Of Cabbages & Kings

2011-04-19T06:39:00.000-07:00

Pop Into the Best Literary Festival of the Year for Children! Famous Pop-Up Artist Robert Sabuda Shares a World of Adventure What: Children's Festival of Reading presented by Fluor B&W/ Oak Ridge Who: Featured authors and illustrators Robert Sabuda, Grace Lin, Patricia McKissack, Bill Harley, and more When: May 21, 2011 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Where: World's Fair Park on the festival lawn and amphitheater in downtown Knoxville Why: Kick off celebration for summer reading programs How: Admission is free; free parking is available in all surrounding lots. (Knoxville, TN) Knox County Public Library is jumping with excitement over this year’s Children’s Festival of Reading presented by Fluor B&W. Favorite stories will bounce off the page as the Festival welcomes pop-up artist extraordinaire Robert Sabuda, one of today’s most innovative and inventive children’s book creators. Joining Sabuda is a roster of highly acclaimed writers and illustrators including Grace Lin, Patricia McKissack, and two-time Grammy-Award winner Bill Harley, plus many more. The whole region is invited to meet great authors, sit in on thrilling stories by world renowned storyteller Bill Harley, and get toes tappin’ with songs from around the world. The fun continues all day long with a mad scientist, a roaming circus, arts & crafts, a bouncy house, and a wagon ride. Over 12,000 people are expected to join the festivities, which are free and open to the public. It’s the most exciting way to gear up for a summer of reading! NEW THIS YEAR: The Children's Performance Stage will showcase our local talent. Dance troupes, show choirs, musicians, poets and gymnasts from East Tennessee will be in the spotlight. This year's theme is One World, Many Stories. As the kickoff celebration for the summer reading programs at the Library, the Festival is the passport to a whole new world of reading. The Library's summer programs encourage children (both readers and listeners), teens, and adults to enjoy reading all summer long. Each program has an exciting incentive to keep the pages turning. For program details, including reading goals, please go to www.knoxlib.org. MORE ON THE FEATURED ARTISTS: Robert Sabuda is an author and illustrator who has received wide-ranging acclaim as one of the foremost designers of interactive pop-up books. One of todays most innovative and inventive children’s book creators, Sabuda’s delightful creations incorporate bright colors, stand-out graphics, and striking examples of paper engineering. Sabuda has designed graphic illustrations for such classic works as the tales of Mother Goose, Alice in Wonderland, Chronicles of Narnia, and Wizard of Oz. Grace Lin is racking up awards at a break-neck pace. Having just received the 2011 Geisel Honor for Ling and Ting, she has added to a long list of awards which includes the Newbery Honor for her novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, inspired by Lin’s travels to Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan. Her book Lissy’s Friends can be found in the Imagination Library collection. Lin has been featured on the Today Show on Al Rockers Book Club. Patricia McKissack is the author of many highly acclaimed books for children, including Goin’ Someplace Special, a Coretta Scott King Award winner; The Honest-to-Goodness Truth; Let My People Go, written with her husband, Fredrick, and recipient of the NAACP Image Award; The Dark-Thirty, a Newbery Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Award winner; and Mirandy and Brother Wind, recipient of the Caldecott Medal and a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. Mike Artell is an award-winning children’s book author, illustrator and TV cartoonist. His body of work includes nationally recognized picture books, wordplay books, how-to books and non-fiction books. Artell’s book, Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood was named by the National Association of Elementary School Principals as its 2009 Read Aloud Book of the Year, and was also made into a musical theatre production. His astronomy book, Starry Skies, was named a Best Science Book for Children by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A two-time Grammy Award-winning artist, recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, Bill Harley uses song and story to paint a vibrant and hilarious picture of growing up, schooling and family life. Prolific author and recording artist, Harley is also a regular commentator for NPR’s “All Things Considered” and featured on PBS. Allan Wolf is no stranger to the Children's Festival of Reading. The rhythmic author, poet, and performer returns to the stage at World's Fair Park with his enthralling, toe-tapping theatrical poetry shows for all ages. Wolf’s mission has always been to take poetry to the people. His books include The Blood-Hungry Spleen and Other Poems About Our Parts and New Found Land: Lewis and Clark’s Voyage of Discovery, a novel in verse chosen as a School Library Journal Best Book, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and an IRA Children’s Book Award Notable. He is the author of a book about writing poems titled, Immersed In Verse: An Informative, Slightly Irreverent & Totally Tremendous Guide to Living the Poet’s Life (Lark Books) and a new YA novel in verse titled Zane’s Trace. Learn more about the Children’s Festival of Reading at www.knoxlib.org/cfor or by calling 215-8767.

2008-03-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

If you are anywhere near the Roanoke Valley, you must not miss a visit to the historic downtown city of Roanoke and to

One of Western Virginia's Best Kept Secrets: Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, Virginia

During the month of April, this truly excellen regional Theatre will be presenting two interesting pieces of musical theatre adaptations of two classic pieces for children. One of them, a new post-modern classic; the other a very old classic. On the Trinkle Main Stage, from April 1st through 6th, 2008, with tickets at $15-$10, you can see a musical adaptation of John Scieszka and Lane Smith's Caldecott Honor Book, The Stinky Cheese Man (and Other Fairly Stupid Tales). The adaptation is by Kent Stephens, with music by Gary Rue. This book is filled with deconstructed fairy tales. The Stinky Cheese Man is a perversion, of course, of the Gingerbread Boy. The Ugly Duckling who grows up to be a really ugly Duck, is a perversion of Danish authorHans Christian Anderson's tale, and so on. The book, with its postmodern book design and funky typography is a favorite of both mine and of my children, and if Mill Mountain brings half of the irreverant fun of the book to the stage, it should be a great success.

For more information and ticket reservations, visit: http://www.millmountain.org/stinkycheese.html.

From April 16th through the 27th, 2008, the Trinkle Main Stage will feature another much more ancient classic that has been embraced by children for centuries: Tales From the Arabian Nights, adapted by Michael Bigelow Dixon and Jan Cole. A show that promises not only the well-loved tale of Scheherazade and her 1001 never quite-finished tales to stave off the death sentence of her Sultan, but song and exotic dance. Tickets are $15-$10, and for more information, you may visit: http://www.millmountain.org/tfan.html.

To really enjoy the theatrical experience, take the day to enjoy Roanoke first. The theatre is located in the heart, the downtown, of historic Roanoke, where one of the longest running historic farmers markets thrives daily, and becomes especially lively on weekends, adding a festive air to the downtown. A variety of shops, restaurants and multiple museums, make the heart of the city a destination; and hiking trails in the Blue Ridge Mountains are right next to the city; after the theatre, one can walk over the pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks to the Grand Dame Hotel Roanoke for dessert and then drive up to the neon star that overlooks the city from Mill Mountain, also the location of a small zoo and an entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

2008-03-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

Charlottesville, Virginia's Festival of the Book rings Spring into the Shenandoah Valley March 26th through 30th. This annual book festival has become a staple in my yearly calendar of must-make journeys. Most years a group of fellow writers will all carpool to the event and spend Saturday trecking around Charlottesville (although many events are on the Pedestrian Mall). This year promises to be no acception. Running through Sunday, the festival covers a wide variety of book genres, including various panels and speakers from the publishing industry, as well as storytellers and educators of all sorts (this year, magician educator Rob Westcott makes an appearance). The book fair in the Omni Hotel on the downtown pedestrian mall is always a favorite, and while most events are free, there are some ticketed keynote events and luncheons.

Favorite events on my list this year? Well, Nancy Ruth Patterson's appearance Friday morning (author of A Christmas Cup , The Winner's Walk, as well as her fifth book published by FSG, Ellie Ever: Princess of Pantent Leather Shoes). Patterson was recognized by Virginia High School Hall of Fame as "one of the most sought-after writing teachers in the country." My admiration for her work began when my son played an Amish boy in a theatrical adaptation of The Christmas Cup produced by the Mill Mountain Theatre in the Roanoke Valley of Virginia a few Decembers ago. Her attending the first night opening allowed my son to get her signature in a copy of her book.

Another interesting speaker: professional storyteller Barbara Spilman Lawson is making an appearance, known for her work up and down the Atlantic Coast. Also making an appearance, award-winning non-fiction YA writer Catherine Reef, author of a biography of one of my favorite poets, titled e. e. cummings: a poet's life, as well as several other biographies for young readers.

My interest in this particular festival is, of course, those events that fall under the category of children's literature. If this is your area of interest as well, you may find a list of "family" speakers, many of them writers, illustrators, or storytellers of children's narratives, at http://www.vabook.org/site08/participants/view.php?pageno=1&catNum=6&orderby=LastName. For an introduction to participants from the publishing field, visit h ttp://www.vabook.org/site08/participants/view.php?catNum=5.

Naturally, one of the pleasures of being in Charlottesville is the occasional stroll through the community or campus of University of Virginia. Since this festival is located on the Pedestrian Mall, there is a wealth of shops, restaurants, coffee shops and theatres to fill in your occasional break time in an enjoyable manner, not to mention the street musicians and the beauty of a spring day in an historic community in the Shenandoah Valley at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains. For information about what to do and where to stay, as well as images of the city and University of Virginia campus, visit http://www.pursuecharlottesville.com/. Must sees are Jefferson's home, Monticello, historic Michie Tavern, and the lawn at University of Virginia, not to mention a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway with its incredible views.

2008-03-13T20:03:00.000-07:00

VSRA 41st Annual Conference Richmond VA, March 13-15, 2008. Come on down, ya'all! For those of you in the Richmond area, I've got a short Kiddie Lit journey for you to take. Hike on over to the Virginia State Reading Association's 41st Annual Conference, held at the Greater Richmond Convention Center and Marriott Hotel, in downtown Richmond. It is too late to register on-line--just show up and register at the door. It's running through Saturday morning, although the Booth Area is not open Saturday. As usual, the display area is chock full of useful books, school materials and all sorts of fun stuff. . . my favorites being the illustrators and authors scattered throughout the area signing their books. All right, all right. I admit it up front. I'm there for the children's book writers/illustrators & editor/publishers. Today, after listening to author, Mary Quattlebaum, speak on "Creating Books for Virginia Readers: the Power of Place," I was able to get her to sign her newest book, a retelling of an old Williamsburg, VA folktale, entitled Sparks Fly High, in the booth area. You can find out a bit more about Ms. Quattlebaum at http://www.maryquattlebaum.com/HTML/AboutMary.htm and read a Q&A about her book, Sparks Fly High at http://www.maryquattlebaum.com/documents/SparksFlyHighQandA.pdf. Thursday afternoon, again in the Booth Area, I enjoyed a preview of that evening's speaker, master storyteller Patricia McKissack (Newbery Honor author of The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural as well as Porch Lies) as she traded tales with visitors at the Narnia Bookstore Booth. Then I, naturally, had to get her to sign a copy of Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters and Other Wily Characters for my own collection. Who can resist a book with a title like Porch Lies? For video interviews with Patricia, visit http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/mckissack readingrockets.org/books/interviews/mckissack. So, what's on my personal agenda for tomorrow (Friday)? Well, I don't have it all firmed up yet, but I know I'm having breakfast with Betsy Lewin (and a crowd of others), and will get her to sign my collection of her illustrated books (like Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type, complete book list at http://www.betsylewin.com/index.html) thereafter. For a preview of that event, you can listen to several short interviews with Betsy Lewin at http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/lewin. Then I'm going to listen to Featured Speaker, Mary Lyons, author of Letters from a Slave Girl and Letters from a Slave Boy. You can see a complete list of Mary Lyon's books and hear an audio interview at http://www.lyonsdenbooks.com/. After that I've got a choice between Henry Cole speaking on the process of creating a picture book, or Kevin O'Malley talking about the difficulties of writing for boys (click on links to see Cole's art gallery and O'Malley's web-site). And I can't miss Saturday a.m., with Carole Weatherford, recipient of a Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Award and New York Times bestselling author (for Moses), speaking about her favorite subject, Jazz. Maybe she'll even sign my copy of Moses: When Harriett Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, a book worthy of its awards.

2008-01-13T15:00:00.000-08:00

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE JOURNEYS: Exploring England's Kiddie Lit Roots

"There was a crooked man Who walked a crooked mile. He found a crooked six-pence Upon a crooked style. He bought a crooked cat Who caught a crooked mouse, And they all lived together In a crooked little house."

