The link/address above is to a short video intro that my wife & I made using PowerPoint & my artworks.

La sera di venerdì ho occupato metà della mia aula di diploma (sto finendo il terzo anno di animazione al CSC) per tagliare gli A4 che avevo stampato a casa la sera prima, incollarli con la Vinavil, piegarli e pressarli sotto un hard disk appesantito da bottiglie di acqua e tequila.

Così la mattina dopo ho avuto il piacere di alzarmi alle 5am per prendere un pullman che da Cambiano mi avrebbe accompagnato a Lucca. E indietro la sera stessa.
Ad ogni modo quest’anno Lucca è stata davvero piacevole, ho rivisto tante belle persone, il libretto ha riscosso un discreto interesse e sono tornato a casa con delle belle pubblicazioni di Teiera, Delebile e Inuit. Da tre anni la prima cosa che faccio quando arrivo a Lucca è andare all’area Self, so per certo che troverò lì le cose più interessanti della fiera.

Ecco quindi le fasi del design:

Bibliographic Information: Sis, P. (2003). The Tree of Life: A Book Depicting the Life of Charles Darwin, Naturalist, Geologist & Thinker. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.  ISBN:0374456283.  44 pages.

Plot Summary: Charles Robert Darwin was born February 12, 1809, in Shrewbury, England.  That day no one knew that young Charles would one day change the world.  From his early days trying to live up to being the boy his father wants him to be, Darwin struggled with formal “indoor” learning and his strict boarding school.  “He wants to be outdoors, riding, shooting, fishing, taking long walks through the countryside collecting things.”  Eventually, Charles discovers his passion for the natural sciences: geology, zoology and botany, which he much prefers to the medical science path his father wants him to follow.  Through his naturalist studies Darwin finds his way to a boat, the H.M.S. Beagle.  The Beagle takes Darwin on a journey around the world where he discovers clues that will ultimately lead him to write his controversial and ground-breaking book, On The Origin of Species.  Through intricately rendered illustrations, diary entries and explanatory text, Charles Darwin’s story comes to life.

Critical Evaluation: The Tree of Life is not a child’s picture book.  It is a beautifully illustrated, deeply rich introduction to the life and work of Charles Darwin.  Sis has managed to take picture books to a whole new level, with complex concepts and explanatory illustrations, maps and diagrams.  Visual learners will be in heaven as each two-page spread contains multiple images that explicate parts of Darwin’s story.  The amount of text is significant, but not overwhelming, and the writing is appropriate for teens through adults.  Sis has clearly done his homework in presenting biographical as well as scientific details that many people will be fascinated and interested to learn.  His detailed illustrations of Darwin’s specimens would have made Darwin himself proud.  This New York Times Best Illustrated Book is a unique and welcome addition to the cannon of biographies.  Writing a report on a famous scientist was never before this fun. 

Reader’s Annotation: Peter Sis brings Charles Darwin to life in this picture book biography, with beautifully and intricately rendered illustrations, maps and diagrams, in addition to diary entries, and explanatory text.

Information about the Author: In his author’s note Sis wrote “Charles Darwin regretted that he hadn’t learned to draw.  Instead, he kept detailed descriptions of everything he saw.  It is these dense and vivid written passages in his diaries, letters, and journals that have inspired me to use my own drawings, based on contemporary sources, to tell this story of his life.”  It must be strange for Sis, who expresses himself so impressively through drawings, to imagine Charles Darwin being unable to draw images of those things that so fascinated and impressed him.  Sis has illustrated children’s books in addition to other tween, teen, and adult-level picture books.  He has also, “contributed more than a thousand drawings to The New York Times Book Review and his illustrations have appeared in Time magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, Newsweek, Esquire and many other magazines in the United States and abroad.”  (http://www.petersis.com/content/about.html)

Genre: Non-Fiction, Biography, Science

Format: Alternative Format: Graphic Book

Topics Covered: Biology, Evolution, Botany, Zoology, Naturalists, Independent Thinkers

Curriculum Ties: Science, Biology, Botany, Zoology, Naturalists, Evolution, 19^th Century history

Booktalking Ideas: Start with one of Darwin’s quotes and discuss the negative responses he received for his work.

Reading Level/Interest Age: Ages 12-18

Challenge Issues: Some people’s religious beliefs lead them to think that Darwin’s evolutionary theories are not correct.  A potential challenge regarding this issue could be addressed by the several positive reviews of the book as well as awards and honors it has received.

