Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite

Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite
by Anna Harwell Celenza (Author) and Don Tate (Illustrator)

Booktalk: It’s a challenge to transform the Nutcracker Suite’s romantic orchestra into jumpin’ jazz melodies, but that’s exactly what Duke Ellington and his collaborator, Billy Strayhorn, did.

BONUS! CD recording included.

Snippet: “I want to challenge myself…create music that can’t be categorized,” answered Duke. “Got any ideas?”

**Don is one of my former students!**

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up host is A Curious Thing

My NEW picture book is Road Work Ahead (Viking)
Copyright © 2011 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band

Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band
by Kwame Alexander (Author) and Tim Bowers (Illustrator)

Booktalk: When a jazz-loving rooster sets his sights on winning a barnyard talent show, he realizes he can’t do it as a solo act. He’s up against the talents of Mules Davis’s cool duo and Ella Finchgerald’s singing group. (Music glossary and jazz timeline in the back matter.)

Snippet:
Acoustic Rooster’s band performed
a bossa nova tune.
“The Hen from Ipanema” made
the barnyard chickies swoon.

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Teaching Authors

My NEW picture book is Road Work Ahead (Viking)
Copyright © 2011 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

When Bob Met Woody: The Story of the Young Bob Dylan

When Bob Met Woody: The Story of the Young Bob Dylan
by Gary Golio (Author) and Marc Burckhardt (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Find out how a young boy from Minnesota became a music legend after meeting his idol in this Bob Dylan biography.

Snippet:
Bob floated into this world on waves of sound.
In the city of Duluth, on the shore of Lake Superior, in the cold North Country of Minnesota.
To the music of ships’ bells, seagulls’ cries, and the rhythm of rumbling freight cars,
young Bob Zimmerman began his life story.

Picture Book of the Day is the fourth stop on author Gary Golio‘s blog tour. And so we begin with just three questions…

Q. When did you start writing this book?

A. I actually started writing “When Bob Met Woody” in 2004. At first, I had this plan to do
a kind of ”parallel-lives” format, with Woody’s story on the left pages, Bob’s on the right,
up to the point where their paths intertwine and Bob meets Woody in the hospital. But it
became too tricky after a while, and as I thought more and more about Bob writing “Song
to Woody,” it seemed that the story I wanted to tell was really about a young person and
the inspiration a hero provides. In my mind, at least, this is the best thing that heroes or
mentors can do—offer us a key to ourselves, and set us on our own path.

Q. Describe your writing process.

A. I did a lot of reading about Bob—his early years, from the first bios, to radio interview
transcripts across the decades, to Rolling Stone articles and critical analyses of his
songwriting. And then there was the listening—vinyls, CDs, performance videos—
particularly to songs I now hear differently, because I’m not a teenager anymore {; ). But
the man has led a complex life—both artistically and personally—and his accounts of
Dylan history, from the very beginning, have not always tallied with friends’ and other
people’s memories. He is The Great Self-Mythologizer—like Picasso—which is integral
to how he shaped his art. So there came a time when I had to decide what “facts” I would
go with, who I’d believe, and what I’d leave out because of the uncertainty factor. And of
course there’s been so much written about Bob, that I wanted to tell a different story—
one that resonated with me and made sense for kids, too—about the tenderness of Bob’s
early passion, and his yearning to find himself through music.

Q: Tell us about your next project.

A. Right now, I’m working on a book about Charlie Chaplin—a fascinating guy who was
probably the most famous person in the world in 1915 and who changed the course of
filmmaking as a medium and art form. Actor, writer, producer, director, and composer (we
all know the song, “Smile”), he gave us the shape of modern film-story, with structural
development that allows for humor, drama, romance, and adventure (think: The Kid).
He was a bold pioneer, and didn’t need to speak a word as The Tramp to fully convey
the human experience. Who doesn’t love and relate to the Tramp? And besides writing
the text, I’m also trying my hand at illustration for the first time—something which has
been both liberating and surprising after being a “fine artist” (landscape painter) for
many years. But with Charlie as my model—like Woody was for Bob—maybe anything’s
possible!

