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By: Bowie Style,
on 6/26/2012
jennie whitham graduated from leeds art college with a degree in printed textiles. in 2010, and has spent the last 2 years caring for her children. now jennie feels ready to get back into what she loves most, surface pattern design. she is currently taking module 2 of the art and business of surface design with rachael taylor and hopes to take on freelance work. see jennie's blog online here for
By: Bowie Style,
on 6/26/2012
carnaby by gemma hardy for black olive is an interesting and colourful new card range. there are 10 designs in the collection which i spotted for the first time in paperchase this week. the cards are blank inside and suitable for all kinds of occasions.
By: Bowie Style,
on 6/26/2012
if you are old enough you may recognise this little chap as 'BOD'. BOD was one of britain's best loved and fondly remembered children's TV characters and now he is back in print as a collection of 12 limited edition prints from imaginary press. illustrator lo cole, whose own work we featured here, is the son of BOD’s late creators michael and joanne cole. lo has lovingly and faithfully restored
By: Michael Thorn,
on 6/26/2012
reported in The Bookseller yesterday:
Random House Children's Books has acquired three new titles in The Edge Chronicles by authors Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. Fiction publisher Annie Eaton and editorial director Kelly Hurst bought world rights through Philippa Milnes-Smith at LAW in the titles, for publication in 2014. Straight-to-digital stories will also be created for release during the year, and RHCP will reissue The Edge Chronicles backlist in 2013 with new covers and as e-books.Add a Comment
By: Christina Farley,
on 6/26/2012
Today I'm pleased to post my interview with Sarah Nicolas who attended the SCBWI Orlando, FL conference with me. She is a young adult writer who is famous for her youtube channel, YARebels.
In this interview she shares about her best conference experience. Sarah is also the acquisitions intern for Entangled and in this interview she shares common mistakes writers make.
By: Kathy Temean,
on 6/26/2012
The above June illustration was created and sent in by Roberta Baird. Roberta is a full time illustrator from Texas. She specializes in whimsical artwork for children’s picture books and related industries. When not illustrating, she paints murals and sets for the theater and writes her own poetry. Her first book I See the Animals Sleeping: a Bedtime Story, was published in June of 2011. You may remember Roberta, she kicked off 2012 on Illustrator Saturday: http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/illustrator-saturday-roberta-baird/
Reading as a Writer Workshop taught by Ann de Forest
by Yvonne Ventresca
Ann de Forest provided a session on “Reading as a Writer” during NJ SCBWI’s June conference. “Books that we read can be our teachers,” Ann explained. Part inspiration and part hands-on workshop, she noted that as writers, we should “read with an eye to craft.” She mentioned that author Laurie Halse Anderson recommends that for (approximately) every ten hours spent writing, five hours should be spent reading, with only an hour on the Internet. To achieve that ratio, writers can cut their time online, and experiment with reading on a schedule.
Ann suggested creating a separate notebook with sections to maximize our learning from reading and she handed out tabs we could label and use in a blank notebook for that purpose. Section one is a Reading Log to track titles and authors of books read. (The Goodreads site can also be used to track goals, books finished, and books to read in the future.) Section two, about one-third of the notebook pages, is for Responses. These reactions can be written while reading or as a book review at the end, summarizing what the book taught you about writing. Section three is for Craft/Technique and is used to analyze how something works. For example, you could examine how an author handles action scenes or dialogue in a story. You can study the entire book, outlining it on a macro level, or can dissect it on the micro level, analyzing certain sentences. Section four is for Quotes. This section is less analytical and more about immersion in the prose through copying it down in the notebook.
During the workshop, we did two exercises. First, we individually copied a passage from a book (either a paragraph we liked or chosen at random), rewriting it by hand. Workshop participants found this interesting because it brought a new element to the act of reading. Some of the phrases seemed almost magical the first time through, but through the act of copying, were boiled down to regular words (nouns, verbs, etc). Next, we broke into small groups and looked for passages that might help with a specific writing challenge, such as how to write effective description. In a brief time, many of the participants were able to find concrete and instructive examples of how to approach the writing element they focused on.
Overall, Ann’s workshop provided useful techniques to improve writing through the act of reading. Even if you didn’t attend her session, you can try these at home. Her ideas elevate the dynamic of reading to a new level for writers.
Thank you Yvonne for taking the time to share Ann’s workshop with us.
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
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By: Dianne Hofmeyr,
on 6/26/2012
Posted on 6/26/2012
At hlo they take a look at Politics and literature in Hungary.
While there's something impressive about literature being taken so seriously, quite a bit of this is also rather disturbing.
Posted on 6/26/2012
In China Daily Yang Guang suggests Xu Zechen [徐则臣] might be The voice of a generation in China -- noting also that:
Running Through Zhongguancun [跑步穿过中关村], his 2006 novella about the love story of pirate DVD peddler Dun Huang, will soon be available in English.(In a translation by Eric Abrahamsen..)