Why is this book included?  Initially found while reading Cart, who wrote about Sis, “Both his picture book biography of Charles Darwin, The Tree of Life…and his autobiographical book The Wall…were selected as Best Books for Young Adults,” (Cart, 2010, p. 113). The format of this book is unique, so it has the potential to appeal to people to whom a linear, text-only biography would not.  Additionally, it provides excellent information for all readers.

References

Cart, M. (2010). Young adult literature: From romance to realism.  Chicago, IL: ALA.

So far, I’ve done most of my thinking/ writing/ doodling/ stressing/ editing while sitting on my bed, on the bedroom floor, in the park,  in the garden, on a train platform, on a train, and even in the middle of a shopping mall. Anywhere, it seems, but at my desk, which just looks at me blankly from the corner of the room as if to say ‘really? you want to sit here? No chance! You’ll be fidgeting within minutes.’ (Clearly, if I think my desk is capable of talking to me, I’m going crazy through lack of sleep, induced by an over excited brain that wants to work on the project 24-7).

I suppose I’ll just have to keep moving around to keep things interesting. But as soon as those art materials come out (soon, please SOON) I think my workspace options may become limited. It’s not like the local cafe will thank me for leaving inky smudges all over their coffee cups and furniture. I might have to get even more creative! Is anyone doing a build-a-portable-studio project by any chance? Anyone…?

After checking out my task for the day, I made a commitment to have written my story and produced a story board for it by next Sunday evening. Now while that might not sound like a lot of work, it is when you have other plans (whether work or play). But with bitesize chunks,  careful planning and a unique working environment I’m pretty sure I’ll get it done.

Inspired by nature... the bonus of working on a portable project!

Well, I hope I will as despite writing for a living, I was having some serious trouble finding the right words to make this story click together. I’ve been so focussed on creating the illustrations, I almost forgot that there had to be an actual narrative. About an hour after I sat down to write, I had three pages full of crossings out and a near-illegible scrawl of words with proofreaders marks all over them. It was at that point that I realised how much planning goes into writing a book – of any sort. It’s why I’ve never written a novel – if my chess ‘strategy’ is anything to go by, I have a complete inabilty to plan/ fear of cementing the minutiae of each step. I like to look at the bigger picture and then when I’m satisfied it’s got potential, just jump in head first… Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s more fun than theorising everything to within an inch of its life!

Still, doesn’t help much with this project which clearly needs a more structured apporach. Although I think plunging in and immersing myself in it is no bad thing, especially with such a short time frame. It’s an experiment after all… And if what just happened is anything to go by, I’m geared up and raring to go - I just got so excited by the prospect of getting drawing that I accidentally stabbed myself with an ink nib. Maybe tattooing will be my next challenge!

Well, then, wouldn’t you know, on the same day that Borders announces the closing of their remaining retail stores and the laying off of thousands of brick’n'mortar booksellers… my eBook of photography for the iPad—Plastic Prophets of Vinyl Redemption—is finally available in Apple’s iTunes bookstore! Yes, 135 pages of splashy digital color, filled with behind-the-scenes photos, sketches and in-depth analysis of the photos I shot for my first large scale solo exhibit at Distinction Gallery in 2009.

I’d place this particular coincidence in the category of “painfully bittersweet,” as I absolutely LOVE to wander the stacks of a sprawling bookstore, and find the mounting closure of neighborhood stores disturbing in a way reserved for fears of the apocalypse. On the other hand, it would have been quite impossible for me to publish (and sell!) the book I’ve just released without the benefit of electronic distribution. Oh, not that I wouldn’t have liked to produce a lavish coffee table tome… and, I actually did just that! In the weeks leading up to the original exhibit I designed and printed a quite superb 100 page hardcover book that chronicled all the work that had gone into the exhibit.

Note to art collectors of the future telepathically browsing eBay in the year 2525 for an original printed copy of Plastic Prophets of Vinyl Redemption… At the cost of $120 each in the year 2009, I printed exactly two copies: one to be on display during the exhibit, and one for the owners of the gallery. So any other copies you might see advertised are likely (gasp!) forgeries. Be forewarned!

So why not mass produce the original book and sell it through my web site or local independent bookstores? Uh… as mentioned above, just one copy of the book—full color, full-bleed—cost 120 bones to print. Repeat… cost. That means I’d have to retail the book at around $150 or so, or (to bring the price down to, say, $40) print it in China at sufficient quantities that my otherwise safe and comfortable home would become a warehouse firetrap of unsold inventory. I mean, people like my art and all, but I think it would be difficult to find thousands of people who might be willing to plunk down forty or fifty dollars for a printed copy.

