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My very first memory is of lying on my stomach on the floor, a crayon in each hand, drawing large, colorful circles. My Mother's biggest fear was of running out of paper for me to draw on. I sat in front of the tv and drew through stacks of paper. If paper ran out, she salvaged envelopes and pieces of cardboard she'd thrown away for me to draw on. I filled up the margins of church bulletins on Sundays, drew on strips of wallpaper, napkins, any surface that wouldn't get me in trouble, and sometimes ones that did. My parents had a portrait photography studio in Clinton, NJ. My eyes were like a movie camera, taking in everything; the back steps leading into my parent's studio, the paints my mother used to color the black and white portraits my father took, the shelves of chemicals in the darkroom, made mysterious and a bit frightening by my Dad's claim that he was missing just one chemical to make nitroglycerine. That, in my mind, made him the most powerful man in our town! Dad's wooden bellows camera with a black cloth that he draped over himself as he focused, them snapped a picture, was the germinating seed for my book, The Fantastic Drawings of Danielle. My eye movie camera took in the books in our house, the gaucho spurs and Kabuki masks and carved Mexican bowls, and old, dark gnarly Victorian furniture in my grandparent's house, and the warm light in their living room at night. Out came the setting for my most recent book, Dahlia. But what my eye movie camera took didn't usually come out exactly as it went in. My parent's friends became cats, dogs, and foxes, dressed in tuxedos and ball gowns. My love of fantasy and animals shaped the stories of The Fantastic Drawings of Danielle and Molly And The Magic Wishbone. And I always mixed words up with pictures, like music and stories are mixed up together in opera. I loved making comic books, which are a lovely marriage of text and pictures, and picture books, the supreme combination of story and art. When I was nine, my sister, mother, and I moved to North Dakota. My stories and drawings took new shapes and forms as I rode my horse through fields and past haystacks ... I was a Sioux, I was a cowgirl, I was a pioneer. I attended Jamestown College in North Dakota, and moved to New York when I was ninteen to begin my life as a children's book author and illustrator. My books have won numerous awards, including a Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Dahlia as well as a Child Magazine award, four New York Times Best Books, two Time Magazine Best Books, many NY Public Library 100 Recommended Books, many Parents Choice, an ALA Notable Book, a NEBA, starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, SLJ, Kirkus and Horn Book. The Minneapolis Children's Theatre made a ballet/opera of Animal Fables From Aesop. I have also designed sets and costumes for their production of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I've illustrated two videos for Rabbit Ears Video Productions, and my artwork has appeared in The New York Times, and The New Yorker. Five of my books are in French and German editions. I now live in Windham, CT with my friend David Johnson, and two cats (Pip and Emma). And my eye movie camera is still going strong! |
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Adèle & Simon Price: $16.00 "'Please try not to lose anything today,' Adèle implores her little brother, Simon, as they begin their walk home from school. She might as well have asked the sun not to rise in the East, for at each stop along the way Simon loses something: first a drawing he had made, then his books, then one of his gloves. And so it goes until the children finally arrive at home, where Mama discovers that Simon has lost everything !... McClintock's beautifully restrained use of color may evoke a long-ago time, but her compositions are so dynamic that there's always something for contemporary children to discover." Starred Review - Michael Cart Copyright© American Library Association. All rights reserved The New York Times Book Review |
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Adèle & Simon in America Price: $16.95 "The young Parisian siblings from McClintock's well-loved Adèle & Simon embark on a second highly successful adventure, this time on a train journey through the United States with their Aunt Cécile. Sepia-colored endpapers trace their cross-country route on an old railway map, creating an early-20th-century setting, and the artist's characteristic ink-and-watercolor work depicts each of 12 destinations in impeccable period detail." Publishers Weekly |
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Animal Fables from Aesop Price: $10.95 OUT OF STOCK "The graceful full-color illustrations are both delicate and theatrical, as the limited cast reappears in various tales (four concern the fox, three the wolf, etc.) dressed as 18th- or 19th-century townspeople, with the dramatic gestures and facial expressions of humans. They move about against a backdrop of tall leafy trees, country roads and town houses both rich and poor, with several scenes for each little drama. The whole feel of this book is in the tradition of La Fontaine: gay, witty, full of charm and foible...." The New York Times Book Review |
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Price: $15.99 A retelling of the classic story. |
