The Great Reindeer RebellionBy Lisa TrumbauerIllustrated by Jannie HoSterling Publishing, 2009> Book on AmazonFirst and foremost, The Great Reindeer Rebellion is a story told in rhyming verse. By default, this makes it a picture book after my own heart.
(SPOILER ALERT) The Great Reindeer Rebellion follows Santa's trials of auditioning a new group of animals to run the Christmas Eve sleigh ride, because his reindeer have gone on strike due to inhospitable working conditions. It's a very clever backdrop to explain the basic concept of unionization, and the story tackles this feat in a way that is easy to digest, totally unassuming and not didactic in the least. The stories' poem style (Ballad, I think) is a riff on "Twas the night before Christmas". This adds a built-in familiarity to the story from the get-go, and kids and adults alike will instantly feel a sense of comfort on the very first reading. Given the poem's cadence, it's also a fun book to read out loud together.
The story itself is fun AND funny—Santa's search for a new group of sled-pulling substitutes leaves him quite exasperated after every audition. This is my first picture book by author
Lisa Trumbauer, and surely it won't be my last. (RANT ALERT) I have heard time and time again that "it's hard to do rhyme well" and "poetry is a hard sell" in children's trade. I love to write in rhyme myself, and while these remarks are always a bit daunting to hear for an aspiring children's author-poet, they would never stop me from choosing rhyme as my form of writing.
(After all, these things choose YOU, not the other way around. ;)). After continually hearing those words over and over
(...on deaf ears... ;)), and in this publishing climate to boot, seeing books like this one getting published (and presented so beautifully and respectably) is a very good reminder that solid writing is solid writing. At the end of the day, that is what matters.
The story also inspires some highly entertaining visual narrative. Illustrator
Jannie Ho's artwork is her signature visual playground, but here, she tackles some interesting new ground (new to me, anyway). The likes of Santa, Elves, Reindeer on strike (and in hot tubs!) are composed with lots of character and humor. To me, Jannie's work most always has a sort of deadpan-whimsy about it, and here, there's an additional underlying bit of saltiness kicking in! Fun nuggets in the details of some of the spreads reward the viewer and add layers to the story. Jannie's current admirers will be ecstatic, and I've no doubt this book will bring more fandom her way! The richly colored spreads are tactile, too - they're enhanced by the judicious use of spot gloss.
This is a physically substantial book that feels good to hold. The pages are double thick. This does not make the book heavy weight-wise, but it does make it feel like a thick, juicy steak in a picture-book buffet. Pick one up, and you'll see what I mean.
The Great Reindeer
As I mentioned in a previous post, I visited my extremely talented and funny friend, famed licensed artist
Ellen Crimi-Trent the weekend before last. I would like to share with you some of the faboo things she gave me in our fun Holiday Swap... Check it out!
Look at the snowman gift bag! The ear muffs are flocked and they are soft and velvety.
I realize that I am a super geek but I never get tired of seeing friend's/other artists I admire's names in print and on the bottom of a gift bag, for instance. I know it is very geeky of me but hey, it is a big deal. It is something I aspire to myself and I am proud to know Ellen and others who are so successful at market in this business! I think it always will be exciting for me, I will always be cheering. And, look, it had BETTER be exciting and stay that way, if I plan to be in the art licensing biz myself for the long haul -and I do!! :)
Here is another type of gift package featuring the same collection of art. This one comes with a cute red ribbon. Very snazzy.
Look at this cute gift bag with the adorable character doggie with the funny blue sweater and the gift! On one side (the top pic), there is flat art. On the other side (bottom pic) it is a die-cut 3D dog attached to the bag.(You can see the shadow where the doggy stands out.) Pretty cool! And, there are also greeting cards in this collection, which also feature the 3D design. So neat!
I love this candy cane bag - I especial
Poppets on my mantle
(L-R: Me, Ruby, Matt, Daisy)
I have admired
Claudine Hellmuth's work for several years now. Ever since I discovered her work and her wonderful "Poppet" artwork, I imagined how fun it would be to have my family "Poppet"-ized! Well, time comes and goes, and before I knew it, I'd never ordered those Poppets I'd promised myself. Well, this year in particular, I've learned through personal experience that it serves no one in the end to wait on things you want to do... or, for that matter, wait on things that perhaps you simply just
want. So, partly in honor of this lesson, I went for it and ordered my Poppets a couple of weeks ago. Horray!! Well, they arrived TODAY, and I could not be happier!!! Thanks to Claudine for her wonderful work, and what a fun process, too. Truly painless, streamlined, and fun. Claudine, you make it a cake walk for us to have our very own custom Poppets! You have really streamlined the entire customer experience and made it easy and fun. The final product is so absolutely charming and whimsical, they bring a smile to my face (if not an outright chuckle) every time. Thank you!
My Poppet proof (from Claudine)
Package full of Poppets
Susan Abbott's painting series "Dream Tables" first caught my eye while I was casually flipping through the September issue of Watercolor Artist magazine. I sometimes like the art I see in WA, and sometimes it doesn't interest me much. But one of the things I like about the magazine is that they feature all types of watercolor art, displaying all style facets of the medium and stories about the artists. When I turned the page and saw Susan Abbott's paintings, they didn't immediately hit me over the head. Instead, they crept up on me like a chili pepper that's relatively mild to taste at first, but then quietly, methodically takes over the taste buds. Her paintings are at first a juggernaut study of composition, pattern, and shape that work well as a huge composition. Give it a little longer though and soon you'll find yourself engulfed in all the subtleties. These details don't reward a casual viewer
—it feel like you have found a little treasure every time you happen upon one. The way the shadow dances on a pitcher, or the hyper-real focus of the flowers above the table, which allows the viewer to "feel" the intangible space between the long, tall orchid and the table below it. Susan's patterns and colors play beautifully across the picture scape
—never overwhelming, one color, hue, texture or pattern complimenting the one surrounding it, but also harmonizing with the bigger composition. Her paintings are true ensemble pieces. The whole is made up of all the players working in concert with each other, all making beautiful music together.
Wow, Kathy...I'm so amazed by your review (awesome writing) and I appreciate it so much that you took the time to do this and your kind words. Wishing you all the best in 2010!!!
Great review Kathy!
Great review Kathy! I wholeheartedly agree about the rhyming - Lisa has a knack for it and I adore reading rhyming texts aloud. Perhaps editors are so negative about rhyming texts because it's a low-hanging fruit for new authors who perhaps are not as successful as Lisa.