Poetry Month Author Focus

Although observations of everything about our world through poetry is welcome any month of the year, the annual celebration of National Poetry Month in April is when poets, those who enjoy poetry and those who have yet to discover poetry can come together.  The use of various poetic styles is showcased.  The interplay of word choices and cadence penned using those various techniques gives the appearance of pure magic.

One poet whose work I've enjoyed for years is Laura Purdie Salas.  This spring readers are fortunate to have three new books written by Laura Purdie Salas released.  They are from three different publishing houses and illustrated by three different artists.  The first, Snowman - Cold = Puddle: Spring Equations (Charlesbridge. February 5, 2019) is illustrated by Micha Archer.

science + poetry = surprises

As winter gray drains away, spring tiptoes in.  It sprinkles color and motion and sound all around.  Each sunny day, soft breeze, and spring shower changes our world.

Science is why and how a
flower grows.  Poetry is 
looking at that flower and
seeing a firework.  Surprise!

Twenty-three poetic equations divided into early, middle and late spring follow this introductory mathematical expression and lyrical explanation.  Poem by poem we become avid spectators.  We see those creatures who awaken from sleep.  We see snowy formations become watery rivets filling dips in the ground like nature's teacups.  Have you ever seen otters playing along a riverbank?  It's a mud bath party!

Missing raptors, bald eagles, return north diving for their meals in water.  Geese fly in formation as they, too, move north again.  Spring winds snag kites causing them to dip up and down like roller coasters of the sky.  When we see the first bees, we know pollination begins and food grows.  Robins have returned.  When will we see their precious, bright, blue eggs nestled in a nest?

Rains mean rainbows; a sure sign of science in action.  These spring rains are consumed by plants eager to burst forth from their hiding places.  Woodland and meadow explorers and dog walkers know to look (and smell) for mother and baby skunks on patrol for food.  At night, the steady serenade of frogs is certain to bring a smile to those waiting for winter to say good-bye.  For the final equation and poetic response, readers are challenged to pay attention, look for changes and be changed.


Addition, subtraction and multiplication are supplied by Laura Purdie Salas as she takes us from winter's end to summer's beginning.  She explores numerous aspects of the spring season blending literature and science.  We are fascinated as each explanation unfolds.  We enter each landscape willingly, looking at the everyday with a distinctive point of view.  Here is another equation.

nest + robin = jewelry box 
Robins lay dazzling blue eggs
in spring.  Some scientists
believe that the most vivid
blue eggs have the healthiest
chicks inside.  The blue shells
might act like sunscreen,
protecting the chicks from sun
damage before they hatch.


On the open and matching dust jacket and book case, readers can already see the intricate and colorful collage creations of artist Micha Archer.  Children, here and throughout the book, share the stages of spring and diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds.  To the left, on the back, amid a canvas of bright green, is a single rectangular shape featuring a female cardinal among clusters of pink blossoms.  In the lower left corner, a nest of babies with open mouths await her return.

The opening endpapers are a pale blue and the closing endpapers are a lighter vivid green.  For the title page, Micha Archer gives us a view of a pond with a red-winged blackbird perched among cattails.  On the other side of the pond a snowman enjoys his last days.  With each page turn a double page picture extends from left to right but usually depicts two poems, one on the left and the other on the right.  The balance is stunning.  Only once are there two separate single-page pictures.

Using her signature technique explained in detail at the close of the book, Micha Archer gives us panoramic vistas above and below ground, inside a beaver's house, close-up to a bee gathering pollen, and at all times during the day.  She takes us into our world, asking us to share and respect what we see.  Every portion of each image reflects meticulous care.

One of my many, many favorite images spans two pages.  It is late spring, and the sunset has painted the sky in breathtaking beauty.  On the left, on a small hill, a mother skunk leads her babies, all in a row, to search for food.  Along the bottom of that darkened hill is a stunning array of dandelions, in various sizes.  Some are new and others are old.  These dandelions carry across the gutter to spread into an enormous field stretching to the horizon.  Two children romp among the flowers scattering seeds with their movements and breath.

