Observations

Children learn at a very early age to watch, listen and learn.  Some do this in silence; others tend to display their new knowledge with flair, mimicking what they see or hear.   As an educator, an adult, you quickly realize everything you say and do is remembered...in vivid detail.  To be in the presence of children is a great honor and a huge responsibility.

If we are fortunate they will see value in what we say and do, taking the best part of each experience and fashioning it into an identity they will alter and wear for the rest of their lives.  Someone Like Me (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, July 3, 2017) written by Patricia MacLachlan with illustrations by Chris Sheban is a heartwarming journey through childhood.  It's about choosing what you do with your time.

If you were a little girl
who listened to stories 

These stories were not told once or twice or even three times but repeatedly during the course of this little girl's life.  They became a part of who she was.  These tales were from everyday life but elevated to familiar family legends.

Consuming books like air, fueling her heart and mind, even when her mom was walking home with her from the public library, was something this little girl did every single day.  She learned to be invisible hiding from her parents as they discussed things, hush-hush things.  Her imaginative mind longed for her animal friends to speak.

Like many children climbing to the tops of trees generated a feeling of freedom for her.  Above the regular world a new realm was revealed.  Have you ever wanted to run away?  Did you?  Was it because someone promised you something?  This little girl found people fascinating; what they did, said, and sang.

All these observations of the world around helped her become her true self.  They formed a focus for her life's work, woven into other familiar stories.  The daily directions she chose created pathways for others to follow for generations.

This narrative, a string of lyrical reflections, written by Newbery Medalist Patricia MacLachlan, is a gentle moving piece.  It reminds us of the transformative power of experience and study.  Through her words Patricia MacLachlan supplies us with encouragement; no part of our lives is too small to make a big difference.   Here is a partial passage.

If you were a girl whose great-grandmother loved
the smell and feel of prairie earth,
and ran through the grasses
sending the geese on the slough to
fly up
around
and back again


Rendered in watercolor, colored pencil and graphite all of the illustrations by Chris Sheban, beginning with the matching dust jacket and book case, cast a spell over readers, taking us to a place and time when a little girl uses her senses to enjoy the fascination the world offers her.  A striking use of light and shadow in this first picture as the sun rises asks us to pause with her and her dog beneath the tree on a rise above a field.  You have to wonder what she has written in her journal.

To the left, on the back surrounded in white a loosely framed image shows the girl sitting on the tree branch now, her back to us.  The dog is also facing in the opposite direction watching a line of geese above the field.  Golden yellow, orange and purple color the sunset sky.  The journal leans against the base of the tree.  Golden yellow covers the opening and closing endpapers.  Under the text on the title page a grandmother (great-grandmother) sits on a porch step telling the girl seated beneath her a story.  On the dedication and verso page and the first page, the duo is now walking down a lane as the storytelling continues.

Chris Sheban shifts his visual sizes to complement the narrative, full page, double page, and multiple pictures on a single page.  The colored pencil and graphite creates a textured look.  Chris chooses to use muted colors in large portions of some of the illustrations with other elements in full color for emphasis.  His use of white space is absolutely stunning on two of the pages.  The facial features on all the characters, especially on the little girl, have you wanting to be best friends with all of them.

It's hard to pick a single illustration as a favorite when they are all worthy of framing.  One particular picture I really like spans two pages.  It's a close-up of the girl under the dinner table.  We can see the underside of the table, the kind which pulls out to add leaves.  Her parent's legs and feet are visible.  Her dog, next to the father's chair, is watching her.  Lying on her stomach, head resting on her hands, elbows bent, the little girl, has one finger at her lips in a shush position.  Light from the room filters through the flowered table cloth and shines on the lower portion of her face.

Every single time I've read Someone Like Me written by Patricia MacLachlan with illustrations by Chris Sheban, I am moved by the simple but profound beauty on each page.  Patricia's words sing straight into your heart.  Chris's luminous illustrations envelope you.  I can't begin to tell you how much I love this book!  And I can't wait to share it with readers this coming school year.

