Well, what do you know!
It's Perfect Picture Book Friday again!
And I'm about to something unprecedented...
I'm reviewing two picture books today!
I know!
Unheard of!
But here's why:
Two of my dear writer friends had books release this week on the SAME DAY from the SAME PRESS! What are the odds? And both books are too wonderful to pass up, and I couldn't possibly choose one over the other in their book birthday week, so there you have it - two for the price of one :)
I hope you enjoy them both! (And in case you're wondering, they are genuine Perfect Picture Books, not just here because they were written by friends! That is just a happy coincidence :))
Title: Sophie's Animal Parade
Written By: Amy Dixon
Illustrated By: Katia Wish
May 2015, Sky Pony Press, Fiction
Suitable For Ages: 3-5
Themes/Topics: imagination, loneliness, friendship, animals
Opening: "
Everything Sophie drew came to life. Mama called it Sophie's imagination. Sophie called it magic.When Sophie felt hungry, she drew something scrumptious to eat.When Sophie felt sleepy, she drew somewhere cozy to rest.And when Sophie felt cold, she drew something snuggly to wear."
Brief Synopsis: Sophie's drawings have the magical ability to come to life. One day, feeling lonely, Sophie draws a friend. And then another... and another... Sophie's room isn't quite the place for any of them, and accommodating their needs makes them impossible to play with (the polar bear can't reach the scones and jam from inside his igloo; the duck can't play hide-n-seek in a wading pool with nowhere to hide etc.) But in the end, Sophie finds a friend - no pencils or paper required :)
Links To Resources: if your drawings could come to life, what would you draw? Someone to be friends with, like Sophie? (animal, human, alien, unicorn, fairy etc.???) Someplace you'd like to visit (a castle, a beach, an enchanted forest, etc.???) Something you'd like to do (perform on Broadway, compete at the Olympics, explore the jungle etc,???) Now draw it!; discuss how you know if something is real or imaginary; why might an imaginary friend be better than a real friend? why might a real friend be better than an imaginary friend?
Sophie Coloring PagesWhy I Like This Book: The concept of drawings coming to life is so engaging and fun - what child wouldn't want to have that ability?! And hasn't every child felt lonely at some point and longed for a friend? This is an endearing story with delightful animal-antic-filled illustrations, and the sweet message that as fun as imagination is, real friends are what matter. The page where Sophie meets Luke and checks to make sure she hasn't drawn him (no pencils!) is perfect, as is the very real friendship between two imaginative animal lovers :)
Title: Dress Me!
Written & Illustrated By: Sarah-Frances Hardy
May 2015, Sky Pony Press, Fiction
Suitable For Ages: 2-5
Themes/Topics: careers, being yourself, exploration, self-expression
Opening: "
Dress me!Tutu me!Dancer me!"
Brief Synopsis: A little girl tries outfit after outfit, exploring the many possibilities of what she can be- dancer, artist, teacher, lawyer etc until she finds just the right one.
Links To Resources: think up 3 careers you'd like to try. Do any of them require special outfits or equipment? If so, what is required? See if you can find or make some items so you can dress up like the people in those careers. Play charades and act out a job/career you'd like to try - fireman, doctor, plumber, lawyer, carpenter, teacher, minister, etc.
Why I Like This Book: With simple text (the word count is 44!) and adorable illustrations, a little girl tries out being a dancer, an artist, a monster, a doctor, a plumber, and many other things. In each case, her little dog is right alongside her, joining in the fun and often sporting his own accessories. This is a wonderful story that makes exploration, self-discovery, the freedom to choose who you are and what you want to be accessible to youngest readers. Sweet and fun.
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit
Perfect Picture Books.
If anyone would care to visit Amy Dixon or Sarah Frances Hardy, they are both very talented and have wonderful sites! Please visit Amy
HERE and Sarah Frances
HERE. Should you be interested, their sites include links to purchase their delightful books! (Actually, I'm not sure Amy's does, but you can find her books in all the usual places :))
PPBF bloggers please be sure to leave your post-specific link in the list below so we can all come visit you! I can't wait to see this week's bounty of books!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone! And Happy Mother's Day to everyone who is a mother, or has a mother, or knows a mother!!! :)
Today marks the start of Picture Book Idea Month, or as it's more widely referred to:
PiBoIdMo.
Tara Lazar created this event,
publicly, in 2009. Each November, she puts together an amazing line up of guest bloggers, asking all participants to come up with at least one picture book idea a day for the month. There are prizes. There are inspirational posts. There is a supportive and fun community. But at the heart, it's a way for all of us to get the ideas out of our noggins and onto paper. To dig deep and come up with the start of something special.
