Book Review Wednesday: Holiday Books

November has been dubbed Picture Book month. You can find out more, read about the importance of the picture book at this blog. Or you can take a look at the Picture Book Proclamation here.

I'll be using my Book Review Wednesday space this month to celebrate the picture book! If you missed last week, Sleds and Balloons, take a look.

This week, let's dive into the Holiday season with one Christmas and one Chanukah book. In order to be well-sold, a picture book should face out on a bookstore shelf. Space is short these days though, and holiday themed books have an even harder time competing because they have a very short shelf life in the bookstore.

Toni Buzzeo, a Maine youth services librarian, school presentation expert, and author, has had a long line of successful picture books. These include: Sea Chest, the Dawdle Duckling series, and a number of books that are set in libraries. I got a sneak peek at her January 2012 release One Cool Friend, when I went to a workshop presented by the amazing David Small (her illustrator for the story), but more about that later. Today, I want to tell you about her current release, Lighthouse Christmas.

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From Toni’s website:
Frances is determined to make Christmas jolly for her younger brother, even if it means joining family on the mainland and leaving Papa behind on their isolated lighthouse island. After all, would Santa even know how to find them in this faraway spot? But when Christmas Eve is ushered in on a wild storm and Papa risks his life to rescue a drowning man, the children realize that the most important thing about the holiday is being together.

As in all great Christmas stories, a happy ending is in store, and Santa finds them after all. Cozy and nostalgic, this story was inspired by the Flying Santa program, a New England tradition since 1929. It’s the perfect book for a family to read together in front of the fire on Christmas morning.

School Library Journal gives it a starred review:
“There’s a charmingly nostalgic feel both to the story and to the illustrations, which convey a sense of time and place and are very appealing. An author’s note gives a brief history of the Flying Santa Service, which was created in 1929 and continues to this day delivering treats to Coast Guard families. A lovely tradition and a lovely book.”
–Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library

Educators should take note that in addition to the back-matter regarding the Flying Santa Service, Toni also has a curriculum guide and a reader’s theater script for seven parts on her website. Take a look!

Erica Silverman gave us Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa, as well as Liberty’s Voice: the story of Emma Lazarus. Her recent release, Hanukkah Hop, illustrated by Steven D’Amico, is bopping, rhyming book that invites readers to a Hanukkah party.

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The illustration are bold, bright and graphic and remind me of jazz posters from the 1950’s. This style fits the story to a tee. The book takes the reader from party preparation, to when the guests arrive, to games, and to a quick review of the Hanukkah miracle. There were moments when Silverman’s rhyme felt clunky, and I wasn’t sure where to put the stress in a line. A couple of times, I wanted to remove or add syllables. However, she has a lovely refrain that keeps the story moving forward. Things really heat up when a Klezmer band arrives and the dancing starts.

All in all, Hanukkah Hop is a great read aloud for you Hanukkah party.

Book Review Wednesday: Sleds and Balloons

Happy Book Birthday to Red Sled, by Lita Judge and Balloons Over Broadway, by Melissa Sweet. Both of these wonderful, kind, talented and generous women have been featured here at Creative Chaos before and I’m pleased to welcome them back.

If you loved our early snowstorm, Red Sled, will take you into the cool blues of winter with loose and lovely watercolors.

Starred From Kirkus: “Judge’s latest may be virtually wordless, but it packs a powerful visual punch that will stick with readers long after the final page is turned…Though rendered simply, Judge’s pencil-and-watercolor animals are gloriously full of life and infectious joy. Readers will be hard-pressed to finish this without letting their own joy show through. Pure genius.”

I attended Lita’s book cover workshop at the NESCBWI Spring Conference. In addition to giving all of the participants generous feedback on their work, she also shared the journey to the cover of Red Sled. It was not easy folks. There is a mystery in this almost wordless picture book and it was difficult to show what the book was about without revealing the ending.

Enjoy the trailer of the book here or there:

For those of you who are counting down the days to Thanksgiving, pick up Melissa Sweet’s, Balloons Over Broadway. This is a picture book biography of Tony Sarg, who was responsible for many of the helium balloons we enjoy in the Macy’s Day parade.

