Heed The Cry Or Catch A Fly

It all comes down to the focus of their attention.  When you work with younger children, sometimes their concentration seems to be superficial; easily distracted by the least little thing (like a flock of wild turkeys crossing the playground during story time.) Other times a brass band could pass by them and they would not even look.  They remain riveted to whatever it is they are watching, hearing or doing.

In this second scenario you might momentarily grab a glance but they make a choice to continue their current fascination.  Toad on the Road: A Cautionary Tale (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, May 16, 2017) written and illustrated by Stephen Shaskan is about a similar situation.  When an amphibian happens to hop on a thoroughfare, it had better beware.

Toad on the road.
Toad on the road.
Oh no! Oh no!
There's a toad on the road!

This toad captivated by a buzzing fly is about to be joined by a traveler, a very large traveler unable to slow his mode of transportation.  Yikes!  It's a bear riding a bicycle.  A tremendous crash echoes on the highway.

The bear with the destroyed two-wheeler warns the toad to get off the road.  He even asks the rascal what his mother would tell him to do.  Does the little imp listen?  He does not.  Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

Then a car and a van, one after the other, driven by equally alert individuals follow the same route.  The small green scamp is strongly advised to move and move quickly.  Both times a racket booms through the air.  There are now three bent and broken, flipped and fragmented vehicles in a pile.

 Where is the toad you ask?  He's still on the road!  Here comes a truck heading straight for the happy hopper.  With a comical twist, the tale comes to a surprising conclusion.


Author Stephen Shaskan writes with complete confidence in what his intended audience will enjoy.  The rhyming and repetition give us no other option than reading or singing the lines aloud.  They are loaded with liveliness and laughter.  As each animal moves on down the road, only the exclamation is changed to rhyme with them and their vehicle.  Here is a continuation of the first set of phrases.

Who's that coming down the road?
Oh yikes!  Oh yikes!
It's a ...
Bear on a bike!


When you first look at that toad on the road on the front of the matching dust jacket and book case, you have to laugh or at the very least smile.  His grin draws you into his great mood.  And look at the fly.  He's smiling too!  The scene on the right continues to the left, on the back.  In silhouette the three vehicles with their drivers are shown moving along the highway in the distance.  It's a prelude to hilarity.  Toad green covers the opening and closing endpapers.

With a page turn we see a loop-de-loop trail of the fly buzzing over the tip-top of the toad's head and eyes, looking upward.  On the verso the toad is leaping after the fly as he buzzes around and through the title text on the opposite page.  They both look so happy you can almost hear them giggling.

All of the images, rendered digitally in Photoshop, by Stephen Shaskan span edge to edge across two pages.  As each episode unfolds the perspective moves from farther away and then closer to the toad and the traveler followed by the ensuing pandemonium.  The complete "que sera sera" attitude displayed on the face of the toad contrasted with the looks of dread on the drivers' faces provides loads of comedy.  Readers will also have a ton of fun watching the toad and fly playing; the flight patterns of the insect and the body postures of the toad are full of humor.

One of my many favorite illustrations is when the van is coming down the road right at the toad.  Off to the left, the bear and croc are watching horrified.  The bear wearing the small red bicycle helmet and the croc wearing his top hat are gasping, wide-mouthed.  The croc has a front foot up to his mouth.  The bear is pointing too frightened to look. Their expressions are hysterical.


Once you read Toad on the Road written and illustrated by Stephen Shaskan aloud, expect multiple requests to read it again.  It will be hard for you and your listeners to not start singing the tale.  It's got a beat that pleads for this kind of play.  You will probably want to use it for reader's theater too.  I highly recommend you get copies for your professional and personal bookshelves.  (I think toad on the road will be winding through my mind for days.)

To learn more about Stephen Shaskan and his other work, please visit his website by following the link attached to his name.  Enjoy the book trailer premiered at Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read.  It's a real toe-tapper and hand-clapper.

"It's elementary my dear..."

