Happy Dance!

I did it! I really did it!

34 Picture Book ideas in 30 days!!

Some of them are more fleshed out than others, but I have 2 that are especially begging to be written NOW, NOW, NOW!!! I keep telling them to shush, I have a thesis to finish.

But there's good news. I finished that first FULL DRAFT of the thesis tonight too!!! Woo Hoo! Double happy dance.

Now, the real work begins with my thesis: revision, revision, revision.

What am I going to do with the picture book ideas?

1) I'm going to write those two that I can't get out of my head.
2) I'm going to sock the other 32 away and let them simmer. You see I plan to do the Picture Book Marathon in February 2011. I need to write 26 drafts during that month. So, my ideas are simmering now. My fingers should be flying in February.
3) I also have 5 more nonfiction picture book ideas that are going to require some research. These weren't even figured into my 34 fiction picture book ideas for this month. I am going to start researching these as well.

Many thanks to Tara Lazar for hosting and providing inspiration all month.

PiBoIdMo 2010

Some of you may be participating in NaNoWriMo. Well, I can't even get a novel written in a year (but I'm trying).

But I was really excited when I heard about the PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) hosted by Tara Lazar. The challenge? To come up with an idea for a picture book every day for a month. Then you have 30 ideas to get you through until the next time PiBoIdMo rolls around.

Last February I participated in the Picture Book Marathon, a challenge to be sure. I had to write 26 picture books in 28 days. It was tough. However, some of them are crap. But about half of them have been decent enough to revise and really work on. Worth a month's of work? You bet!

The hard part of that last year was that I had to come up with ideas. I started coming up with ideas about a week in advance, but when the middle of February came, I was tired of my ideas and really needed some more. And some of those ideas needed a little bit of research. I didn't have time to do too much of that.

So, as I see it, the PiBoIdMo challenge will give me time to generate the ideas. Then I have December and January to do any research needed. Then I can really write in February.

Did I say I have a novel to finish? Yeah, I want that done by December 31.

I've always liked a good challenge.

Critiquing Picture Books

I'm in a new online critique group that came out of the Picture Book Marathon in February. We were having an e-mail exchange about what types of things we'd like to see in a picture book critique. I started making a list. I want it to be collaborative. I want my group members to add to it. And if you have any experience writing or critiquing picture books, I'd like you to chime in. What is missing from the list? I hope it will be a helpful list when self-critiquing or critiquing other's picture books. Here's what I came up with so far:

1) Does the story allow for illustration? You don’t want to be so specific that it leaves no room for the illustrator to interpret.


2) Word count: Must be less than 1500. Under 1000? Even better. Under 500? Awesome! However, these word counts will fluctuate with the type of content and age level.

3) Words must earn their place. Point out places the writer can cut unnecessary words. Every word counts in a picture book.

4) Read-aloud-ability. Does this book make a good read-aloud? Read it out loud and try it out. Mark the places that you stumble. Most picture books are meant to be read out loud to kids.

5) Language. Picture books are often very lyrical. Does the language have a rhythm, unique language, voice? Where does the language work? Where does it not work?

6) Unique premise. Does this story make something ordinary fresh? Unique? Funny? Aha moment? Will it stand out in the marketplace?

7) Does this story really work as a picture book? Sometimes it’s really a short story, or a novel, but just told in a few words. If it really isn’t meant to be a picture book, then it’s helpful for someone to point that out. Don’t be offended. If you agree with them, use it as a springboard for another project.

8) Story structure. Map out the story. What happens? A good way to plot your book or find the arc of the story is to do a storyboard. I recommend the one on Kim Norman’s site. There is also one in Anastasia Suen’s book Picture Writing.



Important: It’s ultimately your book. You decide whether the comments are something you want to incorporate. If one person mentions it, it may just be that person’s opinion. But if several people notice the same thing, then it’s probably something worth considering changing.



Disclaimer: I am no picture book expert. I have written a few, had some good comments from editors and agents, but nothing has been purchased to date. So, I’m still learning and obviously I need to work on my picture books a lot. Please don’t take the above ideas as gospel. These are just some things I’ve learned from other groups and workshop classes.



Your turn: What else do you want to add? I will add more to the list. I think it will help me keep my critiques more focused with some ideas to jump on. Obviously, we won’t hit each point with each picture book, but this might help if you aren’t sure what to comment on.

I'll compile a list including suggestions from others and post it.

I love short and silly books!

