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I got to tell you, ALA was cracking! It was my first visit to a BIG library conference and it was so much more than I expected. I expected to see a LOT of librarians, a LOT of BOOKS and SOME amazingly awesome people. What I didn't expect was to feel totally at home, surrounded by thousands of people who love books, LOVE them I tell you! If you have never attended ALA, summer or midwinter conference (and you can afford it) ... go! Just for the experience. If you're an illustrator, a writer or a reader I say GO! Get involved. Meet the librarians ... meet the publishers ... meet the famous writers and artists! (And the not so famous!) Go to panels and readings and presentations. Buy a ticket to the Newbery/Caldecott Banquet or the Coretta Scott King Awards. You won't regret it.
OK .. so my trip was fat ... got to Anaheim, CA Friday night (from Maine), back on the redeye, Sunday. My lovely roomie from last year's SCBWI summer conference (and LA resident) Charlene Ellen (MG author in waiting) collected me at the airport. (Thanks Charlene!). We stayed at the Hilton Anaheim ... excellently situated right next to the conference centre, so you could nip back and forth to the hotel during the day.
Here's our 'Disney view' room ... watched the fireworks in the evening. Here's the view:
We got upgraded after first being put in an occupied room. You know that feeling when you open the door .. and oops, there they are on the bed!! JUST KIDDING!!! But the room WAS occupied ;-)
And there's the swimming pool that the kid pooped in just after I got in. Yuk!!!! No, really, it was a great hotel. Despite the toilet blockage. (I blame Charlene).
Pretty nice to get an exhibitor's badge too! Felt like a pony at a show. (No comments from the cheap seats, thank you). I had a book signing with Kane Miller and also with Charlesbridge on Saturday .. pretty overwhelming for a first timer.
4 Comments on ALA ... just what I got up to last weekend., last added: 7/5/2012
Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! What an incredible time you had! Thanks for sharing it with us -- I look forward eagerly to Post Two. (And how cool is that, to get a pic with OLIVIA!) (or rather, for Olivia to get a pic with HAZEL MITCHELL!!!)
What an exciting ALA lowdown! My feet hurt just thinking about all the walking, but I can see it was a great experience. Love Kadir Nelson's art esp. the cover of Heart and Soul. Thanks for sharing!
I was hosting a party the other night and amongst my guests was a former editor of children’s literature. In the course of the evening she happened to notice that I had a copy of The Great Molasses Flood by Deborah Kops sitting on my shelf. She saw it and instantly gave a groan. Apparently there was a time there when it felt like every other children’s chapter book manuscript she received took place during that Boston tragedy. I admit I was surprised since before this book I hadn’t seen ANY that covered this event thoroughly, fictional or nonfictional. Indeed, until I read Kops’s book I wasn’t even sure about the logistics. How exactly does molasses go about flooding anyway? Maybe if I’d lived in Boston I’d have had an idea, but I’ve never set so much as a toe in that town. So it is that once again I rely on the good authors of informational books for kids to fill in my spotty knowledge with their wise words. The Great Molasses Flood answers every question a person might have about that infamous moment in history, and does so with compassion and accuracy (two qualities all authors, adult, children, teen, what have you, should strive to achieve).
January 15, 1919 was an unseasonably warm day. Forty-three degrees if you can believe it. And folks were just going about their workday as usual. Then, at 12:40 in the afternoon, the strangest thing occurred. The molasses tank, located next to Boston Harbor and the train yard, burst wide open. Instantly 2,319,525 gallons of molasses spilled onto the streets, lifting homes, destroying elevated train tracks, and ultimately killing 21 people and wounding countless others. A 40-foot wave of molasses makes a mark, and when all was said and done folks had to figure out who was to blame. Was it an act of terrorism (anarchists were in full swing so this wasn’t a crazy theory) or the fault of the tank? Whatever it was, it was an event that lasted long in the memories of those involved, even after the sticky sweet smell had faded.
Because I am a children’s librarian and I had a somewhat spotty education when it came to American history I tend to get most of my historical information from works intended for kids. Actually, I’m not alone in this. We used to have an old man in my children’s room that would come regularly to sit and read our history books because he liked how they laid out the facts. The same goes for me. So if I’m going to be honest with you, the first time I heard about The Great Molasses Flood was in Jennifer Armstrong’s The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History. That book’s a great collection of well-known and somewhat obscure tales from this nation’s past. All the stories are true but I had a hard time swallowing (forgive the pun) this molasses blarney. I mean, really? A big old WAVE of molasses came down the street? People died?!? Of molasses? I mean . . . what? It all makes slightly more sense when you hear that molasses was useful for making weapons and in a WWI era American that was why you’d have a tank of the stuff. Still . . .
