Semne bune anu’ are … Voi incepe cu primul care ne-a atras atentia la inceput de an, Proiectul Barnabus de Fratii Fan. Este, in opinia mea, una dintre cele mai reusite aparitii de carte ilustrata din 2021. Si ma bucur nespus ca cei de la Humanitas junior au facut posibila aparitia ei, la standarde cu care ne-au obisnuit deja. Povestea “curge” pe fiecare pagina si prin fiecare ilustratie. Barnabus si prietenii lui captiveaza cititorii prin ideile nastrusnice, curajul si prietenia de care dau dovada. Este incercarea de a evada din cutia in care cineva se trezeste inchis, de altii, de societate sau de sine, datorita propriilor temeri si frici. Este povestea cautarii unui sens mai mare in viata decat propria persoana si patratica pe care o ocupi. Sunt multe idei si intelesuri, explicite sau ascuse, de descoperit in carte. Copilul de 7 ani s-a bucurat sa refaca traseul prietenilor pana reusesc sa evadeze, apoi a cautat “defectele” fiecare animalut si a incercat sa le retina numele. S-a mirat ca au evadat exact in magazinul cu animalute “perfecte”, de care se temeau mai mult ca orice sa ajunga… Adultul care a citit cartea impreuna cu copilul s-a bucurat de tot: design, ilustratie, traducerea si corectura impecabile, povestea duios relatata. Este o lectura pe care o recomand si sper sa fie nominalizata intre cele mai bune carti ale anului si aici, nu doar in strainatate.
For some time now me and my daughter have a new hobby: painting or reproducing works of famous artists. We paint by numbers or we add paint on scketches or on 3D contours. Is a very relaxing activity and most important, a fun way for her to learn about famous artists or paintings.
Yesterday we started working on a new project: we paint by numbers on a canvas one of Leonid Afremov’s work. She looks at the painting and asks me:
– Mum, what this picture is supposed to represent?
– Well, if we are lucky, it will be a lady and a gentlmen walking in the rain.
– Now it looks more like Picachu…
– Picasso? I ask.
– Yes mama, Picasso! I got the name wrong, but I know how Picasso painted!
We continue the serie of events related to Hallowen with a tricky business: launching a rocket in the basement of a 21 floors building! In 1912’s New York, after the janitor’s son lits up a rocket that goes up ‘til it reaches the top flat.
It is not SF, nor a dream of mine; it is not even a TV commercial or animation. It is the “Rocket book” by Peter Newell, one of the fathers of children illustrated books.
I believe that in every aspect of life we need to look up to the pioneers and the ones that took things at the highest level.
In the world of children illustrated books, Peter Newell is one of them. He illustrated Mark Twain and Lewis Caroll, to name two of the famous writers he worked with. What I loved the most about this book is the attention he paid to details, the expresivity of his characters and the ability to create a scene without overloading the illustrations. And the use of objects and words that are now lost from our homes and vocabulary.
It is a book to have and to read, at any age, I would say.
My 7 yo daughter had an interesting reaction to the book. She asked me why all the people in the book were so amazed and had eyes so big. And then she wondered what it would happen if we lit rocket in our building’s garage 🙂
I didn’t respond the obvious, that we would fly from there as soon as the rocket in the book did…
But I do like the colors it brings in the nature and the smell of cold in the morning. The pies we make and the roasted chesnuts; the walk we get to go on until the winter really setles in. And I love to collect leaves and wild berries and small pieces of wood for our art projects.
Today we decided to use some of the materials we collected in the week-end. We included leaves and berries and wooden dolls in our art. We glued and colored and put together some people …
It was a lot of fun and we sang and laughed alot.
My daughter wants to prepare a small in-house exhibition, for friends and family to see and maybe invest in our work. By now, when I write these lines, the courier was the only person asked if he wants to buy a fall painting with leaves 🙂 He was super confused, but she assured him she wroked hard on it and that is really valuable…
Me, I’m just happy that she knows how to make the most out of everything that she does.
A few years back, my dearest friend told me the story of a celebrity who went to a very faimous designer/stilist/life changing type of person. And she told the specialist that she wants a change and she have to reinvent herself. And the guy asked her how she wants to be, this new reinvented persona. And she said that she would like to be like X public person and a little bit like that person and so on… The specialist asksed her: How about being who you really are? Don’t you want to be that person?
And I often asks myself if I am who I really am or I just try to please others or to be who someone else needs me to be. Because we live among people and how they see us and their opinion about us matter, we like it or not.
