Since Brian Floca won the Caldecott last year for Locomotive, you can bet this year’s committee will be taking a look at his 2014 picture book. Written by long-distance swimmer Lynne Cox, this is a factual account of a particularly incorrigible elephant seal and the Christchurch, New Zealand, community that eventually made way for her. […]
Worlds collide
March 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Readers of this blog will know exactly why I am linking to this month’s School Library Journal‘s cover story: kudos to Brian Floca, Locomotive, and our own Robin Smith!
Studio Views: Pen, Ink, Watercolor, Repeat
February 19, 2014 by 1 Comment
I began my illustration career with black and white work. I was much more of a drawer than a painter, much more comfortable with line than with color. One of the things that attracted me to the combination of pen-and-ink and watercolor back then was that watercolor’s transparency allowed me to create color pieces while […]
Mr. Tiger Goes Wild and Locomotive: Compare and Contrast
January 16, 2014 by 8 Comments
On Tuesday Robin took a second look at Journey and Mr. Wuffles!; today I am grouping another two books with, perhaps, little in common except their excellence, their top-notch production values, their presence on many mock Caldecott winning ballots—and the distinct possibility that they’ll find a place on the real Caldecott table in Philadelphia. Can […]
Locomotive
September 25, 2013 by 8 Comments
The first thing you notice about Brian Floca’s Locomotive is its big, bold size and square shape. Jonathan Bean’s Building our House has a larger-than-average trim size as well, but this is different. This one has a lot more bells and whistles (literally: “CLANG-CLANG CLANG-CLANG” “WHOO-OOOOOO”). This one is in-your-face big; this one has a steam […]
Review of Locomotive
September 4, 2013 by 1 Comment
Locomotive by Brian Floca; illus. by the author Primary, Intermediate Jackson/Atheneum 64 pp. 9/13 978-1-4169-9415-2 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4424-8522-8 $12.99 Talk about a youth librarian’s dream come true: a big new book about those ever-popular trains from a bona fide picture-book-nonfiction all-star. Striking cinematic endpapers lay the groundwork, describing the creation of the Transcontinental […]
