Artwork and A New Book

Today I stumbled upon a picture drawn by Madeleine.  Curious about the various people she had drawn, I asked her to tell me about the picture.  And now, I challenge you all to a game of "I Spy":

Can you find:

1.) Me
2.) Jesus
3.) Julia
4.) Madeleine
5.) Poufy



ANSWER KEY:
1.) I'm the one in the striped shirt with what looks to be either a baseball bat or a large phallus coming out of my head.  (The fact that I am also the only person labelled is also a give-away.)
2.) Jesus is the guy to the right of me, splayed out upon the cross.
3.) Julia is to the left of me, sort of coming out of my body, with the somewhat disfigured head/neck.  And to add further challenge to this quiz, there is actually a second Julia: the peach faceless head and body floating through the air at the right-side of the page.
4.) Madeleine is the small horizontal bunny to the right of Jesus.
5.) Poufy is the other bunny, to the right of Madeleine and above the faceless floating Julia.


I guess the good old days of Jesus hanging out with Madeleine, eating chocolate, are in the past, since Easter is approaching.  Now he's stuck up on His cross, where He should be.


Julia has been making all sorts of Easter artwork, including cards with rhyming poems on them for her family members, but beyond that, she has started a new book series.  This series stars a character named Sharry, and Julia assured me: "Mom?  THIS time her name is NOT going to change to Marry partway through the book!"

Julia completed book one of her Sharry series and is hard at work on book two.  For a full look at the first book, read on!:

Sharry Wotermelan Monster!
by  Julia Rowe


Pg. 1:

"Sharry love's watermelon.  It is her favorite kind of frout."

Interestingly, watermelon is one of Julia's LEAST kinds of frout.  Maybe she's enjoying the authorial opportunity to write about a character entirely unlike herself.


Pg. 2:

"One day in disbolief Sharry relised there wasant any watermelon.  'Mom where the watermelon?' askt Sharry."

Yeah, Mom!  WHERE THE WATERMELON?  ME WANT WATERMELON!
P.S. Nice quotation marks, Jules!!


Pg. 3:

"There gone becuse you ate all of them Sharry,' said her Mom.  Than Sharry notact a piece of watermelon on the tabel."

PHEW!  One last piece on the tabel!  Otherwise, Sharry would have had to face the consequences of her watermelon hoggery.  Thank goodness she notact that piece on the tabel.


Pg. 4:

"The next morning Sharry's mom got more watermelon.  'Thank you Mom!' said Sharry."

Watermelon, glorious watermelon!  I love the golden rays of magical light surrounding it like it's manna from Heaven.  Also, again: great job on the quotation marks, Jules! - and the punctuation!


Pg. 5:

"Sharry scipt all the way to school.  'MY MOM GOT MORE WATERMELON!' Sharry sang all the way there."

Julia also scips all the way to school every morning.  And I don't even need to buy watermelon to put her in a scipping mood!


Pg. 6:

"At lunch Sharry only took watermelon.  'You know that you can't only have watermelon right Sharry?' askt Sharry's best friend Crisa."

I like the banner behind their heads stating "Eat Food!"  And Crisa is right.  Watermelon alone is really not enough for lunch.  At least SOMEONE can try and talk some sense into Sharry, even if her mom is willing to indulge her watermelon habit.


Pg. 7:

"I know,' sihd Sharry.  'I...I just love watermelon so much' said she."

I'm digging the "said she" big time.  And I like Sharry's curvy nose and side-of-the-face O-mouth.


Pg. 8:

"The next day Sharry pact watermelon for lunch.  'Sharry,' said Crisa.  'You are a watermelon monster."

Yeah Sharry.  You're a TOTAL watermelon monster.  Because...at night you turn into a watermelon and terrorize small children.


Pg. 9:

"A WATERMELON MONSTER!!!' yelld Sharry.  'I can't be a watermelon monster,' said she."

WOW!  Crisa's accusation turned Sharry's mouth ALL zig-zaggy!


Pg. 10:

"BUT THERE'S NOTHING RONG WITH LOVEING WATEMELON!' yelld Crisa."

Boy, everybody is yelling all of a sudden.  This watermelon monster thing sure is creating controversy.  But Crisa's right.  There really IS nothing rong with loveing watemelon.  Maybe Julia can learn that lesson and actually give watemelon a try.


Pg. 11:

"SHARRY!!??'  'I'm in here' said Sharry.  'Are you okay Sharry?' ask't Crisa."

No, she's not okay!  She turned into a watermelon monster.  RUN FOR YOUR LIIIIIVES!


Pg. 12:

"Sharry you will alway's be a watermelon monster' said Crisa.  Well untill Sharry became an apple monster."

I *love* how Julia returned to the picture from the first page, this time with the twist of an apple rather than a watermelon.  This kid sure is turning into a literary master!


Back cover:

Here you can see the rest of the Sharry books, including the preceding book which hasn't actually been written.

1.) Sharry Scard of the Dark
2.)  Sharry Watermelon Monster
3.) Marry Christmas Sharry! (does Sharry turn into Marry again in this one??)
4.) Sharry the New Girl
5.) Happy Halloween Sharry!
6.) Happy Birthday Sharry!


Madeleine was obviously very taken with this book of Julia's.  She made her own book today, complete with the following pictures:

Luckily for us, Madeleine managed to keep her typical macabre art style going despite her attempts to imitate Julia.  Way to put her own individual stamp on her copycat artwork!