#Inktober, #Inktober2016

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#Inktober, #Inktober2016

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#Inktober, #Inktober2016

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Every October, artists all over the world take on the InkTober drawing challenge by doing one ink drawing a day the entire month. I'll see if I can keep it up!
#Inktober, #Inktober2016

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Sketch based on this awesome story!

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Funny how things change - when I was a kid, summer school is not something to get excited about. But now I look forward to this opportunity to hone my writing skills by learning from some awesome kidlit authors.

This year, the focus is on heart and humor - perfect.  While you're out soaking up that summer sun, hop on over to Nerdy Chicks Rule and soak up some writing knowledge, too.

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Books I read the week of April 25-29:

LEAPS AND BOUNCE by Susan Hood and Matthew Cordell. A story filled with fun, humor and rhyme with a little science on the side. This is basically a lesson in how frogs grow from tadpoles into frogs. It's told as an adventure story with lyrical language and humorous, cartoony illustrations and several open-the-flap pages. And it uses a few of my favorite words: rumpus, hullaballo and shenanigans! It has amphibians rhyming with shenanigans - not a perfect rhyme, but it's so fun, it works.

TINY RABBIT'S BIG WISH by Magarita Engle and David Walker.

MAMMOTHS ON THE MOVE by Lisa Wheeler and Kurt Cyrus.

WATCH YOUR TONGUE, CECILY BEASLEY by Lane Fredrickson and Jon Davis.

NINJA RED RIDING HOOD by Corey Rosen Schwartz and Dan Santat.

I AM COW, HEAR ME MOO! by Jill Esbaum and Gus Gordon.

ROOM ON THE BROOM by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

TYRANNOSAURUS DRIP by Julia Donaldson and David Roberts.

CATS NIGHT OUT by Caroline Stutson and John Klassen.

BOO-LA-LA WITCH SPA by Samantha Berger and Isabel Roxas.

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Books I read the week of April 18-22:

UNCLES AND ANTLERS by Lisa Wheeler and Brian Floca. This book has it all: rhymes, humor, Christmas and counting. Very fun book that you can read any time of year.

ALL WE KNOW by Linda Ashman and Jane Dyer. Another instance where the whole book is an "Awwww" moment. Very sweet and beautiful book by this dynamic duo.

WHAT PET SHOULD I GET by Dr. Seuss. Typical Seuss book – fun and silly!

THERE WAS AN OLD DRAGON WHO SWALLOWED A KNIGHT by Penny Parker Klostermann and Ben Mantle. I had to read this one since it was the big winner at RhyPiBoMo's first Best in Rhyme ceremony. Love this book! So, so funny, wacky and clever with great illustrations – I can see why this book won. For a bonus, see the author reading it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LNW6HQ8_yY

MONSTER NEEDS A PART by Paul Czajak ad Wendy Greib. Cute story with lots of things kids like: friends, pirates, monsters, amusement parks and birthday parties!

BEAR SNORES ON and BEAR WANTS MORE by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman. Love these from the dream team of Wilson and Chapman. Love the stories of friendship and the illustrations.

SHEEP IN A JEEP by Nancy Shaw and Margot Apple. Cute little board book about five sheep's misadventures with a jeep. Lots of great rhyme and sound effects.

I CAN FLY by Mary Blair. I love the illustrations in this classic Little Golden Book with very simple rhymes.

OH THE PLACES YOU"LL GO! by Dr. Seuss. The perennial favorite is all over the stores, since it's a great graduation gift. It was nice to re-read it, as I do most years to remind myself, There's fun to be done."

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Books I read from April 11-15:

I read four books written by Linda Ashman this week.
1. My favorite is MAXWELL'S MAGIC MIX-UP which is illustrated by Regan Dunnick. Both the story and the illustrations are hilarious! And the rhyme is perfect, of course. One of my favorite lines from the book:  "... and there sat the birthday rock, Louise." So, so silly and fun!
2. BABIES ON THE GO is cute and full of gorgeous illustrations by Jane Dyer of how animals carry their babies. And it ends wih an 'Awww' moment.
3. JUST ANOTHER MORNING illustrated by Claudio Munoz follows the exciting day of a little boy and his wild imagination.
4. SAMANTHA ON A ROLL illustrated by Christine Davenier follows Samantha as she tries out her skates after her very busy mother tells her to wait. But she doesn't and we follow her rolling adventure!

NELLIE BELLE by Mem Fox and Mike Austin reads more like a song, with a lot of repetition of Nellie Belle's name. A very cute look into a life of a little dog. I think younger children would love this and want to sing along.

JAZZ BABY by Lisa Wheeler and R. Gregory Christie is along a similar vein. Very lively song-like words and illustrations. I would have to say it's very jazzy!

OUR LOVE GROWS by Anna Pignataro. This book is different than most rhyming books I've seen in that it starts out NOT rhyming, then turns into rhyme. I don't think that's bad, but it breaks all the rules that I've learned about books written in verse. There's one verse that just didn't set well with me, rhyming 'palms' with 'arms,' but otherwise pretty good. Maybe those two words actually rhyme in Australia, where this book was published. This one also ends in an 'Awww' moment.

STICK AND STONE by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld is a warm story about friendship.

I'LL NEVER LET YOU GO by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Alison Brown. This WHOLE book is an 'Awww' moment! Sweet story about a parent's unconditional love. The illustrations are over-the-top adorable, showing different animal pairs in each spread.

LLAMA LLAMA GRAM AND GRANDPA by Anna Dewdney. Llama Llama is spending his first night away from home with his grandparents (or grand llama?) When Llama Llama realizes he forgot his fuzzy toy, Grandpa saves the day.