Posted on 6/26/2012
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Muharem Bazdulj's Tranzit, kometa, pomračenje (not --yet -- available in English ...).
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By: Bethanie Murguia,
on 6/26/2012
More words about the past few weeks to come soon, but for now, here is a brief summary:
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| At one of my many school visits, feeling very tall amongst the tiny chairs and tiny people. |
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| At ALA, feeling very small amongst the towers of books and giants of the book world. |
By: Gretchen Woelfle,
on 6/26/2012
By: Betsy Bird,
on 6/26/2012
In which our hero ostensibly writes about the Newbery/Caldecott Banquet but, in truth, just wants to talk to you about Shrinky-Dinks. Full credit to Rocco Staino at SLJ for the image to the left here.
Day Three of ALA and I can say with certainty that lots of interesting things to do abounded. Collection specialist meetings, meals with Newbery medalists (both past and future), a final sweep of the conference floor for anything missed (Jim Murphy’s The Giant and How He Humbugged America = win!). But when it all comes down to it at the end of the day the only thing to really discuss was the Newbery/Caldecott Banquet.
It surprised me only a little to learn that tickets for the banquet sold out by Friday morning, disappointing those who might have hoped to see the festivities. Having long since learned not to count on publisher invitations to the event I had made the only minor mistake of buying two, rather than one, tickets. Initially I thought my husband might join me, but when we came to the decision not to bring out certain-to-squall toddler I was left alone with a spare. There are worse problems in the world. Canvassing the folks I’d run into already I quickly heard that the great Miriam Creamer, librarian extraordinaire, fellow Newbery member, and the woman who one fed, hosted, and drove me around a Kidlitosphere Conference in 2008, was without a host. Problem, as they say, solved.
Only one thing left to do then. It was time to break out the secret weapon.
You may recall a post of mine from Christmas-time or so when I was introduced to the wide and wonderful world of Shrinky-Dinks. Sometimes I like to say that I must be a Bourne Identity kind of gal. It’s the only explanation for why I seem to have missed great swaths of the 80’s. I never saw The Karate Kid, The Breakfast Club, Stand By Me, (the list goes on and on) and I never heard of Shrinky-Dinks. If you too blink in blankness at the name here’s the long and short of it: A Shrinky-Dink is a kind of plastic onto which you may trace an image with colored pencils. Once colored you cut it down to size, pop it in the oven, and it shrinks and dinks down to a hard, colorful, plastic image of the thing you traced. I lived in ignorance until Alison Morris came to my home preaching the gospel of Shrinky-Dink Christmas ornaments. You may see my post on the matter here.
Rewind tape and meet The Ghost of Newbery/Caldecott Banquets Past. Inspired by god only knows what inane instinct I have taken to attending the Banquet covered in the winners. I may owe this bizarre desire to the great NYPL librarians of the past who would buy a table at the banquet and wear matching outfits to celebrate in kind. For example, one year they all wore Officer Buckle police caps. Another inspiration came from Nina Lindsay who used to have the tendency to dress up (a Mardi Gras mask here, a “Martha” from “George and Martha” outfit there…). Finally, one of my first banquets (maybe THE first?) my Newbery committee members and I determine
By: PriyaK,
on 6/26/2012
Welcome!
Thanks for visiting the official site of children’s author Artie Knapp!
Where Alligators Bowl, Roosters Moo, and Elephants work at car washes!
