Jamie Michalak's Blog, page 4

Little Crooked Bookshelf

THE WISH TREEwords by Kyo Maclear, pictures by Chris Turnham


This week's pick is from cottager Kara LaReau.


What it's all about
Charles' brother and sister say there's no such thing as a wish tree. But he sets out to find one anyway with his loyal friend (and sled), Boggan. Along the way, Charles comes to the aid of a series of woodland creatures — and when night falls and Charles grows too tired to go on, the animals in the forest come together to help Charles fulfill his quest.

Why it's on The Little Crooked Bookshelf…
Kyo Maclear has created a lovely, lyrical wintry tale, with magical illustrations from Chris Turnham.

My favorite lines…
"La-di-da-di-da-di-daaaa," sang Charles.
"Whishhhhh," sang Boggan.
They had the whole day ahead of them.
The whole day to find a wish tree.
My favorite illustration…




Why kids will love it…
It's an exciting adventure about a young boy setting out in search of a magical tree — and it ends with a delicious midnight feast!

Why grown-ups will love it…

It offers a lovely lesson about kindness, generosity, and community, one worth sharing now more than ever.

Mr. Pig Live . . . with Toby! + a TOBY Literary Lunch!

Happy Friday, folks! I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a heartwarming, feel good episode.
And that's just what we have for you today.
Please welcome today's friendly, four-legged and furry guest…
TOBY!
<<applause>>

Toby is the real life pooch who inspired Hazel Mitchell's picture book of the same name.  
First, let's watch this very charming clip. . .


Ahh, what a sweet story. Okay, Toby, hop on up on the couch so we can have a chat. Good boy, Toby.

(Note, the transcript for this interview has been translated from woofs to human, by our trusty canine translators.)

What is your full name?
Toby.

What one word best describes you?
Loveable.

What is the best thing about being you?
Living with my excellent people.
TOBY. Copyright © 2016 by Hazel Mitchell.
Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.
What is the worst thing about being you?
I get scared of a lot of things. That makes it hard for me to enjoy things, sometimes.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what would you bring?
Pepperoni.

Glad you didn't say bacon. What is your idea of the perfect day?
Wake up. Run around the garden. Get a cuddle. Nap. Wake up. Run around the garden. Get a snack (pepperoni). Nap. Have supper. Run around the garden. Get a cuddle. Bedtime.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Find homes for all the animals without people of their own.

What are you reading right now?
Because of Winn Dixie.

What is your favorite word?
Cuddletime!

TOBY. Copyright © 2016 by Hazel Mitchell.
Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.
What is you least favorite word?
Goodbye.

What is your favorite sound?
Daddy’s car drawing up.

What is your least favorite sound?
Fireworks.

Share one thing that most of our readers don’t know about you.
I was lost for eight days in wildest Maine.

If you could dine with three characters from other books, who would they be?
Snoopy, Lassie, Winn Dixie.

If you have a pocket, what is in it right now?
Pepperoni.

What is your most embarrassing moment?
The time when I was running fast, fast, fast and ran into a lawn chair and the cat was watching.

What is your pet peeve?
When my sister, Lucy, steals my hidden snacks. It’s so rude.

Quite. What was it like working with Hazel Mitchell?
She is pretty good. She draws me just right. I gave her a bit of help on the layout of my book, but otherwise it was ok. She always has pepperoni to share. Making books makes you hungry!

Speaking of hungry, we have a very special TREAT for you, Toby. Nina, from Mamabelly, has made you your very own Literary Lunch! While we roll the credits, follow me to the kitchen.  


TOBY by Hazel Mitchell
Publisher - Candlewick Press
(September 2016)
ISBN: 978-0763680930

"Inspired by her own dog’s adoption story, illustrator Mitchell’s ... first book as author centers on a boy who has moved into a new neighborhood with his (presumably single) father...The highlight of this getting-to-know-you tale is Mitchell’s visual channeling of her characters’ emotions, both human and canine."
— Publishers Weekly

"Toby is a pleasing pup."
— Kirkus

"The book’s warmth and appeal come from the artwork. Pencil drawings are tinted with a soft palate of watercolor washes and digitally added colors. And while the soft browns, blues, greens, and grays create a subdued, rather melancholy tone throughout the book, both the boy and his lovable dog are smiling by the final scene."
— Booklist


Hazel Mitchell has illustrated numerous books for children. Toby is her author-illustrator debut. Originally from Yorkshire, England, she now lives in Maine with her husband and a brave rescue poodle named Toby, whose eight-day disappearance drew national attention when the story was shared across social media


[TOBY. Copyright © 2016 by Hazel Mitchell. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.]




***************************
A TOBY LITERARY LUNCH!


Meet TOBY , the star of Hazel Mitchell 's new heartwarming book about a boy, a rescue dog and the challenges to grow into a family. The book is based on the author's own experience of rescuing her dog Toby.


