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My choice for Caldecott 2015 consideration is Scott Campbell’s delightful, infectious, and secretly sophisticated Hug Machine. This is the kind of book that is easy to miss because it is disguised as a romp. It doesn’t pretend to be serious, and so doesn’t signal our serious attention. It’s up to us to apply that attention. So apply it we shall.
Ready? Here is a list of my award-worthiness enthusiasms:
1) The faces. Campbell does some good faces. His style is particularly loose and sketchy, but boy howdy, can he capture emotion and attitude in a few watercolor gestures. From the resolute purpose of the hugger, expressed in his firm mouth and closed eyes, to the variety of surprise among those being hugged (catch the look on his dad’s face, and that turtle!), the priceless range of emotion adds meaning and depth to what might have been one-note mawkish.
2) The composition. Some spreads are open, and some are crowded. But whether it’s the ominous space between the hug machine and his intended porcupine, or the busy, serial hugging along the dotted line (a la “Family Circus”), the composition is never accidental and always effective.
3) The font. Everything is hand painted, with the same easy watercolors as the pictures, reinforcing the child-perspective and adding to the insouciance. I think the committee would need to wrestle with the degree to which typeface is an element of illustration, but with hand lettering like this, with such an arguably big role to play in the experience, I’d be advocating for its consideration.
4) The arc. It’s not uncommon to happen upon a picture book whose words and images match its listeners. But I can’t remember the last time I encountered a book whose story arc was so well calibrated to its audience. The pagination, the pacing, the implicit pauses and inflections. Here is a book that will blossom when read aloud, over and over (and over). Pacing is another element not directly invoked by the Caldecott terms and criteria, but it is a critical element in picture book success. And with the imagery here playing such a big role in the pacing (see #2, above) I’d put it on the table.
5) The details. They got everything right here. The heavy buff stock feels delicious under your fingertips. The endpapers, with their empty and completed checklists, even the author flap of the dust jacket (with our hero hugging a fire hydrant while a curious dog looks on) — all of it contributes to a cohesive, thorough, and endlessly appealing experience.
6) The edge. I’m not exactly allergic to sincerity, but I do like my earnest cut with a healthy dose of dry. This is an undeniably sweet outing, but between the bodacious humor and the appreciable astringency, it is anything but cloying. And the irreverence and irony embodied in the illustrations (is that a snake?!) are the heart of the edge.
7) The gender expression. This is a book all about warmth, doused in pink and glowing with ardor, and the bearer of all of that fervent affection is a little boy. Boom. Here’s a place where we’d need to work pretty hard to tie this appreciation to the award. The last time I checked, “Thom is so happy this book exists” is not articulated among the Caldecott terms and criteria. Yet. But let’s think about it. I’d argue that the success here is the artist’s use of color and composition (among other things) to explore being a sensitive boy, in a particularly subtle and sophisticated way. Even if the function itself doesn’t count, we’re allowed — even called — to consider its artistic achievement.
That’s what I think about Hug Machine. What do you think?
picture book, Hug Machine, publisher Simon & Schuster declared last week "Hug a Book" week. Your children's librarians got in on the fun and we all hugged our favorite books. Take a look:
Be sure to check out "Hug Machine" during your next visit!
Posted by Amy
0 Comments on Hug a Book as of 9/17/2014 1:08:00 PM
Gallery1988 NYC Pop-up Store 64 Gansevoort St., NY
show open August 9 – September 1, 2012
I will not be able to attend, but this painting of mine will be there. It is called “Pile of Pee Wees”.
This show is shaping up to be pretty great, and I’m not just saying that because I have a piece in it. Heck, if I were anywhere near NYC I’d go just to see a Scott C. watercolor in person.
