Independent Reading: Up, Tall and High

Up, Tall and High by Ethan Long

In this colorful picture book/easy reader, birds explore what it means to be up, tall, and high in three humorous episodes.

So this one is difficult to summarize, if you can't tell. In the first story, the orange bird states that he's tall, but then the taller, purple bird stands net to him and says he's tall (and the expression on the orange bird's face says it all). Then we see two legs, no body visible because the next one is so far in the air. But when you flip the panel, you see that it's a short bird on stilts. When one bird points out, "You are not tall" the short bird responds with a funny surprise and says, "But I am not small."

Look, you just have to read it. It won the Geisel this year, and I thought it was charming and funny. It has a style which reminds me of Mo Willems in that the illustrations were very simple, with pitch perfect facial expressions. The panels reveal fun surprises. It's the kind of book that would be fun to read over and over.

 See the whole thing read by the illustrator right here:
 

Picture This: One Special Day

One Special Day by Lola M. Schaefer, illustrated by Jessica Meserve

"A story for big brothers and sisters"

Spencer is strong as a bear, fast as a horse, and tall as a giraffe. And then, "one special day," he is gentle and quiet because he's become a brother for the very first time.

This is a simple book about welcoming a new sibling. Spencer as described as a lot of things: wild, messy, funny, tall, strong, fast, etc. And he's as ___ as a ____. An animal is used used to describe one of Spencer's characteristics. The animal is not written, but rather illustrated as seen below. I think this would be a fun book to read aloud, so kids could jump in with what Spencer is like. "He was fast--fast as a ..." "Horse!" The illustrations are very nice--bold and appealing, depicting animals and idyllic family scenes.

Giraffe!

Rollin' Wild

had to share



I love animated shorts.

Recent Read: Smile

Raina is going about her everyday life as a sixth grader--school, girl scouts, friends, etc--when she trips and falls, knocking out her two front teeth. She must then visit various dental specialists to figure out how to get her teeth back to normal. She endures painful surgeries and orthodontia, all while going to school, experiencing puberty, dealing with boys and transitioning from middle school to high school.

I never knew a book about dentistry could be so delightful. It was wonderful! Raina Telgemeier (very deservedly) won an Eisner Award for Smile which is based on her own experiences (that includes the teeth, the earthquake, and the pantsing). I love that it centers around dentistry, orthodontia, and surgery. These kinds of experiences have become pretty prevalent these days, and I think there's a lot for young people to relate to (I sure did, having had many years of my own dental nightmares). As I read, I sometimes laughed aloud as I saw her perfect depiction of things like having a mold of your teeth made, getting your braces tightened, and attaching rubber bands to them. It's infused with humor throughout despite the trauma of it all. And it's not just about her teeth--it's about getting older, figuring out where you belong, finding friends, gaining confidence in the right aspects of yourself, and overcoming trials. Telgemeier is so good at capturing the emotions of this age (the boy-centered daydreams cracked me up). All around excellent.

Telgemeier recently posted a sketch from her next graphic novel called Sisters. I can't wait.

Picture This: This Moose Belongs to Me

This Moose Belongs to Me by Oliver Jeffers

Wilfred calls his moose Marcel. He taught Marcel all the rules of being Wilfred's pet. But Marcel mostly seems to do what he wants. One day someone else claims that Marcel is her moose. That can't be. "This moose belongs to me," says Wilfred. But does it?

I love Oliver Jeffers. I love his humor (both in writing and illustrating), his funny-looking characters without feet, and his stories. Marcel is good at "providing shelter from the rain," but not so good at "going whichever way Wilfred wants to go." When a woman claims it's her moose, Rodrigo (oh, the names!), we see that Marcel may not have loyalty so much as an affinity for food. Indeed, if you look carefully at Marcel, you might notice that he doesn't care about the people around him at all--he follows apples. Wilfred leaves in a huff, trips, gets tangled in string, and ends up lying on the forest floor, unable to go home. Fortunately, Marcel comes to rescue him...sort of, and Wilfred realizes that maybe "he'd never really owned the moose anyway."

The book is illustrated with "a mishmash of oil painting onto old linotype and painted landscapes," which makes for rich and varied landscapes paired with Jeffers's signature styled people and moose. Stick-legged Wilfred wears red suspenders and a bowtie, and sports one single curly cue of hair on his baloon-shaped head. The moose is equally absurd, with a giant head, short (though somewhat variable) body, stick legs, and long, sprawling antlers whose wingspan is double the length of his body. Some scenes are depicted on a stark white background, while others feature grand vistas and beautiful mountains. I'm adding it to the honorable mentions of the year.

Notice the tag hanging off his antlers with his name on it.

Annenberg Space for Photography: No More Strangers

I went to the Annenberg Space for Photography's current exhibit (until Feb 24) called "No Strangers: Ancient Wisdom in a Modern World." It focused on photographers who document the life of other cultures, with a special emphasis on those remote cultures that have been little influenced by the West and modernization. It featured a slew of photographers. Of course it was all fantastic photography. But here are just a few I particularly liked:

By Carol Beckwith & Angela Fisher
This was a photo from a festival where Wadabi men in Africa compete for the attention of the girls. Eyes and teeth are considered especially important to marriage, and if you can keep one eye still while rolling the other, it's considered very attractive.
(If you're interested in this ceremony and others involving body painting, watch this video where the photographers talk about their experiences.)