Ooh! One of my “favorite” tragedies of all time – and I have always been looking for a kids’ book about it! In fact, I have occasionally doubted my certainty that it happened at all. It does sound like something somebody might have made up for a novel, right? May Amelia Up to Her Neck in Syrup.
Also, I am always sure David McCullough wrote a book about it, and then I go pull it off the shelf and it turns out that was Johnstown… this is why I have a blog, because I can’t keep things straight in my brain.
ANYWAY. More disaster books for children YES.
Donna said, on 2/29/2012 8:38:00 AM
Thanks so much, Betsy. Even as Bostonians, here at Charlesbridge many of us were surprised and enlightened by the facts in this book. Sure, we all know about the flood. They say you can still smell the molasses in the North End. But the conspiracies and controversies may not be well-known. If you ever do put a toe in Boston, you can stay on our couch and we’ll take you for a cannoli at Mike’s and a tour of the site in the North End!
MIM said, on 2/29/2012 9:21:00 AM
Years ago I worked at a buy/sell used bookstore, and a book about this came through, which I still have. I’ll have to find this new book.
Karen said, on 2/29/2012 10:15:00 AM
Despite growing up near Boston, I never knew about this until my son came home from school one day 3 or 4 years ago, brimming over with excitement to tell me about it! I’ll be getting him this book, for sure!
Catherine said, on 2/29/2012 5:31:00 PM
The molasses tank explosion is part of the plot in the middle-grade novel Joshua’s Song (2003), by Joan Hiatt Harlow. We’ve used it in fifth grade for literature circles in the past and the kids liked it. Or maybe they just liked the molasses cookies we made after reading. (Because some of them didn’t know what molasses was!)
WendieO said, on 2/29/2012 8:27:00 PM
I remembered a picture book about this.
Then I discovered that the December Booklist review says, “Fictionalized accounts of the molasses flood can be found in Joan Hiatt Harlow’s Joshua’s Song (2001) and Blair Lent’s picture book Molasses Flood (1992).”
Here's the thing, 'Hidden New Jersey', which I illustrated and is published this month is a book about another state. I live in Maine. It's a fair way to New Jersey. I don't have a lot of money available for big launches and travel.
I wanted to help with promotion ... but to be frank, I live in a very rural area of Maine, there are limited resources and limited opportunities to promote. And it's a hard sell ... a book about Maine will draw some people to book store signings - but a book about a state outside New England? NOT so easy.
This is not a huge book and the publisher had limited resources for it.
The answer for me FIRST was a BLOG TOUR. Like a book tour, but in virtual space. There are all sorts of sites out there to help you set one up, but here's what I did:
One of the most fun things about the blog tour was that Simon and Schuster illustrator, Debbie Ohi,
created this fun sketch for her blog interview with me! Thanks Debbie!
UTILIZE YOUR ONLINE CONTACTS I have, over the last couple of years,built up contacts with a good network of writers and illustrators who blog. So where better to start? I put a post on Facebook /Twitter/Google/SCBWI listserv asking for anyone who would be interested in taking part in my virtual book tour. To my surprise I got quite a few takers.
SET UP THE SPECIFICS Next I drafted an email to all of them with details about my book, a press release from the publisher, a PDF copy of the book, links to my website, the book trailer I created and email for the author so that they could ask her questions to. (I let her know first!)
I also sent high res jpegs of the book cover, me and a couple of images from the book if required.
I asked bloggers to schedule a date during the month of promotion (so they wouldn't all get clumped together). I also asked if they would be interested in doing a giveaway on their blog, which most took advantage of. It's a great way for them to get people to their blogs too ... a good deal for both of us.
Most of the bloggers sent me questions to answer as part of the review. I didn't send back standard answers - it was more fun and more interesting to answer individually and if people read the different interviews, they would find out something new each time. Anyway, it seemed like courtesy to me.
APPROACH THE BIGGER BLOGGERS I did approach some of the bigger blogs, and was happy that a few of them took me up on reviewing the book. Although I didn't do a giveaway on these blogs, the exposure was invaluable. With the bigger review blogs you have to dig some times to find the info to submit your book ... and some require you to send a physical copy. Some big blogs only review books that they are personally interested in and specifically do not want submissions, and some only from the publisher themselves.
KEEP YOUR PUBLISHER INFORMED I kept my publisher's marketing contact at Charlesbridge informed of activities and that they complimented what they were doing. They were happy to send review copies to many of the bloggers, which then were used as the giveaways on the blog. A couple of the bloggers were
7 Comments on How to Organize a Blog Tour, last added: 2/20/2012
This is one super post, Hazel! Congratulations on the book and book tour...and like Darshana above, I will bookmark this for future reference..(if you don't mind!). Thank you!!
