Transit Museum Event!

I'm really excited to be doing a very special event at the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn this Saturday. I'll be reading 'Subway Story' inside the subway train car where I first heard the true story that inspired it!
If you haven't been to the Transit Museum yet, it's an amazing place. The turnstiles alone can keep me endlessly occupied...

Train fans, New York fans, picture book fans - Please join me for a very special event!

Here's what Lee Magill of Time Out New York Kids has to say about the event:

"It's not every day that a visit to a museum inspires an undertaking as enormous as writing, illustrating and publishing a picture book, but that's just what happened to Julia Sarcone-Roach at the New York Transit Museum. It was there she learned about the subway car recycling program that sparked her Subway Story (Knopf, $17; ages 5 to 9), a tale about a 1960s-era MTA car named Jessie who flourishes as the newest and brightest train in the fleet, is abandoned in a railyard after decades of service, then begins life anew on the bottom of the ocean as a manmade reef in which shellfish, coral and fish slowly take up residence. Author-illustrator Sarcone-Roach's colorful, evocative images draw out the magic in the already remarkable true story... as though she'd dreamt the tale up herself. It's fitting that the artist is returning to the museum to share her book with her intended audience: adventurous kids with a passion for trains and serious love for the environment."   

 Thanks Lee!


So please come for the story, and stay for the turnstiles!

all ages welcome

More information on the Transit Museum is here.
Corner of Boerum Pl and Schermerhorn St.

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

I had a wonderful visit with Jules over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast - one of my absolute favorite blogs! Read her thoughts on my books and learn more about the making of Subway Story and some secrets of the Secret Plan here.
(Find out what Rosalind Russell has in common with a Morse code obsessed kitten...)

A Family of Readers

This past Sunday, Roger Sutton and Martha Parravano, Editors of the Horn Book Magazine discussed their book, A Family of Readers at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, MA. They also introduced "new books from 2011 that they found exceptional and wished they could add to their 2010 book as excellent examples each genre and reading level."

I'm honored to report that Subway Story was included on this list! About Subway Story they said:

"Reminiscent of classic Virginia Lee Burton, this story of a subway car turned into a reef is a fresh, innovative way to approach nonfiction. While the story is factual, the subway car talks with a personality of it own, creating an accessible and entertaining blend of fiction and nonfiction."

There's Jessie, in a crowd of great books!

 Thanks to Roger Sutton and Martha Parravano! More on their list of 2011 books here.

Wow!

Big Weekend for Subway Story

On Saturday I'll be celebrating Subway Story with an event at Hooray For Books in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia at 2pm. Join me for a reading, signing, and refreshments!


And this Sunday, Pete Hamill's wonderful review of Subway Story will be in the New York Times Book Section here. The article is great, and I'm honored and humbled by the kind words from such an amazing New York author.

The picture above accompanies the article, and is actually a self-portrait of my boyfriend Adam and I. I was painting this page as we were baking a wedding cake for a friend. (Incidentally, he and I will be carrying cake down to Virginia from Brooklyn for the Hooray for Books event.) I had such a delightful time when I was there last for The Secret Plan release party, I'm looking forward to returning and hope to see some familiar faces tomorrow!

Please come for books, and stay for cake!

Holy Smokes!

Subway Story received a wonderful starred review in the Horn Book!

"Sarcone-Roach displays a discipline not always seen in books about the environment; she allows her theme of reuse and recycling to emerge naturally from a fine story and lets readers draw their own conclusions without adding a heavy-handed one of her own. Here youngsters meet Jessie, a subway car that begins service during the 1964 New York World’s Fair and contentedly operates for approximately fifty years before she is dismantled. Jessie and other cars like her are hauled out to sea and, in a small scary moment (which is quickly resolved), dumped into the ocean. There she happily resides as an artificial reef that’s home to myriad sea animals. Illustrations, unexpectedly cozy-looking, emphasize the story’s tone. Structurally and artistically, the book recalls Virginia Lee Burton’s The Little House (rev. 11/42) (“Over the years, Jessie saw the city change, and she had some changes of her own”): Jessie’s half-century of traveling the city is depicted through a series of curved routes much like the streets and roads that close in on the Little House with the passage of time. Front end pages trace Jessie’s original underground route; final ones show a peaceful, blue ocean where she now rests. An author’s note describing the science behind similar projects and a bibliography conclude the book. - Betty Carter"

I'm grateful for this thoughtful appreciation of Subway Story by the Horn Book. The observations about details like the endpapers and the Virginia Lee Burton parallels make me especially happy. She's been a lifelong inspiration for me, and The Little House is one of my favorite picture books.

