The Year of the Rat... and Peter Rabbit

Chinese New Year begins on February 7, 2008. It is the year of the Rat. In ancient times the rat was welcomed as a "protector and bringer of material prosperity." The rat is actually the first in the horoscope cycle. They begin the sequence and recur every 12th year by the lunar calendar.

Today I brought home a board book from the library (in celebration of Chinese Culture) by Amy Wilson Sanger, titled Yum Yum Dim Sum. It's part of the "World Snacks Book" series of board books that I have fallen in love with. Tricycle Press in Berkeley has published them. My sister said she has checked out the Sushi book several times from her local library.

The hip artwork in this book is beautiful with bright mod colors and overlay collage... almost 3-dimensional. The paper mache food looks tasty! With simple rhymes, fun and catchy and the back cover has a glossary of all the foods mentioned. Dim Sum, Oolong, Siu Mai, Ha Gau ....mmm I'm getting hungry.

Back to the year of the rat... The other night, my son and I watched the Miss Potter movie. I thought maybe it would inspire me with my illustrations. Well, it turned out to be more of a sweet, romantic flick but it really inspired my son's art. I'm posting his inspirational drawing of Peter running and losing his blue coat with the brass buttons and his shoes "one amongst the cabbages and the other amongst the potatoes."

Oh, yeah, the rat! One thing that I did find amazing was that young Beatrix and her brother were allowed to keep a pet rat (amongst other rodents) in their bedroom! In those days I didn't think children from high society kept pet rats... especially girl children. Maybe that's why Beatrix Potter is the best selling children's author of all time!

Martina Josefina Catalina Cucaracha

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach A Cuban Folktale retold by Carmen Agra Deedy, illustrated by
Michael Austin and winner of the Pura Belpré Honor Award, is the subject of today's post.

Beautiful Martina Josefina, Catalina Cucaracha has her own website. Don't you love that name? I could say it over and over, Martina, Josefina, Catalina, Cucaracha beautiful muchacha. Ah, the Spanish language. And Cubans speak Spanish fast!

Camen Agra Deedy says in a Peachtree Press interview, "I've always loved the traditional version of this story. La Cucarachita Martina, or, Martina the Little Cockroach, is the Cuban folk tale, which tells of a tiny cockroach who goes a-courting—or, more accurately—sits on her balcony to be a-courted. As enacted by my marvelous storytelling mother, Martina was a true coquette, who drew many suitors before finding her perfect match. I loved the story so much that as soon as it ended, I was already begging, "Otra vez!" Again!" You can find the rest of the interview here.

Deedy blends Spanish words into the English text for both emphasis Caramba! and cultural identification, Abuela, mantilla, mi amor. I'm familiar with Daniel Moreton's La Cucaracha Martina, little buggy-eyed cockroach. It's sweet and humorous, but this version has a twist. Abuela tells Martina, "The Coffee Test never fails." Reluctantly at first, Martina pours coffee on her suitors shoes to find out their reactions. In the end she falls in love with a humble little mouse who has a Cuban grandmother and coffee test too. Michael Austin's illustrations compliment the humor in this tale. They're highly stylized. This book would make a super little movie. Nothing about it is static.

I have to catchup on some work tonight. A little Cafe Cubano and some rumba works like a charm. Taxes? Bring 'em on

Jamie Sings

Last night I was reading some of my favorite blogs. Jules Interview with Sara Lewis Holmes was ab fab. Really, I was listening to the podcast of Sara reading her poetry and thinking about some of the people that inspire her. Then I thought, what if God created a composite man- one that had the musical talent of Lyle Lovett, the good looks and seductive qualities of Johnny Depp and (here's one Sarah didn't mention) the culinary skill of Jamie Oliver the Naked Chef? There's a man I'd like to meet. But what if it got all mixed up- like he looked like Lyle Lovett, cooked like Johnny Depp and sang like Jamie Oliver? Oh never mind......

My daughters loved Mary and the Mouse The Mouse and Mary by Beverly Donofrio and Barbara McClintock, as did I. I'm a sucker for stories that span a generation. Here is another recommendation. Anamaria at Books Together has a review and Eisha & Jules also reviewed it in a 7-imps picture book feature. I'm sure it's been reviewed on other blogs but I didn't locate the posts immediately, so please leave a link in the comments if you have reviewed it. So I'm turning the pages before bedtime, and as Mary grows up she moves into a house of her own and there's a large illustration of a mid-century modern home. Ok I subscribe to Atomic Ranch. We have a '70s ranch but it's nothing like those full color spreads in Atomic ranch I lust over. Now I have to have this book in my collection because I'm just borrowing it from the library. If I put that book under my pillow do you think that house would materialize sooner? Or maybe I'll dream about talking mice?????

