Minette's Feast is here today!

I'm happy to be hosting a stop on the blog tour for Minette's Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and Her Cat by Susanna Reich; illustrated by Amy Bates (Abrams, 2011), about Julia's first cat--and kitchen--in Paris. It's truly a delicious book (much preferred to mouse and bird)! Today, I'm sharing a conversation with Amy Bates about her lovely, lively and atmospheric illustrations for Minette's Feast.

Anamaria: I was delighted by the illustration of Minette as the iconic Steinlen cat on the dedication page of Minette's Feast!

Amy: I am so glad that you caught the Steinlen reference. There are actually two references; the second is the composite of images where Minette is pouncing and chewing and gnawing on the bone toward the end of the book. Steinlen was known for a sort of syndicated comic that he published in the newspapers or magazines. They always featured a sort of mischievous or curious cat that comes to a bad end. They are pretty hysterical. I love his drawings of cats and I felt like Julia Child herself would also approve the reference.

Are there are any other references to French art in your illustrations?

The cover I hoped would evoke a sort of Alphonse Mucha advertisement. (Usually he painted half-clad nubile women and I like  to think that Julia would have been tickled to be substituted for one of them).  [I think she would have!]

I suppose there is a little seasoning of a lot of different artists in there. Just like seasoning a soup.

Minette's Feast is beautifully researched (Susanna notes, for example, that none of the dialogue is invented). How did you research the characters and especially the Parisian settings--Julia and Paul's apartment, their neighborhood--that are such an important part of this book?

Research was tricky for this book. I have to say that I didn't go to Paris to research, but for all future books that involve Paris I am absolutely demanding a research trip out of it! Susanna did an absolutely beautiful job, I love this book! [I do, too!] I read My Life in France [Julia's memoir] for some detail. And I asked Susanna as well as a friend of mine who is a chef for help (in trying to figure out more information about the meat at the end, our best informed guess based on Julia's account was that it was a joint of venison).

I definitely looked at all the published images that it was possible to find of Julia Child in Paris. Some in her memoirs, some in old magazine articles. I watched her shows, looking at the way she moved, etc. to get a feel for her gesture and person.

I pieced together her kitchen with those old photos the best that I could (though I couldn't find a complete 360 degree view). The building is part of the French Department of Defense, or the Department of Defense runs up right behind so it is actually quite difficult to find information about the building itself, other than the outside from the front. Even an aerial photo would have been helpful, but I did the best with the information I had.       

As for the neighborhood, well, some of that is real. Les Deux Magots is a famous landmark as well as a place that Julia Child talked about eating at. I think she mentioned that sometimes Colette was there too! I took French for 6 years and my high school teacher was real stickler for Paris geography, so I guess I know the layout and feel of the city just from having loved it and studied it.

Actually, I made this book while living in Japan. I am taller than average at 5'9" (not nearly Julia's height) but I definitely understood what it felt like springing into a new culture without speaking the language and sticking out like a sore thumb. The market scene is a page out of my own life.  Little kids aren't one bit afraid of being curious and the little kids that lived in my neighborhood loved to watch us, and ask questions. That is why I put the little girl in this book.

Your illustrations of Minette licking a paw, weaving between Julia's ankles, or (my favorite) pouncing on a Brussels sprout capture her personality as well as the body language of cats everywhere. Do you have a cat of your own, or did you use other models for Minette?

Sadly, I am allergic to cats, although I think they are the most fascinating animals. I love their skeletal structure. But I don't own a cat. I used a friend's cat a little bit, but some of those poses are just too hard to catch. I made them up.

Julia's kitchen in France (like the one in Cambridge, which you can now see at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC) features an amazing array of utensils and gadgetry! Do you also like to cook?

I love that D.C. has her kitchen on display. Everyone should go see it at the American History museum. I love cooking!  Although with three small kids, my husband and I usually don't get too fancy. I will not say the words "Macaroni and Cheese" lest I be judged. But I love good food. All kinds from all places.

What's your favorite kitchen gadget?

