Book Related Crafts

September 9 – It’s National Courtesy Month

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About the Holiday

September has been designated as National Courtesy Month to remind us that good manners and watching out for others, goes a long way toward making the world a more cooperative and happy place. Sometimes common courtesy is as black and white as directly following the rules…but sometimes…well, I’ll let you decide…

The Black and White Factory

Written by Eric Telchin | Illustrated by Diego Funck

 

You are one lucky reader! You have won a tour of the Black and White Factory where the employees are hard at work making products like checkerboards, dice, tuxedos…you know the stuff. Even the bosses—a panda and a penguin—are in black and white. Before you start your tour, you’re met by a zebra foreman who goes over the rules of the factory. And they are these:

“No Messes, No Colors, No Surprises Allowed.” When? “Ever.”

As you proceed inside your first stop is the billiard ball machine—8 balls only, of course! It doesn’t take you long to be ushered into the “top-secret Experiment Room,” where innovative products are being developed. You may be the first ever to see “trick dominoes that are impossible to knock over” and new black-and-white-paint in either checkerboard or polka-dot. Another prototype displayed on a wall chart is “never-melting vanilla ice cream.” Also prominently displayed are the factory’s rules: “No Messes, No Colors, No Surprises Allowed. Ever.”

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Image copyright Diego Funck, text copyright Eric Telchin, courtesy of simonandschuster.com

Moving on you push the button leading to the Animal Room. Housed here are white Dalmatians, dairy cows, and skunks who are being sprayed with their distinctive black marks. An elevator takes you to the Bar Code Room. While waiting for your car, you are exhorted to remember the rules: “No Messes, No Colors, No Surprises Allowed. Ever.” The Bar Code Room is “the cleanest, most perfect, most black and white room in the whole factory. Every bar code in the world is make right here.” Even the one for the book you’re reading! Turn it over and see!

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Image copyright Diego Funck, text copyright Eric Telchin, courtesy of simonandschuster.com

“Wait!” Wait!! Turn the book back! A stripe of yellow has seeped into the factory! “Someone didn’t follow the rules. Someone brought an outside mess into the Black and White Factory.” The bosses need your help! Can you “use your fingers to wipe the color off the bar code?” Oh, no, no, no! That just made it worse—now it’s smudged yellow and orange! “Quick! Do something! Rub the colors with your sleeve. Or your elbow. Something.”

We interrupt this review to remind you of the RULES: “No Messes, No Colors, No Surprises Allowed. Ever.” Right, then, back to our dilemma. Now the colors are dripping! It’s such a mess! Suddenly, the zebra has an idea. He asks you to “hold the book upright and tilt it so the color drips down the bottom of the page.” Okay—phew!—great job!

Oh, no!! More colors are creeping in! “Swirl the book so the colors fly off the page,” the penguin orders. You are one strong swirler—the zebra, penguin, and panda are all topsy-turvy, and now the factory looks like an abstract painting! This definitely is not good. “What a mess! The Black and White Factory is ruined.” But the panda may have an idea. Everyone, “back to the top-secret Experiment Room.” There the panda, zebra, and penguin, splattered in paint, stand in front of the “Air-powered comprehensive cleaning contraption.” They just need your help in getting it started. Can you blow into the nozzle? Harder? Come on, put some oomph into it! All right!

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Image copyright Diego Funck, text copyright Eric Telchin, courtesy of simonandschuster.com

The machine’s at 100% power! The machine shakes and whirrs with a color overload. It explodes with a rainbow of colors that covers everything in the factory. The panda, zebra, and penguin stand in the midst of it. “Everything is so…different,” says the panda. “It’s…colorful…,” adds the penguin. “And wonderful!” concludes the zebra. There’s just one problem…The RULES: “No Messes, No Colors, No Surprises Allowed. Ever.” Hmmmm….

How about: “No Messes, No Colors, No Surprises Allowed. ForEver.”

Yes! Much better! So “that concludes the Best. Tour. Ever!” Off you go—just don’t forget the rules: “Messes, Colors, Surprises Allowed. Forever.”

