Four New York editors, an agent, and a bestselling author are coming to Connecticut on Saturday, April 26th for another F1rst Pages conference, one with a new imprint launching in Fall 2008! One of those prominent editors, making her own path in the business is Adriana Dominguez, Executive Editor of Latino imprint, Rayo, at HarperCollins. If you want to learn more about publishing in the Latino market and receive feedback on your work, make sure not to miss Adriana’s workshop. (See link below)
So if you can make it, the networking experience will be worth your while and there are opportunities to work with professional editors and an agent in an intimate group and have the chance to submit. There is an opportunity to be acquired if you have the right stuff.
Just make sure you read the guidelines carefully. Just a reminder that the navigation bar is at the top of the page and the payment links are at the bottom of each publishing professional’s page.
Go to www.f1rstpages.com - click on conference tab or go directly to the conference at www.f1rstpages.com/conference.
I’ve decided to add Cuentecitos over to its very own social networking group for Chicano and Latino Children’s Literature. Cuentecitos is so much more than a blog on the books and what I think of them.
I wanted it to be a living, breathing entity with the opportunity for people to contribute, comment, advise and learn. As much as I love the blog, it just seems far too important a subject to limit itself and so we’re kind of sort of moving. I’ll be keeping this blog up and posting reviews both here at on the network.
I’m interested in seeing what other resources people come up with and add to their pages on Cuentecitos the Network. If you’ve gotten an invite and accepted, you’ll get admin privileges on the network and can make any changes you like as well as build your own page and promote yourself, your artwork, your books, anything. It should be a fun learning process.
I’ve found an excellent little casita for my reviews as well as for all that I think Cuentecitos should be over at Ning (http://cuentecitos.ning.com/) and I’ll expect to see you all there.
I’m slowly moving over all the existing content as well as adding new and should be done in the next few days.
The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Sean Qualls (Holt)
Belpré Author Honor Books
Frida:¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life! by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand (Marshall Cavendish) Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale, retold by Carmen Agra Deedy, illustrated by Michael Austin (Peachtree) Los Gatos Black on Halloween, written by Marisa Montes, illustrated by Yuyi Morales (Holt)
Pura Belpré Illustrator Award
Los Gatos Black on Halloween, illustrated by Yuyi Morales, written by Marisa Montes (Holt)
Belpré Illustrator Honor Books
My Name Is Gabito: The Life of Gabriel García Márquez/Me llamo Gabito: la vida de Gabriel García Márquez, illustrated by Raúl Colón, written by Monica Brown (Luna Rising) My Colors, My World/Mis colores, mi mundo, written and illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez (Children’s Book Press)
There Is No Frigate Like A Book by Emily Dickinson.
There is no frigate like a book To take us lands away, Nor any coursers like a page Of prancing poetry. This traverse may the poorest take Without oppress of toll; How frugal is the chariot That bears a human soul!
Winter Complaint by Ogden Nash Now when I have a cold I am careful with my cold, I consult a physician And I do as I am told. I muffle up my torso In woolly woolly garb, And I quaff great flagons Of sodium bicarb. I munch on aspirin, I lunch on water, And I wouldn’t dream of osculating Anybody’s daughter, And to anybody’s son I wouldn’t say howdy, For I am a sufferer Magna cum laude. I don’t like germs, But I’ll keep the germs I’ve got. Will I take a chance of spreading them? Definitely not. I sneeze out the window And I cough up the flue, And I live like a hermit Till the germs get through. And because I’m considerate, Because I’m wary, I am treated by my friends Like Typhoid Mary.
Now when you have a cold You are careless with your cold, You are cocky as a gangster Who has just been paroled. You ignore your physician, You eat steaks and oxtails, You stuff yourself with starches, You drink lots of cocktails, And you claim that gargling Is a time of waste, And you won’t take soda For you don’t like the taste, And you prowl around parties Full of selfish bliss, And greet your hostess With a genial kiss. You convert yourself Into a deadly missle, You exhale Hello’s Like a steamboat wistle. You sneeze in the subway And you cough at dances, And let everybody else Take their own good chances. You’re a bronchial boor, A bacterial blighter, And you get more invitations Than a gossip writer.
Yes, your throat is froggy, And your eyes are swimmy, And you hand is clammy, And you nose is brimmy, But you woo my girls And their hearts you jimmy While I sit here With the cold you gimmy.
