My latest piece for the Wonderland series. Many people Have been asking for him…

He will soon be available on Pendants and Rings

Truckit Fest: Food trucks, crafty vendors, chairs breaking, eating yummy churro tots, fun with my friends Brenda and Melody, meeting cool people and selling my Pendants and artwork. It was an interesting and valuable experience for me. I am now entering the world of craft fairs. Note to self for the future: bring sturdier chairs next time, make more mini pendants (because people have been asking for those) and work on building a more effective display and presentation of my work. Definitely make a banner with large letters “Whimsical Fantasy Art” with lot’s of posters of my work to draw the crowd in.

This set of 5 art buttons are so cute, you will want to pin them everywhere.
Includes: Fairy Fashion Chick, Lemur, Fairy Girl, Miss Wonderland (Alice in Wonderland) and Bunny heart.

Each pin is 1 1/2″ in diameter.

They are all handmade and they come in a cute little organza bag.

Only $6. Buy Now

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: February 10, 2011

Alice In Wonderland (Two-Disc 60th Anniversary Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Language: English

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Rated: G (General Audience)

Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: February 1, 2011

Run Time: 75 minutes

Source: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

There are many reasons why Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite Disney movies for children, not only does it nurture the imagination, the absurdity and the senselessness speak directly to a child’s humor. And, unlike many other movies for children, no deep emotions or feelings are over explored (besides curiosity)—a few chuckles from an adult in the right places can get a sensitive child through the brief-but-dramatic ending when the Queen of Hearts is yelling, “Off with her head.” If you’re not offended by the hookah-smoking, cranky caterpillar (r u?), Disney’s Alice in Wonderland is a great interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s famous pieces of literature Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, it captures the essence of dreams and the brilliance of a child’s imagination.

One of the bonus features, “Reflections On Alice“, offers insight to Alice’s journey from Lewis Carroll’s clever mind to animated movie character. The movie and this featurette combined, offers an additional learning segment for those that are exploring Carroll’s books; opening up opportunities for character discussions, comprehension, and exploring the differences between paper and screen. Perhaps watching the movie first could lure a reluctant reader into the world of classic literature?

Alice in Wonderland is like a little bottle of nostalgia begging to be enjoyed with each new generation.

Add this DVD to your collection: Alice In Wonderland (Two-Disc 60th Anniversary Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Have you watched this movie? Rate it:
Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Read the books: “Alice” Favorites

Time to brush up on your high school German meine damen und herren.  Yes The Strange Case of Origami Yoda got its own pretty impressive fan trailer straight outta Germany the other day.  It’s interesting, but I was even more taken with the German name of the book.  Yoda, I Am!  Everything, I Know! As overseas titles go, that’s gotta be one of my favorites.  I also like the description of the book that accompanies the video: “Eigentlich ist Dwight ein totaler Loser.”  No matter where you go in this world, “total loser” is a universal.

I swear I didn’t mean for this to happen, but by complete coincidence the Germans have the floor today.  This next one is actually a small filmed version of a picture book called Vom Kleinen Maulwurf, der Wissen Wollte Wer Ihm Auf den Kopf Gemacht Hatte by Werner Holzwarth and Wolf Eribruch.  You can debate what the best possible translation of this might be, but I think my favorite has to be Wikipedia’s The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew It Was None of His Business.  See it and you’ll comprehend why.

Needless to say, this book has yet to be published in America.  Not even the Plop-Up version.  Jules brought to to my attention after her fantastic post on Maurizio Quarello’s take on Bluebeard led to a fascinating discussion in the comments of what Yanks do and do not find squeamish.  Thanks for the link, Jules!

Ruh-roh.  I heard that someone wanted to do an “updated” musical take on Alice in Wonderland for Broadway.  Of course, that brings to mind another musical as well: The Wiz.  Updating classics isn’t as easy as all that (though I’ll forgive many things for “Ease on Down the Road”).  Here’s an interview with the woman playing Alice.  Join me as I wonder if it’s possible that the music was written in 1982.  Hoo boy.

Yeah.  That ain’t good.  Here’s a bit from the Playbill blog post about it as well.  Thanks to @MrSchuReads for the link.

