This Picture Book Life

julia, child picture book + chocolate almond cupcakes by coco cake land

11.20.2014

Julia, Child-2 Julia, Child: words by Kyo Maclear, pictures by Julie Morstad.

Julia is a child. (One who wears roller skates, which I especially admire.)

She bears some resemblance to THE Julia Child in her affinity for French cooking and butter, but this picture book is otherwise a fictional tale.

click image(s) to enlarge

Julia has a best friend named Simca. Together, they are experts in friendship and cooking and childhood.

Those are the themes of this standout book.

“When they dreamt of the future,

they always pictured themselves cooking happily together:

the oldest children in the world.”

The girls are pretty clear on how growing up is not to be desired. They’ve seen grownups. They know they’re “wary and worried, hectic and hurried.” Who would want to be like that?

Morstad’s illustrations show adults as line drawings, unfilled out with color the way the children are. They look like people who’ve lost something along the way.

So Julie and Simca prepare a meal to bring out wonder in those big, busy people. Through a wonderful meal that draws people to it with its rainbow-like aroma.

“‘The problem,’ said Julia, ‘is that too many grown-ups don’t have the proper ingredients.'”

The dinner has its ups and downs, but dessert is the biggest hit: petits gâteaux—”chocolate almond cupcakes with chocolate butter icing and the richest, creamiest centers.” Small, tasty bites to remind each adult of loveliness, with plenty to go around so they don’t get too greedy or worry about running out.

Slow-down, sweetness, wonder, and imagination. These are the ingredients of friendship and cooking and childhood. These are what to cultivate, like Julia and Simca do.

p.s. Kyo Maclear has a knack for inventing fictitious childhood characters from historical grownup ones. (See Virigina Wolf.)

“What I’ve tried to do here is forget the facts

and capture something about Julia Child’s spirit.

And by spirit, I mean her gusto, joyful abundance

and joie de vivre.”

—Kyo Maclear

Excerpted from Julia, Child by Kyo Maclear. Text copyright © 2014 by Kyo Maclear, Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Julie Morstad. Reprinted by permission of Tundra Books, a division of Random House of Canada, a Penguin Random House company. All rights reserved.

You all know how much I love the baking blog Coco Cake Land, right? In honor of Julia, Child, Lyndsay is sharing chocolate almond cupcakes inspired by the ones Julia and Simca make in the book!!

I’m delighted to collaborate with such a blogging superstar and lovely person! She knows a lot about baking joyfully with plenty of imagination and play!

CHOCOLATE ALMOND CUPCAKES WITH CHOCOLATE PASTRY CREAM

2 dozen cupcakes

FOR THE CUPCAKES

⅔ cup vegetable oil
1 cup of dutch process cocoa powder
¾ cup boiling water
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups almond meal
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon of salt
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs

FOR THE CHOCOLATE PASTRY CREAM

3 egg yolks
4 tablespoons sugar
¾ tablespoon flour
¾ tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
¾ cup chopped dark chocolate

TOASTED ALMONDS

¼ cup toasted almonds, chopped

MAKE THE CUPCAKES

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Gently oil the top of the cupcake pans and line cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk cocoa powder with the boiling water until you have a smooth, thick and creamy chocolate paste. Whisk in the vanilla extract.
In another small bowl, combine the almond meal with the baking soda and salt.
Place the sugar, oil and eggs into the bowl of stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat on high until thick and creamy, about three minutes.
With the mixer on low, add the chocolate mixture until combined.
Add the almond flour mixture until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl, about one minute.
Using a medium sized ice cream scoop, dole out the cake mixture and fill the cupcake liners just over half full.
Bake for 20 minutes – cupcakes will rise, and fall again.
Let them cool in the pans.

MAKE THE CHOCOLATE PASTRY CREAM

In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, flour and cornstarch.
In a saucepan, bring the milk and cream to a low boil.
Whisk half of the milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture, then add the egg/milk mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk.
Cook the pastry cream over medium heat, whisking constantly until thick – about 3-4 minutes.
Remove the pastry cream from the heat and add the chopped chocolate. The chocolate will melt into the hot pastry cream. Whisk to combine.
Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and power-chill in the freezer for 30 minutes, or let cool in the fridge for 2 hours to set.
Dollop two tablespoons of chocolate pastry cream into the sunken chocolate almond cupcakes.
Sprinkle with toasted almonds and finish with a fresh berry.

TOAST THE ALMONDS

Place almonds on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for ten minutes (watch they don’t burn!) Let cool until crispy, then chop.

Thank you, Lyndsay!

Check out the whole post with more photos to admire over at Coco Cake Land!

lucky by david mackintosh + pineapples (+ screenprint giveaway!)