Starred From Kirkus: “This clever marriage of information and illustration soars high.”

Starred From School Library Journal: “Sweet tells this slice of American history well, conveying both Sarg's enthusiasm and joy in his work as well as the drama and excitement of the parade. Rich in detail, the gouache, collage, and mixed-media illustrations are a stand-out, capturing the charm of the period and the awe-inspiring balloons. This one should float off the shelves.”

And here is a fun illustrated interview with Melissa about the book!

Have a great picture book week.

Book Review Wednesday: Flutter

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From Erin Moulton’s website:
Big things are about the happen at Maple's house. Mama's going to have a baby, which means now there will be four Rittle sisters instead of just three. But when baby Lily is born too early and can't come home from the hospital, Maple knows it's up to her to save her sister. So she and Dawn, armed with a map and some leftover dinner, head off down a river and up a mountain to find the Wise Woman who can grant miracles. Now it's not only Lily's survival that they have to worry about, but also their own. The dangers that Maple and Dawn encounter on their journey makes them realize a thing or two about miracles-and about each other.

“The book is written by Erin Moulton who also graduated from VCFA.” I told this to my twelve and a half year old son who looked over my shoulder as I finished the Flutter, by Erin Moulton. “So you know that it’s good.” If you are a writer, you know that it takes a village to raise a writer and her story. I knew when I read Ms. Moulton’s acknowledgements that the story of Flutter, was born in a village that respects children, story and literary craft.

Ms. Moulton’s characters grow up in a wonderful family full of love. Love for each other certainly, but also a deep love for the Vermont mountains. Their father has them memorize the Latin names for birds, teaches them map skills and first aid, and appreciates the call of the coyote and the lights of the Aurora Borealis. The back-story to Maple and Dawn’s knowledge makes them both believable and likeable. Ms. Moulton never pauses the story to give the reader this backstory but weaves it in a way that keeps the narrative moving forward.

The author does a wonderful job portraying the sibling dynamic between the older bossypants sister and the middle sister (the narrator) who is desperately trying to define herself by her own achievements, know-how, and bravery. Her use of first-person present tense, keeps us in the moment for many of the tense and suspenseful moments of the girl’s quest.Whether we are reading about a white water scare, or a knock down drag out between the sisters we are in the midst of the action.

It was refreshing to read a survival/adventure story with smart and savvy girls as the protagonists. The book is a true hero’s journey where Maple (our heroine) questions then accepts the call for adventure. Moulton includes supernatural intervention in the form of a butterfly and the Wise Woman of the Mountain. She and Dawn move beyond their ordinary world, encounter trials, and return (ultimately with help from without) to a greater understanding of life, death, strength, truth, and hope for their future. All this with the added benefit of beautiful language, fabulous pacing, and true-to-life wilderness adventure.

Book Review Wednesday: Beauty Queens

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I am a note taker. The fact that I took absolutely no notes during Libba Bray’s recent speech at SCBWI’s 40th Anniversary Conference in LA has nothing to do with a lack of content and everything to do with the fact that I was laughing hysterically. When I started reading her most recent young adult release, Beauty Queens, I knew I could expect more laughs. How could you not when the author started with the premise, “A plane full of beauty queens crashes on a deserted island.” What Ms. Bray has ended up with (in addition to marvelous humor and witty satire) is a smart and biting commentary on feminism, beauty, motherhood, and commercialization in our modern world.

Now before you groan and go get a cheese sandwich let me say that what is masterful about this book is how none of this is shoved down your throat. There are wonderful, imaginative, quirky characters here. Through tight and realistic dialogue and a fresh structure, Ms. Bray takes readers behind the stereotypes, behind the masks of her main characters allowing us to glimpse their heart and soul, their fears and vulnerabilities.

There is no “message” here, but there is theme. Theme comes after the book is written. Theme is the questions that the text forces each reader to ask but leaves each reader to answer. “Can girls (and boys) be themselves in our current culture?” “Has corporate greed corrupted the media?” “What is beauty?” “Has the beauty industry run amok?” “What are we doing to empower girls and boys in our current commercial culture?” “How do our parents shape us? Can we be us- apart from them?” “How does our sexual schizophrenia (American puritanical/commercialized) effect our sexuality and health?” “What is the responsibility of our elected officials in all of this?”