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Here are the books I read April 4 -8:

I love QUEEN VICTORIA'S BATHING MACHINE by Gloria Whelan and Nancy Carpenter. The story is really interesting, and I love the fact that a non-fiction story is told in rhyme. And the illustrations are really fun.

MILES OF SMILES by Karen Kaufman Orloff and Luciano Lozano
is really cute, too. It's about how a smile goes on a journey and can be a gift to someone else, and that they can pass it on.

PARIS UP, UP AND AWAY is a very interesting book - I saw it at Barnes & Noble. It's really beautiful — it's full of illustrations made out of intricate paper cuts. I would be afraid that kids would destroy the delicate cut-paper pages.

i found some photos of some of the inside pages on Amazon:

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I love April because it's National Poetry Month and along with that, RhyPiBoMo!

RhyPiBoMo is a month-long challenge for children’s writers to learn more about rhyming, poetry and poetic techniques.

Everyone is encouraged to follow along! Here is the pledge:

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My entry for the Tomie dePaola Award.

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If you create children's stories (or want to), join this fun writing challenge for picture book writers and illustrators. The idea is to come up with one picture book idea every day in November, so by the end of the month you'll have 30 new ideas to help you throughout the year! 

Don't miss the daily posts on Tara Lazar's site from authors, illustrators and picture book professionals to help you along on your 30-day idea journey this November.

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Over at Kidlit Summer School, they are having a little art contest: to draw a new nerdy chick. Here is my entry. Look up #NerdyChicksDraw on Twitter or FB to see all the super cute chickies.

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Are you ready to delve deeper into your book plots? Join me at Kidlit Summer School!

If you haven’t registered yet, click here to do so by July 20 to be eligible to win prizes, participate in special webinars and a private Kidlit Summer School Facebook community!

What is Summer School?

The brainchild of authors Kami Kinard and Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

Here is a little about it (from their website nerdychickswrite.com):

Kami and Sudipta both enjoy writing, and teaching writing, so their idea was to create a program that offers in-depth writing advice on a particular topic each summer. The 2014 focus was on character development. The 2015 focus will be on plotting in children’s literature.

Daily blog posts by authors and writing professionals will offer inspiration and help you hone your craft. Our “faculty” includes award-winning PB, MG and YA authors!
Kidlit Summer School is for anyone one who loves to write children’s literature, from accomplished writers, to those just starting out.

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My reading material from this week:

My favorite for the week is WHEREVER YOU GO by Pat Zietlow Miller illustrated by Eliza Wheeler. Love, love the illustrations!

Here is my poem for the Golden Quill Poetry contest:

KITTY'S QUEST FOR FREEDOM
I must sneak out, I must sneak out,
this kitty wants a walk about.
I’ll duck out when Dog comes in –
if I fail, I’ll try again.

Now I’m out, now I’m free!
I’m scared – it’s way too much for me!
I should be glad ... to my chagrin,
now I want to sneak back in!

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Here are the fun books I read this week:

I think I have 3 favorites this week! First is HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADAME CHAPEAU by the author/illustrator team Andrea Beaty and David Roberts (the same team I mentioned before). 
Again, I love the quirky drawings and the story is funny about a hat maker  without a hat. It's so funny.

YOU NEST HERE WITH ME by Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple, illustrated by the wonderful Melissa Sweet is another of my favorites. This book is like the illustrators's name – sweet and beautiful.

TABBY MCTAT by anther dream team, writer Julia Donaldson and illustator Axel Scheffler is my other favorite. It's about a busker who has a cat buddy sing with him, and something happens where they get separated, but it comes out happy at the end. I'm always a sucker for a cat book.

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Here are the fun books I read this week:

I really enjoyed all of these books, but I think my favorite is TOM'S TWEET.  STANZA is really cute, too – both are written by Jill Esbaum. I just had to pick TOM"S TWEET because it's about a cat (LOVE them) and is so wonderfully illustrated by Dan Santat (LOVE his work!) That little bird is too darn cute!

I'm really excited because one of the optional writing prompts gave me a great idea for a book.

Still working on my new poem for the contest, which has a deadline in a week.

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Here are the fun books I read this week:

They are all really cute, but I think my favorite is a girl and her gator. It is just so funny!
Still working on my new poem and story!

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Here are the books I read this week.

My favorite is The Gruffalo. Snoozefest came in a close second, though. I'm working on a new manuscript during this month, and I plan to enter the Golden Quill Poetry Contest again.

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Happy April! Not only is it the month where Spring REALLY arrives here in St. Louis, but it's also National Poetry Month and along with that, RhyPiBoMo!

RhyPiBoMo is a month-long writing challenge for children’s writers aspiring to write rhyming picture books poetry and to add poetic techniques to their prose.

There's still time to sign up (you have until April 8) , or just follow along! There are daily posts about rhyming and optional challenges – if you've ever considered writing in rhyme, no matter what THEY say, join in the fun! If you're up to the challenge, and a chance to win some prizes, here's what you need to do daily:

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Our regional SCBWI chapter is going to send out a postcard to schools to promote our local PAL children's authors and illustrators. It's meant to encourage school principals, teachers and librarians to invite book creators for school visits.

They had a illustration contest for the art side of the postcard and they just announced that I was the winner!! Not only will my art be featured on the card, but I also get a free portfolio critique at our upcoming conference! Here is my piece:

Congrats to the second and third place winners. You can see them here.

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Here is the third batch:

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