I think that we prepair our kids to be not who they really are and we keep on doing that since they are very little. We compare them with other kids; our parents compare them with us at their age; we ask them what they want to be when they grow up and we also offer tthem he “right” answers. The answers most wanted and respected in the society we live. And by doing so, we limit their options with our subjectivity and our very own limitations. So maybe the best thing we can do is let them be who they natural feel to be. And trust them that they know best what they want to be or how they want to live.
The book is written in short verses that rhyme and are easy to remeber and repeat. It is recommended for ages 4-8, but depending on the child history of reading, i think it’s also appropiate for smaller children.
Joanna Gaines is a famous designer who, together with her husband and their 5 kids, had a famous TV show that she end it due to the excesive exposure of the family.
The message she wants to send to all the children of the world is that it is ok to be different, to want different things and to get where we want to go on different paths. Because it is human nature to be diverse, to have unique qualities and abilities.
Maybe some kids like to work in team and maybe some are more productive working alone. Maybe some are very serious when completing a task and other like to tell a joke or sing or make a special sound ( my daughter does that) when they are focusing on a specific task.
And as long as we prepare ourselves the best we can, the journey we take is the same for each and everyone of us. And the sky, as we begin the journey, it gets filled with all our beautiful differences! And it is a picture worth making and seing, because we have just one live and we must live it the best we can. As who we were meant to be.
It rains for days now. It is not a November rain, but it got me thinking of Guns n’ Roses. For me, living in a ex-comunist country, the ‘90 were full of discoveries from the “free” world. Guns n’ Roses was one of them and somehow represented a break from the old and a chance for new beggings.
The book is based upon the lyrics of the song Sweet child o’ mine, wrote by Axl Rose in 1987 for his girlfriend of that time, Erin Everly. In the book the main characters are a little girl and her mother, who journey through life and music. The duo was inspired by Maya and Natalie Rose, daughter and niece of band’s manager Fernando Lebeis. The girls both grew up touring with the band, so the connection between them was always very strong.
The sweet and magic illustration belongs to Jennifer Zivoin and it carries us away, in a special place of joy and laugher. For me it was a very emotional moment to open the book and start reading the lyrics to my daugther. And to listen to the song and tell her all about that time when I was such a big fan of GnR. She liked the illustrations in the book and the song also. Because she likes to sing very much (she sings most of the time) ans she wants to be a rock&roll singer. And a pilot, engineer or mother… She cannot decide yet, but it is still time for that. For the moment we just enjoyed the book that gave us the feeling of traveling and freedom and carefree. In a time when all of this was impossible and everyone had to stop for a while, in order to protect and heal.
For the last 6 years, since my daughter was born, I asked myself often if the truth behind this saying is still actual. And if so, where was this village when I need it to help me raise my beautiful girl? Now I think that in fact I was strong enough to not need the whole village. But still it would had been great for her to grow surrounded by lots of family and people who loved her.
When I saw this picture book, already knowing the work of illustrator Marla Frazee, I though I would give it a try.
Marla Frazee, for whose who aren’t familiar with her work, is the person behind “The boss baby” character. And the illustrator of “The seven silly eaters”, a great book in rhyme that my daughter loves very much.
“It takes a village” has also beautiful, vivid illustrations. The message in the book is simple, as it should be, considering it is a picture book for young readers ( above 4 years of age I would say). That a child can bring a village together; that children need good exemples in their life, need to be surrounded by champions. A child, any child has to learn that in order to achieve greatness you have to put a lot of work first. And dedication. That all our children needs a playground ; to grow, to explore the world, to thrive. And it is our duty, of each person from “the village” to make the effort to build it. Can we do that for our children?
My daughter loves books! And she loves sharing them and their stories with her friends. Today she went to the kindergarten with a really special book, so her teacher will read it to all of her collegues. And so, I thought I could share this book with you today.
“Sincerely, Emerson” is a book about a girl, her letter and the people who have been helping us in the last pandemic year.
It became an Editors’ pick for Best books ages 6-8 on Amazon. This is the kind of message I felt the need to deliver to all those people helping me and my family, from the moment the lockdown came upon us last spring. The couriers, the trash collectors, the people working in the supermarkets, the ones in the front line. All of them were and still are my heroes. They all felt the same fears and worries as I felt: the fear they will get infected, sick, maybe die. That their loved ones will get sick or die. That you have no idea where or how the invisible little “enemy” will hit. Who says that the pandemy didn’t affected him at all, in my opinion, has a problem! We were all affected by it and we still are. And my guess is that the big side effects are yet to come.
