Little Puzzles

Good picture books are works of art to me. Each one gives you something different to appreciate. The color, the movement, the placement of elements. It all goes together in particular, glorious ways.

Really, they are like little puzzles that I must happily figure out.

How does the picture support the text? Does the illustration speak to me? Does it elicit another thought or mood that adds to my appreciation of the story? 

So much to think about. 

I try to treat myself to several picture books a week. (And I'm thinking about how I will share these with readers in the fall.) 

Recently I read these titles:

Rosenstock, Barb. 2014. The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky's Abstract Art. Ill. by Mary Grandpré. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0307978486 

When I first opened this picture book, I literally felt as if I were opening an artist's paint box (the title page is an illustration of an open paint box, and it will make you want to pick up a brush). It's historical fiction and based on true events in Kandinsky's life. (The excellent author's notes explain all of that.) When he was a boy, Kandinsky received a paint box from his aunt, and it changed  his entire life.

Barb Rosentock tells such a good story here. Previously, I read another one of her books and also one of my favorites: Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library.

Mary Grandpré's illustrations, done in acrylic paint and paper collage, match the wonder & mood of the text. Soft colors and lush strokes turn Kadinsky's life story into a work of art. That's genius! Each page echoes Kadinsky's feelings in the text, and as the story progresses, the art is even richer and more vibrant. (There is a page where Kandinsky's parents are talking, and Mary Grandpré represents this with text collages jetting from their mouths. I thought that was genius, too!) 

I will be recommending it to Mrs. Harris (our art teacher) and pretty much everyone else I know.
If you're not familiar with Kandinsky's work, the resources at the end of the book will be very helpful!

I could write more about it, but I must tell you about another book.

Gandhi, Arun, Bethany Hegedus, and Evan Turk (illustrator). 2014. Grandfather Gandhi. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 144242365X

If you could touch the cover, you would feel just the right amount of texture. Don't you love the shadows behind Gandhi and his grandson? And the sun! Look at the sun! Paper on paper in just the right proportion. Perfect! 

This isn't a full biography of Gandhi, so don't expect that. But what you get is something beautiful still. Gandhi's young grandson, Arun Gandhi, tells a story of living with his famous grandfather for a couple of years, and an important lesson he learned about anger. (Grandparents teach us such valuable lessons!) Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus wrote the book together (which adds such a level of awesomeness to this book), and the story of how they connected is interesting! (Read it in the authors' notes at the end.) Also, Bethany Hegedus is a Texas author! 

I cannot express adequately just how much I love the work of illustrator Evan Turk here. He uses watercolor, paper collage, cotton fabric, cotton, gouache, pencil, tea (yes, tea!), and even tin foil to create the illustrations. Using brown, orange, black and gold, Turk paints faces that express vivid life, creates scenes that evoke emotion, and uses perspective to magnify importance of moments. With scribbles and black, and placement of the character on the page, Turk depicts the anger young Arun is telling his grandfather about. On a double page spread where guests are gathered for a dinner of boiled pumpkin, I loved how Turk created the plates, spoons, and food. It's those little details that make this book stand out!

I could read these books for hours! I am so grateful to these authors and illustrators for their work. I hope my humble post here has inspired you to read their work, too!

Viva Frida: A Review

Morales, Yuyi. Viva Frida. New York: Roaring Book Press, 2014. ISBN 1596436034.

Viva Frida is both picture book and proclamation. Written in first person point of view, Frida Kahlo speaks to readers about her creative process in English and Spanish, with both languages on each page. The illustrations are both photographs (by Tim O'Meara) and paintings, and the combination is visually engaging, with vivid and playful renderings of her face, dress, and even her pet monkey. Reading Viva Frida is what it might have been like to listen to Frida speak at a museum showing. Husband Diego Rivera appears, but the focus here is Frida's artistic curiosity, as well as her vibrant appearance (with signature jewelry and floral head adornment) and spirit. In a double page spread in which Frida rests on a grass mound barefoot, (shoes cast off nearby), we gaze up dreamily into the sky with her, a delicate reaching hand aiming with hope. 