Nina from Mamabelly.com made a lovable lunch to match:
grapes with Toby's name (although never feed your dog grapes!)ham with a (dog) friendcucumber and carrot hearts representing the love between Toby and the boyanimal crackers for the other shelter dogs waiting to be adoptedand a Toby cream cheese sandwich

Quote of the Week

Little Crooked Bookshelf

IMAGINE A CITYby Elise Hurst

This week's pick is from Cottager Jamie Michalak.

What it's all about ...
Imagine a city where lions read books, bunnies and bears ride bicycles, and the world has no edges. Join two children as they embark on an adventure of imagination and possibility.

Why it's on The Little Crooked Bookshelf …
It's almost impossible not to get lost in Elise Hurst's rich, dreamy illustrations. Readers will find lots of stories and surprises on every page.

My favorite lines …
Where buses are fish
and the fish fly the sky


My favorite illustration … From IMAGINE A CITY. Illustration copyright 2016 by Elise Hurst.

Why kids will like it …
Imagine a City is an open invitation to daydream, and it's fun to find favorite creatures hidden in its pages.


Why parents will like it …
The perfect book for sharing. Parents and children can take turns finding stories in the illustrations and telling them.

Quote of the Week

The Little Crooked Bookshelf

ABC Yogaby Christiane Engel


This week's pick is from cottager Kara LaReau.


What it's all about
Learn basic yoga poses and the alphabet in this playful board book, with lively text and illustrations by Christiane Engel.

Why it's on The Little Crooked Bookshelf…
I've been looking for a way to introduce my little one to yoga — he loves the ABCs and reading, so this book is right up our alley!

My favorite lines…
Jellyfish wobbles by.
Lie on your back —
Look at the sky.
My favorite illustration…



Why kids will love it…

A book that offers ABCs, animals, and fun poses? What's not to love?

Why grown-ups will love it…

A perfect way to keep very young readers entertained and active — plus, parents and children can practice their poses together!

Quote of the Week

A Mr. Pig LIVE SPECIAL with… Kirsten Cappy!

<<doorbell>>
Eek! My special guest has arrived. Oh, I'm so excited for you to meet her. What a treat! She's the fiendishly clever mind behind Trick or Reaters.com, a new website celebrating scary, mysterious and fantastical tales! Which, as you can imagine, is right up our alley here in the Little Haunted Cottage. Mwahahahaha! 
MP: KIRSTEN CAPPY! Welcome, ghoulfriend.
KC: Mr. Pig, you look devilishly handsome in that Dracula cape.
MP: Well, thank you. You are likewise a vision, my dear. Come in. I've just put the kettle on. How about we watch a film clip while we wait for our tea?

KC: Perfect!


MP: Wow. That was creepy and cool. Tell me about the name, Trick-or-Reaters.
KC: The name? It is the phrase “Trick or Treaters” being attacked by monsters. What?  Yes, in each manifestation of the logo, a creature is stealing the second T, changing "treaters" to "reaters."  In one version the “T” itself is an adorable fuzzy monster fleeing a many tentacled beast. "Reaters" is "readers" in my kidlit-crazy imagination.

MP: We appreciate a kidlit-crazy imagination in the Crooked Cottage. I mean, you are talking to a pig dressed as a vampire, right now, are you not? Enough said. So who designed all the cool Trick or Reaters graphics?




KC: Most of the images on the site were imagined and illustrated by Maine College of Art students who (as artists do) took the idea to frightfully fantastic levels .
MP: I'll say. And how did you come up with this monstrously clever idea?
KC: Many Octobers ago, I was presenting children's book marketing projects to a group of clever creators at The Writing Barn in Austin.  Author Nikki Loftin stopped me and said, "It is all well and good that you can come up with meaningful marketing for social justice books, but I have a book about teachers fattening children up with candy in order to eat them.  Make something of that!"
Ahhh....
"What about connecting The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy ,” I stalled, “to that rather strange holiday where strangers fatten children up with candy.  What if...you selected a book excerpt and dropped it as a wee booklet in Trick-or-Treater bags?"  
Everyone at The Writer’s Barn immediately volunteered to drop Nikki's booklet in Trick-or-Treater bags.  We quickly added up neighborhood numbers and the reach would be to at least 700 kids with 10 volunteers.
Hmmm...
That got me wondering...could we create children's book discovery on Halloween - a holiday where whole neighborhoods open their doors to children?
MP: Fascinating. So how does it work? Who can use TrickorReaters.com?
KC: TRICK OR REATERS  creates book discovery on Halloween (and throughout the year) by giving Trick-or-Treaters access to scary, mysterious and fantastical stories.
Any school, library, bookstore, family or bookish individual can print out the TRICK OR REATERS black & white flyers  from the site. Those flyers can be dropped in trick-or-treaters bags and buckets. The flyer leads children to www.TrickOrReaters.com where they can explore 100 free stories  contributed by children’s book authors and illustrators. Simple, cool, and literacy-rich!
There is NO login and NO data is collected on users. Ever. (That would be evil.)
Kids can freely explore using a Age-o-meter, Scare-o-meter or a series of creepy keywords to chose a story to explore. Those stories are delivered in video shorts, audiobook clips, written excerpts or by slideshows of art. Many are story teasers connected to a published book and many of those books have free downloadble activities.