To learn more about Chris Sheban and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  At the publisher's website you can view gorgeous interior images.  Chris Sheban is featured by teacher librarian Travis Jonker on his blog, 100 Scope Notes, Preview: The Crusty Nibs.  Chris is interviewed at LitPick and on author James Preller's Blog.

UPDATE:  Author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson shares art from this book on her blog, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, September 22, 2017.

  These videos are two of my favorite ones highlighting Patricia MacLachlan.

To Wednesday

At puppy Xena's first visit to the vet we were told as a sporting dog she needed long walks every single day.  So we did. In sickness and health (mine) not a day was missed.  There was also a great deal of running, swimming and hole digging (hers).  That's a lot of miles covered over fifteen years although during the last twelve months the walks became strolls and were shorter with lots of sniffing and pausing on her part.

All that walking for humans does not equal the same degree of senses used as it does for dogs.  Although there is quite a bit of seeing, smelling, and hearing what seems to happen the most is time for thinking unless you are taking a trip through your neighborhood.  That changes the entire experience.  Ideas Are All Around (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, March 1, 2016) written and illustrated by Philip C. Stead is about an author in search of an idea.

Today
outside my house
the sunflower opened up.

"Hello, Sunflower!"

After reflecting on the fact this is the only sunflower to be standing tall and blooming from an entire packet of seeds past their prime, we know this author needs a single thought to grow a story.  The dog Wednesday does not want to spend the day inside while her human explores their mind for the special something to start their writing.  Off they go on a walk.

Like a gardener holding an envelope labeled ideas, images and encounters with wildlife, strangers and welcoming residents are collected as this writer and Wednesday roam along familiar paths.  A painted turtle soaking in the sun on a log in the river is greeted by name before vanishing beneath the water.  On the other side of the river a treasured friend shouts a hello.  A memory surfaces about a long ago incident involving paint, an accident and a blue horse.

A line of ducks, graffiti words and a long-legged bird taking flight are duly noted.  As a train passes speculation quickly follows about where it might be going or where the tracks lead in the other direction.  A line of people hungry for breakfast, cloud watching and a probe into the past about the purchase of a typewriter occupy the neighborhood travelers.

Familiar birdsong interrupts the author's musings before Wednesday races after a squirrel.  Finally settling down for a chat with Barbara, the early morning greeter, things seen and remembered are woven into the comfortable conversation.  Soon

CLAK-CLAK-CLAK
CLAK-CLAK-DING!

is heard.


As each separate observation is revealed Philip C. Stead adds several sentences, statements or thoughts creating a gentle storytelling rhythm.  It's a rare gift for readers to see how his mind measures and assesses each one.  Dialogue is threaded through the narrative.  Most walkers can attest, especially those walking with their canine companion, speaking aloud or silently in your head is frequent, freeing and fun.  We feel our kinship with this man and his dog growing as the walk and story progresses.  Here is a sample passage.

"H-e-y-y-y-y, Barbara!" I call out.
"Maybe we'll stop by later!"
"Okay!" she says. ""I'll make coffee!"
Then comes a line of ducks
floating downstream.
"Hello," I say.
"I don't have any ideas today."
If the ducks have any advice
they keep it to themselves.


A gorgeous blend of artistic techniques, monoprinting, cardboard printing, painting on paper and applying pressure to the back, drawing in crayon on brown paper and cutting out the forms and pictures taken with a Polaroid camera, are used to render the illustrations in this book.  Across the dust jacket large brush strokes and swirls of blue paint form a horse with the other guide, the real dog Wednesday, running alongside in perfect unison.  On the book case an array of Polaroid pictures, seventeen, in rows of three on a background of white give us a first peek at them before their appearance on the interior pages.  The title text occupies one of the spaces.

Sunflower yellow covers the opening and closing endpapers.  Snapshots of Wednesday are shown before the story starts, one on the dedication.

Wednesday dedicates this book 
to the neighborhood.

A heavy matte-finished paper is an ideal canvas for the visuals placed together by Stead.  The cadence of page turns is altered by image size and the use of the Polaroid pictures.  To begin a single page illustration is on the right, a Polaroid on the left.  This slightly shifts with the addition of text on the right.  Then it's art above and below the text extending over two pages before a big beautiful blue horse appears on a double-page spread.  The layout and design are exquisite working in harmony with the words.