I am lucky to work in a children’s room with a significantly sized bilingual section. The books you’ll find there cover a wide range of languages. Chinese, Arabic, Urdu, you name it. Of them the largest section by far is the Spanish language section. Of course, what we don’t really include in this section are books that integrate Spanish words into English text, though the stories are predominantly in English. There really isn’t a name for this kind of book, which is a real pity since they serve a definite use. Now you can go about integrating Spanish and English any old way you prefer, but Samantha Vamos has you beat. According to the back bookflap “Samantha R. Vamos was cooking one day when the idea for this book popped into her head.” The idea goes beyond a mere food related plot and ends up being one of the most creative ways of working Spanish elements into a work of English I’ve seen in years. Top off the fact that the art is enough to give your jaw a downward plunge, and I’d say you were dealing with one of the cleverer picture books of the year.
Are you familiar with the cumulative tale format? Well Ms. Vamos takes the idea and twists it a little. A variety of different farm animals aid a farmer and a farm maiden as they work together to make some rice pudding. A donkey picks limes, a duck buys sugar, a hen grates, and by the end everyone has done their part. Of course, in the midst of some dancing the pudding almost gets out of hand, but our heroes are able to save it in time. The end of the book includes a Glossary of Spanish Words and a recipe for the pudding.
I’ll say right here that the way in which Vamos has seamlessly integrated Spanish words into her text is extraordinary. Until now the standard method of doing this was just to throw the words into random sentences and cross your fingers. Best case scenario, you end up with something like Gary Soto’s Chato’s Kitchen. Worst case scenario and the words become jarring and needless. The trick Vamos uses here is to take the cumulative format and make it work for her. Normally a cumulative story doesn’t shake up the words. It’s the old House That Jack Built idea. This did this, that did that, it did it, etc. But Vamos has a different idea going on here. She starts out with an English word on the first reading, then switches that word to its Spanish equivalent when it’s repeated. So the first sentence in the book reads “This is the pot that the farm maiden stirred”. Fair enough. Turn the page and suddenly you read, “This the butter that went into the Cazuela that the farm maiden stirred.” You see what she’s
10 Comments on Review of the Day: The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred by Samantha R. Vamos, last added: 8/7/2011
Looks like a beautiful book! I love the idea of progressively changing the words from English to Spanish, as a way of helping kids learn another language.
The story reminds me of a Lithuanian folk song about farm animals who work together to bake something: “Two little roosters, two little roosters thrashing white peas / Two little hens, two little hens, carried them to the mill…” and it ends with the sun cooking and the moon baking the meal.
Samantha Vamos said, on 8/6/2011 8:15:00 AM
Just absolutely thrilled, delighted, and overjoyed to be reviewed here and to read this review! Thank you for talking about the farm maiden. All best, Samantha
Wend Wahman said, on 8/6/2011 11:48:00 AM
This is a gorgeous book and it makes me smile every time I see it. It’s one of those books best read together with a child, the back and forth and pointing at the expressions and details and pronouncing of the words. What a wonderful piece you have written. Rare to get to read the backstory of creating from the author and illustrator.
Rose said, on 8/6/2011 11:48:00 AM
Great review for a really beautiful book! Samantha’s other book Before You Were Here, Mi Amor is equally beautiful and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next. I know she has an alphabet book coming next year.
Jean Murphy said, on 8/6/2011 1:54:00 PM
Love this review, not only because I share your opinion but because you so wonderfully captured the strengths of this beautifull book!
Susan Goldberg said, on 8/6/2011 3:27:00 PM
I LOVE this book and so do my kids! This review is spot on. Thank you!
malia said, on 8/6/2011 7:13:00 PM
wow what a great review! this book is magical… i am not sure who loves it more… me or my kids. ok it’s a tie!
Rob said, on 8/6/2011 7:47:00 PM
Thought this book was wonderful! Purchased multiple copies and think that the praise is deserved. Wonderful book with fantastic colorful illustrations. Makes a great gift. Wonderful work!…Lets have more.
Norah said, on 8/6/2011 10:01:00 PM
I love this book and so do my 3 boys. Also bought several copies to give as gifts through out the year as I love the unique writing and the gorgeous pictures. Enjoyed your review and seeing the links to see more related to Cazuela!
Monica said, on 8/7/2011 2:44:00 PM
This is one of our favorite books. Vamos is a gifted storyteller, and López’s illustrations are vibrant and beautiful. Am so happy to see School Library Journal sharing this on their site!
