“Most people don't realize how important librarians are. I ran across a book recently which suggested that the peace and prosperity of a culture was solely related to how many librarians it contained. Possibly a slight overstatement. But a culture that doesn't value its librarians doesn't value ideas and without ideas, well, where are we?”
Neil Gaiman

Friday, November 11, 2011

The latest craze on magic since Harry Potter hit the stands...












The Night Circus
By Erin Morgenstern


 
















Every once in a while I read a book that is written so beautifully that I find myself stopping periodically to reread passages and ponder them for a few moments before continuing on with the story.  The last book that truly captivated me like that was Markus Zuzak’s The Book Thief.  I have yet to meet him with my special London 1st edition hardback copy for him to autograph, but I do hope to get the opportunity one day.  Two week’s ago I read another book that stopped me in my tracks multiple times over the course of my reading with its lyrical prose.  This time it was a new book by first-time author Erin Morgenstern called The Night Circus.  Erin’s magical Victorian black & white circus and fantastic array of characters has certainly captured this librarian’s heart and her book will stand proudly in my permanent collection of favorites.

The story takes place between 1873 and primarily the early 1900’s.  It follows a competition of sorts between two different teachers of magic and their chosen protégées.  All of the action pivots around Le Cirque des Reves, a sensational travelling circus that opens at dusk and closes at dawn and is dressed in a glamorous black & white theme.  At the entrance to the cirque is a custom-made black & white striped clock by a master German clockmaker.  Matching tents with unusual circus performances are built behind the clock.  Erin delivers a story rich in detail so that as you read her words you can see it, feel it, taste it, smell it… The foods are intoxicating and exotic and the sights are like no other place.  One can find a maze made of clouds, a garden made of ice, and statues that come to life.


“The woman’s skin is shimmering pale, her long black hair is tied with dozens of silver ribbons that fall over her shoulders.  Her gown is white, covered in what to Bailey looks like looping black embroidery, but as he walks closer he sees that the black marks are actually words written across the fabric.  When he is near enough to read parts of the gown, he realizes that they are love letters, inscribed in handwritten text.  Words of desire and longing wrapping around her waist, flowing down the train of her gown as it spills over the platform.
            The statue herself is still, but her hand is held out, and only then does Bailey notice the young woman with the red scarf standing in front of her, offering the love-letter clad statue a single crimson rose.”


Time skips around as the tale unfolds, each layer instilling more and more depth to the characters and the tale.  It mysteriously arrives and departs its destinations without warning adding to the magic, mystery, and wonder.  Marco and Celia, the main characters involved in the competition, are emotionally tangled as well and contrasted against the stories of young Bailey and Poppet, a secondary potential blooming romance.  The Night Circus is one of those delicious rare gems that upon closing the final page I felt nothing short of complete satisfaction.


















Book Trailers:






Saying Goodbye To My 19-Year-Old Cat



















 Dali & Me 

I find it funny when people ask if I am a “dog” person or a “cat” person.  I like both.  I like horses too.  And fish, and frogs, and lizards, and koala bears.  I held one once in Australia and it was so soft!  I’m not crazy about rodents or snakes.  The point is that, in general, I like animals and am a nurturing person.  I like having pets.  

I do have to admit that most of my pets have been cats purely because of the convenience.  My first pet cat as an adult was acquired while I was living in Japan.  My friend had three kittens, two of which were brothers left on a vet’s doorstep before their eyes were even open.  They had been bottle-fed and were about three months old.  She asked me if I wanted one of them and that is how Dali and I found each other.

Like many animals, Dali was not his initial name.  When I adopted him, his name was Ciao, but somehow the name just didn’t seem to fit.  I started making a list of possible names and tried calling him by them one by one.  The one he finally responded to in a positive manner was “Salvador Dali.”  Quirky artist, quirky owner, quirky cat.  Worked for me. 

Having been essentially raised by humans, my new little feline companion craved constant attention and was a surprisingly vocal little fellow.  I carried on long conversations with him in mostly Japanese so that I could practice.  He was “Dari-kun” and believe it or not would come to the word “oiide” (pronounced oh-ee-day).  Unfortunately, he was such a social little kitty that he seemed lonely without me when I was off teaching during the day.  I’d return from work and he would hear my heels clicking on the pavement outside my apartment.  His little head would peer from the sliding glass window, still open a bit due to the warm weather, and he would start chattering at me before I could make it up the stairs and into my apartment.  Since the official word on pets was “no pets” I decided I’d best find a solution to his loneliness.  

