hop on for history
King Middle School was the scene of a powerful connection to living history this week. Claudette Colvin was 15 in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. This act led eventually to the desegregation of public transportation in the South. Librarian Kelly McDaniel and Curious City’s Kirsten Cappy brought together book discussions, image-making, and an art exhibit on a public bus in the Understanding Courage project, an awesome opportunity to bring history full circle. My daughter was among a group of students who read the recently...
Read Morebugs and birds over and over
Funny how my radar seems to pick up coincidental stuff. As I wrap up my project for Charlesbridge, I keep coming across parallels to my assignment. Just as I was drawing the egg for the jacket, Elena brought us fresh ones from her backyard chickens. I had to revise a beehive for one of the interior spreads. I made this one by inverting a single drawing, distorting it and repeating it. Then I went to the Gem Gallery exhibit, Think Pink, Give Love, and saw this assemblage by Carol Cartier. I also love this contraption by Tim Nihoff, a collector of broken tail-lights and consummate recycler....
Read Morefree love in Freeport
Look, it’s the scurvy knave, Sarah L. Thomson, author of Pirates Ho! getting into the spirit at Sherman’s Maine Bookstore in Freeport on Valentine’s Day. Four of us came together to celebrate literary love in honor of KidsHeartAuthors, an event hatched by Mitali Perkins. It was all about community, buying local, giving a signed book to your beloved, and meeting the folks who create them. Here, Jay Piscopo, directs Sarah in the art of drawing a pirate. It’s easy! Illustrator Aileen Darragh described the research process for her book, Give a Goat , about the Heifer...
Read MoreIndie love fest
I’m off to Sherman’s Maine Books in Freeport this morning to be part of the KidsHeartAuthors day. Mitali Perkins, author of Rickshaw Girl, came up with this idea to bring together authors and illustrators on Valentine’s Day at independent bookstores, to share love and literary valentines. I always buy a special book for my beloveds on Valentine’s Day and today I’ll pick some out while schmoozing with cohorts I’ve never met, like Jay Piscopo, Sarah Thomson, and Aileen Darragh. There are 44 bookstores all over New England participating, so visit an indie...
Read Morevalentinopalooza
I hosted a lovefest of valentine making with middle school daughters and ladies on Saturday. What a blast of collage, candy, and connections. It dawned on me right before that I actually didn’t have enough chairs for everybody, but somehow we crammed in amongst the scissors and stickers just fine. It was parallel fun: girls in one room… and big girls in the kitchen (where else?) Some girls made valentines for moms right off. Nothin’ like that mother/daughter love, especially now as it gets dicey and delicate in the tween years. It’s important to be lovey dovey so...
Read Moreblizzard blues
Some people loathe winter. I am not one of them. I love it. Every new snow fall is cause for celebration. Yes, there is shoveling and scraping ice, slogging through snowbanks and shivering in bitter winds. But the rewards! A snow day is a gift from above, a chance to get out. Hey, I grew up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, thanks to parents who met in Aspen and wanted to settle near ski areas in New England. Here are the happy ski bums, circa 1955. I enjoyed a childhood of skiing every spare moment. Family portraits from this chapter would be the line of skis, from small to tall, in...
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