smallest book in the world

After seeing microminiatures for the first time last week, I returned home to read that a British sculptor has mounted the Obama family in the eye of a gold needle! My introduction to micro art is tucked away in a narrow alley in Szentendre, Hungary. An small museum there exhibits the work of 72-year-old Ukranian sculptor Mykola Syadristy.

He works in the moment between two heartbeats and wields tools several times thinner than a human hair. Under a microscope, he fashions gold into camels and places them in the eye of a needle. Golden baby swallows wait for their lunch in the half shell of a poppy seed. Gold chessmen sit on a chessboard mounted on the head of a pin. These breathtaking microminiatures are seen only by the aid of a microscope.


The golden sculptures are delicate enough, but the smallest book in the world was most special to me. Only twelve pages long and 0.6 sq. mm, it holds poems of Ukranian people's poet Taras Shevchenko. They are between yellow covers made from immortelle, or "everlasting" flower petals and are sewn together with a strand of spider silk.

Here is a verse from Shevchenko's "The Mighty Dnieper" translated by John Weir.


The mighty Dnieper roars and bellows,
The wind in anger howls and raves,
Down to the ground it bends the willows,
And mountain-high lifts up the waves.

This website shows Syadristy's amazing sculptures.

http://microart.kiev.ua/en/index.html

sound effects

This week I attended a kids' concert by NH musician/storyteller Steve Blunt. Young kids loved repeating sounds in his songs. Whether it was frogs calling "knee-deep, knee-deep," or the golden bird chanting "Na-na-na-na-na-na," or any other nonsense chorus, they chimed in loudly. The sillier the chant, the better.

I thought of picture books that capitalize on kids' love of sound effects,Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Click, Clack, Moo and Rattle Trap Car. Writers know that rhythm and sound are hooks that keep kids interested. The trick is to find the right combination!

In her young chapter book, Ugly, Donna Jo Napoli used sound effects. Ugly peeped his way through many adventures until he discovered he was a black swan. Geese honked, chickens pa-kokked. Ugly was learning life lessons, but the various noises grounded the reader in the animal world.

My next post will be in three weeks. In the meantime, I'll be cruising to whatever sounds riverboats make!