Picture Books They Wish They'd Had

On display in the library in March, national Women's History Month.  Some clearly labors of love, all heartfelt, about being different or not fitting in, about being pre-judged and your abilities not being taken seriously, about finding out who you are and where you belong.

Isn't that how many creative works are born?  To fill an unmet wish or need of its creator?

---

I think I would have liked a picture book version of Susan Cain's Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, or one called The Girl Who Hated Group Work. I never really identified with Ferdinand the Bull!

What picture book do you wish had been there for you when you were little?

On Display in the Library: French Picture Book Projects

At the end of the fall long term, Joanna's French 2 students are usually assigned a creative project, in which they write (in French of course) and illustrate a picture book for children.  The library gets to showcase the students' work come Short Term.

As with most school assignments, some students will do just enough to get it done, and some will work really hard on it.  Every now and then, a student will throw him or herself so wholeheartedly into an assignment, and the end product is so wonderful, that it just has to be shared with the world.

One such example of fantastic student work is on display in the library now.  La Soirée de Tony is a cute, appealing story written in very good French, but the care and work the author put into the drawings are what make it so good.  A successful picture book, as opposed to an "illustrated story book," is a book in which the text and the illustrations work together to tell a story that is greater than either element independently. 

So, while you read and enjoy Tony's Night Out (translations supplied by yours truly, but approved by Joanna) notice how the wealth of detail in the illustrations -- the facial expressions, the extra characters in the background, the action not made explicit in the text (le prof. on p. 4, and M. Blanc and the bear on p.12!) -- add to the humor and our understanding of the story.

If the Flash player doesn't work in your browser, click here to read the book at Picasa.

Come see all of Joanna's French 2 student picture books, on display in the library through the end of the month.

Check out C'est Cochon, another showcased student-created livre en images from French 2 a couple of years ago,  here.

Towering Achievements: On Display In The Library

Ever since Annie & Patrick's 5th & 6th grade students brought their balsa towers to display in the library, I have had the pleasure of looking up from my desk and across the library to see their silhouettes against the autumn/winter background outside. The towers were constructed in art class with Joe Cillo,who is enthusiastic about finding ways to display student talent.

The towers were built with balsawood sticks, hot glue, translucent paper and found natural objects.  Although the class studied many examples of different types of tower, none of the students drew a plan before beginning construction.  Goals -- make it stand up, make it interesting, and try to make it 3 feet tall!

 

~

And I'm pretty sure this one includes the name of a favorite baseball team!

 

See it?  R-E-D-S-O-X 

(more or less).

Paideia School and the Chamber of Seniors

School has begun, and hooray!  A literary senior prank!

We may never know where they got the GIGANTIC albino Burmese python that highlighted their Tuesday Morning Meeting show of 'seniority,' but for sure the Class of 2015 knows its children's literature.  I suppose there's a natural affinity between Paideia Pythons and Harry Potter's Basilisk (oh dear, does that mean we're all relegated to Slytherin?), and yesterday snakes slithered throughout.

During the traditional opening 'first eraser' pitch, seniors tossed little rubber snakes like confetti out into the darkened theatre.  Later on during the meeting, they dropped a banner from the catwalk while the curtains opened to reveal 4 seniors holding the full display of the afore-mentioned python (12 feet? longer?).  Notice the cleverly inserted '15' in the 'Rise Up'?

Then, yesterday at lunch, I noticed this warning posted on the student announcements board in the High School commons.

The 2014-2015 is open, and off to a smooooooth start.

More Poetry on the Edgefrom Bonnie & Uri's Class

Last Friday, a group from Bonnie & Uri's homebase came to the library to create their own Edge Poems.  At the end of the period, poems by Keb and Margot were voted the top two of the group.  Well done, class!  All of the poems are on display in the Library through the beginning of next week. 

"After the War" by Vinay

"Broken Pieces"  by Laney

"Champion" by Lulu

"Death" by Stella

"Enchanted"  by Haley

"Forever Free" by Tom H.

"Hopes and Fears" by Lindsay

"I'm Not Scared"  by Margot

"Me and Them"  by Olive

"Regret"  by Stella

"Silence"  by Haley

"The Different Ones"  by Stella

"The End"  by Erin Rose

"Twisted" by Alison

Untitled Poem   by Keb

"What A Wonderful World"  by Matthew

"Lost"  by Joanie

It's a Picture Book!Student Work on Display in the Library

Each year, students in Joanna's French 2 class create children's livres en images as an end-of-term project.  It's such fun to then display these picture books in the library, so students from across the high school can see their friends' work in public.

Every now and then, a student is hit with inspiration and really dives into the assignment.  This year, 9th grader Caroline Dresser went far beyond the minimum requirements to complete her picture book, creating an absolutely charming full-color, hand-painted (acrylic on textured hardboard) book that simply must be shared.


C'est Cochon par Caroline Dresser
If you can't play Flash media in your browser, click this link to go to the slideshow in Picasa.

Pocket Poems are Popping Up

Here at Paideia, National Poetry Month turns out to be Paideia Poetry 3 Weeks, since our spring break is always the first week of April. Now we're halfway through this year's annual poetry celebration, and the poems are popping up around campus. Teachers were asked to suggest their favorite poems, and these "poems-in-a-pocket" are appearing in various buildings up and down South Ponce de Leon.




Under the flap could be anything, from a classic of the Brit Lit canon,



to contemporary short and snappy.




But the coolest of all is the most recent poem in this collection. Congratulations, Abby!!




Truly, this month's library display hit it right on the nailhead . . .


Yep, that's right!

Books, Altered - Now Showing in the Library

It was great timing. Elizabeth Lide's Drawing and Design art class mounted a display of their Altered Books projects the week before the 40th Anniversary book release party here in the library. Books everywhere!

A few students used outdated Encyclopedia Britannica volumes (we recently got a newer edition), and incorporated the volumes' content (trees, in the T volume, and a bridge in the B volume) into the artwork.















Other pieces were created from baby board books, a telephone book, and a hardback copy of Where the Wild Things Are.

Outside






































One student altered a collection of paper plates with recipe pages from an international cookbook, overlaid with hand-cut block prints, culminating with a meal of international foods from the represented countries.



A final piece defies attempts at photography. Called Shadow Puppets, it's an interactive work created from a deconstructed board book overlaid with translucent vellum. In order to see the work (images of various hand puppet shapes, including the beloved two-fingered long ear bunny rabbit), the viewer has to slide a dark background behind each shape. And magically, the shadow puppets appear.

For inspiration on creating altered book art, visit the links in this post from the DeKalb County Public Library ("Can't Do That With An eBook") featuring Atlanta artist Brian Dettmer, and Part II. A CBS piece on Dettmer aired just last night -- watch the 2.5 minute clip here.

For techniques and inspiration for creating art from a variety of objects, check this book out of our library:


Altered Art: Techniques for Creating Altered Books, Boxes, Cards and More by Terry Taylor.