Author Lecture - Chris Van Allsburg

This past Saturday, I had the honor of introducing Chris Van Allsburg at the my library's central branch.  I'm a HUGE CVA fan, so I was incredibly excited to meet Mr. Van Allsburg (and slightly terrified that I was going to spaz out and scare the tuna salad out of him).  Thankfully, I did not scare him and it was a great lecture regarding his career and inspirations.  Here are some pictures from the day:

Here I am introducing Chris Van Allsburg in our auditorium.  The thought in my head right now:  "Don't mess up.  Don't mess up.  Don't mess up."

Chris Van Allsburg takes the stage. 

Mr. Van Allsburg's fascination with topiaries at the time was the catalyst for the creation of The Garden of Abdul Gasazi.

The juxtaposition of wild animals in a suburban home amused the author and provided inspiration for Jumanji.

Originally created for Cricket magazine, this image inspired the book, The Wreck of the Zephyr.

Hunting through flea market stalls caused The Mysteries of Harris Burdick to become a reality.

Mr. Van Allsburg created maquettes of each stage seen in The Z was Zapped. The only artistic license taken was the addition of the lightning bolts hitting the letter Z.

Bad Day at Riverbend was the result of a coloring book owned by Van Allsburgh's daughter. A picture of a radically-colored Tigerlily from Peter Pan inspired the story.

Queen of the Falls is Mr. Van Allsburg's first nonfiction book.  This is the first biography on Annie Edson Taylor written for children. 

Mr. Van Allsburg discussed his new book, The Misadventures of Sweetie Pie.  This is his first book illustrated with watercolors. 

The signing line was long, but it was worth the wait! 

Here is a link to the podcast of his lecture.  It's worth listening to! 

ALSC Blog Post

Hello all,

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted.  I've been house-hunting (found one!) and working on my committee work for ALSC.  Speaking of, I was fortunate enough to have been featured on the ALSC Blog again.  Check out our post on our branch's Science Fair Fridays:

http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2014/10/science-fair-fridays/

Book Review: Patron Review!

I had another patron reviewed book come back to the library!  This book was so loved that the patron returned it directly to me, raved about the book and made sure I read the review.  Here's a copy of it:



Patron's book review



The review reads, "Wonderful twist on having imaginary friends! Beautiful illustrations - kudos to the author!"

Here is a picture of the book:

Beekle by Dan Santat

The story is creative and the illustrations (pencil, crayon, watercolor, and computer manipulation) are beautiful.  Personally, I think the story is a tad too long for a storytime, but for 6-8 year olds, it's a solid choice for lap reading. 

I never had an imaginary friend, but for children who do, this book will be a winner!

Blast from the Past: Prince Amilec

I stumbled across an old blog of mine that I started years ago.  (It was quickly abandoned; hopefully I'll have learned my lesson!)  In the blog, I reviewed a short story that I had forgotten about.  Rereading the review reminded me of how much I loved the story.  Here's a copy of my original post.  I may repost some other entries later.  Do you recognize the info about the Cinderellas below?  That eventually became a blog post for my library system!  (And we now have two Indian variations of Cinderella.  Thank you to that (since retired) book selector for her hard work!)

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Prince Amilec

Last night I reread parts of my copy of The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales (ed. Alison Lurie) because I had a craving for one of the stories in there. The story was Prince Amilec by Tanith Lee, a British author who seems to span various genres. The story follows a young prince as he attempts to court a rude and cruel princess. To win her hand in marriage, the prince must perform various impossible tasks, which he can only do with the help of a witch. The witch in the story is very attractive and kind, and as a result of her help, he eventually realizes that he wants to marry the witch and not the princess. All seems to be happy though as the rude princess eventually sets out to see the world and falls in love with an equally obnoxious prince. To win his hand, she needs to seek out a wizard in a situation that mirrors that of our hero, Prince Amilec.

I loved the flow of this story and the dialog that occurs between Amilec and the witch. The story itself would make a great picture book; I wonder why no one has ever approached Ms. Lee into doing it or if she has refused offers in the past. Whatever the case may be, it's a wonderful story. I would give it a full 5 out of 5 stars.