Eric Telchin’s The Black and White Factory will have kids tipping, tilting, swinging, and even reading this fun and funny interactive picture book. Directly addressing the reader, the three staid and rule-abiding managers of a very focused factory, play straight-man to the child’s laugh inducing and unintentional “mistakes” that lead to a brighter future. With the pacing of a favorite theme-park ride, the story has a suspenseful “Oh, no! What’s going to happen?” feeling as readers progress from page to page until the first tinge of yellow precipitates the humorous chaos to come.

Diego Funck’s sly illustrations riff on the black-and-white theme, as he designed a clever product line in line with “the rules.” Kids will want to linger over the pages to catch all the jokes and visual puns. The reactions of the three employees of The Black and White Factory will make readers laugh too as they endeavor to hang on to their beloved rules in the midst of their changing world. The bold colors of the transformed factory are as refreshing as the sun after a dark, rainy day.

The theme that creativity and expression come from making messes and allowing surprises to happen is a welcome idea and one that leads to innovation and personal freedom. The Black and White Factory is sure to be asked for again and again!

Ages 4 – 7

little bee books, 2016 | ISBN 978-1499802771

Learn more about Eric Telchin on his websites – erictelchin.com and boyseeshearts.com

To view a portfolio of Diego Funck’s artwork, visit his website!

National Courtesy Month Activity

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Let Your Colors Shine Through! Craft

 

With this easy-to-make craft you can show your colors and your creativity!

Supplies

  • Heavy stock paper
  • Crayons, a variety of colors and black

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Directions

  1. Color the paper with blocks, stripes, or splotches of color
  2. Cover the colored paper entirely with the black crayon
  3. Scrape a design in the black crayon, exposing the colors beneath

Picture Book Review

July 25 – Culinarians Day

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About the Holiday

The world can’t celebrate Culinary Arts Month without having a special day to recognize and thank the many chefs, cooks, bakers, and other creators of delicious treats. Today is that day! With their special talents for taste, presentation, and innovation, culinarians make life better for everyone!

The Ugly Dumpling

Written by Stephani Campisi | Illustrated by Shahar Kober

 

“Once upon a time, perhaps last week, or even last night, at your local dim sum restaurant…there was an ugly dumpling.” Sure, you might think all dumplings are ugly, but we’re talking about one particular ugly dumpling. It tried all sorts of tricks to make itself more attractive, but it still remained lonely and uneaten. It sat dejected until a cockroach traversing the kitchen caught sight of it and immediately fell in love.

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Image copyright Shahar Kober

The cockroach “reached out an arm. (Or a leg.)” toward the dumpling and offered to show it the beauty of the world. Together they traveled to cities near and far, experiencing them through culinary lenses—stacked plate skyscrapers, piled dishes skylines, chopstick bridges that took them over flour mountains and folded napkin peaks. Then, in a certain restaurant, the dumpling saw something astonishing! Not only one, but two, three, four, and more dumplings just like itself!

Suddenly the ugly dumpling realized that it was not a dumpling at all, but a “steamed bun—a golden-hearted, smooth-skinned steamed bun, exactly like all the other steamed buns in the world.” The ugly dumpling puffed with meaning, importance, and…yeast! The restaurant patrons and staff and even the other steamed buns took notice. The cockroach by the ugly dumpling’s side cheered to see its friend receiving so much attention.

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image copyright Shahar Kober

The wide eyes and astonished expressions were not for the dumpling, however. Instead, they registered horror at the insect in their midst. The ugly dumpling was familiar with that look and did “something quite beautiful. It reached out an arm. (Or a leg.) And it led the cockroach out into the world, The beautiful, beautiful world.” And in that moment the ugly dumpling realized that it “was not like all the other steamed buns after all” and that “perhaps that was a good thing.”

Stephani Campisi’s The Ugly Dumpling is a fresh and delectable dish-up of the classic Ugly Duckling story for a new audience. Stuffed with charm and off-beat humor, this tale of friendship and diversity embraces all who feel at odds with their environment—with or without the recognition of why. Its sweet and insightful ending emphasizes the idea that finding your niche does not always mean finding your true self and that having the courage to strike out on your own path leads to beautiful relationships and happiness.

