What we're reading now: The Shrinking of Treehorn by Florence Parry Heide

Illustrated by the fabulous Edward Gorey, this sophisticated story chronicles the changes that happen to a boy named Treehorn as he mysteriously finds himself shrinking.  All of the adults in Treehorn's life barely give him a glance as he struggles to reach the water fountain at school or to sit at the dinner table. In the end, Treehorn solves his problem by himself.  The Shrinking of Treehorn is a clever, modern story, one where the protagonist is left to his own devices, in a world filled with distracted adults and fifty-six favorite television programs






FLORENCE PARRY HEIDE on the Treehorn trilogy

Today we introduce a new segment to Curious Pages. We call it:

WHAT IN THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING?

First up, the legendary Florence Parry Heide. Ms. Heide is the author of over one hundred books for children. Some of her titles include: Fables You Shouldn't Pay Any Attention To, Grim and Ghastly Goings-On, Tales For the Perfect Child, Princess Hyacinth: the Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated and the forthcoming Dillweed's Revenge (A Deadly Dose of Magic) illustrated by Carson Ellis.

Arguably, her most famous books are those from her Treehorn trilogy illustrated by Edward Gorey. Unlike many picture books from this era, these books were odd, deadpan, surreal and sophisticated. So we ask: Florence, just what in the heck were you thinking?

MS. HEIDE RESPONDS: I remember the way it was, way-back-when. And when exactly was way back when? 1970. (This is about THAT time and then I expect I'll just keep typing away as I think other things...) Wasn't it just yesterday? I'd had many rejections, but look! I'd sold a few books, too. My first book, MAXIMILIAN, for example, after sixteen rejections. Sixteen!

So the fact that THE SHRINKING OF TREEHORN had been turned down a few times was not

dismaying to me. But wait a minute! Look what's happening! It's been accepted, by Holiday House! That by itself was enough to make my head spin, but now look: Edward Gorey was to be the illustrator! Edward Gorey, whose work I had so admired, was to illustrate one of my books!

And now: I was to meet him. I, Ms Plain Vanilla, was to meet the famous and fabulous Edward Gorey: John Briggs of Holiday House had so arranged. We were to sign copies of the newly published THE SHRINKING OF TREEHORN.

And there he was: be still my heart. He asked me to call him Ted. Edward Gorey asked me to call him Ted! He gave me a beanbag frog he'd made on which he'd stitched: I have turned green.

We were instant friends, lifelong friends. Each time I came to New York, and in those days I was a frequent visitor, we would see each other, have lunch, talk. And talk.

Would I write a Treehorn sequel? Oh, good, of course: TREEHORN'S TREASURE. He loved it. John Briggs loved it. And each time Ted (!) and I saw each other, he assured me that he'd start working on it very soon.

Very soon turned out to be nearly ten years.

But the moment it was published, he asked me to write a third Treehorn. What? and wait ten years? No, no. He promised that if I would write it, he would start and finish it immediately. So: I did and he did. And now we had TREEHORN'S WISH.

He had felt that with three Treehorns an animated feature would soon follow. Sorry about that, Ted, but: never say never.

See? once I start thinking of him I can't stop. Those were wonderful times. I used to stay at the old Royalton, which was not at all like the new Royalton. It's across from the Algonquin. He still lived on 38th Street. He'd come over and we'd walk to lunch. He walked everywhere. And we'd talk. And talk. We'd planned to write a murder mystery play with my brother, David, an Agatha Christie kind of play- and --

You've seen pictures of him . . . very tall, a white beard, wonderfully blue, blue eyes that really DID twinkle - blue jeans, sneakers, and although he used to wear fur coats he stopped doing that out of reverence for animals. He told me, though, that he'd saved them all, had put them in storage, he had loved those fur coats.

Oh, I was to tell you how I thought of the story of Treehorn? . . . this is how it was---

I was ready to write another story and was sitting at my typewriter ---but look at the time! it's nearly noon, and my five children would be rushing in for lunch any minute now--in those days, kids came home from school for lunch. So I was rushing to fix something for lunch when: in they came.

"Can Mike come for dinner tonight, could you call his Mom right now?"

"Look, I skinned my knee, I need a bandaid!"

"I have to have a quarter for class dues!"

