children’s books

hotTEAs of Children’s Literature: John Parra

~ jama ~ 14 Comments
John Parra is an award-winning illustrator, designer, teacher, and fine art painter. His books have earned starred reviews, the SCBWI Golden Kite Award for illustration, and the International Latino Book Award for Best Children’s Book Interior Illustrations. He lives in Queens, New York.

 

☕ CUPPA OF CHOICE: Café Bustelo, a Cuban-Style coffee, brewed and cloth strained old fashion style mixed with milk and Solgar sweetener to kick start any day.

☕ HOT OFF THE PRESSES: Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans, written by Phil Bildner (Chronicle Books, 2015); Green is a Chile Pepper: A Book of Colors, written by Roseanne Greenfield Thong (Chronicle Books, 2014).

☕ FAVE FOODIE CHILDREN’S BOOK: The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred (Charlesbridge, 2011), written by Samantha R. Vamos, illustrated by Rafael López is wonderful. The NEW children’s book by Sonia Manzano [illustrated by Marjorie Priceman], Miracle on 133rd Street (Atheneum, 2015), is equally terrific. Lastly when I was young I loved Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

☕ hotTEA IN THE FLESH: I will be participating in the Third Annual Picture Book Panel: Too Good to Miss – Picture Books for Older Readers, November 8th, from 5pm to 8pm, at Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C.

☕ Visit John Parra’s Official Website

☕☕ JUST ONE MORE SIP: Bonus pic of little John with avocado tree (Santa Barbara, April 1975)

hotTEA in training, no?

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Copyright © 2015 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.

10 Cool Things on a Tuesday

~ jama ~ 26 Comments

1. Virginia author Madelyn Rosenberg has two new books out! Remember when we featured How to Behave at a Tea Party (Katherine Tegen Books, 2014), a picture book about bossy Julia wanting everything just-so, while her younger brother Charles and his friends have different ideas? Well, Julia and Charles are back in How to Behave at a Dog Show!

Is Rexie cut out to be Best in Show? Probably not. Does Julia enter him in the Happy Tails Best of Breed Dog Show anyway? She sure does. This companion to How to Behave at a Tea Party offers readers more laugh-out-loud silly fun with sister-brother duo Julia and Charles and their lovably mischievous dog, Rexie.

With subtle themes of losing gracefully and celebrating the things that make each of us winners in our own ways, this book is perfect for preschool and early elementary children, for readers who enjoyed the How to Babysit a Grandpa series, and for anyone who has ever loved a less-than-perfect pet.

Julia and Charles end up hosting a pet show of their own—don’t be surprised if young readers are inspired to do the same!

Ruff ruff! Sit up and beg for this funny tail, which is again illustrated by Heather Ross. 🙂 Check out this cute trailer:

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AND, Nanny X fans will be happy to know she’s back in Nanny X Returns (Holiday House, 2015):

Something fishy is up and Nanny X, an agent for Nanny Action Patrol, and her young charges plan to investigate in this sequel to NANNY X, which was called “a fun and funny blend of Spy Kids and Mary Poppins” by Kirkus Reviews.

In their second adventure, eleven-year-old Ali, eight-year-old Jake and baby Eliza go fishing with Nanny X, only there is something odd about their catch, it’s robotic! While the gang wonders about this strange occurrence, a robotic squirrel shows up and tries to steal Nanny X’s computer, which is disguised as a box of baby wipes. Meanwhile, a mysterious person known as The Angler is threatening the nation’s treasures if the President doesn’t install a statue of a fish on the White House lawn. Nanny X wonders if these weird incidents are connected, and a series of investigations surrounding a jealous artist yields non-stop action and humor.

Be sure to check out both Nanny X chapter books, written especially for ages 7-10!

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hotTEAs of Children’s Literature: Josh Funk

~ jama ~ 10 Comments
Josh Funk grew up in New England and studied Computer Science in school. Today, he still lives in New England and when not writing Java code or Python scripts, he drinks Java coffee and writes picture book manuscripts alongside his wife, children, and assorted pets & monsters.

 

☕ CUPPA OF CHOICE: Black coffee, today’s choice was Baroida from Papua New Guinea – from Josh’s favorite local coffee shop, Haute Coffee in Concord, three steps away from his local indie, The Concord Bookshop.

☕ HOT OFF THE PRESSES: Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast, illustrated by Brendan Kearney (Sterling, 2015), as well as the forthcoming picture books Dear Dragon (Viking/Penguin 2016), Pirasaurs! (Scholastic 2017), and several more.