If you are teaching Lord of the Flies this year, I highly recommend that you included Beauty Queens, as a comp lit piece. The discussion opportunities would be endless. And while you’re at it, add in Golden Kite Winner Tanya Lee Stone’s The Good, The Bad and The Barbie. By the way, I was so engrossed in Beauty Queens that again I failed to take notes. However I did underline a favorite quote on page 177:

“Maybe girls need an island to find themselves. Maybe they need a place where no one’s watching them so they can be who they really are.”

Ah, yes, Libba. An island– or a room of one’s own.

Book Review Wednesday: The LA Dodger

My family is baseball family. Both sons love playing first base and pitching. My son’s room has a green monster complete with scoreboard and red socks painted on the wall. We spend many happy summer evenings at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine watching the SeaDogs minor league team. So I was thrilled to receive a review copy of David A. Kelly’s recent Ball Park Mysteries series book The L.A. Dodger.

In the series, Kate and Mike travel to various major league ballparks and find themselves in mysterious situations. Kate is logical and observant. Mike is more impulsive and daring. Together they solve problems that the adults around them can’t. Peppered throughout the book and in the back matter is information about what makes each ballpark and home team historically unique.

I happened to be on a plane to L.A. while reading the book and loved the sightseeing tidbits. Kate and Mike visit Grauman’s Chinese Theater, Santa Monica Pier, Griffith Park Observatory and La Brea Tar Pits. Mr. Kelly does a nice job weaving in the information without interrupting the narrative flow of the book. Each excursion plays into the mystery.

Random House gives the book a 2.8 grade level but there are plenty of first through third grade kids who would love this book. Kids at this age are eager to read series, which give them a chance for literacy success. I recommend it especially for baseball lovers or infokids– those kiddos who memorize baseball stats, historical information or the names of dinosaurs.

Book Review Wednesday: Women of the Golden State

Did you know that at the same time women were meeting for women’s rights in Seneca Falls, New York, Charlotte “Charlie” Parker drove a stage coach around Goldrush California dressed as a man? California here I come and what better book to be reading than Women of the Golden State. This children’s book is a collection of nonfiction articles by wonderful writers including Linda Crotta Brennen, Joyce Ray, and others.

The book begins with a 1776-2006 overarching timeline that places each woman in history. The individual articles are short, well organized and readable. Each author has done a wonderful job finding the child friendly entry point to profile these women. Extra interesting tidbits are available in well-designed sidebars and back matter for each article includes an individual timeline, a glossary, and books and websites that encourage further study.

Many of the women in the book made California their home later in life. Some suffered on long journeys to the west. Bridget “Biddy” Mason was a slave who won her freedom in an 1856 California court case. She walked 2,000 miles behind her master’s wagons and livestock.

Others such as Jessie Anne Frémont, Charlotta S. Bass, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Janice Mirikitani found the pen mightier than the sword in efforts to support their own family, fight discrimination, convey the immigrant experience and remember the poor treatment of Japanese-Americans during the second World War.

Modern women profiled in the book include organizer, Dolores Huerta; environmentalist, Dian Fossey; politican, Nancy Pelosi; athlete, Billie Jean King; muralist, Judith Baca; astronaut, Sally Ride; and Olympic rower, Anita L. DeFrantz.

The book is full of historic firsts, activists, and philanthropists. By exposing children to the leadership and accomplishments of the women profiled in the book, the authors also depict a history of social justice. I highly recommended it for home schooling families or any family hoping to enrich their child’s access to alternative historic resources. It makes a great back-to-school gift for the teacher with no book budget. Women of the Golden State is part of the larger America’s Notable Women Series all perfect for the school and library market.

