suffers no such problem as it follows a boy outside at night with a helpful flashlight aiding him.  Eventually the nighttime creatures want to get a look at him too, so they point the flashlight back in his direction in their curiosity.  Cute concept.  Never seen it done before.

The Memory of an Elephant by Sophie Strady, illustrated by Jean-Francois Martin

This one may be a bit special.  Nothing wrong with special books.  They keep things interesting and amuse the children of hipsters nationwide.  But you have to keep an open mind sometimes when you read them.  In this tale, a well dressed elephant writes an encyclopedia inspired by his daily life.  The book will, on occasion, show an encyclopedic spread from his book while also explaining what those items are.  For his part, I haven’t seen a pachyderm this dapper since Babar (spats and all).  The clothes on the animals are extraordinary and the modern furniture quite a riot.  Seriously, you have everything from the butterfly stool to the tulip table in the backgrounds here.  It is not, I should note, by any means the first children’s book to take on well-designed furniture (Goldilocks and the Three Bears: A Tale Moderne comes immediately to mind) but it may be the most attractive to the eye.

Lowriders in Space by Cathy Camper, illustrated by Raul the Third

You have undoubtedly heard my cries of complaint when it comes to the sheer derth of Latino books for kids on our shelves.  And graphic novels?  Don’t even get me started.  Aside from the Luz books (Luz Sees the Light, etc.) they are few and far between.  All the more reason I’m excited by Lowriders in Space.  I mean, the title says it all.  It’s a GN that happens to include some science and Latino culture all in one fell swoop.  Not exactly the most common of critters.  Looking at the art I was immediately drawn to the fact that though it’s clearly done in a particular style, there is just the faintest hint of Astroboy about it.  I should also note that Raul the Third, the illustrator, will apparently be speaking at SLJ’s Day of Dialog this year.  Don’t miss him!

Rhyme Schemer by K.A. Holt

Yesterday I wrote up a Poetry Month post on different rhyme schemes and poetic forms that you might not have heard of.  While typing it up I was tempted to include some info about this here little middle grade verse novel.  The premise is that a bully, one without any real problems in his life to justify his bullying, uses poetry to bully other kids.  Then the tables are turned and the bullier becomes the bully-ee.  Curious?  So am I.  This one’s moving to the top of my To Be Read Shelf and fast.

The Categorical Universe of Candice Phee by Barry Jonsberg

Pity the Australian import in America.  Unless your name is “Shaun Tan” or “Markus Zusak” you’re unlikely to be particularly well known here in the States.  Even if your book happens to win the Children’s Peace Literature Award, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, and the Golden Inky Award, it may not be a household name here yet.  Naturally Barry Jonsberg’s book won those very things and now he is poised to take America by storm.  In this tale a girl on the autism spectrum sets out to make everyone in her life happy.  Along the way the book utilizes a trope that I enjoy very much.  Paired with a penpal in the States who has never written back to her, Candice merrily writes off letters in the course of the novel to them anyway.  I love that.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Cookbook and Cookie Cutters Kit  by Lara Starr

Okay. Admittedly this isn’t the kind of thing the libraries out there should be looking at.  I mean, it comes with its own cookie cutter.  Hard to top that.  But I just had to mention it, and not just because Lara Starr of Chronicle herself did the recipes.  I just like that something like this helped to inspire a book like this one.  That and the fact that I really want to eat that caterpillar’s head.  A lot.  Nom nom nom.

Creature Baby Animals and Creature Sounds by Andrew Zuckerman

Boy, remember when Creature ABC came out all those years ago?  I loved that book so much that I held onto it tightly in the event that I someday had kids of my own.  That was a wise move, but it’s taken a long time for my kid to be ready for that book.  Now two new board books seek to solve that very problem.  They’re eye-catching.  They’re beautiful.  Basically, they’re some of the best animal photography I’ve ever seen.  No mean feat.

The Ultimate Construction Site Book by Anne-Sophie Baumann, illustrated by Didier Balicevic

I view the coming of this book with a mixture of longing and fear.  Longing because when Baumann and Balicevic produced their previous book, The Ultimate Book of Vehicles, this past spring my daughter became enamored of its tabs and doors and other movable elements.  Yet to read the whole book cover to cover can take forever, so I sometimes have to put it judiciously in places where she won’t see it before bedtime.  Such is her all encompassing love.  To discover that the next book is nothing but construction . . . well that’s just a treat.

Nocturne by Traer Scott

I’m on a real photography kick these days.  And have you noticed that the number of children’s books featuring photographs has increased tenfold over the last few years?  Apparently a lot of this has to do with the fact that thanks to digital photography, costs are down.  Traer Scott was hitherto unknown to me before I saw this book, but now I’m a huge fan.  The concept is great too.  Scott photographs nocturnal animals against these deep rich backgrounds.  They just pop into the foreground.  It’s almost as if their portraits were being taken.  As if you needed another way to make some of these critters even more cute than they were before.

You’re Awesome Journal

This isn’t anything to do with children’s books.  I just needed somewhere to put a note to remind myself to buy this for a family member once it’s been published (not until September. . . arg!!).  So, note to self: Purchase this item (ISBN: 978-1-4521-3660-8) when the time is right.  Because, after all, it made me laugh out loud and few blank journals in this world do that.

A million thanks to the kind and gracious Lara Star for entertaining me.  Looks like a great line-up for the coming year.

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The Jewish Museum, designed by Daniel Libeskind, in Berlin

First, I need to say thank you to everyone who made my birthday such a bright yesterday. My birthday-birthday, and my book birthday. The weather was surreal-ly sweet. The daffodils bloomed. I got the client project done in the nick of time. My students were their perfect student selves. My husband brought roses. A friend drove a long way to leave me with a glamorous basket of pansies. My brother played the birthday song, my brother-in-law was all sweetness, my mother-in-law sang. There were hummingbirds and William Kotzwinkle and Kelly Simmons just about did me in with words I swear I'm gonna frame.

I had crab cake.

I had dessert.

My son called—his voice the color of the day, his stories the kind that kept me smiling, late, in the dark of the night.

I know what, and for whom, to be grateful. And I am.

Today, I am, again, grateful for Tamra Tuller and Chronicle Books and the release of Going Over, and for all of you who sent notes or Twittered or Facebooked or just plain kept me company during the release. Thank you for letting me know about the starred review in Shelf Awareness. Thank you for sending along the extremely kind BookPage review. 

Last evening, Chronicle Books kicked off the blog tour (following Serena Agusto-Cox's earlier blog kindness) with some words I wrote about music, writing, and Berlin, in a post that begins like this, below, and carries forward here:
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At the age of nine, on a Boston pond, I launched my (oh so very minor) ice-skating career. Twirls. Edges. Leaps. Falls.

Shortly thereafter (the precise day and hour escape me now), I began to write. Lyric flourishes. Running lines. Suspended disbelief. Revisions.

Music and story. They’re the same thing, right? Sentences are melodies. Plots are choreography.  The silence in between the lines is wish and wisk.

Today My Friend Amy, who has, for almost forever, truly been My Friend Amy, is continuing that blog tour. A book warrior with wings, I'll call her, who has accompanied me through so much of my writing journey, who has always mattered deeply, who spent some time reading Going Over, writes the sweetest words, and is offering a copy of the book to one of her readers, all of which is happening here.

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This is the 25th anniversary year of the fall of the Berlin Wall—an anniversary that is being commemorated with lights, balloons, exhibitions, proposals of hope. And yet, in so many places, for so many different reasons, we remain a world divided.

I write of those contradictions, those residual fears, in today's Publishing Perspectives, in a piece that begins like this:

We live in a world of infinite gradations and restless infiltrations. We live in a world of checkpoints, watchtowers, walls. We are free to go, or we are not. We are here, but never entirely there. We are fenced in or fenced out. We are on the move (some 232 million around the world left one country for another in 2013, according to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs) or we are hunkered down—stuck—behind a fortress of distance-making words: “Aliens.” “Illegals.”