When an event occurs with no initial logical explanation it can be considered a mystery.  Likewise any story in which this type of event drives the main plot is named a mystery.  As you read collecting the clues, it's like going on a scavenger hunt.  Following along with the characters is almost as exciting as being there with them.

Down through the history of mystery fiction there are classic and contemporary detective teams; Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Frank and Joe Hardy (The Hardy Boys), Nancy Drew, Bess Marvin and George Fayne (Nancy Drew Mystery Stories) Emily Crane and James Lee (The Book Scavenger), Detective Rick Zengo and Detective Corey O'Malley (Platypus Police Squad), and Detective Wilcox and Captain Griswold (Wilcox and Griswold Mystery).  For younger readers a new duo hits the scene in their first puzzler.  The Missing Mola Lisa (Case #1 Q & Ray series) (Graphic Universe, a trademark of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., August 1, 2017) presented by the collaborative wife and husband team of author Trisha Speed Shaskan and illustrator Stephen Shaskan.

Before the first of ten chapters begins we are introduced to an assortment of characters on a page titled

Who's Who.

Our terrific twosome, Quillan Lu Hedgeson aka Q and Ray Ratzberg followed by Mr. Shrew, media specialist, Ms. Boar, classroom teacher, Ms. Easel, art teacher, Jimmy, magic shop owner, The Great Don Realo, magician and Officer Rocco all play various and vital roles.  As readers will note Mr. Shew and the media center serve as the hub of the Super Sleuth happenings.

After an exchanged greeting between Mr. Shrew and Ray, we discover the new student from France is really Q attempting to fool Ray with a disguise.  It's her goal to become a master.  Ray wants to be a master of something else besides cheese-and-onion sandwiches.  Magic is his aim.

Their second grade classmates are going on a field trip today to see the famed Mola Lisa at the Elm Tree Art Museum but first the students are entertained by The Great Don Realo, a surprise visit by the magician.  In the afternoon as the children of Elm Tree Elementary stand before the Mola Lisa suddenly the lights go out, fire is sighted but before they can exit the lights are back on and the fire has disappeared.  The fire is not the only thing missing. The Mola Lisa is gone.

Sharp-eyed and on the job, Q and Ray quickly discover two clues.  Visits to three locations increase their knowledge of the culprit responsible for the crime but they lack real evidence.  Like the great detectives before them, they reexamine all the gathered clues, leading them to the truth. Q and Ray, masters of magic and disguise, deliver the final surprise.


Nearly the entire narrative is told through conversations between the characters.  Trisha Speed Shaskan weaves interesting facts about magic into the story which careful readers will eventually see are key to locating information about the theft.  She also cleverly uses Q's passion for disguise as part of the plot details.

The dialogue between the characters will be easily understood by the intended audience.  When Q and Ray are trying to solve the case, it's as if we are joining in the chat.  Humor appears when you least expect it.

Class:  ABCs!
Raise your paws!

Here is another passage during lunch between Ray and Q.

How about a magic trick?
Sure!
Look at the quarter.
It's been in my family for years.
We've passed it from one rat to the next.
Ha! It's gone!

Don't worry.  I won't let history
slip through my paws.  It's
right here! Or---right ear!
Aces! How did
you do that?


When you first look at the front of the book case, it's hard not to think of Saturday morning cartoons.  The characters are cute and comical at the same time.  Illustrator Stephen Shaskan has tied all the elements in the image together to look like a display at a gallery.  And he includes a huge clue or is it a red herring?  To the left, on the back, is text relative to the title you might find on a jacket flap.  The opening and closing endpapers are a crisp, pristine white.  A design technique similar to the case is used for the title page with text and images like pictures hanging on a wall.

In this graphic novel the panels are varied in size with the frames having rounded corners.  Smaller panels are placed within larger panels.  Sometimes we will be given a different perspective to draw our focus to a specific point as when Ray is doing his magic trick. Stephen's signature geometric rays radiant from his characters in some of the scenes.