In library news, I finished creating a new sign to highlight the Cinderella books in the Folktales collection. Granted, we really don't need one, but I found some great clip art princesses from Microsoft that I've been dying to use. Also, the one good thing I'll say about Vista is that you can now edit clip art, so I was able to customize some of the princesses. On the sign, I had Cinderella characters from Ireland (Trembling from Fair, Brown & Trembling), China (Yeh-Shen from Yeh-Shen: The Chinese Cinderella), Mexico (Little Gold Star from Little Gold Star), Africa (Nyasha from Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters), Russia (Vasilisa from Vasilisa the Beautiful), and India (Cinduri from The Enchanted Anklet).

In doing this, I found out that the library currently does not have any copies of an Indian variant of Cinderella. They probably used to, but the copies may have been weeded out or stolen as the years have gone by. Luckily, I was able to get our amazing Children's Selector on it, and I'm positive she'll be able to locate something soon. Yay productive work day!

Bulletin Board - Picture Book Word Maps

A patron recently turned me on to Wordle. The website lets you created "Word Maps" from text.  With a word map, the more frequently a word appears in a text, the larger it will be.  I was captivated!  

Because of that, the monthly bulletin board at our branch is a word map challenge.  I've taken the text from 13 beloved picture books and created word maps.  Can you figure out what these classic picture books are?

I had a young boy request this book EVERY storytime for at least 9 months.  How could I not include it?

 

Click here to see the book!

 

This is one of my favorite books!  I've always longed to do it in a storytime without getting my tongue completely twisted. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

Fun Fact:  I really dislike this book. A LOT.  I think Max should not have gotten his dinner (or he should have apologized first for his behavior).  But it's a classic, so I included it. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

I can't read this book without tearing up.  The death of a grandparent can be tough and I think it's beautifully handled here. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

I love this version of this story.  Another fun fact:  The author used to be a librarian with my library system. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

This book is a modern classic and a great example of photography mixed with illustrations.  Both sequels were just as good, which can be tough to pull off.   

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

This is another title I really dislike.  I'm surprised by that because I love the author's books of poetry. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

Another great storytime book.  I love the message and the songs.  After storytime I frequently hear kids singing this on their way back to their preschools. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

Growing up, this was one of my favorite series because of the detailed watercolor illustrations. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

I love reading this to second graders through fourth graders.  The humor is so dry and incredibly funny. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

The collage work in this book is mind blowing.  I love this author/illustrator for his urban, city-based images. 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

This book is iconic.  I visited the author's museum a few years ago and it was a great experience! 

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

I've had preschool teachers tell me that kids imitate me doing this story.  Apparently I do a memorable troll.  (Thank you?)

 

 

Click here to see the book!

 

ALSC Blog post

I made the ALSC blog!  I'm very excited to be featured.  Here is a link:

ALSC Blog Post

Book Review: The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp

Kathy Appelt's True Blue Scouts

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp follows twelve individuals (some human, some animals, one mythical), all of whom live or are connected to the Sugar Man Swamp, on the far end of the Bayou Tourterelle in Texas. Two of the main characters, Bingo and J’miah, are raccoons who work as Information Scouts keeping the swamp safe. They’re tasked with waking the mythical Sugar Man (a cousin of the Yeti and Sasquatch) and alerting him to any dangers that may affect the swamp. When a strange rumbling begins, the scouts have found their first real mission. The other main character is Chap, a 12 year old boy who must become “the man” of the house now that his beloved grandfather has died. Chap and the swamp are both in trouble: Chap and his mother may lose their house and their pie-making business to the greedy Sonny Boy Beaucoup and Jaeger Stitch, who have plans to bulldoze the swamp and turn it into an alligator wrestling stadium. Appelt’s writing is laugh-out-loud humorous and has a folksy quality that is pleasant and welcoming. And although it’s a fun read, the flow of the story meanders slightly and the resolution seems to occur before it really begins. Readers may not mind this, however, as the characters and their adventures are so engaging. This is a good read with a light ecological focus. A strong choice for readers, 9-12.