Author Visit: Monica Wellington

It was a delight to have author/illustrator Monica Wellington as our guest yesterday.  Monica has written and illustrated Apple Farmer Annie, Pizza at Sally's, Mr. Cookie Baker, and other food-related picture books.  (Each of these has recipes at the end of the book and have, hence, become part of our cookery collection).  Laura's and Erica's class had very insightful questions to ask her.

We learned that the first sketch is done in pencil and is called a "dummy".

Next comes the color. Monica uses colored pencils and gouache paint. We spotted the differences between the original sketch and the final version.

"Squeaking of Art" includes references to many of Monica's favorite works of art.

George O'Connor brings Athena and Zeus to 4th & 5th graders in the Library!

Author/cartoonist George O'Connor was our special guest on May 28th.  He presented a "how to draw" workshop, taking students through the step-by-step process of creating a Cyclops or Athena figure.  What a great way to wrap up Rachael & Kenton's class study of mythology and also capitalize on kids' passion for graphic novels and Greek mythology in Ms. Baron/Ms. Nye's 5th grade class.  There are 10 more books planned in this exciting series.

George has promised to post all of their drawings on his website, www.olympiansrule.com.

Illustrator Visit: Andrew Glass

Andrew Glass, illustrator--and parent of Catherine ('15)--talked to Katie's and Debbie's classes about his work as an illustrator, beginning with showing how every pocket he had was filled with a little notebook, so he is always prepared to sketch his ideas and what he observes.  Andrew is currently working on a historical fiction picture book about flying cars!

Author Visit: Geoffrey Hayes

Geoffrey Hayes, creator of the Benny and Penny series for Toon Books, visited with Laurie's PreK/K and Ms. Zaccardi/Ms. Lee/Ms. Hernandez' 1st graders in the Library. He read and talked about Benny and Penny and the Toybreaker. (Many of us can think of a cousin or younger sibling toybreaker in our lives.)  Geoffrey also treated us to a demonstration of his drawing techniques.