But these guys, these superheroes, they had to do their jobs, every single day, as best as they could. It wasn’t an option for them to stay at home safe, feeling scared or worried. Or to work from home. They had to go there and do what was expected of them. Because they had children to feed and bills to pay. To have a roof over their head at night. So, in my mind they are the real heros of this pandemic year. And we all should thank them. Not pressure them to arrive sooner or demand explanations for little details going wrong.
So, dear all, a big Thank you from me and my family!
And now back to our book. Emerson Weber is a 11 years old girl who lives in South Dakota. She loves writting letters and decorate them and the envelopes she puts them on. Because she thinks that writting and receiving letters is more personal than sending text or online messages. The joy and emotion you feel when you touch the letter that someone wrote especially for you is so much more than reading a text on a screen.
Emerson became famous last year, after sending a Thank you letter to her postman, Doug. She was writing letters to her friends as a way to remain connected during the quarantine. And one day she saw Doug, her postman, picking up her letters and she realised that he was the one making that connection possible. So she wrote him a Thank you letter. Doug shared the letter with his superviser Sarah, who put it in a newsletter to all the postal workers in the U.S. Next week, Emerson received two big boxes of letters from postal workers all over America. They were happy that someone had “seen” them; validated their work and their importance in the community. And so, Emerson story became viral. She received more than 1000 letters and responded to them. She appeared in television shows and news all over the world! She even received a letter from her idol, Taylor Swift! And a small gift she sent to her.
And so, the real story of the girl who loved to write letters became a book. That has beautiful, beautiful illustrations and a powerful message: saying Thank you doesn’t cost a thing and only brings joy and happiness.
And we all should say Thank you more often, especially to those helping us.
I imagine that the story transformed in a children book will become a blockbuster movie sometime soon. If not, we will always have the book to remember us the most important words: thank you!
I came across Peter Parnall illustration only by change. I was searching Caldecott medal recipients and his and Byrd Baylor’s book appeared there. This is a masterpiece, a coloured tribute to the sun in the most vivid paintings. Is a celebration of the dawn, as each nation and culture from the cavemen to our day nations had honour it. You must face east as soon as the sun comes, early in the morning. It’s only you and the sun and the song you feel in your heart and you start singing it.
Some nations bring gifts to the sun, others have festive celebrations for yhe brightest star. Some brings a new child in the first light of the morning for the sun to meet and know the child, protect him for the rest of his life. From Peru to China and from Congo to India, all the nations knows that they have to give something to the sun. The cavemen gave it, the egyptians and the ancient chinese also.
Your song, your offering will be one more in the world, will add magic to the brightness of the sun. The big yellow star will know you are there and will receive your greatings.
A new colour will appear in the sky and you will watch it as you start your day.
This work of art, with it’s brilliant illustrations first appeared in 1977! The year of my birth… But, after more than 40 years is still actual and still stunning. And it remind me to look east when I wake up, to honour the sun. Without it’s warm and light my life as I know it wouldn’t be possible.
Today, 18th of January, we celebrate something so ephemere and yet so beautiful, a snowman.
The first World Day of the Snowman was celebrated on 2011. Why 18? Because the snowman represent the 8 and the stick that is his arm, the 1. And January because it is cold enough in most of the planet to build a snowman.
We were lucky enough to build a little snowman this winter, so today we celebrated all the snowmen in the world by reading a delightful book.
“Snow friends” by Christina Butler and Tina Macnaughton is a delicate, gentle book for young readers, 2-3 years or more. The illustrations are beautiful and bright and the glittering snowball adds a little glamour to the book.
Snow friends by M Christina Butler
This is a story about snowman, friendship, team work, emphaty, working hard to achieve your goal. All of these so necessary for the little preschoolers learning their ways into the world. Where the power of two or three is greater than the power of one. Where to give someone a hand in need is so much better than to just do nothing. Where they have to adapt to so much so soon. And, in order to be winners, they have to form alliances and real friendships.
It is also a book about beauty. The beauty of the white, frosty winter landscape. Of the stars and moon, on a winter night. Of the sunset. The feeling one could have after a day of hard work, when even if tired and exausted, can admire the result of his work.
But enough said. I leave you to enjoy a few of the books illustrations.