This one’s interesting, and related to children’s literature in that much of my own childhood was spent reading New Yorker cartoons.  Cartoonist Liza Donnelly and I have something in common.  We both attended Earlham College (fight fight inner light, kill, Quakers, kill!!).  We also both have an interest in humor and women.

Hey everyone! Well, I finally took the plunge and created my first video. All of you Youtubers & Vimeors out there I give you props cause its definitely a process with editing, formating & uploading those videos. I had a hard time deciding on what I wanted to paint for […]

Glass Tile Pendant is 1 7/8″ tall by 7/8″ wide.

It comes with an ultra Fine 1.2mm Silver Plated Snake Chain Necklace with Lobster Clasps. 16″ and 18″ chains are available. Send me a message specifying whether you want 16″ or 18″.

Packaged in a cute little cardboard gift box.

This fairy tale classic is perfect to give as a gift to someone or wear it yourself.

This is a 8.5″ x 11″ print on good quality archival ink jet paper with a white 1″ inch border around the image.

It will be signed and dated by the artist

Shipped in a clear plastic bag and a stiff envelope

Did you all see this? So cool!

We've talked much about a rgz app. What do YOU think it would look like?

That’s what Neil Gaiman writes on Twitter whenever he links to one of his blog posts.  “Warning: Contains Me.”  Well, today’s a nice me-centric post, but let’s start off by looking at a “them” instead.  Specifically, a “them” of awesome.

• Two years ago authors Jim Averbeck and Maria Van Lieshout had an idea.  Since the words Newbery/Caldecott Banquet are already synonymous with glitter and glam, why not do a Red Carpet Interview series?  The series was a hit, and this year Jim and new partner-in-crime Kristin Clark Venuti have a whole new crop of On the Red Carpet interviews.  Now you have 18 days to vote for your favorite interview.  They may not all be up quite yet, so be patient, but when they are you’ll have twenty-two fine and fancy names to choose from.  This year, my primary job was to grab folks as they walked past so as to MAKE THEM talk to Jim and Kristin.  I did okay.  But I was hindered by an injured extremity.  In this video, Jim sets my tale of woe against a rather convincing game of Frogger.

Beats Pac-Man.  Or Centipede, for that matter.  Go to this site to see more videos.

• Speaking of ALA, Laura Rogers, the cute as a button girl who read all the Newbery winners, recently participated in a Mock Newbery Committee meeting at the Hussey Mayfield Memorial Public Library that sported a record turnout.  Check out the kids.  Woah.  Good readers!  Thanks to Kelli Brooks for the link!

• Who says there are no second chances on Broadway?  Or, in the case of Mr. Frank Wildhorn, third, fourth, and fifth chances.  From the man who brought you Jekyll & Hyde (which I admit to liking in college) and Dracula: The Musical (not so much) comes Wonderland: A New Alice. A New Musical Adventure.  I’m not hep enough to my Broadway history to know how many Alice musicals have trod the Great White Way before, but I suspect that this is not the first.  Interesting.  Thanks to @PWKidsBookshelf for the link.

• I’m about all things bird, and now Peter Sieruta has put up a post that includes an interlude on how Laura Amy Schlitz’s The Night Fairy inspired him to hang a hummingbird feeder outside his home.  Check out the video feed he got of a little surreal bee-like bird taking a sip or two.

• This is a little off-topic, but my buddy Davin just made thi
  6 Comments on Fusenews: Warning – Contains Me, last added: 8/10/2010
  Display Comments
  tanita said, on 8/10/2010 2:35:00 AM
  

  …I still cannot believe that I didn’t even see you at the New/Cal dinner. And I was SITTING WITH JIM AVERBECK. ::SIGH::

  KHazelrigg said, on 8/10/2010 5:14:00 AM
  

  That Frogger song at the end of your ALA video is rockin’!

  working illustrator said, on 8/10/2010 5:57:00 AM
  

  I’m voting for Westerfield #1 (mostly on account of its not looking like a movie poster (very backwards of me, I know, but I hate – have always hated, always will hate – photography on fiction covers, even when heavily Photoshopped). And I wouldn’t get your hopes up about “Wonderland” on Broadway… my inside-scoop theater people are mostly thumbs-down.

