Tag Archive for All Welcome Here

Spread from “ALL WELCOME HERE”

Here’s a spread from my picture book, All Welcome Here, a series of connected haiku, illustrated by the great Mary GrandPre. I wrote this back in 2016, took a long while to become a book. I guess June of Covid 2020 wasn’t exactly a great time to launch a back-to-school title. Oh, rats. And I was so looking forward to sharing this book with young readers. Talking poetry, and community, and connection.

Still here for virtual visits. Look me up!

“Caldecott Honoree GrandPre captures the day’s variable moods in pictures of absorbed, interacting kids of various skin tones and abilities . . . a cheery take on the joy of camaraderie.” Publishers Weekly.

“Lively haiku pairs with vibrant art to showcase various facets of the first day of school . . . Expressive, mixed-media illustrations are an eye-catching blend of bright colors, patterns, and perspectives: the multicultural kids and adults further the sense of inclusiveness. With it’s reassuring and upbeat elements, this may also help alleviate first-day fers as it highlights the many positive opportunities that await.”Booklist.

PW Features ALL WELCOME HERE In Its Back-to-School Roundup

Well, gee, readers: Has there ever been a better time to come out with a back-to-school book?

Well, yeah, yeah, there has been a better time. Pretty much all other times would have been better.

Oh well!

Anyway, an aside: I thought this was funny in a funny-very-not-funny way.

 

The image was posted by a blogger, Christine Stevens, who teaches theater in a middle school. Click here for the full post that accompanies it. Or just stay for the headline: “Note from the Principal: This Fall Your Classroom Will be Equipped with a Lion.”

Ha, ha, oh crap.

The Lion is a Metaphor, Folks!

Good luck, my friends, and please take every precaution to keep yourself and your students safe. I’m worried about you.

Moving on to the real reason I invited you here . . . 

BACK TO SCHOOL BOOKS

That’s right! Regardless of how schools open, or not; regardless of how we teach and learn, online or in person; there are time-honored themes that feel especially appropriate for any school year — and, yes, maybe even especially for 2020.

Emma Kantor, writing for Publishers Weekly, put together a list of titles that she felt were particularly right for this time of year. I was happy to see All Welcome Here at the top of the (alphabetical) list:

While it remains uncertain if schools across the country will reopen for students this fall, we’ve gathered a selection of noteworthy books to get young readers back in the spirit of learning and connecting with teachers and classmates—in-person or at a distance.

Picture Books

All Welcome Here

James Preller, illus. by Mary GrandPré. Feiwel and Friends, June 16 $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-250-15588-7. Ages 4–7.

The creator of the Jigsaw Jones series switches creative tacks with this sequence of haiku that propels classmates through a busy opening day of school, highlighting their activities, personalities, and emotions. Caldecott Honoree GrandPré captures the day’s shifting moods in pictures of absorbed, interacting kids of various skin tones and abilities.

Here’s the full link, just stomp on it. Emma includes many books that look pretty great from where I’m sitting. Check ’em out.

Thank you very much, Emma, both Mary and I appreciate the support!

 

 

 

ALL WELCOME HERE Among 3 Titles Featured in This Back-to-School Roundup

“James Preller pays tribute

to all the big feelings

that bubble to the surface when

a new school year begins.”

 

I was delighted to come across this article in The Virginian-Pilot. My thanks to Caroline Luzzatto for the kind words and excellent recommendations. I’m looking forward to reading the other two books mentioned, especially The Word for Friend by Aidan Cassie. Esperanto, anyone? Good luck with your books, Selina and Aidan!

 

As a strange school year comes to a strange end, it’s easy to see the long summer ahead as a welcome break from worksheet packets or Zoom class meetings. But it’s a bittersweet feeling for so many students — including my own, who said, as we met for the last time, that they missed school and were looking forward to returning to class in a way they never had before. June seems like an odd time to page through a stack of back-to-school books — but they are landing in bookstores this month, in anticipation of a summer filled with longing and a fall that children and parents alike hope is full of promise.

