Showing posts with label Nancy Carpenter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nancy Carpenter. Show all posts

1.21.2018

Balderdash!

John Newbery and
the Boisterous
Birth of Children's Books

Chronicle Books
(pub. 4.4.2017)
44 pages

A True Tale with
A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Michelle Markel
      and illustrator: 
      Nancy Carpenter

C haracter:John Newbery

O
 verview from the jacket flap: 

     "Welcome! This book's for you. Every page, every picture, and every word was designed for your pleasure.
       Lucky, lucky reader.
       Be glad it's not 1726.
       Back then, children had to read preachy poems and fables, religious texts that made them fear that death was near, and manuals that told them where to stand, how to sit, not to laugh, and scores of other rules.
      Because the future champion of children's books was just a lad."


T antalizing taste: 
      
     "His name was John Newbery. The boy lived on a farm but fancied reading more that forking hay, so upon coming of age, he set off to work for a printer.
      John got a kick out of type sticks and type stands and chases and quoins.  He came to love galleys and presses and the smell of fresh ink.
     As soon as he was able, John became a publisher himself...
     John wanted his first book for children to be irresistible. There'd be letters from Jack the Giant Killer.
     There'd be pictures of pitch and hussel, hoop and hide, blindman's buff, and other children's games. Plus ABC's, proverbs, and other classic material, and for extra punch - a message too for mums and dads."

 
and something more: The back matter of BALDERDASH explains that "Newbery's books for children were approximately 4 inches by 3 inches ... which made them easily portable in pockets [and that size, of course, reminds me of Beatrix Potter's wonderful books]. He published more than one hundred books for children over his lifetime, and sold thousands of copies, establishing both the value and popularity of books written, illustrated, designed, and printed especially for the perspective and enthusiasms of children." Thank goodness for John Newbery's contribution to children's literature!

10.12.2014

Queen Victoria's Bathing Machine

This post joins other
kidlit bloggers on the
Nonfiction Monday Roundup
and also joins It's Monday!
What are you reading?

Paula Wiseman Books (Simon & Schuster Books)
(pub. 5.6.2014) 40 pages

A True Tale with 
A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Gloria Whelan
           and Illustrator: Nancy Carpenter
    
C haracter:  Queen Victoria

O verview from the jacket flap: 

    "No one ever said being queen would be easy. But one thing that Queen Victoria never thought about was not being able to swim - ever. It would be so indelicate to have your loyal subjects see your bathing suit and you, Her Royal Highness, in it! What is a queen to do?
     If you are Queen VIctoria with a smart and loving husband like Prince Albert, you have no worries because your husband will make sure you have a bathing machine that is fit for a queen.
     Inspired by royal history, National Book Aware recipient Gloria Whelan tells how a prince, believing that sea bathing was good for his wife's health, helped her to be able to swim as queen. Nancy Carpenter's Pen and watercolor illustrations evoke a loving family and a queen happy at last!"

T antalizing taste: 

"'My dear,' said Prince Albert, 'if it is your wish
to dabble and splatter and swim like a fish,
there must be a way to transport you with ease,
while keeping the populace from glimpsing your knees.
I'll give all my genius and all my attention
to devise a device, to invent an invention.'"

and something more: I enjoyed learning that after the queen's death, the bathing machine was used for a time as a chicken coop. It has now been restored and may be seen by all who visit Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
     Gloria Whelan's author website includes insights into her writing life and philosophy. I thought this quote was quite wonderful (and I'm certain many children who read Queen Victoria's Bathing Machine do feel she's become a friend): 

"When I’m not writing or walking, I’m cooking or reading, mostly reading. I read a lot and when I put a book down, I feel the author has become my friend. I hope my readers feel the same way about me."