Thursday, October 13, 2016

Marilyn's Monster and Other Incredible Children's Books


Spoiler Alert:  For those of you who like to read children's books without knowing what's going to happen first, please be aware that there are some spoilers below.

I recently came across an incredible children's book called Marilyn's Monster written by Michelle Knudson and illustrated by Matt Phelan, and I love it so much.

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What it's about:  All the kids get chosen by their very own monster except Marilyn, who waits and waits for her monster to find her.

What I love about it:  I love how well they describe Marilyn's emotions changing from hope and excitement to loneliness and anger.  And I love that she takes the initiative to go out and get what she wants, even though everyone tells her that's not the way it's supposed to work.  Combine that with incredible pictures and make it a world where monsters are coveted, not feared, and it is just irresistible.

After becoming so infatuated with this book, I started thinking about my other favorite children's books, and here are a few highlights:

Little Robot by Ben Hatke



What it's about:  A little girl who plays outside all day, mostly in a junkyard, and becomes friends with a robot she finds there.

What I love about it:  There are very few words in this comic strip style book, but it doesn't need many because the pictures are so incredible and entertaining.  They really tell the story so beautifully, even making me laugh out loud in places.  I love when the cat touches a robot and all its hair stands up on end, and I love that even though one big mean robot eats a cat, the cat just sits inside the robot until it is rescued and the robot becomes good again.

I Know a Lot written by Stephen Krensky and illustrated by Sara Gillingham

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What it's about:  There are a bunch of books in this series, and all of them are fantastic.  They are early reader books focused on being proud of all of the amazing things toddlers learn and do.

What I love about it:  The rhymes and pictures are fantastic, and I love the way it captures the excitement and challenge of young children learning everyday things.  I love that it features a father, too, because there are not that many children's books that do.

Is Your Mama a Llama? written by Deborah Guarino and illustrated by Steven Kellogg


What it's about:  This is a fun, easy to read book about a llama who asks all of his friends if their mama is a llama.  It is full of cute rhymes that allows the reader to guess the answer on the next page. 

What I love about it:  Again, the pictures are just incredible.  I am a big fan of nature and animals, and all of these pictures are done just beautifully.  Plus, I love that each page shows the day getting a little closer to night, until it is completely nighttime at the end.

Where the Wild Things Are written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak

Image result for where the wild things are 

What it's about:  This book is a classic, and has been turned into a movie too, which is pretty incredible for a picture story.  It's about a little boy who gets in trouble for causing mischief, is sent to his room without eating supper, and travels to an imaginary place far away where he gets to be king of all wild things.

What I love about it:  The writing feels like poetry - 
 ". . . he sailed off through night and day
and in and out of weeks
and almost over a year 
to where the wild things are."
I love how he tells his mother he will eat her up when she calls him wild thing in the beginning, and then later the wild things tell him they'll eat him up, they love him so when he leaves.  And I love the wild rumpus, and most of all that his supper is waiting for him in his bedroom and is still hot.

Es hora? by Marilyn Janovitz

Image result for es hora marilyn janovitz

What it's about:  A little wolf getting ready for bed, and a series of questions about whether it's time to take a bath, brush his fangs, etc.

What I love about it:  This is such a fun book to read, and the sentences just flow together in a very sing song way.  This is a great Spanish book, but for those of you who don't know Spanish, there is also a Spanish - English version here.

I know there are so many other fun books that I didn't feature here.  What are some of your favorites?

10/14/16: Update - There are two other essential books that I can't believe I forgot!

Fancy Nancy written by Jane O'Connor and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser

Fancy Nancy 10th Anniversary Edition


What it's about:  This is a series of books about a little girl who loves everything fancy.  This means sparkles, extravaganza, and big words.