I can't help it.  One of my favorite illustrations is at the beginning of the book.  It's of Wednesday sitting on grass with a torn right edge overlapping green and white polka-dot paper.  She's looking right at the reader in all her shaggy-haired, loving wonderfulness.  A bright yellow circular sun is painted on white behind her head; most assuredly a halo for a guardian angel.


An author who needs an idea and a dog who needs a walk trek through their neighborhood, each happy with the results in Ideas Are All Around written and illustrated by Philip C. Stead.  It's a gathering of tiny kernels ready to sprout into stories after planted in a creative mind.  This book is a garden in full splendor.

To learn more about Philip C. Stead and his other work please visit his website by following the link attached to his name.  To access The Stead Collection pages please follow this link. A sweepstakes is being held in relation to this title.  Information can be found here.  To view eight interior images, including my favorite one, please go to the publisher's website. A teacher's guide for many of the Stead books and a wonderful activity kit for this title are available there also. Reading about the evolution of this book through a guest post by Stead at author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast is a marvelous.  On March 11, 2016 Philip C. Stead was a guest on the podcast Let's Get Busy, Episode 243. 

Happy book birthday to Philip C. Stead's Ideas Are All Around! https://t.co/7u0ERAUIaf @MacKidsBooks

— John Schu (@MrSchuReads) March 1, 2016

Carrying Words

When you reach into your pocket forgotten treasures may be discovered.  Depending on the owner of the clothing these tokens represent captured memories; a perfectly round pebble or a bit of sea glass, coins left over from a recent purchase, an old movie theater ticket, a handful of acorns or a dog treat.  Unless this attire is worn on a daily basis the locating of a lost item is cause for rejoicing.

In twenty days, all around the United States (maybe the world), people will be purposefully placing something of importance in pockets.  Poem in Your Pocket Day will be celebrated on April 30, 2015.  Newly released this year A Poem in Your Pocket (Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, January 27, 2015) written by Margaret McNamara with illustrations by G. Brian Karas takes us back for a visit with Mr. Tiffin and his students (How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? and The Apple Orchard Riddle).  

Mr. Tiffin's class had never had an author visit them before.
"Emmy Crane is a poet," said Mr. Tiffin.
"And she doesn't know it!" said Robert.  "That rhymes."
"Not all poems rhyme," said Elinor.

This particular author is visiting on Poem in Your Pocket Day.  Mr. Tiffin thinks it would be a great idea for each of his students to write a poem, place it in their pocket and read it aloud during the author visit.  Conscientious Elinor begins immediately (in March) to learn everything she can about poetry.

In April the class starts their study together.  Mr. Tiffin explains the use of similes and metaphors in comparisons.  The students test their thinking skills verbalizing their examples.  Only Elinor seems to be quiet saying she is working on something astonishing.

Many forms of poetry are presented to the students; haiku, acrostic, concrete and poems that make you laugh.  To flex their new abilities Mr. Tiffin takes them outside one morning, asking them to write in their journals.  Elinor neither says a poem aloud nor puts pencil to paper.

Paper bags filled with a single object, one for each student, are handed out on a Friday afternoon.  The students are asked to write a poem describing their item.  The other students are supposed to guess based on the student's writing.  Elinor's page is blank.  Her desire for perfection leaves her wordless.  Mr. Tiffin encourages her to work on it over the weekend but despite all her efforts on Monday her pocket is empty.

As the rest of the students go about their day, Elinor keeps on working but by the time the poet arrives and the assembly starts, she still has nothing.  Emily Crane reads her poetry to the students, she answers their questions and one by one they read their poems aloud to her.  With a sinking heart Elinor makes her way to the stage.  Emily Crane, author and poet, knows exactly what to say.


There is a special universality about the portrait Margaret McNamara creates of Mr. Tiffin and his students.  Through a blend of dialogue and narrative a diverse, lively group of personalities are presented to readers.  The respect the girls and boys have for their teacher and one another and Mr. Tiffin for them is real.  It's a classroom climate where learning, in this case poetry, can flourish.