Visit all of the other blog tour stops:

Tuesday, 5/17: Margo Tanenbaum
Wednesday, 5/18: Marc Tyler Nobleman
Thursday, 5/19: Gail Gauthier
Tuesday, 5/24: Jone MacCulloch
Thursday, 5/26: Kathy Burnette

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up is Great Kid Books

Are you ready for the Nonfiction Book Blast?
Copyright © 2011 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Nonfiction Monday: Ballet for Martha

Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring
by Jan Greenberg (Author), Sandra Jordan (Author) and Brian Floca (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Martha Graham: trailblazing choreographer ~ Aaron Copland: distinguished American composer ~ Isamu Noguchi: artist, sculptor, craftsman. See how these three greats created the American masterpiece, Appalachian Spring.

Snippet: Sometimes art is made by one artist, working alone, but sometimes it is the result of artists working together–collaborating–to forge something new. It took more than a year and the imaginations of many talented people for Appalachian Spring, the dance created by Martha Graham, to be performed in stage for the first time. The result was an American classic.

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up is Apple with Many Seeds

Students, send me your poems (for my new EduHaiku Poetry Month blog)
Copyright © 2011 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Little Diva

Little Diva
by LaChanze (Author) and Brian Pinkney (Illustrator)

Booktalk: What is a diva’s life like? See her daughter’s day from morning til night…

Snippet:
Divas can act and sing and dance. And when I grow up, I want to be a diva just like my mommy!

BONUS! This book comes with a CD of the author singing and reading.

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Nonfiction Monday: Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow

Yes, you have seen this book on the blog. I am highlighting it again because it is a 2010 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book! Congratulations!

Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix
by Gary Golio (Author) and Javaka Steptoe (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Jimi loved sound and color…and he grew up to be one of the greatest guitar players of all time.

Snippet:
Sweeping up his room one day, Jimmy
stopped and held the broom in his arms.
He strummed on the bristles,
sliding his fingers
back and forth along the wooden handle.Was this what it felt like to hold a real
guitar–to swing it up and down,
to make music while you sang?

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up is at Great Kid Books.

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Copyright © 2011 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Fiesta Babies (Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Book)

Fiesta Babies
by Carmen Tafolla (Author) and Amy Cordova (Illustrator)

A Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Book!

Booktalk: Babies march, sing, dance, eat and sleep in this 24 page picture book for very young readers.

Snippet:
Fiesta Babies march on parade
wearing coronas Mama has made.

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Copyright © 2011 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Nonfiction Monday: Cybils Nonfiction Picture Book Finalists

Happy 2011! Over the holiday, the Cybils Nonfiction Picture Book Finalists were announced!

Here is what the panelists had to say about the books they selected from this long list of nominees:

Bones
by Steve Jenkins
Scholastic
Nominated by: Mary Ann Scheuer

Young explorers might come across skeleton remains, but in Bones, readers are reminded that skeletons are alive. Jenkins’ book delivers all sorts of bones, from snakes to humans to bats and everything else in between. His clever page titles such as “Arm Yourself,” “Big Foot,” or “Support Group” are engaging. The bone illustrations are created at a variety of scales. Intricate paper cuts for each page, along with the straightforward explanations, won the hearts of the panelists. More skeleton facts, stories, history, and science are at the book’s end.

Dinosaur Mountain: Digging into the Jurassic Age
by Deborah Kogan Ray
Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Nominated by: Raymond Tumarkin

“Find me something big,” ordered Andrew Carne, when he sent paleontologist Earl Douglas to an area of the Colorado/Wyoming border now known as Dinosaur National Monument. Deborah Kogan Ray chronicles Douglas’ efforts, including his struggles with weather, discouragement and bone poachers. Ray uses journal excerpts, diagrams and pencil sketches of other useful information, such as layers of the Jurassic Strata and paleontologist’s tools, to provide additional support for the reader. Prolific appendices include information about ten dinosaurs found in Dinosaur National Monument.