MP: Love it. What are some of your favorite spooky stories on the site?
Picture book author/illustrator Kevan Atteberry, creator of Declan, the rather lovable monster in Bunnies! and Puddles! (HarperCollins), has created original sequential art that tells a brand new story about the master and his pastel bunny friends. This has a Scare-o-Meter rating of 1, but a laugh that will be decimals higher.




Topping the Scare-o-Meter at 10 is an excerpt from the girl ninja novel, Deadly Flowers  by Sarah L. Thomson (Boyds Mill Press) that makes me quake every time I read it. I will just say here that it is tagged as being in the “Giant Centipedes” genre on TRICK OR REATERS.
There are stories of ALL kinds at EVERY scare in between.
MP: Mama Pig once read a story to me called The Tailypo; do you know it? It scared the tuna salad out of me back then, but I wanted to read it anyway. What's a favorite spooky Halloween book from your childhood?
KC: Oh, I did NOT like to be frightened as a child. In fourth grade, our teacher read a story about a new wife who always wore a silk ribbon around her neck.  She told her husband that he must never try to take it off or “he would be sorry.”  I won't spoil the ending, but let's just say the spookiness made me lose my head. That's why we have the scare-o-meter on the site. For kids like me. 
MP: <<Ahem>>, by the way, if you want to sleep over, you can. Not because I'm scared. *cough* Oh, no. Like I said, I love scary stories. But…you know… if you wanted to stay, I we could light the fire, and I do make a mean hot chocolate. (Jus' saying.) Anyway, are you reading something seasonal or spooky right now?
KC: I am reading something utterly magical right now.  The forthcoming novel by H.M. Bouwman is called A Crack in the Sea (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) It dares to imagine a different outcome for two groups that would have been tragically and brutally lost at sea. I am not going to give anything away. Oh, but maybe this. There is also a kraken love story. Kraken Love. What could be more seasonal than that?
MP: We've released the Kraken! Now, it is time for tea. Thanks, Kirsten, what a frightfully delightful chat, and I'll go right now to Trick or Reaters and print out flyers for all the ghouls that haunt the Little Crooked Cottage's door on Halloween night. (You'd be amazed at the cast of characters we get trick-or-treating 'round these parts.)
And if YOU want to add stories to your array of Halloween treats, go to http://trickorreaters.com to download flyers, read some spooky (or not too spooky) stories, and even sign up to SKYPE with a Trick or Reaters author on Halloween!
KC: Thanks, Count Pigula!
MP: My pleasure. Mwahahahahaha!

Kirsten Cappy of Curious City builds creative outreach projects for authors, illustrators, and publishers focused on engaging readers with story.

Trick or Reaters is the Frankenstein Monster of Kirsten and Curious City, funded by the Erin Murphy Literary Agency and kid lit authors.

The Little Crooked Bookshelf

Birdie's Happiest Halloweenby Sujean Rim
This week's pick is from Cottager, Anika Denise

What it's all about . . .
Birdie, a feisty fashionista, searches for the just-right Halloween costume. Will it be one of the historical figures she sees in the museum: Albert Einstein, Sandra Day O'Connor, or Eleanor Roosevelt? The suspense builds, until Birdie's choice (spoiler alert) is revealed. Her friends think she's dressed up as the First Lady, but Birdie corrects them—she's the first lady president of the United States!
Why it's on The Little Crooked Bookshelf . . .Rim's Birdie is as charming and modern as ever in this latest installment of the popular series. Plus, it has a lovely message of empowerment for girls, which feels especially timely in this election year. 
My favorite line(s) . . ."Over the next few days,Birdie enjoyed the colorful fallen leaves, ate candy applesand even scored the winning touchdown!But she never stopped thinking about Halloween."
Most scrumptious illustration . . .

From Birdie's Happiest Halloween © 2016 Sujean Rim
Why kids will love it . . .Kids will love the warm collage illustrations of Birdie, her dog Monster, and all of their friends frolicking in fall leaves, wearing fuzzy sweaters, munching Halloween candy and donning adorable costumes.

Why grown-ups will love it . . .
The book's "you can be anything you want to be" message is positive and affirming.

Quote of the Week