Barbara Cooney’s Wee Birds
Took a sweet side trip up to Bowdoin College Museum of Art to see the final days of the Barbara Cooney Exhibit. Oooed and awed my way through the minute details of her work alongside the beatific illustrator, Jamie Hogan. We stood dumbfounded by a group of tiny birds gathered in the gutter in an out-of-the-way corner of Cooney’s picture book, Eleanor. Watch for the attentive, busy animals in almost every single spread she creates. Was also enamored with the lupines painted on Chinese silk for Miss Rumphius. Proud to say, I have worked with Penguin USA and Raising Readers to include...
Read MoreMinli’s Journey, Not Grace’s Journey
Illustration by Grace Lin from Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Do you as a creator with a new book have to appear places or go on tour? I will answer that question with a question (if I may). Is the time and money spent planning appearances the best use of your time and money? Is there another way you can spend your valuable commodities that has a broader impact and reach? Take the grand Grace Lin for instance. She is a super star when she appears anywhere, but with her new book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon she is hoping not to travel as much as she did for previous books. What to do...
Read MoreALA Bound
Inspiring Young Citizens: The Library as a Forum for EngagementSunday, 7/12/0910:30 am – 12:00 pmALA Annual ConferenceMcCormick Place West, W-190BChicago, ILHow do we excite young readers with possibilities for remaking their world without burdening them with responsibility beyond their years? Authors Lita Judge, Anne Sibley O’Brien, and Phillip Hoose, librarian, Kelley McDaniel and children’s book advocate, Kirsten Cappy will share books, strategies, and book-specific educational curriculum for engaging young people in age-appropriate social issues and actions....
Read MoreLet’s Do Nothing!
Giddy to have an activity kit out with the brilliant folks at Candlewick Press. Nothing like working with the best designers in the country to make you look quite suave. To be exact it is a Non-Activity Kit for animation genius, Tony Fucile’s hilarious picture book, Let’s Do Nothing. Characters, Frankie and Sal have worn themselves out by doing everything so they decide to try doing nothing for a change. Poor bespectacled Frankie’s overactive imagination makes him anything but Zen. When told to “be the tree,” he imagines being peed on by the dog. When told to...
Read MoreFinding Your Way to The Never-Ending Mountian
I first read Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (in galley form) on a train being tossed by the fits of a winter Nor’easter. With mittened hands I read the last page, breathed out, and said, “perfect.” And it was and is after several re-readings. Make sure a copy is in your hands (mittened or not) on July 1 when the book is released.Curious City was proud to mine Grace Lin’s rich pages to create reader and classroom activities in science, math, art, calligraphy, cooking, ancestry, and the fine art of discussion. You can view and download that activity kit (designed by...
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