Blog Archives

Discovered in the Dryer

6/27/2017

Lint Boy by Aileen Leijten

Aileen Leijten has created something so original and fresh that I can't stop marveling over the wonder of Lint Boy. How in the world did she ever come up with the idea?
A collection of lint located in the clothes dryer is fashioned by heat and motion into a tiny boy doll. Like Pinocchio, this inanimate object becomes real. Soon a companion emerges, another mass of lint, shaped into a friendly bear, aptly named Lint Bear.
Up to this point, everything seems rosy and charming. I was expecting some simple little story about friendship and being true to oneself.
Not so. There is evil lurking within the pages of this graphic novel. Mrs. PinchnSqueeze is a deranged old hag who has an obsessive compulsion to perform Frankenstein-esque measures on dolls. She keeps the captured dolls in cages and practices her own form of bizarre surgery and mutilation on the once cuddly toys. This woman is so vile that "even moths shrivel up when she looked at them."

She manages to locate Lint Bear within the tumbling clothes. PinchnSqueeze becomes convinced that he is alive and she commences a series of torture-like operations, certain that she can bring the doll to life.
Lint Boy is determined to rescue his friend from the clutches of this evil woman. He sets out on his noble task with assistance from the captive dolls and battalion of lost socks. Armed with courage and a very sharp needle Lint Boy succeeds.
The book's design and page layout have a unique style that is a visual treat. There is a art nouveau feel to the text and image arrangement as well as to the individual panel shapes and ornamentation. Soft pastels fit nicely with the sweet fabric characters.
There are just enough chilling details to make the villain truly evil. But the fanciful setting and the charming characters keep the story well within the realm of fantasy. Lint Boy is destined to enjoy a prosperous life on bookshelves everywhere. Thank you Aileen Leijten for this delightful graphic novel gem.

Creating with Lint

Okay, I couldn't resist. Creating with lint is an entirely new craft concept for me. I consider lint as merely a fluffy amalgam of fiber that needs to be removed from the dryer. Can this really be the basis for a craft? Not one to shrink from taking on a new creative challenge, I reasoned that lint has been through a wash cycle and the heat of the dryer. It must be clean enough to work with. Let's do this!

Here is the lint from a load of heavy white bath mats. I think I can see Lint Boy potential here.

Time to raid my button box. Every time I open this tin of assorted buttons, I find treasure.

Now to rummage through my bag of felt scraps. I like to make my own felt and this texture seemed to fit for Lint Boy.

Viola! Meet my version of Lint Boy (thank you white bathroom mats lint) and Lint Bear (thank you casual clothes lint). They were so fun and easy to make. However, for a group project I would suggest forgoing lint and using old mismatched socks. They work well with the story. Cut the clean discarded socks up and assemble your own Lint Buddies using buttons, scraps of felt, thread and a glue gun.

Companion Books

Dolls That Will Creep You Out: Just the right amount of horror for younger readers

Coraline
by Neil Gaiman

Coraline: Graphic Novel
by Neil Gaiman
adapted by

Doll Bones
by Holly Black

2 Comments

You've Got a Friend

6/26/2017

0 Comments

Real Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham

Ah, the pain and drama experienced by young girls growing up! The Tween years mark a time of leaving the structure and familiarity of family life and routines. It's a time when a girl is trying to fit in and to simultaneously discover her identity. Life for these young women can become a minefield loaded with unexpected angst. Girls often find themselves thrust into a world of cliques, bullying, and vicious exclusionary tactics. Shannon Hale's memoir recounts her pain-filled struggle to find her place in the bizarre world of preadolescence.

As a young child living in a large family, Shannon is often considered the timid one. Her neighbor Adrienne remains her best friend. When she enters school, the friendship dynamic began to shift. In the classroom and on the playground, new alliances are formed, leaving Shannon feeling confused and often excluded. A nucleus of her schoolmates becomes known as "the group". Shannon's joy in imaginative play and self-expression is at odds with the decision-makers of "the group."

Hales' anxiety over the situation begins to manifest itself with increasing stomach aches and repetitive coping mechanisms. She also grapples with a complicated sibling relationship. Shannon eventually decides to leave "the group." Later she finds new friends who accept and appreciate her.

LeUyen Pham's realistic style is reminiscent of Raina Telgemeier. It is revealing to observe the progresion of changes as Shannon grows from a child into a middle school student. Dark panels are particularly effective in invoking the gloomy periods in Hales' young life.