On the other hand… I thought there might be quite a lot of people who would quite happily pay a wee bit of cash for a version of the book they could enjoy on their iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. Just think… hours of artsy browsing pleasure for the price of a heavily sweetened cup of coffee!

I took the original 100 page book and expanded it greatly, with tons of additional photos, more insightful prose, and images of the installation I’d constructed in the center of the gallery. The original hardcover had been slapped together in two weeks while I was working full time. As such, sacrifices were made and the bar I’d set for completion was that ol’ standby of the Time Constrained… good enough. This time around, with no deadline gripping at my collar, I spent close to four months on design, layout, and figuring out the hitherto mysterious (and grossly under documented) features and capabilities of Apple’s new illustrated book format. Yes, it’s good to have an engineering degree!

The result?

An electronic coffee table book on a bright, shiny screen filled with glorious color pages that can be…

Flipped!

Zoomed!

Panned all around the screen!

And the very best part? No printing costs. No distributor costs. No unsold inventory piling up through the hallways of my home. In fact, apart from the reasonable percentage Apple takes from each sale… no split of the revenues with a billion people. And this means I can sell my beautiful book for whatever price I want.

How does $3.99 grab you?

Note: The grabbing will be 2.99 euros in France and Germany, and 2.49 pounds in the UK, but still $3.99 in Canada and Australia.

Yep, no big profit game here. I just wanted to be able to share my work as widely as possible and provide people a fun, interesting, and engaging way to experience and explore what lies behind each of my photographs.

Did I mention there’s a link to the book? I should do that… Check it out in the iBookstore!!

Wanna see some screen shots? Of course you do!

Struwwelpeter describes a boy who does not groom himself properly and is consequently unpopular…  Mark Twain‘s English translation of the book is called “Slovenly Peter.” A link to an English translation of the entire book is here. [Source]

Here are some pages that stand out for me:

The book belongs beautifully in my graphic novel collection and I find the illustrations deliciously creep and Jan Švankmajer-esque!

Recommended: Švankmajer’s et cetera:

“The Magician” by I.L. Peretz is a typical Elijah folktale. A poor magician arrives at a small town and causes all the fixings of a seder to appear out of nowhere for a poor couple. Before they eat anything though, they check with their rabbi to make sure it is OK. He explains how they can tell if it is, but by the time they return, the magician, who, they now realize, is Elijah, has gone.

My question: If they had not doubted and checked with their local source of Jewish law, would they have broken bread (well, matzah) with Eliyahu HaNavi? Did they miss a chance to bring the Messiah? And why did they refuse to go to a neighbor’s house and allow the neighbor the opportunity to perform the mitzvah of welcoming guests? Why insist on God providing? There is a joke about a man stranded by a flood who refuses three offers of help as the waters rise, each time saying that God will save him; he drowns. When he gets Heaven and and starts to complain about not being rescued, the response is that he had three chances to live. Or, there is the Midrash about Nachshon and how the waters of the Red Sea did not part until he stepped into them. In other words, it is not enough to rely on God to do everything for us; we must act.

The story can be found in The Seven Good Years and Other Stories of I.L. Peretz translated and adapted by Esther Hautzig and illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray (Philadelphia, 1984). I talked to Ms. Hautzig at an Association of Jewish Libraries convention and asked if she had abridged the original Yiddish story to make it more suitable for young adults. She said that quite the contrary, she made the stories longer to explain the terms and way of life that most people no longer know. I.L. Peretz was one of the Jewish writers of the 19th century who created Yiddish literature. Another highly recommended story in this book is “Bontche Shweig” (Bontche, the Silent). There is also “The Treasure,” which is reminiscent of The Treasure, which I reviewed in an earlier post.

Of course, it is also traditional to read Shir HaShirim, the Song of Songs aka the Song of Solomon. (Or for incredibly light reading about a world where everything works out for the best, there’s also P.G. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves and the Song of Songs,” with no obvious Jewish content whatsoever.)

