Yay! Collage!

Last night I read a great new book from Lois Ehlert, published in March 2014, The Scraps Book: Notes from a Colorful Life. I love the bright colors and crisp-edged shapes in Ehlert's artwork. When the collages are reproduced as a book, their 3-dimensionality is made less obvious, so seeing the artwork in early stages reveals texture and volume present in the originals.

Finding the new book at the Kenton County Public Library, I discovered it is not Ehlert's first memoir. Right next to it on the shelf was Under My Nose, published in 1996.

From the cover, Under My Nose looks like your typical meet-the-author children's biography so numerous in school and public libraries. In it Ehlert shares just a few sentences about her life and then describes how she develops ideas into books. Scraps is really an extended, more artwork-filled version of Under My Nose. Since it's being published as a trade book rather than for the institutional market, it will likely catch more attention this time around, so I'm glad to see the revamp.

A 4th of July Parade made for me!

I drove to Hamilton, Ohio on the 4th of July to attend Hamilton's parade with my mother, sister, et alia. The main attraction for us was 95-year-old Uncle Gordon, who was riding among the WW2 Veterans. To my delight, the theme of the parade was "Celebrating Hamilton's History/Robert McCloskey Centennial". Floats depicted the native son's picture books, with ducklings being especially prevalent. I was especially gratified when a mock doughnut machine went by! After the parade, we attended the program on Courthouse Square, which included a talk by Nancy Folmer about McCloskey's life. There was also a harmonica solo in his honor. Here's a link to news coverage of the parade by the Journal-News. Now I just need to get my hands on a Lentil T-shirt!

My own Shelf Discovery

Thinking about the old books in my last 2 posts has made me remember Lizzie Skurnick's great book about remembering the books you read in childhood/teenhood.

After reading it, I made a list of all the books I remember reading from age 0 to 14. That was fun! Make a mental note to put that list on the blog.

Fondly Remembered

I'd like to track down Finders Weepers by Miriam Chaikin, which I read at age 9 or 10. The only cover image I can find on the world wide web isn't quite satisfactory. The illustration by Richard Egielski is fine, but only part of it was used on this reprint cover.

Finders Weepers is a sequel to I Should Worry, I Should Care, but I never read the first. Maybe my copy came from a box of books ordered through a Troll flyer at school. It was a surprise assortment, where you knew only how many items there would be, but not the titles. It must have been a way for them to get rid of overstock. The element of surprise was genius. I was very happy with my assortment.

Finding That Book I Read in Childhood

I had a great experience using goodreads.com to help me find a book. There is a discussion group called "What's The Name of That Book???". I posted my query on August 7, 2013 and was reunited with the title on April 25, 2014.

I remembered so, so much of the plot, but was so, so clueless of title and author. When the author turned out to be Florence Parry Heide, it clicked. I met and fell in love with The Shrinking of Treehorn a few years ago, and her name sounded very familiar. Turns out that Time's Up is the reason!

Similarly, I came to admire illustrator Marilyn Hafner through other books, not realizing I'd seen her in Time's Up. In the edition I read, she did not draw the cover, but her interior drawings were there. I have yet to get a copy and re-read as a grown-up, but I will, eventually.

Yesterday In Books

In belated honor of Father's Day, here's a shout out for a wonderful book.

The first time I read this book, while babysitting Ethan Unklesbay, I laughed out loud when I reached the movie theater page. The cover image here bears the Reading Rainbow logo. I am very glad to hear of Lavar Burton's recent success raising funds via Kickstarter in order to revive the beloved TV show. It's neat that the show meant so much to him.

Today in Books

My goal: to celebrate each day in books. I started a mini-display--one book in an easel, plus a sign--at the just-opened-two-days-ago Booksellers on Fountain Square. Monday 9/16 was Happy Birthday to H.A. Rey next to a copy of his book Curious George. Yesterday 9/17 was Constitution Signing Day, with a copy of Shh! We're Writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz. I haven't figured out today yet, but stay tuned.