Readers feel comfortable exploring alongside the other students in the classroom.  They can see themselves in the unique individuals.  When Elinor has trouble finding the writing perfection she desires, a believable solution is supplied.  Here is another sample passage.

"Sadness is a cracked sidewalk," said Tara.
"Very nice!" said Mr. Tiffin.  "Ms. Crane will be so impressed. 
He noticed that Elinor was being very quiet.  "How about you, Elinor?
What does your poet's eye see?"


It's easy to smile when you see Mr. Tiffin on the front of the dust jacket and matching book case taping the sign on the wall.  The gathered students have poems in their pockets or are carrying their poetry journal.  It's an uplifting school scene.  On the back, to the left, text is written on a blackboard as six boys and girls chat and read.  A bright denim blue background patterned in stitched pockets covers the opening and closing endpapers.  Poems are peeking from the pockets, written on a variety of paper.  A mirror image of the letters from the front appears on the title page with an opened journal and pencil placed below the text within a circle.

Rendered in gouache, acrylic and pencil G. Brian Karas recreates the kind of school setting we all wish we could enter.  Using size and color Karas enriches the pace of the story.  He alternates his image sizes from several double pages, to a series of six small circles, to a single page and then back to more two-page spreads.  The selected palette reflects the mood of the students, their teacher and of Elinor.  When her journal page is blank, Karas has the row of desks with the seated students in blue hues but a circle highlights Elinor in full color.

I've never met G. Brian Karas but I have to believe he is a people person.  His characters are charming in every aspect; their physical features, body postures and clothing.  One of several favorite illustrations is on Poem in Your Pocket Day.  Elinor is walking toward the school in the rain carrying her red umbrella wearing a green back pack.  She passes by the lawn, a flowering bush and letters of a poem in chalk on the sidewalk. Other students are entering the building or already walking about in the hallway.  There are pockets and poems in them on most surfaces and hanging from the ceiling. The mood of the students and of Elinor is apparent.


A Poem in Your Pocket written by Margaret McNamara with illustrations by G. Brian Karas is wonderfully normal.  You wish you could place these characters in your pocket much like a poem. They are treasures, every single one.  Use this book any time of the year in a study of poetry, writing and building self-esteem.  For National Poetry Month in April it is ideal.  At the end of the book you will enjoy reading Elinor's Poetry Page and Mr. Tiffin's Pointers.

To learn more about G. Brian Karas please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  This title has been selected for the next #SharpSchu Book Club Twitter chat in April.   Visit teacher librarian extraordinaire John Schumacher's Watch. Connect. Read. for the details.  Here is a link to a study guide prepared by the publisher.

To celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day I am giving away a copy of this book.

Talented Tale Tellers

Every morning, noon and night, despite your plans, is an adventure.  When you wake up you believe you have full knowledge of how your day is going to unfold.  You check your calendar, the news and the weather report.  You have gathered all the necessary tools to accomplish your day's tasks.

Of course if your calendar is still on March instead of April, an appointment might be missed.  A banner flashing an emergency message on your television screen about unexpected electrical repairs by city workers could foil your attempts at cooking meals.  Opening your front door to see additional snow instead of the predicted partly cloudy day will definitely put a damper on leaf raking.

If a rather spirited frog happens to hop into your world, everything, absolutely everything, will shift.  By Mouse & Frog (Viking, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), April 14, 2015) written and illustrated by Deborah Freedman is a story about a story.  This tale starts and stops and starts and stops and explodes in creative craziness.

One morning,
Mouse woke up especially early,
eager to write a brand-new story.

With the time-honored words of

Once upon a time

Mouse begins with a quiet scene of a table being set for tea using a pencil to draw the items, a table, a chair, a cup and saucer, a spoon, a tea pot and a single flower in a vase.  Into this serene setting bursts Frog.  He's sure the table is being readied for his presence.  In fact, pencil now in his hand, he proceeds to add cake, a big cake, to the offered refreshments.

