Swing around the Sun - Hardcover

Janice Lee Porter was born and raised in Chicago. She has a BFA in painting from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from California State University, Chico. She is the illustrator of over two dozen children's books and is an art faculty member at Shasta College in Redding, California, where she teaches painting and drawing. She lives in Chico, California.

Cheng-Khee Chee, Associate Professor Emeritus of the University of Minnesota, has been represented in numerous national juried exhibitions and captured over 200 honors, including the American Watercolor Society Silver Medal, Transparent Watercolor Society of America Skyledge Award (First Place), Allied Artists of America Gold Medal, and Knickerbocker Artists USA Grand Award Gold Medal and Purchase Prize for Excellence. Among his publications are Old Turtle (1992), Swing around the Sun (2003), Noel (2005), and numerous contributions to books and magazines. He is a popular workshop instructor and national show juror. His breakthroughs in concepts and processes have greatly influenced the direction of watermedia painting.

Stephen Gammell is the illustrator of numerous children's books, including the Caldecott Medal-winning Song and Dance Man and two Caldecott Honor books, The Relatives Came and Where the Buffaloes Begin. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife.

Educated at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Mary GrandPré began her career as a conceptual illustrator for local editorial clients. Continually experimenting with media, Mary underwent many artistic changes in her expressive visual form. Her concerns for light, color, drawing, and design came together in evocative, ethereal pastel paintings evolving toward a style she now calls "soft geometry."

In addition to her work on the covers of the Harry Potter books, Mary has now illustrated several children's books. Her book illustration possesses highly personalized lyrical story interpretations and has received very favorable reviews in the national press.

Kindergarten-Grade 4-A well-loved collection of seasonal poems, first published in 1965, is revived for a new generation, creating a rich, vibrant reading and viewing experience. Although the number of selections has been reduced by eight, the poetry's impact is heightened by masterful new illustrations from four distinguished artists. The verses evoke seasonal symbols well known to children-wind, umbrellas, fireworks, apples, snow-yet Esbensen defies clich‚, encouraging readers to greet these familiar omens with fresh ears and eyes, as in "Umbrellas": "Under my umbrella-top,/Splashing through the town,/I wonder why the tulips/Hold umbrellas/Up-side-down!" In the poet's year, each season breathes with a life and spirit of its own, as in "Autumn Concert": "Together,/In the sapphire sky/They float:/The milkweed/And a burnished/Trumpet note." The illustrations transcend the standard pastel springs and whitewashed winters. Cheng-Khee Chee's textured watercolors sprout and bloom across the pages of "Spring." Janice Lee Porter's "Summer" oil pastels hum with energetic color and sinuous shapes. Mary GrandPr‚ ushers in fall with a warmer palette of pastels, lighting Esbensen's poems in ruby red and amber. Finally, Stephen Gammell's snowscapes, spattered in icy grays and blues, capture winter's wild spirit. An exceptional marriage of poetry and art that will encourage children to write and illustrate their own seasonal poems, this book has broad appeal and instructional potential across the calendar and curriculum. A must-have for any library.
Eve Ortega, Cypress Library, CA
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