Rafael López : Guest Blogger on TeachingBooks.net

From TeachingBooks.net Guest Blogger: Rafael López describes his illustrative process, developing art for Monica Brown's Tito Puente Mambo King/ Tito Puente Rey del Mambo due from HarperCollins in 2013. I love the textures in Rafael's paintings and the abundance of rich color. There's magic there too. I like that his art is public -- he's done stamps, murals, posters, as well as books.

HarperCollins Signs Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis for 'Wildwood' Series

I like this news.
HarperCollins Signs Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis for 'Wildwood' Series

"The germ of this series goes back a long way," Meloy said. "For me, this is the culmination of a long-term collaboration with Carson, matching words and art. I grew up on a steady diet of Lloyd Alexander, Roald Dahl, and Tolkien; this is our humble paean to that grand tradition of epic adventure stories." Ellis commented, "Wildwood is a project very close to my heart - the collaboration that Colin and I have been dreaming about for years."

Review -- Where is Catkin?

                             

Where is Catkin?                         

Written by Janet Lord

Illustrated by Julie Paschkis

Peachtree Publishers, 2010

hardcover picture book

I'm a huge fan of Julie Paschkis' art -- her colors and imaginative decorations are a visual delight. And I embrace the idea of sisters' collaboration. (Julie and her sister, Janet Lord, have shared credit for two previous picture books.) And, though I'm definitely a dog person, I like cats well enough. So, Where is Catkin?, is a natural as a picture book that delights and engages me. The story begins with young Amy and Catkin against a background of fantasical lush flowers and a shining sun. "Catkin sneeks through the grass./He sees something shiny and small./ Kerik-kerik. Kerik-kerik./Catkin hops ..." and is off to the hunt! Double page spreads full of bright colors against a black background, framed bottom and top by a decorative border in gold and orange-red, follow Catkin on the chase through the garden, as the cat hears various sounds and goes after a frog, a mouse, a snake. The borders also follow the story's progress as the animals chased but not caught populate the borders. Then, as the action shifts and Catkin is caught in a tree, the borders' placement changes. The last page portrays Amy with resucued Catkin in her arms, borders on all four sides, everyone happy and safe. Ahhh!

Thanks to Peachtree Publishers for the review copy.

Serendipity! I just went to the wonderful Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog to check if there was an interview with Julie Paschkis I could link to. There is and it's dated today! Read it. Feast your eyes on images shown of art from Catkin.

NYT Best Illustrated

The New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books for 2009 were announced today. I think they’re great choices – I usually do. But sometimes, while I feel the choices are marvels of illustration, I wonder about real child appeal. Not so with this year. Several of my favorites are listed, including the gem All the World. The only title I don’t know is White Noise, but David Carter is known for some incredible pop-ups.

A Carousel Tale

I've loved Elisa Kleven's work for sometime now but have never reviewed one of her books. It would be easy to go right into gush mode but let me try and write something a little more substantial. A Carousel Tale begins "Ernst, a young blue crocodile, loved the carousel in the park. Every day he would say hello to the wooden animals. His favorite was the honey-colored dog." (Yes, sweet Ernst and his brother Sol are back.) On the day the carousel closes for the season Ernst finds the honey-colored dog's tail on the ground but it's too late to return it for all the animals are tucked away. The carousel keeper asks Ernst to take care of the tail until it's warm again. He decides it looks lonely just sitting on the shelf and so he decorates it, transforming it into a beautiful bird that becomes his winter playmate and enters his dreams.When spring arrives, Ernst hesitantly returns the tail and the keeper wholeheartedly agrees "This is a wonderful bird you've made. As lovely as any carousel animal!" And to make everything perfectly right again, Ernst finds the perfect piece of wood to form another tail for his favorite honey-colored dog. All the different pieces to this story -- creativity and artistic expression, honesty, friendship, positive solutions -- come together so organically. Kleven's detailed collages with watercolors and pastels are so bright and full of light and just seem to shout "all is right with the world." And the endpapers are great too.

The Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog has a fine, fine interview with Elisa Kleven with many photos.

A Carousel Tale by Elisa Kleven
Tricycle Press, hardcover (9781582462394) $15.99
ages 3-7

ALA Midwinter or Keeping Warm in Denver

I had a very pleasant flight to Denver yesterday and was relieved I didn't require snowgear but happy I brought along gloves. I had a meeting this morning, then walked over the convention center and spent the afternoon walking exhibits, collecting galleys. I don't think I've seen half the children's and ya publishers but I collected enough galleys to fill a bag and a half. I sorted through them tonight and 3 titles have risen to the top of my pile: Fetch by Laura Whitcomb (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt); Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic); and Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev (Feiwel and Friends.)

I read samples of many picture book titles I hope to get review copies of:
Button Up!(Petra Mathers has long been one of my favorite artists)
When Its 6 o'Clock in San Francisco
The Travel Game
Steady Hands
Bubble Trouble
Darwin
Red Sings From the Treetops
Little Panda
OK GO!
Only a Witch Can Fly
Big Cat Pepper
A Chair for Always
All in a Day
Hello Baby
Gertrude is Gertrude is Gertrude
Song of Middle C

A fine year is ahead of us!

A New Look at Authors and Illustrators for Children

I hadn't been to the Authors and Illustrators for Children site for awhile so this was my first look at their redesign. It's great! I like it. I was led there by a post at Seven Impossible Things about a new campaign named This I Dream, art and essays of dreams for children. Essays by Viginia Ewuer Wolff and George Ella Lyon begin the series and you can see a list of future participants. Powerful stuff.