Mock Newbery Time!

If you have been reading our blog for a very long time, you know that we started this blog as a way for us to read lots of books and predict the Newbery. We are not so good at that, but we love to give it a try anyway. Even though our blog focus has changed, trying to predict the Newbery is a fun tradition that we have.

So, we love to read Mock Newbery blogs and sites. School Library Journal has a new Mock Newbery blog for this year. It is called HEAVY MEDAL which I totally love! It is run by Nina and Sharon whose Newbery blogs you may have read in the past. Both of them have served on Newbery committees. They are just starting to talk about those books that could be winners. Definitely a site to keep up with if you are at all interested in the buzz around this award.

You Must Meet Melissa Sweet

Actually, you probably already know her! She has written and/or illustrated more than 70 books. Here are a few you might have seen:

Carmine: A Little More Red
The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon (by Jacqueline Davies)
The Pinky and Rex series (by James Howe)

Check out Melissa Sweet's website for a more complete list of her works.

The two books I want to focus on here are her newest, Tupelo Rides the Rails and A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams (by Jen Bryant). These are the two books that grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me and made me write to Melissa Sweet out of the blue and ask her for a blog interview, to which she graciously agreed!

Tupelo Rides the Rails
by Melissa Sweet
Houghton Mifflin, April 2008
review copy provided by the publisher

Tupelo is a dog who, despite being dumped off by the side of a road with her sock toy, Mr. Bones, believes "Everyone belongs somewhere." She looks and looks for a place to belong, eventually hooking up with a pack of dogs who call themselves "the BONEHEADS, the Benevolent Order of Nature's Exalted Hounds Earnest And Doggedly Sublime" and a hobo named Garbage Pail Tex. The BONEHEADS and Tupelo ride the rails with Garbage Pail Tex until they get to a town where Garbage Pail Tex's hobo friends find homes for all the BONEHEADS but one. Tupelo. She makes the ultimate sacrifice in order to wish upon the dog star, Sirius, and it turns out to be worth it.




Stars are important in this book. You know that from the minute you see the star chart endpapers, and then again when Tupelo hears the dog myth of how the constellation Orion came to be leading Sirius the dog star through the sky in the constellation Canis Major surrounded by other constellations such as Canis Casa, Rubbish Canis, Great Fetching Ball, and the Seven Bones. And again, of course, when she makes her wish.

Dog heroes are important in this book. You know that from the minute you open the first of several fold-out pages and find a continuation of the star chart on the inside cover and front end paper on one side, and a time line of dog heroes throughout history on the other side.

The illustrations are sometimes in panels, giving the book an almost graphic novel feel, and sometimes in gorgeous single-page paintings like the two above. There is a hint of multi-media, when Timmy and Lassie make a photographic appearance during Garbage Pail Tex's story time on the train.

Tupelo Rides the Rails is a sweet and powerful story that makes tears come to my eyes every time I read it. I see something new in the illustrations every time I read it, too.


A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams
by Jen Bryant
illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Eerdmans Books For Young Readers, August 2008
review copy provided by the publisher

"Picture book biography" just doesn't do this book justice. Jen Bryant's poetic telling of the story of Willie Williams' life and her use of the literal Passaic River of his childhood and the metaphoric flow of his words and poems, and Melissa Sweet's multimedia illustrative interpretations of Williams' poems mesh PERFECTLY. I'd like to take this opportunity to nominate this book for the Caldecott Medal!



This book also has important endpapers -- all of the poems that are mentioned or excerpted in the text or the illustrations are found there.

In the Illustrator's Note in the back of the book Sweet writes about her "inadvertent" connection to William Carlos Williams, and about her research. She writes this about the media she used for the illustrations:

"These pictures needed to convey his era and the modern art of his time that was so influential to Williams. There were a lot of false starts -- nothing I did seemed powerful enough to match his poems. Then I looked to a big box of discarded books I had from a library sale. One of the books had beautiful endpapers and I did a small painting on it. Then I took a book cover, ripped it off, and painted more. The book covers became my canvas, and any ephemera I had been saving for one day became fodder for the collages."

This book could have so many uses in the classroom -- as a mentor text for students writing biographies, in an art class to explore the visual interpretation of poetry, in writing workshop to reinforce the ways writers use their notebooks to capture small moments they can go back to and write about later.

