...has entered my classroom in the form 16 children who are, in three cases literally, angels. (I have an Angel, an Angela, and an Angelina!)  This year, in addition to my old favorite Roxaboxen, I began the year with the picture book poem All the World by our friend Liz Garton Scanlon.  This poem (even without the Caldecott Honor illustrations by Marla Frazee) touches the sacred for me, and the way I explained it to the shiny new second-graders children sitting on my shaggy spring green carpet is that it gathers up many small, ordinary things to make us feel one big true thing.  Here's an excerpt.

All the World | Liz Garton Scanlon

Rock, stone, pebble, sand
Body, shoulder, arm, hand
A moat to dig, a shell to keep
All the world is wide and deep.

Hive, bee, wings, hum
Husk, cob, corn, yum!
Tomato blossom, fruit so red
All the world's a garden bed

Tree, branch, trunk, crown
Climbing up and sitting down
Morning sun becomes noon-blue
All the world is old and new
....
Everything you hear, smell, see
All the world is everything
Hope and peace and love and trust
All the world is all of us

**************************
After I read this, there was this long pause, and then Andy (yes, I have an Andy too), raised his hand to say, "That book almost made me cry."  There was reverence in the room.

And that, my friends, is what they are ALL like this year:  full of hope and peace and love and trust, open-hearted and ready.  It's another miracle.

Just in case someone had thought to set this beauty to music, I searched a little and found my way to this, which plays with the end of the book to fit the music but comes out pretty wonderful.



Thanks to Liz, and thanks to Penny at A Penny and Her Jots for hosting today, and thanks be to the ebb and flow of the world that every year is different!

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Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! The Children's Book Review (call sign TCBR) is declaring a reading emergency. The weather is clear and suitable for reading outside.

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by Liz Garton Scanlon

Recently, while discussing poetry with a bunch of 5^th graders, I discovered a word that’s pretty much left our daily vernacular: loafe.

Whitman used it in SONG OF MYSELF…

I loafe and invite my soul
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass

…but not a single student knew what the word meant. There were jokes about loaves of bread, and one girl thought she had it, but it turns out she’d gotten it mixed up with loathe. Which, you’ll agree, is another thing entirely.

Once I defined the word for them, they loved it. I said, “Pretty great, right? To be given permission–even encouragement–to loafe about?!” and everybody laughed with relief. (Except for one boy who said, “I try to loafe about a LOT, but my mom won’t let me.” :-) )

So I stepped away from the session with kind of a two-part reminder to myself, and since it’s fresh on my mind, I’ll remind you, too:

1. Loafe about. Seriously. Creativity can’t be rushed. You need to absorb before you can express. You need to walk and garden and bathe and dream and breathe. These things are the stuff that art is made of, the places ideas come from, the source of a sustained head and heart. Really, loafing about isn’t just important when making picture books–it’s important when living life. Professor Omid Safi asked, in a recent column called The Disease of Being Busy, “When did we forget that we are human beings, not human doings?” We know this, right? Right. This is just a reminder.
   .
2. And here’s the other one. Let’s not let really great words like loafe go by the by. Let’s use them. I snuck the word kin into my book ALL THE WORLD, and strut into NOODLE & LOU. I used crimp in THE GOOD-PIE PARTY and hue in THINK BIG. These words are evocative and specific and rich and onomatopoeic–they’re too good to let go! And, as writers, it’s our duty to make sure that we’re not just left with a bunch of OMGs and LOLs on judgment day.

How about you make a list of words you used to hear and use, but never do anymore? What if you wrote down all the phrases your granddad used to say? And what if one of them gave you an idea? Picture books aren’t designed to dumb down; they’re meant to open up and out.   They’re meant to expand the words and the world that a child has at hand. Lucky us to be a part of all that.

So go ahead, make that list.

And then, what the heck, loafe about for a bit.

Liz Garton Scanlon is the author of the highly-acclaimed Caldecott-honored children’s book All the World, illustrated by Marla Frazee, as well as this year’s The Good-Pie Party, illustrated by Kady McDonald Denton. Other books include Happy Birthday, Bunny; Think Big, A Sock is a Pocket for Your Toes, and more. Her next picture book (called In The Canyon) and her first novel for young readers, The Great Good Summer, are both due in 2015. Ms. Scanlon is also a poet, teacher and a frequent and popular presenter at schools, libraries and conferences. To learn more, visit her web site at LizGartonScanlon.com.

