My Hands Sing the Blues

Romare Bearden's

Childhood Journey

A TRUE TALE

WITH A CHERRY ON TOP

Marshall Cavendish Children

(Two Lions Publishing) 40 pages PURCHASE HERE

Author:Jeanne Walker Harvey and Illustrator: Elizabeth Zunon Character: Romare Bearden Overview from the jacket flap:

"As a young boy growing up in North Carolina, Romare Bearden listened to his great-grandmother's Cherokee stories and the whistles of trains steaming through town. When Romare's family, faced with Jim Crow laws, decided to head north, tears stung Romare's eyes as he watched the world whiz by out the train window. Later he captured his childhood memories in a famous painting, Watching the Good Trains Go By. Using that painting as inspiration and creating a text influenced by the blues and jazz that Bearden loved, Jeanne Walker Harvey has created a story of Bearden's childhood. She describes the patchwork of daily southern life that he saw from the train's window and the story of his arrival in shimmering New York City." Tantalizing taste: "I snip a patch of color and add a cut-out face. Oh! I glue on jazzy blue for sky and add another face. People walk into my work as if it's always been their place. My hands sing the blues when I paint and cut and paste. I never know what I’ll create when I paint and cut and paste. I use paper, fabrics, photos, and nothing goes to waste.” and something more: I wanted to share this post on my website blog (which I first posted on my TRUE TALES & A CHERRY ON TOP blog). At first I hesitated to write this post about my own book, My Hands Sing the Blues - Romare Bearden's Childhood Journey! But then I decided I wanted to sing about it from the rooftops (and my blog) -- it's such an exciting event for me. A dream come true to publish this book about this amazing artist and share my love of modern art with children! I first had the idea to write this book when, as a docent at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, I gave tours to school groups of an incredible Bearden exhibit organized by The National Gallery (Ruth Fine, curator and author of the comprehensive The Art of Romare Beardenwhich I studied). During my tours at SFMOMA, I could barely move the students to the next painting because they were so fascinated by Romare Bearden's huge collages and the stories they told. So many people have been part of this book journey with me. I dedicated the book to my mom -- "For my mother, June, who always inspires me to put a beat of color on an empty canvas."It's true -- she embodies creativity and instilled a love of it (and modern art) in me. My wonderful sons have always been my biggest supporters and early readers of my drafts. And I also owe heartfelt thanks to my family and wonderful friends who always encourage me, the San Francisco Docent Program that inspired me to write this book, my writer mentors (including Uma Krishnaswami who kept my writing spark lit when I was doubting myself, and Anastasia Suen whose courses kept me focused and inspired, and Amy Novesky who has included me in the warmth of her writing groups), and Margery Cuyler, an amazing editor at Marshall Cavendish (and author of many children's books also), who artfully guided me to rethink the text in just the right spots, and the incredibly talented artist Elizabeth Zunon, who is truly the best illustrator I can imagine for this book, and Lucy, my 11 year old black Lab who patiently listened as I read my many drafts aloud over and over and over again. Thank you to all! "When I put a beat of color on an empty canvas, I never know what's coming down the track."

Art is Life

The Life of Artist Keith Haring

A TRUE TALE WITH

A CHERRY ON TOP

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

(Macmillan)

(pub. 12.1.2020)

48 pages

Author: Tami Lewis Brown

and illustrator: Keith Negley

Character: Keith Haring

Overview:

"Keith Haring believed that art should be enjoyed by everyone. When Keith first moved to New York City, he rode the subway and noticed how the crowds were bored and brusque, and that the subways were decayed and dreary. He thought the people of New York needed liberating, illuminating, and radiating art. So he bought a stick of white chalk and started drawing…"

Tantalizing tast "With a brush and a pot of paint, he swooped and he swung, he lined and he striped. Black paint splashed as the thick brush dashed, swiping patterns to the beat of loud, thumping music - the way his father had taught him when he was small - until finally the whole room was covered with the strange shapes that rumbled inside Keith's brain."

And something more: In her Author's Note, Tami Lewis Brown explains that "in 1986, he worked with nine hundred children in New York City to paint a banner celebrating the Statue of Liberty's one hundredth birthday, and he wrote (and illustrated, of course) a wonderful book for children called Nina's Book of Little Things. In 2008, a forth-eight-foot-tall balloon inspired by Keith's Man with a Heart debuted in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade."

On Wings of Words

The Extraordinary Life of Emily Dickinson

A TRUE TALE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP

Chronicle Books

(pub. 2.18.2020)

52 pages

Author: Jennifer Berne and illustrator: Becca Stadtlander

Character: Emily Dickinson

Overview:

"In a small New England town lives Emily Dickinson, a girl in love with small things—a flower petal, a bird, a ray of light, a word. But in those small things her brilliant imagination can see the wide world, and in her words she takes wings. From that vivid mind came poetry that touched the lives of millions and gave readers everywhere a doorway into their own secret souls, and a window from which to fly. Emily Dickinson, who famously wrote 'Hope is the thing/ with feathers that/ perches in the soul,' is brought to life in this moving story of her courage, her faith, and her gift to the world."

Tantalizing taste: "Emily began to dress in white. White like clouds. Like the foam on a wave.

White, like a cocoon in her room from which butterflies were born.

Butterflies that were poems that flew - with Emily - on wings of words.

People in the town said Emily was weird. Emily was strange.

But Emily didn't care what they said of her. Her world was somewhere else.

My Country is Truth."

And something more: Becca Stadtlander writes in her Artist's Note that "the real joy of illustrating this book was in the more abstract ideas of Emily's writing. To interpret this poetry visually was a challenge that broke through my usual way of thinking and helped me grow as an artist... My hope is that young readers will see the things they love in these images and be inspired by Emily's words."