Besides being used, it needs to be pored over. The details and layers of meaning in the illustrations are simply astounding. You just can't get tired of looking at this book!

Enough of my babbling. On to the interview.

Me: First, some questions about Tupelo Rides the Rails. You explain on the back flap how you came to combine stars, dogs, and trains in Tupelo. Could you tell a little about how the hobos fit in?

MS: The idea to include a hobo came when I realized the dogs needed someone to help them get to their homes. I made a list of everyone who might ride a train and that’s when the hobos came into play. An added benefit was the thought that, without regular baths, a hobo might smell mighty good to a dog. I could imagine hobo who appreciated dogs and stars as well.

Me: Tupelo seems almost multi-media, with the fold-out pages, the star chart endpapers, the time line of dog history...could you talk a little about your design process for this book, and how it fits in with all the books you’ve illustrated?

MS: It’s a very different process illustrating a story I’ve also written. It took a few years to get this story right and I thought about it constantly. I don’t have that luxury when I’m under deadline for other books—my time with the manuscript is limited. The design was shaping up to be a 40 page book, but we needed just a little more space to tell the story, yet a 48 page book seemed too long. The gatefolds allowed me to extend the story in certain places. They also reminded me of a train schedule unfolding, or a map. I didn’t want this book to be read fast, I wanted it to move along, but more chug along (like the train!) and to feel like a journey, which it is.

I tell students that making a book is like making a movie and there are about 32 frames (pages) to tell the story. How we utilize that space is big part of my job. Using the comic book device of breaking up pages into panels helps give more space. Tupelo is a simple story on one hand, but multi-layered because of the addition of the celestial legends and the dog hero information.

Me: Some of the pages of Tupelo are illustrated in panels. Have you ever considered writing or illustrating a graphic novel?

MS: Yes, and all I can say is stay tuned. I grew up with comic books and love how a story is told in panels of all kinds. I need about five lifetimes to do all the books I want to do.

Me: Tell a little about the dogs in your life. Did you grow up with dogs? And what makes your brother Sandy a “legend among border collies?” (from the acknowledgments in Tupelo)

MS: We always had a dog, or three. There were all kinds of terriers that were hard to train little devils. Then when it was time to get a dog with my own family, we decided it would be a shelter dog. Maine has an incredible placement rate for rescue dogs. It’s safe to say my family is completely embarrassed by all the gushing I do over our two dogs. But I find I never get bored of watching them. My brother has adopted border collie rescue dogs. They are notoriously smart and watch my brother as if waiting for his every move and command. He is their leader and hero, to be sure.

Me: Please share with our blog readers a little about your MY DOG IS A BONEHEAD website and your work with shelters and rescue dogs.

MS: After the book was done it felt like a natural segue to have some sort of shelter support come out of the book. The website was designed so kids, and adults, could join the BONEHEADS Pack online by filling out a form about their dog and downloading a picture of them. It doesn’t cost anything to join. I put the dogs up on the site and for every dog that joins I give a shelter donation. A portion of the sales from the store on the site will go to rescue causes, and a portion of my royalties as well. In addition I offer a signed print from the book for shelters to use in their auctions. We’ve got a pretty good-sized pack now on the site now and I’ve found people write hilarious things about their dogs. The very best thing that’s happened regarding the shelters was at the launch party I had here in my town. The local shelter was there with information and they brought a beautiful rescue dog who was adopted that day. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Me: Now let’s hear about A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, by Jan Bryant.

First of all, thanks for the artist’s note in the back of the book. It’s always nice to learn about the materials/media that were used by the artist. Would you tell a little about the “ephemera” you’d “been saving for one day” and how you created the collages?

MS: This book had a woefully skimpy dummy and not many sketches. Although I had done extensive reading about WCW and visited his town, I was beginning to panic. I didn’t have a handle on how to render this book. The deadline was on the heels of Tupelo and I was feeling almost out of gas. I had saved some beautiful end boards from an old book with a subtle print and a good quality paper. I tried painting on it and it worked great. Then I tried using book boards as my canvases instead of starting on paper. It was just the thing I needed to propel me. It was new and fresh and I had such momentum from it. I’ve been buying old books, notebooks, atlases for years and for this project I used whatever I wanted—nothing was saved for another project. The collages are done like a painting. I start with a background, then add more objects and push things around until I feel it’s done. I approach it as a design problem so I’m considering the colors, composition etc. When I collect or buy collage materials I don’t necessarily know how I’ll utilize them. I just know I have to have them.

