PPBF: My Pictures After the Storm

Author/Illustrator: Éric Veillé, translated by Daniel Hahn
Publisher: Gecko Press, 2017; Orig.: Actes Sud, 2014
Age: 2-5
Themes: wit, causation, humorous stories
Opening: My Pictures. My Pictures after the storm.

Summary: (from my library catalog) Offers humorous drawings comparing things before and after storms, meetings with elephants, and trips to the hairdresser.

Why I like this book: Hilarious! But, come on – who would not have picked up a cover like THAT? This is one readers can really spend their time looking at again and again, figuring out what happened and why. The illustrations are simple in comic-style, with great use of negative space and complimentary colors. So fun!

Resources/Activities: Make your own lists and/or drawings of some of your own belongings and what they might look like after an incidence, like a rainstorm, a day at school, a visit from family or friends, etc.

For more Perfect Picture Book picks with teacher/parent resources, check out the list on Susanna Hill’s blog HERE.

PPBF: Anatole

Author: Eve Titus
Illustrator: Paul Galdone
Publisher: McGraw-Hill, 1956
Age: 4-8
Themes: mice, cheese, fairness
Opening: In all France there was no happier, more contented mouse than Anatole.

Summary: (from my library catalog) A French mouse decides to earn an honest living by tasting the cheese in a cheese factory and leaving notes about its quality.

Why I like this book: Looks like I am sort of stuck in the past again (will try better next time)! I love the limited color palette set against the black and white ink-wash and Galdone’s loose yet confident style, illustrating a sweet classic story of a French mouse on a mission to change!

Resources/Activities: come up with a secret way to make someone else’s life or lives better without looking for recognition, like leaving flowers on a doorstep, or mowing someone’s lawn while they are out – or even sending a secret note to make someone smile!

For more Perfect Picture Book picks with teacher/parent resources, check out the list on Susanna Hill’s blog HERE.

PPBF: Marsh Crone’s Brew

Author/Illustrator: Ib Spang Olsen, translated by Virginia Allen Jensen
Publisher: Abingdon Press, 1960
Age: 5-8
Themes: seasons, marsh people, Danish folk tale
Opening: In summer when the sun goes down behind the marshes and evening sets in, a kind of white vapor sometimes rises from the swampy ground.

Summary: (from my library catalog) A retelling of the Danish folktale about the Marsh Crone whose husband looks like a willow bush and whose children are mistaken for grass hillocks. They mix things like moonlight, willow spears, evening dew and stork feathers in a brew that brings spring to the marsh..

Why I like this book: It fits in my pocket at 6.5×4.5″! Number one priority for me though is to pick up any book that has a great cover, and it does, but this time I was influenced to look for Ib Spang Olsen’s books from singular picture book illustration post by Jama Kim Rattigan . So I put as many as I could on hold through my library, and this is the first title to arrive. It reminds me so much of the landscape where I lived for many years in northern Germany, where the coming of spring is highly anticipated. Hope you can find and enjoy it too!

Resources/Activities: Read about the Danish author/illustrator HERE;  Read a few more Danish folktales, like The Fat Cat: A Danish Folktale by Jack Kent – or another edition of the same by by Margaret Read MacDonald and Julie Paschkis (Illustrator).

For more Perfect Picture Book picks with teacher/parent resources, check out the list on Susanna Hill’s blog HERE.

#scbwidrawthis

#WILD

I think I have posted and tagged the entry everywhere else, so why not here too! It’s my entry for this month’s #scbwidrawthis art prompt. Members have the opportunity each month to show their artwork in the online gallery and two pieces will be featured in the SCBWI INSIGHT e-mail. Entries can be added to the online gallery open to public viewing, so agents, art directors and editors have yet another way of finding illustrators. Each month two winners will have their art displayed on the home page and publicized through SCBWI social media channels. So if you are also interested in participating, you have to be an SCBWI member and follow the guidelines HERE. Good luck!

PPBF: The Frog in the Well

Boring cover to you, fantastic typeface to me!

Author: Alvin Tresselt
Illustrator: Roger Duvoisin
Publisher: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1958
Age: 3-6
Themes: dwellings, frogs, reflection
Opening: There was once a frog who lived in a well, and a fine well it was, too.

 

Summary: Once upon a time there was a frog who lived at the bottom of a well. The well was the frog’s whole world, until the day the well ran dry and the bugs began to disappear. What was happening to the world, the frog wondered, and what could he do? The hungry frog decided he must hop to the top of the well to see what he could of the end of the world. Conquering his fear, he peered out, and what did he see? Trees, flowers, meadows, marshes, and all kinds of end-of-the-world creatures! Entranced, the little frog ventured forth to find out more about the world outside his own. Based on a classic Chinese fable, and written and illustrated by the Caldecott-winning Alvin Tresselt and Roger Duvoisin, The Frog in the Well is a charming tale of one brave frog and his journey into wisdom.

Why I like this book: Oldy but a gooooody! Found this title while I was searching for storytime books with a ‘home’ theme, and fell in love. Wouldn’t be the first time a girl fell for a sweet frog, eh? Still fresh for todays readers.

Resources/Activities: Read about the illustrator HERE though I am sure many of you are familiar with his classics like, Petunia, Veronica, or The Happy Lion! If not – you need to read them! If you just want to wallow in a pool of his wonderful images – click HERE. Make a storytime-craft activity with a paper towel roll, or clothes pins.

For more Perfect Picture Book picks with teacher/parent resources, check out the list on Susanna Hill’s blog HERE.