Reviews #126-130: early Favorites of 2014

We’re trying a new approach today!  We’ve read tons of 2014 titles already this year.  (Of course there are many more yet to see.)  Out of those that have crossed our paths so far in the first half of the year, here are some favorites, all in one post!  The kids are each going to pick one of the books to highlight... 

Dad:  Evie, why don’t you get us started.  What is your favorite book of the year so far?
Evangeline (age 6):  I like the pictures in this book.  I like how it’s 3D!

Dad:  This is “Jim Curious” by Matthias Picard.

Elijah (age 8):  Oh my gosh.  This book is so cool.

Isaac (age 15):  Dude.  It’s amazing.

Gracie (age 13):  Anything we say is not going to do it justice. 

Evangeline:  I need the goggles. (Puts on the 3D glasses)  Woah, it’s so cool!!!

Dad:  So tell everyone what it’s like to read a 3D book…

Evangeline:  The glasses make it look like this fish is swimming towards you.  It comes closer to you. The fish is coming out at my face!  Oh my word, can I touch this?  I want to stick my hand right under the fish… but it’s not working.

Lily (age 11):  Woah!  Woah!  I keep trying to reach out to grab it.

Dad:  What is the story about?

Evangeline:  It is about “under the sea.”  This guy is swimming.  

Lily:  The pages have a lot of action.  It’s like a movie.

Isaac:  It’s a visual spectacle. The art would still be cool even if it wasn’t 3D.

Evangeline:  It looks like you can try to stick your head into the pictures.  Like I can go under this water and swim with this person and look at this cool stuff.  For real. 
Gracie:  It feels like you shouldn’t be able to turn the pages – because it looks more like staring into a shadow box than a book. 

Evangeline:  But when you take the glasses off, it looks plain.

Dad:  Then when you put the glasses back on...

Evangeline:  KAPOW! 

Dad:  Ka-pow!  Kapoof!

Evangeline:  Not kapoof.  Only kapow.  Kapoof sounds weird.

Dad:  How would you feel if we ever lost the glasses?

Evangeline:  I’d be, like, (voice trembling) "I want to stick my hand under the fish, but now I can't!"

Gracie:  I would cry.

Evangeline:  Only the first half of this book is my favorite book.   At the end there is an underwater tornado.  And it makes me feel like, "Oh cwap.  This tornado is going to make me go into it."

Dad:  Cwap?  Can we say ‘cwap’ on Bookie Woogie?

Evangeline:  Yeah.

Dad:  I’ve never heard you say ‘cwap’ before.

Evangeline:  "Cwap."

Dad:  Now I’ve heard you say it twice.  Let’s wash your mouth out with some of this 3D water.

Evangeline:  It’s actually not wet.

Dad:  Okay Elijah, your turn.  What book do you want to share?

Elijah (age 8):  This book is about dinosaurs. 

Dad:  "The Greatest Dinosaur Ever" by Brenda Guiberson and Gennady Spirin.

Elijah:  One of the dinosaurs said it was the fastest.  One of them said it was the biggest.  One of them said ‘I’ve got armored plates.’  They all thought they were the best.  But I don’t know who was right.

Dad:  How did you do with reading all these dinosaur names?

Elijah:  Heheheheheh…  That’s the tricky part.

Dad:  Why don’t scientists just name dinos things like Bob… and Ed… and Poofer.

Elijah:  Poofer?

Dad:  I don’t know.  It’s better than… Leaellynasura.

Elijah:  All dinosaurs are named weird things.  Like, Spinosaurus.  Actually that’s the easiest name of all of them.

Gracie:  I saw that guy on Jurassic Park… that was freaky.

Lily:  (reading names beneath the pictures)  "Oviraptor..." Gasp!  It’s a chicken-lion-dragon!  You know those chicken-lion-dragon things?  Cockatrice!  Maybe that’s where they got the cockatrice myth from.  Gasp!  That makes so much sense. 

Evangeline:  I don’t like dinosaurs.  Every night I think about dinosaurs.

Dad:  Every night?  I didn’t know that.

Evangeline:  Yeah.  At night I think their heads are going to open and eat me.  But I do think it would be fun to ride a baby dinosaur.

Dad:  Elijah, would you like to have a dinosaur for a pet?

Elijah:  That probably would not be a good idea.

Gracie:  I don’t want him to have one.

Elijah:  I’d accidentally kill everyone with it.

Gracie:  Elijah walks around with a stuffed alligator, beaning people in the head.  Imagine what he would do with a real live predator at his disposal.  That would be horrific.

Isaac:  This book has very detailed art.  The illustrator has a very cool style - you can still see the pencil beneath the paint.

Dad:  This illustrator is one of my favorites.  As soon as I saw that he’d been tapped to do a book about dinosaurs, I thought, That is BRILLIANT!  Why has that never happened before?   Gennady Spirin.  Dinosaurs.  Of course someone needs to put them together.  It’s awesome.

Elijah: (singing to the tune of a Frozen song)  Gennady and dinos… they’re both so intense… put them together… it just makes sense!  Rat da dat, da da dada da doo... 

