First, I know you all want to know who the winners are!
So, first up, EVERYONE that has commented on every post with the book that they read
will be getting a “ROCKSTAR” linocut print in the mail.
These are the same ones I give away as thank you notes after
hearing an author/illustrator/industry professional speak.
And you guys are all rockstars in my book, for sure!
You know what, I’ll send you one even if you had to take a day or two too…why not cut some slack?
But only this once 🙂
I really appreciate everyone participating.
I was a bit sick yesterday, so further instructions tomorrow, ok?
Thank you to random.org for picking the following winners 🙂
Second, the winners of little idea books are:
Marcie Colleen
and
Donna Martin!
Designs will be up soon, most likely tomorrow or Thursday, and you’ll be able to choose what you want lino-printed on the book. 32 pages, pocket sized, made in the US….doesn’t get much better than that!
And,
drumroll please….
the winner of “This is not my hat” by Jon Klassen is…
Erikc VanRaepenbusch!
Congrats, Eric!
(and sorry that I totally put a K at the end of your name…I’m going to plead tired and possibly sick. I honestly don’t know WHERE I got the idea to do that…many apologies…for a girl who’s fussy about her name, I should be more CAREFUL!)
Let me know in the comments or via email (click the little mail looking orange button on the upper right of my blog) who you want this book signed to. I think I’ll snap a picture of Jon for you too…why not?
Woo-Hoo!
And after all that, there’s still a book!
Today’s book is super cute.
I’m partial to it because I was sort of a twin growing up.
Ok, my sister and I weren’t really twins; we were and still are 19 months apart.
But my parents joked that she was the same size as me
when I was 19 months
and she was just born.
See, I was a wee little thing.
So my sister and I were always mistaken for twins.
She got most of the French looks
while I got all of the Irish.
She literally counted her freckles once and came up with five.
I, on the other hand, have way too many to count.
We both have wavy/curly hair, and apparently our ponytails flip in the same way when we run.
For a while we both worked at Dunkin’ Donuts.
And yes, we did look a bunch alike in those uniforms.
But, anyway, we’re not really twins, although we like to think we are sometimes.
But the good news?
Twins run in our family.
So we’ll see..
Anyway, the book, right?
Title: The Twins’ blanket
Published by: Frances Foster Books, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2011
Author: Hyewon Yum
Illustrator: Hyewon Yum
In one word: Adorable
In one sentence: Twins have shared a blanket ever since they were born, but now they’re five and they’re getting big….what will happen?
Favorite Pages:
Likes:
- Double point of view (one from each twin)
- the points of view mirror each other a bit
- simple sentences
- fun illustrations (even one with twins glaring at each other in picture frames on the wall!)
- the twins speak in first person. Makes you feel like a kid again.
- A sweet story.
- A little bit of sibling rivalry, but not too bad 🙂
Learns:
- Double point of view works, as long as you keep it simple.
- Another book about siblings! I like how they tease each other, but not too harshly.
- Even the illustrations often mirror each other…which works because they’re twins!
Whew!
What book did you read today?
Let’s look at the bookshelf:
keep reading everyone, and prizes will be out soon!
Enthusiastically yours,
Kathy Ellen and Singe Singe
Wow! Thank you so so much for the prize! With PiBoIdMo coming up, I could really use a cool idea book. How exciting is that! Thank you, Kathy Ellen and Singe Singe!
Today I “read” TRAINSTOP by Barbara Lehman. I reason I say “read” in quotations is that this is a totally wordless book. The little 2 year old I nanny picked this book out at naptime. (Isn’t it just so cool that I get paid to read picture books!?). But the tricky thing is that I never know how to “read” a story like this out loud. I usually just ask a lot of “what’s going on here?” questions. But I can be tricky. I heard parents saying this when BALL FOR DAISY came out. Reading a wordless book is fun, but challenging.
Anyway, the plot of the story is a girl and her parents board a subway that travels aboveground through a cityscape and then plunges into a tunnel. When the train again emerges into the light, the window suddenly reveals a view of a green countryside with houses and a windmill in the distance. A man wearing striped pants and holding a straw hat brings the train to a halt with a long, bannerlike flag. The child disembarks and is welcomed by a group of miniature people. They lead her to a tree where a plane and its presumed pilot are entangled. With help from a little person, the youngster rescues both the plane and pilot. Waving good-bye, she returns to the train and eventually disembarks with her parents at their urban home. The pilot and a friend fly to her building, giving the girl a gift to commemorate her adventure.
Such a whimsical book. I think it is especially fun for Duncan, the little boy I nanny, rides the subway every day and so he can relate to the realism but fantasize about the fantasy.
I recommend picking it up. And any ideas on “reading” wordless books would be cool.
I hope you get lots of ideas in the idea book, Marcie!
It will be coming to you soon!
I like wordless books, but, I agree with you, sometimes they are hard to “read”
I have a few more of them coming up…I’ll look at some ideas for reading them…and by look I mean look around and look inside my own brain too 🙂
Yes, it is VERY cool that you get paid to read picture books.
JEALOUS!
Thanks for sharing ‘The Twins’ Blanket’ Kathy! It looks like a great book for any child…even one that is not a twin. 🙂
Today I read ‘Dragons Love Tacos’ by Adam Rubin and illustrated by Daniel Salmieri. Hilarious illustrations…and a very clever theme about how dragons love tacos but hate spicy salsa…so if you have a party and invite dragons, you’d better not give them spicy salsa or everything might burn down with the hot fire they will breathe out. 🙂
This book is another of my pile of books published in 2012…a very interesting picture book reading journey this is going to be, Kathy. 🙂
I have heard of this book, Vivian!
I’ll have to see if my library has it. thanks for giving it a read though!
I’m glad you are enjoying the challenge and reading 2012 books to boot.