Day One. So, why was I spending December 31st on a plane over the Atlantic Ocean toasting the New Year with fellow passengers from a miniature plastic goblet of champaigne--on my way to England for going on two weeks? Well, . . . the plane tickets were cheap, for one thing. There would be no crowds (a huge draw in itself), and I might even be able to enjoy holiday decorations that should still be decorating the English countryside at least until Twelfth Night. My main purpose, however, was to explore the English countryside from a Children's Literature perspective. And I now share the results of that journey with you. One flight through the night crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and several movies later, my husband and I arrived at Heathrow Airport, tired and cramped, but breakfasted and ready to pick up our rental auto. Our normal preference when visiting Europe is to travel by train. Trains are usually frequent and often and visit the smallest of towns--and are much better for the environment; but this time around we had decided to first travel to the less accessible places by car since it was winter, and trains, ferries, etc. would be less frequent than during tourist season. Our last few days in the London area we would travel by the London Underground, or the Tube as it is often called, as well as by bus and train. Although we would undoubtedly do some of the normal tourist activities, my hope was that every day we would be able to visit at least one or two sites or collections significant to the Children's Literature field. Literally out of the airport gate, we headed straight for the Cotswold region of England, with its gentle green hills, rushing streams, mix of deciduous woods and patchwork quilted fields edged in hedgerows, and its distinctive high plateaus known as wolds. We lingered in several of its villages with their sandstone buildings reflecting the golden glow of the weak January sunlight, still remarkably green, despite this darkest time of year (shown left). We relaxed that first day: wandered through after Christmas sales, explored used bookstores and lingered over hot drinks in the local pub. I celebrated having a husband that enjoys driving enough to view driving on the left as a pleasant challenge. My job was to navigate our choice of destinations; and so we checked out a group of villages with other-wordly names such as Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold, Chipping Campden, or Chipping Norton, each of these villages just a few kilometers of pristine countryside from the next. One particularly quaint village was Bourton-on-the-Water, bisected by the River Windrush that is crossed by many picturesque low stone pedestrian bridges. We became reacquainted with the British use of roundabouts on their country highways--a road feature never fully understood by U.S. Citizens, due to their limited use here--used some in New England--but a feature to which we had become accustomed and liked (from previous trips to the U.K.), since one didn't have to constantly stop at lights, and if you missed a turn, you would just come around to that turn again--they seemed a logical use of a small amount of space compared to the much larger cloverleafs often used on the other side of the Atlantic. One of the villages we visited, Bibury, judged by Pre-Raphaelite Artist/Designer and book illustrator/designer William Morris (1834-1896) as the "most beautiful" English village, was unquestionably charming, as was Broadway, another village admired by Morris (left, The Complete Canterbury Tales, exquisitely designed inside and out by Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. Below, Morris picture). In fact, Morris' open admiration for the Cotswold's in the 19th century led to an invasion by artists from that time onward. Morris himself attended nearby Oxford and lived in Kelmscott Manor in the Cotswolds from 1871 until his death. While Cotswold towns were often lively , they were not crowded with tourists at all during this time of year (they often are so overwhelmed during summer holiday as to make tourist books suggest avoiding them altogether). Village activity during our visit was generated by the locals who would hike from village to village along public footpaths or right-of-way, crossing fields, climbing or passing through "crooked styles" (shown left, one of many styles of a "style" or kissing gate), ending up in a favorite pub for the evening. It was inspiring to watch whole groups hiking in their Wellington Boots, hiking sticks and overcoats. "We have got to do one of these hikes," I told my husband immediately (moi, shown above left, next to a public footpath sign). And if, when you visit England, you, too, are interested, you can easily hike the multitude of public paths that are clearly marked and crisscross the country, since brochures with maps and directions to the many paths are available at Tourist Information sites, and several helpful websites exist on the subject, such as: http://www.ramblers.org.uk/footpaths/ . And, if you didn't bring Wellingtons, they're reasonably priced and in practically every store you enter (You can even book entire walking tours). For a map of the Cotswolds and a list of attractions visit http://www.britainexpress.com/Where_to_go_in_Britain/Maps/Cotswolds.htm You cannot help but feel, as you stride along over field, through wood and over stream, breathing great gulps of bracing air (remember, it is January) as you absorb the beauty of the English countryside, that this is the land of Kenneth Grahame (1879-1976, pictured right) and of his 1908 classic The Wind and the Willows (first edition pictured left). This is the land of Mole and Water Rat, Badger and Mr. Toad of Toad Hall as Ernest Shepar d (below) envisioned them for us, or as A. A. Milne (portrait shown right) adapted to stage for us in Toad of Toad Hall. Curiously, E. H. Shepard was born not a 1/2 mile from A. A. Milne in St. John's Wood, London. To be continued . . . I'll wait to discuss that subject further until our days in Oxford and London are recounted (Shepard's illustrations were apparently approved and authorized by Grahame, though Grahame died before their completion and publication in 1931. E. H. Shepard's grave at Lodsworth Church, shown above left. Mr. Toad sketch left). ). One interesting interconnection between the Milne and Shepard families, however, is that Shepard's two children, Graham and Mary, accompanied Shepard in 1926 on his sketching trips to A. A. Milne's home in the Ashdown Forest, Sussex, where the children played with Christopher Robbin. According to The Independent (as quoted in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography), Mary felt that Christopher reacted as though he had never known "anyone older than himself actually playing games with him." What makes this interesting is that Mary Shepard (who would have been 17 years old at the time of those sketching trips) is also a well-known illustrator in the Children's Book field. Mary Shepard trained under Henry Tonks and Randolph Schwabe in London. She worked as an artist, had two exhibitions in London, and won a prize for etching in Paris. Making Connections: About Mary Shepard. Mary (1909-2000) is best remembered for her illustrations for P. L. Travers' Mary Poppins classic children's books . When Pamela Travers, a then unknown Australian author, had her novel Mary Poppins accepted for publication, she and her publisher, Gerald Howe, hoped that E. H. Shepard would be its illustrator, but he had too much of a workload at the time. P. L. Travers saw a Christmas card that Mary Shepard, then aged 23, had designed, and chose her to illustrate the book. P. L. Travers was quite particularly about the illustrations, insisting that the images of Poppins resemble a peg doll she had owned as a child and "have no figure" (Daily Telegraph). Mary Shepard's illustrations of Mary Poppins helped quintessentially define the character, and she subsequently illustrated all of the Mary Poppins books through the final Mary Poppins in Cherry Tree Lane (1982). Mary Shepard went on to marry an editor of Punch, Edmund George Valpy Knox (1881-1971) and, although she had no children of her own, became a second mother to her two stepchildren, Rawle Knox, a journalist, and Penelope Fitzgerald, a well-known and award-winning novelist. They lived in St. John's Wood, London where, during the Second World War she was an air-raid warden, kept poultry, and had a Victory Garden. After the war her family moved to Hampstead. About P. L. Travers. Helen Lyndon Goff (1899-1996), pseudonym P. L. Travers for Pamela Lyndon Travers, was one of three children born in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia to Travers Robert Goff, a London-born bank manager, and Margaret Morehead. To read about a Mary Poppins Festival that has been started in her honor there, visit http://www.abc.net.au/widebay/stories/s2047870.htm. In 1924, P. L. Travers traveled to London, where she published poems in the Irish Statesman at the encouragement of editor, George Russell, traveled to Fontainebleau near Paris where she became a follower of Russian occultist George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, and to Switzerland to explore the teachings of psychologist Carl Jung. In the 1930s she lived in London and, at Pound Cottage, Mayfield, near Tunbridge Wells, worked as a drama critic and became close friends with George Russell and met poet William Butler Yeats. Travers' first book on Mary Poppins was published in 1934. It was translated into over 20 languages and became an instant classic of children's literature, although Travers disputed this labeling of her Mary Poppin's novels as being exclusively for children. Goff led a private life and once said that she "most identified with Anonymous as a writer" (http://www.oxforddnb. com.proxy.library.vcu.edu/ view/article/62619). When asked about her inspiration for her iconic Mary Poppins character, she asserted, "I never for one moment believed that I invented her. Perhaps she invented me" (Bergsten, 71). She never married, but did adopt a son, Dublin-born John Camillus Hone (b. 1939), son of Nathaniel and Biddy Hone and descendant of the 18th-century painter Nathaniel Hone. Goff left for the United States in 1940 and lived there as a wartime evacuee until 1945. While there she traveled west by invitation of friend, John Collier, an administrator for Indian affairs, and stayed at a number of Navaho, Hopi, and Pueblo reservations. Before leaving, she felt honored to be awarded a secret Pueblo name. Travers continued to publish stories, novels and essays. In 1964, Mary Poppins was adapted to a highly successful Walt Disney movie starring Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews. Travers was not particularly pleased with the final product despite its success. From 1965 to 1977 again lived in the U.S. while working as a writer-in-residence at Radcliffe College and Smith College in Massachusetts, and as a Clark lecturer at Scripps College in Claremont, California. From 1976 until her death, Goff was a contributing editor to the American Journal, Parabola: the Magazine of Myth and Tradition. In fact, her last published book is a collection of essays from that Journal and is entitled, What the Bee Knows: Reflections on Myth, Symbol and Story, published in 1989. She died at her home at 29 Shawfield Street, Chelsea, London, on 23 April 1996, St. George's Day. At her request, the final resting place for her ashes remains unknown as she did not want the location to become a shrine for Mary Poppins fans. The Mary Poppins Books: Mary Poppins, 1934; Revised Bad Tuesday Chapter; Mary Poppins Comes Back, 1935; Mary Poppins Opens the Door, 1943: Mary Poppins in the Park, 1952; Mary Poppins From A to Z, 1962; Mary Poppins in the Kitchen, 1975; Mary Poppins in Cherry Tree Lane, 1982; Mary Poppins and the House Next Door, 1988. Day 2. Chester & the Birthplaces of Lewis Carroll & Randolph Caldecott With plans to return to the Cotswold's and the Oxford area later in the trip, we set off on Day 2 for the North Country (bottom of map left) to visit a couple of birthplaces of two icons in the children's literature field near Chester, England near the border of Wales, 200 miles north of London and about 20 miles just south of Liverpool. Chester is a medieval walled city in the northwest of England (City Hall, pictured left, you can see it, the wall and the towering cathedral in the print of the city above). The entire city is a World Heritage Site as an excellent example of a walled city that has spanned several civilizations, is still intact and has been continuously inhabited. The Romans first built a walled fort city there in A.D. 79 in the area of the Cornovii tribe (Iron Age tribe whose name perhaps means "people of the horn"), so parts of its wall are Roman, although much of the wall has been rebuilt. Chester also boasts a Roman forum and an amphitheatre (pictured left) that is currently an archeological dig site. The city is surrounded by the River Dee estuary and still-functioning canals; and, upon our arrival and check-in to a conveniently located Victorian era hotel by the North City Gates, the first thing we did was to walk the 2 mile circuit at the top of the city wall, an exercise that afforded an inspiring view of the city. The wall has intermittent watch towers and stairs to the top of the wall, which has a walkway-width path popular with joggers as well as tourists (below, East Gate & East Gate Clock on top of wall). After an early dinner in a small Cafe, we explored an example of an early shopping mall--designed in the Victorian Era in Tudor style multi-level half-timbered structures with an actual two level balconied-shopping arcade design. The shopping arcade is still vibrant and very much in use, and, as it was still decorated in festive holiday lights, we enjoyed exploring it and the Cathedral, which had a memorial to Randolph Caldecott located in the North Transcept (memorial shown below, a memorial is also in St. Paul's Cathedral Crypt in London designed by Sir Alfred Gilbert, and as does a cemetery in St. Augustine Florida, where Caldecott died while in the U.S. in 1886, when he was not yet 40 years old). It was time, however, to search for Randolph Caldecott's birthplace (pictured right). The local library (located next to the magnificent Town Hall and across from the Cathedral in the center of the walled city) had a collection of his illustrated picture books, and also helpfully provided us with a street address. His house used to have been numbered #150 Bridge Street--however, there the problems began. Bridge Street had been sectioned into Upper and Lower Bridge Streets at some point since that time and the buildings along it had been renumbered as well. Consequently, we spent quite a bit of time trying to find his home's new number, #16, to no avail. We almost gave up, taking pictures of several building site possibilities and deciding that I could sort out the correct one later after more research. Curiously, when asking residents for help with directions (as I have just been doing in this picture, left), many people had no idea who Randolph Caldecott was at all. It felt a bit like people who live in NYC never visiting the Statue of Libery. Caldecott is so well-known in the United States, in part, perhaps, because such a significant award as the Caldecott Award, presented by the American Library Association yearly to the artist of the most distinguished American picturebook, is named for him (For information about the award and current and past winners, visit http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal.cfm). It was almost inconceivable to me that Caldecott's birthplace would not be clearly marked with street signs and on tourist maps (although, come to think of it, just a few years ago here in the United States, a Super Walmart was almost built on George Washington's boyhood ferry farm). Still, we could not find #16 Upper Bridge Street (formerly numbered 150), try as we might. Finally, a gentleman in a travel bureau suggested that I try higher on the street, past another main crossing street and much further north than we had been previously directed, in the shopping arcade area--but not to forget to climb to the second level balcony and check those shop fronts as well. Success at last! On a second-level balcony, finally, a small round metal plaque marked an empty heavily beamed store front. There was no museum inside, nothing to celebrate his life and art--perhaps that will change in the future as interest in children's literature sites escalates--but, even so, I was thrilled to have found his birthplace, and several teenagers sitting there talking looked on with curiousity as my husband took a picture of me standing next to the plaque. I felt a bit like a detective who had successfully solved a case despite a lack of clues. Now, on to the next goal of the day--Lewis Carroll, a.k.a. Arthur Dodgson, author of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, had been born just south of Manchester, a little east of Chester, along some country roads somewhere in Newton-on-Daresbury. Research informed me that his birthplace had burned down, but that the National Trust had just acquired the site. This information promised me another search, and I set off with relish. I was a seasoned veteran, after all. This trip should be a cinch. I'm sure it will not surprise you that this trip was not a cinch. Well, we found Daresbury just fine, basically a pub in the middle of nowhere and the parish church at which Lewis Carroll's Grandfather preached, right away--but Carroll's birthplace--nowhere to be found. We followed the directions, but the directions were not correct. So we asked. Then, followed those directions, but they didn't seem to be right either. Consequently, we wandered around for awhile and retraced our steps a couple of times--until, finally, I decided to turn around and take a picture of the Parish Church and leave it at that. "Pull over there and turn around," I instructed my unusually patient husband, "I give up." Obediently, he swung the car into a side lane to turn it around, and then, "Wait!" There, immediately in front of us, was a farm gate and a sign that this was Lewis Carroll's birthplace. We seemed to have this trend going that we should just look for a site until we gave up, and it would be right where we gave up--another one of Murphy's Laws, I supposed. From the sign, we had to walk down a country lane edging a field first, but, finally, there it was, just the foundations of the Dodgson's farmhouse and some instructional signs on a large green lot in the midst of brown dormant fields. One could see the remains of a well and a stable room attached to the home's stone foundation. That was all.--But I danced around that foundation because we had once again found our destination once again. I will write the correct instructions below for those who, in the near future, wish to retrace my steps--because the directions you find elsewhere are impossible to follow, if not completely wrong. But I will save a discussion of Lewis Carroll until later, when we visit Oxford, because so much of his creative process evolved there. However, to see Lewis Carroll's original book, hand-created, Alice's Adventures Underground, you can visit the British Library's on-line gallery where you almost feel as though you are holding the books, because you can turn the pages, listen to commentary and zoom in on details at: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ttpbooks.html. Correct Directions to Lewis Carroll's birthplace site: Drive straight through Daresbury down about 1 mile and turn a sharp left onto Newton Lane. Follow it curving around over a motorway overpass bridge and come to a T in the road. Turn left, then a sharp right (Newton Lane markings continue), and turn right at the next T in the road onto Grimpsditch Lane. About 1 mile down on the right is a National Trust Marker pointing out a grassy lane that leads to the stone foundations of the Dodgson's homestead inside a fenced-in area, along with some informational signs. Perhaps in the near future the National Trust will do more with this site as they have just recently acquired it. Some fine Alice in Wonderland stained glass windows can also be seen in that immediate area. For a full discussion with images of the Alice in Wonderland stained glass in the Daresbury All Saints Church, Arthur Dodgson's parish church (see detail and windows below) near his birthplace, visit: www.krepcio.com/vitreosity/archives/ cat_sg_websites.html&h=356&w=600&sz=144&hl= n&start=76&um=1&tbnid=9joipzh4nolzbM:&tbnh =80&tbnw=135&prev=/ images%3Fq%3Dlewis %2Bcarroll%2B%2526%2Bimage%26start%3D 60%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3 D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive %26rls%3DDGUS,DGUS:2006-22,DGUS:en%26sa%3DN. Connections: Randolph Caldecott (1846-1886) was one a triumvirate of exceptional Children's Book illustrators of the late Victorian period consisting of Caldecott, Walter Crane and Kate Greenaway, all of whom knew one another and were probably informed by one another's styles, to a degree, and all of whom were encouraged and published by Edmund Evans. Walter Crane (pictured right) is remembered for his exceptional overall page and book designs influenced, no doubt, by the Pre-Raphaelite's appreciation for medieval art and layout, that cohesively supported his distinctive illustrations and his support for full-color picture books (Crane's ABC book cover and inside spread above left). Kate Greenaway's illustrations focused on beautiful Victorian children (Greenaway illustration, left) and there is now an award for children's book illlustration in the U.K. titled the Kate Greenaway Award, similar to the Caldecott Medal in the U.S. To check out details about the award and current and past winners, visit http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/greenaway/. Randolph Caldecott introduced the lively illustration full of motion and vitality in his comic, light-hearted images. His illustrations did not appear posed. They were filled with the animals and landscapes of the Chester area from which he hailed, and Caldecott preferred to execute his line drawings in sepia ink. He changed the proportion of text to pictures, sometimes just using three or four words to a page with a large illustration. He may have been the first to have the illustration fill in what the text leaves out and the text add to what the illustration leaves out--an important concept behind what exactly makes a picture book a picture book. These two scenes to the left are part of one of the first two books Caldecott published with Edmund Evans in 1878, John Gilpin, of which the cover is shown above. Evans on Caldecott's working style: "Shilling Toy Books, at that time, generally had blank pages at the back of the pictures: I proposed to have no blanks at all in these books: these slight illustrations were little more than outlines, but were so racy and spontaneous, R. C. generally drew them from his friend where a man was wanted: His cats, dogs, showed how thoroughly he understood the anatomy of them. If the sketches came all right - he let them pass - if he was not satisfied with the results he generally tore them up and burned them" (as quoted in Engen, and at http://www.iupui.edu/~engwft/caldecott.htm). In his Prophets Priests and Kings (London: Alston Rivers, 1908, p 327), A. G. Gardiner, editor of the Daily News, showed his appreciation of the importance of Caldecott's illustrations by quoting some poetic lines G. K. Chesterton had penned in "a book of Caldecott's pictures to a little friend of mine-- "This is the sort of book we like (For you and I are very small), With pictures stuck in anyhow, And hardly any words at all. . . . You will not understand a word Of all the words, including mine; Never you trouble; you can see, And all directness is divine-- Stand up and keep your childishness: Read all the pedants' screeds and strictures; But don't believe in anything That can't be told in coloured pictures." Sources: http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.library.vcu.edu/view/article/74628. Alton, Anne Hiebert. http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.library.vcu.edu/view/article/62619. The Times (20 Oct 2000) The Independent (29 Sept 2000) Daily Telegraph (26 Sept 2000) A. Herne, The dictionary of 20th century book illustrators (1995) Day 3. Liverpool & Manchester. Beatles, Libraries & Art. While I have to admit that my stay in Liverpool really had little to do with children's literature, or even with the Beatles I was sure I could find subjects that could inform my interest in Children's Literature & Art .... and Liverpool appealed to the urban planner in me, and I was drawn by its efforts to reinvent itself. Spending the night in Liverpool, after checking into a renovated small Georgian hotel called The Feathers Inn (the best we had stayed at thus far on our journey) in downtown Liverpool near the cathedrals and the pedestrian mall, we enjoyed a stroll down the lively pedestrian mall to the Albert Dock area. This warehouse dockside harbor was first opened in 1846 and named for Prince Albert, who dedicated the dock. The seven acre site was used to store products from the far east, such as silks, tobacco, tea and spirits. Although the entire complex was registered in 1952 for having the largest group of Grade 1 listed buildings in Britain, it still fell into disrepair and finally closed in 1972. However, 1981 riots spurred a dramatic rebirth as government support and funding supported inner-city redevelopment projects. Designated as the European Capital of Culture 2008, the entire area is undergoing a Renaissance, and urban revitalization efforts are evident everywhere you turn. The TATE MUSEUM (http://www.tate.org.uk/)houses British art from 1500 and international modern art from the 1900s, and has branches at four locations in England. The museum has an excellent website and you can search their archives for artists' works to view on-line at http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/QuickSearch. I was able to find some Randolph Caldecott selections, several John Ruskin pieces, the Dalziel brother's work is represented, a solid collection of Beatrix Potter, a Thomas Bewick, a Walter Crane, a strong collection of Edward Burne-Jones' work, a John Tenniel, and a few Arthur Rackham pieces--and undoubtedly there are others. The TATE actually has the most complete collections of Turner's anywhere in the world, I believe. The British Tate Museum Liverpool anchors the restored Albert Dock area and is located in the renovated brick warehouse building pictured above. While we were there we were able to see an ongoing exhibition, the DLA Piper Series entitled The Twentieth Century: How It Looked & How It Felt, with many fine examples of modern art. This series is running through April of 2009. You can see some of the pieces displayed at http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/exhibitions/the-twentieth-century/guide.shtm. In the two pieces pictured above, one by Robert Delaunay titled Windows Open Simultaneously (First Part, Third Motif) created in 1912 (left), and Picasso's Weeping Woman (right) one sees hints of the evolution in children's picture books many decades later as the 20th century closed its doors with the advent of books with post-modern narrative, illustration and design in such groundbreakers as The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales among others. It obviously took time for this sort of experimentation to impact children's literary book illustration, design and publishing. Undoubtedly, the advent of new technology that has made experimentation easier, such as digital typography, as well as digital photography, scanning and printing, has contributed in part to the suddent spurt in this kind of approach as well. Liverpool boasts the most theatres and museums after London--so it is an excellent destination spot for culture. Liverpool is also a World Heritage Site, with more authentic Georgian buildings than Bath, England. Sports is important here, and a new stadium is being built by the newly redeveloped Albert Docks, formed around water in an interesting square full of restaurants and shops in restored buildings. Naturally, we had a strong interest in Beatles tours as well while in Liverpool. Its musical roots are reflected in the street sculpture I came across (shown left) of beaten up old guitars and suitcases surrounding what I can only assume might be a prime spot for street musicians during tourist season (left, Beatles on Ed Sullivan Show, "Paul McCartney lived here & Beatles practiced here" house (below). It's hard not to develop such an interest when there is even a "Penny Lane" city bus showing up at bus stops now and again. It is quite easy to take a Beatles tour in this, the city of their origin. Just visit: http://www.beatlestours.co.uk/. A fine picture book came out recently entitled John's Secret Dreams: The Life of John Lennon, by Doreen Rappaport and Bryan Collier, pictures by Bryan Collier. The book has a compelling cover design, with the title reflected backwards in John's memorable wire-rimmed glasses. The narrative makes strong use of image and the lyrics of John's songs to tell his story. We also took time to visit two distinctive cathedrals in Liverpool that were within walking distance of our hotel. Connected by Hope Street, these two cathedrals display dramatically diverse architectural styles. The Catholic Cathedral was begun before the World War II, and its crypt was built in the traditional vaulted style. Above ground, however, is a different story. Completed after WWII (consecrated 1967), a dramatically different approach and very modern style was finally decided upon, and the outline of this cathedral against the night sky looks like some sort of space ship. Inside, however, the modern stained glass and circular seating has a very serene feel. Down the street, the Anglican Cathedral is massive. This is the fifth largest church in the world (which set me wondering what the first four on the list are), and a competition was held in 1902 to find a design for the proposed cathedral, only the third such Anglican cathedral built in England since the Reformation in the 1600s. A young 22 year old named Giles Gilbert Scott won the competition. This selection of Scott was controversial due to his young age, and one of the competition's assessors, George Bodley, was appointed to oversee the project with Scott. The decision was seen as even more controversial when it was discovered that Scott was a Roman Catholic, however, the decision stood (and, ironically, the neighboring Catholic Cathedral was designed by Anglican, Sir Edwin Lutyens). Originally proposing a two-towered plan (his original design showed right), Scott eventually settled on the one-towered plan which one sees against the skyline of Liverpool today. This single square tower is quite unusual looking as the largest and one of the highest bell towers in

