Poets And The Picture Book

The poet Rich Michelson several years ago was kind of enough to send me a stack of some of his finest books. His picture books for children in particular are mesmerizing. I love his work with the artist Leonard Baskin. Their A Book of Flies Real or Otherwise has become a household favorite. Baskin and Michelson really pushed each other creatively. They were quite a team.

I first met Rich at the National Jewish Book Awards in 2007. I served as a Judge for the NJBA. I later sought him out as a speaker. He presented his talk No and I Can't Dance Either: Writing Across Racial Lines. Rich is a captivating personality. His talk was well worth the price of admission. Check out his website at: http://www.rmichelson.com/rmichelson_galleries.html

Rich's A is for Abraham is one of those rare picture books about Judaism that escapes the usual trappings. Some of the amazing illustrations from Rich's books can be seen up close and personal at my exhibition Monsters and Miracles: A Journey Through Jewish Picture Books at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles through August 1, 2010. The show then transfers to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

Apart from Rich's poetry picture books, some recent worthwhile picture books worth pursuing include United States Poet Laureate Ted Kooser's Bag in the Wind, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet C.K. William's How the Nobble was Finally Found, Nobel prize-winning poet Joseph Brodsky's Discovery, and Caldecott Medalist Mordecai Gerstein's interpretation of French poet Jacques Prévert's How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird.

Faces Behind Barbed Wire

I would like to thank the following organizations and individuals for their support of our exhibition Faces Behind Barbed Wire: The Rivesaltes Internment Camp Memorial which ran from March 21, 2010 - May 6, 2010, at the Holocaust Museum and Learning Center in St. Louis: Dr. Denis Peschanski and the CNRS in Paris, Frederic Raphael, Marianne Petit and the Musée Mémorial du Camp de Rivesaltes, Fonds August Bohny, Crispin Brooks, Ita Gordon and Tina Minh of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute, Professor Alejandro Baer of the Universität Bayreuth/Universidad Complutenese de Madrid, Marie-Anne Toledano - Cultural Attaché at the French Consulate in Chicago, Dan Reich, Jean Cavender and the Holocaust Museum and Learning Center in St. Louis, La Compagnie des Phares et Balise, David Eidelman and the Alliance Française de St. Louis, Professor Jean-Louis Pautrot and Saint Louis University, Professor Pier Marton and Washington University in St. Louis, Moris Farhi, Daniel Asa Rose, Homewood Suites, Captions Incorporated, Documentary Educational Resources, Byrpn Kerman and Sauce Magazine, Jacqueline Veuve, France Today, Jorge Amat, and Congregation Kol Am. I am truly grateful to the Rivesaltes survivor community for their support and assistance.

In June 2010, my wife Rabbi Séverine Haziza-Sokol lead an educational mission comprised of members of Congregation Kol Am to Rivesaltes, France.

They were joined for this event by members of the Communaute Juive Liberale - Grenoble. A special thank you to Dr. Peschanski and Marianne Petit for their extraordinary work. The memorial will be one of Europe's largest Holocaust memorials. The museum also focuses on the suffering and internment of Spaniards and Algerians at Rivesaltes. The memorial is astonishing and consists of the only traces of the some 200 internment camps that operated in France prior to and during World War II. This important project has been the subject of profiles in The New York Times and Washington Post. Their work deserves our support. Please consult the following links for more information: http://www.cg66.fr/52-le-memorial-de-rivesaltes.htm ...

Cricket:The Realm of the Imagination

The April 2010 edition of the award-winning magazine Cricket serves as a companion to an exhibition I co-created and co-curated entitled Monsters and Miracles: A Journey Through Jewish Picture Books. The exhibition is appearing at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA (April 8-August 1, 2010) and The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, MA (October 15, 2010 – January 23, 2011). The April issue which I served as consulting editor on includes new and original stories by some of today’s finest artists and writers including Daniel and Jill Pinkwater, Lisa Brown and Ilan Stavans. There is also an exclusive interview with Eric Carle and a fascinating look at the work of Maurice Sendak by Patrick Rodgers, Traveling Exhibitions Coordinator for The Rosenbach Museum and Library. Copies of the magazine are available at the Skirball Cultural Center and The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. You can also check your local library or bookstore.