The Red Book by C. G Jung: This masterpiece comprises 15 years of Jung’s investigation of psychotherapy. From 1914 to 1930, he wrote and illustrated this approximately 200-page exploration. Diving into his own subconscious, he realized many of theories about individuation and the unconscious. It was displayed at several museums around the nation before eventually being dispersed to scholars and the general public. Talk about a hermetic inquiry…

'The Holy Grail of the Unconscious'

Interior/Exterior shot

Illustration

(images courtesy of Amazon)

Other Criteria: Confrontations with Twentieth Century Art by Leo Steinberg: In honor of the great Steinberg, I figured I’d look into what I haven’t read of his. I am always a sucker for hearing more from New York writers in the hey-day of the New York School, and Steinberg has been an illumination on the subject. His piece on Picasso’s ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,’ although not featured in the book, was a reading I distinctly remember for it’s lucid points and critical interpretation beyond the give-in of Picasso’s personal life or the standing of women in general. By incorporating Picasso’s technical concerns and adjustments into his deductions about the feminine gaze, he appropriated an invigorated interpretation of the piece. Truly inspiring, this book is a must-read.

Found this sofa via NYMag and am absolutely dying for it. It’s printed polyurethane on these squishy cushions that perfectly combines comfort and nature. Maybe for my next apartment…

(although i couldn’t find it on the website, it’s available through Moroso)

Now that we’ve gotten in the mood for Passover via two Seder books [1, 2] and some of us have started to go insane cleaning things we never knew were dirty, it’s wise to occasionally take a break to get inspired and remember that the holiday is about more than cleaning and preparing. The library has some great books to inspire us and offer some fresh ways to see Passover and the world.

I’ve chosen Eric A. Kimmel’s Wonders and Miracles: A Passover Companion (New York: Scholastic Press, 2004) as the Book of the Week, but there are plenty of other good books. This book has pictures from several illustrated Haggadot, stories, explanations, recipes, prayers with translations and transliterations, Debbie Friedman lyrics and more! Not surprisingly for a book published by Scholastic, this book is appropriate for, but not limited to, middle schoolers; I learned things. While Dr. Kimmel assumes his primary audience is Jewish, some of his comments will be of interest to Christians. Eric Kimmel has written many children’s picture books—which makes him a great author in my estimation. We  corresponded via email after I saw him speak in New York to promote this book—which makes him a mensch.

Some of the other books that look inviting in our library include:

• Creating Lively Passover Seders: A Sourcebook of Engaging Tales, Texts & Activities by David Arnow (Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2004).
• The Women’s Passover Companion: Women’s Reflections on the Festival of Freedom edited by R. Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, Tara Mohr, and Catherine Spector (Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2003). The editors have a Yale connection, as does Paula Hyman, who wrote the foreword. Lots of contributions from prominent Jewish women.
• Leading the Passover journey: The Seder’s Meaning Revealed, the Haggadah’s Story Retold by Nathan Laufer (Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2005).
• Uncle Eli’s Special for Kids Most Fun Ever Under the Table Passover Haggadah by Eliezer Segal (San Francisco, CA: No Starch Press, 1999). Recommended by R. Dana Bogatz.

You might notice that most of these books are published by Jewish Lights. What makes you trust a book enough to pick it up and look at it? The author? Because you’ve read her before? Because you’ve heard of him? The  cover? The quality of the paper? The fonts? The publishing house? Because you’ve liked other books printed by it? Because a favorite author is published by it? The blurbs on the back cover? The topic? The pictures?

I like Jewish Lights because I like Lawrence Kushner. I like Rabbi Kushner because I attended a program he did in Plainfield, NJ, many years ago. He picked some audience members to be the various characters in the Adam and Eve story and he was thoughtful enough to ask the apple what she thought about what was going on in the story. In addition to books about spirituality, he wrote an alphabet book (note my love of children’s picture books), The Book of Letters, and a nicely self-deprecating explanation of how he came to do so.

One last comment before I get back to cleaning: What you bring to a book and what you want to get from it are (nearly?) as important as the contents of the book. Each time you read it, you will be different.

Kiddush, etc.

The author portrays what life was like via imaginary characters. Muslims are shown in a most sympathetic light (except for one story). I found the Inquisition story very disturbing; torture is graphically described. The stain in the Haggadah, that I always assumed was wine, is said to be blood. The book is reminiscent of James Michener’s The Source (1965), except that the stories are in reverse chronological order in People of the Book. I know many people love this book and that it is a popular Book Group selection. I found the writing not as polished as I would have liked. I was especially disappointed by the absence of any pictures since the plot refers to the Haggadah’s illustrations so often.

spills on "Ha Lachma Anya ..."