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Image copyright Shahar Kober

Shahar Kober’s dumpling is anything but “ugly.” His adorable puffed dough, lonely and ignored for not adhering to the mold, will melt readers’ hearts as he tries anything and everything—including green pleated pants—to fit in. Kobar’s stylish drawings are the perfect underscore to Stephani Campisi’s quick, dry wit—as in his rendition of three uglier-than-the-next dumplings—and if cockroaches were really as cute as Kober’s, we’d all set out a different kind of Roach Motel. A clever bit of typography transforms steam coming from a wok into the word HISS, and the restaurant scenes will make readers hungry for their favorite Asian eatery.

As readers turn to the last pages and watch the steamed bun and the cockroach leave the restaurant hand in hand (foot in foot?) under the shade of a paper umbrella, they will want to turn back to the beginning and start over again. The Ugly Dumpling is a must read and a must addition to children’s bookshelves.

Ages 2 – 9

Mighty Media, 2016 | ISBN 978-1938063671

Get to know more about Stephanie Campisi and her work on her website!

To view a gallery of art by Shahar Kober for books, magazines, animation, and more, visit his website!

Check out the Mighty Media Press website for more about The Ugly Dumpling and a-dough-able coloring pages!

Take a look at the trailer for The Ugly Dumpling!

Culinarians Day Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-dumpling plush craft

Embrace Your Inner Dumpling Plush

 

We are all beautiful “dumplings” in one way or another! With this easy craft you can create a huggable friend and show others what you’re made of!

Supplies

  • Square piece of cloth in any fabric and color. Size of plush depends on size of cloth (the plushes shown are made from 18”-square cotton fabric)
  • Poly fill (the plushes shown use about 1 1/8 ounces of fill)
  • White cloth for eyes and mouth
  • Twine or string
  • Fabric glue

Directions

  1. Cut the corners from the square cloth to make a circular piece of cloth
  2. Fill the middle with poly fill
  3. Pull the edges of the cloth up and around the fill
  4. Tie the top closed with the twine or string
  5. To make the face, cut small circles and a mouth from the white cloth
  6. Smooth out a section of the dumpling body
  7. Glue the face to the body with fabric glue

June 28 – Paul Bunyan Day

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About the Holiday

The tales of Paul Bunyan, a logger of superhuman size and strength, and his companion Babe the Blue Ox belong to some of the most popular folklore of early North America. Many think his name stemmed from the Quebec bon yenne!, which expresses surprise or astonishment. The phrase would be fitting as Paul Bunyan is said to have accomplished many feats, including creating the Grand Canyon when he walked through the area dragging his ax and forming the Great Lakes as a watering hole for Babe. In 1916 freelance writer and adman William B. Laughead took the figure of Paul Bunyan for an advertising campaign for the Red River Lumber Company, and the stories received new burnishing and popularity.

To celebrate today’s holiday research folklore about Paul Bunyan and Babe, take a walk in the woods Bunyan loved so well, and read today’s book!

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox: The Great Pancake Adventure

By Matt Luckhurst

Everyone knows that Paul Bunyan and his best friend Babe the Blue Ox were “the greatest lumberjacks to every work the forests.” But not many people know just how that came to be. It all started because Paul was a very big boy in a very small town. He found it hard to concentrate on school because he was always thinking about his mom’s pancakes. “‘Math,” Paul said, “is just not very tasty.’”

Now, Paul and Babe were lucky enough to live in an area where lots of fresh fruit and vegetables were grown, but they only wanted pancakes. In fact when their mom tried to feed them broccoli, they spit it right out! So Paul’s mom baked stacks and stacks of pancakes until she was out of breath—plus she had fields to tend to. Paul and Babe tried to free up time for Mom by working in the fields, “but their big feet just squished and squashed everything in sight.”

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Finally there were just not enough pancakes at home, so Paul hugged his mom and set off into the deep dark forest to find his “pancake fortune” with Babe at his heels. With their heads in the clouds and their bellies empty, they happened upon a lumberman with a huge problem. The Syrup River was dammed up with pancakes and the logs couldn’t get through. It was just the job for Paul and Babe!!

