Online Course for Picture Book Writing

Rick Walton, Baby A, me!

I attended a picture book writing workshop by Rick Walton, and also met him in person at the Provo Library's Children's Book Festival a couple of months ago. He is a prolific, tremendously talented, and funny, writer and teacher. And he's teaching online courses for picture book writing starting Monday, August 8th! There are three classes available, at varying levels of experience (the price correlating with how many manuscript evaluations he'll do). 

A snippet from the email announcement: 

Each course will go for 12 weeks, and will cover in depth what makes a good picture book, how to come up with ideas, how to write your picture book, how to revise it, how to market it, and lots and lots of other instruction that will help you become a much better picture book writer.

If you're interested (do it!), I can get you the details (anna.culp AT gmail DOT com), or you can email Rick (rick AT rickwalton DOT com). 

Should we take a class together??


P.S. Don't forget the giveaway!

100 Thanks

come so far, so far to go yet

Happy 100th Post to Me! 

Thanks for reading (any) of them. 

To celebrate all that I've learned while remembering that I've still got so much to learn, I'm giving two winners their choice of these adorable counting books:

For a chance to win, just link back to wise owl baby (anywhere-- your blog, facebook, or Twitter) and let me know that you did in the comments. Thanks!

When Bedtime is Wartime: Go the F to Sleep?

I'd rather endorse than cut down, but I'm just too curious for your reactions to this one:

I first read about it in July 2011 Redbook, in which the author, Adam Mansbach, explained that after a bedtime battle he sarcastically tweeted that he'd be releasing a new book by that title. His friends were so enthused that he wrote and published it for real.

Let's be clear, this is a book meant for parents, not kids. Still, I'm offended. I won't buy it. I do not recommend it. (I do like Ricardo Cortes' illustrations, though.) I can't say that I didn't check out the YouTube reading (warning: no bleeping out there) because I thought it might be funny, especially since I particularly enjoy parodies and sarcasm...and because I sometimes lose the mommy-warm-fuzzies after a toddler whining marathon. I didn't find the book relatable or funny, though.

Your thoughts?

Babysitting Dog, Singing Pig

How much influence do board books have over a child?

My husband and I were joking that Baby A might think it is OK to climb out of her crib if we read Good Dog, Carl (Alexandra Day) too often. Of course, to test that theory we'd have to leave her with a babysitting dog...

But what about the food she sees in books? (Too much junk food!)

My Little Word Book by Roger Priddy

Or the confusion over whether or not pigs sing? (Incidentally, we blame an episode of Little People where the farm animals get confused for Baby A's insistence that any animal says baaaa.)

Moo, Baa, La La La! by Sandra Boynton

 And does it seem OK to draw on walls instead of going to bed? 

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson, photo via Savvy Auntie

Oh wait, that was in his imagination.

When will she get that Gossie chose to share instead of to be angry?

Gossie by Olivia Dunrea

Babies and toddlers work hard making connections and trying to piece together an understanding of the world. How important are the early cues they get from books for shaping their everyday concepts of the world? Are they gauging the reader's reaction more than anything? I don't have a definitive answer, so let's hear your ideas in the comments.

Roxaboxen: My Childhood Outdoors

Roxaboxen, by Alice McLerran, illustrated by Barbara Cooney

Roxaboxen is a city of Alice McLerran's mother's childhood. According to the note at the end of the book, she brought it to life with the help of her Aunt Frances, "her mother's childhood manuscript, the memory of relatives, and letters and maps of former residents". Like the Velveteen Rabbit, love made it real and eternal. 

After a while they added other streets. 

Frances moved to one of them and built herself a new house outlined

   in desert glass, 

bits of amber, amethyst, and sea-green:

a house of jewels.

I loved reading Roxaboxen as a child, and my mom gave me my own copy when I was sixteen. I didn't live in the southwest like the children of Roxaboxen, but I loved to create a sense of order like the mayor, Marian, and I loved to gallop on a stick horse like Anna May. 

My backyard had leprechauns living in the clover by the creek, fairies danced in the sunlight, and the best place to warm up from a fall chill was in a fort of leaves, naturally.

Now I'm off to find all of the flowers with my daughter.

When you take a break from playing outside, read Roxaboxen, and tell me which parts speak to the child in you.

Remembering the Seashore

Throughout the summer, my internal longing for the ocean intensifies. Lakes are fantastic, and I've spent many happy summer days river swimming, but nothing beats the majesty of the sea. Baby A has seen the ocean once at three months old, while bundled up cozy on a ferry ride to a fortress island outside Helsinki. I look forward to a day when I can show her how the tide will wash away her footprints, how the sand is burning hot at noon and cool at ten in the evening, and how you must eat your sandwich quickly because the seagulls are jealous.

