All Stations! Distress! about the Titanic and Let It Begin Here! about the Battle of Lexington and Concord are departures from my usual biographical-picture-books-for-younger-readers fare. Instead, they are longer format books aimed squarely at nine to twelve-year-old readers.
Whereas my picture books are studies in “reduction” – What can I leave out without damaging the narrative arc of the story or, worse, skewing historical accuracy – The longer text in the new books allowed me to explore details of the story as well as employ more complex sentences. (Even so, I’m still a sucker for the straight-forward declarative sentence.) And I could indulge in art more appropriate for an older audience, specifically of the ‘blood and guts’ variety.
All Stations! Distress! received starred reviews from the Horn Book and School Library Journal. SLJ also awarded Let It Begin Here! a starred review.
2 comments:
Hey, my fiction storybook for kids entitled 'Karate Cat' was nominated for a Cybil award. It is currently available on amazon.com. I also kept a blog about the book that you can check out at:
http://cello-man.blogspot.com
I would value your opinion of it and would love to be featured on the blog.
Congrats--these look great! I'll look for them in B&N. I especially like the Titanic cover--nice artwork. ~Cheryl
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