I hope you enjoyed our last post about universes and Calef Brown's Polkabats and Octopus Slacks: 14 Stories. In today's newsletter, I want to share the fabulous Bryan Patrick Avery's Post about creating better beginnings from way back in 2020. Here it is: In month two of our stay-at-home period, I’ve found myself with a bit of extra time to focus on my art. With respect to magic, I’ve been working on a new cups and balls routine that I plan to perform at my upcoming author appearances (once it’s safe to be out and around again). In the world of writing, I’ve working (struggling, really) with the beginning of my latest chapter book. I’ve spent the time reading the opening chapters of my favorite chapter books to see what they have in common, or what stands out. In doing so, I’ve made notes about the first chapter and have created a little exercise I’d like to share with you. I’m working on a chapter book so I used my favorite chapter books but this exercise with work with the first three or four pages of a picture book or the first chapter of a novel. Grab your favorite two or three (or five or ten) books off your bookshelf. Read the first chapter of the first book on your stack. Now, answer these two questions:
Well, that’s all for this month, and have a magical month. At the ripe old age of 7, Bryan Patrick Avery discovered his destiny after receiving a children’s magic set and his first Bobbsey Twins Mystery book. A published poet and author, Bryan is African American, a member of SCBWI, and the Society of American Magicians. He delights in making mysterious stories appear out of thin air. In this book of rhyming poetry, Calef Brown takes us on a wild romp through his imagination using vivid contemporary surreal language. The illustrations in "Polkabats and Octopus Slacks: 14 Stories" are as outrageous as the text with fun and fascinating color combinations, wild compositions and shapes, and painterly moves. Two big takeaways in this:
Calef Brown is a wild and wacky fine artist/illustrator who takes us on a wild romp through his imagination using vivid contemporary surreal language. The illustrations in "Polkabats and Octopus Slacks: 14 Stories" are equally as outrageous as the text with fun and fascinating color combinations, wild compositions and shapes, and painterly moves. Check out this book below and if you are inspired do buy it or check it out at the library. It's a wonderful example of imagination and creating wacky individual rhymes that don't even have a thematic link other than humor! Two big takeaways in this: 1 Let your imagination go as far out as you like. You may just create a thing of wonder and joy, and then go back and revise to make it awesome! 2 As I love telling my students, you can create any universe you like, so long as it's consistent within that universe so it all fits together. (I may have heard a version of this years ago from Brett Duquette). And here's the video: Are you someone who worries about being reasonable or doing things in a set way? This totally unreasonable book is a great example of writing and illustrating way out of the box. Calef Brown, a wild and wacky fine artist/illustrator takes us on a wild romp through his imagination using vivid contemporary surreal language. The illustrations in "Polkabats and Octopus Slacks: 14 Stories" are equally as outrageous as the text with fun and fascinating color combinations, wild compositions and shapes, and painterly moves. Two big takeaways in this: 1 Let your imagination go as wild as you want to create a thing of wonder and joy. Then come back and revise it to make it epically awesome in terms of craft as well. Kids love things that are full of wack and whimsy that don't necessarily always have to make sense. 2 I'm not sure if Brett Duquette said this or me, but I love telling my my students that you can create any universe you like, so long as it's consistent within that universe so it all fits together. And even though this book of poems doesn't have a unifying theme like most poetry anthologies, it kind of does with humor. And here's the video: |
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