Dad:  Okay, Lily, pick a book!

Lily (age 11):  “Oliver’s Tree.”

Dad:  By Kit Chase.

Gracie:  This one is really cute.

Lily:  Oliver is an elephant, and he was playing with his friends, a bunny and an owl.  Oliver saw his friend in a tree, but he was too big to climb up with her.  So they try to find a tree that Oliver can climb.  One had bigger branches, but it was too high.  One was too small.  They found a perfect tree, but when he got in it, the branch broke. 

Dad:  Poor guy.

Lily:  It’s so sad -- he just fell on his face.  So Oliver sat on a tree stump and went to sleep.  Then his friends built a tree house around him, and when he woke up -- POOF!  A tree house. 

Kids: (singing to the tune of a Frozen song) Do you wanna build a tree house…

Lily:  I would totally live in a tree house if I could.  Yeah.  If it was big enough.  And if it had electricity.  Except for bugs… I wouldn’t like termites.

Dad:  Do you like climbing trees too?

Lily:  Oh my gosh.  I LOVE climbing trees.  

Elijah:  I do.  I’m just not good at it unless there’s a low branch to start with.  I’m not very tall.

Lily:  I miss that climbing tree at our old house.  I remember when our neighbor Gina came over, we would climb it.  And we would pretend we were cheetahs.  Okay that part was weird.

Dad:  How about the illustrations in this book?

Gracie:  Everything about this book is adorable.  Really cute.

Isaac:  I have nothing against cute things.  People who do are kind of sad.  I like “cute” -- I’m a happy person.

Evangeline:  I like the owl best.  Owls are my favorite animal.  If I ever meet the person who made this book, I would like her very much.  I would want her to draw me 100 owls.  I would want her to make me a tattoo of an owl.

Dad:  Gracie!  What’s your favorite book?

Gracie (age 13):  “Sparky” by Jenny Offill and Chris Appelhans.  I really do like the storyline a lot, but the pictures – the pictures are so, so cool.  

Elijah:  Everybody likes this book.

Gracie:  Sparky is a sloth.  This girl wants a pet, but her mom says she has to get one that doesn’t need to be walked or fed or given a bath.  So she was like, “I’ll get a sloth.”  And she seems to love him... even though he can’t do anything. 

Elijah:  I’d rather have a pet fox. 

Gracie:  She tries to play games with him, but he doesn’t move.  The sloth is... a dud.

Isaac:  He’s a very cool looking sloth though.

Gracie:  Kudos, Chris Appelhans. 

Isaac:  Thumbs up.

Evangeline:  He’s kind of weird.  He looks weird.  He looks like a weird koala bear.

Dad:  Would you want a pet like that?

Evangeline:  No. I feel like he would eat me.

Elijah:  It’s not a very cool pet.

Dad:  Poor Sparky!

Lily:  I like this book because it has “me” in it.

Dad:  You?  I never thought about it…  I guess that does look like you.

Lily:  She looks like me a LOT.

Dad:  Yeah… 'cause you have a flat head, and a big dark nose, and you lay around…

Lily:  NOOOOO… the GIRL.  Ha haha ha…

Dad:  Ha ha... oh, the girl, you say?

Gracie:  The girl is adorable.  You can totally see she’s fun and spunky.  But the sloth just… fails.  Fails.  He doesn’t do anything.  And the book has no resolution to it at all.  The end scene is the girl, just sitting, sad in a tree, trying to play tag with a sloth.

Dad:  You think she’s sad?  Her face is turned away from us.

Gracie:  I don’t know.

Dad:  Or is she happy to accept him as he is?  The sloth looks happy there.

Gracie:  He just ate a cookie, Dad.

Dad:  Ha haa ha hah…

Gracie:  I don’t know, maybe she’s not sad.

Dad:  Maybe *she* just needs a cookie.

Gracie:  I guess it’s not really a sad ending.  That’s a bad word to describe it.

Dad:  So what’s a better way?

Gracie:  It’s kind of like... Life.

Dad:  Oh?

Gracie:  It is!  You can try to really impress people, but it doesn’t always work out, and sometimes you just have to accept that.  And that’s exactly what happened with the sloth. 

Dad:  Alright, Isaac.  Give us another one.

Isaac (age 15):  “Rules of Summer.”

Gracie:  Oh, we love Shaun Tan.

Isaac:  I like Shaun Tan’s work a lot.  Everything he does is cool.  He could do realistic work, but he chooses to make it crazy, just for fun.  And I like that.  I’m attracted to the randomness.

Dad:  What’s the book about?

Isaac:  It’s about these two brothers.  The little boy is probably the main character, but they are both very important.  It takes place in this crazy world where anything happens. 

Elijah:  I was like, “What is happening?  What.  What.  What.  I don’t know what is going on.”

Lily:  Like, where the heck did they get a steamboat-rocketship-car-thing?  And a giant red rabbit?

Evangeline:  That is a humungous bunny. 

Isaac:  There are random rules set to the awesome pictures.

Lily:  So, don’t leave a red sock on a clothesline… or a giant red rabbit will magically appear?