Ty Templeton’s illustrations for our upcoming book on Bill Finger and Batman (Charlesbridge 7/1/12) will thrillkill readers just as they have me. He is a crazily good fit for the material, and not just because of his respected years working on Batman comics. He is not only professionally connected to the Dark Knight but emotionally connected to the Wronged Writer. It meant a lot to me that he knew more than the basics about Bill Finger before I pitched him this idea.
As he wrote me in March 2011 (and gave me permission to share), “This is a book I’ve wanted to be a part of since before you thought of doing it.”
He also made a quirky observation: the logo of our publisher, Charlesbridge, looks like the head of Batman.
So perhaps not only Ty was predestined for this book, but Charlesbridge, too.
Nice feeling this week - finals finished for the book I have been working on for Free Spirit Publishing. And signed a contract with Charlesbridge Publishing of Boston. Neither of which I can talk about yet .. soon I hope! If this continues as a pattern it would be very nice (please Santa!)
Snow has come in earnest to our neck of the woods and it is falling soft and thick this morning. Wood fire is crackling, kettle boiling and 'im indoors has a snow day, so is snoozing in the recliner in my studio with the cock-a-poo, Sprout, snoring in his lap. Hopefully he will rouse himself and make brekky soon.
Been working mostly this week on two different projects ... 'Crazy Days' for Margy Robertson Reid in Canada (about a little boy whose world goes topsy-turvy.) And also the 3rd revision of my current wannabe PB about a girl and her horse. It seems to have been taking me forever. The truth is, this book is very personal to me, and I have found it's bringing back a lot of memories, some of them very emotional. It's my first story that is not humour based. Here's another of the roughs. Setting myself the goal to have this dummy ready in the next couple of days.
Doing something different helps to get the creative juices flowing. I haven't had time (or energy) for sketching much this week, but on the way home from getting art supplies on Saturday (hot press pad of paper, Derwent sketching pencils - reminder to self: do not trust that the right pencils are in the right slots - sigh - and waterproof ink), we called in at a museum we have been meaning to visit for a long time, the LC Bates Museum, near Waterville. It was fab! But it was COLD!! No heating and an old building. But packed with great stuff. It is a natural history museum, with very old collections. Birds and animals that would never be collected now. Row upon row of ancient display cases, dim lighting, old, spooky rooms. I could have spent all day there. As it was we managed an hour and then flew back to the car teeth chattering. I will def. go back in summer though, with camera and sketch pad.
And now I must get back to doing some work ....
My thought for winter, when we are cut off, or so it feels with snow and such, is : stay connected. So leave me a comment and let's keep in touch!
Candy Bomber: The Story of The Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot". Michael O. Tunnell. 2010. Charlesbridge. 120 pages.
When I was a boy I would watch beautiful silver airplanes fly high in the sky, going to faraway places with strange-sounding names. I didn't know then that when I grew up I would fly one of those silver birds myself. I never imagined I would fly food to boys and girls so they would not starve.
Candy Bomber is a thoroughly satisfying read. Should a nonfiction book be charming and satisfying? Should a nonfiction book make you feel good? Why not! it's a good story--a true story--of how one man started "Operation Little Vittles" during the Berlin Air Lift. The story of how Gail S. Halvorsen became inspired to drop chocolates, candy, and gum--via handkerchief parachutes--to the children of West Berlin. (All the while delivering more nourishing food--as he and many others did each and every day.)
I loved this one, I did. I loved learning about the Berlin Airlift. I loved learning about "Operation Little Vittles" and "Uncle Wiggly Wings." I loved seeing how the project grew through the months. How this "little" project grew in support--with volunteers providing candy, gum, chocolate, and, yes, even handkerchiefs. But more than anything--perhaps--I loved hearing how this program impacted the children. The book quotes from some of the many letters he received and even shares some of the artwork he received from kids.
I would definitely recommend this one. It has so much heart and substance.
On August 19th Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, hosted the launch party for Mitali Perkins' new book Bamboo People.
Here is video of Mitali reading from Bamboo People:
A huge thank you to everyone at Porter Square Books, especially Nathan who took such good care of us and made this event so great.
If you went and enjoyed the delicious appetizers, please note that this came from YoMa restaurant on North Beacon Street in Allston. They specialize in traditional Burmese recipes. Awesome.
Here are some pictures from the event:
Mitali discusses the background of Bamboo People.
Mitali and some young fans.
Mitali signs a copy of Bamboo People for a young fan.
Sharing a story with a young reader.
Mitali and a few Charlesbridgians
0 Comments on Mitali Perkins launches Bamboo People at Porter Square Books as of 1/1/1900
Imagine going to a job interview and, instead, being dragged into a bus and forced into the army.
