Hug a Book Week Day 7

Saving the best for the last day of Hug A Book Week. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE by Maurice Sendak, which won the Caldecott in 1964.

This book has had a profound effect on me. Every time I think of it, I go back to being a kid, and feeling those warm fuzzies it always gave me. There's just something magical about this book! ‪

For more info about Hug a Book Week:
http://pages.simonandschuster.com/hugmachine

Hug A Book Week #4

Today, we're hugging the graphic novel Jane, the Fox & Me written by Fanny Britt, a Quebec playwright, author and translator. She has written a dozen plays (among them Honey Pie, Hôtel Pacifique and Bienveillance) and translated more than fifteen. She has also written and translated several other works of literature. The book is illustrated by one of my current art crushes,  Isabelle Arsenaut.

After reading this book, I realized that I never read Jane Eye (which is the "Jane" in the title), so I read that, too. So it was a twofor.

For more info about Hug a Book Week:
http://pages.simonandschuster.com/hugmachine

Hug A Book Week #3

Today, I'm posting my art instead of me - I'm not really a "selfie" type person, so it's a little weird for me to keep posting pictures of myself!

Today, it's all about last year's Newberry winner Flora & Ulysses written by the wonderful Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by KC Campbell. This book is so hilarious, it had me laughing out loud the whole time I read it. I mean, a vacuum attacks a squirrel and gives him super powers – what's not to love? And the illustrations are so quirky and fun. Squeaky the squirrel loves it, too, since there aren't a lot of super-hero-squirrel books out there for him to read.

For more info about Hug a Book Week:
http://pages.simonandschuster.com/hugmachine

Hug a Book Week #2

Image if Joan Rivers were here to ask:
Who are you hugging?

Today, it's one of last year's Caldecott honor books, Extra Yarn written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen. I could stare at this book for hours!

For more info about Hug a Book Week:
http://pages.simonandschuster.com/hugmachine

Hug a Book Week!

Have you hugged a book today? 

Simon and Schuster is celebrating the release of the adorable book Hug Machine by promoting this week as Hug a Book Week! I have actually hugged books in real life, so this is really nothing new to me, other than the act of posting the photos for the world to see.

So, for every day this week as part of #HugABookWeek, I'm going to post a photo of me hugging a book I love.

I'm playing catch up as the Missouri SCBWI conference had me a little busy this weekend - so today I'm posting two!




First, is me hugging Kelly Light's new release Louise Loves Art. I've been following Kelly online for several years and am so happy for her and her debut book as an author/illustrator. 

Second, is me hugging Dan Yaccarino's Unlovable. This is such a sweet book that is VERY lovable and just begging to be hugged! And I got it autographed this weekend at the conference!

For more info about Hug a Book Week:
http://pages.simonandschuster.com/hugmachine

Speaking of Books . . .

I have been exposed to a lot of new writers during the last month, and I want to share a book that I just fell in love with! It's not really a rhyming book, since it has only 2 words in the whole thing, but Boy, Howdy! is it adorable!

It's called Mine! by Shutta Crum. First, you gotta love her name (and it's her real name, too!) and second, Patrice Barton is  an illustration genius! The story she tells in the images are priceless! And that dog it so stinking cute! If you want a good does of charming, read this book!

RhyPiBoMo End of Week 4

Here are the books I read this week:

I love looking at these little squares of awesomeness! It just makes me happy!

I also have a poem to share with you –  the poem I entered into the Golden Quill Poetry Contest. Angie said she had over 40 entries! I'm excited to see the finalists!

Please Don’t Make Me Eat Those Peas

Please don’t make me eat those peas –
they stink and make me gag and wheeze.
I have a strong aversion to
those squishy globes of greenish goo!

I try to feed them to our puppy,
the hamster, and the family guppy.
They try a pea and spit it out –
they hate them, too, without a doubt!

I wish you would respect my wishes–
I promise I will do the dishes
if you don’t force me to consume
that evil, little green legume!

I’ll clean my room and make my bed
and make sure that the pets are fed.
If you love me, I’m beggin’ please,
Please don’t make me eat those peas!

RhyPiBoMo End of Week 3

Still plugging away on RhyPiBoMo and learning A LOT! I don't have any poems to post, but I'm almost finished with one that I'm going to enter into the Golden Quill Poetry Contest. In the meantime, here are the books I've read last week.

RhyPiBoMo End of Week 2

I am learning so much about writing poems. There sure is a lot that I didn't know that I didn't know!

One of the things that I didn't know about is a 5-line poem called a Tanka. It's similar to the Haiku, in that it has rules about how many syllables each line has:
Tanka- a 5-line poem

Line 1 has five syllables

Line 2 has seven syllables

Line 3 has five syllables

Line 4 has seven syllables

Line 5 has seven syllables

Here’s my Tanka:

Instantaneous!
Spring has sprung just overnight
Mother Nature just pressed ‘go’
Trees abloom with white flowers
We revel in the beauty

Books I read this week:

RhyPiBoMo - Day 8

One of the rules of RhyPiBoMo is to read a rhyming picture book every day. Here are the books I read in the fist week.

One week down and 3 to go! Today, we learned about the different quatrains and the different rhyming patterns they can have. Here is one with the ABAB pattern:

    Buddy
    Buddy is a crazy boy!
    He jumps on everyone around,
    because he can’t contain his joy.
    He’s such a wacky, happy hound!

The Next Big Thing!

The Next Big Thing! is a blog tour that gives authors and illustrators a chance to share their work, then tag others to share theirs. Each blogger answers the same ten questions. The tour started in Australia, and has spread worldwide.

I've was asked to participate by illustrator Debbie Meyer, my roomie for the upcoming SCBWI LA Conference. Debbie and I have been online friends for years, and we met and hung out at the 2010 SCBWI conference in NYC. I'm looking forward to hanging with her again in August!