Book Review Wednesday: This Thing Called the Future

Happy belated book birthday to Jessica (J.L.) Powers whose book, This Thing Called the Future, was officially launched on May 1st. http://jlpowers.net/this-thing-called-the-future/
Jessica was in my Picture Book Certificate class at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

From our beloved professor, Sarah Ellis, this summary:
“J.L. Powers takes the challenges and sorrows of contemporary South Africa and renders them powerfully immediate in the character of Khosi, a girl negotiating coming of age in her post-apartheid, AIDS-ravaged country. Provocative, unvarnished, loving.” –Sarah Ellis, professor in the Vermont College MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and reviewer for The Horn Book and the New York Times.

J.L. Powers was conceived in northern Kenya, grew up in the big bad border town of El Paso, Texas, and eats jalapeños on everything—but that doesn’t mean she was able to stomach the fiery pepper of Mozambique known as the piri-piri! About ten years ago, she became so obsessed with South Africa that she got not one but two master’s degrees in African history. She’s so confused by now that when she tries to speak Spanish, she ends up speaking Zulu instead. This Thing Called the Future is her second young adult novel.

Because I’m a little late coming to the party, there has already been a flurry of postings regarding the book on the kidlitosphere. Hooray for buzz! I’ll keep my questions to a minimum and hope that you’ll check out these wonderful posts.

The book has already been listed on this children’s booklist for Social Justice:
http://readingspark.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/2011-social-justice-in-childrensya-reading-list/
Here is an interview with Jessica on Through the Tollbooth that focusses on her path to publication: http://throughthetollbooth.com/2011/04/27/pre-launch-part-this-thing-called-the-future/
A write up and interview with a contest:
http://www.emilywingsmith.com/2011/05/03/this-thing-called-the-future-giveaway/
And an interview that deals with the weighty issues that the book deals with at:
http://fertilesource.com/tag/this-thing-called-the-future/

Here are a couple of questions that are craft related and one gender-based questions to get us thinking critically about subject. Enjoy!

Anna:
As a fellow student of writing I found most interesting the issues and choices involved with bringing the South African culture and Zulu language, that you know so much about, to an audience that knows so little. It must be difficult not to switch into professor mode and to become didactic. Did you have these impulses? How do you walk the line between telling a good story and explaining the culture?

Jessica:
This was actually really hard to do. In earlier drafts, I included a lot more history and readers told me it seemed didactic. It was a painful process of excising scenes that didn’t move the story along but which I’d added to give "background," then somehow figuring out how I could give that same background in just one to two sentences in another scene somewhere else–a scene that was essential. I easily wrote fifteen drafts of this novel. All the time, my editor would be asking me questions. For example: "Why is this drunk man following Khosi (my 14-year-old protagonist) around all the time? Why doesn’t anybody do anything about it?" I had to somehow figure out how to make it obvious that drunk men are a perpetual feature of the South African township landscape or how normal it is for Khosi to believe that her dead relatives–her ancestors–are protecting her and speaking into her life without writing encyclopedic-style entries about it. I will also say that it’s important to consider audience when thinking about how much information you put in and how much you leave out. It’s conceivable that a young Zulu girl, reading this book, might think I’d included too much information. But since I was writing for an American audience, I had to figure out how to balance what an American audience would need to know to understand the culture vs. writing a compelling story. I hope I erred always on the side of compelling story! William Beinert, a preeminent South African historian who teaches at Oxford, read my novel and told me it was "quite anthropological," meaning that I dug deep and tried to present a coherent understanding of African belief systems here…all within a story that I hope people will want to read.

Anna:
Khosi uses many Zulu words and phrases. You tend to present them in context which usually is enough but you also include an extensive glossary. Was there ever any questions about how much Zulu or the inclusion of a glossary in the editorial process?

Jessica:
In early drafts, I had a LOT more Zulu. Honestly, I was probably showing off. It was good that one of my writing friends told me to get rid of most of it. I also didn’t want to do the whole clunky thing of using Zulu and then providing the translation for it within the dialogue, e.g., "Sawubona! Hello!" or "Angazi…I don’t know." That seems really affected. So I tried to make it obvious what the Zulu words meant within the context of the sentence, with minimal, non-intrusive explanations at times, as needed. But I always felt the glossary was necessary. Some of the definitions are really quite detailed/specific, pertaining to the culture, and you can’t provide that within the narrative.