Books I Wish I Had Written #2: Billy and Milly Short and Silly

Perhaps I should change this series to "Books I Admire and Want to Learn From". I'm featuring books I think are brilliant--books that I want to learn more about what I think makes them great. Last summer Candice Ransom encouraged us to type up the text of favorite picture books and study them. It helps to see the text without the pictures (if you are a writer-only) to see what makes these books "tick".

Billy & Milly Short & Silly

by Eve B. Feldman

illustrated by Tuesday Mourning

Penguin, 2009

This book comes in at a whopping 49 words. In the class I took last summer on picture books, we had to keep our manuscripts under 500 words. You can see why. So many of the phenomenal picture books being published are super short.

This text is told in individual words, grouped in threes or fours that tell the story. "Tee Tree Bee Flee" is on one spread. The illustrations show Billy hitting a golf ball off a tee, smacking the ball into a bee's nest in a tree, then running away when the bees come after him.

The first time I read this book I honestly thought it was an author/illustrator book. I thought--this text is brilliant, but I know it didn't sell on text alone because the pictures tell way more than a typical picture book. But I was wrong. The text and illustrations are by different people. Then I thought--even more brilliant!

Each set of words rhymes, and each set of words tells its own episode in Billy or Milly's world.

WHY I WISH I HAD WRITTEN IT: It's amazingly short, but each word works perfectly. The text allows for a lot of illustrative interpretation.

I definitely want to give this super-short text idea a whirl.

LMBO at Chicken Cheeks

Books I Wish I Had Written: #1
I begin a new series of reviews on books entitled "Books I Wish I Had Written". While I was writing in the picture book marathon in February, I read lots of picture books to keep my mind in the "picture book mode." I came across quite a few books that I thought were utterly brilliant and I wish I had written. I will feature them and more as I come across them.

Chicken Cheeks
Written by Michael Ian Black
Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
Simon & Schuster, 2009


My ten-month-old was fighting a nap. I sat down with a pile of picture books I had requested from the library. He loves to listen and look at the pictures of books. In fact, he gets down right vocally angry if you leave him out of a book. If my daughter and I are reading a book, he will crawl over and grunt and make loud noises until we let him in.

Chicken Cheeks was next in the pile. I hate chickens. They are my one intense fear in life. I'll save my sob story of roosters clawing at my legs and leaving welps for another time when we talk about why I'm scarred for life over chickens.

But I was willing to give Chicken Cheeks a chance because the cover is so darn funny. Really funny. And my son was enthralled with the bright colors.

This book is HILARIOUS--LMBO hilarious!!!! It's all about BUTTS of animals, but not in explicit detail. In fact you will never find the word BUTT in the book. Instead you see "moose caboose" and "toucan can" and "flamingo fanny" among others. In this 43 word picture book, you will probably read nearly every CLEAN word for butt you can think of. All paired with Kevin Hawkes bright, silly animal illustrations.

This book has to go back to the library soon because I owe nearly $30 in fines for overdue books. But, my little ten-month-old, who kept pointing and smiling at EVERY picture will probably find his very own copy of this book in his Easter basket.

WHY I WISH I HAD WRITTEN IT:
It's brilliant. It's short. It's funny. ALL IN ONE BOOK!

Nonfiction Monday: Wired

Wired
By Anastasia Suen
Illustrated by Paul Carrick
Charlesbridge, 2007

I loved this book so much, that my grade level recently bought it to use in our electricity unit. It’s very hard to find good trade books about electricity that are written on a kids’ level, give the basic information, but aren’t too basic. Our textbook is okay, but I wanted something more. I found it in this book.

This book begins by talking about what electricity is and how electrons dance. Then it explains how electricity gets from the power plant to your house. Details of step up- and step down-transformers are explained. It talks about substations, transmission towers, and even what all those wires behind a light switch are. The text is easy to read, but doesn’t talk down to kids. Suen even uses interesting language, so that it doesn’t feel like you are reading a textbook. The heading of each page actually becomes a poem if you read just the headings from beginning to end.

The illustrations in this book are pretty, yet informative. They are simple, but detailed. Contradiction? No, they are perfect for this book. They are not the common diagrams and drawings you see in a textbook. Instead they are acrylic mixed media illustrations that are pleasing to the eye, uncluttered, and very detailed for showing the different parts that is talked about in the text.

As a science teacher, I give it an A+. I will be using it every year with my electricity unit!

The author of Wired, Anastasia Suen, has the Nonfiction Monday Roundup at her blog.