Dad:  See, it’s a good thing you read it here first.  You don’t want to learn that rule the hard way.

Gracie:  I want to go to that park with the magic glowing trees.

Isaac:  My favorite picture is the kids standing on these water tower things with really long nets, and they are trying to catch the stars in a meteor shower. 

Evangeline:  They look like sky jellyfish! 

Isaac:  The pictures seem random, but by the end they tell a story. 

Dad:  And what do you think the story is?

Isaac:  The little boy is making lots of mistakes... 

Evangeline:  He drops all the stuff.  I don’t like how he disobeys all the rules in this book!

Isaac:  He feels sad about it, the brothers get in a fight, the little boy get's trapped and goes away, his brother comes along with bolt cutters and saves him.  Then they are happy and it all resolves.

Dad:  Did you notice the crows?  I read this book a ton of times before I noticed the crow on each page.

Isaac:  I did notice actually.  I didn’t realize it was on every page.  But I noticed it.  At first I thought they were representing “anger.”  Now I’m not sure.  It’s more “sad.”  Like an angry… sad... remorse-ish feeling.  A down-low feeling.

Dad:  Here’s my thought.  I think they represent memories.   The kid screws up and a crow is watching.  The kid screws up and a crow is watching.  Over and over. 

Isaac:  But why are there lots of crow at the end then?

Dad:  Because each time it’s a different crow.  And all the memories are building.  The crows are keeping track, keeping record of all the mistakes, like "strikes," building up, and there’s this big weight of guilt growing.  And eventually it destroys their relationship -- it separates them.  He’s swarmed by all the negatives he’s done.  Then the brother comes along and forgives him.  Forgiveness sets him free.  And after that, there’s no more crows.

Gracie:  Guys… pick up your feet.  It’s getting deep in here.

Lily:  Gracie, I’m never fighting with you again!

Dad:  So think of someone in the family you might have problems with… What if you keep score and let disapproval build and build?

Gracie:  Then you’re just going to have a house full of crows.

Lily:  All that guilt.

Dad:  And what fixes it?

Gracie:  Bolt cutters.

Dad:  Which represented…

Gracie:  Bolt cutters.

Dad:  Or…

Lily:  Forgiveness!!!  I get angry at people, but it only lasts like 5 seconds.

Dad:  So you are very quick to pull out the bolt cutters.

Lily:  Yes.

Dad:  Forgiveness is wonderful.

Isaac:  You need to let it go.

Gracie and Lily: (singing to the tune of the Frozen song)  Let it go… let it go… Getting rid of all my crows!  Let it go…  Let it go… Let forgiveness grow…

Isaac:  Now everyone is going to have that tune stuck in their head.

Dad:  Good golly.  This whole post has turned into a Frozen sing-along.

Jim Curious under the sea, by Evangeline

spinosaurus, by Elijah

Oliver finds a new friend, by Lily

come, Sparky, by Gracie 

catching meteors, by Isaac

And bonus!  Here are five more favorite 2014 titles:


The Adventures of Beekle
by Dan Santat


Some Bugs
by Angela DiTerlizzi and Brendan Wenzel


Lindberg: the Tale of a Flying Mouse
by Torben Kuhlmann


Big Bad Bubble
by Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri


The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza
by James Kochalka

Jim Curious
Author/Illustrator: Matthias Picard
Published, 2014: Abrams Books
Like it?  Here it is!


The Greatest Dinosaur Ever
Author: Brenda Z. Guiberson 
Illustrator: Gennady Spirin
Published, 2014 (oops! 2013): Henry Holt
Like it?  Here it is!

Oliver's Tree
Author/Illustrator: Kit Chase
Published, 2014: Putnam
Like it?  Here it is!


Sparky
Author: JennyOffill
Illustrator: Chris Appelhans
Published, 2014: Schwartz & Wade
Like it?  Here it is!

Rules of Summer
Author/Illustrator: Shuan Tan
Published, 2014: Arthur Levine Books
Like it?  Here it is!

Review #109: The Black Cauldron

We have another video review for you today!

Earlier this year we reviewed "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander.  Afterward, our family continued reading through the rest of the Prydain Chronicles.  The second book in the series, "The Black Cauldron," was a Newbery Honor...  so we figured we'd work up another submission for the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival...

This time, the review is a solo effort by Lily!  She summarized the book all on her own and later did all the pictures.  The movie does run over 90 seconds, but I didn't have the heart to cut a single precious second from it.