Me: Again from the artist’s note, it seems that you had an unusually strong connection to this book. Can you tell us about that?

When I was seven I went with my brownie troop to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY City. I came home with a souvenir postcard of a painting by Charles Demuth, The Great Figure. It is an abstract painting of a fire engine racing the city on a rainy night. I loved that painting and was pretty pleased I understood the imagery and could feel the urgency of the fire truck. Fast forward 40+ years and Eerdmans calls me about this biography of William Carlos Williams. The working title was The Great Figure, from his poem that begins: "I saw the figure five in gold." I had seen this poem and I wanted to know if WCW had written the poem after seeing the painting. It turned out the poem had been penned by WCW one night on his way to Marsden Hartley studio, where he then he gave it to Demuth. It was serendipity, and I thought, I’ve come back to this painting! I think this goes under the category of: You never know what will influence your child along the road of life.

Me: How did you come to be the illustrator for this book? Had you worked with Jen Bryant or Eerdmans Books before?

MS: No, this was my first time with both. I believe they chose me because Gayle Brown, the art director, had seen the book I illustrated, The Boy Who Drew Birds about John James Audubon. Gayle was wonderful to work with and really trusted my process, for which I am extremely grateful.

Me: Some general questions next. What was your formal art training?

MS: I have an Associates Degree in Art from Endicott College and attended the Kansas City Art Institute as well as the Museum School in Boston. After that, I went anywhere there was a course I wanted to take, or I took classes wherever I was living. I still love to take classes in anything. Blacksmithing, papermaking, tin toys, you name it, I’m there.

Me: Can you describe your typical workday? (If such a thing exists!)

MS: My work day is from about 8am to 2pm or 3pm , five days a week. I’ve stuck to this for the last 20 years and it’s been a good discipline. I never make appointments during that time. It’s all mine. It allows a lot of work to get done and even if I’m just drinking tea and reading in the studio, I consider myself working.

Me: A River of Words and Tupelo Rides the Rails are both 2008 books. Were you working on them at the same time? How did they influence each other? (I see they both have star charts, for instance.)

MS: Thank goodness for color Xeroxes…Those star charts have served me well. Tupelo took a good deal of time and consideration to make all the elements work together. It really absorbed me. As soon as it was done, I had to jump in and begin the art for this book. I went wild with the collages for A River of Words. I don’t think I would’ve had the same freedom had I not poured my soul into Tupelo. I needed a sense of abandon, and thought of all the soirees Williams attended in New York, all the modern art he loved. I tried not to censor and trust my hunches. One thing I’ve learned after many projects is that the process is not a function of time. I’ve found I work best with a deadline and the proverbial gun to my head. It forces me to make decisions and everything we do in a book is a decision. Artists have to make marks to have something to respond to, and it’s the same with writing. The early writing I do for a book looks pretty sorry, but it gives me a starting point. I have William Stafford’s quote that talks about “ lowering one’s standards in order to write” and I find that’s very helpful with art or writing. Not every day is going to be extraordinary.

Me: What are you working on now (if you can say)?

MS: I can’t say. I heard Richard Russo once say his next book is about 350 pages, so mine is about 48 pages.

Me: What is your all-time (or current, you pick) favorite medium for your art?

MS: I love using gouache. I’m not sure life would be worth living without it.

Me: What is your favorite book out of the 70+ you’ve written and/or illustrated? (Again, if such a thing exists!)

MS: In the spirit of diplomacy, I love them all for different reasons. But Carmine was so much fun, and I never dreamed I’d get to use the word “nincompoop” in a book.

Me: And now, some questions just for fun:

Coffee or tea?
Tea, PG tips to be specific.

Vanilla or chocolate?
Vanilla.

TV, DVD, or movie theater?
The movies, so long as it’s not a megaplex. We don’t have TV but I download Project Runway on YouYube religiously.

Classical or jazz?
Jazz or Leonard Cohen.

Beach, mountain, or forest?
All the above and maybe back-road bicycle ride too.

Early bird, or night owl?
Early bird.

Hardback, paperback, or magazine?
The New Yorker, or whatever I’m researching next.

