Sudipta Bardhan, Ringmaster
Had a grand old time working with author, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen to create an event kit for her greatest-show-on-earth of a picture book, Tightrope Poppy: The High-Wire Pig (Sterling Publishing). The event kit allows a children’s programmer to add Big Top elements to a story hour using Sudipta’s picture book (illustrated by Sarah Dillard). We extracted the ringmaster character, Zig E. Zailey from the book and use him as the host of the event. Through simple face painting, costume making, and a (very low) high-wire act, Zig E....
read moreIndia’s Ink
Working with a character who is such a marvel with the declarative sentence led us to create a character blog for The Accidental Adventures of India McAllister by Charlotte Agell. “I’m suspicious of people who don’t like to read, although Colby is one of them, and I like him fine. He’s just wrong about reading.” –India McAllister Using WordPress we were able to categorize each entry creating special pages to send to our target audiences. Any guesses who we might be talking to? Beyond grand to have both Charlotte’s...
read moreMeteor Shower
Amongst the meteorological and astronomical events of February, ones birthday usually goes unreported. Upon turning 40 this past week, I was caught unaware by a surprise meteor shower of creativity. I was both illustrated and feted in ways I can hardly fathom. I am astronomically beyond lucky to work beside you children’s book creators, friends, and propagators of curiosity. More from the chronicles of the brillaint Jamie Hogan and Cathryn Falwell (and photos from the asteroid belt.) Share...
read moreBelated Valentine from Portland Phoenix
Some sweet folks nominated Curious City for one of Portland’s Most Influential People for “getting creators, readers, and fans of children’s books on the same page.” Well, thanks and gosh, Portland Phoenix and mysterious somebodies. Share...
read moreThe Science of Superheroes Expo
Bronx Community College (BCC) and Kids Comic Con band together for another brilliant blend of kids, comics, and education with their upcoming The Science of Superheroes Expo. Students will research superheroes’ abilities and how science fact and science fiction play into their powers. Results from that study will be presented in a science expo at BCC in Spring 2010. We are happy to offer the graphic novel, The Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood of Korea as a fictional jumping off point for studying the science of cloning. One of...
read moreTo Hamlet or Not To Hamlet, That Is…
A Hamlet Look-Alike Contest? Could it be so? We here in the Curious City lair are hard at work designing a photo contest for Erin Dionne’s hilarious middle grade novel, The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet. Illustrator, Jamie Hogan just delivered a Yorick skull (complete with accessories) to be used in the design of the promotion. Soon you too will be able to gaze on poor Yorick for prosperity and prizes. Stay tuned, my dear Bard-ites… Photograph of Erin Dionne contemplating the Total Tragedy of the prototype… Share...
read moreStink, Stank, Stunk
Seems like we do not totally stink at creating games and activities because Candlewick Press has had us back for a new round of book activities–this time for the indomitable Stink Moody and his friends. Proud to have had a hand in Sniff it Out: Hunt for Stink’s Treasure, The Walking Stink-O-Pedia: Test your Stink I.Q., Stink’s Solar System Superhero Scramble, and Stink’s Cross-the-Solar-System Crossword. The complete will soon to be posted at Stink’ website… A super stinky thank you to my brilliant 2nd-grade nephew who...
read moreNational Book Award Footage
Phillip Hoose and Claudette Colvin, 2009 National Book Awards Dinner from National Book Foundation on Vimeo. Hope you heart does all the leaps mine did and does seeing Phil Hoose and Claudette Colvin side-by-side accepting the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Share...
read morePhil & Claudette Take the Prize
Our dear friend, Phillip Hoose walked away with a National Book Award tonight for his stunning portrait of a brave woman, Claudette Colvin. Claudette stood regal by Phil’s side as he accepted the award and thanked her repeatedly for taking a chance on him, for letting him tell her story. Could be the hour of 3AM, could be the champagne, could be all the darn delight and pride I am feeling, but I cannot come up with any more to say yet. Just all too grand. Share...
read moreNew York City Here We Come
With a round of “New York City Here We Come” set to the tune of Buck Owen’s Kansas City Song, Phillip Hoose and his band Chipped Enamel closed the send-off party for the National Book Awards. The lyric of “they’ve got a whole lot of awards and I’m gonna get me some” brought down the house of fellow writers, musicians, activists, librarians, friends, and other readers. Phil was especially honored to have the Talbot family present at the event. Phil’s book is dedicated to Jerry Talbot, Maine...
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