0 Comments on scottlava:
CRAZY 4 CULT is in NYC this year! And it is... as of 1/1/1900
Sometimes the obvious can also be the impossible. Take dragons, for example. Now say you’re a children’s librarian and a five-year-old approaches your desk and asks you for “a dragon story”. And not one of those two-bit cheapo dragon titles either. Nuh-uh. An honest-to-goodness straight up dragon tale with scales and fire and knights. The whole shebang. Now logically, what with dragons being this eternal bit of subject matter that’s just as popular with the kids now as they were 100 years ago, you should be able to instantly name ten great dragon picture books off the top of your head. Maybe you can too. Maybe you’re particularly gifted in that way. For my part, though, it’s hard to think of iconic dragon-related picture books. The Reluctant Dragon? A great story but a bit long for a tot. The Knight and the Dragon? Wonderful but wordless. The Paper Bag Princess? Awesome story but can we work that word “dragon” into the title somewhere? No, as ridiculous as this may sound it can be really hard to think up dragon stories. The idea that you might give one to the kid that contains not one but TEN cool looking dragons alongside a fun story, an acknowledgement that dragons mean different things in different cultures, plenty of action and plenty of humor . . . well basically just sign me up for some of that! In East Dragon, West Dragon, author Robyn Eversole and illustrator Scott Campbell give kids and adults alike something we have needed, whether we knew it or not, for a very long time.
Our two heroes in this story are East Dragon and West Dragon. East Dragon is our Felix and West Dragon our Oscar. While East Dragon lives a clean and tidy life with lots of dragon siblings and an emperor who truly appreciates dragon culture, West Dragon lives a single messy life dealing with a pesky local king and his equally pesky knights. The two dragons know of one another but each is sure that the other is the more fearsome of the two. One day, West Dragon can’t take the marauding knights a second longer (they interrupted his nap) so he gives them a map that will lead them to adventures. In their travels they run across the emperor who is extremely nice and offers them all his hospitality. Yet what do the pesky knights do in return? They take one look at the local dragon population and attack! Not thrilled at his rude guests, the emperor has the whole lot of them thrown into prison. West Dragon, hearing of their plight, resigns himself to saving them and along the way encounters (and is himself saved by) East Dragon. After much thought the two realize that neither dragon is any better than the other and the dragons, knights, and even the emperor himself all head over the sea to West Dragon’s place for food, fun, and maybe even a little karaoke.
As I’m sure many of you heard Jan Berenstain, half of The Berenstain Bears, passed away recently. The Gothamist called us up at NYPL and wondered if we had any Berenstain goodies in our collection. We don’t but we knew who did. You can read their obit here. The SLJ obit is also well worth seeing since they managed to work in that crazy What Dr. Freud Didn’t Tell You book the Berenstains worked on years ago and full credit to Leila at bookshelves of doom for discovering THAT gem. In fact, Leila has posted what may be the cutest picture of the Berenstain humans I’ve ever seen. A-dor-able.
Meanwhile the good folks at TimeOut Kids New York gave me an impossible challenge: Come up with the Top 50 Best Books for Kids. And while I’m at it, balance the classics with some contemporary stuff. Just to be cheeky I added some nonfiction, poetry, graphic novels and works by people of color. The result is a list you will enjoy but not entirely agree with. I think that that’s sort of the point, don’t you? Everyone has their own list. This one’s mine.
Let me just put it this way: If I were in the publishing business and I saw this (created by the hugely talented Kate Beaton of Hark, A Vagrant) I would run, not walk, to the nearest cell phone and put in a call with her agent. Stat.
I think we’ve all seen at least one dead-to-irony Lorax ad by this point, yes? Seems to me that about the time you have a Lorax shilling for SUVs it’s time to throw in the towel. Or, at the very least, to try to wrest the Seuss rights from the widow (fat chance). And we thought the Cat in the Hat movie was the low point! Ha! Rocco Staino translates his disgust into a Huffington Post piece that speculates on what other famous children’s book characters might want to get some lucrative corporate sponsorship going.
I like illustrator Scott Campbell anyway but when I saw him illustrate the cast of one of my favorite movies, that just clinched it. Check it out. The man does a darn good Elijah Wood.
Re: Hunger Games, I only advise you to look at Capitol Couture if you have a couple hours to kill. Darn thing sucked me in and was mighty reluctant to let me go. Had to break out the pruning shears to make my escape. True story. Thanks to Marci for the link.
That’s an impressive list of 50 books. Of course you can’t fit every great book into a list of 50, but instead you have a list of 50 REALLY GREAT BOOKS. Just reading it is an endless smile of “of course! Definitely! That one, too! Yes!” It’s a tough job, but you did it marvelously!
marjorie said, on 3/3/2012 10:18:00 AM
Great Time Out list, essentially impossible task — but yep, you got picture and chapter books, plenty of economic/racial/gender/stylistic diversity. Love the comments: “No Oz? Bad list.” Well thank you for playing, sir.