the world, and it houses the highest and heaviest set of pealing bells in the world. The feeling of uniqueness of this cathedral is enhanced by the below-church-level gardens and cemetary that have a green and serene almost under-wordly feel as one walks around the base of the cathedral at a quite dramatically lower level. Giles Gilbert Scott is remembered for another reason--he is the designer of the traditional iconic red British phone booth--both the k2 design of 1924 and the more famous k6 design that was introduced for the Jubilee Year in 1935, and various models of them can be purchased in the cathedral store. Looking at the solid shape of the phone booth next to the tall square tower of his cathedral--they look a bit like one another. But it was time to be on to the North Country with a stop in Manchester to view the oldest public library in the English-speaking world, Chetham Library, located on the banks of the River Irwell on Long Millgate. This library was founded in 1653 in a medieval complex that dates from 1421 (a corner of which is shown above). Many of the library's books date from the 1500s and 1600s and admission is free Monday through Friday, 9:30 to 4:30 (with break for lunch). For more information, call 0161-834-7961.

Living in Richmond, Virginia, and having visited historic Agecroft Hall here, I knew that it had been transported brick by brick from England and rebuilt here--I found it interesting that Agecroft Hall used to be a native of Manchester, England. It was originally the 15th century home of the Langley and Dauntesey families. When surrounding country became increasingly industrialized, the home fell into disrepair and was eventually sold to an American businessman in 1925. A picture of it is shown right. Manchester also boasts perhaps the finest collection of pre-Raphaelite art in the world. Manchester Art Gallery has recently undergone a multi-million dollar renovation and houses a collection of works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, and Ford Madox Brown, as well as a fine collection of pre-Raphaelite art. A nearby collection of pre-Raphaelite art at the Birmingham museum is thought to have influenced reknowned fantasy writer, J. R. R. Tolkien (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, 1892-1973), of whom the Sunday Times once said, "The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and those who are going to read them." As this quote implies, if not written for children, for these are hardly child-length, simple tales--they have long been "coming-of-age" novels for every young and avid reader--and, with the further promotion of these novels by Peter Jackson's recent Acadamy Award-winning film adaptation of the books, they have most-definitely joined the ranks of much-loved literature for the older child.

John Ronald Reuel's, or J.R.R.'s surname, "Tolkien" (pron.: Tol-keen; equal stress on both syllables), is thought to have German origins. Toll-kühn means foolishly brave, or stupidly clever - hence the pseudonym "Oxymore" which Tolkien occasionally used. Tolkien grew up in these parts, a long-time resident of Sarhole in (then) Worcestershire, following his early years in South Africa, caught between the quintessential rural English life and the omnipresent factories of the manufacturing cities of Birmingham and Manchester. As elsewhere in England, even this most famous of fantasy authors, and a respected authority on languages, Oxford professor, etc., has sites connected with his past that are not well-preserved as yet. One can, however, follow a Tolkien trail in these areas of Tolkien's youth, visiting places that undoubtedly affected his later views on industrialization vs. the natural that infiltrates his LOR saga so heavily. One such tour with good discussion of the importance of the sites one can search out and of their potential impact on Tolkien can be found at: http//www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/europe/uk/ centralengland/739039/Sites-that-shaped-Tolkien. For example, Mosely Bog, dating from the Bronze Age and thought to be Tolkien's inspiration for the Ancient Forest in which Tom Bombadil lived, still exists and recently began a transformation into a park in Tolkien's honor. A four mile stretch of linear park along the old millstream, the River Cole (pictured left), has recently been renamed The Shire Country Park and has been undergoing upgrading and the addition of signposts linking several important Tolkien sites along its path. Included in these is (pictured left) the old Sarehole Mill, in production during Tolkien's youth (and still grinding flour one Sunday a month today) and one of two such towering smokestacks within a very short distance of Tolkien's home in the town of Sarehole (pictured right, photo dating from just before Tolkien's time there)--both of which provided undoubted inspiration for the two towers in Tolkien's tale of the same name. (http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh_gfx_en/ART25498.html)

Day 3 & 4. It was forward to the Lake District, through Cumbria to the home of Beatrix Potter where Peter Rabbit and friends were born at Hill Top Farm

(and, if you're interested in other types of literature as well, William Wordsworth at Dove Cottage, as well as Brantwood, home to Victorian-era art critic John Ruskin). As the scenery grew greener, the walls and arched stone bridges marching through the hillsides grew grayer and more frequent. Hills, lakes, woods and sheep-dotted fields, with rocky streams surrounded us--reminiscent of the New England area of the United States--with vastly more areas given over to grazing land than in New England today. We had left the patterned red brick of the Northwest of England, and entered an area of grey stone walls and barns and plastered and whitewashed stone cottages.. The fields of sheep were everywhere, and I was enchanted by a hillside dotted with a herd of entirely black sheep.

"Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, Have you any wool?" "Yes, Sir. Yes, Sir. Three bags full. One for my Master, One for my Dame, and one for the little boy who lives down the lane."

The old nursery rhyme looped through my mind as we traveled along. The trip took several hours, even from as far North as we started our journey in the Liverpool area, and, as we finally wound down narrow lanes between double stone walls, down, down into the tiny village of Hawkshead, the sun set over the serene waters of long, narrow Lake Windermere, the largest lake in the Lake District, and in all England, in fact, and a herd of sheep were herded across the narrow lane as our rental car waited. Yes, events like this do still occur in this world. Enchantment was felt by all (although there were only the two of us in the car--so the aura did not reach much of the world--although, I suppose the farmer and the sheep themselves could be included). Wordsworth is known to have enjoyed using the ferry over Lake Windermere, and there still exists a passenger ferry that traverses the full length of Lake Windermere, and a car ferry that holds about 18 vehicles with a route crossing the lake at about its mid-point, which can be very useful, with the length and narrowness of the lake. This car ferry travels crosses from Ferry Nab in Bowness-on-Windermere to Far Sawrey. However, this is the Lake District, definitely a hot spot in the summer season, but undoubtedly quiet, with only rural residents during the winter--and the ferry does not cross during the winter, so keep the length of the lake in mind as you choose your destinations.

As we drove into town through the narrow cobbled higgledy-piggledy streets (yes, those words were created because of streets just like these), the fairly stormy skies we had experienced intermittently throughout the gray January day cleared up, and we enjoyed rather watery blue skies during our days in the Lake District, which was nice, because we could enjoy the views. The aerial photograph of the center of the village (left, by photographer Simon Ledingham) shows the village center in the top middle of the photo, St. Michael's Church on the hill overlooking the village in the center of the photo, and Wordsworth's Grammar School at the center bottom of the photo along the main route out of town. The photos of the village center (above right) show the whitewashed cluster of buildings. We stayed back behind these buildings, through a narrow cobbled alley, past a fresh spring bubbling out of a spring house, in Fern Cottage. Walking into this three-level cottage with sitting room and kitchen below and bedrooms above, I was torn between enchantment at the wood fireplace carefully laid for a fire and the saggiest couch in the universe. I quickly cheered up as I toured the spacious accommodations--that felt like a home--and thought about bringing children back for an explore someday and staying here once again. A collection of restaurants pubs and charming shops are within easy walking distance, and several of the stores have a nice selection of Beatrix Potter merchandise and books. Beatrix Potter Gallery is located in one of the village center buildings (shown right, I'm standing in front of its ticket office sign. left is the gallery building where William Heelis' office is located, to contact: Main St, Hawkshead, LA22 0NS. Tel: 015394 36355. Email: beatrixpottergallery@nationaltrust.org.uk ). We enjoyed a meander around the little village and checked out a couple of shops, noting interestingly named lanes such as Wordsworth Street, with a street sign that reminds us, just in case we might get confused and lost from a previous visit, that this was formerly Leather, Rag & Putty Street (obviously a street full of craftsmen at one time). Which brings me to a short discussion point and observation I made while in England this time around: It appeared to me that the British are very careful to tell you when a sign, a road, a place's name, has been changed. I think it might be because they have such a long history and many architectural and natural features have remained so much the same for centuries and even millenia, sometimes. It is important for people to know where they are when a place or road has been renamed--because they expect it to be the same as the last time they were there. I actually think that is a good attitude to have for a society. In the United States, there is so much development and then redevelopment that nothing much gets the chance for its citizens to memorize directions, to expect traditions and places to develop. We are a paper plate society, always developing our countryside, our forests, our wetlands--protecting little but the right to do what we want with the land or property we own. Having said that, I also noticed that the British have a tendency to give you the broad directions miles from a destination, such as, it's North to the Lake Country and Beatrix Potter's home--but as you near the destination, frequently the directional signage disappears--as if they expect you to remember the directions from the last time you were here, or you must have gotten your directions from your grandparents from when they came as a child, or perhaps you will use the old fashioned GPS and ask a local--once again, the attitude being that things remain the same for so long that who needs directions?

Now, back to my Topic: That evening we ate at a quite lovely restaurant in the Queen's Head Inn (sign, left) after walking around to see Wordsworth's Grammar School (pictured right), clearly marked and it's origins from 1585 architecturally evident. Wordsworth and his brother attended there in the 17980s. Note the sundial on the exterior. The building did not originally have a second story. There is an exhibition inside and a typical classroom from the period (below). "WW" is carved in one desk (William Wordsworth) and IWordsworth (his brother John) is carved in a windowsill. Great pictures and more information about this school is found at http://www.visitcumbria.com/amb/ hawkgrsc.htm. We were not going to take the time this trip (with its intent on exploring Children's Literature) to travel the Wordsworth route, but some of his homes are in the area--such as Dove Cottage (pictured right). We saved Wordsworth's treasures for another visit, and images and information on the Wordsworth sites to be found in this area can be virtually explored at http://www.visitcumbria.com/wilword.htm). We also explored St. Michael's Church on the hill overlooking Hawkshead. This is the church that both Beatrix Potter and Wordsworth worshipped in. We stumbled upon an interesting item on the inside of the sanctuary--underneath the area of the bell tower, to be precise. . . Many bell ropes were looped away from the center (both photos, below right). I remembered reading about just such a circle of bell ropes in a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery novel by Dorothy Sayers, another eminent British author and a favorite of mine, in which the plot centered around bell ringers standing below the bells in the belfry and executing a sort of dance as they all rang their own bells of varying sizes, being pulled up off the floor at times by the ropes. It was fun to see what I had previously only visualized (see photo, Note: Dorothy Sayers, I am sure, wrote with some authority on the subject, as she grew up around Christ Church, Oxford where her father, Reverend Sayers, was headmaster from 1884 on for thirteen years. She would witness the ringing of Great Tom, the largest bell, ringing once for each student at Christ Church, and intent on bringing all the boys in to their beds for the evening with lights out before the last of Great Tom's tolls had resounded. One evening the bell did not ring, the boys did not come, and Reverend Sayers caught all of the boys out for the evening. It was the night of the University Rag, and the boys had cut the bell rope (http://www.ofchoristers.net/ Chapters/OxfordChristChurch.htm). The next morning, it was on to Hill Top in Near Sawrey. Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), who, in 1893 started it all by sending a story and pictures to 5 year old Noel Moore about her pet rabbit, Peter, created many of her stories and some of her most memorable characters at Hill Top, including Jemima Puddleduck, all of whom are now celebrating 100 years of existence. She purchased over 4000 acres of land around the area during her lifetime and deeded it to the National Trust for preservation upon her death, stipulating that Hill Top would be preserved exactly as she left it. The view from the main road and National Trust sign is shown above left. The front of the house and a bit of Near Sawrey can be seen left, and two photos of the gardens in which one can so easily picture the creatures of Potter's tales are shown below. More photos of the house and garden at Hill Top can be found at http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ schmid/arber/BPotter_house Garden.html. The painting below right shows just how one would see it on a summers day at tea time (painter, Stephen Darbishire ) In the winter, you need to make prior arrangements to see this site, as it is normally closed through the winter until March. .A great site with photos of the house and gardens in the summer is found at http://socrates.berkeley.edu/ ~schmid/arber/BPotter _houseGarden.html. Just down the road from Hill Top is the Tower Bank Arms, a well-known pub in the Lake District, and famous for its presence in the tales about Jemima Puddleduck, playing the part of a small Inn in the book. Beatrix Potter is shown at Hill Top in this 1913 photo by a young American visitor (left). She married William Heelis in 1913 and lived the thirty years of their married life together across the road at Castle Cottage (above right) while continuing to illustrate and entertain at Hill Top. A complete chronology of her life can be found at: http://www.bpotter.com/ index.cfm?v1=BeatrixPotter&v2=Chronology. I find Beatrix Potter fascinating for several reasons. She developed independence and a career, and invested in property in a time when that was difficult for a woman. She became engaged twice, the first time at the age of 39 to the youngest son, Norman Warne, of her publisher, Frederick Warne. Most unfortunately, Norman died of pernicious aenemia before they could marry. Just before his death, she purchased Hill Top Farm with the royalties from her first publishing efforts. She grew to love the place and spent more and more time there, finding the home an inspiration that helped spur her on to continue to create, until she had published 23 stories in her original Peter Rabbit Collection. Years later, Beatrix Potter married William Heelis, a solicitor in Hawkshead, at the age of 47. William had advised her on her property dealings, as she had continued to acquire land over the years with an eye to its eventual preservation. She kept both romantic relationships secret from her parents for a time, because she did not feel they would approve, as she would be "marrying into trade." She preserved a great deal of her part of the Lake District and helped begin a preservation movement by deeding her land to the National Trust--an act that we are all benefiting from to this day. She is a woman to admire, and in the middle of everything, she managed to create a secondary world of endearing creatures that created an empire in the field of children's books and toys that still reigns (above left, her illustrations of Peter Rabbit and Jeremy Fisher). Recently, a rather fine movie, Miss Potter, has been released. A substantial biography of Beatrix Potter and a movie trailer are available at:http://www.enjoyenglandsnorthcountry.com/misspotter/page.asp?pagekey=6. A picture of her first patented Peter Rabbit cuddle toy doll is shown above left. For hours of operation and to book tours of Hill Top, visit http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-hilltop/.

