by Stacy
Cathy tagged me to join in the Book Love Blog Hop.
Carrie Finison created A Book Love Blog Hop. It’s a wonderful idea and a great reminder to show books some extra love.
BOOK LOVE Blog Hop Instructions
1. Pick some books you love (any genre) that you think deserve more attention than they are getting. (As much as I love The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle does not need my help to sell more copies! I’ve tried to choose books I thought needed a little boost, or ones I love that no one else seems to have heard of.)
2. Post reviews for the books you chose on Amazon/social media. The reviews can be brief – even a short review on Amazon helps. Posting on Goodreads or Shelfari is great, too, or Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. The more places you can publicly proclaim your love, the better!
3. If you want, you can also post the reviews on your own blog, or link your blog back to your reviews on social media.
4. Feel free to display the BOOK LOVE badge on your blog – and if you want, link it back to this post so your visitors know what it’s all about.
5. Tag some friends to do the same! Tag friends through their blogs, or on Facebook. (I won’t tag anyone. Can you tell I’m the kid, who broke a chain letter? I do encourage you to consider adding a review when you love a book, especially one by a new author.)
Here are three picture books I plan to promote for the Book Love Blog Hop:
The Sock Thief by Ana Crespo and Illustrated by Nana Gonzales
From author’s website: Felipe doesn’t have a soccer ball. So, when it’s his turn to take one to school, he uses a little bit of creativity…and a few socks. Felipe is the sock thief, but finding socks is not that easy and the neighborhood pets make it even harder. “Au, au, au!” a dog barks in Portuguese. Along the way, Felipe leaves delicious mangoes in exchange for the socks he steals. After he swipes each pair, he twists and turns them into an ever-growing soccer ball.
This is a delightful book. I like naughty characters, so Felipe and I get along just grand! The book is also a great introduction to another culture. Felipe is in Brazil and the author’s note page includes Portuguese.
Gordon Parks How the Photographer Captured Black and White America by Carole Boston Weatherford and Illustrated by Jamey Christoph
I read this book after Ana Crespo recommended it as a mentor text for a story I am revising. My manuscript is a completely different subject, but I fell in love with Gordon Parks’ story. (I read the book the day I wrote this post. I’ve read it three times already.)
Here’s the book description from Amazon: “Gordon Parks is most famous for being the first black director in Hollywood. But before he made movies and wrote books, he was a poor African American looking for work. When he bought a camera, his life changed forever. He taught himself how to take pictures and before long, people noticed.”
Augie to Zebra: An Alphabet Book! by Caspar Babypants and Illustrator Kate Endle
I shared Augie to Zebra via a Perfect Picture Book Friday post, but I don’t think I did more to promote it. I found this book during my last February research of dozens of ABC books. In my post, I said: “This one stood out for its simple text and lovely collage illustrations.” Augie to Zebra remains one of my favorite ABC books, so why not shout it to the world. The book jacket says it “illustrates the diversity of people and names.”
I hope you all see a lot of book love in February.
by Stacy
Here’s my Perfect Picture Book Friday choice:
Windblown
Written and Illustrated by Édouard Manceau
Translated by Sarah Quinn
OwlKids, North American Edition, 2013
First published in France in 2011 a Merci, le vent!
Fiction
Suitable for: Ages 3-7
Themes: Animals, Shapes, Imagination, Weather
Opening Lines: One tiny scrap of paper …
{Next double spread} Look, there’s another!
Synopsis: From the jacket — Colorful and oddly shaped scraps of paper blow in the wind. One by one, they take shape, transforming into animals — each one with its own story to tell. The wind has its own ideas about where they came from and what they mean. What do you think?
Link to Resources: Owl Kids Books has the shapes from Windblown on its website. So, you can create your own animals or make the ones in the book. You can also find scraps of paper and create your own animals.
Why I like this book: I randomly spotted this at the library before a meeting.
The cover is simple. The beginning hooked me. I wanted to see how this would unfold. A variety of animals begin to claim the scraps of paper until the wind takes credit and blows the shapes to the reader.
For author and illustrators, you may want to visit Édouard Manceau’s blog. He has some videos on his site. If you speak French or can figure out how to translate his blog.
Find more PPBF at Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog.
Next week, I hope to have my Halloweensie entry completed to post.
by Stacy
Here’s my Perfect Picture Book Friday choice:
The Book With No Pictures
Written by B.J. Novak
Dial Books for Young Readers, 2014
Fiction, 48 pages
Suitable for: ages preschool and up (Publisher says 6-8)
Themes: Imagination, Reading, Jokes
Opening Lines: This is a book with no pictures.
Synopsis (from jacket): A book with no pictures?
What could be fun about that?
After all, if a book has no pictures, there’s nothing to look at but the words on the page.
Words that might make you say sill sounds …
In ridiculous voices …
Hey, what kind of book is this, anyway?
Link to Resources: Explore the website for information about the book and resources for teachers and parents. You can also talk about how you read books with your children. Do you read every word? I mean part of the joke this book involves the reader being required to read every word.
Here’s a video of B.J. Novak reading the book:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cREyQJO9EPs
For writers: Interview with B.J. Novak.
Why I Like This Book: Reading this book turns into a performance — whether you want it to or not! While I was hesitant about this book when I first read about its publication, I saw one of the videos of B.J. Novak reading it to an audience of children and was hooked. I ordered it immediately. With little acting from me — just reading the words — Enzo giggled, laughed, and snorted his way through the first reading. I left the book out when I knew my husband would do bedtime, while I attended a writer’s conference meeting. When I returned home, Hubby said, “Boy, Enzo really likes that book with no pictures.”
Most of the pages are white with black text on the right hand page with the left page blank, but as the reading continues there are splashes of color and double spreads. It could have been a few pages shorter, but overall feels like genius.
