August 19, 2006
Run Weatherman Run
Run Weatherman Run, 20060819, HTML, 484 x 414 pixels
The Little Fire Engine
The Little Fire Engine, by Lois Lenski, Henry Z. Walck, Inc., New York, 1946
Lois Lenski also wrote Cowboy Small, featured 20060806.
"In this adventure, Fireman Small rushes to battle a fire in town. When the alarm bell rings, Fireman Small suits up and roars down the road in his shiny red fire engine. When he helps extinguish the fire and rescues a young girl, Fireman Small becomes a hero in Tinytown."
August 18, 2006
The Travels of Babar
The Travels of Babar, by Jean De Brunhoff, translated from the French by Merle S. Haas, Random House - New York, 1934
Everybody knows Babar. I like the blue heads and the daintily held yellow handkerchiefs in the trunks. Blue, yellow, and black. I like the texture of the basket. Of course, the anchor, and the wound rope, should be hanging down, not at an angle. Who is Babar, King of the Elephants, travelling with? Why, it's Queen Celeste!
The Babar stories are full of expressive language, sophisticated beyond the early reader level.
In the twinkling of an eye, Babar has unbound Celeste. They both hurl themselves on the cannibals. Some are wounded, others take flight; all are terrified.
Unbound, hurled, cannibals. The syllabic rhythm of the last sentence. It's fun to read aloud with flourish.
Although, humans attacking animals- is that cannibalism? If the animals are anthropomorphized, I suppose so.
And sophisticated emotions:
They have landed. The aeroplane has gone back. Babar and Celeste are speechless with surprise. Where are Cornelius, Arthur, and the other elephants? A few broken trees! Is that all that is left of the great forest? There are no more flowers, no more birds. Babar and Celeste are very sad and weep as they see their ruined country. The Old Lady understands their grief.
August 17, 2006
The True Book of Tools for Building
The True Book of Tools for Building, by Jerome Leavitt, Ed. D., pictures by Bill Armstrong, Childrens Press, Chicago, 1955
August 16, 2006
Bukowski (August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994)
Bukowski (August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994), 20060816, HTML, 150 x 450 pixels
Jack and the Three Sillies
Jack and the Three Sillies, by Richard Chase, pictures
by Joshua Tolford, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1950
From Resources for Readers and Teachers of Appalachian Literature
for Children and Young Adults- "Jack and the Three Sillies" - or - "Jack's Wife":
There are many variations on this old tale about noodleheads or sillies or foolish people. There is usually a series of three individuals or couples or groups doing something incredibly stupid such as trying to get the moon out of a pond where they see its reflection, or showing ignorance of everyday practicalities such as how to put on pants. Often the main character sets out to find others who are as foolish as his or her spouse or fiancé(e). It is interesting that in some of the Appalachian tales, the main character is Jack's wife and the sillies are all men.
August 15, 2006
Umbrella
Umbrella, by Taro Yashima, New York: The Viking Press,
First published 1958, third printing February 1961
Wikipedia: "Taro Yashima (1908–1994) was the pseudonym of Jun Atsushi Iwamatsu. After studying for three years at the Imperial Art Academy in Tokyo, he became a successful illustrator and cartoonist before going to jail because of his opposition to the militaristic government. In 1939 he and his wife went to America to study art, leaving their son Mako behind in Japan. After Pearl Harbor Mr. Iwamatsu joined the U. S. Army, and went to work as an artist for the OSS. It was then he first used the pseudonym Taro Yashima, out of fear that if the Japanese Government found out there would be repercussions for Mako and other family members. After the war, he and his wife were granted permanent residence status by act of Congress, he was able to return to Japan and collect Mako, and his daughter Momo was born.
"In the early 1950's he began writing and illustrating children's books under the pseudonym he'd used in the OSS. Crow Boy (1956), Umbrella (1958) and Seashore Story (1967) are Caldecott Honor books."
August 14, 2006
George Lawson in Folly
George Lawson is interviewed in Folly; download the August 2006 issue as PDF.
"I'm concerned with what constitutes painting, how best to use the medium to discover an image. I think about what makes a picture open or closed, and how best to bring together the different constituent elements of all things visual, just as one might strive to integrate (as I mentioned Jung before) pre-dispositions to think, emote, intuit and touch things. But I'm not too concerned with categorizations. Most categories, abstract and figurative for example, don't offer me much in the way of a differentiating principle. They don't help me to orient myself and my world to painting; they don't open up or deepen my experience of painting."
George Lawson: Japanese Firemen 2, oil on linen, 2005, 64 x 54 in
A Hole is to Dig
A Hole is to Dig: A First Book of First Definitions, by Ruth Krauss, pictures by Maurice Sendak, Harper & Brothers, 1952
Classic!
August 13, 2006
Fish in the Air
Fish in the Air, story and pictures by Kurt Wiese, The Viking Press, New York, 1948
1949 Caldecott Honor Book Award
A boy named Fish gets a fish kite. A big wind comes and pulls Fish and the fish kite into the air. They are finally caught in a fisherman's net. Other than that, this is a pretty uneventful story, much less award-winning, and I can't believe the award was for the illustrations. I don't know; beats me.