Saying Goodbye to Leo Dillon 1933- 2012

Awarding winning and groundbreaking illustrator Leo Dillon died on May 26th.  The first I heard of Dillon's passing was when I stopped by illustrator Shadra Strickland's blog yesterday.  Today a friend sent me the link to Dillon's obituary in Publishers Weekly.

The first picture book that I read that was  illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon was Honey I Love by Eloise Greenfield and I was hooked ever since.

Leo along with his wife/ artistic partner have given so much to children's literature.  Together they opened doors, along with a few others and  made publishing industry pay attention to the beauty of diversity.   Looking at their work always puts a smile on my face. So when I think of Leo Dillon I will visualize myself reading The People Who Could Fly (a gorgeous classic) or  Why Mosquitoes Buzz in Peoples Ears or any of the numerous picture books the Dillon's have illustrated with their signature style that is so easy to love

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I am going to continue on for bit but only because  I think Leo Dillon would approve (or at least I hope so).  

Award winning illustrator R. Gregory Christie is opening Gas Art Gifts an art studio/children's bookstore in Atlanta, GA's North Dekalb Mall. 

Through The Youth Innovators Program, GAS-ART GIFTS will to expand its reach into the community by providing an opportunity for youth to explore the art fashion design, illustration and entrepreneurship. Each group of youth will be engaged in 12 hours of learning.

Since I live in Atlanta I have had the opportunity to see Christie's space and I like it a lot.  See for yourself    Christie has a funding campaign at Indiegogo until Saturday June 23rd, to raise money to help give back the gift of art.

I am very excited about Christie's new endeavour.  Even more so after getting to meet Christie, who is very nice and hearing him talk about how much wants to give back the community through Gas Art Gifts. 

I thought long and hard about whether or not it would be appropriate to include information about R Gregory Christie's new project   in a post about Leo Dillon passing. In the end I decided that yes it was;Leo Dillon was an artist gave simply by doing what he did best and Christie is an artist is looking to give back.   Plus I'd must rather end on a note of possibility then one of loss. 

The Great Cake Mystery - Alexander McCall Smith, Iain McIntosh

The Great Cake Mystery by Alexander McCall Smith, Illustrations by Iain McIntosh
The author has a bestselling mystery series called The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency. The stories are quaint and a whole lot of fun.  Since I am a fan of the series, I was excited to discover that the author wrote an early chapter featuring Precious Ramostswe, the detective in the series, in her very first case.

In The Great Cake Mystery, readers are introduced to a young Precious Ramotswe who like her adult self lives in Botswana.  Precious loves to listen to her dad's stories, but she can always tell when it starts turning into a tall tale.  Precious pays attention and listens she knows when someone isn't telling the truth.  These are two very important skills for a detective.  When Precious's dad suggest she become a detective, she thinks its a good idea.     

When food starts going missing at school, Precious gets are first case must sooner than expected.  Everyone in the class but Precious, believe a boy named Polowko is the thief.  Precious knows he's innocent and must prove it to clear his name. 

I very much enjoyed this introduction to a young Precious Ramostswe.  McIntosh wonderful illustrations and the short chapters make this an excellent for young readers who are mystery fans and new to chapter books

An excerpt 

Best Shot in the West - Patricia & Fredrick McKissack, Randy Duburke

Best Shot in the West by Patricia C. McKissack & Fredrick L McKissack Jr illus. by Randy Duburke
This is a graphic novel based on the life of Nat Love who was born into slavery in 1854 and grew up to become a famous cowboy.  The author's based this graphic novel off of Love's autobiography.  "The Life and Adventures of Nat Love.

I was confused by the first few pages, it felt as if I was thrown into Nat Love's post cowboy life as a porter. Being unfamiliar with Nat Love's life, a part of me even wondered if I was reading the right story.    An old friend visits and convinces Love to write about his cowboy days.  Love begins by recounting his years as a slave.  After slavery is abolished Love earns a living by breaking horses, the first step to becoming a cowboy.