Snowman - Cold = Puddle: Spring Equations written by Laura Purdie Salas with illustrations by Micha Archer is highly recommended for your personal and professional collections.  At the end of the book is an author's and illustrator's note.  There is a page dedicated to When Spring Starts and another one for Further Reading.  At the publisher's website is an activity guide you can download.  Using the links embedded in Laura Purdie Salas' and Micha Archer's names, you can access their websites and learn more about their other work.  Micha Archer has interior images from this book on her site.  Laura Purdie Salas has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  Micha Archer has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  Micha Archer and this title are highlighted at author, reviewer and blogger, Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.


On March 12, 2019 In The Middle Of The Night: Poems from a Wide-Awake House (Wordsong, an imprint of Highlights) written by Laura Purdie Salas with illustrations by Angela Matteson was published.  It follows the antics of all the occupants of a household once a child falls sound asleep.  It makes you wonder and laugh at what might be happening when you are dreaming in your own home.

After Hours

Sun and moon have traded places-
Time for games!  Time for races!

We wait,
we wait,
we wait

        all

                  day
for you to sleep so we can play!

Your breathing settles, slow and deep.
Finally! You're fast asleep.

Shhhhhhhh . . .

Anticipation grows and then total abandon rules the house in these twenty-six poems utilizing a variety of techniques.  Stuffed-animals and toys have a talent show.  A marker laments the loss of its top and adventuresome pencils form a paper airplane for transportation.  A baseball cap comes alive looking for a new place to rest.  Gig the dog provides the perfect spot.

An overdue library book scampers through the night, hiding and moving from place to place.  A bottle of perfume provides the spark for an acrostic poem.  Dental floss is on the loose fashioning everything it never gets to be during the day.  A lunch box sneaks up on a pesky enemy capturing it with glee.  Did you know spaghetti does not want to stay in a bowl?  It would much rather become your shoelaces.

Trust me, when I say you'll never look at a fruit roll-up in quite the same way again.  Flip-flops and winter boots chat in a poem for two voices (the first of two).  You might want to make sure you secure your lawn hose better at day's end.  (I never did like seeing it at night on the ground.)  When the sun rises and morning arrives, the child is none the wiser, but we are.


This book is one of those books when you know, despite all the work, this author, Laura Purdie Salas, had fun because that is what these poems are . . .fun.  Words rhyme furnishing readers with a rhythm.  Most of the poems use a first person (object) voice. Here is another poem.

Mixed-Up Mixing Bowl

I tilt and twirl
a blurry swirl
I spin into
a tizzy

I wobble, sway
a bowl ballet-

oopsy!

Now I'm
dizzy


Rendered mostly in the hours after dark, with acrylics, gouache, and a touch of colored pencil on wood board these illustrations by Angela Matteson first seen on the matching dust jacket and book case are ready to zip you into the world of night-life fun.  Look at those pencils zooming in their paper airplane!  The starry expanse begins anew on the back, to the left, providing a place for words from the first poem.

The opening and closing endpapers are a matte-finished light blue.  The toy box shown on the title page hints at the events to come.  Angela Matteson alternates between double-page pictures and single-page illustrations.  Her color palette reflects the time of day; purples and blues.  All the visuals are brimming with animation and loaded with details that are often humorous.

Careful readers will want to compare the bedroom setting in the first poem with the bedroom setting in the final poem.  The origami figures made by the pencils are moving off the page.  The overdue library book moves through three subsequent illustrations.  A bottle of dish soap is aghast at the basketball relaxing in a sink full of ice cubes.  There is a lot to see with each page turn.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is for the poem titled Pencil Plunge.  It spans two pages.  On the left pencils wait in a row across the top step on a staircase.  Six pencils are laughing as they race down the steps, point by point.  On the right, one pencil has a clipboard keeping score, another is sharpening up for another run and two others are assisting a pencil with scotch tape.  This one cracked.


If you want to add hilarity and wonder to a read aloud of poetry with a group or before bedtime one-on-one, In The Middle Of The Night: Poems from a Wide-Awake House written by Laura Purdie Salas with illustrations by Angela Matteson is an excellent selection.  You will want a copy for your personal and professional collections.  To learn more about Laura Purdie Salas and Angela Matteson and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Laura has lots of extras for this book on her website (and her other books, too). Laura Purdie Salas has accounts on Instagram and Twitter as noted above.  Angela Matteson has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  To start off the blog tour for this title Dylan Teut, director for the Plum Creek Children's Literacy Festival in Seward, Nebraska, at Mile High Reading, interviewed Laura Purdie Salas.  At a publisher's website you can view the title page and the first page of the contents.


