The Carpenter S Pencil

The acclaimed Galician author’s novel of the Spanish Civil War is “a sincere and beautiful portrait of a brutal, ugly period of Spanish history” (The Guardian). Novelist and El País journalist Manuel Rivas has been heralded as one of the brightest in a new wave of Spanish authors. Originally written in Galician, his native language, The Carpenter’s Pencil was a bestseller in Spain and has been published in nine countries. Set in the dark days of the Spanish Civil War, The Carpenter’s Pencil charts the linked destinies of Dr. Daniel Da Barca, a Republican who cheats death in General Franco’s prisons; Herbal, an illiterate Falangist and Da Barca’s shadow; and an unnamed painter with the carpenter’s pencil, the man who unites them in life and death. It is also the story of Marisa Mallo, loved by both Da Barca and Herbal; Pepe Sánchez, the bolero singer; “Genghis Khan,” the wrestler; and the legend of two estranged sisters, Life and Death. All of these and more are bound by the events of the war. And all are rendered, in Rivas’s skillful hand, with the power of the carpenter’s pencil, a pencil that draws both the measured line and the artist’s fanciful vision.

When a Poem Meets a Pencil is an imaginative collaboration of the pencil drawings of Rob Hedges and the whimsical poetry of Chris Carpenter. Rob and Chris met while working at Gess Elementary in Chewelah, Washington, a small rural school nestled in the Selkirk Mountain Range of the Pacific Northwest. Chris was the music teacher and Rob was a para educator and the two would frequently combine their talents to make a lesson pop, showcase a school community bulletin board, or contribute to the annual PTA Reflections Art Program. Rob came to his career in education after a 23 year stint as a technical illustrator for Hanford, showcasing his drawing abilities in spite of his color blindness. In fact, his color blindness gave him a depth and dimension that set his drawings apart from other illustrators and caught the eye of Chris, who was looking for just the right person to capture the essence of her poems. When a Poem Meets a Pencil is the delightful result of two talented educators combining their efforts and leaving their mark - a mark of joyful wonder and thought. The pages of this book are meant to celebrate the unique view of those who see the world through their color blindness. It is estimated that 1 in 12 males and 1 in 200 females have some form of color blindness affecting 4.5 % of the entire world's population. When a Poem Meets a Pencil also honors the pencil doodlings of lines and curves and the rhythms and rhymes of words that lead to pictures and stories that celebrate life's lessons through reflection, humorous anecdotes, and animal personification. Imagine a turtle changing her shell, a dragon living in a toaster, a fishy quartet, or a territorial squirrel. These are just a few of the animals that come to life and captivate the imaginations of those who spend time with the pages of this enchanting book.

On 19 August 1936 Hercules the boxer stands on the quayside at Coruña and watches Fascist soldiers piling up books and setting them alight. With this moment a young carefree group of friends are transformed into a broken generation. Out of this incident during the early months of Spain's tragic civil war, Manuel Rivas weaves a colourful tapestry of stories and unforgettable characters to create a panorama of twentieth-century Spanish history. For it is not only the lives of Hercules the boxer and his friends that are tainted by the unending conflict, but also those of a young washerwoman who sees souls in the clouded river water and the stammering son of a judge who uncovers his father's hidden library. As the singed pages fly away on the breeze, their stories live on in the minds of their readers.

A warm, wonderful picture book that gently reminds us of the importance of respecting our natural world and highlights the joys and rewards of helping others. Join a girl as she helps a mama and papa bird build a nest in her bathroom, hatch their eggs, and teach their babies to fly away. Renata and her Papi are hard at work at renovating their bathroom. Renata can't wait to build castles of bubbles in the deep, old-fashioned bathtub. But one morning, she finds dried leaves and pine needles heaped on a shelf in the corner. How did they get there? She soon realizes that a bird has built a nest on the shelf, and inside it are four rosy eggs! Weeks pass, and Renata watches as the wrens come and go, building a home in her bathroom... until, one day, with a little help from Renata, the birds are ready to fly.

Henry Petroski traces the origins of the pencil back to ancient Greece and Rome, writes factually and charmingly about its development over the centuries and around the world, and shows what the pencil can teach us about engineering and technology today.

Anyone who can put a pen to paper can learn to produce realistic drawings--especially with the help of a skilled artist who knows how to break down the techniques into manageable bites. Using exquisite examples of his own work, Mason Hayek demonstrates an array of drawing skills, including broad-stroke, sharp-pointed-pencil, and detailed pen-and-ink. Develop your own abilities by selecting a simple subject, such as a leaf, and rendering it using contour, modified contour, and gesture drawing. Plenty of guidance is given on every facet of drawing, including equipment and supplies; good composition; choosing the right medium for a subject; capturing a fleeting scene; creating depth and shading, and correcting mistakes. The results will amaze you.

The Pencil Perfect is the tangible tale of the pencil: a utensil that crafts its own story as humans use its sharpened point to write their own.