Henry Aaron’s Dream
by Matt Tavares
Candlewick Press
Nominated by: Margo Tanenbaum

Henry Aaron had a dream that some day he’d play baseball in the big leagues, but life in the 1940s made it impossible for blacks and whites to do anything together. Using Jackie Robinson as his inspiration, Aaron persevered and played his way into the big leagues while overcoming prejudice and obstacles. The straightforward narrative pulls the reader along in this emotion-filled story of Aaron’s dreams as a child and subsequent path leading him to play baseball professionally. Tavares’s large, muted illustrations depict the times, the disappointments, and triumphs of this player from his childhood to his successful record-breaking career. But best of all, it tells the story of how a skinny kid from Mobile, Alabama, made his dreams come true.

Pop!: The Invention of Bubble Gum
by Meghan McCarthy
Simon & Schuster
Nominated by: Jess Pugh

Chewing gum has been around for thousands of years, but bubble gum was invented by an accountant in Philadelphia. Here, with bright, cartoonish illustrations, Meghan McCarthy tells the story of the invention of one of America’s favorite candies. From the subject matter to the vivid colors used throughout, Pop! oozes kid appeal, while back matter includes additional fun facts about bubble gum, biographical information, and source notes. Together, this makes for a book that’ll give kids thoughts to chew on.

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down
by Andrea Pinkney
Little, Brown
Nominated by: Allison Moore

In 1960, when four Negro college students decided to sit down and try to order at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, they were part of a movement bigger than they even realized. They were peaceful and respectful, even when those around them chose to be cruel and unkind. They held on to their conviction that they had a right to order food if they were hungry, no matter where they were, or what the color of their skin. Most of the story is written as a metaphor for eating, especially the parts about equality, peace and integration. Pinkney ties the story together so well with those metaphors. Brian Pinkney’s illustrations are amazing and match the text beautifully. His backgrounds are particularly thoughtful, as that is where the hatred of others can be found in a hazy way. Sit-In serves as a springboard to look at all the ways we can stand up for each other and for what’s right, no matter what the color of our skin.

Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald
by Roxane Orgill
Candlewick Press
Nominated by: Derek Jones

Ella Fitzgerald is known for her unique voice and giving the world scat, improvisational singing. Fitzgerald didn’t have an easy childhood. Roxane Orgill handles the ups and downs with a skilled hand. We get so much of Ella, from singing with her mother to the time when she had no home. Even through the sadness, Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat never loses its sense of hopeful possibility. Sean Qualls’ illustrations are beautiful, from Ella’s expressive eyes to the detailed clothes of the era. Orgill and Qualls have collaborated on a lyrical and visually stunning biography on a jazz icon.

The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According To Susy)
by Barbara Kerley
Scholastic
Nominated by: Jennifer Donovan

Children have no doubt heard of Mark Twain, but here they’ll get to know him in a new and more familiar way through the words of his daughter. As a child, Susy Clemens carefully crafted a secret biography of her beloved Papa, and Kerley brings to life both Papa and Susy, as well as Susy’s journal, for young readers. Kerley weaves quotes from various sources into a narrative that reads like fiction, and Fotheringham’s lively, colorful illustrations portray a larger-than-life Twain and his ever-present biographer. Excerpts from Susy’s journals are cleverly presented in small leaflets throughout the book. Back matter includes further information about Mark Twain and Susy, a selected timeline of Twain’s life, and detailed sources and citations for quoted material in the text. For readers who are inspired to keep their own secret journals, suggestions for following in Susy’s (and Kerley’s) pen strokes to write an “extraordinary biography” are provided.

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up is at Charlotte’s Library.