To start off the first week of National Poetry Month, Lion Of The Sky: Haiku For All Seasons (Millbrook Press, April 2, 2019) written by Laura Purdie Salas with illustrations by Merce Lopez was made available for all readers.  It presents an entire book using a form of haiku and using these as riddles to be solved.  Laura Purdie Salas calls it riddle-ku.  

Spring

I am a wind bird.
sky skipper, diamond dipper,
DANCING on your string

Did you figure out the answer to this first of twenty-four poems?  In this series of poems Laura Purdie Salas asks us (as she does many times) to look at something with a fresh perspective.  We move through the four seasons exploring elements found during those special months.

April showers do bring May flowers but what else looks like flowers in the rain?  In a following riddle-ku two objects both begin with the letter "b", but one comes before the other in spring.  This secret is delicately described.  And sometimes you walk around it, other times you jump right in the center with a huge splash.  In the hands of Laura Purdie Salas, we

sail leaf boats across me.

Dandelions, mosquitoes, and sandcastles herald a new season and are aptly portrayed in three clever lines of five, seven and five syllables.  The poem using the title of the book creates a memorable and mesmerizing vision.  It leads us with a gasp and a sigh into autumn.

Will you think of your school as waiting, welcoming and wearing something special?  We read of a train no one will ever ride.  We hear familiar noises when someone makes a satisfying jump as a reward.  Now winter is upon us.  Aspects, those of us living in the north are ready to big adieu, speak to readers. Cold permeates each poem.  How do we fly in winter without ever leaving the ground?  Who waits, as we do, dreaming of spring?


Knowing former students' fondness for haiku and puzzles, I know readers will enjoy these truthful, eloquent riddles using three lines written with great insight by Laura Purdie Salas.  These poems ask us to use all our senses, seeking answers in not-so-obvious places.  The subjects described are familiar but lifted to wondrous.  Here is another poem.

fire in our bellies,
we FLICKER-FLASH in twilight-
rich meadow of stars


As colors burst across the matching dust jacket and book case on the front, we realize we are in for a pictorial treat courtesy of illustrator Merce Lopez.  She captures the amazing feeling of being seated during a festival or holiday using fireworks as they spread above us, diminishing our size by their grandeur.  To the left, on the back, she shifts her style to match the exquisite and graceful nature of the object being described in the riddle-ku shown to readers.  It's a different kind of display; one made by Mother Nature.

On the opening and closing endpapers a canvas is shown in a dark teal.  Each intricate illustration is rendered in acrylic on paper and finished digitally.  They are both realistic and have a dream-like quality at the same time; a beautiful blend of truth and mystery.  Sometimes Merce Lopez has a single-page picture for each poem.  Other times a double-page image becomes a background for two poems.

Merce Lopez's use of color, line, light and shadow invites readers into each illustration.  We are easily transported through the subsequent seasons.  Each visual gives readers additional hints as to the answer for the poem.  Sometimes they are more subtle than others.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is for the poem previously noted.  Earth tones of blue, gray, black and brown in soft shades supply a pleasing place for the glowing circles of light.  These tiny circles of light glow around two children standing in a field of tall grasses.  They are close and facing each other.  Their heads are bowed and looking at the light gently held in their hands.


This third book, Lion Of The Sky: Haiku For All Seasons written by Laura Purdie Salas with illustrations by Merce Lopez, is another charming and captivating look at our world through the eyes of an outstanding poet and her illustrative collaborator.  Even when you've figured out the answers to these riddle-ku poems, you'll find yourself reading them again and again for the lovely use of language and the impressive images.  Laura explains riddle-ku at the close of the book.  Further reading about haiku, riddle poems and seasons is listed along with an answer key.  To learn more about Laura Purdie Salas and Merce Lopez, a resident of Spain, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Be sure to enjoy all the extra features Laura includes for this title.  As stated previously Laura Purdie Salas has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  Merce Lopez has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view interior pages.  The artwork of Merce Lopez for this book is showcased by Julie Danielson, author, reviewer and blogger, at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

UPDATE:  Enjoy this video by Laura Purdie Salas about the publication of these books.