Anna:
There were a number of instances in the book where women are pitted against women: when the female victim is blamed for rape for example. I see it on a much smaller level in my middle school classroom. Why do you think this culture of woman against woman persists?

Jessica:
Women are always competing against each other. As often as there is a warm, compassionate, supporting relationship between two women, there is a relationship where two women tear each other down. That’s true everywhere, unfortunately. In South Africa, it is usually women who are the traditional healers, the sangomas. They are the ones who try to minimize and dispel conflict in communities. It is also primarily women who practice witchcraft. The purpose of witchcraft, in South African society, is to sow discord and disceit, steal wealth from a relative, or kill somebody that you hate or who has something you want. The very basis of witchcraft is this problem of competition between women for scarce resources–men, money, work. In the U.S. we have the same problem, we just deal with it more subtly–yet just as wickedly. I had a baby seven months ago. I can see how young mothers compete with each other rather than supporting each other. It makes me sad.

Book Review Wednesday: Don’t Call Me Sidney

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Today on Book Review Wednesday, we welcome Jane Sutton and her main character Sidney. Jane’s picture book, Don’t Call Me Sidney just launched last week and I am so happy to have her here at Creative Chaos. Jane is a New England author of seven books for children. According to her website, Jane likes to laugh, ride her bike, watch the Red Sox play baseball, do crossword puzzles, travel, and dance and sing along to rock music.

Sidney, and his friend Gabie the duck, were imaged by Italian illustrator, Renata Gallio. It may have been more appropriate to invite Sidney for a poetry Friday post. Yes, Sidney the pig is a poet– a poet with a problem. You would have a problem too, if you couldn’t find anything to rhyme with your name.

The funniest thing about Sidney’s problem is that he creates it himself. He is not poet enough to restructure his lines, instead he chooses to rename himself “Joe,” a name with plenty of rhyming possibility. In doing this, Jane digs a deeper more meaningful problem for Sidn–, I mean Joe. Who is he really, and what’s in a name? Sidney solves his problem and revises his poetry on his own, to make a very satisfying ending.

In addition to wonderful facial and body expression, Renata Gallio creates character by giving Sidney a never-ending supply of scrap paper. Throughout the book, we see Sidney’s thought process on the papers that trail behind him or are taped to furniture, walls, and buildings. (Like Sidney, I often have purses and pockets full of scrawled scraps. Ah… the life of the writer.) This is a wonderful example of the illustrator extending the story. Renata Gallio uses acrylics, collage, pencil and a muted palette to create Sidney and his friends.

Welcome Jane and thanks for bringing Sidney. Just a few questions:

Most picture book authors expect to wait two to three years for their manuscripts to go from contract to pub date. I understand that you sold the Don’t Call Me Sidney manuscript in 2001, but it is only just being released this week. Congratulations! Can you give us a short history of the obstacles this manuscript faced on the road to publication?

Don’t Call Me Sidney was originally Don’t Call Me Mortimer, a sequel to The Trouble With Cauliflower, published in 2006. When we learned the sequel wouldn’t work out, my editor and I decided that I should rewrite the text with new characters since the second book would have a different illustrator. It took a long time to find the right illustrator for the project. But she was definitely worth waiting for! Actually, I think the extra wait has made the release of the book feel all the sweeter. I’m dancing in the streets! No neighbors have called the police as yet.

Seeing an illustrator’s interpretation on a manuscript you’ve sold can be a moment full of fear and joy. Did you have any preconceived notions about Sidney? Had you imagined Sidney as a pig? How much artistic input does Dial encourage from its authors?

I originally pictured Sidney as a monkey, but that was back when he was Mortimer, who turned out to be a koala bear. When Renata Gallio took over as illustrator, I had no idea what animal she would choose. I was thrilled to see the sketches for the pig and with his friend Gabie, a duck. What I value in illustrations–besides their being pleasing to look at, funny, and clear as to what’s happening–are facial expressions. And Sidney’s emotions are very apparent via Renata’s facial expressions. I especially appreciate the love so clearly shown between Sidney and his mom. And by the way, I dedicated the book to my own son, so that aspect is especially sweet to me. Sorry, I’m getting ferklempt.