In Mexico, I think nothing is more honored and adored than the Virgen de Guadalupe or, as I know her, Tonantzin. Her image is everywhere. Statues, candles, blankets, sarapes, scarves, murals, roadside shrines - her peaceful and radiant countenance blesses you. She lives in homes, tattoos, in the marketplace, in song, everywhere, she touches everything. Even one of the most popular singers in Mexico wrote a song for her!
She was the image on the banners and flags of Father Manuel Hidalgo and his followers in the Mexican Revolution. She is entrenched so deeply into our culture and ideology that she’s like an old and very beloved friend. We call her little mother. She’s our collective mother, the mother of a conquered but not defeated nation, the mother who fights for us, protects us and loves us no matter who or what we are and become. We live and breathe Guadalupe. In every family, someone, boy or girl is named Guadalupe and carries that name with pride. Even rock bands sing her name.
The Catholic Church has it’s story of the Virgen de Guadalupe and Juan Diego, we indigenous people have another. Somehow, like so much in Mexico the two things blended and we have Catholic dogma mixed with indigenous belief. Tonantzin wouldn’t be erased and she lives stronger than ever in our hearts and minds.
Every year on her day, December 12th - thousands of people gather at her shrine on Tepeyac to give her honor, to pay homage, to dance prayers for her, to sing Las Manañitas to her and to show their devotion. Indigenous people from all over Mexico leave their villages and walk or crawl up to the sierra de Tepeyac in an ancient pilgrimage. The actual holy ground is a little hill behind the Basilica. This hill was sacred to Tonantzin and consecrated to Her by the indigenous people of Mexico long before the conquest. The pilgrimage was happening in pre-Columbian times as well.
As far back as I can remember my life was dominated by the Guadalupe. In the sala (living room) my grandmother Lupe’s house (her name was Maria Guadalupe) in the place of honor on the wall was a huge, framed print of the Virgen de Guadalupe standing on the hill of Tepeyac with Juan Diego kneeling at her feet, tilma open and filled with roses. It was a beautiful print with a soft washed from age look to it. You could clearly see the nopales (cacti) that were growing on the hillside. Every day my grandmother would put fresh flowers in front of that print. “Flores para la virgen”, she would tell me, “Flowers for the Virgen”. I learned to cut fresh roses and other flowers from the garden for vases throughout the house, keeping only the best and showiest to put in front of the print. Just like my grandmother, I’d say a little prayer to her as I left her her flowers. She was as real to me as my sisters were and I talked to her far more freely. La Lupita was my confidant, my protector, my dear little mother.
At church, my grandmother was a member of a society called Las Guadalupanas and they were devotees of her. Every morning, my grandmother Lupe would don her lacy mantilla and head off for mass where she’d pray to the Virgen de Guadalupe. See, she’s everywhere and in everything.
In Aztec culture, Guadalupe was Tonantzin, the mother of all, Mother Earth, The Goddess of Sustenance, Honored Grandmother, Snake, Aztec Goddess of the Earth. She brought the corn, Mother of the Corn. Even then She was All and Everything. She represented mothers, fertility, the moon, the sacred number 7. In fact, she was sometimes known as 7 Serpent. She was always there and she was always our little mother.
Corn is sacred to Tonantzin. The flowers we know as poinsettias were called Cuetlaxochitl were also very sacred to her and they grew on Tepeyac in wintertime as tall as ten feet high. Tunas (cactus fruit or prickly pear) are also especially sacred to Tonantzin growing as they do on the cacti that grows on her sacred and holy ground. Filled with seeds inside and a rich, juicy red fruit, the tunas represent both fertility and the womb, the blood of women and the sweetness of life. Tomatoes are another sacred fruit to Her. On my altar, I often put flor de noche Buena (another word for poinsettias meaning flower of the good night), tunas, chiles, cacao beans and tomatoes. The colors red, white and green, the colors of the Mexican flag are sacred to Her as well.
Early tomorrow morning, the morning of the 12th at 2a.m. at the Placita Olvera (Olvera Street) in Los Angeles, mariachis, devotees of the Virgen de Guadalupe, Aztec dancers, folklorico dancers, deer dancers, musicians, priests, nuns, and many more will start paying homage to Her. We will sing Las Mananitas, the traditional birthday song, we will pray and dance. Aztec dancers will dance at Catholic masses everywhere and they will do the prayer dance Tonantzin first. They will dance various variations of Tonantzin and give Her honor. In Mexico, on a much larger scale, celebrities, the elite, the politicians, Zapatistas, narcotrafficantes, men, women and children will all pay homage to our beloved Virgen de Guadalupe. We will give thanks to her for all we’ve received from her merciful hands, we will pray for the sick, the prisoners, the homeless, the helpless and we know that She is mercy, kindness, acceptance and love. She commands a tremendous devotion from the people that love her just by being Guadalupe. I believe she has given me much – my life, my children, my grandchildren, the food I eat. She is the goddess of the harvest, she represents the mother in me and in all women. She simply is and so I say Tlaxocamatl Tonantzin, thank you virgen de Guadalupe for all you have given. Tlaxocamatl Tonantzin. Ometeotl.