I love cooking gadgets and art gadgets. My favorite kitchen gadgets are my knives- which must be SHARP. I hate dull knives.

Finally, what are you working on now (or what's forthcoming)?

I have a book coming out in September called That's What I'd Do written by singer-songwriter Jewel. It is an endearing lullaby and I love how the whole thing turned out. It is full of Mama-baby love, so it is close to my heart! Also I just finished a picture book, Peter Pan, which is coming out later this year, too.

Congratulations, Amy, and thank you for sharing your research and inspiration!

[Be sure to visit the blog tour every day through Tuesday, May 8, and enter to win a free, signed copy of Minette's Feast by emailing Susanna with the subject line "Minette's Feast giveaway." One entry per person, please. Winners will be selected at random on May 31. Thanks for reading!]

Horn Book Highlights, May/June 2012

Here's a list of the books I added to my hold list after reading the reviews in the current issue of the Horn Book (I left out the ones I already read). A first step toward reviewing some of them here!

Lady Hahn and Her Seven Friends by Yumi Heo (Ottaviano/Holt). Lady Hahn is a seamstress, and her seven friends are her sewing tools personifed. The tiny women argue among themselves about who is the most important, but of course, they all are. The appeal for me is the subject (textiles!) and Heo's colorful oil-and-pencil illustrations of Korean traditional dress.

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (Dial). I loved Cashore's Graceling, but didn't seek out Fire, the companion novel--I wasn't interested in the character of Fire, impossibly beautiful, able to control men's minds, etc. But Bitterblue I remember as a child in Graceling, and now she's the young queen of a troubled country. Charlotte of Charlotte's Library liked Bitterblue, too (and she's giving away two copies! I hope I win, because the hold list is already very long).

The Year of the Book by Andrea Cheng (Houghton). Cheng writes realistic fiction with multicultural characters and themes for elementary to middle grade readers. Only One Year (Lee and Low, 2010) is my favorite of her books. This one is narrated by Chinese-American fourth-grader Anna Wang, who always has her head stuck in a book. I can relate, then and now.

Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke; illustrated by Andrea Offermann (Little, Brown). I am not always a Funke fan, but this sentence from the review is impossible to resist: "Funke's consummate way with setting, well-interpreted in Offermann's looming illustrations, brings the medieval English town (and all of its ghosts) to life, from the sprawling boarding school campus to the echoes-of-the-past cathedral and eerie cemetery grounds; a side jaunt to Stonehenge even adds some levity." We (almost) went to Salisbury when we were in England last winter, even! Maybe next time.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Hyperion). I already started this YA novel about two young women, spy and pilot, during World War II (thank you, Hyperion and NetGalley!). The first part is the spy's confession; the second, the pilot's accident report. So far, so compelling--technical detail about airplanes (the author is a pilot herself) aside. This one got a starred review. I look forward to following up with my own.

Extra Yarn, hold the needles

At last count, Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen (Balzer + Bray, 2012) had received four starred reviews. It's Klassen's second picture book--his first, I Want My Hat Back (Candlewick, 2011), also got a lot of attention and went on to win a well-deserved 2012 Geisel Honor. I'm not so sure about Extra Yarn, although I do love a picture book about knitting. I think Mars is a great name for a dog, too.

But back to the knitting. There's only one illustration in the whole book of Annabelle actually knitting something (it happens to be a sweater for a pickup truck, but that's another issue). And I'm pretty sure that the needles aren't supposed to be pointing up like that.

Does it matter, though? After all, the book is about a box that holds a never-ending supply of yarn of every color: Annabelle can probably knit it however she wants. And knitters as well as critics seem to love the book anyway. Maybe you are supposed to hold the needles that way, at least in picture books! Just don't try it at home.

Hans My Hedgehog

Welcome to Day 5 of the Hans My Hedgehog blog tour, celebrating the publication of Kate Coombs's retelling of the Grimm brothers' tale (illustrated by John Nickle; Atheneum, 2012). I'm delighted to be hosting Hans today for several reasons: I'm particularly fond of folk and fairy tale retellings, which I've written about before; and I can't resist wee Hans holding his fiddle, as seen on the cover of his book.

