August 7th, 2006 by eisha
Listen – can I tell you about one of the most beautiful books written in this century so far? A better question is, can I actually convey the utter gorgeousness and brilliance of this book in this humble little blog post? Probably not, but here goes.
August 6th, 2006 by jules
Jimmy Liao’s new 80-page picture book, the magical and evocative The Sound of Colors (2006), is sub-titled “A Journey of the Imagination.” The book’s back-cover blurb and every ad and review you see for it will likely tell you it “celebrates the power of imagination.” This is true, but this sublime book is so much more.
August 6th, 2006 by jules
Motherhood is a lot of things. It’s joyful, demanding, weighty, sometimes monotonous. One moment you’re lovesick; the next, perplexed and jaded — often, you’re all of these things at once. And, as a good friend of mine likes to say, early motherhood, in particular, is a lot like boot camp.
August 5th, 2006 by eisha
King Dork is the first novel by Frank Portman, who is more widely known as Dr. Frank, the guitarist/singer of the pop-punk band Mr. T Experience. But don’t automatically lump it in your mind with all those other get-me-I’m-a-celebrity-writing-a-children’s-book types – it’s actually not bad. And it totally took me back to high school, whether I wanted to go there or not.
August 1st, 2006 by eisha
The blooming popularity of picture book biographies – simply-worded, richly-illustrated biographies for children – has been one of the coolest things to happen to children’s lit in recent years. It’s a format that’s especially well-suited to biographies of artists; the use of illustrations to depict an artist’s life can lead to a deeper understanding of his or her works. I imagine that for an illustrator, creating a picture book biography presents a unique challenge: using his or her own style and talents to portray the world that inspired and shaped another artist. The results can be breathtaking works of art in their own right. Here’s a few of my recent favorites:
August 1st, 2006 by jules
Yes, it’s the unbearably steamy dog days of summer, so here’s a short, random picture book shout-out to cool-‘n-savvy Nina Crews for her One Hot Summer Day (1995). Sit down with your favorite toddler and soak this one in before it gets cool again in appreciation of Ms. Crews and her boundless talents.
August 1st, 2006 by jules
A momma friend asked recently, ‘Is anyone else tired of Goodnight Moon? What else is there?’ Goodnight Moon is certainly a perfect little poem of goodnight farewells, but there is life beyond Margaret Wise Brown, the empress of books for toddlers. Here are some wonderful alternatives to the classic Goodnight Moon, a handful of bedtime beauties. (And, by all means, folks, pretty please send comments and tell us what your bed-time favorites are).
August 1st, 2006 by jules
My friends — including my partner-in-crime here, Eisha — have informed me that I tend to speak in hyperbole (which is oh-so phenomenally and just categorically untrue). But with my abuse of hyperbole aside, I have to say that Sonya Hartnett, one of my favorite writers, is brilliant. Really, people. Just flat-out brilliant. Her writing is precise, exacting. It’s economical yet truly evocative. The reason she has quite a few one-sentence paragraphs is ’cause she writes like this: “My mother’s world had contracted like a dying spider.” There. She nailed it. What else do you need?
August 1st, 2006 by jules
Dorothy Allison once wrote, “Two or three things I know for sure, and one is that I would rather go naked than wear the coat the world has made for me.” These sage words are ones that I think Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love (2006), would appreciate.
