BOOK ILLUSTRATION: Christmas at the General Grant Tree, Kings Canyon NP, CA

My book, The Biggest Living Thing, published in 1983 by Carolrhoda Books, was illustrated with my own art. In 2014, I turned the illustration on page 46 of the book into a Christmas card. Here's what I wrote that year in our annual family holiday letter. 

The full color cut-paper collage technique I now use is a far cry from the mostly black and white illustrations I drew in my early books. In one of those books, The Biggest Living Thing, I depicted a Christmas celebration at the General Grant tree, the huge giant sequoia that was declared to be the Nation’s Christmas Tree in 1926 by President Coolidge. Many years ago our family did a winter vacation in Sequoia National Park and experienced the wonder of seeing the huge trees in the snow. I thought of that recently as I read this quote from an early Christmas gathering at the General Grant tree: “That spirit [of America] is best expressed in the plain things of life, the love of the family circle, the simple life of the out-of-doors. The tree is a pillar that is a testimony that things of the spirit transcend those of the flesh."  (Arnold holiday letter 2014)

The tradition of celebrating Christmas at the General Grant tree continues.

With best wishes for a Happy Holiday Season 2022!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS: Favorite Danish Christmas Plates

Danish Christmas Plate by Bing and Grondahl, 1967

My husband Art’s aunt, Carolyn T. Arnold was a world traveler. She loved going to Denmark and was especially fond of the Danish porcelain Christmas plates, developing a large collection. In her house they decorated the walls of her living room, lined up in chronological order. She was a shopper and brought home many souvenirs from her trips, both for herself and gifts for her family.

1967, Child With Bird Feeder; 1970, Pheasants in the Snow at Christmas; 1972, Christmas in Greenland

We were the recipients of three Danish plates from Aunt Carolyn: 1967, commemorating our wedding year; 1970 and 1972, for the births of our children. The three plates now hang in our kitchen where I can see them every day of the year.

At the Royal Copenhagen Store, Copenhagen

On our recent trip to Copenhagen, we were delighted to find our plates displayed in the Royal Copenhagen shop along with the more than 100 porcelain Christmas plates designed by Bing and Grondahl. (In 1987,  Bing and Grondahl merged with the Royal Porcelain Factory to become Royal Copenhagen.)

In her retirement Aunt Carolyn wrote of her travel adventures in her memoir. Many excerpts from her memoir have appeared at The Intrepid Tourist. As we celebrate this holiday season we remember Aunt Carolyn and the joy of traveling and learning about the world. I send best wishes to all of you for a very

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

and

JOYOUS NEW YEAR!

 

 

SHARING NATURE WITH CHILDREN, Blog by Children's Book Author Carolyn Combs

With many thanks to Carolyn Combs for sharing my book HATCHING CHICKS IN ROOM 6 on her blog, Sharing Nature With Children. It is one of more than a dozen books about animals and nature recommended in time for holiday purchase. Find it in hardcover and as a Kindle on Amazon.

Carolyn Combs is the author of WHAT'S THIS TAIL SAYING? (Dawn Publications, 2020).

CURLICUE SNAKES, CUT PAPER AND MORE, Art Projects Inspired by My Books

On my recent trip to the Humboldt County Children's Author Festival, I was delighted to discover how my books had inspired art in the classroom. At Ambrosini School in Fortuna, California, I saw that each class had chosen a different book. Their artwork was displayed in the multipurpose room where I gave my presentation. One child even made a portrait of me!  Here are some of the projects:

WIGGLE AND WAGGLE

One class made colorful Wiggle and Waggle worms.

A DAY AND NIGHT IN THE FOREST

Several classes used cut paper to create day and night scenes.

A DAY AND NIGHT ON THE PRAIRIE

A row of paper curlicue snakes, inspired by the garter snake in the book, hung from a ledge. Click for directions to make curlicue snakes. 

A ZEBRA'S WORLD

Watercolor paintings depicted zebras on the African plain. 

KEEPER OF THE LIGHT: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog

A first grade class drew pictures and assembled them to make a mural of Juliet Nichols ringing the giant lighthouse bell in the fog.

For more ideas for projects to do in connection with my books go to the Fifty Nifty Projects and Activities page at my website.

XIN XIN, Star of my book PANDA: The Last Panda at the Mexico City Zoo

 

Xin Xin and her mother Tohui at the Chapultepec Zoo, 1991

In 1991, I traveled to Mexico City with photographer Dick Hewett to research and photograph the pandas at the Chapultepec Zoo, home to the largest group of zoo pandas outside China, including Xin Xin, a one-year old baby panda, who became the star of our book, Panda (Morrow Junior Books, 1992). Xin Xin, now age 32, is the last surviving panda at the zoo.

