THE GIRL WHO FORGOT TO SING BADLY

Myself, Megan and my Mum had a three generation girly day on Monday and went to Dublin. We had such an amazing day book shop wandering and noodling about town. Our total highlight was going to see Louis Lovett in THE GIRL WHO FORGOT TO SING BADLY at The Peacock.

Go see Louis Lovett’s Top Ten Reasons You Should See The Girl Who Forgot To Sing Badly. My favourite is Reason 9.

"If you and your granny or your friend or your dad or your younger sister or any of your family and any of your friends want to laugh your socks off at the same thing at the same time and at the same place and at the same funny man who’s sweating his socks off not three feet in front of you. Phew."

Lovett's physical theatre, the set, the stage, the lighting, the sweaty man are so imaginative, interactive and utterly, utterly fabulous. Go see it now!!!!

Megans says, "Amazing, Amazing, Amazing!" ("Mum can we go see it again?").

Sendak Mural unveiled...

Imagine having a Maurice Sendak mural to sleep under!

50 years ago and two years before he wrote and illustrated 'Where the Wild Things Are,' Sendak painted a mural in Nina and Larry Chertoff's bedroom, in their apartment in New York. They have lovely memories from when Sendak came to paint the mural, they were only 6 and 4, “Maurice was sensitive to the quality of light in the room.”

Nina and Larry donated this 2 ton piece of plaster to the Philadelphia's Rosenbach Museum and Library. In 2008 it was moved from Manhattan to a conservation studio and then to the museum. It was unveiled on Wednesday.

Go have a listen to Nina, Larry and Maurice talking about their fond memories of when it was painted over on NPR. There is a wonderful slide show of the restoration here on the Rosenbach site.

Sendak speaks of it being “a happy time of my life.” He had never or has never since tackled a mural,“ There was no one from the renaissance around that could advise me.” he says.

More about the story on The History Blog.

15ft Letter to Editor of NY Times defending Picture Books!

This is the best answer yet to that "Demise of Picture Books" article from New York Times from last October. Birch Lane Elementary School in Davis, California took issue with this article and set out a month long campaign to promote and read picture books in their school. Then they sent a 15-foot-long scroll by snail mail to the editor of The New York Times in response!

"To the Editor:

We believe that picture books are essential to the development of lifelong readers and learners. In response to an Oct. 8 news article, “Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children,” the library at Birch Lane Elementary School (enrollment: 600) dedicated the entire month of February to the promotion of picture books for every person, every reader.

During that month, Love a Picture Book Month, our students read 4,590 picture books.

We capped off the month with an evening celebration for families, with more than 250 people in attendance. Also, students, families, teachers and staff members all contributed to the creation of a list of 100 All-Time-Favorite picture books that everyone should read!

Contrary to the article’s message, picture books are not languishing on the shelves at Birch Lane, but are actually read, loved and read again.

LYNNE SUNDSTROM

Teacher Librarian"

Read the entire letter from the teacher here.

Animation Lover?

There is a fantastic event on this Friday 15th in Dublin's Science Gallery you cannot miss!

Pegbar Dublin's Animation Network is hosting an event, hoping to give you sneaky insights into the creativity and technology behind the animation scene. Brown Bag's Norton Virgien (Director of Rugrats and Duckman), Jason Tammemägi (Fluffy Gardens) and multimedia artist Fergal Brennan will be the speakers on Friday evening.

Then it's over to The Trinity Inn for a few drinks, some animations on screen and a bit of social networking. Sounds good to me!

Guiding Light Home.

This has been the saddest and longest week in Skerries history, this town will never be the same. In remembrance of Ronan and David there will be A Guiding Light Ceremony at Red Island at 8.30pm tonight.

I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to members of the Browne and Gilsenan families.

The Walk of Solidarity.

A hush fell over Skerries as everyone gathered at Red Island on Wednesday Night.

It was truly mind blowing the amount of people who came out in support of the missing fishermen. The support and solidarity from the local community has been incredible. I am so proud of the way our small town has rallied in such an extraordinary and inspiring way at this sad time. To date the community has raised over €80,000 to the help the RNLI and to a fund for fuel. Last night there was an account in the Herald of the walk.

Dave Diebold, husband of Emily who runs Skerries News wrote a really moving account of the walk here.

“The Walk of Solidarity, this show of strength, of community, of union, a crowd of almost four kilometers in length and three to five people wide most times, is something that will live with each of us until we die, that will go down in our town's history, be talked about for generations. God save the souls of our friends and husbands, sons and brothers out there in the cold. We will bring you home.’

The Picture Book Picnic

Walker Books have just set up The Picture Book Picnic, which is a campaign to encourage families and friends to share books like they would a picnic. I love this idea!!! I'm so delighted that On The Road with Mavis and Marge is one of the titles and that I am one of the authors.

If you would like to win a free copy do pop over and comment on Tim Atkinson's reading On The Road to his son Charlie on his blog, Bringing up Charlie.

On the Road with Mavis and Marge is now out in Paperback. To celebrate there are some free colouring pages you can download from Walker Books here.

Walk of Solidarity

You may of heard on the news that two local fishermen are lost at sea off the coast of Skerries since last Friday. They were fishing for lobsters behind the islands and did not return. It is a small town and everyone is devastated and have been out searching the beaches and doing whatever they can to help the RNLI. There is such sadness in the town. All our thoughts are with the two families at this incredible difficult time.

The Coast Guard and Naval diving section as well as local fishermen have all been involved in the search. Donations are being sought to help with the cost of fuel to continue searching for David and Ronan. There is 'A Walk of Solidarity' in aid of the RNLI from the Bandstand at Red Island, Skerries this Wednesday 6th at 7pm to walk a 5km lap of Skerries. Please come if you can.

If you cannot make it along, and would like to help donations can be made on the Skerries RNLI or on Charity.ie. More information on the Fund For Fuel can be found at Skerries News.

Monsters Monsters Everywhere!!!!

I keep coming back to monsters in my own work, partly because I grew up glued to the Muppet Show before bedtime every Sunday night and with monsters you can really explore strong emotions and feelings, really important in picture books. I’ve written a picture book about a very hungry Ravenous Beast and a picture book about family of Hugglewug Monsters.

I really can’t seem to get away from them!

So I was really delighted to be asked to pick my top five Picture Books that feature Monsters for Library Mice Blog. Before you click can you guess who the monsters are?

1 Who has a bluish-greenish nose, sharp white teeth, and big yellow eyes?

2 This monster likes to lick up the darkness?

3 Who has potatoes growing out of his pants?

4 Who wants to “scare the tuna salad” out of a boy named Sam?

5 Who does Max tame?

Monsters books give children stories with teeth that they really can hold on to. Want to see how many you got right? Find the answers here.

What are your top five Monster picture books?

Library Mice

Huzzah! I'm a Happy Hugglewug is featured on Library Mice today! Make yourself a cuppa tea and grab a few Jammie Dodgers as you'll want to stay a while once you get there!

Then make another cuppa tea and go read this article 50+ Picture Books Every Child Should Read. There's lots of my favourites featured on Playing By The Book. Happy Reading!