Exactly

When I was taking courses for my teaching program we talked about desktop publishing and all the cool projects you could do with kids. We would make books for fundraising purposes or simply because it's very esteem-building for a child to see her work properly formatted in a publication.

And then there's Exactly.

"The fifty-six children's tales in this anthology were written by students at Raoul Wallenberg Traditional High School in San Francisco. Each author crafted an original story or fable designed to provide entertainment and life lessons to the next generation. The stories have been vividly illustrated by professional artists - in full color ..."

Who is 826 Valencia and how did they come about? Find out here. OK sign me up. I know she's only four so that gives us a few years to prepare. In addition to San Francisco there are chapters in NYC, Los Angeles, Michigan, Seattle, and Chicago.

Speaking of San Francisco, two of my most favorite books are Daughter of Fortune and Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende. I saw a link over at Writing Time to a video of Allende speaking about writing, passion, stories and feminism. She's marvelous and funny- note the part about Sophia Loren, but she's also politically savvy and passionate about empowering women worldwide.

The Girl on Tour

I adore blogs because a simple idea can reach globally, create solidarity and inspire humanitarian endeavors. For example, The Girl in the Cafe, not the movie but the blog (weblog) There's a pretty good review of the film here if you haven't seen it. I was talking about this movie for days, so get on the tour if you haven't seen it.

"The Girl lives in London with a pirate, she is a wannabe film maker and screen writer with a Lawless Heart and a Bill Nighy addiction." -so says the self-described author. When I feel that travel-lust escapist fantasy coming on, I read through this site, click around the photos, I am woooshed away and return in a much better place.

I adore bloggers because they're so dang funny. Check out this post at 15 Minute Lunch. Look at that childhood artwork! We have some up on the fridge right now, but I'll never talk about it in the same way again after reading that post.

I adore blogging because I can pull a book off my shelf and share it with the world. Kid Size The Material World of Childhood is actually an exhibition catalogue of current and historical photographs. The catalogue discusses the changing traditions and assumptions about the objects (toys, furniture, utensils, playgrounds....) and requirements for a child's spiritual and physical development. It states that our relationship to the world builds up from childhood, through cultural experience, comparisons and realizations. Here are a few captions: Children at play reconstruct a firing squad in Palermo Italy 1960, A mother has turned the undercarriage of her snack-cart into a sleeping place for her baby, Peru 1964, Municipal kindergarten in Munich, 1928, or Small hands on tokyo: urban icons in contemporary Japan. The 1997 exhibition toured Europe, but I pull this book out from time to time and thumb through it over coffee.

Rain Rain Go Away

We're spinning in circles inside with all this rain. After four days of wet weather I'm thinking of Spring and Spring makes be think of birds. Birds make me think of Shirley Temple?????

Today music is my muse. My girls will dress up and flutter around as I write.
The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes- ah, that is where the art resides.
-Artur Schnabel

So let's wake up with Shirley and dance!

Obsessive Consumption

I just realized that I am always shopping. I buy something every day. It might be groceries or a book online, but I am Always shopping. Lately I've been shopping on etsy. Etsy is one of my favoite sites because I get so much inspiration from all the original hand made items. I was looking for self- published childrens books and unfortunately there are only 3 listed. Two of the books listed were Mister Toast books.

I don't have a Mister Toast book but my son has a Mister Toast plush toy that he sleeps with every night........(and he loves to party with Peter Rabbit while my son is asleep because we always find those two in odd places by morning!) Hmmm ....I think I Must have The Adventures of Mister Toast by Dan Goodsell!

My greatest discovery is the hand made zine "What did you buy Today?" by Kate Consumption. A 1 year subscription is $48.00 and it's full of awesome illustrations of all of Kate's daily purchases. I think its purpose is to make us feel less self conscious about how we shop to fill the void! I definitely need to get a subscription for my birthday....hint hint

As I was scrolling through the etsy items I also came across this mini book (Another Must have that I saved in my Favorites) Adventures of the Cloudpeople by Ruth Bleakley. She makes the most amazing doll-sized mini books, hand bound and hand painted.

There are so many truly creative authors and artists in this world and it always inspires me to see those who do.