Sad Day...

Today I am going through and deleting almost all of the pictures from my blog.  I never thought about copyright laws and am only just now realizing that I should.  I think it's ok to take pictures of the covers of picture books I read and post them, but I'm not even 100% sure about that.  Its such a shame to see these pics go, many of them are incredily lovely and the blog looks awfully empty without them :(

It won't be the same, but hopefully it will all be legal from here on out!

Other Favorites Today...

The big 500!

Made it to 500 picture books read and logged today, feels awesome to be halfway to my goal! #goal1000PBs

And the honor goes to the incredible...

 

Oliver Jeffers!

 

This book also happened to be featured in our wonderful, local independent bookseller, Mockingbird Books newsletter this week.  See Emily's take below:

 

Emily's Illustrator Spotlight

At a glance, Oliver Jeffers reminds you of the kid you sat next to in calculus. You know him - the one who doodled pictures of your professor riding a unicorn, wearing a top hat, or reciting Shakespeare from a bubble bath. He makes the drawings for himself, but as he slides it over for you to look at before you both get caught, you get to share in it too.

Jeffer’s' books are best described as doodle masterpieces that the reader is let in on. Each page features a union between painterly care and quick wit, all distinctly forming from Jeffer’s own thought bubbles. His growth since books such as Up and Down and Lost and Found, however, is remarkable. His most recent, This Moose Belongs To Me, comes with wonderful backdrops of mountain scenes (which I am admittedly partial to) and particularly moving spreads (i.e. pages 18-19) for their conveyance of mood through color.

 

 

Love Green Lake's Mockingbird Books and their motto:

"Books Give Children Wings"!

 

 

Favorites this Weekend...

So Thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving!



Doodle Day!

"Watercolor Pigeon"

 

Best cure for rainy day blues? Painting with Nellie!

Funniest Books this Week...

The absurdity here is brilliant, what fun! Ninjas, astronauts, sunburnt crocodiles- this book has it all. 'nuff said.

Heinies?! C'mon the word alone is hilarious!

Long before (ok, maybe not long before, but all the way back in 2008)

Jon Klassen's bear wanted his hat back, and devoured the bunny to get it, Emily Gravett's lovable duck and his very different egg finished off their naysayers by said egg hatching as a crocodile and eating them (or at least snapping at them pretty ferociously)! What a way to learn a lesson. Love this clever, subversive, surprising end!

 

I love, Love, LOVE funny books that take me by surprise.  Someday I hope to write one :)

Picture Book 400!

Dreams...

"So please, my child, do keep in mind

Before you go to bed...

 

To dream a dream as big

As big could ever dream to be

Then dream a dream ten times as big

As that one dream you see

 

Then once you've got that dream in mind

Please dream a million more 

 

And not a million quiet dreams,

A million dreams that

ROAR"

 

~From An Awesome Book! By Dallas Clayton

 

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”

 

~Mary Lou Cook

 



Unique Book...

I love the interplay here between author and illustrator, too fun! There's always a new way to innovate the picture book if you're willing to be playful and explore.

 

PW Best Books!

 

Publisher's Weekly has come out with their list of best picture books, and I have read (almost) all of them!

Check them out here:

 

http://publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/2012/childrens-picture#list


Candlewick Press

Loving Candlewick's "We believe in picture books" campaign!

Doodle Day

Nellie's drawings: "Self Portrait" and "Puffin" age 5

 

Favorites from the Weekend...

 

 

Favorites Today...

Beautiful Book...

Book 300!

Just a beautifully written and illustrated picture book

 

"I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting."

 

~President Barack Obama,

re-election victory speech Nov. 2012

 

 



In Honor of Election Day...

Check out Lane Smith's

Love this Book!

Simple, sweet and funny- a perfect picture book to me!

Boy + Bot

by Ame Dyckman, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

"All you can do when you meet indifference like this is eat it."

~Jon Klassen, I Want My Hat Back

Illustrator of the Day...

Renata Liwska in The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood

 

 

 

Made it to 10 today!!

Thank you Booksmith!

Favorites:

Heaven...

Found a lovely bookstore in the Haight Ashbury district of SF, Booksmith

San Fran Weekend...

  Going to San Francisco for a long weekend to celebrate my husband, Tim's 30th birthday. While I'm very excited to get out of the rain here in Seattle, I'm worried about falling behind in my PB goal of ten books a day! Have to just accept the fact that I'll be 40 books behind after this weekend and I can catch it up as soon as possible. Gonna eat great food, watch the Huskies beat Cal (hopefully!), celebrate Tim, and perhaps sneak in a few picture books while I can. Guess partaking in PiBoIdMo (national picture book idea month, 30 picture books in 30 days of nov.) is out, as I'll be 4 days behind in that as well... Oh well, there's always next Nov!