And more. And all at once. And I realized that I was saying "That's nice, dear," to each one. And then I thought that I'd probably been saying that every day for ever and ever. And because I had been looking for an idea for a new book, I thought what about a mother who keeps saying That's nice, dear, no matter what's happening. So: something really surprising happens to a boy and his mother just keeps saying things like, That's nice, dear. What might that surprising thing be?

That afternoon a neighborhood boy came to the door. I hadn't seen him all winter, and I found myself saying, "My, how you've grown, Richard!" and then I thought: Oh, for heavens sake, of COURSE he's grown, don't sound so surprised. Surprised would be if he'd grown smaller.

So I wrote THE SHRINKING OF HAROLD.

I'd just finished it when my mother came over for coffee. She was always interested in what I was writing, so I handed it to her to read. She liked it, but said, "But why do you call him Harold, dear? That's a nice name but the other names you've used have been more. . . dashing."

I thought of that as we visited: she'd had lunch with Mrs Hale and Mrs Afton and Mrs Treehart and-- Treehart, Treehart. What about: Treehorn? So Treehorn he became.

I was telling that story to a third grade class one day and a boy asked, "So then why didn't you dedicate the book to that Mrs. Treehart?" . . .

Why indeed.

Anthony Browne the Children's Laureate blogs for World Book Day - last year

Anthony Browne the Children's Laureate blogs for World Book Day

Catherine, Cbeebies Team. | 16:41 UK time, Wednesday, 2 March 2011

It's World Book Day! Up and down the country this morning, legions of mini Harry Potters, Lolas and even Gruffalos will have skipped off to school and nursery to enjoy a day exploring the pleasures of books and reading.

To celebrate we have a special blog for you from Children's Laureate and author Anthony Browne. As Children's Laureate Anthony has been travelling all over the place meeting children, visiting schools and inspiring the readers of tomorrow. We asked him to tell us about his own passion for stories and what we can do to help our children enjoy books and become good readers:

The reading of books with your child is one of the most important and enjoyable ways of spending time together. Not only does it help your child to enjoy books and reading, it is an incredibly enjoyable experience for the parent too. When my children were young I read to them every night – at first picture books by Maurice Sendak, Raymond Briggs, David McKee, Colin McNaughton and Michael Foreman.

To read a picture book is a very different experience from reading just a story. The combination of pictures and words is a close relationship, which echoes the relationship between parent and child. With a picture book the child often looks at the pictures while the adult reads the text. This led to surprising and stimulating shared conversations between me and my children, as text and pictures were explored and pored over.

In the best picture books there is often a mysterious gap between the pictures and the words, a gap that is filled by the child's imagination. Sometimes the illustrations will tell a slightly different story from the words, by suggesting what the character is thinking or feeling. Sometimes they may even contradict the text. The way an illustrator places characters in a scene, uses colour, light and shade, free or controlled paint, can tell us far more of the story than the words. These are all clues to understanding, to be discovered and talked about, together. It is an immensely valuable experience, for both parent and child.

Reading picture books also encouraged my children to draw as well as write their own stories. The illustrations are the first works of art that children see and the images they see at this age stay with them forever.

As my children got older I started to introduce novels into the bedtime reading experience, but for many years there was an overlap between the two. We read books by Anne Fine, Bernard Ashley, the William books by Richmal Crompton, the Alice books by Lewis Carroll - and not only read them – we talked about them. I suppose it was a bit like a reading group, but much more relaxed. Stories would be a topic of conversation in the same way that films, TV programmes and incidents from all our lives were. There was no time when reading picture books ended and reading only novels began. In my opinion it’s a terrible thing to do, to tell children that it’s time now to leave picture books behind – time to only read ‘proper books.’ One of my main themes as Children’s Laureate has been to emphasise the importance of looking. I’ve talked about how we don’t value our ability to really look at things. You can see this in a museum where people spend on average thirty seconds looking at a work of art and considerably more time reading the caption. Listening is also a neglected sense – we all learn to speak but how often are we taught to listen? I believe we’d all be much happier if we really listened to each other. Reading to your children makes listening a very satisfying experience for them. It was always clear to me that if I was getting pleasure from a book then that pleasure would communicate to my children. They would enjoy the stories, enjoy listening and we would all enjoy being together.

Anthony

Few words on five wordless books

Posted on February 5, 2012 by cgelson

Because the creators of wordless books can say so much with no words at all, I decided to use sparse words to express my awe for each of these titles and let their gorgeous covers invite you in.