We are global.

We are divided.

... and continues here.

My hope, today, is that you'll find time to read this piece and, if you are so moved, to share it.

My hope, too, is that you will send Miss Serena Agusto-Cox, most faithful and intelligent reader and writer, all kinds of yellow-tulip thoughts, for she has written such kind words about Going Over and soft launched the blog tour with all kinds of goodies, including the offer of a free book to one reader. You can find the whole thing here. I share, below, Serena's final words about the book:

Kephart’s Going Over is stunning, and like the punk rock of the 80s, it strives to stir the pot, make readers think, and evoke togetherness, love, and even heartbreak — there are lessons in each.

 Thank you.

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Sometimes, a whole lifetime's worth of specialness happens in a few short days.

Those few short days were these past few days. That Handling the Truth/Meredith Vieira moment in New York City, that trip to see old friends and make new ones in South Carolina. And the gifts leading up to the release of Going Over.

First, today, I want to thank the extraordinary Chronicle team—for everything, really. But in particular, today, for the trailer, above. I had no idea a trailer was in the works. It just arrived one day. It is perfect, in my eyes, in everyway.

The news is here, below:

School Library Journal Pick of the Day

Junior Library Guild Selection

iBooks Spring’s Biggest Books 

An Amazon Big Spring Books

“A stark reminder of the power of hope, courage, and love.”—Booklist, starred review

“An excellent example of historical fiction focusing on an unusual time period.” —School Library Journal, starred review

"Going Over carefully balances love and heartbreak, propelling readers through the story."— Shelf Awareness

"Readers will finish the book and continue to think about how effective one wall can be in separating a country and in fashioning attitudes toward life." —Reading Today

"At once compelling and challenging... this gripping effort captures the full flavor of a trying time in an onerous place." —Kirkus Reviews


 “A profound read meant for discussion.” —VOYA: Voice of Youth Advocates

"Gritty, painful and lovely."--Emma, age 17, SLJ Teen, Young Adult Advisory Councils Reviewer

Some very generous bloggers have agreed to participate in a blog tour that will kick off when the book officially launches on April 1. I've written pieces about history, graffiti, titles, editing—and I'll be answering questions—throughout it all.

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This morning, putting together my play list for the GOING OVER blog tour (thank you, Lara Starr and Chronicle Books), I found myself transfixed by this video of our own Bruce Springsteen singing Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom" to the East Berliners one year before the wall came down.

Look at the faces of that crowd. Look at him. I can't even speak. Watch all the way through, as Springsteen answers an interviewer's questions about the people of Berlin.

Interested in joining the blog tour? Let us know.

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Everybody Paints! The Lives and Art of the Wyeth Family
By Susan Goldman Rubin
Chronicle Books
$16.99
ISBN: 978-0-8118-6984-3
Ages 9-12
On shelves February 4th

For years it was my pleasure to work in the New York Public Library’s Central Children’s Room, located in the Donnell Library. The Central Children’s Room was the crown jewel of children’s literature in the city, and amongst its many treasures (which included a parrot-headed umbrella owned by Mary Poppins/P.L. Travers and the original Winnie-the-Pooh toys) were N.C. Wyeth’s original paintings from the book Robin Hood. I might be mistaken, but I’m pretty sure we owned them all. Certainly we didn’t put them all on display, but a fair number of them were available for the public and they turned out to be quite a draw for the local illustrators. Since those days the Donnell has been sold and the paintings transferred to the main branch of NYPL where they now grace the walls of the President of the library’s office. If you would like to see them it is not out of the question, but it is also not as easy as it once was. I, for my part, haven’t seen them in years. With that in mind, I think it makes perfect sense why I was drawn to Susan Goldman Rubin’s latest artistic picture book biography Everybody Paints! Not content to tell merely the story of one famous painter, Rubin dares to encapsulate the lives of three generations, with a particular focus on one painter in each. N.C., Andrew, and Jamie are presented to kids here in a clear-cut way that honestly displays their very interesting work.

Meet the bronco buster. That’s one name you might give to N.C. Wyeth. Born to parents that thought he’d be better suited as a farmhand than as an artist, N.C. set about to prove himself. Before long he was apprenticed to the great Howard Pyle and became his star student. Wyeth became adept at cattle round-ups as well as painting scenes of action and adventure. His talents brought his lucrative illustration projects like Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Robin Hood. Along the way he sired talented offspring, each of whom had some kind of talent. Andrew Wyeth pursued his art with the same fervor as his dad, but while the fine art community had never officially accepted his father, Andrew was embraced almost immediately. In his footsteps followed Jamie, a painter who could work on everything from picture books to portraits of presidents. This is their story.

Writing a biography of the Wyeths for children isn’t as fraught with potential peril as writing a biography of other artists might be. Having cut her teeth on bios about Diego Rivera (Diego Rivera: An Artist for the People) and Andy Warhol (Andy Warhol: Pop Art Painter) the Wyeths must have struck Ms. Rubin as a true relief. This is not to say that there haven’t been rumors floating around them for years, but vague rumors are far easier to elide than numerous confirmed affairs and “The Factory”. The content is presented in a very nice, straightforward style. We meet each Wyeth in turn, and the narrative will slip from one to another without so much as a herk or a jerk. The sections are not particularly long. Indeed, the book itself is infinitely readable at just a scant 112 pages. That means that if a kid wants to do a bit of serious research they may need to find some additional books to cover the material more extensively. That said, Rubin provides the basic overview and allows the reader to fill in gaps on their own. Nothing wrong with that when you’re dealing with children’s book biographies.

It was a Kirkus review of this book that sniffed that this particular book is “undersized and overdesigned.” The “undersized” criticism strikes me as particularly silly, perhaps in light of the fact that as a librarian I’ve seen too many art books rejected by child readers because they were “too big” to comfortably carry home. I’m a New York City librarian, so kids in my town have to lug and tote every book they take from the library themselves. There is no helpful waiting car to dump the load into. With that in mind our little patrons become quite savvy in the ways of pick up and retrieval. Imagine, if you will, that you are attempting to woo a kid with the assignment to read a book about a famous artist into reading this book. I can attest that there’s nothing worse than being cut off mid-spiel by a child who points out, quite logically, that the book is “too big”. I mean there’s no comeback to that! So yes, it’s true that the images in this collection aren’t the size that they are in real life. But that is more than made up for when it comes to the sheer number of images present.

To the second criticism, that of being “overdesigned”, the book actually one in a series of artistic biographies done in a “gift book” style. Some of you may recall the rather gorgeous Sparky: The Life and Art of Charles Schulz that came out a couple years ago by Beverly Gherman. Like this book it wasn’t afraid to play around with an eclectic design. Lots of large fonts, different colored pages, and images, images, images. In this book Rubin skillfully alternates between photographs of her subjects and their families and their paintings. To an adult, I suppose the layout of this book might feel jarring but I’m quite fond of it. It kept me awake, allowed my eye to travel from text to image and back again freely, and best of all when Rubin mentions a famous photograph it’s right there for you to look at.

You see, one complaint I’ve heard fielded at artistic biographies is that they don’t contain enough images of their subject’s work. How are you supposed to care about someone if you can’t see what it is that they themselves cared about? When Ms. Rubin wrote Diego Rivera I adored it. Some librarians, however, wanted a lot more images. Full paintings would be described but never seen. One might point out that in an internet age it’s fairly easy to see pictures of things whenever you want to, but the point stands. A book about an artist should do its duty and give its subject proper due. With that in mind, Everybody Paints! fairly pops with pictures. I don’t know enough about the rights to reproduce painted images in the way Rubin presents them here. What I do know is that she’s done a stand up and cheer job of it. Nothing major feels like it’s missing.

