TEASER TUESDAY (WITH A TWIST): A True and Faithful Narrative

TEASER TUESDAY WITH A TWIST
(rules for myself)

• Grab a history book.
• Find a passage I love
• Share a few teaser sentences

Back in December, Jonathan Hunt at the School Library Journal Heavy Medal blog asked readers to share which books they feel have been robbed of a Newbery Medal in the past.

One that came up repeatedly is A True and Faithful Narrative by Kit Sturtevant. I love this book for a lot of reasons, one of them being that it serves as a beacon for me as a writer of history. For one thing, there is some seriously good research behind this book. And in addition, there is a philosophy of storytelling that I harken back to - the call to be true to the story I'm telling - not simply to tell my narrative as I might wish it to be.

From the first page, I give you.

"Later, when we heard what befell him, I remembered certain things: the colors of his clothes, the way the spring air had chilled his nose to brightness, how the sea-coal glowed in the grate, and the scents of turpentine and lavender wafting up from my apron. I remembered too, the softness of his fingers as he put his shillings upon my palm, and the way he let his hand linger on mine."

HOW'D HE DO THAT? (Reading Nathan Clement's Blog)

In this School Library Journal article, Diantha McBride (a librarian) tells children's publishers a thing or two - things she'd like them to do differently with children's books.

Her list includes 10 thought provoking points. A few of those items are # 1 - Bulk up those bindings, # 2 - Better editing, # 3 - Give that cover a makeover and #4 - Where's the art information?

So let's just focus on #4 for a moment. McBride says that out of 100 picture books she examined, only about 20 gave info about how the art was created. She says she's always teaching students how illustrators work. She'd like a little help from the illustrators and publishers with that.

Unfortunately, Nathan Clement (and the quietly impressive Front Street Books) do not include such info in his recent picture book, DRIVE. I wish they had because I'm fascinated with the graphic art employed there.

How'd he do that?

According to Booklist, "the artwork features clean lines, even shading and strong compositions".

The good news is, Clement does reveal some of his art processes at his blog. I've been watching him for a few months now and am enjoying little peeks at how he's building a new portfolio.

Please note as you peruse his Stickman Studio website that Clement already has a healthy list of illustration credits.

Drive, by the way, received starred reviews in both School Library Journal and Kirkus!

COMFORT: School Library Journal Review

Nothing like opening the email and finding a positive review! I won't paste the entire School Library Journal review here because it contains major spoilers! But please indulge me while I lift out a few key sentences.

The continuation of this determined protagonist's story is even richer than the first installment.

While readers of BLUE will be instantly drawn into this sequel, COMFORT stands alone, and newcomers will find much to appreciate in Ann Fay's attempts to come to terms with the confusion around her. Hostetter's beautiful story about rebuilding, with absorbing back matter about post-traumatic stress disorder and disability rights, is exceptional historical fiction.

It was a good email sort of day!