Robot pets being completely out of a teacher’s budget in the early 90’s, adopting a second kitten seemed my best bet.  We found Coco (Chanel) in a pet store begging to come home with us.  His adoptive sister was a beautiful mixed breed (thus making her a bargain) and completely different personality-wise, but she solved his loneliness problem and they never separated until she died of cancer a few years ago.  When she died, Dali began the same lonely talking that he used to do when I first adopted him.  He never adjusted to being a single cat without his Coco.

Dali as a kitten was adventurous and fun.  I had to cover my phone in Japan because he and Coco would play while I was at work.  For some reason, he was fascinated with my phone and I would come home to see that it had been “dialed.”  Big problem when some of your speed dials are international.  I was always afraid that one of my relatives in the States would have this mysterious message from my cat.  A large plastic bowl inverted over the phone solved that problem.  On the weekends, I used to put Dali on a kitty leash and bundle him into my backpack.  I loved riding my bike for long journeys down by the Sapporo River to this beautiful mountainside park, so I would take Dali along.  He enjoyed the rides and would often say “Ohaio” to passersby.  Such the charmer!  My little Japanese kitties made an excellent personal point to talk about with my students and they loved my stories about their antics.

When it was time for me to leave Japan, I flew back to Delaware to my parents’ home with my cats.  They lived with them while I travelled for a while.  I got letters from them and wrote letters to them.  When I returned to the States, I lived with my cats and parents before moving into an apartment of my own with them.  Dali & Coco certainly had a number of residences!  We moved back to my parents’ again before I bought a house in Wilmington where our feline family exploded.  Dali & Coco were joined by Pandora…and then Percival.   I think of all of the houses Dali & Coco lived in, they may have loved my Wilmington house best.  It was a 3 story Victorian with high ceilings and lots of sunny windows.  It was truly kitty heaven.  There were so many nooks, crooks, crannies, and hiding spots in that house.  

My house in Wilmington had a feral colony living in the backyard.  It seems that cats are attracted to bleeding hearts.  Multiple litters of kittens were born in my backyard, although I was unable to catch any save Percival and prior to moving from the house two more kittens, Buster & Cleopatra.  We did catch a few adults and take them to the Humane Society to be spayed and given shots before re-releasing.  Those with feline leukemia were euthanized so as not to spread the disease & give them a more humane death than feline leukemia.  We tried to find a home for Buster and Cleo, but it didn’t work out.  They came to live with us in Radnor.  Buster died in the first year, but Cleo is still alive today 12 years later.  My mom now has Pandora and someone else adopted Percival ultimately.

When Dali was 7, we moved to Radnor to our current carriage house.  At the time 4 indoor cats and 2 barn cats didn’t seem crazy, but it was just Kurt, Madeline and I.  Once Luke was born, the crazy set in and Percy went to live elsewhere.  Pandora soon moved on too.  Dali actually formed an interesting relationship with Cleo, our clever barn cat who is also very vocal.  She would often “converse” with him through the windows of my bedroom, the living room, or the kitchen, although they always kept a respectful distance.  Most everyone, aside from me, began calling Dali “Sal” once he moved to the States as a shortened form of Salvador.

The years continued to pass and Dali never lost his affectionate nature.  Every visitor to our household received a feline greeting, not matter their age.  When he met our friend Julio, who is Spanish, he exclaimed, “That cat, he has a moustache!”  A line forever stuck in my head…  The children adored him and he was tolerant of being picked up and groped by toddlers.  He even liked to play a game of hide and seek where he’d pretend to run off, but not make his hiding place too difficult nor resist being picked up when found. 


































 

About 3 years ago I realized his liver and kidneys were beginning to fail, but there was little I could do for him.  I changed his diet to a premium cat food and tuna and surprisingly his health took a positive turn.  He still slowed down, but not as quickly as I thought he would.  I always used to laugh about his lack of courage, particularly in relation to Coco and Cleo who were amazing hunters.  About a year and a half ago, I woke up at about 3am to what was clearly the noise of a mouse chewing something in my bedroom.  Coco would have been on the job immediately trapping that vermin.  Dali chose a different path.  He hopped a little closer to me on the bed for protection and began talking to me.  I looked at him and said, “well, if you aren’t going to try and catch it, could you at least go wake up Daddy?’  And so he did.  Unfortunately, Kurt thought he was whining for food, so I still had to get up and tell him about the vermin situation. And when the trap went off, Dali again took the passive role of alerting and seeking protection with Mom.  No way he was going near vermin!

