Picture Book of the Month: In November by Cynthia Rylant
In November by Cynthia Rylant. Harcourt, 2000.
Prose, but superbly poetic language. Take the very first page:
“In November, the earth is growing quiet. It is making its bed, a winter bed for flowers and small creatures. The bed is white and silent, and much life can hide beneath its blankets.”
A lovely metaphor that is vivid and gentle and fully accessible for any child. This continues throughout—trees are sticks and bones, spreading their arms like dancers; berries are the winter birds’ treasures; food smells orange. The story comes back to the bed image in the last line:
“...the world has tucked her children in, with a kiss on their heads, till spring.”
Beautiful, tender illustrations, a gorgeous book.
I first "met" Karlin when she asked to do an author interview on the release of my first book, Halloween Good Night. Of course I had to follow suit (i.e., steal her excellent idea!) to celebrate the release of her second book, An Extraordinary Ordinary Moth.
Poetry Month is coming to a close, and with it I'll share five Zolotow picture book classics. Books like these are "out of style" in current publishing, which is a shame. I'd much rather read Flock of Birds over and over than books about crazy hair or farting dogs.
As we continue to celebrate poetry, I continue to study picture books. I don't think I could count how many I've absorbed in the past years. Oodles? Oodles of oodles? A lot.
In honor of National Poetry Month, I'll be sharing some of my favorite poetic picture books. Beautiful, vivid, delightful reads. Here are five by Cynthia Rylant, an amazingly prolific author with an insane diversity of titles to her name.
Alicia’s Best Friends and Simon and Molly Plus Hester by Lisa Jahn-Clough are two of my favorite picture books and here's why...
Our family loves books. And I mean LOVES books. So below I've compiled a short list of our personal favorites. The books we have read and re-read until the covers fell off, then bought new copies to read again. Some are classics, ones I grew up with. Others are new.
All the cutest Valentine's Day picture books! Ok, a few of the cutest. First up, Shape of My Heart. Valentine's Day and shapes. I enjoyed the illustrations immensely and liked the educational content. This would be a household favorite, I think, though I found myself wishing...
Rebecca has been writing since childhood, her first book about a kitten published between homemade cardboard covers in second grade. Although she studied religion and philosophy in university, she continued writing, earning an MFA from Hamline University and publishing multiple picture books (no longer with homemade covers) and a collection of poetry with a variety of New York and independent publishers. She has also published a wide array of fiction, essays, and poetry in magazines and journals and photographs for Getty Images. She balances writing with homeschooling the younger of her six children, launching her young adults, church activities, and overseeing a small flock of chickens in rural West Michigan.
In this delicious interview, discover Sandra Nickel’s forthcoming book Nacho's Nachos, which tells the true story of Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya, who invented one of the world’s favorite snacks.