Today's perfect picture book selection depicts an intergenerational friendship filled with love, humor, and a tinge of sadness. It starts when a young boy's errant soccer ball blasts its way into his neighbor's rose bushes. The boy, Jackson, writes a letter to his neighbor, Mr. Graham, apologizing and offering scones that he and his mother … Continue reading Dear Mr. G – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Some biographies take their subjects from cradle to grave. Others are slice of life narratives that show one important aspect of a subject's life. Kafka and the Doll is the latter. But the author, Larissa Theule, is careful to explain in her note to readers, that this work of historical fiction seeks to tell a … Continue reading Kafka and the Doll – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Occasionally, I read a picture book that makes me wonder how so few words can contain such depth. The answer is often a pesky critter that taps at a dark window, only to disappear when I turn to look. One thing I've noticed is that these kinds of picture books usually come from an author … Continue reading My Bison – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Today's perfect picture book confirms that, yes, a picture book can be vitally relevant to adults and children, relating basic truths about our lives and how we interact with our world. That the picture book as an art object can do this in so few words continues to thrill me. Fausto is a man accustomed … Continue reading The Fate of Fausto – Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF
Have you ever had an Amy Krouse Rosenthal (AKR) moment? Yesterday, I casually bought Terry Tempest Williams' book, "When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice." I read the title and decided to buy it. I didn't look inside. It just seemed like something I needed to read. When I opened it this morning, I … Continue reading Serendipity Strikes (AKR Moment)
So while I'm frantically revising picture book manuscripts to take to Highlights Summer Camp, Listen To Your Mother released the 2016 videos from shows in 41 cities. As promised, here's my piece in the San Francisco Show! It was a privilege and an honor to be on stage with such amazing women. Cheers! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s145rabK20
I was so moved by another writer's beautiful post about grief, including a picture book recommendation, that I wanted to share it for Susanna Leonard Hill's PPBF. Here's the book: And here's the post. Enjoy!! http://joycorcoran.com/2016/03/30/convergence-grief-books-life/ Title: Cry, Heart, But Never Break Author: Glenn Ringtved Illustrator: Charlotte Pardi Publisher: Enchanted Lion, 2016
It's official! I'll be performing at the Listen to Your Mother show in San Francisco on May 6th! I had submitted a humorous essay last year but was too ill to audition for the show after the piece was selected. Not content to submit the same piece this year, I wrote a new 800-word essay … Continue reading Listen to Your Mother – San Francisco
A little over a year ago, we gathered family and friends on an island in Muscongus Bay in Maine to celebrate Peter Hoffmann's (my father-in-law) life and bury his ashes in the island cemetery. It was a glorious day—sunny and warm—for a picnic, wine, and shared memories. Sarah, my mother-in-law, asked the kids to craft … Continue reading Setting Fire to the Origami Crane – For Sarah Briggs Hoffmann
Boredom Vice and Poverty arrived in my mailbox yesterday. And I mean that literally. It's the title (taken from Voltaire's Candide) of Michael Odom's most recent chapbook. Here's a stunning image from his poem titled "Boredom Poem #9:" "...in the chasm between life and life, philosophies breed and cannot help but swarm like bees with the queen on … Continue reading Poems for the Weak of Heart
Jilanne Hoffmann 