PICTURE BOOKS +

11.18.2014

lucky_USed Lucky by David Mackintosh (2014).

Thanksgiving is around the corner and we’re thinking about two things for the holiday: food and feeling thankful to have what we already have. Perhaps rephrased as feeling lucky about what’s in our lives. Now. This picture book has something to do with that.

Lucky promises to answer the question posed at the beginning. What is Mom going to surprise these two brothers with at dinnertime? What could it be? (Do note that pineapple in the bowl of fruit on the very first page as it comes into play.)

The narrator and his little brother, Leo, come up with plenty of possibilities during their day at school, each more exciting (implausible?) than the last.

Their final hypothesis is the best of all, gently gleaned from a magazine they’re reading in the Nurse’s office. I love the way the power of suggestion works in this book. And the magnitude of jumping to conclusions.

The boys are CONVINCED they’ve won a two week all expenses paid trip to HAWAII, land of volcanoes and grass skirts and fruit. We should all be so LUCKY, no?

They’re wrong. Of course they’re wrong. And there’s disappointment pre-dinner table.

But not for long. Because, in the non-cheesiest way, Mackintosh shows us what the narrator has to be thankful for. He figures out for himself why he’s quite lucky. Already, without the trip to Hawaii.

He’s lucky in the little things and even in that little brother Leo of his.

Mackintosh’s illustrative style is so recognizable. There’s a retro quality. There are real photographs thrown in. And sometimes scribbles. Type that perfectly narrates the visual story in its white spaces. All with a whole lot of playfulness.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

David was kind enough to send me a limited edition screenprint to give away to one of you LUCKY readers! And it’s signed! Enter with the Rafflecopter above! (And see the printing process here.)
I’ll contact the randomly chosen winner by email for your mailing address.

(Open to N. America only—sorry about that far-flung international readers! Giveaway ends Monday, November 24. Good luck!)

Thanks to David Mackintosh for images!

So, pineapples! For anyone dreaming of going to Hawaii for two weeks (expenses paid-hooray!), here are some pineapples instead. The shape, the color, there’s so much bright and happy about a pineapple. They look like they symbolize bounty, no?

Coco Cake Land’s cool-guy pineapple cake! (Stay tuned for a collaboration we’re doing together later this week!)

Studio DIY’s obsession with pineapple produced this pineapple piñata!

Now That’s Pretty made her pineapple lamp out of plastic spoons!

Oh, and It’s Mine Now Blog’s pineapple potato stamp too!

Free, printable black and white pineapple wrapping paper at Whimsey Box.

I love Peachy Vida’s idea of a pineapple flower vase. Out of the box Thanksgiving centerpiece anyone?

kamishibai man + microscope toy theater in L.A.

PICTURE BOOKS +

11.13.2014

kamishibai_man_allen_say Kamishibai Man by Allen Say.

First, we need to know what kamishibai is. “Paper theater” in Japanese, it’s an ancient storytelling practice using storyboards/picture cards. One by one, the storyteller pulls a picture card away to reveal the next moment of the story. (Remind anyone else of reading a picture book at story time?)

Considered a precursor to manga and anime, in some form it dates back to the 12th century. It was most prevalent in the 20th century before the popularity of television.

In the foreword, Allen Say remembers:

“Every afternoon, the kamishibai man came on a bicycle that had a big wooden box mounted on the back seat. The box had drawers full of candies and a stage at the top. We bought candies and listened to the man’s stories.”

Allen Say’s character, Kamishibai Man, is one of those.

Like most of Say’s work there’s a feeling of nostalgia in this book. A fond look back at the past along with a pang of sadness for what’s now gone. As always, Say teaches us history and culture along with how to be kind.

The book focuses on an old man who used to tell Kamishibai stories. One day, he decides to return to the city again after all this time, but it’s not how it used to be. There are no more trees and lots of shops and buildings.

Say seamlessly transitions from the present day to the past, the man growing young again and telling stories to children from his bicycle stage years ago.

When we look up again from his tale, we’re back to today and there’s a crowd of people around Kamishibai Man, grownups who are the very same children who used to buy his wife’s candies and listen to his stories.

They’re thrilled to see him again!

I was fortunate enough to catch a kamishibai-style performance in Los Angeles over the weekend. And if you live in the area, there’s one more this weekend as well!

Microscope Toy Theater takes on this tradition of “paper theater” with Yulya Dukhovny performing “Star in a Glass Jar” at Automata (that’s one of my very favorite theaters in L.A. and known for experimental puppetry).

The show is a beauty to behold. Gentle, patient, gorgeous, and even funny. It’s a Christmas story of a girl—and her sweet, wise dog—who lives in the far North and who needs something for her holiday tree. She sends a letter: “to whom it may concern.”

That letter ends up in a fishing village in Japan, in the hands of a little boy.

