Happy Thanksgiving to all -- and which image?

As Meghan mentioned, I'm trying to get better at photography. If you had to choose one, or two, of these images for a local paper (as I do), which would you pick?

Writing an article for a newspaper, especially an online paper, is really different from writing a book, especially a picture book. The length is about the same: under 1,000 words, as much under as the writer can manage. In my experience, though, writing a picture book takes too many rewrites to count. As the artist changes the paintings, the text of course has to change -- and the time is measured in years, including one year from completion of work to books in hand. A newspaper article is handed in, edited (I was lucky: I got to edit the edits!), and posted.

Completing something so quickly is deeply satisfying. I hope I'll remember that long and intensely enough to use it to finish my current novel. (Something about that reminds me of the song:
"Being chosen as this month's Miss August is an honor I'll remember for as long as I can!") But I think I will remember it and act on it, too.

In the meantime: happy Thanksgiving to all! I have a lot to be thankful for this year, and I hope all of you do, too.

One last thing -- I won't be eating any turkey. No promises, but fish is about the highest I feel like eating on the evolutionary scale, at least for awhile.

"Lead the way, Catwoman!"

This summer, I've been babysitting three days a week for someone almost three. Being a babysitter for someone this young is a different kind of relationship.

It's oddly intimate -- I don't think I've spent this much concentrated time with anyone in years (maybe ever? Eight hours a day, intensely engaged in conversation and play? When with him, I'm not doing anything else -- not trying to do errands, or write, or anything: my whole attention is on him). What makes it odder is that Jake is so young and so articulate -- and thinks so differently. I don't really know how he thinks, actually: what he understands and what he doesn't is surprising and mysterious, as is what catches his interest. I do know that I can't talk to someone this young as I do to someone my own age or even eight: there are whole huge concepts that don't exist; time, for example. "The weekend" and "tomorrow" are just words he uses without really getting.

When we read picture books, odd details capture his attention and I am quite sure that (intelligent as he is) he doesn't really connect the events in the story -- they're all isolated incidents or images, and he delights in (and repeats, verbatim) some phrases. He LOVES A Chair for My Mother. And what was the first thing he commented on, the first time we read it? The fire trucks. Does he know that a fire burned down their house? I don't think so -- but he loves the story. And every time we read it, he points out the firetrucks.

Objects, especially how things work, connect (a favorite word of his), fit together all fascinate him. So do:

*his toys and pretend play of all kinds ("Who will YOU be?" is a favorite phrase)
* food
*his own body
*rules ("Is THIS the way we do it?" or "Some rude, naughty person threw that trash on the street!" -- this condemnation is repeated whenever we see any)
* words (is this unusual, or not?).

He loves words: their sounds, the ring of a dramatic or emotionally charged phrase, bringing phrases or concepts from books we've read into his play ("Just like Humpty Dumpty!" he said excitedly when something fell). He's also a great mimic, and I can tell who he's been with on the days I haven't been there by the phrases that crop up in his play.

One day, bending over and cupping his hands, he offered me a pie (a pretend pie):
"I made it myself," he said proudly -- JUST like the kind of grandmother who bakes: gestures, intonation, proud expression, all perfect.

Other times, I'm a bit taken aback to hear my own voice. Yesterday we were in the library and as we were leaving,
he said, quite loudly:
"Lead the way, Catwoman!"
(We often play Batman and Catwoman, though in his world, the two are friends. I have used that phrase, though with Batman at the end, often.)

One effect of all this is that I'm writing picture books. I appreciate them in a way I never have before -- or maybe, in a way I don't remember. When I write for eight and nine year-olds, I just plug into myself at that age; this is harder, in a way. But being around Jake has shown me the appeal of an orderly world, with a logic and structure that's quite different from a story for someone older.....though since they will have to read it over and over, I think it's fine to put in some things that will appeal to parents, too. Now that I have read many books until *I* know them by heart, I get that one, too.

(Though thank you, Alyssa, for reminding me of the point when we talked about my ms.!)

In case anyone is interested, these are the books he asks for over and over:
MY FIRST MOTHER GOOSE, Iona Opie and Rosemary Wells.
A Chair for My Mother
Chikka Chikka Boom Boom!
Madeline
and, more recently, not sure if this will last, one of those books about Charlie and Lola: I am Too Absolutely Small to Go to School (we read the one about not eating things in the library and he chose the school one to take home)

Picture Book Don'ts

Last week at work we were discussing taboo or risky content in picture books--subjects, words, or images that should raise a red flag and either be taken out, or dealt with carefully where appropriate. Some of the things that came up:

Content to be careful about including (unless the book is specifically about the subject):
-Death
-Sexual content
-Depicting parents/teachers in a negative light (silly is acceptable, but neglectful/abusive is not)
-Violence/Scariness
-Difficult concepts, like homelessness, that are tough to understand/grasp even as adults

taboo text:
-curse words
-"Oh my God" or similar
-"stupid," "idiot, " "retard,"etc.
-"hate"
-words concerning violence or death (for example, one sibling saying to the other in a fit of anger, "I'm going to kill you!")