#1 Sea of Dreams by Dennis Nolan

Adventure over and under the sea . . .



#2 The Conductor by Laetitia Devarney
Swirl, whirl, leaves take flight . . .


#3 Where’s Walrus by Stephen Savage

Where is that wacky walrus?
 #4Tuesday by David Wiesner


And what if frogs floated by?

#5 Beaver is Lost by Elisha Cooper
Beaver travels to a bustling city and back.

Thanks to Adopt a School Funds which purchased #1 and #2 for our classroom wordless (or nearly) collection. Wordless books allow us to practice using picture clues and background knowledge to infer meaning. They are also lovely to share together or to ponder over alone.

Curious George Saves the Day

Curious George Saves The Day: The Art of Margret and H. A. Rey

H. A. Rey, final illustration for “One day George saw a man. He had on a large yellow straw hat,” published in "The Original Curious George" (1998), France, 1939–40, watercolor, charcoal, and color pencil on paper. H. A. & Margret Rey Papers, de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection, McCain Library and Archives, The University of Southern Mississippi.

FINAL DAYS!
Through February 5, 2012

“The show presents a whole new cast of characters in a style – robust, simple, and clear, but lively, pneumatic, and always vividly colored – that I could immediately tune into.”–Sebastian Smee, The Boston Globe

Curious George, the beloved, irrepressible monkey of children’s book lore, is famous for his ability to “save the day.” Interpreting the role he played in safeguarding his own creators in times of danger as symbolic, this exhibition delves into the remarkable lives and works of Margret and H. A. Rey. The couple fled Paris in 1940 with a Curious George manuscript in their suitcase. During a tense inspection of their belongings by a border official, children’s illustrations were found and they were allowed to continue on their way, eventually reaching the United States.

Featuring nearly 80 original drawings and preparatory dummies for Margret and H. A. Rey children’s books and documentation related to their escape from Nazi-occupied Europe, the exhibition will examine the parallels between the obstacles the Reys faced and the drawings that may have saved their lives. The story of their life in Paris and narrow escape is also told through an interactive timeline. Appropriate for adults and children, the exhibition includes a reading room inspired by the beloved monkey’s escapades in Curious George Flies a Kite. Curious George Saves The Day is organized by The Jewish Museum in New York City, and is drawn from the H. A. & Margret Rey Papers, de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection, McCain Library and Archives, The University of Southern Mississippi. The exhibition is supported through a bequest from the Estate of Lore Ross; additional support for the exhibition’s Stockbridge debut is provided by Barrington Foundation, Inc.; an anonymous donor; Sol Schwartz; and media partner WGBY-TV, Springfield, Massachusetts.

Curious George, and related characters, created by Margret and H. A. Rey, are copyrighted and trademarked by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. © 2010 by HMH.

The Journey That Saved Curious George from WGBY on Vimeo.
Enjoy this great interactive timeline of Margret and H. A. Reys’ life and career:
www.thejewishmuseum.org/curiousgeorgetimeline

H. A. Rey, final illustration for “This is George. He lived in Africa,” published in "The Original Curious George" (1998), France, 1939–40, watercolor, charcoal, and color pencil on paper. H. A. & Margret Rey Papers, de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection, McCain Library and Archives, The University of Southern Mississippi.

View Exhibition Curriculum Materials for Educators
Download The Family Gallery Guide
Enter Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Teacher/Librarian Resource Center: Curious George
Liste to WAMC Radio’s “The Roundtable” interview with Exhibition Curator Claudia Nahson, The Jewish Museum; and Stephanie Plunkett, Deputy Director, Norman Rockwell Museum.Click here
Listen to WBUR Radio Interview with Exhibition Curator Claudia Nahson, The Jewish Museum; Ellen Ruffin, curator at the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi; and Louise Borden, author of The Journey that Saved Curious George: Click here
Reviews
“Curious George Saves the Day” Shines With the Light, Boston Globe (1/6/2012)
Monkey Business in a World of Evil, The New York Times (3/25/2010)

A Monkey Born of Trials and Tribulations, The Wall Street Journal(4/7/2010)
Slideshows
Curious George Saves the Day, The New York Times (3/25/2010)

Posted on September 9, 2011by JClowein Current Exhibitions

March 23rd is just around the corner!

