Books for the Boo!

We keep creepy Halloween in a box 11 months out of the year.

Come October, the ghosties & ghoulies, black cats & bats

are let out of the box.

We hammer tombstones into the yard dirt & place home-made pumpkins

of paper around the living room.

My daughter puts read-aloud Halloween books on a low  table.

And she & her father stuff & dress a scarecrow who guards our yard. We will all

carve the pumpkin closer to the big evening.

What are your favorite Halloween titles? Once you read some of ours, these may become a grand part of

your Halloween bookshelf:

SIX CREEPY SHEEP by Judith Ross Enderle & Stephanie Gordon Tessler, with illustrations from John O’Brien

BAT JAMBOREE by Kathi Appelt, with illustrations by Melissa Sweet

THE LITTLE SCARECROW BOY by Margaret Wise Brown (yes, MWB herself, without a bunny in sight) and brought to a delightful modern art interpretation by David Diaz.

Trick or Treat (I want it to be Treat) to You & Yours

First readers looked like this

Is this shape a little Kindle-like?

This is a Horn Book.  The kind before we had today’s The Horn Book .

Horn Books were available to learners, especially children (usually boys) who were able to  sit with a teacher,  in the Colonies, especially Massachusetts, New York, Connectitcut, Rhode Island, New Jersey & Pennsylvania, of Great Britain (later the U.S.A)

This Horn Book is for a wealthy family, crafted of silver and ivory & it most likely was made in England.

It is one of many treasures in the Children’s Literature Center of the Library of Congress, where the Chief, Dr. Sybille A.  Jagusch, is herself another treasure for you to discover there.

www.loc.gov/rr/child

Follow the Library of Congress on twitter http://twitter.com/libraryccongress

c. 2009 Jan Godown Annino at the Library of Congress

StoryTubes 2009

Children reading books.

Children reading books & taped on video.

You, voting soon,  for the video that tugs your heart. The most.

I especially am drawn to the reading of  BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE, by Kate Dicamillo, &

the interpretation of Laura Numeroff’s IF YOU GIVE A CAT A CUPCAKE and the presentation on

KATE KLISE and … there are too, too many to highlight. Go see!

www.storytubes.info/

for information on this Bookseedstudio site, the online office of writer Jan Godown Annino,

please see Hello…or Books …Home returns you to this blog … THANKS!

The Pulitzer-winner on Mount Soledad

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1znhk_the-wubbulous-world-of-dr-seuss_creation

Dr. Seuss is one of my favorite children’s literature icons to smile about.

This genius, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1984,  knew children are intelligent folks who deserved lively literature.

His advertising work called for  short, often rhyming blurbs that were also action packed &  provided a fine catalyst for his real avocation ahead. His doodles from an early age proved his hands were hot-wired to an artist’s heart.

A cool part of the Theodor Geisel book world is his very own flag. His publishing house (where  he also worked as an editor, RANDOM HOUSE) flew the Dr. Seuss flag at its Westminister, Md. warehouse, while his books were being shipped out.

For more on this national treasure, please see “Dr. Seuss from Then to Now,” A Catalogue of the Retrospective Exhibition, (organized by the San Diego Museum of Art, 1986. This catalogue/hardback book is the  source of these tantalizing facts & many more…)

www.seussville.com

Obama’s poet

A Poet and a Secretary

THE book I just devoured in celebration of Obama’s elevation to the Presidency of the United States is for children.

And it’s not one of the several handy bios of him for young readers.

It’s a picture book of  poems in several voices, by his poet, Elizabeth Alexander, of Yale, and her equally distinguished colleague, Marilyn Nelson, a much-honored creator of children’s literature.

www.wordsongpoetry.com or

http://www.wordsongpoetry.com/another_starred_review_for_mis.html

Elizabeth Alexander’s presence on the platform at this historic event shouts out that this president lauds the arts & art creators.

Already sensing that, Quincy Jones asks for support to imbed the arts in the White House with a Cabinet level secretary post. See

http://www.petitionsonline.com/esnyc/petition.html

and reach it by typing in US Secretary of Arts

Meanwhile, Poet Elizabeth Alexander will receive a wider audience because of her Jan. 20th role on the world stage.

I want you to know she is already beloved by librarians, teachers, students & many others for  MISS CRANDALL’s SCHOOL for YOUNG LADIES & LITTLE MISSES of COLOR.

This book, with illustrations by Floyd Cooper (winner of three Coretta Scott King Honor Awards) is an unforgettable visit to the true story of a Quaker woman’s dedication to her black students in New England in the 1830s.

Her determination to stand tall against local terrorists affiliated with churches, the town council & local business community makes me, “ache with caring,” to borrow a phrase of Mem Fox, about seeing this history presented to a wider audience.

If you are more interested in the present day than in history,  notes in the book mention more recent updates, including how the 1984 dedication of the Prudence Crandall Museum, was also marked in an undistinguished way by the  Connecticut KKK.

Enjoy. Weep. Share. Rejoice in the presidency of Barack Obama.

(And a palette of color to Janeen Mason

http://www.janeenmason.com,   for the petition tip.