Category Archives: Author/Illustrator Spotlight

Read Aloud Thursday–illustrator spotlight

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We interrupt this unintentional (and completely unplanned) bloggy break to announce. . .

Nothing. :-)

I’m wrestling now with just getting the bare minimum done, and I’m losing. (Ever seen a 38 week pregnant woman wrestle? It ain’t pretty.:-) ) It seems like life is happening faster now than I can keep up, and several things have conspired together lately that have made blogging time practically nonexistent, and at least so far down on the list of priorities that it falls off every day. I try to catch up a little on the weekends, but this past weekend was particularly busy, with the girls participating in a music event that lasted much of the day on Saturday. Plus, we celebrated Steady Eddie’s birthday this weekend, and there is this little thing going on in our house called finding room in our three-bedroom rancher for another little body. Anyway, we have been reading, and life has been ticking along at quite a pace. It looks like I might just give birth within the next couple of weeks, too. :-) I’ll try to keep you all posted.

I pay a lot more attention now to illustrations than I did, say, ten years ago. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I have a highly visual, art-loving child, and I like to provide inspiration for her whenever I can. These two are winners for both their stories and their illustrations.

Spike, the Mixed-Up Monster by Susan Hood is actually not a book I was drawn to on first notice.  However, when I saw that Melissa Sweet is responsible for its illustrations, I had to bring it home.  Melissa Sweet just  happens to be one of my favorite illustrators, having both written and illustrated Balloons Over Broadway, which I love, and having illustrated this year’s Cybils winning nonfiction picture book, Mrs. Harkness and the Panda.  It turns out that I warmed up to the story, too, despite initial misgivings that the characters (all animals) in the story are more anthropomorphized than I like.  It’s the story of an axolotl named Spike who fails at being a monster because he’s “no bigger than a lily pad.”  The story is turned on its ear when Spike “saves” his animal friends from a scary Gila monster simply by smiling at him, something the poor Gila monster has never experienced before.  So–smiling axolotls and lonely Gila monsters.  Okay.  However, I have to say that the fact that this story is chock full of Spanish words and phrases redeems it for me a good bit, and then the addendum at the end–”More About Spike and His Amigos”–that details all kinds of interesting facts about the animals (some unusual, some common) in the book moves the book up several notches for me.  It’s one of those “catch them with the story line and then give them the hard, cold facts” tricks that I happen to like in this story.  (I don’t always like it, to be honest, but it works here.)  Melissa Sweet‘s illustrations in this story are less collage-like than I have come to expect from her work, but still whimsical and winning.  Animal loving kids or parents wishing to inject a bit of language study into their read-alouds will enjoy this one.  (Simon & Schuster, 2012)

Sleep Like a Tiger by Mary Logue gets high marks right off the bat because it won a 2013 Caldecott honor thanks to Pamela Zagarenski‘s illustrations.  I didn’t even know that Pamela Zagarenski was the illustrator when I requested this book from my library.  When Steady Eddie brought it home yesterday afternoon and I realized that she is also the illustrator of one of my favorite poetry books, Red Sings from Treetops (also a Caldecott honor book), I was sold.  (Truly–I like Red Sings from Treetops so much that I wrote about it again here.)  The story of Sleep Like a Tiger is gentle and quiet, a perfect bedtime story.  It’s about a little girl who doesn’t want to go to bed.  After completing her bedtime routine, she asks her parents if everything in the world goes to sleep.  Her parents then begin recounting how many different animals sleep:  whales “swim slowly around and around in a large circle and in the ocean and sleep”; snails “curl up like a cinnamon roll inside their shell.”  In the end, of course, the little girl grows sleepy, and the story ends with the girl subtly being compared to all the animals her parents have just told her about.  It’s cozy and warm and just altogether lovely.  Pamela Zagarenski’s illustrations are saturated, whimsical, and unusual. Like the people in Red Sings from Treetops, the people in Sleep Like a Tiger all wear crowns on their heads.  Obviously, this is a motif that Zagarenski uses frequently, and like many of the details of her illustrations, there’s probably more there than meets the eye.  You can read more about Zagarenski and her creative process (and see loads of illustrations from a few years ago) in this interview at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog.  Really, I feel ill qualified to say much about her illustrations, other than to say that I like them a lot and that hers and Melissa Sweet’s seem similar to me, with Zagarenski’s being a bit darker and more symbolic.  Check out Sleep Like a Tiger and tell me what you think!  (Houghton Mifflin, 2012)

 

So this week it’s all about award-winning illustrators at RAT.  We are reading other things, too, and I hope to have another chapter book to share next week.  If my blogging seems spotty for the next little bit, though, you’ll know why.  I hope to at least get my RAT posts prepped in advance, but we shall see.

What are you reading aloud?  This week, please just leave your link in the comments.  It appears that the account I usually use for my linky list has expired, and I need to do a bit of investigating before I decide how to proceed.

Have a terrific Thursday, friends!