It might seem intimidating - I'm a little jittery, and it's my second time around! - but I encourage you all to dive in head first.
Visit Tara's blog for
the details, and read the first official post by
Amy Dixon.
And with that, I'm off to find an idea or two!
I have always been competitive. Maybe it’s because I have 4 sisters and 2 brothers, which meant we did things like thumb-wrestle to see who would get the last bowl of Sunday Cereal…or battle it out in Easter Day relay races that required rolling eggs across the carpet with our noses. Or maybe it’s because my parents fell in love on the basketball court, where everyone said that if Patty really liked Harold, she would let him win. Well, she really did like him. Forty-years-together-and-counting-kind-of-liked-him. But she didn’t let him win. So I guess you could say it’s in my blood.
Is it any wonder then that I jumped at the chance to be a part of PiBoIdMo when I first heard about it in 2010? A challenge, you say? 30 ideas in 30 days, you say? Sounds hard. I’m in!
Know what else sounds hard? Marathons. Lucky for me, November is a month chock-full of ‘em, and I’ve got a husband who likes to run ‘em. (I’ve run a half-marathon, and that was hard enough for me, thank you very much!) So when November 5, 2010 rolled around, this is the idea I wrote down:
Marathon Mouse. Story of a mouse who lives in NYC right under the start line and decides that it is his life’s dream to participate in the NYC marathon.
What I quickly figured out about PiBoIdMo was that it wasn’t necessarily coming up with the ideas that was the hard part. But the sifting and sorting of ideas to figure out which were studs and which were duds??? That was the tough part. Once the challenge was over, I tried writing a couple of other stories first…ones that I deemed more commercial, more worthy of an agent’s or editor’s attention. But I soon realized that the story I really wanted to write was the one about the marathon. In the 2 years since my husband had taken up distance running, I had been in search of a picture book about the sport that I could share with my children. I was looking for something that reflected the early mornings, the intense training, and the roadside cheering that was now a part of our family culture. And I couldn’t find one, because one didn’t exist.
So I wrote it.
And I liked it.
It travelled with me to my critique group, as well as to our regional SCBWI conference. And it was there that I first heard the objection that followed this manuscript around for quite some time: “…but kids don’t run marathons!” Okay, fair point. Kids don’t run marathons.
BUT.
Anyone who has ever been to a marathon knows that you will find yourself absolutely, without exception, knee-deep in kids…walking the course, holding cherished homemade signs, and searching the crowds of runners, hoping to catch a glimpse of their mom or dad, aunt or grandpa, teacher or friend. Kids may not run marathons, but they are an ever-present part of the running community. And that was the reason that I persevered through 26.2 miles of discouragement, and believed in my story.
Mercifully, there was an editor out there from Sky Pony Press who believed in my story too. And now I have had the wonderful privilege of experiencing my children’s delight as they turn the pages of Marathon Mouse…because, although they have never actually run a marathon, it is in those pages that they see their experiences reflected. And they love it.
Write the stories that you want to write. As the ideas fly off your fingertips and onto that spreadsheet this November, make note of the ones that spark something in your heart. They may not always be the obvious choices. They may not always scream commercial appeal. But one of them just might be the story you were meant to write.
And now if you’ll excuse me, it’s day one of PiBoIdMo, and I’ve got an idea for a story about a girl named Patty…and a boy named Harold…and the jump shot that launched an unending love…
Amy Dixon grew up as one of seven siblings, so the only peace and quiet she ever got was inside a book. Once she had her own kids, she rediscovered her love for picture books at the public library. It was the one place she knew all four of her kids would be happy . . . and quiet. She writes from her home, where she lives with her four little inspirations and her marathon-running husband, Rob. Check her out at amydixonbooks.com.
More PiBoIdMo success stories! Many thanks to Mindy Alyse Weiss for pulling these stories together.