Nonfiction Monday: Nic Bishop's Spiders

Spiders
Written and photographed by Nic Bishop
Scholastic Nonfiction, 2007

Ever since this book began winning awards left and right, I knew I wanted to read it. I love interesting, beautiful nonfiction books. This book fits both of those descriptions. Perhaps I’ve lived in a hole, but this is the only book that I know of that I’ve read by Nic Bishop. I don’t think I have EVER seen a book with pictures as exquisitely detailed and fascinating as the photos in this book.

The book is all about spiders. It gives the basics about spiders: body parts, characteristics, etc. You know, all of those basic things I learned about spiders from E.B. White in Charlotte’s Web. However, Nic Bishop introduces readers to spiders and facts about spiders that I have never heard of. The text is not overly simple, but each spread is also not covered with heavy text. This is a book that kids will pick up, read and stare in awe at the pictures. It contains about a paragraph on each page about spiders. An entire page is a magnified picture of a spider. We see spiders’ eyes, hairs, and body parts up close and personal. Each picture is accompanied by captions about that specific spider.

The color layout is beautiful too. Each page with text has a colored background that coordinates with the colors in the photograph. It’s not a visually busy book. It’s simply laid out, but the pictures are anything but simple. Bishop is a master at photographing these hard-to-spot arachnids. In fact, in the back of the book he writes an author’s note about how he photographed the spiders. In some cases it was quite complicated.

This book won a well-deserved Sibert Honor.

Nic Bishop's website

The Lotus Seed

The Lotus Seed
By Sherry Garland
Illustrated by Tatsuro Kiuchi
Harcourt Brace, 1993

I stumbled across this book when I was looking for picture books to make “Text-to-World” connections with my students. It was used in a lesson in Strategies that Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis (2nd edition).

The book is about a young girl from Vietnam who wanted to remember the emperor when he lost his throne. So, she took a seed from a lotus flower in the emperor’s gardens to remember him by. When the Vietnam War tore apart her country, she moved to America, but she took the lotus seed with her to remember her country. She kept in near her family’s alter, wrapped carefully.

Many years later her grandson found the seed, wondered what it was, and took it outside and planted it without telling anyone. The girl, now a grandmother, cried and cried over her lotus seed. Soon it bloomed into a lotus flower and they were able to share the seeds among the family members to remember their home country of Vietnam.

I loved this story. I didn’t use it for a text to world connection lesson though. I am putting it in my files for next year to use this book with Red Butterfly, which I recently reviewed here.

If you are interested in other text-to-text connection books I use together, see my list here.

Bilingual Travel Books

Postcards from Chicago: Postales desde Chicago
By Laura Crawford
Raven Tree Press, 2008

Postcards from New York City: Postales desde New York City
By Laura Crawford
Raven Tree Press, 2008

Postcards from Washington, D.C.: Postales desde Washington, D.C.
By Laura Crawford
Raven Tree Press, 2008

These books are part of a “Traveling with Anna” bilingual series by Raven Tree Press. Each book features a big city. Anna sends postcards to her friends and family from each city. Each spread consists of Anna’s postcard where she tells what she visited that day. The picture side of the postcard is featured of the real places. These photos are high quality and show what each tourist destination really looks like. Then each page features key facts about each place. They are short, but factual and easy to read. Anna’s postcards are more conversational and reveal some personal side to her travels.

The bilingual portions of these books feature the facts translated into Spanish. The postcards are written in English only. The facts feature more difficult words that might be hard to explain and understand for an ELL student, so it is helpful to have those facts translated.

Anna is featured through the book in drawings on each page.

I love this series of books because it blends fiction and non-fiction, Spanish and English. There are so many things that could be done with these books in the classroom. What helps is that they feature interesting, updated pictures, kid-friendly facts, and a simple, uncluttered layout.

Bilingual Books: Paco and the Giant Chile Plant

Paco and the Giant Chile Plant: Paco Y La Planta De Chile Giganta
By Keith Polette
Illustrated by Elizabeth O. Dulemba
Raven Tree Press, 2008

This is a bilingual retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk. It is set in the Southwestern United States. The text is told in English with a lot of Spanish words embedded in the text. Readers who are bilingual will enjoy this tale that flips back and forth between Spanish and English. Students who are somewhat familiar or not familiar at all with Spanish will be able to use the glossary at the back of the book or discover the meaning of the word from the context of the sentence. The Spanish words included are mentioned in context and highlighted in red.