John Ruskin's home is also in the area (above) and overlooks Coniston Water. Ruskin added the windowed turret you can see in the photo, from which he enjoyed panoramic views of the Water. He was visited in this house by many literary notables of his day, including Kate Greenaway (and others, including Charles Darwin). John Ruskin--friend to Lewis Carroll, art critic, social critic and influencer of the pre-Raphaelites, wrote the early fantasy, The King of the Golden River, a literary folk/fairytale, and one of the earliest that was written specifically for a child ( Effie Gray, age 12, whom Ruskin later married and then . . . well, that's another story entirely). With illustrations by Richard Doyle (Doyle's first free-lance contract) that were hand-colored by Edmund Evans, this book proved to be immediately popular and went through three editions within its first year of publication in 1851. Doyle's interpretation of the Southwest Wind's extremely protuding nose apparently drew some objections and Ruskin insisted that Doyle tone the noses in three of his illustrations down for the third edition--although several other phallic-like pointed objects within these illustrations are still evident in this reprint of a Doyle illustration from the third edition. Richard "Dickie" Doyle (1824-1883) was perhaps best remembered for his beautiful green-cloth-bound volume, In Fairyland, (shown right) printed and hand-colored by Edmund Evans, and described as one of the finest examples of Victorian book production by Richard Dalby in The Golden Age of Children's Book Illustration (1991, p 12). Ruskin was a rather distinctive artist himself and has a college at Oxford named after him. Look for this quote in the golden stones of Oxford when you are there: "Every noble life leaves the fibre of it interwoven forever in the work of the world." Powerful thought by Ruskin. Slide 79 A fantastic site to help plan holidays anywhere in Great Britain can be found at:

http://www.britainexpress.com/counties/index.htm. For a virtual tour of this area of England, visit http://www.britainexpress.com/Where_to_go_in_Britain/tour/ne.htm. There are many walking trails throughout the Lake District, Castle ruins and standing stones to visit, and for a list of sites of interest, visit http://www.britainexpress.com/countryside/Lake_District.htm. For a slide show of the stunning vistas to be enjoyed in the Lake District, visit http://www.britainexpress.com/counties/cumbria/gallery/index.htm?page=1. Curious about the major lakes in the Lake District? Info & images can be found at http://www.britainexpress.com/counties/cumbria/countryside/lakes.htm. Days 5 & 6, Hadrian's Wall, James Barrie & Arthur Rackham. Before heading back South to the Oxford area, we could not miss the opportunity to visit Hadrian's Wall, just a short drive away. Walking trails actually exist the entire 80 Roman miles (73.5 English miles or 117 kilometers) length of Hadrian's Wall, and its magnificent vistas could be a destination for a summer holiday for the actively-minded (intent on such a walking journey? For a great interactive map that allows visitors to scroll and zoom in along different sections of the map, and for a picture gallery from various parts of the wall country and information for potential visitors to the are, visit: http://www.blogger.com/www.nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrianswall/index.asp?PageId=1PageId=1 PageId=1. For information on specific sites to visit along the wall, visit: http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrianswall/sites.asp?PageId=56 altrail.c o.uk/hadrianswall/sites.asp?PageId=56 which also features an interactive map. You can even watch low or higher resolution short flash videos of sections of the wall at: http://www.hadrians-wall.org/Gallery_Video.aspx. an educational overview of the wall suitable for children and addressing certain questions about the site, visit http://www.hadrians-wall.org/. A timeline of archeological places of interest mentions one impressive Roman fort and settlement archeological site we visited,Vindolanda, dating from A.D. 105, at http://www.archaeology.co.uk/index.phpoption=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=22&Itemid=30 and includes a link for more information at

http://www.archaeology.co.uk/index.phpoption=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemid=30. Vindolanda is not only showcases extensive ruins from Roman occupation times, but has been the recent interest in the world of archeology because of some ancient writings that were recently discovered there. No, not great literature, no Homer or Virgil, but some very interesting records of humdrum day-to-day living have been unearthed in the form of some wooden writing tablets presenting a record of everyday life and transactions from that period in British history were discovered along the main road of the fort, preserved in wet, boggy conditions (images left of later stone fort with shadow of earlier timber fort shown as well, and of one of the wooden writing tablets discovered in Hadrian's Wall is a long wall built of stone and turf built by the Roman Empire and spanning the entire width of Britain from Atlantic Ocean to the English Channel. It was merely the 2nd of three such walls built crossing Great Britain--the first was Gask Ridge and the final effort was the Antonine Wall. All of these were built to attempt to halt raids by the Pics, the ancient tribes of Scotland so as to create peaceful conditions for the Roman province of Britannia to the south of the walls; and to mark the physical edge of the Roman Empire's frontier. Experts also believe that doors through the wall served as custom posts to allow trade and taxation of that trade, as settlements tended to grow and thrive around the military outposts along the wall. A significant portion of Hadrian's Wall still exists and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Materials used to build the wall were taken from what was available nearby--some sections of the wall were originally built of turf and timber--but all of it was later replaced with stone. This vast Northumbrian region of England is hilly and green, and often barren of trees. The grass, criss-crossing stone walls (frequently pillaged from Hadrian's Wall) and occasional herds of sheep dominate the scenery. East of the River Irthing, the wall was built of squared stone and stood three meters or 9.7 feet wide and as much as five or six meters (16 to 20 feet) high. West of the River Irthing, the wall was guilt of turf and measured six meters (or 20 feet) wide and three and a half meters (or 11.5 feet) high--and this doesn't include the ditches and berms that ran parallel along the sides of the wall, nor does it include the forts that dotted the length of the wall approximately every ? . Central sections of the wall originally measured eight Roman feet wide (7.8 feet or 2.4 meters) on a ten foot base (3 meters). Some sections of this part of the wall still reach a height of 10 feet (3 meters). Despite the fact that much of the height of the wall has been taken, over the last two millenia for various building projects in the area, such as the abbey we passed, shown left, the wall still represents a considerable It has a haunting and compelling mood to the place, especially on the stormy day in January upon which we made our visit. The storm clouds had recently dumped some snow that was apparent on occasional hillsides--but not enough to disturb our driving tour--and, fortunately for us, the grey tumult of the clouds overhead never disturbed our progress and mererly added mystery and magic to our visit. We stopped at 4 sites along the way. I will mention one of the most impressive here, the last of the four we visited. Around 3:30 in the afternoon, we rolled into an empty parking lot in Vilolanda--the only other vehicle there was a truck that we assumed belonged to the lone postholder in the visitor's center out here in what felt like the back of beyond on an off-season bleak January afternoon--as we stepped out of our car and headed for the entrance to the building we saw the gentleman streak out of the building heading for his truck. If he hadn't stopped and taken pity on us, what would we have done, after driving across England to visit this solitary spot? Would we have climbed the fence to view what appeared to be a most interesting archeological spot? As it was, we were able to wander around--view the foundational remains of barracks and steam rooms, a tower, and wells, at this outpost and nearby community that is located just a couple of miles off of Hadrian's Wall. And when you go--you have to walk a portion of the wall, naturally, as you can see I did in the photo to the left. James Barrie's Birthplace. James Barrie (1860-1937), Scottish author and celebrated creator of Peter Pan, was actually born at 9 Brechin Road, Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland (shown left, more info at National Trust of Scotland website at http://www.nts.org.uk/Property/37/WhatToSee/, more images from the property and descriptions of what one can see at About Aberdeen website at http://www.aboutaberdeen.com/peter_pan_house.php), now part of the Scottish National Trust, just a couple more hours north of there. By visiting his birthplace, one gets the chance to visit the outside washhouse that is possibly Barrie's inspiration for Wendy's House and where Barrie first performed plays as a child, or see the desk he worked at from his London flat where he lived the last several decades of his life. The garden behind the home has a statue of Peter Pan, and bushes trimmed into crocodiles and other Peter Pan themes. Many activities take place there during seasonal months--but in winter the house closes except for specific dates as announced. Still, one can stroll the gardens at any time of year and there is a shop filled with themed merchandise, but no tea room. The house next door is devoted to presenting the theatrical works of James Barrie. Barrie actually gave a Camera Obscura and a cricket pavillion to the town and the views from it are spectacular (left). Barrie was born the 9th child of weaver, David Barrie and his wife Margaret Ogilvy. James had three brothers and six sisters. The death of his brother David, who died at the age of fourteen in a skating accident, deeply affected James' mother, and her overwhelming sadness had a profound affect, ultimately, on young James. He went on to move to London and become a writer and, as a free-lancer, was able to earn a fairly decent living, eventually catching the attention of some of the writers who had inspired him as a child, such as George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, Thomas Hardy and Robert Louis Stevenson, whose adventure stories he had grown up loving. He also collaborated on an opera with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Although the opera was not successful, their friendship subsequently lasted a lifetime. I n 1894, James Barrie married actress Mary Ansell, and they acquired a St. Bernard puppy on their honeymoon in Switzerland--who turned out to be the inspiration for the character of Nana in the later story of Peter Pan, and I quote from chapter one of the novel: Mrs. Darling loved to have everything just so, and Mr. Darling had a passion for being exactly like his neighbours; so, of course, they had a nurse. As they were poor, owing to the amount of milk the children drank, this nurse was a prim Newfoundland dog, called Nana, who had belonged to no one in particular until the Darlings engaged her. In 1902, James Barrie was living overlooking Kensington Gardens, London, site of the now famous statue of Peter Pan (shown above). It was here that he first met the Davies boys (there were fiveof them shown left with father, Arthur. Boys were Nico, in father's arms, left to right,Jack, Peter, George, and Michael in front), sons of neighbors, Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, who became close friends. Barrie joined in the Davies boy's games and told them fantastic stories. It was to them that he first told the adventures of a boy named Peter Pan, who "escaped from being a human when he was seven days old . . . and flew back to Kensington Gardens" to live with the birds and fairies. The story was first published under the titled of The Little White Bird, part of a novel for adults published in 1902, later published under the title of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, in 1906. The character and stories were such a success that Barrie decided to recreate the story as a play, and in that play the boy named Peter Pan became the boy who wouldn't grow up. Noted illustrator Arthur Rackham (1867-1939), born in London with later home in Limpsfield, Surrey, illustrated the 1911 novel first published under the title of Peter and Wendy, later Peter Pan and Wendy. An illustration from that novel is shown left, of Peter playing the pipes. A color plate from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens is shown left, already showing the Rackham "style" including the forboding trees. A site showing some of Rackham's illustrations with biography can be found at: http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/rackham. Other sites of interest to Arthur Rackham fans: Works by Arthur Rackham at Project Gutenberg; The Arthur Rackham Society; Collection of more than 200 plates from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, Alices Adventures in Wonderland, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Undine, The Rhinegolde & The Valkyrie, Siegfried & The Twilight of the Gods, The Romance of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, The Springtide of Life, Hawthornes Wonder Book and The Tempest from Spirit of the Ages.

Major works of children's book illustration by Arthur Rackham: Fairy Tales of the Brothers GrimmRip van Winkle (1905), Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906), and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1907). His adult work would be of interest to children's illustration enthusiasts as well, however, and is extensive. Typically, Rackham contributed both colour and monotone illustrations to his illustrated books.

"Rackham, Arthur." Online Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.<http://www.britannica.com/eb/art-57582>. Returning to James Barrie's story, sadly, both of the Davies boys' parents ended up dying of cancer, and Barrie became their guardian as a result. Barrie received a knighthood in 1913. He died in 1937 and is buried in Kirriemuir cemetary along with the rest of his family (shown left). A more complete biography can be found at: http://www.online-literature.com/barrie/. A map of Kirriemuir, as well as information about other sites tand accommodations can be found at: http://www.aboutbritain.com/maps/kirriemuir-map.asp. Barrie's play, Peter Pan or, The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up, was first performed on December 27, 1904 as a Christmas play to a full-to-capacity crowd at the Duke of York Theatre in London (pictured left) and was an instant hit. It was published in 1928, and has since been adapted multiple times to stage and screen. The book opens in this way: All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, "Oh, why can't you remain like this for ever!" This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end. Two may be the beginning of the end for humans, but this was just the beginning of the beginning for the characters in Peter Pan--a story that now celebrates its centennial, and has more versions now than ever, with feature films about Tinker Bell, and movies like Hook that continue the story beyond the familiar original, but in ways encouraged by some of Barrie's own further explorations of these characters. A complete list of Barrie's Peter Pan stories can be found at: . Day 7 & 8. Banbury Cross & Oxford: Filled to the brim with Children's Literature history. We just had to make a brief stop on our journey to Oxford by way of Banbury Cross to view the famous cross on a steeple in the center of a traffic circle (seen left), watched over by the famous and mysterious "lady upon a white horse" of nursery rhyme fame (shown below). Remember that rhyme?

"Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross,

To see a Fyne lady ride on a white horse. With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, She shall have music wherever she goes. "

As we wound our way through several villages on the way to Banbury, we had noticed these crosses at the center of traffic circles or crossroads in the centers of several villages. Each cross distinctive and topping some sort of steeple-like statuary, I found them curious and wanted to do a "little explore" into the topic of crosses. I asked myself questions such as: were crossing roads the inspiration for the name "crossroads" or were crosses marking the way for pilgrims the source of the name? As we saw these crosses around the English countryside we noticed that the style varied, but they invariably resembled the steeples on churches and displayed crosses at the top. There is one in Oxford that is called the Martyrs' Cross and has statues of people in it. A little research told me that crossroads were seen as "boundary places," or magical spots where spirits gathered. So, perhaps the crosses were placed to protect traveling pilgrims from these spirits? Banbury, England is located at the site of the crossing of two ancient roads, the Salt Way that is still used as a bridle path today and the Jurassic Way that ran from the Humber to the Avon Rivers, that existed since at least 1000 B.C. --the community used to boast a cross at this crossroad, the destination of an ancient pilgrimage. In fact, three such crosses could be found in Banbury long ago: the High Cross, the Bread Cross and the White Cross, all of which were destroyed by the Puritans in the 1600s due to fear that these Catholic symbols would be worshipped as idols (The current cross in Banbury seen in the background of the photo below was built in 1859 to commemorate a royal wedding of Queen Victoria's eldest daughter.). The statue of the famous "fine lady upon a white horse" was unveiled in 2005 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's 50th year as monarch. One of the leading contenders for the identity of the white lady on the white horse is: Lady Godiva, wife to Earl Leofric of Mercia, who lived in the 11th century and who, tradition says, rode a horse around the countryside with only her hair clothing herself to fulfill a bargain she made with her husband to get him to relieve the people of that region of high taxes. More information about her can be found at http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/parsonal/godiva.htm. A portrait of Lady Godiva painted by pre-Raphaelite painter John Collier in 1898 is shown above. The story of the crosses in Banbury can be found at: http://www.banbury-cross.co.uk/ banhistory.htm. There are other contenders for the identity of the fine lady. One of these is Queen Elizabeth I, who reportedly visited the Banbury Cross at one time. Yet another contender is Celia Feinnes, pronounced perhaps significantly "fines," as in "Fine Lady," who married into the Sayre family that lived at Broughton Castle near Banbury Cross. Ms. Feinnes apparently rode everywhere throughout the English countryside in the late 1600s. However, by that time the crosses had been taken down. Still, "rings on her fingers" could have been an indication of great wealth, while "bells on her toes" could refer to the style, popular in the 1600s, of wearing bells on the curling toes of the slippers women wore. One final contender for the Fine Lady's identity could be the Welsh Goddess Rhiannon, who was believed to ride a white stallion. In Edain McCoy's Celtic Myth and Magick he discusses a folk custom that was performed up into the beginning years of the 20th century in Western Ireland where people would greet the dawn by visiting crossroads and lighting fires in each of the cardinal directions, riding three times round the center of the intersection on brooms and then sitting and watching for a vision of a dark lady on a white horse galloping from east to west. This custom sounds remarkably similar to both the description of the Welsh Goddess and of the actions described in the nursery rhyme. For further discussion about the Fine Lady's identity, visit http://childrens-verse.suite101.com/article.cfm/ride_a_cock_horse. Days 7 & 8--Oxford's Children's Literature Dignitaries: Phillip Pullman, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), & C.S. Lewis. It was full steam ahead to Oxford--Oxford is a beautiful golden town, even in the frosty late January afternoon light. It is also a place that literally teams with literary personages, many of them in the field of Children's Literature. Just to name a few: Tolkien, C.S.Lewis, Lewis Carroll and Kenneth Graham (left, author, Wind in the Willows), not to mention current author, Phillip Pullman (left), professor at Oxford and writer of The Golden Compass series of books (movie poster, left), just debuted as a feature film. You can view several interesting interviews, etc., with Pullman through his website at http://www.philip-pullman.com/. You can watch a trailer of the movie at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2813395225/. While I've viewed the movie, I've just begun reading this trilogy, so will reserve reviewing it until I have completed the saga. However, the story has created some controversy regarding its supposedly athiestic bent, and has received some resistence from the Catholic Church, so I will be interested in my own reaction to it. I had visited Oxford before, but we were still interested in some typical visitor haunts, such as the very lovely Hertford Bridge, often referred to as the Bridge of Sighs for its similarity to a bridge of that name in Venice, pictured right. However, this time, our main focus was on the trails following Lewis Carroll, C.S.Lewis, and of J.R.R.Tolkien. You may pick up brochures specifically designed to help you follow each of these trails at a local Visitors Center, and we did exactly that. While I visited several sites connected with Tolkien, I would like to return to Oxford and concentrate on Tolkien a bit more in future, so I will report more upon my next visit there. In the meantime, you can see pictures of several homes throughout Oxford in which he and his wife Edith lived, as well as a pictures of other sites of interest with respect to Tolkien at: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~tolksoc/TolkiensOxford/. Lewis Carroll (shown below from a portrait hanging in the Dining Hall of Christ Church College) is the pen name of Chalres Dodgson, a mathematics tutor at Christ Church from 1855 to 1898. While there, he befriended the small daughters of Henry Liddell, Dean of Christ Church--and one of Dean Liddell's daughters was named, yes, you guessed it, Alice. She came to Christ Church about the age of 3 when her father became Dean there. The now famous Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass grew out of tales that the shy Charles Dodgson told the Liddell sisters, Lorina, Alice and Edith, especially on one particular summer's day outing while he and a friend rowed the young girls up the nearby river. Little Alice requested that Charles make his story into a book. He did so, entitling it Alice's Adventures Underground and presented it to the Liddell sisters for Christmas a couple of years later. You can view this original version of Lewis Carroll's classic and actually turn the pages of the book at the British Library Turning the Pages site at http://www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/alice/--complete with Carroll's original sketches for the book, that one can easily see must have influenced the later published version illustrated by noted illustrator John Tenniel. Lewis Carroll's apartment was near Big Tom, the bell that historically has rung every evening, one ring for each student in Christ Church College, and the students would have to be in their rooms by the end of its toll. Lewis Carroll used to like to watch the students rushing to get back to their rooms while Big Tom was ringing. In the Dining Hall of Christ Church, as one faces the front of this great hall, there are three long dining tables illuminated by the soft glow of desk lamps. At the front of the hall is a platform and a long horizontal table upon which the dignitaries of the college would eat every day, Dean Liddell among them, often with 3 year old Alice playing about his feet, according to our tour guide. Unnoticed in the left back corner of the podium, built into the dark wood raised paneling of the hall is a small door that disguises a narow iral staircase that leads down and out of the dining hall. It is said that Dean Liddell is Lewis Carroll's inspiration for the White Rabbit, for, when dinner was done and little Alice was quite bored, first her father and then she would disappear down "the rabbit hole" of this hidden circular staircase. Halfway down the great hall on both sides are two great stone fireplaces. The fifth stained-glass window in a row of them that happens to be above the left fireplace displays a picture of the original Alice Liddell and many of the characters from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In front of the right fireplace on the opposite side of the room are a tall pair of old andirons with faces in them and very long necks--inspiration, supposedly for the scene in Alice in Wonderland where Alice's neck grows very long. More on my visit to Oxford later. Looking Ahead: Days 9 & 10--London & the Museums.