In spite of the fact that there’s been a real push to promote great nonfiction books with kid readers, it can be a hard sell. Adults that are my age or older have a hard time remembering any particularly great books of nonfiction from when we were young (and no, the Childhood of Famous Americans series does NOT count). Few of us are aware that we’re in a golden age of great children’s informational titles. What Everybody Paints! does is typify this kind of book. It’s a hard subject that requires a deft hand. And with her abundance of experience in this particular area, Susan Goldman Rubin does her subjects proud. As beautiful as you would expect, and three times as fun as you might think to read.

On shelves February 4th.

Source: Final copy sent from publisher for review.

Like This? Then Try:

• Diego Rivera: An Artist for the People by Susan Goldman Rubin

• Chuck Close: Face Book by Chuck Close

• Sparky: The Life and Art of Charles Schulz by Beverly Gherman

Professional Reviews: Kirkus

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It’s official. Should I happen to leave New York City for any reason (I’ve been saying I would for years, but it’s gotta happen someday) and I work for a publisher I want to work for Chronicle Books. No, really. I don’t what it is about them, but I get a really good vibe off of that company. Maybe it’s the fact that they’re one of the few West Coast publishers you’ll find in the continental United States. They have that easy breezy San Francisco feel to them. Or maybe it’s just the tone of their books. Or the fact that they have been luring New Yorkers to their microclimates for years (hi, Tamra Tuller!). Whatever the case, it’s alluring.  And so, this season, are their books.

Skipping entirely past their adult section (where in 2014 you’ll encounter titles like “50 Ways to Wear a Scarf” and “The Cheesemonger’s Seasons”) as well as their YA titles, we dive into the children’s books where they bob and glint like so many pretty little jewels.

First up! Middle grade! Chronicle hasn’t done much with MG novels in the past, but they aim to change all that.  This is middle grade with a cover unlike any other out there (with the possible exception of Jenni Holm’s Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf). In The Meaning of Maggie by debut author and “award-winning copywriter” Megan Jean Sovern, the book follows Maggie herself. Self-described future President of the United Sates, Maggie Mayfield keeps a memoir of her life during the course of a year. Like Harriet the Spy without the guile, she’s an overweight heroine where that is not the point of the book in the least (name me five middle grade books where you can say the same . . . it can be done but it’s tricky). Unlike Harriet, Maggie sports a fun family, including a dad that loves Black Sabbath and family friends that are bikers. The crux of the novel lies in the fact that Maggie’s dad is diagnosed with m.s., and in fact a portion of the proceeds of this novel are to be donated to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Ms. Sovern’s own father had m.s. and passed away a couple of years ago. The book already has blubs from Kathi Appelt, Wendy Mass, and Walter M. Mayes. Always a good sign.

Here is what all middle grade novels about Hurricane Katrina tend to have in common: They are some of the only books out there to have relatively contemporary African-American characters in them… and the ALL have dogs. Seriously. With the exception of You Survived Hurricane Katrina (which is a series anyway), this has been true of St. Louis Armstrong Beach, Buddy and Ninth Ward. Now we’ve a new book entering the fray and it’s Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere by Julie T. Lamana. Starring Armani Curtis (a girl), it follows her from the happy days of turning ten to the horrors of the Katrina. It may be the only book in which the hero actually enters The Superdome, and she is indeed separated from her family for a time. This is a debut for Ms. Lamana, who was a reading and writing instructor in the Ninth Ward when Katrina hit. And yes, there is a dog, but it’s not a major part of the plot. Still there, though. There’s just something about Katrina and canines . . .

Now we turn our attention to picture books, and this one appears to be a collaboration between an Italian and a Frenchman. I know Davide Cali best for this year’s really delightful graphic novel 10 Little Insects, and in a recent Children’s Literary Salon featuring Carin Berger and Marc Boutavant, Mssr. Boutavant name checked Cali. Well, Cali has been paired with Benjamin Chaud, the fellow behind The Bear’s Song, which was entirely delightful. Together, they’ve created I Didn’t Do My Homework Because . . . which features a boy with amazing hair and sideburns that Elvis himself would envy. Impeccably dressed in a grey suit with matching red socks and tie, our young hero goes through an extraordinary number of excuses, one after another, to explain why his homework remains unfinished. Someone at one point said it reminded them of the book What Do You Say, Dear? by Sesyle Joslin of yore. Could at that.

Author Germano Zullo isn’t exactly a household name here in the States, but that’s not for lack of trying on the small press’s parts. Whether it’s Chronicle or Enchanted Lion bringing his stories over, he’s here. His latest, and perhaps most accessible, book to date is Jumping Jack, illustrated once again by fellow Swiss (and one-namer) Albertine. In this book a show-jumping horse has difficulty following through, so to speak. Fortunately he has a sympathetic jockey who is convinced he can get to the bottom of the problem.

Now here’s a cause for celebration: Aaron Reynolds and Jeremy Tankard are doing a book together! Mr. Reynolds, as you’ll recall, is responsible for the recent Caldecott Honor winner Creepy Carrots (amongst another bazillion gazillion books) and Jeremy Tankard is a genius who does not do enough books. Seriously, someone should just force the man to crank out the product. We deserve more Tankard, consarn it! Well, for now we’ll be happy with Here Comes Destructosaurus! (how can you not just love that title?) which features a raging monster. Only thing is, the narrator is talking directly to the monster, taking him to task for his mess. It doesn’t take much effort to see the monster/toddler parallels at work here. And naturally the ending is great. I should say that I actually laughed out loud when reading this, and I don’t always do that. Awesome.

Those who know me will know why, personally, I was very happy to see a new series coming out of author/illustrator Micah Player called Lately Lily: The Adventures of a Traveling Girl. Player, remember, was the one behind Chloe, Instead and has even been doing the odd Hilary McKay book jacket on the side. With Lately Lily we meet the daughter of journalists that travel all around the world. The media tie-ins are already in the works, including Travel Flash Cards and a little yellow suitcase that’s full of luggage tags, activity cards, sticker sheets, games & doodle ideas, etc. Though Lily will travel to different books in the series, these aren’t really excuses just to see the cities. Rather, the books concentrate on just how awesome travel itself is. An alternative to some of those flight picture books we’ve seen coming out lately, then.

We seem to be sliding down down into the youngest of ages, but that’s okay with me. In Taro Gomi’s The Great Day the man behind Everyone Poops shows us “a little boy just having an awesome day”. It’s simple, talks with simple sentences just showing the basics of a day, and has a kiddo in it that isn’t white. So, basically, the combination of brown-skinned kiddo and Gomi the genius is enough to sell it to me right there.

And for fans of the epitome of all board books Peek-a Who? we have an honest-to-goodness sequel on our hands. Peek-a Zoo! is also by Nina Laden and though she took a bit of a hiatus for a while, she’s back, baby. I know my kiddo was a big ole fan of Peek-a Who? when she was a little ‘un, so it’s nice to see more along those lines. Similarly, Laden will also be coming out with the madcap Daddy Wrong Legs (good title) where you have to pair legs to torsos of everything from frogs and gorillas to skeletons and humans.

If 2014 is notable for nothing else it will be notable for the huge SWATH of Coraline designers and creators who have suddenly all decided to go into the world of children’s books.  Here at Chronicle, author Sue-Ganz Schmitt and illustrator Shane Prigmore (who was the character designer of Coraline) are coming out with Planet Kindergarten. The first day of school is like any good holiday in that it doesn’t matter how many books already exist on the topic. There can always be more. In this fun take, Kindergarten is equated with space travel to another planet. Your teacher is the commander, your fellow students are aliens, it all makes sense. Ultimately our space-trotting boyo comes to have a great day, so that’s nice.