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OUT OF STOCK "Elegantly subversive and utterly charming comes a doll story with a sweet shot of reality. Porcelain colors and delicate line reign in the Victorian-style illustrations, full of verdant hills, beautifully appointed interiors, and lovely detail. When Charlotte gets the gift of a doll from her Aunt Edme, she is not pleased. In her little button boots with a pinafore over her blue dress, she explains to the doll that she and her teddy, Bruno, like climbing trees and making mud cakes. The doll seems to take to this, however, and Charlotte names her Dahlia because, in her froufrou getup, she looks like one.... Little girls already know that linen, silk, and ribbons aren't incompatible with insatiable curiosity and boundless energy, but it is nice to see that all tied up in a story with a favorite doll. " Kirkus Reviews BOSTON GLOBE/HORN BOOK HONOR BOOK |
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NO LONGER AVAILABLE "It is turn-of-the-century Paris, and Danielle loves to draw: "dancing storks and dashing foxes the more fantastic the better." Her photographer father encourages her to try realistic pictures, but Danielle's imagination is so wild it can't be restrained....The delicious celebration of creativity is grounded by McClintock's subtle portrait of the tiny family: Danielle's father will probably never understand her art, but he loves her and admires her resourcefulness. Enticing and an inspiration to young artists" Publishers Weekly |
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Price: $17.99 "An excellent rendition of an oft-told tale that demonstrates that there is always room for one more Gingerbread Man on the shelves. Aylesworth has done a perfect job of shaping the text to read aloud smoothly with good repetitive phrases that ring true, such as the Gingerbread Man's response to his pursuers: 'No! No!/I won't come back!/I'd rather run/Than be your snack!' The text is matched beautifully with an excellent layout and McClintock's illustrations.... They also are somewhat reminiscent of the work of Randolph Caldecott. McClintock's anthropomorphic animals are wonderfully realized, especially the wily fox, and the Gingerbread Man is a saucy fellow dressed in a blue jacket and hat, with hands on hips and a big smile. The book comes complete with a recipe on the back cover. A satisfying version in every way" School Library Journal |
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Price: $17.99 "The creators of The Gingerbread Man (1998) and Aunt Pitty Patty's Piggy (1999, both Scholastic) have produced another excellent rendition of a favorite folktale.This is a handsomely designed book, with heavy ivory pages, delicate frame borders, and an Edwardian typeface that changes in size to serve the story.At once antique and immediate, this Goldilocks will sassily invite herself onto library shelves everywhere" School Library Journal |
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Price: $15.99 Fans of Block's edgy novels and admirers of McClintock's traditional artwork will be equally surprised by this unusual yet successful pairing....Block sets her story in an antique dollhouse, ...Owned by lonely and "sour-faced" Madison Blackberry, the dollhouse is warm and cozy, and the nontraditional, deeply loving family that lives in it inspires the girl's jealousy; her own family is cold and distant, except for Grandmother (the dollhouse's original owner). Succumbing to her bad instincts, Madison takes out her boredom and jealousy on the unsuspecting dolls, who suffer greatly, yet wish only for her to be loved as they themselves have been. The small, slender book is generously imbued with McClintock's delicate b&w line art, including many full-bleed spreads depicting the elegance of the dolls' world...The tale's roots in the time-honored tradition of dolls' secret lives lend it weight, and the ending, though somewhat predictable, is satisfying.pw |
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Price: $16.99 "Admirers of The Borrowers and The Tale of Two Bad Mice will smile at this beguiling comparison of human- and mouse-scale worlds,...With an antique palette and an engraver's fluid line McClintock (Adèle & Simon) designs ingenious accessories for the anthropomorphic mice.... only a jaded reader could fail to be bewitched by McClintock's meticulous panels or her piquant cover art, with its swingy hand-lettering and swaying heroines. Donofrio and McClintock give exquisite attention to the girl's and mouse's parallel lives, emphasizing cross-generational connections and shared secrets. Ages 3-7. (Aug.)" Publishers Weekly |
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Price: $17.99 When a little boy loses a mitten in the snow, a passing squirrel finds it's the perfect place to warm his icy toes. So he sqe-e-e-e-zes inside. But he's not the only animal with that idea. How many animals can fit inside a little boy's mitten? Aylesworth's rollicking rhyming refrains and McClintock's delightfully expressive characters are sure to make this book everychild's storytime favorite. |
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Price: $16.99 Proving once again that they are a match made in picture-book heaven, Aylesworth and McClintock (previously paired for The Gingerbread Man) turn out a biography of Lincoln virtually guaranteed to hook readers. Adapted from a song popular during Lincoln's presidential campaigns, its verses can be sung to the tune of "The Old Grey Mare," and tell of iconic or seminal moments in Lincoln's life: "Smart Abe Lincoln read late by the firelight/ Late by the firelight/ Late by the firelight/ Smart Abe Lincoln read late by the firelight/ Many dark nights ago." McClintock brings in the storytelling magic: she shows costumed children on one side of a curtain in a school auditorium, an eager audience waiting on the other. As usual, her attention to detail rewards those who look closely: one of the actors pokes her face out from beneath the curtain, adults get ready to tie the beard on the actor playing Abe, and the expression on the boy playing the raccoon is not to be missed. Endnotes amplify each verse with relevant facts.PW |