The placement of the speech balloons will assist early readers.  For emphasis and dramatic effect text is enlarged, made bold and placed in jagged speech balloons.  Readers can easily discern the elevated volume of the speaker's voice.  I think readers with any art knowledge will find the depiction of The Scream, Girl with a Pearl Earring and the Mola Lisa hilarious.  A nod is given to two specific artists in the clothing worn by Ms. Easel.

One of my favorite of many illustrations is when Q and Ray are talking over a twist in the case.  They are standing facing each other.  Q is wearing a yellow jacket and skirt with purple accessories and shoes.  Ray is wearing another combination of his usual checked shirt (light blue and white) with red pants and shoes with light blue socks.  Their expressions are animated, endearing and funny.

During an impromptu and very short questions and answer on social media several nights ago, Trisha had this to say about this first title in the proposed series.

Like our picture book Punk Skunks, Stephen and I created Q & Ray together from its conception.  While brainstorming which type of story we wanted to create, we decided on a mystery for a few reasons.  For years, I taught mystery-writing classes to elementary students; it was my most popular class.  From teaching it, I always wanted to write a mystery.  Like the students, Stephen and I loved mysteries as kids.  At first, Q & Ray was a chapter book, but two things happened.  One: Stephen and I read tons of graphic novels for kids to prep for a class we taught kids on the subject.  In the meantime, I worked as a literacy coach with elementary school students.  Some of the emerging readers wanted to read the Babymouse and Lunch Lady graphic novel series, but they didn't have the reading skills to read them, yet.  I though the format could provide a readable text, but also visual cues for young readers.  Stephen and I chose the names Q & Ray as a riff on Q & A, questions and answers, which are the basis of mysteries.  While writing the story, I drew upon my love of Sherlock Holmes.  While illustrating the story, Stephen drew upon his love of the aesthetics of Harvey Comics (Little Dot, Richie rich, Casper the Friendly Ghost),---for the use of thick black lines and flat colors.  Together, Stephen and I drew upon the power of friendship; how a team versus an individual can be best suited to tackle the odds of solving mysteries---and of course, creating books!


For readers eager to read graphic novels and solve mysteries while enjoying the companionship of two likeable characters hand them The Missing Mola Lisa (Case #1 Q & Ray series) written by Trisha Speed Shaskan with illustrations by Stephen Shaskan.  I think it might be fun to act out some of the chapters or scenes from the chapters like a reader's theater.  I know there will be a copy of this on my personal bookshelves and ready to hand out at Halloween.  You will want one on your professional shelves too.  On the final page under Fun Facts readers can learn about Leonardo da Vinci upon which Leonardo da Squity is based in this book.

To learn more about Trisha Speed Shaskan and Stephen Shaskan and their other work please visit their respective websites by following the links attached to their names.  To view interior portions of this title please stop by the publisher's website.  Both Trisha and Stephen wrote posts for Picture Book Month.  Trisha was featured at KidLit 411.

Sweet Beats In A Musical Treat

Get out your instruments!  Make some music!  No instruments?! Hands and feet can keep a beat!  As soon as you mention music to children, get ready for some moving and grooving.  Their huge hearts hunger for the cadence found in sounds and the rhythm of words.

When you add in a couple of stinky mammal pals to the mix, laughter is sure to follow.  Punk Skunks (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, February 9, 2016) written by author Trisha Speed Shaskan with illustrations by her author illustrator husband Stephen Shaskan is a tuneful tale on the art of friendship.  Two happy halves make the best kind of melodious whole.

Kit and Buzz were BSFs---
best skunks forever.  Each day, Kit
banged on Buzz's door.

These two could be heard skateboarding and biking through the Burrow day in and day out.  At the park rabbit friends watched warily as Buzz sprayed and painted a game.  Then everyone laughed as Kit jumped her way to a winning hopscotch victory.