Paul and Babe ate every last pancake until the river was clear. The lumberman was so impressed he offered them a job on the spot! And the best part was that they would be paid in pancakes! The trio tromped from Wisconsin to California logging the land and making their mark. In Minnesota it was “so cold that al Paul’s words froze before they could make a sound. They say you can still hear his voice in the forests there today as they thaw out.” Further west Paul and Babe had a little something to do with creating the Rocky Mountains, and the Grand Canyon would still be a flat plateau if it weren’t for Babe’s voracious appetite.

But one day Babe fell ill, and Paul was feeling a little under the weather himself. The doctor gave them a grave diagnosis. “‘You seem to have been eating too many pancakes!’” he announced. Paul was flabbergasted—how could there be such a thing as too many pancakes?! But the doctor explained that a balanced diet was best. Paul pondered where he could find good food. Then it hit him! Paul and Babe said goodbye and headed back home.

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All images courtesy of Matt Luckhurst (mattluckhurst.com)

Mom was thrilled to see them and cooked plenty of nutritious meals to make them healthy. They stayed in town and grew “Bunyan sized veggies,” helped the townspeople and always listened to Mom. And they never ate another pancake ever again! Well….

As Matt Luckhurst so adroitly knows, there is no more fascinating figure of North American folklore than Paul Bunyan and no greater meal than a pancake breakfast! Combining the two is sweet genius and rollicking fun to boot! Tall tales capture the imagination, and Luckhurst has included plenty of fantastic events to keep kids enthralled from page to page. Luckhurst’s larger-than-life illustrations burst with color and dynamic 3-D typography that enhance the humor and heart of Paul and Babe’s predicament. The juxtaposition of sizes and folk-art influences create unique, eye-catching pages, and Paul and Babe’s endearing innocence make them loveable characters.

Perfect for folktale lovers, pancake aficionados, kids who follow a singular vision, and anyone who loves a good yarn, Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox: The Great Pancake Adventure is great fun and would be an often-read addition to a child’s bookshelf.

Ages 4 – 8

Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2012 | ISBN 978-1419704208

Take a peek at this awesome trailer for Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox: The Great Pancake Adventure!

Copyright Matt Luckhurst

Paul Bunyan Day Activity

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Pancake Flip-Out

Pancakes are served in a stack because they’re so delicious each one doesn’t last long! This game gives you the chance to see how many pancakes you can flip onto a plate! You can play this game several ways:

  1. Give each player the same number of pancakes and see how many they can toss onto the plate during their turn
  2. Make a target with the plate in the middle and draw 3 concentric circles around it. Hitting the target can earn you 20 points. Getting your pancake in the first circle around the plate earns you 15 point, the second circle is worth 10 points, and the third is worth 5 points. Rotate through the players as many times as you like and add up the points at the end. The player with the most points wins!
  3. Instead of tossing the pancakes with your hands, try throwing them with a spatula!
  4. Make up your own rules—and have fun!

Supplies

Directions

  1. Print the Pancakes and Breakfast Plates and cut them out
  2. Glue the pancakes and plate to poster board, cardboard, or foam to give the pancakes more weight for throwing and the plate more support
  3. Once dry, the game pieces are ready for fun!

Picture Book Review

June 24 – Take Your Dog to Work Day

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About the Holiday

In 1996 Pet Sitters International established Take Your Dog to Work Day as a time to raise awareness of the pets left home all day by themselves with no stimulation. The organization was also dedicated to promoting adoption from local and humane shelters. Over the years the idea of Take Your Dog to Work Day has grown in popularity. To celebrate talk to the people in your office or business about bringing in pets and find time during the day to spend more time with your faithful companion. Both you and your dog will enjoy it!

Douglas, You Need Glasses!

By Ged Adamson

 

Something may be amiss with Douglas. When Nancy and her playful pooch go out to chase squirrels, Douglas takes after a falling leaf while the squirrel escapes up a tree. It’s not the first time this has happened. You see, Douglas is a bit nearsighted. Sometimes he mistakes the stair post for Nancy, and his difficulty gets in the way of things (well, mostly Douglas gets in the way of things). He misses important signs—like the one that would have prevented him from tracking wet cement all over the skate park, where there are NO DOGS allowed—and he’s always causing something of a ruckus. Sometimes he even enters the wrong house! But when a game of fetch nearly creates a buuzzzz of disaster, Nancy decides something must be done.