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Copyright © 2011 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Nonfiction Monday: Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow

Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix
by Gary Golio (Author) and Javaka Steptoe (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Jimi loved sound and color…and he grew up to be one of the greatest guitar players of all time.

Snippet:
Sweeping up his room one day, Jimmy
stopped and held the broom in his arms.
He strummed on the bristles,
sliding his fingers
back and forth along the wooden handle.Was this what it felt like to hold a real
guitar–to swing it up and down,
to make music while you sang?

Picture Book of the Day is the first stop on author Gary Golio‘s blog tour. And so we begin with just three questions…

Q: When did you start writing?

A. I began writing in the fifth grade, when I was 10 or 11, for the front-of-the-class Show &Tell presentation each week. “Tales of Flubbergirl”—a takeoff on the mysterious compound introduced in the movie The Absent-Minded Professor (1961)—was an ongoing series of stories about a heroine with “super bouncing powers,” who could protect those in need, foil the nefarious plans of crooks and evildoers, and make people laugh. I had no particular interest in bouncing powers, but I really did want to be a superhero and to move people. Only later in life did I discover that artists were a lot like superheroes, using musical instruments,paintbrushes, words and their own bodies to astound, amaze, and inspire us. A lot easier than being SpiderMan!

Q: Describe your writing process.

A. I think a lot—probably too much—about life, the things around me, my day-to-day experiences, and plans for the future. A lot of this thinking revolves around Art—drawing and music—and the work of other artists that inspire me. When I’m fascinated by someone, I like to study their life, their influences, and their struggles. Seeing how people I admire (like Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Pablo Picasso, John Coltrane, and Charlie Chaplin) found their way as children and adults, makes me want to discover their secrets: the talents or techniques they used to do their work. After a lot of research on that person (books, film/videos, records/CDs), I start looking for a story, within their life, that shows us who they are and why they’re so interesting. Once I’ve got that idea, I put away my notes and just start writing. It comes out more like poetry than prose at first—images, with sounds and colors—and I follow that lead, filling in the blanks, turning up the volume or the feeling, until I’ve told a story that I can believe in. And then I revise the heck out of it!

Q: Tell us about your latest book.

A. JIMI is my first (literary) child, and very dear to my heart. It’s about a boy who sees the world a little differently, with a love of sound and color, a deep connection to music (that runs in his family), and a need to speak out in his own way. And while it’s about the roots of someone whose adult work we know or can easily become familiar with, the story focuses on a kid who does a lot with a little. While I believe that the young Jimmy Hendrix had innate gifts, he was also propelled by a desire to succeed, and a willingness to invest himself in making his dreams real. Many of the kids I work with as a therapist have no concrete goals for the future. Without a star to hitch your wagon to, one has no real sense of direction and can easily be led off course,which is what often happens. Children need to dream, to imagine—even if it’s “outside of the box”—because that’s how we begin the journey of our lives, and how we nurture a sense of hopefulness about living in general.

Congratulations on your first book, and the stars from Kirkus and School Library Journal, Gary!

Be sure to join the rest of the tour at:

Day 2 - Tuesday 10/19, Mitali’s Fire Escape

Day 3 - Wednesday 10/20,  The Brown Bookshelf

Day 4 – Thursday 10/21, Original Content

Day 5 – Friday 10/22, Tales from the Rushmore Kid

Day 6 – Monday 10/25,  The Fourth Musketeer

Day 7 -Tuesday 10/26, Great Kid Books

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up is at MotherReader.

(See my other Monday blog, Book of the Week:
Activities for Classrooms and Libraries.)

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Poetry Friday: Boom Bah!

Boom Bah!
by Phil Cummings (Author) and Nina Rycroft (Illustrator)

Booktalk: One small sound starts it all, and the animals make a marching band…

Snippet:
A box, a bowl,
A spoon, a stick.
Tap! tap!
Clickety-click!

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

(See my other Friday blog, Weekend Reads: Booktalks for Ages 6-12)

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