Liz is giving away two copies of her latest picture book, THE GOOD-PIE PARTY! (YUMMY!)

These prizes will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You are eligible for these prizes if:

1. You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
2. You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
3. You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge. (You will have to sign the PiBoIdMo Pledge at the end of the event.)

Good luck, everyone!

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A couple weeks ago, Cyn, Chris Barton, and Tim Tingle were featured authors at an event at the LBJ Library sponsored by Reading is Fundamental.  Here are some pics:

Tim and Chris watch while Cyn displays JINGLE DANCER

Day Glo Brothers, Saltypie, and Jingle Dancer

Chris, Cyn, and Tim sign their books

Joy Hein, Kathi Appelt, and Cyn like Ike.

Monkey in the middle

Then, last week, we attended a gathering at BookPeople for the release of the late Bridget Zinn's POISON.  To celebrate, a group of Austin authors signed copies of the book, which are now available at BookPeople!  To buy a copy, click here.

P.J. Hoover, Susan Kralovansky, Nikki Loftin, Cory Oakes

Liz Garton Scanlon, Me, and Cynthia Levinson

Cyn and me.  Photo courtesy Cory Oakes

Title Page!

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Congratulations, writers!
Thirty picture book ideas is a lot.
A Costco-size lot.
Plenty to wrap up this year with satisfaction and kick off the new year with energy, inspiration and confidence.

But, why stop at plenty?
Go ahead and multiply that 30 by at least three.
I’m serious!

Because here’s a best kept secret: Ideas are expansive, not limited.

Each idea you spun over the month of November is now fodder for a story told in 1st person or a story told in 3rd, a story told in past tense or a story told in present. Each idea might play out in a story told in rhyme or a story told in prose, a fictionalized piece or one that is God’s honest truth through and through.

Our picture book ideas don’t come with a set of parameters we must follow-or-else. Instead, they come with a set of possibilities that are ours to play with. Sometimes, when a first or second or fourth draft of a manuscript kind of sucks, we make the mistake of thinking the idea sucks. And that’s that. Out it goes with the trash, never to be seen again. But really, it’s entirely possible that it just needs to be told in a different way, poured into a new shape, unwound with new language.

I’ve rescued more than a couple of apparent flops by telling the story from a different point-of-view, or pulling it out of rhyme, or changing the tense. And the beauty of picture book manuscripts? They’re short enough that you can try all of these variations of shape and style without aging yourself by years.

So carry on, you powerhouses with 90-some ideas at hand. They should keep you good and busy for awhile…

Liz Garton Scanlon is the author of the highly-acclaimed, Caldecott-honored picture book ALL THE WORLD, illustrated by Marla Frazee, as well as NOODLE & LOU, illustrated by Arthur Howard, A SOCK IS A POCKET FOR YOUR TOES, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser, and THINK BIG, illustrated by Vanessa Newton. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BUNNY, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin, will be released on January 15, 2013. Liz is an assistant professor of creative writing at Austin Community College and the mother of two daughters. To learn more, visit her web site at LizGartonScanlon.com.

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A post I did for the ALSC Blog on research for CHRONAL ENGINE, titled "It Started with a Picture Book," is now online!

A couple weeks ago, Publishing Perspectives had a nice article about the Austin YA scene, titled "Is Austin, Texas Paradise for YA Authors?"  Check it out here.

Author K.A. Holt (BRAINS FOR LUNCH and MIKE STELLAR) has a "how to dress up as a zombie" post here.

Author Bethany Hegedus (TRUTH WITH A CAPITAL T) has a post on meeting Gandhi's grandson, and author Liz Garton Scanlon (ALL THE WORLD) has a post about being the author of a Caldecott Honor Book.

Holiday Tree Lighting and Author Signing at LBJ State Park! Join Cynthia Leitich Smith for the tree lighting ceremony at LBJ State Park from 4:30 p.m. Dec. 18. Cynthia will be signing Holler Loudly, illustrated by Barry Gott (Dutton, 2010). Lucy Johnson will be speaking briefly at the event, and Santa may make an appearance, too. See more information.

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by Liz Garton Scanlon

I have to be honest with you.
I think the word “idea” is a little grand.
And by grand, I mean daunting.

An idea is a huge thing, right?
It requires freshness and originality, it encompasses possibility, it is—not to get all god-like here, but—the beginning of everything!

Meanwhile, we’re always being told, “There are no new ideas!”