Anyone who has felt different, been excluded, or questioned their self-worth will identify with Shannon Hales' personal journey to find herself and discover her Real Friends.

Let's Be Friends

Raina, Shannon, Astrid, Abby, and Jun: I absolutely adore each and every main character in this selection of graphic novels featuring girls in middle grades. They are more than characters in books. They are real girls with real life issues. While my specific circumstances may have been a bit different, I can relate to the desire to find a place among like-minded peers: to be valued and included within a circle of friends.
Below is a book display featuring some of these middle school protagonists.
I used a paper doll template, available with a variety of hair and skin tones. It can be downloaded free from Kiki & Company. With a wee bit of paper scraps and markers I created an arrangement featuring some of these young heroines.
Get ready for an onslaught of book requests and obtain multiple copies of each title. This Middle Grade Girl Up display will send these graphic novels to flying off the shelves and into the hearts of young readers everywhere.

Friendship Bracelets

Taking a second look at friendship bracelets, a story element in Chiggers:

Two young friends spent several hours creating braided thread friendship bracelets. After braiding string got boring, it was time to move on to Sunburst wrappers. These adornments were a bit more time-consuming, but the girls decided that they were worth the effort. The bonus is, of course...candy! Try this tutorial to create one bracelet to share and one to keep.

Companion Books
or You Can Never Have Too Many Friends

There are many excellent books that portray the struggles of young girls moving away from childhood. Several of these stories use the graphic novel format, allowing the reader to experience in both visual and text format the pains of discovering true friendship and finding oneself. Here are a few books to get you started.

Real Friends
by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham

Since childhood, Shannon and Adrienne have been best friends. But that is about to change when Shannon discovers "the group."

War at Ellsmere
by Faith Erin Hicks
Jun has been awarded a scholarship at a prestigious girls' boarding school. She meets Cassie, who helps her cope with the life at Ellsmere.

Roller Girl
by Victoria Jamieson

Astrid has done everything with her best friend Nicole until... Astrid falls in love with roller derby and Nicole decides that she loves dance. Can their friendship survive their markedly different interests?

Chiggers
by Hope Larson
Abby is back at summer camp. But it's not the same. Her friend Rose is a cabin assistant. The new girl Shasta is different from the others. Can Abby built a friendship with this unusual girl?

Smile
by Raina Telgemeier

Life changes for Raina when she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth. She must endure a long and painful series of dental procedures as she navigates the bewildering world of middle school. Will she ever smile again?

Play the "Who said that?" game. Select quotations spoken by the main character in each book. Can you match the quotation with the girl who said it? Sometimes it can be quite tricky to select the correct attribution for the quote. Have copies of books handy to verify the answers.

0 Comments

Inexplicable

6/19/2017

0 Comments

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

I have a memory that is almost like a dream: the yellow leaves from Mima's mulberry tree are floating down from the sky like giant snowflakes... Mima is singing something in Spanish. There are more songs living inside her than there are leaves on her tree.

Inexplicable. What is it about this word? Is it the sound? Is it the elusive idea? I’m not sure. Whatever the reason, I know that I am fascinated with this word, this concept. Inexplicable Logic characterizes both the story's thematic thread and the elegance of Sáenz's poetic prose.

Its senior year for Salvador: A time for endings. A time for beginnings. Salvie lives within embrace of the close-knit Mexican-American family of his adopted father Vicente. An artist by profession, Vincente is the father every kid dreams of. This gay man deeply loves Sal and is both protective, yet willing to allow his son to explore and learn about life. Sal begins to question his existence and his place in the world. "There didn't seem to be any logic behind who we turned out to be. None at all." During his final year of high school Sal discovers that his father has put his desires on hold, determined to place first the needs of his adopted son.

Sal has two friends who figure predominantly in his life: Samantha (Sam) and Fito. The backgrounds for both of these teens contrast sharply with the warm and stable home life Sal knows. He sees the pain which his friends constantly experience and reflects "I guess life hurts everybody. I didn't understand the logic of this thing we call living. Maybe I wasn't supposed to."
Both Sam and Fito cope with emotional abandonment and rejection. All three friends must come to terms with complicated and conflicting emotions with respect to adults in their lives. "just because my love isn't perfect doesn't mean i don't love you"
The specter of death permeates each of their young lives. Each experiences loss and learns what it is to grieve.
"Life had its seasons, and the season of letting go would always come, but there was something very beautiful in that, in the letting go."