 

 

Deborah Hopkinson interview, take two

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It is my privilege today to share a brief interview I conducted with author Deborah Hopkinson as a part of the blog tour for her newest picture book, Knit Your Bit.

Since this is the second time I’ve interviewed Ms. Hopkinson, I decided to focus on her newest book and another of her new titles, Annie and Helen.   (You can read the first interview here.  It provides more background.)  Enjoy!

We live close to Helen Keller’s birthplace, so we here at the House of Hope have a compelling interest in Helen Keller.  How did you become interested enough in Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller to write a book about them? 

I am often inspired by photographs, and one morning I saw a news story about a newly discovered photograph of Anne and Helen.  I sent it to Anne Schwartz, my editor, and began my research soon after.

I love the images you used in the book; they seem to capture the spirit of their relationship beautifully.  What sort of research did you do to tell Annie and Helen’s story so well?

I grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts, but actually lived in the town of Tewksbury, which is next to it, until I was four.  I became intrigued with Annie Sullivan, who was sent to a sort of work house in Tewksbury as a young girl.  When I found her letters from those first few months teaching Helen, I knew that was the story I wanted to tell – not just of Helen’s breakthrough, but how this young teacher forged her own innovative teaching methods. Annie’s letters are wonderfully detailed and descriptive, and through them you can see how inspired she was by the progress Helen was making.

 

Regarding Knit Your Bit, how did you come to write this very interesting story?  World War I era picture books are rare, at least as far as I know, so this one is a welcome addition to historical fiction collections.

Knit Your Bit also has its genesis in a photograph – in this case, a photograph of firemen of the Makiki Fire Station in Honolulu knitting in WWI.  I discovered it years ago, when I worked at the American Red Cross in Honolulu.  It was my first professional position, and part of putting together the newsletter was a focus on the history of the Red Cross in Hawai’i.  I have never forgotten that photograph, and with the anniversary of WWI approaching, I decided to do more research.  I came across the Central Park Knitting Bee of 1918 and made that the core of this very simple story.

 

By now we’ve read many of your picture books, and I’ve noticed that you have a penchant for finding little-known stories and making them come alive.  Do you go looking for stories, or do they just find you?  (I’m thinking specifically here of titles like Fannie in the Kitchen, etc.)

During school visits, I like to tell students that finding stories is a matter of having your story antennae up and ready – at all times!  I definitely go looking for stories in everything I read, hear, or experience.  I got the idea of writing Fannie in the Kitchen from a book about women inventors, Girl Wonder in a title about the history of women in baseball, Apples to Oregon from an article about the origins of the fruit industry in Oregon.

This October, my new middle grade novel, The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel will be published. I got the idea after reading an adult nonfiction book by Steven Johnson called The Ghost Map, about the 1854 cholera epidemic.  Stories are everywhere!

Do you knit?

I do knit, but NOT very well!  In fact, Mikey in my story has me beat – I stick to scarves.

Well, Ms. Hopkinson can stick to writing, as far as I’m concerned.  :-)  We’re big fans of all the books of hers that we’ve managed to get our hands on here at the House of Hope.  We also want to offer a hearty congratulations for her Titanic:  Voices from the Disaster:  it won Sibert and YALSA nonfiction honor distinctions at this year’s ALA midwinter convention.  Congratulations!

Thanks again to Deborah Hopkinson for appearing, for other stops on her Knit Your Bit Blog Tour please check www.deborahhopkinson.com.

Read Aloud Thursday–Knit Your Bit by Deborah Hopkinson

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It is with great pleasure that I share with you this Read Aloud Thursday Deborah Hopkinson‘s newest picture book, Knit Your Bit: A World War I Story.  We have long been fans of Hopkinson’s work here at Hope Is the Word, so when this opportunity presented itself to get a sneak peek at her latest work of picture fiction, I jumped at it.  Knit Your Bit is the story of Mikey, a little boy who is left behind at home when his father goes to be a soldier in World War I, and he longs to go with his dad.  His dad, however, admonishes him that “it takes just as much courage to stay behind,” and in the coming days, Mikey learns how this is true.  When his mom encourages him to take up knitting socks for the boys at the front, Mikey refuses.  That is, he refuses until his teacher announces a knitting bee at school, and the girls dare the scoffing boys to participate.  There is a Red Cross campaign to “Knit Your Bit” to provide “sox” for the men at the front, and so Mikey and his friends decide to give it a try.  While none of the boys is exactly successful, Mikey does manage to finish one whole sock during the knitting bee.  Most importantly, he learned the importance of doing something out of his comfort zone and something sacrificial to help someone else.  The story has a surprisingly touching ending which I won’t ruin by giving away here.  Steven Guarnaccia‘s illustrations are large, cartoonish, and colorful, which helps to lighten the somber subject matter a bit for the intended audience.  We all enjoyed this story a lot, and I was particularly glad to share a World War I era story with my girls since those seem to be less plentiful that stories set during other wars.  Today is the release date for Knit Your Bit, and I am grateful to Provato Marketing for providing us with a pre-publication copy to enjoy.  (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2013)

I interviewed Deborah Hopkinson back in 2011, and tomorrow I’ll be sharing a short interview I conducted with her recently regarding Knit Your Bit and Annie and Helen.  Be sure to visit Hope Is the Word again tomorrow for more about these great picture books!  Check out Deborah’s blog for more stops on the blog tour.