Poetic Observations

Mother Nature and the calendar may have designated the vernal equinox as March 20, 2016 in the northern hemisphere but the first day of April heralds an event in the literary world which cements this annual change.  National Poetry Month is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year with a host of activities available for participants on their website.  There is no better time to collect words expressing the shift in seasons than the renewal of life after a winter's rest.

As the days move forward the noticed differences are sometimes subtle, slight and soft and other times loud, large and vibrant.  In her first work of poetry author Julie Fogliano (And Then It's Spring, If you want to see a whale) beginning with spring follows the seasons documenting her observations with dates.  The illustrations of Julie Morstad (This Is Sadie, Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova) delicately portray defining moments.  When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, March 1, 2016) is a collection of thankfulness, gentle, simple and straight from the heart.

march 20
from a snow-covered tree
one bird singing
each tweet poking
a tiny hole
through the edge of winter
and landing carefully
balancing gently
on the tip of spring

A first bird, a first flower, and forgotten remnants of winter fun emerge from the snowy weather.  Clouds release rain and buds on branches release flowers.  Sensations, sights and sounds increase.  There is a focus on flowers, sunshine, bees, breezes and berries.  Then...it's summer.

july 28
if you ever stopped
to taste a blueberry
you would know
that it's not really about the blue, at all

Languid lounging in cool water helps dim the heat.  Life is in constant motion all around you even at night inside your home when a small glowing insect may visit.  Your garden grows; green is replaced with other colors.  There are beach picnics, oceans of water and sand, seagulls and swimming.  There will be stargazing; long nights of stillness and staring upward.  Then...it's fall.

november 20
there is nothing left to bloom
or sprout
or bud
or grow
these showers will not bring you flowers at all
these showers are practice for snow


As much happiness as June, July, August and most of September bring, there is a time when sweater weather is welcome.  In shades of brown, orange, red and yellow leaves fall, form patterns and are raked into piles; piles and piles of crunchy, crinkly fragments of a summer spent.  Patches of dirt are spotted with brilliant globes.  Trees reach silently.  Quiet is coming.  Then...it's winter.

december 29
and i woke
to a morning
that was quiet
and white
the first snow
(just like magic) came
on tiptoe
overnight

What would it be like to fall like a snowflake falls?  What would it be like to stand alone, a single cow among many snowflakes?  Outside wind and snow change the landscape frosting the familiar into something entirely new.  Inside a cozy fire and warm blankets shelter inhabitants from a storm that never ends.  But, then it does.

march 20
from a snow-covered tree ...


Reading the poetry penned by Julie Fogliano is like taking the feelings from your best day and swimming through them page after page.  Without punctuation the breaks come in the placement of the lines; a steady stream of thought fueled by sensory inspection.  Through her use of words the simple, everyday things mentioned become royalty worthy of wonder.  Here is another poem

may 10
lilac sniffing
is what to do
with a nose
when it is may
and there are lilacs
to be sniffed


The image on the front of the dust jacket continues to the left on the back.  Children look, carry, pick and reflect among the delicately depicted fruits of the season.  One of the darker hues of green covers the book case with a deep forest green along the spine.  On the front a single green tomato is embossed into the cover.  The warm, early red of a ripening tomato covers both the opening and closing endpapers.  Tiny fruits and vegetables are gathered under the title.  A wee little nut-carry squirrel is featured on the verso.  Between the dedications a child is shown eating a slice of watermelon.

Rendered in gouache and pencil crayon by Julie Morstad most of the illustrations span two pages, edge to edge.  There are fine lines, intricate details, soaring vistas and close perceptions but most of all her pictures are brimming with remembered emotions relative to those specific seasonal experiences.  There are no adults in these visuals, only children, a dog, the flash of a rabbit, a firefly, birds, a bee, a frog, butterflies, an inchworm, squirrels, a cat, a white duck and a cow.  It's a lovely world in which she asks us to wander.

One of my favorite pictures of many is beneath a summer sky without moonlight. There are so many stars to be seen overhead.  Two children, a boy and a girl, are seated on a hillside looking at the stars. They and the hill are shown in silhouette.  Above them are streaks of deep, dark blue.  You can almost hear the crickets breaking the silence with their chirping.


