Tag Archives: author

Say it with Sunflowers

Posted on by

What could be better then a big brilliant sunflower? Why, a sunflower that also shares good thoughts and positive messages with everyone! It’s a colorful craft project with a lot of heart, much like the author of this very special story time book.

We read Hubie by Barbara Valenza (Potato Publishing, 2021). Hubie is an unhappy horse who seems to attract bad feelings and problems. Overwhelmed, he shouts for help…and help arrives! A brilliant creature kindly explains that Hubie is a magnet, attracting both positives and negatives. She encourages him to learn from the negatives, and focus on the positives. Taking her lessons to heart, Hubie transforms his life from misery to joy.

Barbara Valenza has been featured on our blog before! Take a look at the wonderful story time and interview for her picture book, Little Lovedog’s Long Walk Home.

You’ll need:

  • 1 paper towel tube
  • 1 small box, bucket, cup, or flower pot
  • Construction paper
  • A butterfly template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock
  • Scissors, tape, and glue for construction
  • Markers for decorating

Our sunflower construction was very basic…a paper towel tube served as the stalk, and then we attached construction paper petals and leaves. If you’d like to add a little texture, use cardboard to create the sunflower’s face, then glue brown tissue paper fringes on it:

In the story, Hubie the Horse uses a dented bucket for his sunflower, so we snagged these cute mini buckets on Amazon. But a box, paper cup, or flower pot works just as well. We also added green crinkle paper around the sunflower’s base to steady the stalk. Now for the message butterflies!

Color and cut the butterflies from the template, then add a tag with a positive message on it. You can attach the message butterflies directly to the sunflower, or you can do what we did and turn them into magnets! Our magnetic butterflies attached to the metal buckets, but we also slipped paperclips on the petals for the butterflies to rest on. Gift a message butterfly to friends and family, and they can proudly display them on their fridges!

We also had a special surprise for our story time kids. Barbara Valenza famously sewed stuffed animals of her book characters (check out her Little Lovedog dachshund). Well, here’s Hubie, her awesome horseshoe magnet horse:

As a nod to her marvelous sewing skills, we had a drawing for a GIANT stuffed horse at story time. Here’s our happy winner…she was quite enamored, and her Dad emailed me later and shared that she insisted it sleep next to her that night.

This story time was full of love, laughter, positivity, joy, and delight. This was very intentional, as it was also a celebration of Barbara herself, who passed in February 2024. Hubie has a special place in my heart, and I was extraordinarily honored to share her final book with our community.

One last magical thing. Barbara’s husband Mark came to the event and brought copies of Hubie for every family! It was incredibly generous, and I very much want to thank him for coming and celebrating with us. Kids weren’t even waiting until they left the library to enjoy the story of sweet Hubie the Horse.

The Young Federalist

Posted on by

It’s not everyday you get to hold history in your hands! But when Princeton University sophomore Abigail Readlinger gifted us a copy of her children’s novel, I just had to facilitate a connection between her love of American history and our special collections. Later, I asked Abigail to write about her experience and share the inspiration for her charming book…

Firestone Library’s Special Collections gave me the chance to travel through time. Among its vast array of original documents and fundamental texts is Alexander Hamilton’s very own copy of The Federalist Papers. Writing in the late 1780’s, Hamilton—along with John Jay and James Madison—drafted this series of eighty-five essays in hopes to encourage the ratification of the new Constitution. These Federalist Papers, as evidenced by their substantial contribution to the adoption of our government, are ones of profound and utmost importance. They reveal the nature of American political thought and a corresponding guide by which we ought to live by.

I myself am somewhat obsessed when it comes to The Federalist Papers. Forced to read them during my freshman year of high school, I became immediately attached. I had always loved American history, and The Federalist Papers seemed to transport me directly into the minds of our great Founding Fathers. Desperately bored during the pandemic, but armed with my love for The Federalist Papers, I began to write what is now a published children’s book: The Young Federalists.

The Young Federalists. Written by Abigail Readlinger and illustrated by Stephanie Fliss Dumas. Mascot Kids, an imprint of Amplify Publishing Group, 2022

The story follows the journey of the Kennedy siblings—Reagan, AJ, and Dolley—as they travel through time, meet Alexander Hamilton and discuss (over a cup of tea!) the importance of Federalist No.1. Just as Hamilton endeavored to inspire his generation through his writing, so also do I hope to inspire mine. The value of the American way is timeless—from then to now, for old and for young.

So when I heard Hamilton’s personal copy of The Federalist Papers just so happened to be located in my own university’s special collections, I jumped at the opportunity to see it.

I still cannot quite articulate the feeling of flipping through the pages of a book both so informative in my life and belonging to one of my most beloved heroes. In 2024, author of The Young Federalists, I was holding the same book that Alexander Hamilton, author of The Federalist Papers, once held over two hundred years earlier.

The Federalist Papers. Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Just like the characters in my book, I was having my own time travel adventure. Visiting special collections, peering over the handwritten scribblings of Hamilton’s notes, and experiencing history hands on, has been by far one of my favorite Princeton experiences. There is so much to explore in our university’s incredible collection, and to have had this opportunity has really been beyond my wildest dreams.

Would you like to see inside this copy of The Federalist Papers? You’ll find a digitized version here. All are welcome to conduct research in Special Collections at Princeton University. If you are interested in visiting, you will find more information here. Do you have a question for Abigail? Email or visit her Instagram.

