Dallas Clayton

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Fri, 18 May 2012 09:16:33 -0700

Getting back from tour is always nice because I can write a bit...

Thu, 17 May 2012 17:37:00 -0700

Getting back from tour is always nice because I can write a bit and try and reflect on the journey I’ve just taken. I’ve been going through the photos from this past month and there are so many moments stacked on so many moments that it’s hard to believe how many kids I talked to, met, read to, and shared with. What a blast. I’ll be posting more pictures throughout the coming week. Stay tuned!

Photo

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:02:47 -0700

YOUTH OF I’ve been on tour the past few weeksreading books to...

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:02:54 -0700

YOUTH OF

I’ve been on tour the past few weeks
reading books to children
in different schools
in different cities
in different states.

It’s been inspirational
to say the least
meeting them all
and watching those differences blend
into their faces and attitudes
like the watercolor give
in the geography
of highway mile markers.

Living in a city
built on a desert
and populated with generations
who couldn’t wait to escape their parents,
small towns,
or respective social constraints
it’s easy to spend your day never really knowing anyone.

Orphans.

It’s easy to forget about humanity
the further you stand from it
the further you build your house away from someone else
the thicker you pad the walls.

Not knowing who people are
or what they want to do with their lives -
only catching a glimpse of a shadowy figure
elongated against the landscape
through the lens of a camera
the jigsaw puzzle of an overheard conversation-
It’s only natural to stack the odds against the common good.

Not knowing how they plan to raise their children
to try and make the world a better place
and how they are just as scared as you some times-
it only strengthens the argument
for the unhindered spread of terribly sad futures
that will one day paint black the skies.

But from what I’ve seen recently
I recommend you take a moment
to step out of your day,
perhaps a weekend abroad
visiting with the locals
in a place you’ve
only driven past
and wondered.

The longer we live with the projections
of what life is like on the other side of the wall
the more disappointed we will be
when we scale it
armed to the teeth
and looking for someone to blame.

Photo

Tue, 15 May 2012 09:11:12 -0700

Kids Book Tour : Piano break.

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:03:33 -0700

Kids Book Tour : Piano break.

Photo

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:58:35 -0700

ANSWERS “How did we get here?” the child asks. And his teacher tells him “Science.” And his preacher...

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:16:00 -0700

ANSWERS

“How did we get here?” the child asks.

And his teacher tells him “Science.”

And his preacher tells him “God.”

And his father tells him “Go ask your mother.”

And his mother tells him “Don’t ask questions like that.”

And over by the window, sitting all alone, looking out at the city his great grandmother simply asks him-

“What do you think?”

Kids Book Tour : Cincinnati - This is how much fun...

Thu, 10 May 2012 14:09:58 -0700

Kids Book Tour : Cincinnati - This is how much fun we’re having!

Kids book tour: Some nights you just need to go outside and draw...

Tue, 08 May 2012 19:58:31 -0700

Kids book tour: Some nights you just need to go outside and draw all over the sidewalk. Tonight was one of those nights.

Miss Haviland: Is there any point that you would like to make,...

Tue, 08 May 2012 06:38:38 -0700

Miss Haviland: Is there any point that you would like to make, aside from the questions that have been brought up to you before and which you’ve answered again tonight?

Mr. Sendak: I love my work very much, it means everything to me. I would like to see a time when children’s books were not segregated from adult books, a time when people didn’t think of children’s books as a minor art form, a little Peterpanville, a cutsey-darling place where you could Have Fun, Laugh Your Head Off. I know so many adult writers whom I would happily chop into pieces, who say, “Well I think I’ll take a moment and sit down and knock off a kiddy book! It looks like so much fun, it’s obviously easy…” And, of course, they write a lousy book!

It would be so much better if everyone felt that children’s books are for everybody, that we simply write books, that we are a community of writers and artists, that we are all seriously involved in the business of writing. And if everyone felt that writing for children is a serious business, perhaps even more serious than a lot of other forms of writing, and if when such books are reviewed and discussed, they were discussed on this serious level, and that we would be taken seriously as artists.

