On The Move

The sky is a startling blue.  The sun is blinding-bright against the snow.  The temperature is in the low forties with a wind chill ten degrees higher than most of our temperatures the past several months.  When stepping outside a change is felt.  It is the whisper of spring.  

With spring, the smallest beings come awake.  They creep, crawl, hop, climb, and fly.  Sometimes, they find their way into our homes.  Sometimes, they interrupt our enjoyment outside.  And sometimes, they munch on our annuals, perennials, and vegetables.  Regardless, we are aware of their incredible abilities and value to our ecosystems.  Hustle Bustle Bugs (Little, Brown And Company, February 22, 2022) written by Catherine Bailey with pictures by Lauren Eldridge is an exploration and tribute to these creatures who share our world.

Secret cities buzz and bustle

with itty-bitty hard-work hustle.

If we really want to view what insects do, we need to look at them on their level.  We cannot be afraid to get low and close.  We can see carpenter ants chewing through wood no longer needed.  

Working in our gardens, ladybugs rid them of unwanted pests.  Grasshoppers work to keep growth under control.  Do you see termites guarding their nests from unwanted invaders?

Whether bugs are members of a team or individuals acting on their own, the results benefit the entire community.  Bees buzz together. Butterflies glide alone as do spiders weaving webs. 

Dusk and dark reveal other busy bugs.  Fireflies flash to signal an alarm.  Crickets create a symphony hoping to attract a mate.  No matter the weather or the time of day, insects are on the move.

In single (or two) sentences, two parts of a whole beckon readers with an inviting, upbeat rhyme written by Catherine Bailey.  Each of these factual sentences introduce readers to the value of each insect given focus.  These are then compared in separate sections on the same page to the actions of humans contributing to the success of our communities.  These analogies are a wonderful method of promoting understanding.  Here are two passages.

Ladybugs on patrol.

Polka-dot pest control.

Like police officers protecting

a neighborhood, ladybugs

protect flower and vegetable

gardens from aphids and other

tiny pests.

The open and matching dust jacket and book case clearly are a reflection of the title and contents of the book.  All of the featured creatures are about their daily activities.  The technique used as a placeholder for the author and illustrator names is employed for displaying the comparisons of the insect community to the human community within the interior of the title.  The scene on the front, right, continues across the spine to the left.  

On the back, the left, in the background are two little girls.  They are the explorers of the insect world seen in the illustrations.  Between them, they are carrying a notebook, a camera, and a magnifying glass.

Several plank boards, either a table, steps, or porch, provide the background on the opening and closing endpapers.  On the first set, we see on the left, insect identification cards, pine cones, caterpillars in a box of leaves, a magnifying glass, and a camera.  To the right are colored pencils and a notebook embossed with insect bodies.  On the second set, it is darker.  The notebook is on the left with pages torn and tattered sticking out from the covers.  The magnifying glass is on the right along with a roll of tape (used for securing the text), a moth, the insect identifying cards, the camera, and several picture slides of insects.

The title page is a double page picture.  It's a bug's eye view of earth along the bottom for the text.  Above that is grass alive with insects in action.  The two little girls are leaving their home for a day of discovery.

The remaining two-page images by artist Lauren Eldridge are spectacular, exhilarating settings.  They are replete with details; most of them as if we are within the images with the insects.  Lauren Eldridge painstakingly fashioned the insects and their environments by hand, using as much "found" materials as possible.  She photographed individual elements using

a Nikon D7200 with a 35mm lens, and the images were composited digitally.

One of my many favorite two-page pictures is at night.  On the left the two little girls are walking among the grass, daisies, and coneflowers.  One of them is pointing to the right.  Above the rhyming text on the left, a firefly glows.  On the right, a firefly is shown enlarged and close to use.  In the lower, right-hand corner another firefly glows.  To the left of that insect, the comparison text from a torn page is taped to the scene.

One word comes to mind after reading Hustle Bustle Bugs written by Catherine Bailey with pictures by Lauren Eldridge.  That word is AMAZING!  At the close of the book are two pages of further information, Fun Buggy Facts and Want to know more insider insect information? Check out these bug-tastic tidbits . . . To the left of the dedications and publication information is a wonderful explanatory A Note from the Artist.  Your personal and professional collections won't be complete without this title.

To learn more about Catherine Bailey and Lauren Eldridge, please follow the link attached to their names to access their websites.  Catherin Bailey has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Lauren Eldridge has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  This book is showcased with creator interviews at librarian, lecturer at Rutgers, and writer John Schumacher's Watch. Connect. Read. Please take a few moments to read the fascinating post at author Anitra Rowe Schulte's site about Lauren Eldridge's work, especially on this title. 

UPDATE:  This title is featured at Picture Book Builders on August 5, 2022.

