Tag Archives: dog

Go Big! It’s Broadway!

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Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and get ready to boogie woogie with Latte the dalmatian dog…it’s a massive parade down Broadway, and you’re invited! We were delighted to host author and illustrator Laura Ann Trimble Elbogen, who wowed the crowds with her energy and enthusiasm. And don’t miss our chat with her at the end of the post!

We read Latte’s Broadway Boogie Woogie by Laura Ann Trimble Elbogen (Laura Ann Studio, 2023). Latte the dalmatian and the girl in red have a special horse-drawn delivery for a wedding. But as they encounter more and more musicians, the entire endeavor turns into a lively parade of trombones, clarinets, drums, piano, and dancing New Yorkers. Based on snappy beats of boogie woogie music, this book will get you up and marching!

At the heart of the book is a sweet dog named Latte, so for our project we made box dogs kids could pull on a clear elastic strings. Instructions for that project can be found here. However, we also added a sassy little plastic cape to the pup, just like Latte in the story. We also wanted kids to be part of the musicality of the book, so we distributed jingle bell bracelets as well (though some quickly became anklets!).

One of the interesting things about the book is that the illustrations are based on Dutch artist Piet Modrain’s painting “Broadway Boogie Woogie.” Laura brought a print of it with her, as well as examples of boogie woogie music. It was very lively!

I caught up with Laura after story time to chat about her book, and the fabulous inspirations behind it!

Hi Laura! Tell us a little about yourself!

I am a San Francisco based author-illustrator, artist founder of Laura Ann Studio, and mom of three. I studied art history and played tennis at Princeton. My husband and I are both Class of 2007 graduates. When we got married we led our own wedding parade from the Princeton University Chapel to T-Sweets ice cream.

At story time, you brought in a print of a painting that inspired your book’s artwork…can you tell us a little bit about it?

I fell in love with the painting “Broadway Boogie Woogie” (1942-43) by the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian on my lunch break when I was an intern at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Mondrian moved to New York City from the Netherlands to escape World War II and he fell in love with American jazz. He painted in primary color squares and lines that in this painting are meant to evoke the bright lights and energy of the city, from the people and taxis to the jazz and Broadway theater district.

Can you also tell us about boogie woogie music and dance?

I used to boogie woogie swing dance with my grandparents who grew up with boogie woogie music and dance and it was so much fun! The term was coined by pianist Clarence “Pinetop” Smith in 1928, almost 100 years ago! His quick playing rhythmic piano blues style became so popular it evolved into the big band jazz and swing dancing era that Mondrian would have seen and heard in New York City when he painted “Broadway Boogie Woogie.” Maybe he heard Tommy Dorsey’s big band song “Boogie Woogie” when he was walking down Broadway?

We based our story time project on Latte, the little dalmatian dog in a red cape. Does this character have an origin story?

When I first moved to New York City after college it was like heaven for me! Born and raised in Indianapolis, I was a Midwest girl living the New York City dream working in fashion and the arts. On the weekends I really felt like I was living the dream if I could take a blanket to Central Park and camp out with a latte, the New York Times, and my sketch book. I also did a lot of Saturday morning sketching and latte drinking at a wonderful hole in the wall coffee shop called Arte Around the Corner on the upper west side where I would read, sketch, and people watch. I spotted a lot of great dogs in those days. Sadly I’m allergic to dogs, but of all the dogs I watched I loved Dalmatians the most for their curious, happy energy, the skip in their step, and the friendly wag of their tail.

Tell us more about New York City…how did the it inspire your writing and illustrations?

I love New York City so much! Much of my time there I spent living on the upper west side just behind Lincoln Center. One of my favorite things to do on a sunny summer evening was to walk home from work along Broadway through the great public parks and plazas. When I ran programs and organized a festival called Archtober, Architecture and Design Month in New York City, we ran “Building of the Day” tours all around the city. I was constantly observing, appreciating, and sketching the urban design and architecture of the city.

What other exciting projects are you working on?

Latte’s Broadway Boogie Woogie is the first story in the Latte and the Goldmatians series. Sequels are coming! I’m also excited about a commissioned watercolor painting series and product line that I’m working on that empowers women in politics. Stay tuned for when Laura Ann Studio turns 15 this fall!

See SPOT Play

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See SPOT walk, see SPOT climb, see SPOT dance! This spring, we had the opportunity to host a very unusual guest at story time!

Meet SPOT, a four-legged robot created by Boston Dynamics. He lives on Princeton University campus and is part of a course titled “Robots in Human Ecology: A Hands-on Course for Anthropologists, Engineers, and Policymakers.” SPOT arrived with an amazing team of undergraduate handlers, plus plenty of plush toys to share.

Vivian Chen, Marisa Hirschfield, Aaron Serianni, Vasumathi Venkat, Zoe Rhodes

We started the program reading Boy + Bot, written by Ame Dyckman and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino (Knopf Books, 2012). The story is about the playful interactions between a boy and a robot, which fit perfectly with SPOT’s dynamic nature. After the book concluded, we had a short, 10 minute design activity in which young future engineers drew their own personal robots, and earned a paw print approval sticker from Team SPOT:

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Then it was time for the big show as SPOT entered the gallery!

The students did a fantastic job putting together a demo, answering endless questions from the audience, and just being enthusiastic about sharing what they study. One of my favorite parts was when they demonstrated how SPOT can be programmed to read and follow fiducials, which are basically QR codes representing numbers. SPOT scans the code, finds the number, and then completes a pre-programmed action associated with the number (like moving forward, turning, or extending his arm).

