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Building Stories with Leonard Marcus!

You may recall that I took at trip to Washington, DC last fall as a dry run to see what it would take to invite my students on a field trip to the Building Museum this spring. Well, it all came to fruition this past Friday. Several of us hopped on Amtrak at 6:15am to head to DC. Here are a few of us (Hale, me, and Karen) in Union Station upon our arrival.

From the station, we walked the pleasant short distance to the Building Museum, where we met up with several alumni and one of our instructors who live nearby. Leonard Marcus met us there.

Don't know who Leonard Marcus is? Well, he is one of the world’s preeminent authorities on children’s books and the people who create them. He is the author of more than 25 award-winning biographies, histories, interview collections, and inside looks at the making of children’s literature’s enduring classics. He is a founding trustee of the Eric Carle Museum, curator of the New York Public Library's landmark exhibition The ABC of It: Why Children's Books Matter (that I visited and talked about HERE, and interviewed him about HERE.) He has served as a consultant to the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature, National Book Foundation, Bank Street College of Education, American Writers Museum, Bard Graduate Center, National Book Council (Singapore), Lamsa Media (UAE), and Trust Bridge Media (China). In 2007, the Bank Street College of Education awarded Leonard an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. In 2019, Leonard became the first American to win the Shanghai-based Chen Bochui Foundation International Children’s Literature Award for “special contributions to the development of Chinese children’s literature.” He also recently published a fascinating article in the New York Times: The American Picture Book’s Unsung Parent: Japan Missing for decades from the Anglophile version of its origin story was another great visual narrative tradition, of the East.
I met Leonard at the Decatur Book Festival following our very successul SCBWI Southern Breeze Illustrator Conference in 2012 and we've been friends ever since. So, when I heard he had curated this new show, I knew I had to connect him with our Hollins students! And what a magical connection it was!

Leonard pointed out so many things I'd missed my first time through on my own. For instance, the arches were designed with twigs, sticks, and bricks from The Three Pigs:

Or the tunnel that was designed to look longer than it actually was - like a magical portal into another world, just like in so many picture books that do the same.

Or the debut book by Korean artist Yoon Kang-mi (Changbi, 2019) about a girl "gazing out her high-rise window" who reinvisions the polluted city view as what she would rather see.

We all learned new things and so enjoyed Leonard's passion and knowledge. He was an absolute JOY to listen to and learn from!

What a rare opportunity - it was an absolute treat for all who came.

But my fave photo was of the two of us on the way into the David Macauley room in the exhibit, just under the Chaos of it all!

Thank you, Leonard!!!

Washington, DC! Part 1

I'm hoping to take my students on a field trip to Washington, DC to see the Building Stories exhibit at the National Builders Museum; but I hadn't been to DC since my early 20s and I hadn't taken Amtrak to DC yet, even though it's a fairly common thing for folks to do from Roanoke. So, I wanted to do a dry run of the trip to learn the route before I have students in my care.
Happily, my friend Julie was not only up for the adventure, she also has a close friend who lives in DC and was happy to host us. So we packed up our weekend bags and arrived at the train platform much earlier than we needed to (lesson #1). It was SO GOOD to be on a train again!

It reminded me of being on the train between Edinburgh and Glasgow and just made me silly happy. I had heard that whereas UK trains run along coastlines and through beautiful scenery, US trains tend to run through ugly industrial areas. Well, that turned out to be a myth. Most of the ride was absolutely gorgeous. The seats were comfortable, the bathrooms were clean, the food in the cafe car was decent. Trains are such a civilized way to travel!
We arrived at Union Station in the rain where Julie's friend France picked us up. We headed to her place and fell over. The forecast was rain for the whole weekend, but we lucked out and it was mostly only overcast. Turned out France lives on the sweetest street in Captial Hill where townhouses line up like the most charming doll houses.

And joyful things pop up around every corner.

We were staying not far from Eastern Market, I was told it would transform on Saturday, but on Friday, it was still rather quiet. Here's Julie in front.

Meanwhile, the point of our visit was to head to the National Builders Museum. This required taking the Metro (lesson #2!)

and seeing some very cool things.