COPYRIGHT © 2012 ARTIE KNAPP
Use of any of the content on this website without permission is prohibited by federal law
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By: wheelerwrite,
on 6/26/2012
We left Bombay on one of those trains you see on tv. Guys hanging off the sides, people sitting on the roof. We were travelling third class, the cheapest form of rail transit in India. Everyone in our class was packed into passenger cars with wooden bench seats which were quickly occupied by mothers with their children and a young Sikh military officer, off duty, to whom a crowd of young men passed a strong looking metal trunk through the open window. He had been smart, boarded the train, ruthlessly knocking old women out of his way, without his luggage, secured a window seat. The rest of us defended what little space there was near us and stood our ground through the swaying departure. Joyce found a piece of floor near our backpacks where she could sit. There was no point in talking. We were in for twenty straight hours, travelling third class from Bombay to Goa. I stood leaning against a window, bending over to watch the endless slums roll by as we left the city. A pair of Australian women began complaining as we entered the countryside. The difference stood out between the pampered Aussies and the stoic Indian mothers who sat on the floor for hours without uttering a bad tempered peep. The whining grated on my nerves. Chai wallahs appeared at the windows on the platforms of every stop along the way. You passed the money out, they passed the chai or sweets or Fantas, in. The Aussies loved the distraction, but their greed showed. They bought more of everything than they needed, shared it only with each other. They could not sit still and nothing was good enough. We somehow slumbered a little that night. I found myself standing at the window again as the morning appeared. Water buffalo looked up from wet paddies as the train sped by. “Hello, how are you? Where you from? I am a salesman from Bombay” I looked up to see a chubby, sweating Indian in a wrinkled suit and tie. He was smiling at me. When I told him I was from Canada, he laughed loudly. Leaning close, he waggled his forefinger in front of my nose. “Never trust an Indian”He winked, proceeded to outline the steps the Indian government had taken to obtain a nuclear reactor from Canada, all the while swearing it was for peaceful reasons, then produced a nuclear weapon from it. It was vague to me, I had heard of it, it had happened, but it was vague. I didn’t think it as hilarious as my Indian friend did. I felt embarrassed when he called Indians untrustworthy and thought, to myself, that I had about as much to do with the government of Canada as he did with the government of India. He talked with his hands, demonstrating telling signs of the naivete of Canadians and Westerners in general. He used comical facial expressions to emphasize slyness and brilliance. We chatted till he got bored and moved on. The vegetation grew lusher as we travelled toward the equator. The Aussies had been reduced to tears, then exhaustion. I was just glad they shut up. Joyce imitated the longsuffering Indian women. We didn’t find out till we were installed in a farm house, with a family, near the beach, that Goa was a European vacation spot. Famous celebrities from the West, rock stars, film stars, those in the know in Europe, with the means to travel to India for a one or two week stay, populated the seaside town during the European winter. I soon became addicted to the bean baji they made at the little restaurant in the main square where the buses stopped. The square was a leisurely stroll down the beach and dirt road from the farm. The Aussie couple who arrived in one of the local buses had “gone native”. They introduced themselves to us in the restaurant. She was the chai wallah and he was the chapati wallah. They explained that they had left home two years before and as far as they could tell, from the letters they kept receiving, their families were on the verge of hysteria. They were supposed to like India and travelling, but enough was enough. They weren’t expected to like it this much. They wondered if a family member would come over from Australia to try to fin
By: tanita davis,
on 6/26/2012
I've never played a role playing game -- I've got to say that right out front. That's because, when I was a kid, there was This Huge Thing about D&D, the most popular role-playing game in town, and it was bandied about by some to be satanic and... Read the rest of this post
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By: alethea aka frootjoos,
on 6/26/2012
US/Can attendees of #ala12, tweet your favorite photo from the conference that has something to do with YA/YoungAdult and you could win a Live to Read Poster. There will be 3 winners. You must @frootjoos and include #iloveYA12 -- I'll pick 3 random winners on July 1, 2012! Good luck!
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| Jackson Pearce signing Purity & Fathomless |
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| My favorite find: Lish McBride's Necromancing the Stone |
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| Ally Condie signing Marked and Crossed |
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| Marisa Calin's Between You & Me |
By: Jerry Beck,
on 6/26/2012
Animation historians can sleep a little easier tonight. We now know that the rotoscope model for Superman in the classic Fleischer Studios shorts was a gentleman by the name of Karol Krauser. According to the Superman Homepage, Krauser was “best known as one of the Kalmikoff Brothers, Mad Russians, in the wrestling world of the 1950s and 1960s.” More info and photos of Krauser can be found on the Superman Homepage.
Here’s an example of the Krauser-inspired Superman:
(Thanks, Brian McKernan)
Cartoon Brew |
Permalink |
One comment |
Post tags: Fleischer Studios, Karol Krauser, Rotoscope
By: Mary Lee,
on 6/26/2012
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| Flickr Creative Commons Photo by rifqi dahlgren |
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By: Zoe,
on 6/26/2012
To celebrate the fact that next Monday the sun comes out at Moon Lane, I have an amazing giveaway today – a whole hamper of picture books, worth over £90!
The hamper contains:
An amazing giveaway, to match an amazing children’s literature festival! The Sun Comes Out on Moon Lane kicks off on Monday with something for all ages of children’s book lovers from meeting the Gruffalo to Derek Landy, from Meg Rosoff to Chris Haughton, and more.
To enter this giveaway simply leave a comment on this post.
For extra chances to win this hamper you can
Make sure you leave an extra comment for each entry
Please note:
Wishing you lots of luck!
By: Karen Maxwell,
on 6/26/2012
I walked into work today and the place was dark.
It was also quiet, but not in the way you might think. People were laughing and freely talking as opposed to the sound of fingers typing on a keyboard, or footsteps in the hallway, or clothing rustling as patients passed by us and were shown back to their rooms.
The time clock was dark – I couldn’t clock in to work this morning. Which was actually a blessing considering I was nearly ten minutes late.
The emergency lights were on and under the carefree conversation it was quiet – like the quiet that happens whenever electronics have been turned off. It was more than an audible quiet, it was more of a tangible quiet.