Debbie blogged about her dummy book she wrote and illustrated called "The Three Little Pigs Go To Preschool." For a dose of cuteness, visit her blog here.

1) What is the working title of your next book?

I am currently working on illustrating a book called "Annie the Scientist" by Daniel Johnson. It's the first book I've ever illustrated – Yay!

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

Since I'm not the author, I'll talk about what inspired the illustrations. The character came from the text. She comes off as sort of a know-it-all, so I had to make her cute to be likeable.

3) What genre does your book fall under?

Chapter Book

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

If we could turn back time, I think Abigail Breslin at the age she was when she did Little Miss Sunshine would be a great Annie.

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Annie tells her skeptical friends that she is a “scientist,” and we watch as she slowly gains their confidence by performing one amazing scientific feat after another.

6) Who is publishing your book?

Character Publishing.

7) How long did it take you to create the illustrations?

I'm still working on them! At the end of the project, I will have had 14 weeks to design the whole book and complete the illustrations from the time I got the text.

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I really don't know.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Once again, since I'm not the author, I'll talk about what inspired the illustrations. The age of the character is the same as 2 of my nieces, so I made her look kind of like one of them and gave her freckles like the other.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

This book is packed scientific facts. It includes a glossary in the back explaining some fun scientific facts. As for the illustrations, I have given Annie a little sidekick who appears in every illustration.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I'm working on. The blog tour continues next week with:

Wendy Martin

November is Picture Book Month!

Join the celebration and party with a picture book!

I love November because it's Picture Book Month, as well as PiBoIdMo (see post below). In this digital age where people are predicting the coming death of print books, picture books (the print kind) need love. And the world needs picture books. I need picture books. I SO love picture books! There’s nothing like the physical page turn of a beautifully crafted picture book and no digital device can replicate that experience!

Visit picturebookmonth.com everyday in November for a new post from a picture book champion explaining why he/she thinks picture books are important. There's been some great posts so far. Come join the fun!

New Work for "Chocolate Chips and Rocket Ships" Book

I'm excited to have been asked to be part of an exciting project – a book called "Chocolate Chips and Rocket Ships"– a collection of 99 1/2 fun poems by John O'Marra. John has somehow wrangled 100 different artists to create illustrations to accompany his poems for this really fun book. Check out his site for some of the art and poems that will be part of the book. And be sure to watch the videos that star his adorable children!

November is Picture Book Month

November is a busy month! To go along with PiBoIdMo, November is also Picture Book Month. Here's a little history: with an unprecedented amount of picture books being converted to the digital format, Dianne de Las Casas decided it was time to celebrate picture books in their printed format so she created an initiative to designate November as “Picture Book Month.” Katie Davis, Elizabeth Dulemba, Tara Lazar, and Wendy Martin came on board to champion the cause and spread the word.

Each day in November, a new essay about picture books will be posted on the website from such notable contributors as Suzanne Bloom, Denise Fleming, Leslie Helakoski, Eric A. Kimmel, Tammi Sauer, Dan Yaccarino, and Jane Yolen. It will also feature links to picture book resources, authors, illustrators, and kidlit book bloggers.
Join the celebration!

PiBoIdMo 2011

It's time for Picture Book Idea Month! For those who don't know, November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) where writers challenge themselves to write a certain amount of words every day in November, then hopefully have a finished novel at the end of the month.

Tara Lazar, a children's book writer started PiBoIdMo to coincide with NaNoWriMo for picture book writers. The challenge is to come up with an idea for a picture book every day in November. I participated in PiBoIdMo 2 years ago, and I'm signed up to do it again! It really helps stretch your creative muscle!

Check it out! There will be guest posts and prizes all month.

p.s. Isn't the banner cute? One of my critique partners, Bonnie Adamson, created it and I think it's as cute as a bug (oh, wait, it IS a bug!) She did such a wonderful job!

Where the Wild Things Are Movie Review

I was so excited about this movie coming out, (hence my banner) but was a little disappointed. Not because of the violence that a lot of parents are worried about, but because it just didn't have the magic of the book.

My favorite part of the book is when Max's room turns into the forest. Those pages are the best - the movie didn't even go there. Max runs away from home, and it's not clear that he's imagining the place he goes to. I wish the makers of this film portrayed that part in the same vein as in the movie Frida, when she is imaging the trip to New York, or when the scene turns into a painting - love that!

I am surprised that Mr. Sendak let that happen (he is one of the producers). Maybe he didn't have as much control over it as I thought because he seems to agree with me. Here is an excerpt of an article that was in Newsweek. Reporter: "One disagreement you had is that in the book, Max stays in his room. In the film, he runs away from home."
Sendak: "It was one of my favorite scenes in the book. It was so much about the ability of children to imagine themselves in another place. He was a prisoner, locked in his room by his mother. And by his imagination he was able to get through those few hours where he was isolated and trapped. That's how I saw it. But there was something so totally valid in what Spike was doing."

I don't agree with that last sentence, but I'm glad me and my buddy Maurice are on the same wave length. Maybe there IS hope for me! :)

For a bunch of incredible art dedicated to the book, visit Terrible Yellow Eyes. Some awesome stuff!

I'm Participating in PiBoIdMo

What in the heck is PiBoIdMo, you ask? It's the brilliant idea of Tara Lazar for Picture Book Idea Month. It is an offshoot of NaNoWriMo (which is National Novel Writers Month in which participants write every day in November and have a completed 50,000 word novel at the end of the month). It's for us picture book writers (yeah, I said it, I'm a writer) to come up with an idea a day for the month of November. I've already got 9 ideas! Who knew I could do this??

For anyone wanting to be a picture book writer, check it out - there's a new inspiration every day this month.