What a building!

The inside was equally as stunning.

After getting our tickets, I noticed these tiny chairs on display - all mid-century modern - so cute!

Then we made our way to the exhibit.

The show was curated by the esteemed academic and children's book expert, Leonard Marcus, in conjunction with award-winning author/illustrator David Macaulay.

The first exhibit you see when inside is a wall of books representing the alphabet.

That was nice enough, but following that was examples of some of the finest works-of picture book art ever created. Among them, Margaret Wise Brown,

; The Slant Book by Peter Newell,

a book dummy by Sophie Blackall of her book Lighthouse.

. And a book called Migrant that I'd never seen before but will be purchasing for our Margaret Wise Brown Reading Room!

Seeing these books will help students understand that picture books aren't just about getting published, they can be about creating masterpieces.
But the main part of the exhibit I really want students to see is the work by David Macaulay. Not only did he cover the walls of the exhibit with custom drawings...

there is an entire room dedicated to the work he did for just one of his books, Rome Antics.

The book took him years to complete, and the walls are covered with his sketches. So many creators believe that one, two, or three drafts is enough to reach a finished result. But David created hundreds of sketches during his process. Hundreds. It was humbling, overwhelming, and inspiring. Yeah, I definitely want my students to see THAT!
That evening we had dinner at a lovely restaurant near France's place called Pacci's. We started with a beet salad to share.

Being so close to the Chesapeake, I had to get the softshell crab pasta special. OMG, it was so good, and it came with three softshell crabs - three!!! One of these days I'll tell you about my history with crabbing on the Chesapeake and in the bay at Destin. They're fun stories. At any rate, it was a good day and there was more to come!

More Bologna!

Here I am with my obligatory photo with the main event sign.

In my last post, I shared the beginning of my Bologna trip - as in Monday! Heck, I wasn't able to even finish Monday - there was more!
Remember the Anglia Ruskin booth I talked about? Well, it's also where PictureHooks hosted a party on Tuesday evening. PictureHooks was the Scottish organization that made me decide to go to the University of Edinburgh for my MFA and it was co-founded by my dear friend and author Vivian French, who was there! We had a lovely lunch together and caught up on all our news on Monday, so Tuesday was just more hugs and love. The party was a blast too. I ran into so many friends from Edinburgh! Like Katie Chappell and Hannah Sanguinetti. Petros Panaou also joined us - he put on the Georgia Conference on Children's Literature where I gave a keynote and a workshop at the beginning of April at the University of Georgia. (I'm behind on my blog posts, but I hope to add it soon!). Petros and I ended up making each other our "plus one" at several parties, so we opened doors for each other. What a small world our children's book world is! We end up having friends all over the world!
Monday also saw IBBY's (International Board on Books for Young People) announcement of the Hans Christian Andersen Award. What a thrill to be there in person for that!

Even better, the head of the Children's Lit program, Evelyn Arizpe, at the University of Glasgow, where I did my PhD, was one of the judges! She was following online from Mexico.

The after-party was fun too and I met lovely people.

And I honestly have lost track of which day the Astrid Lindgren Award was announced, but I was there for that too!

So was Dav Pilkey's Dog Man.

Days 2 and 3 gave me the chance to walk around and enjoy some of the presentations. For instance, Mac Barnett was there announcing his new book for adults about why children's books are so important. It was a really good talk! (If you don't know who Mac Barnett is, click on his name, you're sure to know his books!)

I attended two talks by the illustrious Leonard Marcus. How we met is actually a funny story from 2012. You might know him from the museum show on children's books that was at the New York Public Library several years ago, or the one that is on now at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. Or maybe you know him from his books. This is his latest. We spoke and he might even come down to the Smithsonian to meet my students if I can arrange a field trip!

I also enjoyed at talk at the PublisHER booth about AI. Sarah Baker, Executive Director of SCBWI was on the panel. She and I are hoping to do some big things in the near future, so stay tuned for that!