Best of all, back home at Kit's place, were the inventive intonations the duo made with Kit on her drums and Buzz on his guitar.  It was a lively mix of scales and notes.  They dug it and rocked on as only two friends could.

During one of their jam sessions, Kit suggested they try a new song.  Buzz did not agree with the subject choice.  He insisted painting would be better than skating.  An argument of epic proportions ensued.  The two uttered at the same time one of the worst things you could say to a skunk.

The next day there was no door knocking, skating, biking, park playing and definitely no strumming and drumming together.  Kit played her drums without Buzz.  Buzz played his guitar without Kit. What had been harmonious was now totally dissonant.

Glumly and individually the two reached a conclusion.  To their surprise they met at the same place at the same time.  Two questions are asked and answered.  Do you hear what I hear?


Trisha Speed Shaskan's experiences working with children and her background as a percussionist are evident in every line.  Her short simple sentences are the perfect introduction to her words supplying onomatopoeia, alliteration and rhyme.  The repetition of their two favorite phrases ties each piece of the narrative together in a pleasing, playful song.  Here is another sample passage.

Kit skateboarded.
RATTLE.
CLATTER.
SMACK!
SMACK!

Buzz biked.
CLICKETY.
CLACK.
BUMP!
BUMP!


The bright, energetic colors of pink, green, red, black and charcoal with a splash of purple seen on the dust jacket are continued throughout the book with variations in hues and the addition of brown and blue.  The exuberance portrayed on the front of Kit and Buzz making music is consistently portrayed, even when they are angry and sad.  To the left, on the back, on a background of green Kit is flying high on her skateboard as Buzz rides merrily along on his bike over a pink roadway with playground and rabbit friend silhouettes in the background.

The opening and closing endpapers tell a story of their own.  While the street and subway running through the town along with the buildings remain the same, there are subtle changes.  The cars and the train are in different positions.  Careful readers will note the differences in what is shown in the building windows, along the sidewalk and in the park.  On the verso and title pages Kit and Buzz are cheerfully standing in front of their instruments as a star radiates out from them across the gutter.

Illustrations rendered digitally in Photoshop by Stephen Shaskan boldly spread across two pages, a single page or are framed in liberal amounts of white space.  His heavier lines emphasize the firm friendship of Kit and Buzz and the fondness the two have for their particular kind of music.  Deciding to have Buzz's spray act as paint is a stroke of fantastic fun.  (Anyone with skunk experience knows the odor remains long after an application.)  The details on Kit's shirt and the posters on the walls are a nod to other punk rock groups.  The expressions on Kit, Buzz, the three rabbits and the mole who owns the music shop leave no doubt as to current moods and emotions.

One of my favorite images of several is when Kit and Buzz arrive at the park.  The sky is purple.  The other background color is the luminescent green with the playground equipment in silhouette.  Kit is jumping for joy in her black T-shirt, plaid skirt and distinctive black and green sneakers.  The three rabbits, standing in a close cluster, are looking rather frightened at Buzz's activity.  With a

SWOOSH.
WHOOSH.
SPLAT!
SPLAT!

Buzz is creatively painting a hopscotch board on the ground with his spray.  He is wearing his red high tops, a black jacket, purple pants and a huge grin.


Punk Skunks written by Trisha Speed Shaskan with illustrations by Stephen Shaskan is a rhythmic rock-on romp.  It's read-aloud fun sure to have listeners toe-tapping and hand clapping.  No clothes pins for your nose are necessary, just openness for enjoying catchy words and a charming friendship.

To learn more about Trisha Speed Shaskan and Stephen Shaskan and their other works please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  By visiting their publisher's website you can listen to two songs, Punk Skunks: We're Buzz and Kit and Punk Skunks: BSF (Best Skunks Forever) which are sure to have you dancing.  Trisha Speed Shaskan was a guest on November Picture Book Month! A Celebration this year writing why picture books are important.  She is a guest at the Nerdy Book Club today in an article titled My Mixed Tape: The Making of Punk Skunks.  Enjoy the book trailer.




