Artist's Block Book

The Last Resort
written by J. Patrick Lewis
illustrated by Roberto Innocenti
Creative Editions, 2002
ISBN: 1-56846-172-0

I read this book twice. I know that if I read it 3 or 4 more times I’d find things I didn’t see the first few times. This is a picture book. What I found interesting is that the illustrator’s name was listed first. In fact, the illustrator’s name was almost as large as the title, so I wondered if it was part of the title. I had to look at the Library of Congress information (I’m sure there’s another scientific name for this, but I don’t know what it is ) to figure out who was the author and who was the illustrator.

The illustrations are very pivotal to this book. It has heavier text than many picture books, but the illustrators—often several to a page—tell much of the story. In fact the format reminded me somewhat of a graphic novel where you have several pictures and text to read per page and both are very important to your understanding of the story.

It’s the story of an artist who has lost his imagination and he goes on a trip to try to get out of his “artist’s block”. His car (a red Renault to be exact) leads him to a seaside hotel where other guests are also trying to find themselves again. A man with a pegleg, a young fisherboy, a sick young woman, a writer, a cowboy, a policeman, a pilot, and a Georgian gentleman all have parts in this magical hotel.

The pictures which give important details are matched with J. Patrick Lewis’ poetic prose. He describes the avenue he travels to the hotel as “a lane as long as loneliness, past a cliff beyond forgetting, through a spider-lightning night.” (p. 9)

There is an afterward in the book that explains the literary references to each of the characters in the book, many of which are characters that readers may not have heard of before. Nonetheless, it makes the tale of these characters even more enchanting as they go to the place of The Last Resort only to find their way out and inspired about what lies ahead.

If you have ever suffered from writer's block (or artist's block) and tried to find your way out, this book would appeal to you.

Ocean in Motion

Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion

by Loree Griffin Burns

Houghton Mifflin 2007

ISBN: 978-0-618-58131-3

I am moving to fifth grade next year, and in my preparing, I am reading up on things that I may or may not teach next year. Since I don't know exactly what subjects I'll be teaching, I'm reading a little bit of science, social studies, and preparing for the fifth grade novels I might be teaching.

When the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards were announced and Tracking Trash was on the nonfiction honor list, I knew I had to get ahold of this book. First of all, I love nonfiction, so I love to see children's writers make ho-hum subjects incredibly interesting. And better yet, fifth graders have to learn about the ocean and its currents in science.

One of the great things about this book is that it talks to real people who are scientists that study the ocean currents. What makes it appealing to kids is that these scientists track the oceans currents by keeping track of trash like sneakers, rubber duckies, and LEGOS. They use modern technology to study this trash and predict where it will float to.

The things I like about it as a teacher:

1) The information is current. This is research that is being done right now (not 30 or 40 years ago). So many of the science books in our libraries are very outdated.

2) The photographs are beautiful. It doesn't do any good to have fabulous information in a kids nonfiction book if it doesn't have good pictures. The photos really draw you into this book and bring the information to life.

3) It makes science real and important for kids. The trash being tracked in the ocean is harming polluting the oceans and harming sea life. Kids find out what they can do about this problem and how they might be contributing to the demise of our ocean wildlife.

4) The book has links to websites and other books on oceans for kids. The only thing I was disappointed in was that one of the links is dead. It tried to find it by googling also, but was unsuccessful. It's obviously not the author's fault, but it's still frustrating.

Other cool things:

You may remember the book 10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle. He was inspired by a story he read where plastic bath toys went overboard from a cargo ship at sea. Tracking Trash is about the real life situations were this has happened.

Author Loree Griffin Burns has her own blog. Check it out.

Summer Blog Blast Tour Begins

There is a great interview with Gene Yang, author of American Born Chinese (graphic novel) over at Finding Wonderland. This is the kick off of the Summer Blog Blast Tour. I can't wait for more.

