Randolph Caldecott and the Rambunctious
Coming-of-Age of Children's Books
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Chronicle Books
(pub. 11.14.2023) 44 pages
Author: Michelle Markel
and illustrator: Barbara McClintock
Character: Randolph Caldecott
Overview:
" Quick! If you don’t move fast, you’ll miss him—there he goes—Randolph Caldecott, future famous illustrator. His sketchbook is full of hurly-burly: wild weather, frisky animals, and people so sprightly they can barely hold onto the pages. But in the 1850s, there were no children’s books like that. Not yet.
Many books are published, but their pictures look stiff, full of pretty poses and cluttered scenery. No one has imagined how much fun an illustrated book could be because the future hero of children’s book illustration is still just a lad. Join Michelle Markel and Barbara McClintock for a riotous adventure through the seminal history of children's books—their art, their joy, and the man who changed them for good."
Tantalizing taste:
" SO MANY PEOPLE, SO MANY SIGHTS, SO MUCH TO SKETCH
FOR THE NEWSPAPERS!
Randolph goes to sessions of Parliament, to fashionable weddings,
to boat races on the river, where he gets squashed in the squishingest
crowds he's ever seen.
But at night, alone in his workshop,
he misses his friends.
He misses living in the country.
Sometimes, on his letters, he draws
himself as a sad, frumpled cartoon.
Randolph wants to be the best artist
he can be. He's not as skilled as the famous
illustrators, painters, and sculptors
he meets - people who've studied in fine
academies, in Paris.
Could he ever do the kinds
of things they do?"
And something more: The Back Matter of TOMFOOLERY! abounds with interesting information, such as references to Caldecott's own art in the book, Annotations (timeline), information about Illustrated Victorian Periodicals, Toy Book Illustrators: The Big Three, a list of Picture Books By Caldecott, and a Bibliography. The ANNOTATIONS state: "During a trip to America in 1886, Caldecott's life was cut short by illness. But he will always be remembered. In 1937, when the American Library Association created a medal for the artist of the most distinguished American picture book - their highest honor - they named it after Randolph Caldecott."
The Musical Life of Julie Andrews
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
little bee books
(pub.9.5.2023) 40 pages
4-8 years
Author: Julie Hedlund
Illustrator: Ilaria Urbinati
Character: Julie Andrews
Overview:
" Long before she starred in movies like The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, and The Princess Diaries, Julie Andrews was a little girl struggling with her parents' divorce and the ravages of World War II.
To comfort her and fill her time during the London Blitz, her stepfather taught her to sing, and Julie found her voice-one of the most extraordinary singing voices of all time."
Tantalizing taste:
"As people cooked on portable stoves, sipped tea,
and huddled together, Ted strummed his guitar and sang.
Sharing music with her sheltering neighbors comforted Julie
and kept her mind off the danger.
Soon Julie's school closed due to the war.
To keep her busy, Ted taught her to sing.
They were all astonished to discover
that from this sprite of a girl sprang a voice
as pure and clear as a cloudless summer sky."
And something more: Julie Hedlund, in the Author's Note explains that "when I learned ... that Julie had lost her singing voice after a throat surgery, I was devastated. At the time, I was beginning my own career and working on finding my way in the world, my own voice. I couldn't imagine the world deprived of Julie's.
Luckily, Julie began using her voice in a new way - writing children's books...
When I told Emma [Walton Hamilton] I wanted to use my voice to tell her mom's story to today's children, she gave me her blessing, as did Julie Andrews herself."
The Music of John Cage
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Anne Schwartz Books
(pub.10.10.2023) 40 pages
4-8 years
Author: Lisa Rogers
Illustrator: Il Sung Na
Character: John Cage
Overview:
" For John Cage, music was everywhere: in the hum of the refrigerator, the screech of a garbage truck, the patter of the rain. But other people disagreed. They felt that, surely, a pianist on stage must actually play their piano to create music...not just sit there. And in no way was it melodic to turn a musician's mic on and off as they do play their instruments--it was just chaos!
John Cage found sound in silence, and knew that all noises were unique. All you had to do was listen to hear it."
Tantalizing taste:
"What if ...
instead of music notes
you sometimes drew
curlicues
and dots
and more curlicues
and squiggles
and asked musicians to play them like notes
however they wanted
with whatever
instruments they wanted
and they did?
Then you'd be like John Cage."
And something more: Lisa Rogers, in the Author's Note explains that John Cage , the son of an inventor "spent his life experimenting with ways to combine ordinary sounds (like people laughing, horns beeping, and sirens wailing) to invent new sounds for the music he composed. Influenced by Zen philosophy, he believed that if people could enjoy sounds they thought of as noise, they would be happier...
He was serious about asking people to accept new ideas, recognize music in everyday life, and be still enough to hear sounds in silence."
