Today is a very big day. About a week and a half ago Jan Burkins and Roberta Gardner of Literacyhead came by my studio for a three hour interview! Today, you can see a lot of what we talked about at Literacyhead.com, an online magazine created to help teachers nurture their creative lives while they meet the demands of high accountability to which they are subject. It’s a fantastic site that helps breathe some life back into the classroom and reading. I am so honored to have had my art on the site in the past and am knocked off of my feet to be featured throughout this month. So, enjoy the site and become a literacyhead yourself!
And, without further ado, the trailer for A PLACE WHERE HURRICANES HAPPEN is finally up! A HUGE “Thank you” goes out to LaNese Harris, my cousin and producer extraordinaire at Southern Peach Productions, for a job well done! Another thank you goes out to my friend and (usual) trailer partner-in-crime editor, Nadirah Bell for trying to squeeze it in before and after her move across country. My family rocks!
Renée Watson, author of my latest book, A PLACE WHERE HURRICANES HAPPEN is hosting a workshop for teachers on May 24th at DreamYard Project in the Bronx. It will be a great opportunity for teachers to learn how to get and use the book in their classrooms. Please RSVP to Ellen Hagan at ehagan@dreamyard.com.
Caroline Kennedy has given us a wonderful quote for the back cover of the book and has really gotten behind the project. She purchased 200 advanced copies and donated them at a fundraiser for DreamYard. The book pubs in less than a month! I am on pins and needles. Book launch anyone?
I am delighted to be a part of two great projects that promote literacy and the arts. You can see my work in this month’s issue of, Dream Chasers Magazine, edited by Sarah Bash-Gleason and Literacyhead.com, a web site that offers lessons for teaching literacy through art! Tell your friends, family members, creative neighbors, and teacher friends (everyone knows at least one teacher, right?) about www.literacyhead.com!
Thank you to Jan Burkins, Jamie D’Angelo and Sarah Bash-Gleason for including me in these two great projects!
TeachingBooks.net has a new online resource center for Coretta Scott King Award winning books. you can find out new information about your favorite CSK books like, how the work was made and what inspired the artists and authors who contributed to the book. There is also a section on author/artist name pronounciation, where you can hear a few fun stories about where names come from. You can also:
Hear directly from African American authors and illustrators as they talk about and read from their books.
Enjoy audio recordings, book readings, videos, and more.
Teach the Coretta Scott King Book Award-winning books with this free, online collection of primary source materials and lesson plans.
Last week I was hosted by Mrs. Chrystal Carr-Jeter and the Cleveland Public Library in conjunction with BloomsburyUSA, for the opening of OUR CHILDREN CAN SOAR, a traveling exhibition the 12 original paintings from the book. If you are in Cleveland, please stop by to see the work. Paintings will be on display until February 13, 2010. What an amazing time! I was given the royal treatment from the time I arrived to the time of my departure.
I arrived Thursday morning and once settled in, was whisked away to my first speaking engagement at Cleveland School of the Arts. It was a combined presentation with about 100 kids or so in the school cafeteria. We had a great time talking about art, their enthusiasm for the arts and reading, and how to make good choices from the examples they read about in books.
Exchange of the day
AWESOME KID A: “Where can we find your books?” ME: “You can find my books in all major bookstores and online booksellers” AWESOME KID B: “And in the library!” ME: “YES! Especially in the library!!!”
AWESOME KIDS GROUP SHOT (click to enlarge)
Next we were off to the Martin Luther King branch of CPL where I shared ideas with librarians about how to show the exhibition, do a sound check, and get ready for the reception! I met more great librarians and was inspired by local Cleveland talent. Huge props to ChiefRocka Q-Nice, our spoken word artist of the evening, and local poet/genetic engineer, Sir Joshua.
The highlights of the night were performances by Q-Nice, a performance of “I Believe I Can Fly”, sung by Joshua Delk, from Cleveland School of the Arts, and a dramatic interpretation from Our Children Can Soar.
Afterward I shared a presentation of my work and talked a bit about my experience of illustrating Ruby Bridges as she took her first courageous step into history.
