I'll Catch the Moon (Houghton Mifflin Reading) - Softcover

Crews, Nina

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0618067051 ISBN 13: 9780618067053

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin School, 2000

Synopsis

Houghton Mifflin Reading: The Nation's Choice: Little Big Book Grade 1.5 Theme 10 - I'll Catch the Moon

About this title

About the Author:

Nina Crews grew up n New York City. After graduating from Yale University in 1985, she worked in commercial animation production and contributed illustrations to magazines, including the Village Voice and Parenting. Her first picture book, One Hot Summer Day, was published in 1995.It was followed by I'll Catch the Moon and Snowball.

In her own words....

"I look back to move forward on a new children's book. I try to remember a much younger me and recreate some of the things that delighted me then. These pleasures were often quite simple, perhaps the shape or taste of something or the colors that it evoked-and everything was set against a noisy, busy, city backdrop.

"I was raised in New York City. I think I've always loved it. There may have been more tall buildings than trees, but I enjoyed the city and all its variety. The people, the neighborhoods, all of the city's quirkiness were endlessly exciting.

"I started taking pictures at an early age, and the city was my first subject. I grew up in a family of artists and saw the children's-book business firsthand. My parents, Donald Crews and Ann Jonas, always encouraged my sister and me in all our art projects. I had wellrounded art training in high school but became more focused on photography in college. Since then I have been working in commercial animation production and doing freelance photo-collage illustration.

"I love making collages. Some of my favorite artists—Romare Bearden, Hannah Hoch, and Man Ray—combined photography and collage. Collage allows me to use photography playfully and to tell a story on many levels.

"I enjoy photographing children. The interaction always adds something to the project; their performances always give me new ideas. I try to keep the photography session as loose as possible. Collaging the images allows me a great deal of freedom. Basically, almost anything can happen.

"Writing the text is another kind of challenge. I try to find a good balance between the written story and the visual story. Each one should help the other. Picture books are the combination of two forms of poetry, written and visual, and their flow should be musical. I find myself reading a lot of poetry while I work on ideas.

"As a child I loved books and I loved to look. The more there was to see in any one image, the better. I also loved books that were set in city places. I hope that a new generation will get these same pleasures from my books."

From Kirkus Reviews:

A girl's wish to build a ladder from her New York City apartment to the moon is vividly brought to life through ingenious photo-collages. Surprisingly, the photos heighten the fantasy element by grounding the story in the realistic world, a nocturnal cityscape of ``Honk, blink, stop, go.'' The pictures become more fanciful as the girl rises above her environment, the stars shining brighter than any Manhattanite is likely to witness. Occasionally, the outlines of the cutout shapes remind readers of the collage effect, temporarily dismantling the illusion that the girl is stepping through clouds. At the same time, the ``crafted'' nature of the illustrations may encourage readers' own artistic impulses to build ladders to the moon. In style and setting, this book is virtually a repeat of Crews's One Hot Summer Day (1995), but its star-drenched, dreamlike mood gives it a totally different emotional content. (Picture book. 4+) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin School
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0618067051
• ISBN 13: 9780618067053
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 31