Small and Tall Tales of Extinct Animals

We are freshly back from our magical three weeks in France with Rowan (6) and Mira (4 months). One of the highlights of our stay in Paris was a visit to the Jardins des Plantes which is home to the National Museum of Natural History and also the Museum of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy. Walking up the stairs into the Grande Galerie d’Evolution feels like something straight out of Noah’s Ark – it is breath-taking.

The displays in this museum are beautifully conceived – somehow the exhibits manage to evoke the taxidermy museums of old, while combining this with a cutting edge style and a strong conservationist message.

Down an avenue of trees at the other end of the park sits the Museum of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy.

As you can see every available space is taken up with ancient bones. Rowan and I followed the lead of some French kids and sat down in the Museum of Paleontology to do some sketches…

With the memories of these museums strong in our minds, it was so serendipitous that Rowan received this book for his sixth birthday soon after our return home.

Published for the first time in English this year, by Gecko Press, Small and Tall Tales of Extinct Animals was originally a French production by Helene Rajcak and Damien Laverdunt (whose collaboration is celebrated on their gorgeous blog, Les Tigres Gauchers). The scientific advisers on the project were from the Paris National History Museum, and wrote a beautiful and touching foreword to the book:

“Long before setting foot on the Moon, humans evolved on planet Earth – one continent, one ocean, one island at a time. Humans were enthralled by the world around them. To feed their fascination, they collected pictures and momentos of bones, feathers, herbariums, casts and fossils… But natural history museums – that once so proudly displayed the first examples of newly discovered species – now face the unenviable task of exhibiting their remains: the last skeleton, the last skin, the last paw print, the last photograph.”

The book is a collection of 27 of the world’s extinct species, and is a beautiful production. A double-page spread is devoted to each species – the left hand page consists of a cartoon strip, often a retelling of a legend or anecdote associated with the extinction or discovery story. The right-hand page includes a large illustration of the animal or bird, a description of the extinction and some facts, and most fascinatingly to Rowan, a diagram showing its size in relation to a man. The illustration style is naive and the colours and fonts retro and the overall impression is very approachable and appealing.

This is the perfect book for Rowan, whose obsession with David Attenborough documentaries show no sign of abating. But it would no doubt interest many kids from age 6 up – it’s a great example of a picture book pitched perfectly at older kids. Museums and galleries are doing some wonderful publishing collaborations – do you have any favourites at your house?

Pom Pom and Paris

One of the reasons we’ve been offline for so long is this little poppet…

This is our little girl, Mira, 7 weeks old. I can’t wait to share another wonderful reading journey with her, as I have with her two big brothers.

Among her many beautiful gifts have been a couple of lovely books. One of them is this book, Pom Pom Where Are You? written by Natalie Jane Prior and illustrated by Cheryl Orsini.

The perfect book for anyone who loves Paris, this is a romp through the iconic sites of my favourite city through a dogs-eye view. Pom Pom lives in Paris and longs for adventure, which is exactly what he gets one day when he loses his owner while out on their daily walk. The premise reminds me a little of Harry the Dirty Dog, except that where Harry collects dirt, Pom Pom collects new friends and experiences – a restaurant lunch, a trip on a bateau mouche, a visit to Notre Dame, the Louvre and the Tuileries Gardens – and at every place he finds a new friend.

Like all good picture books, the illustrations in this story are much more than a straightforward expression of the text – and Cheryl Orsini’s artwork offers a rich and comical sub-text. Characters from one illustration and carried through to the next, and if you look very carefully you find that Pom Pom’s loving owner is really not that far behind him…

 

And there are so many authentic details included, making this wonderful Penguin Australia production feel very, very French. You can read more about what author Natalie Jane Prior thinks of the book here, and of naming Pom Pom’s owner, Henriette, after her own grandmother… Cheryl Orsini also has a beautiful website and blog.

This book was even more perfectly appropriate for Mira than my dear friend who chose it even knew. For not only does her mama love all things French, but lucky little Mira will herself get the chance to visit Paris later this year. And so this book will be doubly special in our house – as an intro to our travels it will be well read by her brothers before we go and as a wonderful keepsake for Mira to celebrate her first travel experience!

 

 

It’s good to be back!

It has been a long time between posts for us but we are really HAPPY to say that we are back. We have had a little hiatus from blogging while having more bubbas and all the other happenings that life throws at you. We are so passionate about our blog and we really want to start sharing with you all again the books that we love and our multiplying children love!