Other historical fiction picture books by Deborah Hopkinson I’ve reviewed:

So tell me–what have you been reading aloud with your family this week?



Read Aloud Thursday–books by Helen Lester

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The books I’m sharing today are ones which my children like better than I do.  While I do read them aloud and actually sought out most of these titles myself, I like to think my taste has been refined since I first discovered Helen Lester‘s books some ten years ago.  I’m not trying to be too high-falutin’;  I am just a bit uncomfortable now with books that obviously have an agenda.  Still, these are funny, if you read them just right. 

Princess Penelope’s Parrot is actually the book that started this Helen Lester marathon.  We checked it out from the library and read it months (a year?) ago, and then suddenly one day a few weeks ago Louise expressed an uncontrollable desire to find this book and read it again.  This one is about a very spoiled and generally insufferable little girl who gets her comeuppance when her talking parrot repeats to Prince Percival, the young royal on whom she has already set her matrimonial sights, all the nasty things he has heard her say.  If you don’t mind a parrot screeching epithets and a snot of a little girl who may or may not have learned her lesson in the end, you’ll like this one.  ;-) (Houghton Mifflin, 1996)

A big bully in the form of a formidable female capybara?  Check. An underdog in the extreme in the form of short, squatty little rat with a speech impediment?  Check two.  This one’s probably my favorite, just because it’s fun to read the back-and-forth between a big blowhard in a short pink dress and sporting a big floppy bow between her ears and a little rat who’s too timid to come out from under his hoodie and who pronounces all his r‘s as w‘s.  In the end, Camilla Capybara, a bit of a dim bulb, gets her comeuppance through a game of Simon Says (er, Wodney Says) gone terribly awry.  Funny.  (Houghton Mifflin, 1999)

 

Something Might Happen is the story of a scaredy-cat lemur named Twitchly Fidget (Lester is a master at funny names!) who is frightened into inaction due to what might possibly happen.  Someday.  For example, he is a afraid to use shampoo because, well, what if he can’t rinse the suds out of his hair and the birds think his head is a bubblebath and won’t leave?  What if?  What if he puts his sneakers on the wrong feet and his to walk with his legs crossed forever?  Hmm?  Well, nothing fixes a worried lemur like his no-nonsense Aunt Briget Fidget.  Aunt Bridget simply makes him do the things he’s terrified of–face his fears head on and Just Do It.  I like the message in this one.  (Houghton Mifflin, 2003)

The last title reminds me of this Bob Newhart skit.  :-) [Disclaimer:  I'm not making light of problems people have--I'm really not.  This is just funny!] 

Helen Lester has written a lot of books, and as far as I can tell, Lynn Munsinger has captured the kooky, message-laden spirit of every one of them very, very well. 

I’m linking this post up rather belatedly to this month’s Kids’ Picks round-up at 5 Minutes for Books, since I’m blaming my kids for our affinity for these touchy-feely titles.  ;-)



May 2012 Carnival of Children’s Literature

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It is my pleasure this month to host the Carnival of Children’s Literature.  I wish I had time to leave comments on every one of these posts; I have had a fabulous time reading through them and have discovered many, many great new-to-me blogs. 

Early Literacy

Fiction

Poetry

Nonfiction

Illustration

 Interviews

Book Projects

 That’s a lot o’ good reading!  Enjoy!

Next month’s Carnival of Children’s Literature will be hosted by Reading, Writing, and the World of Words.   Visit the Carnival of Children’s Literature blog for more information about how to participate.

Read Aloud Thursday–Russell Hoban’s Frances stories

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 I haven’t highlighted an author or illustrator properly in a long time, and I’ve been wanting to pull Russell Hoban’s Frances books out and take a better look at them.  These two desires, then, are converging in today’s Read Aloud Thursday.  I am anything but a Russell Hoban expert; in fact, I first met him and his most beloved creation, Frances, when I was in graduate school to become a school media specialist.  I’ve recounted before how my beloved children’s literature professor read Frances to perfection.  I’ll never forget Dr. Atkinson reading one of Frances’ sad little songs in a lilting, sing-song voice.  I could hear Frances in her tones and timbre.  At the age of twenty-seven, I was hooked. 

