I’m Going to Sing

I’m Going to Sing is Volume Two of new editions of Spirituals by award winning children’s book author and illustrator Ashley Bryan. Bryan has lovingly updated these beloved volumes with a new introduction along with new full color cover art. Dr. Henrietta Mays Smith, recipient of the 2011 Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Practitioner Award for Lifetime Achievement, contributed a new foreword.

Readers will recognize such popular favorites as “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”, and “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Each song is accompanied by linocut illustrations that capture the strength and spirit of the music.

Author – Ashley Bryan

Author, artist and teacher Ashley Bryan has been a leading figure in children’s literature for over 50 years. In 1962, he was the first African American male to both write and illustrate a book for children. His work draws upon African American traditions and folklore, blending the rhythms of the oral tradition in his writing with a wide range of mediums in his art. His work has earned numerous honors, including the Arbuthnot Award for lifetime achievement, the Regina Medal, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award and several Coretta Scott King awards and honors. Bryan studied at Cooper Union and Columbia University, and taught art at Dartmouth College. In addition to creating books, Bryan helps build schools and libraries in Africa. He lives on Little Cranberry Island off the coast of Maine, and works in a studio filled with paintings, stained glass and handmade puppets.

By Trolley Past Thimbledon Bridge

This picture book takes children of all ages on a trolley-ride dream adventure. Featuring the extraordinary illustrations of Caldecott Honoree, Marvin Bileck, this book is a dream caught on paper with the sense of magic and wonder and unfettered imagination of a child. As sleep starts the journey into the blue, marvelous threads unravel dreamy images out of the blue revealing animals, far-off places, a circus, games, toys, wind, rain, a touch of this and a touch of that, words and wordplay. A poem accompanies the whimsical illustrations, perfectly capturing the sense of awe and excitement of childhood.

Author – Ashley Bryan and Marvin Bileck

Marvin Bileck was an artist, educator, and a designer and illustrator of children’s books. Rain Makes Applesauce earned a Caldecott Honor. Other titles include Penny, Sugarplum and A Walker in the City. He was a master printmaker whose work has been described by critics and art historians as comparable to such artists as Holbein and Rembrandt. Ashley Bryan is an author, artist, and teacher who was the first African American man to both write and illustrate a book for children. His work has earned widespread recognition, including the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award and several Coretta Scott King awards and honors. His two volumes of collections of Black American spirituals, published by Alazar Press, Walk Together Children and I’m Going To Sing are his seminal works with the spirituals, forming the foundation of so much of his imagery with this subject.

The Artist and The King

When a bad-tempered King punishes a little artist, he meets his match. For Daphne, the artist, turns her punishment, a dunce cap, into a fashionable and regal hat.

Now every villager wants to wear one of Daphne’s creations. How could she have known that her hat-making would undermine the King’s authority? Then again, maybe Daphne’s caring, creative spirit is just what the kingdom—and the King—has needed all along.

Author – Julie Fortenberry

Artist Julie Fortenberry has illustrated several picture books. Julie won a Children’s Choice Award in 2012. This is Julie’s first book as both author and illustrator, and her Alazar Press debut. Julie lives in Pittsboro, North Carolina, where she shares a studio with her husband, Don. To see more of Julie’s work, plus step-by-step instructions for making paper hats, visit – www.juliefortenberry.com

The Thumbtack Dancer

The Thumbtack Dancer begins – “Just like yesterday and the day before, Gus KICKED out of bed, LACED-UP his thumbtack sneakers and did his teeth-brushing dance.
Next he did his bed-making dance, and then his getting-dressed dance.
His mama knew Gus was up because she could hear, the tip-a-tap, rap-a-slap, flap-a-dap thumbtack rhythms through the kitchen ceiling.”
Gus has a dance for everything! Gus is a most promising, most energetic and most talented young dancer who figures out how to make enough money to upgrade his tip-a-tap thumbtack sneakers to a new pair of real tap shoes.
Along the way, he uses his public street dancing with his thumbtack shoes to bring the change he needs and goes – Slap- a-dee-dap, slap-a-dee-dap – down the sidewalk, and right up to the big red door of the dance studio.
Be inspired by Gus, his energy and drive and inventiveness as this creative young man figures out the next steps he needs to take.

Author – Leslie Tryon

Leslie Tryon is the author of the clever, charming and inventive Albert series and several other books for young readers. She is the illustrator of Alma Flor Ada’s Dear Peter Rabbit and With Love, Little Red Hen. She has received an ALA Notable book recognition, a Parents Choice Honor and an Ezra Jack Keats Award for Excellence in the Arts. Leslie has written that she might have begun her career as an author and illustrator much earlier if she hadn’t become a dancer first. With her experience as a tapper, Leslie has stepped into her own world of dance with The Thumbtack Dancer.

On the Wings of the Swan

An ancient fairytale land is brought to life in this original story. When a young girl, Merryrose, sets out on an ordinary day across the River of Gold, events cause her to make a choice. Her unselfish act to save the life of the grumbly, grumpy, grouchy old man attracts the attention of the magical creatures of Casimiria, the Land of Wishes. When they place the Golden Key in her hands, unusual but important changes begin. All the while, in the classic tradition of story, the cunning forces of darkness conspire to threaten the good wishes.

With the exquisite line drawings of Gary Undercuffler and the graceful storytelling charm of Rosemarie Gulla, let the Wings of the Swan take you to lands of enchantment. Join with the fairies, the finest of wishes and the loveliness of a generous heart in the struggle to make the world a better place.

Author – Rosemarie Gulla

Using her knowledge of stories and storytelling from her lifetime as an educator, Rosemarie works to support the developing minds of children through the use of stories that engage imaginations. Rosemarie currently resides in Carrboro, North Carolina with her husband Joseph--in the house where they raised their three daughters.