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This is part of the picture book project. I need to read all of these books. Or I get to read all of these books. Or something like that. I want to become better acquainted with picture books both new and old, and help our school library assistants to pick good ones for their libraries. As you can see, I am starting mostly with the brand new, but soon enough I’ll be hitting the classics and the back catalogs as well. (I’ve long had an unfulfilled goal to read the complete works of Dr. Suess; I wish they had an omnibus edition like a complete Shakespeare.) Wish me luck, and give me suggestions.

By both popular and regal demand, I have returned this picture to its proper station and title, using the term “fancypants” rather than the vilely vernacular “Bossin’.” I have also exalted this posting with a more auspicious date, it now being placed on the day on which is memorialized the insurrection of the American colonies, whose patriotic colors the plaid of the lordly pantaloons so represent.

P.S. I really wanted to spell “Fancypantz” with a “Z.” There, I did it. Fancypantz Fitz.

We ate that.

I no longer house these lists on this site. Here are links to some of the recent Beehive nominee lists:

• 2011 Beehive Book Award Winners / 2011 Beehive Book Award Nominees
• 2012 Beehive Book Award Nominees

For more information about the Beehive Book Awards, please visit the Children’s Literature Association of Utah.

Henri Rousseau (French, 1844-1910). War: The Ride of Discord (La Guerre: La chevauchée de la Discorde), 1894. Oil on Canvas. 1.14 x 1.95 m. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France.

Some day I am going to write a novel based on this painting.

(This is another one that I saw at the Musée d’Orsay’s travelling post-impressionism exhibition at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, California.)

“La guerre ; elle passe effrayante laissant partout le désespoir, les pleurs, la ruine.”

James Tissot (French, 1836-1902). A Little Nimrod, 1882. Oil on canvas.

This is just a little counterpoint/comparison to La Guerre.

Sailing

1. Christopher Cross – Sailing
2. Radiohead – Bloom
3. Bon Iver – Lump Sum
4. James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream
5. Beach House – 10 Mile Stereo
6. America – Ventura Highway
7. Beck – New Round
8. Bjork – Sun In My Mouth
9. Deerhunter – Sailing
10. Baths – You’re My Excuse To Travel
11. Baths – Rain Smell

Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890). Starry Night Over the Rhône (La nuit étoilée), 1888. Oil on canvas. 0.73 x 0.92 m. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France.

As a teenager, Van Gogh was my gateway into the world of art, and he remains my favorite painter. This particular painting quickly became one of my favorite paintings by my favorite painter. I think my need to champion the underdog and embrace the-lesser-known made me champion this work over the other super-famous, neck-tie-and-coffee-mug-adorning, but nonetheless completely awesome Starry Night that Van Gogh painted a year later.

Last October, we visited my wife’s awesome aunt who lives in the Oakland Bay area, and she took us to the De Young Museum in San Francisco to see the exhibition Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay. As we entered the gallery where the Van Goghs were displayed, lo, here was one of my most longtime favorite paintings, something I thought I would have travel to Europe someday to see. I didn’t even know I was going to get to see it on my little California trip, so that made the experience even better. In my opinion, seeing a Van Gogh in person totally lives up to the hype, and is unlike anything else, even the paintings of other great artists. Still, I couldn’t resist trying in vain to capture and commoditize the magic, so I bought a small print of the painting and it is propped up on a bookshelf in our living room right now, where I look at it all the time.

Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890). The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, 1888. Oil on canvas. 80.7 × 65.3 cm. Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands.

I SO WANT TO EAT AT THIS PLACE SOMEDAY.