That's exactly what happens to Chiko, 15. One moment, he's worrying about his father, a doctor imprisoned by the Burmese Government, wondering how he and his mother will pay the rent and buy food. The next, he's in the jungle, being given military training to fight rebels on behalf of Burma. He's a most reluctant soldier.
Tu Reh is not a reluctant rebel -- he wants revenge against the Burmese soldiers who burn his peoples villages.
What happens when Chiko and Tu Reh cross paths?
A full review will be posted closer to publication date! Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.
Our Austin, Texas chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers (SCBWI)is a little dazed after last weekend’s 2010 award announcements. Austin’ s Jacqueline Kelly received a Newbery Honor for her YA novel The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate about a girl growing up at the turn of the 19th century. The picture book poem All the Worldpenned byLiz Garton Scanlonof Austin and illustrated byMarla Frazee was named one of the two Caldecott Honor books. (Frazee’s second Caldecott Honor.)
"All the World" by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Marla Frazee
And The Day-Glo Brotherswritten by Chris Barton of Austin and illustrated with retro lines and Day-Glo colors by Tony Persiani won a Sibert Honor for children’s nonfiction. (From the ALA – “The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is awarded annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished informational book published in English during the preceding year.”)
Our SCBWI chapter claims all three of these writers and we’ll claim Frazee, too. So that makes four.
All four, as it just so happens had been scheduled to present at the Austin SCBWI regional 2010 conference “Destination Publication” next weekend (January 30) with an already honors heavy line-up of authors, editors and agents. Marla is giving the keynote address along with Newbery Honor author Kirby Larson (Hatti Big Sky)
Another Texan,Libba Bray won the Michael L. Printz Award
1 Comments on ALA honors for Austin authors; SCBWI conferences and illustration classes for you, last added: 1/24/2010
These are a few of my favorite things (that people said, on 1/24/2010 5:37:00 AM
[...] To Be A Children’s Book Illustrator: ALA honors for Austin authors You read that right: All three Austin authors with ALA-honored books, plus Caldecott Honoree Marla [...]
The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand New Colors by Chris Barton illustrated by Tony Persiani The picture book biography of the two brothers who developed, by accident mostly, the process by which hippies were able to enjoy black light posters and the military was able to signal aircraft from great distances. Okay, that's a bit flip, but while the subject is unique what
0 Comments on The Day-Glo Brothers as of 9/28/2009 7:27:00 AM
In the publishing game there are these things called 'exhibits.' These are places that a fraction of the publishing company's staff go to in order to display the company's books and discuss services, exchange ideas, share knowledge, and learn from the folks on the frontline who are putting said books into the hands of little children who will then read them. Exhibits are good. They are fun and, on the surface, easy.
But we all know that something nefarious lurks beneath the surface. Something there is that does not like order and organization. Chaos, I guess. A quieter sort of chaos, however. One more like a sunburn than a fever. Makes it hard to sleep, but a little aloe vera and you will soon find comfort enough. Maybe an aspirin.
This year is Charlesbridge's 20th anniversary. So, we created a banner of such beauty and whimsy (Possible? Yes.) to hang in our booths at exhibits such as IRA, BEA, and ALA. It's easy:
Step 1: Create a banner. (Enter chaos at a slow burn . . . "Here is what I've created for your exhibits." "Change it." "Oy, can it be less expensive. It is a recession, you know." "How about this?" "Uh . . . getting there." "Now?" "Ah, it's whimsy is a thing of beauty.")
Step 2: Ship it. (Time to apply a liiiiittle sunscreen. Theoretically, you fill out the shipping papers, box up your stuff, and give it to someone who puts boxes on a truck, takes them to where you've told them to take them, removes the boxes at the final destination, and goes away. Voila! Shipping defined. However . . .)
Step 3: Hang your banner! (And here is where your skin starts to really blister. Hang 'em if you got 'em, sucka!)
Step 3 is where we got hung up (or not, as the case may be) this year at ALA. We had a slight snag with Step 2 after BEA when our shipment came home sans banner. It did show up some time later, and just in time to make it into the ALA shipment with hours to spare. Ah, the hectic fast paced, but certainly glamorous (no one's complaining), life of the exhibit planner.
All's well? You wish. I do, anyway. How could it go wrong, I pondered. Banner with shipment on skid encased in shrinkwrap. All those boxes are now as one. Nothing nor nobody can tear them asunder.
You naive, simple-minded, oh-too-trusting exhibit planner. Ha, ha, ha. That banner is not going to ALA. You'll never know where it went. Did it even make it to Chicago? God in His Heaven only knows.