You came up with a great challenge, Kathy!
Hi Kathy,
Wow! Thanks for the cool prize! I’m like Marcie…I’m planning ahead for PiBoIdMo and can use a neat catch-all book for my PB ideas!
The book I read today was titled Happy Halloween Little Critter. This book was written and illustrated by one of my all-time favorite children’s authors, Mercer Mayer. I actually read this book standing in front of a Halloween display rack at Walmart…Mr. Mayer’s adorable illustrations literally stopped me in my tracks and I HAD to do a quick read in front of the check out aisles…
Little Critter is at a Halloween party and he keeps getting surprised by different critters in costumes until he discovers who are under all those masks. Fans of Mercer Mayers Critter stories will have a fun time guessing. Bright colors and traditional costumes will encourage young children to want to read this book again and again. Of course I couldn’t get out of Walmart without adding it to my cart…;~)
Donna L Martin
http://www.donnalmartin.com
http://www.donasdays.blogspot.com
Oh I love Mercer Mayer!
You’re welcome for the prize…it even has 32 pages so you can get bonus ideas! Coming to you soon!
I read THE OLD WOMAN WHO NAMED THINGS by Cynthia Rylan; illus. Kathryn Brown. This book older (1996) so it is a lot longer than what’s being published now: 1214 words! Also, the MC is an old lady. As she has outlived all her friends, she only names things she’s sure will outlive her. A stray puppy comes along and she doesn’t want to become attached…
I like this book and think it would be nice for a child in lower grades who can read alone or have a longer book read to her. I guess this is what they call a “quiet book” and that’s ok with me– I need some quiet themes that open all kinds of conversations too.
Congrats to the prize winners! Thanks for the post on TWINS, Kathy.
I read this book, Dana!
I was on a Cynthia Rylant kick for a while…
I really adored it, and yes, quiet books are great!
Awww, Dana, you read the same book I did! Great story…
Donna L Martin
http://www.donnalmartin.com
http://www.donasdays.blogspot.com
I read The Very Cranky Bear – http://melissawrites.com.au/2012/10/31-picture-books-the-very-cranky-bear/
First of all, congratulations to Eric, Marcie and Donna! And woohoo for the rest!
The Twins’ Blanket sounds like a great book for any set of siblings (or friends).
Today I came upon an intriguing looking book in the library that fit with my Perfect Picture Book theme this month of looking closely at nature, and it almost made it into the line-up. Almost, but not quite. The illustrations and the theme are wonderful, the text, not so much.
The book is “Fighting for the Forest” written by Gloria Rand, illustrated by Ted Rand (and based on a true story experienced by their son). It was published in 1999 — I checked that after seeing how wordy the text was! The book is about a boy and his father who go for walks in an ancient forest, noticing everything. One day they notice that all the trees have blue spots of paint on them, which means they’re slated to be cut down. Clear cut. The boy has an idea to try to save the forest, but it doesn’t work. They do find another forest to walk in, but always miss “their” forest. I appreciated that it didn’t have a fully happy ending, although there was hope. The illustrations are incredible — one can almost feel the bark on the trees, it is painted so well, and the theme of looking closely and identifying things is done well. The text falls flat. It seems unnatural, and as School Library Journal’s review said (yes, I checked on B&N) in places it’s rather didactic. When the boy discovers the blue spots, his father spouts a huge amount of facts about clear cut logging, which not only doesn’t sound like normal speech, but might have been more effective if they’d had to find out what the spots meant. The illustration of the clear cut forest, with all the stumps, is heartwrenching, and the last double page spread, looking up through the trees of another forest, at a bird flying high, is filled with hope and joy — I just wish the text measured up to the illustrations.
P.S. Hope you feel better soon, Kathy Ellen!
Thanks, Beth, I am feeling better!
This book sounds interesting..I’ll have to check it out to see the things you pointed out about the text.
Eric,
I’m SO sorry I put a K at the end of your first name instead of a C.
I went back and fixed it, as you can see…
Not sure what possessed me to do that.
That being said, I PROMISE to get your name right for the signed book.
Let me know who you want it signed to!
KE
Congratulations, Erik, Marcie, and Donna!
I read “If You Give a Dog a Donut” by Laura Numeroff. This series is my daughter’s favorite picture books. One scene I particularly like for Fall, is the dog in the apple tree. Reminds me of a cross-stitch I made for my kitchen, plus we have lots of apples in the fridge. Great circular stories!
I like the illustrations in the twin book!
I love Laura Numeroff…those books are fun.
She’s actually the first author I met, WAY BACK in 2007.
I was so nervous I couldn’t speak.
Which, for me, is ridiculous.
Now, I’m chattin’ up authors like we’re old friends.
I like the illustrations in the twin book too 🙂
Wow, yesterday was busy and I woke up first thing to write about the book I read. Then, I see I won!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Last night we read DON’T SQUISH THE SASQUATCH by Kent Redeker and Bob Staake. This was a very silly book. Silly creatures get on the bus and are warned not to sit to close to the sasquatch. He doesn’t like to be squished. Of course, he gets squished! My wife came in from the other room and wondered what the heck I was reading. But, the kids liked it! I am sure I will be rereading it sometime today.
I’ve heard of Don’t Squish the Sasquatch…it looks great!
Glad I got the email and glad you saw that you won!
The book is pretty awesome…there is a preview coming up tomorrow!
I sent you an email too. Let me know if you do not receive! Thanks again!
I read MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON: THINGS ABOUT ME. I had seen this cover in the bookstore a dozen times, but never picked it up. Then Aaron found a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF9-sEbqDvU), which was just so awesome I had to check it out. It’s basically just like the video–but the art has this lovely feel to it. Like the artist created it in impressionistic oil.