If you hear that Colbert is donating his children’s book sales to Donor’s Choose, will you let me know? (That goes for anyone who hears anything!)
And thanks for the shout-out! I’m OBSESSED with Tom Seidmann-Freud.
MR said, on 3/3/2012 11:27:00 AM
So happy you included Anna Hibiscus!
Jean Reidy said, on 3/3/2012 11:41:00 AM
Your 50 list …
I’m such a sap about kidlit, lists like this make me cry … with happiness, nostalgia, you name it. I was especially pleased to see HOLES (so darn clever I still wonder how Sachar managed to weave those brilliant plots so beautifully together)and LILLY’S PURPLE PLASTIC PURSE (Why this sweet little story speaks to me with every read, I’m not quite sure. Is it the honesty of this simple story? Is it the awesomeness of Mr. Slinger? Is it that we all have a little Lilly inside?) on the list. Okay, don’t even get me going on ARE YOU MY MOTHER? Enough said.
Kate Coombs said, on 3/3/2012 1:30:00 PM
What a great list! And you included The Arrival–perfect.
Sondy said, on 3/5/2012 1:11:00 PM
Very nice list, Betsy! And I’m proud to say I’ve read all but three. You gave it nice variety and carried off well what must have been a daunting task. My list would have been different, but I really like yours!
Valentine's Day is right around the corner. (In my neighborhood, the stores started putting out red heart-shaped boxes of candy the day after Christmas.) Boys in the primary grades are usually not gung-ho about this kissy-poo holiday, but most will make an exception for a book about romance that features a love-starved zombie. Mortimer is the undead in question. He's searched everywhere for the ghoul of his dreams--with no success. Cupid's Ball is just weeks away and he still doesn't have a date. In desperation, he places a personal ad in the newspaper, under the moniker "Tall, Dead, & Handsome". On the day of the ball Mortimer waits and waits for his true love. Will Mortimer find someone to literally give his heart to? For that, dear reader, you must read the book for yourself.
Kelly DiPucchio stuffs this comic tale with deadpan humor. And as amusing as the text is, it goes hand in hand with Scott Campbell's deliciously macabreillustrations. For instance, Mortimer gives a waitress a "stunning diamond ring". The illustration shows that the ring is still attached to a severed finger. Young readers will also enjoy looking for a group of pet worms that trail Mortimer. (At the ball they're there dressed in bow ties.)
Although classified as a picture book, Zombie in Love's straightforward text shouldn't deter beginning readers from trying it on their own, especially when they have such specific illustrations to help them decode. All in all, a perfect book for young zombie fans who like their horror served with a huge helping of humor.
Zombie in Love by Kelly DiPucchio illustrations by Scott Campbell Atheneum, 32 pages Published: 2011
1 Comments on Zombie in Love, last added: 1/30/2012
A zombie goes online to find the girl of his dreams, an undead gal with chipped up teeth, in this hilarious love story that's as cute for Halloween as it was for Valentine's Day.
Mortimer, a bulgy-eyed fellow with sallow skin and shredded clothes, longs for love but as Valentine's day approaches, he seems to be looking for love in all the wrong places.
At the bus stop, he offers a box of chocolate-covered worms to a girl on a bench but she scooches away. And when the mail carrier rings his door bell, he thrusts a beating heart in her face, but she cringes.
Even the waitress at the dinner gives him the cold shoulder. "But why?" he wonders to himself. After all he did offer her a diamond ring -- all nicely presented in a hinged box, on a severed ring finger.
Poor Mortimer, he just doesn't have the touch. Perhaps what he needs are a few primers on dating. So, he buries himself in a pile of books about dead dates and graveyard love, then takes their advice and tries to look available.
He walks his dog, an interesting fellow with a dangling eye and a skeletal maw; he goes to lift weights, though he has to reattach his severed arm. He even takes ballroom classes with a skeleton. But none of it makes any difference.
Then Mortimer is struck with genius. He'll take out a personal ad for a date to Cupid's Ball! It's perfect: he'll list all his great qualities, like the fact he's "tall, dead and handsome." And he'll suggest some romantic things they could do.
