Jarrett Krosoczka is coming to my school! How exciting! I adore this book. In this book farm animals take their punk rock band on tour across America. It is so silly and my students loved singing along with the band's tunes.
First of all, don't ever tell me a picture book is "cute". A friend, (who had been on the Caldecott and Newbery Committees) who was the nicest librarian who ever lived, would get so angry when anyone dismissed a picture book as "cute"-- really people there are so many other words. There is so much depth and complexity in children's literature, at least their should be. Even Captain Underpants has a few different layers. Pictures books are a beautiful medium for authors and illustrators to share stories. They build visual literacy, have depth, and connect children to the world around them. Most teacher and parents use picture books as teaching tools with young people. For a book to be successful to me, it has to have a gel between the story and illustrations. It should have a flow between pages and as a whole work. Some of the best have a great theme and they should never patronize young people. That's Children's Literature 101 lesson A. Moving on...
I feel kind of silly to say that the reason I read this book was that John Irving said it was good. I picked it up out of a box of Advance Readers and remembered when it had first come out in the early 2010s. It won the E.B. White Read Aloud award in 2011 and it definitely would make a great read aloud for a seasoned teacher who can tackle some of the big issues mentioned in the book ( prejudice, death of a sibling, students being differently abled, bullying and more). The author also name drops a lot of fabulous books for kids so the Book Whisperer in me knows students would pick up on that and wonder about and maybe even read things like A Wrinkle in Time and Bridge to Terrebithia. I am glad I read it. And glad I found out the author knew John Irving because he's coached John Irving's s son in wrestling. https://www.google.com/amp/s/thebooknut.com/2011/02/13/10-questions-for-rob-buyea/amp/
A review of Modern Watercolor Botanicals by Sarah Simon: It has been about 6 months since I started to paint with watercolor. I have always loved art and have made pysanky eggs for over 15 years, plus knitting and other crafts but painting in 2d seemed daunting to me. Plus people say watercolor is a tough medium. But watercolors are so beautiful! I had to try, even if I totally stunk at it. We encourage our kids to have a growth mindset and keep going. I occasionally paint things I think are really good. I paint for the joy of creating, because I love to see individual perspectives, and because when you do something new you never know how it will turn out-- yes that is vulnerability but also possibility. This author totally gets that. She is a talented artist and gives step by step advice about the basics and beyond of watercolor. I perfer more classic botanical compositions ( listen to me, ha)-- but her modern style will appeal to many. Her tutorials are spot on. Happy painting! ...
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