Tuesday, July 31, 2007

This Is What Happens!

As far as I'm concerned, there are few things I enjoy more than attending a topnotch children's literature conference/festival/institute. From Thursday evening through early Sunday afternoon, I was having a grand old time at Food, Glorious Food!, the 2007 Children's Literature Institute at Simmons College in Boston.

Every time I attend one of these events I just can't help myself. I say I'm only going to buy a few books...but I'm a glutton for children's literature. Here's a sampling of the "few" books I got that were written and/or illustrated by presenters at the institute--and by fellow blogger Leo Landry.


LEO LANDRY


DAVID MACAULAY

RICHARD MICHELSON

ALICE HOFFMAN


ANGELA JOHNSON


KADIR NELSON


MATTHEW REINHART


ARTHUR YORINKS


SY MONTGOMERY


That's just a sampling of the books I brought home.

I hope to post briefly about the institute later this week. Be forewarned--I take very few notes...and my memory isn't what it used to be.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Tarantula Scientist looks like one for us. Thank, Elaine.

By the way we really enjoyed Seaside Switch, which you wrote about a couple of weeks ago. Good recommendation.

Elaine Magliaro said...

Susan,

I'm glad you liked Seaside Switch. I really liked it, too.

In addition to The Tarantula Scientist--you'd probably like Sy Montgomery's other nonfiction books. They're written for middle readers...and illustrated with outstanding photographs by Nic Bishop. I got The Tarantula Scientist for one of my grandnephews for his birthday.

Anonymous said...

Good purchases. My two girls (ages three and almost two) are absolutely obsessed with Oh No, Not Ghosts! -- they don't care if it's Easter, Valentine's Day, or Christmas. They want to read it year-round (and I say that, simply 'cause it would work so well as a Halloween book). It's a great book. I love his manic illustrations (that's a compliment).

Those were some of the presenters?! My, I'm jealous.

Elaine Magliaro said...

Jules,

Did you ever read an earlier version of the book entitled DID YOU SAY GHOSTS? The book went out of print. I guess when they were thinking about reprinting the book the publisher didn't want to use the original illustrations...so Michelson adapted the text. I think the new illustrations are great, too. I also liked the ones in the first book. I used the earlier book as a read-aloud for Halloween...with the lights turned off and the electric jack-o-lanterns turned on. The kids loved it! Sooo spoooky!!!

Stacey Shubitz said...

The first-ever picture book carnival is up on my blog, http://mentortexts.blogspot.com/2007/07/first-ever-picture-book-carnival.html. Thank you for participating! Please consider submitting a picture book for the next one I'm hosting on back-to-school books at: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_2189.html

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

No, I did not know that, Elaine. Neat. Who did the original illustrations?

Elaine Magliaro said...

DID YOU SAY GHOSTS? was illustrated by Leonard Baskin. I think the illustrations in the newer book are more appropriate for really young children. The ones in the original edition might give little tykes nightmares.

Anonymous said...

Hi Elaine --

It was nice to see you again at Simmons. Thanks for your generous support of The Children's Book Shop, and especially of Eat Your Peas, Ivy Louise!

-Leo.