BUT! Here is where the aloe vera comes in. No banner? Not the end of the world (but all you ALA attendees were deprived of the sweetest booth banner this side of the Pecos). No banner, but you gotta do something. So, lovely, talented Meg Bencivenni--School and Library Marketing at Charlesbridge--fashioned the loveliest and most talented booth banner in the WHOLE WORLD! One co-worker dubbed her Meg-gyver for using her wits when the pressure was on. With just some tape and a few zillion catalog covers, Meg made do. (See Meg reading about the perfect fairy tale exhibit booth?)
AND, here's where the aspirin comes in: the lovely and sympathetic Elizabeth Bird, blogger Fuse #8, saw fit to recognize the ingenuity of an exhibitor without a banner by declaring Charlesbridge the winner of the Best Last Minute Banner Because the Real One Didn't Get Delivered Award (Scroll down just past Neil Gaiman and just before the Storm Troopers).
From Fuse #8. Meg's clever interpretation of a booth banner, called "Booth Banner For Banished Banner"
If you are interested (if you're still here), this is what the banner is supposed to look like:
Now close your eyes and imagine it ten feet wide and with Meg proudly standing in front of it.
Now my tale of woe is ended. To quote Bob Dylan, "Nothing was delivered/And I tell this truth to you/Not out of spite or anger/But simply because it's true."
Posted by Donna, hapless exhibit planner.
1 Comments on When Things Don't Go Your Way, Go Theirs, last added: 7/14/2009
My next book out in America will be Family Reminders. Written by Julie Danneberg and published by Charlesbridge, with black and white illustrations by your's truely. Mary McHugh has a nearly perfect life in the frontier town of Cripple Creek, Colorado, but all that changes when her father suffers a serius mining accident. He no longer whistles, plays the piano, or carves the intricate wooden "Reminders" that mark the milestones in the family's life together. Mostly he sits in silence at the kitchen table or sleeps. As winter's chill gives way to spring's thaw, Mary tries to remind her family of how much they have to live for - namely, each other. (From the jacket copy).
The book is officially released on 1st July, though you can pre-order on Amazon. Here's the cover
Okay, so right up front I'm going to apologize for spending a disproportionate amount time talking about Bubble Homes and Fish Fartsthis month. But ya know...having a book come out, is kind of like having a baby. It's a VERY exciting event. Like a new parent, you carry your new book around everywhere, showing everyone you meet...you send out announcements and talk incessantly about the latest cute thing it did, sometimes to the rolling eyeballs of friends and family. So, forgive me as I jump up and down. I hope you'll share my excitement.
If you're in the Chilliwack or Vancouver BC areas, I hope you'll drop in to one of the upcoming book launches. The Vancouver Aquarium has designated animal bubbles as their Super Saturday theme around my March 14 launch there, with kids activities starting at 8:30 a.m. At the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve on March 28, we'll have all kinds of outdoor bubbley fun to add to the mix. Carolyn Conahan, my amazing illustrator, has created templates for kids to colour and turn into animal hats and masks. More info about the launches here.
Then, on March 23-27, I'll be setting off on a blog tour. More details to come.
Meanwhile, some nice folks invited me to be a guest on their blogs this month, so if you want to hear me yibber yabber about blogging, head on over to Alice's CWIM Blog, or if you're interested in my thoughts about where the cool science books of today came from, I have an essay up at Unabridged, and the students at the Institute of Children's Literature peppered me with questions about writing process last month and that transcript can be found here. _
0 Comments on Welcome to Launch Month! as of 1/1/1900
The Texas Library Association (TLA) has been raffling a chance to own this beautiful original art piece by children’s book illustrator Don Tate.
The $5 you spend for your raffle ticket will go to the TLA’s Disaster Relief Fund, which will go to help libraries hit hard by Texas storms along the coast last year. The Rosenberg Library in Galveston lost its entire children’s book collection (it was on the first floor) in the flooding that followed Hurricane Ike. (Most of Galveston Island went under water.) It was one of many libraries along the Texas coast that suffered damage.
The TLA Disaster Relief Fund auction has been helping Texas libraries contend with natural disasters since it was started by Jeanette Larsen and Mark Smith in 1999 – always with original art donated by children’s book artists.
Tate, of our Austin chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) joins the ranks of renowned
illustrators such as Rosemary Wells and Diane Stanley who have furnished paintings for the fund.
The winning raffle ticket will be drawn at the TLA annual conference, held this year, appropriately enough, in storm-pummeled Houston March 31 - April 3. You can buy as many as you want. Go here, print your raffle tickets and mail them (with your check, of course) to the TLA office at 3355 Bee Cave Road, Suite 401, Austin, Texas 78746-6763. Straightout donations to the Relief Fund are also accepted of course.