I asked Zoe Rhodes (seen above) what was the best lesson she learned from SPOT this semester. She replied:

“I would say the best lesson I learned from working with SPOT is the importance of making mistakes. We love it when things work out but most of the time we’re dealing with mistakes. But as I’ve worked with SPOT I’ve realized that these mistakes teach us so much more about ourselves and our capabilities than when things go correctly. It sounds a little cliche to say we learn from our mistakes but that’s really what robotics (and most things in life) are about. SPOT may fall down but we pick him right up and try again. In my opinion this makes the end product so much more fulfilling and exciting.”

I posed the same question to Vivian Chen, who added:

“The best lesson I learned from working with SPOT is patience goes a long way when working with robots and new technology!”

It was a truly magical story time, THANK YOU so much to the students and to professors Alexander Glaser and Ryo Morimoto for putting together such a tremendous program!

Love is All You Need :)

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What do you do when your friends need some support? You make room for them of course! We had an awesome visit from author & illustrator Barbara Valenza, who shared her book and brought a VERY special stuffed friend with her! Don’t miss the interview with Barbara after the project in this post!

We read Little Lovedog’s Long Walk Home by Barbara Valenza (Potato Publishing, 2021). It’s time for Little Lovedog’s birthday, but no one wants to come to his party. The dachshund begins to sadly trudge home. But what’s this? Along the way, he meets a number of animals who could really use a lift on his long back. Soon, the entire gang arrives home with Little Lovedog, ready to party and celebrate his big day!

Annnnnd update! Little Lovedog’s Long Walk Home won a 2023 Rubery Book Award, was a finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award, and won Honorable Mention at the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards. Way to go Barbara and Little Lovedog!

You’ll need:

  • 2 boxes (ours were 4.5” X 4.5” x 9” craft boxes, but large tissue boxes work too!)
  • 1 paper cup
  • 1 jumbo pom pom
  • Construction paper
  • String or yarn
  • A variety of small boxes and cups
  • Scissors, tape, and glue for construction
  • Markers for decorating

This project is basically a simple pull strong box dog (very similar to this one). Just add a paper cup muzzle, a pom pom nose, some ears, eyes, and a tail! We used a ribbon to create the collar, and a piece of yarn as the leash. We also couldn’t resist adding some little heart stickers.

However! Since Little Lovedog is a story about a dachshund, we nested one box inside another to create an expanding pup that can carry lots of friends on its back!

Next, we made five friends with various little cups and construction paper. We also added some snippets of self-adhesive foam to the sides of the cups to prevents them from sliding off the dog’s back.

And while the kids were working on those animals, their dogs took a little rest on our windowsill:

Kids then placed their animal cups around the gallery and took a walk with their dogs, picking up friends as they went! The journey ended at the Lovedog family’s mailbox, where Barbara was waiting to hand out heart erasers and special bookmarks!

We also had a drawing for three super cute gift bags with signed copies of the book and a very furry stuffed dachshund. CUTENESS.

I was delighted to catch up with Barbara after story time, and ask her a few questions!

Please tell us a little about yourself!

Storytelling has been one of my favorite things to do since…forever! I remember when I was about seven years old, my best friend and I would sit under a cherry tree, writing and drawing stories about little animals. I carried my love of storytelling to college with me, where I earned a degree in communications and theatre. After college, I moved to New York City where I worked in the art department of Jim Henson Productions (The Muppets—super fun), and then in educational publishing at an editorial and design firm with wonderful clients like Scholastic and the Museum of Natural History. I have worked for many years in professional communications from public relations to branding and messaging to graphic design. No matter what form of storytelling I’m working on, I just love the way images and words complement each other to bring a story to life, and that is definitely at the heart of picture books!

How did Little Lovedog’s Long Walk Home come about?

One of the things that makes me really mad is bullying, especially when someone is made fun of for being seen as different from others. I was working on a completely separate story about cats and dogs not getting along when I drew an unusually long dachshund. The minute I saw him, I knew he was the one getting bullied. I just fell in love with him. He was so full of love with no one to share it with. And so, Little Lovedog’s story began. I thought about being little and those awful feelings of being laughed at or being lonely because no one wants to come to your party. I asked myself questions: Where does he go after being laughed at? What happens on his way home? As he began his long walk home, the one thing that quickly came to light was his spirit of kindness, regardless of being bullied. I really wanted him to wind up surrounded by love with lots of new friends.

There are a lot of characters Little Lovedog carries in the story – do any of them have special significance to you?

Actually, it’s the dog who follows Little Lovedog home who makes me smile the most. He’s at the beginning of the story near the crowd of other dogs who are making fun of Little Lovedog, but he’s not laughing with them. I think maybe he has been bullied too, for being small, for being a Chihauhau (the number one smallest dog breed!). But, he thinks for himself and does the right thing—he’s nice to someone who needs a friend. He even brings a new balloon to cheer Little Lovedog up.

What’s the best part of reading your book aloud to kids?

Oh, my gosh! Their reactions are priceless. One little girl, who couldn’t have been more than two, kept coming up during a reading pointing at Little Lovedog and saying his name. And one little boy, who found out I draw my illustrations using color pencils, asked me to come over and draw with him because he has color pencils too. I just love when they all react happily to Little Lovedog ultimately having the best birthday ever. And I hope it stays with them—celebrating our differences.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on a new picture book about animals trading places and learning to be their true self as well as more stories about kindness triumphing over bullying!

Many thanks for Barbara Valenza (and her adorable homemade stuffed Little Lovedog) for coming to our library and sharing your fabulous story with us!