Paco and his mother need money, so they must sell their cow. Paco sells the cow to a man who gives him seeds in exchange for his cow. He plants the seeds to the chile plant and thus the Jack and the Beanstalk story begins. Here is an excerpt from the story where Paco meets the man who gives him the seeds:

Paco harnessed la vaca and led it down the dusty road.
At a dip in the dusty camino, Paco met an old man with bright eyes. Los ojos del viejo twinkled like stars. He held a walking staff and a small bag. El Viejo said, “Good afternoon, joven. That is a fine vaca, young man.”
“Buenos tardes, señor,” replied Paco. “Si, yes, it is a fine cow, but I must sell her. My mother and I have no money.”

This Jack and the Beanstalk story bears much resemblance to the traditional version, but of course a Mexican-American flare has been added. I especially love the surprise ending.

Elizabeth O. Dulemba’s digital illustrations give it an animated movie feel. Ms. Dulemba has lots of freebies on her website connected to this book. There are coloring pages (which she also features weekly on her blog), wallpaper, recipes, and a word search.

I would recommend this book to teachers and librarians who have bilingual children in their classrooms.

Red Butterfly

Red Butterfly: How a Princess Smuggled the Secret of Silk Out of China
By Deborah Noyes
Illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Candlewick, 2007

First of all, I must say this book is stunning. The illustrations look like an intricate Chinese painting. The details are beautifully imagined and portrayed. I picked this book out because I just fell in love with the illustrations. When I got the book home, I noticed it was on my “to read” list from a few months ago. I love when that kind of serendipity happens at the library.

You can visit Sophie Blackall’s website for some samples of her work from this book.

For as beautifully as this book is illustrated, it is matched by poetic writing that also brings out the beauty of this story.

The story is about a young girl in China who loves the silkworm that feeds on the mulberry tree on her father’s land. China is known for its prized silkworms and the thread it provides. But the young girl is soon to be married off to royalty in Khotan, and she is sad because she will miss her silkworm and her beautiful land. The red butterfly is her outfit that makes her look like a butterfly when her arms are outstretched. She sneaks some silkworms, some leaves, and some seeds of a mulberry tree in her hair and carries it off to her new home.

Here is a passage by Noyes that describes the beauty of the land:

“In my father’s kingdom
there are many splendors.
As we cross the wide
countryside
to the summer palace,
sunbeams slice through dark
woods,
spilling on moss. Monkeys wail
in maple groves along the
river.
Sparrows peck mud
for their nests.”

I just wanted to read parts of this book over and over again to soak up the poetry of the story. Mixed with the illustrations, this is one of my favorite books I have read in a long time!

This story is based on a true story and the author’s note in the back explains the history behind the story.

Nonfiction Monday: What Do You Do When Something Wants to Eat You

What Do You Do When Something Wants to Eat You?
Written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins
Houghton Mifflin, 1997

I don’t know HOW I have missed this book before. It was published in 1997!! And I just discovered it a few weeks ago. I love Steve Jenkins’ books. They are great for many ages, from toddlers who love the pictures and the shorter text, to upper elementary readers, who love to read the fine print full of facts, and really still love his illustrations.

This book is about animal defense mechanisms. What do animals do when something tries to eat them? Well, Steve Jenkins chooses animals that kids will know, like the octopus that squirts black ink and the puffer fish who puffs out. But he also chooses lesser known facts that kids will find interesting like this one: “The basilisk lizard is known in South America as the Jesus Chris lizard. It can escape its enemies by running across the surface of ponds and streams, using its large feet and great speed to keep it from sinking into the water.”

This book has Jenkins stunning signature cut paper collage illustrations. It doesn’t include extra facts at the back of the book or within the text, like many of his other books do. Still, a fun, fact-filled read. I will be using this with my fourth graders in my animal adaptations unit.

Nonfiction Monday roundup is at Picture Book a Day.

Eric Rohmann: Day 6

A Kitten Tale
By Eric Rohmann
Knopf, 2008

I had to wait FOREVER to get my paws on a copy of this book at my local library. Someone else snatched it up before I did. This book is perfect for preschoolers.

Four little kittens are talking about snow in the middle of the summer. Three of them are dreading and worrying about the coming snow. The fourth kitten can’t wait. Then the fall comes. They continue to talk about snow with trepidation. The fourth kitten is so excited about the possibility. Finally, the snow comes. The fourth kitten jumps right out into the snow and has a rollicking good time. Of course, the others follow out and enjoy themselves too. It is a simple story, told with fun language that reminds me of little kittens frolicking.
Here’s an excerpt of the short, frolicking dialogue that takes place between the kittens:

When autumn winds ruffled the trees, the first kitten said, “Soon the snow will
fall and fall. We’ll be cold and wet and snow will cover everything!”
“Piles and drifts!” said the second kitten.
“Heaped to our whiskers,” said the third kitten.
Still the fourth kitten said, “I can’t wait.”