Poet Audre Lord said, “There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.” And there are all those books and lectures that tell us there are only about seven plots available on the whole entire planet. And you guys. There is even a web site called “no new ideas” and it is just a blank page!

So. Phew. That’s out of the way.
No new ideas.
We can’t find what isn’t there.

But, this puts us PiBoIdMo folks in a bit of bind, doesn’t it?
What are we supposed to do for the rest of the month?

Well, personally, I think we should try for something smaller.
Not a whole new idea everyday—just a new perspective.

(And, guess what? The Greek origin of the word idea is idein, which means “to see”! Which means I’ve got support from ancient sages here, so let’s go with it.)

What if all we need is a new way of looking at things?
And what if that way is a child-like way?

A child, said author Olive Schreiner, “sees everything, looks straight at it, examines it, without any preconceived idea.”

Have you ever noticed what kids want to do when they’re riding a down escalator? They want to run up it!

Kids don’t look at things as if they’re static or rule-based or already defined. Surprise and experimentation are everyday affairs. Freshness and originality and possibility—all those things I found so daunting above? Ha. Child’s play.

And children, you’ll remember, are our audience.

So, what if we look straight at life today and examine it?
What if we let our preconceptions slip away and see things as children see things?

What if we imagine that socks are pockets (A Sock is a Pocket for Your Toes) or that the whole wide world could fit in a book (All the World) or that a worm and a bird could be best friends (Noodle & Lou)?

What if look around, each of us, at the animals in our houses and yards, the food on our tables, the books on our bedside tables, and we just plain see them in a new way? That’s all I’m going to do today, and you should join me. We’ll leave the grand and daunting to someone else…

(And now for the party favors!)

These really great photos that are all about accessing a child’s perspective.

This one is my favorite:

And then this fine bit of musing by a

15 Comments on PiBoIdMo Day 15: Liz Garton Scanlon Sees Things Differently (plus a giveaway!), last added: 11/15/2011

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NOODLE AND LOU, by Liz Garton Scanlon, ill. by Arthur Howard (Beach Lane Books 2011). Noodle the worm wakes up one morning feeling out of sorts. He doesn't have eyes or feet or even a beak...Can his best friend Lou cheer him up?

Scanlon's rhyming text is fun and whimsical, and Howard's illustrations are a perfect match: colorful and exuberant and full of verve. This is a book for anyone who's ever had a friend to cheer them up.

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Callooh, Callay!

It's time to tip our caps to Liz Garton Scanlon and Arthur Howard! Their brand new picture book, Noodle & Lou (Beach Lane Books, 2011), is officially out today!

What's that? You don't have a cap?

No probs. Help yourself:


 
(Please leave your caps on for the duration of this post so you can really strut your stuff. Oh, and if you wanna be extra cool and channel Noodle, wear it backwards or sideways-sassy. Lookin' good!)

So what's up with these two? Noodle the earthworm wakes up one morning with a "rain-cloudy" heart. It happens to all of us sometimes -- just feelin' blue and down on ourselves. It's a good thing Noodle has his good friend Lou to lean on. A finer, kinder, more supportive blue jay was never to be found. For every negative feeling Noodle has, Lou puts a positive spin on it:

"My head has no eyes," 
Noodle said, feeling glum.

"So, life's a surprise!"
Lou said to his chum.

"And I don't have a beak,"
said Noodle, quite blue.

"But you're long, and so sleek, which is perfect for you!"



Ah, that Lou. Right there when Noodle needs him, and every bit sincere:

"I'm dirty and mucky!"
"You're wiggly and plucky."
"I'm skinny and bare."
"With your own special flair."

After going back and forth like this for awhile, Noodle eventually feels better. He realizes that despite "All those high-flyin' types . . . Lou-Bird likes me!"

It's easy to love this wholly satisfying story of an unlikely friendship. Who are we without our friends? Lucky for us, they're there when we need them, have the uncanny ability to alter our perceptions and lift us right up. Liz's pitch perfect rhyming text, chock full of chewy, crunchy words like "plucky," "slither," and "jaunty," hums right along and packs some extra punch -- we gain new appreciation for the lowly earthworm, and realize that sometimes seemingly natural enemies can indeed be friends. Good to know that anything is possible if we keep our minds and hearts open.