http://www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/alice/alice_narrowband.htm?middle

2007-10-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

Halloween, Edward Gorey & The Gashleycrumb Tinies "A is for Amy who fell down the stairs B is for Basil assaulted by bears . . ." --and so this macabre ABC book begins. Beginning with a cover on which 26 young children huddle under Death the Undertaker's umbrella, in this story, one by one, 26 unfortunate children meet their demise. The illustrations are resolute in their unflinching gloom, filled with dense minutely cross-hatched ink shadows and Victorian and Edwardian architecture. At the end of the book is a simple picture of a crowded grouping of tombstones to assure us that there is no last minute rescue for these unlucky protagonists. A simple and effective tale reminiscent of Strewel Peter and of the cautionary tales of a century earlier, this tale of an overdose of misfortune is so Gothically gloomy that it ends up being ridiculously funny--which is exactly its appeal to children and adults alike. With Halloween upon us, and the Typography Class I teach this semester doing an Abecedary Assignment, putting together an ABC book full of monsters and trick-or-treaters this week, one of my students suggested that, as a class, we check out Edward Gorey's The Gashleycrumb Tinies, an abecedary presented in full at http://www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/stage/7535/gorey.html, and so we did; and I thought it would be fun to share our exploration with you. First visit the afore-mentioned site to read through the tale in its entirety and then return for a discussion of Edward Gorey, its creator. Edward St. John Gorey (1925-2000) died only recently, and is perhaps best remembered by the public for his work on the animation that begins the PBS Mystery! series that premiered in 1980 (co-directed by Derek Lamb). His macabre ink creations with their fine cross-hatching and Victorian/Edwardian settings display a Gothic angularity and slightly ominous feel that has collected a cult following for his artwork and has caused much of his audience to suspect he has British roots--although he never visited Great Britain and rarely traveled . . . living out the final years of his life in Massachusetts. Hailing from Chicago from a somewhat colorful family (his parents divorced when he was eleven and then remarried when he was twenty-seven), Gorey's father was a journalist, if only for a brief time, and one of Edward's step-mothers, Corinna Mura, was a cabaret singer who landed a brief role in the classic film Casablanca. Edward believed he inherited his talent from one of his great-grandmother's (maternal), Helen St. John Garvey, who was a reputable Victorian era greeting card writer and illustrator. Edward served from 1944-1946 in the Army in Utah and then enrolled in Harvard University until 1950, where his roommate was Frank O'Hara, future poet. While not possessing a great deal of formal training, Gorey did study art for a semester at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and eventually became a professional illustrator. He moved to New York City and worked for the art Department at Doubleday Anchor doing illustration work for their published books and has illustrated Bram Stoker's Dracula, Wells' The War of the Worlds, and T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Later, Gorey began illustrating picture books for children, including books by John Bellairs. He also illustrated series of books begun by Bellairs and then continued by other authors following his passing. He illustrated over fifty works of other authors. In 1953, Gorey published his first work completely his own, in The Unstrung Harp. Gorey wrote over 100 books, many of them quite short. However, since many of them were published in small runs by obscure presses, it is frequently difficult to locate many titles (with price tags rising accordingly). Four large collections of his work exist, with each containing perhaps fifteen or more of his shorter books. These are: Amphigorey, 1972, contains The Unstrung Harp, The Listing Attic, The Doubtful Guest, The Object-Lesson, The Bug Book, The Fatal Lozenge, The Hapless Child, The Curious Sofa, The Willowdale Handcar, The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Insect God, The West Wing, The Wuggly Ump, The Sinking Spell, and The Remembered Visit Amphigorey Too, 1975, contains The Beastly Baby, The Nursery Frieze, The Pious Infant, The Evil Garden, The Inanimate Tragedy, The Gilded Bat, The Iron Tonic, The Osbick Bird, The Chinese Obelisks, The Deranged Cousins, The Eleventh Episode, [The Untitled Book], The Lavender Leotard, The Disrespectful Summons, The Abandoned Sock, The Lost Lions, Story for Sara [with Alphonse Allais], The Salt Herring [with Charles Cros], Leaves from a Mislaid Album, and A Limerick Amphigorey Also, 1983, contains The Utter Zoo, The Blue Aspic, The Epipleptic Bicycle, The Sopping Thursday, The Grand Passion, Les Passementeries Horribles, The Eclectic Abecedarium, L'Heure bleue, The Broken Spoke, The Awdrey-Gore Legacy, The Glorious Nosebleed, The Loathsome Couple, The Green Beads, Les Urnes Utiles, The Stupid Joke, The Prune People, and The Tuning Fork Amphigorey Again, 2006, contains The Galoshes of Remorse, Signs of Spring, Seasonal Confusion, Random Walk, Category, The Other Statue, 10 Impossible Objects (abridged), The Universal Solvent (abridged), Scenes de Ballet, Verse Advice, The Deadly Blotter, Creativity, The Retrieved Locket, The Water Flowers, The Haunted Tea-Cosy, Christmas Wrap-Up, The Headless Bust, The Just Dessert, The Admonitory Hippopotamus, Neglected Murderesses, Tragedies Topiares, The Raging Tide, The Unknown Vegetable, Another Random Walk, Serious Life: A Cruise, Figbash Acrobate, La Malle Saignante, and The Izzard Book Though Gorey's books are popular with children, he never married nor spoke of any interest in any romantic relationships and had no children of his own; nor did he associate with children much nor show much interest in children. In the book, The Strange Case of Edward Gorey, published after Gorey's death, his friend Alexander Theroux presents a picture of a man who was generous of spirit, friendly, but preferred a solitary existence much of the time. One interesting fact is that Edward Gorey frequently published under pseudonyms using anagrams of the letters in his own name, such as "Ogdred Weary," a tradition also used by Theodor Seuss Geisel, another well-known children's author/illustrator. Other anagramatic names Edward Gorey wrote under included: Ogdred Weary - The Curious Sofa, The Beastly Baby Mrs. Regera Dowdy - The Pious Infant Eduard Blutig - The Evil Garden (translated from Der Böse Garten by Mrs. Regera Dowdy), The Tuning Fork (translated from Der Zeitirrthum by Mrs. Regera Dowdy) Raddory Gewe - The Eleventh Episode Dogear Wryde - The Broken Spoke/Cycling Cards E. G. Deadworry - The Awdrey-Gore Legacy D. Awdrey-Gore - The Toastrack Enigma, The Blancmange Tragedy, The Postcard Mystery, The Pincushion Affair, The Toothpaste Murder, The Dustwrapper Secret (Note: These books, attributed to Awdrey-Gore in Gorey's book, The Awdrey-Gore Legacy, were not actually written.) Edward Pig - The Untitled Book Wardore Edgy Madame Groeda Weyrd - The Fantod Deck Edward Gorey received a Tony Award for Best Costume Design for the 1977 Broadway production of Dracula, and a nomination for his scenic design for the same. In his home, called Elephant House, in Yarmouth Port on Cape Cod, in a dramatic ensemble called La Theatricule Stoique, he wrote and directed many dramatic presentations featuring his own papier mache puppets. In the early 1970s, Edward Gorey wrote a screenplay for The Black Doll, an unproduced silent film. In Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1987 his play, Lost Shoelaces, premiered. His major theatrical effort was a libretto to music by Daniel James Wolf for a work that premiered posthumously, The White Canoe, an "Opera Seria for Handpuppets" based on The Lady of the Lake legend. Gorey had a liking for ballet, loved cats (he had several), viewed an excellent commercial as an art form, and acquired an extensive knowledge of books and film, writing rather acidic movie reviews under the pseudonym of Wardore Edgy for the Soho Weekly for awhile. When being interviewed he would often refer to a broad range of his favorite authors and artists, such as Francis Bacon, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, Lady Murasaki Shikibu, and Vermeer, among others--showing an eclectic appreciation of style. Gorey also unabashedly and openly valued pop culture, following television series like Cheers, soap operas, as well as several darker genre series like Buffy, the Vampire Slayer or The X-Files. He once admitted when being interviewed, that his enjoyment for the animated Batman series was so great that it was influencing his style for an upcoming book. It is often difficult to categorize Gorey's work. For example, is it written for children or for adults? Gorey is sometimes called an artist who writes. Sometimes he is called a writer who draws. Gorey's books, both writings and illustrations, probably fit under the title of literary nonsense. His work can be found in the humor sections of bookstores, but some of his work such as The Object Lesson has received critical acclaim as an example of surrealist art. Gorey experimented with both form and content. He created pop-up books, matchbox-sized books, wordless books, and books populated entiredly with inanimate objects. Gorey would probably have taken the difficulty in categorizing his work as a complement. As he, himself, stated to interviewer Richard Dyer: "Ideally, if anything were any good, it would be indescribable." The World of Edward Gorey by Clifford Ross and Karen Wilkin, published in 2002 by Harry N. Abrams Publishers, features an interview with Edward Gorey, many plates of his artwork from various projects, both in black and white and color, and a discussion of his work. For further on-line exploration of this fascinating artist, visit: Mystery! Edward Gorey interview Selected Gorey works Elephant House: The Edward Gorey House http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gorey

Many thanks to Evan for bringing Edward Gorey to the attention of Typography 2007.

2007-10-21T23:46:00.000-07:00

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT Hopping into a Theatre Near You This Holiday Season--and Worth the Journey! THE VELVETEEN RABBIT is making a fresh new appearance at Sycamore Rouge Theatre (seen right). To enjoy a new take on an old friend, head on down to Petersburg, Virginia, just a 20 mile journey south from downtown Richmond, at 21 West Old Street in Petersburg. You all know this classic children's story: Margery Williams' beloved book about a Velveteen Rabbit, a forgotten Christmas gift that is ultimately transformed into the world of "real" through a young boy's love. This sounds like it has all the markings of a memorable production your entire family will applaud. Dec 7th through Dec. 22nd. Tickets are $18, $14 for children (12 and under). Performances are on Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. Enjoy a FREE PREVIEW on Dec. 14 at Friday for the Arts! where you can enjoy snippets of the play. To make reservations, call: 804-957-5707 or email: mail@sycamorerouge.org. I found out about this fresh adaptation while at a stimulating gathering of women friends and colleagures recently. Invited by my Theatre Professor from the Ph.D. program I am currently enrolled in at Virginia Commonwealth University, within five minutes of entering the room I found myself deep in conversation with the adapter and director of this new musical version of an old classic, kb saine--we enjoyed a vigorous conversation about the exciting topic of copyright laws, of all things, as they pertain to classics such as THE VELVETEEN RABBIT--mainly because of my own interest in adapting another classic. Hearing that this new version included freshly written jazz and blues music by Roddy Barnes, as well as some unique puppetry and masks, I couldn't help but judge this a perfect chance to make a family memory, give my children a special treat, and evaluate a new adaptation of this classic tale. (Need to refresh your memory of this narrative? Visit: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/williams/rabbit/rabbit.html.

To find out a few facts about William Nicholson, British painter, 1872-1949, who is remembered in part for his definitive illustrations for The Velveteen Rabbit as shown above , visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Nicholson_%28artist%29)

The Velveteen Rabbit: Or, How Toys Become Real, by Margery Williams, Illustrations by Don Daily, Reading level: Ages 9-12, Hardcover: 53 pages, Publisher: Courage Bks.; Revised edition (September 24, 2007), Language: English, Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 10 x 0.5 inche With the full intention of taking my family to this production of The Velveteen Rabbit--it seemed only logical that I add an edition of this tale to my children's picture book collection. For some unknown reason, this tale was not one to which I had been introduced as a child--and though I was familiar in a vague way with the general plot--I felt the need for my own personal discovery experience with this well-known narrative. When I came across the above edition of the book a few days after hearing about the new musical I decided to purchase it to read for myself and to share with my children this Holiday Season. The version I purchased utilizes the vision of Don Daily as illustrator, rather than the original and affectionately-remembered version first given to us by British painter, William Nicholson. Still, this edition is a truly elegant and beautiful rendering of the tale, laid out in a classic manner, with tall stately proportions and a bookjacket background of rich scarlet patterned art paper (matt-varnished) overprinted with gold-foil stamped flourished title and central cover image of the spotted stuffed rabbit peeking over a knitted stocking hanging at a glowing fireplace. This central illustration catches the reader's eye with a high-gloss spot varnish and the entire cover design is framed with an elegant embellished double-ruled border. The body of the book maintains the elegance of the cover with most pages displaying a full-page luminously realistic watercolor illustration that bleeds off the page on all sides. Don Daily's illustrations are meticulously realistic, and throughout this book seem to glow with a golden light--an effect that brings to mind the "golden glow of childhood" and frequently is accomplished with an underpainted wash over the entire illustration. Daily also effectively uses translucent shadow to reinforce the feeling of light the reader absorbs from each illustration. Just twice in the book the page uses only vignette illustrations in the corners framing the text. Also, twice there are double-page spread full-bleed illustrations with no text. These are painted beautifully, and the only down-side of these double-page images is that the text is not divided as thoughtfully as it could have been before these special features. For example, the first time there is a double-page image, the text before it mentions the boy coming to the garden, but then meanders for a line or two, breaking in mid-sentence without really setting the reader up for the following glorious double-page view of the boy in the garden with his stuffed rabbit. Such a page break in mid-sentence doesn't normally matter, except that the reader has to skip two more pages, because of the illustration, before continuing with the running text--and the final line of the previous page did not adequately set the reader up for the image they would be enjoying. The second time a double-page image is used, it shows the gardener with a bag of old toys he is supposed to burn, as the boy's room is being cleansed after his bout with scarlet fever--except that the text has not yet come to that point when the reader sees the image. As a typographer, I could not help thinking that the book was laid out so beautifully, with such classic grace, that these minor problems could well have been corrected. Still, the pages are graceful in proportion with spacious margins. The classic appeal of the serif text is enhanced with full justified margins and spacious extra leading between the lines of text. The top and bottom of each page of text is bordered with a spring-green double rule and a running book title with extra letter-spacing in all capital letters. Each chapter of the story begins with a large initial capital letter and oversized first line of large and small capital text in the afore-mentioned spring green that then becomes a slightly smaller-over sized large and small capitals for another line or two in black, and then melds into the capitals and lower case of the regular body text for overall ease of reading. This is a classic, yet create use of typography that enhances the impact of the book--and it was accomplished very successfully except for one small glitch on page nineteen when the word "wheelbarrow" at the end of the third line of all capitals introducing a chapter is hyphenated and then continued in capitals and lower case on the next line--once again, a small inconsistency in typographic design that I thought should and could have been corrected. Margery Williams (1880- 1944) wrote The Velveteen Rabbit in 1922--her first book for children, and an instant classic, although some critics thought it too romantic or sentimental a tale. In 1925 she wrote a tale that featured her son's name: Poor Cecco: The Wonderful Story of a Wonderful Wooden Dog Who Was the Jolliest Toy in the House Until He Went Out to Explore the World (1925)--quite a memorable and lively story inspite of its never-ending title, and thought, by some, to be more of a classic than its better-remembered predecessor--perhaps, in part, due to the exquisite Arthur Rackham illustrations. Another of her tales, The Little Wooden Doll, 1925, was illustrated by her daughter, Pamela (right), an artist in her own right and painter of the portrait of her mother shown above left (click on the portrait to see more of Pamela's work). These stories, along with her 1927 effort, The Skin Horse (who makes an important appearance in The Velveteen Rabbit), focus on the lives of the toys with which children play. Williams went on later to write young adult novels and to be a Newberry Honor Medalist in 1937 for her YA story, Winterbound, a story about two girls who unexpectedly have to take care of their home and family when their parents are away without warning. For more information on Margery Williams Bianco, and a full list of her other books, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margery_Williams .wikipedia.org/wiki/Margery_Williams

Do Don Daily (1940-2002) just recently passed away, and is well-respected for his illustrated versions of several collections of classic tales, as well as for his poster designs. For more information on this illustrator, visit: http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com/runningpress/author_detail.jsp?id=1000030540. To purchase a rare copy of Poor Cecco illustrated by Arthur Rackham, visit: http://www.bkkbooks.com/.

