Gregory Bryan

A concise, engaging, practical overview of children’s literature that keeps the focus on the books children read. This brief introduction to children’s literature genres leaves time to actually read children’s books. Written on the assumption that the focus of a children’s literature course should be on the actual books that children read, the authors first wrote this book in 1996 as a “textbook for people who don’t like children’s literature textbooks.” Today it serves as an overview to shed light on the essentials of children’s literature and how to use it effectively with young readers, from PreK to 8th grade. The authors use an enjoyable, conversational style to achieve their goal of providing a practical overview of children’s books that offers a framework and background information, while keeping the spotlight on the books themselves.

Cutting-edge and sometimes controversial, the stunning art of Paul Goble (b. 1933) evokes many emotions. Known internationally for his award-winning children’s books, Goble began his career in design, crafting furniture that was produced throughout the United Kingdom. This early work foreshadowed his use of clean, crisp lines in his later illustrations depicting the natural world and American Indian themes. Throughout his life, Goble has steeped himself in nature, honing his craft among the pine trees of South Dakota’s Black Hills for the past forty years. Starting in 1969, Goble used his art to relate little-known stories of the Lakota Sioux and other tribes to a wider audience. He received the Caldecott Medal for The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses in 1979. In Paul Goble, Storyteller, author Gregory Bryan interviewed Goble, his family, friends, and those whose work he influenced to tell the artist’s story. Bryan captures an intriguing life that few Americans are familiar with, including Goble’s childhood in wartime England. Building on this foundation, Bryan’s narrative follows the young boy as his penchant for learning led him to a lifelong fascination with the lives and cultures of American Indians on the Great Plains. Bryan delivers an insightful, behind-the-scenes look at this well-known illustrator and writer, whose artwork is located in collections and institutions throughout the country, including the Library of Congress and the South Dakota Art Museum. Goble has written and illustrated more than forty books for children. The book features sketches and stories about Goble’s creative process in writing, designing, and illustrating his bestselling works.

To Hell and High Water tells the story of the quest of two brothers to conquer the extreme conditions of outback Australia, recreating the Bourke to Hungerford 'tramp' that influenced some of Australian literary legend Henry Lawson's greatest works. The book is part autobiography and part biography. It is an autobiography of the author's experiences with his brother overcoming significant obstacles to achieve his dream of walking in Lawson's footsteps. It paints a vivid picture of some of Australia's most remote country, the challenges and dangers, the heat, the distance, mosquitoes, blisters and thirst. At the same time it blends in the biography of Henry Lawson's captivating life including his marriage, struggles with alcoholism, his suicide attempt, influences upon his writing and his ideals of mateship. Extracts of Lawson's own writing have been carefully selected and woven into the narrative in a manner that draws parallels between the two experiences and offers fresh insights into his life. It is a story both of Australia's past and Australia's present-in fact a relatively little known past and present. As Henry Lawson wrote: "And in the land of Lord-knows-where- Right up and furthest out-You find a new Australia there That we know nought about." This is an opportunity for readers to find out about an Australia that they know "nought about." This book is also the story of an ordinary person achieving extraordinary things through unwavering mateship and a dogged determination never to give up