Some ten-plus years and three children later, I appreciate Frances even more.  Life with little children can be difficult, no doubt about it. 
They have an agenda, and sometimes we don’t even have an inkling what it is.  Other times we do have an idea, but their desires and goals don’t always mesh with ours.  Like Frances, they want bread and jam when what we offer is a hardboiled egg.  Actually,though, for me the real stars of the stories are Frances’ parents.  I admire them so for their calm, their wit, and their patient forbearance: Frances gets out of bed a total of six times before finally settling down to sleep in Bedtime for Frances.  Father finally does issue an ultimatum, but that’s after he and the longsuffering Mrs. Badger (do they have a last name?) have

  • given Frances a glass of milk
  • carried Frances piggyback-style to bed (Father)
  • kissed Frances three times
  • given Frances her teddy bear (Father) and doll (Mother)
  • opened Frances’ door
  • reassured Frances that the tiger in her room is a friendly tiger
  • denied Frances the privilege of watching TV
  • given Frances a piece of cake
  • advised Frances how to deal with the giant in her room
  • checked on a crack in the ceiling in Frances’ bedroom whiles she brushes her teeth (this, after having been sent to bed with apparently dirty teeth three times)
  • advised Frances how to deal with the crack in her room, the possible home of many scary creatures
  • been awakened from a dead sleep by Frances staring at him (Father)
  •  advised Frances why the curtains in her room are blowing
  • sent Frances back to her bedroom four times.

While there’s no denying that Frances is anything but obedient, there’s also no denying that this scenario is entirely realistic.  I can see it happening at our house, though to be honest neither Steady Eddie nor I am as longsuffering as Frances’ parents.  Still, it’s a such a pithy, true vignette that I love reading it.  It tickles me.  


Russell Hoban wrote five Frances stories, with a sixth, Egg Thoughts and Frances Songs, being a collection of previously unrecorded songs (save the one delightful egg song) that Frances composed about her life.  Apparently this one is out of print, and I’d give a stack of Boxcar Childrens to own a copy.  Russell Hoban‘s first wife (whom he eventually divorced), Lillian Hoban, was the illustrator responsible for the very expressive badgers in five of the six books; Garth Williams (yes, the same one you’re thinking of) illustrated Bedtime for Frances.  Another notable thing about Russell Hoban is that he is the brother of the author/illustrator Tana Hoban. (I wrote about a few of her books here.) 

I love reading aloud to my children.  I love sharing books I personally enjoy with them.  When the two converge–perfection! 

Which author’s books do you particularly enjoy reading aloud to your children?

Related links:

Bonny Becker interview

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Have you read A Visitor for Bearby Bonny Becker and its sequels?  If you haven’t, get thee to the library and check out this delightful picture book series, and then come back here and read my interview. :-)

No, really–they’re that good.  (You can read my review of the first book here.  It even made my Best Picture Books list!)

I have had the distinct privilege of interviewing Bonny Becker, author of these delightful stories as well as a few others, and I’m sharing that interview with you today.  Enjoy! 

Hi, Bonny! I am thrilled to be interviewing you for my blog and its readers. Really,
though, I’m most thrilled for myself and the fact that I am actually “talking” to the author of a book that my girls (who are 5-almost-6 and 7) adore and that I love reading aloud as much as they love listening to it. Really, A Visitor for Bear could never get old at the House of Hope! Can you tell us a little bit about your journey to becoming a published author? How did you get started?

I always wanted to be a writer, but I figured writers were distant, magical creatures. I didn’t really take the idea seriously until I was an adult and realized I wasn’t cut out to be psychologist despite my psychology degree. Besides there wasn’t anything else I wanted more! I started out as a newspaper reporter, but wrote fiction, too. Eventually focused on children’s writing. I joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and got into a critique group
and began to submit my own work. It took about five years to get my first book accepted.

 The thing that I love about A Visitor for Bear (and the other Mouse and Bear titles) is
how you captured their voices so perfectly. I mean, Bear uses the word “BEGONE!” How much more perfect could it get? And the descriptive refrain throughout the book, that Mouse is “small and gray and bright-eyed”!—I’m not sure what could’ve set the tone for the story and captured the essence of the indefatigable Mouse any better. Can you explain a little bit about how these characters came to be and how you developed their characters so well, even though a picture book is a limited medium?

It started with Mouse. I was thinking about how some people seem to have the same problem show up again and again in their lives. You know, the names and faces might change, but
somehow they always end up with the same bad boss or the same bad boyfriend. Being a writer, the metaphor of a mouse who won’t go away popped into my head. I knew it would be really fun to work with that. I just knew this mouse would bug the heck out of someone and I set out to find the right character for Mouse to torment. After running through some ideas—a lion, an elephant, a human—a bear came to mind. The voices came very quickly and naturally. I’ve always loved English literature, so Mouse ended up with a bit of Brit in him. And it seemed the slap-stick element would be funnier, if Bear was rather dignified. That must be where he grandiose vocabulary began. But truly the voices just came out that way.

 Kady MacDonald Denton’s illustrations are so perfect for your text, it’s almost as if
the writer and illustrator are the same person. Did you get to play any part in the illustrating process?

Very little. Candlewick is better than many publishers. They did run some suggestions by me, but they were already thinking along the same lines I was which was someone with a fairly
classic style. When I saw Kady’s early sketches I knew I was in great good luck. She was perfect! It was just one of those very fortunate match-ups. The credit really goes to Candlewick
for that.

