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Creekfinding: A True Story by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and Claudia McGehee

Oct18

Once there was a creek in northeast Iowa that got covered up by a cornfield. Then, a guy named Mike bought the land and anted to bring the creek back. But it took a lots of planning and work and rocks and dirt and plants and insects and birds and fish—and even some big earth-moving machines–to revive the creek and make a place for Brook Creek to flourish and nourish both people and wildlife.

“If you went to the creek with Mike, you’d see the water. But a creek isn’t just water. You’d see brook trout and sculpin. You’d hear the outdoor orchestra—herons, snipe, bluebirds, yellowthroat warblers; frogs returned home; and insects–thousands, and thousands, and thousands of insects.”

I’m not much of an outdoors girl. But I did find this true story of how Mike Osterholm, who is “passionate about the prairie, cold water streams, brook trout, and partnering with the earth,” decided to revive the creek that once flowed through his land and how he did it, a fascinating one. The implication in the book, never stated, is that a cornfield is of lesser value or “earth-friendliness” than a brook full of trout. I’m not so sure about that. But a brook was what Mike wanted, just as the farmer who owned the land before him wanted a cornfield, and I liked reading about how it all came about.

The illustrations by artist Claudia McGehee, are all “prairie greens, creek blues,” yellows and browns, nature colors. Etched out in scratchboard and then painted, the pictures are evocative of a wild natural world restored, and they do add to the text a certain earthy feeling that couldn’t be achieved by words alone. It’s a beautiful book, and for this indoor girl, it makes me actually want to find a creek or a brook or some sort of running water to sit beside and observe. That’s a sign of a well done nature picture book.

This book was recommended to me by Sandy Spencer Hall of Hall’s Living Library. It would be a good addition to a Charlotte Mason-style nature study read aloud time, best served next to flowing water—or perhaps in a cornfield?

Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews

Jul25

Crews, Donald. Ten Black Dots. Greenwillow, 1968, Redesigned and revised 1986.

What can you do with ten black dots? Donald Crews, the Caldecott Honor illustrator and the creator of the books Harbor and Freight Train, both Picture Book Preschool books, wrote and illustrated this fun introduction to basic math concepts. The author-illustrator uses ten black dots to form basic elements of many pictures–one dot can make a sun, two can be a fox’s eyes, and nine can be pennies in a piggy bank. The text is plain, rhyming and rhythmic.

This little counting book is simple yet clever. Paired with Tana Hoban’s Shapes, Shapes, Shapes or another concept book about circles or shapes or even standing alone, Ten Black Dots would be a child’s invitation to explore shapes, counting and art all at the same time.

Read the book aloud. Then for an extension activity, give yourself and your child ten or more colored dot stickers. (I don’t think they come in black? If you want black dots, you could just draw them.) Make your own pictures with the dot stickers and some crayons or markers or colored pencils. What can the dots become? Eyes, wheels, balls, heads, balloons, or something else? Where can you see circles or spheres around you in your home or outside?

I have a very simple brain, and for me, preschool math consists of counting things and observing the mathematics that is woven into all creation around us. So, a simple book like Ten Black Dots is a lot more likely to spark some creativity and mathematical thinking in me than would a more complex math book with an intricate storyline. Picture Book Preschool, my picture book list for reading aloud, contains several counting books and math concept books, but this one stands out in its appeal to all ages. Even older children could get into the dot picture art project with more elaborate creations of their own.

This book can be borrowed by member families from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.

Rembrandt Is in the Wind by Russ Ramsey

Apr6

Rembrandt Is in the Wind: Learning to Love Art Through the Eyes of Faith by Russ Ramsey.

Wow! I’ve heard Mr. Ramsey speak about art and artists and the way to look at art through a Christian lens, so I’ve heard some of the material in this book before. Nevertheless, I was riveted as I listened to this new book, written by a Presbyterian pastor from Nashville. I’m hoping to order several copies–one for my church library, one for my own library, and one for my artist daughter. Maybe I’ll think of even more people who need a copy of this book.