2007-10-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

THE NATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL COMES TO RICHMOND, VIRGINIA FOR ITS THIRD YEAR: Sometimes Storytelling Journeys are Hidden in Unexpected Places It's hard to resist the combination of a sparklingly vibrant autumn day and the National Folk Festival coming to your home city. Apparently 175,000 people could not resist that combination this past weekend. And, though I suffered, as most teachers and Ph.D. students do, from a consistent overdose of work, reading, projects, and homework, I nevertheless knew I would take a few hours out of the weekend to check the National Folk Festival out. It was too enticing of an opportunity to pass up. So, trailed by my family and holding a textbook that never got opened, we parked our car a few blocks away and enjoyed the fall sunshine as we meandered along the canal walk, past the canal boats weighed down with their guides and tourists, through Shockoe-Bottom to the James River and Belle and Brown Islands. The setting could not have been more magnificent, with the James River full of layers of bridges, rocks, small islands and trees. Old factories on the banks of the refurbished remnants of a canal system first envisioned by George Washington now housed museums that we would come back to explore another day, since there was too much of a banquet on offer already. Huge tents were scattered everywhere. At least six major venues featured folk bands, dance bands, gourd orchestras, drummers, dancers of all sorts and ethnic variations from Native American to Appalachian to Baltic, and even a storyteller of Native American extraction. Ethnic food aromas tempted at every turn. Crafts from around the country; boats being built, steel drums being demonstrated, dances and skills of all sorts, from woodworking to quilting, weaving to basket-weaving, timberframing to harmonica-playing were being demonstrated.

The favorite souvenir find of the festival appeared to be small wooden bird-shaped whistles that sounded uncannily like bird calls. They were everywhere, and their many sounds wafted through the air around us as we strolled--but they had sold out, when we enquired after them for my young daughter--however, we were told they can be found on Carey Street in the Ten Thousand Villages Shop in Richmond--a shop well worth visiting in its own right.

My children found something to love in John Styles' presentation of the ancient art of Punch and Judy. Who knew that a tradition centuries old could still be so sidesplittingly funny? Three days of continuous celebration of the folk arts of this country and all the world traditions from which they hail--What fun! I found myself wishing I could have spent all three days at the festival, that I could have brought a blanket and a picnic and just done my homework with all that wonderful variety of music and dance in the background all weekend long--there was too much on offer to explore in a brief couple of hours. We did our best to hit an act or two at each of the major venues--enjoying Dixieland Jazz, Junkyard Bands, Western Swing, Indian drumming and dancing, African-American Gospel, Native American drumming and dancing, and a variety of Appalachian and Country groups, not to mention the Baltic sounds of The Jerry Grcevich Tamburitza Orchestra. I'll bet you don't even know what a tamburitza is! I didn't either until I witnessed this group. A complete listing and description of the various groups, as well as many audio clips can be found at http://www.nationalfolkfestival.com/events_performers.html.

As we wandered, my children informed me that they had had visits from several of the groups at their schools. My son's favorite group? VISHTEN, from Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia--a young energetic group of musicians and step dancers playing music informed by their Acadian, Irish and Scottish heritages. Our family had made the same sort of so-journ last year--and I had taken along a textbook then, as well--reading a few pages while my daughter enjoyed a snack at the picnic tables. The weather had been fine both years, and landscapers had obviously been hard at work in-between. This area of Richmond had never looked better (Although we could use some rain. Newly-sodded and sown grass everywhere was completely brown--although it didn't appear too out of place as it was October and the season for autumnal colors.). Walking paths were well-defined, and many more trees and native grasses borded the canal and points in-between than I remembered from the year before. This year, while my daughter decorated a brown bag hat in the children's area (home to the gourd band, I believe, although I missed that particular attraction, much to my chagrin), I settled down to enjoy the Native American storyteller in the tent just below. I know from my studies that oral storytelling, the grandmother of theatre, and great grandmother of books, and great great grandmother of film, is making a comeback. Today, there is a resurgence of people interested in preserving and carrying on the craft of this particular art. One of the venues for such preservation efforts is the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, which I will address in another post. I had wondered, in my own musings prior to the actual festival, whether oral storytelling would make it to the National Folk Festival. It is difficult not to be exposed to this reappearing ancient art--and I had enjoyed such exposure while studying for my Masters Degree in Children's Literature at Hollins University. If it had made it to the National Folk Festival the previous year, I had not encountered it. But this year, just as I had speculated, it had made an appearance in the narratives of Dovie Thomason, an award-winning storyteller reknowned worldwide for her ability to share the oral traditions of her native people. She was personable, with a rich voice, and a way of looking at her audience as if she knew each one of you personally. . . . and she deftly managed to quickly replace stereotypical images of Native culture with insights from her personal experiences, After a few minutes, I easily slipped into her secondary world filled with tales of her heritage from her Kiowa Apache and Lakota relatives. For further information about her recordings and books of Native stories that have received Parents' Choice, The American Library Association, Storytelling World and Audiofile awards you may visit her website through the above link. Later, I found myself reflecting that much of what we enjoyed at the festival could be useful to those interested in the field of children's narratives, not just the offerings of oral storytellers. Punch and Judy shows are part of an ancient theatrical tradition that has delighted children for centuries, and could very well be the forerunners to some of the strange friendships that litter the children's narrative field today. And what of all the music we were enjoying, much of it full of energy leading to much foot-stomping and handclapping from both children and adults in their audiences? Isn't music and dance a dominant force in many narratives of the children's theatre and film universe? With this observation in mind, I felt no guilt as I soaked up the ambiance, the different cultures and traditions--for who knew where it might leak in my own work someday, somewhere, and somehow? The banks of the James River were packed both years; and, late Sunday afternoon, announcers began informing the crowds that, despite the fact that the National Folk Festival would now move on to other cities and locations (It stays in one location for three years before rotating. Next year it will move to Butte, Montana), Richmond will continue to host an annual Richmond Folk Festival, making this tradition its own, and many major groups have already agreed to come back next year. It seems that those huge crowds that day were witnessing the beginnings of a new tradition celebrating and preserving many old traditions. If you missed it this year, you can enjoy a slide show of the events at http://www.nationalfolkfestival.com/index.html; and, trust me, don't miss it next year! It was an example of urban living at its best. If you combine it with a boat tour of the canal and dinner at one of the pubs or restaurants in Shockoe Bottom, you will go home with an unforgettable memory etched in your mind. Sometimes unforgettable memories, and storytelling journeys can hide in plain sight and in unexpected places right underneath your very nose--in this case, on the banks of the rocky James River in Richmond, Virginia.

You can check out a slideshow of this year's festival at an excellent website for the event hosted at http://www.nationalfolkfestival.com/

2007-10-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

"Did I hear you right? Jon Scieszka is Coming to Richmond?" I asked. Journeys can be thousands of complicated and carefully-planned miles long, or they can be a spontaneous last-minute half mile walk to your local art museum swinging your children's hands as you walk-- and that's how my recent trip to here Jon Scieszka was--unplanned, uncomplicated, and thoroughly delightful. I am so busy at the moment, teaching at VCU and taking classes full-time in the Media, Art & Text Ph.D. program, that, much as I wish it could be different, I have little time to pay attention to what authors are speaking locally, if they are not brought specifically by the university. However, in this case the information literally dropped into my lap as a member of my dissertation committee just happened to mention that morning that she was disappointed to miss his visit to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

"Jon Scieszka is coming to Richmond?" I queried, unable to believe my luck, literally doing a double-take. I rarely have time to recharge my batteries with conferences at the moment, and could hardly believe that a major children's book author would be within walking distance that very afternoon. Better yet, it happened to be Friday--the one evening where I could freely feel that I had "no more classes, no more books, no more teachers dirty looks." So, with my children happily in tow, we walked the half mile and slipped into chairs in the back. Jon Scieszka is just as funny in person as his books are--delightfully off-kilter and unexpected. He starts off by letting his audience know how to pronounce his difficult name, "It's pronounced "SHEH-ska. It rhymes with "Fresca," he tells us. He has been a long-time favorite in our family--introducing my children to the post-modern era of deconstruction of all those childhood standards--from his Frog Prince Continued and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs that effectively deconstruct well-loved fairy tales complemented in a weirdly-effective way by Lane Smith's equally off-kilter illustrations; to Squids will be Squids that deconstructs Aesop's Fables or The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales that tweaks yet more fairy tales and introduces readers to delightful characters such as tape worms and, yes, a

Stinky Cheese Man (in lieu of the more traditional

Gingerbread Boy); on once again through his pair of books, Math Curse and Science Verse, that do their best to take the horror out of those necessary but often-intimidating subjects.

As Jon spoke, he casually took turns addressing the many children in the audience, filling them in on such important details as the fact that the main character of Math Curse is indeed a little girl, and not a boy; then he would interact with the adults in the audience, speaking of his inability to get published until his wife, who worked for a New York Magazine, paired him with a certain illustrator who was also having trouble making it career-wise, an illustrator named Lane Smith. Together they made up a team that has become an unbeatable combination. He spoke of his surprise and delight at the illustrations Lane would dream up, such as Lane's unique vision of what a stinky cheese man would look like (discover more of Lane's humor in an interview at http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,1000029880,00.html?sym=QUE). Also, Jon took well-deserved time to mention that the dynamic book designs and typography were thanks to his wife's skill and vision. Finally, he introduced us to several of his newest books. I ended up picking up three new ones, confident that they would be welcome additions to my shelf of Scieszka editions. I will have to wait on Cowboy and Octopus, a book starring paper cut-outs of its main characters and narrative inspiration that Jon shared with his audience is a take-off of Arnold Lobel's well-known and well-loved Frog and Toad books (a fact apparently missed by some fairly reputable reviewers of this book--probably to be expected when considering the always unexpected content offered by this creative pair). Instead, I found myself intrigued by The Book that Jack Wrote, a perversion of the traditional poem, "The House that Jack Built," with illustrations by Daniel Adel; as well as a small horizontal book entitled, simply ART?--about a young boy searching for Art (his friend) in the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art in NYC (visit http://www.guggenheim.org/new_york_index.shtml to find out more) and of everyone's attempts to help him find Art (the concept)--a fun introduction to some of the art that actually hangs in that museum as well as an interesting discussion of just exactly what art (the concept) is. The final book I acquired on my unexpected journey was one I had wanted for awhile, The Frog Prince Continued, a 1991 edition from Viking with edgy illustrations by Steve Johnson. This story tackles what comes after "and they lived happily ever after." All in all, I would recommend taking the time to take advantage of impromptu journeys when the opportunity for them crops up--my little journey with my children needed no meals or lodging, nor any airfare--and the pleasure we gained from that small Friday afternoon journey came cheap at the price of three hardback books, souvenirs we will keep forever, or close to it with publishers use of acid-free paper these days. So, keep your eyes and ears open. Remember to check the events section of your local newspaper. Check the bulletin boards of your favorite bookstores or get on their e-mail lists (this talk was sponsored by Narnia, a local children's bookstore in Richmond) . . . and, happy walking journeys, sometimes the most unexpectedly rejuvenating kind!

2007-10-21T00:20:00.000-07:00

THE NATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL a Children's Literature Journey in my own Backyard

Children's Literature Journeys sometimes can be discovered in your own backyard. One of the memorable events for September of this year was the National Book Festival held on the Mall in Washington, D.C. on September 29th. One favorite children's book author/illustrator featured there this year, among others, was David Wiesner, the well-known winner of no less than three Caldecott Medal Awards, most recently for FLOTSAM, reviewed on this blog, as well as for THE THREE PIGS and TUESDAY. Wiesner specializes in wordless picture books of excellence and he represents one of only two 3-time winners of this prestigious award for Children's Book Illustration. Wiesner's publisher, Houghton-Mifflin, has put together an informative website about Wiesner that you can visit by clicking on the image of several of his books shown above.

Other children's authors &/or illustrators at this major festival included Mercer Mayer, creator of A Nightmare in My Closet and many other stories starring his adorable little critters, who will, I'm sure, be reviewed on Of Cabbages & Kings in future and whose website includes storytelling videos and other fun activities for children and adults alike at http://www.littlecritter.com/about_mercer_mayer2.html. Yet another memorable visitor at this years festival was Rosemary Wells of Max and Ruby fame, book characters that have made the successful translation into television series characters, and author of over 60 books for children. Her website, list of books, book reviews and fun kid activities can be found at http://www.rosemarywells.com/

If you did not make the festival this year and live within driving distance of Washington, D.C., mark your calendar for next year. This year, the event dawned on a beautifully crisp autumn day, and was filled with memorable speakers, festive tents, and numerous activities for adults and children alike, from book signings to children's book character sightings (such as Clifford, the Big Red Dog). The website, reached through the link above, is informative and, for those illustrators or lovers of illustrations among you, showcases beautifully-illustrated posters from this year, as well as from previous years of this festival, of which three are shown above. More importantly, if you visit the website, your appetite for attending next year will be whetted by listening to podcasts of a selection of the author/illustrators from this years festival, including of Rosemary Wells and Mr. David Weisner, himself.

I'll watch for you next year!

2007-09-02T10:35:00.001-07:00

In Memory of Lady Bird Johnson, 1912-2007, I would like to review a couple of books in her honor. Their choice was inspired by a very old nursery rhyme familiar to us all, the first line of which appears almost to be written as a memorial to her, "Ladybird, Ladybird, fly away home . . . ." The complete poem (at least in one version) is:

"Ladybird, Ladybird, Fly away home. Your house is on fire and your children have flown."

Lady Bird's Life Before reviewing any books or sharing the rhyme's history and meaning, I think it is appropriate to remember Lady Bird's life just a bit. On July 11, 2007 our nation lost a most memorable former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, at the age of 94. Born Claudia Alta Taylor, on December 22, 1912, and a native of Texas, Lady Bird was first called by her well-known nickname by her nurse, African American Alice Tittle, who christened two-year-old Claudia as “purty as a lady bird.” The name stuck. For 34 years, Mrs. Johnson lived as the widow of former President Lyndon Baines Johnson, after being married to him for 39 years. She is remembered for being her husband's rock during the many difficult moments he had to face in his political career and as President of the United States--a presidency that encompassed the assassination of President Kennedy, Civil Rights, and the Vietnam War. She is remembered for speaking out courageously giving 47 speeches for civil rights to 500,000 people on an eight state whistle-stop train tour through the reluctant South after her husband signed the 1964 historic Civil Rights Act--a tour that helped turn Southern public opinion in favor of her husband's courageous act and helped bring him a landslide win in the next election. She is remembered for starting a campaign to keep America beautiful. One example is her effort to beautify this country's highways, spawning the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, dubbed "Lady Bird's Act." She saw her efforts to promote beautification and conservation as an integral part of her husband's "Great Society." One of her diary entries says, ". . . beautification is like picking up a tangled skein of wool . . . all the threads are interwoven--recreation and pollution and mental health, and the crime rate, and rapid transit, and highway beautification, and the war on poverty, and parks . . . . everything leads to something else." Decades ago, this fine Lady showed clear vision for effective social planning and was discussing the "web of life" that is so prominent in discussions of global warming or urban planning, among other vital topics, today. Though not as comprehensive, when passed, as she had hoped, it did have a dramatic impact on this country's landscape at that time. Though perhaps we could use another Lady Bird today, if you look around, you can still see evidence of her efforts everywhere. She is also remembered for starting a fight to preserve and protect this country's indigenous plants; and her work led to the opening of the National Wildflower Center in 1982, a center later renamed in her honor. Lady Bird Johnson was awarded the Medal of Freedom, presented in 1977 by President Ford; and in 1988 President Reagan awarded her the Congressional Gold Medal. She called herself an activist. She quietly expanded the role of First Lady. She will be missed by the country she served so honorably. A beautifully assembled biography of Lady Bird Johnson with many images can be found at: http://www.pbs.org/ladybird/earlyyears/earlyyears_index.html Brian Williams, of NBC, writes a touching tribute to her at: http://dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/07/12/268208.aspx. Book Reviews in Lady Bird's Honor The first book I would like to review in her honor is an old favorite for many readers of children's literature and uses another version of the word "ladybird." In this case the word used is "ladybug," though they both refer to the red and black spotted insect (occasionally yellow and black spotted) we all know and love: The Grouchy Ladybug with words and pictures by Eric Carle. The second book is aptly titled, using a phrase from the first line of the rhyme: Fly Away Home, by Eve Bunting, with pictures by Ronald Himler, whose evocative illustrations often accompany Eve Bunting's words.

The Grouchy Ladybug, first published in 1977 and now celebrating its twentieth anniversary, is considered a classic Children's Literature narrative about the "anti-hero" in this tale with its reverse variation of the theme: "Pick on someone your own size." As usual, in this narrative Eric Carle's classic collage illustrations utilizing his hand-painted papers are surrounded by an abundance of white space that set his illustrations off most effectively, accompanied by simple sans serif modern-feeling, uncluttered, yet well-designed, typography. This is a reverse-psychology tale about what else but a bad-tempered Ladybug who learns some manners and how to share. Though another friendly ladybug is perfectly willing to share, Miss Grouchy Ladybug picks a fight with her neighbor because she, herself, does not want to share the other ladybug's aphids. She wants them all. So, she acts out and leaves in a huff. As her day passes, she continues picking fights and then thinking better of and backing away from fights with progressively larger creatures. A small clock in the upper corner of each page shows the passage of time as the ladybug flies from animal to ever-larger animal. In addition, the die-cut pages are first cut very narrowly for the small animals the Ladybug meets, and then progressively wider for the larger animals. Not only do the animals and the pages increase in size, but the words grow in size with them. These layered pages show the sun rising and setting across successive pages as the day passes.