As you can see, we have a brand new header design – by the awesome Rebekka Seale. More on that later.

We can’t wait to get blogging again and to hear from you all again. Did you know we are also on Facebook? We post lots of fun stuff there, so please Like us, do!

Otto Potter

Lou and I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 last night – has anyone else seen it?

It felt like the end of an era in so many senses. Lou and I have seen almost all the films together along with another dear friend. As the years have gone by and lives have got busier, I think the release of each new film has got more and more exciting for us! Coming out of the cinema last night felt like the conclusion to a long tradition.

I loved the film – powerful, touching, it hit just the right note of the drama and tragedy of the action, without labouring it. And it felt like you could sense the off-screen comeraderie of the three stars, and a definite sadness on their part that it has all come to an end. (Anyone else think those last scenes were not necessary??)

Otto fell off the couch and hit his head (above his left eye) on the coffee table a few months ago. Bit hard to see but I reckon his (temporary) scar is a bit Potter-esque, don’t you?

And yes, he is a poser. He thinks by squinting his eyes he is smiling. 95% of our photos of him are with his eyes closed.

New eBay loot

I just received some lovely new-to-me Golden Books of eBay. ABC Rhymes I’ve seen before, but I’d never come across Play Street or The Little Golden Book of Mother Goose.

When I saw the cover of Play Street, I was immediately reminded of the illustrations of Eloise Wilkin – author and illustrator of many Little Golden Books, including A Child’s Garden of Verses, We Like Kindergarten and Prayers for Children. Jane Werner Watson, who edited and wrote hundreds of Golden Books, called Eloise Wilkin “the soul of Little Golden Books”.

But Play Street was written by Esther Wilkin and illustrated by Joan Esley. A little research into these two revealed some interesting collaboration. Esther Wilkin was the sister of Eloise, who were born Eloise and Esther Burns, and they married two brothers Wilkins. Eloise was friends with Joan Esley and they opened a studio together and later moved to New York city together. I love the thought of the shared careers of these three, working together, helping each other in an era when few women were working, let along making names for themselves as leaders in their careers.

This is a gorgeous story, if you don’t already know it – how’s this for a classic 50s opener?

It was all very quiet on on Butternut Lane. The mothers were busy with their housework and the babies were taking their mid-morning naps. Bobby was riding his tricycle.

Against a backdrop of a classic US streetscape, is a tale of make believe – each of the littlies of Butternut Lane rides his or her trike imaging they are driving a vehicle. Until the roving policeman stops them as they are starting to make so much noise!

The Little Golden Mother Goose collects 75 Mother Goose rhymes – I’m amazed that I’ve heard of most of them but lovely to read a few new ones too.

I’m a very happy e-Bayer…

Melbourne Little Big Shots 2011

Time for a giveaway!

We are very excited to again be supporting the Little Big Shots International Film Festival for Kids and giving away to our readers 10 double-passes to the festival!

We LOVE that there is a film festival especially for children and that some more of our favourite picture books have made their way to the big screen! This year the program includes the beloved classic The Gruffalo (we mentioned the trailer when it first screened on TV on our blog here) as well as Rob Scotton’s Splat the Cat and Mo Willem’s Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed.

One of the films I would dearly love to see is Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing, one of my favourite picture books and the film adapation recently won this year’s Academy Award for Best Animated Short.

Soooo…. we have 10 double passes to give away to Package 3 of this year’s festival (which includes The Gruffalo and Naked Mole Gets Dressed) to one of two sessions on Thursday 9 Jun 2011 at 9:50 am or Friday 10 Jun 2011 at 11:30 am.

If you would like to win, please leave a comment on this post (or on the competition post on our Facebook page) before Wednesday 1 June. In your comment, please let us know which film(s) from the Festival program you are most looking forward to seeing and which of the two sessions above you could attend. (We will draw the winners at random.) Good luck!

A Golden Book gown fit for cinderella

Have you guys seen this? Oh my, what a beautiful homage to Golden Books, which form such an integral part of so many childhood reading memories…

The skirt is comprised entirely of the illustrations from Golden Books sewn together with metallic gold thread, and the bodice is made from the books’ foil spines. Can you imagine? Having glimpsed how carefully Lou curates the Golden Books bunting she has done for We Heart Books, I can only imagine how painstaking this cut and paste would be…

Here are some shots of the garmet under construction…

Go to Boston-based fashion designer Ryan Noveline’s site for more breathtaking images…