At Your Fingertips: Press Here by Herve' Tullet

READY?

PRESS HERE AND TURN THE PAGE.

At a touch of the forefinger and a flip of the sturdy page, the one yellow dot has become two.

Who could stop now?

Another firm press and the two become three. Then a gentle rub on the one on the left and presto! The yellow dot on the left is now a RED dot. Well done! Now, an equally gentle rub on the yellow dot on the right and...it is now BLUE. Three dots, Red, Yellow, Blue, now await the next command.

Five quick taps on the yellow button brings a new vista: three rows of five dots, one yellow, one red, one yellow. one blue. Perfect!

But wait, there's more. Shake the book and you get a random arrangement over a double-page spread. Tilt the book and the dots slide to the top, to the bottom, and from side to side of the two pages. Wipe the page and the following double page is black.

No problem. Press all the dots and the lights come back on. Clap your hands--not too loud!

WHOO-HOO! KEEP CLAPPING!

Herve Tullet's innovative Press Here (Chronicle Books 2011) has snowballed into a runaway best-seller since its publication earlier this year. A deceptively simple-appearing board book with thick bright pages ornamented with a series of almost round dots which take on a life of their own, proving that flat pages which inspire the imagination can be truly interactive, while achieving a conceptual sophistication which teaches both number sets and color along the way. As recent picture books have shown, the genre is far from dead, taking elements freely from electronic media and going them one better! It's not MAGIC. It's a BOOK!

"Without so much as a single tab to pull or flap to turn, this might be the most interactive picture book of the year," said Booklist in its review.

For a glimpse of the magic, see the book's trailer here.

(Drumroll) The Envelope, Please! The 2015 American Library Association's Awards for Children's and Young Adult Literature

There's snow in Chicago, and that means it is time for the premier children's and young adults awards, especially the venerable John Newbery Medal, given for the best work of literature to the author, and the Randolph Caldecott Medal
for the best-illustrated book, both announced at the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting, February 2.

And the winners are...

The Newbery Award goes to Kwame Alexander for his novel The Crossover (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014). In my review of March 19, 2014, I said "Watch for this one to take some honors in the awards for books debuting this year, because it's definitely got game--on-court suspense, real-life characters, and a moving narrative that confronts life changes with all the right moves. Slam-dunk!" Yeah!

Newbery Honor Medals went to El Deafo (Amulet/Abrams, 2014) by Cece Bell, and Brown Girl Dreaming (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2014) by Jacqueline Woodson, which also was the winner of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. (See review here.)

The Caldecott Medal for illustrations goes to Dan Santat for his The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend (Little, Brown and Company, 2014), reviewed here.

Caldecott Honors wen to The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandisky's Abstract Art, (Alfred A Knopf, 2014), illustrated by Mary Grandpre'; Nana in the City (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Clarion, 2014); Sam and Dave Dig a Hole (Candlewick Press, 2014),illustrated by John Klassen; Viva, Frida (Roaring Brook Press, 2014) illustrated by Yuyi Morales; The Right Word: Roget and his Thesaurus (Eerdman Boks, 2014, illustrated by Melissa Sweet; and This One Summer (First Second, 2014), illustrated by Jillian Tamaki.

The Coretta Scott King Author Awards went to Kwame Alexander for The Crossover (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014); Marilyn Nelson for How I Discovered Poetry (Dial Books, 2014): and Kekla Magoon for How It Went Down (HenryHolt, 2014).

The Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards went to Christopher Myers for Firebird (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2014), Christian Robinson for Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker, (Chronicle Books, 2014), and Frank Morrison, illustrator of Little Melba and Her Big Trombone (Lee and Low, 2014).

The King-Steptoe New Talent Author Award went to Jason Reynolds' When I Was The Greatest (Atheneum Books, 2014)

The Coretta Scott King/Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award was given to librarian and literacy advocate Deborah D. Taylor.

The Michael L. Printz Award for Literature for Young Adults was given to Jandy Nelson for I'll Give You the Sun, (Dial Books, 2014).  Honor awards went also to Jossie Ann Foley, The Carnival at Bray, Jenny Hubbard for And We Stay; Andrew Smith, for Grasshopper Jungle, and This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki.

The Schneider Family Book Award for books about disabilities went to A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz (Houghton Mifflin, 2014) and Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin, published by Feiwel and Friends, 2014). (See reviews here and here.

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for Beginning Reader Books was given to You Are Not Small, by Anna King (Two Lions Press, 2012), and honor medals went to Mr. Putter and Tabby Turn the Page (Houghton Mifflin  (Harcourt, 2014), and Waiting Is Not Easy!  (Hyperion Books, 2014). (See reviews here and here.