(click to enlarge)

Arthur Howard, best known for the Mister Putter & Tabby series, has successfully created an earthworm oozing with personality. Not an easy task, to be sure, but with a few strokes and a strategically placed, oversized baseball cap, Arthur's Noodle arouses empathy and engages the reader right away. Noodle's emotional transformation is underscored by an ever-changing skyscape, warming colors and varying perspectives. Fun to see a worm's eye view of the world, and indeed, this story

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If there was a theme in what the many published writers said at the Austin SCBWI conference a couple weeks ago, it was that perseverance is an important part of their success.

Three of this year’s ALA winners were there — Jacqueline Kelly (The Evolution of Capurnia Tate), Marla Frazee and Liz Garton Scanlon (All the World illustrator and author) and Chris Barton (The Day-Glo Brothers) — and they all told tales of facing many rejections before publication and of pursuing their dreams of being published for years before making them a reality.

Kirby Larson, author of the 2007 Newbery Honor book Hattie Big Sky, said she received piles of rejection letters before her publishing career began. Finally, after many years of trying and taking a 10-day course that happened over her daughter’s birthday — what a sacrifice — she sold her first picture books. A few more followed, but then she didn’t sell anything for seven years. That’s when she tried a different type of writing and Hattie Big Sky was born.

Former editor and now full-time author Lisa Graff explained that for her last book, Umbrella Summer, she wrote 18 complete drafts.

Yesterday, this theme was reinforced in an article in the Los Angeles Times about non-fiction author Rebecca Skloot, whose The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks appeared on Amazon’s bestseller list immediately after the book debuted on Feb. 2. This was all after Skloot spent 10 years working on the book and went through three publishing houses, four editors and two agents.

All these writers shared something in common: They didn’t give up.

So, the motto for today: Never give up.

Write On!

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Today is my last post from the Austin SCBWI conference. It’s my seventh post about the conference and I’ve just given you a sampler from the presentations, so it shows how great these conferences can be.

Before I get into the post for today, here’s a quick recap of the other posts from the conference in case you missed any: agent Mark McVeigh on publishing, agent Andrea Cascardi on getting and working with an agent, editor Cheryl Klein on writing a great book, agent Nathan Bransford on finding the right agent for you, author/former editor Lisa Graff on writing and revising and advice from ALA winners.

The conference had plenty of other published writers, and here’s advice from them:

Kirby Larson (2007 Newbery Honor Book Hattie Big Sky): The secret of success is keeping your bum in your chair and working. No matter how bad you think it is, you have to get the first draft done and keep going.

Liz Garton Scanlon (2010 Caldecott Honor Book All the World): Find a community to help you, whether a critique group or writing partner, because it helps you live in the solitary environment of writing.

Shana Berg (A Thousand Never Evers): You should have an emotional reaction to your story when you read it.

Jennifer Ziegler (How Not to be Popular): Outlining can be an invaluable tool, but use it as a map.

Jessica Lee Anderson (Border Crossing): In dealing with rejection, rethink, revise and resend, inspire yourself with stories, nurture your creativity.

P.J. Hoover (The Emerald Tablet): Think outside of the box. Don’t settle for cliches and stereotypes. Write unique characters

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More than 200 children’s book writers and illustrators (aspiring and professional) converged on a little Unitarian church just north of Austin for the 2010 Destination Publication SCBWI conference January 30.

Guests and speakers arrived from Texas and everywhere for a day of inspiring presentations and professional critiques of manuscripts and portfolios.

“The most expensive people, all of those those who were trained by the great editors Ursula Nordstrom and Margaret McElderry are gone,” agent and former editor Mark McVeigh said in his rivetting keynote,  “Defending Your Muse.”

Still children’s publishing is  “not an industry in ruins, but in transition,” he continued.  He spoke about the emerging digital media and mobile media (Kindle, iPhone, etc.) marketplace.  But he kept returning to the sovereignty of language, individual creativity — and the Emily Dickinson poem he keeps in his wallet.  You can read  Mark’s recapping of his time with us in Austin and see the full text of the Dickinsin poem  on his agency blog here.

Later in the day, Curtis Brown agent Nathan Bransford elicited a gasp or two with his comment that he sees 15,000 to 20,000 submissions a year and might take  four to five clients per year from that pile. Yet his presentation, like Mark’s,  hit inspiring notes.  He refers to the Austin conference and much more in his  blog

“Designing the ‘page-turns’ is the most important thing,” asserted two-time Caldecott Honor illustrator Marla Frazee in an extraordinary presentation on the the picture book creation process.