Nighttime Numbers

Like a beloved lullaby there are favorite bedtime books.  The combination of words and illustrations sing to a sleepy soul.  Each phrase is a melody gently wrapping around the reader or listener.  These books are as important to a good night's sleep as a fluffed pillow, a cuddly stuffed toy or a soft blanket.

If you walk into a bedroom, next to the bed on a shelf or nightstand, they will be stacked in a place of honor.  Sleep Train (Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, April 3, 2018) written by Jonathan London with illustrations by Lauren Eldridge is one of those special titles.  As an engine pulls the cars down the track, a reader begins a ritual sure to lead to slumber.

Sleep Train
Jiggling down that track.

Ten sleepy cars
going clickety-clack.

Our narrator, a boy reading this book, states with the assurance of someone who has read these lines multiple times; one of the cars is his car.  One by one he names the cars and gives them a number.  First and second are the tender and the boxcar.  They are attached to cars numbering three and four.  Each of them has a specific use.

As the train rolls through the countryside the sounds of cows mingling with the sounds of the train make a tune all their own.  Two more cars, a hopper and a gondola, are recognized by the reader.  One has a color so brilliant, it's worth noting.

With eagerness numbers seven, eight and nine are listed.  All those sleepy cars are followed by the caboose,

a moonlit red.

Where is the reader?  Is he in number ten? Yes, he is!

He's in a particular place for those numbering the cars of a Sleep Train.  He counts and he counts, getting sleepier and sleepier.  Good night.


No stranger to appealing text for the intended audience, Jonathan London (the Froggy series) sends a soothing note to readers with his first three phrases.  His rhyming rhythm recreates the swaying of a train as it moves down a track.  It gently lulls us.  The repetition of key words enhances the peaceful cadence.  He also gives readers practice in counting from one to ten as well as acquainting them with the names of cars which can be found between the engine and caboose.  Here is a passage.

There's a flatbed car (that makes seven!)
and a coach with seats.
And there's a dining car
where everybody eats.

Now so far . . .
that makes nine---
nine sleepy cars 
rocking down that line.


When readers open the matching dust jacket and book case on Sleep Train they see spread before them a glorious nighttime sky replete with stars, a shimmering cloud of smoke from the engine's stack highlighting the dimensional title text.  When your eyes move to the left, on the back, the remainder of the cars and the caboose stretch behind.  A full moon hangs in the sky to light the tracks, train and waving prairie grasses.  The color palette here, and throughout the book, is rich with hues of blue, purple and red as the sun sets, dusk begins and darkness descends.

The opening and closing endpapers are a muted rose in two shades.  A pattern of tiny stars cover the background. The title page features the narrator, a boy, snuggled with his toy rabbit on his bed and holding this book.  Through his window we can see city buildings.  The dedication and verso pages showcase an image stepping back, giving us a larger view of his room.  Lauren Eldridge, illustrator, has tucked some wonderful Easter eggs in this scene.  Be sure to look at the child's bookshelf.

In an informative paragraph Lauren talks about how the illustrations were meticulously created by hand using such materials such as cardboard, paper, plaster cloth, acrylic paint, polymer clay, wire, wood, and acrylic eyeballs.  The boy's pajamas were hand sewn. She goes on to say:

Each environment is composed largely of household items, including an upside-down patio table, faux fur, Dixie cups, and washers.  The images were shot with a Nikon D7200 35mm and 10-24mm wide angle, and digitally manipulated.

All the illustrators span two pages, page edge to page edge.  We, like the boy and the train, are on a journey.  Each setting is photographic in detail. Birds fly across a sky gorgeous with the setting sun.  Cows rest and graze next to the train tracks.  A station master lifts a hand as the train travels past.  Each of the cars bears their correct number.  When we see the child in his car on the train, it's a blend of reality and a dream world.  The final single page image is like a sigh.

One of my many favorite pictures is of the train passing by an old grain elevator.  The elevator is set slightly to the left of the center on the right side.  The perspective moves closer to the engine on the left with cars numbering one, two, three, four and five getting smaller and smaller as they pass by the elevator.  A group of birds soars in the sky as if following the train as it makes its nightly trip.  The sky is shown in shades of blue, pale purple, pink and orange.  It literally glows.


Whether used with other counting books, titles about trains or a treasure to be tucked among other bedtime books, Sleep Train written by Jonathan London with illustrations created by Lauren Eldridge is a marvelous ode for all those seeking sleep.  The illustrations elevate the lilt of the text; together they are a tune to remember.  I can't imagine a professional or personal collection without this title.