I would like to do away with the division into age categories of children over here and adults over there, which is confusing to me and I think probably confusing to children. It’s very confusing to many people who don’t even know how to buy a children’s book. I think if I have any particular hope it’s this: that we all should simply be artists and just write books and stop pretending that there is such a thing as being able to sit down and write a book for a child: it is quite impossible. One simply writes books.

– Questions to an Artist Who Is Also an Author: A Conversation between Maurice Sendak and Virginia Haviland (a public interview at the Library of Congress held in 1971)

Maurice Sendak, a great inspiration… you will be missed.

Kids Book Tour: Get some paint on your hands every now and...

Mon, 07 May 2012 06:14:37 -0700

Kids Book Tour: Get some paint on your hands every now and again…

Kids Book Tour: “I Can Change the Future” mural,...

Fri, 04 May 2012 15:55:47 -0700

Kids Book Tour: “I Can Change the Future” mural, Miami, Florida. Painting elementary schools across the country and back again.

One of the best parts about reading to kids at schools is...

Thu, 03 May 2012 21:50:01 -0700

One of the best parts about reading to kids at schools is letting them make as much noise as they want!

KIDS BOOK TOUR: Back on the road again with Harpercollins and my...

Wed, 02 May 2012 19:32:32 -0700

KIDS BOOK TOUR: Back on the road again with Harpercollins and my friends at Future Fortified . It’s the second leg of our “I Can Change the Future” tour with all sorts of readings and songs and signings and murals lined up all across the country over the next two weeks. The above photo was taken this morning about thirty minutes after waking up, I’m still behind the curtain in this shot, not a bad way to start your day - a ton of massive smiles.

THE MUSIC WE CHOOSE TO HEAR Sunday afternoon. A woman stands on the corner, playing violin. A child...

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 23:21:00 -0700

THE MUSIC WE CHOOSE TO HEAR

Sunday afternoon. A woman stands on the corner, playing violin.

A child watches from a distance as the people pass, hustle and bustle, paying her no attention.

“Why don’t they stop and listen to her music?” The child asks his father.

“It’s like they don’t even see her.”

The father thinks for a moment before answering-

“Sometimes the older we get the more often we think we’ve seen everything. And the more that we think that we’ve seen, the easier it is to just keep on walking forward worrying about what we’re going to see next, and how we’re going to feel when we see it.”

On the corner the violinist plays with such spirit her music soars, swirling up and around the strangers. They push through it, avoiding the notes like a heavy rain, heads down, bodies barreling. The child takes it all in, then looks toward his father, curious-

“But what if the next thing they are supposed to see is that woman on the corner playing a beautiful song on her violin? And what if they don’t even notice her because they think they saw her already, and they think they already heard that song?”

The crosswalk changes signals as the father readies his reply.

“Well, that happens too. It happens every day. But the best we can do is to try and remember to stop when we can, and listen to this music, and even if we’ve heard it before, imagine what it felt like that very first time.”

They approach the violinist and her song washes over them. The boy holds his father’s hand and smiles. The father smiles back.

The violinist closes her eyes and pours her soul into her instrument.

They’ve never heard this song before, and it is beautiful.

Kids Book Tour: If you invite me to come read children’s...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:18:26 -0700

Kids Book Tour: If you invite me to come read children’s books at your punk/squat house, there’s a good chance I’ll end up doing the dishes.

TOUGH LOVE If you’re getting too caught upthinking you’re big timehard as a nailwise to the street...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:02:46 -0700

TOUGH LOVE

If you’re getting too caught up
thinking you’re big time
hard as a nail
wise to the street -
keep in mind
that Martha Stewart
went to prison
when she was 53 years old
and already a billionaire
from selling recipes to your grandmother.

Photo

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:20:01 -0700

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Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:15:21 -0700