“Use the page turn in the narrative when you want the mood to shift and your images to really stand out,” she continued.

“Save diagonals for the most dramatic parts of your story. They’re like exclamation marks!”

Marla demonstrated how she filled the imagery for  All the World (2010 Caldecott Honor book penned by Austin poet Liz Garton Scanlon) with imagery from her own life  — landscapes of the central California coast, 

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All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon and Marlee Frazee. Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. 2009. Picture Book. Caldecott Honor Book.

The Plot: A family is at the beach: "rock, stone, pebble, sand/ body, shoulder, arm, hand/ a moat to dig/ a shell to keep/ All the world is wide and deep." The family goes about its day and a host of other characters are depicted. At the end, they are together, one community, one world: "Everything you hear, smell, see/ All the world is everything/ Everything is you and me/ Hope and peace and love and trust/ All the world is all of us."

The Good: Really, it would be easier to say what isn't good.

Um, except it's all good.

The poem itself is deceptively simple; describing a day in the children's lives, but also describing all of us. It shows what we share and have in common.

The illustrations (pencil and watercolor) reflect the text and deepen it. They are full of details; each time you read the book, you see something new, a new connection. When does part of one scene appear in another? What people appear and reappear in the illustrations? It's more than a guessing game, a searching game. It underscores how we are all connected.

The family and people in the book reflect our world: different colors, different shades, different ages. It's not a big deal, in that it's not part of the text or done with a "look! look! look!" feel; it is a big deal because we need to have and see multicultural families in books, and yay, here is a beautifully illustrated one with two children of color on the cover.

I hesitate to say "what a great message," because message books are usually heavy handed. This is not; so I'll say, this book has meaning, and truth, and inspiration. It has reassurance and love.

Video and curriculum guide at author's website.




Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

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15. One Illustration Reverie; Two Real Deals

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By: Mark G. Mitchell, on 9/30/2009
Blog: How To Be A Children's Book Illustrator (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  News, Kirby Larson, Marla Frazee, Houston SCBWI, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Lisa Graff, Austin SCBWI, Chris Barton, Lisa Ann Sandell, Nathan Bransford, Pictures worth a thousand words, Patrice Barton, Sara Lewis Holmes, Special treats, Mark McVeigh, Cheryl Klein, Stacy Cantor, Philip Yates, Shana Burg, Ruta Rimas, children's book illustrations, Jennifer Ziegler, Caldecott Honor, P. J. Hoover, Jacqueline Kelly, Jessica Lee Anderson, Liz Garton Scanlon, Andrea Cascardi, Edith Piaf, John Singer Sargent, Sara Crowe, Add a tag

What does this short animated clip have to do with John Singer Sargent  or children’s book illustration?

A quoi ca sert l’amour,  a short animation by Louis Clichy, with thanks to illustrator  and animation/game artist Amanda Williams for finding this.  She called  it “brutal and adorable.”

If a child-friendly story had illustrations with these lines — and visual characters as memorable as these,  and color the way John Singer Sargent used it in his painted scenes, it would be some picture book, right?

I’m assembling my fantasy football — I mean  illustration project  — team here.

So, starting with the cartoon: What makes these stick figures tug at your emotions as they do?

The honesty? That we know these people? And been these people?

The “simple” (but oh-so-sophisticated) graphics with their varied perspectives and 360 degree “camera revolutions”?

All the fast cutting and surprise transitions?

The song? Edith Piaf’s and Theo Sarapo’s singing?

The subject?

Could some of this aplomb be translated into picture book illustrations?

Are these enough questions for now?

OK,  so let’s add some color and texture.  John Singer Sargent had a knack  for these.

Thanks to Chicago based painter Raymond Thornton for finding this.

I know.  Sargent is the painter who gives all other painters inferiority complexes.  We don’t now a lot about how he made his palette choices. (We know that he looked carefully.)

So enough with dream teaming. We’ve got some housecleaning items today.

Two powerhouse chapters of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) have announced their 2010 pow-wows — both set for early next year.

It’s Time to Mingle in Texas

Awesome Austin

Austin SCBWI comes first with Destination Publication featuring  a Caldeecott Honor Illustrator and Newberry Honor Author, along with agents, editors, more authors, another fab illustrator, critiques, portfolio reviews and parties.

Mark the date – Saturday, January 30, 2010 from 8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.  Get the full lowdown and the registration form here. Send in your form pronto if you’re interested — more than 100 people have already signed up. Manuscript crtiques are already sold out. But a few portfolio reviews are still open at this writing!