Okay. So I’ve been enjoying Britta Teckentrup’s books for years, particularly Animal 123 and Animal Spots and Stripes. In Candlewick’s catalog mention of her latest book Busy Bunny Days: In the Town, On the Farm, & At the Port they include two readalikes at the bottom of the page. One of these is Rotraut Berner’s In the Town All Year Round and the other is Around the World with Mouk by Marc Boutavant. Those are pretty accurate comparisons to what Teckentrup is working with here. Chock full of details, like a slightly more European Richard Scarry, what sets the book apart is that each of the three settings keep the exact same view of their town (or farm or port) but at different times of the day. Turn the page and it’s 7 a.m. Turn another and now it’s 10 a.m. Another and it’s 3 p.m. Add in a naughty badger who’s hidden (and up to no good) on every page and you have yourself a heckuva lot of fun. So cute!

Remember “Walter Was Worried” by Laura Vaccaro Seeger?  That was the book where words turned into characters’ faces, expressing various emotions in the process. I haven’t really seen anyone else do something similar in a while, but that was before I saw Cat Says Meow: And Other Animalopoeia by Michael Arndt. Basically the book takes words that make up animal sounds and turns them into animals. It’s sort of hopelessly clever.

Following up on the success of Round Is a Tortilla, author Rosane Greenfield Thong and illustrator John Parra tackle a different concept. Where Tortilla was all about the shapes, Green Is a Chile Pepper is a colors book from start to finish. Like Tortilla it rhymes (“Green is a chile pepper, spicy and hot. / Green is cilantro inside our pot.”) this is yet another very rare picture book featuring Latino kiddos. Lovely on the eye. Rhymes to boot.

While I wouldn’t actually go so far as to call it narrative nonfiction per say, At the Same Moment Around the World will act as a nice accompaniment to nonfiction units. Since it shows off the notion of time zones (but not with real kids – hence the fact that it’s not really straight nonfiction), the book follows the everyday activities of children around the globe. Each section begins with the very nice “At the same moment” and then goes on to say what time it is for that particular part of the world. What it ultimately reminded me of, more than anything else, was When It’s 6 o’Clock in San Francisco.

Then we get a little French. The Ultimate Book of Vehicles promises much with a title like that. Created by Anne-Sophie Baumann and Didier Balicevic, the book is part of a new Chronicle imprint for preschoolers called Twirl Books. Twirl describes itself as, “Straight from Paris, curated with legendary French flair.” I kind of love that. Just as I kind of love that this book is the first I’ve ever seen for kids that includes a breathalizer test in one of the spreads. I sort of think that makes for an ideal teachable moment. The interactive elements to the book are lovely, but to my mind it’s the rocket taking off in one of the spreads that makes the whole book worthwhile.

But the most innovative of the books we saw had to be, without any doubt, Presto Chang-o!: A Book of Animals Magic by Edouard Manceau. I might have a little trouble describing exactly what this book is. You see, little flaps (that are also parts of the picture) can be manipulated and moved in such a way as to make a raccoon into a cauldron, a lion into a flower, or a clock into an owl, etc. You’ll have to play with it for a while yourself before you quite understand what I’m saying. It’s not exactly a flap book. More a . . . twisty turney pieces book (no no. . . that doesn’t work either). Whatever you call it, it’s cool and entirely unlike any other book you’ve seen.

And that’s the long and short of it!  Many thanks to the good folks at Chronicle for showing us their wares.  2014 is shaping up to be a heckuva year.

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Took me a couple minutes to get into this one, but once I remembered the premise it helped.  This is basically The Wizard of Oz redone with pop songs.  A lot of which, sad to say, I have never heard of.  Fortunately I could at least recognize the weird genius of the line, “You’re just a lion on the cold hard ground” from Taylor Swift’s “Trouble”.  I’m not completely out of it.  Plus you should check out The Wizard himself.  A more badass Wiz I’ve yet to see.

Thanks to Marci for the link.

Next up, I’m just a tiny bit mad that there was a trailer for Boxers & Saints out there that was THIS GOOD and yet it took me roughly six months to discover it on my own.  Your required watching of the day:

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When Thunder Comes: Poems for Civil Rights Leaders
By J. Patrick Lewis
Illustrated by Jim Burke, R. Gregory Christie, Tonya Engel, John Parra, and Meilo So
Chronicle Books
$16.99
ISBN: 978-1-4521-0119-4
Ages 10 and up
On shelves now

Poetry is of the people by its very definition. Though sometimes considered the property of the elite (usually by folks who were forced to eat poetry unfiltered in high school by bored teachers) at its best it is a format that any human with a sense of rhythm and/or timing can use to their advantage. Poetry is the voice of people who are oppressed. When Chinese immigrants found themselves detained for weeks on end on Angel Island, they scratched poetry into the very walls of the building. Not curses. Not cries. Poems. It seems fitting then that J. Patrick Lewis should cull together poems to best celebrate “civil rights leaders” both known and unknown. People of different races, creeds, religions, and even sexualities are celebrated in a book that can only be honestly called what it is: one-of-a-kind.

Seventeen people. That doesn’t sound like a lot of folks. Seventeen people turning the tide of history and oppression. Seventeen individuals who made a difference and continue to make a difference every day. And to accompany them, seventeen poems by a former Children’s Poet Laureate. In When Thunder Comes, J. Patrick Lewis highlights heroes of every stripe. And, in doing so, lets young readers know what a hero truly is.

Lewis isn’t phoning this one in. These poems are straight up honest-to-god works of poetry. Though the book is a mere 44 pages or so, its picture book size is misleading indeed. Consider this poem about Aung San Suu Kyi containing the following lines: “When a cyclone flicked off the roof of my prison / like the Queen of Hearts, turning my life to shame / and candle, the General had a mole removed. / When they added four words to the constitution – / my name – to bar me from ever running for office, / the General signed it with his fingernail made of / diamonds and disgust.” We’re on beyond nursery rhymes and patter here. There are also individual lines you just can’t help but admire. I like this one about Nelson Mandela in particular: “It is as if he’s landed on the moon / Five years before the actual event.”

The content is noticeably more mature as well. Kids have plenty of books to choose between when it comes to the Freedom Riders and Walkers, but the deaths of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner are dark as dark can be. That poem is told, not in broken up sections, but as a single long, square paragraph. Other ideas, like Muhammad Yunus and his microcredit system or Harvey Milk and his fight for gay rights require a bit more worldly knowledge on the part of readers.

Lewis makes some interesting choices along the way. He’s careful to include familiar names (Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Jackie Robinson, etc.) alongside lesser-known figures (Aung San Suu Kyi, Helen Zia, Ellison Onizuka, etc.). Some are living, some long dead. Each person has a title (“activist”, “auntie”, etc.). For “the innocent” he names Mamie Carthan Till but not her son, Emmett. At first I was confused by the choice, but the end matter made it clear that it was Mrs. Till that insisted that her son’s funeral be an open casket affair. An act of rebellion in and of itself. And this is undoubtedly the first book for children I’ve read that made special note of Harvey Milk. I know that some smaller presses have highlighted him in the past, but it’s particularly satisfying in this day and age to see him properly named and credited. A sign of the times, if you will.

Another thing I like about the book is its ability to highlight individuals that should be, and are not, household names. If Sylvia Mendez truly paved the way for Brown v. Board of Education, why isn’t Mendez v. Westminster better known? Certainly the book is ideal for writing assignments. The poems vary in terms of style, and I can see teachers everywhere assigning even more too little lauded heroes to their students, asking them to cultivate poems of their own. It would have been nice if somewhere in the book it said what the types of poems featured were (villanelles don’t come along in children’s books every day, after all). Teachers hoping to make connections between some of the subjects then and now might also point out things like how Emmett Till bought candy prior to his death, not unlike a more contemporary hoodied young man.

