OK. Thank you anyway.

We just read I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen.

It's a book that makes you say, 

"Wait... What just happened!? 

Go back, go back, go back... Read that again!"

Most of us make terrible liars.

celebrate our differences

Boy +Bot by Ame Dyckman, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

Release date, April 10

pigeons

Mo Willems has a new Pigeon book called The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? His books are fun to read and will have you laughing in no time. 


In this book, sharing can sometimes feel like such a complicated issue... at times sharing can feel one step away from injustice... to children and pigeons.



Have some fun with the book HERE


Check out this report on pigeons (a la Victoria) from Saint Mark's Square, Venice:

first day melancholy

A cool new graphic novel about fitting in.

Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks is the story of Maggie's first day of school. She is about to join her three brothers in high school after a lifetime of home-schooling. To make matters worse, her mother has left the family and her brothers have begun fighting. Understandably, Maggie is feeling nervous and unsettled. 

Have I mentioned there's a ghost too? This might make you think of Anya's Ghost... but the two are quite different.

It's a sweet story and a great graphic novel.

Check out the first few pages HERE.

general betterment

The Popularity Papers 

by Amy Ignatow is a clever, cute, sweet book.

It's a colorful graphic novel, perfect for those heading off to middle school.


In trying to "crack the code to popularity", two best friends learn that when we make mistakes, we learn valuable lessons. Most importantly, it's better to do the things you love - with people you like - than it is to be popular.


*Amy Ignatow has just finished the fourth book in this series. Here is why I think she is so cool: Amy has been an illustrator, a teacher, a farmer, a florist, a short-order vegan cook, a dancing chicken, a wedding singer, a reporter, and a ghost-writer for personal ads. Phew... She lives with her husband Mark and their cat, Mathilda, whom they believe to be well-meaning despite all evidence to the contrary. (if you haven't guessed, she and I have held many of the same jobs and both have an awful cat)

sail

Ernest Hemmingway's  "The Old Man and the Sea" 
in drawings...

national poetry month

April is National Poetry Month. 

To celebrate, try Poem in your Pocket...

... the idea is simple: select a poem you love and carry it with you in your pocket. Share it with others. 


Here's mine:

The Journey

by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice--

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do--

determined to save

the only life you could save.