One important plot point has to do with the fact that a reproduction is never entirely the same as the original. Digital copies of a picture, no matter how small the pixel size is, will never be quite like a painting done by hand. And certainly copies of the things that get spilled or dropped on a book  as it is used will not be the same as the actual spillage. I think this relates to the interest in the analog qualities of music records as opposed to the digital audio files that have mostly replaced them. Anyway, ….

The book I really want to recommend this week is the library’s facsimile edition of The Sarajevo Haggadah. Half the book is English commentary and history by Cecil Roth; the other half is a reproduction of the original on shiny paper. The more recent, unfortunately exciting, history of the Haggadah happened after this version was published. It is mentioned in Geraldine Brooks’ novel.

Reed Sea; Miriam

Creation

The Haggadah starts with pictures of Creation and the origins of the Jewish people.

Wise and wicked sons

The illustrations are brilliant and the Hebrew is surprisingly readable. It was exciting to see two of the four sons, Hacham (wise) and Rasha (wicked),  highlighted in decorative borders on facing pages.

Every page is beautiful. It reminded me how important the visual appearance of books is. I’m toying with the idea that one problem with too many Jewish ritual books is that there are no pictures. Why can’t we have a siddur with cartoons?

Two illustrated 20th-century Haggadot in our library are by Arthur Syzk and Ben Shahn; Cecil Roth is connected to these books as well. And there are others on display on top of the bookcases in the children’s  section of the library.

Next week I’ll talk about some books that you can use to get ready for and celebrate Passover.

Meanwhile, if you would like to comment with recommendations about Haggadot (and foods and activities) for the Seder, I would be most appreciative: After about a quarter of a century (wow!), I think I’ve done all I can with the Conservative movement’s Feast of Freedom and my husband is eager for a book that has page numbers.

The Mystery Bear: A Purim Story, written by Leone Adelson and illustrated by Naomi Howland (2004), is a sweet story about a baby bear who wakes up hungry, follows yummy  smells to a Purim party near the edge of the woods, and finds delicious food as well as people in costumes. The adults are very impressed by his authentic-looking disguise and try to guess who he really is. When it is time for the Purim play, they poke and ——e bear and all the revelers run out of the house. The bear returns to his cave to finish his winter hibernation. The book ends with an explanation of the holiday.

The inclusion of Purim traditions like the seudah, dressing in costumes, danger averted, and a Purim Shpiel (funny play) makes the book a useful teaching tool. (The Purim seudah is a party held after the daytime reading of the Megillah during which one is obligated to drink so much that he or she doesn’t know the difference between “Cursed be Haman” and “Blessed be Mordecai.” (Speaking of he or she, cross-dressing (whatever that means) is fine on this holiday.) And I have learned that you don’t need to drink anything to see that Haman and Mordecai are surprising similar; but more on that another time.)

The Association of Jewish Libraries’ New Jewish Valuesfinder website finds the values of Hiddur Mitzvah (beautifying a mitzvah) and Erech Apayim (being slow to anger) in the story: The elaborate costumes, fancy food, and careful preparation shown in the illustrations make the holiday as joyful and beautiful as possible. The bear’s patience, given that he knows nothing of human behavior and Purim customs, is extraordinary. Verily, unbelievable. But, hey, this is a children’s picture book and we’ve suspended our disbelief as soon as we turn to the title page.

The bear is actually dangerous. Perhaps, not believing he is a bear is what saves the partygoers—they don’t show fear or attack him to protect themselves. Fortunately, this bear has no interest in hurting anyone; he just wants to eat and sleep. He is an adversary who can be reasoned with. Well, not “reasoned” with, but safely handled to the mutual satisfaction of all involved. Not all enemies are so simple.

Why a bear? Why were dancing bears popular? Why are there so many stories about them? (See Eric Kimmel’s The Chanukah Guest (1990), in which a bear is mistaken for the rabbi and Patrick O’Brian’s Post Captain (1972), in which Captain Aubrey disguises himself as a bear to escape from Napoleonic France.) Because they look like clumsy people? Because they look cuddly? Because they represent controlled danger? Am I overthinking this?

Another popular theme in stories for children is that the child sees things that adults do not. (See “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”) While the grownups try to guess who the bear really is under his clever disguise, the boy sees that what is on the surface is all that is really there. Sometimes, grownups spend so much time looking for hidden agenda that we don’t see what is right in front of us. Or we go so far as to deny what is in front of us while we search for the answer we want to hear. Or we don’t want to be the first to disagree with conventional wisdom or separate ourselves from the community. Or we look for deep meaning in stories written to entertain 4-year olds when we should just laugh.