OK, I’ve recovered. You asked about artistic input encouraged by Dial from authors. I’ve had several editors at Dial, and each has been very welcoming of my input. We’ve had constructive, mutually respectful dialogue about the artwork’s depiction of text and sub-text.

Your last two books have been illustrated by overseas artists. Do you see a different aesthetic sensibility between American and European or Australian illustrators?

Wow, that’s a really interesting question, Anna. Jim Harris, the illustrator of The Trouble With Caulilfower, is an American who lives in New Zealand, but his seeing koala bears in a zoo in Australia influenced his choosing of that cute little guy for the main character, and he made his diminutive size and other features realistic. With the new book, I think that the Italian illustrator Renata Gallio’s buildings look very European, and I love them, and I want to leave for a trip to Italy immediately.

Many of your books, including Don’t Call Me Sidney, are packed with humor. How do you approach humor in a picture book manuscript? How much of the humor is a part of the original story idea and how much of your work is amping up the yucks in revision?

Another good question. You’re making me think here, Anna! Humor is always there from the beginning for me. A good laugh for me is better than (fill in the blank with a noun). As I revise, I look for opportunities to add more. I was thrilled with the additional humor the illustrator brought to the book. For example, as Sidney is thinking up more rhymeable names, she has him writing them on post-it notes, which I think is adorable. Along with my original concept for a book, there’s always a message, but I try to be subtle about it.

Hmmm… fill in the blank with a noun? If I asked my boys they’d say toilet, underwear or poop. That works right?

What are some things that make your school programs unique? Can you give us a sneak peak at how you’ll bring Sidney to classrooms this fall?

I won’t claim uniqueness on this, but I show the kids really messy drafts as I talk about my writing process. I like to emphasize that good writing entails a lot of rewriting. Teachers love that message. They’re in the back of the room, nodding and smiling and thinking, “See? I’ve been telling you guys that all year, and now a professional writer is telling you!” My programs are interactive. I engage in dialogue with the students. It probably helps that I can use my humor and that I’m immature (or charmingly childlike, depending on your point of view), so I relate well to kids.

Since Don’t Call Me Sidney features a poetry-writing pig, I plan to offer rhyming activities—simple ones with younger children and, with older children, I’ll explore other forms of poetry and talk about how rhyming poetry can sometimes inhibit meaning. I take requests from teachers for the types of programs I offer; for example, since I’ve written four novels, sometimes I’ll do a session on character development or writing from one’s own experience. Now that teachers are pressured to meet standards, I’m giving them guidelines about my books matching those scary, looming language arts standards, plus follow-up activities they can use.

Marketing is more and more the responsibility of the author these days. What marketing events or activities are you planning around the launch of Don’t Call Me Sidney?

Dial provided a detailed kit about promotion, and I have tried to be very conscientious, bordering on compulsive, about it. I created an author’s page on Amazon, updated my website, and announced the book to alumni magazines, Facebook, and listserves. I’m making the rounds to local bookstores and libraries with a page of reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist and Kirkus that has a bookmark stapled to it and a little note about my willingness to do events, etc. I have no dates to share yet, but hope to be doing several story hours this summer, school visits in the fall, and appearances on Letterman and Oprah (OK, those last 2 are just daydreams).

Wow! I love the idea about the bookmark stapled to the review sheet. Thanks for the advice, Jane and thanks for bringing Sidney to Book Review Wednesday. Next time you come to Maine, bring your bike and we’ll do a ride. Enjoy the launch of Don’t Call Me Sidney.

Summing Up

It’s been quite a long time since my last post. Much has been going on and since it is too long to explain I’ll just sum up. (Did you get the Princess Bride allusion there?)

Jobs: I’ve applied to a writing specialist job at Bates and a teaching position at the Friends School of Portland. I’ve been interviewed at the Friends School so it seems that is more likely to come through. Contacting the Bates folks today to follow up. I also applied to LL Bean’s for retail sales position at the Bike, Boat and Ski shop. I was psyched when they called to offer me the job. I went in to fill out all my paper work, watch their harassment video (not how to, but how not to), and get cleared by their health department. Turns out that the job I was offered was a "level 5" position which requires lifting a 50 lb. box to the height of 76 inches. I did 40 safely, but needed spotting on 45 and help on 50. So bad news…no Bike, Boat and Ski job. Good news…they called yesterday and offered me a position in camping. Discount, here I come. Summer weekends, good-bye.