 

☕ FAVE FOODIE CHILDREN’S BOOK: The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss (Random House, 1984).

☕ HOTtea IN THE FLESH: Josh will be appearing at a special superstar storytime at Wellesley Books (Saturday, October 24, 11 a.m.) and at The Blue Bunny Books and Toys (Saturday, November 14, 2015, 10:30 a.m.).

☕ Visit Josh Funk’s Official Website and Blog. Catch him on Twitter: @joshfunkbooks. Josh will also be a guest poster for Tara Lazar’s Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo), on November 2.

 

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Copyright © 2015 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.

[Review and Author Chat] Jorge Argueta on Olita y Manyula: The Big Birthday/El gran cumpleaños

~ jama ~ 16 Comments

Look who’s here! 🙂

By now, most of you know I’m a big Jorge Argueta fan. I’ve previously featured four titles from his fabulous bilingual Cooking Poem Series here at Alphabet Soup: Rice Pudding/Arroz con leche (2010), Guacamole (2012), Tamalitos (2013), and most recently, Salsa (March 2015), all published by Groundwood Books.

Today, Jorge is here to talk about Olita y Manyula: The Big Birthday/El gran compleaños (Luna’s Press Books, 2015), a new bilingual picture book that represents yet another milestone in his esteemed literary career as author, poet, publisher and bookstore owner — a semi-autobiographical story that’s especially close to his heart.

Since founding Luna’s Press about 20 years ago, Jorge has published a number of chapbooks by San Francisco poets, but Olita y Manyula is the press’s first children’s book. This charming story features a young girl named Holly (Olita) who travels from the U.S. to visit friends and family in El Salvador. Once there, her aunt, cousin, and two friends excitedly escort her to a special birthday party for Manyula, whose house is within walking distance.

On the way, they stroll through the San Jacinto neighborhood with its colorful painted houses under the “tik-tik, tok-tok” of warm, intermittent rain, laughing and jumping in mud puddles. Rather than divulge any details about Manyula’s identity, the boys instead focus on pointing out several notable landmarks en route (the San Salvador volcano, beautiful Alcehuate River, a cement statue resembling a big handkerchief).

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9 Cool Things on a Tuesday

~ jama ~ 18 Comments

1. Author and Poet Charles Ghigna, aka Father Goose, aka Our Favorite Alabama hotTEA, has some new books out! The Tiny Tales series (four 64-page early chapter books published by Picture Window Books/Capstone, 2015), was inspired by imaginative play with his adorable granddaughter Charlotte Rose.

Kids will enjoy following the adventures of Lucy Goose, Cuddle Bunny, Adeline Porcupine and Bobby Bear. Each title contains 4-5 stories of family and friendship lovingly illustrated by Jacqueline East (Mr. Cornelius was especially excited about Bobby Bear). Read more about Charles, Charlotte Rose, and the genesis of this series in this heartwarming post.

 

Charles’s new board book, A Carnival of Cats (Orca Books, 2015), was just released at the beginning of September.

 

There’s a purrrfect little carnival coming to town, filled with adorable cats of all different kinds! In this hint-and-reveal board book, babies, toddlers and cat-lovers alike will enjoy discovering (and guessing) what breed of cat is hiding on the next page. With playful rhyming text from award-winning author Charles Ghigna, aka Father Goose®, and beautiful illustrations by celebrated artist Kristi Bridgeman, this exuberant board book will have everyone guessing what cat is that!

Sounds like a fun feline feast for whisker-lovin’ PreSchool and Kindergarten munchkins. Me-wow!

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2. Some of you may remember when a certain gray silicone tea infuser named Mr. Tea cavorted in the Alphabet Soup kitchen in search of the perfect teacup.

 

Lo and behold — Mr. Tea has joined the ranks of the politically correct. He’s gone diverse! Behold the family of different colors, perfect for parTEAing anytime, anywhere in the world.

 

 

For two years now, the resident leprechaun and I have thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Tea’s company. Very daring and extremely playful, Mr. Tea no longer confines himself to teacups, but can be found balancing perilously atop gooseneck water faucets, hanging plant pots, wooden sculptures, and window ledges.

It’s a little “dangerous” to leave anything with a rim lying around, as Mr. Tea will appear out of nowhere just to hang out. We highly recommend adopting your own Mr. Tea. Other than a few rascally antics, he’s quite well behaved, doesn’t talk back, and won’t eat all your cookies.

 

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