Wowed!

Shaun Tan and

Kazu Kibuishi are

Awesome.

I would say that Kazu Kibuishi's work, which is usually comic book-style but is published in books rather than individual installments, qualifies as Children's Books. His Amulet series is an enormous hit with kids and comic book readers of all ages- up there with Watchmen on the bestseller lists this past year! They are really gorgeous. His Copper comics are also super-exciting to look at...

Amulet Art

Kazu, and I, are also enormous fans of Shaun Tan, who contributes to Flight (which Kibuishi edits as mentioned 2 posts ago...). His books are also equally appropriate for kids and adults... and are-just-gorgeous. Check out: The Arrival, Tales from Outer Suburbia and the Red Tree!

from The Arrival:

from The Red Tree:

I want a print of Kazu's AND of Shaun's artwork for my next gift-to-myself (one of Shaun's):

Arent you just WOWED?

LOVE

ARLA

P.S. could i BE any more pumped for the New York International Childrens Film Festival? Check out the schedule HERE

FA- TA- TH- REALLY!?!

OMIGOD OMIGOD OMIGOD!!!!!

Faerie Tale Theatre is on YouTube in it's entirety!!!!!

I CANT NOT SHARE THIS WITH THE WORLD OF STORY-LOVING FOLK

HOW EXCITED ARE YOU!!?!?!

LET US GIVE A COLLECTIVE WHOOP!

AND SETTLE IN FOR A NIGHT WITH

ROBIN WILLIAMS as the frog/prince and ERIC IDLE in THE FROG PRINCE

ERIC IDLE also as the PIED PIPER of HAMELIN

MICK JAGGER as The Emperor in THE NIGHTENGALE

CHRISTOPHER REEVE + BERNADETTE PETERS in SLEEPING BEAUTY

MALCOLM MCDOWELL in LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

LIZA MINELLI in THE PRINCESS and the PEA

JOHN LITHGOW and CAROLE KING as the mom and dad bears in GOLDILOCKS AND THE 3 BEARS

PAUL RUEBENS as PINOCCHIO

CARRIE FISHER as THUMBELINA

VINCENT PRINCE + VANESSA REDGRAVE in SNOW WHITE

SUSAN SARANDON, KLAUS KINSKI and ANGELICA HOUSTON in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

DORIS ROBERTS as the mom of BILLY CRYSTAL, FRED WILLARD and STEPHEN FURST, the 3 PIGS to JEFF GOLDBLUM'S wolf

ELLEN BARKIN and HOWIE MANDELL in THE PRINCESS WHO NEVER LAUGHED

JENNIFER BEALS, MATT BRODERICK and JEAN STAPLETON in CINDERELLA

GREGORY HINES in PUSS IN BOOTS

LEONARD NIMOY and JAMES EARL JONES in a TIM BURTON directed ALADDIN

RIP VAN WINKLE directed by FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA

and way, way, way more! COULD YOU HANDLE THAT?

I know. Neither can I!

Arla

of the ten million clips I could link you to, for some reason, i choose this one--- probably because its a classic example of how incredibly enjoyable, hilarious, cheesy and yet beautiful the series could be, all at once. My heart still leaps when Reeves murmurs his romantic, pre-kiss speech: "...or am I dreaming now?" swoons.

Stuff on Heads

Pohadky Pro Vsedni Dny I Pro Svatky with Květa Pacovská.

and

Once Upon a Princess and a Pea, by Ann Campbell and illustrated by Kathy Osborn Young

WARNING: this is an EPIC POST.

Stuff on Heads:

Today on a lovely blog known as "A Journey Round my Skull" I spotted this sweet picture:

The illustration is from the book Pohadky Pro Vsedni Dny I Pro Svatky which apparently means "Fairy Tales for Weekdays and on Holidays." You can read the full post here. The artist's name is Květa Pacovská. Phwar!! Here's another of hers:

But the thing that I was REALLY drawn to was the women with the three hats/heads! It reminded me very strongly of a scene in one of my favorite children's books from childhood: a fantastic version of The Princess and the Pea titled, well, Once Upon A Princess and a Pea.

I cannot describe how wonderful the illustrations in this book are. It's also so imaginative- when the Princess runs away shes wearing all of her clothes at once, the Prince drives a red sports car, and on his quest to find a princess he must search many crazy kingdoms- in the first, everything is red (they have caught wind that it is the Prince's favorite color). Because the Prince doesn't have the best time, the next kingdom, hearing Sir Prince no longer enjoys his favorite things, has decided to present him with great variety: this is where a fantastic illustration of three princesses, each with different dishes, musicians, and enormous, fantastic hats- comes in. I wish to high holy heaven and back that I could find even one image of the illustrations online- but please, please, take a glance at this fantastic book!

And while we're on the subject of stuff on heads, and as an apology, please enjoy some characters from an awesome series of comics by Scott Campbell.

eatin' tacos!

This blogpost is super-themed, because I myself wear almost every day a warm winter hat that is also my favorite article of clothing. It is a grey owl hat with tufty ears, as pictured below. 

Love for Animals

and you,

Me n' Harry

At the End of this Book..

Some Things are Scary: Florence Parry Heide (author) and Jules Feiffer (illustrator)

and

The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone (author) and Michael Smollin (illustrator)

Hello! The two books I have chosen to feature today are following the 2 blue books model of a new book I've read and a childhood favorite that it reminded me of.