Destination Publication features Kirby Larson, author of the 2007 Newbery Honor Book, Hattie Big Sky and Marla Frazee, author-illustrator of A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, which received a Caldecott Honor Award, and more recently All the World penned (all 200 words of it) by Austin’s own children’s author/poet Liz Garton Scanlon.

Frazee teaches children’s book illustration at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA.  She and Scanlon plan to talk about their collaboration. You can read wonderful essays by them on this very topic here.

"All the World" by Liz Garton Scanlon and Marla Frazee

The  faculty also includes: Cheryl Klein, senior editor at Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic, Lisa Graff, Associate Editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers, Stacy Cantor, Editor, Bloomsbury USA/Walker  Books For Young Readers, Andrea Cascardi agent with Transatlantic Literary Agency (and a former editor), another former editor, Mark McVeigh who represents writers, illustrators, photographers and graphic novelists for both the adult and children’s markets,  and agent Nathan Bransford.

The conference also features authors  Sara Lewis Holmes, Shana Burg, P. J. Hoover, Jessica Lee Anderson, Chris Barton, Jacqueline Kelly, Jennifer Ziegler, Philip Yates,  and illustrator Patrice Barton.
Read more about everyone here.

Happenin’ Houston

Houston SCBWI has announced the (still developing)  lineup for its conference just three weeks after Austin’s:   Saturday, February 20, 2010.  Registration is NOW OPEN.

It headlines Cynthia Leitich Smith, acclaimed author of short stories, funny picture books, Native American fiction, and YA Gothic fantasies,   Ruta Rimas, assistant editor Balzer & Bray/HarperCollin, and Patrick Collins, creative director at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. Collins art directs and designs picture books, young adult novels and middle grade fiction.

Among the recent picture books he has worked on:  Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?, Old Penn Station and Rosa, which was a Caldecott Honor book.

The conference also features Alexandra Cooper,  senior editor at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Lisa Ann Sandell,  senior editor at Scholastic Inc., and Sara Crowe, an agent with Harvey Klinger, Inc. in New York.

You can download Houston conference info and registration sheets from this page.

No, you don’t have to be Texan to register for either of these big events. You just have to be willing to get here for them.

Remember that just about any SCBWI conference or workshop is a great education for a very modest investment.

* * * * *
Speaking of  great educations for a very modest investment,  Mark Mitchell, author of this post and host of this blog  teaches classes in children’s book illustration at the Austin Museum of Art Art School and online. Learn more about the online course here — or sample some color lessons from the course here.

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16. soup of the day: all the world!

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By: Jama Rattigan, on 9/7/2009
Blog: jama rattigan's alphabet soup (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  soup of the day, liz garton scanlon, book reviews, marla frazee, Add a tag

"To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour." ~ William Blake (Auguries of Innocence, 1803).


"Finding Treasure" by paigek.

It's time to grab our sand buckets and take a little stroll along the beach!

We can bask in the sun's warmth and delight in the gentle ocean breeze. Friends, breathe deeply of the salty air, and make a mental note of September 8, 2009, the official publication date for All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon and Marla Frazee -- because it's not every day we are gifted with this particular brand of picture book perfection!


ALL THE WORLD by Liz Garton Scanlon, pictures by Marla Frazee (Beach Lane Books, 2009), All ages, 40 pp.

*busting my seams, bursting with joy, drowning in my big, big love for this book*

The first time I read All the World, it totally took my breath away. Though I've read many wonderful picture books this year that got me excited and won my everlasting enthusiasm, this one brought me to my knees. I thought, "Whoa. Now here's a book that's definitely in a class of its own. It takes excellence to a whole new level." This rarely happens, but you know it when you see it -- that timeless quality, the makings of a classic. And of course, you're thinking, Caldecott.



In a mere 200 words, through lyrical rhyming couplets, Liz celebrates the big, wide world and all of humankind. She names the little and the large, the simple and profound, each carefully chosen word a luminous pearl in a pitch perfect string:


(click to enlarge)

Rock, stone, pebble, sand
Body, shoulder, arm, hand
A moat to dig, a shell to keep
All the world is wide and deep.

She holds up for our observation and contemplation nothing less than the sea and sky, sun and rain, bees humming, plants growing, birds flying, children frolicking, music playing, people simply being together and relishing every moment. It seems simple on the surface, a way to live in this world, learning to love it up close and from far away. She has distilled the essence of a personal and global vision, a theme of harmony and interconnection shimmering through the beautiful cadence of her poetry. Each time you read the text, your heart beats anew, the earth shifts a little on its axis; you are invited to join in the joyous rhythm of life.