Update:  This dynamic duo, Kit and Buzz are interviewed at The Little Crooked Cottage, February 17, 2016.

Update:  Trisha Speed Shaskan stops by author illustrator Debbie Ohi Ridpath's website, Inkygirl.com for an interview.  February 23, 2106.

Prehistoric Pursuit

Have you ever noticed how some grazing animals will stick their heads through a fence to eat on the other side, believing it to be better even though the food is exactly the same?  While the phrase "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" may not hold true in most instances, out of necessity animals and people have throughout time moved to better their circumstances or as a means of survival.  The struggle associated with this endeavor has found its way into folklore.

Out of the storytelling tradition in Norway comes a fairy tale of three goats, hoping to eat grass on the other side of a bridge.  The problem is the ugly troll beneath the bridge, who would like nothing better than to have them for dinner.  With a twist and a trip to the past author/illustrator Stephen Shaskan offers readers, The Three Triceratops Tuff (Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, April 2, 2013).

Once upon a time,
sixty-eight million years ago,
there lived three triceratops brothers
who went by the name of Tuff:
Stanley Tuff, Rufus Tuff, and Bob Tuff.

Hard times have fallen on the area dinosaurs; food is becoming scarce.  After a bit of a trek, the lure of fresh green goodness on the other side of a valley gets the trio's attention.  Dino two, Rufus, is more than ready to dig into the waiting feast.  Therein lies the problem; Bob, the biggest of the three, points to a nasty, rather large Tyrannosaurus Rex waiting at the bottom.

Little Stanley Tuff with the blissful energy of youth does not want to wait.  He is stopped in his tracks by the looming, sharp-toothed giant, hoping to make Stanley an entree.  The T. Rex nevertheless takes the frightened but quick-thinking dino's advice to wait for the next bigger, and thus better, Tuff to come along the path.

Clip, clomp. Clip, clomp. Clip, clomp.  Here he comes.  When the equally resourceful Rufus mentions the biggest brother of all, the greedy monster, thinking himself to be very lucky, sends him on his way also.  Bob gladly goes, heading down to meet this meat-eating menace.

Getting ready for his first gourmet gulp, Tyrannosaurus Rex is halted by Bob's suggestion of a better idea.  The farthest thing from the villain's mind, though, is an aerial view of the valley.  Herbivores triumph!


With the first line Stephen Shaskan takes readers into the world of the triceratops three; making it perfectly clear these dudes may be old, really, really old, but this story is going to have a fresh, funny edge.  His word choices, turn of phrase and repetitive lines are more contemporary, in contrast to the characters and setting, heightening, what I like to call, the laughter factor.  Vegetation is appropriately called grub, T. Rex tells Stanley, "Then scram squirt!", T. Rex says "Dinner is served..." before attempting to consume the dinosaur brothers, and more than one character says "not so fast". 


Using the same artistic technique as in his debut picture book, A Dog Is A Dog, Shaskan digitally renders illustrations closely resembling those done by block printing.  Opening the matching jacket and cover, readers are greeted by the grinning threesome, sunbursts and volcano in the background on the right and the fearsome, growling carnivore on the left surrounded by all the vibrant, leafy, lime green plants.  On the first of two title pages we see a teeny, tiny fifth character zooming around the words in a sky blue circle---a sky blue mosquito.  He loops across the next two page spread calling attention to the publishing information as the triceratops trudge beneath the title and author/illustrator name.

Alternating textures, wood grain and sponge-like, and colors, shades of green and the sky blue, the scenery showcases the vivid colors of the dinosaurs.  Heavy lines around each further focus the reader's attention on the four.  Goofy grins, furrowed brows, angry eyes and hungry snarls along with expressive hand gestures leave no doubt in readers' minds as to the state of affairs on every page.

