What is the term for putting new words to old songs?

We visited this blog post (linked below) because When a Dragon Moves In is mentioned favorably in one of the comments, and we thought you’d all enjoy this video short we found there: teachers singing about their favorite things… books.

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A huge “Thank You” to Bill and Lorie Jackson who took book promotion to the next level. The cake was kept by the Spartanburg United Way and the chapter for Imagination Library to help promote the charities for children.

Even the sand looks delicious.

Here is the link to the addictive site where Bill posted this pic: http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2036816

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When a Dragon Moves In has made its fiery debut and is an INDIE NEXT KIDS’ PICK (Inspired Recommendations for Kids from Indie Booksellers), summer 2011.

Read all the way through this exciting post to see what a few real kids have to say about this tale.

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“Harry Potter the Exhibition” opened today at New York City’s Discovery Times Square. The video embedded above offers a sneak peek at the show that displays eight movies’ worth of props, costumes, and settings.

Featured costumes include Hermione Granger‘s yule ball gown, Cedric Diggory‘s quidditch uniform, and Professor Albus Dumbledore‘s wizard robes. We spotted three horcruxes, including Salazar Slytherin‘s locket, Helga Hufflepuff‘s cup, and Tom Riddle‘s diary (basilisk fang included). Dobby the house elf, Fawkes the phoenix, and the Hungarian Horn Tail dragon also appear.

The exhibition  includes interactive segments as well. A few lucky volunteers can draw a Hogwarts house assignment from a sorting hat. Everyone can pull out Professor Sprout‘s shrieking mandrake plants and sit in the half-giant’s leather chair inside Hagrid‘s Hut.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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Hello everyone,
I haven't posted for ages either, so I'm really happy that I have work that fits this month's prompts!  Like lots of people, I did The Princess and the Pea for Illo Friday "Layers" (I can't believe how many of us had that same idea - it's such a great story).  Mine is just a quickie and I really admire the beautiful ones the rest of you did.

The dragon is a picture I've just done for my children's illustration diploma with the London Art College.  The assignment was to create a vignette of a young dragon who has accidentally set someone's thatched cottage on fire and is horrified.  You can see that my paper has buckled a bit.  I used a cheap paper because I wanted a really white, smooth surface and my watercolour paper is textured and off-white.  Does anyone know of a heavier paper that's smooth and white?
Any ideas on how to improve it would be welcome too.

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I don't remember having so much time to illustrate a book.  I usually have a very short turn around time to create picture book art.  For my latest, Would You Rather Be a Princess or a Dragon?  my publisher gave me ample time to work.  If you were to look at my original sketches, you would understand why three publishers were interested in the manuscript, but not my illustrations.  When I ultimately sold the book, I sent in a manuscript without my drawings.  After they wanted to story, I had to go back and re-think what I had drawn.  After reworking the entire dummy for the book, I finally sold both the story and the artwork.

I finished working on the book Friday night and downloaded all of the artwork on to two DVDs.  It was strange seeing all of that time and effort, reduced to two disks!  I'm sure there will be tweaks here and there, but it's now Monday and I need to go out to my studio and clean up so another book can begin!

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For the front of my fall postcard I decided to create a boy a little bit older than the one in my painting for the NY Public library exhibit.  On the back, instead of How to Ride a Dragon 101,  I substituted a useful handbook,  Dragons for Dummies.   I'm sure it will come in handy.



And for anyone who wants to wallow in proverbs, here is a handy link.

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I decided to create a post card for my fall mailing based on the acrylic painting I made for the NYC library exhibit. I'll try to post a finish in a few days. *:)  On the back of the card I will place the rules for
"how to ride a dragon ~ 101."

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I doodled this during ICON 6. It’s some kind of cute but slightly hideous insect with tiny wings that probably wouldn’t be enough to hold him up. Just something out of my insane imagination.

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Illustration for a Literature high school book.

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With this week's theme, I was reminded of my son's toddler years of him putting a sheet or blanket over his head and saying "boo" to try and scare people. Usually it just made them giggle. And he has always loved dragons. Now he is about to start college in less than a week....


http://www.bemusedart.com/blog

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"Hey! Who's down there?"

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Upon entering the castle the cook took Winston and Roxxanne directly to the huge kitchen...the scene of the crime.
Pieces of golden china and fragile crystal were strewn across the marbled floor.
"Oh how terrible," Roxxanne was shaken by the horrible destruction.

"Yes," added Winston, "terrible indeed!"

"TERRIBLE YOU SAY!!!!! TERRIBLE INDEED~" a shrill yet booming voice echoed through the great expanse of the kitchen.


There in front of the tragic trio stood the Queen. Queen Mellameen, to be exact, and she was not in a good mood.
"What in the BIG WIDE WORLD of my PERSONAL QUEENDOM happened here?" she demanded.

"Oh, your majesty, " stammered the cook, " I am so sorry about all this mess." She took a deep breath and began to explain to the queen how the huge beast (dragon) had burst into the kitchen while she was preparing the Queen's birthday dinner, and had gobbled up all the fine china and crystal.

"And, your Majesty, I am sorry to say he has also eaten your beautiful soup tureen, ladle and all."

"What???? YOU'VE LOST MY ROYAL GOLDEN BOWL? Surely for this your head will roll!"

As you can see the queen did not take the news lightly and as Winston and Roxxanne and the cook stood shuddering at this last exclamation from the angry monarch, another more terrifying noise was heard.

©Ginger Nielson- all rights reserved

(Stay tuned kiddies,...... and if you want to see previous chapters, just scroll down in the blog for any Wednesday. OR check the Wowzio panel to the right of this post and see the other chapters as a thumbnail.)

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Having been Bumped right out of the moat, Winston and Roxxanne found themselves directly in front of a tearful young lady.  Although they were already dripping wet, her tears threatened to keep them from drying off at all.

Working sketch for this segment.

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Ned had had quite enough of his silly companions who positively fawned over him. They were loud and their constant sighs of love made him uncomfortable (the other zombies were looking at him with blank stares).

Oh, and here's a dragon too. He doesn't care about the word "enough" (in fact he can't even talk). He just wants to eat his food and be by himself, thank you very much.

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Busy weekend. My birthday was yesterday - there was a soccer game (no it's not over yet) and I had to work. Spent my break sketching a little dragon plush toy that we sell.

But, I was able to get off early enough to go out to dinner with my husband. We went to Olive Garden (yum-o). I don't think I've ever been there before - it's a bit more $$$ than we can usually spend when going out to dinner, but we left the kids at home and I had a gift card.

Today, I made quite a bit of progress on the redraw of the chicken. I've noticed that I'm a lot less tentative this time around. Some of the lighter sections of the first drawing are coming out darker or bolder right off the bat. Last time, I spent a lot longer building up different parts. I think it's a combination of being more confident (having drawn this once before) and being a bit impatient by nature - I tend to like to do NEW things rather than redo something I already spent A LOT of time on. That said, I like some of the changes I've made, so it might be worth it in the end. If not, I still have the original...

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