Some Things are Scary is an excellent example of the magic that can be made out of an

author and an illustrator coming upon a simple idea and executing it simply- each page is yet another thing that... is scary!! (Example: holding your mothers hand and then finding out its not your mother... is scary!) Each thing that is scary can stand on its own but what's very sweet about it as a whole is all the scary things are things that a child generally thinks is terrifying- losing control of your roller skates, having your best friend move away. But what got me thinking about this book is the real doozy at the end- in some cynical, your-problems-are-only-beginning way, the final and biggest scare at the end of the book is... the knowledge that you will one day grow up!! I also liked when Florence Perry teamed up with the wonderous Lane Smith on her book about Princess Hyacinth (the surprising tale of a girl who floated). This woman gets some good collaborations going.

I both resented this ending "hey, being a grown up is great! You can have a trampoline in your house if you want! You can eat ice cream for breakfast!" and yet, I had to admit...growing up is scary!

So my companion book is the aptly titled, "The Monster at the End of this Book", starring the 'lovable, furry old grover'. Who does NOT love Grover??? And instead of summarize or review it, I'm just going to let you enjoy:

http://smollin.com/michael/tmonstr/mon001.html

Love, Arla

The Stupids Die

Good Evening, people!

First, before you do anything at all, please read ALL OF THIS:

www.axecop.com

I just did, so I don't have the time to do a review today but I do want to share an excerpt from the excellent book, "The Stupids Die"

which is from the awesome series about a family called the Stupids. the books are by Harry Allard and James Marshall. Marshall's George and Martha series is one of my all-time favorites, his Miss Nelson books are gold, and even his re-telling of classic fairy tales are cool. you can read a lot of the George and Martha stories on Google books even, right now, if you wanted to, which you should. But The Stupids Die is, as another blog pointed out once, maybe the best title ever.

Yeah

Arla

One evening while the Stupids are watching television in their living room, a fuse blows and everything goes dark...

"I can't see a thing," said Mrs. Stupid.

"We must be dead," said Mr. Stupid.

"Oh, wow!" said the two Stupid kids.

Kitty (the wonderful dog) holds a flashlight while Xylophone (the swell cat) changes the fuse. The lights come on again...

The Stupids all looked around.

"This must be heaven," said Mr. Stupid.

"Oh, wow!" said the two Stupid kids.

"It has a nice homey feeling," said Mrs. Stupid.

Grandfather Stupid rides into the living room on his motorcycle...

"Welcome to heaven," said Mr. Stupid.

"This isn't heaven," said Grandfather.
"This is Cleveland."

"This may sound stupid," said Buster.
"But I think this is our living room."

"Oh, heck," said Petunia, "I'm going to bed."

- from The Stupids Die, by Harry Allard & James Marshall

If the World were MINE

It would be like THIS.

Adults Go Wild Over Latest In Children's Picture Book Series

And also when I pressed my belly button I would become invisible (BFG!)

Love Bugs,

Arla

p.s. as in "Love Bugs"- from the super pop-up bugs books series by David A. Carter!

Two Very Blue Books!

The Crocodile Blues by Coleman Polhemus

http://www.amazon.com/Crocodile-Blues-Coleman-Polhemus/dp/076363543X

and

The Three Robbers by Tomi Ungerer

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Robbers-Tomi-Ungerer/dp/0714848778/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266479831&sr=1-1

For my 2nd post ever, 2 books that are A-MA-ZING. The first is one I read for the first time today, "The Crocodile Blues". First off, the use of color is incredible. It seems as though he uses

maybe 5 colors total- yellow, beige, white, blue and black, to fantastic effect. It has an old-timey noir feeling to it, like a Pink Panther cartoon, no dialogue (only the occasional well-placed sound-word), pages that fold out and up in brilliant ways that continue to tell the story AS THEY FOLD OUT. And on the last page I audibly sqeeaked just because I was so delighted.

It also reminded me of an old favorite, "The Three Robbers", if for no other reason than it did nighttime and sneakiness and mystery so damn well. Must be that dark blue. But it has

the sweetest narrative. Three robbers are raiding a carriage, per usual, but instead of treasure they find a little girl named Tiffany. They take her back to their lair where all their treasure is, and she asks them what they are going to do with it. They don't really have an answer, so they open an orphanage for little girls and boys like Tiffany. It kicks butt. According to the Wikipedia article, looks like Ungerer is "also a designer, toy collecter, and archivist of human absurdity" and is known for themes of the Vietnam war, eroticism (especially sadomasichsm), bigotry etc in his adult work. I promise to seek out his other childrens books!

BONUS GOODIES: It turns out theres a full-length cartoon of the three robbers (that appears czech-big shocker there- all my favorite animators keep turning out czech!) I don't know if this the intro to it but its damn cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38O1J5RgBMc

also, here is the story in full, done by someone:

though I first saw it via the CHILDHOOD-DEFINING Children's Circle videos, which brought to life an incredible amount of classic childrens books. I recently found the intro on youtube and actually started tearing up. These had me singing the Really Rosie songs (written by Maurice Sendak and composed by Carole King!) as soon as I could speak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6qTGC3onoA

I should do a segment on these videos sometime... in the meantime, take a look at these books!

THEY ARE AWESOME!

Love on a Bear Rug

Arla

WELCOME TO YAAAAY BOOKS!

YAY!

You are here because I am here to share with you, every day, a new a wonderful book for children!!

It is the saddest thing in the world to me that there is a whole world of literature that adults think they have outgrown, and they only return to Children's books from some kind of anthropological or parental place. Children's literature should be enjoyed whether you're 3, 12, 22, 30, or 50010- same as cartoons, graphic novels, toys, and being silly for absolutely no reason.

I hope that this blog is read- and then maybe these books are read- by anyone and everyone!

Love wearin kid gloves

Arla