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"As they did in The Gingerbread Man, Aylesworth and McClintock have teamed up again, this time to create the wiliest of creatures in this version of The Travels of a Fox. Acting on a bet he makes with Brother Fox, Tricky Fox vows to bring home a pig rather than a chicken for supper. He begs his way into homes, carrying a bag. When he goes to sleep, he tells the host to keep an eye on his bag, but not to look inside it. Knowing human nature, he figures that the homeowner will take a peek. During the night, he disposes of the contents of the bag and in the morning claims that something better was stolen. Of course, his hostess is embarrassed that this has happened in her own home and replaces whatever the fox claimed was in his. The expressions on Tricky and his unsuspecting victims are priceless." School Library Journal |
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NO LONGER AVAILABLE Grade level: PreS-2 "Fresh from The Gingerbread Man, Aylesworth and McClintock offer a similarly energetic, folksy retelling of a sequential tale about a stubborn pig who refuses to pass through a gate to enter the yard of its new owner. Rendered in brown pencil and watercolors, McClintock's earth-toned art conjures a rural 19th-century setting, replete with charming period particulars. Narrative and art pull equal weight in this cheerful reworking." Publishers Weekly |
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NO LONGER AVAILABLE Grade level: All "Ostracized by the envious and less-privileged girls at Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies, seven-year-old Sara Crewe is devastated when her adored, indulgent father dies, leaving her penniless and alone in the world. The story of how Sara's fortunes change again, and how she discovers the true meaning of family, is a tale that has delighted children since its initial publication in 1905." |
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NO LONGER AVAILABLE "McClintock does wonders with a modest Charles Dickens story, casting it with Rackham-esque animal characters and placing it in a wintry 19th-century city.... McClintock's meticulous illustrations of candlelit domestic scenes, inviting shop fronts and horse-drawn carriages resemble hand-colored wood engravings and reward close scrutiny; the author devotes careful attention to the expressive animal characters, demonstrating through various vignettes Molly's patience (and aggravation) with her clamoring feline family. Earth-toned watercolors and cream-white stock enhance the old-fashioned appearance, and both the splendid imagery and harmonious layouts recall Caldecott's picture books." Publishers Weekly |
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NO LONGER AVAILABLE Grade level: K-3 A fractured fairy tale, light-hearted, as its title suggests, but with a sturdy message, too: to be without imagination may be even worse than being turned into a frog. |
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NO LONGER AVAILABLE "Another title celebrating a century marker, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin, appears with new illustrations by Barbara McClintock. Her signature artwork with its period details, which appears as full-color plates throughout, seems particularly well suited to this cheery heroine. The illustrations impart a cozy, familiar feel to a long-ago world, and reveals a lively, generous spirit in the heroine who leaves her home to live with her two elderly aunts." Publishers Weekly |
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NO LONGER AVAILABLE Author: Jim Aylesworth "As they did in The Gingerbread Man, Aylesworth and McClintock have teamed up again, this time to create the wiliest of creatures in this version of The Travels of a Fox. Acting on a bet he makes with Brother Fox, Tricky Fox vows to bring home a pig rather than a chicken for supper. He begs his way into homes, carrying a bag. When he goes to sleep, he tells the host to keep an eye on his bag, but not to look inside it. Knowing human nature, he figures that the homeowner will take a peek. During the night, he disposes of the contents of the bag and in the morning claims that something better was stolen. Of course, his hostess is embarrassed that this has happened in her own home and replaces whatever the fox claimed was in his. The expressions on Tricky and his unsuspecting victims are priceless." School Library Journal |
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Author and Illustrator Current Location: Connecticut Honorarium:
Program Description:
Barbara talks about her early years as a young artist/Writer, and how she learned to perfect her drawing and writing skills. Barbara talks about where her story ideas come from, then how she puts a story together. She describes how to make a dummy book, and displays her journals, sketchbooks, manuscript, dip pen, ink, watercolor box, and drawings through all stages of development. Barbara stresses the importance of revising, and persistance. She shows color proofs, and the end product her books. The last 15 minutes of her presentation involves all the students helping Barbara invent a story as she illustrates the story on large sheets of paper. Barbara saves some time at the end for questions. You can learn more about Barbara at her Website, barbaramcclintockbooks.com |
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