My favorite part of this story is the scene where the Ladybug finally meets up with a great blue whale and it takes her eight pages and forty-five minutes to fly past the whale, picking fights with fins and flippers along the way. At long last, the Grouchy Ladybug picks a fight with the whale's tale and gets knocked all the way back to the original friendly ladybug, who is still willing to share her aphids. This time the Grouchy Ladybug has learned a lesson and some manners, and is even polite enough to say "Thank you." Though a picture book, I believe this book is complicated enough to require an adult to help the youngest child readers understand the narrative's back-handedly humorous lessons about the importance of politeness and sharing, as well as its unique, though complicated layout. Why do I think this? Well, on this book's Amazon.com page, several adults had reviewed this book with an obvious misunderstanding of its narrative intent. This book is not about misbehaving. This book shows children what the possible ramifications of bad-tempered selfishness is. They can explore the theoretical possibilities of such behavior through this narrative instead of acting out themselves and thereby avoid the end results in the real world. It well deserves its designation as a classic of children's picture books. This is just one of many jewels that Eric Carle has created most effectively over his lifetime, among them, The Very Quiet Cricket, and The Very Lonely Firefly. At a future time, I will revisit a larger selection of them; but, for now, to find out more about Eric Carle and a complete list of his picturebooks, visit his official website at: http://www.eric-carle.com/home.html. Final tip: watch for the new book, The Art of Eric Carle.

I have long admired Eve Bunting for her distinctive and delicate touch with words. Of her more than 150 children's picture, my personal preferences are for those books where she tackles subjects from which many authors shy away, such as in this book, Fly Away Home, where, with understated gentleness, she introduces the problems of the homeless to the picturebook reader. "My dad and I live in an airport . . . the airport is better than the streets."

In this narrative, a small child tells of his homeless lifestyle--living in an airport with his father, washing, sleeping, and, above all, avoiding being noticed, as frequently reinforced by Ronald Himler's placement of these characters at the edges of his illustrations. The text is as spare as the illustrations are understated, yet the words manage to reflect the child's emotions that range from matter-of-fact acceptance of his itinerant lifestyle to a fierce desire to experience the homes that other families enjoy. While a tough subject to successfully engage in so few words and for such a young audience, the presentation somehow manages to be serious without being too overwhelmingly depressing. While the ending is not a happy one in the traditional sense; still, by focusing on the sense of family that father and son share, Bunting never lets go of an element of hope in this story, making this treatment of a tough issue successful enough to be a positive addition to anyone's picturebook collection, and a firm candidate to help prompt thoughtful classroom discussions of social problems with elementary-age children.

I have acquired several Eve Bunting books for my picture book collection that are strong candidates for future review. In my view, some of her most successful efforts (among others) and candidates for future review, include: The Wall (also illustrated by Himler) that addresses the issue of war and death, The Train to Somewhere that deals with the hopeful children that traveled the orphan trains of the 1800s to early 1900s that took orphans to be adopted out West; and A Day's Work that deals with the issue of immigrant workers. In addition, her book, Smoky Night, whose narrative grapples with the Los Angeles racially-provoked urban riots of recent history paired with the vividly-memorable mixed media illustrations by David Diaz, is a Caldecott Medal winner and a book not to be missed. An informative interview of Eve Bunting can be found at: http://www.bookpage.com/9705bp/childrens/evebunting.html.

"Ladybird, Ladybird . . . ." Background Finally, let us explore the background and possible meanings of this old nursery rhyme: "Ladybird, Ladybird, fly away home . . . ." The first point the reader should know is that ladybirds and ladybugs are one and the same. Sometimes, especially in the United States, this insect is also called a Doodlebug. Ladybugs come in familiar color variations: the much more familiar red and black polkadotted, and the less-common yellow and black polkadotted varieties. However, they also can be found in orange and black, as well as mostly grey, brown or black varieties that are more difficult to identify. Many versions of this nursery rhyme hail from around the earth. In most of them the children all suffer: that is, all except one, who often may be named Ann, or Nan or Little Anne, though sometimes a less common name creeps in as with Aileen from the following version: "All except one and her name was Aileen And she hid under the soup tureen." These final two lines could be referring to the habit of setting fires specifically with the aim of smoking the adult insects out of a house. When this happens the younger insects, or maggots, are forced to crawl away as they cannot fly as yet--fulfilling the forecast that "your children all roam." the pupate insects, still in their shells, are unable to flee the danger and perish from either the smoke or the fire. In some versions, then, Nan, must still be within her pupal case and cannot flee until she undoes or weaves "her laces," or pupal case. There have long been superstitions that it brought misfortune to kill a ladybird, and that one could cause the creatures to fly away by chanting this verse. In some regions children chant the poem if a ladybird landed on them and if it flew away a wish would come true. Ladybirds are know to be active eaters of aphids and other insects that damage plants; so, though they may be a nuisance at times, especially when they swarm together to enter diapause or dormancy in the winter, killing them is most often considered to be bad luck. Artificial populations of Ladybirds are sometimes actively introduced to kill other insects and pests, but they often can wipe out local populations of their relatives and so, often, become nuisances in the eco-system themselves. Still, from a farmer's point of view, their usefulness in controlling insects may well be the rationale for shooing them aware rather than killing them. Ladybirds have long been considered a special animal to the Virgin Mary. Why is this? Well, some researchers attempt to link this insect all the way back to its scarab beetle ancestors in ancient Egypt, as well as with the worship of Isis; linking this with worship of her Northern Equivalent, Freya, wife of Odin, in Northern Europe, who was later supplanted by the Virgin Mary, when Christianity began to sweep Europe sometime around 400 A.D.. For some, the Ladybird could be seen as representing the old matriarchal religions, temples and followers being swept aside by the spread of patriarchal belief systems that included the male Gods of Zeus and Odin, followed, later, by Christianity and its accompanying patriarchal cultures. In later times, as countries switched from Catholic to Protestant and back again, the rhyme came to symbolize widows left following periods of religious persecution. Since there are versions of this across Germanic and Scandanavian countries, it is thought to be a rhyme with ancient roots. In Central Europe, witches, whose stereotype would view them as frequently unmarried ladies of a certain age, were dispatched frequently by telling them their house was on fire. Another belief from Central Europe is that if a ladybird crawls across an unmarried girl's hand it is believed to forecast her marriage in the upcoming year. Italians believe a ladybird flying into one's bedroom brings good fortune. Russians call the ladybird Божья коровка, or God's Cow, and an accompanying popular rhyme bids the ladybird to fly to the sky and return with bread. Along the same lines, in Denmark, the ladybird is called a mariehøne, or Mary's hen and is bid to fly to "our Lord in heaven and ask for fairer weather in the morning. One last reference about the Ladybird can be made from versions found in Britain and Scotland that were supposedly a way to help tell who one's lover was meant to be: "Fly to the person who e'er they be, The one who loves me best." Suggesting one last special hope for Ladybird Johnson--that she has, at long last, reunited with the one who loved her best, her husband, Lyndon. Much of the information above came from Chris Roberts' book, Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Seamy and Quirky Stories behind Favorite Nursery Rhymes from Gotham/Penguin Publishers.

2007-07-07T10:38:00.000-07:00

So, to complete my previous thought (post), I will venture to guess that a good portion of the public today does not know that the rhyme, "Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue" ends with the following line: ". . . And a silver sixpence in my shoe." The Gardener by Sarah Stewart with illustrations by David Small, received the 1998 "Silver" Caldecott Honor Medal for illustration and is worthy of planting in front of any child reader.

The final line in the old street rhyme above sounds almost like a bonus line, so my bonus book review for you will be a book with a “silver sixpence” or “silver medallion” on its cover—an award winner . . . and one that will fit the “summer” theme well, with gardening as its focus.

Since my father's sister was sent to be raised with her aunt during the Depression to help out during tough times, I felt a sense of kinship to this story. Set in the 1930s Great Depression era, The Gardener features a young country girl, Lydia Grace, who shares a name and a green thumb with her beloved grandmother. When her parents send her to stay with her Uncle Jim to help out in his bakery in the city to ensure that she gets fed while her father is out of work, Lydia Grace takes a handful of seeds and her own eternally optimistic attitude along with her. The story is told only through letters that Lydia Grace writes home telling of the friends she makes, the plants she grows, the window boxes she fills, and of her secret mission to get Uncle Jim to smile. The story is strong and the words poignant enough to spur readers of this book to seek out other picture books by Sarah Stewart, such as The Library, The Journey, The Money Tree, and one of my personal favorites, The Friend. For information on other picture books by Sarah Stewart (married to David Small) and a bit of a biography and insight into her motivations, visit: http://www.pippinproperties.com/authill/stewart/

David Small's illustrations for The Gardener feature his signature loose ink outlines, with soft washes of textured color that capture both the darkness of life in the Depression and the light and color that were still there for those who were willing to work to plant and nurture it. His free style keeps his illustrations fresh, while still effectively imparting authentic period details.

Sarah Stewart's picture books invariably feature her husband David Small's artwork. Not only did they receive the 1998 Caldecott Honor Medal for The Gardener, but David Small received the 2001 Caldecott Medal for So You Want to be President? He has created over 30 childrens books, including, So You Want to be an Inventor? His editorial drawings regularly appear in such venues as The New Yorker, GQ, The Washington Post and The New York Times. For more information about David Small visit: http://www.fsgkidsbooks.com/authordetails.asp?ID=Small. An interesting biography revealing some early childhood influences on his art and development is available at: http://www.nccil.org/small.html.

Sarah Stewart and her husband, David Small, currently live in a historic house on the St. Joseph River in Michigan with their Airedale, Simon, and their cat, Otis. As for the rhyme quoted above, I explored it on the post entitled "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed . . . ," however, I will reprint it here for those who have not read that entry (which will still be worth checking out for the book reviews it explores in conjunction with the rhyme). This well-worn rhyme is at least as old as Victorian times and perhaps older; and it may have English or Puritan origins. In an 1894 edition of The Warren Ledger, a Pennsylvania newspaper, this rhyme was listed as a “Puritan Marriage Custom.” It recites items a bride should carry with her during the marriage ceremony for good luck in her marriage. Carrying something old emphasizes the valuable support of old family and friends as a new marriage is begun; carrying something new is a reminder of the help that new family and new friends can be in the new marriage; carrying something borrowed is a reminder that the newly married must not be afraid to “borrow” support and help when they are in need and it also refers to a token often borrowed from a particularly happy or fortunate already-married couple to help bring similar happiness and good fortune to the new couple; carrying something blue probably refers back to the historical meaning of the color blue. In ancient Rome brides wore the color blue to represent modesty, faithfulness and love. Blue came to represent purity when Christianity consistently showed the Virgin Mary dressed in blue. Blue was a popular color for wedding gowns before the late Victorian age, as is shown by proverbs like “Marry in blue, lover be true.” Finally, referring to the final line of the rhyme, the sixpence is a silver coin worth six pennies that was in use in Britain from 1551 to 1967. It was also minted in Maryland, USA in about the same period. This part of the rhyme might trace back to an old Scottish custom where the bridegroom put a silver coin under his foot for luck, or another, where the father of the bride placed the sixpence in his daughter’s shoe to attract wealth in her marriage—the left shoe supposedly produced the most luck. Although sixpences are no longer minted, some companies produce keepsake sixpences specifically for use in weddings, as you can discover at www.silver6pence.com/. For an image of an English sixpence see http://www.english-hammered-coins.com/hammered_coinage/coins_of_elizabeth_i/1588-sixpence.htm.

2007-07-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

Something old, something new, something borrowed . . .

and something blue . . .

So you and/or your children or students love picture books? --But you’ve just run out of books by your favorite author or illustrator and summer is in full swing. To help stave off television or computer screen addiction this summer you’d like to inspire them to open a few book covers, choosing books to accompany them on real life outings to the beach or on picnics or on vacations or long road trips . . . so, to what new author/illustrators should they turn next? There are so many picture books to choose from that it is often difficult to know where to begin—books are everywhere, floods of them, at libraries, mega-bookstores and remainder tables. But which ones are the cream of the crop—books for which your children, and you, will fall hard? Here are a few suggestions to jumpstart your summer reading. The author/illustrators for each of these selections has a host of other books that you can explore through the links provided. To thematically tie each new set of picturebook reviews together, I will stay with the children’s theme, choosing books that loosely fit into a nursery or street rhyme. Nursery rhymes and street rhymes have been a part of oral culture for centuries and, as such, have become a staple in the children’s narrative field, so it might also be interesting to historically research each rhyme used as a theme. For a theme for this set of book reviews, I have chosen books that relate to the categories of the well-known rhyme:

Something old, Something new, Something borrowed And something blue— And a silver sixpence in her shoe.

With the above rhyme in mind, including its little known final line, I have chosen a post-modern version of a very old Jack Tale; a well-known classic with vibrant new illustrations; an unusually creative book I borrowed from my local library;, and a book that focuses on surreal dream visions of night for “something blue.” Finally, I offer a bonus book with a round silver emblem on its cover, reminiscent of an historic silver sixpence—an award-winning book.

This old rhyme quoted above is at least as old as Victorian times and perhaps older; and it may have English or Puritan origins. In an 1894 edition of The Warren Ledger, a Pennsylvania newspaper, this rhyme was listed as a “Puritan Marriage Custom.” It recites items a bride should carry with her during the marriage ceremony for good luck in her marriage. Carrying something old emphasizes the valuable support of old family and friends as a new marriage is begun; carrying something new is a reminder of the help that new family and new friends can be in the new marriage; carrying something borrowed is a reminder that the newly married must not be afraid to “borrow” support and help when they are in need and it also refers to a token often borrowed from a particularly happy or fortunate already-married couple to help bring similar happiness and good fortune to the new couple; carrying something blue probably refers back to the historical meaning of the color blue. In ancient Rome brides wore the color blue to represent modesty, faithfulness and love. Blue came to represent purity when Christianity consistently showed the Virgin Mary dressed in blue. Blue was a popular color for wedding gowns before the late Victorian age, as is shown by proverbs like “Marry in blue, lover be true.” Finally, referring to the final line of the rhyme, the sixpence is a silver coin worth six pennies that was in use in Britain from 1551 to 1967. It was also minted in Maryland, USA in about the same period. This part of the rhyme might trace back to an old Scottish custom where the bridegroom put a silver coin under his foot for luck, or another, where the father of the bride placed the sixpence in his daughter’s shoe to attract wealth in her marriage—the left shoe supposedly produced the most luck. Although sixpences are no longer minted, some companies produce keepsake sixpences specifically for use in weddings, as you can discover at www.silver6pence.com/. For an image of an English sixpence see http://www.english-hammered-coins.com/hammered_coinage/coins_of_elizabeth_i/1588-sixpence.htm.

Something Old . . . The Giant’s Toe, Brock Cole’s postmodern spin on a very old oral Jack Tale—Jack and the Beanstalk . . . .

