Category Archives: picture books

Lifting Spirits

Posted on July 23, 2020 by rosinskynatalie

Pandemic dangers and safety limits . . . uncertainties about the shape of the upcoming school year—it remains hard to be upbeat when these woes press us down. Low spirits, of course, affect kids as well as adults. Two recent … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, picture books | Tagged A Map into the World, Asian-American, brother-sister relationships, brothers and sisters, C.S. Lewis, Caldecott award-winning, Covid-19 anxiety, Covid-19 depression, Dan Santat, death of child, Drawn Together, elementary age-readers, fantasy, Hmong, humor, Kao Kalia Yang, Khoa Le, Lift, Minh Le, Minnesota, Narnia, pandemic anxiety, pandemic dangers, pandemic depression, picture book, school reopening, Seo Kim, sibling relationships, siblings, Thai-American, The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, The Most Beautiful Thing in the World, The Shared Room, upcoming school year, Xee Reiter | Leave a comment

Outdoor Art with Heart

Posted on May 28, 2020 by rosinskynatalie

Heartfelt messages to neighbors and neighborhood heroes have brightened many of today’s pandemic city views. Drawing with chalk, kids have decorated sidewalks, driveways, and even walls with scenes and words to celebrate people and events such as birthdays and graduations. … Continue reading →

Posted in biographies, Books, picture books | Tagged A Map into the World, AIDS, Bill Thomson, celebrations, Chalk, chalk art, Covid-19, grandmother, Hmong, Hmong American, Kao Kalia Yang, Kay A. Haring, Keith Haring, Keith Haring The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing, Khoa Le, Minnesota Book Award, neighborhood, neighborhood heroes, neighbors, outdoor art, outdoor artist, Pandemic, pop art, refugees, Robert Neubecker, Seo Kim, sibling death, sidewalk art, sidewalk chalk drawing, story cloth, street art, The Art of Chalk Techniques and Inspiration for Creating Art with Chalk, The Most Beautiful Thing, The Shared Room, Tracy Lee Sturm, Xee Reiter | 2 Comments

On Fire

Posted on February 1, 2020 by rosinskynatalie

Blazing sights and sounds dominate the news. Very young readers may have “tuned out” the U.S. impeachment firestorms, but the vivid, heartrending images of Australia’s animals burned in that country’s worst-ever firestorm season are unforgettable. These wildfires sparked just as … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, catastrophe, graphic novels, memoir, picture books | Tagged A Fire Story, A is for Australian Animals, airplanes, alphabet book, Australia, Brian Fies, Bridget Heos, bushfires, California, chapter book, charcoal, Claire Saxby, climate change, controlled burns, digital illustration, drawing style, early elementary readers, Emu, Extreme Wildfire Smoke Jumpers High Tech Gear Survival Tactics and the Extraordinary Science of Fire, firefighters, firefighting, firestorm season, Frane Lessac, Glen Phelan, Grahame Byrne, graphic novel, Greg Egan, impeachment, kangaroo, Kathy Furgang, Little Smokey, Mark Thiessen, Marsupials, Mom's Cancer, National Geographic books, Nic Bishop, picture book, President Trump, Robert Neubecker, Stephane Jorisch, teen readers, The Big Burn Teddy Roosevelet and the Fire That Saved America, The Little Engine that Could, The World's Worst Wildfires, Tracy Nelson Maurer, tween readers, visual storytelling, watercolor, What to Expect When You're Expecting Joeys A Guide for Marsupial Parents (and Curious Kids), Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow, wildfires | Leave a comment

Some “Tree-mendous” Books

Posted on April 1, 2019 by rosinskynatalie

Every day—not just Earth Day (April 22) or Arbor Day (April 26)–should be “tree-mendous.” I reached this conclusion as world-wide student protests about climate change overlapped last month with my reading of novelist Richard Powers’ The Overstory (2018). Powers’ epic work about the fabulous … Continue reading →

Posted in biographies, Books, graphic novels, picture books | Tagged A Log's Life, Andy Hirsch, Annie Proulx, Arbor Day, Aurelia Fronty, Barkskins, Bob Staake, Branching Out: How Trees are Part of Our World, Cynthia Alonso, David Mitchell, deforestation, Diane Muldrow, Donna Jo Napoli, Earth Day, Elif Shafak, forest ecosystem, Franck Prevot, Future Library, H. Joseph Hopkins, Han Kang, Harriet Birkenshaw, Iris Volant, Jason Howard, Jeanette Winter, Jen Cullerton Johnson, Jill McEllmurry, Joan Marie Galat, Kadir Nelson, Kate Sessions, Kenya, Kevin Byron, Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and The Trees of Kenya, Margaret Atwood, Monica Russo, Richard Powers, Robin Brickman, San Diego, Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace, Shel Silverstein, Sjon, Sonia Lynn Sadler, The Giving Tree, The Overstory, The Tree Lady: How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever, tree species, Treecology: 30 Activities and Observations for Esploring the World of Trees and and Forests, Trees comic book series, Trees: Kings of the Forest, Under the Canopy: Trees Around the World, Wangari Maathai, Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees, Warren Ellis, Watari's Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa, We Planted a Tree, Wendy Pfeffer | Leave a comment

Timely Questions

Posted on January 1, 2019 by rosinskynatalie

At the start of a new year, in our sometimes Kafkaesque world, it is good to realize that not all tales from the inner city are bad. What exactly do I mean by that remark? I hope you will be … Continue reading →