To learn more about Jonathan London and Lauren Eldridge and their other work, please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  At the publisher's website you can view an interior image.  You will want to read the interview of Lauren at Brightly.  It contains information about her process.  She also chats about this book and her art at Publishers Weekly.  Lauren has an account on Twitter and Instagram.

Shaping Laughter

There are days when you crave great gulps of it.  It's an elixir for your soul.  You need it like your body needs air. It can come over you spontaneously or build until it bursts out in the open.

Whether it's a snicker or a shriek, laughter is contagious.  It's a rare person who hears it and does not feel at the least, a hint of a smile forming.  Claymates (Little, Brown and Company, June 20, 2017) written by Dev Petty with illustrations by Lauren Eldridge is certain to send spirits soaring.  There will, without a doubt, be a great deal of roaring...with laughter.

So...are you new here?

Yeah.

Me too.

What do you think is going to happen?

Probably something WONDERFUL.

Two balls of clay, one gray and the other brown, are calmly chatting and getting to know one another when an artist approaches the studio table, forming them into a wolf and an owl.  The twosome is thrilled when they are left alone again.  Owl thinks they are perfect.  Wolf has other plans.

Faster than you can say ears, it stretches them to look like airplane wings.  Owl is flabbergasted predicting doom and gloom at Wolf's antics in altering its appearance.  Finally after persistent prodding, Owl tries it.  Yahoo! Where did Owl go?  And what is in its place?

Like caged creatures set free the duo are an explosion of creativity.  When one becomes something new, the other complements it.  They progress from imaginative creatures, to things out of this world, to bigger, smaller, flatter and sharper.

The artist's jar of tools is fair game for these companions as they merrily make and remake themselves until the inevitable happens.   They hope their fast thinking solves their current predicament but the outcome generates full-blown hilarity.  For a third time they find themselves alone.  And as it is said, the third time is the charm.


Told entirely through the conversations between the two balls of clay, this story instantly captures your undivided attention and keeps it until the final syllable is uttered.  Dev Petty's keen sense of humor resonates in each word.  It's delightful to see how she plays one personality against the other until doubt is dispelled, replaced with exuberant play and the roles come full circle.  Here is a sample conversation.

You definitely shouldn't do that.

Why not?
I can fix it.

Don't I look loooovely?

You look like 
you're going to get
us in trouble.


It's a given you will start to giggle as soon as you see the matching dust jacket and book case.  Lauren Eldridge in this title, her debut picture book, demonstrates her masterful use of clay, found objects and photography.  The color choices for the text and the white background assure your attention will be directed at the characters.  You know the wolf and owl are as happy as can be but you are not sure why until your eyes drift left at the back.  A gray elephant is now holding a giant brown peanut in its trunk.  Off to one side you can see a portion of the studio table with other balls of clay ready to be used.

On the opening endpapers we get a clear view of the entire studio, including the table and photography space. What an introduction to possibilities!  On the closing endpapers with the publication information, author's and illustrator's notes and dedications it's the same area with noticeable differences.  (I'm laughing again.)  On the title page we zoom in close to the characters and bowls holding balls of clay.  The title letters formed from clay are spread across the top of the two-page picture.

Rendered in

polymer clay, acrylic doll eyes, tinfoil, and wire to create the many shapes of the gray and brown claymates and using objects from around my (her) house

Lauren Eldridge fashions a series of images on white or framed in wide bands of white.  She might include two illustrations on a single page, a single picture on one page, a wordless collage of visuals or a close-up spread across two pages.  Her choice of size directs the pacing and heightens the narrative.

The conversations are shown on torn pieces of paper with text color to match the character's color. What Lauren does with their eyes is fabulous! You know exactly what they are thinking and feeling.

One of my many favorite illustrations is the first two-page spread.  The wolf has just pulled its ears out making them longer.  Its eyes and mouth are wide open with its tongue hanging out as it exclaims

TA-DA!  

Owl on the right is shocked with wings askew, one tip pointed toward its chin.  The eyes are as wide-open as Wolf's but not for the same reason.  Owl says

Yikes!


You can't read this title, Claymates written by Dev Petty with illustrations by Lauren Eldridge, only once.  You have to read it again and again.  And, this is the best part, even though you know what is going to happen you laugh louder and longer with every reading.  I love this book!  I already have more copies on the way.  I would plan on multiple copies for your professional and personal bookshelves.

To discover more about Dev Petty and Lauren Eldridge and their other work, please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  The exclusive cover reveal along with an interview is at teacher librarian Travis Jonker's blog at School Library Journal, 100 Scope Notes.  The book trailer was premiered at Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read.  He chats with Lauren Eldridge.  Lauren is featured at Celebri-Dots.  Dev Petty talks about this book at Nerdy Book Club.  Enjoy the video.



Book Chat with the CLAYMATES Creators from LB School on Vimeo.