Wow! I know we are now in December, but I still have 4 more authors to highlight in order to meet my goal of one author per day during Picture Book Month. So many authors, so few spots left! Today I'd like to spotlight 3 authors, Eric Carle, Doreen Cronin and Lauren Child.
Eric Carle is an award winning picture book author/illustrator. He was the 2003 recipient of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award which honor an author and or illustrator whose body of work over the years has made "a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children." His beautiful illustrations are made using hand-painted paper, layered in a collage technique. Many of his works feature special cut-outs (The Very Hungry Caterpillar), sounds (The Very Quiet Cricket), foldouts (Papa, Please get the Moon for Me) or even lighting effects (Dream Snow). His newest title is The Artist Who painted a Blue Horse. It is a story that celebrates the freedom of the artist to paint things as he sees them, even a blue horse or a green lion.
We are very fortunate that we have The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art here in Amherst Massachusetts. As he states on his website (http://www.eric-carle.com/home.html) :For a number of years my wife Bobbie and I dreamt about creating a place where original picture book art could be enjoyed and appreciated. It has been said that picture books are an introduction to literature for the very young reader. We wanted to help build a museum that would be the same thing for the first time museum visitor: an introduction to the experience of looking at art.
I hope you get a chance to visit his books and or the museum with your children!
Doreen Cronin published her first picture book Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type while working as a practising attorney in Manhattan- luckily for children's literature she left the law and has been writing picture books ever since! What I love about her books is the humor. Click, Clack Moo, received a Caldecott Honor in 2001. This is a wonderful book that can be used to teach children about the power of the written word - as well as being laugh out loud hilarious! Farmer Brown discovers that his cows can type. Not only that, but they begin to make demands. "It was bad enough the cows had found the old typewriter in the barn, now they wanted electric blankets! 'No way," said Farmer Brown...So the cows went on strike." Children love repeating the refrain: "Click, Clack, moo." The barnyard hijinks continue in several more books featuring the typing cows. I also love her series of insect diary books. In Diary of a Worm , They are full of dry humor and Henry Bliss' illustrations add to the fun. Here's one entry: "April 20 I snuck up on some kids in the park today. They didn't hear me coming. I wriggled up right between them and they SCREAMED. I love when they do that." You can also read Diary of a Spider and Diary of a Fly. Check out this wonderful author today!
My 3rd author of the day is Lauren Child (http://www.milkmonitor.com/home/). She is probably best known for her Charlie and Lola picture book series, which has been made into a successful television series for Disney. Her first Charlie and Lola book, I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato, won a Kate Greenaway Medal in the U.K. for outstanding children's book illustration in 2000. This is comparable to the Caldecott Medal in the U.S. The series features the adorable, imaginative and demanding Lola and her patient older brother Charlie, as well as Lola's invisible friend Soren Lorenson. I love Lola's spirit and Charlie's love for his little sister. Each book begins: "I have this little sister, Lola. She is small and very funny." In my daughter's favorite Charlie and Lola book, I Am Too Absolutely Small for School, Charlie tries to reassure a nervous Lola, that school will be wonderful. For instance Charlie says: "I say, 'At school you will learn numbers and how to count up to one hundred.' Lola says, 'I don't need to learn up to ne hundred. I already know up to ten, and that is plenty." Also be sure to check out another favorite, Lauren Child's The Princess and the Pea. In a collaboration with photographer Polly Borland, Child constructed miniature 3-D sets for each page in illustration in the book. Imagine a dollhouse with paper doll characters. I look forward to many more of Lauren Child's picture books!
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