Over the weekend, I visited REDCAT in Downtown LA for an event I’ve been meaning to go to for years. And it did not disappoint. In its 10th year, the REDCAT International Children’s Film Festival is three weekends of short films, animated and live action, from all over the world. Sure, they’re meant for children, but the filmmaking, particularly in animation, is sophisticated enough for any movie-lover. (A lot like picture books!)
And with three showtimes each weekend day, that adds up to a lot of wonderful films! I went to one program last Saturday and I just might have to head down again for another, different installment of international shorts.
It’s exquisite, inventive, and profound. A boy has a saucepan. He just does, without explanation. The saucepan makes life difficult and makes people view him differently. But he’s artistic and sensitive, this boy. But still, things aren’t easy carrying a saucepan around. You see how the saucepan functions as a metaphor, right? Stick in any number of issues or ailments or differences, and there’s your saucepan.
Plus, things turn out alright for Anatole in the end. He may not be rid of his saucepan (who ever is?), but he learns from someone else how to cope with it. And how to play badminton with it too!
The sound effects, the story, and the sets and handmade characters are all standouts in this one.
Next, Notebook Babies: Someone Who Gets You, was a close second and entirely different in scope and tone! It’s a super funny crowdpleaser:
The creator, Tony Dusko, is a fifth grade teacher who puts up animated shorts on a YouTube channel called Notebook Babies. And they’re fabulous!
So, if you’re in L.A., check out some films like these! Each showing will cost you $5 a ticket. May 9 & 10; May 16 & 17.
And if you’re not in L.A., the trailers are pretty satisfying too!
Here are some of my favorite picture books that feature Nana or Grandad and the special relationship kids can have with them.
Last Stop on Market Street, words by Matt De La Peña, pictures by Christian Robinson. I love the lines next to CJ’s grandmother’s mouth that, in Robinson’s signature style, are all we need to know she’s Nana. And that last stop is so worth it! This book explores many things, including seeing unexpected beauty and the power of generosity.
Infinity and Me written by Kate Gosford, illustrations by Gabi Swiatkowska. Uma ponders her red shoes and the concept of infinity, and it’s her grandma’s love that helps it all make sense.
Joone by Emily Kate Moon. A portrait of a spunky girl who happens to live with her grandfather makes for a sweet read.
Now One Foot, Now the Other by Tomie dePaola. This one is sure to make you cry and highlights the way childhood mirrors growing old. So tender.
Grandama’s Gloves by Cecil Castellucci, illustrated by Julia Denos. Another touching picture book about grandparents! This one deals with the loss of a grandmother, but the theme is how she’ll always be present in memory, in growing things.
Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say. This is one of my all time favorite books. A grandson telling the story of his grandfather torn between two places.
Zayde Comes to Live by Sheri Sinykin, illustrated by Kristina Swarner. This is another book dealing with loss. A girl’s grandfather comes to live with her family in his final days. It’s very explicit about death and questions of an afterlife and comes to beautiful conclusions about life.
Grammy Lamby and the Secret Handshake by Kate Klise and M. Sarah Klise. This picture book is about a grandson who comes around to his grandmother (lamb-mother). It’s funny and teary and true.
Abuelo by Arthur Dorros, illustrated by Raúl Colōn. This one shows how instrumental a grandparent can be, how much he has to teach, how wide his reach.
A Walk in Paris by Salvatore Rubinno. This is basically a sweet, fun guidebook to the city, with Grandpa leading the way.
My Abuelita by Tony Johnston, illustrated by Yuyi Morales. A grandson admires and wants to emulate his Abuelita and her vocation as storyteller.
Maia and What Matters by Tine Mortier and Kaatje Vermeire. Not only does this book look gorgeous, it tells a gorgeous story of a bond between Maia and her grandmother, before and after her grandma’s health begins to fail.
The Frank Show by David Mackintosh. A lighter look at the subject of grandparents and, again, a grandson who needs some time to come around to how cool retro Grandpa Frank truly is. (But we as readers know right away.)
Nana in the City by Lauren Castillo. This grandma is super cool. I mean, look at her. Plus, she teaches her grandson how to be brave.