The YALSA Award for Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction went to Popular Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Greek, (Dutton Books, 2014) by Maya Van Wagenen.  Honor books include Shane Burcaw's Laughing at My Nightmare (Roaring Brook, 2014), Candace Fleming's The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, & the Fall of Imperial Russia and Ida Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business--and Won (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2014) by Emily Arnold McCully, (see my review here).

The Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video was awarded to Weston Woods Studios, Paul Gagne, and Melissa R. Elard, for their film of the Caldecott Honor Book Me . . . Jane (See review of the book here.)

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to author-illustrator Donald Crews, and the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement in the area of young adult literature want to author Sharon Draper.

A complete listing of book and media awards presented today by the American Library Association may be found here.

... And the Winners Are... 2014 Newbery and Caldecott Medals Awarded

The American Library Association has released the winners of this year's young people's book awards. The Newbery Award, for books written for young readers, has gone to Kate DiCamillo for her novel Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures (Candlewick Press, 2013). (See my review here.) DiCamillo is a past winner of this award for her The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread and the Newbery Honor Award for Because of Winn-Dixie.

Four Newbery Honor Books were also named: Holly Black's Doll Bones (Simon & Schuster, 2013), previous winner Kevin Henkes' The Year of Billy Miller (Greenwillow Books, 2013) (see my review here), Amy Timberlake's One Came Home (Alfred A. Knopf, 2013), and Vince Vawter's Paperboy (Delacorte Press, 2013).

Taking the Caldecott Award for the best-illustrated book for children is Brian Floca for his Locomotive (Atheneum, 2013). Caldecott Honors went to  Journey (Candlewick, 2013), written and illustrated by Aaron Becker, to Molly Idle's Flora and the Flamingo (Chronicle Books, 2013), and the multiple Caldecott-winning David Wiesner for Mr. Wuffles! (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2013 (see my review here.)

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for beginning reader books went to The Watermelon Seed (Hyperion, 2013), written and illustrated by Greg Pizzoli (read my review here), with Geisel Honor Awards going to Mary Sullivan's Ball (Houghton Mifflin, 2013), frequent award-winner Mo Willems for his A Big Guy Took My Ball! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) (Hyperion, 2013) (see review here), and Kevin Henkes' Penny and Her Marble (I Can Read Book 1) (Greenwillow, 2013).

Other ALA awards include the following:

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:
“P.S. Be Eleven,” written by Rita Williams-Garcia, is the King Author Book winner. The book is published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Three King Author Honor Books were selected: “March: Book One,” written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illustrated by Nate Powell, and published by Top Shelf Productions; “Darius & Twig,” written by Walter Dean Myers and published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; and “Words with Wings,” written by Nikki Grimes and published by WordSong, an imprint of Highlights.

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award:
“Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me,” illustrated by Bryan Collier, is the King Illustrator Book winner. The book was written by Daniel Beaty and published by Little, Brown and Company, Hachette Book Group.
One King Illustrator Honor Book was selected: “Nelson Mandela,” illustrated and written by Kadir Nelson and published by Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award:
“When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop,” illustrated by Theodore Taylor III, is the Steptoe winner. The book is published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership.

Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement:
Authors Patricia and Researcher Fredrick McKissack are the winners of the Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. The award is presented in even years to an African American author, illustrator or author/illustrator for a body of his or her published books for children and/or young adults, and who has made a significant and lasting literary contribution.
 Patricia McKissack and her late husband Fredrick McKissack, both natives of Tennessee, began their writing and research partnership in the 1980’s.Their subject matter from family-based folklore to nonfiction titles, are scholarly researched and written with accurate, authentic text, creating a cultural transmission of history. Their immense range of topics are informative, readable and enjoyable, covering accounts from slavery days to biographical studies of noted men and women in African American history past and present.

Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults:
“Midwinterblood,” written by Marcus Sedgwick, is the 2014 Printz Award winner. The book is published by Roaring Brook Press, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.
Four Printz Honor Books also were named: “Eleanor & Park,” written by Rainbow Rowell and published by St. Martin’s Griffin (Macmillan); “Kingdom of Little Wounds,” written by Susann Cokal and published by Candlewick Press; “Maggot Moon,” written by Sally Gardner, illustrated by Julian Crouch and published by Candlewick Press; and “Navigating Early,” written by Clare Vanderpool and published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House LLC, Penguin Random House Company.

Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience:
“A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin,” written by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet and published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc. wins the award for children ages 0 to 10.
“Handbook for Dragon Slayers,” written by Merrie Haskell and published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, is the winner of the middle-school (ages 11-13) award.
The teen (ages 13-18) award winner is “Rose under Fire,” written by Elizabeth Wein and published by Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Book Group.