Without a word to Mouse, Frog decides to include a King as a guest.  As Frog would have it, this particular royal has a hankering for ice cream,

all elevendy-seven kinds.

Still mopping up the spilled tea, Mouse is aghast at the mess this melting treat will make.  Oblivious to his friend's distress, Frog has the King declare an open invitation to all in the kingdom for cake and ice cream.  Weaving words and waving his pencil Frog's version of this tale fills the page.

In a fit of frustration, Mouse puts a stop to this story.  When Mouse airs his views, Frog counters.  Clearly their ideas do not match. In a flurry of explanations to characters, erasures and painting, a blank canvas awaits a fresh opening.

A deflated Frog listens as Mouse speaks and draws.  Sensing his revisions are still not what his friend desires, Mouse proposes a change.  Leaping to the challenge, grinning with gusto, and grabbing another pencil, Frog joins Mouse.  Two minds are ready to call in the magic.


As in her previous title, The Story of Fish & Snail, Deborah Freedman introduces readers to wonderfully likable personalities.  We can readily identify with the calm and routine-is-right Mouse as well as the spontaneous and exuberant Frog.  Their differences of opinion as presented in dialogue and their individual versions of the story supply gentle tension and much laughter.  We come to understand how wide Frog's reading world is with his insertion of bits and pieces from other books and tales.  Here is a sample passage.

"Frog.  I am busy today," said Mouse. "I'm writing a story.
Once. Upon a. Time. Mouse woke up early and set the table..."
"For Frog!" repeated Frog.
"...for tea," said Mouse.
"And cake!" added Frog.
"May-be," sighed Mouse.  


I simply can't help it.  I start smiling as soon as I see the dust jacket of this book.  (I'm working with an F & G.) There is something completely endearing in the creatures Deborah Freedman brings into our world.  You can already tell Frog is the more energetic of the two.  Mouse is intently finishing the painting of mouse.  A container filled with a rainbow of color clasped in Frog's hand signals his willingness to explore and add variety.  The butterflies have always meant to me something new is on the way.  To the left, on the back, in a continuation of the blue and white as several butterflies hover near the pencil-drawn table which holds the ISBN.

On the front and back flaps Freedman has Mouse and Frog speaking and interacting with the text on both.  On the opening endpaper Mouse is on the ladder painting white over a soft beige on the page with a can near the bottom of the ladder.  Tucked in the lower right-hand corner is the container of colored pencils.  Everything is white on the closing endpapers except for a single butterfly on the left and a can of paint, brush and pencil along with the ladder, bucket and mop on the right.  There are no words leaving interpretation to the reader.

For the title pages Mouse is on the ladder continuing to paint everything white; the paint can and container of pencils close at hand.  Rendered in pencil, pastel, watercolor and gouache then assembled in Photoshop, the illustrations span across single and double pages.  The way Freedman uses white space with the other mediums is marvelous.

She begins slowly with black and white; the only color in Mouse and the container of pencils.  With Frog's entrance a splash of green is introduced along with the spilled tea.  It is never stated in the text that the tea pot falls from the table.  Her illustrations extend and enhance with excellence.  When Mouse first sighs, the spilled tea is being mopped.  As Frog embellishes his story, more hues appear.  The dragon's fire is a purple haze and the background for the next page.

Freedman's features on the drawn character's and Frog's and Mouse's faces are brimming with emotion, welcoming us into both stories.  The animated antics of both Frog and Mouse, how they use their hands and feet, are delightful.  As she did on the dust jacket flaps, the closing page and publication information page feature Frog and Mouse in conversation.  Trust me, you are going to laugh.

One of my many favorite illustrations is the second set of two pages.  The look on Frog's face as he announces his wishes joyfully jumping on the page is a clear contrast to the look of shock on Mouse's face.  Mouse's stance, feet spread wide, tail straight up and mouth wide open, is hilarious.  This image sets the tone for the differences between the two friends.


Every single thing about By Mouse & Frog, the text and pictures, is masterfully done by Deborah Freedman.  This story is about how stories and the art of compromise develop.  Please read it aloud with voices as often as you can.  I can hardly wait to add it to my 2016 Mock Caldecott list.