I hope when YOU have a success to share, you’ll contact me. I love to hear how your ideas went from pencil-scribble to published! And I don’t define “success” just as being pubbed. Win a grant, a contest, secure an agent–anything goes. So here goes…
1. Amy Dixon
Being married to a relentless distance runner means that every November, there is a marathon on the schedule. Lucky for me, November is also Picture Book Idea Month, and I had long been lamenting the lack of picture books about running. Looking back at my spreadsheet for 2010, the entry for November 5th says, “Marathon Mouse. Story of a mouse who lives in NYC right under the start line (Verrazano bridge) and decides that it is his life’s dream to particpate in the NYC marathon.” That’s it. The beginnings of a story. Flash forward to August 2011, where I received one of the best e-mails of my life. A lovely editor at Sky Pony Press likes Marathon Mouse and wants to publish it! The story could end there, and would still be a dream-come-true. But I decided to contact an agent I had recently queried with a different story and tell her of my offer. After a flurry of e-mails and phone calls, I signed with Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary. In the course of one day, I had gone from struggling picture book writer, to agented and soon-to-be-published! So keep your eyes peeled in Fall 2012 for a picture book titled, MARATHON MOUSE. It’s by me. And it happened in part because I took on the challenge of coming up with 30 ideas in 30 days!
I also have a longer version of the story on my blog, but it doesn’t mention PiBoIdMo:
http://writingamillion.tumblr.com/post/10441985218/on-editors-agents-and-contracts-oh-my
2. Diana Murray
Diana Murray was thrilled to receive the 2010 SCBWI Barbara Karlin Grant for her rhyming picture book manuscript about a witch. She came up with a few different versions of the idea during the first PiBoIdMo. You can read more about her experience here:http://taralazar.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/piboidmo-success-story/. Diana will always be grateful to Tara for starting an event that helped her streamline her writing process. And now, she’s ready for another month of fun and inspiration!
Diana’s website: http://www.dianamurray.com
3. Rebecca Colby
This year, Rebecca participated in her third PiBoIdMo. Following a picture book workshop last year that challenged her to alter a well-known fairytale, she decided to generate a few ideas for fractured fairy tales. She found the inspiration she needed from Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen’s guest post on Day 29 that recommended participants do just that–transform “something old into something new.”
The result was an idea for a Cinderella story with monsters entitled MONSTERELLA.
Rebecca says, “I fell in love with the idea of a fairy godmonster who magics a spider into a monster truck.” Rebecca wrote the manuscript soon after and it went on to win the 2011 SCBWI Barbara Karlin grant.
Before writing for children, Rebecca inspected pantyhose,worked for a Russian comedian, taught English in Taiwan, and traveled the world as a tour director. She currently works as a librarian. Born in America, Rebecca now lives in England with her husband and two daughters. More information about Rebecca and her writing can be found at her website: www.
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What a wonderful story of trusting your gut and sticking with it.
Loved this post, like Mary, of gut instinct. It’s true that the unobvious idea, is the one more likely to sprout.
Amy, we have whats called “Round the Bays Run,” a fun run for all the family once a year in March. Kids love it!
My first thought when signing up for PiBoIdMo for the fourth year in a row was “I don’t have the time this year. There’s no way I’ll complete the challenge.” BUT just a half hour into PiBoIdMo and I already have 9 new ideas, thanks to your suggesting that we write the stories we want to write even if they don’t scream commercial appeal. Because I’m always trying to write something I think will be commercial and this morning I got up and just wrote down ideas that appeal to me, and it made idea generating so much easier–and more fun! Excellent advice!
So excited for you Amy (and to get my copy
It’s a wild ride being in our critique group… and coasting on the waves of idea-making, writing, critiquing, SELLING! What a blessing to journey with you and Preston… and now read your post on PiBoIdMo! You are truly gifted and an inspiration to so many. Now get over to NYC for Rob’s (and Preston’s) run!!!
Amy, your words are so encouraging to my writer’s heart. I hope to emerge from this month with stories that I am truly meant to tell!
Amy, that’s a lovely post. Kids are running in cross countries at earlier ages than when I was at school so it’s even more relevant. I always aspired to run a marathon. I did if you add up the cross countries
Your book sounds adorable.
Amy,
Great stuff.So glad you decided go with this and see it through. There is definitely a market for this. Too bad some discouraged you. I imagine this one speaks to setting goals and seeing them through. Who doesn’t need that?
What a wonderful testament to going with your gut and believing in your story.
What a wonderfully positive way to kick everything off, Amy. This is my first ever PiBoIdMo and so far, I’m loving it! Whilst thinking about your post and the challenge as a whole guess what? An idea popped into my head for a story book. Hazzah! I have written it down in my notebook and I’m excited to see where it takes me. I am all the way over in Scotland so not only is this giving me ideas for my own stories, but it’s giving me loads of new books to try to find to read to my children – I’m winning all over the place, here! Thanks so much for this and looking forward to a fantastic November x
What a great story! I’m about to run my 8th marathon and have been wondering if there’s a book I can share with my little girls about it. Now I know!! I look forward to reading it!!