Thank you, Melissa, for agreeing to this public sort of chat! I've...or shall I say, we've enjoyed getting to know you and we look forward to your next books!

For a tad bit more information, see Kids Q & A at Powell's.

All illustrations courtesy of Melissa Sweet. Posted with permission. All rights reserved.

Too Many Toys

Too Many Toys

by David Shannon

The Blue Sky Press (Scholastic)

available October, 2008

review copy provided by the publisher

Spencer had too many toys.  He had fleets and convoys and parades of toys.  He had zoos and armies of toys both big and small, loud and quiet, educational and not.

After Spencer's dad steps on one too many Lego pieces and Spencer's mom trips over one too many train tracks, Spencer receives the ultimatum:  "YOU HAVE TOO MANY TOYS!"  And he's going to have to get rid of some of them.

Spencer's mom doesn't know who she's up against, though.  First, Spencer is a dramatic sentimentalist complete with big sad eyes (like the ones Puss in Boots uses in the Shrek movies).  Then he's a crafty lawyer who knows when it's "in his best interest to agree."

Finally Spencer's mom has a box of toys that she can get rid of.  But while she's having a cup of tea and a short rest, Spencer discovers one toy he can't do without -- the BOX! 

Portland and Columbus Kidlit Conference Updates

Here's the easy way to find out how much fun lots of bloggers had in Portland.

Our posts about our mini-conference in Columbus are rounded up here.

New Books to Support Emergent Readers in Book Club Orders

You know what a HUGE fan I am of Shelley Harwayne and her work. So many of us in literacy have learned so much from her about classroom instruction and creating great schools that focus on literacy. Now that Shelly is a grandma, she is spending lots of time with her grandchildren and has been writing on early literacy. (We reviewed her book, LOOK WHO'S LEARNING TO READ and interviewed Shelley about it here a few months ago.

Shelley's newest publication is a series of Scholastic books that are written for beginning readers called "I'm Reading Now". They are small books and reasonably priced. And they are perfect for K-1 classrooms. These books center around 2 characters--Ruby and Ben. It is clear from the text that Shelley understands the kinds of support beginning readers need. The texts are all very predictable--on most pages, there is one line of text. The pictures support the reader in lots of ways. And the stories all have a clever ending which shows Shelley clearly understands the things that 5-7 year olds find amusing:-) I love that these books focus around 2 characters. I think it is so important for new readers to fall in love with characters and to want to read more about them. In this series, kids will come to know and love Ben and Ruby and be able to use that to help them make predictions in their reading.

From what I understand, there are more books in this series but the first set was in the September Scholastic Book Order.

The illustrator, Jannie Ho, posted about them on her blog a while back. The illustrations are perfect for the books!

When Bloggers Get Together

Jone and Jama, I forgot to take pictures of my Cloud Nine pancakes for you, but be assured, I did have them for breakfast. With a side of bacon!

Then we were off to Cover to Cover. We read, recommended, shared, chatted, and took over the Saturday Story Time area. Sorry kids! Hope you didn't mind having story time up front with Clifford the Big Red Dog!





I don't have any official figures, but I'm pretty sure none of us left with less than $50 worth of books!  My picks were Judy Moody Goes to College, the newest Magic Tree House (Eve of the Emperor Penguins), There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Fly Guy (for my collection of variants), Cynthia Rylant's retelling of Cinderella (all of Franki's raving finally convinced me), The Scrambled States of America (the new one is SO fun that I had to have the first one, too), and since Eid is coming up next week, Night of the Moon.

Partly because I wasn't feeling well (thank you, class, for this KICKIN' cold) and partly because I was whining about not having any time to do my own reading (due to the recent avalanche of Notables nominees that are sitting around my house in boxes and teetering stacks), I went right home and read both Judy Moody and Eve of the Emperor Penguins.  Now I can really talk these two books up with my kids next week when I add them to my classroom library.  It's not like I'm caught up or anything, but that tiny piece of peace of mind is going to fuel the rest of the weekend as I attempt to work without the ability to breathe.  (I did just learn that I can drink whisky with an impaired/nonexistent sense of smell/taste, and the warmth in my chest feels dang good.  I may not get much of anything done after all...)

We *HEART* These Blogs

We are honored to be *hearted* by Charlotte's Library.  We're going to pass the luvv on to our local pals.