The movie version of The Hunger Games will be opening on March 23rd, much to the delight of rabid fans everywhere.  See the trailer here:
http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=33038

In case there is anybody still left wondering what the film (adapted from Suzanne Collins' books) is about, Jennifer Lawrence stars as Katniss Everdeen, a young woman living in an apocalyptic, ruined future America. With the majority of its citizens living in poverty in rural Districts, she has to hunt to supplement her sister and mother's meagre rations. Then her sister is chosen for the Hunger Games, an annual contest that keeps the fractured country under the iron fist of the technologically advanced Capitol.

The Games pits youngsters from each of the Districts against each other in a battle to the death, so Katniss volunteers to take her sister's place and fight alongside Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). She'll have to outwit and outfight highly trained Tributes who have been preparing for the games her entire lives. And, as Katniss says in the new trailer, "24 go in, but only one comes out..."

This new promo is a chance to see several of the main cast: Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland, Stanley Tucci, Liam Hemsworth and Lenny Kravitz all feature here.

We get the chance to see the whole thing on March 23.



http://www.thehungergames.co.uk/

http://www.thehungergamesmovie.com/intl/uk/

Suzanne Collins fans, rejoice!

A new collection has been created: The High-Demand Youth Fiction Collection!  At the moment, this collection consists of 30 books --- 10 each of the 3 books in the Hunger Games trilogy.  These books are shelved in the Quigley Youth Room and circulate for 3 weeks with no renewals.  If you've been searching for a copy of these incredibly popular titles, stop by the WFL today!

More Playaway Views Coming Soon!

Due to popular demand, eleven more Playaway Views will be added to our collection!

Playaway View: It's One-of-a-Kind

Playaway View is the first and only video player that was designed with you and your family in mind.

No DVDS, downloads, or additional players are needed. Instead, Playaway View comes pre-loaded with multiple videos; you just have to press play! What a great way to learn and view on the go... free from your local library.

Our new Playaway Views will include stories like:

Starring Hillary   Stella the Star     The Wedding     When Turtle Grew Feathers      Wiggle      You See a Circus

The Napping House     The Owl and the Pussycat     Stone Soup     Blueberries for Sal     Wynken, Blynken and Nod     Noisy Nora     Noisy Nora - Spanish     Angus & The Ducks     Rosie's Walk      Rosie's Walk - Spanish

100th Day Worries     Stop, Drop and Roll     Meet The Barkers     Trouble in the Barkers' Class     First Grade Takes a Test      First Grade Stinks     Mr. Ouchy's First Day

Strega Nona     Tikki Tikki Tembo     Joey Runs Away     Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears     Hot Hippo     Nightingale

Roxaboxen         Weslandia         Hey Al!         Imogene's Antlers         Rembrandt's Beret

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs  Pickles to Pittsburgh

Tales of Beatrix Potter

Honey... Honey... Lion!      Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook     Little Grunt and the Big Egg      The Three Snow Bears     Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel

The Emperor’s New Clothes The Violin’s Ghost The Light Fearless Peter Death for a Godfather The Three Little Pigs Shall We Trade Legs? The Ugly Martian The Clever Girl

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly Over in the Meadow Dem Bones The Foolish Frog The Star Spangled Banner

Corduroy Harry the Dirty Dog No Roses for Harry Curious George Rides a Bike Blueberries for Sal

Phew, that's a lot of stories!  Stop by the children's room and check out a Playaway View!

Don't Let the Pigeon Run this App!

Don’t Let the Pigeon Run This App!

Three-time Caldecott Honoree Mo Willems brings the Pigeon to the digital screen with this original, feature-rich, animated app.

“Don’t Let the Pigeon Run This App!” lets you create your own Pigeon stories with your pal, Mo Willems. Just follow as the Bus Driver asks you for your ideas—then shake the Pigeon. Your story is ready! Sit back and enjoy the show. Once you’re finished, try it again…and again. You can make as many silly stories as you want.

This fully animated app includes hilarious shake-and-play technology, customized voice integration, and other exciting interactive features. Plus, you can draw the Pigeon with Mo!

Starring appearance by the Pigeon, voiced by Mo Willems!

Also starring YOU! Record your own voice as part of the story.
Pigeon-drawing tutorial with Mo!
Personalized vault for six of your favorite Big Pigeon stories!