What I love about it:  The art is amazing, and I love the contrast between fancy, decorated Nancy and her parents - who are not fancy at all.  In this book, I love how her parents pick her up after she trips over her super fancy shoes and spills the fancy ice cream all over the restaurant.  There are a series of books like this one and all of them focus on fancy words, or bigger words, and explain in a fun way what they mean so it helps young readers build their vocabulary.  Plus, there are a few French words sprinkled in here and there, which is fun too.

The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton


Product Details

What it's about:  This is a sweet rhyming book about getting ready for bed.  Specifically, about a bunch of cartoon animals on a boat getting ready for bed.

Why I love it:  The rhymes are adorable and catchy, and while you can remember them easily after a few reads, they don't get that obnoxious stuck in your head feeling.  Again, this is a series of books, and they all show Sandra Boynton's incredible talent for rhyming.  I am also impressed that a lot of her books are manufactured in America and sold at an affordable price.

10/20/16: Update - As I was brainstorming ideas for this post a few weeks ago, I wrote down a list of a few books that I wanted to include.  When I sat down to write the post, I couldn't find the list so I wrote it just based off of my memory.  And now that I've published the post, I found the list and have two more books to add . . .

Tuck in the Pool by Martha Weston

Image result for tuck in the pool

What it's about:  A little pig's transformation from not wanting to go to swimming lessons, and learning to love swimming.

Why I love it:  I love when his mom comes in to tell him it's time for his swim lesson, he says he's busy.  Then, instead of rushing him or telling him to get ready anyway, she asks, "What are you busy doing?" and he responds, "Showing Snyder the dark." because he's playing with his toy spider under his bed.  I just love that whole transaction.  And I love that at first, his favorite part of swim lessons is going home, but that by the end he even stays for free swim after the lesson.

Owl Moon written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by John Schoenherr

Image result for owl moon 

What it's about:  A little girl goes out owling at night with her father, trekking through the snow and hooting owl sounds for the hopes of glimpsing a beautiful owl at night.

What I love about it:  The words, pictures, and phrases create an incredible atmosphere that is dark, silent, calm, and full of excitement at the same time.  I feel like I am right there, walking through the snow with them and I love to be sucked into the calm, peaceful experience of going owling at night in the winter.  I love the awe and respect for nature and animals that comes through in this story as well.

That's it!  If I come across any other children's stories, they are going to have to have their own post, because this one, with its two updates, is done.  If there are any other essential children's books I've forgotten, please leave them in the comments!

Shout Out for Illustrators


I don't know if this is true of most bloggers, but sometimes I publish a post and can't wait for the next one, and other times I post one that is just perfect and I don't want to write another one that will bump the perfect one down the page . . . that's how I feel about my Marilyn's Monster post now that I've finally included all of my favorite children's stories.  But that is the way life works I suppose, always moving on.

Anyway, I wanted to pass along the word that I am looking for an illustrator for children's stories.  I have been speaking with several friends about collaborating on some projects and am hopeful that may work out.  But I also wanted to expand my outreach a little further and see what happens.

I have a lot of ideas and a few projects in draft format, but am at a standstill because they need pictures.  And I am not very good at making pictures at all.  I think my artistic people-drawing abilities peaked in grade school.  You see the problem.

I am also very new to this writing and publishing thing, so am open to working with experienced, new, or independent artists.  I am looking for someone who creates beautiful, compelling worlds and interactions, who loves drawing or painting nature and animals. 

In addition to the examples of some of my favorite books in my last post, here is another book that is a good example of the kind of illustrator I'm looking for - Water is Water written by Miranda Paul and illustrated by Jason Chin.

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If you are interested, or know someone who might be, please let me know - either through the comments section below or directly to me.  Thanks for your help!

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Choosing a Name


Generally one of the most time consuming parts of my writing so far has been coming up with the names for my characters.  Last week I spent hours researching possible names and nicknames for characters, and the week before that I spent an hour trying to figure out this name in my head that sounded like Charlotte but wasn't Charlotte so I could call this character Char.  She's not even the main character in the story right now, and may not even grow into a bigger role down the road, but I still had to name her.  That's what's crazy in writing.  Every single person I write about has to be named.  And usually it is painstakingly slow.

