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The Illustration Friday word for the week is “burning”. Ok, this is a bit of a stretch, but it sort of works, eh?

I’m heading to the SCBWI L.A. Illustrator’s Day tomorrow and this is what I entered for the illustration contest they are having. We were asked to illustrate something for the following sentence:

“It was night, and the rain fell; and falling, it was rain, but, having fallen, it was…”

So I thought … a flood. A flooded zoo to be exact. I know, always with the stretching I am.

Anyway, wish me luck!

I've been hard at work on the sequel to the first Cousin Albert book lately (among about a thousand other things).

The above is a an unfinished page. Unfinished means not done - so I don't want any comments from the peanut galley.

It's an elephant with a bruise on her butt.

Quality stuff.

Steve

I polished off the cover for Albert at the Zoo early last week, and I'm pretty pleased with the results. It's a nice looking cover. I think it relates to the first book well.

Steve

Along with the ten-thousand other things I'm currently working on is the sequel to Paul Wood's "Cousin Albert" Series. Not only is Albert taking a trip to the zoo this time out, but he's doing it in full color. That's right, no more black and white interiors, this time it's color all the way.

While I haven't seen the full manuscript yet, I have gotten started on the cover. I'm pretty pleased with the overall design - think it'll be a quality piece when completed.

Hopefully it will...

Otherwise, as an eight year old might say, I'm in deep doo-doo.

On another note, it's only about four months or so until book 2 in the "Forts" series comes out. I'm excited. A part of me thinks it'll be the one people remember the most. It really is the "Empire Strikes Back" of the series It's a bit darker, the ending will leave you wanting more, and once it gets rolling it doesn't stop.

Then there's Krystoph...

You're going to like Krystoph.

This is an elephant from a book I illustrated - Tallula's Atishoo and the other is from a FRASER papers promotion - the Pegasus Zoo.

by Stuart Gibbs Simon and Schuster  2010 When the recently-deceased hippo mascot of a zoo turns out to have been murdered it falls to a 12 year old boy to solve the mystery none of the adults seem to be able to, but not without the help of a girl.  Did that sound cynical?  Huh, I wonder why. Could it be another mystery (albeit with an unusual victim) solved by a kid where no adult seems able

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin E. Stead.

I was utterly charmed by this book.  It has a gentle humor, a sweetness and an inherent loveliness that really makes it special.

Amos McGee got up early every morning, changed into his uniform, and headed to work at the City Zoo.  Even though he had a busy work schedule, he always had time to visit his friends.  He played chess with the elephant, ran races with the tortoise, sat quietly with the shy penguin, wiped the rhino’s runny nose, and read books to the owl who was afraid of the dark.  But one morning, Amos woke up and didn’t feel well enough to go to the zoo.  His friends waited for him, but when Amos didn’t come they set out to visit him instead.  The elephant played chess with him.  The turtle played hide and seek instead of running races.  The penguin kept Amos’ feet warm.  The rhino always had a handkerchief ready when Amos sneezed.  And at bedtime, the owl read them all a book.

The husband and wife team who created this book really worked well together.  Philip’s tone of writing has a gentle feel that matches his wife’s art perfectly.  Philip’s writing is very readable and works well aloud.  The small touches of detail make the world more convincing, including the elephant taking a lot of time to make his move in chess and the spoonfuls of sugar Amos uses at breakfast.  It is these little facts that really invite one to linger longer in the book.

Erin’s art is delightfully realistic for such a fantastical story.  The animals are very true to life except for their hobbies.  Her art uses delicate lines and subtle colors.  I especially enjoyed Erin’s two-page wordless spreads as the animals head to Amos’ home.  Again with her art, the small touches add so much: the elephant lining up his chess pieces while waiting for Amos and the socks on the feet of the penguin.  Small details but very important to the tone and feel of the book.

Highly recommended, this book will be embraced by all who read it.  Share it for units on zoos, colds or save it for a great bedtime read.  Now all I need to find is a shy penguin to keep my feet warm…

Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.

Also reviewed by The Reading Tub.

I arranged all my current creations on the couch the other day and my aunt sat in the middle & said, "Pretty soon, it'll be a zoo!" Haha. So, I present you with my growing zoo. Cigarette counts as a mammal or reptile?

My Heart Is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall

Enter the zoo where each animal has a different emotion.  The beaver is eager, the rabbit is frightened, the clam is cozy.  There are animals here that children will recognize immediately and others that may be new to them.  Nicely, the same is true of the emotions.  Children will immediately understand angry, happy, and silly.  However, they may need help with bothered, rugged and chatty.  This is a book where emotions, art and vocabulary create a real chance to learn.  At the same time, it is friendly, bright and simple.

Hall’s art is large, colorful and great fun.  In this book, his animals are all built from hearts as you can see from the cover image.  Some like the frog are a simple heart with legs while others are quite complex constructs like the walrus.  The simplicity and graphical nature of Hall’s work really function well here.  The book can be read as simply animals.  Plus, it can be used to discuss emotions, and it would be a great platform for acting out emotions.  It can also be used to talk about similes.

Ideal for Valentines Day, this book is simple enough for toddlers to enjoy but complex enough to share with older children too.  The large images are perfect for classroom or group use.  Appropriate for ages 2-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Check out the great Book Trailer:

Also reviewed by:

She Is Too Fond of Books

Books for Kids

Creative Literacy

Shelf-Employed

Zoo Day Ole!: a counting book by Phillis Gershator, illustrated by Santiago Cohen.