Can you tell us a little bit about your writing process?

I hesitate to say this because I know it’s better for most writers to NOT write like I do. I’m one of those writers who does a lot of reworking as I go along rather than cranking at that bad first
draft. So I’m slow and sometimes I run into trouble with my middle-grades because the ending doesn’t match up and I’ve spent a lot of time getting there. With my picture books I do tend to write the first draft in one big burst—but then it may take months to fully polish it.

What does a typical work day look like for you?

I teach writing for children at the Northwest Institute of the Arts which is one of the only (perhaps the only?) accredited Masters of Fine arts programs in the U.S. that is not associated
with a college or university. It’s a low-residency program, meaning most of it is done on-line, so I spend part of my day doing that. I also spend time on marketing or incidental activities related to writing like planning a presentation or answering e-mails. Again, I’m not a good example,
because I don’t write every day. In fact, long periods of time can go by before an idea grabs me. Even once I get focused and know I’m going to finish a project, I may only work on it a few days a week. I hate to confess this, because I’m sure it’s not very productive, but I’ve finally had to face the fact that this is the way I work!

We are in the middle of reading My Brother, the Robot as a read-aloud. Do you have
any plans for more chapter books? What about more Mouse and Bear books?

Yes! I’m working on a new one right now. And, I have two other middle grades out there: “Holbrook: A Lizard’s Tale” and “The Magical Ms. Plum,” which recently won the Washington State children’s book award.

 Who is your favorite children’s author? Children’s illustrator?

That’s always a hard question for me because I like so many! But I guess E.B. White or William Steig for author. Illustrator? Can I cheat and say Kady MacDonald Denton?

Thank you, Bonny, for your time. We are looking forward to whatever the future holds for Bonny Becker, the creator of Mouse and Bear!

 For more about Bonny Becker, check out her website!  Her latest book in the Mouse and Bear series is entitled The Sniffles for Bear and was published earlier this year and is a nominee in the fiction picture book category of the Cybils.  I must get my hands on it!  :-)

Thanks again to Bonny Becker for appearing, courtesy of Provato Marketing, for other stops on the tour please check www.provatoevents.com.

Leslie Patricelli interview

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Somehow I missed out on Leslie Patricelli’s genius when the girls were toddlers.  I filed Alice’s enthusiastic review of a trio of Patricelli board books away in my (very faulty) memory, meaning to pick up a few of them for the DLM.  Then I was contacted by Provato Marketing with the opportunity to interview Ms. Patricelli, and my memory was jolted.  Of course I wanted to interview her!  Then I began searching in earnest for a book or two by Patricelli to share with the DLM; I mean, I couldn’t very well interview her if I had never read one of her books myself, could I?  Believe it or not, none of my local libraries that I searched own any of her books.  This is somewhat understandable, I guess, given that many (most?  all?) of her books are published as board books and not all libraries carry those.  Then I went to Target, thinking I had seen some of her stuff there.  Nope.  Nothing.  I finally went to our only local bookstore, a small chain store currently in its, and I quote, “transitional location” while awaiting a brand new building.  I don’t know if it’s because they’re in a smaller space, but I could only find one copy of one her books in all the board books they had for sale.  I say all of that not at all to denigrate Ms. Patricelli’s books–quite the contrary, actually.  I love her fun little books, and I think that the fact that they’re somewhat hard to come by in my neck o’ the woods is a shame.  Anyway, I ended up with Quiet LOUD, and I love it, the DLM loves it, and most surprisingly, my little-big-girl who’s almost six LOVES it.  I think it has to be read with just the right attitude and voice inflection–I mean, how could you not rare back and let ‘er rip on the loud words with illustrations like that?

My interview with Ms. Patricelli, conducted via email, is the most fun interview I’ve had yet.  I hope you enjoy it!

Hope Is the Word: Hi, Leslie! I am really excited about this opportunity to interview you! I have to admit that I’m new to the world of your terrific little board books, but I rectified the situation by by going out and purchasing a copy of Quiet LOUD and sharing it with my sixteen month old son. It was a hit, and my five year old daughter couldn’t resist it, either. (I should’ve listened long ago when I read such great recommendations of your books by some of my bloggy friends!) I think surely that you must be inspired by living in a household of active children. Just how did you get started writing these wonderful baby
and toddler books?

Hi, Thank you for the interview!

I wrote Yummy Yucky when my son, Beck, who is now twelve, was just one and sticking everything in his mouth. I kept following him around saying, “Yucky!” I also heard myself
saying, “Yummy!” when I was trying to get him to eat his mashed sweet potatoes or smooshed up peas! I walked around with the book idea in my head for a few months and when I finally had a little time (on vacation!) I sat down and sketched the whole thing out. Many of those original sketches made their way into the final book. On the same vacation, I decided to try a few more opposite books. Eventually, I sketched out Quiet LOUD and Big Little to go along with Yummy Yucky. I submitted the board books as a trio and – lucky me – Candlewick Press picked them up!

