MODULE 1 - PICTURE BOOKS


1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Marcus, Leonard S. 2001. Side by side: Five favorite picture-book teams

go to work. New York: Walker & Company. ISBN 0802787789.

2. PLOT SUMMARY
Side by Side presents the collaborative histories of five successful picture book parings of illustrator and writer. Leonard Marcus, children’s book critic and historian, structured the chapters to deal individually with each team focusing, more or less, on one particular picture book. Brief career histories of each contributor is followed by the twists and turns, the successes and setbacks, and the life and longevity of the collaboration. The teams highlighted employ very diverse methods and styles. The books ranged from Louis the Fish to The Glorious Flight to The Stinky Cheese Man to Sam and the Tigers to The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses. Collaborators included are Yorinks and Egielski, Provensen and Provensen, Sciezka, Smith and Leach, Lester and Pinkney, and Cole and Degen.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Written for the late elementary school age, Marcus does an admirable job of writing credible juvenile nonfiction. First person accounts from the artists themselves, directional tools and instructional help in the guise of a table of contents, a detailed index, and glossary, and illustrative visual elements all work well together with the fast-paced text to tell the stories of these talented collaborators. Marcus possesses a talent for explanation, maintaining the literary flow while delivering clear and concise details. The question that nags the adult reader is, will the desired audience find the subject matter interesting enough to engage in reading the book. As reading for this literature class, especially this first module on picture books, the book is dead on, but as interest reading for an elementary or middle school child it may well miss the mark.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

BOOKLIST – “Teachers and librarians who want to promote collaboration in the classroom or just share their enthusiasm for the creative process and those who practice it will find plenty of good material in this well-written and beautifully designed book.”

KIRKUS REVIEWS – “Altogether engaging, this offering nevertheless is not exactly the sort of book children flock to of their own accord. It will, however, nicely complement guided explorations of children’s book creation, and the inclusion of two of the most popular teams with children will guarantee its appeal to the kids who do encounter it.”

5. CONNECTIONS
A programming idea for older elementary students in a summer library program: Introduce the children to the art that is the picture book. Have each child choose, depending on their own preference, whether to write or illustrate a picture book. Once the “writers” finish an initial short draft have them pair with an “illustrator” and work through the process of creating a finished work.

Books that further explore the making of picture books:

Kehoe, Michael. 1993. A book takes root: The making of a picture book.

Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books. ISBN 0876147562.

Marcus, Leonard S. 1998. A Caldecott celebration: Six artists and their

paths to the Caldecott Medal. New York: Walker & Company. ISBN 0802786561.

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Juster, Norton. 2005. The hello, goodbye window. Ill. by Chris Raschka.

New York: Hyperion Books for Children. ISBN 0786809140.

2. PLOT SUMMARY
A young preschool narrator takes the reader through the fun and excitement of an overnight visit to her grandparents’ house. Poppy plays the harmonica and cooks breakfast while Nanna works in the kitchen and putters in her garden. Upon arriving and departing, greetings and games are exchanged through the seemingly magical kitchen window. Looking in - the bight kitchen, where grandma and grandpa spend most of their time, welcomes our young visitor to the comfort of familiarity and routine; looking out – the garden beckons promising wild adventure – all within the warmth and security of her grandparents’ realm. As with every young child, their world is full of flights of fancy and down-to-earth adult-mandated rules and many of these are nicely incorporated into the text from a child’s perspective. Imagination beckons when: “It’s a very nice garden, but there’s a tiger who lives behind the big bush..” and “THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND (Nanna is English, you know, so the Queen likes to come to tea.)” while rules dictate necessary order: “I ride my bike too. ‘Not in the street, please.’ Or collect sticks and acorns. ‘Not in the house, please.’”