Abuelita takes her two grandchildren to the zoo where they count the animals from uno to diez.  They see bears, seals, monkeys, parrots and many more animals.  Gershator’s text is simple with Spanish counting words woven in.  Cohen’s art is thick-lined. His use of large blocks of color make it very child-like and friendly.

The mix of English and Spanish is nicely done, though I would have liked to have seen the names for the various animals done in both Spanish and English as well.  As a counting book, this one works well because readers have the option of counting or not counting since it isn’t built into the text. 

An ideal book for toddlers who love Dora the Explorer or Sesame Street with their mix of Spanish and English.  It would also work well for children learning Spanish in Kindergarten.  Appropriate for ages 2-5.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Doodler (Goldman), Todd H. 2009. The Zoo I Drew. Random House. (July 28(ish) publication)

This one's a keeper. And not just for zoo keepers either. Though this one boasts that it is "zoo-keeper approved." (And who am I to doubt Todd H. Doodler?!) I loved this one. Loved it. It had me at hello. Its bright red cover is fluted; I loved feeling all the ridges--made it so much more appealing. The art is fun and playful. But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. The Zoo I Drew is an animal (well zooish) alphabet book for youngsters. Each letter has an animal and a rhyme to go along with it.

A is for Alligator...
With a mouth full of teeth
and a body that's covered in scales.
The alligator likes to bask in the sun
and swim with it's powerful tail.

M is for Monkey
Hanging from its tail,
The monkey likes to play around.
It swings from tree to tree
And seldom touches the ground.

The worst came first.

A couple of weeks ago, I did my first two in-person events for Stampede. First up was a dual storytime of Animal Antics with Dara Dokas, author of the brand new Muriel's Red Sweater. We were at a local zoo--a big zoo, one that I know has had author events in the past. But the event was a total flop. Why? Well, here are just a few lowlights:

* The gift shop didn't order our books (though that was part of the agreement). We were tersely notified of this a couple of weeks before and were told we couldn't sell our books, either. Gee, thanks.

* We were there as part of a huge zoo event, and our storytime was clearly not worth any preparation. There was no signage whatsoever, and we were shoved into a very loud, crowded room of kids doing crafts and parents talking on cell phones and calling to their kids across the room. When the one softspoken zoo volunteer announced our storytime to the room, she encouraged people to keep crafting--but didn't ask them to be quiet at all! Of course, half the people probably didn't even hear her.

* A few kids did come over to listen, but they couldn't hear over the din in the room. Dara and I had to practically shout in their faces (never a good tactic for storytime!) for them to hear our poems/books.

* The atmosphere was so rowdy, the few kids who did participate started accosting the Muriel puppet. Poor duck had her beak yanked every which way!

* We didn't even pull out our animal-related activities afterward. No point.

* After our first presentation (yep, we had two), we had time for a quick lunch. We stood in line at the snack shack for 20 minutes--the zoo was mobbed.

* Basically, there was no one there who cared about the storytime besides us. And the situation made it impossible to create a lively, engaging presentation.

Boy, was that demoralizing. It felt like a total waste of time. It wasn't so much because we sold no books, but it felt like we didn't connect with anyone, kid or adult. We were just part of the din.


During the second reading, we moved out to a barn, which was slightly quieter.

The next day was a solo event for me at Micawber's Books. An event organized by the same Dara Dokas, who works at Micawber's. It was the polar opposite.

* The event had been advertised and promoted with signage, emails, and personal invitations from Dara.

* Someone was there to greet me, give me some water, and make sure I had what I needed.

* It was a GORGEOUS spring Minnesota day, and everyone was outside. So few people showed up. BUT, the people who did could hear every word I said.

* Books had been stocked, and I was available to sign books after the reading (and 4 or 5  books sold, which surprised me since there were so few people there).

* Afterward, kids did animal activities, like How far can you jump? and What's your wingspan? Dara helped me set up the props before storytime.

Most important of all, I felt like I connected. There were only a handful of people there, but I got to say hi to each one of them. I didn't have to shout in their faces!

At the zoo, we shared our books in a room with 30 or 40 kids. In Micawber's, I only had 3 or 4 kids. But the Micawber's event (and other bookstore events we've done since then) was so much better! It was so much more about sharing books we love rather than being about adding one more free "entertainment" option to a chaotic event.


Here I am at Micawber's Books in St. Paul.

We have another zoo event (at a different zoo) and lots more library and bookstore storytimes, and I guess they'll run the gamut. I was surprised at how poorly run the zoo event was (not necessarily the bigger event we were part of--I have no idea how that went, but our specific part in it), and hopefully none of our other events will live down to that!

If you want to see a few more pix from both events, click here and then click on the picture to move forward through the album.

What's your storytime from hell story? Care to share?

What can a writer learn from the zoo?




Repetition instantly makes a story.

One snake alone would be cool. But two snakes? Then you start making up a plot for them. Are they brothers? Sisters? Friends? Enemies pretending to be friends? Guards? Models? An old married couple? The snake mafia?

This guy is thinking about all the possibilites:


If only they'd give me a laptop....

*Pictures taken by my daughter at the National Zoo, Washington D.C.

I've been trying out some different painting techniques using both Photoshop and Painter this morning and it just so happens that my doodles go with this week's topic of zoo. These were done completely in Photoshop starting with a medium gray background.

Bring the zoo home with you!

These are the godos disguised as animals for this IF week's topic: The Zoo. Godo doesn't like to see animals in cages, so he preferred to play along his brothers :)