The best way I can describe the art in this book is to say that Marla Frazee took a pure melody and caressed it with full orchestration -- warm, engaging, textural, lustrous. Her pencil and watercolor illustrations, a brilliant visual narrative, follows an interracial family of four from morning till night, as they build sandcastles and collect shells at the beach, buy flowers at a nearby farmer's market, sail a boat in a pond, dodge a sudden rainstorm, enjoy supper in a cozy café, and then join family and friends for a rousing sing-a-long before going to bed.


(click to enlarge)

This warm, welcoming world, small enough to traverse by red pickup, is also populated by characters representative of the world at-large: we see other families, couples, singles, young, old, a few ages in between, and people of many colors -- some of whom appear in various spreads either by themselves or in interactions with the central family. Marla shifts her perspective to great effect, alternating between intimate vignettes of parent/child, person/animal, friend/friend, brother/sister, and expansive views depicting the grandeur of the planet. Spreads are ingeniously linked together; the corner of one vista becomes the focus of the next; everything and everyone is part of the circle of humanity. And if that wasn't enough, Marla hand-lettered the entire text; words tilt and sway, rise and fall, posturing themselves with a life and personality all their own.


The café in the book, where soup and muffins are consumed, was based on the Phantom Ranch Cantina, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon (photo by Irwin3637).
 
Marla says this was a deeply personal work; most of the objects hold special meaning, such as the mulberry tree her grandfather planted, the beach ball left out in the rain, her own orange Honda Fit with her dog, Rocket, in the front seat leaving the farmer's market.

Together, Liz and Marla have created a work that stands alone in its ability to amaze and inspire. It represents the perfect marriage of words and art. It leaves the reader feeling whole, appreciative of what is sacred in the everyday, and uplifted by the knowledge that his/her place in the world, however small, does indeed count for something. Quite simply, All the World is all you'd ever want in a picture book, more than you could have ever dreamed. As Kelly Fineman put it, "it's a work of epic beauty inside a picture book package."


photo by paigek.

The accolades have been flooding in: four *starred reviews* thus far from Publisher's Weekly, School Library Journal, Horn Book Magazine, and Kirkus. Horn Book has compared Liz's text to the work of Margaret Wise Brown, Kirkus calls the book, "At once a lullaby and an invigorating love song of nature, families, and interconnectedness," and School Library Journal deemed it "perfection." All the World is also in the Autumn 2009 Kids' Indie Next List Top Ten. A perfect read aloud, appropriate for all ages, of course I give it my highest FIVE SPOON RATING! 

I hope you still have your beach gear on, because now it's time to dive into our special bowl of celebration soup. Please indulge in whatever suits your fancy -- backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, freestyle. If the spirit moves you, dog paddle or snorkel! Just make sure you come up for air long enough to shout your congratulations to Liz and Marla!


Today's Special: Hungry Tummy Soup (seasoned liberally with hope, peace, love and trust. Delicious hot or cold).

To go with your soup, please have a muffin (just like in the book):

photo by music pb.

Of course I haven't forgotten dessert. Help yourself to a seashell, starfish or sand dollar cookie:

photo by cookieartisan.

By now, you know the drill: hightail it to your nearest indie or order your copy online. This is one book you'll want a First Edition, First Printing of, so be quick about it! ☺

                                     ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥



MORE MORE MORE

Liz Garton Scanlon official website (with a link to the best Curriculum Guide I've ever seen)! Liz's Live Journal blog, Liz in Ink, can be found here.

Marla Frazee official website.

Simon & Schuster "Behind the Book" page for All the World, featuring Liz and Marla's notes about working on this book.

Online Reviews:

Reading Rumpus
Richie Partington at Library Thing
Through the Looking Glass

My 2008 interview with Marla can be found here.

More Soup of the Day posts here.

**Liz Scanlon will be celebrating the release of All the World on September 26th at Book People, Austin, Texas, 11 a.m.


photo by carramled.

*Spreads posted by permission of publisher, Text copyright © 2009 Liz Garton Scanlon, Illustrations © 2009 Marla Frazee (Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster, 2009). All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2009 Jama Rattigan of jama rattigan's alphabet soup. All rights reserved.
 
 

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