Auntie Jenna recently gave Baby A The Seashore Book (1992) by Charlotte Zolotow, paintings by Wendell Minor. A mother describes to her son an imaginary day spent at the beach together. They live in the mountains, so her description is the only way for her love of the sea to be passed to him. The text is so careful and beautiful, you can sense the scene before you look at the gorgeous and realistic paintings.

What experiences have you passed on with story? What books have helped?

In the Swing of Things

Our vacation visiting family and friends was amazing! See?

But when we got home, I was happy to get back in the swing of things, and luckily Baby A snapped right back into her sleeping, reading, and walking schedule. And the books that waited a week and a half for her seemed more exciting than ever.

Do the kids you know read more, or less while on holiday? (Can I say holiday instead of vacation? I really like it.)

Summer Vacation

an unrelated, but cute, snapshot of our vacation [outside Target field]

I've been enjoying a vacation in Minnesota, visiting family and friends. I'll be sure to jump in feet-first to my usual routine (which I am fortunate to love) when we get back. But for now I just wanted to show you the two new books that Baby A acquired on vacation, much to her delight:

Find the Puppy (Usborne), illustrated by Stephen Cartwright, is packed with patterns and "hidden" pictures so that 3-5 year-old readers can glean much more than a showing of the messes this puppy makes. Grandma got it for her from the Usborne online party, and then got to read it to her in person! The book is simple and short enough to read with younger babes, too, especially if they like dogs as much as Baby A does.

Moomin's Little Book of Words (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) is naturally adorable. Funny to read her a Finnish book in English, hu? But it's only one word per page, so we just say it in Finnish. An object is by itself with the word on the left page, and then in a picture from a Muumi scene on the right page. A friend found it at FinnStyle in Minneapolis. 

(Side note: At Finnstyle we also found a Marimekko Kaiku shower curtain, Marikmekko Orange Clover child headband, Muumi chapter books, and plenty of other things to drool over, so I'd check it out if I were you.)

A few playtimes, fireworks, barbeques, restaurants, lounges, swims, and long chats are shaping this vacation quite nicely. I hope you're enjoying your summer! Any new (to you) book suggestions to share? Do you read more or less in the summertime than at other times?

Direct Flights With a Boddler Rock

pic from Michelle's Murals

 

A trip with a 13-month-old is always daunting. Let's be real, when she's a preschooler, I'll depend on Nemo to get me through a trip. Baby A's record attention span for a movie is 12 minutes, and I'm glad she's not a TV junkie, except on the rare occasion I'm wrangling her fierce independence into three square feet for 2.5 hours. So on a trip with my boddler (baby toddler) I have 3 strategies for keeping calm:

 

1. List. Obviously, I love lists. I'm old-fashioned, and despite efficiency of planning electronically, I go back to a pad and pen every time. For this trip, I made a list of everything that needed to be packed. The items were listed under Suitcase, Carry-on, Essentials Bag, and Laptop Bag. Similar items for different family members were indicated with initials. Check-boxes reflected the number of items, so since I needed to pack four pairs of socks, I put four little boxes next to A socks. I waited until the last minute to check everything off the list, since Baby A "helped" by unpacking some things.

2. Envision success. This isn't just a travel strategy, obviously, but a world view. When I was on swim team in high school, we prepared mentally for meets by laying down with our eyes closed, imagining our perfect form in a heat, pulling ourselves into first place. I never won a heat, but at least I wasn't jittery going in to the meet. I put it to work envisioning a calm and happy family plane ride, and this time, my expectations were exceeded!

3. Keep an Essentials Bag handy. I like to be prepared for HALT, (like Megan talked about on Simple Mom): being prepared for triggers when a child (ahem, parents) feel Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired.We ended up boarding last, and our carry-on was several rows up on a turbulent (seat belt sign: on) flight, so I was extra glad that I had a small tote bag at my feet that kept me covered.

H- Gerber vanilla toddler drink, sippy cup Market Pantry Chickadees crackers

A- 2 pacifiers and a pacifier strap, Little People DVD (so, distractions)

L- OK, so being trapped on the laps of her parents would not be lonely, but to combat boredom: 2 cloth books to manipulate, Little Dog (special toy)

T- favorite blanket, and a leash "backpack" to double as a pillow

Baby A had a meltdown on the drive to the airport (tired), but spent the plane ride cuddling (which she hardly ever has the patience for), sleeping, and snacking. I even got in some long-awaited novel reading time with my not-so-little baby snoozing peacefully in my lap. 

[I love this and this for 3-8-year-old kids, and these people are definite pros at toddler travel, and I've talked about baby travel before.]

What's in your bag of tricks on a trip?