CORDUROY!

16" x 13" framed collage

Another collage that I am making available for purchase is based on the children's book Corduroy by Don Freeman. Corduroy lives in a fancy department store but he is missing a button. A little girl named Lisa is walking through the department store with her mother and spies the teddy bear. She loves him immediately and asks her mom if she can have him. Her mother's response, "Not today, dear. Besides he doesn't look new." Corduroy did not know he was missing a button and comes to life that night in the department store to search for a new button. Readers of all ages love the idea of a toy coming to life, but I admire this story most because it is ultimately about friendship and belonging. Reading this book with your students or your child provides a wealth of discussion topics and so it's no surprise that Corduroy was named one of the Top 100 Great Children's Books by the New York Public Library.

Shop your local indie bookstore.

Shop your local indie bookstore.

Shop your local indie bookstore.

Shop your local indie bookstore.

Author Don Freeman was an extremely interesting person. As a graphic artist, he sketched street life and New York City Theatre Life for 20 years. He wrote Corduroy and A Pocket for Corduroy but all other Corduroy books are based on his characters. Freeman also wrote several other children's books including the Caldecott Honor book Fly High, Fly Low.

If you have a spot for Corduroy in your home contact me for pricing.  I also encourage you to make Corduroy part of your classroom or home library. Corduroy books make great gifts. More information on Corduroy Books can be found here or click on my fast links below the books to check out these great reads.

IT'S A COLLAGE!

Shop your local indie bookstore.

In case you missed it! I've been a collage artist for many years but only recently have had the courage to start sharing some of my favorite pieces. 

The framed collage below is based on the book I Love My Hair! by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley and illustrated by E.B. Lewis. The collage grew from a very tattered paperback with pages falling out. 

This is a fabulous book that I read to hundreds of students as a teacher in Boston. (See Ms. M’s Materials on Ms. M’s Mass Media). 

It can take me several weeks to complete a collage. My visual art process starts with writing and I create a précis of the story. A précis is a summary of the story that includes the critical elements. I like to think of it as the essence of the story. I ask myself, what words could tell this story completely if I could only use a few sentences? This is like the process I might use when I introduce a story to my students. What is this book about? Why am I reading it to my class? Why is this an important book to share? In the case of I Love My Hair the text that appears in the final collage is a combination of the the original précis and the pictures that I used to tell the story. Not everyone can own my collage, but everyone can read the book. I hope that all my collages encourage MORE reading.

I’ve made quite a few Recycled Stories since my first and do not have the wall space to keep all my beloved art. The one-of-a-kind collage is framed and measures 18” x 22” and comes complete with a new, hard cover copy of I Love My Hair!  Contact me for pricing on the collage if you have a place for this gem in your world!