Last winter it was clear my sweet little feline friend was nearing the end of his long life.  We went to visit my vet, and the news was that he was going senile, becoming painfully arthritic, and dying of liver and kidney disease.  Luckily humans have a choice to end animals suffering.  I left with some painkillers and spent several months saying goodbye.  In September it became apparent that Dali was in more pain and I had a decision to make.  I decided that it was unfair to continue to let him get any worse.  So we spent the morning before I let him go cuddling together on my bed, the constant companions we’d become.  And then I said a very tearful goodbye.  It has taken me months to write about him.





















 
There aren’t as many famous cat memoirs out there as dog memoirs.  The Art of Racing In the Rain, Marley & Me, and hundreds of other famous dogs have topped the bestseller lists and even made it to Hollywood, but there are a few notable books about our feline friends too.  I’ve compiled a list below for anyone seeking a memoir about kitties.

Cat Memoirs worth meowing about:

Waiting for My Cats to Die: A Memoir
By Stacy Horn

Sleeping with Cats: A Memoir
By Marge Piercy

Dewey's Nine Lives: The Legacy of the Small-Town Library Cat Who Inspired Millions
By Vicki Myron & Bret Witter

CAT COMPANIONS --- A Memoir of Loving and Learning
By Susan M. Seidman

Cats in the Belfry
By Doreen Tovey

The Cat & The Comedian
By Tyler Feneck

For the Love of a Cat: A Publisher's Story  
By David St John Thomas

Friday, September 30, 2011

Living a Life That is Full of Kindness & Generosity


White Paper Origami Peace Cranes -- Legend says that making 1000 grants you a wish come true.  Making long chains of the cranes became popular after WWII when young Sadako began making them in order to try and heal herself from radiation sickness after the atomic bombs fell on Japan.  They are now an international symbol of PEACE.



























We all leave this world the same way that we came into it – stark naked and with nothing in our hands.  In reality material wealth means absolutely nothing at all.  We will be remembered not for what we have, but for whom we have touched in life.  Those who live a life of generosity in all that they do may not amass great personal material wealth, but they will leave a lasting footprint on many hearts.  Think about how much better our world would be if everyone tried to live a life based on trying to amass greater points of kindness and generosity rather than personal wealth?  What if the bumper sticker that is so popular “he who dies with the most toys wins” were changed to “he who dies with the most random acts of kindness wins”?  Now that would be a challenge!


Famous quote by Mother Teresa at the feet of a statue of her on the famous St. Charles #1 Catholic Cemetery in New Orleans, LA.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Books From Andrea Cremer & Maggie Stiefvater


I Want To Howl At The Moon...







 




























 

With October on the horizon, I’ve been catching up on my monster lore.  Rather than feeding my vampire fetish, I’ve been sticking with wolves lately.  I finally finished up the Maggie Stiefvater trilogy about wolves and bit into Andrea Cremer’s second book in the Nightshade series, Wolfsbane.  Both were excellent and completely different takes on the werewolf myth



In Andrea Cremer’s world of wolves, evil and good spring from legends, myths, and magic deigned from messing with nature.  Calla is an alpha wolf born into her right to lead as a part of a natural world filled with magic and legend.  She struggles between her feelings for Ren and her old life and the choices she's made in following her heart.  She's faced with new facts and must decipher what is true -- the evidence before her or what she has been brought up to believe.  Quotes about virtue and vice and uncertainty are used to reflect Calla’s own turmoil in trying to decide who she is and what is the right path for her and her pack.  In this second book about the Nightshade wolves, more is revealed about the nature of Cremer’s breed of werewolves and the line between good and evil becomes even more confusing.  It is filled with adventure, romance, and promises of a very exciting conclusion in Bloodrose, the third book still to come.


