How to use this Page

Just after I moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, I found out that two of my editors are moving to different houses as well.

Reka Simonsen, who was my editor for An Eye for Color: The Story of Josef Albers, has left Henry Holt & Co. and has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Books as an executive editor.

Kelli Chipponeri, my editor for my soon-to-be-released How to Raise a Dinosaur, is leaving Running Press Kids today to become executive editor at Chronicle Books.

I can look at this two ways: Bummer! I've been orphaned. Or, yay! I have doubled my publishing opportunities. I hope to work with both editors again, and their old houses as well.

In the meantime, Dan and I have moved from our rental and are trying to get our new house in order. I have no desk and am writing off our old kitchen table. I have no files so I'm working out of boxes. But I love the new view from my second-story office window which overlooks an open field of tall, straw-colored grass. And no matter upon what surface my computer sits, I still need to fire up the ol' creative juices.

Another publishing house is interested in my latest picture book biography, so cross your fingers that my revision passes acquisitions so I can buy a new desk.

Illustration from How to Raise a Dinosaur by Pablo Bernasconi.

Each year a committee of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) identifies the best of the best in children's books. According to the Notables Criteria, "notable" is defined as: Worthy of note or notice, important, distinguished, outstanding. As applied to children's books, notable should be thought to include books of especially commendable quality, books that exhibit venturesome creativity, and books of fiction, information, poetry and pictures for all age levels (birth through age 14) that reflect and encourage children's interests in exemplary ways.

I'm happy to report that An Eye for Color: The Story of Josef Albers was chosen as an ALA Notable Book for Children.

This Friday the 13th has been very lucky for my latest book. An Eye for Color: The Story of Josef Albers was selected as one of New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing in the non-fiction category. Here's the link.

The New York Times reported yesterday "The Obamas’ taste in art is as broad as abstract canvases by Josef Albers, American Indian scenes by George Catlin and paintings by little-known figures like Alma Thomas, the African-American Expressionist painter. Works by those artists were among some 45 pieces that the first couple borrowed from several Washington museums to decorate their private White House residence and the West and East Wings."

I thought it was fitting that Josef Albers's ''Homage to the Square: Elected II,'' was chosen. The other two of his paintings are ''Homage to the Square: Midday,'' and ''Study for Homage to the Square: Nacre.''

Don't you think the Obama girls would love a book about Josef Albers so they could learn more about the paintings in their house? If anyone is meeting with Barack, please let me know. I have a book to send along.

I'll be doing a mini book signing tour in northern California this fall for my new book, An Eye for Color: The Story of Josef Albers.

Here's my schedule:
Friday, Sept. 11, 7-9 p.m., Northtown Books, Arcata
Saturday, Oct. 3, 6-9 p.m., Eureka Books, Eureka
Saturday, Oct. 24 during Author Festival booksigning, Humboldt County Library, Eureka
Saturday, Nov. 7 at Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka
Saturday, Dec. 5, 2-3 p.m., Barnes and Noble, Chico

Hope to see you there! If you can't make any, and still want a signed copy, let me know and we can make arrangements.

Thanks for your support!

Got an email from my editor at Henry Holt today sharing two great reviews that were published about my new book coming out in September called An Eye for Color: The Story of Josef Albers. I'm very pleased that both reviewers got what I was doing with the story and enjoyed the backmatter as well. Teachers will really love that part. So if you know any teachers who might be interested in my book, pass this along, thanks! This is a photo of Josef Albers taken by his friend and photographer Jon Naar.

Kirkus
July 15, 2009

Wing, the author of mass audience favorites (The Night Before the Tooth Fairy, 2003, etc.), takes an aesthetic leap forward in this sophisticated and engaging account of an artist and color theorist whose name is unknown to most young people. Albers, part of the German Bauhaus Movement, immigrated to the United States and was one of the leaders in the shift of art’s intellectual center from Europe to the States. His pioneering and extensive work on the interaction of colors continues to influence fine art and graphic design today. The author grew up down the street from Albers and brings warmth and sensibility to her subject, succeeding in making the life and work of this fascinating man both comprehensible and accessible for art lovers of all ages. Strikingly illustrated by the award-winning graphic artist Breckenreid (in an admirable picture-book debut) and supported by terrific, inclusive backmatter, this will prove a must-have for museum shops as well as school and public libraries hungry for handsome and unique art books. (Picture book/biography. 6-9)


Booklist
July 1, 2009

Best known for her long-running The Night Before series for young children, Wing explores very different territory in this picture-book biography of artist Josef Albers. Moving quickly through Albers’ youth, Wing focuses on the artist’s famous work with color theory, which he began at age 61. The text and Breckenreid’s gouache illustrations don’t always mesh successfully. An abstract image of Albers lecturing about optical illusions, for example, is more whimsical than accessible. In addition, younger students may need help grasping the meaning of a few of Albers’ direct quotes, woven throughout the text, such as his charge to “watch what’s going on . . . and capture the accident.” What works best are the spreads devoted to Albers’ artistic experiments. Set against pure white backgrounds, the forms in saturated hues ably demonstrate how colors recede, advance, and shift in mood when placed in proximity to one other. An expanded biographical spread and comprehensive glossary with a color wheel greatly enhance this unusual effort, which closes with hands-on projects that explore color theory.
— Gillian Engberg