Here's Lily's take on "The Black Cauldron" -- enjoy!  And feel free to share :)





Author: Lloyd Alexander
Published, 1965: Henry Holt
Like them?  Here they are

Review #98: The Book of Three

Dad:  What did we read?
Gracie (age 10):  The Horned King.
Dad:  Nope - wasn't called "The Horned King."
Lily (age 8):  "The Book of Three"!
Dad:  And what is it about?
Gracie:  The Horned King.
Dad:  Okay, I'll give you that.  But who was the MAIN character.
Gracie:  The Horned King!
Dad:  Nope.
Isaac (age 12):  It's about a kid named Taran.  He lives on a farm in the country, and all he does is grow vegetables and learn to make horseshoes.  He hates it.
Lily:  They don't even have horses!
Isaac:  He'd rather go on a quest and be a knight.  Taran wants to be a hero.
Gracie:  This is a medieval adventure story.
Lily:  An awesome one!
Dad:  When I read this book as a kid, it was my favorite book ever.  Each of you guys has a set of books that finally "clicked" with you.  Books that finally sucked you into the world of reading.
Isaac:  Percy Jackson.
Gracie:  Junie B.  That was it for me.
Dad:  For me, it was the five books in the Prydain Chronicles.  I loved them.  I lived them.  I thought about them constantly.  They changed my imagination.  They changed the kind of stories I made up.  Even today... my writing style is still very heavily influenced by Lloyd Alexander who wrote these books.
Lily:  You rock, Lloyd Alexander.
Isaac:  I love these books.  They are amazing.
Dad:  So what is the main point of "The Book of Three"?  What is Taran trying to do in this book?  He has two big goals...
Gracie:  He has to warn the Sons of Don about the Horned King.  And he has to find his pig.
Lily:  Taran's pig knows all the secrets of the whole entire world.  It's a magical pig.
Dad:  Why is Taran the one off looking for the pig?
Gracie:  He wants his pig back.  Wouldn't you?
Isaac:  Taran is the Assistant Pig Keeper.
Dad:  Right, so the pig that ran off was his...?  What.
Lily:  Pig!
Dad:  But it was his re--ssssss...
Lily:  Servant!
Dad:  His respon--ssssss...
Isaac:  Responsibility.
Gracie:  Took us long enough to figure that out.
Dad:  Haha...  So those are the two obvious goals: Warn everyone about the Horned King and find the pig.  But deep down, what is Taran REALLY trying to do?
Lily:  He wants to have an adventure.
Isaac:  He wants to do something that people will notice him for.
Lily:  He wants to be a hero.  He wants to be awesome.
Dad:  But is being a hero what Taran thought it would be like?
Gracie:  No.  He didn't even know you would have to sleep on the ground.
Lily:  He thought quests would be awesomeness.  But they are dangerous.  Like, everyone got caught in a whirlpool and ended up underground with an evil dwarf.
Dad:  Was there a character arc?  Did Taran grow and change over the course of the book?
Isaac:  In the beginning of the book, Taran couldn't wait to get away from the farm.  But by the end, he missed it so much.  He really, really wanted to get back.
Dad:  One of the best things about the book is all the great characters.  Did you have a favorite character?
Gracie:  The Horned King!
Dad:  Who are some of the people Taran meets during his quest?
Gracie:  The Horned King.
Dad:  Who else?
Isaac:  All these crazy companions.
Lily:  Gurgi!  He's a furry-man-thing with sticks and twigs all over him.  And he likes "crunchings and munchings" all the time.
Gracie:  Food.  It's always about food.
Lily:  And he is worried about "smackings and whackings" on his poor tender head.
Isaac:  And Taran meets this girl named Eilonwy.
Lily:  She has a glowing bauble.
Isaac:  And she talks too much.
Gracie:  I like her.  She talks too much, and she's too hyper.  She's just like me!
Isaac:  And there is somebody called Fflewddur Fflam.
Lily:  He is a bard.  A traveler dude.
Isaac:  A person that travels around and lives in the wilderness and plays music.
Gracie:  He gets excited and he stretches the truth.  Which is the same as lying.  And every time he does that, one of his magical harp strings breaks.
Dad:  Tell me something about Doli the dwarf.
Lily:  Well... he's short.
Isaac:  Doli is always complaining.  And he's always trying to turn invisible.
Gracie:  He's grumpy.
Lily:  He's not really grumpy - it's just for show.
Isaac:  Doli comes from the Fair Folk.  They live underground and they have a king.  The king doesn't do much at all.  He's just fat and he sits in a chair and complains.  It's funny the way he looks in my mind.
Dad:  And finally, tell me about the Horned King.
Gracie:  The Horned King!
Lily:  He's an evil dude.
Isaac:  He's this really evil guy.  A war lord.  He wears a skeleton head as a mask.  But he has horns attached to it.
Lily:  He's trying to kill people and capture people.
Dad:  Isaac has already read the whole series.  How about you girls?  Now that we've finished the first book, would you girls like to read the other Prydain books on your own?  At your own pace?
Lily:  Noooo!
Isaac:  I'd like to read them again together.
Lily:  Yeah!!!  Together!  Dad, you've got to!
Gracie:  The Summer of Narnia was good.
Dad:  So maybe this could be the Spring of Prydain?
Isaac:  Yeah!
Dad:  Finish the sentence: Inside these books you will find...
Lily:  Adventure!  Awesomeness!
Gracie:  The Horned King!