The Hunt by Chris Johns
I loved this one--it's of bushmen in Africa, but it reminded me of Giacometti.

By Chris Rainier
if I remember correctly, these are to protect them from the rain--taken in New Guinea.

By Lynn Johnson

By Chris Rainier

An image of nomadic Duhalar reindeer people in Hovsgol, Mongolia. By Hamid Sardar Read more about the image here.

(The sow also featured Steve McCurry, who I love, but I'll wait to dedicate an entire post to him.)

A new look for Harry

Maybe you've already heard about this, but Harry Potter is getting a new set of covers for his 15th anniversary. Kazu Kibuishi, author/illustrator of the Amulet graphic novel series, has designed 7 new covers. The first has just been revealed:

What do you think?

Mary GrandPré's covers will always be my favorite. But I like this one a lot, and I think Kibuishi did a great job. I look forward to seeing the rest.

Picture This: One Cool Friend

One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by David Small

Elliot is very  proper and well-mannered--so much so that he even wears a tux. It's when he goes to the aquarium with his father that he finds the animal that best suits him: penguins. When he asks his father if he can have a penguin, his father says yes and gives him $20 to purchase a stuffed penguin. Elliot makes his way back to the penguins, climbs over the fence, wades through the water, picks up the smallest penguin, puts it in his backpack, and brings it home. But how will he care for it, and what will happen when his father finds out?

This is such a fantastic combination of illustration and text. Buzzeo has left room in her spare text for Small to fill in moments with humorous illustrations and details, maximizing the potential for laughs. With one or two lines, Buzzeo tells us everything we need to know about Elliot ("a very proper young man," his thought that the aquarium means "kids, masses of noisy kids"). Add to that Small's illustration of him standing very straight, wearing a tux, a sideways look toward the reader, with perfect placement and use of negative space (see below). The timing is just right, and there are lots of wonderful little details (I love the girl running down the hall in horror with a crab attached to her finger). There are some visual motifs that recur throughout, including the check pattern (on the walls, a suit, the floors, a bedspread, and the endpapers). And the ending is a fabulous final page surprise, that will make you realize how many details were there that you didn't even notice the first time around.

click to enlarge

Picture This: Machines Go to Work in the City

Machines Go to Work in the City by William Low

This is for all the truck/machine-loving kids out there. Low goes through a number of machines, making the sound they make, and then asking a question with the answer revealed in an opened flap. Check out the garbage truck pics below as an example.

Vroooom! Here comes the garbage truck, making its run!
When the truck makes its last pickup, are the garbage collectors done or the day?
[open flap] No, they must go tot the landfill to empty the trash.

Low goes through a train, a vacuum truck, a traffic light (which has to be repaired  with a bucket truck), a tower crane, and an airplane. At the end are diagrams of all the machines with labeled parts and explained functions. It's well done, and I think the appeal is pretty obvious (and then you can put all the machines to sleep with Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site).

Best Picture Books of 2012

Well, I'm late this year because it's taken a long time to get my hands on all the books I wanted to read before constructing a list. In fact, there are still four I'm on the waiting list for, and there are eight books not available my libraries. So there is a slight possibility that I will have to amend this list.
Here are the Top 10:

Sleep Like A Tiger
Written by Mary Logue, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

This is Not My Hat
By Jon Klassen

A Home for Bird
By Philip C. Stead

Creepy Carrots!
Written by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Peter Brown

Z is for Moose
Written by Kelly Bingham, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

Each Kindness
Written by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E. B. Lewis

Martin de Porres: The Rose in the Desert
By Gary D. Schmidt, illustrated by David Diaz

The Obstinate Pen
By Frank W. Dormer

Green
By Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Bear Despair
By  Gaetan Doremus

Honorable Mention:

Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle by Claire A. Nivola

This Moose Belongs to Me by Oliver Jeffers

Island: A Story of the Galapagos by Jason Chin

Extra Yarn Written by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen
Step Gently Out Written by Helen Frost, photographs by Rick Lieder
One Cool Friend Written by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by David Small

Recent Read: Out of the Easy

Josie is the daughter of a prostitute. But despite her growing up among prostitutes in a New Orleans brothel, she's smart, loves literature, and sets her sights on a life outside of the Big Easy. She dreams of going to Smith College after meeting a student there, but can't see how she'll ever be accepted or have enough money. And even as she decides to try, a wealthy tourist's suspicious death threatens to disrupt her her friends, family and future.

There's a little bit of everything in Ruta Sepetys's second novel: mystery, historical setting, romance, the criminal underbelly of New Orleans, and a valiant girl striving for something better. But despite the murder and prostitution (among other things), this is no titillating thriller. Instead, Out of the Easy is about character, decisions, and relationships (with a little scandal thrown in). Sepetys has created interesting, likable characters, and she includes a lot of historical detail. Even though it's not your typical page-tuner, there's a lot going on. I'm so pleased to find that Sepetys is just as good the second time around (if you haven't read Between Shades of Gray--not to be confused with 50 Shades of Grey--you should get it). She seems to have an attraction to the human spirit.

Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
Philomel
Releases February 12, 2013
review based on advanced reader copy--uncorrected proof



Review based on uncorrected advanced galley.