Kate is the author of The Secret-Keeper, an original fairy tale (paintings by Heather M. Solomon; Atheneum, 2006), and two middle grade fantasy novels, The Runaway Princess (FSG, 2006) and The Runaway Dragon (FSG, 2009). She also blogs at Book Aunt ("Because OTHER people give you clothes and video games for your birthday!"), and I always look forward to her reviews as well as her thorough, thoughtful comparisons of folk and fairy tale retellings.

Hans, she writes in Retellings Beautiful and Beastly, is a close cousin of the Beast in that other, more famous story. He's half a hedgehog, cursed before birth by his father's wish for a son. In the Grimms' version of the tale, Hans's father and mother reject their prickly baby (his mother won't even nurse him); but here, Hans is loved, albeit still lonely. Aside from the cover image, this is perhaps my favorite illustration in the book: I love the way his parents gaze at baby Hans in wonder (as all new parents do, of course!), although his mother still looks slightly stunned.

Kate makes other changes to the original (see the Author's Note), but this one seems fundamental to sharing Hans My Hedgehog with your own prickly little people. And I hope you do. Congratulations, Kate and Hans!

[A final, favorite detail: "The palace seamstress made them clothes for the wedding, and of course she sewed a velvet suit for Hans, though he struggled to fit it over his quills."]

Can We Save the Tiger?

Most of us, if asked, would want to save the tiger.  Just look at the one on the cover of Can We Save the Tiger? by Martin Jenkins; illustrated by Vicky White (Candlewick, 2011): it's beautiful. But the real beauty of Can We Save the Tiger? (apart from White's illustrations, which I'll talk about later) is that it makes us want to save things like partula snails, and vultures. As Jenkins writes, "Ugly things can be endangered, too."

The text of Can We Save the Tiger? is, like its title, both conversational and direct. Jenkins doesn't pull any punches: we won't ever see a live dodo, kids. "And then there are all those other species that are still around, but just barely." Case studies of tigers, snails, and vultures explain the various reasons why; they're accompanied by examples of other animals that are threatened for similar reasons (because they're running out of room, affected by predators introduced by people, or otherwise accidentally endangered by human actions or disease).  There are hopeful notes ("Sometimes, though, we have managed to do the right thing in time"), but no easy answers.

Jenkins's text is perfectly paired with White's evocative and beautiful illustrations, done predominantly in pencil with touches of oil paint. White earned a master's degree in natural history illustration from the Royal College of Art, in London; her animals (and one orchid, on the Index page) are precisely rendered, standing out against an expansive backdrop of creamy, oversized pages. Often they seem to look right at you, as does the tiger on the cover.

Can We Save the Tiger? is a gorgeous book, but above all, I appreciate its respect for the intelligence and concern of its young readers and listeners. Who just might be inspired to find out how they can help save the vulture.

[I don't think Can We Save the Tiger? is eligible for the Caldecott (White would have to be an American citizen or resident), but I was happy to see it listed among the Best Books of 2011 in the Horn Book Fanfare. Do you have any Caldecott Hopefuls from among last year's nonfiction picture books?]

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

A Monster Calls: A novel by Patrick Ness, inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd (Candlewick, 2011) is a heartrendingly beautiful book, one of the year's best. It's being considered for all sorts of awards, including the Cybils, where it's a finalist in the Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction category.

But is that where it belongs? If the monster is real, existing as a physical entity (that's the definition in Webster's Dictionary), then yes: the book is fantasy. But if the monster is only metaphorical, then no, because otherwise it's set firmly in the real world, the one where mothers die of cancer, and there are bullies at school, and you're only thirteen. That one. Ours.