Maggie Stiefvater delivers a completely different world of wolves in her trilogy starting with Shiver, moving on to Linger, and ending with Forever.  Sam and Grace have one of the most beautiful and poetic teen romances of all time.  Stiefvater writes of shy Sam sitting in the woods waiting for Grace and romantics weep at the image.  We all know a Grace who has been left to raise herself and is in essence 25-years-old by the time she is physically 15.  Sam and Grace are those old souls we know brought together and romantically linked.  Do we want every teen to be a Sam and Grace?  No.  But we cheer for Sam and Grace.  They are a modern day Romeo and Juliette, Katherine and Heathcliff, Harry and Sally… 

The wolves in Stiefvater’s story have contracted a virus that causes them to turn into wolves every winter and humans as the weather warms into spring.  Eventually they stay wolf.  As the story progresses, Sam finds a cure by contracting meningitis and is able to stay human.  Alas, Grace, who was bitten by a wolf as a child begins to bleed uncontrollably and the only way to stop it is a wolf bite thus turning her into a wolf.  Stiefvater’s theory is an interesting one, although at one point she compares it to malaria, something I found a bit dodgy.  Otherwise, I thought it was reasonably interesting.  I’d love to have my brother’s take on it since he is much better at finding fault in diseases than I am, him being an aficionado of picking apart House episodes for faulty science.  



Stiefvater has another wonderful book coming out on October 18th.  It’s called The Scorpio Races and is about waterhorses.  I picked up and advanced reader copy at ALA and once I started reading it, couldn’t put it down.  This one may very well be a contender for an award this year.  It is a wonderful story and incredibly well written.  It’s told from various characters’ points of view, the main ones being Puck and Sean.  They are on a very small island off the Irish coast and both of them have been left orphaned because their parents were killed by a capall uisce – water horse.  Sean has been left raising horses for a meager wage using his gift with the animals while Puck and her brothers have struggled to maintain the family homestead. Typical of Stiefvater’s style, this tale is almost lyrical in the way that it is told.  Her characters are strong and steadfast and her animals are heady beasts at one with nature.  This is a completely different story than her wolf series, and yet still has that deep connection between animals and humans, nature and descriptive elements that makes you feel a part of the story.  As much as I liked the wolf series, I loved The Scorpio Races.  I don’t usually make a call on Printz contenders this early in the game, but I think The Scorpio Races most definitely has the potential to be a strong Printz contender, in addition to winning other book awards.






























  





































 













Book Trailer:  The Scorpio Races

Friday, September 9, 2011

The Red Carpet Awards of ALA...Newbery, Caldecott, Wilder


One of the most fun things about ALA is going to the book award ceremonies.  My favorites are the Newbery/Caldecott Awards and the Printz Awards.  Here's my review of the Newbery/Caldecott/Wilder Award...It was a blast of a night! 

Nikki Grimes, Me, & Brian Collier






Jenni Holm & Me






Tomie dePaola & Me






Me & Rita Williams-Garcia






Erin Stead, Me, Philip Stead






Me & Joyce Sidman





















The 2011 Newbery Medal




















The 2011 Newbery Medal winner is Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool.



Listening to Clare Vanderpool give her Newbery acceptance speech was like listening to one of your best friends up on stage.  She is a heart-warming, down-to-earth public speaker.  It’s easy to imagine sitting at the local pub swapping stories with this award-winning author who has given life to a little girl named Abilene and the fictional town of Manifest. "I come from a family of optimists," she said in her Newbery acceptance speech, “Their approach to life is what gave me the wherewithal to write a book. To work hard at it. To try and try again after many attempts and many rejections. Figure it out. Make it work. Keep at it. Their confidence and their optimism allowed me to dream big and set lofty goals.”

“But even with that spirit, that optimism, that determination, I never set out to win a Newbery. I never even dreamed of it. And I have always dreamed big! Just not that big."   She went on to say, “Someone asked me recently if winning the Newbery is as wonderful as having a baby. That analogy falls a bit short, but it is like having a baby if you didn’t know you were pregnant.”

One of the things I really loved about the way that Clare delivered her speech was the comfortable down-home feeling.  One example is after she finished telling her husband the news that she had won the Newbery and, much to her amazement, found that he mirrored her excitement they walked down the street to tell her parents.  This was her paragraph of the initial encounter with her dad:
We went down the street to tell my parents. My mom cried and my dad beamed. He said, 'That is just wonderful! . . . Thunderation! . . . Hot diggity dog!" and things of that nature. Then after all that he said, "So, Mary Clare, what is the Newbery?"

