How Lotte Reiniger and
a Pair of Scissors
Revolutionized Animation
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Greenwillow Books
(HarperCollins Publishers)
(pub.1.24.2023) 40 pages
Author: C.E. Winters
Illustrator: Matt Schu
Character: Lotte Reiniger
Overview:
" Long before Walt Disney, a young woman revolutionized the landscape of animation using light, a pair of scissors, and her imagination.
In the 1920s, when young women had limited opportunities, Lotte Reiniger used her curiosity and ingenuity to change the landscape of animation forever. Inspired by the films of her youth, and encouraged by teachers and mentors working in film at the time, Lotte Reiniger honed her skills in cutting out paper silhouettes to use in stop-motion animation.
Eventually, her talent and her drive led her to invent the multiplane camera, which allowed her to give her animation depth of field. With her small team, Lotte designed and directed the oldest full-length animated film in existence."
Tantalizing taste:
"Lotte would make approximately sixty silhouette films over the course of her long life... She created every single one of those films using a pair of scissors, a great deal of patience, and her talented hands. Her trailblazing ideas and silhouette style influence filmmakers and artists to this day."
And something more: C.E. Winters in the Author's Note explains that "My hope in writing this book is to bring Lotte Reiniger out from the shadows of history to set the record straight about her contributions to the field of animation, and to inspire young artists and inventors to let their imaginations soar well beyond traditional limits - just as Lotte did."
The Story of Celia Thaxter
and Her Island Garden
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Candlewick
(pub.5.17.2022) 40 pages
Authors: Phyllis Root and Gary D. Schmidt
Illustrator: Melissa Sweet
Character: Celia Thaxter
Overview:
" Celia Thaxter grew up on a desolate island off the coast of Maine, where her father worked as lighthouse keeper. Amid the white and gray of the sea, the rocks, and even the birds, young Celia found color where she could: green mosses and purple starfish and pink morning glories by the shore. And she planted her first garden, tucking bright marigolds between rocky ledges. When she was twelve, Celia’s family moved to nearby Appledore Island, where her father built a large hotel, and Celia planted a bigger, ever-growing garden with nearly sixty types of flowers, from asters to wisteria.
Guests flocked to the hotel from around the world, among them such writers as Longfellow, Whittier, and Hawthorne. Celia had been writing poems about the island, her garden, and the sea, and they would be printed in magazines and books, making her a foremother of writing about nature. "
Tantalizing taste:
" In the springtime, after long winters, Celia sailed back to Appledore, carrying the seedlings to plant her garden. Year after year, she planted. She planted pansies, sweet peas and hollyhocks, dark larkspurs and foxgloves, and tall sunflowers and red dahlias and nasturtiums and golden California poppies - and yellow marigolds. All summer long the flowers blossomed and brightened the island, pretty as a poem, pretty as a painting. All summer long the birds were at home in her garden - and even her house."
And something more: A Note on Celia Laighton Thaxter at the back of the book explains: "In the middle of her most famous poem, 'Land-Locked,' Celia Thaxter wrote, 'Have patience, - here are flowers and songs of birds, / Beauty and fragrance, wealth of sound and sigh, / All summer's glory thine from morn till night, / And life too full of joy for uttered words.' If Celiz Taxter were to summarize her entire life in a single stanza, she might have chosen this one.
...Publishers encouraged Celia to write about her childhood ... and then to write about her garden on Appledore... Today, though the buildings she knew on Appledore burned down over a century ago, the garden has been re-created on the island on which she is buried, and with which she will forever be linked."
How M.S. Subbulakshmi
Used Her Voice for Change
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Farrar Straus Giroux
(pub.11.8.2022) 40 pages
Author: Suma Subramaniam
Illustrator: Shreya Gupta
Character: M.S. Subbulakshmi
Overview:
" Before M.S. Subbulakshmi was a famous Carnatic singer and the first Indian woman to perform at the United Nations, she was a young girl with a prodigious voice.
But Subbulakshmi was not free to sing everywhere. In early 1900s India, girls were not allowed to perform for the public. So Subbulakshmi busted barriers to sing at small festivals. Eventually, she broke tradition to record her first album. She did not stop here. At Gandhi's request, Subbulakshmi sang for India’s freedom. Her fascinating odyssey stretched across borders, and soon she was no longer just a young prodigy. She was a woman who changed the world."
Tantalizing taste:
" She became friends with other women attending the conference. With their encouragement, she traveled to nearby towns by train, bus, and bullock cart. Everywhere, she was the only woman among the singers. And she was never offered the best time slot to perform.
Her path was long, but Subbulakshmi was determined. After every song, she bowed, and in her smile, the audience saw a glimmer of her strength."
And something more: Author Suma Subramaniam's letter to the reader explains that "M.S. Subbulakshmi's life [1916-2004] is an example of how a small-town girl with a great devotion to her craft realized her dream. In her time, it was rare for a woman to make a mark in the world. I wrote this story because through this astounding human being's life, we can learn that the ability to heal ourselves and the world is within us."