  Chris in NY said, on 8/10/2010 6:12:00 AM
  

  Loved the Tammy Pierce link. She is one of the daughters favorite authors. And I can testify that Pierce is a total hoot as a speaker- get her in a room with Bruce Coville and it is non-stop laughs.

  Jim said, on 8/10/2010 8:37:00 AM
  

  Thanks Betsy. You did a fine job of author herding this year. We have interviews with Holly Black, Ellen Hopkins, Grace Lin, Jon Scieszka, Linda Sue Park and many other luminaries of the children’s book world. And we got most of them to play a game of $20,000 Pyramid in honor of the Newbery winner, WHEN YOU REACH ME.
  All the interviews are now up, grouped by subject, and we have a bunch of things for folks to do over at the site.
  Hope your ankle is all healed.—J
  PS- Hi Tanita!

  WendieO said, on 8/10/2010 7:41:00 PM
  

  Love your FuseNews posts — and this is a nice long, juicy one.

  Add a Comment

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: July 20, 2010

Congratulations to the three lucky winners of the Alice in Verse: The Lost Rhymes of Wonderland giveaway. Due to everyone’s love of Alice, this was a very popular giveaway.

The winners were selected by the random sequence generator at random.org and have each won a copy of  Alice in Verse: The Lost Rhymes of Wonderland , a White Rabbit bookmark included with each.

The Three (3) Winners:

Staci A said:

My son loves Alice, and I would love to share this with him. It sounds wonderful!

Marnie Blum said:

Oh, I am in love with the Alice in Wonderland story. This is so exciting!

Christine W said:

As a mathematics teacher, it has amazed me that the author of the original Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, was also a mathematician and that much of the book is based upon mathematics. Yes, I have also wondered about these questions and would love to discover the answers. This sounds a book that I would really enjoy reading.

Thank you,

Christine

For those of you who were not so lucky, you can still add this book to your collection: Alice in Verse: The Lost Rhymes of Wonderland

Disclaimer: Winners of TCBR giveaways are notified by email and have 72 hours to claim their prize. Unclaimed prizes are awarded to an alternate winner and the above list will be adjusted accordingly. Thank you to everyone who participated. Special thanks to Candleshoe Books for sponsoring the giveaway. Books will be shipped directly from the sponsor, delivery of the giveaway item lies solely on the sponsor. Names, e-mail address and physical address of the winner will be shared with the sponsor for the purpose of fulfillment of the giveaway.

Sign up for our free newsletter to be in the know about all of our giveaways!

©2010 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

Being a big fan of Tove Jansson’s Moomin books, I had no idea she had illustrated a version of The Hobbit as well as two books by Lewis Carroll, until I recently discovered this site. There isn’t much information and the scans are a bit small, still it’s amazing to see such rarely seen work (at least to me) by one of the world’s greatest children’s book illustrators.

Posted by Stephan Britt on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog | Permalink | No comments
Tags: Alice in Wonderland, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lewis Carroll, Moomins, The Hobbit, Tove Jansson

ArchEnemy: The Looking Glass Wars Frank Beddor

In this final installment of the Looking Glass Wars trilogy, all of Imagination is being held captive by King Arch. Loyalties are made and broken in webs of intrigue, betrayal and lies. If Queen Alyss is to save her queendom, it's once more onto the battle field, and back to Oxford and the Liddells.

If you liked the series so far, you'll like this. If you didn't then, move on along and find something else to tickle your fancy. I liked that there was still a lot of cool battle scenes with imagined weapons, but the back room deals and intrigue were much more pronounced in this one.

Also, we get such much more of the caterpillars, which was great. A most satisfying conclusion to a series I really enjoyed.

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With more and more magazine, publishing and TV execs exploring the potential of creating interactive, social apps for the iPad, we thought we'd point to a few of those getting an early start for our latest Ypulse Toolbox. Feel free to add more in... Read the rest of this post

From Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 2, The Pool of Tears :

"As she said these words her foot slipped, and in another moment, splash! she was up to her chin in salt water. Her first idea was that she had somehow fallen into the sea, 'and in that case I can go back by railway,' she said to herself. (Alice had been to the seaside once in her life, and had come to the general conclusion, that wherever you go to on the English coast you find a number of bathing machines in the sea, some children digging in the sand with wooden spades, then a row of lodging houses, and behind them a railway station.) However, she soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high.