Things to watch in the illustrations:
-potential racial indicators that could be interpreted negatively, even if unintentional. For example, a book we published a while ago featured a white chicken and a brown chicken, and one review criticized it for depicting the brown chicken as the "naughty" one.
-alcohol (we discussed whether or not it was okay to have adults or animals drinking alcohol--I would probably err on the side of caution, unless it felt absolutely necessary for some reason. What do you think?)
-cigarettes
-safety issues--kids especially should be shown wearing helmet if on a bicycle, even if the "kid" is an animal. Where applicable, people should be wearing seat belts in cars. Watch for kids in dangerous/precarious positions, for example, a child standing on a chair on tiptoes reaching for something, etc.
-nudity (little kid "bottoms" seem to be acceptable on occasion)

This is by no means a complete list, and of course, these are not "rules"--just things that in our experience we've had some pushback from customers or accounts on. There are always exceptions.

One observation I had is that it seems that picture books have become much more careful than in the past. For example, one of my favorite picture books as a child, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig, I think may be too scary/depressing to be published today. We also found that in some cases, these "rules" could be gotten around by using animals instead of people. For example, Are You My Mother? would probably be too sad and scary if it were a little human child instead of a bird.

So, what do you think? Anything to add? Anything you disagree with?

It's All About LOVE!

PIERRE IN LOVE
Written by Sara Pennypacker
Pictures by Petra Mathers
Published by Orchard Books/Scholastic
(2007)





PIERRE IN LOVE is a perfect book to read on Valentine’s Day because it’s all about L-O-V-E!

Pierre, the main character, is secretly in love with Catherine. He can think of nothing else. He can’t eat. His face melts “into a loopy smile” every time he hears her name. He daydreams of rescuing her from danger. He yearns to express his love for her.

Catherine, the object of his amorous feelings, is a ballet teacher. She is “exquisite, an angel of grace and beauty.” Pierre doesn’t have the courage to tell his beloved how he feels. He thinks he is not good enough for her because he is just an ordinary fisherman.

Pierre gathers treasures he finds when he is out at sea: a beautiful unbroken shell; a bouquet of wild roses from a small island; a piece of driftwood; a heart-shaped wreath of sea grass; and even a gourmet treat—a dozen fresh oysters. He plans to present them as tokens of his affection to the elegant lady of his heart.

But each time he brings one of the presents to Catherine, he chickens out and leaves it on her doorstep. Catherine is touched…and intrigued. Who could be leaving her these treasures from the sea? When she can stand the suspense no longer, she decides to hide in her lilac bushes one night to find out the identity of the mysterious gift giver. When Catherine leaps “gracefully from a bush," she surprises Pierre.

An excerpt from the book:
Pierre was so stunned he could only stare, his mouth hanging open like a haddock’s. This close to Catherine, he felt all bloopy and love-swoggled. (Don’t you just love that language?)

Pierre finally summons the courage to tell Catherine he loves her. And just when you’re expecting the I-love-you-too-Pierre-happily-ever-after-smoochy-ending, she informs him that as much as she appreciates his gifts she cannot return his feelings. Her heart belongs to someone else! YEOUCH! As hard as the news hits our love-struck protagonist, he tells Catherine he is glad that she is happy.

Well, tie me down and lash me with a bunch of wet tagliatelle noodles if Catherine doesn’t declare that she is lovesick over this fellow. She says she can’t bring herself to tell him because “he’s an adventurer, bold and brave, and I’m only an ordinary ballet teacher.” All she has been able to do is paint pictures of her secret love, night after night.

Even though Pierre is crushed and heartbroken, he sleeps well that night. He feels better the next morning and is able to eat. He realizes that keeping hold of his secret was what had made him feel so miserable. On his way to the dock that morning, he stops by Catherine’s studio with one more gift: some advice. He encourages her to tell her secret love about her feelings for him: “Feelings are like tides—you can’t hold them back!”


It soon comes to pass that readers—and Catherine—find out the identity of the bold adventurer hero that she has only admired from a distance. Yep…it’s Pierre. And so…we actually do have a happy fairy tale ending--just a little later than expected.

To be sure, PIERRE IN LOVE is a sweet story. Here are some of the things I like most about the book: Sara Pennypacker’s use of vocabulary and language, the gentle humor, the two likable lovesick characters, and the art of Petra Mathers. Mathers captures the atmosphere of the setting and the tone of the story with her illustrations. I especially like her two-page spread of Pierre in his boat chugging back into his small seacoast village. Though her folk-art style illustrations are uncluttered, some contain interesting little details—a copy of Moby Dick on Pierre’s night table and a poster of “Some Bony Fishes” on his bedroom wall.

PIERRE IN LOVE is a fine book to read aloud—especially on Valentine’s Day!



Will U B mine 2-morrow?