|
|
 |
||||||||||
|
Jacqueline Briggs Martin has always loved stories and the sounds of words. She started writing when her children were young because she and her children enjoyed books so much. She gets ideas from her family, from places she loves, from books, magazines, and newspapers. And she says some ideas are just surprises. |
|||||||||||
Chicken Joy on Redbean Road: When people danced to Joe Beebee's music they forgot about bad knees, tight shoes, backaches, blisters, and beetles...They forgot sickness, sadness, and sin. Joe Beebee's music, folks say, will take you up so high, your problems look small enough to stomp on. But, worries a plain brown hen, can it make a quiet rooster sing? Can it save her best friend from becoming Quiet Rooster Stew? Will Joe Beebee even play for chickens? With art as fun as waltzing on the moon and with words as lively as a fiddle, this book captures the power of music to heal and of friendship to endure. |
 |
||||||||||
Banjo Granny Granny's heart is set to see her new grandbaby, but how can she ford a fast river, climb a steep mountain, and cross a wide desert? With a dose of determination, a well-stocked banjo case, and the charm of a simple bluegrass song—that's how! Part tall tale, part lullaby, this rhythmic story, illustrated with warm pastoral paintings, celebrates the meeting of grandmothers and grandbabies everywhere. |
 |
||||||||||
Jacqueline Briggs Martin and YOU Playing on the phrase, "The author and you," a commonly taught reading comprehension strategy that teaches the learner how to look at the words of an author and make inferences about what is being said, this new series assists teachers and teacher-librarians in understanding the underlying purposes of the author as they prepare learning activities for their students. This book, like the others in the series, features personal information about the author, including insights into why she writes the type of books she does, plus information about each of her featured books. Part II of this book is the author's writing workshop—writing about writing. This book features Jacqueline Briggs Martin, award winning picture book author. It discusses her life and work and the researching, writing, and illustrating of each of her books, providing insight into the writing process and promoting reading as a source of good writing. |
 |
||||||||||
|
On Sand Island In the deep blue waters of Lake Superior lies a small island of hummingbirds, rabbits, and hardy Norwegian fishing folk. On that island lives a boy named Carl who wants nothing more than to be out on the water in a boat of his own making. So this is a story of sawing, nailing, and sanding. But because Sand Island neighbors are closer than cousins, this is also a story of picking strawberries, moving rocks, and mending fishing nets fine as lace. Awards |
 |
||||||||||
|
The Water Gift and the Pig of the Pig The Pig of the Pig — offspring of a sailing pig that could smell a storm coming. The Water Gift — a few rare people are given the gift of detecting water with a divining rod and a respect for the earth. These are two of the fascinating elements in this wonderful book, along with a young heroine who is an optimistic explorer. When her grandfather listens to one too many crabby neighbors and loses faith in himself — and the Pig of the Pig wanders away, it is Isabel who figures out what to do to set things right. A perfect combination of story and illustrations — a lovely book. Awards |
 |
||||||||||
|
The Lamp, the Ice, and a Boat Called Fish In 1913, a boat named Karluk, Aleutian for "fish," part of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, became stuck in the Arctic ice. On board were a captain and crew, scientists and explorers, a cat, forty sled dogs, Iñupiaq hunters, and an Iñupiaq family with two small girls. Even with the Iñupiaq and their skills of hunting and sewing, even with the family"s care and wisdom, even with the compassion and courage of their captain, odds for survival in the cold, dark Arctic seem against the passengers of the Karluk. Here is a riveting, unforgettable story, poetically told and exquisitely illustrated with rounded scratchboard art that captures the strength and grace of Iñupiaq culture. Details of centuries-old crafts and skills — of sewing boots from caribou legs and ugruk skin, of quickly cutting snow houses, of wearing wooden goggles to ward off snowblindness — will enrich modern imaginations. And by the story"s end, listeners will know something of the way of life in the high north, something of the song of the place, the wide sky, the sound of the wind, the ptarmigan. |
 |
||||||||||
|
Snowflake Bentley From the time he was a small boy, Wilson Bentley saw snowflakes as small miracles. And he determined that one day his camera would capture for others the wonder of the tiny crystal. Bentley's enthusiasm for photographing snowflakes was often misunderstood in his time, but his patience and determination revealed two important truths: no two snowflakes are alike; and each one is startlingly beautiful. His story is gracefully told and brought to life in lovely woodcuts, giving children insight into a soul who had not only a scientist's vision and perseverance but a clear passion for the wonders of nature. "Of all the forms of water the tiny six-pointed crystals of ice called snow are incomparably the most beautiful and varied." —Wilson Bentley. Awards |
 |
||||||||||
|
Button, Bucket, Sky When Annie Livemore dreams that her favorite oak tree is ill, she realizes that she and her cat Hector have work to do. With their friends Harriet Grace and Little Sam, Annie and Hector search for acorns in the yards and parks of Sixpenny Road. So begins this story of growth, friendship, and the songs of trees. In gentle, lyrical prose, author Jacqueline Briggs Martin describes how patience and care can turn an acorn from a tiny button into a bucket sapling, and, finally, into a fully grown tree. Vicki Jo Redenbaugh's colored pencil illustrations lend depth, color, and humor to this tale of environmental stewardship. |
 |
||||||||||
|
Higgins Bend Song and Dance Simon Henry is all business—fish business. He claims he can catch anything that swims, crawls, or floats. But when a wily old bait-stealing catfish named Oscar moves into the deep hole by Higgins Bend, folks begin to wonder if Simon Henry may have met his match. When Oscar steals the cranky fisherman's redworms and even his best five-day-old secret-recipe stinkbait, Simon Henry's skill is put to the test. And so begins the great battle between Simon Henry and the wily Oscar. Neighbors watch and wait . . . until the night Simon Henry comes up with his best bait yet and Oscar takes Simon and his old friend Potato Kelly on the ride of their lives. An original tall tale sure to elicit belly laughs from both young and old alike. |
 |
||||||||||
|
Grandmother Bryant's Pocket After Sarah loses her dog in a fire, her nightmares begin. In her story of healing, a one-eyed cat, a gaggle of unfriendly geese, and the special things in Grandmother Bryant's pocket turn out to be just the cure for Sarah's bad dreams. Awards |
 |
||||||||||
|
Good Times on Grandfather Mountain When a series of calamities befalls mountain man Washburn and his cow, Blanche Wisconsin, the man proves to be an optimist, always finding a way to make something positive out of the trouble that finds him. A fun book to read aloud with wonderful illustrations by Susan Gaber. |
 |
||||||||||
|
The Finest Horse in Town Long before Ms. Martin's mother was born, her aunts owned a store in a small village in Maine. They had a smart gray horse who pulled a shiny black buggy when they went out riding. Prince was the finest horse in town. But no one remembers who took care of that beautiful animal while the aunts were working in their store: perhaps it was a sneaky trader who tried to steal him, perhaps it was a one-legged harmonica player who taught him to dance; perhaps it was two children who once saved Prince's life. Jacqueline Briggs Martin really did have two great-aunts who owned a horse like Prince. In The Finest Horse in Town she recreates life in a small American town as it might have been at the turn of the 20th century. Susan Gaber's extraordinary watercolor paintings make the people and events in these three stories truly come alive. |
 |
||||||||||
Copyright 2002-2008 Children's Literature Network. Send us an e-mail. |