Books and activities

International Children Book Day

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Today we celebrate once more the glorious wonders of children books.

Since 1967 IBBY ( International Board on Books for Young Children) celebrates on 2nd of April, the birth anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen, International Children Book Day (ICBD). To honor one of the most important figures in children literature and to celebrate the importance of books in children’s life.

Each year one nation member of IBBY gets to be the sponsor of ICBD. In 2024, Japan is the sponsor of the event and the theme chosen is Imagination: “ Cross the Sea on the Wings of Your Imagination”.

The Japonese writer Eiko Kadono, who won the Hans Christian Andersen award on 2018, send a letter to all the children of the world for this special day.

I will let the English translation of it down below. More informations on this year event can be found on IBBY organization website.


“Stories travel, riding on wings,
Longing to hear the joyful beat of your heart.

I’m a traveling story. I fly anywhere.

On wings of wind, or wings of waves, or sometimes on tiny wings of sand. Of course, I also ride the wings of migratory birds. And even those of jet planes.

I sit beside you. Opening the pages, I tell you a story, the one you want to hear.

Would you like a strange and wondrous story?

Or how about a sad one, a scary one, or a funny one?

If you don’t feel like listening right now, that’s fine too. But I know someday you will. When you do, just call out, “Traveling story, come. Sit beside me!”

And I’ll fly right there.

I have so many stories to share.

How about a story of a little island tired of being alone who learned to swim and set off to find a friend?

Or the tale of a mysterious night when two moons appeared.

Or the one about Santa Claus getting lost.

Oh, I can hear your heart. It’s beating faster.

Flitter-flutter, thumpity-thump, pitter-patter, bumpety-bump.

The traveling story has jumped inside and set your heart racing.

You’ll become one yourself next, spreading your wings to fly.

And so, another traveling story is born.” ( Eiko Kadono)

Don’t let the Pigeon drive the sleigh!

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by Mo Willems

The last addiction to the Pigeon serie has come! Not with the actual Santa’s sleigh, but in time to be under the Christmas tree for all the children who loves Pigeon.

“Don’t leg the Pigeon drive the sleigh!” is a super funny wintery story about the Pigeon wanting to drive Santa’s sleigh. Until he realises that it is not actually so simple and after a reindeer frightens him, he decided that it is not a job for him. Maybe, he will try the Easter bunny… sorry, Pigeon 🙂

Giving thanks

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We often say this word out of habit. But there are moments in life when we take the time to give thanks for what we are and what we have.

Today is that day of the year when a lot of thanks will be heard.

I chose a book to celebrate this day. It is call “A fine dessert” and it is illustrated by the renewed artist Sophie Blackall.

A true history and humanity lesson. A walk through the centuries to see families enjoying this fine dessert.

Girls of the world

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de Mihaela Noroc, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2023

Saptamana trecuta a aparut ultimul album al artistei Mihaela Noroc, “Girls of the world”.
Autoarea a precizat ca va fi disponibila si varianta in limba romana. Lansarea va fi in primavara, insa nu se stie inca data aparitiei.
Pana atunci, va invit sa priviti cateva imagini din album si sa va inchipuiti activitatea colosala din spatele acestui proiect.
Nu o cunosc personal pe Mihaela Noroc, desi mi-as dori tare mult. Sa o felicit pentru ceea ce face, pentru tot ce inseamna proiectele ei si ce vrea sa lase in urma. Ce o invata pe fiica ei, ce mostenire artistica ii pregateste.

A funny thing happend after school…

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de Davide Cali si Benjamin Chaud

Chronicle books LLC, 2023

De la simpaticii si talentatii autori, Davide Cali si Benjamin Chaud, o noua povestioara haioasa despre lungul drum si ratacirea prin galaxii indepartate a temelor pentru acasa.
Lectura nerecomandata celor carora nu le-a molfait cainele niciun caiet sau niciun manual pana acum 🙂 Glumesc desigur, este o lectura pe care o recomand tuturor, cu mult drag!

Things to look forward to

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by Sophie Blackall

The renewed australian author has done it again 🙂 Her book “Things to look forward to” is a win by itself for anyone who reads it. Started as a pandemic silver lining, the book is a collection of 52 ( the artist’s age in the year the book appeared) things that may help us to keep going. We always relate to the future accordingly with our past, with what we know and we have felt until now. So it is the emotion of the future experiences that we long to feel, more that the experience itself. For someone it can be seeing an old friend or a loved one; or going to the beach; eating a favourite dish. Going in a new place or starting a new job. The things that we wish to come in our lives are as different as we are. But they all give us the same feelings: anticipation, happiness, excitement, joy, emotions. So in the end they kind of bring us together in a yet not known future.

This is the first book for grown-ups that the awarded author has written. And I loved it, I red it all in the same evening, the day it arrived. If you feel like you need an extra thing to look forward to, then maybe you’ll read it too. Or if you are curious just how good writing looks like, this is a wonderful exemple.

Enjoy!

