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HOU HSIAO HSIEN’S ‘THREE TIMES’: “I burn my hand with this lighter every time...
© 2015 by James Clark A film like Three Times (2005) comes to us as an exquisite joy and an excruciating horror. Hou Hsiao Hsien has conjured there an arresting exploration of the volatility of...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: A Fine Dessert
by Sam Juliano Mmmmm. Mmmmm. Mmmmm. Somewhere in the heavens Robert McCloskey is holding a copy of A Fine Dessert and is marveling at how the delectable results of berry picking have persevered over...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: Sweep Up the Sun
by Sam Juliano Jonathan Livingston Seagull was one of the best-selling books of the seventies. This spiritual novella is about self-perfection and soaring in flight. The work spawned a popular movie...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: Finding Spring
by Sam Juliano Maurice is a young bear with a chronic hankering to find something that others say he must patiently wait for. His first problem is that he doesn’t even really know what the object of...
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The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
by Allan Fish A little solitaire? Note: This review is part of the Frank Sinatra Blogathon run by Judy Geater and two others. The host site is Emily at The VintageCameo.com. p Howard W.Koch d...
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The Lady in the Van and firestorm review and thread of ‘A Fine Dessert’ on...
by Sam Juliano First off I want to thank the many readers who have responded en masse to the highly controversial and still running comment thread on the Caldecott Contender picture book A Fine...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: Special Delivery
by Sam Juliano “Chugga Chugga Chugga Beans Beans Beans” The conceit in Phillip C. Stead and Matthew Cordell’s delightfully anarchic Special Delivery is grandiose and economically prohibitive. A...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: The Bear Ate Your Sandwich
by Sam Juliano Julia Sarcone-Roach’s The Bear Ate Your Sandwich is the year’s dreamiest picture book. As such it takes a few viewings to focus, but when it kicks in one can never get enough of it....
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Caldecott Medal Contender: Flutter & Hum/Aleteo y Zumbido
by Sam Juliano At the outset of the author’s note in the back of Flutter & Hum (Aleteo y Zumbido) by Julie Paschkis is the startling revelation that the artist is neither Spanish nor a poet. She...
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Christmas, at home viewings and Aaron West on Monday Morning Diary (December 21)
by Sam Juliano Yuletide greetings are extended to all at the site, the readers and their families. We are just a few days away from Christmas 2015, and a week beyond that the ushering in of the New...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch
by Sam Juliano When Barack Obama was elected to the presidency in 2008 the nation was set on an uncharted course. The commander-in-chief was the first African-American to hold the highest office, and...
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HOU HSAIO HSIEN’S ‘FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON’: “You know, grownups are a bit...
© 2015 by James Clark One of the great attractions of Paris is the Musee d’Orsay, an art museum and a former railway station smack in the heart of the City’s fabulousness and specializing in...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: Oskar and the Eight Blessings
by Sam Juliano Oskar’s mother and father were firm believers in blessings. They lit the menorah, and were confident their faith would insure their safety. Then, on November 9, 1938 many German Jews...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: Float
by Sam Juliano There are some rare instances where you find that a picture book is so impeccably crafted and meticulously negotiated that you conclude you are looking at something indefectible. Such...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: Wolfie the Bunny
by Sam Juliano There are more carrots in the text and illustrations of Wolfie the Bunny than in any picture book since Creepy Carrots and there is even an unwitting homage to the earlier work by way...
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The Hateful Eight, Youth, Son of Saul and Joy on Monday Morning Diary...
by Sam Juliano The warmest December on record in the metropolitan area has resulted in a 70 degree Christmas and short sleeves for most, though the coming weeks are predicted to bring a semblance of...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: Voice of Freedom
by Sam Juliano Fannie Lou Hamer is an obscure name when one chronicles the forerunners of the civil rights movement in an elementary school classroom. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks have...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: Ketzel the Cat Who Composed
by Sam Juliano Cat lovers will be utterly charmed. Classical music aficionados will be transported. Those who profess an affinity for both will find Leslea Newman’s Ketzel the Cat Who Composed...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: I Used to Be Afraid
by Sam Juliano Fear is a common occurrence during the developmental years of children. In a positive sense they allow for an understanding of the causes of chronic consternation that will usually...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: Trapped!
by Sam Juliano The team that dazzled picture book aficionados with last year’s Edward Hopper Paints His World, and a series of other non-fiction titles over the years have again collaborated on a...
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