fish

A boy casts his line for a different type of fish and gets a lot more than he bargained for.  FISH is one of the most novel wordless picture books to come out in awhile.  By New Yorker illustrator Liam Francis Walsh.

ursa's light

Every once in awhile, a really special book comes along.  Both the narrative and illustrations in Deborah Marcero’s picture book debut Ursa’s Light are exquisite and luminescent.  Be sure to check out the very thoughtful teacher’s guide including writing prompts and design/art activities on Deborah’s site, definitely a nod to her background as an educator.  She also has a BFA in drawing and photography and an MFA in poetry.

I loved reading Deborah’s story behind Ursa on her blog, and how it related to her own life.

“On the surface it’s a story about a spunky urban bear who wants to fly – but at the heart of it, this book is about failure.  It’s about how doing things 'wrong' is crucial to finding success…. a success you couldn’t have imagined in the first place.  Failure has lead me to my most profound discoveries. And I’m still falling, still learning.  Making the art for this book was full of failures and wrong turns.  Failing over and over helps me find my voice as children’s book writer and illustrator.”

The art in Ursa’s Light was made using various media—ink, woodblock cuts, watercolor, gouache, ink wash—collaged together in Photoshop.  Here’s a bit about her creative process:

“I write and illustrate quiet stories. I want my writing and illustration (and the combination there-in) to feel large and small all at once.  I love line work and using white space with minimal color palettes.  I also love to work exclusively in black and white.  Using figurative language and lyric and subtle word play in minimal and imaginative ways I try to create context or a generate feeling.  For stories that I write, I shape a world between my words and images that has room for whimsy and humor but also sometimes darknesses and being scared. I want the reader to feel enveloped in a space that they can see smell touch hear and taste in the sound and meaning of one word or the enjambment between one line and the next.  Because small things like that are important to me.”

Kudos to Deborah Marcero on her first picture book, and for adding such a treasure to the world of children’s literature.

PS. Check out Deborah’s lettering on her website.  It is out of this world!

under earth, under water

An another remarkable book from the duo that brought us MAPS, Aleksandra Mizielińska and Daniel Mizieliński.

Under Earth, Under Water engages, surprises, teaches, inspires curiosity, wonder and awe—and astounds with its myriad details on each page spread, and its sheer size.  This is one to spend hours mulling over, and one to return to every once in awhile on quiet mornings—for reading tidbits here and there, and pondering over them in the free time that the summer brings.  This season is when we might have more time to spend outdoors, entrenched in concrete, experiential learning.  When kids can connect new information that they read with concrete real-world experiences, their learning becomes more solidified and it sticks with them.

We’re running a giveaway of this wondrous book on our Instagram feed.  And good news, this giveaway is international.  You have until Wednesday, June 15, 2016, 11:00 PM PDT, to enter.

where the wild things are

“Oh, please don't go—we'll eat you up—we love you so!” 

It’s Maurice Sendak’s birthday today! Coincidentally, I unearthed an old copy of Where the Wild Things Are in the garage last week, and it was Nate’s first time reading it.  Does anyone have any Scholastic DVDs?  This Maurice Sendak one features animated films of Where The Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, Alligators All Around, Pierre, One Was Johnny and Chicken Soup with Rice. The songs are brilliant and really well done, and I especially like the way In the Night Kitchen and Pierre are arranged and sung.  The DVD is great because it has a read-along feature and words are highlighted on the screen as they’re being narrated.

And one more note—does anyone ever turn on the closed captioning on their TV?  It’s a stealthy way to provide more reading practice and exposure to text. It’s one thing that helped solidified Avery’s fluency over this past year (and she loved it).  It’s also great to dialogue with your kids about what they’re watching—opportunities abound for learning new words, asking/answering questions and honing those burgeoning inferential skills.  Asking "why" questions is just one example of the many inferential questions that can be asked and discussed.

Happy birthday to one of the greats in children’s literature, and we’re off to sing “Chicken Soup With Rice!”