Whole Days Outdoors: An Autobiographical Album

Whole Days Outdoors: An Autobiographical Album
Author: Jim Arnosky
Photographer: Deanna Arnosky
Publisher: Richard C. Owen Publishers
ISBN-10: 1572748591
ISBN-13: 978-1572748590

Whole Days Outdoors is the story of Jim Arnosky, prolific nature writer of titles such as All Night Near the Water, Armadillo's Orange, Big Jim and the White legged Moose among many others. His sketches of animals and nature are some of the most detailed and lifelike illustrations.

In this autobiography in the Meet the Author Series, Mr. Arnosky tells of growing up in Philadelphia, living on a farm in Vermont and being out in nature. He learned drawing from his father. This book, like the others in the series is insightful and fascinating.

The photographs that compliment the text are wonderful and give added depth. I found it both interesting and highly entertaining to find he sometimes writes a paragraph for a manuscript while sitting on his lawnmower.

I love how these books really make writing so accessible to children. The authors who do these books are really contributing something of value to children. I can see whole generations of children inspired to write because of these books. It will give a deep appreciation for the process and of the work that goes into writing a book.

Meet the Authors Series: Before It Wriggles Away - Janet S. Wong

Meet the Author Series
Before it Wriggles Away
Author: Janet S. Wong
Photographer: Anne Lindsay
Publisher: Richard C. Owens Publishers
ISBN-10: 1572748613
ISBN-13: 978-1572748613
Autobiographies for grades 2-5

Last week I read George Ancona’s story in the Meet the Author series by Richard C. Owen Publishers and I loved it. Today I read Janet Wong’s story. I find myself hooked. Completely. I love this series!

Before It Wriggles Away is a completely engaging story written by children’s book author Janet S. Wong. In it she tells of how growing up she never thought she’d write books. She tells how she fell into writing and of how happy it has made her, how much she loves it. In the book Ms. Wong tells how she went back to school and had a great teacher which turned her dislike of poetry to a love of it, made her into a poet.

The story is a simple one but it’s a great one. The whole writing process of this amazing author is told in words and photographs. Janet Wong tells of writing poetry, how she gets ideas and wandering thoughts that eventually become a story or poem. It’s completely fascinating.

Before It Wriggles Away is written for children in grades 2-5 but I feel that adults, especially those interested in writing are going to find this and others in the Meet the Author series completely necessary to their library. I certainly do.

What a great project this is! How fascinating and wondrous it is to peek into the lives of these authors and what makes them tick. How inspiring to young children. The authors I’ve read (so far only two) make writing not just an impossible dream, but something completely doable and accessible. That’s inspiring. These books aren’t preachy or textbookish, they are interesting and fun and very, very likeable. Highly recommended.

Meet the Authors Series - Self Portrait - George Ancona

Meet the Authors

Self Portrait by George Ancona

Publisher: Richard C. Owen Publishers

ISBN-10: 1572748605

ISBN-13: 978-1572748606

I get a lot of email these days because of the blogs and websites I write for as well as from new people I meet each day. A couple of weeks ago I received a most interesting email telling me about a series of books I had never heard of. That in itself is unusual. I follow the trades, read for at least four hours a day on publishing stuff alone. So how could I miss this great sounding series?

The series is called Meet the Author and they are published by Richard C. Owens Publishing. There are currently 35 books in the series. Each one is hard cover, 32 pages long and designed to give children an inside view of the writing process. The books are geared for the 7-10 year old range.

I just finished the first of three new books in the series and was incredibly impressed. The book I chose to read first was George Ancona – Self Portrait. I’ve been a fan of Mr. Ancona’s books for quite some time. Both his books and the photographs in them are arresting and gorgeous. I have my favorites like El Pinatero which I reviewed some time ago (check the archives).

To find a book that he wrote for children telling them about his process of writing and photography as well as a little background on himself and what got him started was fantastic. The book reads like a conversation and it’s just wonderful. Mr. Ancona talks about his days, how he takes a notebook with him and sketches out ideas. There are accompanying photographs and each one adds warmth and depth to the conversation.

I couldn’t think of a better idea and a better way to get children interested in writing. If the rest of the series is anything like the one book I read, then I want them all! Look for my reviews on the next two in the coming weeks. I can’t say enough good things about these marvelous little books. A must for any library and any parent’s list!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Author/Illustrator: Brian Selznick
Publisher: Scholastic
ISBN-10: 0439813786
ISBN-13: 978-0439813785

One word. MASTERPIECE!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is an incredible book, the like of which I have never seen before. It’s a decadent visual treat as well as a gripping and wonderful story. It falls into its own category of part graphic novel, part novel, part cinema, part picture book with the occasional still of silent movies thrown into the mix.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is the story of a young boy who lives in a train station in 1930’s Paris. His father, a clockmaker, died in a museum fire under mysterious circumstances and Hugo went to live with his drunken uncle, who had a job setting all the giant clocks in the station. Months ago, Hugo's uncle went out drinking and never came back. Frightened that he would be discovered and taken to an orphanage, Hugo has continued his uncle's job, allowing the paychecks to pile up living by stealing food from the various vendors in the train station.

He also steals mechanical parts from a toymaker. Hugo found an automaton in the ashes of the museum fire that killed his father and is determined to bring it to life, thinking that somehow, someway it will bring his father back since his father was quite obsessed with it before he died. Hugo gets caught stealing a toy mouse and becomes involved with the mysterious toymaker and his ward Isabel. The plot gets more and more intricate as it goes along and the mystery deepens until its marvelous ending. The great storytelling in this book doesn’t just rely on the pictures or artwork, rather each both text and art blend together to tell you an amazing tale. Each compliments the other and each balances each other out.

Each page takes you deeper into the mystery, tells more about the history of silent film and of one of its pioneer’s Georges Melies and his 1902 masterpiece, A Trip to the Moon. Selznick gives quite a bit of history of both automata and Georges Melies and gets the reader wanting more. Luckily, he includes lists of places to find out more as an appendix to the book. The book is huge and may be a little daunting for children or adults when they first see the size of it, but push, shove, do whatever you have to do to get them to open that first page because then, you’re hooked.

The book reminds me of a comic or a flipbook in that it has quite long sections of black and white sequential art telling the story without text. The illustrations in that art are gorgeous. They’re all done in these amazing pencil drawings that look like charcoal sketches and the detail is sublime.

The faces, especially the eyes are mesmerizing in their depth, beauty and seem stunningly lifelike yet with the haunting quality of a dream. The silent movie stills along with archival photographs of the era contribute to the dreamlike, silent film feels of the book. I loved how pages mimicked the pan of a camera and how drawings are set on black background to get that feel of old photographs or stills. It’s pure wonderful genius!

For more info on the book look here.

Word has it that book has been optioned by Warner Brothers and that Martin Scorcese has potentially signed on to direct the film.