James Marshall's Lectures, Moog Music & More

5 things to check out this weekend!

This week marks the end of summer break for my family. I think for me, and for a lot of parents of school-aged children, it’s a strange, bittersweet time: on one hand, you’re beyond ready for your kids to return to school so that you can have more time, but on the other hand, you’ll miss the extra time you had together. It’s sort of how parenthood generally feels—time’s an obsession: wanting it, needing it, juggling it. Your entire existence is dominated by time. I suppose that’s always been the case, but I wasn’t truly aware of it until I had children. This week’s also weird because it feels like fall should start immediately. Once my family is back to school, I’m officially over everything summer, but unfortunately, fall isn’t until late September, and even worse, fall weather won’t arrive in the Bay Area until close to November!

I mentioned in 5 Miserable Things how I missed curating my ‘5 Things’ for Glitter Guide—a list of cool, interesting things for you to check out over the weekend. So far, I’ve shared 5 beautiful spreads in picture books and 5 books that shaped author and illustrator Emmy Kastner, but today, I’m finally getting back to an actual list.

Enjoy!

1. The children’s book author and illustrator James Marshall is one of my absolute favorites. He’s best known for his smart and hilarious “George and Martha” series, but he was also behind many other incredible books such as The Stupids Step Out (1974), and Miss Nelson Is Missing (1977). I discovered on Austin Kleon’s newsletter list that Marshall’s lectures at UCONN from 1976-1990 are now available to listen to online! Marshall (along with many other talented authors, writers, and creatives) was invited to speak at UCONN by the innovative professor of children’s literature, Francelia Butler. Until recently, these recordings were not available to the public, and they would have been nice to listen to while writing my newsletter on James Marshall. Still, I’m excited to spend my weekend immersed in Marshall’s humor and wisdom.
   

   

   From Forever Truffle via The New York Times
   

2. I enjoyed this well-written review by the children’s book author and illustrator Vera Brosgol for The New York Times about the “Truffle” graphic novels written by Fanny Britt, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault, and translated by Susan Ouriou. I’ll definitely be buying both of these beautiful books:

   Forever Truffle: Three Stories (2022) and Louis Undercover (2017)

   “Bittersweet and nuanced, these two books are perfect for sensitive dreamers. Like the first line of the first song Truffle writes (‘So very glad that I feel kinda sad’), they share the philosophy that pain and joy are different sides of the same coin, and love is always worth the chance.” —Vera Brosgol

3. If you're a fan of kids’ books, a fan of the author Ursula K. Le Guin, and a fan of podcasts, then you’ll love this episode of “Between the Covers,” a podcast produced by the publisher Tin House. I appreciated the thoughtful questions and long-form interview between the host David Naimon and the children’s author William Alexandar. I wasn’t familiar with Alexander’s work before this, but I’m interested in reading more by Le Guin and more children’s fantasy novels—and now I’ll be including Alexander’s Golbin Secrets (2012) to that list. Listen to it here: Crafting with Ursula: William Alexander on Writing for Children

4. I recently found this awesome vintage LP on eBay, “Everything You Always Wanted to Hear on the Moog (But Were Afraid to Ask For” (1972), by Thomas Z. Shepard and Andrew Kazdin. I bought it partly out of my interest in experimental electronic music but mostly for its rad cover by children’s book author and illustrator Tomi Ungerer. You can listen to the album on Youtube.
   

   “There is one more thing that ought to be said: The Moog used for the album (is there anybody still left who doesn't know that "Moog" rhymes with "rogue"?) is capable of producing only one or two notes simultaneously. This means that each of the melodic and harmonic threads contained in the original orchestral scores had to be played individually. Sometimes as many as twenty musical elements had to be overlayed on multi-track tape. Does this process sound complicated? Are our nerves a little bit frazzled? Did it take a long time? Don't ask.” - Andrew Kazdin, Thomas Z. Shepard

5. This week I bought Matthew Forsythe’s Pokko and the Drum (2019) from East Bay Booksellers in Oakland. This book’s been on my radar for a few years, but unfortunately was one I lost track of during the pandemic. It’s gorgeous! I love Forsythe’s vibrant, florescent illustrations. But also, it’s funny and eccentric. Here’s the flap copy:

   “Pokko is a frog, and she lives with her quiet parents in a quiet mushroom in a quiet forest. But everything changes when she gets a drum.”

   

   Pokko and the Drum by Matthew Forsythe

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