I want names that are unique, beautiful, and easy to pronounce in your head as you read.  I especially love names that are all that, plus are either gender neutral or names that are used for an uncommon gender. 

As I researched names on multiple baby naming websites, I came across a fabulous discovery.  Most of the baby naming websites are summarizing information from the Social Security Administration's databank of names to create their own graphs of name popularity and add details about the meaning of names, etc.  The best part is that the SSA itself has a website that lists the names of all babies born in a particular year - dating back to 1880 - and includes the top 1000 names for each gender.

When I started looking through the names back in 1880, I came across a lot of gender switching names.  And by that, I mean that a lot of the names that we commonly use now for girls were common for boys back then, and vice versa.  Yes, most boys were named William or Charles and most girls were named Anna or Margaret.  But after that, I found a lot of names that I didn't expect to find on one or both lists.

For the boys:
Marion
Jessie
Sidney
Leslie
Alva
Pearl
Elisha
Allie
Lynn
Mary
Carroll
Jordan
Aubrey
Elliott
Dee
Addison
Sandy
Frances
Alma

And those are just the names that were in the top 500.  Starting with number 529, there's Anna, then
Bailey
Beverly
Clair
Dana
Jean
Sydney
Finley
Lindsey
Emma
Terry
Avery
Elizabeth
June
Lacy
Minnie
Addie
Ashley
Carrie
Clara
Clare
Ida
Shelby
Connie
Jennie
Lindsay
Rose
Vivian
Annie
Cora
Dora
Drew
Eliza
Elsie
Ethel
Hattie
Hope
Jessee
Nellie
Reese
Ruby
Sammie
Stacy
Tracy
Augusta
Daisy
Edith
Flora
Hayden
Ivy
Jewel
Jodie
Katherine
Kelly

For the girls' list, there are fewer names that are more commonly used as a boy's name today, which is interesting since it seems that today girls are more likely to adopt a gender switching name than boys.

Willie
Francis
John
William
Alpha
George
James
Donnie
Vinnie
Ira
Clyde
Frank
Charles
Henry
Robert
Claude
Joseph
Fred
Johnnie
Ray
Thomas
Walter
Clarence
Hedwig
Theo
Clifford
Harry
Leo
Arthur
Edgar
Glenn
Joe
Louis
Charlie
Dave
David
Dean
Earl
Edward

Some of the names on these lists have already become common unisex names, and some are still evolving.  I think it is really interesting that Ida was more common as a boy's name than Justin in 1880.  And John was more common as a girl's name than Olivia or Agatha in 1880.  It is liberating as a writer, too, because it makes me realize just how much names and their associated genders fluctuate over time.

I think most people tend to let the first person they meet with a certain name define their expectations for anyone else with that name.  So if you meet a girl Kelly first, you might be surprised to hear a boy named Kelly.  It's the same thing with how to spell a name.  If you meet someone who spells their name Jordyn, you might assume that every other person with that name will spell it the same way.  Once you know someone with a different name or a different spelling, it expands your horizons.

On another note, I have to point out a few other interesting categories from the SSA name database. There were quite a few girls named after states in 1880 - think Florida, Arizona, Tennessee, and Texas.  Whereas there were quite a few boys named after cities - for example, Denver, Ballard, Arlington, and Lafayette - and even colors - such as Green and Pink.

And for anyone who has read Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller series, you might enjoy learning that Ambrose was a popular name back in 1880.  As soon as I read that name, I immediately thought of Ambrose in The Name of the Wind.

Oh, and as for that character that I spent so long deciding her name - it ended up being Charmaine.  Which fit perfectly with what I was thinking in my head.  She can still be Char for short, like with Charlotte.  It's not really a gender switching name, but it is rather uncommon, beautiful, and hopefully easy to pronounce when you read.  Who knows, now that I've got her name figured out, maybe I'll give her a little bit of a bigger role in that story.