The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster and Chris Raschka. Here we have a pair! Nana and Poppy are always looking through that window, which is so reassuring and sweet.
The Grandad Tree by Trish Cookie, illustrated by Sharon Wilson. Another book that explores how we remember grandparents, this time through an apple tree that serves as symbol.
Grandpa Green by Lane Smith. A book about the Edward Scissorhands of (great) grandparents. And it gives a child a glimpse into the enigmatic, unknown life of older family members.
Did I miss any other great (or grand) ones? Do share!
This picture book is about a girl and her imagination. She’s a reader, of course. But a maker, too. She’s a child being a child, during those magical times in a secure childhood when there is little expected of you but to use your imagination.
It’s wondrous in story and concept and artwork. I already know it will be one of my favorites from 2015 and a book to cherish always.
I was lucky enough to ask Sara O’Leary, one of my favorite authors and people, questions about writing the book. And she answered them!
(You know I’m a fan because I posted about When I Was Small my very first month of this blog!)
(click image(s) to enlarge)
See those first lines? Those are some of my favorite first lines of a picture book EVER.
This Picture Book Life: Can you tell me about those first lines? Was that the original start of the book?
Sara O’Leary: I wasn’t really conscious of this until you asked this question, but no, those first lines weren’t in the opening of the first draft. And as I go through line-by-line I see that nothing of that first draft survived verbatim into the words now on the page!
When I started working with Tara on revising the manuscript she got me to go through and make myself a dummy copy with illustrations. And to be honest, I’d never done this before even though it was something I’d counselled students to do. And when I went through that process it helped me to start thinking of the story visually and I arrived at the idea that I wanted the story to open out from Sadie rather than opening with her. And then I thought of the way kids play with boxes. My own son when he was small would play Jack-in-the-Box for what seemed like hours at a stretch.
And so that’s how we got to the box on the first page. But once we agreed on that idea of Sadie being concealed to begin with, it ended up influencing the choices we made when it came to the cover. And that’s how Sadie ended up wearing her little fox mask–which I now love.
Notice that fox stuffed animal? He pops up again and again. I really like that fox.
TPBL: Was the fox your idea or did Julie Morstad add in the fox on her own?
Sara O’Leary: There was a fox in the first draft of the story–a line about how when she grew up Sadie might get married and how she might marry a fox or a tin soldier but that she was in no hurry. And then the idea of her little fox family came in later. And then once Julie had added that into Sadie’s imaginative world I found that we didn’t need the line of text anymore. That happened a few times.
My favourite joke in the whole book is when the text says that Sadie is quiet in the mornings because old people need a lot of sleep and then we see Sadie merrily hammering away. My second favourite is when she “tidies her room” and we see everything madly stuffed underneath her bed. That sort of friction between the text and image pleases me inordinately.
It’s very strange because this is my fourth book with the fabulous Julie Morstad but it’s the first that really and truly feels like a collaboration rather than a co-creation. It’s partly a product of working with Tara Walker who is an absolute genius of a picture book editor–an Ursula Nordstrom for our times. It’s also partly a product of knowing Julie and her work so well that I was kind of writing the book for her this time and imagining it as a way of showcasing just what she can do.
“For me it started with the idea of her as a small girl
with a big imagination.”
A shout out to Julie Morstad here. This illustration stops me in my tracks. Luminous.
TPBL: What elements did Julie include that delighted or surprised you? What is your favorite illustration?
Sara O’Leary: There’s not a single illustration in this book I don’t love. My very favourites though are the picture book spreads–the entry of this new character into narratives that were part of my own childhood. It’s almost like stepping through the looking glass yourself. And for sheer beauty I love the fairy tale spread more than any other spread not just in this book but maybe in any book in existence. I love how brave and fierce and yet serene Sadie looks. When I was a kid my favourite poem was Isabel, Isabel by Ogden Nash and I see that in this image too. That little girl who bravely ate the bear up.
TPBL: Tell us a little bit about you as a child.
