…then you should get a hold of if you want to see a whale by my pal Julie Fogliano and her collaborator Erin Stead. I just bought two copies at Greenlight Books where Julie was signing with Erin and Phillip Stead.
There are lots of whales in it, along with some roses, a bird, a dog, a chair, a boy and lots of other good stuff. I don’t think I’m ruining it for you by telling you that. If you have already seen and then it’s spring, then you will be thrilled with this as a follow-up. Imagine those little green sprouts you were looking for were whales instead, and you had to search for them in the vast blue expanse of the ocean. Then you might have a sense of what’s in store here. What’s really cool about going to an Erin Stead signing is that she makes all these great stamps for her books, so you get a nice, efficient little bonus illustration on the title page. I’d show it to you, but you should go to a signing and get your own. Also, I seem to be having lots of really frustrating problems with my image for this, which I will not burden you with. Trust me, it’s a good stamp. Hopefully I’ll be able to share it later.
Here’s a peek at the trailer, instead.
And you can see a more comprehensive look at the illustration process at 7imp.
It’s a really cool 1950′s edition of Chéri and the Last of Chéri, , which I’ve been wanting to reread for a while, and a nice, personal note recommending some other Colette titles. There is a movie tie-in paperback of these books, but how can that possible compare to this lovely little volume. It was all wrapped up nice and cozy, without a prayer of meeting anything that could ever mean it any harm.
I recently came across a Blank on Blank animated interview with David Foster Wallace in which he admitted he was known as the Grammar Nazi when he was teaching at Illinois State University.
He mentioned that a comfort with the use of the semicolon was an understood prerequisite for being his student. I have confession to make: I don’t use the semicolon much. I’m just not one for half-measures, I guess. I don’t know that my avoidance of this particularly marginalized punctuation is based on any particular fear of it; I just never really worked it into my repertoire.
This year, saddled with the new writing responsibilities that come with the Common Core Curriculum, my son is being encouraged to develop a comfort with it. So I did a search for Semicolon usage and you know what I found? This post (and poster!) from the Oatmeal.
It’s loads of fun; it may have even convinced me to put the semicolon into regular rotation.
He’s a composer and author amongst other things. If you are in and around Brooklyn, check out his performance at Barbès on May 18th at 6pm. You won’t be disappointed.
These picture books aren’t billed as “Earth Day” reads, but they get my vote for celebrating the planet we live on in the most organic and lovely way.
I love DB Johnson’s illustrations in Henry Hikes to Fitchburg–they’re like Picasso for kids! And somehow he’s managed to make the Thoreau idea pretty succinct, too. No easy feat.
and then it’s spring is a pure celebration of the efforts of seeds and soil. What could get more earthy than that? Look for this team’s next book If You Want to See a Whalecoming on May 7th.
And speaking of seeds…no Earth Day list would be complete without The Carrot Seed–a collaboration from that genius couple of picture books: Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson. In fact, this book might be at home on almost every list of mine. Favorite books of all time, best homage to a vegetable, most evocative story of triumph in the face of adversity….Pair this with Snow to really give those know-it-all grown-ups the what-for.