Like walking in graveyards and falling down in the rain. "If you're not into cooking," he writes in his ad. "if you have half a brain. / If you like waking up a midnight, / horror films, and voodoo, / then I'm the guy who you've looked for / and I'm dying to meet you!"
Nursery rhymes. What’s up with that? (I feel like a stand up comedian when I put it that way). They’re ubiquitous but nonsensical. Culturally relevant but often of unknown origins. Children’s literary scholar Leonard Marcus ponders the amazing shelf life of nursery rhymes himself and comes up with some answers. Why is it that they last as long as they do in the public consciousness? Marcus speculates that “the old-chestnut rhymes that beguile in part by sounding so emphatically clear about themselves while in fact leaving almost everything to our imagination” leave themselves open to interpretation. And who better to do a little interpreting than cartoonists? Including as many variegated styles as could be conceivably collected in a single 128-page book, editor Chris Duffy plucks from the cream of the children’s graphic novel crop (and beyond!) to create a collection so packed with detail and delight that you’ll find yourself flipping to the beginning to read it all over again after you’re done. Mind you, I wouldn’t go handing this to a three-year-old any time soon, but for a certain kind of child, this crazy little concoction is going to just the right bit of weirdness they require.
Fifty artists are handed a nursery rhyme apiece. The goal? Illustrate said poem. Give it a bit of flair. Put in a plot if you have to. So it is that a breed of all new comics, those of the nursery ilk, fill this book. Here at last you can see David Macaulay bring his architectural genius to “London Bridge is Falling Down” or Roz Chast give “There Was a Crooked Man” a positive spin. Leonard Marcus offers an introduction giving credence to this all new coming together of text and image while in the back of the book editor Chris Duffy discusses the rhymes’ history and meaning. And as he says in the end, “We’re just letting history take its course.”
In the interest of public scrutiny, the complete list of artists on this book consists of Nick Abadzis, Andrew Arnold, Kate Beaton, Vera Brosgol, Nick Bruel, Scott Campbell, Lilli Carre, Roz Chast, JP Coovert, Jordan Crane, Rebecca Dart, Eleanor Davis, Vanessa Davis, Theo Ellsworth, Matt Forsythe, Jules Feiffer, Bob Flynn, Alexis Frederick-Frost, Ben Hatke, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Lucy Knisley, David Macaulay, Mark Martin, Patrick McDonnell, Mike Mignola, Tony Millionaire, Tao Nyeu, George O’Connor, Mo Oh, Eric Orchard, Laura Park, Cyril Pedrosa, Lark Pien, Aaron Renier, Dave Roman, Marc Rosenthal, Stan Sakai, Richard Sala, Mark Siegel, James Sturm, Raina Telgemeier, Craig Thompson, Richard Thompson, Sara Varon, Jen Wang, Drew Weing, Gahan Wilson, Gene Luen Yang, and Stephanie Yue (whew!). And as with any collection, some of the inclusions are going to be stronger than others. Generally speaking if fifty people do something, some of them are going to have a better grasp on the process than others. That said, only a few of these versions didn’t do it for me. At worst the versions were mediocre. At best they went in a new direction with their mat
0 Comments on Review of the Day: Nursery Rhyme Comics edited by Chris Duffy as of 10/9/2011 11:24:00 PM
such wares will include prints and comics and GREAT SHOWDOWNS COASTERS (coasters… very limited supply) more info HERE
so come over! it’s FREE!
We need to start something as sweet as TCAF here in Vancouver. I know there are a couple comics events here, but they’re nothing like TCAF and other such events in other cities. Hey, someone in Vancouver other than me: step up!
0 Comments on scottlava:
I will be in Toronto at TCAF this weekend!
@ the... as of 5/6/2011 11:21:00 AM
You know Scott Campbell, right? Scottlava? Showdowns, Double Fine Action Comics, etc? This guy is the best, and a sweetheart happy bro on top of it. Here’s a great example: this Twin Peaks painting is awesome, AND Scott just posted a series of photos of his process, so you can follow along at home. So great!
Everyone loves a good battle. But nobody makes a good battle as cute as Scott Campbell does! Scott has made a number of “showdown” painting collections in recent years, like 80s movies or Lost, and now he’s collected them in one fantastic Tumblr site, Great Showdowns. Click now!