To learn more about Deborah Freedman please visit her website by following the link attached to her name.  An earlier interview at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast hosted by author and blogger Julie Danielson can be found here.  Deborah Freedman wrote/drew a guest post at author Tara Lazar's PiBoIdMo, Deborah Freedman Begins Drawing. Update:  An Educator's Guide to the Works of Deborah Freedman is now available.

Once Upon A Pencil

Before I could read, as soon as I could read and to this day, fairy tales are favorites.  Traditional, variants and fractured, I enjoy them all.  My bookshelves are a testament to this preference.

It's such fun to see the spin authors and illustrators put on traditional tales.  Their inventiveness has never seen an entire cast of pencils though.  Little Red Writing (Chronicle Books, September 24, 2013) written by Joan Holub with illustrations by Melissa Sweet leads readers down the perilous path of authorship fraught with danger where bravery and a noun might save the day.

(Not only do I open the jacket and cover of a book before reading it, as well as examine the opening and closing endpapers, but I like to peruse the title page, dedication and verso.  A single sentence in the verso is intriguing.  It says: This book does not condone the use of explosives for any purpose other than the purely fictional.  Hmmmm...)

Once upon a time in pencil school, a teacher named Mrs. 2 told her class, "Today we're going to write a story!"

Each student wishes to write about what they know best. So you can imagine what type of tale the birthday pencil, the basketball pencil, the state pencil or the dinosaur pencil might compose.  Without a second thought, Little Red, knowing her color means courage, wants to write about a brave pencil.

Carrying a basket of fifteen red words given to her by Mrs. 2 and her notebook, Little Red sets off to find her story. Down the hall, the gym is a beehive of verbal motion pushing her out the door into a worrisome woods of adjective overload.  Needing to get out of there Little Red uses one of her red words, only to land next to the supply closest.

Oh, no...now she's stuck in a run-on rut.  In the nick of time a delivery truck speedily arrives, but wait...what's that sound? Whatever it is, it's chasing her.  She's running throwing out words from her basket, willy-nilly.

GRRRRRR....


Using language to create perfect pun-tastic prose, Joan Holub gives readers a fairy tale fractured with fun.  Not only are you turning the pages to see what part-of-speech trouble Little Red might encounter but you are wondering how or when the other key players of the original story will appear.  By combining those elements with places found in a school, Holub delivers a first-class, action-packed adventure; puns aside, points on the story path are brimming with brilliant word choices. Here is an example.

She went to the gym and was quickly 
drawn into the action.
She bounced! She boogied. Then she cartwheeled right off the page and into ...
a deep, dark, descriptive forest. ...

...AHA! Scissors!
I need to cut through 
all this description
and stick to the
story path.

There is no mistaking the illustrative techniques, the skillful use of watercolor, pencil and collage, of Melissa Sweet.  The front jacket and cover allude to the spirit of the main character hinting at possible danger and the parallels to the original fairy tale.  Puns and pencils are featured on the opening and closing endpapers with white backgrounds.  Sweet uses these, as well as the title page and verso, to extend the storyline.

Incredible detail, facial and body language, alternating size and perspective in the illustrations contribute to the overall effect of liveliness with just the right amount of humor appearing here and there.  Her design and layout of the collage using paper found in school settings and the every-changing typography will have readers coming back over and over to look at the pages.  Sweet begins the story with a blackboard, letters A-J showing above, but ends with a blackboard, letters Q-Z on the top.  Mrs. 2 has a I ♥ Mrs. 2 cup on her desk.  The instructions on the back of the WOLF 3000 are laugh-out-loud funny.

Little Red Writing written by Joan Holub with illustrations by Melissa Sweet is not only a playful take on the familiar but will spice up any writing classroom.  This is one fairy tale to be enjoyed by guys and gals, parents and teachers alike.  It's also a tribute to the power of the written word.  Read it.  You'll see exactly what I mean.

Please follow the links embedded above in Joan Holub's and Melissa Sweet's names to access their personal websites.  Please follow this link to a discussion guide.

Little Red Writing by ChronicleBooks