When Marsha Qualey began this column six years ago, she had us all on the lookout for books about children’s literature. What would add to our understanding of this very particular community of educators, students, collector, and creators? This book about Helen Oxenbury by Leonard Marcus is a gem, filled with the wisdom of a revered author-illustrator as well as her illustrations and delicious photos that help our understanding.… more
If any good has come from the quarantine of 2020, it’s made me a heavy library user — my personal library, that is, since the public libraries are closed. I found this book in a dresser drawer. (When I redid my office, I didn’t want the clutter of bookcases, instead opting for vintage dressers and armoires — lovely to look at but I forget what’s in them).… more
There is a special period of … childhood, approximately from five or six to eleven or twelve — between the strivings of animal infancy and the storms of adolescence — when the natural world is experienced in some highly evocative way … It is principally to this middle age range … that writers say they return in memory in order to renew the power and impulse to create.… more
I believe this book belongs in every classroom, every home, and in every child’s life. It is a wondrous book to read, to look at, to memorize, and to talk about with the children around you. It is a Literary Madeleine, scrumptious in every way.
The full title is Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year, edited by Fiona Water and illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon, it is a wonder.… more
This is how book collecting goes. You see something that piques your curiosity. You wonder: “Why did this book get published?” “Who would have bought this book?” “On whose shelves did this book rest and why did they let it go?” “Was it a gift, never opened, or was it cherished and read over and over again?”… more
You probably know John Burningham best for Mr. Gumpy’s Outing but illustrators, book creators, are so much more than what we see between the covers of their books. Their lives are often illustrated. They record things on paper visually. They put what they’ve observed into drawers and portfolios and notebooks so they have that once-seen image to call upon for their work.… more
by Vicki PalmquistI’ve been savoring Quentin Blake: Beyond the Page (Tate Publishing, 2012), a book that is replete with photos, illustrative art, and all the many ways Mr. Blake’s art has adorned many aspects of life “beyond the page.”
In his own voice, we hear of the places illustration has taken him. With something near a state of wonder, Mr.… more
by Marsha QualeyMy Seneca Village by Marilyn Nelson Namelos, 2015
I’m going to begin with a disclaimer that is also a bit o’ bragging. I’ve had the good fortune to meet and work with Marilyn Nelson(A Wreath for Emmett Till, Snook Alone, How I Discovered Poetry). I’ve stayed up late and sipped wine and talked with her, spent a day escorting her to school visits where she wowed elementary students; she once supped at my table.… more
by Vicki Palmquist“No one I knew ever picked up Archie or Lulu or Dennis the Menace because it was Required Reading. We read comics because we wanted to see what was going to happen. We wanted to take that unexpected turn.” — Jon Scieszka
When I was in high school, I went on a hunt to find as many old comics as I could, learning about the history, the controversy, the artists, and the love affair that swooped up so many kids and showed them that good stories exist in many forms.… more
by Vicki Palmquist
How many children, over how many years, have learned from their parents to identify the stars that make up the Big Dipper? Can you see them standing outside, pointing to the stars in the dark sky, tracing the make-believe line that draws a saucepan in the heavens?
My mother told me some of the stories she knew about the constellations, about the Great Bear and Orion and Andromeda.… more
by Marsha Qualey
One of the great good fortunes of my life is that I’ve managed to create a professional life that requires I read a lot. Reading is a passion; the old bumper sticker says it all: I’d rather be reading.
But I also think reading is an interesting topic. How and why do we read?… more
I am not a horse person. Oh, I survived a week at Girl Scout riding camp and years later when I was on the staff at a Y camp I enjoyed helping bridle and saddle horses for the early morning trail riders. But I’ve never been truly comfortable riding or, maybe especially…