Gurgi finds the piggy, by Lily

Eilonwy, by Gracie

the companions meet the dwarf king, by Isaac

the Horned King, by Lily

the Horned King, by Isaac

the Horned King, by Gracie

Taran meets the Horned King, by Isaac:


Author: Lloyd Alexander
Published, 1964: Henry Holt
Like them?  Here they are

Interview #9: Nancy Shaw

During our hiatus this summer, the kids and I had the chance to meet and interview two more children's book authors.  They were lightning quick interviews -- less than 5 minutes each.  But we had fun and are so thankful these ladies took the time to visit with us!  We will post one interview today and one tomorrow -- so for all our loyal Monday visitors, be sure to check back in tomorrow for more :)



Up first is our interview with Nancy Shaw (whose portrait here was drawn by Gracie).  Nancy Shaw is probably best known for her many wonderful "Sheep" books: "Sheep in a Jeep," "Sheep Out to Eat," "Sheep in a Shop," "Sheep on a Ship," etc, etc. (illustrated by Margot Apple).  Before we share the interview, we'd like to take a moment to highlight another of her books.  This one is called "Raccoon Tune" and is illustrated by Howard Fine...


Dad:  Who can tell us what happens in "Raccoon Tune"?
Lily (age 7):  The book is about these raccoons looking for food.  And they check in trashcans.  But their trashcan rolls down the hill and goes in the lake.  They lose their trash, but they catch lots of fish in the can instead.
Gracie (age 10):  Pretty funny book.
Dad:  What are some ways that this book is similar to the Sheep books?
Lily:  They both rhyme.
Gracie:  She writes in swift short sentences.
Lily:  Short and sweet and cute.
Dad:  What are some ways Raccoon Tune is different from her other books?  Besides the lack of sheep.
Isaac (age 12):  "Raccoon Tune" sounds like a song.  It sounds very musical.  And in "Sheep in a Jeep" there is one main rhyming sound.
Dad:  "Eep."
Isaac:  Yeah.  But in Raccoon Tune, the rhymes are always changing.
Gracie:  -ite, -ite, -ite... -eep, -eep, -eep... -orage, -orage, -orage.
Isaac:  It goes on and on.
Gracie:  And Dad, look at this: "Deep in BINS we always forage / cracking TINS we find in storage / apple SKINS and maple porridge."  It's got rhymes within the rhymes within the rhymes.
Dad:  Yep.  Both internal rhymes and end rhymes.  Thanks guys!  And now we'll travel back in time, to the day of our interview:

Lily:  I have a question.  What is your favorite book that you wrote?
Nancy Shaw:  My opinion changes from time to time.  But it rotates among three of them.  One is "Sheep in a Jeep" which is the most popular and the simplest.
Dad:  That was your first one right?
Nancy Shaw:  Yes.  Another one I like is "Sheep Out to Eat."  I just really enjoy the plot there.
Gracie:  Yeah, that one is funny.
Nancy Shaw:  And I love "Raccoon Tune."  Partly that's because of the wonderful things the artist Howard Fine did to it.  Of course, the artist for the sheep books, Margot Apple, is wonderful too.
Isaac:  After making all these sheep books, was it kind of hard to make a raccoon book instead of a sheep one?
Nancy Shaw:  The raccoons came from a different place than the sheep.  The sheep books have always come from the sounds.  The first one started when I was bored on the highway.  I was in the back of the car with my two little kids.  We had been reading a whole bunch of library books, and one of them was filled with rhymes.  So I had a contest with myself to see if I could come up with some rhymes in the same form.  And then I thought, "This could be a story."  It often takes me quite a long time to work out how the story is going to fit with the rhymes I've come up with.  It takes me many, many tries.
Dad:  We wondered if the rhymes came first.
Nancy Shaw:  Yes, for the sheep books.  But the raccoon book started with the story.  It came from having our garbage cans knocked over.  I wasn't very happy with the raccoons, but I had to admire their work ethic.  They kept at it, and they were very clever.  So I was wondering how they would feel about all this, and I thought they might want to brag.
Gracie:  Once my mom was taking out the trash, and she almost put the trash bag right on top of a raccoon.
Dad:  He was right inside the can!
Nancy Shaw:  I think I would have backed off then.
Gracie:  The book is called "Raccoon Tune."  But why does it say "tune" if the story is about raccoons trying to get some food?
Nancy Shaw:  I think because when I started writing it, a tune was going through my head.  It wanted to be a rhythmic book.
Dad:  It sounds a lot like music doesn't it?
Gracie:  Yeah, it does.
Nancy Shaw:  The amazing thing that happened with that book is that an actual tune was later written for it.  You can go on my website and hear a sound clip from it.  There was an orchestra concert with the Ann Arbor symphony.
Gracie:  Awesome!
Nancy Shaw:  We had an absolutely wonderful singer, actor, dancer.  He acted the Raccoon.  And the drummers actually played garbage can lids and wore raccoon masks.
Gracie:  That would have been awesome!
Nancy Shaw:  It was awesome.  There was an instrument I had never heard of.  It makes a burping noise when you squish on it.  The composer thought that after the raccoons ate that much fish, they would want to burp.
Gracie:  There were a lot of trout in the book!
Isaac:  Usually you don't get that many trout when you go fishing, so that was a really, really good catch!
Dad:  One last question, anyone?
Isaac:  After getting used to the same artist for all the sheep books, was it strange for you to have someone completely different do the raccoon book?
Nancy Shaw:  I wouldn't say it was strange.  Margot Apple is wonderful.  Howard Fine is wonderful in a different way.
Dad:  Thanks so much!
Gracie:  I have one more...
Dad:  Only if it's short.
Gracie:  It's a short one.
Dad:  Okay then.
Gracie:  Don't you think Margot Apple has the most awesome last name ever?
Nancy Shaw:  Apple?  It's a good last name.
Gracie:  It's the awesomest ever!
Dad:  Ha, ha, alright then.  Thanks for chatting with us, Ms. Shaw!
Gracie:  Yeah!
Isaac:  Thanks!

