Magicians and Writers: truth and illusion

"Yes, I have tricks in my pocket, I have things up my sleeve. But I am the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion." 

Tennessee Williams in THE GLASS MENAGERIE

Magicians and Writers: truth and illusion

"Yes, I have tricks in my pocket, I have things up my sleeve. But I am the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion." 

Tennessee Williams in THE GLASS MENAGERIE

What the British say and what they REALLY mean

Anglo-EU Translation Guide
via BBC America

yes. oh dear. sorry. it's pretty much dead on.

the joy of books

for children: digital or paper?

See the full gallery on Posterous

Research done at Temple University showed that paper books provide a more positive parent-child interaction for young children--and that electronic books dampen it. (In other words, a picture book helps a child most when it's paper--not really any surprise to anyone who loves picture books. You know this but you love to hear it from officialdom.) 

Children sitting with a parent reading a digital rather than a physical book aren't getting as much interaction. "This research does suggest that parents should be aware of some of the limitations of e-book reading. We shouldn't use e-books to replace traditional books and we shouldn't expect them that they don't. They're not substitutes for a human being." (more here)

It seems it comes down to how you interact with a book and how you interact with a device... the difference between, "Careful! Push here! Hold it this way!" and, "I wonder... what do you think will happen next?"

Are we focused on the device or the story? 

I'm all for digital books--and the amazing things they can do. But they can't do everything. They can't replace a traditional book--or a human being. 

It's not a question solely for children and their books, is it? It sounds like something we need to be asking ourselves every day of our lives. Particularly at the start of a new year.

Are the tools we use enlarging or dampening our own lives, our own stories? What's our focus--on the new or the essential?

peanuts christmas special

Charles Schulz' Peanuts Christmas Special had to fight to get the Peanuts Christmas Special to be what it is. Everyone told him he was crazy.

Here's what he had to convince network executives at CBS to do:
-- to not use a laugh track 
-- to use actual children for the voices of the characters 
-- and (most crucial of all) to keep the true meaning of Christmas in there and have Linus quote from Luke 2:8-14

The big important personages of CBS all hated the idea and said it would fail. Particularly that Bible stuff.

Thankfully Schultz didn't believe them. And what would it be without that "Bible stuff"?

Sometimes your job isn't just to create something. It's to fight for it.

More here

 

more favorite favorite favorites

a favorite poet and a favorite poem recited by someone who has to got be one of my favorite persons reciting a poem:

favorite favourite favorites

Jon Klassen is one of my favorite illustrators right now... and his very funny book I WANT MY HAT BACK is one of my favorite books -- there is talk of a Caldecott for it. (Interesting review in HORN BOOK on that.) It comes from one of my favorite publishers, Candlewick. (Here's the trailer) 

It takes hard work to look that easy. And a lot of time to be that simple.

And here's something else quite wonderful: his cover for the NYT book review...

via Jago 

via Jon Klassen

Klassen writes of his illustration: "The book being reviewed, 'The Grief of Others' by Leah Hager Cohen, has a scene in it where a little girl holds a mock funeral in a river using ashes and chicken bones. She falls in and almost drowns right after that." via NYT