D is for Dragon Dance by Ying Chang Compestine ill YongSheng Xuan

Originally published in 2006, Compestine’s celebration of Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year, is a vibrant compendium of Chinese culture. Presented in an alphabetical format, readers observe youngsters as they prepare for and participate in this annual fifteen-day  traditional festival. Children anticipate New Year by crafting messages on red paper and getting haircuts. Enjoy mouth-watering traditional foods: noodles, oranges, roast duck, and dumplings. Join in the celebrating with kites, lanterns, incense, and firecrackers. Xuan’s illustrations are replete with gorgeous jewel colors.  Soft yellow backgrounds play up the vibrant reds. He seamlessly blends images across the gutter, skillfully joining two distinct concepts into one image. Objects such as the imposing dragon figure span an entire two-page spread. This creature is magnificent!

Background 

Celebrate the New Year

Newbery Award-winning author illustrator Grace Lin celebrates the New Year.

Learn to read and write basic Chinese characters with Chineasy created by ShaoLan.

Make delicious dumplings with author and cook Ying Chang Compestine.

Liu Na's graphic novel of her childhood in China.

Babies. Beautiful babies. Anticipating the arrival of an infant is often a joyful occasion. Creating handmade items for mothers expecting the arrival of a little one is one of life's pleasures Here's the small "fish" shaped cap I knit for a newborn whose parents are  aficionados of the seashore. I decided to make this a thematic gift and include a few other items related to fish. It proved to be a terrific idea.

I wondered: Could I create thematic baby gift packages featuring my handcrafted items? If so, what would I include? The answer was simple: board books. Viola! a small, actually a teeny tiny, cottage industry was created: Story Stork The premise: pair a board book with a handknit infant hat. I was in business. The knitting needles began to fly. I would match cute little head toppers with a charming board book that would be just the right size and shape for chubby hands. ​Heads up. Hands down. This is one great gift idea!

The Story Continues

After I moved to South Texas, warm woolen items became a bit more problematic. The summer heat presented the opportunity for Story Stork to branch out and create something new.  Embroidered little cotton shirts and onesies are better suited to this temperate climate. It is fun to coordinate the gift wrap.  I like to use pages from picture book galleys as wrapping paper.  The excess paper strips make eye-popping decorative bows. The Story Stork strikes again!

Bonus

Bonus Part Two: Related Reads

Get your knit on or keep it going with delighful knitting-related picture books.

Sweet Revenge: Passive-Aggressive Desserts for Your Exes & Enemies
by Heather Kim

The holidays are upon us.  This may mean strained relationships. Stress with a capital S. Maybe it's time to throw  out the calorie count and indulge in decadent desserts. Sweet Revenge: Passive-Aggressive Desserts for Your Exes & Enemies has you covered. This tantalizing cookbook is fun to read. Text is replete with clever turn-of-phrase and precisely the right amount of snark.  It's a visual treat as well.  Book design has a slightly edgy feel with bold fonts, quirky graphic elements and eye-popping photographs.

Heather Kim states in her introduction that this volume is first and foremost a cookbook. So let’s talk food: not your standard chocolate chip and snickerdoodle fare. The recipes are inventive, and some are downright dangerous. Consider these: Pretzel-Peanut-Butter Cups, Cannoli Waffles with a candied Pistachio topping, Coconut Mochi Cake with Coconut Sesame-Pecan Icing, Carrot Cake Truffles with Cool Ranch Doritos Sugar.  Some venture into truly innovative: Elvis cupcakes (banana cake, peanut buttercream frosting and butterscotch candied bacon) or Flamin' Hot Cheetos Ice Cream Sandwiches. I tried the S'more Brownies.  It's basically a brownie topped with squares of homemade marshmallow and  graham cracker streusel.  There's a nice hint of cinnamon in the cracker/butter mixture.  Now the fun: toast the  fudgy little squares with a torch or under the broiler. Watch them lightly brown. Then devour.  Taste-tested by a panel of teens and adults, we all agreed that these are yummy!

Dear Santa, I Know It Looks Bad but It It Wasn't My Fault!
by Norma Lewis
ill Olivia Beckman

​Ten days before Christmas: The pet canary is missing, There is cat poop in the neighbor's sandbox. The cat's head is stuck inside an empty milk pitcher. A week before Christmas: Scalawag climbs up the holiday tree. The tree topples over. All the ornaments are shattered. The tablecloth catches on fire. Miss Violet is temporarily knocked unconscious.