The book features chapters about Rembrandt, of course, but also Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Van Gogh, Edward Hopper, Johannes Vermeer, and Lilias Trotter. (You’ve probably heard of all of those except the last one, but her story may be the most intriguing of them all.) If you want a book that will help you to appreciate fine art in a whole new way, whether you’re an art connoisseur or an art amateur or a just a wannabe, like me, this is the book. Ramsey writes about the artists’ lives as their lives relate to the paintings they made. He also writes about technique, but again only as it relates to the art each artist produced. And he places each artist and his or her art in historical context and in spiritual context as well.

I can’t give you any quotes from the book since I “read” it as an audiobook, but I’m sure that there is much here that is eminently quotable. And I’m also sure that I will reread this book in print as soon as I get my hands on the print copy (copies) that I’m going to order. I suggest you do the same. Oh, and the narrator for the audible version was fine, but he mispronounced a couple of words (Wen-DELL Berry?), Russ Ramsey himself as narrator/reader would have been better. If you need more encouragement to get you to read Rembrandt Is in the Wind, check out this lecture by Russ Ramsey about Michelangelo and his famous statue, David. (Yes, this material is in the book. You can skip the lecture and just get the book.)

The Art and Science of Drawing by Brent Eviston

Nov16

I can’t draw. At least, for sixty four years, I’ve been convinced that I can’t draw. But this book is teasing me with the possibility that I might be able to learn to draw. I don’t know, but I’m going to try.

The Art & Science of Drawing: Learn to Observe Analyze, and Draw Any Subject by Brent Eviston. Mr. Eviston, an experienced art teacher says, “Drawing is not a talent. It is a skill anyone can learn.” He says he’s been teaching people of all ages to draw for almost twenty-five years. So, I took up the challenge, read through the introductory material about “how to use this book” and “overview of the drawing process” and “materials and set-up.” Then I began with the first lesson: How to Draw Lightly. Each lesson in this book has a practice project, and the project for this lesson was to draw light, almost imperceptible, lines using an overhand grip. I hated the overhand grip that Mr. Eviston prefers, but I can sorta, kinda see its usefulness. Anyway, I’m going to persist.

I can’t review this entire book now because it’s going to take me a year or two to get through all of the mini-lessons in the book. These lessons move from basic skills, like drawing simple shapes, to form and space, drawing three-dimensional shapes, to measuring and proportion, to mark making and contours, to dramatic light and shadow, to figure drawing. I don’t know how many small lessons there are in the book because the lessons aren’t numbered. But the author says to take them in order, and there are a lot of mini-lessons. He also recommends doing no more than one lesson per day, perhaps even one lesson per week. One lesson per week, with daily practice, is my goal.

“This book will guide you through the entire drawing process.” I’m counting on it, Mr. Eviston. I would recommend the book for beginners like me and for experienced artists who want to have a framework for practice and honing drawing skills. I’m looking forward to working my way through the fundamentals of drawing.

Emma’s Poem by Linda Glaser

Apr4

Emma’s Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty by Linda Glaser, illustrated by Claire A. Nivola. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010.

The Statue of Liberty originally had nothing to do with immigrants. It was simply a friendship gift from France to the United States, a symbol of French-American amity. But a lady named Emma Lazarus wrote a sonnet in honor of Lady Liberty, and the rest is history.

The New Colossus
BY EMMA LAZARUS

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Emma Lazarus grew up the daughter of wealthy Jewish immigrant parents. She knew nothing of homelessness or poverty or freedom-seeking from her own personal experience or background. But she worked in the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and raised money for it and came to have a heart for immigrants.

This brief but telling biography is especially timely in today’s America when we are again having a national debate about immigration and whether or not we as a nation still want to extend the invitation: “Give me your tired, your poor . . ” I believe we need to extend that invitation and to have an ordered, legal way to do so. Politically speaking, I’m caught in the middle again. I begin to see the uses of some walls along the border in certain places to control and channel the flow of illegal immigration. At the same time, I believe that we need to be a country that welcomes immigrants, especially those who are fleeing persecution, but also those who are escaping poverty and violence and who are willing to work to make America strong and to better themselves.