And that is making a long story short, because I had wanted to be a children’s book author long before I had children. But for me, it took having a child to observe to make my ideas relevant.

Hope Is the Word: Although writing a book and having it published has to be one of the most gratifying of all accomplishments, I have to think that having a book published that you both wrote and illustrated might just bump the satisfaction level up a notch. Tell us about your artistic background. Obviously, picture books are just as dependent on the illustrations as the text, so did the writing come first for you or the drawing?

My artistic background started when I could hold a pencil! I have enjoyed drawing, and especially making myself and other people laugh with my drawings, for as long as I can remember. I always had a knack for seeing things in a funny way and drawing cartoons. My school notes were covered with illustrations. One time in college I got a taste of fame when my geology teacher added a drawing that I had done on the back of test into his next lecture. It was a drawing of a “rock exposure”. I drew a rock holding open it’s overcoat, exposing itself. The entire lecture hall laughed, which I thoroughly enjoyed!

Hope Is the Word: What is the writing process like for you?

It varies from book to book, but the best part for me is always when I start laying down the idea for the first time. I love the feeling of taking an idea from my head and developing it, whether it’s through drawing or writing, and whether it’s done in pencil in my sketchbook or in a word processor in my computer.

My simple board books are usually created in a sketching frenzy mixing really bad drawings and equally bad writing in my sketchbook. But when I look through it later, I can find some gems. I compile those and go from there. When I work on a more wordy book, such as my latest book, Be Quiet, Mike!, which is my first rhyming book about a monkey who is born to drum, I start out writing then do the illustrations to fit the story. I like working both ways – writing first, or drawing first. However it happens is fine with me – as long as something happens!

Hope Is the Word: Tell us about a typical day of work for you. How do you manage a busy household of three children, a husband, and several pets in addition to your work? (I’ve been looking at your website!)

Manage is not really the word I would use. More like survive! I work when my kids are at school usually. When it’s deadline time, I work all the time. No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to avoid the crunch at the end of a book. Once I start doing the paintings, the rest of my life falls by the wayside! Luckily, my husband works from home, too, so he takes over when I can’t. And my kids are old enough now that they can not only take
care of themselves, but help me with my job, too!

Hope Is the Word: I noticed that your newest book is about puppies. Do you plan to continue your baby books, or will you continue to branch out into more subjects and characters?

Actually, the book you are referring to is The Patterson Puppies and the Rainy Day Beach Party, which I am very proud of, but I have had several books come out since then,
including The Patterson Puppies and the Midnight  Monster Party, and my board books, Tubby and Potty. (My website is unfortunately four books behind, but I’m working on that!) For more up to date information on my books, please become a fan on
Facebook!

My newest book, which I mentioned before, is Be Quiet, Mike!, about a monkey drummer. Be Quiet, Mike! is based on my own experience of living with two drummers. My husband, Jason, is a drummer by profession, and my son, Beck, was pretty much
born drumming – just like Mike. Many of the situations in the book where Mike is making noise with objects came directly from experience with my son. My favorite is Mike’s “Binky Beat” which my son did one day in the car when he was two. I have the video of Beck’s Binky Beat up on YouTube. Check it out!

Besides being a fun book to read and getting kids shouting “Be Quiet!” really loudly, Monkey Mikes inventiveness in the story will hopefully inspire kids to follow their passion and use their creativity to do so.

Also … ‘Be Quiet, Mike!’ has a song to go with the text! The song was composed by Caspar Babypants (aka Chris Ballew, the lead singer of the Presidents of the United States of America), and my husband, Jason Vontver. Caspar Babypants lends his kid-
friendly voice to bring the text alive, and my husband mirrors Mike’s drum sounds on drums and anything else he can make noise with. The song is available on iTunes and
Amazon.com.

My studio is downstairs in our house in what should be a big rec room for our kids, but instead is half music studio, half art studio. In other words, the drums are right next to me while I’m working! I can often be found working in industrial earmuffs to protect my ears!

Hope Is the Word: Do you have plans to write books in any other genres?

Yes, I do. I am working on my first middle-grade novel. The working title is, Barf! And Other Rizzling Tales. It’s about a girl named Lily and her experience moving to a new school in fourth grade, meeting her new best friend, and their many misadventures together. It’s based on my own fourth grade experience so I am having a blast remember and re-imagining one of my favorite years in school. Also, I have a book coming out this spring that is a follow up to my book Higher! Higher!
. The new book is called Faster! Faster! and instead of being pushed on a swing by her Daddy and going higher and higher, the little girl is riding on her daddy’s back and going faster and faster! There are lots of exciting animals – it was my favorite book to paint so far!

Hope Is the Word: Who is your favorite children’s author? Children’s illustrator?

Sometimes people comment that it’s hard to find a good picture book and say things like, “There’s so much junk out there.” I have no idea what they are talking about! I think there are so many good books to choose from, with so many incredible illustrators, I find myself drooling as I walk through the children’s section of a bookstore! Really, there are amazing books for children, some of them are great stories, some are works of art and most are both. And to make a long answer short, I have way too many favorite authors and illustrators to answer that question!

