I've moved! Please come visit my new website and blog: ruzzier.com
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
The four-star constellation of the Duck!
A new star was discovered today. It's called School Library Journal, and joins Kirkus, PW, and The Horn Book in the ever brighter constellation of the Duck.
A
small green duck has lost his new blue socks. He looks for them in his
toy box and consults his friends the fox and the ox. He does not find
them among other socks on the rocks, but his peacock friends help him
find them. The short, repetitive rhyming sentences
are a good fit for beginning readers, and the large trim size allows
plenty of space for the watercolor and [pen] illustrations to provide
clues to solve the humorous mystery. This is a whimsical delight for
children whose parents clamor for phonics-based
books.–Laura Scott, Farmington Community Library, MI
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Booklist: "Bear and Bee is wrapped in cuteness."
Bear wakes up hungry from hibernation, and the
only food source in sight is a beehive. When the bee on top of the hive
offers up his honey, Bear says, “But what about the bee?” See, Bear
doesn’t actually know what a bee is—it’s certainly not the
creature he is talking to—and his preconceived notions about bees
include that they’re “terrible monsters!” with “large teeth” and “sharp
claws.” [...] These two unlikely friends [...] are charmers [...]. This
story about snap judgments is wrapped in cuteness, making it just right
for the pre-school set. — Ann Kelley
 |
| How bees look in Bear's morbid imagination. |
Friday, February 8, 2013
The Maurice Sendak Community School
My friend Robin Rosenthal, talented designer and illustrator, emailed me a couple of weeks ago with some exciting yet still unofficial news regarding a new Public School in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY.
She, and other members of the pre-PTA, were trying to get all the necessary approvals in order to name the school after Maurice Sendak.
Today, it's official: PS 118 will be named The Maurice Sendak Community School.
I believe this is the first school named after him (who was born in Brooklyn in 1928), and I am very curious to see how many others will follow in the next years.
Friday, February 1, 2013
The Horn Book gave Duck another star!
It's Duck's third starred review after PW and Kirkus.
Bunting and Ruzzier team up again (Tweak Tweak,
rev. 5/11), this time with rhyme and rhythm and imaginative
illustrations
that will bring inevitable comparisons to Dr. Seuss. [...] The reader or lap
listener will enjoy pointing out the socks, as Ruzzier
has hidden them in plain sight. The best way to experience this droll
book is by reading the jaunty rhyme aloud. “I will ask my friend the
fox. / ‘Have you seen my new blue socks?’” Later, Mr. Ox says, “Did you
look inside your box? / Did you ask your friend
the fox? / I may have seen your new blue socks— / I saw some socks down
on the rocks.” It’s hard to resist, especially when the cartoon
illustrations are so captivating in their absurdity. Duck’s expression
is all in the eyebrows—such angst over a pair of
socks has never been conveyed so well. Blues, teals, and greens are the
background for the child-friendly, offbeat details Ruzzier has planted
in the illustrations, including underwear, dog bones, and a painting ox.
An accessible vocabulary and easy-to-sound-out
words make this a perfect book for the newest reader, especially one
with a grand sense of humor. - Robin L. Smith
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