The Duke Ellington piece is for a book Don is illustrating by musicologist Anna Harwell Celenza, about how the young Ellington and composer/arranger Billy Strayhorn collaborated on their own version of Tsaichovsky’s Nutcracker Suite.
Publisher Charlesbridge is said to be looking at a 2010 publication for the nonfiction work tentatively titled Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite.
There’s also an interview with Tate on his illustrations for the Ellington story in Cynsationshere. (Cynsations and Don’s blog, Devas T. Rants and Raves! are on this blogroll.)
* * * * *
Speaking of the storm ravaged Texas coast, I just got back from there last night. I was a guest children’s author at the Victoria Public Library’s 2009 Victoria Reads community reading program, and spoke at the library and a stunning historical museum, the Museum of the Coastal Bendon the Victoria College campus, where I saw Native American decorative pieces — scrimshaw-like carvings and patternings on oyster shells dating back 5,000 - 8,000 years B.C.
The region surrounding Matagorda Bay apparently teemed with First Americans. Victoria County was a crossroads of Indian trade routes (not more than well travelled Indian trails, really), which explains why various spearpoints and arrowheads on display at the museum can be traced to South America, Mexico, and Canada.
It’s like NAFTA existed back then.
I had a great time talking with museum director Sue Prudhomme, volunteer archeologist Jud Austin and many other supporters of the museum.
* * * * *
Returning home from that trip, I saw a blog post that I wish I’d alerted you to earlier — about your chance to win, among other goodies, a T-shirt with one of the coolest YA novel logo designs ever!
Logo for "Eternal"
You have a chance to win a shirt sporting the impossibly elegant Princess Dracullogo (designed by Gene Brenek), a book, a finger puppet, a signed bookmark, stickers and more – well, just look at all the loot.
It’s the Eternal Grand Prize Giveaway – a contest celebrating the release on Tuesday of the second novel (Eternal) in the Gothic YA fantasy trilogy by Austin author Cynthia Leitich Smith, who has been called “the Anne Rice for teen readers.”
Eternal is preceded by Tantalize, which is set in Austin and features vampires and assorted were-folk. (Austin is kind of a bat capital of the South, in truth. ) Eternal also has vampires and other new characters you can sink your teeth into — wait, I mean it the other way around — and one of these in particular, Princess Dracul inspired the great glyph by artist-author Brenek (also of our Austin SCBWI chapter!) It’s one of many supernatural/regal emblems he’s designed for the book. (They convey such a spooky verisimilitude. ) See for yourselfand enter theEternal Grand Prize Giveaway. But go quickly. The give-away cutoff is Tuesday, February 10, when Eternal goes on sale!
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Author-illustrator Sarah Ackerley, a member of our SCBWI chapter’s Inklings illustrators group who now lives in San Francisco sent a link to this funny videoabout a year in the life of children’s book author-illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka. It features guest appearances by Jane Yolen, Tomie dePaolo, Mo Willems, Jon Scieszka and some of the Blue Rose Girls.
* * * * *
You can get some free lessons on color and a group of surefire palette strategies here. They’re from my online course about how to illustrate a children’s book, Make Your Splashes; Make Your Marks!
Northern California artist Susan Sorrell Hill wrote me Thursday about how these lessons helped her:
“In all of my research (on-line and in books) in the last several
years, I have never come across a clearer, more work-able approach to color that can be applied practically to a painting…and I have
looked far and wide for this information, recognizing that it was of
major importance…. The need for a sustainable, predictably
successful approach to color, for illustration as well as fine art,
became crystal clear to me when I switched from oil painting to
watercolors…the old ‘keep messing with it until it’s right’ approach
just was NOT working with watercolor…
“As you predicted, the results are immediately recognizable. I heave a huge sigh of relief!”
_ A few weeks ago, fellow Charlesbridge author Chris Barton listed the next seven things he planned to do to support his forthcoming picture book, The Day-Glo Brothers. He then invited seven authors with new books---moi among them---to chime in with seven things they were doing for their new books.
Well, as you know, I've filed the last month under D for doozie, which put me *waaaaay* behind on blog reading, so I'm just chiming in now. Okay, Chris, here goes...
1. Give a"Ten Things Every Children's Author Should Know" talk at my local library: February 9, 2009 at 7 pm, Chilliwack main branch. (If you're counting shameless plugs in this blog post, this is #3) 2. Create and send a handout template to the folks at the Vancouver Aquarium for them to photocopy for my March 14 book launch there. This means I get to test different bubble solutions to see what works best for the super duper bubble makers kids will make at the launches. Have I mentioned being an author is fun? 3. Go through my eight pages of teacher guide notes to create science and language arts activities for a Bubble Homes and Fish Farts guide. 4. Be Jan Fields' February Guest Chat Author at the Institute of Children's Literature a.k.a. ICL. I'll be talking about "Funky Nonfiction". For more info, click here and scroll to #4. 5. Chase down and fiddle to get web-ready and print images to complete myonline press kit.