Best wishes for a happy Purim.

About the book: Many early comic books consisted of the comic strips in the “funny pages” of newspapers. While some of these were humorous, others dealt with adventures of heroic characters. Arie Kaplan’s From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books (2008) explores the artistic and financial sides of the comic book industry as it slowly matures from its infancy before Superman to graphic novels with adult themes and into this century. There are a timeline, a bibliography, and an index, along with lots of illustrations and source material and side comments. I have not finished reading the book, but I like what I’ve read so far. It helps that I grew up reading comic books and recognize many names. I like all the details about the creators of the superheroes whose exploits I followed; I can see, however, that a non-fan may find more facts and less analysis than she would want.

Hiddenness: Yes, there is a Jewish connection to comic books. Many of the publishers, writers, and artists were Jewish, even though most of them did not think their characters were. Many changed their names in order to hide their background. And many superheroes hide their real identities. In hindsight, it is easy to see the Jewish characteristics of Superman and the Jewish interest in pursuing justice.

Reversals: The typical comic book superhero story comes full circle; nothing really changes. The hero fights the villain, does badly, but then comes back and triumphs. Of course, eventually all the really popular villains manage to escape their inescapable prisons and once again try to conquer the world. (Although why they want to is beyond me. However, in an Isaac Asimov book I just discovered, the villain thinks he can do a tidier job of running everything. In fact, the baddie sees himself as a misunderstood good guy in a mask.) It’s rather like one cycle of a sine wave starting and ending at the high point for the hero.

But what if we consider a cycle starting and ending at the low points? Then the baddie always comes back to win. The only(?) time the bad guy dies is when he repents his dastardly deeds and dies nobly saving the good and innocent. (I’ve assumed that the main characters are men, because most comic book characters are.)

There is so much more to say about comic books:

• How some superheroes are born with powers, others accidentally get them, and some work hard to acquire them. My favorites were Dr. Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts; Green Lantern; Flash; and Adam Strange. No doubt this says something about me.
• The mixing of written text with pictures that are an integral part of the story, even more so than with children’s picture books. This combination of media must affect the brain differently than just drawings or words alone. Similarly, ballet with its visual and auditory components (OK, any kind of dancing with music).
• Even when the stories are simplistic, they are more likely to deal with Important Ideas—Truth, Justice, and the American Way; Good vs. Evil; making choices—than most fiction.
• There are rules for how to format comic books that I never even thought about until I heard a lecturer explain them: different kinds of bubbles for speaking and thinking, reading the frames from left to right and top down—except when the artist gets clever and I have no idea how to follow the story.
• …

Interest Level: grades 2-4

Review: Paul lives in the basement of an apartment building and one day decides he would like to touch the sky.  As he begins the climb up the 29 floors (he is not aware there is an elevator) he begins to meet other people in the building who seem very strange.  Once he discovers there is a lift he is mistaken as the nephew of Mabel (the eccentric women who lives on the top floor).  When he gets to the top floor he meets Molly, Mabel’s identical sister and the adventure really begins.  Molly encourages Paul to imagine and to not be shy.  Paul declares that the moon is just a whole in the sky and a plan is developed to discover if this is indeed true.  Once through the moon Paul discovers a whole bunch of things that have come through the moon and now live there, but Paul most return and he decides to bring Fortuna (a human cannon ball) back with him.  This book is a tribute to all those that dared to dream and imagine.

Opinion:  This is a fun and silly chapter book with pictures.  The illustrations add color to the already vibrant story.  Although at the lower level of tween, this is a great book for readers who have lower reading levels.  The breaking up of chapters and the size of the book make for a feeling of reading something much more complex which can be important when trying to sell a lower level book to an older patron.

The Book of Revelations -graphic/93

By Portia Nelson

chapter 1 

I walk down a street

there is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I fall in.

I am lost. I am helpless.

it isn’t my fault

it takes forever to find a way out

chapter 2 

I walk down the street.

there is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don’t see it.

I fall in again.

I can’t believe I’m in the same place.

but it isn’t my fault.

it still takes a long time to get out.

chapter 3 

I walk down the street.

there is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I see it is there.

I still fall in – it’s a habit.

My eyes are open.

I know where I am.

it is my fault.

I get out immediately.

chapter 4 

I walk down the street.

there is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

chapter 5 

I walk down a different street.

These are Kilian and Praprá, characters to the illustrated book I am working on for my Publication Design class