'I wish I hadn't cried so much!' said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out. 'I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That will be a queer thing, to be sure! However, everything is queer to-day.'

Just then she heard something splashing about in the pool a little way off, and she swam nearer to make out what it was: at first she thought it must be a walrus or hippopotamus, but then she remembered how small she was now, and she soon made out that it was only a mouse that had slipped in like herself."

From Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 1, Down the Rabbit-Hole :

"Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice's first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either the locks were too large, or the key was too small, but at any rate it would not open any of them. However, on the second time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high: she tried the little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted!"

Back in October of last year I began putting together roughs for my next personal project, illustrating Alice in Wonderland. After many weeks and months of sitting on the back burner, Alice has finally come to front.

I've spent some of my free time these last few days taking the completed roughs turning those into color studies. Every day (weekday) for the next couple of weeks I am going to post the next rough/color study in the series. After that we'll move on to the drawings, and finally the paintings. I hope you will enjoy.

I've put together 14 illustrations : 12 chapters illustrations + prologue and epilogue pieces.

So, without further ado, here is the rough and color study for the prologue.

Daisy chains.

E-Books coming to the iPad for kids
As the iPad gains momentum, top picks for e-books include classics such as Alice in Wonderland and various Dr. Seuss books. The iPad’s appeal is only heightened by its 3-D capabilities.

Finding the Right Children’s Book
Children’s books are so varied and numerous these days that parents and educators often have a hard time selecting the best titles to share with children. This article discusses a handy guide inside the world of children’s books.

Gary Paulsen’s Newest Adventures
Three-time Newbery Honoree, Gary Paulsen is releasing Wood Runner, a young adult book set during the time of the Revolutionary War.

Illustrator John Schoenherr Passes at Age 74
In his lifetime, John Schoenherr illustrated over 40 children’s books, including Owl Moon and Julie of the Wolves. Remember his contributions to childrens’ imaginations and take a look at his illustrations.

Jewish Heritage Through Early Literacy
Jewish families can enjoy learning about their heritage together through children’s books which incorporate cultural customs while aiding in early literacy.

John Ehrenberg and J. Patrice McSherry are Professors of Political Science at Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus.  Jose Ramon Sanchez is Associate Professor of Political Science at Long Island University. Caroleen Marji Sayej is Assistant Professor of Government and International Relations at Connecticut College. Together they wrote The Iraq Papers, which offers a compelling documentary narrative and interpretation of this momentous conflict. In the post below we see how Alice in Wonderland mirrors our own political world.  Read other posts by these authors here.

That is what the playing card Queen of Hearts in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, (and in all previous versions) shouts, a flippant order to decapitate everyone and anyone who dares show her any insolence, no matter how trivial the offense. The movie is a reminder of the excesses and abuses of authority. It exposes the often illogical and dangerous decisions that emerge from unaccountable rulers. There are many signs that Alice would encounter these same dangers in America today. Two congressional events from last week come immediately to mind. One was the passage of a bill to prevent the torturing of American school kids and the other was the introduction of a new bill that would require government authorities to treat anyone arrested as if they were already guilty.

On March 3, 2010, the House passed HR 4247, Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act. The bill is designed to prevent the occurrence of torture in schools, including forceful restraints, seclusion, and beatings. Hundreds of U.S. children have suffered from such physical and mental abuse, resulting in countless injuries and death in many states, according to the General Accounting Office. What is most interesting about this new law is that so few Republicans voted for it. The final vote tally was 238 Democrats and 24 Republicans voting for the bill. The overwhelming majority of Republicans, 145, voted against. The reasons Republicans gave for voting against the bill were that not enough information was available about the prevalence of such school torture, the need to protect state’s rights, and their reluctance to impose federal guidelines on private schools. These are all legitimate concerns. I would wonder, however, why such concerns trump something as insidious, shocking and unconstitutional as the use of torture on children in our schools? Why are we so casual about burying our children alive, as Charles Dickens once described solitary confinement?

Another curiosity from last week appears to spring from the same odd rabbit hole that Alice fell into. Senators John McCain and Joe

Los Angeles Times taken over by "Alice in Wonderland."