Eric Rohmann: Day 5

This post is a day late. I was having difficulty with blogger last night. It wouldn't let me post at all. So today, you get the last two installments of Eric Rohmann.


My Friend Rabbit
Written and illustrated by Eric Rohmann
Roaring Brook Press, 2002

This book won the Caldecott Medal in 2003. I remember buying this book and thinking: WOW. The illustrations are so bold and so toddler-minded. The text is simple and has a wonderful cadence to it. Rabbit’s toy airplane is stuck in the tree. He tries to come up with an inventive way to get it out, so he gathers, pushes, and shoves his animal friends on top of one another until they form a tall tower. This of course comes crashing down!

I love his use of perspective in the illustrations. On one spread rabbit is in the far corner of the page pulling on an elephant’s tale. Everything looks so small and the spread is rather bare. Then the next page explodes with a giant elephant taking over the entire spread. When all of the animals are piled on top of one another, you must turn the book vertically to view it correctly. Then they all come crashing down and we see wild animal eyes of every sort as they looked surprised, shocked, and flabbergasted. Then we see those same animal eyes all glaring at rabbit. Every spread is full of surprises and delight. The illustrations are appealing to a very young audience. In fact, a non-reader could figure out what is going on in the story even without the text.

A romping fun read and so well-deserving of the Caldecott Award.

Eric Rohmann: Day 4

Pumpkinhead
By Eric Rohmann
Knopf, 2003

This is a funny book. It would appear on the outside to be a book that really, really young kids would like. However, I think some upper elementary kids would find it funny. There is a boy name Otho who has a pumpkin for a head. His family doesn’t seemed to be worried by it, but one day a bat comes by and wants to scoop up the pumpkin for a place to live. He seizes upon Otho’s head and runs away with it. Otho’s head makes quite a journey. It flies in the air, gets dropped into the ocean, gets eaten by a fish, is found by a fisherman, and finally bought by his own mother at the fish market. It’s an unusual tale. It could be read any time of the year, but would be particularly interesting at Halloween with the bat and the pumpkin (even though it’s not about Halloween). The language Rohmann uses is interesting and would not bore an older reader.

The book itself is small in size and square. Rohmann’s illustrations are small boxes with heavy lines (like My Friend Rabbit--to be reviewed tomorrow). The font cover has a cut out that reveals the pumpkinhead on the title page. The book was an unexpected (and pleasant) surprise.

Virginia Readers' Choice Primary List

My last few weeks have been crazy. I've been out of town more than I've been in town, so I've written next to nothing on my blog. One of the out of town trips I took was a few weeks ago to the Virginia State Reading Association's annual reading conference. I always get jazzed up about teaching again and really love meeting authors. I will be highlighting my notes from some of my sessions with various authors over the next few days.

One of the last sessions I attended was one on the Virginia Readers' Choice booklist for 2008-09. I always read the elementary books with my kids and vote on them. The committee releases four different lists: Primary, Elementary, Middle School, High School. I'll highlight each list seperately over the next few days. This list hasn't been updated on the VSRA website as of this posting, but I received this list at the conference.

Primary List Grades K-3

Bad Boys Get Cookie! by Margie Palatini

Duck at the Door by Jackie Urbanovic

The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Janet Stevens and Susan S. Crummel

I Saw An Ant on the Railroad Track by Joshua Prince

Library Lion by Barbara Knudsen

Little Lost Bat by Sandra Markle

Mammoths on the Move by Lisa Wheeler

Once I Ate a Pie by Patricia MacLachlan

Stars Beneath Your Bed by April Sayre

Wolves by Emily Gravett

Doctor Ted

Doctor Ted
By Andrea Beaty
Illustrated by Pascal Lamaitre
McElderry Books, 2008

Publication date: April 8, 2008

You may know Andrea Beaty’s other picture books. Her very own Iggy Peck Architect was nominated in the Cybils fiction picture book category. It was also voted one of Time Magazine’s Top 10 Children’s Books of 2007. Wowzers!