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She takes Douglas to the eye doctor where he reads a most dog-friendly eye chart and discovers that he needs glasses. He peruses the shelves of Dog Glasses and puts some on. Each one makes him feel different. In one pair he’s a rock star; in another a scholar; and in yet another a hippy. He tries them all until he finds the perfect pair!

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All images courtesy of Ged Adamson

 

On the way home he sees the world in a whole new way. “‘Wow! Everything looks amazing!’” Douglas says. And it is!

Ged Adamson’s funny look at a dog with an all-too-human malady will make kids laugh from the first page to the last. Earnest Douglas, going about his doggy days under a bit of a skewed perspective, is so endearing that readers will immediately take him to heart even as they giggle at his exploits. Adamson’s vibrant multi-hued trees, colorfully clothed kids, and vivid backgrounds with stylish, sketched-in details give the book a fresh, jaunty appeal for a lively, fun story time. Kids facing the prospect of wearing glasses will also find much to give them reassurance and confidence in this book. Douglas, You Need Glasses! is a great addition to any child’s bookshelf!

Ages 3 – 8

Schwartz & Wade, Random House Kids, 2016 | ISBN 978-0553522433

Visit Ged Adamson’s Website to see what other books and projects he’s working on!

Take Your Dog to Work Day Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-spool-puppy-craft

Spool Puppy

 

No matter where you go and whether you have a real dog or not, you can take this little guy along with you. And just as you would pick out your favorite from an animal shelter, you can make this puppy look any way you’d like!

Supplies

  • Printable Ears and Nose Template
  • 2-inch round wooden spool, available at craft stores
  • 1 skein of yarn in the color you choose. Yardage needed will depend on the thickness of the yarn.
  • Felt
  • Thin gauge wire
  • Craft paint
  • Paint brush
  • Fabric or strong glue
  • Dowel or pencil to wrap wire around to make glasses

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Directions

  1. Paint the dowel the color you want your dog to be, let dry
  2. Trace the ears on the felt and cut out (or draw your own ears)
  3. Trace the nose on the felt and cut out
  4. When the spool is dry glue the ears to the body of the spool, allowing the ears to stick up from the top of the spool
  5. Wind the yarn around the spool back and forth until the dog’s body is the size you’d like
  6. Glue the yarn in place with fabric or strong glue

To make the face

  1. Glue the nose over the hole on one end of the spool
  2. Draw the mouth and tongue under the nose with a marker
  3. You will draw the eyes on after the glasses are in place

To make the glasses

  1. Wind the wire around a ½-inch dowel, thick pencil, or rounded handle to make two circles.
  2. Leave about two inches on either side of the circles for the ear pieces of the glasses.
  3. Adjust the size of the circles to fit the spool as glasses.
  4. Put the glasses on the face of the spool, tucking the ear pieces into the yarn on each side
  5. Draw eyes in the center of the glasses

To make the tail

  1. Cut a small square of felt and stuff the edges into the hole on the other end of the spool
  2. You can make the tail as long as you like

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Picture Book Review

June 15 – Smile Power Day

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About the Holiday

Where do you find enough smiles to fill twenty-four hours? Come on, you know! Friends, loved ones, books, movies, videos, jokes, and more funny stuff can instantly elicit that bright, shiny facial expression! Today is a day to share smiles with people you know and those you don’t. So get out there and be happy!

Happy

By Emma Dodd

 

Nestled in a hole in a pine tree, an owl—who could be a mom, a dad, or any caregiver—cradles an adorable tiny owlet under its wing. “I know that / you are happy / when you wake me / with a song,” the owl says. As they venture out onto a limb, the owl adds, “I know that / you are happy / when you hop / and skip along.” With the repeated “I know that you are happy” the owl describes other ways the owlet shows her joy: giggling, rambling conversation, playing loudly, acting proud, and trying “something new…and / if you don’t succeed at first, I’ll help until you do,” the owl reassures the child.

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But every day cannot be happy, the owl concedes, and when “things are looking gray, / I’ll do my best to chase / the gloomy clouds away.” As the sun sets on the secluded home and the owl and owlet drift into sleep, the owl reveals: “I love it when you cuddle close / and whisper, ‘I love you.’ / And I am happiest / of all… / when you are happy too.”

