Author Storytime with Lisa Rogers and Alison Goldberg

Authors Lisa Rogers and Alison Goldberg join us for a special storytime event! They will each read their newest picture books, Joan Mitchell Paints a Symphony and Eighteen Flowers for Grandma respectively. Following their readings, they will answer questions and lead kids in a craft activity.

Tickets for this event are free, but we ask that all guests register in advance as we have limited spots available. Sign up below!

ABOUT JOAN MITCHELL PAINTS A SYMPHONY:
Celebrate the creative process of pioneering American abstract painter Joan Mitchell in this beautifully illustrated STEAM picture book, perfect for all kinds of young creators.
It’s 1983, and American artist Joan Mitchell is in her studio outside Paris, transforming her emotions and memories into a symphony of colors and shapes. Inspired by her friend’s description of an idyllic hidden valley in France, Mitchell creates 21 massive paintings—her Grande Vallée series —bursting with vibrant, energizing hues. But she doesn’t paint the valley’s flowers and meadows. She paints a feeling about them—abundance, freedom, liveliness—creating a harmonious blend of drips, splashes, and brushstrokes in rainbow colors. When the paint dries, it's time to share her valley with the world.
This inspiring, poetic picture book about an influential yet lesser-known American artist provides a snapshot of a creator who deserves as much acclaim as better-known Abstract Expressionists like Jackson Pollock or Willem de Kooning. Author Lisa Rogers shares both the despair and delight Mitchell experienced throughout her career, while acclaimed illustrator Stacy Innerst’s bright artwork captures the movement and energy of Mitchell’s work, as her paintings develop from page to page.

ABOUT EIGHTEEN FLOWERS FOR GRANDMA:
Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Book of the Year 2024
A celebration of family, culture, and the enduring bond between generations.

Sadie’s grandmother is studying art and invites Sadie to learn and share her passion. But Sadie’s grandmother passes on more than her love of art to her grandchild; she also shares her knowledge of Jewish cultural traditions. Sadie learns about the meaning of “chai”—the Hebrew word for life—and the significance of the lucky number eighteen. Her grandmother will soon graduate from college, so Sadie commits herself to finding a perfect way to celebrate with a gift that combines her love of art and newly learned traditions. Readers will appreciate the relationship at the heart of the story in which a passion for art and cultural traditions are lovingly shared between the generations. Eighteen Flowers for Grandma is where love, tradition, and creativity intersect; it will leave an indelible mark on the hearts of readers young and old. Backmatter includes additional information about several Jewish cultural references found in the book, the Hebrew alphabet, and a note about the author’s inspiration for the story.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Lisa Rogers is a former elementary school librarian. She is the author of Beautiful Noise, illustrated by Il Sung Na, which received three starred reviews, and 16 Words: William Carlos Williams and “The Red Wheelbarrow,” illustrated by Chuck Groenink, which won the Boston Authors Club Julia Ward Howe Award and the Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award, and was a Bank Street Best Book and a Crystal Kite Award finalist. She is also the author of Hound Won’t Go, a Massachusetts Must-Read, and the co-author of Discover Her Art.

Alison Goldberg is a writer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the author of I Love You for Miles and Miles. She also wrote the award-winning nonfiction picture book Bottle Tops, a biography of the Ghanaian artist El Anatsui. Eighteen Flowers for Grandma was inspired by her own grandmother, who graduated from college at the age of seventy-eight. You can visit Alison online at alisongoldberg.com.

Host or Publisher An Unlikely Story