EVEN MORE COOL FEATURES!
Three unique storytelling modes!
Read-along option!
Shake-and-tap interactivity!
Pigeon-y sound effects and music!

Apple.com

New and Notable!

EXTRA YARN
Barnett, Mac (Author), Klassen, Jon (Illustrator)
This picture book is certain to spark the imagination of every child who comes upon it, and what could be better than that? Annabelle lives in a black-and-white world, where everything is drab, drab, drab. So imagine her surprise when she finds a box filled with yarn of every color. Armed with the yarn and knitting needles, she makes herself a sweater, but when she finishes, she finds that she has extra yarn left over. After knitting a sweater for her dog, her classmates, and various (hilariously unsurprised) bunnies and bears, she still has extra yarn. So, Annabelle turns her attention to things that don’t usually wear wool cozies: houses and cars and mailboxes. Soon an evil archduke with a sinister mustache “who was very fond of clothes” hears about the magic box of never-ending yarn, and he wants it for his own. Reading like a droll fairy tale, this Barnett-Klassen collaboration is both seamless and magical. The spare, elegant text and art are also infused with plenty of deadpan humor. Klassen (I Want My Hat Back, 2011) uses ink, gouache, and digital illustration to fashion Annabelle’s world out of geometric shapes, set against dark, saturated pages, and against white as the town comes to colorful, stitched life. Quirky and wonderful, this story quietly celebrates a child’s ingenuity and her ability to change the world around her.

Reminds me of Yarn Bombing:

"The sight of neatly wrapped balls of wool and the phrase knit one, pearl one conventionally conjures up images of little old ladies lovingly creating cardigans and bootees, but the newly coined concept of yarn bombing could change all that …

There's a new craze sweeping cities all over the world, in which knitters have had the inspiration to knit for things rather than people. Conventionally at least, knitting is associated with creating things that will keep people warm – scarves, gloves, bobble hats and good old woolly jumpers. But it seems that there's a new craze sweeping cities all over the world, in which knitters have had the inspiration to knit for things rather than people. Imagine a lamp post with a scarf wrapped around it, or a UK telephone box with its own 'cosy' cover? From Perth and Michigan to London and Belfast, it's been possible in recent times to see splashes of artistic creativity such as these, whose wooliness and sudden, unsolicited appearance has inspired the term yarn bombing. If you're finding it difficult to imagine what they look like, then check out this link which has some great examples – my own personal favourite is the tree!"

Happy 50th!

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Ezra Jack Keats' beloved picture book, The Snowy Day, didn't just win the Caldecott Medal, achieve great critical success, and sell millions of copies. It also transformed children's literature forever with its no-fuss portrayal of an African-American child and its modern art-inspired collage style of illustration.
2012 marks the fiftieth anniversary of this remarkable book's publication. To celebrate, Viking Children's Books is issuing a special anniversary edition of the book, complete with bonus material. The first-ever major exhibition of Keats' original artwork has been organized by The Jewish Museum, NYC and will tour the country from Fall 2011 into 2013. And the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation has its own festivities planned for this year of Keats. Please explore this site to find out more about what's in store.

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The Jewish Museum New York | Art Exhibition | The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats

The Jewish Museum New York Art Exhibition The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats

William's Doll

About William's Doll

"William wanted a doll. He wanted to hug it and cradle it in his arms..."

So begins Charlotte's quietly revolutionary book --- still selling briskly four decades after its publication in 1972. What's so special about a boy who wanted a doll ? Well, then, as now, a boy's wish for what's too often seen as a girl's toy makes many people uneasy. (Left, the cover of William's Doll, gently illustrated by William Pene du Bois.) But though the topic was, and remains, controversial, Charlotte's approach was not. She tells the story softly, in an almost old-fashioned manner, and the satisfying circular structure of the narrative is timeless and deeply pleasing to children. As Zena Sutherland remarked in the Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books, the book is "as endearing for its tenderness as for the message it portrays."

What makes the book as timeless and endearing as it is? Just ask Kimberlee Ent, the 43-year old elementary school librarian at Hampden Elementary, in Mechanicsburg, PA. After Kimberlee visited this site, she noted, "I love to share Charlotte's books with all my students. The older I get.... the more her books mean to me." But William's Doll, is, she says, her favorite. It embodies one of her core beliefs, which are shared by so many of us who write for, teach, parent or otherwise spend time with the young "As I work with so many different children and realize all their unique gifts, abilities, and needs, I hope for someone to be in each of their lives who celebrates them as an individual. We all need someone to support us and love us, unconditionally." In the case of William's Doll, that 'someone' turns out to be William's grandmother.

