An article in the New York Times today cites testimony from publishers and bookstores who have seen a significant decline in the number of picturebooks being purchased by parents. They expose their toddlers to books for older kids in an attempt to prepare them for the higher testing standards and competition of today’s schools. They are also feeling the price pinch when picturebooks cost up to $18.00. And what do the kids think?
eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff
In June we embarked on a major road trip around the Great Lakes from our home in MA. I brought some books on CD for in the car and a couple of paperbacks including Eleven, a powerful and poignant story by Patricia Reilly Giff. In the book, Sam who is just turning eleven, suspects that he may be someone else.
Sam doesn’t read well, so how can he decipher the old newspaper clipping in the attic with his picture as a three-year-old next to the word “missingâ€? He enlists Caroline of the tangerine hair to read it for him and asks her, “suppose I belong somewhere else?â€Â That worries him because he loves his grandfather Mack, the woodworking shop that they share, their friends Onji and Anima, and Night Cat, too. Sam’s teacher, Mrs. Stanek asks he and Caroline to build a castle for Read More
A New York Times article examines the children’s book industry’s new incentive to include digital versions of books for children.
At Maudslay Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit, Kalmia, a wind kinetic sculpture.
The idea for Kalmia came from the beautifully curving shapes of mountain laurel branches I found at the park. Maudslay State park has the largest naturally occurring stand of mountain laurels in the state. The ones I used died while striving for the sun after the surrounding trees grew so tall.
Optimism, a bronze sculpture, is a visual metaphor for a human trait that the Shaker philosophy relies on. Shaker Triptych is a three-element wall sculpture made of maple and based on the footprints of three trees: an apple and a pear at Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, MA and a Bartlett pear tree from Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in Maine. They have in common that both are in Shaker themed exhibits right now.
Optimism bronze 6'3"x2'x1.5'
Hancock Shaker Triptych maple flooring 4'x6'x1"
The triptych involved making patterns of where the trees meet the earth, then cutting them out of wood. Fruit trees were chosen for their usefulness to the Shakers. The Hancock Shaker pear tree – leftmost Read More
For the past twelve years a group of artists have run an exhibit at Maudslay State Park in Newburyport, MA. This year there are 33 sculptures/installations including Kalmia, which is my wind kinetic tribute. I have participated for nine years.
There is a catalogue, given free to the public, that contains the site map, artists statements and photos of each piece.
The Whistler 8'5"x1.5'x1.5' painted steel 2009
Potential 3x3 8'x4'x.5' each, wind kinetic, mild steel 2001
Mama Says... 8'x8'x8' plastic water pipe, steel, landscape fabric, mylar, paint 2005
If Trees Were Men... 4'x4.5'x4.5' each, painted steel 2003
Striving for the Aerie 40'x40' maze cut into the meadow, 2002
Meanders 9'x22'x8' steel rod, farmer's row cover 2000
Spiral Bower 4'x20'x20' natural, found materials
Maple Footprint en pointe 8'x6'x3" mild steel, wind kinetic, 2002
In May I bought a copy of Jump the Cracks by Stacy DeKeyser at the SCBW&I New England “Moments of Change†conference in Fitchburg, MA. Stacy DeKeyser is a writer who has her head in the right place.
The book asks “what would you do?†if you were in Victoria’s shoes and saw a teen mother shut her bruised two-year-old in a train bathroom, then get off the train. Victoria is tired of adults who can’t or won’t be responsible, so she promises the little boy that she will not leave him to the disastrous future she forsees for him. She chugs off with the toddler to who-knows-where with no real plan other than not accepting the status quo. Enter Evil Greedy Guy, the Law, the mysterious ‘Tee’ and the suddenly reappearing teen mom. Stolen money materializes in Victoria’s backpack counterbalancing her honest, ethical mores (if you don’t count the kidnapping part).
Victoria is a thoroughly believable teen who makes a decision she thinks is for the best, then sticks with it through hell and high water. The resolution is feasible and the reader ends up feeling that this toddler is lucky to have been kidnapped. Others like him who don’t have an advocate like Victoria may really fall through the cracks.
Friday night Egils and I went to an opening reception at an art gallery where I became involved in an intriguing conversation with William Sargent, the author of a number of books for adults about the seashore and its organisms and other science and nature-related topics. He was excited about a number of children’s books he was working on, some of which he had already published through CreateSpace, an Amazon print-on-demand company. Why did he choose POD rather than the traditional publishers he had worked with on his adult books? Read More
As I begin “Constructions†I’ve chosen a title that encompasses all forms of creative endeavor regardless of genre. While there are those who may feel that a person cannot expect to succeed in such dissimilar areas as children’s literature and sculpture, I take the opposite view: how can a truly creative person expend an entire lifetime on one idea? That one idea approach has its own minimalist attraction, however isn’t it really somewhat of a hyperbaric chamber? Read More
