Greetings, Poetry Lovers! As mentioned last week, we were off to the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, last weekend. Our second time, and it was fabulous - even more so because our son and daughter-in-law were able to join us for two nights.
Driving in from I-26 on the curvy road 81, next to the Nolichucky River, Helene's wrath was still evident in places. A few scenes of gutted buildings and wrecked vehicles, and debris piles, spoke to the reach of such a hellacious storm that went through our area and then ravaged Asheville and the whole region with floods one year ago. (Asheville and Jonesborough are just over an hour apart.)
Last year about this time, I had planned on sharing a new rhyming picture book by the oh-so-accomplished and prolific Joy Jordan-Lake, All the Little Animals. Like my hubby and daughter and myself, Joy is a Furman alum! (Go, Paladins!) My planned post got thwarted by Helene, and the weeks playing catch-up afterwards, and then our second grandbaby arrived in December, and then our son and his beloved got married in the spring, and then, and then, and then! And now, it's a year later. I at least want to give a shout-out to this beautiful book, and to two others, hot off the press, by special folks. It's not too early to be thinking about holiday presents, after all! These three books would make perfect gifts for dear little ones, or for dear big ones (such as yourself!) if you love fine children's books.
All the Little Animals is "A Bedtime Book from A-Z," illustrated by Jane Chapman and published by Tommy Nelson (Thomas Nelson). Inspired by Joy's great-grandmother, Anne Elizabeth Hopson Wood, the animals in this volume are the perfect companions for bedtime. Of course I love that it's an abecadarian bedtime book, and the stars are animals, and it's written in comfortable rhyme.
All the little animals under the sun,
in the wild, and in every zoo
are yawning and nuzzling and snuggling and huddling,
getting ready for sleep, just like you!
What's the bedtime routine for baby cassowaries? And what animal name starts with 'X'? Find Joy's book to find out! I've enjoyed reading this book with our three-year-old wee grand-laddie, and he enjoyed it, too! I look forward to his helping to "read" it to Baby Sissy when she's a tad older.
Now, two more picture book shout-outs! These are not rhyming, but they both brim with poetic elements, and I think you'll love them.
While we were in Jonesborough, one of our favorite sessions featured the one-and-only Carmen Agra Deedy. Carmen is a gem, and she's been a force in the storytelling world for decades, as well as in the kidlit world. I've had the honor of meeting her at writer events years ago, and when she came to visit our school in Georgia back in the day, I drove her around and tried to make sure she and her wonderful dog at the time, George (I think I have that name right!), had what they needed between sessions.
Carmen's new picture book is The Peanut Man, illustrated by the wonderful Raúl Colón and published by Margaret Quinlan Books (Peachtree). The book is marvelous, and Carmen's presentation at the festival was like an extended version. My eyes were not dry at the end. If you've never heard Carmen tell a story, get on the Google! This book is a beautiful, funny, and touching tale of Camen's refugee experience as a very young child. Lucky for us in the states, she ended up in Decatur, Georgia, as a little girl.
When the book's young girl asks her mother why they have to leave Cuba, her mother answers, "Because your gentle father is a man with opinions. And in our country, that can be dangerous." So many themes in this book - friendship (of an unlikely and endearing sort), courage, and baseball! You'll have to read it for yourself.
And so hot off the press the cover is still warm, Cat Nap by author-illustrator Brian Lies is a feat of creative vision and artistic execution. Plus, it's a fun story for kids! I got to know Brian because for more than a decade, I presented with other authors as part of Cobb County Literacy Week in north Georgia, and Brian was the original speaker and is still the special guest each year. His book, The Rough Patch, won a Caldecott Honor and is one I gave to my doctor-hubby to share through his death, dying and grief work. It's an amazing book.
Cat Nap (Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins) is just plain brilliant. I feel honored that I heard about it early in the process of Brian's artistic adventures that brought it to life. A lively kitten, modeled after Brian's own Russian Blue-Siamese mix, awakens from his nap to follow a mouse. A mouse that jumps into a Metropolitan Museum of Art poster. We follow this kitten following this mouse in and out of actual works of art, and in and out of time periods. I don't want to give away all the fun, but please know that to pull off this book, Brian produced art in ways both familiar and unfamiliar to him - heroglyphics carving, medeival manuscript illumination, gilding, woodcarving, sculpture, and more.
No AI here, folks. As Brian explains in the backmatter, "It would have been easy to create the illustrations in this book on a computer - to take a photo of an original artwork and edit Kitten in digitally. It was a greater challenge, and a lot more fun, to see if I could actually make pieces of art that looked like the originals in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and blend Kitten's headlong pursuit of the mouse into them." (Overachieve much?) ;0) I love that he invites young readers to try their own hands at making. Bravo!
P.S. - If you like wombats, be sure to check out Wombat, Come In, written by Carmen and illustrated by Brian!
To learn more about these authors and illustrators, click here: Joy Jordan-Lake, Jane Chapman, Carmen Agra Deedy, Raúl Colón, and Brian Lies.
Thanks for visiting - wishing you restful nights to the rhythms of Nature, the comfort of home and memories of home, and the taste of awe served up by art, wonder, and imagination.
Be sure to catch all the Poetry Friday offerings at TeacherDance, where our lovely, talented, and generous Linda has the Roundup!