What happens when a boy wants a doll?

William's brother and friends and the boy next door call him a creep and a sissy. His father gets him a basketball ("He practiced a lot / and got good at it / but it had nothing to do / with the doll. / William still wanted one, and electric train set ("The tiny train/ threaded around and around the tracks/ with a clacking sound./ William made cardboard stations / and tunnels/ and bridges / and played with the train/ a lot. But he didn't stop wanting / a doll..." ). Below, William plays with his trains.

Finally, his grandmother comes to visit --- and at last William is understood. She gets William the doll (he "loved it right away"). And she explains to William's father (who "was upset. 'He's a boy!' he said / 'Why does he need a doll?'") why William needs it:

"so that when he's a father like you, he'll know how to take care of his baby and feed him and love him and bring him the things he wants, like a doll so that he can practice being a father. "

How Charlotte came to write William's Doll

"I remember lots of little pieces that went into it, and into my thinking.

"The first was this. My husband, Maurice, desperately wanted children, which was unusual in the crowd we moved in then. But even so, he had a hard time with the physical side of it. For instance, he never changed a diaper, and would leave the room when the baby was being changed. This is not a put-down of him: it was the custom of the time, fathers just didn't have much to do with their children, especially infants, in that way back then. But I used to think that both he and the baby were missing something because something else always happened. For example, one day when I was changing my first child, Stephen, he smiled --- his first smile. I remember feeling sad that Maurice missed that.

"The second was this. A few months before my daughter, Ellen, was born, my son Stephen fell in love with a large stuffed animal, a lion, which he saw in one of the store windows on Eighth Street in Greenwich Village. He went crazy over it. The lion was very expensive, and Maurice didn't approve of giving boys stuffed animals, so we didn't buy it. Stephen cried and cried and cried. A few weeks before I went to the hospital to have Ellen, I started to get worried about leaving Steve. It would be the first time I wasn't at home, and all the routines he was familiar with would be broken. I remembered the lion and I thought that might comfort him. So I bought it and gave it to Steven beforehand and he did love it. He named it Leo, and kept it for years." (Stephen, at about the age where he fell in love with Leo the lion, is pictured above.)

"A third episode, the one that drove me towards the book most clearly, happened in Washington Square Park, where I used to take Stephen to play when we lived in the Village. I don't remember the particulars, but there was a little boy there who wanted a rag-doll. I overheard the father say, oh get him a gun instead . It did make me mad. It all came together: how men missed out on the pleasure of being with very young children, and how, because they missed it and because they had never had it with their fathers, they had no concept that war and harshness and so much unpleasantness came out of playing with guns as children, and growing up thinking it was unmanly to play with a doll or stuffed toy bear or lion. (Photo, above, shows Washington Square Park in the springtime, and appears courtesy of Readio.com.)

"I did not write the book to be feminist ideology, although I am a feminist, and though I am very glad feminists have found a message in it. But I wrote it out of a direct emotional sorrow."

The dedication: William's Doll is dedicated "To Billy and Nancy." Who are they? Surprise --- Charlotte doesn't know!

Today, there are often two sets of dedications on children's books, one from the illustrator and one from the writer. But in 1972, the accepted practice was that only the writer issued a dedication. William Pene du Bois, who illustrated several of Charlotte's books, including It's not Fair and My Grandson Lew, asked her if this dedication could be used, she agreed.

Adaptations & awards

William's Doll was adapted for film/video in 1981 by Phoenix Films, produced and directed by Robert Carlo Chiesa. A version of the book was also made into a song, and is included on the best-selling recording Free to Be You and Me. (Below, William's grandmother saves the day by picking out a doll for William.)

E-mail charlottesdaughter@charlottezolotow.com © Dragon, Pen & Inc, 2001-2007

Free To Be You and Me - William Wants A Doll

Vroom vroom!

New Signage!

New hanging signage has been installed in the children's room; what do you think?