In the distance on several of the pages we see silhouettes of a line of other dinosaurs.  In a cheerful, vibrantly colored ending, Shaskan brings everyone together.  The final design technique has the mosquito again circling... the volcano... amid the dedication and more detailed publication information.


The Three Triceratops Tuff is a playful fracturing of a tale plus a little bit more.  There is exhilarating determination on every page.  What's not to love about three dinosaurs named Stanley, Rufus and Bob!? This is one you might want to consider for a reader's theater in a folktale study along with a more traditional version.

A link to Stephen Shaskan's website is embedded in his name above.  On another page linked here, he discusses how the idea for this book came to him through three four-year-old boys.  In his kids' stuff section he has headbands of the trio to cut out and color plus a printable maze.  This link to the publisher website shows a couple of interior illustrations.  Recently updated:  Stephen now has templates for creating paper bag puppets at his link.

This Dog Has Its Day

Am I a dog lover?  Yes, true blue, through and through.  Would I have picked up A Dog Is A Dog if I were not a dog lover?  The answer to that question would be a resounding YES!  Who can resist a cheery, colorful cover sporting a wide-eyed grinning dog such as that created by debt author/illustrator Stephen Shaskan?

A dog is a dog,
whether it's naughty...
...or nice.

A story told in short rhyming phrases encourages audience participation as dog suns on the beach, glides on the ice, becomes skinny or fat but then wait...
it's a cat?!  What just happened?  A cat was zipped up inside a dog suit?

Okay, now readers are following the cat as it hisses, purrs, is hairless and cold or in furs, if it did or did not consume the pet goldfish but oh, no...there's that line again,

unless it's a...

You're kidding me, right?  Is something going to unzip a cat suit?  Let's go back.  What's the last word?  Hmmmm...did.  What rhymes with did?

Shaskan catches readers off guard having a squid come into view at the turn of the page following it's adventures and mishaps until, believe it or not, a lounging moose graces the next two page spread.  To viewers pleasure after the moose's escapades the smiling brown and white dog is the final installment in this peeling off of layers.

Stephen Shaskan is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design.  It is amazing to note that all of his illustrations were digitally created; amazing because they give the appearance of wood block prints full of texture and detail.  A subdued lime green background layered with white daises is his introductory and closing endpapers.

Bold, vivid color combinations, brown and white dog, golden cat, purple squid, and a two-tone moose, heavily outlined grace a subtle gray wood grain background.  Hues of red, pink, gray, blue, golden yellow and green further liven these funny, frolicking characters.  While expressions are varied depending on the activity for the most part this is a happy, contented group. 

In the initial six pages that address the dog there is a flow created by the presence of the picket fence and dog house.  As each animal is introduced the pages dedicated to them perpetuate their particular setting throughout those pages.   Without a doubt humor is evident in the main storyline but it completely permeates each visual.  Shaskan illustrates the phrase...

A dog is a dog, if it's skinny or fat.

by having dog stand in front of a single picket of the fence paintbrush in hand as he completes a self portrait or by having dog laughingly roll slightly airborne as he holds an enormous balloon, surprised version of himself.  I believe that my favorite is moose leaping in the clear spotlighted by moose in the fog wearing a headlamp.  To be perfectly honest I absolutely love this entire book; every single page.

Spare, simple syncopated text infused with humor by the sheer absurdness of the tale accompanied by illustrations guaranteed to promote gales of laughter, places A Dog Is A Dog high up on the list of best books to share.  Stephen Shaskan reminds all who read his book that less is more; way more than you expect.  Hands down, this is delightful fare for the young and young at heart to be enjoyed repeatedly.

Please click on Stephen Shaskan's name at the top of this post to link to his outstanding web site containing numerous illustrations from this title as well as other bonus materials.  I'm thinking that I would like to see more of Dog in the future; actually anything by Stephen Shaskan. 

Bark, George by Jules Feiffer might be a good title to pair with this.

Julie Danielson at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast has posted an entertaining and informative interview with Stephen Shaskan.