Triathlon: I’ve been training like crazy and after watching the Polar Tri last Saturday, I’m really excited about the celebration that my first race will be. The race is coming up soon, next Saturday, May 22nd, there is still time to donate to the cause. All money goes to help with YMCA scholarships for camp and membership. The "Mighty Mama’s" (our team) is so close to our $200 goal. Please help.
And because I’m a crazy girl, I’ve already signed up for my next Tri with the Bath Y. (Not a fundraiser) so I’ll get a chance to do all three sections and be timed for both transitions.

VCFA/Writing: I’ve been chugging away churning out picture book manuscripts this semester and have at least 2 or 3 that I feel are submission quality. One is with an editor now and I’m hoping to hear something soon. I need to revise my novel and start subbing to agents but things have been so busy that I’ve had to put that on hold.

Book Review Wednesday: Um… I’m really sorry. I just haven’t kept up and there’s really no excuse except, well, all the other stuff I’ve been doing.

Illustration: The Great Goose Auction is over and I’m trying to find out what happened with my two painted eggs. More on that later. My Fufu And Fresh Strawberries illustrations are awaiting an input of funding to The Telling Room in Portland. They are hoping for grant money to make the design and publication possible. Right now, I’m working on illustrations for my picture book Roar which I will show at the Illustrator’s Academy this Sunday. I’m also working on my poster for the showcase and trying to get my portfolio together too. I’ve been happy doing the whole portfolio thing on line so it’s kind of a pain to get all the images together, printed out and assembled in the book. So on that note, here are some images to take a look at. Enjoy.

Book Review Wednesday: The Matzah that Papa Brought Home

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Books with a “This is the House that Jack Built” format often use the first line as the title of the book. However, the first line is just a starting point from which to build the actual story. “This is the house that Jack built,” is not about the house at all but about the community around the house. Similarly, The Matzah that Papa Brought Home, by Fran Manushkin, illustrated by Ned Bittinger, is not about matzah at all but about the Passover seder.

With tight and lyrical rhyme, Manushkin captures the high points of the Passover Seder from a child’s point of view. The narrator is clearly the child of the “Papa” who brought home the matzah. The child voice is unmistakable in the fourth spread into the story, when we read, “This is me standing tall and proud/ to ask the Four Questions nice and loud/ during the Passover Seder we shared/ to eat the feast that Mama made/ with the matzah that Papa brought home.” This passage reveals that the narrator is the youngest child in this family and the illustration portrays a sweet six-year-old girl who is glowing with the responsibilities of her question-asking task. My inner-child especially connected with the line, “This is “Dayenu,” a very long song/ that we sang with our stomachs growling along…”

Bittinger’s paintings are rendered in oil paint on linen using deep shadow and glowing light to intensify emotion and lead the eye of the viewer around the painting. From the feast, to clearing the table, to the child trying to sneak a bit of matzah, the images capture the chaos and order of a Passover Seder. My favorite image is of the narrator sitting on Papa’s lap, each of them taking pinkies full of wine to diminish their pleasure while reciting the plagues. The figures are bathed in light, the background a deep brown/black but in the middle values, frogs and locusts hop, and rains fall on enslaved Hebrew workers. This dreamy sequence allows two stories, Manushkin’s and the Exodus, to be told at the same time. www.franmanushkin.com/thematzahpapabroughthome.htm

The only issue I had with the book was the line, “This is the feast that Mama made with the matzah that Papa brought home.” I stumbled over this line when reading it aloud to my boys and we all looked at each other. My son said, “The roasted chicken [in the illustration] didn’t come from the matzah.” I agreed. Obviously, the feast was made to go along with the matzah but the syntax suggested that the whole feast was made from the matzah.

Scholastic published the book in 1995, and it is well worth the interlibrary loan. If you are looking to buy the book, it was reprinted in paperback in 2001 and should be available for order through your nearest Indie-bookshop. Happy Passover to all!