Forty-eight poems some as short as two lines, others as long as two pages walk us through the four seasons, reminding us to appreciate those things most noticed as children.  When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons written by Julie Fogliano with illustrations by Julie Morstad is pure delight from start to finish. I highly recommend this for your personal and professional bookshelves.  They are absolute magic to read aloud.

To learn more about Julie Morstad please follow the link attached to her name to take you to her website.  At the publisher's website you can view four interior images.  Julie Fogliano pronounces her name for us at TeachingBooks.net  Make sure you visit Jama Rattigan's blog, Jama's Alphabet Soup, for a wonderful review of this title and interview of Julie Fogliano today.  Scholastic's Ambassador for School Libraries John Schumacher showcases a guest post by Julie Fogliano at Watch. Connect. Read.  Author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson highlights art by Julie Morstad at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.


For more resources for National Poetry Month please visit Jama Rattigan's blog Jama's Alphabet Soup.  You won't lack for things to do, read or write.  Teacher librarian Shannon McClintock Miller has created a Symbaloo for Poetry.

Seasons Of Poetic Bliss

Every living thing notices the changes each season brings.  Careful human observers can pretty much rely on the signals sent by birds, insects, creatures inhabiting yards, fields and forests, trees, flowers and weeds.  They know much more long before we do; perfectly in tune with their world.

Poets take the time to pause, to record, these subtle shifts.  They capture moments with words like a photographer does with a camera.  Author Paul B. Janeczko has selected thirty-six sterling examples in Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems (Candlewick Press, March 11, 2014) with illustrations by Caldecott Honor winner, Melissa Sweet.

The work of thirty-two prominent poets spanning decades is divided into four sections; spring, summer, fall and winter with eight to ten poems in each.  A single poem introduces the transformation from one to the other.  The volume begins with spring.

Daybreak reminds us---
the hills have arrived just in
time to celebrate
                  ---Cid Corman

Rain, a blossoming flower, a vividly-colored wheelbarrow, a contrasting chicken, a stone resembling an animal giant acting as a pathway for birches, and a hearse for dead floor fans depict tiny portions of life awakening from winter's slumber.  A water lily and a water bird color the landscape with their particular sights and sounds.  Travelers gaze outward from the windows of a speeding train as the night flashes by in segments.

Daisies and buttercups declare the advent of summer as a furry beast roams among their stems. A crowded subway, a union of rain and dust, flashing stars skimming the night yard and spindly-legged critters making patterns on a beach take us to places and points we might otherwise miss.  Stored treasures emit odors of days long past.  What are the sun, moon and stars? Flowers?  Faces?

Wild wind, rain and falling leaves boldly broadcast autumn.  Misty mornings, dying slender stalks, crunching and bareness stretch across the wild and populated areas.  There are no moons like those moons shining in the months of September, October and November.

A truck like the surrounding vista is ready for rest; winter is coming.  As a prelude to snow the fog forms in and around city structures.  Fence lines lead and slice.  And the moonlit nights usher in much-needed sleep.


Only a master of poetry could glean such expressive beauty from the vast array of verses found in human literature.  Paul B. Janeczko has never been more skillful in his choices than in this collection.  What each poem brings to the reader's mind's eye are brief seconds, here and gone in a flash, but remembered always in the written word.


The illustration on the front of the matching dust jacket and book case is so full of life it breathes.  The layout and design on this, on all the pictures, are exquisite.  Each conveys the essence of the text presented.

Using watercolor, gouache and mixed media Melissa Sweet alternates between single page and double page pictures one flowing into the other, colorful hues blending.  Delicate flower petals, panoramic sea scenes, bulging frog eyes following a fly, striped boots stomping through mud, a party of insects among fall weeds, and squirrels nestled in a wintertime nest are all made with infinite care.  Each visual radiates refreshing warmth.

For the signature poem, Firefly July, a jar filled with fireflies is superimposed over children and their dog on a summer's night outside.  Their home and yard are sketched in the background.  It's stunning.


It's no wonder this book has received five starred reviews, The Horn Book, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist and School Library Journal. Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems selected by Paul B. Janeczko with illustrations by Melissa Sweet is a poetry book everyone should own and share with others.  It's destined to be a classic.  It will definitely be among those titles listed in my Mock Caldecott for 2015.