Emma’s poem still rings true today, and I’m afraid its sentiments are becoming lost in the Republican hostility to all immigration and the Democrats’ manipulative use of immigrants and their plight to further their own political ambitions. It’s sad to me that we can’t come together and advocate for a sane and humanitarian immigration policy that welcomes “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” to our shores while keeping out those who only want to prey upon us and take advantage of our freedoms to commit crimes.

At any rate, Emma’s Poem is an introduction to a poem and to a life that we need to remember in these times. The paintings by Claire Nivola that accompany the text of this biography are colorful and striking, a fitting complement to the story of poet Emma Lazarus and her powerful poem. If you are interested in purchasing ($5.00) a curated list of favorite picture book biographies with over 300 picture books about all sorts of different people, email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom.

I’m reviewing and highlighting poetry picture books this month on Semicolon in honor of Poetry Month. What’s your favorite poetry-related picture book?

Vincent Can’t Sleep by Barb Rosenstock

Mar20

Vincent Can’t Sleep: Van Gogh Paints the Night Sky by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Mary Grandpre. Knopf, 2017.

“At present, I absolutely want to paint a starry sky.”

“It often seems to me that the night is much more alive and richly colored than the day.”

“If only you pay attention to it you will see that certain stars are lemon-yellow, others pink or a green, blue and forget-me-not brilliance. And . . . it is obvious that putting little white dots on the blue-black is not enough to paint a starry sky.”
~Vincent van Gogh

The themes of this book, Vincent van Gogh’s sleeplessness and his famous painting of a starry night, are inspired by the artist’s actual, frequent bouts with insomnia and of course, by his art. The insomnia, which was probably a symptom of his mental illness, plagued him throughout his life, from boyhood. In this story, biographer Barb Rosenstock sees the inability as a source of inspiration and productivity for the talented and prolific artist. “Vincent’s personality shines through his art—–with each energetic brushstroke and wild color choice, he brings the night to life.”

I have enjoyed learning more about van Gogh and his art ever since last year when a speaker at a retreat I attended made Vincent van Gogh and his art come to life, so to speak. It often takes a true fan, a person who loves a certain artist or poet or writer, to introduce me to whole new world of that person’s art or poetry or fiction. An educated enthusiast can show me a way into another artist’s work that I just can’t find on my own. A friend in college introduced me to the poetry of T.S. Eliot, poems that I originally found confusing and esoteric, and I have enjoyed Eliot ever since. This speaker at the retreat last year introduced me to van Gogh, and I have been running into him, van Gogh, that is, ever since, in many unexpected ways and places.

Vincent Can’t Sleep is yet another gateway that will open up the world of Vincent van Gogh’s art for children, and even adults. Mary Grandpre uses van Gogh’s backgrounds and styles to create her own art for this luminous picture book. It is a tribute to van Gogh, and yet the artwork in it is new and fresh and beautiful in its own right.

Just as the makers of the film about van Gogh, Loving Vincent, used Vincent van Gogh’s art to create something new, the author and illustrator of this book about van Gogh have given me new insights into the man and his work. I didn’t know that he had insomnia, and I didn’t know the quotes about his use of color and paint to create pictures of the night sky. By the way, I highly recommend the film, Loving Vincent, for adults who, after reading this picture book, are interested in learning more about van Gogh and his art.

If you are interested in purchasing ($5.00) a curated list of favorite picture book biographies with over 300 picture books about all sorts of different people, email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom. I’m highlighting picture book biographies in March. What is your favorite picture book about a real person?

