Gail de marcken biography sample

  • These narratives are vividly

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  • It's a prequel, really. Explains
    • Jeff brumbeau grew up in New York City, where he lived with his mother and sister in his wodowed grandmother's house. His mother worked hard to support her family, who struggled to get by.Jeff has had a variety of jobs befitting a degree in English, he says, including pumping gas, carpentry, painting, working in a mail room, car wash, factory, and candy store, on an oil rig in Wyoming and in advertising.He lives in Chicago and Taos with Marcia, his wife; Samantha, the opera singin Persian cat; and Louis, the daredevil alley cat.

    Gail de Marcken has been lucky enough to have lived all over the world. She joined the Peace Corps in 1965, and argued her way to a posting four days upriver in Borneo, where she met another volunteer. Two years later, he called her in Minnesota and offered to carry supplies back to her teacher's college. He had just gotten a job with the Peace Corps located near the college. Three days late they got married, and she went with him back to Borneo. They had thirty of their thirty-four years together in Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe. They have three children, and have experienced together: one war, a coup, an evacuation, ten countries (three in which they were shot at), malaria, and lots of adventures. Most recently, they lived in Latvia. Over the years, they managed to return to their beloved fifteen acres of land near Ely, Minnesota, every summer. They now live there, in paradise, full-time.

    Gail has found models for her characters in the people and figures that populate her world. The inspiration for Miss Hunnicutt came from Gail's sister-in-law. A great and animated teacher, she is nicknamed Rubber Face. The name comes from the fact that she loves to make faces, and is an avid collector of rubber noses. Her students know what subject is coming, and how quiet they have to be, by watching the type of nose she is wearing. Like Miss Hunicutt, she is not a timid person.

    Also, in Miss Hunnicutt's Hat, Gail was particularly interested in

  • Gail de Marcken is an illustrator

    • The Quiltmaker’s Journey

    Ear­li­er this week I pulled out our small stash of Thanks­giv­ing pic­ture books. The kids are old­er now, but they seem to like it when the old favorites come out. I got lost, as I always do, in The Quiltmaker’s Gift by Jeff Brum­beau, illus­trat­ed by Gail de Mar­ck­en. I’ve writ­ten about that book for Red Read­ing Boots — you can find that here.

    I went in search of its com­pan­ion, The Quilt­mak­ers Jour­ney, which wasn’t with the Thanks­giv­ing books for some rea­son. Found it — and lost myself in it, as well. It’s a pre­quel, real­ly. Explains how the Quilt­mak­er came by her val­ues of gen­eros­i­ty, beau­ty, and love of peo­ple, not things.

    When the Quilt­mak­er was a young girl, she lived a mate­ri­al­ly advan­taged and priv­i­leged life.  Because every­one in her town was rich, the girl assumed every­one in the world was. This was by design, we learn. A wall had been built — a stone wall, thick and high — around the town. The chil­dren in the town nev­er saw what was out­side, but they were warned by their elders that hor­ri­ble, ter­ri­ble things were on the oth­er side of the wall….

    When I read this in sto­ry­time to kids, you can see them imag­in­ing what’s on the oth­er side of the wall. Their sweet faces morph into trou­bled ones — brows fur­row, eyes wor­ry, thumbs and fin­gers trav­el to their mouths…. Which is exact­ly what hap­pened to the chil­dren in the town. And so they under­stand­ably stay inside the wall where every­thing and more was pro­vid­ed and where an obscene abun­dance reigned; but not, we learn, the assumed hap­pi­ness that would come from such lux­u­ry.… Our young hero­ine grows restless!

    The girl who becomes the quilt­mak­er goes out, of course — beyond the wall — that’s the main sto­ry. And she learns that the ter­rors on the oth­er side of the wall are noth­ing like what she’d imag­ined. No mon­sters or ghouls, witch­es or drag­o

      Gail de marcken biography sample

    This summer we have read dozens and dozens of books.  I am a reading GrAnn and there are piles of books in our home.  I want to report on 2 of our very favorites this summer, books we’ve read and re-read and read again to the kids:  The Quilt Makers Gift and The Quilt Maker’s Journey by Jeff Brumbeau, illustrated by Gail de Marken.

    When I first discovered The Quiltmaker’s Gift in 2002, I ordered about a hundred copies for all of my quilting friends (it was in a Scholastic book order when my kids were small).  The Quiltmaker’s Journey came out later, and tells the story of how the Quiltmaker came to be.  These books are lucious.  The tale is so meaningful and beautifully told and the illustrations are out of this world.  We spent hours just reading these 2 books and looking at the illustrations.

    These books come with my highest recommendation.  Just get them and treasure them.  You and your kids will be better for reading them.  Trust me.

    Amazon’s description of The Quiltmaker’s Gift:
    In this enchantingly told original folktale, a wise quiltmaker makes the most beautiful quilts in the world – but she will give them only to those who have nothing. When a rich, dissatisfied king insists that she give him one of her quilts, she gives him what seems an impossible task: to give away all he owns. One by one, the king gives away his many possessions, and finds that the more he gives away, the happier he is. Finally, when the king has nothing, the quiltmaker gives him the promised quilt. But he knows that the true reward for his generosity has been the smiles of those he has helped.The Quiltmaker’s Gift has touched the hearts of readers young and old, bringing it to the PW bestseller list and earning it numerous awards and commendations. The heartwarming, strongly moral tale supports important values, and the detailed illustrations, featuring dozens of lovingly rendered quilt patterns, offer hours of delight.

    Amazon