raccoon at night, by Isaac

trying to blast the lid off, by Gracie

raccoons and fish, by Lily

Author: Nancy Shaw
Illustrator: Howard Fine
Published, 2003: Henry Holt
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Interview #7: Laurie Keller

Laurie Keller is the author/illustrator of many beloved, quirky books: "The Scramble States of America," "Open Wide, Tooth School Inside," "Arnie the Doughnut," and "Do Unto Otters" to name a few.  The Z-Kids were very excited about their chance to interview her for Bookie Woogie.

I thought we were heading over to Laurie Keller's abode for a half hour interview.  Instead, she had in store for us an amazing 4 hour playdate!  We had fun with stuffed animals and doodads.  We thumbed through boxes of original art.  She set the kids loose with her large ink/stamp collection.  We watched commercials she made for Nickelodeon back in the day.  We had an advance look and round-table reading of her great next book (coming Sept '10).  Her boyfriend Scott gave Isaac great oil painting advice.  They fed us blackberries, apple slices, chocolate doughnuts, lemonade, and pistachios.  We hiked down to the shore of Lake Michigan where the kids ran, jumped, waded, dug, drew, shell-hunted, and driftwood-collected.  She sent us home with books, games, and DVDs.  Gracie was seriously attempting to weasel her way into a sleepover, and I think Laurie would have let her.

Laurie Keller was incredibly kind.  It was an amazing, unforgettable day.  Pulling from the 4 hours of fun audio recordings, I am happy to present the following few (very condensed few) highlights for your reading pleasure.  Thanks again to Laurie and Scott for a great day!

(The portrait above of Miss Keller was drawn by Gracie.  Camera duties were given to Isaac, so we have him to thank for the photos below.)

Dad:  Before we share our visit, tell everyone about Laurie Keller's upcoming book...
Gracie (age 9):  "Birdy's Smile Book" has all these different facts about smiling.
Isaac (age 11):  Collections of facts.  Little snippets of things that have to do with smiling.  A girl named Birdy is the "host."  She talks to you throughout the whole thing.
Gracie:  It's funny.  The whole thing is super funny.
Lily (age 7):  Birdy likes to smile.  She says smiling is contagious.  She says if someone smiles at someone who smiles at someone who smiles at someone... it would go all around the world.  And if I got my smile to Timbuktu, it might even go to the mooooooon!
Gracie:  My favorite thing about all of Laurie Keller's books is the little "side guys."  There are all these little jokes she adds on, away from the main story.
Dad:  Funny little characters commenting in the margins.
Gracie:  Add-ons.  Just because.
Isaac:  The end of this book is actually a mirror for practicing your smiling.  And the cool thing about the mirror is that you can bend it into shapes like a funhouse mirror. Then you can make weird smiles.
Dad:  Thanks guys...  And now for our visit with Laurie Keller!



