Chris Barton's Blog: Bartography, page 47
February 23, 2015
A big giveaway by Two Writing Teachers
The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch is just one of ten titles (all shown above) that will be given away later this week at the Two Writing Teachers blog.
In addition to the giveaway, Stacey Shubitz provides a lot of thoughtful commentary on how each of these ten titles can be used to help young writers improve their skills. For example, here’s some of what Stacey says about The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch:
Like Seeds of Freedom, this book is also crafted with strong voice, which makes it worthy...
February 22, 2015
“5, 4, 3, 2, 1″ with Nerdy Book Club co-founder Colby Sharp
Michigan teacher, Nerdy Book Club co-founder, and Attack! Boss! Cheat Code! enthusiast Colby Sharp has a nifty series on his sharpread blog called the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Interview. Last week, I had the opportunity to answer his five questions with ever-briefer answers — though, to be honest, I sort of gamed the system with lots of long, dash-enhanced sentences. Have a look!
February 16, 2015
A starred review from Publishers Weekly for The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch!
You know, when you spend the better part of a decade working on a 50-page picture book, I suppose it’s OK to get a little excited when Publishers Weekly both gets and appreciates what you were going for all those years:
The whole thing is available here, but this is my favorite part:
Barton offers an immersive, engaging, and unflinching portrait of the difficulties of the Reconstruction era, while Tate’s cartoonlike artwork softens moments of cruelty and prejudice without diminishing them.
February 15, 2015
The stunning cover of ‘The Nutcracker’ Comes to America
Sometimes my dog will be sitting in my lap, being hugged and petted on, and he will begin to whine and whimper as if there’s still not enough affection getting expressed, as if it’s impossible that there could ever be any demonstration that would measure up to the love he feels.
It has long seemed absurd to me, but I think I finally get it. I do.
Because, y’all, I just can’t love this enough:
This is what the front of my upcoming book with Millbrook Press, ‘The Nutcracker’ Comes to America: Ho...
February 14, 2015
February 8, 2015
John Roy Lynch, and the 100th anniversary of The Birth of a Nation
Rather than share the Klan-glorifying poster for The Birth of a Nation, I thought I’d offer this depiction from The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch.
There’s been lots published this weekend about the 100th anniversary of D. W. Griffith’s film The Birth of a Nation — about how its technical greatness and unprecedented box-office success were at least matched and arguably surpassed by the vileness of its racist depictions of African Americans.
By one way of reckoning, this week — Febru...
February 6, 2015
My conversation with Matthew Winner on the Let’s Get Busy! podcast
I love Matthew Winner’s podcast to pieces. Listening to Let’s Get Busy! is a highlight of my week, every week, and I’m so honored to be the guest on his latest episode. If books for young readers play any significant role in your life, there’s a good chance you’ll love the conversations that elementary teacher librarian Matthew has with the creators of those books.
In this episode, we discuss how Tom Lichtenheld and I adapted Shark Vs. Train for “board-book-chewing enthusiasts,” finding a way...
February 3, 2015
Bibliography for The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch
The back matter for The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch includes a historical note, a two-page timeline, my author’s note, Don Tate’s illustrator’s note, suggestions for further reading, and a couple of maps.
With all that Eerdmans Books for Young Readers did squeeze into those final pages, it’s not surprising that there wasn’t room for us to include a bibliography of the sources I consulted for the book. So, I’m presenting them here (along with a shout-out for Douglas R. Egerton’s 2014 book The...
February 1, 2015
Bartography on Pinterest
Just a reminder, for those of you on Pinterest, that I’ve got pages there for each of my books:
The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch
Attack! Boss! Cheat Code! A Gamer’s Alphabet
Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities
Shark Vs. Train
The Day-Glo Brothers
You can also see which books I’ll be giving away in coming months to Bartography Express subscribers (if you liked Lynda Mullaly Hunt’s One for the Murphys, you’ll love the February giveaway!), as well as images from my school visits and...
January 26, 2015
A little John Roy Lynch, and a lot of Poet
For a generous glimpse of the art from Don Tate’s upcoming book Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton of Chapel Hill, as well as from our collaboration The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch, head on over to Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.
Don’s been my friend for many years, but I learned a lot about him from his interview with Jules, and now I like him better than ever.
