Marc Boutavant

22 April 2009 by · 1 Comment

1justforoneday

Thanks to Fuse #8 today I found this new book illustrated by the amazing Parisian Marc Boutavant that will be released later this year. Absolutely can’t wait for this one. These pics are from the Chronicle Books Blog.

2justforoneday

Marc is the author and illustrator of one of the most popular books in our store Around the World With Mouk. His books are the most incredible explosions of colour and character, vibrant, cute, slightly trippy and very, very cool.

mouk_cover

Then to my absolute excitement I came across this incredibly delicious blog while searching for the new Boutavant title. It is full of the most gorgeous photo’s of retro and vintage picture books as well as information about the best illustrators in the business. A definite bookmark.

||For Just One Day and Around the World with Mouk are available in the We Heart Books store||

Filed Under: Age 4+, Illustrators, Picture books, We Heart Books Store

Blueberry Girl

22 April 2009 by · 1 Comment

Gorgeous Girl…

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Spring Morning

20 April 2009 by · 1 Comment

ggwedding

I attended a really beautiful and special wedding on the weekend. As part of the ceremony the bride and groom included a poem from When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne called Spring Morning. First published in the collection in 1924, this is the first two verses of the poem…

Where am I going? I don’t quite know.
Down to the stream where the king-cups grow-
Up on the hill where the pine-trees blow-
Anywhere, anywhere. I don’t know.   

Where am I going? The clouds sail by,
Little ones, baby ones, over the sky.
Where am I going? The shadows pass,
Little ones, baby ones, over the grass.

The setting for the ceremony beneath towering pine trees was just perfect for the reading of this poem.

Here’s some trivia – Arnold Schwarzenegger reads his kindergarten class some of this poem in the movie Kindergarten Cop. 

Filed Under: book related cool stuff, Classics

When We Were Little…

19 April 2009 by · 2 Comments

slippery-dip

My introduction to Australian poetry was via this volume of verse by one of Australia’s most famous poets, C.J.Dennis.

C.J.Dennis was a turn of the century writer – and was most famous for his verse novel, The Songs of the Sentimental Bloke, published in 1916 – one of the highest selling verse novels ever published in Australia.

C.J.Dennis’s poetry for children, A Book for Kids, was published some years later. He and his wife had no children of their own, but he wrote his first story for children for a friend’s son who was in hopsital.

My volume contains 16 of the poems, and when I read them now, I can hear them being recited in my mum and dad’s voices. There must have had many, many readings… There is definitely a sense of nationalism that comes through the verse, and I imagine this is one of the things that made the poetry of C.J.Dennis so popular at the time.

going-to-school

One of my favourites was The Triantiwontigongolope:

There’s a very funny insect that you do not often spy,
And it isn’t quite a spider, and it isn’t quite a fly;
It is something like a beetle, and a little like a bee,
But nothing like a woolly grub that climbs upon a tree.
Its name is quite a hard one, but you’ll learn it soon, I hope.
So, try:
           Tri-
                     Tri-anti-wonti-
                                 Triantiwontigongolope. 

The illustrations are by Lee Whitmore. I adored the colourful artwork and all the little details. I must have spent many hours looking at the cover itself, as when I look at it now, I almost feel like I have been to that fun-fair, and slid down that slippery-dip!

the-dawn-dance

Like Lou showed last week, with her fabulous illustration of Clifford, one of my artistic endeavours was inspired by this book. I did my own version of an illustration of The Dawn Dance – very strongly influenced by Lee Whitmore’s version – for a melamine Pictureplate in 1984…

melamine-pictureplate

Filed Under: Age 2+, Australian, Rhymes/songs, When we were little...

Ned’s Baby

17 April 2009 by · 5 Comments

For Christmas we gave Ned a baby doll. His Granny and I spent ages in the doll isle at Kmart inspecting every doll until we came across one that we thought looks suitably like a real baby. Ned has always been fascinated by babies and the local health nurse had suggested getting a doll as a nice way to instill gentle, caring behaviour in children.  Ned christened the doll ‘Bubba’ and now Bubba goes many places with us in the stroller and gets lots of kisses and cuddles.

ned-baby-31

Yesterday while walking home from a trip to the park Ned held baby the whole way, cradling it in his arms and even holding it’s hand and gentling stroking it with his thumb, like I do to him when I hold his hand. He then eventually feel asleep still holding his baby.

neds-baby

It reminded me of a picture book I had once come across on the net and must track down. The book is called William’s Doll written by Charlotte Zolotow and illustrated by William Pene du Bois, published in 1973.

williams-doll

The book begins;

“William wanted a doll.
 He wanted to hug it
and cradle it in his arms…”

William’s brother and the neighbours call him a sissy for wanting a doll and his father buys him all sorts of ‘boy’ toys, which he likes but he’d still like a doll. His Grandma comes to visit and she buys him a doll and explains to his father…

“so that when he’s a father like you, 
he’ll know how to take care of his baby 
and feed him 
and love him 
and bring him the things he wants, 
like a doll so that he can 
practice being a father. “

That sounds a bit harsh but good on Charlotte Zolotow for creating such a lovely picture book in a time when the concept was possibly controversial. Is it still controversial? We would love to hear from you who know this picture book and of others that challenge traditional gender roles.

Although Ned has a plethora of trains and trucks and ‘boy’ things, I’m glad that he has chosen to also nurture and care for ’Bubba’.

ned-baby-4

William’s Doll was also made into a short film, it’s quite cute –  you can see a clip of it over at good old Youtube.

||William’s Doll is available from Amazon||

Filed Under: Age 2+, Classics, Ned, Picture books

Merry-go-round

15 April 2009 by · Leave a Comment

I just discovered these cards today in Readings. Merry-go-round cards are environmental re-useable gift cards and they have a series of 6 illustrated by some of Australia’s most talented children’s book artists; Ann James, Patricia Mullins, Shirley Barber, Roland Harvey, Shaun Tan and Stephen Michael King.

merrygoround

The cards have slits inside them so that they can hold a piece of paper with your message on it. Then when the receiver wants to reuse the card they can replace the message and send it on. So clever!

They are made from 100% recycled stock and they have a line drawing of trees on the back of each card so that you can colour in a tree each time the card is sent showing how many messages the card has carried.

I think these cards are a lovely concept and are even better since they are illustrated so beautifully. You can buy them online or from a list of stores throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Filed Under: Art, Australian, book related cool stuff, Illustrators

Happy Easter

14 April 2009 by · Leave a Comment

 

dsc_03852009-04-12dsc_04142009-04-12

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter. Rowan understood the egg hunt idea better this year – although he kept talking about the Easter Bunny laying the eggs. Oof – can you imagine? Poor bunny…

Filed Under: Uncategorized
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