Perfect for all parents and caregivers, Emma Dodd’s celebration of how a child’s joy resonates in others’ hearts makes shared reading time special. The lyrical rhythm of the repeated lines accompanied by the sentiments of encouragement and the transposition of point of view give this book impact and poignancy.

Dodd’s gorgeous illustrations of the endearing owl and owlet pair perfectly express the type of discovery that leads to joy on both a child’s and an adult’s part. With its little raised foot, extended tiny wings, and jubilant, smiling beak, the young owlet is both lovable and loved. Dodd’s beautiful muted, blue, green, brown and orange settings shimmer with gilded accents: delicate gold pine needles frame the owls’ home, the baby owl splashes in a glistening puddle under a gleaming moon, sparkling stars light the midnight blue sky, and rain showers fall in glinting streaks as the owls look on.

Simply put Happy will put a smile on your face and bring a tear to your eye. This lovely lullaby will quickly become a favorite for bedtime or cuddle time and is a must for young children’s bookshelves. Happy also makes a perfect gift for new parents or other caregivers. 

Take a peek:

Ages Birth – 5

Nosy Crow, Candlewick Press, 2015 | ISBN 978-0763680084

Smile Power Day Activity

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Make Someone Smile Cards

 

Sharing a smile can make someone’s day! With these printable Make Someone Smile Cards you can spread joy to people you know—and even to those you don’t! Give one to a family member, coworker, or friend. You can surprise your favorite barista, hair stylist, librarian, or shop owner by handing them a card or leaving it where they’ll find it. It’s even fun to tuck a card among the items on a shelf or in a book for someone to find later. Remember, the power of a smile is awesome!

June 2 – Leave the Office Earlier Day

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celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-the-secret-subway

About the Holiday

The brain child of Laura Stack, a specialist in employee motivation, Leave the Office Earlier Day urges a look at how employees and employers use the working hours of the day to best advantage. Today’s holiday motivates employees to finish their tasks before schedule by making a conscious effort to increase efficiency and productivity. Greater cooperation between workers and their bosses can lead to less downtime and more success. To celebrate today’s holiday, employees can ask their bosses if they can leave the office once their work is truly and well finished. Employers may want to allow their workers to leave as soon as they have completed all their tasks. Both sides may find this tactic improves productivity and creates a more positive work environment.

The Secret Subway

Written by Shana Corey | Illustrated by Red Nose Studio (Chris Sickels)

 

In the 1860s the streets of New York were…well, not to put too fine a point on it…disgusting. Cobblestone and filled with trash, waste, horse manure, dust, dirt, and throngs of people, the roads made for rough travel. Many people had ideas about what could be done to make the streets safer and cleaner. Some thought a moving sidewalk would work, others talked about double-decker roads or an elevated train system. But although there was a lot of talk, nothing ever got done.

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Image copyright Chris Sickles, courtesy of rednosestudio.com

Alfred Ely Beach, however, peered down from his high office room and studied the street below him. Alfred Beach was a thinker, a publisher, and an inventor. He put his clever mind to work and came up with a solution. He envisioned a train powered by an enormous fan that would travel underground. “People would get where they needed to go as if by magic!” he thought. He couldn’t wait to start building. There was just one problem—he didn’t own the streets. And getting permission to dig them up would be hard. “So Beach hatched a sneaky plan. He would propose building an underground tube to carry mail instead.” As he had imagined, no one objected to this project when he proposed it—not even Boss Tweed, who unofficially ran the city.

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Image copyright Chris Sickles, courtesy of rednosestudio.com

Given the okay, Beach rented the basement of Devlin’s Clothing Store. Every day he sent in workers to dig and every night wagons took away the debris. For 58 days and nights Beach’s men tunneled under the city, moving forward 8 feet each day. At last the tunnel was finished. It was 8 feet across and 294 feet long—large enough to hold a train full of people.

Beach then decorated the basement to be a beautiful, welcoming waiting room. Gaslight lamps and paintings dotted the walls, flowers added color, and a grandfather clock rang out the time. There was even a fountain with goldfish, a man playing a grand piano, and a delicious lunch. When everything was ready, Beach invited reporters, government officials, and distinguished citizens to join him on February 26, 1876 at the “Beach Pneumatic Transit Company.”