The story opening makes it clear that the act of remembering is an essential component of identity. “We are what we remember.”
“I had a picture of my dad teaching me how to tie a tie, taken the morning before my First Communion…I had a picture of Mima holding me in her arms when I was four. She had all this love in her eyes, and I swear I could drown in all that love.”

The endearing appellation “Oh mijito” and other Spanish phrases radiate family warmth and connection. From the fresh tortillas slathered with butter to the kitchen filled with traditional tamale-making, readers feel a strong sense of home and family.
A story of beginnings and endings, life and death, confliction and resolution, faith and doubt; Saenz has created a tale of “Life (that) had a logic all its own."

Gracias Benjamin Alire Sáenz, for this luminous literary gift.

Sáenz Books for Young Adults

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

He Forgot to Say Goodbye

Last Night I Sang to the Monster

Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood

0 Comments

Beauty in Broken Things

6/11/2017

0 Comments

Pandora by Victoria Turnbull

Pandora, a charming red fox, lives alone in a world filled with discards. She spends her days searching through mountains of broken things. With her ingenuity she is able to repair and repurpose the cast-offs.
One day, something new descends from the sky: a bird with a broken wing. Tenderly Pandora cares for her new-found companion, helping the fledgling grow stronger until it is ready to take flight.
Alone once more, the grieving Pandora believes that her "heart will break."
But the bird has left her a gift, a miracle which transforms the world of broken things into a world of living things.
Pandora is an exquisitely rendered tale of reclaiming, repairing, kindness and hope.

A cursory inspection of my home reveals that like Pandora, I live in a home filled with discards. I wondered if I could take some of these items and repurposed them in a meaningful way.
A bird was out of the question, but maybe another form of life was possible. How about plants? I found a box of zinnia seeds. There was still was a fair amount of seed rattling around inside the seed packet. A discarded egg carton and some unused potting soil would make an excellent medium for seed sprouting. I was on my way!

A friend gave me a cutting from one of her houseplants. I repurposed a disposable plastic food container into a terrarium for this young plant. With the addition of small painted rock nestled among the soil and a tiny wire bird perched atop, the new environment for my cutting was complete. I like thinking that the bird ornament is a fitting homage to the wounded bluebird cared for by Pandora.
An additional plastic food container was repurposed to hold opened boxes of seed.
This Pandora inspired project could be replicated in classrooms, as an extension activity.

One aspect of the book that would make an interesting exploration with young readers would be a consideration of the Victoria Turnbull's use of color. Rusty reds of Pandora's fur and the blue of her overalls as well as the bluebird's feathers catch the viewers' eye. The soft muted hues and limited color pallet set the mood. Interior views of Pandora's home are predominantly grey, while exterior views add a sun- washed glow.

An illustrator workshop might introduce the color wheel to students. An examination of the book's color pallet and a comparison with the hues found on a traditional color wheel can teach the concept of complimentary colors. Following an exploration of the various possible parings of complimentary colors, youngsters can be invited to create their own art using a complimentary color pallet. Colored pencils provide a softness which mimics Turnbull's illustrations.

0 Comments

The Me of Me

6/5/2017

0 Comments

Skin Again by bell hooks ill by Chris Raschka

The significance of identity is explored through thought-provoking concepts and striking illustrations. Distinguished academic and author and bell hooks' lyrical text begins with the statement that skin is "one small way to see me." The essence of an individual is revealed when you "come inside and open your heart way wide." hooks asserts that each individual is a composite of personal stories, both "true to life" and "all the way I imagine me." The notion that both reality and fantasy comprise a sense of self is enlightening.
Chris Raschka's signature style: bold color palette, deliberate brush strokes, and strong graphic element enhance his stylized human figures. The design is the perfect complement to the text.

Use this picture book as a springboard for an exploration of self portraiture. Students can create a list of words and phrases which describe themselves. Paint would be an excellent medium for illustrating these self-descriptive phrases. Begin by teaching techniques for creating custom colors. Allow students time to explore mixing paint to create a variety of skin tones. Raschka's style frees children from the expectation of a realistic representation and allows them permission to interpret themselves in new ways.
A classroom gallery of finished self portraits with accompanying descriptive phrases could be titled "The Me of Me."