Viva Frida is a visual feast of a book and will inspire multiple readings. Not only a must for an art teacher, but also for anyone interested in creativity. 

Yuyi Morales has won the Pura Belpré Award multiple times, but most recently for Niño Wrestles the World.


Click here to see more about this book. 

Viva Frida is set for release on September 2, 2014. 

Summer Begins!

An end-of-year summer reads display designed by one of my awesome parent volunteers!
I love the jellyfish hanging from the ceiling! 

I wrapped up the school year on Friday officially, so I suppose my summer has begun!
But I am still thinking about the year, and reflecting upon all that it meant to me. I am writing an end-of-year piece to help me remember it all, but it's not finished yet. There is so much to think about!

I will be headed back to the library many times this summer. It will be a joy for me to do so! There are projects I want to begin, collections that need attention, and plans that need to be carried out. I already have several to-do lists.

But before my summer begins, I want to take note of just a few of my recent reads:

Image from Goodreads 

Thong, Roseanne G. (2014). Green is a chile pepper: A book of colors. Ill. by John Parra. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. ISBN 1452102031

From my Goodreads review: 

A book of poetry in Spanish and English, vividly depicting delightful scenes featuring colors. The illustrations brilliantly convey the joy of tradition, family, and celebration. A Spanish glossary is included, and endpapers resemble the entrance of a fiesta. Readers will enjoy flipping through pages and taking in every detail.

Image from Goodreads

Janeczko, Paul B. (2014). Firefly July: A year of very short poems. Ill. by Melissa Sweet. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.


The poems in this lovely collection are crisp and entertaining. The illustrations are a wonder for the eyes to absorb! A great addition to any children's poetry collection.

Image from Goodreads

Castellucci, Cecil. (2014). Odd duck. Ill. by Sara Varon. New York: First Second.

How I loved this delightful story! Theodora's routines were one of the great parts of this book for me. Chad enters the picture, and everything changes for Theodora. Part graphic novel, part picture book, Odd Duck takes readers on a sweet little unforgettable journey.

Two other books I've been reading but will blog about tomorrow:

VIVA FRIDA! by Yuyi Morales; photographs by Tim O'Meara
GRANDFATHER GANDHI by Arun Gandhi & Betheany Hegedus; illustrated by Evan Turk

My summer will be a busy one! But it will be filled with memories of a good year and good books.

Until my next post!

My Interview with Arree Chung: Author of NINJA!

Today I am happy to celebrate a book birthday! (I really do LOVE book birthdays!) Happy Book Release Day to Arree Chung, author of NINJA!, a sweet picture book about a boy with a great imagination! 

I asked Mr. Chung several questions, and here are his replies! 

Me: Librarians and teachers love to give book talks! When others ask you to tell about NINJA!, what do you tell them about it? 
 

Mr. Chung: I tell them about Maxwell, a 6 yr old boy who dresses up as a Ninja and causes havoc in his house by living out his Ninja fantasy.  It’s a perfect jumping in point for readers to get exposure to comics with panels, word bubbles and sequential story telling.  There are lots of places to talk about irony and how words and pictures work together.  For instance “...to defeat angry beasts” and “…a ninja goes unseen.”

Most of all, I tell them how fun the book is and how it can capture kid’s imaginations to go on their own ninja adventures.

Me: What did you enjoy about writing this picture book? 

There was so many things that I loved in making this book.   For the writing, I really enjoyed pairing down the words and trying to find the voice that would go along with the adventure.  Earlier drafts had many more words and it really was a reductive process to get it just right.  For instance, I toyed with changing the words “sacred cup” to “sippy cup” thinking it could be funnier. My editor, Kate was so helpful in pointing out that sacred cup worked much better.  Sometimes you’re so into the work that it’s helpful to have a guide to get you back on track.

Me: How did the idea for NINJA! come about? 
 

The original idea for Ninja came about randomly when I was in art school.  I scribbled out the idea: A boy dresses up as a Ninja and goes sneaking around the house.  It was just an idea and I never thought it would my break out story.