Of the various objections I’ve heard leveled against this book, there is the problem that each piece of art is not directly credited to its artist. Meilo So’s style is recognizable enough. Ditto R. Gregory Christie. But who did that image of Josh Gibson? Or Dennis James Banks for that matter? Now, the artists are listed on the publication page with references to their images, but since the book itself isn’t paginated this isn’t as useful as it might be. And some of the images work better than others, of course. While I wasn’t as taken with the images of Coretta Scott King, Mamie Carthan Till, or Dennis James Banks, I really liked Josh Gibson wearing his “Grays” garb, standing against a sky full of clouds. A different librarian objected to the fact that the three men murdered by the Klan in 1964 are featured with very similar, dark skin tones. I see the point, but since the shot is taken at night and the whole of the image is itself dark, this didn’t worry me as much.

In many ways the book most similar to this is Marilyn Singer’s recent Rutherford B., Who Was He?: Poems About Our Presidents Like Singer’s book, Lewis presents the poems and people first and then provides an explanation of who they were at the end. Both give new slants on old names. But for all that, Lewis’s book is unique. Maybe not 100% perfect, but chock full of better poetry than you’ll find in a lot of children’s rooms, highlighting folks that deserve a little additional attention. Certainly bound to be of use to teachers, parents, and kids with an eye towards honest-to-goodness heroism. A lovely addition, no matter where you might be.

On shelves now.

Source: Reviewed from library copy.

Like This? Then Try:

• We Are America by Walter Dean Myers

• This Is the Dream by Diana ZuHone Shore

• Rutherford B: Who Was He?: Poems About Our Presidents by Marilyn Singer

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By Ann and Paul Rand

{originally published 1957 by Harcourt, Brace, and World. Reprinted 2006 by Chronicle Books.}Sometimes pictures are just that: eye-catching and whimsical, without being packed with meaning or message. That spirit dances across the page in Sparkle and Spin, written by Ann Rand and illustrated by her husband Paul.

Paul Rand is an iconic American graphic designer. A problem solver. A storyteller. A communicator.

He said this about design:

“Good design adds value of some kind, gives meaning, and, not incidentally, can be sheer pleasure to behold.”His biographer, Steven Heller, said this:

“Paul Rand did not set out to create classic children’s books, he simply wanted to make pictures that were playful. Like the alchemist of old, he transformed unlikely abstract forms into icons that inspired children and adults and laid the foundation for two books that have indeed become children’s classics.”

Maybe he didn’t intend to be a creator of legendary books for kids, but his love for beautiful work shines in this one. That’s the magic of Sparkle and Spin: harmony, wit, and playfulness.And Ann’s words are a delightful match to Paul’s pictures. There’s a rhythm, song, and honor to these words that represent the joy of learning. Harmony, captured perfectly.

In graphic design, harmony is the magic that happens when all of the individual elements complement one another. It’s when small parts of pretty make up a more lovely whole.Here’s a detail I really love. This bold, graphic ice cream cone comes at the beginning, and with the inscription: To all children who like ice cream. And at The End, that scoop’s been slurped, chomped, and devoured. That’s what the experience of this book is. Tasty.

The book sparkles and spins. You’ll see what I mean.

Tagged: ann rand, chronicle, color, harmony, pattern, paul rand, shape, sparkle and spin, wordplay

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I'm not just teaching sixteen memoir makers this semester at Penn. I'm also working with the very talented Alice Ma, whom I selected from a strong field of applicants as the Bassini Writing Apprentice. Alice returns me to my novel-in-progress. We think together about what kind of research must fuel a novel like this one, what questions must be answered, and how truth becomes fiction of an engaging but authentic sort.

There's been one small problem with this arrangement. Too many consecutive twenty-hour work days have left me no time for the novel-in-progress. So there is Alice, pursuing questions. And here has been Beth, suggesting in theory.

I had promised myself and others that I would right that tilted ship this weekend, and today I honored the pledge. I had 30,000 words of the novel, banged out during a few weeks last fall. Today I printed those pages, sat beneath a blanket, and forced myself to sit and read. If there was some horrid stuff, and there was some horrid stuff, there was also a book that makes me happy. Happy to work on. Happy to pursue. Since the best part of the writing life is the writing, in my humble opinion, I better be happy to pursue.

Having spent this day righting the wrongs of my in-progress novel, I will spend tomorrow writing forward. I will be afraid, very afraid. And I will let the fear propel me.

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Coming from Chronicle, March, 2013, is Nobody's Secret. Do you like a mystery? Are you intrigued by Emily Dickinson. Find this work and enjoy!

At fifteen, Emily meets a handsome stranger, a Mr. Nobody, who only days later is discovered dead in her family's pond. With Emily's inquest, she moves through the mystery to understand and honor this man's life. Author Michaela MacColl begins each chapter with excerpts from Emily's own poems. The blending of fiction and fact is engaging in this fast page turner.

"I'm Nobody, Who are You?" Watch for it, rgz!

Nobody’s Secret
A Novel of Intrigue and Romance
by Michaela MacColl
Chronicle Books, March 2013

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Flora and the Flamingo
By Molly Idle
Chronicle Books
$16.99
ISBN: 978-1-4521-1006-6
Ages 3-7
On shelves February 3rd

Did you know that flamingos are pink because of their diet of plankton? Did you know that the flamingo is the national bird of the Bahamas? And did you know that when it comes to a pas de chat or a particularly fine jetée, no bird exceeds the flamingo in terms of balletic prowess? No? Then you’re clearly not reading the right literature these days. Now, before you get to thinking too hard about it, let me assure you that when I discuss a book like Flora and the Flamingo I should right off the bat say that this is NOT a book about a bird that wants to be a ballerina and must overcomes obstacles to achieve that goal. That is, without a doubt, the most common storyline in ballet picture books today. I would not review such a book as that. No, Flora and the Flamingo is notable because it is a perfect amalgamation of wordless storytelling, likable (or at least understandable) characters, and an artistic sensibility that will make you forget its unique formatting and remind you only of the classic picture book days of yore. So forget what flamingos eat. Are you getting enough flamingo picture books in YOUR diet? If not, time to start.

A single flamingo lands and perches on one leg beneath the falling pink blossoms. It does not notice the single flippered foot that appears behind it nor, at first, the bathing suited little girl that mimics his stance. But when he starts to stretch (or is he dancing?) he can’t help but see how she tries to imitate him, wing for wing. In a moment of cussidness he bleats at her, causing her to tumble head over heel into the water. Chastened, the flamingo offers a wing and the two embark on a fantastic dance, culminating in a joyous leap into the water and an elegant bow and curtsey.

Idle has the mark of the animator all over her. It’s a style of drawing you’ll find in the works of folks like Tony Fucile or Carter Goodrich. You can recognize an animator pretty easily right from the start. They tend to have very expressive protagonists. Take Flora, for example. Though at first she attempts to keep her face relatively placid, as the book goes on, a variety of emotions flit across her punim. From a miserable (mouthless) hurt glare to a skeptical raised eyebrow, to gentle trust, and, finally, pure pleasure. The white background sort of clinches it. Kirkus, in their review, said that there is a “courageous use of white space” in this book, and I have to agree. Yet for all that she has an animator’s heart, Idle avoids the pitfalls that have felled many from her field that have come before her. I’m talking about storyboarding. The laziest kind of picture book is the kind that feels like it began life as a serious of quick sketches tacked up on a wall somewhere. Storyboarding has its place in the world, but it is not an effective way to map out a picture book. There has to be a flow and a relationship between the pages. You have to know that by turning one you’re advancing the story right there. Idle achieves that feeling, and the reward is a tale that is as emotional as it is visual.