Find more PPBF at Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
by Stacy
Here’s my Perfect Picture Book Friday choice:
The Black Rabbit
Written and Illustrated by Philippa Leathers
Candlewick Press, 2013
Suitable for: ages 3-7
Themes: shadows, fear
Opening Lines: RABBIT WOK UP ONE MORNING and stepped out of his burrow into the bright sunlight. It was a beautiful day. (Yep, those caps are in the book.)
Synopsis: Rabbit discovers a black rabbit behind him. He tries to run away , but he can’t seem to get rid of the black rabbit. In the dark woods, he escapes the black rabbit and discovers another danger.
Link to Resources: Go outside and look at how your shadow follows you. Try to outrun it. See how your shadow disappears at different times of the day and in different places. You can also draw a chalk outline of your shadow, but you must stand still! Lesson plans on shadows.
Why I Like The Book: Philippa Leathers takes a fun approach to shadows. Enzo laughed at the images of the rabbit trying to outrun the black rabbit. There’s a funny chase scene. Simple and cute.
The Rocky Mountain Chapter of SCBWI conference was wonderful. I met some online writer friends in person and met some industry professionals.
RMC-SCBWI events always provide an opportunity to spend time with Julie Rowan-Zoch, who had the three board books she illustrated for sale in the conference bookstore. Enzo gives her books a thumbs up!
Salina Yoon’s workshops were my favorite. I needed to hear the tips about story, process, and the business side of writing picture books. I love novelty and concept books, so it was wonderful to learn about her creation and marketing process for these books. Bonus: She read us Tap to Play!, which releases in October.
Avi was the keynote speaker. While he said he didn’t intend to be inspirational, he was. He shared many thoughts and a few jokes about writing. What’s the difference between a writer and a 14-inch pizza? A pizza can feed a family of four! Ouch, right?
A few of the presenters at this conference spoke about the limited market for rhyming and ABC books. A couple of people mentioned rhyming manuscripts cannot sell outside the U.S. due to translation issues, as well as market preferences in the U.K. They are also tricky to translate. ABC books were also mentioned as being limited to a U.S. market.
Post-conference I am working on revisions. I received helpful feedback in an editor’s critique and in a picture book intensive with the same editor and 14 (I think) other writers, who shared their thoughts after a quick reading of stories. Fresh eyes are always priceless.
Hope your writing is going well this week.
Find more PPBF at Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog.
by Stacy
Here’s my Perfect Picture Book Friday choice:
My Cat, The Silliest Cat in the World
Written and Illustrated by Gilles Bachelet
Abrams for Young Readers, 2006
Fiction
Suitable for: ages 4-8
Themes: Cats, Elephants, Art, Imagination
Opening Lines: My cat is very fat, very sweet, and very, very silly.
Synopsis (from jacket flap): Meet the silliest cat in the world. Sure, he behaves like any normal cat — sleeping, eating, getting in the way, making a mess — but this cat has a strange side, too. As well as a trunk!
Link to resources: Painted Elephant Art Lesson from the Deep Space Sparkle site, which shares tons of art lessons for children. Here’s a link to free art lessons by grade. You can also have a discussion about similarities and differences between cats and elephants.
Why I like the Book: You can hopefully tell by the cover that this cat — is not a typical cat. The story is from the adult artist’s viewpoint. He describes the cat, who is usually sleeping or eating. And, the final pages share a very, very funny visual twist (as if the whole book isn’t enough). We don’t have cats (we’re dog people), but we had fun reading this story and comparing cats and elephants.
Find more PPBF at Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog.
I’ll be at the Rocky Mountain Chapter of SCBWI this weekend. The conference coordinators have a great line up of authors, illustrators, editors, and agents ready to share their time and talent with us. More about that next week. Who else is at a SCBWI conference? It seems like many regional conferences are falling on this weekend.
by Stacy
Gather round friends. It’s back!
Here’s my Perfect Picture Book Friday choice:
I’m My Own Dog
Written and Illustrated by David Ezra Stein
Candlewick Press, 2014
Suitable for: ages preschool-Grade 3
Themes: Independence, Friendship, Pet Ownership (or Human Ownership)
Opening Lines: I’m my own dog. Nobody owns me. I own myself.
Synopsis (from the jacket flap): No one owns me. I’m my own dog. I fetch my own slippers, curl up at my own feet, and give myself a good scratch. But there’s this one spot, in the middle of my back that I just can’t reach …. And one day, I let someone scratch it.
Link to Resources: Responsible Pet Owner Rules for Kids, PBS Kids has some tips on pet ownership. Role play with your children on what it’s like to be the family cat, dog, or bird.
Why I Like the Book: I first read about I’m My Own Dog in a parenting magazine. The title and cover art caught my attention first. As I read the description, a “role-reversal tale” I thought “wow that’s the line I use in my query.” I have a role reversal story on a different topic. Sigh. Of course, the sigh turned into laugher when I cracked open my copy and read it. This really is a fresh take on pet ownership. What is it like to be the dog in the relationship? The dog and his morning mirror routine is my favorite scene. The leash is a close second.
I had a summer filled with family, writing, and lots of other stuff. (How’s that for being descriptive “lots of other stuff.”)
I was able to meet a number of writing friends in person at the WOW Retreat in Georgia and have connected with many more writers online. I remain grateful for those connections and friendships. I’m looking forward to a PPBF season filled with lots of great books. I missed the PPBF recommendations and seeing chocolate, er, I mean Susanna Leonard Hill online.
I hope you had a wonderful summer. The weather folks have the audacity to predict a little snow for today. Not liking this!
Find more PPBF at Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog.
P.S. With limited Internet access this weekend, I’ll likely be visiting and commenting on Monday. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. Fall (or snow) is in the air!