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Image copyright Chris Sickles, courtesy of rednosestudio.com

That first day Alfred Beach’s guests only admired the train, but they gave it glowing praise. Soon Beach opened his train to the public. With a WHOOSH of a gigantic fan, the train zipped down the track and then back again. “Beach’s train was a SENSATION! All winter while wagons slipped and slid on the slushy streets above, people poured into Devlin’s for the twenty-five-cent ride.”

While riders loved it, some people objected. Shop keepers didn’t want potential buyers underground. Property owners were afraid the digging would hurt their buildings, and some felt Beach wanted too much power. Even Boss Tweed no longer supported it since some of his friends had their own ideas on building a subway. When the governor of New York refused to let Beach expand his train, the project came to a halt.

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Image copyright Chris Sickles, courtesy of rednosestudio.com

The idea didn’t die, however, and “many years later drilling could be heard once again under the streets of New York City” as a train system powered with electricity was being built. Diggers discovered many unusual things buried under the city. Perhaps the most surprising was a brick wall behind which stood a little railroad car rusting in its tracks, a memorial to innovation and the future.

Alfred Ely Beach was one clever man, and Shana Corey tells his story with historical perspective, wit, and suspense. Corey’s language crackles with evocative alliteration, stealth, and action. Kids will be excited to learn of the intrigue and imagination that led to this remarkable snippet of America’s history.

Fans of Claymation will love Chris Sickels’ multimedia artwork that combines sculpted characters, specially built props, photographs, and illustration. Sickels’ characters are nothing short of astounding. Their period clothing, hairstyles, and expressive faces lend an engaging and realistic dimension to the vintage scenes. Sickels cleverly depicts early New York City and people’s alternative ideas to the traffic problem. His use of color and lighting sets the perfect tone for this highly entertaining and educational picture book. Kids will want to linger over each page to catch all the details of The Secret Subway.

Ages 4 – 10

Schwartz & Wade, Random House Kids, 2016 | ISBN 978-0375870712

Leave the Office Early Day Activity

 

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Chris Sickels’ Secret Subway

 

Chris Sickels of Red Nose Studio invites you to build your own Secret Subway with this printable play set, complete with Alfred Ely Beach and a passenger! Click here to download your printable Secret Subway Activity!

Build a Super Subway Car

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Every day, millions of people all over the world travel to work, school, and other activities by subway. Here’s an easy and fun way to build your own subway train from recycled materials. You can make just one car or make a few and connect them to create a long train worthy of any big city!

Supplies

  • Printable Subway Car Template
  • Medium or long toothpaste box
  • Silver paint
  • Glue
  • Paintbrush
  • Scissors

Directions

  1. Paint the toothpaste box with the silver paint, let dry
  2. Cut out the windows, doors, and stripe templates
  3. Trim the stripes to fit your box
  4. To make the little sign near the door, trim a small aquare from one of the stripes
  5. Glue the templates to the box

Picture Book Review

May 19 – It’s National Photography Month

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About the Holiday

National Photography Month was established in 1987 by the United States Congress to commemorate the importance of photos to present and future generations. National Photo month gives you an opportunity to consider what you photograph and how you can become more intentional about making photos that will be meaningful decades from now. Look at your subjects and see the colors, people, events, the culture—even the moment that you are documenting. Once you’ve taken your pictures, don’t just leave them on your phone, in the cloud, or on your hard drive. Print them and archive them for the future. Your inspiration, perspective, and opinions will live on in them.

Dorothea’s Eyes: Dorothea Lange Photographs the Truth

Written by Barb Rosenstock | Illustrated by Gérard DuBois

 

When Dorothea Lange opens her green eyes, she sees things others miss. In the shadows, in patterns within the grain of wooden tables, in the repeated shapes of windows on a wall, and most especially in people’s faces. “Dorothea loves faces! When Dorothea looks at faces, it’s like she’s hugging the world.”

When Dorothea is seven she contracts polio. The disease withers her right leg and forever after she walks with a limp. Other kids tease her and make her want to hide. Her mother encourages her, but Dorothea pretends to be invisible. When her father leaves his family, her mother gets a job in New York and Dorothea goes to a new school. She is different and lonely.