Idle does something particularly striking with the book that many an early 21st century reader might notice. Flora is certainly an everygirl, and in no way is that more evident than her weight. I am sorry to report that in the children’s book world, if a character is plus sized or larger than average, that will usually be the sole focus of their tale. The everyday adventures of kids that don’t look like walking popsicle sticks are nigh unto impossible to find sometimes. The nice thing about this book is that unless you want to interpret it as an exercise book (don’t) it isn’t about Flora’s pear-shaped body. Now if one were feeling somewhat cynical they might suspect that Idle is using her heroine’s weight to make her comical. I don’t think that’s really the case. Certainly the contrast between her and the flamingo is set off by their different appearances (more on that soon), but you could also argue that by giving her heroine a little more meat on her bones, Idle makes Flora easier to identify with. There are lots of overweight kids in America right now. Seems to me it shouldn’t be too hard to give them a happy dancing kid hero. Remember the “No Rain” by Blind Melon music video? It’s like that.

The unspoken (ha ha – there are no words in this book) irony here is the fact that flamingos are not usually considered unusually graceful birds. There’s a skinny gawkiness about them, and Idle makes use of that gawkiness to contrast her feathered hero with the very different awkwardness of the girl. Where he is all knobby knees and thin curled neck, she is circles and smiles. His elegant pink feet bear nothing in common with her ginormous brown flippers. This dichotomy is the striking difference that gives the book its visual kick in the pants. The white background and pink apple blossom-like flowers that frame the edges of the pages are perfectly suited to focus your attention on the bird and the girl. The flaps are just the icing on the cake.

I probably should have mentioned it before, but Flora and the Flamingo is actually a lift-the-flap picture book. If you want a fun exercise in clever book design, read just the pages with the flaps. You’ll see that at first Flora’s flap and the flamingo’s are on opposite pages with the flamingo directly in the center of his page and Flora’s flap slightly closer to the flamingo’s page. Skip ahead and you’ll see that Flora has traversed the gutter (the area found between pages) and suddenly her flap is touching the flamingo’s (no wonder he gets tetchy!). After he hurts her feelings the flaps are as far from one another as they can be. The flamingo makes good and for the first time the two characters share a single, large flap. They dance and it all builds up to a gatefold in the book that can be opened to reveal the two cannonballing happily into the water. Beautifully done.

I could get a lot of good out of this book with kids, I can see it now. First up, it would pair amusingly with another make-a-flamingo-your-buddy book, You WILL Be My Friend! by Peter Brown. As a ballet book, this title is also rather excellent. You can actually name the steps from time to time. I suppose if you absolutely had to you could even argue for this as an exercise book, but that’s pushing it. At its heart, Flora and the Flamingo is just an unassuming little story about making a friend. There’s nothing very complicated about that idea. It’s just all in how you present it, baby. Consider this one book that’s not afraid to let clever (yet essentially simple) design and good art do the heavy lifting.

On shelves March 1st.

Source: Final copy sent from publisher for review.

Like This? Then Try:

• You WILL Be My Friend by Peter Brown

• Ballerina Swan by Allegra Kent, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully

• Color Dance by Ann Jonas

Professional Reviews:

• A star from Publishers Weekly
• Kirkus

Misc:

• Look inside the book yourself!

Videos:

Lest you doubt me when I proclaim Idle’s Dreamworks cred . . .

Now see the flaps in action!

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It’s a Tiger!
By David LaRochelle
Illustrated by Jeremy Tankard
Chronicle Books
$16.99
ISBN: 978-0-8118-6925-6
Ages 4-8
On shelves now

There is an art to reading a picture book but I’ve not encountered many schools that actually teach that skill. Librarians will learn it in their graduate courses, of course, but what about parents and booksellers? Are they doomed to stumble through their readings without getting some of the insider tips and tricks? Yup, pretty much. The only thing you can really do is just recommend to them picture books that make reading aloud one-on-one or to large groups a painless experience. Books that have an inherent interior rhythm and logic that kids will naturally adhere to. So each and every year I sit and wait for those great picture book readalouds of the year. For 2012 I’ve seen a couple that lend themselves to groups. Up, Tall and High by Ethan Long is ideal for preschoolers. Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds is perfect for the 1st and 2nd graders. But the all-around best readaloud of the year, bar none as far as I can tell, has got to be It’s a Tiger! A boon to librarians and booksellers looking for new storytime fare as well as parents and grandparents, David LaRochelle’s latest is a hoot, a holler, and could even be called a hootenanny if you’re so inclined to call it that.

So you’re walking through the forest, minding your own business, checking out monkeys when you realize that the orange and black tail over there isn’t a vine at all. It’s a TIGER!! Like a shot you (which is to say, the boy in the book) take off lickety split. Still, it doesn’t matter where you go. Whatever you do, that darned tiger seems to follow. Dark caves, ships at sea, desert islands, the tiger is everywhere! At the end you realize that the tiger doesn’t really want to eat you. So to put it to sleep you decide to tell it a story. A story about a boy walking through the forest until he sees a green scaly vine. Wait a minute . . . that’s not a vine . . . .

It took a couple readings before I realized something essential about this particular book. Turns out, this is one of the rare picture books written in the second person. You do this. You do that. The reader actually is the little boy who finds himself inexplicably running into the same orange and black foe over and over again. It’s a narrative technique that I just know that I’ve seen in picture books before, but when I try to think of them I find myself stumped. They’re not as common as you might think and I certainly can’t come up with any that are also great read alouds for large groups. By making the audience the narrator they get all the requisite chills and thrills without actually feeling like they’re in direct danger. It would be a good companion to Michael Rosen’s We’re Going On A Bear Hunt honestly. Same threat level. Same you-are-there aspects.

I think what I like best about the book is the fact that it goes from surprising to funny in fairly short order. The first three or four times you turn the page and encounter a tiger the kids are still uncertain about the order of occurrences. Once the pattern is firmly established, that’s when they can kind of let go and enjoy. Then LaRochelle ratchets up the silly factor and the kids really begin to have fun. We don’t always remember that children have a relatively refined sense of the absurd. They’re literalists, every last one, and though they might point out the flaws in your logic as you read the book (how can you swing and land on the tiger when you just escaped the tiger?) there’s a different kind of fun to be had in telling grown-ups they can’t possibly be right about something. It’s a Tiger! combines several different kinds of reading pleasures then. Interactive (kids can yell “It’s a tiger!” along with the reader). Power plays (telling adults they must be mistaken). The element of surprise. The controlled fear factor. It’s all there. And it’s awesome.

It is difficult for me to be impartial about a book that features the art of Jeremy Tankard. A couple years ago he burst onto the picture book scene with three books that changed the way I do preschool storytimes (Grumpy Bird, Me Hungry!, and Boo Hoo Bird). Even when he’s working on other people’s books, as in the case here, he has a distinctive style that can’t be beat. In this book he utilizes his usual ink and digital media style, but the colors are extraordinary. They just pop off the page with these magnificent blues, greens, oranges, yellows, and reds. It was interesting to note that the pages themselves have a sheen and gleam I’ve not noticed in a picture book before. Hold them up to the light and watch as the thick black lines and colors seem as though they should be transparent, if that makes any sense. That visual pop means that when you reach the every-other-page “surprise” of the tiger, Tankard can really make the animal’s appearance seem surprising. He uses some anime-type lines around the tiger from time to time to direct the eye to the center of the page, which as of this review still has a new and contemporary feel to it. We’ve seen it in books by folks like Dan Santat for years, of course. My suspicion is that though it will certainly make the book feel like an early-21st creation, that doesn’t mean it’ll age poorly. It’s simply a work of its time now.

Long story short, we haven’t seen a boy/tiger relationship this complex since the days of Calvin and Hobbes. Tigers are such cute and cuddly carnivores, and honestly it’s very difficult to be perfectly afraid of something as soft and fluffy as a tiger. That sort of makes them ideal picture book threats. LaRochelle has written innovative picture books for years now (The End, etc.). Pairing him with Tankard just guarantees a hit. Put this one on your Must Have list and stat.