From the City of the Queen of the Angels, desde la ciudad de Nuestra Reina de los Angeles,
Atonatiuh Eloxochitl Mar y Sol Datura Flower otherwise know as Gina MarySol Ruiz Who is on her way to dance for the Virgen de Guadalupe and one for her Grandmother Lupe too.
Poetry Friday is here and with it my last feature of a Robert’s Snow snowflake and artist. These weeks have been a tremendous feast of visual delights and creativity. I can’t get over how beautiful each snowflake is. Just like a real snowflake, no two are alike and this one, “Titania’s Flowery Bed” is no exception. It’s based on Victorian lullaby and it features a sleepy little fairy.
Today, I’m featuring Elizabeth Sayles, who has illustrated more than 20 books for children. Her latest book is “The Goldfish Yawned” (Henry Holt) and it is the first book that she wrote as well as illustrated. It is a winner of the Bank Street College Best Childrens Book, 2005. She also illustrated “I Already Know I Love You” written by Billy Crystal which was a NY Times #1 best selling picture book.
Her Titania made me think of Shakespeare and A Midsummer Night’s Dream so my Poetry Friday offering is Elizabeth Sayles, her magical snowflake and Shakespeare. Makes a nice trio, doesn’t it?
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull’d in these flowers with dances and delight;
William Shakespeare, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Scene 1
Liz was kind enough to send me a long email telling me all about what inspired her snowflake, how she came to Robert’s Snow and a bit about herself.
“My Snowflake — Titania’s Flowery Bed — was inspired by a book that I just illustrated called “Mother’s Song.” It is a Victorian lullaby and many fairies have found their way into the art. Some are fishing for pearls, or dancing on a spider’s thread, or escorting the Queen over the River bridge. This little fairy seemed to fit pretty well in the snowflake, which is actually a flower. “Mother’s Song,” which was adapted by Ellin Green, will be published in Spring ‘08 by Clarion Books.
The fairy, somehow wound up looking an awful lot like my daughter, Jessica. I see it now when I look at it, but was not aware of it when I was painting it.
I usually work in pastel… but I have been incorporating acrylic paints in my work lately and this snowflake was mostly painted using acrylics.
In the summer of 2005 Grace had asked me to do a snowflake for the first Robert’s Snow auction. I was so impressed by her, and her concept and energy. Most of us are paralyzed when someone we love is sick, at least I am. I can only think of how to get through the day, but Grace put all that anxiety into hopeful action. So I was happy to do it. Last year I was too busy, so I was more than happy to do it again this year, especially in light of the fact that Grace lost her husband in August.
One of my favorite books is “Five Little Kittens” (a New Public Library 100 Books for Reading and Sharing Selection) My artwork has been on display at the Society of Illustrators in NYC, The New York Public Library, The Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio, Every Picture Tells a Story gallery in Los Angeles and Chemers Gallery in Orange County, CA. I am an adjunct professor of Illustration at the School of Visual Arts in NYC.”
Liz Sayles is one busy woman! Along with all her work, she has a website and a blog that feature her delectable art. snowflake and others at the Robert’s Snow online auction. . I fell in love with her work and it’s dreamy, soft feel.
Getting to know about artists like Liz and discovering their art has made this experience a joyful and fulfilling one. Please visit the Robert’s Snow Online Auction and bid often for these selfless and thoughtful pieces of themselves the artists share. Each snowflake, the work creating them and the stories behind them are worth far more than will ever be fetched at auction.
Poetry Friday’s round-up is at the place it began, Big A, little a.
Joyful is the word that comes to mind when I look at Akemi Guitierrez’ work. Her sketches and paintings are filled with joy and such an amazing exuberance. I start smiling and keep smiling for a long while after visiting her colorful and happy website which is filled with fun things like The Curio Corner which features a monthly quiz, a Book Nook, her gallery, Animal Crackers and more. If you’re having a down day, swing by Akemi’s site - it’s sure to put a smile on your face.