“All Welcome Here” by James Preller, illustrated by Mary GrandPre.(Ages 4 to 7. Feiwel & Friends. $18.99.) In haiku form, James Preller pays tribute to all the big feelings that bubble to the surface when a new school year begins, from “all the bright new things” in the backpack to the end of the day, when “One question remains: ‘May we/ come back tomorrow?’ ” Mary GrandPre’s exuberant mixed-media illustrations show a diverse group of students at desks, rugs and library bookshelves, in a school that welcomes them as they ponder lunch, recess, name tags, and belonging: “At every desk,/A chair with tennis-ball feet,/A place just for you.”

“One Golden Rule at School: A Counting Book” by Selina Alko. (Ages 2 to 6. Henry Holt and Co. $17.99.) Selina Alko’s dynamic mixed-media illustrations give young readers so much to look at in this warm and welcoming book that offers not just a chance to count but also a message of community. The book counts up through the beginning of the day, then back down as the school day ends, offering a reassuring look at “ONE great day at school,” complete with “ONE golden rule” that encourages students to treat others as they wish to be treated.

“The Word for Friend” by Aidan Cassie. (Ages 4 to 8. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. $18.99.) Kemala is a high-spirited, talkative newcomer (and, incidentally, an adorable pangolin) ready to find her way when she comes to a new country with her mother. She gazes out the window: “Somewhere in her new town was her new school. It was filled with new friends.” And perhaps it is — but Kemala, unable to speak her classmates’ language, doesn’t know how to connect with them. Mortified by her future friends’ reaction to her own language, she curls into an armored ball (as pangolins do). But Kemala is too bold and energetic to be discouraged for long — and using the universal language of play, she finds one friend, and then many. Cassie’s tale is encouraging and warm, offering a peek inside the mind of a language-learner who doesn’t yet have the words to express herself. (An extra bonus for language fans: To make the experience universal, rather than particular to any country, the new language Kemala is learning is Esperanto, which is discussed in an endnote.)

 

True Support, and a Beautiful Idea

Two friends in TN sent me this shot. They are huge book people who make it a point to support the arts: they buy books. Recently they purchased a copy of my book All Welcome Here and placed it in a nearby Little Free Library. Pretty awesome if you ask me. Thanks, Lance and Jeannette!

A Letter to Educators, Summer Hours, & Zoom Thoughts

In the best of times, my creativity ebbs and flows. This past month, I’ve found it difficult to put a post together. Part of that is my own distracted, short-circuited mind; another aspect is a nagging sense that few people care anyway. I guess a lot of writers feel that way from time to time, though my case has been acute of late. Strangely, I’ve still been actively writing manuscripts. Good ones, too, I think. But I am a little disheartened about my place the industry; I’m just not confident that my recent stories will see the light of day. What’s a writer to do? A strange place to find myself after spending the past 35 years in the children’s book world. On the positive side, I completed a prequel/sequel to my middle grade novel Bystander, titled Upstander, which should come out sometime next year. No cover yet, still waiting to see what that will look like.

So if you are here now, reading this — thanks for that. I hope to never take you for granted. 

SUMMER HOURS

I generally cut back on ye olde blog posts in the summer, since a lot of my traffic seems to revolve around the school year. I’ll still post when I’m moved to do so, or if something spectacular comes up, though for the most time it’ll be quiet. But before we all pitch tents in our backyards, I wanted to share with you a publicity letter I wrote to “select” educators who expressed interest in my new book, All Welcome Here, illustrated by the legendary Mary GrandPre. 

ALL WELCOME HERE: A LETTER TO EDUCATORS

Dear Educator,

As an author who has worked in children’s books for more than half my life, I’ve visited hundreds of schools across the country. I always come away with a good feeling in my heart, not only because of the students, who are amazing, but also because of the vibrancy and intimacy of the classroom. I’m moved by the good work that people like you are doing, day after day, year after year, sometimes under extremely challenging circumstances. Online learning anyone?