Abilene has grown up during the tough times of the depression hopping from one home to another with her father.  She has been sent to spend the summer on her own in the town of Manifest.  Moon Over Manifest is an adventure-filled mystery set in the era of the Depression with a young girl trying to uncover her father’s past.  Vanderpool said she was inspired by a quote from Moby Dick "It is not down in any map; true places never are."





2011 Newbery Honor Books:












Turtle in Paradise
By Jennifer L. Holm

Another historical fiction book set in the Depression era – must be something about the current economy that has inspired these authors to look back at that particular time period and write these wonderful stories.  Turtle is a spunky young 11-year-old who is sent off to live with her mother’s sister for the summer in Key West upon learning that live-in housekeeper mama’s new employer doesn’t like kids.  When she arrives in Florida, it is a bit of a surprise to her aunt.  Turtle has essentially arrived on the doorstep with a note and a suitcase and no forewarning.  Her aunt makes the best of things and Turtle finds herself in a whirlwind of adventure adjusting to a life very different from anything she’s ever known before.  At the heart of it all she discovers the true meaning of home and family.












Heart of a Samurai 
By Margi Preus

Yet another historical fiction, this is the true story of a group of Japanese fishermen who were stranded on an island after a storm at sea.  An American vessel rescued them and the story ultimately focuses on one brave young man, Manjiro, and his dream of becoming a samurai.  It is unlikely for any man not of noble birth to become a samurai, and so the dream seems foolish, but it is one that Manjiro holds dear.  This is an incredible tale filled with adventure.  It is a part of Japanese, and American, history that I was certainly unfamiliar with despite the fact that I have lived in Japan and have had an interest in Japan for approximately two decades.  This is a beautifully written and highly entertaining account of history enjoyable for all ages.












Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night
By Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen

This book, quite simply, is a glorious celebration of nature at night.  The title and cover alone entreat with a gorgeous illustration of an owl described as a Dark Emperor.

Come feel the cool and shadowed breeze,
come smell your way among the trees,
come touch rough bark and leathered leaves:
Welcome to the night.

Welcome to the night, where mice stir and furry moths flutter.
Where snails spiral into shells as orb spiders circle in silk.
Where the roots of oak trees recover and repair from their time in the light.
Where the porcupette eats delicacies—raspberry leaves!—and coos and sings.

Come out to the cool, night wood, and buzz and hoot and howl—
but beware of the great horned owl—
for it’s wild and it’s windy way out in the woods!












One Crazy Summer
By Rita Williams-Garcia

I loved this book set in the radical 60’s.  When I was growing up, there were no books that talked about African American history.  I don’t even like calling it African American history quite frankly because I feel like at this point in history it should just plain be American history.  We ought to be beyond separating out all of the gender and race and facets of our American history and teaching a more well-rounded and accurate American history.  This wonderful historical fiction story is loaded with real American history about the Black Panther movement and much of the political unrest during the summer of 1968 in Oakland.  The story centers around three young girls, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern, who fly across the country to visit their mother for the summer.  They haven’t seen her since they were very young and she left them to go off and “find herself.”  They spend the summer slowly getting to know her despite her reluctance to accept them with open arms, and find themselves in the midst of action-packed adventures in the politically charged streets of Northern California.  Rita Williams-Garcia is not only a talented storyteller, but also a lovely human being.  When I met her at ALA it was like meeting a soul sister.  She has a huge heart and I’ve no doubt she will continue to write many, many successful books in the future. 


The 2011 Caldecott Medal

















 

The 2011 Caldecott Medal winner is  A Sick Day for Amos McGee, illustrated by Erin E. Stead, written by Philip C. Stead.

 
When Erin Stead gave her acceptance speech for the Caldecott at ALA this year, it was the most incredible, beautiful, sweet, and humble acceptance speech I think I have ever witnessed.  She literally brought a packed room to tears.  Erin is a lovely, delicate woman with a graceful self-deprecating sense of humor that few can pull off in front of a large audience.  She is desperately shy.  Before illustrating A Sick Day for Amos McGee, she had given up drawing for three years and, in fact, the original drawing that was the genesis for the book was a very small illustration of an old man, a tree, and an elephant that she drew very slowly at her kitchen table over time.  This remarkable little drawing caught the eye of her husband Phil who together with their editor and friend Neal Porter convinced her she needed to get back behind a drawing table.  In her speech she thanked them both remarking that, “It is a tremendous gift to have people in your life that know better than you.”