I recently read American Born Chinese. I am not a big graphic novel fan. In fact, I'll admit, when I first learned about graphic novels 3 summers ago, I thought it was porn. I'm ashamed... However, this graphic novel was very good. It is several stories woven into one. I always thought of comic books as violent and not very "literary", I thought of them as "boy books". While I think American Born Chinese would really appeal to relunctant boy readers, I also really enjoyed it myself. There is a lot of story there! The fact that this book won the Printz Award really made me stand up and take notice. I was drawn to it also because it's about a kid who is between cultures. He's totally American, but he is also a part of his Chinese culture. It struck a cord with me since I'm American, but grew up overseas. After reading this, I'm becoming more open minded about graphic novels...

Children's Books in the News

Today I had the rare opportunity to watch TV in the morning. I was unpacking boxes in my new classroom for next year. In the middle of the mess, I watched the Today Show, which I haven't done since last summer. I am usually on my way to work when it begins.

There were lots of children's books in the news today:

1) The Nancy Drew movie is in theaters everywhere today.

2) Al Roker met with his book club to talk to them about Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief. You can read a transcript of the questions the book club members asked Riordan in this interview here. You can view the video of the book club segment here.

3) Al Roker released his third choice for the book club. It's Swordbird by Nancy Yi Fan, teen author.

Wow! I never thought just having the Today show on as "background noise" would prove to be a fruitful education.

School's Out!

School is finally out for the summer. I said goodbye-for-now to my students. I'm moving from 4th grade to 5th grade, so I'm excited I'll probably have many of them again.

So now that I have dug myself out from underneath a pile of paperwork, I am making my list of goals for the summer.

1) Spend a month in Thailand writing, relaxing, remembering. I grew up in Thailand, so I'm taking my husband and my daughter back this summer. My parents recently moved back there, so I can't wait to see familiar places. I'm working on a poetry collection of my experiences "between cultures", so I hope to get some inspiration for some poetry there.

2) Catch up on scrapbooking. I still have pictures from last summer that are waiting to be scrapbooked, so I look forward to cleaning it up so I can put this summer's pictures in a scrapbook. My problem is, I don't just throw pictures on a page. I have journal about every spread, so it takes me a lot longer to scrapbook than the average person.

3) Sit outside every evening. I plan to read outside every evening at dusk. I have been doing this a lot lately, and I want to make this a wonderful habit. I can't wait to curl up in my camping chair with a book every night and watch the fireflies flutter through the yard.

4) Work my way through a stack of books that has piled up in my office. I have so many books waiting to be read. I can't wait to have some extended summer reading time. I have many books waiting to be read and blogged about.

5) Write everyday. I have been in the habit of writing everyday, but I feel like I haven't gotten a whole lot accomplished. I am hoping that I will have some more time to really write in the mornings since I won't have to be out the door every morning by 7:15.

6) Learn fifth grade material. I have no idea what I'll be teaching next year--only that I'll be teaching in fifth grade. I have printed several hundred pages of curriculum guides to read. It's not reading that I've been dying to do, but it's necessary. And the fun adventure is that I get to find "good books" that tie in to what I'm teaching.

7) Get my house in order. We are in the middle of two bathroom remodels. We are in the last phase. I also just bought new bedroom furniture. I can't wait to actually have a sink in my bathroom (I've done without for 6 months) and a bed on a frame (we are sleeping on a horrible mattress on the floor).

Addendum:
Well, I've had a little more time to think this weekend. Being truly free of school gives a little more time to think about personal goals. So, here are a few more:

8) Do some day trips close to home. Places I want to go: Green Valley Book Fair (I haven't been in a year--time to go again), Crow's Nest Farm to pick berries, Swinging Bridge Restaurant for a pleasant drive and nice breakfast.

9) Learn how to make pasta. My aunt gave me a pasta maker a year ago and I haven't attempted it yet. This will be the summer to do it.

