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Congratulations to FreshBrain user caitlin1591 who is the winner of the $1,000 "FreshBrain Video Book Trailer Scholarship" based on my book, Hugging the Rock. There were so many really talented teens who entered the contest and I want to thank all of them for the time and effort they put into their trailers. Many of them really went for the heartstrings, just like my book.

Thank you, Cailin!

Time is running out for teens 13-18 to enter the $1000 book trailer contest! Please help spread the word to teens and teachers and librarians. The deadline for submissions is December 15th.

Please feel free to copy and paste from this post or if you want to link directly to the FreshBrain sign-up page, you can use this tiny url: http://tinyurl.com/rocktrailer

Download a reproducible flyer to post
in your library, bookstore, classroom. PDF Word



VIDEO BOOK TRAILER SCHOLARSHIP CONTEST
OPEN TO KIDS 13-18

I am so excited to finally be able to announce my secret project I've been working on with the wonderful folks at FreshBrain - The Technology Exploration Platform for Teens. We're offering a contest for kids 13-18 to create a book trailer for my book, Hugging the Rock and the prize is a $1000 scholarship! How cool is that?

FreshBrain is an educational non-profit so the use of the website for teens, teachers, homeschoolers, is completely free! So teachers, if you haven't already checked it out, I highly recommend it. Here's a bit about FreshBrain from their website:

FreshBrain provides teens with the opportunity to explore, engage, and create through activities and projects. FreshBrain takes advantage of the latest technologies, such as web conferencing and social networking, to provide a very progressive environment where teens can complete activities and work together on projects. This experience is enhanced with Advisors, available to support and mentor teens who are working on projects, with the intention of increasing the likelihood of success. In addition, FreshBrain provides teens with tools and training in the latest technologies to complete these projects.

On with the contest! I hope you'll consider helping to spread the word about this opportunity for teens.

Please feel free to copy and paste from this post or if you want to link directly to the FreshBrain sign-up page, you can use this tiny url: http://tinyurl.com/rocktrailer

How exciting is it to see a copy of your book on TV?

Very. Very very exciting.

A huge thank you to author Katie Davis for showcasing my book, Hugging the Rock, on TV (in Connecticut)  http://tinyurl.com/nffgvm for Father's Day round-up.

It's always hard for me (and perhaps for many authors) to talk about myself and my books. Sometimes I fear people will think I am putting more credence in my words (or self) than I should. Other times I perhaps don't value myself or my words enough. Sometimes it's just hard to toot your own horn. Which means it is especially nice when someone comes along who understands where a story might have sprung from or who looks at a story I have written in a completely different way and makes me wonder if that was what I meant all along.

I'll tell you right now that this is a long post but one I think is worth the time it will take you to read it. 

Over the period of writing Hugging the Rock I was asked (and asked myself) what this story was really all about. I started off thinking it was about my daughter and her father. I ended thinking it was about me and never knowing my father. But now, several years after the book has been out, Erica Harrington makes me wonder more about the mother in the story.

I have never met Erica but she won my heart by the kindness that she shows to my son Ryan. They both volunteer at the Loma Vista Life Skills class for adults with disabilities. When Erica told Ryan she was working on a children's book project for school he put her in touch with me so I could offer whatever helpful tips I might have to share. It was fun to see her excitement as her own book took shape. Toward the end of the school year Erica sent me a paper she had written. A paper she had written on MY BOOK. 

This was a first for me and I confess, I was a little bit nervous about opening it the first time. What would I say if it I didn't like it? Luckily, that was not a problem. Instead I was blown away by her thoughts on the book. I also wanted to give her a hug of my own.

Today is Erica's birthday, so it seemed like the perfect time to share this. Happy birthday, Erica! May you continue to touch the lives of many with your kind heart.

With Erica's permission, her is her entire paper on my middle grade verse novel, Hugging the Rock.

Michael Sedano

Digital cameras, personal computers, good images, and the internet puts everyone in the publisher's chair of luxurious coffee table quality photo books. Unlike the bargain table photo books you pick up here and there to feed the hungry minds of children, do-it-yourself photobooks will be personalized to the reader and enjoy a more cherished spot on a young reader's shelves.

Services like iPhoto or Shutterfly are still in their infancy--no corinthian leather bound volumes yet--but the page layout tools let you find the right placement for as many images as you want. Using mouse and keyboard you can fill a page with a single image, drop two side by side, laydown a four-by, or toy with multiple other design choices.

Cost is a major drawback. You can calculate thirty bucks per book landed in your hands after you click the "buy" button. But because the results tend to be spectacular--a hardbound book, 8 3/4" x 11 1/4", printed on shiny heavy stock paper, "bled" to the edge--the value will exceed its cost.

Right now's the time to start planning your own Photobooks for the 2008 holiday season, or a notable occasion. I have a one year old granddaughter who loves books and birds. I've assigned myself two book projects: counting and alphabet books.

Here is a counting from 1 to 10 photo book I put together using one image, Photoshop, a Macintosh and iPhoto's publishing service. Photoshop is the sine qua non of image processing. Your digital camera probably came with a "lite" version of a photoprocessing software. Hopefully, it will be enough software to let you shrink and crop, rotate and flop, adjust contrast and color, and superimpose images atop one another.

I planned the book to have a counting page on the right hand side, a "blank" or activity space on the left hand page.

1. Make the background. I started with a good image of a peacock shot against a neutral background. Using Photoshop's Magic Wand tool, I select the neutral background, then Select Inverse and copy. This copies the silhouette of the peacock to the clipboard. I create a new 8.5 x 11" document and paste the clipboard. Colorize the image to a light blue derived from the peacock's hue. Copy this tattoo six times onto the page. Flatten the image and save as bg.

2. Make the icon. My page design calls for the numeral and that number of tiny peacocks in the lower right hand corner. The "nine" page has nine images of the same peacock, the number "9" and nine tiny peacocks. Going back to the original image, I crop it tightly and save as image. This will be the "how many do you count" image. To make the page counter, scale the cropped image to 1/2" high print size. Save as icon. Build a row of ten 1/2" high icons. Flatten and save as 10icons.

3. Build the page. As you build the counting pages use the ten icons and eraser tool to reduce the count. Lay them in the corner, type the new count number, flatten, save as that page number.

Decide how you want the headcount to appear and lay them in place. Flatten and save. You can see how I used some eccentric alignments. I think it'll be fun to read this book with the kid and talk about all the differents ways one can count to ten.

4. Build the "blank" page. I laid down a progression of icons from 1 to 10 and copied it twice onto the bg page. Since I couldn't figure out how to use the same image multiple times in my iPhoto purchase, I copied the "blank" page enough times to use a different file between each page to the last inside page.

5. Design a cover image. You can order a cover with a cut-away that frames the image on the first page. If you prefer, and the vendor offers the option, you can have a different image glued onto the hard cover, and have the vendor print additional text like the child's name. Lots of cover possibilities here. In fact, a relative requested one for her boys, so I'll reorder and have their name printed on the cover. Tan fancy, que no?

6. Design your book. Since I Photoshopped everything to be print size 8 1/2" x 11" images, I laid out the book with 1 image only per page. After completing the Photoshop work--several hours--I imported them to iPhoto, built an Album, opened the buy a book menu, and trust to firewalls and crossed fingers.

My current project is an A to Z book illustrated with birds of the same letter. A Albatross, B Blue Heron . . . . for "Z" maybe it'll have to be a zebra with a feathered friend. This week I'm off to the annual Winter Bird Festival at California's Morro Bay, tripod and rental long lens in hand. Hope I can find something good to read during those long, cold nights.

See you next week.

mvs