One tiny drawing bloomed into a wonderful, fanciful parade of friends with the help of her husband Phil who wrote a tale about a kindly old zookeeper with a case of the sniffles and his generous group of supportive animal friends who come to visit.  Erin’s softly quavering voice made us all feel like her group of supportive friends as she stated, "I am a little less fragile now and settling into my instincts with bookmaking. I am very young. I still have doubts. But they are outweighed by true friends (and maybe a heavy medal)."

Erin had wonderful things to say about books in her speech.  She is truly a fan of books, libraries, and librarians.  I particularly loved the following two quotes from her speech:

“I never grew out of picture books. I believe in them. A picture book allows a child ownership of art—even if it's just for the two weeks they check it out of the library. That book is theirs. I'm not sure any other art form replicates that feeling.”

“I am aware that e-books are changing our world of books and bookmaking. They offer convenience, but by their nature I'm not sure they can be timeless. Their selling point is that there is limitless information beyond that backlit page. But I believe there is an infinite beauty in the limitations of paper books. I don't think it can be mimicked or replaced by pixels on a screen. To me, e-books are not books. The more flash and whiz-bang we add, the more we limit the possibilities of our own imagination. Books are simple. They must be felt. The copies of my very favorite books are not pristine. They are worn and dog-eared and a little bit dirty because they are loved.”

Erin ended her speech by quoting from Margery William’s Velveteen Rabbit.  Interestingly, as she was giving the speech live, she inadvertently forgot to attribute the quote, however I don’t think a single person in the room missed where the quote was from, it was so familiar.  It is properly attributed in the formal written and published speech.  The quote fits perfectly with Erin’s own philosophy – and mine – about books in general.

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day. . ."Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real, you don't mind being hurt. . .It doesn't happen all at once. . .You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."


It's traditional for the Caldecott winner to design the evening's program, and it's always a special treat. Erin Stead's program was folded to look like a miniature book, complete with a Dewey Decimal number -- 793.2 for parties and entertainments -- on the spine. Inside the back cover, she placed an old-fashioned "date due" pocket, and filled it with "date due" cards on which the names of previous award winners were listed.















































The 2011 Caldecott Honor Books:












Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave
Illustrated by Bryan Collier
Written by Laban Carrick Hill

I am so grateful to Laban Carrick Hill for bringing this incredible piece of history to our children through this wonderful story.  What a treat it is to read this book.  And the art that Bryan Collier has further told the story with is simply breathtaking.  I have to agree with Erin Stead’s assessment of Brian Collier’s work when she stated in her acceptance speech that upon seeing one of his originals she “stood in front of it for a full ten minutes trying to decode it…” essentially saying that she was awestruck.   I can understand that.  The foldout page in Dave the Potter showing Dave’s hands working the clay makes me feel that way.  When I look at the image I can feel Dave working the clay with his hands.  I can only imagine what the original painting looks like.  I’m quite certain I would be awestruck.  I find this story and the illustrations so incredibly moving that I have suggested using it in an art lesson plan with students when they work with clay to make pottery.  It is the perfect way to combine history, literacy, poetry and writing, and art into the classroom experience. 
































Interrupting Chicken
Written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein

This is a read-aloud comedic dream of a story!  I am always one to fall for books that make me and the kids fall off the bed laughing with great comedic dialogue.  David Ezra Stein has created not only a visually adorable book, but also brilliant dialogue for kids and grown-ups alike to enjoy.  This is one of those books I’ll be tucking away into my “accent game” collection.  That’s the game Elena and I reserve for our select few favorite read-alouds with just the right dialogue for practicing all of our great accents from deep U.S. south to Cockney.  Oh the fun we’ll have with these chickens!





































Tomie dePaola
 
Author/Illustrator Tomie dePaola is the winner of the 2011 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award honoring an author or illustrator, published in the United States, whose books have made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.  Tomie has written and illustrated over 200 books for children including the very famous Strega Nona books.  His illustrations are so distinct that they are instantly recognized as “Tomie dePaola’s” by the bright colors and particular trademark lines of his people and characters.  Several of his stories are somewhat autobiographical in nature including one of my very favorites, The Art Lesson.