I swore off video games a little while back because I get too obsessed, and really I have a lot of things I want to do/draw/make/etc. But this new offering from Double Fine is not only epic-looking, but the artwork is stunning, hilarious, and so completely metal! I may have to rethink my policy for Brütal Legend, and I’m not even into metal.
The work of concept artists Peter Chan (previously) and Scott Campbell (previously) (EDIT: plus Nathan Stapley (previously), Mark Hamer, Levi Ryken, and Razmig Mavlian) is featured in this epic post on BoingBoing. The “Headbanger” character depicted above can be seen realized in the game’s trailer starting at about 1:15.
Guillaume Perreault said, on 10/28/2009 12:48:00 PM
Your absolutely right Brutal legend is a work of art! Amazing concept art plugged trough-out the game also.
artbygavin said, on 10/28/2009 1:52:00 PM
There are some very artful environments popping up in the video game industry. Borderlands is another; all the textures and objects look like an illustrator drew over them with a nib pen. The line weight also changes in relation to your distance.
But yeah, Brutal Legend is a stunning sight and I’ve only tried the demo.
InMyEyes said, on 10/29/2009 10:07:00 AM
I’m not sure you’re talking about the same Peter Chan.
The one working at Double Fine (a lucasart vet too) doesn’t have a website, doesn’t work on with a computer and ain’t 29 :)
Scott Campbell has been drawing up a storm lately, which is great news for fans of his mouth-watering imperfect linework, like myself. You owe it to yourself to subscribe to his blog, and you’ll be kept up-to-date with things like these cool cut-and-stand-up pieces for the I Am 8-Bit show:
Or a slew of old-timey pieces from the recent Great Great Grandshow currently on at Nucleus Gallery:
And most recently, some super fun movie showdowns for the Crazy 4 Cult show for which he also created the poster:
1 Comments on Lots of fun stuff from Scott Campbell, last added: 8/28/2008
Scott is one of the best. Found his stuff on the web about a year ago. I absolutely love his illustration style and humor. Pure genius and one of the best in the biz. Luckily for us fans he does sell prints on his site. Glad to see he made it up on here.
My choice for Caldecott 2015 consideration is Scott Campbell’s delightful, infectious, and secretly sophisticated Hug Machine. This is the kind of book that is easy to miss because it is disguised as a romp. It doesn’t pretend to be serious, and so doesn’t signal our serious attention. It’s up to us to apply that attention. So apply it we shall.
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0 Comments on Review of the Day: East Dragon, West Dragon by Robyn Eversole as of 5/10/2012 11:20:00 PM
6 Comments on Fusenews: “whimsically apocalyptic”, last added: 3/5/2012
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That’s an impressive list of 50 books. Of course you can’t fit every great book into a list of 50, but instead you have a list of 50 REALLY GREAT BOOKS. Just reading it is an endless smile of “of course! Definitely! That one, too! Yes!” It’s a tough job, but you did it marvelously!
Great Time Out list, essentially impossible task — but yep, you got picture and chapter books, plenty of economic/racial/gender/stylistic diversity. Love the comments: “No Oz? Bad list.” Well thank you for playing, sir.
If you hear that Colbert is donating his children’s book sales to Donor’s Choose, will you let me know? (That goes for anyone who hears anything!)
And thanks for the shout-out! I’m OBSESSED with Tom Seidmann-Freud.
So happy you included Anna Hibiscus!
Your 50 list …
I’m such a sap about kidlit, lists like this make me cry … with happiness, nostalgia, you name it. I was especially pleased to see HOLES (so darn clever I still wonder how Sachar managed to weave those brilliant plots so beautifully together)and LILLY’S PURPLE PLASTIC PURSE (Why this sweet little story speaks to me with every read, I’m not quite sure. Is it the honesty of this simple story? Is it the awesomeness of Mr. Slinger? Is it that we all have a little Lilly inside?) on the list. Okay, don’t even get me going on ARE YOU MY MOTHER? Enough said.
What a great list! And you included The Arrival–perfect.
Very nice list, Betsy! And I’m proud to say I’ve read all but three. You gave it nice variety and carried off well what must have been a daunting task. My list would have been different, but I really like yours!