To learn more about Paul B. Janeczko and Melissa Sweet please follow the links embedded in their names to their official websites.  Make sure to visit this interview at Book Page.

In Silence

Everything takes longer now.  Movement is measured with numerous stops to lift her head in the air taking deep breaths through her nose.  As her companion I follow, pausing when she does.  It's not easy but the rewards have been huge.  My aging dog is still teaching me lessons about life.

When you slow down you tend to be more aware of your surroundings; the small details become large.  We wonder about new prints in the snow, our breath clouding the midnight air as trees pop and crack in the woods.  Circles around the moon, falling stars, frosted branches, sugary snow gleaming like diamonds in the sun and the bright call of chickadees fill our wintry nights and days.  Hi, Koo! A Year of Seasons (Scholastic Press) presented by Koo and Jon J Muth with illustrations by Jon J Muth asks readers to appreciate, to marvel at, the everyday, looking at it with new eyes.

In an introductory author's note Jon J Muth speaks about the evolution of the poetic form, haiku.  His final sentence depicts the very essence of this book.

At its best, a haiku embodies a moment of emotion that reminds us that our own human nature is not separate from all of nature.  

He also adds these twenty-six poems take an alphabetical journey through the seasons with one word in each given a capital letter.

Beginning with fall we look around personifying this season, curious about the change in wardrobe.  Cleaning up leaves, lost items found on a windy day and the contrast between cold rainy days and the warmth of home are musings given to readers.  Two young friends, a boy and a girl, follow Koo into winter.

Snow prints, snowballs, ice, and snowfall keep this trio on the go.  What's that? A cat?  Tiny spots of color herald the newness of spring.  It's time to get outside trading in screen time for playtime.  Oh...the wonders to be seen and understood; puddles, nests, reading to chirping friends and the sorrow of an ended life.

Earthbound stars, a sliver of moon, water catching thrown stones, and sidewalk fantasies lead to the absolute stillness found in listening to Nature breathe; in and out, in and out.  String the single alphabetical words together.  It's a study in seasonal sensations.


As fluid and evocative as his watercolor illustrations, Jon J Muth's words call forth those singular seconds in our lives we might otherwise fail to notice.  Whether a question, a statement, an observation, or an invitation, the group of words has been thoughtfully chosen to depict the heart of the moment; how it is seen, heard, felt, or tasted.  In all of the poems but one a soft joy reaches out like the best kind of endearment to the reader; lifting our spirits.  In that one poem Muth wants us to consider carefully the results of our actions in the world around us.


The branch filled with cherry blossoms, the pale blues of the sky reaching toward the glow of spring green grass, petals scattered among the blades, are particularly pleasing. Who can resist smiling at the antics of Koo on the front dust jacket or doing handstands with his two friends on the back?  What's even better is the different case beneath.  A cloud filled sky patterns the wide spine.  The back and front is a solid lively green with Koo cartwheeling across the front.  Endpapers in shades of pale purple zoom in on blossoms turned to leaves.

Jon J Muth uses white space to draw readers into each illustration.  A single picture is dedicated to each poem.  Even though each visual is separate from the other they are joined by the color palette in each.  I would happily frame any one to hang with honor in my home; Koo holding on to a lamp post with his umbrella outstretched in the rain dreaming of eating soup at home, shadows stretching beneath lamplight as delicate snow falls, flashlight beams shining on frolicking friends, or Koo skipping stones as his companions play along the water's edge.

One of my favorite illustrations is found on the final page.  Koo is seated on a tree branch with his back to us.  He is so still his pal, the cardinal, has built a nest on his head.  The picture is filled with hues of blue, green and golden leaves framing the panda.  Perfection.  Peace.


When members of my PLN visited Anderson's Bookshops' Author's Breakfast in February Jon J Muth was a featured guest.  After their proclamations I could hardly wait to read Hi, Koo!  It was well worth the wait many times over.  I think this would pair nicely with Matthew Cordell's hello! hello! and Dan Yaccarino's Doug Unplugged.

Please follow the link embedded in Jon J Muth's name to access his website.  Reading Rockets has a series of video interviews with Muth here.  At Literacyhead Jon J Muth is interviewed.  He is one of the artists showcased at their wonderful site.