Porcelain Ornament

Cotton Bandana

Pet Collar ID Tag

They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid's Poems by David Bowles 

This slim poetry collection becomes more relevant with each passing day. They Call Me Güero chronicles the life of twelve-year-old Güero, a Mexican American boy living on the swath of land near the Rio Grande. Although he lives on the American side of the river, his heritage and identity are deeply rooted in Mexico.  He frequently traverses the bridge connecting the two countries. In Mexico he and his father eat breakfast and purchase fresh groceries. Güero's imagination inhabits his grandmother's world filled with chilling tales of mythical monsters. He possesses distinctive physical characteristics which distinguish him from other members in his community: a light complexion with freckles and a head of bright red hair.

Bowles handles sensitive topics with a light touch. Racism, stereotypes, immigration are part of Güero's life and are subtly revealed throughout the narrative. This is a boy discovering a world closely connected to his heritage, family, and friends.    Spanish is clearly an important feature in the text. Bowles liberally peppers these verses with Spanish phrases and references to Mexican and Mexican-American culture. A glossary for most of the phrases with pronunciation and the English equivalent enriches the reading experience. This is especially helpful when reading aloud. The poems can be read as a collective narrative.  They also work well as standalone vignettes.  Read. Enjoy. Discuss. Share. Repeat.

¡Gracias!

​THE REFUGE ON THE RANCH It's quiet here except for the hushed flow of the river and the hum of the bugs answered by the sharp trill of birds Somewhere, an ocelot growls. ​ "I know poetry when I hear it.”

Khalida and the Most Beautiful Song by Amanda Moeckel

Khalida and the Most Beautiful Song is a tribute to the power of inspiration and determination. Khalida is awakened from slumber by a melody stirring inside her. This young pianist heads to the keyboard in search of the haunting tune. Time and time again she sits down to the piano to capture the music in her head. Repeatedly she is told "Not now." Not at home. Not at school. Not at her music lesson. When the melody returns to her mind during a visit to the park, she races toward the piano located on the park's grandstand. Khalida is determined to capture this song. She begins to play the music that has been welling up inside her. Music flowed through her fingers, onto the keys, and into the air.

The song ripples around Khalida as she sleeps.

She searches for the opportunity to bring her inspiration to life.

The young musician brings the  music inside her to life.

Meet Amanda

Amanda is a 2015 MFA graduate from the School of Visual Arts.  In addition to illustrating children's books, she also teaches, works for editorial publications, accepts personal commissions, and maintains a pet portrait business.   View the video trailer for her dummy picture book Only Good Dreams, her thesis project for the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay program.

Book Trailer - "Only the Good Dreams" from Amanda Moeckel on Vimeo.

More Picture Books

The Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2018

​Since 1952, we’ve convened a rotating annual panel of three expert judges, who consider every illustrated children’s book published that year in the United States. They select the winners purely on the basis of artistic merit. The judges this time were Leonard Marcus, a children’s literature historian and critic; Jenny Rosenoff, a children’s librarian at the New York Public Library; and Bryan Collier, the author and illustrator of many acclaimed picture books and a past winner of the award.

Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Sawyer Taft isn’t exactly debutante material. Working as an auto mechanic, she has managed to keep a roof over herself and her oft-times absent mom. Grandmother Lillian Taft arrives and offers her a contract: a five hundred-thousand-dollar college education trust fund in exchange for living with Grandmother for one year and participating in the annual Symphony Deb Ball. Sawyer decides to sign up. Her primary motivation is certainly not for all the trappings of her grandmother's southern society life.  She wants to learn the identity of her father. ​

Looking for more intrigue? Try these

Teach Your Giraffe to Ski 
by Viviane Elbee  ill Danni Gowdy

When a task is daunting, you sometimes need a little incentive. Take skiing. It's a sport that requires training and a measure of courage. Meet a boy who is hesitates to try something challenging. Can he step away from his comfy chair and soothing hot chocolate? Giraffe wants to ski and she is not waiting another minute. She's heading out to the slopes. Now. Our young protagonist realizes that without basic instruction this rash impulse portends disaster. Grabbing his skis, he heads out in the snow. He teaches giraffe how to: put on a pair of skis, slow down "the pizza move," speed up "the french fry stance, "and turn "S shape maneuvers."

Viviane Elbee explores the anxiety associated with attempting something  difficult. It’s a story of overcoming one’s fears and being willing to take risks. She injects plenty of humor and whimsy, which prevents the story from becoming a heavy-handed moralistic tale. Grab a copy of Teach Your Giraffe to Ski. Then be brave and try something new.

Giraffe Gyrations