Just One More Book!!

In the final of three parts that feature Author/Illustrator Lane Smith (on JOMB), we go through Lane’s archives to see ten years worth of idea development for his amazing book John, Paul, George and Ben.  Then, we hit the road for Northampton with a fun stop at the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Scultpure Gardens in Springfield, Massachusetts.

MUSIC

• Theme: Woolly Mammoth by Robert Farrell (from Sun House Fury, part 1)
• Song About You by The Birdinumnums (from She Say Go, found on the Podsafe Music Network)
• The Swaggering Dragon by Zubot and Dawson (from Tractor Parts: Further Adventures in Strang)

Author/Illustrator Lane Smith (on JOMB) walks us through his thought process and style decisions for two books he’s working on that will be published in 2009 — Princess Hyacinth (The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated) with Florence Parry Heide due out September 22, 2009; and The Big Elephant in the Room due out July 7, 2009.  He also demonstrates how he takes original sketches, imports them into Photoshop and turns them into digital, production-ready artwork.

MUSIC

• Theme: Woolly Mammoth by Robert Farrell (from Sun House Fury, part 1)
• Subtle Groove by Ehren Starks (from Depths of a Year, available on Magnatune)

Bloggers and podcasters take note of the interview segment with Lane during the end credits!

This is the first of three videos that document our visit with Lane Smith (on JOMB) and Molly Leach. Here, Lane shows us original artwork from The Stinky Cheese Man, describes the production process for The Happy Hocky Family books, shares his passion for children’s books — old and new — and compares traditional collage with digital collage.

MUSIC

• Theme: Woolly Mammoth by Robert Farrell (from Sun House Fury, part 1)
• The Getaway by Matthew Ebel (from Goodbye Planet Earth)

We’re hard at work editing 13 hours of video, 25 hours of audio and over 2,000 pictures into a series of short documentaries about our 6-day children’s book roadtrip. To reward your patience, we’ve created this quick teaser of our visit with Lane Smith and Molly Leach.

Subscribers of our monthly email newsletter were able to see this video first! Our newsletter also features extra news items and additional audio never published on our website. Don’t miss out! Sign up for our monthly newsletter on our website, justonemorebook.com/newsletter.

We’re back from six unbelievable days of revelry and reverence in Massachusetts and Connecticut with some of Children’s Literature’s greatest authors and illustrators. Over the next many weeks, we’ll be publishing audio and video coverage of some of our fun and festivities.

What you will see and hear on JustOneMoreBook!! in the coming weeks:

• studio tour and illustration demo: illustrator Lane Smith
• stop at the Dr. Seuss Memorial in Springfield, MA
• studio tour and illustration demo: illustrator Diane deGroat
• studio tour and visit with author Corinne Demas
• round table discussion: Jeanne Birdsall, Jane Dyer, David Ezra Stein and Jarrett Krosoczka
• hands-on painting session with illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka
• tour of The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art with museum director, Nick Clark
• hands-on painting session with illustrator Jeff Mack
• tour of Richard Michelson‘s studio
• round table discussion with author Richard Michelson and illustrators Tony Diterlizzi and Scott Fischer
• interviews with Jane Dyer, Mordicai Gerstein, Jane Yolen, Leslea Newman, Paul Jacobs and Shelley Rotner
• coverage of the 19th annual Children’s Illustration Show at R. Michelson Gallery

What you won’t see or hear on JustOneMoreBook!!:

• Lane Smith’s Flashlight tour in search of a spooky log cabin in the woods
• dinners with Lane and Molly (who knew Molly was also an awesome cook!)
• watching videos with Lane and Molly
• Lucy & Bayla’s love affairs with cats Pretzel and Noodle, and dogs Mollie, Argos and Ralph
• the tragic loss of Desperaux
• getting lost on the way to Richard Michelson’s Gallery
• getting lost on the way to Richard Michelson’s house
• dinners with Richard and Jennifer Michelson
• getting lost on the way to Jarrett Krosoczka’s house
• breakfast with Paul O. Zelinsky and his wife Deborah, and Richard and Jennifer Michelson
• Lucy and Bayla clowning with Mo Willems and his daughter, Trixie
• fabulous post-gallery pizza with the KidLit stars
• our sobbing daughters when we had to come home

A massive thank you to all the talented, generous and extremely down-to-earth geniuses who made our Picture Book Pilgrimage a vacation of a lifetime.

We hope you’ll join us for, and enjoy, our Mass. Creativity coverage. Stay tuned….

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Read-a-thons are a common tool used by schools and literacy organizations to motivate children to read. In fact, the school that our two daughters attend has an annual read-a-thon and their summer camp acknowledged reading achievements.

On this edition, we reflect on our own reading experiences as children and consider the impact of read-a-thons now that we’re parents. Listen in as we wonder aloud about the effectiveness of read-a-thons, ways in which we can motivate children to love reading and the importance of preschool emphasis on language, pre-literacy and a love of reading.

Links to resources mentioned:

• LD Podcast (listen to episode #99 with Elaine Weitzman of the Hanen Centre)
  
• Hanen Centre and their 2009 Preschool Language and Literacy Calendar

HOTLINE VOICES: Illustrator Holly Dewolf explains why The Stinky Cheese Man (by Jon Sciezka and Lane Smith) is her favourite book.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on a favourite children’s book. Leave us a voice message on the JOMB listener hotline, +1-206-350-6487.

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Whether the theme is politics, science or math, Lane Smith is always able to entertain his readers with a striking relationship between words and art. And today, August 25, 2008, he’s celebrating his 49th birthday. Happy birthday, Lane!

On this edition of Just One More Book!!, author and illustrator Lane Smith (on JOMB) talks about being a custodial host and a published author — both with Disney, writing children’s books with a political theme and how the book publishing industry is constantly evolving.

Books mentioned:

• John, Paul, George and Ben
• Madam President
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!
• The Big Pet
• Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales
• Halloween ABC
• Big Plans
• The Happy Hocky Family Moves to the Country

Also reviewed on Just One More Book!!

• Science Verse (Lane Smith with John Scieszka)
• Stinky Cheese Man listener review (Lane Smith with John Scieszka)

Subscribe to our free email newsletter to hear additional discussions with Lane Smith and other guests of the Just One More Book!! children’s book podcast.

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On this edition, we play a listener submitted review from New Zealand and two that we recorded in the Rogers Television green room in Ottawa.

• Kate Redmond, Librarian at Sue Thomson-Casey Memorial Library (Westport, New Zealand), reviews Blanche and Rocky (by Stephen Gulbis)
• Tuuli Hannula, a PR professional, reviews Where the Wild Things Are (by Maurice Sendak)
• Erin Lannan, Producer of Rogers Daytime (Rogers Television, Ottawa), reviews The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales (by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith)

We’d love to hear your thoughts on a favourite children’s book. Send your MP3 recorded or type-written review in email to justonemorebook@gmail.com, or phone it in to our JOMB listener hotline (206-350-6487).

Need some inspiration? Give a listen to 23 previous listener submitted review episodes here.

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Author: Jon Scieszka (on JOMB)
Illustrator: Lane Smith (on JOMB)
Published: 2004 Penguin Young Reader (on JOMB)
ISBN: 0670062693

Chapters.ca Amazon.com

Mother Goose, Longfellow and Edgar Allen Poe get a jolt of unshakable Scieszkan nonsense in this addictive collection of twisted belt-it-out classics.

Other books mentioned:

• Math Curse
• The Frog Prince, Continued
• The True Story of The Three Little Pigs

Check out 7-Imp’s interview with the amazing Jon Scieszka here.

Check out our chat with Lane Smith here.