(Laurie Keller first took us to see her working area)
Gracie:  This place rocks!
Laurie Keller:  Thanks!
Lily:  Hey look -- It's doughnuts like in the doughnut book.
Isaac:  Where did you find all these little cool doughnuts?
Laurie Keller:  A friend of mine got those for me for my birthday a few years ago.
Lily:  Which one is Arnie?
Laurie Keller:  There's not one that's exactly like Arnie.
Lily:  Some of them are cream filled.  That's so cool.
Dad:  Those ones are a little drippy.  They look like they might need little diapers on them.
Gracie:  That just sounds disgusting.
Lily:  Hey - it's Arnie!  I found Arnie!
Laurie Keller:  Yes, a couple classrooms made me some different Arnie pictures.
Gracie:  Hey, those drawings are from "Do Unto Otters..."
Laurie Keller:  Yeah, some kids made those for me too.
Gracie:  I found a giant Arnie pillow!
Laurie Keller:  Yeah, isn't that funny?  A teacher made that for me.  And a friend of mine made me that pillow of Michigan... you can pick it up...
Dad:  Lots of gift-goodies here!
Laurie Keller:  That whole chest in the middle of the room is full of artwork and letters that kids have made.  It's crazy!
Dad:  Did you guys see that cool tin man?
Laurie Keller:  Oh, I made that one.  When I worked at Hallmark many years ago.
Gracie:  I love all your little stuffed animals!  You have the cutest stuffed animals ever!
Laurie Keller:  Aren't they cute?  I get them from art fairs and different places.
Dad:  What do you guys think -- would all these Knickknacks and Doodads help encourage creativity?  Or would they be a distraction while Miss Laurie works?
Gracie:  They would be so distracting to me.
Lily:  Oh!  Button snowman!
Gracie:  Do you know what my favorite parts about your books are?  All the little side jokes you make around the edges of the pages.  I love all your little side things.
Laurie Keller:  You might wonder why I put those little things all over the place.  Well, it's because that's how I live.  Right?  There's all sorts of little sideline things going on around me.
Isaac:  That's cool.
Laurie Keller:  Those extra little jokes -- a lot of them aren't in my initial sketches, or even in my original story.  I don't usually have a big plan before I start painting.  I try to plan, but I always change things.  Once I start painting the final artwork, these little ideas pop into my head, and I start adding all those extras.
Lily:  How did you come up with the idea of putting pencil, paint, and stamps all together in your books?
Laurie Keller:  That's called collage.  I think it's fun.  A lot of times I just start adding things in there... stamps or pencils...
Dad:  It grows on its own...
Laurie Keller:  Yeah, and fortunately my editor doesn't mind that I work that way.  Probably a lot of people wouldn't like that, because they'd want to know exactly what it's going to look like.  But if I make a big change, I'll let her know.  I'll email her my sketch, or I'll say, "Hey, is it okay if New Jersey says this?"  It's great that she lets me work that way.
Lily:  That's definitely not like Daddy's publisher.  One day she's like "Oh, I love these ducks!"  And then the next day, "I don't like these ducks. Change them."
Laurie Keller:  Ha ha ha ha!
Dad:  Yep, everybody's different...
Laurie Keller:  If you want me to show you the artwork from any of my books, I can pull it out.
Dad:  Oooo...
Laurie Keller:  We can take it outside and look at it.  Here is some of the art from "Arnie the Doughnut."
Gracie:  Arnie!!!
(we all move outside to the back porch)
Gracie:  How many times did you redraw Arnie?  How many ideas did you have.
Laurie Keller:  Oh my, I redrew him over and over and over again.  Mostly for the art style.  I already had his personality figured out.  That wasn't so hard for him.  He's just a chocolate covered sprinkle doughnut.  Now, here's the art for the cover...
Dad:  Isn't that neat guys?  That's the actual painting.
Gracie:  You can really see the little paint marks!
Laurie Keller:  Yes... and dust... and cat food... and all sorts of stuff.  I don't have the best archival system.
Dad:  Don't rub your fingers over it...
Laurie Keller:  That's okay, they can touch them if they want.  It's just acrylic paint.
Gracie:  I love acrylics.  I have a whole box.  I have either 28 or 52 paints.
Laurie Keller:  52!  Maybe I'm going to borrow some colors from you sometime.
Gracie:  What color pink did you use?
Laurie Keller:  I think I used Cadmium Red Light mixed with White.
Dad:  You were looking at the pinks at the art store the other day...
Gracie:  I found the prettiest pink.  It's called "Permanent Rose."
Laurie Keller:  Is it really pretty?
Gracie:  It's, like, the best pink EV-ER.
Laurie Keller:  I don't use a lot of colors straight out of the tube.  I usually mix different colors together to see what new colors I can come up with.
Lily: (pointing)  Uhhh... there's a spider on your chair...
Laurie Keller:  Oh.  That's Harold.  Where is he?  I don't want to squash him...  I didn't already, did I?  Oh -- hi, Harold.
Gracie:  What.
Laurie Keller:  That's Harold.
Gracie:  Harold?  You name spiders???
Laurie Keller:  Sure, why not?  You don't?
(grabs another batch of illustrations)
Laurie Keller:  Here's the art for "Open Wide, Tooth School Inside."
Lily:  I love that book.
Laurie Keller:  I did the art differently in this book.
Isaac:  This one is like a giant collage.
Laurie Keller:  I used actual photos of teeth and just painted faces on them.  I cut the teeth out of a dental book.  I went through three copies -- and the books were expensive too.  They were ridiculous.
Lily:  Aw!  Toothpicks!
Dad:  Yeah, actual toothpicks are glued onto the art.  Not drawings of toothpicks.