Here's a picture of my desk as I was beginning to develop early character sketches for Subway Story, complete with breakfast brownie, coffee and copy of Katy and the Big Snow. (Don't those snow drifts on the cover look a little like waves?)



Many thanks to Betty Carter and the Horn Book!

Subway Story Reviews

Subway Story has received some very nice early reviews -

from Kirkus:

Jessie weighs 75,122 pounds and is a beautiful, brand-new subway car.
She was brought to New York in the early 1960s for the World’s Fair, and she loves traveling all over the city. She speeds around curves and ducks under rivers. When musicians practice on board, she accompanies them with deep rumbles and toe-tapping clacks. Over the years, there are many changes, but Jessie never forgets her most important job—helping people travel safely. Until one season, sleek, shiny new silver trains start taking over the tracks. A downcast Jessie sits in a dusty yard, poignantly wondering about the people she had carried. “Did they notice she was gone?” Thankfully, her adventure doesn’t end there. She is taken to the Atlantic and sunk to become an artificial reef, home to many barnacles, coral and fish. Sarcone-Roach cleverly brings the story full circle: Jessie was once an integral part of a bustling city, and now a whole city lives inside of her. With sprawling landscapes and vast underground tunnels as a backdrop, readers will cheer Jessie’s story of revival. The author's acrylics gently anthropomorphize Jessie, giving her headlight-eyes and a winsome smile.
Immensely readable and surprisingly touching, this large heft of metal totes a lot of charm. (author’s note, bibliography, further reading) (Picture book. 3-6)

from School Library Journal:

This story of “Jessie,” a subway car built in the early 1960s, was inspired by the author’s trip to the New York Transit Museum and is a lovely tribute to the city and its boroughs. Told in a clever biographical format, the story begins with Jessie’s “birth” details: weight, length, etc. The shiny, new car takes her responsibilities seriously as she safely carries children to school, adults to work, and friends and family members to visit one another. As the decades pass, Jessie delivers visitors to the 1964 World’s Fair in Queens, is covered in graffiti, then painted red, repaired, and refurbished, including air-conditioning to replace outdated fans. Eventually, she is retired and becomes part of an artificial reef in the Atlantic Ocean, where she assumes her new job. The expressive acrylic illustrations set the tone and give the story depth. The features on the front of the subway car are used to make Jessie’s eyes, nose, and mouth. An author’s note gives details about the history of subway cars around the world. This title will be appreciated by train buffs and those curious about the history of New York City.
–Anne Beier, Clifton Public Library, NJ


Thanks to Anne Beier, School Library Journal, and Kirkus Reviews!

Library Love

The Secret Plan was lucky to have received a couple of really lovely reviews online. The library was one of my particular favorite places to be as a kid, so I get rather excited when librarians welcome and enjoy The Secret Plan!

Jennifer, the librarian of the Jean Little Library wrote:

"Just when I thought we couldn't possibly use any more bedtime stories....I discover a new one. One which we must, must, must have!
...This isn't just a soothing bedtime story, it's a story about the magical days of childhood, when just five more minutes is never enough and the simplest things are exciting and wonderful."


One by Tasha Saecker of the Menasha Public Library in Menasha, WI.

"...This is such a winning book. The four main characters are real scamps and their plans and the outcomes are deliciously naughty and very funny. I especially appreciated Milo blending in with the wallpaper by painting stripes on himself. Their disguise is equally funny with all of them working together. But it is the ending of the book that really makes it work. Instead of getting into any trouble in their late night escapade, they have a quiet time with books and a tea party in the attic. There is no parental outrage, no repercussions, just the immense pleasure of a late night with friends.

Sarcone-Roach’s art works very well here. Done in acrylic paint, the illustrations are rich, vivid and engaging. A lot of the humor here is visual, though the wry tone of voice of the text offers some of the laughs. The house that the animals share is wonderfully tippy and upright, filled with stairs. A great book to share for a bedtime story or a special late night read."

(You can read the whole review here.)

Thank you all for taking the time to read, review, (and like!) The Secret Plan.