Hope Is the Word: Thank you so much, Leslie, for taking the time to answer my questions! Your books are definitely at the top of my baby boy’s Christmas wish list!

You’re welcome! Thanks for the interview!

Thanks again to Leslie Patricelli for appearing, courtesy of Provato Marketing, and for other stops on the tour please check www.provatoevents.com.

 

 

Deborah Hopkinson interview

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I am very honored to present an interview of Deborah Hopkinson, author of such House of Hope favorites as Apples to Oregon and Fannie in the Kitchen, here today.  Ms. Hopkinson has a number of other books to her credit, including

  • The Humblebee Hunter
  • First Family
  • Stagecoach Sal
  • Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek
  • John Addams Speaks for Freedom
  • Shutting Out the Sky 

 

Ms. Hopkinson and I chatted via email, and I am happy to share our conversation here with you today!

Hi, Deborah!  I am so happy to have this opportunity to interview you because you are one of my favorite writers of historical fiction for kids.  (And no, I don’t say that to all the authors I interview!)  My girls, who are now 7 and almost 6, first read Apples to Oregon two years ago when they were only 5 and 3, and we loved it, even then.  We’ve since read Fannie in the Kitchen, which inspired us to make our own Fannie Farmer pancakes, and most recently, Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek, which not only captivated me and my girls, but also my parents, who were visiting.  Well, I could go on and on about how much we’ve enjoyed all of your books that we’ve read, but I won’t.

Instead, I’ll ask you the standards first interview question:  how did you get started writing?

I loved books as a girl and always wanted to be a writer, but it wasn’t until I had a baby myself and discovered picture books that I thought that perhaps as a working mom I could try something short.  Writing a long novel just seemed too daunting!  It took me a couple of years to sell my first magazine story and about four years to sell my first picture book, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt.

You seem to have a real passion for history.  In Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek, you address the issue of historiography in such a way that it’s accessible even to young children.  I love that!

Can you tell a little bit more about your background that shaped this passion?

I was never a history major in school, but I was always interested in women’s history.  My undergraduate degree is in English and my master’s is in Asian Studies, with a history minor.  But it wasn’t really until I began interested myself in writing about women in history that I realized how much I loved research.  (Well, I can say that I did a 30-page term paper in 6th grade on the history of horse racing, so perhaps the seeds were there all along!)  The more I have written about history, the more fascinated I have become.

I think the artistic collaboration between you and John Hendrix in Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek is brilliant! Obviously, you were very involved in the illustrating process for this book.  How did this work?

Actually, I was not at all involved in the process.  The words that you see in the text –  where the author actually speaks to the illustrator, were completely set before the artist got the manuscript.  John Hendrix then worked with editor Anne Schwartz and art designer Lee Wade on translating this “metafictive” text into a picture book.

I read on your website that you have a full-time career in addition to writing.  How do you manage to balance all the demands on your time?

Yes, I have always worked in philanthropy and am presently vice president for advancement for Pacific Northwest College of Art, raising funds for a college of art and design as well as a crafts museum in Portland, OR.  It would be great to write full time but that is harder than ever to make work these days.  So, like many people, I work a lot!

What does a typical writing day look like for you?

Normally I can write only on weekends. I usually get to the gym for a 7am or 8am class on Saturdays, hit the grocery store, then get on my computer for the rest of the day.  Sundays are a repeat.

I haven’t had the opportunity to read every one of your books, so I might be wrong about this, but I think all of your historical fiction is of the picture book variety. Do you have any plans to write a longer work of historical fiction?

Actually, I have written longer works.  I’ve published three longer nonfiction works (Shutting out the Sky, Up Before Daybreak and Titanic: Voices from the Disaster, which will be published in March.  I have also published two previous longer works of historical fiction: Dear America: Hear My Sorrow, and a middle grade novel entitled Into the Firestorm, A Novel of San Francisco, 1906.  I have two ready for chapters series for young readers, Prairie Skies and The Klondike Kid of three books each, geared for about 2nd grade readers.  These latter are available as e-books if you are unable to find print versions.

As it happens, the book I am now working on is a middle grade novel entitled A Trail of Coffins, set in London about John Snow and the cholera epidemic of 1854. I’m a great fan of Dickens (which is why I am so excited about the publication of A Boy Called Dickens in January 2012, and I am excited to be working in this time period.

Who is your favorite author of children’s literature?  Illustrator?

Well, I have many favorite authors and books so it is hard to choose one.  I am a great fan of Debbie Wiles, Suzanne Collins, Christopher Paul Curtis, Lois Lowry and Gary Schmidt.  I have been really fortunate to have wonderful illustrators for my books, including Nancy Carpenter, Jen Corace, John Hendrix (who illustrated both my ABE and Dickens books) Carson Ellis, and Raul Colon (who will be illustrating Annie and Helen in 2012), and James Ransome.