Akemi is the illustrator of such fun books as The Pirate And Other Adventures of Sam & Alice and The Mummy And Other Adventures of Sam & Alice which are both published by Houghton Mifflin Co.; What the Elephant Told and A Nap in a Lap are published by Henry Holt & Co.; and Three Little Bears published by Candlewick Press. She has a new book coming in 2008 entitled I’m Just Like My Mom/ I’m Just Like My Dad to be published by HarperCollins.
Akemi Gutierrez has been illustrating and writing children’s books for seven years, and is currently working on her seventh book. Akemi lives in northern California with her husband Ed. She has won the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award for two of her book illustrations: “Three Little Bears” and “What the Elephant Told.”s: “Three Little Bears” and “What the Elephant Told.”
Her story about what brought her to Robert’s Snow is a touching one and her snowflake is filled with that joy and exuberance that he brings to his paintings. I love the idea of an ice skating pirate named Dead-Eye Dirk, don’t you?
Here are Akemi’s words about her involvement with Robert’s Snow and a bit about her snowflake.
Dear Gina,
Thanks so much for writing & thinking of me for your blog!
I first heard about the Robert’s Snow event from my editor at Houghton Mifflin in 2004. It sounded like such a great idea and a wonderful cause, I really wanted to get involved. My brother passed away in 2000 from cancer so this charity felt especially close to my heart. After contacting Grace, I painted a snowflake for the first auction and the following two. I strongly believe in all the good that can come from people working together, such as the artists & coordinators of Robert’s Snow and plan to participate in this charity as long as they’ll have me.
When I was designing this year’s snowflake, I thought back to my first (and only) attempt at ice skating. There’s just 2 kinds of people that shouldn’t be on ice skates: pirates & me. So it seemed like a good chuckle to put my pirate “Dead Eye Dirk” on the same slippery skates that I once wore. I think he’s better at skating than I was, and it helps that he’s properly distracted from the icy peril by the sweets at hand.
I hope this was helpful to you! Thanks again for writing & I hope this year’s auction is another big success!
Happy Autumn, Akemi
Isn’t she nice? I just want to give her a big hug! Akemi’s snowflake is adorable and like each of the snowflakes I see, I want it. It’s not every day you can have a pirate skating on a snowflake.
So bid, bid, bid! Let’s help to make this the most successful Robert’s Snow ever. Many, many thanks to all the wonderful illustrators that gave of their time to create these beautiful works of art.
On My Block: Stories and Paintings by Fifteen Artists Editor: Dana Goldberg
Artists: Cecilia Alvarez, Carl Angel, Cbabi Bayoc, Kim Cogan, Maya Christina Gonzalez, Yasmin Hernandez, Felicia Hoshino, Sara Kahn, Conan Low, Joseph Pearson, Elaine Pedlar, Ann Phong, Jose Ramirez, Tonel, Jonathan Warm Day
Publisher: Children’s Book Press ISBN-10: 0892392207 ISBN-13: 978-0892392209
On My Block is an incredible homage to neighborhoods, those childhood neighborhoods that were filled with enchantment and the wonder of young eyes and minds. Each sumptuous and very different page features a different artist talking about the neighborhoods of their childhood and what made them wonderful. Some pages are the stuff of dreams, others are filled with magic while some are grounded in reality, yet others contain the wispy quality of memory.
The fifteen artists are each completely wonderful in their own right and there is a small bio and photo of each at the bottom corner of each page, giving children and parents the opportunity to learn more about them. Each page is a journey of discovery.
Travel to Cuba with the artist known as Tonel and let his bright colors liven up your day.
Take a walk with Cecilia Alarez through her grandmother’s garden in Tijuana and feel the power of Mother Earth and view nature as a Goddess.
Visit with Los Angeles artist and teacher, Jose Ramirez in his East L.A. neighborhood on Ithaca Street (I lived there too!). His lush earth tones and warm brown faces will make you smile.
Yasmin Hernandez takes you through a gritty city dressed as Wonder Woman on her magical tour.
Maya Christina Gonzalez sweeps you away with her gorgeous use of color and sweeping dreamlike style.
Felicia Hoshino takes you to San Francisco where you have the fun of working at making tofu. Her soft colors made me think of the delicate, pale nature of tofu.
Cbabi Bayoc takes us to the park and that joy of just hanging on monkey bars. His wonderful illustrations of children’s faces smiling with the simple joy will bring back memories and make you smile long after you close the book.
I could go on and on about each artist and find more and more to ooh and ahh over. I open this book after a long day and I can’t help but be transported to that magical place of childhood where everything has magical potential. This is a book for both children and adults and is highly recommended. Each of the artists is well worth learning about and their websites or websites about them are easily found. On My Block is a wonderful way to teach children about art and artists, styles and diversity.
