Friday, March 5, 2010 at 9:28AM My daughter has been in love with this little wizard puppet all week, which she inists on calling Santa. For today though, he's all mine as I work on a mid-march book deadline. More blog posts to come as we approach spring!
Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 7:24AM A pioneering study of a unique narrative form, "Words about Pictures" examines the special qualities of picture books--books intended to educate or tell stories to young children. Drawing from a number of aesthetic and literary sources, Perry Nodelman explores the ways in which the interplay of the verbal and visual aspects of picture books conveys more narrative information and stimulation than either medium could achieve alone. Moving from "baby" books, alphabet books, and word books to such well-known children's picture books as Nancy Ekholm Burkert's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," Gerald McDermott's "Arrow to the Sun," Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are," and Chris Van Allsburg's "The Garden of Abdul Gasazi," Nodelman reveals how picture-book narrative is affected by the exclusively visual information of picture-book design and illustration as well as by the relationships between pictures and their complementary texts.
books, recommended, theory in children's literature Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 10:31PM I was 11 when I saw Superman II in 1981.
Soon after I started drawing scenes and cutting out figures from construction paper to try and recreate the experience for myself. This is the animated film interpretation I made a few weeks later, with the help of my uncle, my sister and his Super8 camera. I'm so glad it still exists. There were quite a few other animated films we made that are now lost.
Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 4:53PM Here's a good summary of the many graphic novel offerings on display by publishers at ALA midwinter 2010:
Good Comics for Kids (from School Library Journal)
ala, graphicnovels, link Saturday, January 16, 2010 at 8:12AM We have some exciting additions to the portfolio coming in the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime enjoy these sketchbook pages from the early 90s when I was a student in Rome. I'll be adding more as I slowwwly scan the rest of the sketchbooks from that period.
Friday, January 15, 2010 at 6:52PM I'll be working my way through the exhibits at ALA Midwinter 2010 this weekend. Hopefully I will see some of you there, and I'll be sure to post any thoughts from the meeting early next week.
Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 3:54PM I was cleaning out some older files in my studio and came across a Madeleine L'Engle essay, Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?, that I had saved. It was probably photocopied sometime in the late 80s (gasp!). It reminded me of how much has changed in my life and daily work process over the decades. The wrinkled page corners, the slightly misplaced 3-hole punch and my askew copier placement--it flooded me with memories of the thrill of digging through journal stacks and following references in bibliographies until I dug up ever more inspiring pieces. Anyway, I sort of plopped it in my bag, and have been carrying it around for a few weeks, unread. With the holidays, and then an unwelcome visit from the flu to our house (thankfully gone), I've had a chance to sit with it.
"When I was writing The Arm of the Starfish, I would read in the afternoon to my mother and ten-year-old son what I had written during the morning. When I came to the scene where Joshua, who dared disturb the universe, is shot and killed, my son said, "Change it.""I can't", I replied. "That's what happened.""You're the author. You can change it.""But I can't," I repeated. "That's what happened."And that's how it is with story. A story has its own life. I don't control, manipulate or own it. And story has taught me that when someone is so bold as to disturb the universe, there's trouble ahead. But there's far worse trouble if we don't."
"To be alive is to be vulnerable, to be open to tears and laughter, to dare disturb when it has to be done."