Iban Barrenetxea, the spanish illustrator

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It was a romanian old saying about a guy who lived in a rural area and when he arrives in a big city he goes to the zoo and there he sees a giraffe. Dumbfounded, he had never seen a giraffe before, he murmurs: “something like this doesn’t exist”. I’ve seen lots of things in my life and lost of illustration and this is a fact. But when I saw Iban Barrenetxea illustrations for the first time I had the same reaction as the peasant in my story: it is surreal, something like that is beyond my imagination! The details and the symbols are just sublime!

The spanish illustrator, born in 1973 in the Basque region of Spain it is already an establish author and illustrator. Because my 8 years old daughter is learning spanish, I just bought her two of the book he illustrated: Grimm Brothers’ Snow White and Un mundo mejor, derecho des ninos ( 10 children rights illustrated). I let the images to speak for themselves and Iban Barrenetxea’s talent.

Creative activities for the summer holiday

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The summer holiday has always been my favourite time of year. Which kid doesn’t like to be free all day, to play and explore as he wishes? For the last 5 years, along with my daughter, I rediscovered the joys of the summer holiday. I am fortunate enough to be able to spend time with her; to sleep in late if we want or if our body feels the need to. To go in the park or shopping together. To cook and to eat, to play and to read. To watch movies or play cards.

It is the hotest summer of the last years, so we spend more time indoors or on our balcony than outdoor in the burning sun. And so, we had to discover more ways to keep our creative hands and minds busy 🙂

One of that discoveries I really must share with you because we just love it. It is called “marble painting” and it is magic! Your child can do some great works using this technique. For a more versatile use, I recommend making the base for the painting ( water mixed with powder) in advance. Otherwise, you have to wait 3 to 6 hours for the ingredients to fully mixed and become a gel. The final work can be transfered on plain paper, cardbox, tshirts, mugs or some other items that you want to personalize. You can use different object to create new forms and colors.

For the last 3 days, since the kit arrived, we paint all day with it. We aim for a heart, but until then, we enjoy our collection of marbled paitings.

Lola and me

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I first heard of Paolo Domeniconi a few months ago. He is an italian illustrator and one of his latest work was a collaboration with Jane Yolen, “What to do with a stick”. And in January 2024 will be released another collaboration of this artistic duo, “ Tea with an old giant”.

He also illustrated for Davide Cali and is a constant presence at the Bologna Children’s books fair and events. The next week he will be present at Sarmede , at the International Ilustration School.

The book I want to present today, Lola and me, was an 2015 IBBY selection of Oustanding Books for Young People with Disabilities.

It is the story of Lola and her furry best friend. A story about life and how it sometimes hits the best of us. But we have no other chance than to get up and continue the ride. It was the same with Lola. After being hit by a car in a Christmas eve, she lost her sight. The adaption at the new reality is beyond grief and pain. It seems unbearable at first; who would want to live like that, in the darkness, a constant reminder of the trauma?

But soon, life comes back to Lola; she moves to the city where all the noises startle her at first. The dog she choose to be her trained companion becomes a partner in everything she does. They feel the wind and the sun in the balcony. They take walks together, have ice cream in the park. They laugh and argue. They live life at the fullest, as all the partners do. They have pizza and movies evenings and shopping trips.

Life is like an opened box of chocolates. The easy part is when you get one, the real art and the great struggle is picking up an empty wrapping. Then you have to do your best and try the hardest to overcome the loss. To enjoy life as a whole human being, even if physical or emotional you no longer are one.

This story is a delicate one and I really loved it. The illustration is touching and in perfect armony with the text. Find it and read it; if not for any other reason, here’s one: you will be remembered that you’re ok. That your life if fine even if you don’t always feel that.

Mo Willems, the funniest author in the entire world

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If you haven’t heard of Mo Willems you entered by mistake on my blog 🙂 Or you just don’t have kids or you really, really don’t like picture books. And a very funny story. Either way, maybe it’s time for me to introduce to you the Mo Willems universe.

As the story goes, in this case the one he tells himself, he started creating funny story when he was a kid. A few years back he already begun writing and drawing children stories. But he was concern that the grown-ups would like his opera out of politeness. And he thought that nobody could fake a good laugh so he begin his career that he still practice.

After graduating from college he worked as an animator and writer for Sesame street and later on, for Nickeldon. But he leaved all that behind in 2003 when he decided to pursue his writing career. And so appeared the well-known Pigeon serie and then the Elephant&Piggie one.

He draws in a very simple and clean style, yet so expressive. The lines are so so funny and the stories are easy to follow by the youngest readers, 2-3 years.

My daughter simple loves all of his books. She still reads them now, at 8 years old. And the laughter have the same intesity, even though she knows the lines by heart.

I recently saw Mo Willems as a guest at the Jimmy Fallon show. He is quite a character himself, if I may say this. He was trying to get the audience to learn how to draw Pigeon. If you are up to a few good laughter and a good time, you should find the video and watch it.

A few years back, the picture book “Because” was released. It break the pattern from his known series and it is a good opportunity to teach kids that nothing is just happening in life. It is always a cause-effect in every little thing we do. It is always someone making an effort so we could be able to do something else. It is a book about legacies and generation and of course, about love.

And here is our collection of all the books about Elephant, Piggie, Pigeon and their friends that we manage to collect in the last years. It’a a collection in progress, but we will get there 🙂