It was great to see so many creative young comic book artists at our Comic Book Creations program yesterday! For more inspiration, check out our new book Comics: Easy as ABC! by Ivan Brunetti or Draw Out the Story: Ten Secrets to Creating Your Own Comics by Brian McLachlan.
A sweet new novel by Kevin Henkes finds its two main characters both annoyed by their parent(s). Amelia’s mom is dead, and her dad definitely does NOT understand her. Mr. Albright(ironically, just the opposite) does not readily express his feelings, either. Thank goodness she has Mrs. O’Brien, her neighbor, a grandmotherly figure who keeps house for her and her dad. Casey’s parent’s are getting divorced and he is thoroughly disgusted by them both. Fortunately, his Aunt Louise is a steady caring figure in his life. The two become friends and help each other to navigate in a seemingly uncaring world. I would recommend it for 4th grade and up.
On November 2, the NY Times/NY Public Library’s top 10 best illustrated children’s books of 2018 were announced. Topping the list is Dreamers by Yuyi Morales, with gorgeous colorful collages and is a story about a mother and child who leave Mexico to begin a new life. Dreamers is an autobiographical tale of Morales’ own immigration from Mexico to the U.S. with her son. You can check out this and the other titles in the November 11 NY Times Book Review, as well as on the website.
This children’s picture book by Timothy B. Ering debuted in early 2017, and is a wonderful story about the power of music. Captain Alfred is sailing home with some new ducks and a very special surprise for his wife in his fiddle case : a duckling egg. But a fierce storm hits the small boat and the newly hatched young duckling finds himself alone, floating in a fiddle case. He happens upon the fiddle in the water, and embraces it, and it makes the most beautiful sound. It tames the huge dog that Alfred stumbles across once on land. And the wife, fearfully waiting on the porch for her husband to return from sea, hears the sound as well and races to the duckling’s rescue. And guess who else hears it? A perfect story for this year’s summer reading program!
The youth librarians of Rockland County held a Mock Caldecott event yesterday to choose the most distinguished children’s book with respect to artistic excellence. It was quite an interesting experience: four groups were formed with 10 books each to whittle down eventually to one winner. Then the 4 winners were ranked by the entire group as a whole. The results were: winning with the most number of first place votes was “Blue Sky White Stars“, illustrated by Kadir Nelson; a picture book about patriotism whose original art was beautifully done in oils on canvas. Our honor award book with the most second place votes was “Windows“, written by Julia Denos and illustrated by E.B. Goodall. This is a story about a late afternoon- early evening stroll through the urban neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts. A young boy walking his dog peeks into neighbors’ windows to see the small scale theater that takes place within each. So on Monday, February 12, we will find out how close we came to the ALA Caldecott Committee’s choices for a winner! Here is a clip of the process of writing Windows, and a review of Blue Sky White Stars…