_ So, about that earthquake yesterday. . . the magnitude 2.7 earthquake that occurred 40 miles from here (as reported by the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center) around the time I checked my mailbox? That one? Um. . . well, with all the jumping around I was doing, it's quite possible I caused it.
But I had a good reason. You see, yesterday was like a very special birth day---an advance copy of Bubble Homes and Fish Farts arrived in the mail from my publisher! A book, a real book, the very. first. one! Not galleys or F&Gs or layouts or, or, or. . . but a real hardcover BOOK! So, yeah, there was a whole lot of "Squeeee!"-ing and jumping around at Casa Bayrock yesterday around mail time. Quite possibly enough to cause an earthquake, I should think.
This book has been a long time coming, and oh, it's so been worth the wait. It's beautiful, absolutely gorgeous. It's not bragging for me to say so. Sure, I wrote the text, but the whole visual feel is due to Susan and the amazing folks on the Charlesbridge design team and to my brilliant illustrator Carolyn Conahan, who found the perfect way to express the science and whimsy I had hoped for. I can take none of the credit for that. It's such a scary thing for a picture book writer to relinquish creative control to the art department and illustrator, but these guys totally got what I was trying to do and made it real. Oh, and you want to know a really cool detail? The dust jacket is a lovely matte finish except for the bubbles. . . they're all shiny, like bubbles should be! Those Charlesbridge folks are the awesomest.
Seeing your book for the first time has to be one of the biggest highs in an author's life, so, join me in a big "Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!" won't you? :^D _
9 Comments on The day my book caused an earthquake, last added: 11/4/2008
Wheeee! Happy Dances are way more fun when shared. Thanks! (and, yowsa, thanks for pre-ordering, too! I can't wait to hear your thoughts about the book.)
_ Wired by Anastasia Suen Illustrated by Paul Carrick Charlesbridge, 2007 Category: Nonfiction Picture Book Another gem I discovered while serving on the CYBILS Nonfiction Picture Book Nominating Panel.
I confess. . . when I pulled this book out of the mailing envelope, I did so with some trepidation. You see, Anastasia is an online acquaintance, and Wired is not only published by my publisher, but was edited by my editor! What if it wasn't any good? What if I didn't like it? As long as I hadn't read it, I could remain honestly opinionless, but once those covers were cracked, there'd be no goin' back. I'd have to say something if writer or editor cornered me with a "So, what did you think?"
I held the book in my hand for a few minutes,
. . . turned it over and read the author and illustrator bios,
. . . noted the pleasant texture of the matt cover.
I wanted to open it, but lining up the nerve was taking some time.
Hmm... I thought, Great cover. Original. Warm, inviting colours. Nifty close-up image (I'm a sucker for those). Nice perspective. And that groovy bent metal title font cleverly reflects the subject matter. Before I knew it, the cover had sucked me in. The book was open.
Well---big relief---it turns out I had fretted for nothing. This book is great. Another fabulous Charlesbridge addition to the collection.
Wired is the story of electricity---how it's created, where it comes from, where it goes, and how it gets there. Electricity isn't a simple concept. I'd be willing to bet that when most adults flip a light switch or plug in the kettle, the source of the electricity and how it travels remains a mystery. In Wired, Anastasia Suen untangles that mystery, laying it all out one step at a time, in clear, simple terms. From the power plant generators right through to the flick of the switch on the table lamp, Suen explains it all and then tops everything off with a catchy poem that threads through the book like an electrical wire. More points for cleverness.
"humming, thrumming, power's coming in the wires in the wires. . ."
Paul Carrick's acrylic mixed media illustrations are a perfect match.
Okay, so Anastasia and Emily, if you're reading this, you don't need to ask, "So, what did you think?" because the answer is: Well done! The Nonfiction Roundup of blogposts is hosted here today. _
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Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! What an incredible time you had! Thanks for sharing it with us -- I look forward eagerly to Post Two. (And how cool is that, to get a pic with OLIVIA!) (or rather, for Olivia to get a pic with HAZEL MITCHELL!!!)
What an exciting ALA lowdown! My feet hurt just thinking about all the walking, but I can see it was a great experience. Love Kadir Nelson's art esp. the cover of Heart and Soul. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Beth ... it really was! And I love Olivia.
Hi Julie ... and the talking .. oh the talking and the LOOKING. Kadir Nelson is just a gift to the world.