Thank you so much, Ms. Hopkinson, for taking time to answer my questions!  Although I could’ve been better prepared (obviously!), I always enjoy the opportunity to chat with the authors who inspire me and my children so much!  I am most excited about her new book about Charles Dickens that is coming out in early 2012.  Be sure to check back here tomorrow; I’ll be reviewing some of Ms. Hopkinson’s books for Read Aloud Thursday!

Thanks again to Deborah Hopkinson for appearing, courtesy of Provato Marketing, for other stops on the tour please check www.provatoevents.com.

 

 

 

 

 

Read Aloud Thursday–Picture Book Biographies by David A. Adler

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Whew!  This summer is zipping right by, isn’t it?  My girls have been taking daily swimming lessons this week, so I’ve spent a lot of time poolside, mostly trying to occupy the DLM and wishing I could take a dip myself.  :-)   The girls are in different classes, so we’ve actually been doing a bit of reading while we wait, too. 
It struck me yesterday that it’s probably sort of odd that Louise’s book-of-choice as we sat in what little shade we could find at the pool and tried to stay cool was a picture biography of Thomas Jefferson.  Not exactly a “beach read,” huh?  What can I say?  We’re eclectic in our taste in books! 

The biographies we’ve been enjoying–David A. Adler’s Picture Book biography series– are the perfect introduction to historical figures, especially for young elementary-aged students.  Each picture book gives a nice summary of the person’s entire life, from birth to death, in the requisite thirty-or-so pages.  The tone is straightforward and informational; reading one of these books is like reading an encyclopedia article in a children’s encyclopedia.  In other words, the strength of these biographies is not in a beautiful turn-of-phrase, but rather in the predictability of the series.  It’s mostly a “just the facts, ma’am,” approach that I think works well, especially as an introduction.  Most of the titles we’ve enjoyed have been illustrated by the same illustrators, John and Alexandra Wallner or Dan Brown, so this is has helped make the format even more predictable (and enjoyable) for my five-year-old history buff.  Adler has written over thirty of these biographies:

A PICTURE BOOK OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN                                 A PICTURE BOOK OF GEORGE WASHINGTON
A PICTURE BOOK OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
A PICTURE BOOK OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
A PICTURE BOOK OF THOMAS JEFFERSON
A PICTURE BOOK OF HELEN KELLER
A PICTURE BOOK OF ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
A PICTURE BOOK OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
A PICTURE BOOK OF JOHN F. KENNEDY                                      A PICTURE BOOK OF HARRIET TUBMAN
A PICTURE BOOK OF SIMON BOLIVAR
A PICTURE BOOK OF FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
A PICTURE BOOK OF JESSE OWENS
A PICTURE BOOK OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS
A PICTURE BOOK OF ROSA PARKS
A PICTURE BOOK OF SITTING BULL
A PICTURE BOOK OF ROBERT E. LEE
A PICTURE BOOK OF SOJOURNER TRUTH
A PICTURE BOOK OF JACKIE ROBINSON
A PICTURE BOOK OF PAUL REVERE
A PICTURE BOOK OF PATRICK HENRY
A PICTURE BOOK OF DAVY CROCKETT
A PICTURE BOOK OF THOMAS EDISON                                         A PICTURE BOOK OF LOUIS BRAILLE
A PICTURE BOOK OF THURGOOD MARSHALL
A PICTURE BOOK OF AMELIA EARHART
A PICTURE BOOK OF GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER
A PICTURE BOOK OF SACAGAWEA
A PICTURE BOOK OF DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER 
A PICTURE BOOK OF LEWIS AND CLARK
A PICTURE BOOK OF HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
A PICTURE BOOK OF SAM ADAMS (with Michael S. Adler) 
A PICTURE BOOK OF JOHN HANCOCK (with Michael S. Adler) 
A PICTURE BOOK OF JAMES AND DOLLY MADISON (with M. S. Adler)

(I copied the list from David A. Adler’s website.)

It seems to me that as we progress in our studies, these books would be great ones to use for outlining practice.  (This, of course, is in the distant-but-soon-approaching future.)   Obviously, they’re winners how ever we use them. 

This isn’t the first time we’ve enjoyed books from this series, actually–we read Adler‘s picture biography of Louis Braille when we studied Helen Keller.  However, for some reason, it did not occur to me that this David A. Adler is the same David A. Adler who writes the Cam Jansen books of which Lulu is so fond.  I’m just dense sometimes–I think because the books are so different, I just didn’t associate them at all.  David A. Adler is quite the prolific author! 

Favorite Resource This WeekI will be linking this post up to a couple of carnivals/memes/whatchamacallits in the next few days.  Favorite Resource This Week is hosted by learning ALL the time, and a new linky list goes up each Friday.  Nonfiction Monday will be hosted this coming Monday by Geo Librarian. 

Has anything unexpected caught the attention of you and your children this summer?  Please share what you’re enjoying together as a family by linking to your own Read Aloud Thursday post in the comments, or simply by telling us all about it there.  Come back tomorrow for a list of all the RAT links!

Happy Read Aloud Thursday!