Here are the rules:
1) Add the logo of the award to your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on your blog.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs! 

Creative Literacy
Literate Lives
Talkworthy
Authentic Learner
Read, Read, Read
My World - Mi Mundo
Best Book I Have Not Read
Caterwaulling

Kidlit Conference Weekend

PORTLAND KIDLIT CONFERENCE BLOGS TO WATCH

Jone MacCulloch -- Check it Out

Laini Taylor -- Grow Wings

Anastasia Suen -- Picture Book of the Day

Jen Robinson -- Jen Robinson's Book Page

Mark -- Just One More Book

Jim Di Bartolo -- Jimbo Jabber

Jackie Parker -- Interactive Reader

Anne Levy -- Book Buds

Colleen Mondor -- Chasing Ray

Maureen -- Confessions of a Bibliovore

Lynn Hazen -- Imaginary Blog

Alma Alexander

Betsy Bird -- Fuse #8

Kate Schafer -- Ask Daphne!

Elaine Magliaro -- Wild Rose Reader

Sarah Stevenson (aka A. Fortis) -- Finding Wonderland

Kelly Wilson -- Wilson Writes

Farida Dowler (aka Alkelda the Gleeful) -- Saints and Spinners

Pam Coughlin -- MotherReader

Camille -- BookMoot

Gregory K. -- GottaBook

Elise Murphy -- elise murphy books

Nancy Arruda -- Bees Knees Reads

Diane -- Biblio Addict

Nancy -- Booktalks Quick and Simple Blog

April Henry -- So Many Books, So Little Time

Cassie Richoux -- Bookwyrm Chrysalis

Kirby Larson

Kim Baker -- Wagging Tales

Katie -- Pixie Palace

Maureen McQuerry

Christine Fletcher

edited to add:  Non-clickable complete list of conference participants is here

CENTRAL OHIO MINI-CONFERENCE BLOGS TO WATCH

(our "logo" is supposed to say "Ohio: The Blogger State")

Karen and Bill -- Literate Lives

Stella -- My World-Mi Mundo

Kristine -- Best Book I Have Not Read

Megan -- Read, Read, Read

Franki and Mary Lee -- right here at A Year of Reading

(Did I miss anyone?  If so, don't be offended, just let me know and I'll make it right!)  

Poetry Friday -- William Stafford

I've been thinking about William Stafford all week, ever since the Stafford Fest at 7-Imp last Friday.  I'm definitely overwhelmed this week, and I'm feeling neither heroic nor wise.  Sigh. Here's hoping for the wisdom to get things right in my life.  Soon.

The Little Ways That Encourage Good Fortune

Wisdom is having things right in your life

and knowing why.

If you do not have things right in your life

you will be overwhelmed:

you may be heroic, but you will not be wise.

If you have things right in your life

but do not know why,

you are just lucky, and you will not move

in the little ways that encourage good fortune.

(read the rest here)

The round up today is at The Miss Rumphius Effect.

May you move in the little ways that encourage good fortune this coming week!

THE KINGDOM KEEPERS by Ridley Pearson

Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE Disney World. I love the whole idea of it and we have a great time every time we visit. I am not a huge fan of vacations with nothing to do so Disney is a good kind of relaxing for me. Bill at Literate Lives recommended this book and also reviewed it on his blog. It was one of those books I wasn't sure of (science fiction/fantasy is not my genre of choice) but I was hooked IMMEDIATELY!

In THE KINGDOM KEEPERS seems that the "bad guys" (the Overtakers) in Disney are trying to take over the park. It is up to Finn and his friends to save the park. They have just been hired as "hologram tour guides" and this technology adds to the fun. The whole idea is fun and very believable.

This is a great adventure. It is science fiction but not so much that it is hard to follow. The book is full of action but not so much that it takes over more of the book than the plot. And I loved that it took place in Disney World. It was fun to be able to visualize all of our favorite Disney spots throughout the book (the author did a great job of including so many of them!)

I am not usually a plot-based reader. I read for characters I love. I can't say that I loved or really even got to know the characters in this book well. But the plot was enough for me to get hooked and stay hooked. I can see that this book would appeal to lots of readers.

There is a sequel out to the book that was published this year. I have not read it but am anxious to see if it is as good as this one. I can see this working for 5th grade and older.