The performance was mesmerizing as each new paper that slid from the theater frame revealed another one, just as captivating as the last.

For tickets and info about performances November 15h and 16th, click here.

moonday + the moon in your room

PICTURE BOOKS +

11.11.2014

moonday Moonday by Adam Rex.

A STORY story. A luminous tale. It’s daytime, but there’s a moon. It’s Moonday.

One evening, the moon lowers itself into a family’s backyard. The sun doesn’t rise the next day and the whole town is in darkness. And sleepy.

It’s a perfect scenario for a child who likes to wonder, what would happen if…?

(Click image(s) to enlarge.)

My favorite spreads are the ones with that bright, glowing, realistic Adam Rex moon.

When it arrives, the little girl immediately wants to crawl around on the moon. Of course she does!

“It was chalky and cold.”

I love how there’s a punk band who can only manage lullabies in the darkness of Moonday.

And I love the parents in this book. They don’t panic. They’re not afraid. (Though the mother “could do without the dogs”—the ones barking at the bright orb in her backyard).

The mother and father listen to their child. They let her climb around that moon. And they listen when she suggests taking that moon for a drive. The drive that gets the moon back to where it’s supposed to go. And stay. And be. While we go to sleep to wake up to the sun.

Thanks to Adam Rex for images!

Moons! In your room! We recently added a giant full moon sticker above our bed. And it’s marvelous. (Muffin the cat likes it too.)

You can find that sticker at i3 museum if you scroll down on the page. But they have many more moon goodies too, including the same sticker that glows in the dark! Check out all the moon decor.

Glow in the dark Clare de Lune wall sticker.

Blue Moon Waltz rug.

Nocturn by Moonlight pillow.

And if you want less of a moon commitment, there’s always this nightlight that’s under ten dollars and smaller than five inches.

To the moon!

15 lessons on creativity from picture books

picture books for pairing

11.06.2014

As if we needed one more reason to read picture books, there is one. When you look at them through a certain lens, they give you creative advice and inspiration. It’s true!

I got the idea for this post from the first book on the list, but as I looked further, there were many great ones to include.

Come see!

The Most Magnificent Thing is for anyone who’s been frustrated by a project and gotten totally fed up or even given up. (I can raise my hand here.) The girl in the book feels that way and then she takes a walk with her dog. When she returns to her project, she sees it anew. She makes it magnificent. (Side note: Walks are the best places for ideas, don’t you think? But any break will do.)

Things don’t work out so well when A Funny Little Bird tries to be something she’s not. We funny little birds need to all embrace our own quirks for what they are—the things that make us unique.

DJ Kool Herc didn’t start out with that name, but he did start out loving music and records and parties. He pursued his obsession and made hip hop history. (Side note: the author’s note in When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop will put a tear in your eye.)

When Henri Matisse could no longer paint, he didn’t stop making art. He reinvented his. Henri’s Scissors shows how limitations can lead to invention.

I have a special place in my heart for Leo the Late Bloomer as I’m a bit of a late bloomer myself. His mother is truly wise. She doesn’t worry about how everyone else is farther along than Leo. Leo will have his time. The right time for him.

White Is for Blueberry doesn’t make sense at first, right? Shouldn’t it be blue? Or purple? But it does make sense if it’s referring to “when the berry is still too young to pick.” I love how this book challenges our expectations for what’s supposed to be. It’s full of surprises.

Pablo Neruda, Poet of the People took inspiration from nature, from his home in Chile, from small things like “buttons and feathers and shoes and hats…velvet cloth and the color of the sea.”

In Me and Momma and Big John a son learns what his mother does for work, the pride she takes in it, and the way one stone can be part of something truly great.

Oh Herman. Oh Rosie. A crocodile and deer share a passion for jazz in a big city that keeps them apart until they meet because of music and become Herman and Rosie, duo.

In which a brother and sister take a walk that is not just A Few Blocks, but an adventure, a quest, and a lot of fun.

A girl who finds herself without a companion at home one day goes on a Journey by drawing a red door on one wall of her room. By going through the door, she goes on a journey born of her own ingenuity. She’s no longer alone.

If You Want to See A Whale you need time and you need not be distracted by sweet smelling flowers and pirates and caterpillars. Same goes if you want to pursue a creative project, yes?

No one believes the boy in The Carrot Seed. But he believes. He keeps believing and he’s right to!

A boy and girl plant some seeds and one of them grows into something absolutely wildly magical in Wonder Bear. It only takes one seed for something wonderful to sprout. You could even plant one today. I’ll cheer you on.

Pius Pelosi has a giant collection that all began with a pebble. His gut led him to that pebble and his passion. So when he listens to others and throws out the pebble, nothing is right in his Room of Wonders.