I happen to think that the monster is both real and metaphorical: that's the source of its power. But if I had to categorize the book itself, I think it would be fantasy, on the strength of passages like this one:

It had been a dream. What else could it have been?
    When he'd opened his eyes this morning, the first thing he'd looked at was his window. It had still been there, of course, no damage at all, no gaping hole into the yard. Of course it had. Only a baby would have thought it really happened. Only a baby would believe that a tree--seriously, a tree--had walked down the hill and attacked the house.
    He'd laughed a little at the thought, at how stupid it all was, and he'd stepped out of bed.
    To the sound of a crunch beneath his feet.
    Every inch of his bedroom floor was covered in short, spiky yew tree leaves. (11)

This monster leaves more than a trace--he leaves a floor covered in needles, or in red yew tree berries (37).  Those aren't metaphors (Conor has to bag them up and throw them in trash, after all). Or if they are metaphorical, they are also, definitively, real.

The multiple meanings of the words real and fantasy complicate these arguments.  Emotions are also real, even though they don't exist as physical entities. And it seems paradoxical that the more real something might be, the more firmly a book that is all about raw, real emotion becomes (just?) a fantasy book.

Now, whether this is a middle grade or a young adult book is also up for debate (Monica Edinger of educating alice originally nominated it as YA Fantasy). I don't think this is necessarily a coincidence: extraordinary books are often difficult to categorize. A Monster Calls isn't even the only book on our list that begs these questions. Many thanks to Zoe of Playing by the book for bringing them up (in the comments on another post). Now it's your turn.

Dragon Castle

After all was said and done, I was honored to write the text to accompany Dragon Castle by Joseph Bruchac (Dial) on this year's list of Cybils finalists in Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction. Writing these little paeans to literary achievement and kid appeal is tricky; they have to be concise (mine is 111 words, not counting the exclamation) yet convincing, and above all, they have to make you want to read the book. Which I hope you do.

By the head of the dragon! It’s a good thing Prince Rashko, the sensible second son, is around to defend the royal family’s ancestral castle when Baron Temny and his army of invaders move in, because he’s not going to get much help from his parents (called away to the Silver Lands) or his brother (bewitched by the beautiful Princess Poteshenie). Drawing on Slovakian proverbs and folklore, Bruchac alternates—and eventually intertwines—Rashko’s story with that of the hero Pavol, also depicted in a mysterious tapestry that hangs on the castle walls. The result is high fantasy laced with history and humor, action and adventure, as Rashko and the reader alike uncover the secrets of Dragon Castle.

I like to think I'm getting better at writing these (this is the third year I've been a first-round Cybils panelist; I wrote the blurbs for Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve (Scholastic) in 2010 and Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins) in 2009), but there's always more to say. I'm still sorry I wasn't able to work the giant, telepathic wolves into the final copy.

I would love to know, though: Would you read Dragon Castle? Why or why not? Because, ahem, you should.

Caldecott Hopefuls: The Money We'll Save

I usually like to note that by Caldecott Hopefuls, I mean picture books I like a lot, not necessarily ones I think will win the award. Happily, in the case of The Money We'll Save by Brock Cole (FSG), these coincide, and the result is a picture book that already feels like a classic. This is partly because the plot is somewhat familiar: Pa brings home a turkey poult to fatten for Christmas dinner, but when the time comes the family can't bring themselves to take it to the butcher (although they don't exactly want to keep it, either). It's not exactly Margot Zemach's It Could Always Be Worse, but it has a lot in common with that book, which won a 1978 Caldecott Honor. Starting with the title, of course, and the storytelling (Heavy Medal is considering it for their Mock Newbery); but especially the expressive, energetic illustrations.

Cole sets his story in a nineteenth-century New York tenement, crowded by definition and made more so by the turkey, whom the family names Alfred. His (Cole's, not Alfred's) watercolor illustrations range from what the Horn Book refers to as "cheerfully disheveled" to completely chaotic. Even in the final image, seen below, the table is littered with crockery and silverware. Not to mention the laundry. But no matter how many people are in the picture (and there are often five or six of them, not counting Alfred), you can always tell who is looking at whom in a Cole illustration, and exactly what everyone is saying, or even thinking. Especially Pa.

[After satisfyingly disposing of Alfred and scrubbing the flat clean, the family celebrates Christmas: "...each child had a present, if only a little one, and the oatmeal was delicious." I love the way this illustration shows us not only what each child got (that's Bridget with the book), but just how much they liked it.]

