Dis, Maman...

Dis, Maman..., the French translation of Tweak Tweak, is out!

Some More Love for Tweak Tweak!

Tweak Tweak is one of Jules Danielson's Top 10 Picture Books of 2011 she chose for Kirkus! Thank you Jules!

Hallucinatory flowers

In her very generous review of Tweak Tweak on The Horn Book, Martha Parravano suggests to "check out those hallucinatory flowers." 

Here's a sampler.

Some elephants I like

Little Elephant and her mom, from Tweak Tweak.

An old Steiff elephant on wheels.

From a medieval English manuscript.

A grass family.

Babar, of course.

Found on eBay.

From Arnold Lobel's Uncle Elephant.

Jacob van Maerlant, Der Naturen Bloeme. Flanders or Utrecht, circa 1450-1500.

 

 

Tweak Tweak at Books of Wonder in NYC

This Saturday, June 18th, from 12 to 2, I will be at Books of Wonder to talk about Tweak Tweak. With me there will be other authors and illustrators: Javaka Steptoe, Chris Raschka, Greg Foley, and Teresa E. Harris. 

Tweak Tweak: School Library Journal Review

While on a walk, Mama Elephant’s baby holds onto her tail and “tweaks twice” to ask a question. Little Elephant’s curiosity is piqued many times along the way. The parent-child discussion is sweet and encouraging: “‘Mama? What is that?’ ‘That is a frog.’ ‘What is he doing?’ ‘He’s jumping.’ ‘Can I jump?’ ‘No, because you are not a frog. You are a little elephant. But you can stomp your foot and make a big sound.’” [...] 

Ruzzier’s ink and watercolor illustrations charmingly capture the youngster’s imaginings as she leaps over cliffs (with worried frogs looking on) and croons to an audience of bemused birds. The gentle text is perfect for sharing with toddlers.

Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada 

Tweak Tweak: The Horn Book (Starred!) Review

[...] The pairing of Bunting’s traditional text, powered by an elegant repeating structure, with Ruzzier’s offbeat art is unexpectedly fabulous. The surreal, rather Seussian landscape (check out those hallucinatory flowers and purple hills) makes the transition to the spreads of Little Elephant’s imagined experiences effortless; the spare spikiness is also a salutary contrast to the elephants’ rounded forms and general adorableness. 

Martha V. Parravano

Seven Impossible Tweaks Before Breakfast

 

http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=2122

Happy Easter

Tweak Tweak: Kirkus Review

This book presents a pretty and friendly world, in which Mama Elephant is blue, Little Elephant is white and rosy, the sand is peach and every animal wears an expression of contented amusement. (...) As they walk, Little imagines climbing an acacia tree like the monkeys, flying with a very anthropomorphic and beruffled butterfly and singing like a bird, only to learn what elephants do instead. Mama praises her for asking questions, so she can learn and grow to be "a big, strong, smart, beautiful elephant"—just like her Mama, suggests Little Elephant. In a nice touch, it is Little who leads Mama back home, past all the animals they saw on their walk.

Captures exactly and sweetly a developmental ideal for both child and parent.

Tweak Tweak: Booklist Review

 

On a walk in the wild, Little Elephant asks her mother about each creature they see: What is it? What is it doing? And can Little Elephant do that, too? "Can I jump like a frog?" she asks on one spread, and the soft-toned, line-and-wash illustrations show the young animal imagining herself leaping from a cliff. (...) Young children will enjoy following Little Elephant's fantasies, depicted in the uncluttered, double-page spreads, all the way to the story's climax, which celebrates what Little Elephant really is, as well as the big, strong creature she will grow up to be. Along with the imaginative silliness, the nurturing parent-child tenderness is the core of the story. 

Hazel Rochman

Tweak Tweak: Publishers' Weekly Review

In this tender story from Bunting (Will It Be a Baby Brother?), Mama Elephant advises Little Elephant to "tweak twice," by pulling on her tail, if she has any questions while they go for a walk. And at almost every turn of the page, Little Elephant does. Ruzzier's delicate lines and subdued colors match the tenor of the text, as Little Elephant asks her mother to identify various animals (a frog, a monkey, a bird, etc.), then wonders if she can also jump, climb, or sing. "Can I sing like that?" Little Elephant asks. "No, because you are not a bird.... But you can trumpet--like this. RO-OAR!" Ruzzier (Hey, Rabbit!) warmly conveys the small elephant's emotions and the reactions of other animals in fantasy spreads that show the elephant leaping between cliffs, swimming, and soaring through the sky. Despite the quiet plot and gentle tone, ample sound effects give the story pep, and the tail-pulling is a fun elephantine analogue to the way toddlers pull on a parent's pant leg or skirt hem with questions of their own.

From the Spring 2011 Clarion catalogue

To see the whole catalogue go here.

Tweak Tweak

I am very happy to announce that next spring Clarion will publish my next book: Tweak Tweak, a picture book for little children written by Eve Bunting. For the few who don't know this, Eve Bunting is an extraordinary writer who has written more than 250 books so far. You can learn more about her in a lot of places, for example here. Reading Rockets has a charming video interview with Ms. Bunting.

Here's the cover!