Exchange of the evening
CSA Higher Campus student: “If you could trade places with any of the pioneers on the wall, who would you choose and why?” ME: “Ha! All of those shoes are much too large for me to fill, I have a hard enough time trying to walk around in my own.”
The evening was a success! I met wonderful people, sold some art, and sold all of the books that were made available by A Cultural Exchange.
The next morning I was greeted by Mrs. Carr-Jeter and escorted to the Cleveland Institute of Art where I spoke to a few graduating seniors in the illustration department headed by Dominic Scibilia and high school students from Cleveland’s NEXT generation program. I was slotted to do one talk but we were able to get two presentations in with two different groups. I was super impressed with the four students who presented and the overall quality of work from the illustration department.
Next we headed over to Woodland Hills Elementary School where I spoke to a couple of fourth/fifth grade classes. The class was full of very talented students who shared their enthusiasm of drawing with me. I read BIRD aloud, shared with them OUR CHILDREN CAN SOAR and talked about my life as an artist and the work behind the work.
I also met and was shown work by Cleveland’s own hidden talent, Mr. Ty Moore, teacher by day, artist by night.
Exchange of the day
AWESOME KID A: “What made you keep drawing from when you were a kid?” ME: “Do you like to draw” AWESOME KID A: “Yeah!” ME: “That feeling right there, that’s why I keep drawing. It never goes away even when you grow up. ”
After running around all day on red hot candy and two peanut butter cookies (inside joke for Mrs. Jeter), we slowed it down and enjoyed a wonderful meal at Cleveland Fish Market. Later that evening I met up with a good friend from SVA for some air hockey and finally called it a night.
Exchange of the night
ME: “What do you call cheese that doesn’t belong to you?” 16 year old KWANADA: (thinking aloud) “What do you call ch….NA-CHO CHEESE!!!!!!” EVERYONE: “pahahahahahahahahaha!”
The next morning I was escorted by John Jarvey a retiree from Cleveland Teacher’s Academy and member of the *Sugarman Children’s Biography Award Jury (which I will discuss more about at NCTE next week) to the Cleveland Museum of Art to see the Paul Gauguin, Paris 1939 exhibition. Mrs. Jeter met me back at my hotel for hugs and thank yous and I was off back to the real world.
Thank you to everyone who played a part in the trip! I had a wonderful time.
*special thanks to P. Cummings who reminded me that the 12th was on a Thursday and not Friday! wouldn’t have made it without you~
This year I worked with Learning Leaders to visit NY classrooms and share my work with kids. I did 8 visits between two classes over the course of 4 consecutive months. For the activity portion of my visit we made single sheet books where the kids had to tell a story with pictures only! It was a challenge in the beginning, but the kids got into the mode of thinking very quickly and made some really impressive books. Most kept their books for themselves, but a couple of the students gave theirs to me!
This is a super confidence building activity for children who struggle with writing. It also helps sharpen their ordering skills.
Here is one of the finished products. Enjoy! (click on the pages to enlarge)
The Plant Helpers by Camille Kirby, Age 9
Synopsis: A bad man comes along, chops down a tree and takes it away. The children go to the community garden to buy seeds. They plant the seeds and one week later flowers, trees, and pumpkins grow, everyone is happy.
Sarah Stewart and David Small’s The Gardener and Peter Brown’s The Curious Garden would be great additions to Camille’s library!
*Also of note*
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art has offered me a complimentary membership to the museum as a token of congratulations! How cool is that?!?! I can’t wait to go, who’s comin’ with me?
Wow, my job just keeps getting better!
At the Free Library of Philadelphia Festival, I met Ms. Stokes, an enthusiastic and dedicated special needs teacher from New Jersey, who invited me to come and speak to her students before the end of the year. In the meantime, she bought a copy of BIRD and shared it with her class. Earlier this week I got a package from Lee and Low with copies of some of the reader responses from Ms. Stokes’s class. Here are a couple of the letters~
Thank you Ms. Stokes for sharing BIRD with your students. Teachers rock!
