Fun With Kids and Books

On Saturday I'll be hanging out at the Provo City Public Library with a bunch of cool children's authors and illustrators (local and otherwise.)  There will be fun times for all.  Bring the kids.

Press Release Type Information Follows:


Saturday, May 15, 2010, 12 Noon - 5:00 pm at the Provo City Library
Featuring Jennifer Holm and Matthew Holm, dynamic sister-and-brother superduo, author and illustrator of Babymouse.

Also including a host of activities for children and their families, with children's crafts, games, giveaways and prizes; visits from favorite characters like Clifford, Wild Thing, and Curious George; author presentations and signings, puppet shows, and a visit from the world-famous Infernal Twister, balloon-tying extraordinaire!

Food, beverages, and candy will be available for purchase.

EVERY child that attends gets a FREE book!

Also featuring local favorite authors and illustrators: Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, Brandon Sanderson, Mette Ivie Harrison, Clint Johnson, Dene Low, Randall Wright, Carla Morris, Kristyn Crow, Sharlee Glenn, Wendy Toliver, Kristin Chandler, Sara Zarr, Emily Wing Smith, Mike Knudson, Ann Dee Ellis, Maryn Roos, Guy Francis, Nathan Hale, Sherry Meidell, Julie Olson, J. Scott Savage, and Ann Bowen!

I'm the Map, I'm the Map, I'm the Map, I'm the Map, I'm the Map, I'm the Map...

I'm trying to snag an illustration job right now at BYU. The job consists of illustrating early readers for first graders that will include text in both English and Chinese characters. The inclusion of English is good for me because my foreign language skills do not extend beyond Spanish, British and Canadian.

The desired style for the illos is simple, cute and easy to read. Think "Dora the Explorer" or "Ne Hao Kai Lan." I did a couple of quick examples of what I could do for them. Nothing fancy here. Just getting the job done.




The first image is gouache and the second is pastel over watercolor. I hope I get the job.

Will Strong Recommends: "Lawn Boy" by Gary Paulsen

Most people know Gary Paulsen for his wilderness themed books like "Hatchet" and "The River."  I'm pretty ashamed to say that I've never read any of his wilderness books.  They just don't interest me much.

 

A few weeks ago Tiffany (my beautiful wife who teaches 6th grade) brought home "Lawn Boy" from the school's book fair.  I decided to read it on a relaxing, post-final-exam afternoon and I'm glad I did.

 

The titular lawn boy receives for his birthday, a busted and rusted old riding lawnmower from his eccentric granny.  He gets hired to mow his neighbor's lawn and after a while is mowing all the lawns on the whole block.  In a bizarre turn of events he ends up running his own lawn care business with dozens of employees working under him.  He also ends up buying a bunch of stocks that really take off and before he knows it he's running a big business.  And he has no idea what he's doing.  It sounds like a bad lesson in economics but it's quite entertaining.  I'd rather not say how but his investments in the stock market end up being very amusing.

 

The chapters all are named with titles like "Capital Growth Coupled with the Principles of Production Expansion" and "Economic Expansion Combined with Portfolio Diversification."  The chapters do discuss each of these topics but in a very loose and easy to digest way.  

 

"Lawn Boy" is very short, only 88 pages.  It's a quick read and would appeal to kids from 10 years+.  Fun Stuff.  Now maybe I'll have to take a stab at "Hatchet."

Will Strong Recommends:

I never was much of a reader as a child; it always felt like work to me.  Many years later I love reading.  I'm not sure when the switch occurred but now I can't get enough books to satisfy my appetite.  

I like to tell my friends and family about books that I love because I believe that good things are meant for sharing.  Any entry into my blog entitled "Will Strong Recommends:" will be just that, a recommendation for some book I like.  So if you are crazy like me then you might just like what I like.  Please feel free to ignore all recommendations for any reason.

PS: What you won't find here is criticism.  There are far too many critics in this world.  I say, "Stop criticizing, go create something instead."