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Image copyright Gérard DuBois , text copyright Barb Rosenstock. Courtesy of Caulkins Creek

As Dorothea waits for her mother to finish work, she looks around her, spying “into crowded tenements where fathers, home from peddling, read newspapers, and mothers wash dishes, clothes, and babies in rusty sinks—happy and sad mixed together.” She begins to skip school to wander the city, gazing at it with her curious eyes and heart.

When Dorothea grows up she decides to become a photographer. Her family is surprised—it is not a ladylike profession. She works any job she can find in the photography industry, learning about cameras, darkrooms, negatives, and the printing process. “Alone in the darkroom’s amber glow, she studies the wet printing paper while faces appear in black and white. Dorothea loves faces!”

When she is 23 Dorothea travels west and when all her money is stolen in San Francisco, she stays, gets a job, and starts her own portrait studio. She becomes the sought-after photographer of the richest families in California. She makes money, gains friends, gets married, and starts a family of her own. But she always wonders, “Am I using my eyes and my heart?”

When the stock market crashes and the Great Depression sweeps the country, Dorothea focuses her camera on the desperate and the downtrodden. Her friends don’t understand, but Dorothea sees into these poor people’s hearts. She “knows all about people the world ignores.” For 5 years she goes out into the fields, peers into tents, documents families living in their cars, crouches in the dirt to reveal the stories of the people struggling with the devastation wrought by the Dust Bowl.

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Image copyright Gérard DuBois , text copyright Barb Rosenstock. Courtesy of Caulkins Creek

Newspapers and magazines publish her pictures. “Her photographs help convince the government to provide parents with work, children with food, and families with safe, clean homes. “The truth, seen with love, becomes Dorothea’s art.” Dorothea’s photographs are still known today. Their subjects continues to help us see others with our hearts.

Six of Dorothea Lange’s most famous and recognizable photographs are reproduced on the last page—still as riveting today as they were in the 1930s. Further information on her life and work is provided as well as sources where her photographs can be viewed, resources for further study, and a timeline of her life.

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Image copyright Gérard DuBois , text copyright Barb Rosenstock. Courtesy of Caulkins Creek

Barb Rosenstock brings Dorothea Lange’s vision to the page with love, honesty, and understanding in this excellent biography of a woman whose photographs defined the Great Depression and Dust Bowl era. Lange’s life-long connection to the poor and often overlooked people of the world is beautifully described and explained in a gentle, compassionate way that will resonate with children. Rosenstock’s language is lyrical with staccato sentences that echo the clicks of Lange’s shutter capturing life’s reality with her eyes and her heart.

Gérard DuBois’s illustrations are arresting and set Dorothea Lange’s story firmly in its historical and emotional landscape. Rendered in acrylic and digital imagery, they feature the muted colors and style of book illustrations from long ago. By placing the images of Dorothea, her family, and her photography subjects against white backgrounds, DuBois emphasizes Lange’s focus on the people she met and faces that inspired her. Distressed textures accentuate the troubled times and the anguish of both Dorothea and her subjects.

Ages 7 – 12

Calkins Creek, 2016 | ISBN 978-1629792088

Discover all the amazing books by Barb Rosenstock on her website!

View a portfolio of art and book illustration by Gérard DuBois on his website!

Here’s a snapshot of Dorothea’s Eyes!

National Photography Month Activity

CPB - New Professionals Picture

News Professionals Clothespin Figures

 

Make one of these clothespin figures that honors the men and women who work to keep the world informed.

Supplies

Directions

  1. Draw a face and hair on the clothespin
  2. Cut out the clothes you want your journalist or photographer to wear
  3. Wrap the clothes around the clothespin. The slit in the clothespin should be on the side.
  4. Tape the clothes together
  5. Cut out the camera
  6. Tape one end of a short length of thread to the right top corner of the camera and the other end of the thread to the left corner. Now you can hang the camera around the figure’s neck.

Idea for displaying the figures

  • Attach a wire or string to the wall and pin the figure to it
  • Pin it to your bulletin board or on the rim of a desk organizer

 

Picture Book Review