Alex Awards for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences:

 “Brewster,” written by Mark Slouka and published by W. W. Norton & Company

“The Death of Bees,” written by Lisa O’Donnell and published by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

“Golden Boy: A Novel,” written by Abigail Tarttelin and published by ATRIA Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

“Help for the Haunted,” written by John Searles and published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

“Lexicon: A Novel,” written by Max Barry and published by The Penguin Group, Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

“Lives of Tao,” written by Wesley Chu and published by Angry Robot, a member of the Osprey Group

“Mother, Mother: A Novel,” written by Koren Zailckas and published by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

“Relish,” written by Lucy Knisley and published by First Second, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership

“The Sea of Tranquility: A Novel,” written by Katja Millay and published by ATRIA Paperback, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

“The Universe Versus Alex Woods,” written by Gavin Extence and published by Redhook Books, an imprint of Orbit, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

Andrew Carnegie Medal for excellence in children's video:
Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard of Weston Woods Studios, Inc., producers of “Bink &Gollie: Two for One,” are the Carnegie Medal winners. The video’s cast is anchored by Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome, with music by David Mansfield. Tony Fucile’s artwork is brilliantly brought to life by Chuck Gammage Animation.

Not Quite Ready for Prime Time?: Help! We Need A Title! by Herve' Tullett

HEY!  SOMEONE IS WATCHING US!

COME HERE.

LOOK AT THIS. THERE ARE PEOPLE HERE AND THEY HAVE OPENED OUR BOOK!

It's not really even a book. To be generous, we might call it a collection of preliminary sketches, a hastily crayoned pink pig, a scraggly sorceress-princess, a one-eyed giant green worm bordering on the bizarre, and a stick-man which looks as if it was drawn by a four-year-old on a bad day, all surrounded by random squiggle-doodles in different colors!

But the princess and pig playing together inside are proprietary about their pages and don't quite know what to make of  the peeping Tom people peering at them. But these would-be "readers" seem innocuous enough, if a bit intrusive.

"WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

The interlopers seem sweet, but they have caught Pig and Princess quite by surprise.

"I THINK THEY WOULD LIKE A STORY."

But...

"WE'RE NOT QUITE READY YET!"

Giant Green Worm suggests adding a backdrop to the page, and Stick-man, who has wandered into the scene from page right, conjures up a bland tropical beach scene that looks like a cheap 1920s postcard. It doesn't help much. How about a monster? A red crayoned monster with fangs appears. He's not very scary. And he has no idea what he's supposed to do. Princess laments:

"WE'RE BORING, AREN'T WE?"

What they need, the characters decide, is someone to organize these pages--AN AUTHOR! And they actually know one!

In the follow-up to his best-selling, groundbreaking hit, Press Here,  Herve' Tullett's newest, Help! We Need a Title! (Candlewick Press, 2014) takes the metafiction picture book to a whole new level. Author-illustrator Tullett is summoned from behind his studio door, appearing in comic snapshots pasted on a hastily-drawn body, protesting that he's barely started work on this book. After listening impatiently to the protests, he throws a crumb to the visiting "readers," a hackneyed paste-up in which a kind fairy vanquishes a evil monster. Even his characters pronounce it, at best, only so-so. Tullet-head loses his patience.

LOOK! IF YOU'RE NOT HAPPY, GO LOOK FOR A STORY SOMEWHERE ELSE. THERE ARE LOTS OF BOOKS...!

Of course, Tullett's "readers" aren't going anywhere in this joyous fourth-wall-fracturing spoof of the interaction between books, authors, characters, and their "dear readers." Tullett again turns the whole author-reader relationship inside out and upside down as he invites kids to interact with his story, encouraging them to "Press This Button" and turn off the lights on the whole fiasco. In the dark, the characters, only their eyes visible, beg the readers to turn the lights back on, but, that done, find themselves still without a premise or plot to go on. But as they grow anxious, Stick-man notices a way out of this altogether awkward situation--there are only a few pages left! With a little luck, they can fill them out with a l-o-o-n-g Goodbye! CIAO!

Herve' Tullett and a growing group of other author-illustrators have taken on the challenge of interactive computer games for kids and shown that there is plenty of life left in the old picture book format yet. He captures the kidlike joy of filling the page with untidy, unconventional open-ended possibilities with eye-and mind-opening potential. For some other promising ventures into to the meta-book for preschool and primary students, begin with Mo Willems' We Are in a Book! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) and Barney Saltzberg's Beautiful Oops!

From there, well..."There are lots of books...."

The Envelope, Please! ALA Youth Media Awards Announced

The American Library Association has revealed their book and media winners for 2016.