Of course, one of the main reasons I went to this year's fair is because I met the creators of the Illustrators' Survival Corner, Giacomo Benelli and Ivan Canu in Shanghai, and they invited me to give portfolio reviews at Bologna! Sadly, I didn't get any photos, but I had a blast talking to such dedicated creators! Being invited to give portfolio reviews there is quite the honor, so I was thrilled to be able to take them up on it... because of the other main reason I was at the fair... At Hollins University, we are expanding our MFA in Children's Book Writing and Illustrating program to now also have a year-round option (along with our summers-only option). This opens the door for international students to attain visas to come study with us. Hence, the posters and the brochures and bookmarks I was sharing everywhere, and also the conversations I had with people. Days 2 and 3, I spoke with publishers in several international booths including the United Arab Emirates, Rwanda, Nigeria, Bangkok, Taipei, Mongolia, Taiwan, Belgium, and Canada. Many have developing children's book markets and want help taking their books to the next level - this is where we come in!
A fellow portfolio reviewer turned out to be Eric Telfort, program director at RISD - we met at ICON two years ago. If was fun seeing him in his element talking about character design.

I even got to see a live demo of an illustrator doing a lino-cut LIVE for onlookers.

Gads, I didn't even mention some of the gorgeous books I got to see! Out of the thousands, tens-of-thousands these were some of my faves.

As I left the fair, I had to take a photo of this wonderful quote set into the stepping stones, because wow is this true about my life right now. It says "every step I have taken in my life has led me here, now."

Tuesday evening I attended a private party hosted by SCBWI at the adorable bookstore, Libreria Trame. I was having so much fun, I forgot to take pictures and especially wish I'd gotten the photo of Barbara McClintock, Martha Rago, and me - we had a wonderful and long overdue sit-down. (Martha will be speaking at Hollins this summer.)
Okay, okay, I know you really just want to see more Bologna, so that will be in my next post!

Bologna Children's Book Fair:
01: To Bologna!
02: More Bologna!
03: Bologna - pretty pictures!

Candice Ransom's ONLY MARGARET

My dear friend Candice Ransom has written about one of the most illustrious graduates from Hollins University (where we both teach during the summers), Only Margaret: A Story About Margaret Wise Brown". She stops by to tell us about her creative journey.

“Writing Only Margaret: A Story About Margaret Wise Brown.”
Candice Ransom
      How long does it take to have a nonfiction picture book published? Two years? Five? How about nineteen? From the spark of the idea to the book in my hands, Only Margaret: A Story About Margaret Wise Brown, was a long journey.
      In 1998, I bought the adult biography Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon by Leonard Marcus. I read from it every night for the next eight years, fascinated by this woman who became a pioneer of modern picture books. One night in 2002 as I closed Awakened by the Moon yet again, I heard a voice in my ear: Tell my story. I knew it was Margaret. I can’t, I said. But she insisted.
      So began my journey. By 2005, I had enough research to write my picture book biography. My story made the rounds and was rejected, yet I continued researching and revising. At times I wanted to quit, but Margaret wouldn’t let me. Years passed. I persisted with my story.
      What kept me going? Learning. Each time I revisited the research, or found new research, I learned more about Margaret. Learning has always kept me sane. During last summer’s lockdown, I bought a five-dollar yard sale school bus bench, parked it on my front porch and opened Porch School. Enrollment: one depressed pupil.
      Porch School started each day by choosing the day’s necessities: a journal, snacks, and books. That summer I reread T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone, about young Arthur who is tutored by Merlyn. “The best thing for being sad,” Merlyn advised Arthur, “is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”

      My Margaret story had taught me so much. How Margaret staved off her own depression by writing stories for young children. How she stayed indominable during a time when picture book writers were dismissed by “serious” writers. How she never gave up. How she wouldn’t let me give up.
      I dug through my notes once more and found a funny anecdote told by a man who’d known Margaret as a boy. I read it and thought, Only Margaret! In a flash, I had a new focus for my picture book. I revised it one last time . . . it was finally acquired.
      Margaret is quiet now, but at night when I close my eyes, I still see the young blonde woman striding the streets of New York, trailing fur coats and her snappish Kerry Blue terrier, new ideas sparking from her fingertips. Our long journey is over.
      I opened Porch School again this summer and am already researching a new nonfiction picture book. There is so much to learn.