10) Learn how to make tortillas from scratch. I bought a tortilla press over spring break and haven't used it yet. Cooking is so relaxing for me, so I have two things I need to experiment with!

Wolves by Emily Gravett

Wolves

Written and illustrated by Emily Gravett

Simon & Schuster, 2005

ISBN: 978-1-4169-1491-4

Age Group: 5 and under

I first heard about this book when it came up on the 2007 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards for Excellence in Children's Literature. Wolves is a honor book for the picture book category.

What I loved:

1) The story within a story--I really love books that are a story within a story. The rabbit in this story goes to the library to check out a book at the library. He checks out a book about wolves. The text of the wolf book is in this story as the main text--until he finds out what wolves eat (rabbits, of course). Like David Wiesner's The Three Pigs, the reader sees the book within a book, but you also see the characters outside of the book. In this case, you see the rabbit and the wolf. The book leads up to the a scary confrontation--the wolf and the rabbit. The rabbit is terrified he will be eaten.

2) The illustrations and quirky humor throughout. The book's illustrations are in mixed media. The text of the Wolf book being read by the rabbit is in pencil drawings. The rabbit is also done in pencil drawings, but he has a little color in him which helps him stand out against the black and white drawings from the book. The book about Wolves is red canvas looking material. There is a textural effect with the book when it becomes the most prominent thing on the page. The cover is torn to shreds when the rabbit finds out the wolf eats rabbits. At the front and the back of the book on the end papers, there are postcards, envelopes, and and silly labels. On the front where the title page normally is, there is a reproduction of the front cover as if we are looking down on a smaller copy of the book. It says the book is by Emily Grrrabbit. Ha! Genius!

This is a fun but simple books that will thrill preschoolers!

Read an interview with Emily Gravett here.

Emily Gravett's website is also top-notch and very interactive.

Poetry Friday--Cynthia Rylant

Ludie’s Life by Cynthia Rylant

Cynthia Rylant’s novel in verse is about Ludie, who is a mother of six, and a grandmother, and whose life has never been her own. Ludie is an adult for the whole of this book, and Rylant tells her story in a lyrical third person narrative.

Ludie got married because she wanted to get away from her stepmother. Before she could barely blink, Ludie had six children to look after. Even after her children grew up, she ended up raising grandchildren as well, and she resented it. Her husband, a hard-working coal miner in West Virginia, barely made enough to keep them fed. She lived in poverty but still managed to send her children to college.

Her life was living practically. Animals were not pets, they were food. She had to live so that she could continue to eat and live.

“Ludie could not afford
to turn animals into people.
She’d known hunger.
She’d learned the hard way what it is
not to have a choice about food.
It is a privilege
a certain pass
given those of a certain class,
to dote on animals.
Ludie had counted out
too many grains of rice
to care whether
the dog had enough company
or the cat
liked its food.
Maybe next life
she’d be an animal lover.” p. 37-38

One of my favorite scenes is when she describes going to the ocean.

“They put everything they thought they’d need
in one of the cars,
then climbed in and went to Virginia Beach
for the day.
There is no use trying to describe
what they felt
when they got there.
Such feelings they never found words for.
No mountain child ever finds words for an ocean.” p. 53

This story could have been my grandmother’s story—she raising nine children. I know she and my Papa didn’t have two pennies to rub together. But she made it, sent some of those kids off to college, was surrounded by grandchildren in her old age, and grew lonely when she was the only one left alone in her small house that used to be busting at the seams with children.

Interestingly enough, when I finished this book, I instantly thought, this is a YA book—even an adult book. The protagonist is an old lady. This book is an adult reflection of her life. It’s not really appealing to kids, but it is so beautifully written. My library had it shelved with the juvenile fiction, not YA. Harcourt has it listed for ages 14 and up on their website. Much more fitting audience, I think. I hope teens will pick it up. I hope adults will find their way to the juvenile books to read this novel in verse about a strong woman.

The Poetry Friday roundup is at HipWriterMama today.