Taking the prestigious John Newbery Award for the most outstanding contribution for children's literature was Matt de la Pena, for Last Stop on Market Street (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2015). Pena becomes the first Hispanic author to win this award.

Newbery Honor Awards go to Kimberly Brubaker Bradley for The War that Saved My Life (Dial Books, 2015) (see my review here), Roller Girl, (Dial Books 2015) by Victoria Jamieson, and Echo (Scholastic Press, 2015) by Pam Munoz Ryan.

The Randolph Caldecott Medal is awarded for the best illustrated book published in the United States. Winning the 2016 Caldecott for Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear (Little, Brown and Company, 2015), the story of the search for the toy bear who became famous as "Winnie-The-Pooh," is illustrator Sophie Blackall. The author was Lindsay Mattick.

Caldecott Honor Medals went to Trombone Shorty(Abrams Books, 2015), illustrated by Bryan Collier and authored by Troy Andrews; Waiting (Greenwillow Books, 2015) written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes, (see my review here); Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement (Candlewick Press, 2015), illustrated by Ekua Holmes and written by Carole Boston Weatherford; and the Newbery winner, Last Stop on Market Street (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2015), illustrated by Christian Robinson.

The 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Award, recognizing an African American author, went to Rita Williams-Garcia for Gone Crazy in Alabama (Harper-Collins, 2015) (see my review here). Illustrator Bryan Collier also took the King Illustrator Award for his work on Trombone Shorty (Abrams Books, 2015). The Coretta Scott King New Talent Author Award went to Ronald L. Smith for Hoodoo (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2015) (see my review here).

The Michael L. Printz Award for Young Adult literature was won by Laura Ruby for Bone Gap (Balzer & Bray, 2015).

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for life achievement went to Caldecott Award-winning author-illustrator Jerry Pinkney.

The Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book went to David Adler's Don't Throw It to Mo! (Mo Jackson) (Penguin Young Readers, 2015),illustrated by Sam Ricks.

The Andrew Carnegie Medal for children's video went to Weston Woods Studio for its adaptation of Mo Willems' This Is NOT A Good Idea. (See my review of the book here).

Read the complete list of ALA's awards and winners here.

Snorkel Rabbit! Bunny Overboard by Claudia Rueda

 

IT'S ALL HANDS ON DECK!

WOULD YOU LIKE TO TO SAIL AWAY WITH ME?

A sailing we shall go with Bunny! It's over the waves, Mateys, as Bunny launches his little red sailboat. But he needs help! His sails need some BREEZE, please!

BLOW!

AHH! THANK YOU! But now Bunny needs someone to rock the boat, just for the fun of it. But THEN he wants more! But too much rocking is... OOOOO!

STOP! BUNNY OVERBOARD!

Kersplash! Too much rocking almost swamps the boat. A curious seal gives this maneuver a fishy eye, while Bunny decides it's time to drop anchor. Bunny suits up in his snorkeling gear, fins and all, and jumps off the stern of his sailboat. 

Disclaimer! This Book Will Not Be Fun by Cirocco Dunlap

I am just going to sit here in silence and wait for the book to be over.

I don't know why you are still here.

Call yourself warned. The geeky mouse with the big glasses has told you to expect nothing. And disregard that flying whale. He is of no interest, none, none at all.

Move along. Nothing to see here.

Hey! You can see him, too? Remarkable.

Oh, drat! He ate my words. What an untoward thing to happen to a narrator. Flying whales can't exist. My Encyclopedia of Creatures says so. Oh, well.

The big-headed mouse has nothing good to say about this book. With a dispassionate demeanor he leads the reader from recto to verso. He perfunctorily points out a boring worm, which suddenly glows like a firefly, which is a good thing, since the lights seem to be out on the next page.

Too much excitement. I will have to follow the worm's footprints.

What's this? A light switch?

It would seem our dyspeptic guide has lead us into a new chapter--a brightly-neon-lit disco party. Whoa!

I didn't sign up for this...

But that music is very spritely! Toe-tapping, you might say.

I am shaking my bottom, as it were.

"There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away," said Emily Dickinson, but even Emily never met a metabook that led her to disco dance. But in Cirocco Dunlap's new This Book Will Not Be Fun(Random House, 2017), even his sober and staid nerd-mouse can find himself going all footloose, exchanging his proper tie for tie-dye and dancing the night away.

Artist Olivier Tallec's illustrations give our straitlaced narrator a good time despite himself, setting him and his blase' ruminations center-page against white backgrounds while the assorted pictorial absurdities are given the full-bleed color treatment. Kids who go for Herve Tullet's best-selling meta-creation Press Here or Deborah Freedman's The Story of Fish and Snail will find that this book IS fun!