By: bookkm,
on 12/14/2016
I bow to the superior reviewing of the writers at Brain Pickings.These articles are more complete than any review I have read this year. Enjoy.
The Best Children's Books of 2016 - from Brain Pickings
By: bookkm,
on 8/11/2015
Whoa! Look at these illustrations. The book is about solving problems but the dioramas are want-inducing. Oh, if I could give a space to one of these pieces of art! Hmmm, but then, I'd have to dust it and worry about it and keep it out of the bright sunlight and make sure it has enough light and... No, this book will do.
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| See what I mean??? |
By: bookkm,
on 4/19/2015
Someday blogging is SO easy. My inbox delivered this post from Brain Pickings about 15 picture book biographies. The illustrations for the Pablo Neruda biography are so vibrant. Check the post here.
AND - tada - you can look at my KU2015 book list here. The Kutztown University Children's Literature Conference was wonderful yesterday. I love talking about books with other readers and authors.
By: James Preller,
on 1/2/2015
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“Being an artist is not just about what happens
when you are in the studio.
The way you live, the people you choose to love
and the way you love them, the way you vote,
the words that come out of your mouth…
will also become the raw material
for the art you make.” — Teresita Fernandez.
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A friend passed along a terrific interview with a sculptor whose name I didn’t recognize, Teresita Fernandez. It turns out that she currently has a show at nearby Mass Moca (see video at bottom), so I’m hoping to experience it. (Road trip, anyone?) Credit for the interview goes to Maria Popova at Brain Pickings; just follow the link, like Dorothy’s yellow brick road, and you’ll get there to read it in full: a wise and thoughtful piece.
At the conclusion of the article, Teresita offers a brief list of practical tips for a young artists. I think the general wisdom — and moreso, the warm humanity expressed here — makes it worth reading for absolutely anybody. I love that she does not separate her art from her life, or from any life. It is of a piece, a life’s work entire.
Here’s some examples of Teresita’s truly awesome work, sprinkled throughout.
1) Art requires time — there’s a reason it’s called a studiopractice. Contrary to popular belief, moving to Bushwick, Brooklyn, this summer does not make you an artist. If in order to do this you have to share a space with five roommates and wait on tables, you will probably not make much art. What worked for me was spending five years building a body of work in a city where it was cheapest for me to live, and that allowed me the precious time and space I needed after grad school.
2) Learn to write well and get into the habit of systematically applying for every grant you can find. If you don’t get it, keep applying. I lived from grant money for four years when I first graduated.
3) Nobody reads artist’s statements. Learn to tell an interesting story about your work that people can relate to on a personal level.
4) Not every project will survive. Purge regularly, destroying is intimately connected to creating. This will save you time.
5) Edit privately. As much as I believe in stumbling, I also think nobody else needs to watch you do it.
6) When people say your work is good do two things. First, don’t believe them. Second, ask them, “Why”? If they can convince you of why they think your work is good, accept the compliment. If they can’t convince you (and most people can’t) dismiss it as superficial and recognize that most bad consensus is made by people simply repeating that they “like” something.
7) Don’t ever feel like you have to give anything up in order to be an artist. I had babies and made art and traveled and still have a million things I’d like to do.
8) You don’t need a lot of friends or curators or patrons or a huge following, just a few that really believe in you.
9) Remind yourself to be gracious to everyone, whether they can help you or not. It will draw people to you over and over again and help build trust in professional relationships.
10) And lastly, when other things in life get tough, when you’re going through family troubles, when you’re heartbroken, when you’re frustrated with money problems, focus on your work. It has saved me through every single difficult thing I have ever had to do, like a scaffolding that goes far beyond any traditional notions of a career.
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By: bookkm,
on 10/6/2012
Much thanks to storyteller, Robin Reichert, for bringing this to my attention.
Over on Brain Pickings, Maria Popova highlights experiments done by Paul Zak, a neuroeconomics engineer. (And, no, I don't know what a neuroeconomics engineer is. It sounds a little scary, though.) These experiments showed how listening to a story effected brain chemistry and changed test subjects behavior.
You can watch the video and read Popova's article here.
It's nice to have empirical data that confirms what we storytellers have known all along. Stories change us. So, be careful what you tell. Stories are not just for entertainment - and they never have been.
By: Aline Pereira,
on 4/6/2012
The World is Round (illustrated by Clement Hurd, North Point Press, 1988) is technically not a poetry book, per se, although its author, Gertrude Stein, might argue otherwise. I discovered it through a post a friend linked me to on the most excellent blog, Brain Pickings. Now some of you might wonder how Gertrude Stein came to write a children’s book in the first place, and the story has much to do with the early development of children’s book publishing in the U.S. in the 1930′s. Stein was asked by the youthful start-up publishing company of Young Scott Books (founded in 1938) whose mandate was to publish illustrated childrens’ books to submit a manuscript for their consideration. Stein submitted The World is Round, a story of a girl named Rose (of course!) and her cousin Willie. Rose was based on a child who was the daughter of Gertrude Stein’s neighbor in Bilignin, a small farming community located in the French alps.
The World is Round contains the story of Rose and Willie in 32 micro-chapters of the kind of lilting and somewhat nonsensical poetic like prose that is distinctively Stein. Who cannot help but recognize Stein’s playful existentialism in such lines as “I am a little girl and my name is Rose, Rose is my name./ Why am I a little girl/And why is my name Rose/And when am I a little girl/And when is my name Rose/And where am I little girl/And where is my name Rose … “ Granted, this may not be your child’s cup of tea when it comes to bedtime reading, but sometimes I like to throw in a little twist of lemon to give a bit of complexity to the flavors of narrative one gives to one’s child. My daughter liked the early chapters of this book, probably because they had to do with dogs, but has not warmed to it much since. But she doesn’t mind my continuing with this book so I shall go on with it til the end. As one reviewer said, “It is meant to be read aloud, a little at a time, and the adult who does so will find himself saying, ‘I remember thinking like this,’ and succumbing to the seductive quality of phrases, which will make it probably the most quotable book of the season.’ My edition has a lengthy but informative afterword that also contains information about the illustrator Clement Hurd and the artwork he did for the book.
Poetry Friday this Good Friday is hosted by Robyn at Read Write Howl.
About two weeks ago, my son and husband sat in the living room listening intently to a novel I was reading to them. I kept asking them if they'd had enough. But they didn't. They always wanted more. Over the course of the day, I must have read to them for a total of 4 hours (with a break in between for eating). We'd never done that before. It was pretty cool.
Then the other day, we were driving to visit my parents (an 8 hour car ride) so I picked up a book beforehand. I spent about half the trip reading aloud to them again.
My son has always loved stories, and he reads on his own alot, but I had never read whole novels to him in one sitting. This is new. But I like how it brings our family together, in a quiet, shared, and dare I say, gadget-free experience. Kinda refreshing. I wonder if these experiences changed them as you suggest...
Hey, Michele! Listening together as a family to well-phrased stories - books - whatever - is like being members of a secret club. My son, the Hub, and I have "wink wink" moments where one of us refers to something in a long ago read-aloud and right away the others know! The stories we listened to on long rides are patches in our family quilt. I'm glad you and Lo and the Boy have formed a "Secret Listening Club" of your own.