I was surprised and pleased to find an article in the LA Times on Saturday Nov 26 about Xin Xin and the history of pandas at the Chapultepec Zoo.  Xin Xin is the granddaughter of Pe Pe and Ying Ying, the pandas given to Mexico by China in 1974 as part of their “panda diplomacy.” Since 1984, all pandas in foreign zoos have been on loan from China, and any baby pandas born from loaned animals since 1985 must be returned to China. So Xin Xin was unique in being able to stay in Mexico and grow up there.

My book, Panda, is part of the baby zoo animal series I did with Dick Hewett. Although the paper book is long out of print, Panda continues to be available as an ebook on Amazon and other sites.

Click here for an update April 2023 and lots of photos of Xin Xin and her keepers and fans at the Mexico City Zoo.

CLCSC AWARDS PROGRAM: Honoring Southern California Authors and Illustrators

On Saturday, November 12, 2022, I was happy to attend the annual awards celebration of the Children's Literature Council of Southern California, held in person for the first time since the pandemic. In 2020, I was honored to receive the nonfiction award for my book Butterflies in Room 6, but at that time the ceremony was held online and interaction was limited to my computer screen. It was wonderful to be able hear this year's recipients tell about their books in person, and to listen to the keynote speech by Dr. Claudette McLinn and Michael McLinn of the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature (CSMCL.) 

The event was held in the social hall of Throop Church in Pasadena. While we listened to the speakers we sipped tea and coffee and dined on delicious sandwiches and desserts. Before and afterward everyone had a chance to chat and catch up on the news of the last two years! Many thanks to all the people at CLCSC for making the event possible.

 

Here is a list of the 2022 award winners:

Distinguished Work of Juvenile Non-Fiction
Cougar Crossing by Meeg Pincus, Illustrated by Alexander Vidal

Outstanding Picture Book Reflective of World Events
Outside, Inside by LeUyen Pham

Outstanding Contribution to Juvenile Fiction
Real by Carol Cujec and Peyton Goddard

Stellar Work of Fiction for Young Adults
The Girl from the Sea by Molly Ostertag

Dorothy C. McKenzie Award
for Distinguished Service to the Field of Children's Literature
Keren Taylor from WriteGirl

Review of KEEPER OF THE LIGHT by Ronna Mandel at Goodreads with Ronna

 

Many, many thanks to Ronna Mandel for her enthusiastic and detailed review of my book KEEPER OF THE LIGHT: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog, published at her blog https://www.goodreadswithronna.com/2022/11/09/keeper-of-the-light-caroline-arnold-rachell-sumpter/ on November 9, 2022. She captures the key elements of the story and shares several of the pictures giving readers a preview of the wonderful, atmospheric art for the book by illustrator Rachell Sumpter.

Here are the opening paragraphs of Ronna’s review:

Keeper of the Light written by Caroline Arnold and illustrated by Rachell Sumpter is a fascinating, “fictionalized account based on true events and historical documents about Juliet Fish Nichols …” I love learning about historical figures, especially women who had non-traditional careers, whose stories might never be told were it not for an inquisitive picture book author.

A widow at 42 and in need of a steady income, Juliet Fish Nichols worked for over a decade as Keeper of Angel Island Light Station in San Francisco Bay. Author Arnold presents an engaging interpretation of several years of Nichols’ life there—Point Knox to be precise—in log format so that readers can gain insight into the important responsibilities she was tasked with. This not only involved making sure the lamp (visible for up to 13 miles) was filled with oil, clean, and in working order but when needed, operating the fog bell machine.

For the full review please go to Ronna’s post at her blog.

VIRTUAL AUTHOR VISIT AT R.D. WHITE SCHOOL, Glendale, CA

 

Authors and Illustrators Day at R.D. White School, Glendale, CA, sponsored by the Glendale Assistance League

On November 4, 2022, I had an excellent Zoom author visit at R.D. White Elementary School in Glendale, California, as part of the Authors and Illustrators in the Schools program sponsored and organized by the Glendale Assistance League. I especially thank Linelle Vincenti and Kathy Blyth for all their support and making sure that everything ran smoothly. I was one of six authors at R.D. White on Friday. I met with four groups of first and second graders, each class for about forty minutes, sharing my books and my life as an author and answering questions from the students. I enjoyed it immensely. And I could tell that the teachers and kids enjoyed it too.

Zoom visit with two classrooms at R.D. White School

The theme of my presentation was gardens–featuring my new book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad, as well as my fiction book WIGGLE AND WAGGLE (reading the first story and singing the gardening song with my Wiggle and Waggle sock puppets), and sharing my miniature garden inspired by Mr. McGregor’s garden in PETER RABBIT by Beatrix Potter. 

In my home office.

I also talked about how authors get ideas for books, sharing that the inspiration for KEEPER OF THE LIGHT came out of a visit to Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. And I showed how I create the cut-paper illustrations for my books, using A ZEBRA’S WORLD as an example.