Doctor Ted is another funny picture book by Beaty. All of the characters in the book are different characters. Ted is a cute looking little bear. He begins one morning with an injury to his knee and he realizes he needs a doctor. So, like a typical youngster, he looks for one himself. When none can be found, he becomes a doctor. Ted proceeds to “doctor up” everyone he can find at school. The adults in his school-life are not too thrilled about Ted’s new-found occupation. My favorite adult figure in the book is Mr. Bigham, fully and brilliantly illustrated as a big pig. Ha! Ted continues to aggravate everyone with his practice of medicine until one day his teacher really hurts herself. “Doctor Ted” remains calm, unlike Principal Bigham. The next day, Ted’s calling is to another profession—a firefighter.

What I love about this book is that it appeals to the young child. My toddler loves pretending to be various characters, just like Ted. In fact, I received this book several weeks ago, but I had to sneak it out of my three year old’s room so I could write a review of it. She has wanted to read it every night. A fun read that will capture that pre-reader’s imagination.

According to Andrea Beaty's website, there are more Ted books to come.




Andrea Beaty blogs at Three Silly Chicks.

Tomorrow look for a review of Andrea's upcoming middle grade novel, Cicada Summer.

Nonfiction Monday: Living Color

Living Color

Written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins

Houghton Mifflin, 2007

Steve Jenkins always amazes me. Every book he puts out is truly amazing. His illustrations are always so fantastic. He brings animals to life in a really big way, with details that are perfect.

This book is full of color. It's about animals and their colors. It's full of fascinating facts! I always learn so much from Jenkins' books because he's the master at telling kids unusual things about unusual animals. He brings animal information to kids in unique ways. I teach animal adaptations to fourth graders. I'm always looking for books that present animals adaptations in ways that are interesting and on target with what I have to teach (Sneed B. Collard's books also work great for this unit).

Living Color takes all of the colors of the rainbow and tells about several animals that are that color. Each animal a short phrase that sums up something about them. Then each animal also has a fact-filled paragraph that explains why color is important in their lives.

Like all of Jenkins' books the back of the book has even more information. It answers common questions about animals colors. Then there are little factoids about each animal mentioned in the book. It gives a miniature picture of the animal, it's size, habitat, diet, and another short paragraph full of facts.

This is a teacher's, parent's, and librarian's dream book. When kids have questions about animals or want to know facts about animals, this book has it. But it presents the information in an interesting and beautiful way.

Read an interview with Steve Jenkins by Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast here.

Cinderella by Cynthia Rylant

Walt Disney’s Cinderella
Retold by Cynthia Rylant
Illustrated by Mary Blair
Disney Press, 2007

I really never thought I’d write this review. I don’t spend time ranting about books I don’t like. I really thought I wouldn’t like this book. But I loved it. I will admit Disney’s name on the front of the book biased me against it. Cynthia Rylant’s name on it convinced me to give it a chance. Honestly, I got through the whole book and wondered, “Hmm, what is the Disney connection here.” Yes, it was that good. The front flap lets you know that Mary Blair was the original painter for the Disney Cinderella movie when it came out many moons ago. Disney Press published it. But the Disney saccharine didn’t mess with Cynthia Rylant’s unbelievable writing. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever felt the beauty of this story until I read this retelling.

Here is an excerpt from the scene of the night of the ball and Cinderella wishes she could go:

“Tears have a wondrous magic about them. They often change everything. And for Cinderella, on this night, tears created a miracle.”

Cynthia Rylant spreads her magic of the story with her words, but she also clearly articulates the theme of the story: Love.

Beautifully written! Disney got something right this time around—they hired a phenomenal spinner of tales to bring this story to life again.

Nonfiction Monday: Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman: Words for America
by Barbara Kerley
illustrated by Brian Selznick
Scholastic Press, 2004



This picture book biography take the best of two things: Kerley's poetic prose that describes Walt Whitman and Selznick's illustrations that illuminate the time period and people.



Walt Whitman wasn't just a famous poet we know about today, but a kind, giving man who loved words and people. He worked for a newspaper and even began his own paper. He loved American, but was heartbroken when the Civil War broke out and tore apart the nation. He spend years with the dying and injured soldiers, trying to give them some last comfort. He cared less about himself and more about the boys who had given so much for their country.



But Walt also loved America, and his poetry reflected that love of his country. This book tells who Walt Whitman was as a person, not just as a poet. But the background that Kerley gives paints a picture of how Whitman's love of country so influenced his poetry.



The back of the book includes an author's note, illustrator's note, information about Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln, and reprints several of his Whitman's poems.