3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The 2006 Caldecott Medal recipient, The Hello, Goodbye Window, hits the literary mark on several levels. Through Norton Juster’s first person narrative the innocence, naiveté, and even the “voice” quality of a young child shines through. “When I get tired I come in and take a nap and nothing happens until I get up.” The ritual of the window provides predictability and security: looking in – the kitchen promises the safe haven of laughter and fun; looking out – the garden and sky embrace the wide world of new experiences while both sides fall under an umbrella of unconditional familial love. The story keeps a nice pace and through the combination of text and illustration personalities come into focus. Poppy is playful and teasing, Nanna is orderly and patient. Chris Raschka’s illustrations, done in a vibrant color mixture of watercolors and pastels, possess a child-like quality. To highlight and define the swirls, dabs and swaths of color, Raschka uses strategically placed black outlines throughout his work. Juster’s subtext of family love and devotion finds overt expression through Raschka’s twinkling eyes and doting expressions. Author and illustrator together have beautifully captured the purely child-centered world of the preschooler as well as the joy of grandparents allowed to bask in the everyday magic that is their grandchild making The Hello, Goodbye Window a very deserving Caldecott winner.


4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL – “ The artwork is at once lively and energetic, without crowding the story or the words on the page; the simple lines and squiggles of color suggest a child’s own drawings, but this is the art of a masterful hand.”

BOOKLIST – “The window imagery is less important than the title would make it seem. More intrinsic is Juster’s honest portrayal of a child’s perceptions and emotions.”


5. CONNECTIONS
Literary Extension: Have the children draw themselves and their grandparents/other family members occupied in a favorite activity and then verbally present it to the group.

Picture books that further explore grandparent connections:

Hutchins, Pat. 2006. Bumpety bump! New York: Greenwillow Books. ISBN

0060560002.

Lum, Kate. 1999. What! cried Granny: An almost bedtime story. New York:

Dial Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0803723822.

MacDonald, Margaret Read. 2006. Squeaky door. New York: HarperCollins

Publishers. ISBN 0060283742.

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Raschka, Chris. 2005. New York is English, Chattanooga is Creek.

New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0689846002.

2. PLOT SUMMARY
Thirty-nine cities from across the United States are formally invited, by carrier pigeon no less, to a gala hosted by the Duke of York – New York City. A map and guest list, placed at the very beginning, locate and explain the names of the party’s invitees. Each city, personified via ethnic origins and etymologic symbols, morphs into a single representative bedecked in appropriate headdress and garb. Our host, New York City, worries about compatibility and social etiquette, but happily, after a rocky start, the evening turns into a social coup. The story ends where it began, enumerating the diverse etymology of our cities’ names; thus mimicking our population as a whole and giving explanation to what made this country great and what continues to define it today.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Raschka employs an offbeat, farcical approach to impart his American history lesson on diversity. The language proves uneven and troublesome; sentence fragments, random rhymes and, at one point, digressing asides might well cause the unpracticed reader to falter. At one point, when attempting to explain the origin of Minneapolis the author goes off on a tangent followed by the text actually reading “Never mind.” However, Raschka’s text beautifully brings everything home when it proclaims, “A thousand names, a hundred languages/ a million people name one nation.” The driving force of this work is Raschka’s ink and watercolor caricatures: exaggerated, impressionistic, vibrant and completely compelling. The child cannot help but be drawn into the fantastical story by the commonly shared style yet unmistakable individuality of each character. Each city boasts a disproportionately huge head adorned with a skyline replica atop an equally imposing headdress all supported by a somewhat diminutive torso clothed in ethnic splendor. The illustrations, done against a pure white background, share the space equitably and are necessary to carry the plot forward. This codependency between textual and visual elements gives this picture book the extra element that sets it apart from the ordinary.


4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL – “ At once carefully intentional and casually random, this is a fascinating exploration of the etymology and derivation of American city names and a characteristic Raschka farcical flight-of-fancy.”

PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY – “ Raschka’s lilting approximate rhyme, and his piquant watercolors on clean white paper, make this book an aural and visual pleasure, a gateway to understanding the complicated histories in unusual words’ origins.”

5. CONNECTIONS
Literary Extension – Investigate the origins of the student’s own town/city. Have each student create their own caricature in the style of Raschka to personify their hometown based upon its name’s origin and local culture.

Books that further explore US states and their etymology:

Keller, Laurie. 1998. The scrambled states of America. New York: Henry

Holt. ISBN 0805058028.

Peter, Sis. 2004. The train of states. New York: Greenwillow Books. ISBN

0060578394.

(All pictures downloaded from the Plano Public Library)