A Real Class Act

Posted on by

Fall weather is here, kids are back in school, and that means…school picture day! We put a fun twist on class photos when we invited awesome author and illustrator Mary Lundquist to our library. Check out her interview at the end of the post!

We read Cat & Bunny by Mary Lundquist (Balzer + Bray, 2015). Cat and Bunny are inseparable friends who do everything together. But when Quail asks to join the fun, Cat is unsure about sharing. So she runs away. Alone, she wonders what to do. A kitten arrives and play is well underway when Giraffe asks to join. This time, Cat barely hesitates, answering with a cheerful “Of course!” Soon, all the friends are playing together, including a joyfully reunited Cat and Bunny.

You’ll need:

  • 1 piece of cardboard or poster board
  • Construction paper
  • Scissors and tape for construction
  • Markers for decorating

We loved the book’s themes of sharing and togetherness, so we devised a card sharing activity and paired it with a customized class photo display!

First, the class photo display. The base of our display was a flat 12″ x 15″ cardboard box (we scored a bunch of them through this initiative). The front was decorated with construction paper (we also offered patterned tape as well as star, butterfly, and dot stickers). The pockets that held the “classmate cards” were strips of clear archival mylar. Below you can see a close up of a mylar pocket with the cards tucked inside:

The back of our boxes had flaps, so we hot glued a strategically-placed jumbo craft stick to the top flap, which allowed the class photo display to be propped up like an easel.

This project also works with a flat piece of cardboard or poster board and simple construction paper pockets. It’s super easy to modify!

Once kids had finished their class photo display boards, we had everyone gather on the gallery floor. Next, we distributed packs of cards containing the characters in the book. One kid had a pack of just cats, another had just bunnies, another had just foxes…you get the idea. When we said “Go!” the kids (and their caregivers) mingled, trading cards back and forth until they had a complete deck of all eleven unique characters.

As you can imagine, trading was brisk, and involved a lot of saying hi, talking, sharing, keeping track of your cards. It was so friendly, and so sweet.

There was one extra special bonus! Each deck had a blank card, so kids could draw themselves on the card as part of the class photo. OR…even BETTER…Mary Lundquist could draw you as one of her characters! Look at this Princeton tiger!

Mary was so fantastic to have at our library! Not only did she give a fabulous read aloud of Cat & Bunny, she did a free draw portion where kids voted on a new book character and she demonstrated how she illustrates!

Later, I caught up with Mary to ask her a few questions about her delightful work…

You have lived a LOT of places…California, Vermont, North Carolina, Maine, Cape Cod, and THREE different cities in the UK! How do these places manifest in your art?

The many places I have lived are certainly an influence on my art. Each place has its own architecture, fashion, flora and fauna and even weather! These have all made its way into my mind as I walk or drive or ride my bike through the places I have lived. I noticed it first when we moved from the UK to California because I began adding more vibrant colors into my palette. Lots of light blues and pinks, too. Colors I normally wouldn’t reach for suddenly felt natural. California has bright sun and vibrant colors, Vermont and Maine are very green with lots of old wooden houses and barns. England is not as colorful but there is a lot of lush countryside and the cities, towns and villages have beautiful old brick and stone buildings. I can look at my work and remember where I was when each piece was made!

In the story, Bunny is very outgoing, but Cat needs a little more time to say yes to new things. Are you more of a Bunny, a Cat, or neither?

This is a great question! The answer is that I am both. I wrote the story based on a strong memory from when I was about 4 or 5 and I had a best friend who I saw all the time. We watched The Princess Bride and played He Man and Shera! But when we got to kindergarten he started playing more with other boys than with me and I felt confused and hurt by the change. I was like Cat then. And just like Cat, I found new friends! I have always really loved having a best friend but I as I got older I became more outgoing and befriended new people much easier. It’s an important skill, especially when you move as often as I have. So I guess I started out like Cat but have grown to become more like them both.

In addition to writing two children’s picture books, you have illustrated books for other authors as well. What’s your process for bringing another artist’s characters to life?

I love illustrating for other authors because the collaboration inspires me to create work I wouldn’t have done otherwise. When I get a manuscript I first read it over slowly several times and just let the imagery come to me. Sometimes I see details of characters or scenes in my mind or sometimes more vague ideas of an image. I really get to know the story. Then I grab my sketchbook and begin drawing out the images as I read through the text. After I have drawn many different versions of characters and scenes there are always ones that stand out to me as the stronger ones. I draw a lot, many more ideas than what is ultimately in the final art. My sketches end up adding things which aren’t in the text but feel like a part of the story to me, maybe a gift is being given or there’s a campfire. Good writing leaves room for an illustrator (and reader!) to fill things in and my job is to imagine what that is and put it into pictures.

Do you have any new books or projects in the works?

Yes! I have just started working on a new picture book for a publisher but it’s too soon to share the details quite yet. I’m also writing two books of my own and hope to get them published in the future. Like many other places I’ve called home, Princeton has been inspiring to me (and I’ve made some great friends!). One of the books I’m writing takes place here and I hope to bring out the unique character of this interesting and beautiful town!

We’ll conclude this blog post in the spirit of which it began…autumn, back to school, and school photos. Can you guess who is who in these super fab library celeb photos???