Schooled, the book that wishes it were Stargirl

Gordon Korman's Schooled (2007) features a kid who has been homeschooled navigating his way through 8th grade in a public middle school; Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl (2000) has a 10th grade protagonist who has been homeschooled and is in a public high school for the first time.  The ages and genders may be different, but the plots are similar: outsider hippy kid enters the mainstream for the first time, failing miserably at fitting in.  At first rejected by the kids, then embraced by kids and becoming influential.  Stargirl outshines Schooled by far.  Schooled''s main character, Capricorn Anderson, has been raised on a commune by his grandmother.  Except that they are the only two people living there.  The commune that Capricorn's grandmother founded has long been disbanded, and Capricorn's parents are both dead.  Yet throughout the book, Capricorn refers to his home as "the community."  Schooled is filled with so many of these types of details that I found them to be distracting and false-sounding.  Capricorn is given a checkbook by the school principal, in order to write checks for things such as the vendors for the Halloween dance.  Capricorn ends up writing checks willy-nilly to charities, giving generously.  He also uses one check at a jewelry store; the unbelievability of a jewelry store accepting a check from a 13 year old boy with no identification and the name of his middle school on the check made me pause. While Schooled is a sweet story, even a page-turner at some points, I found the incongruity of the "facts" of the story to make the book much weaker than it would have been had Korman tightened up some of these details.



While Schooled treats Capricorn like he has been raised on another planet ("What's a Starbuck?" he asks), Stargirl treats Stargirl Caraway as just different.  She is here, she is part of this world, but she is just doing it her own way.  A much more believable book, Stargirl presents its heroine as contemporary, yet utterly unique.  While Capricorn Anderson seems to have time-traveled from the 1960s (although born in 1994), Stargirl Caraway is just straight out of central casting as a non-conformist.  Stargirl is a more thought-provoking story about how people react to an outsider, and it completely captures the Icarian highs and lows of the laws of the teenage social world with a sparkly magical realism.  Both titles have been on middle school summer reading lists in recent years --- read both and see if you agree with my analysis!

Notable Newbery Books

On Monday, January 23, 2012 the American Library Association will announce the winner of the Newbery Medal for 2012.

In an unscientific survey of the Wellesley Free Library staff, I’ve created a list of Notable Newbery books. These are our favorite titles from the winner list since the Medal was first given in 1922. Forty eight titles were voted favorites with 9 receiving 3 votes each and another 5 receiving more than 3 votes. Here is the list:

More that 3 votes each:

Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

Three votes each:

The Grey King by Susan Cooper

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien

The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

The White Stag by Kate Seredy

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field

The complete list of Newbery Medal winners is on the ALA website: http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberywinners/medalwinners
Do you have a favorite or several favorites from the list?

PRESS HERE by Herve Tullet -- Book Trailer

PRESS HERE
By Hervé Tullet

Press here. That's right. Just press the yellow dot, and turn the page. The single touch of a finger sparks a whimsical dance of color and motion in this joyful celebration of the power of imagination.
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER
A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER
AN ALA NOTABLE CHILDREN'S BOOK NOMINEE
A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR
"A tour de force of imagination and playfulness that belongs on every family bookshelf."
—Seattle Times
"An elegantly conceived picture book."
—The New York Times
"Irresistible. . . A cross between a high-concept picture book and an iPhone, only more charming."
—The Wall Street Journal
"Brilliant."
—School Library Journal, starred review
"A breath of fresh air."
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Magic."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"An interactive book that gives the iPad a licking."
—The Horn Book, starred review

EVERYONE IS RAVING ABOUT PRESS HERE!
Click here to find out why teachers, librarians, and bloggers love this special book.

About the Author:
Known as "The Prince of Preschool" Hervé Tullet has been an ad agency art director and magazine illustrator. He lives with his wife and children in Paris.

On Sarah Garland

Sarah Garland

Sarah Garland is a much-loved British author/illustrator who has published more than 40 books. She lives in Chedworth, Gloucestershire. Her books published by Frances Lincoln include Eddie's Garden and Eddie's Kitchen; Going to Playschool, Doing the Garden, Going Swimming, Coming to Tea, Doing the Shopping, Doing Christmas, Having a Picnic and Doing the Washing; Billy and Belle; Dashing Dog; Splash and Zoom.

