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The Black Book of Colors — Perfect Picture Book Friday
Title: The Black Book of Colors Author: Menena Cottin Illustrator: Rosana Faria Translator: Elisa Amado (the book was originally published in Spanish) Publisher: Toronto/Berkeley: Groundwood/House of Anansi, 2006.
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Art for the Visually Impaired
Imagine yourself visually impaired, or even totally blind. Close your eyes, and then imagine that even if you opened them, you still would be cut off from the visual world most of us take for granted. In that situation, would art have any meaning for you? Could it? Would there be any possibility for you…
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V is for … Very Fairy Princess: Spotlight Worthy!
Yes, my Wednesday Worthy for In the Spotlight Week is none other than Geraldine, the Very Fairy Princess herself! (She assures me that fairy princesses are very comfortable in the spotlight.) Through the generosity of Emma Walton Hamilton and her co-author, as well as their publisher, Little, Brown & Co., Geraldine has graciously agreed to…
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EARTH DAY! Walk! Look! Listen!
Joanna Marple inspired me earlier this morning with her wonderful blogpost featuring suggestions of how individuals and families can commemorate Earth Day. I urge you to check out her post “Earth Day: Let’s Celebrate our Wonderful World!” (I do hope you’ll come back here after you’ve read her post, though!) I will be blogging in…
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Here Comes the Very Fairy Princess!
I decided I just HAVE to do an extra post today, to let you all know that the new book in Julie Andrews’ and Emma Walton Hamilton’s Very Fairy Princess series, The Very Fairy Princess: Here Comes the Flower Girl, is being released today! In conjunction with the book’s release, Julie Andrews, the Target Corporation,…
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Symphony City — Perfect Picture Book Friday
Title: Symphony City Author/Illustrator: Amy Martin Publisher: San Francisco, CA: McSweeney’s McMullen’s, 2011 Genre: Picture book, fiction
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Music in the Schools, Minnesota Sinfonia — Spotlight Worthy
As I mentioned in Monday’s post, I am honored today to be interviewing Jay Fishman, Executive and Artistic Director of the Minnesota Sinfonia. Jay was the founder of the Sinfonia, which is a professional orchestra offering all its concerts free to all who want to have access to their music. This policy was inaugurated under…
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The Arts and Learning — In the Spotlight
One of my favorite quotes about the arts is one from an interview with Katherine Anne Porter in The Paris Review. It is about the influence and impact of the arts in general, but also, I believe, speaks to the importance of the arts in children’s lives as well as the lives of adults. “Human…
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Amelia Makes a Movie — Perfect Picture Book Friday
Title: Amelia Makes a Movie Author/Illustrator: David Milgrim Publisher: New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2008. Genre: Picture book, fiction
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Reading Aloud to Older Adults and Isolated People — revisited
In the almost ten years (!) since I wrote this series of blog posts under the umbrella heading of “reading aloud to the elderly,” there have been many changes in the world. Terminology has changed, so that I’ve found it important to change the word “elderly” to older people, despite the fact that it…
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Blake Edwards, Director — Wednesday Worthy
There are 28 Blake Edwards DVDs on my shelf. 27 of those are productions he directed. For many of them, he wrote the screenplay. He acted in one, at the beginning of his career. Those DVDs represent only two-thirds of the movies Blake Edwards directed over the course of his amazingly diverse career. (Someday, I…
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Who Seeketh Beauty — Myra Stilborn, 1916-2012
Years ago, my first singing teacher brought out a piece of music and said, “The lyrics of this song were written by someone named Stilborn. Is she any relation to you?” Yes. My aunt (by marriage, but as close as blood in our hearts). The song, “Who Seeketh Beauty,” told of someone, who, seeking the…