Book Chat Thursday: October 2011

WELCOME

WELCOME! For the last 17 years, about once a month, usually on a Thursday evening, a group of writers, illustrators, teachers and librarians meets in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles to discuss children's books. Lately we have started meeting at lunch time, once every three months. Usually we talk about one picture book and one middle grade or YA novel. After the meeting, Sandy Schuckett, a retired LAUSD librarian, summarizes our discussion. Here are her reports of our thoughts about the books we have read. We'd love to have your comments too!
Thanks to Nancy Hayashi for our wonderful title art! NOTE: We are changing to a new schedule. Our meetings will now be quarterly and during the afternoon. Our group has been meeting since 2007. It was organized under the auspices of the Children's Literature Council of Southern California (CLCSC).

Thursday, October 6, 2011

MILO: STICKY NOTES AND BRAIN FREEZE by Alan Silberberg and ME, FRIDA by Amy Novesky

Novel: Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze by Alan Silberberg (2011 SCBWI

Sid Fleischman Award)

We had good discussions on our Oct. books....and delicious 'eats' with a minimum of sugar (except for Ann's wonderful Brownies!!) We talked at length about Milo, and ultimately agreed that it was a well-developed story which combined humor with the very sad situation of the death of Milo's mother, and the way he learned to deal with it. Some hated the idea of the illustrative cartoons at first, but eventually felt they fit perfectly into this particular story, and in some cases added important details.

Picture Book: Me, Frida by Amy Novesky (2011 FOCAL Award); and Frida by

Jonah Winter (2003 Americas Award, Hon. Mention) We will be comparing these two picture books on the same subject.

As for the 'Frida' picture books, we all agreed that Frida (by Jonah Winter) was the superior one, and that the illustrations by Ana Juan were wonderful. Several folks questioned the significance for young readers of the SF visit by Frida in Me, Frida, but we all basically agreed that they were both important glimpses into the life of this important 20th century artist.