 

 

 

Mother superior

From The Observer

Saturday 22 December, 2007

As her best loved books are republished, children's writer and illustrator Sarah Garland talks to Kate Kellaway about the joy of drawing messy families

Sarah Garland's books could not find a French publisher because her mothers were judged insufficiently chic. What French madame would be seen in a shapeless green duffel coat, pushing a buggy uphill, with the baby's bottle (lid off) peeping out of her pocket? Garland is one of the best and most sympathetic chroniclers of English family life precisely because her pencil doesn't lie about the slog of bringing up children. She has a loving, unsentimental eye. She can be festive but is never false. I have always been profoundly grateful to her for drawing a mother I can relate to - as have millions of others who adore her work.
She has written 40 books during her career but it is a particular cause for celebration that her irresistible series of seven - what she thinks of as her 'Coming and Going' books (Coming to Tea, Doing Christmas, Going Swimming...) - are all to be republished along with two delightful newcomers: Eddie's Garden and How to Make Things Grow and Eddie's Kitchen and How to Make Good Things to Eat. This Garland renaissance offered me the excuse I need to meet her - something I have always wanted to do.
She lives in Chedworth, Gloucestershire. I half expected to find her in chaos, as if the tangle of toddlers that she has always drawn so well were a permanent condition. But her four children are grown up now, and two of her three grandchildren are at a tidy distance in New Zealand. She lives in a tranquil grey stone house with bright blue lobelias spilling out of pots outside her door, white painted wooden floors, a trusty Aga, and her husband, David Garland, a ceramicist whose plates and pots boldly make their presences felt. David is the model for the grandfather in her newest books. But Sarah does not look like anyone's granny. It is far easier, as she sits with her legs tucked under her in an armchair, to picture her as a schoolgirl - sparky, lanky, with boyish hair. She wears black-and-white-striped tights and shocking pink socks.
She has always loved drawing people, she says, appreciating 'shapes of bodies.' But as a child she flirted with 'becoming an animal psychologist.' There is a lanky dog in the 'Coming and Going' books (the Society for Retired Greyhounds wrote to salute her for including him). She modestly quotes a Thomas Hardy line to describe her work as 'humbly recording unadjusted impressions.' I'd say she is more interpreter than recorder. And, besides, some pleasurable adjusting of impressions has been going on. In the newly republished series, she has changed parts of illustrations that have 'bothered me over the years.' An Asian mother has had a furtive makeover, 'sticking a sweet new head on her throughout Going to Playschool.' Less satisfactory in my view - though Garland doesn't grumble - is the publisher's intervention to Doing Christmas. In the first draft, the mother at the end of the day was slumped in an armchair, sipping wine. Now, thanks to over-abstemious editorial intervention, she clutches a cup of tea.
Garland grew up in a 'very small and ancient, terraced cottage' at the foot of Clay Hill in Bushey, Hertfordshire. 'It was quite bohemian - packed with paintings, books, a piano and peculiar furniture made of thin bits of wood by my very unhandy Dad. The lav was part of a coal hole and the bath was in the kitchen.' She was brought up by her grandmother because her mother, who was an illustrator, was 'troubled, not a bringing-up type.' Her father was a writer of strip cartoons, children's books and a naval historian. One of her sisters is the novelist Deborah Moggach. She loved her childhood until, at 11, she was sent to boarding school. She felt 'cast into outer darkness'. She ran away but was returned to school immediately. At 16, she successfully 'fabricated a nervous breakdown' and left. She contentedly completed a secretarial course, then trained as a typographer at the London College of Printing. The two lasting results of that time are that she 'sets shopping lists to the left' and that she met her husband. She married, like her mother before her, at 19. She was 21 when she became pregnant with her first child, after David was hurt in a car crash. 'I got pregnant in case he was going to die. I was very happy to make my own family,' she says. 'In my life my most intense experiences have been about family.'
Bringing up children and working as a writer meant that 'we lived in a shameful mess.' But she has always loved drawing the mess. Today her house is too neat to be a model. And the model for the mother in Eddie's Kitchen is no longer herself - it is one of her daughters. But this delectable book with robust recipes - including crusty white bread and orange drizzle cake - is a perfect antidote to the excesses of Christmas.
This year, on Christmas Day, she will be flying to New Zealand, returning in the new year. What are the advantages to home life once the children have gone? 'Calmness. Being able to listen to music. Being able to cut all your toenails at once. Not being interrupted.'