On shelves now.

Source: Final copy sent from publisher for review.

Like This? Then Try:

• We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, ill. Helen Oxenbury

• Snip, Snap! What’s That? by Mara Bergman

• Fortunately by Remy Charlip

Other Blog Reviews: 

• Shelf Elf
• Picture-Book-a-Day
• books4yourkids.com
• Cinjoella

Professional Reviews:

• Kirkus
• Publishers Weekly

Other Reviews:

• ChildrensBooksGuide.com
• Richie’s Picks

Interviews:

• Watch. Connect. Read. talks with David LaRochelle
• Watch. Connect. Read. talks with Jeremy Tankard

Misc:

• A behind the scenes glimpse at the making of the book.

• And here’s the activity kit.

• And here’s a teacher’s guide.

Videos:

A handy dandy book trailer, here for the viewing.

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With all the mergers going on within the publishing world these days, a couple librarians and I were joking the other day about those mergers we’d actually like to see.  And because we are horribly spoiled east-coasters it didn’t take long for us to wish that Chronicle Books could merge with someone like Enchanted Lion Books so that we could have a little of their sweet sweet San Francisco-infused brilliance over on our side of the country.  Fortunately, the Chronicle folks are always good sports about our petulance on the matter and are more than willing to hike themselves across several time zones to let us know about their upcoming fare.  Here then is a taste of what 2013 is going to bring.

A show of hands.  How many of you out there predicted that Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site was going to be the massive New York Times bestseller that it was?  I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again – I simply cannot predict what picture books become bestseller hits.  Nothing against Sherri Duskey Rinker’s successful creation, mind you.  It’s a lovely little book.  I just wouldn’t have necessarily have slapped the moniker “bestseller” status on it when I first noticed it.  Well now, at long last, there is a follow-up.  Yet again Ms. Rinker has paired up with the incomparable Tom Lichtenheld to bring us the April release Steam Train, Dream Train.  Staying within a transportation theme, the book follows a train worthy of The Little Engine That Could in terms of goodies stocked in its cars.  Ice cream, elephants, race cars, zebra referees (how Z is for Moose of them, eh?), it’s a bedtime book through and through.  We were told too that in preparation for this book Tom went to a library and proceeded to measure the number of truck books vs. the number of train books.  What he found was that there were quite a lot more trucks . . . until he was told that this was only because there were so many more train books checked out.  I’m a children’s librarian, and I approve that fact.

Taro Gomi is probably best known for his international bestseller Everyone Poops.  But really, the man is so much more than that.  A resident of Tokyo, he has two board books coming out with Chronicle that come as a bit of a relief to me.  I mean, have you ever noticed how many French board books we have?  Let another country participate for crying out loud!  So straight from Japan we now have Peekaboo! and Mommy! Mommy! Now Peekaboo! has a lot going for it, since you can read it and wear it as a mask (there are eye holes, making this worthy of testing out in storytimes).  And as the mother of a toddler who harbors a deep and abiding love for The Finger Worms by Herve Tullet, I know she’ll dig this puppy as well.  Mommy! Mommy! isn’t as high concept but you just gotta love how the man draws chicks.  In the story two yellow peepers search for their mother and keep seeing creatures and critters that mildly resemble her but turn out to be someone else.  The discoveries aren’t scary, I should note.  The chicks are goofy enough that you needn’t worry there.

When I heard that the next Amy Krouse Rosenthal picture book was going by the title of I Scream Ice Cream I was baffled.  How have I never seen a picture book with this title before?  A bit of an internet search revealed that while there are adult books ah-plenty with that name (or “I Scream for Ice Cream), there’s been nothing on the kid side of things.  Consider the situation remedied then!  Illustrated by Serge Bloch (smart) we were told that this is “going to do for homonyms what Eats, Shoots & Leaves did for punctuation.”  We’ve seen homonym books before, to be fair.  For example I think this year’s Cat Tale by Michael Hall was particularly choice.  But Rosenthal isn’t afraid to push the envelope in terms of what you can get away with.  Hence the jaw-dropping choice to include such mind-benders as “Sorry, no more funnel cakes” alongside “Sorry, no more fun elk aches.”  At this point we then got to talking about the illustrator’s work on The Enemy: A Book About Peace and how the American version removed two pages and softened the message . . . but that’s a whole ‘nother kettle of fish, if you get my drift.

Next up, a book that takes full advantage of Chronicle’s willingness to go strong on the die-cuts.  Inside Outside is by Lizi Boyd and if you’re anything like me you are now kicking yourself repeatedly in the shins in an attempt to figure out why her name is so familiar.  I finally caved and checked my library holdings, discovering that she was the one behind those I Love Mommy/Daddy/Grandma/Grandpa books that are so popular here in NYC.  This book is far more artsy with an examination of a house throughout the seasons.  There are lots of details, lots of die-cuts, and the whole shebang reminds me of the work of Robert Crowther on books like Robert Crowther’s Pop-Up Book of Inventions and the like.  I do worry a bit about the brown.  Brown can be a hard sell with the kiddos.  Let’s see how it plays out in the end.

You know what I like?  Unapologetic Europeans.  Author/illustrators that don’t care if a book isn’t the next Fancy Nancy or Pinkalicious, they just want to tell a good story with good art for the kids that appreciate that kinda thing.  Hence we get books like Line 135 by Germano Zullo, illustrated by Albertine.  First Thought: I love that there is a one-namer artist out there named “Albertine”.  Brilliant.  Second Thought: If the names “Zullo” and “Albertine” sounds familiar there’s no need to bruise your shins again.  Their book Little Bird, published by Enchanted Lion Press, was a New York Times Best Illustrated title this year.  I would not have necessarily thought that Albertine was behind both books, though, since Line 135 is far more sparse a tale.  It’s basically a contemplative older version of Freight Train by Donald Crews.  In the story a boy informs his grandmother on a train that he hopes to see the whole world someday.  Grandma in turn commits a crime familiar to many adults when she tries to reign in the boy’s potential disappointment by clipping his dreams’ wings early.  It doesn’t work.  In the meantime, you see the train as it passes by a myriad of landscapes.  They’re selling it as a graduation picture book, which is a wise move.  It is, as I say, so Swiss!

Flora and the Flamingo in contrast is kid-friendly city.  Written by Molly Idle (for half a second there I misheard her name as “Eric Idle” and hosted impossible thoughts in my head) the book is all about the flapping.  Not just on the main characters’ parts, but in terms of the flaps you open up to reveal more of the story as you go.  In the spirit of books by folks like Suzy Lee (also a Chronicle author), Idle is a lapsed animator from DreamWorks who joins the droves of animators-turned-children’s book illustrators in the last few years.  This book struck me as the world’s greatest companion to Peter Brown’s You WILL Be My Friend.  As you’ll recall, that book ended with Lucy the Bear befriending a flamingo.  In this book a mildly pudgy (WOOHOO!) little girl meets a flamingo.  After a rocky start the two become friends, dancing together.  It’s a readaloud dream, one that I can’t wait to try out on some kiddos.  Add in the lovely color palette and the fact that this book could conceivably be tied into a school’s exercise program if you want to sell it that way, and you’ve hot a real solid potential hit on your hands.  I’m in love anyway.

