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Showing posts with label Elizabeth Dulemba. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elizabeth Dulemba. Show all posts
Thursday, November 2, 2017
Picture Book Month 2017
I hope you'll join us each day of Picture Book Month for insightful interviews and encouraging posts centered around the world of picture books: the people that create them, the people that read them, and the people that love them.
Thanks to Elizabeth Dulemba, Joyce Wan, and others for the PBM calendar and logo and heartfelt prayers to Captain Deadeye and his family.
Friday, November 7, 2014
PPBF: Clever Jack Takes the Cake
Today's Perfect Picture Book Friday pick
Clever Jack Takes the Cake
Written by Candace Fleming
Illustrated by G. Brian Karas
Schwartz & Wade, 2010
Grades 1-3, Reading Level AD600L
40 pp, 1384 words
Themes:
Friendship, Folk Tale, Birthday
Opening:
One summer morning long ago, a poor boy named Jack found an invitation slipped beneath his cottage door. It read:
Synopsis:
Lowly Jack is invited to the princess's birthday, but he has no present to bring. Selling his few possessions, resourceful Jack gathers the ingredients he needs to make the perfect birthday cake. On his way to the castle, poor Jack and his cake are menaced by an assortment of characters, from four-and-twenty blackbirds to a greedy troll. Disappointed Jack must eventually face the princess empty-handed. It will take all his cleverness to keep the party from being a total loss.
What I Love:
What can Candy write that we will not adore? Not much. Here is a new tale, traditionally told, which satisfies the ache for fairy tales in a refreshing way. The author twists in the familiar in this subtractive tale (the opposite of cumulative?), but she ends up with a story which is anything but ordinary: A story about resourcefulness and the charming ability children have to bear up under adversity and to build friendship in unlikely ways.
Brian proves he is a superlative illustrator with his deceptively simple art. He transports us to a time and place with the sparest of details. He captures the characters emotions with a flick of the pen. From Jack to the dancing bear, I just want to hug them all! Adorable, without being cutesy!
Bonus:
1. I hope you don't have to sell your possessions to cook up Paula Deen's Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake.
2. TeachingBooks lists some lesson plan ideas for this book on their site.
3. The sound quality on this you tube clip is poor, but this young man's performance of Clever Jack is almost as much fun as reading the book!
4. Jules interviews Candace about Clever Jack right after its initial publication, and an gives an overview of Brian's career on 7 Imp.
5. I recently learned about the Appalachian Jack Tales heritage from E Dulemba. Learn more about Jack in traditional folklore or read the Dance Among Thorns, the original Jack tale. Candy's book has a more European flavor, but it definitely carries on the Jack Tale tradition.
6. Color a traditional Jack and the Beanstalk coloring page from Super Coloring Pages.
7. Here's an eclectic mix of Perfect Picture Books which would be fun to read together. Find them at your local library.
Check out all the recommended titles for Perfect Picture Book Friday
for November 7, 2014, available on Susanna Leonard Hill's blog.
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| Clever Jack Takes the Cake, by Candace Fleming and G. Brian Karas |
Clever Jack Takes the Cake
Written by Candace Fleming
Illustrated by G. Brian Karas
Schwartz & Wade, 2010
Grades 1-3, Reading Level AD600L
40 pp, 1384 words
Themes:
Friendship, Folk Tale, Birthday
Opening:
One summer morning long ago, a poor boy named Jack found an invitation slipped beneath his cottage door. It read:
His Majesty the King
cordially invites
all the children of the Realm
to
the Princess's Tenth Birthday
Party
tomorrow afternoon
in the Castle Courtyard
Synopsis:
Lowly Jack is invited to the princess's birthday, but he has no present to bring. Selling his few possessions, resourceful Jack gathers the ingredients he needs to make the perfect birthday cake. On his way to the castle, poor Jack and his cake are menaced by an assortment of characters, from four-and-twenty blackbirds to a greedy troll. Disappointed Jack must eventually face the princess empty-handed. It will take all his cleverness to keep the party from being a total loss.
What I Love:
What can Candy write that we will not adore? Not much. Here is a new tale, traditionally told, which satisfies the ache for fairy tales in a refreshing way. The author twists in the familiar in this subtractive tale (the opposite of cumulative?), but she ends up with a story which is anything but ordinary: A story about resourcefulness and the charming ability children have to bear up under adversity and to build friendship in unlikely ways.
Brian proves he is a superlative illustrator with his deceptively simple art. He transports us to a time and place with the sparest of details. He captures the characters emotions with a flick of the pen. From Jack to the dancing bear, I just want to hug them all! Adorable, without being cutesy!
2. TeachingBooks lists some lesson plan ideas for this book on their site.
3. The sound quality on this you tube clip is poor, but this young man's performance of Clever Jack is almost as much fun as reading the book!
4. Jules interviews Candace about Clever Jack right after its initial publication, and an gives an overview of Brian's career on 7 Imp.
5. I recently learned about the Appalachian Jack Tales heritage from E Dulemba. Learn more about Jack in traditional folklore or read the Dance Among Thorns, the original Jack tale. Candy's book has a more European flavor, but it definitely carries on the Jack Tale tradition.
6. Color a traditional Jack and the Beanstalk coloring page from Super Coloring Pages.
7. Here's an eclectic mix of Perfect Picture Books which would be fun to read together. Find them at your local library.
 |
| A resourceful heroine Reviewed by Jennifer |
 |
| Elizabeth O. Dulemba's bilingual Jack Tale |
 |
| Reviewed by Julie |
 |
| Crazy folktale adaptations Reviewed by Clarike |
 |
| Another birthday story Reviewed by Beth |
 |
| A journey book Reviewed by Miss Marple |
Check out all the recommended titles for Perfect Picture Book Friday
for November 7, 2014, available on Susanna Leonard Hill's blog.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Picture Book Month
November has been declared Picture Book Month. Dianne de Las Casas, along with Elizabeth Dulemba, Katie Davis, Tara Lazar, and Wendy Martin, have worked tirelessly to promote the health and well-being of the picture book. Check out the why's and how's of picture book creation, dissect a picture book, borrow a stack from the library, or just read one to your favorite person. Any way you celebrate, you can't lose when you dive into the pages of a picture book.
Read * Share * Celebrate!
Logo art by Joyce Wan
Here are a few more links to get you started:
Buy picture books.
Attend a workshop.
Read books on picture books.
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