I walked toward my cubicle, but there was a small crowd surrounding it. I put my stuff down and laughed, “this reminds me of my house,” I said.
“Oh? Did you lose electricity at your house, too?” Our IT guy asked me.
“Nope. But it’s dark, like my house. We’ve been keeping all of our curtains drawn and our lights turned off in order to try and keep our house cool.”
The clinic had been without electricity for nearly 20 minutes before I arrived. And yet, we had a waiting room full of patients. The doctors were on site, but couldn’t do much without the patient’s electronic charts or the lights that house various xrays and other tests to be examined and explained.
I sat down and waited. There was nothing more I could do. I listened to various conversations around me, (there were several smaller groups of women clustered close by) and I would occasionally smile at a familiar face, or offer a polite chuckle or even offer my own two cents worth, depending on the topic.
The air was still and quite close. It began to grow hot and I grabbed a folder to fan myself.
I was hot.
I was always hot.
Though a power-less clinic with no air conditioning on a 95-degree day certainly didn’t help.
Ten minutes later, the lights came back on. Everyone started clapping, myself included.
I laughed. WHY do people clap when the lights come back on? I’m sure there are many psychological reasons.
Patients got up from their chairs, (most of them sat in chairs next to windows for light), and made their way up to the front desk to check in. It never ceases to amaze me how positive people are when they come to see us. First, they are in pain. Second, they had to know that their appointments with the doctors were going to be delayed because of the power outage and yet, 99% of them smiled and were pleasant.
I turned on my computer and began to work. The morning’s excitement died down and I found my groove – I began to pick up the pace and before long, my surroundings blurred around me, the sounds faded into the background and I was focused. I had just cleared a veteran to have his x-ray when *POP*, the power went off again.
We all sat motionless for several surprised seconds before someone broke the trance and moaned in annoyance.
The lights didn’t stay off as long the second time around and the novelty had worn off – we just wanted to get on with our day. There was some talk about canceling the clinic that day, but luckily, the lights came on shortly after the suggestion was made and we once again resumed our routine.
It’s amazing how helpless we feel whenever we lose power. It’s amazing just how much we take power for granted.
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0 Comments on Just Write {1} as of 1/1/1900
By: Beckyb,
on 6/26/2012
If you are looking for a quick summer read - I've got one for you!! Shannon Dittemore's Angel Eyes is wonderful! It is YA fiction and does not preach - but truly challenges you spiritually as you read! Some of the quotes in the book were such great wisdom that I had to copy them down - they share truths but not so overtly that it turns readers off. It is an intriguing story of Brielle and her finding her way back after a devastating life event as she was just setting out on her own. When she returns home to take some time to heal, she meets Jake - but Jake is ANYTHING but normal and she sees in him many things that just do not add up. When she finds out that Jake and his friend are sent to help her - the ride really begins. I thoroughly enjoyed this and can't wait for the sequel!
What the publisher says about the book:
By: Melissa Wiley,
on 6/26/2012
With a trio of new books coming out in just a couple of months, it was high time I overhauled my website. I loved my girly pink home page, but it didn’t exactly fit Fox and Crow and Inch and Roly, you know? Thanks to Emily Carlin of Swank Web Style and my genius artist friend Chris Gugliotti, who drew the swoony bee illustrations you’ll see all around the site (including this little bookworm bee, whom I adore), my internet home base has a brand new look.
Unlike the big changes we made to the rest of the site, we kept the new blog design similar to the original. Mostly I wanted more room to stretch out in this text column. Now I’m itching to go back and resize all my photos. All. Ha! Seven and a half years’ worth, now. Methinks some of them will just have to stay small.
Tinkerer that I am, I’m sure I’ll be making lots little tweaks and adjustments over the next few weeks. (Especially to the sidebar. I have many plans for the sidebar.) If you spot anything wonky, do let me know. Emily did a check across many browsers, but sometimes things look different on different systems.
Whee!
By: Jill,
on 6/26/2012
Tonight, we read 6 books, and as we were reading, I realized that there are some lines in books that just resonated with me, you know, the lines that make you smile and give you warm fuzzies. So, I thought we would have a bit of fun.
Every night during our summer reading challenge, I'll post a quote from a book my kids and I read before bedtime. You guess the the book and author the quote came from, and you will be entered into a drawing to win a picture book for your family or classroom. The book will come from my personal collection. Sounds like fun, right?
I'll make the first one a little easy for you.
"...They roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws 'till Max said, 'Be STILL!'"
0 Comments on Angel Eyes as of 6/26/2012 6:55:00 PM
Jennie this is amazing congratulations so excited for you on being featured on such an amazing blog
Jen! Fabulous work! You go, girl! :D
yay Jennie! congrats :)