Thumbelina, illustrated by Elsa Beskow

Jul25

In the mail the other day, I received a review copy of Hans Christian Andersen’s Thumbelina, illustrated by famous Swedish artist Elsa Beskow. Ms. Beskow’s illustrations are justly known throughout Sweden and the world as classic artwork, both for her own books and for stories by other authors. Of course, Andersen’s story of a tiny girl “no taller than your thumb” is perfectly suited to Ms. Beskow’s lovely watercolor pictures.

This edition of Thumbelina features beautiful framed, full-page illustrations. The illustrations probably come from one of the eight (!) fairy tale collections that Elsa Beskow illustrated. Like Beatrix Potter, Ms. Beskow was a close observer of nature, and her pictures remind me of Potter’s, except larger. The “largeness” of the world, from Thumbelina’s vantage point, is portrayed quite well in this book, and a child reader will identify with Thumbelina as she travels through the countryside until she finally finds a home with the tiny King of the Fairies.

Elsa Beskow also wrote thirty-three stories of her own in Swedish, many of which have been translated into English and published along with her original illustrations. In my library I have Ollie’s Ski Trip and Pelle’s New Suit. Floris Books, the publisher of this Thumbelina, also has available and in print: Peter in Blueberry Land, The Land of Long Ago, The Sun Egg, Princess Sylvie, The Children of Hat Cottage, Emily and Daisy, Children of the Forest and many more. If you like classically styled picture book art, like the picture on the cover of Thumbelina, and then you will probably enjoy all of Ms. Beskow’s books.

The author and her husband Nathanael Beskow, a minister, had six children—all boys. I’m sure she enjoyed creating the pictures for Thumbelina and feeding the “girl-y” part of her nature, while surrounded by all those boys.

Reading Picture Books With Children by Megan Dowd Lambert

Sep25

Reading Picture Books to with Children: How to Shake Up Storytime and Get Kids Talking About What They See by Megan Dowd Lambert, in association with the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

I was quite impressed, and furthermore educated, by this guide to the “Whole Book Approach” to reading picture books aloud to children. Like the author, I am much more attuned to print than to pictures, and many of the techniques and strategies for helping children to engage with not only the text but also the illustrations and the graphic layout of a book would never have occurred to me on my own. Who looks closely at the endpapers of of a picture book? Or the frames and white space around the pictures? Have you ever thought about how artists adjust their illustrations to take into account the gutter, the place where the facing pages come together in the middle? Other than my husband, who used to be a printer, does anyone look at the typography in a picture book and think about how it adds to or detracts from the meaning and feel of the story? What about the size of the book? The orientation, portrait or landscape, of the pictures on the pages? The shape of the the book?

Ms. Lambert suggests some simple questions that story readers (adults) can ask the children with whom they are sharing a picture book:

How is the cover of this book inviting you into the story?
what clues do you see in the jacket art that tell you what the story might be about?
Why do you think the endpapers or the boards are this color?
Can you make a color connection to the jacket art?
What’s going on in this picture?
What do you see that makes you say that?
What more can you find?
Does anyone else have a different idea about this picture?

These are all things that Ms. Lambert spends a great deal of time analyzing and explaining, and she also has developed many ways of helping children to see and think about these things during story time. Reading Picture Books With Children is great book for parents, teachers, and librarians to come back to over and over to refresh and expand the way we engage with picture books and the way we lead children to do the same. I’m going to recommend the book to the Cybils picture book judges, who probably already know all about all this stuff. But I didn’t. And I went to library school, back in the dark ages. But I don’t remember discussing any of these design and illustration choices in my children’s literature classes or in any other education or library science classes. Anyway, I really appreciate the publisher, Charlesbridge, who sent me a copy of this book for review, and I plan to recommend it to others who are interested in introducing children to art and illustration and graphic design in picture books.

Reviewing picture books here on the blog just got a lot more interesting, and my reviews might be a lot more perceptive and interesting, too. Maybe. But I’m still a print/story/words kind of gal.

” But art just wasn’t my thing. Or so I thought. The picture book class showed me that art could be my thing–even if I wasn’t an artist. I’d just have to learn to think with my eyes.”