When I signed up for the SCBWI 2012 summer conference, I also enrolled into the illustration intensive workshop.  The assignment was to submit a manuscript along with thumbnails, character sketch and a full illustration for a story.  I had been working on a few stories for years but was stuck on most of them.  I decided to start anew so I flipped through my sketchbooks and found Ninja.

I was super busy wrapping up a few other projects that I didn’t work on Ninja for a couple of weeks.  I did think about it a lot and wrote little scribbles and doodles down.  All of a sudden, I realized the deadline for the assignment was due in two days, so I one night, I stayed up and frantically worked through 14 versions of the story.  In the morning, I had a story I liked.  It wasn’t perfect but it was solid.  I think having to simplify and get the story done for the deadline really helped me.  I haven’t been able to write another story in a few days since.  Sigh!

You can read the details of my path to publishing on my blog:

http://arreechung.blogspot.com

Because my blog name is Librarian in Cute Shoes, I loved the part in NINJA! where Arree Chung mentions that all ninjas needs "silent ninja footwear".

In fact, here is one of his sketches about how to make your own costume. I love it!

 

Me: What are the challenges in both writing and illustrating your own picture book?  

The hardest part is coming up with a great concept and the story.  As an author/illustrator, writing and drawing go hand in hand.  It actually makes the process easier.  There are times in the process where it’s helpful to put the sketchbook away and only focus on the words.  For this, I like to use flash cards to emulate page turns.  I can also get a sense of pacing and how it reads out loud.

Most of the time, I am working on the words and pictures together.  That’s one of the things I love most about picture books.  The words and pictures play together to tell the whole story.

Me: Tell us about the role libraries have played in your life. 

I LOVE libraries.  When I was a kid, it was my home.  I went there to day dream, to do homework and to draw anything I wanted.  Books opened new worlds up for me.  I loved reading adventure stories like James and the Giant Peach, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, and Rikki Tikki Tavi.

It’s funny because, thirty years later, I find myself doing a lot the same things I did as a kid.  I go to libraries and coffee shops.  I get lost in stories and I dream on paper.  I feel so lucky that I get to make books now and the thought of my book showing up in libraries gives me goose bumps!

Me:  I especially loved the ninja stars on the endpapers of NINJA! How did you decide on that? 

I couldn’t count the amount of ninja stars I made as a kid.  Probably at least 1,000.  When I was collecting patterns for possible end papers, it struck me.  I had to have paper ninja stars!  It was one of those, “duh” moments. 

I made several versions of the end papers.  Here’s a red one that I liked a lot. 

For a long time, I couldn’t decide which one I liked better, the red or green one.  In the end I’m happy with the choice we made.

Thank you, Arree Chung, for being a guest on my blog today and for sharing your art with us here!

Now, enjoy the book trailer for Ninja! (It's so clever!)


 




 



The Brilliance of Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa

Silverman, Erica. Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa. Ill. by Betsy Lewin. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers, 2005. ISBN 9780152021245. 


This book is absolutely delightful, and the proof can be seen when it is shared with 1st and 2nd graders. They love hearing about Cocoa the horse and how he is always hungry or thirsty. They love how Cowgirl Kate takes such good care of him. These four simple chapters combine to form a great story for readers.

Reading the book aloud helped me see things I hadn't noticed before.

For example:

I love the connection between Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa. Even though he's always asking for a drink, or food, she's always kind to him. He in turn, compliments her on her storytelling. In "The Surprise", Kate brings him a gift. Cocoa is so impatient to open it, he kicks over his bucket of oats. My students loved this part because they can relate and don't like waiting to open gifts either. (Neither do I!)

In "Counting Cows", Cowgirl Kate is trying to count all of the cows, but she's having some trouble because Cocoa isn't being cooperative. She decides to climb up a tree to see better. Cocoa does not approve (he doesn't think it's safe), and he decides to help her out instead. The illustrations by Betsy Irwin Kate show the care Cocoa has for Kate and vice versa.

I love Kate's passion for the cowboy life and her dedication to the work. She's ready to herd cows, and even spends the night in a barn. "I am a cowgirl from the boots up," says Kate. This is one of my favorite lines in the book.