Sara O’Leary: I was very spoiled as a child in the sense that for my first five years I was an only child and my mother always had paints and clay and books and blocks and things for me to busy myself with–so that being a child who likes to “make and do and be” is very familiar to me. I was also, judging by the snapshots, a boy for about fifty per cent of my existence and so I like to think that like Sadie I could as easily imagine myself into being Mowgli as the Little Mermaid. And I kind of think it must be the same for Julie. The Alice in Wonderland spread came back to me and I was both pleased and amazed to realise that rather than placing Sadie in the role of Alice she had chosen to portray her as the Mad Hatter. It’s perfect!
Sadie is such a composite at this point that I find it hard to claim that she is really like me. She is but she is also like my kids, and like Julie and her kids, and also, I think, like our editor (and third collaborator) Tara Walker. I hope that she’s very easy to project yourself into–a bit like Sendak’s Max. A friend read the book and said: “Oh, you wrote this book just for me!” and really that’s about the best compliment you could hope for. Sadie’s pretty much childhood and imagination embodied for me.
Thanks to Sara for being so generous and talking with me about this magical book!
And to the wonderful people at Tundra Books for images!
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FOX MASKS!
This is Sadie‘s own activity kit includes a printable fox mask like the one Sadie wears on the cover!
And ever creative Kellie who made a peg doll in honor of Viva Frida has made one for Sadie over on her site! And Sadie’s wearing the fox mask! Here are some more:
Check out this super sweet paper plate fox mask too from mom.me.
You can go a step further with this felt DIY version from Fercute.
With Sara O’Leary’s generosity, I’m giving away two This Is Sadie book jacket/posters over on twitter! (It features Sara (and my!) favorite spread from the book.) Come find me there and enter to win one!
I consider it an urban fable. It takes a city we may know and exaggerates it, makes it grittier and citier and more desolate.
That setting, it makes people “as mean and hard and ugly as their city, and I was mean and hard and ugly too.” This book is told in the first person, a narrator who is honest and flawed and who changes.
The title comes from a promise the narrator makes to an old woman she’s robbing, that she’ll plant what’s in the bag she’s stealing. And she does. The bag is full of acorns. She plants them and that is just the beginning.
She plants them everywhere.
“I pushed aside the mean and hard and ugly,
and I planted, planted, planted.”
Eventually, there are trees. Birds. The city changes. The people change. Everything changes.
“Trees and flowers, fruits and vegetables, in parks and gardens,
The narrator continues her work planting in cities far and wide. And then, when she confronts someone mean and hard like she was because of their setting, trying to steal her bag, she implores a promise. Just like hers.
This book immediately made me think of seed bombs, which are perfect for Earth Day and Month and Spring! And guys, seed bombs are much prettier than when they first came on the scene! Really, really pretty. But, the result is even better: plants growing in hard, vacant spaces that need some life and beauty and green things. Just like in The Promise.
I remember when a college roommate of mine brought home a copy of this book she’d found at a thrift store. Since I grew up in Asia, my teenage years in Hong Kong, it was like holding a piece of the place I missed so much back then. Of course, I still have it on my shelf.
This is Hong Kong truly takes you on a tour of the island. It’s got facts and even figures about how much you’ll pay for a ferry ride or to rent a flat (in 1960s prices!). Sasek captures the contrasts of a place that is old and new, city and harbor, modern and traditional. Not to mention, British and Chinese at that time.
Still, Sasek’s 60s portrait of Hong Kong wasn’t my Hong Kong of the 90s. And the 2007 version of the book, I imagine, details a place that’s already changed very much because it’s that kind of city. The change overnight kind. And I can’t wait to see what’s the same and what’s different since I called it home.
Because I’m going back! For the first time since I was 17! I’m bringing my husband so he can see where I grew up and I’m also bringing a notebook because I’ve got a YA novel set there and I want to record and remember the way it smells and sounds and feels to make sure I add all that stuff in.
So This Picture Book Life will be dormant for a couple of weeks while I’m traveling to Hong Kong and Tokyo. Which is why I thought I’d leave you with this special, vintage kids’ guidebook for now.
Please tune in again starting April 21st for new posts! And I’ll see you then!
And if you want to follow my travels, I’ll be instagramming them!
read the book, This Picture Book Life will be back in late April!
This is Sadie