Posted in graphic novels, picture books | Tagged animals, animals in cities, bureaucracy, canine history, cats, creativity, dogs, Franz Kafka, graphic adaptation, human imagination, humans and animals, In the Penal Colony, judicial system, justice, Kafkaesque: Fourteen Stories, legal system, New Year, Peter Kuper, Shaun Tan, Tales from Outer Suburbia, Tales from the Inner City, The Hunger Artist, The Metamorphosis, Trumpesque | Leave a comment

Immigrant Generations

Posted on September 1, 2018 by rosinskynatalie

Have you been busy calming your young people’s new school or classroom jitters? In my senior citizen circles, this duty falls to grandparents as well as parents and school staff. It can be even more frightening or puzzling for students … Continue reading →

Posted in graphic novels, picture books | Tagged "boat people", A Different Pond, art, back to school, Bao Phi, communication, Dan Santat, Drawn Together, family history, fishing, grandparents, immigrant, immigration policies, language barrier, memoir, Minh Le, Minneapolis, North Vietnam, President Trump, refugee camp, refugees, Thai-American, Thi Bui, Vietnamese War, Vietnamese-American, working class | Leave a comment

Park It!

Posted on June 28, 2018 by rosinskynatalie

Bears and bison and wolves, oh my! A visit to Yellowstone National Park was one of June’s highlights for me. We spent most of that two day excursion gazing at the park’s many geological wonders—colorful crests and vivid mud pools … Continue reading →

Posted in graphic novels, picture books | Tagged "The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone", A Weird and Wild Beauty: The Story of Yellowstone The World's First National Park, Albert Peale, Annette Bay PImentel, Changing of the Guard: The Yellowstone Chronicles, dinosaurs, Empire of Shadows: The Epic Story of Yellowstone, Epsilon: A Yellowstone Wolf Story, Erin Peabody, George Black, grizzlies, grizzly bears, Jurassic, Lita Judge, Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries Changed His Plans and Helped Cook Up the National Park Service, national park service history, predators, President Donald Trump, Rich Lo, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, Silvertip: A Year in the LIfe of a Yellowstone Grizzly, Smithsonian Museum, Stephen Mather, Ted Rechlin, Thomas Moran, Tie Sing, wolves, Yellowstone Moran: Painting the American West, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park | Leave a comment

Summer Reading–To Sip or Chew

Posted on May 28, 2018 by rosinskynatalie

What kinds of reading will you do this summer? “Summer reading” can have very different meanings. Will yours be hummingbird sips of brief pieces, pages of mainly light-hearted material scanned in between other outdoor activities? Or will you and yours … Continue reading →

Posted in biographies, graphic novels, manga, picture books | Tagged Agnodice, Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World, California Dreamin':Cass Elliot Before the Mamas & the Papas, Cheryl Bridges, Christine Jorgensen, Clementine Delait, Delia Akeley, Emma Williams, Footnotes in Gaza, Frances Glessner Lee, Gaza, Giorgina Reid, Hedy Lamarr, heroic women, Ibrahim Quraishi, Joe Sacco, Josephine Baker, Katia Krafft, Las Mariposas, Lozen, Mae Jemison, manga, Margaret Hamilton, Message to Adolf, Message to Adoph, Montana Kane, Naziq al-Abid, Nelly Bly, Nzinga, Osamu Tezuka, Palestine, Penelope Bagieu, Sonita Alizadeh, summer reading, Temple Grandin, Tezuka Osamu, The Story of Hurry, Tove Jansson, women's biographies, women's history, Wu Zetian | Leave a comment

Picturing Butterflies

Posted on May 1, 2018 by rosinskynatalie

A brand new, sumptuous picture book biography is my focus today. Its illustrations refreshed my winter-weary eyes, even as its crystal-clear language movingly revealed an exceptional woman, from girlhood through old age. And, whether by remarkable coincidence or fate, my … Continue reading →

Posted in biographies, picture books | Tagged 17th-century women, art history, butterfly metamorphosis, Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis, Don Larsson, entomology, Jeyaraney Kathirithamby, John Jacques Audubon, Joyce Sidman, Julie Paschkis, Kim Todd, Margarita Engle, Maria Merian, Maria Sibylla Merian: Artist/Scientist/Adventurer, naturalist, Peter Kuper, Ruins, Sarah B. Pomeroy, science, Scott Pakudaitis, Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian, Surinam, Susanna Centlivre, The Bassett Table, The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science, women artists, women scientists | Leave a comment

States of Mind

Posted on December 1, 2017 by rosinskynatalie

What is your state of mind right now? Festive . . . as you think of upcoming winter holidays? Fearful . . . as you contemplate current political events and crises? Or are you calm and content because you enjoy … Continue reading →

Posted in biographies, picture books | Tagged Ana Juan, Andrew Standing Soldier, Ann Nolan Clark, architect, artist biography, Christmas, Duncan Tonitiuh, Eve Chwast, Frida, Frida Kahlo, Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos, Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras, George Lawrence, Georgia O'Keefe, Grandma's Latkes, Hanukkah, Jeanette Winters, John Parra, Jonah Winters, Malka Drucker, Monica Brown, My Name is Georgia: A Portrait, Native American picture books, Native American Picture Books of Change, New Mexico, painter, Rebecca C. Benes, Rosemary Zibart, The Hen of Wahpeton, The Night of Las Posadas, The Slim Butte Raccoon, The World is Not a Rectangle: A Portrait of Architect Zaha Hadid, Tomie de Paola, True Brit--Beatrice 1940, winter holidays, Zaha Hadid | Leave a comment