I think I may have mentioned in the past that Chronicle has a nice little working relationship with the Star Wars folks.  I’ve talked about the various Star Wars related recipe books put out by one Ms. Lara Starr, and they’ve all sounded great.  Well, the most interesting of these is about to come out and even though my kid is just 18 months, I’m inclined to get this for her so that someday we’ll be able to use it perfectly.  Behold the wonder that is the latest cookbook: Ice Sabers.  Oh. Yes.  Basically, the book comes with four lightsaber ice pop molds so that you can create your own ice sabers.  This sounds delightful, and it is, but you have NO idea how much work went into this!  For one thing, they had to get an industrial designer to build the lightsaber molds.  Why?  Because they needed a generic hilt.  I mean, what if you had a Sith hilt but the ice saber was Jedi colors (or vice versa)?  Chaos, that’s what!!!  So they came up with these hilts, which turned out be great.  Maybe too great.  There were some rumblings that they were now going to be considered toys and, as I’m sure you can understand, there is an entirely different Star Wars toy division and they didn’t want to tread on any of THEIR toes.  Fortunately it all worked out in the end.  The capper is that these are officially approved of by George Lucas.  Consider using them for your next May 4th Star Wars party (May the fourth be with you).

Blame or credit the Core Curriculum howsoever you like, but I happen to be very excited about the fact that in 2013 we’re going to be seeing an increase in amazing picture book biographies of people who worked in the realm of math.  After all, Deborah Heiligman is coming out with the LeUyen Pham illustrated title The Boy Who Loved Math.  On the Chronicle side of the equation comes a new Einstein pb bio.  The last time I saw one of those it was Don Brown’s Odd Boy Out (Lynn Barasch’s Ask Albert Einstein wasn’t technically a bio, you see).  Now we have On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer Berne who you may remember from hr striking bio of Jacques Cousteau in Manfish.  In this book we follow Einstein from boy to man with a special focus on how his imagination affected his work and growth.  The idea is to show how Einstein thought big questions at the same age as the kids reading this book.  There will be a small bibliography but most of the endmatter consists of paragraphs of facts.  It also marks a more kid-friendly Vladimir Radunsky (he’s the illustrator) than I’ve seen in a long time.  I don’t think we’ve seen a book out of him since he did Chris Raschka’s Hip Hop Dog.  And aside from Mannken Pis (which you may or may not count) he hasn’t done much nonfiction.  Fascinating choice, no?

Now I owe Maria van Lieshout a debt of gratitude that I’m sure I will never be able to repay.  Her Backseat A-B-See did what so few picture books have.  She wrote a book about signs.  Do you know how often children’s librarians are asked for such books (often) and how many are on our shelves in a given year (few)?  Now I feel my gratitude has had to triple, because guess what she’s following it up with?  Flight 1-2-3.  It basically shows all the signs you see when you go to the airport while at the same time going through what it’s like to travel by plane.  And let me tell you how many picture books I have about THAT simple oft-asked for topic (few)!  It’s the first post-9/11 airport book I’ve seen to go through all the scans and basics you crave.  So very very excited over here!

When I read a board book to my kiddo I always make a point of mentioning the author’s name.  So when Lorena Siminovich’s new board books You Are My Baby: Farm and You Are My Baby: Safari came up in conversation I had to dwell in my own little world for a little while. Once I’d remembered that she was the one behind the beautiful touch-and-feel sensation I Love Vegetables I was able to move on.  The design of these particular books is their most outstanding feature from the get-go.  There is a big book involving a big animal and a little book couched inside involving a baby animal.  You match the animals together and the story proceeds accordingly.  Best of all, in spite of their unique construction, they look like they’ll be able to take a pounding.  Sturdiness is non-negotiable when we’re dealing with board books, after all.

Once again we’re nearing the end of the 2012 publishing year and when I count up all my reviews of books by Latino-Americans or featuring Hispanic characters I am shockingly short.  So boy oh boy was I grateful to see Round Is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Greenfield Thong and illustrated by Pura Belpre winner John Parra.  With beautiful bridging text (and the angels doth sing their praises on high) the story goes through shapes that describe everything from stone metates to quesadillas.  The book looks great, though I admit to being a bit stunned when the conversation turned and it was mentioned that Yuyi Morales moved back to Mexico not that long ago.  Doggone it!  I had her pegged for a Caldecott someday for sure!

It’s not a successful preview unless at least one early chapter book makes its appearance.  In this case we’re talking about the all new Fish Finelli series.  Book #1: Seagulls Don’t Eat Pickles.  One could not help but notice that Chronicle has already secured blurbs from four librarians already including the illustrious (and current Newbery committee member) Susannah Richards.  Said Chronicle, it’s “a little more sophisticated than an Alvin Ho, a little more interesting than a Calvin Coconut.”  Set in a Little Rascals-like world the book involves things like lost treasure, library break-ins, stowaways, and far more.  I’ll read it.  You betcha.

For my daughter’s first birthday my husband’s best friend went out and got her a Gund stuffed version of Boo, the world’s cutest dog.  Until that moment I had only the vaguest sense of Boo.  Now the dog remains the kiddo’s favorite stuffed animal, bar none.  That is why I will simply have no choice but to give her Boo ABC: A to Z with the World’s Cutest Dog for some gift giving occasion.  Written by J.H. Lee and photographed by Gretchen LeMaistre it was Mr. Schu who said that the book trailer for Boo’s last creation was (and I quote) “one of the cutest videos I’ve ever posted”.  This book just goes through various things that Boo and his best buddy Buddy love.  We were then told that Boo has “More Facebook friends than Honey Boo Boo.”  Now I live in abject fear that Honey Boo Boo will come out with an ABC book of her own soon.  Hey.  It could totally happen.

Finally, a book that is not exactly children’s book I’d be amiss in not mentioning it.  Heck, I’ll just show you the cover:

If you’re not breaking fingers in your quest to fast track this into your order carts, I stand amazed.

I apologize for not covering any of the YA but there was so much good children’s stuff that I think I can get away with not mentioning a title or two.  In any case, a hearty thank you to the good folks of Chronicle for the sneaky peek.  Now all our To Read Lists are blossoming anew.

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At the Arkansas SCBWI conference this weekend, I met Krista Vitola of Delacorte and Ariel Richardson of Chronicle. Here’s the skinny.

Note: Please look for their submission guidelines and follow them carefully.

Meet Krista Vitola, Assistant Editor, Delacorte Press

Official bio: Krista Vitola is assistant editor at Delacorte Press. Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from Villanova University in 2008, Krista began working at Delacorte Press, a division of Random House Children’s Books. A lover of middle-grade and young adult fiction, she’s always in search of a story with a strong protagonist and unique voice. Her list ranges from Victoria Laurie’s middle-grade adventure series, Oracles of Delphi Keep, to Sophie Littlefield’s young adult thrillers.

In previous posts about meeting editors, I’ve described them in terms of super hero(ines), popular characters or folk/fairy tale characters. Read about:

• The Peter Parker of children’s literature
• The M of children’s literature
• The Bill Gates of children’s literature

Following those precedents, Krista is as beautiful as the lovely Snow White, but this Snow White is a 21st Century dynamo, no cowering female here. She’s stuffed her magic mirror into the recesses of her closet, probably only saving it for her wedding day. Instead, as a speaker, she put us dwarves through training exercises. She’s a marathoner–at least 10 full marathons and so many half-marathons she’s lost track–and she uses her intimate knowledge of children’s literature to coach writers with encouragement and a standard of excellence.

For example, one of her pet peeves is what she calls “list actions”. When you try to Show-Don’t-Tell, one misstep is when you rely too heavily on a “subject-strong verb” construction.

“A shaft of sunlight slanted across the tundra and struck the troll. The roar stopped. The tundra paused, silent.”

This is a step above a telling that simple says, “The sun rose and it was quiet.” But the sentence patterns are too static, creating what Krista terms “list actions.” To revise, break it up with dialogue or thoughts, or revise for better sentence variety.

Krista edits MG and YA, preferring stories about guys (must also include a strong female, though, for marketing) and she buys voice.

Meet Ariel Richardson, Editorial Assistant, Chronicle Books

Official bio: Ariel Richardson is a children’s editorial assistant at Chronicle Books (read their blog) in San

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