Booklist Review

"Harriet, Hildy, Henry, and Milo, three kittens and a baby elephant, want nothing more than to play uninterrupted. But various nuisances continue to sidetrack them. The biggest offender is bedtime, so the friends devise a secret plan to avoid it, which doesn’t quite work out as expected but is satisfying nonetheless. This is an enjoyable, inventive offering that incorporates single- and double-page spreads focused on the activity of the four friends, as well as comic-style acryllic illustrations that include crosssections of a townhouse that allow for multiple scenes to play out at the same time. In addition, speech bubbles that indicate parents calling for the young characters literally break into the text—and, consequently, the fun—and there is a certain conspiratorial amusement as the reader or listener is allowed in on the secret plan, as long as they “don’t tell.” Charming and genuinely funny, this will appeal to a wide audience."
- Booklist

Pink Me

A super cool review by Paula Willey of Pink Me:

"Milo the little elephant has great things going on with the kids next door, three kittens named Henry, Hildy, and Harriet. They make tin-can telephones. They build a house of cards, they play forts, and they dig for treasure. But JUST when they're about to uncover the chest full of loot, something intervenes. Something parental. Curses! Just when things are getting good, it's always lunch, or dinner, or even worse - BEDTIME.

They try everything to get around it. But hiding and sneaking aren't enough. They have to come up with a special secret plan. A plan that involves the fuzzy green monster feet from Milo's Halloween costume, and the cozy attic way upstairs.

This plot is VERY appealing to little kids. It has enough tension to keep them on the edge of their seats, but no actual consequences, as befitting a picture book. The details are adorable. The illustrations slyly extend the text, adding extra humor.

The design, especially the text layout, conspires with the other elements to give us tiptoeing, frustration, and being startled. It's almost concrete poetry.

The art, in its swishiness, somehow reminds me of Good Night, Gorilla. The sweetness, and the bedtime-circumvention plot, is like that too. And when I compare a book to Good Night, Gorilla, that is some of the highest praise I know."

That's so cool! Goodnight Gorilla is one of my favorite books! Thank you Paula! And the lovely text layout and book design of The Secret Plan are due to the talented Melissa Nelson.

Nice Things

Strollerderby recommends the Secret Plan!

It also received a really nice mention by Jane of Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, Vermont!

Kiwi Magazine Recommends The Secret Plan

"Milo and Henry have devised the perfect plan to avoid going to bed. It’s fool proof! Well, it’s fool proof until they actually get so tired that they want to go to bed. The illustrations are delightfully playful, invigorating the text. Let’s hope the kids don’t get any ideas from this one!" - Kiwi Magazine

They're on to me! My devious bedtime overthrowing agenda is exposed!

Just kidding... Thank you Kiwi!

School Library Journal

"Milo the elephant loves playing with his feline neighbors Henry, Hildy, and Harriet, but something always seems to interrupt their fun, especially bedtime. So they try every way they can to get around it. Things don't go so well (though the image of Milo painted to blend into the wallpaper is bound to inspire giggles). At last, they find "the perfect late-night no-bedtime-ever hideout"—the attic, which also happens to be full of neat stuff to play with. But sleep must come to even the most intrepid explorers, and so their night turns into a slumber party, heavy on the slumber. The age-old dilemma of wanting to stay up and play just a bit longer finds a gently humorous treatment in this tale, accompanied by swirly acrylic paintings that evoke dreamy nighttime fantasy." — School Library Journal

The Secret Plan in Cookie Magazine

Very exciting! The Secret Plan was recommended in the October issue of Cookie Magazine! There it is, happily cuddling up to the promising sounding The Book That Eats People. (Which maybe will take on Oliver Jeffers' The Incredible Book-Eating Boy!)

Kirkus Review

The Secret Plan got a lovely review from Kirkus Reviews (I'm really happy they mentioned the endpapers!):

"Milo the elephant and his kitten next-door neighbors, Hildy, Henry and Harriet, love to play together. However, their adventures are continually curtailed by calls of "Lunch!", "Dinner!" or, most disagreeably, "Bedtime!" Milo's secret plan engenders lots of hiding, but their parents always find the friends. (It is hard to hide an elephant child.) Hildy remembers Milo's furry monster feet from Halloween. After feigning sleep, Milo dons them, softly padding upstairs to join the kittens in a big, treasure-filled attic. "It was the perfect late-night no-bedtime-ever hideout." They try on hats, study a book on Morse code and sip tea before tiring - with one more plan in store. Sarcone-Roach's brushy, full-bleed acrylics alternate warm and cool colors and provide plenty of humorous detail, including a mouse hidden within each double-page spread. The front endpapers depict 4610 A and B South 6th Street as a faux architectural drawing; the back ones present the Morse code, arrayed like stars around a cross-section of the sleeping house. Sweet fun. (Picture book. Ages 3-6)"