I did not  connect with this graphic novel textually or visually.  Part of problem was that I was still out of sorts from the early confusion. However I did try to compartmentalize, focusing only on what was in front of me and it still didn't work from. From a textual standpoint I felt it lacked the excitement  a cowboy story should have.  Within the panels the clarity of the faces drawn varies. I would've preferred if Duburke committed to using one style.

The story  focuses a lot of the camaraderie of the cowboys as they take on dangerous jobs, like herding cattle.   There's also much time spent on the battles between cowboys and Indians. Seeing Indians portrayed as the bad guys in Best Shot in the West, made me cringe. 

"We'd just left Dodge City after driving a herd of cattle. Our time there was not well spent: we'd boozed it up pretty good.  I believe I'd left my good sense there. As we passed the fort, I got the notion that we could use a cannon back at the ranch to protect us from rustlers and Indians."

Good or bad history is what  it is and can not be changed nor should it be rewritten. While I am against the rewriting history I am all for having a supplement in the back that places the history of this context.  I got off on the wrong foot with this graphic novel and it never got better. 

I am linking this post to Non Fiction Monday. This weeks round up can be found at Apples with Many Seeds.

Flora's Fury - Ysabeau S. Wilce

Flora's Fury by Ysabeau S. Wilce
This is the third book in the Flora series. I read and loved, Flora Segunda, the first one but somehow I missed the second one. Reading the second one first would've been the smart thing to do, but I decided to mix it up a bit and go ahead and read Flora's Fury first. 
It's been awhile since I read Flora Segunda so it was very nice to see Flora again and get lost in Wilce's writing.  Flora can't practice magic and must hide who she really is. If her true identity is discovered she will be killed.  So Flora has a very strict quiet life doing paper work as a Lieutenant in the Army.  But Flora risks everything to find her well hidden mother.  Flora's quest could put her in the hands of the people who supposedly killed her mother and would love to do the same to her. 
One of the great things about this series is watching Flora grow up.  Even without reading the second one (yet) I could still appreciate the pacing and care Wilce's is taking with Flora who is maturing in a very natural manner.  Now Flora is torn about her feelings for two guys, Udo who she has grown up with and Sieur who she meets on this newest adventure.  

Wilce's writing is pitch perfect from the dialogue, confrontations, banter to those moments meant to creep scare and frighten.  Flora is a well crafted three dimensional character and very easy to love.  The author surrounds Flora with great secondary characters, adding another level of depth to this wonderful series.  Also I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity. The author doesn't make a big deal out of it (which I enjoyed as well) but it is there to be seen for those who are paying attention. Flora's Fury is over 500 pages, but  I was so into the story they flew by.  

An excerpt via the publisher

Happy Families - Tanita Davis

Happy Families by Tanita Davis
Ysabel and Justin Nicholas are twins from a happy home.  Their parents encourage and support their extracurricular activities.  This cohesive family unit, also includes a set of grandparents that live close by.  The story alternates between Ysabel and Justin.  In the first few chapters the author gives the reader the opportunity to see the Nicholas family in the before, when their joy was second nature.  In the after the twins are trying to understand their dad's secret, that he self identifies as transgender, this revelation forces the Nicholas family to rediscover their happiness which always came so easily.
 Davis gives Ysabel and Justin their own personalities and developments them so one can not help but get invested in their stories.  Caring about the twins means also caring about the family as a whole. The twins will be spending spring break with their dad. It is the first time Ysabel and Justin will be with their dad, since he stopped having to hide a part of who he is from his family.  Through the twins, the  reader learns how important family and faith are to the Nicholas. 

I always enjoy Davis's straight forward approach as well as her ability to create realistic and engaging characters.  Davis has written three very different YA novels, however they all have a common core, family.  And the author excels at creating well round novels centered around families.

Kirkus review  
An excerpt via Random House
Happy Families is the antidote to the "I'm a Christian unless disease" by Ashley Hope Perez