Another thing I love about this book? Cowgirl Kate's red boots.

By the way, Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa won a 2006 Geisel Honor Award.

Most importantly, after I read this book to students, I couldn't keep any of them on the shelves.

That made me a #happylibarian.

My First Library March Madness

During the month of March (and part of April), the readers in our library participated in Library March Madness. Similar to the NCAA March Madness, our event also had brackets, but instead of teams, books were the competitors!

(I'd heard of this idea on Twitter and I knew I wanted to try it for myself. I thought my way through it and learned a lot!) 

Here's what the bracket looked like when we started:

Two of my parent volunteers helped make the bracket banner. We used masking tape and butcher paper. Each week, a parent volunteer helped me post the results and conduct voting.

I went on morning announcements to talk about the "tournament". That created some buzz and excitement!

I started a Google doc with the match-ups,  then I created a QR code with the link. The link was posted on the banner in the hallway and I also placed it on an easel located on the circulation desk. I had an iPad ready so learners could vote anytime they were in the library. I also had paper ballots available. (I'm not sure I'll do that next year.)

I chose 32 books that were known by most of our readers. I selected picture books as well as graphic novels and chapter books so that every reader would be able to vote in at least one of the levels. Since this was my first time doing a March Madness, I paired up the books as best as I could. But I will probably be wiser about it next year! 

After the first voting, we posted results with book covers on the banner. I created a new Google form for the next round and continued this until we were down to two finalists!

As learners walked by the banner in the hallway, I could hear them talk about the books! Mission accomplished! One of our 4th grade teachers brought her class over to the banner and had them all fill out a blank bracket to predict the winner.

As the weeks progressed, when I walked down the halls, students came up to me and mentioned different books. They asked when the next winner would be announced or where they could vote. It gave me another chance to connect with readers and share books. That is always a good thing!

As far as results go:
Our two finalists were:

Journey by Aaron Becker 

Wonder by RJ Palacio 

With different events in the building, some of the voting had to be postponed, but eventually we got to a winner (a school favorite):

Overall, I was very pleased with how it turned it out, and I'm already looking forward to next year! 

Catching Up on Books I've Missed--and a Review

I am completely fascinated by the world of children's literature, and, in fact, these titles are a majority of my daily reading now (with the exception of professional literature or research articles).  Each day I am adding to my virtual and physical shelves to keep up with my passion to read them.  Many of these are soon-to-be published or new,  but a small number of them are older titles that I missed along the way (either because I was a child and didn't know of them, or so busy as an adult that I didn't make time to read them). 

This past weekend, I carved out some time to do a bit of  "catching up" of missed titles. I began with a tiny book that left a big impression. 

The result is the following review. 

Smith, Doris Buchanan. A Taste of Blackberries. New York: HarperCollins, 1973. ISBN 0690805128

A young boy and his fun-loving best friend Jamie spend their days picking blackberries and hopping the creek together.  One afternoon, Jamie and the narrator of the book (a boy who remains nameless) agree to gather unwanted beetles off of grape vines to help a neighbor (paid by the jar). But in the middle of the work, tragedy strikes. Suddenly, the boy is without his friend, and he must deal with feelings he doesn’t understand.

A majority of the plot consists of the boy’s narrative through the aftermath of the tragedy. Events prior to the tragedy seem especially poignant afterwards because readers experience the thoughts and questions as the boy voices them.

Though the boy's friendship with Jaime is the center of the story, minor characters show more about their personalities. Jaime’s relationship with his little sister Martha reveals his loving side. Characters such as Mrs. Houser, a neighbor, are there to listen and offer words of wisdom: "Honey, one of the hardest things we have to learn is that some questions do not have answers." With the help of his parents, the boy processes his feelings in his own time and at his own pace.

Told in an honest, childlike voice, the mood is somber and quiet. The boy's conversation with Jaime’s mother at the end is especially meaningful, and a basket of berries he gives her becomes a symbol of his acceptance. 

A brief but deep book revealing the world of one child coping with grief, A Taste of Blackerries also portrays the importance of friendship in a child's life.

Middle grade, 64 pages.