Best Horn Book Cover Ever?

My long-awaited copy of the January/February 2012 issue of The Horn Book arrived today and it is gorgeous.  The cover illustration is by Salley Mavor, who illustrated the 2011 Boston Globe-Horn Book picture book award winner, Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; link is to my review). You can see and read more about the process of making the cover illustration (I love the way she renders the Horn Book logo in particular. Also the little girl dressed as a lamb) and enter a poster giveaway on Salley's blog, or just order your poster directly from The Horn Book.

I've been a Horn Book subscriber for two years now (the inside of the magazine is just as good). Other favorite covers are Marla Frazee's hollow tree (May/June 2011), which also appears in her illustrations for the picture book Stars by Mary Lyn Ray (Beach Lane Books, 2011); and Anita Lobel's guardian angel (November/December 2010).

Which are your favorites? [There are lots more to choose from in the Horn Book Magazine's gallery of covers, too.]

The Nonfiction Monday Roundup

Hello and welcome to Nonfiction Monday at books together!  My contribution this week is Gifts from the Gods by Lise Lunge-Larsen [review coming later this morning]. Please comment with a link to your Nonfiction Monday post (and a brief description if you'd like), and I'll round them up here throughout the day.  Thanks for participating in this edition of Nonfiction Monday!

The night before (good morning, UK!)

Zoe at Playing by the Book reviews What Mr Darwin Saw by Mick Manning and Brita Granström in association with London's Natural History Museum.

Morning edition

Medea of Perogies and Gyoza reviews Japanese Celebrations for her first Nonfiction Monday post.  Welcome, Medea!

Also contributing for the first time, Tara of A Teaching Life reviews The Harlem Hellfighters, an account of the brave regiment who fought in World War I.  Welcome, Tara!

Jone of Check It Out reviews Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom by Shane Evans.

Gathering Books reviews The Boy on Fairfield Street: How Ted Geisel Grew Up to Become Dr. Seuss.

Jeff of NC Teacher Stuff reviews The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont.

Two reviews at Ms. Yingling Reads: a book about lost cities (Pompeii) and a book about vampires in Transylvania.

Shelf-employed is featuring some light reading today with 1st and Ten : Top Ten Lists of Everything in Football.

At Ana's NonFiction Blog, three articles from kids' science magazines featuring confused spiders, revealing bandages, and scuba spiders.  Congratulations, Ana Maria!

Roberta of Wrapped in Foil took a look at Cybils nominee Digging for Troy: From Homer to Hisarlik.

Anatomy of Nonfiction features Marc Tyler Nobleman on Heroes--Super and Otherwise with a review of Boys of Steel and interview with the author.

Wild About Nature reviews Sea Stars: Saltwater Poems by Avis Harley.

At Bookends, Cindy and Lynn review Every Thing On It by Shel Silverstein.

And Shirley at SimplyScience introduces Enterprise STEM, a new Rourke book by...Shirley Duke!  Congratulations, Shirley!

Afternoon update

Learn about animals through their ears, noses and tails in What Do I Do with a Tail Like This?, reviewed by Camille at A Curious Thing.

Kids' travel guides from Arcadia reviewed by Jennifer at Jean Little Library.

At The Fourth Musketeer, a review of Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz, a new nonfiction title for adults that's also suitable for high schoolers.

A picture book biography of an artist, just for books together's focus on art and artists: Jeanne at True Tales & A Cherry On Top features Diego Rivera: His World and Ours.  Thanks, Jeanne!

Jennie at Biblio File reviews Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and its Legacy.

Wendy at Blog from the Windowsill reviews Celebrate Hannukah. Welcome back, Wendy!

Good evening

Heidi highlights a series called Fall's Here at Geo Librarian.

The Nonfiction Detectives have a review of Balloons Over Broadway on the blog today.

Janet at All About the Books reviews A Wizard from the Start: The Incredible Boyhood & Amazing Inventions of Thomas Edison written by Don Brown, .

That's all for now!