Teachers can be counted on to open their hearts and their classrooms to every child who comes through that door. All those values we hold close to our core -– empathy, inclusion, kindness, community –- become a living reality in your classroom. This is the great promise of the American Experiment played out before our eyes. It truly works, you’ve seen it, and it’s beautiful.

I was inspired to write All Welcome Here early in 2016. The world as I knew it felt fractured and divided. Today, four years later, it seems all but shattered. But together we’re picking up the pieces, working to cobble together a better, brighter, more loving and ethical land of the free.

Please think of this book as my thank you for that great effort. I know you work hard to foster those values in your school community. Hopefully this book, so gorgeously illustrated by Mary GrandPre, will serve as a springboard for positive conversations between you and your students. Also, I hope that you find it to be entertaining, and funny, and joyful. Jon-Kim spilling his crayons, Chloe’s laughter, and the way a shy girl tentatively makes a new friend. Even the shaving cream behind Principal K’s ear. This book is my tribute to those everyday moments that happen in your school lives, day after day, year after year. Thank you for your valuable work.

Be safe, stay healthy, and good luck!

James Preller

 

ZOOM VISITS

I’ve enjoyed several Zoom and Google Meets Visits over the past few weeks. Some have been particularly meaningful, I think, making me a true convert to the value and impact of a properly structured Zoom Visit.

To me, the key figure in an online visit is the teacher. It is the teacher who inspires, who prepares, who builds anticipation, and who actively moderates (thank you, “mute button!”) an online visit. A Zoom Visit with one class can be a profoundly (and surprisingly) intimate experience. It is very much like stepping into a classroom for a loose, easy-going conversation between students and author.

And guess what? In normal times, that never happens. There’s no time for a visiting author to move from classroom to classroom; instead, we present to entire grades or multiple grades: hundreds of students at one time. That’s awesome and powerful, too. But a Zoom Visit can be inspirational in its own unique way. A standard in-person presentation is a broadcast with a short Q & A tagged on at the end; a Zoom Visit is more interactive, featuring more of a direct one-on-one connection.

I recently heard from an enthusiastic teacher on Long Island who wrote to me after a visit with her class. She said:

“I had to share some more feedback I have received from parents . . . you truly have influenced many of my students. I realize the technology was a bit of a pain, but the outcomes are so worth it! I cannot thank you enough for your time and inspiring words!!”

She included some follow-up emails from parents:  

“Danny was so jazzed up after this he wants our whole family to write a book. He has assigned us all jobs to do and he is the author. I never would’ve thought that he’d be so into this. Thank you again. I haven’t seen him this excited about something in a while.”

Here’s another:

“Super inspirational!!! And so so patient. Like when they asked the author similar questions he just patiently answered! It’s inspiring us (at home) to maybe build a mini library!”

Illustration by R.W. Alley from THE CASE FROM OUTER SPACE.

Note: I believe I talked about my love of Little Free Libraries, which I featured in Jigsaw Jones: The Case from Outer Space. Pretty cool if a family reads my book and turns around to build one of their own. That’s the literacy connection, how books bring us together and help build communities.

My point here is not to toot my own horn (though, obviously, I’m doing that), but to express again that I AM SOLD ON ZOOM VISITS.

I think we’ve still got to figure out the money — it has to be very affordable, but at the same time “more than free.” We can individualize visits, or even create recurring visits, around concrete themes. For example: haiku poems. We could talk about them, share them, learn together. Or writing mysteries. Last week I enjoyed a visit with a Texas librarian that centered around dialogue. 

In short, I think it’s more productive to think of a Zoom Visit not as “the James Preller show” but more of a unique way to bring an author into your classroom to directly connect with and inspire your students. 

Feel free to write to me at jamespreller@aol.com to discuss it. I’m open and flexible and eager to meet your students.

THANKS AGAIN FOR STOPPING BY!

 

-Z