Gracie:  You can feel the cut papers overlapping.  And the toothpicks.
Dad:  And look, all these little pictures here are stamped with ink.
Isaac:  Hmmm... where's the page that has the acorn stamps?
Gracie:  You have such cool stamps.  I like the acorn stamp and the bumblebee stamp in this book.
Laurie Keller:  Should I go get my stamps?  I can show you some.
Lily:  Yeah!!
(comes back with boxes full of stamps and inkpads)
Laurie Keller:  Why don't you start playing with these...
Isaac:  The bumblebee!  The actual bumblebee from "Scrambled States!"
Gracie:  It's not as cool as the acorn.
Isaac:  Here's all her little bug stamps.  Yep - that's the bumblebee.
Gracie:  I want to find that acorn one.
Isaac:  Cool -- a random potato.
Gracie:  Every single stamp is so much nonsense.  Everything is just nonsense.
Laurie Keller:  I like nonsense!
Gracie:  You like stamps.  You have tons of them.  This is so sweet.  Look! A smoking cheese dude!
Isaac:  That's from the book!
Dad:  The cheese wasn't smoking a cigarette in the book, was he?
Laurie Keller:  No... I took the smoking part off the stamp.  I didn't think that would go over very well in a kid's book.
Gracie:  Look!  Awesome!!!  Ha Ha!
Dad:  What is it?  A stamp of skeleton...  drinking something...
Isaac:  Hey, Adam Rex has a picture in his book just like that.
Gracie:  She's a drunk skeleton!
Laurie Keller:  There's nothing worse than a drunk skeleton.  Hey, that's a good idea for a book...  "Drunk Skeleton and Smoking Cheese."  Thanks you guys.  I'm going to email my editor tonight.
Gracie:  "The Drunk Skeleton and the Smoking Cheese."  It could teach you about the dangers of alcohol and smoking.
Dad:  There you go.
Gracie:  Your books always teach something.  Like the tooth book teaches about teeth.  Scrambled States teaches you about the United States.  All of them do, except for Arnie the Doughnut... that one doesn't really teach much.
Laurie Keller:  No, no, no... it does teach you something.  If you are a doughnut and you don't want to be eaten, it teaches you how not to be eaten.  I wrote that one for the doughnuts.  See, they are all educational.
Gracie:  Do you feel really guilty now whenever you eat a doughnut?
Laurie Keller:  Oh, no, no.  I'll tell you why.  Kids always think I don't eat doughnuts anymore.  But all you have to do -- before you eat a doughnut, you hold it in your hand and you ask... "Do you mind if I eat you?"  Then you listen for a second.  And if it doesn't say anything, you go ahead and eat it.  I've never had one of them get mad at me.
Dad:  Lily, you'd better check with that apple you're munching on...
Laurie Keller:  I don't think apples mind so much.  It's usually just doughnuts.
Dad:  He's already chopped into slices anyway.
Laurie Keller:  I think he would have said something earlier.  It's too late for the apple now.
(Perfectly timed, Scott quietly slips out with a plate full of chocolate covered sprinkle doughnuts)
Gracie:  OH-HOHOHOHOHO!
Dad:  Wow -- Here's our chance to get a picture of Laurie Keller actually holding sprinkle doughnuts!
(the doughnuts get passed around)
Lily:  Make sure you ask them!
Isaac: (to the doughnut)  Do you mind if I eat you?
Gracie:  Do you mind if I eat you?
Lily:  Do you mind if I eat you?
Laurie Keller:  Now, just listen...
(silence)
Laurie Keller:  Nothing.  I think you're good...
Lily:  I think I heard him beep.
Laurie Keller:  I'll put the rest of these doughnuts back in the house so they don't run away.
(After doughnut-eating and ink-stamping, we went around the table taking turns reading aloud from an advance copy of Laurie Keller's upcoming book "Birdy's Smile Book")
Lily:  This is hilarious!
Gracie:  I love this book!
Laurie Keller:  Oh, I'm so glad.
Gracie:  That lady's name is Mrs. Flapjack?  And the dog is French Fry!  I love these names!
Laurie Keller:  Maybe I was hungry when I made up the names, huh?
Gracie:  The Smile Book sure got me to smile -- it's hilarious!
Laurie Keller:  Would you guys like to keep it?
Isaac:  Thank you!
Gracie:  Thanks a lot!
Laurie Keller:  And do you have the Scrambled States DVD yet?  Here you go.  And here's this little travel game I worked on...
Lily:  You are giving us everything!
Gracie:  You are like Santa Claus!
Laurie Keller:  Ha ha ha ha...
Gracie:  You give us doughnuts!  You let us use stamps!  You take us to your workroom!
Dad:  And what did you guys bring her?
Isaac:  Uh...
Gracie:  "Interview."
Dad:  You didn't even bring much interview - you guys have been so distracted the whole time!
Laurie Keller:  You brought me all this fun!
Dad:  Do you guys have any questions for Miss Keller?
Isaac:  Are the illustrations in the Smile Book just paint?
Laurie Keller:  Actually, it's mostly all done on the computer.  But I did scan in some paint textures.  I made all the shapes on the computer, and roughed up the edges with an eraser tool.
Lily:  Why was the Smile Book so long?
Dad:  Ha ha... I think that's only because we had 5 people taking turns reading it!
Laurie Keller:  Most of my books are kind of long, aren't they.  I am trying to think of some shorter ideas.  But I'm also trying to write a chapter book.
Isaac:  I'm trying to do that too.
Laurie Keller:  Really?  Mine's not going so good.  I haven't thought of any ideas yet.  The only idea I have so far is a Drunk Skeleton and a Smoking Cheese.  What do you think?
Gracie:  YES!!!

Birdy trying to use her smile as an umbrella, by Lily

Birdy's smile returns, by Gracie

smile! by Isaac

Author/Illustrator: Laurie Keller
"Birdy's Smile Book," coming Sept 2010: Henry Holt
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