The Giant's Toe by Brock Cole (Sep 4, 2001) Paperback $6.95

I first heard of Brock Cole’s books from him, in person, at a conference where I remember him describing selling his first five picture books, books that he had both written and illustrated, all in one fell swoop on a single trip to New York City--using this to point out the importance of meeting potential publishers and editors in person. I still have the first book of his that I bought at that conference, The Giant’s Toe, a Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Sunburst) 1986 edition signed by Cole in an innovative way with a drawing of the giant featured in this subversion of an old folktale. The Giant’s Toe has become one of my favorite stories, and a perennial favorite with my college students in an Imagery for Children class, with its irreverent revisioning of the familiar Jack and the Beanstalk folktale, published at a time when such post-modern revisionings were still rare. Cole’s exquisitely rendered and vibrantly colored watercolors featuring a grandpa-esque giant dressed in spats, Hawaiian print shirt and flat straw boater and his circa 1950 giant’s home, typically located on a cloud up in the sky, but a-typically abounding in curvaceous chrome toasters, period wood stoves, purple radios and red vinyl chairs, invite the reader into this slightly off-kilter tale that fulfills the quirkiness promised by the book’s title. Cole has not exactly deconstructed Jack and the Beanstalk in this narrative, for that familiar folktale is a mere sideline. The child reader does need to be familiar with Jack and the Beanstalk to fully enjoy this new tale that bears some similarities to the older story, but this is a new fairytale, make no mistake about that, and it is one well worth adding to the fairytale canon. In this tale the Giant meets his nemesis, a part of himself, that manages to destroy everything the Giant owns of value. In the end, however, this saves the Giant from the attention and powers of a much more destructive character with whom we are all familiar—a boy named Jack—who goes off to search for another Giant to harrass. I enjoyed this story so much that I researched the other four picture books Brock mentioned in that conference I mentioned earlier, and eventually added them to my collection as well, books such as The King at the Door and Buttons all have merit—and I now watch for any new Brock Cole additions to the Children’s Picture Book field (and he has begun producing chapter books as well), but The Giant’s Toe remains a favorite. For other Brock Cole books, check out:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/103-8057599-8035834?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=brock+cole

Something New . . . . Michael Hague’s illustrated edition of Kenneth Grahame’s classic The Wind in the Willows—an old classic with a new twist

Hardcover: 216 pages List Price: $26.95 Price: $17.79 Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 2 Reprint edition (September 1, 2003) Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.3 x 0.9 inches

Michael Hague has been a favorite illustrator of mine for some time now. As a poor student artist a few years ago, I splurged and bought several greeting cards because I could not resist the luminous watercolor illustrations of scenes from Kenneth Grahame’s classic tale, The Wind in the Willows that were featured on each. It was those vibrantly colored and skillfully drawn paintings that first brought Michael Hague, children’s picture book illustrator, to my attention. Later, I purchased a copy of the 1980 edition from which they had come, published by Henry Holt (with Ariel Books) for my children’s picture book collection. This edition is not a true picture book, but is rather an illustrated chapter book. Its text is a faithful printing of the original full length novel first written by Edinburgh-born Kenneth Grahame to entertain his son and then published in 1908. I share a special affinity with this timeless tale right now since I currently live literally on the banks of a large marsh river and have met each of these animal characters from time to time—have even spotted Badger a time or two at night. The story still accurately reveals the competing allure of a constantly-changing, accelerating world filled with ever-newer technologies set against the backdrop of eternal seasonal rhythms and laid-back life on the river. This is a book I have read to my own children, chapter by chapter—and they promptly succumbed to the charm of its characters, Mole, Ratty, Badger, and unforgettable Mr. Toad. Mr. Hague, on an endpage of the book, reveals himself to be a fourth generation lover of this tale. He dedicates the artwork in this edition to his grandmother, Violet King, who was born when the book was first published, and loved to listen to her father read the book to her as she grew up. Mr. Hague talks about how his daughters, too, will be another generation to grow up with and love Mr. Toad. This continues to be a story loved by generation after generation of readers. Although, in many reader’s hearts, it may be difficult to actually replace Ernest Shepherd or Arthur Rackham’s well-known and well-loved illustrations for this classic member of the children’s book canon, Michael Hague most definitely raised the bar of excellence with his illustrated edition to a height that will be difficult to improve upon. While Shepherd’s illustrations are the enchanting miniature black ink vignettes for which he is remembered, Hagues’ illustrations revel in color. Laid out in formal style alongside large, easily readable text, Hagues’ combinations of smaller vignettes and large one-page and double-page spread illustrations emit the warm glow of summer days or the cool luminosity of moon-filled nights that recall to readers’ minds similar sultry summer evenings or moon-lit escapades of their own childhood. This book is an example of Hague’s earlier illustration style. His cheerfully anthropomorphic characters brightly dressed in period Victorian clothing are, despite their waistcoats, polka-dotted bowties and eyeglasses, accurate renditions of frogs, moles, and other river “critters.” In later books, white highlights become a much more important feature of Hague’s illustrations, and his characters frequently exhibit a certain distorted quality. The defining feature for his illustrations for this book, however, I think, is the glow. “How does he achieve that glow?” the reader wonders as they leaf through the many illustrations in this edition. Hague himself shares a little about his illustration technique at the end of the book, telling those interested that he first applies a blue wash for cool illustrations and an ochre wash for warmer paintings—which accounts for the subtle mood that pervades each illustration—but there are still places where one marvels at his achievements—moonglow, starglow, reflections in water, firelight and lantern—Hague is a master at all of these effects of incandescence and reflection. And he does not scrimp on the number of illustrations—for the book is literally packed with them. The endpapers of the book also add to the overall pleasure of reading this book, displaying a pictorial map of the lands surrounding Toad Hall printed in a period-feeling sepia brown ink; for one last quality touch, when the illustrated dustjacket cover is removed, instead of the typical blank book cover, this cover displays the same illustration as on the dustjacket of a glowing sunset picnic gathering of Toad and friends beside their beloved river. For any serious appreciator of children’s picture books. Michael Hague’s illustrated edition of The Wind in the Willows is a must have—for there is no mistaking that this illustrated edition was a true labor of love. A graduate of the Los Angeles Art Center College of Design, and a former employee of Hallmark Cards and the Current Company, designing greeting cards and calendars, Hague currently lives with his wife and children in the Rocky Mountains. His wife also graduated from LA Art Center College of Design and has written several picture books for children. For fans of The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, Hague has illustrated The Hobbit and The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe. Three of his recent books include The Book of Dragons, The Book of Pirates and The Book of Fairies. He has illustrated many more picture books as well including the L. Frank Baum’s American classic fairy tale, The Wizard of Oz; for more samples of his art and information on Michael Hague’s work visit http://www.embracingthechild.org/ahague.html michaelhague.com/ http://fan.theonering.net/middleearthtours/hague.html

Something Borrowed . . . David Wiesner’s FLOTSAM,

a book definitely worth borrowing . . . . and keeping.

Flotsam 2007 Caldecott Winner by: David Wiesner Clarion Books $17.00 Hardcover; 40 pages Publication Date: 09/04/2006 Illustrations: full color Trim Size: 11.25 x 9.00 Range: 5-8 years Grade Range: Grades K-3

FLOTSAM, a Clarion (Houghton-Mifflin) 2006 picturebook written and illustrated by David Wiesner is definitely worth borrowing from your local library, and is almost worth buying for your own library just for its cover design alone. The front cover has a simple, bold, graphic look. It is a vivid flame red color with what, at first glance, appears to be a large round fish-eye lens or perhaps a ship’s portal window in the exact center of the front cover. A few silvery-green small fish swim across the bottom left corner and David Wiesner’s name and the title, FLOTSAM are centered, one above the other at the top of the front cover in a raised coated ink. The word, FLOTSAM is printed in metallic silver ink and both the author’s name and title use a typefont reminiscent of shredded seaweed. That’s all the text on the front cover. Some might not see more than a bold crimson graphic design, but if the book is opened and front and back covers are viewed together, the fish scales and flippers that are on the back cover offer the clues necessary to complete the picture. The red cover is, in actuality, a large red fish, much larger than the small green ones swimming alongside it, and the circular portal-like object in the center of the cover is actually the fish’s eye. If the reader examines that eye, he or she realizes that what appeared to be the glass reflections in a portal window are actually reflections of what appears to be a distorted old-fashioned box camera. Wiesner expects his readers to continue using the same sort of explorative thinking process they used on the cover as they open the book covers to tackle the wordless story itself. As always, one can see a clear grounding in Weisner’s background at the Rhode Island School of Design in the highly conceptual design and layouts for this wordless picture book. So, what is FLOTSAM, the story, about, I found myself wondering when I first spotted it in my local library. Well, the word used in the title gives a clue. I have always used the term “flotsam” with a companion word, “jetsam,” with a vague memory that those words together meant stuff found floating on the ocean or washed up by the tides. Curious if my memory had served me correctly, I Googled the term. Answers.com defines “flotsam and jetsam” as: “In maritime law, flotsam applies to wreckage or cargo left floating on the sea after a shipwreck. Jetsam applies to cargo or equipment thrown overboard from a ship in distress and either sunk or washed ashore. The common phrase flotsam and jetsam is now used loosely to describe any objects found floating or washed ashore” (http://www.answers.com/topic/flotsam). Aha! Chalk one up for my vocabulary skills! To get back to the story, if one opens the book the endpapers are a speckled sandy art paper reminiscent of the beach, and a full bleed picture of a boy digging on a beach immediately draws the reader to the Jersey Shore (a place that David Wiesner visited and still visits with his family since his childhood—a fact born out by the dedication, “For my family And all our years down the Shore” as well as the photograph on the back jacket flap of the author at the shore as a child). The title pages show all manner of discoveries laid out in symmetrical order like a Victorian museum display—everything from shells to feathers, to compasses and old bottles, buttons and starfish and an old compass—all things a child might collect at a beach. The actual story begins with a dramatic picture sequence—first the reader stares into the startled eyes of a hermit crab in the foreground, with one enormous eye staring at him from behind, slightly out of focus. What is unusual about this picture other than the dramatic choice of perspective is the curved large glass reflection on the picture’s left side. Turning the page clarifies that reflection, as the “camera” pulls back dramatically to show the young boy the eye belongs to examining the crab through a magnifying lens. His parents sit in beach chairs under an umbrella behind him, and in the foreground the reader sees that the boy is a budding scientist/explorer and has brought all his scientific paraphernalia with him to the shore to explore the wildlife there. He has his magnifying glass, his binoculars and even his microscope in a plastic bag for safety. The artwork is all painted in the light blues and tans of a seashore color palette. As the boy examines a crab with his magnifying glass, a wave hits the shore and washes an old underwater box camera onto the beach. The boy finds film in the camera and develops it. All of this action is shown as sequential images in a storyboard-like format. When the boy begins to examine the developed pictures the story takes on an even more mysterious turn. The pictures show schools of giant red fish such as the one on the book cover whose insides are robotic. They show an octopus living in an underwater living room assembled from the remnants of a lost moving van storage container (this one has a tongue-in-cheek grouping of fish looking at a fish inside a fish bowl on a table in that living room—water inside the fish bowl and outside). Still another image shows islands that are really giant starfish that can get up and move at will. Each image is more fantastic than the last. The final plot twist occurs when the boy views a picture of a girl holding a picture of a boy holding a picture of another child holding a picture of another, and so on. The boy scratches his head, then uses his magnifying glass to examine the picture even closer and sees more children holding pictures of children holding pictures. He gets the idea of using his microscope to examine the picture even closer, and is able to see a point when the pictures of children holding pictures of children change to black and white. At this point the book layout gives us the magnification settings of the microscope (10x, 25x, 40x and so on), until finally one last picture shows a boy dressed in Victorian clothes standing on a beach waving, but holding no picture. The main character then, with a new roll of film loaded in the camera, takes a picture of himself holding the picture of children holding pictures. As he takes the picture, a wave washes the rest of the picture prints from the original roll of film away. With the pictures washed away, there is no evidence of the magical pictures—nothing to show adults—so, I suppose, the point of this plot detail might be that this story could be “true,” and what child can resist the hook of magic that might have “really happened” if only the proof had not been inadvertantly lost? Finally, the boy tosses the camera into the waves. The reader could almost accept this point as the end of the story—but there is more. Through sequential images, the reader sees the camera pulled along by squid, eaten by a fish, pass a whale, pulled by a group of seahorses, float through a community of merpeople and pass through many other adventures, until it is finally washed ashore again and another little girl reaches out to pick up the beached camera, ensuring that this magical underwater camera will continue to fascinate generations of children. Readers of this picturebook leave it feeling that perhaps they, too, might someday find that camera for themselves! While the illustrations are executed with precision, it is the innovative concept, finely wrought narrative (for, yes, it is a narrative, even though without words!) and well laid out page spreads that make this book unforgettable.

I have admired David Wiesner from a distance for years—enjoying each new book as it was published, and, since many of them were wordless, similar to the graphic novel or comic book type of layout—a style that I have a fondness for when well-done in the few picture books that utilize this style—his picture books definitely caught my eye—especially as he has won no less than three (count them) Caldecott Medals for some of them. But, until FLOTSAM, I did not feel the need to collect them, to have copies of them in my personal library. FLOTSOM did the trick, however—from the exceptional and colorful cover design to the innovative story inside the covers to the well-conceived layouts, it was a “gesamkunstwerk,” opera composer Richard Wagner’s coined term for a “complete work of art,” through and through. And falling for this book caused me to renew my acquaintance with others of Weisner’s picture books, ultimately adding more to my collection—Tuesday (Caldecott Medal 1992), and The Three Pigs (no normal 3 Pigs story—that one! Caldecott winner, 2002), Free Fall and Sector 7 (both Caldecott Honor books) among others. Some of these I will undoubtedly review in future; but, for a bibliography of David Weisner’s illustrated books to explore now, visit http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/authors/wiesner/books/books_biblio.shtml. Wiesner received his third Caldecott Medal for FLOTSAM in 2007 (only the second person to do so)—so there are obviously quite a few others in the field who share my assessment of not only the high quality of this book, but also the consistent excellence of all of Wiesner’s work. What I can add to their expert assessment is that this is not merely an award-winning book whose merit may be acknowledged by experts but may be difficult for the common reader to discern—it is one definitely worth borrowing from your library or “checking out” for yourself and then purchasing for your own shelves. For a transcripted conversation with Weisner, go to:

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/authors/wiesner/books/books_flotsam.shtml.

and Something Blue . . . Imagine a Night, with paintings by Rob Gonsalves and text by Sarah L. Thomson (Byron Preiss Visual Publications & Athenaeum Books for Young Readers, Simon & Schuster 2003) challenges readers to imagine much more than just a night . . . .

I first spotted Rob Gonsalves’ artwork hanging on a wall of an antique shop. I found it memorable. While I was unable to afford the giclée prints the shop offered, I noted a copy of a picture book featuring some of the same artwork mounted on the wall near the artwork and was able to obtain copies of his picture books. From the cathedral ruins open to the deep blue night whose windows morph into blue-robed monks, to the farmer on a farmhouse porch fiddling his field of sunflower people to sleep, to the man on a rural cabin porch cutting a glittering city skyline from his window shades that have been masking the starry sky outside, this Gonsalve’s illustrated picture book, Imagine a Night, jumpstarts its readers into observing the nighttime world from an altered plane of reality. Some of the images will seem familiar to many people, such as the children jumping on quilt-covered beds who then begin flying over “quilt-like” farm country. We have often seen or dreamed of some of these similarities for ourselves and will feel a sense of recognition as we observe Gonsalves’ interpretation of these themes. Others will not be so easily recognized—but once you have observed them, they will give you a sense of “Ahhhhh, I should have seen that before.” Gonsalves’ illustrations, poised at the intersection of waking and sleeping, each build on the sense of enchantment that permeates the book. No matter how good one judges Sarah Thomson’s text, for those who choose to read, borrow or purchase Imagine a Night, that decision is all about Rob Gonsalves’ surrealistic paintings. The text appears to be there, primarily to tie the 16 paintings together in some thematic way to be able to present them to readers as a “picturebook.” This picture book and its companion book, Imagine a Day, will fascinate children despite the lack of “story,” precisely because of the fascinating pictures within the book covers. Each illustration challenges the imagination and invites examination. These illustrations have the potential to open children’s eyes and invite them to observe their surrounding neighborhood and world in an entirely new way forever after. And the text frequently does offer food for thought while also encouraging exploration of each illustrations’ motifs in lines such as, “imagine a night . . . when the space between words / becomes like the space / between trees / wide enough / to wander in.” These lines accompany a picture of a family enjoying a quiet evening in front of a fireplace, while the floorboards of the rustic cabin floor change into the columns of tree trunks in an evergreen wood. Most of us will connect with the truth behind those words, having warm memories of just such evenings at times in our lives when mood and sense of family is great, though accompanying words are few, where the flicker of firelight and the sounds of the night are all that breaks the quiet. Rob Gonsalves is a Toronto native, born there in 1959. At age twelve his interest in architecture was already beginning to develop and he learned how to use perspective techniques to render imaginary buildings. Influenced by Dali and Magritte, as a post graduate he worked full time as an architect and also began painting trompe l’oeil murals and theater sets. Gonsalves developed his own brand of “surrealism” in which actual natural scenes transform into other scenes they already resemble using the imagination’s eye. Reflections of pine trees and clouds in a dark lake become ladies climbing out of the lake. Blue balloons let loose into a grey sky create a blue sky. The rocky pine covered walls of a canyon river transform into cathedral spires. A tree house becomes an actual house on a street. A sand castle takes on the dimensions of a real castle (on the cover of Imagine a Day). A toy train becomes a real one. He utilizes tricks of perspective, trompe l’oeil and illusion to create his images, which all have a feeling of the magical about them—so perhaps a more accurate description of his style of painting might be “magic realism” instead of “surrealism.”

Gonsalves was awarded the 2005 Governor General’s Award in the Literature/Illustration category for his children’s picture book Imagine a Day, the afore-mentioned companion book to Imagine a Night. This book is the same size, with the same style text and layout on the cover, and with text, once again, by Sarah L. Thomson accompanying a new selection of “magic realism” images; making the two books an excellent duo to collect together. In Imagine a Day, however, the focus is on daydreams, such as the title page’s image of a handsome arched bridge over a bay whose arches transform into old time sailing ships; or, to continue with the bridge theme, when Sarah Thomson’s text, “imagine a day . . . when grace and daring / are all we need / to build a bridge” accompanies another stone arched train bridge, upon whose high arches a train chugs along towards the reader, while in the foreground the bridges arches have taken on the color of the costumes of circus acrobats who are forming the arches of the bridge in an outdoor ampitheatre ring being watched by a crowd. Occasionally, in illustrations such as this, where the bridge is spanning water and the acrobats are dressed differently than the crowd, the text seems to encourage application of these ideas to cultural and social issues. Another example of this is the text, “imagine a day . . . when we build a moat, / not to keep strangers out, / but to welcome them in.” Such pages could encourage thoughtful classroom or dinner table discussions of possible implications and applications of these ideas. Collecting these books by Gonsalves is actually an inexpensive way to acquire a large collection of his intriguing images. Purchasing them individually as giclée prints is possible, though a more costly proposition. Two sights that offer collections of his prints (and picture books) are: http://www.sapergalleries.com/Gonsalves.html and http://www.progressiveart.com/gonsalves_page.htm FYI: What is a giclée? A giclée is a digitally output (printed) copy of the original painting on either paper or canvas. It is printed on a device with extraordinarily high resolution and then signed by the artist directly on the paper or canvas.

e-Sources: http://ask.yahoo.com/20031027.html http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/327600.html http://www.favorideas.com/wedding-blog/the-true-meanings-of-something-old-something-new/