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The flip book version of Alfie is featured in the January Firefly catalog. The flip book version isn't available in stores, so get 'em while they last.

My friend Anissa and her family got back from Washington DC last week and while they were there they visited the National Postal Museum. Even though you might think a postal museum would be a big snooze she said it was a lot of fun and very interesting. What made it even better was that her son Josh spotted my new book Please Write Back! in the museum's gift shop. They even took this picture to show me. Thanks Josh! And thanks National Postal Museum!

And speaking of postal museums, there is also a postal museum here in Massachusetts, called the Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History. I will be at the Spellman Museum May 16th along with adult author Lois Barry for the museum's "Letter Writing Day" event. Click here for more info.

The Spellman Museum in Weston, MA is hosting Letter Writing Day on May 16th from 2:00 to 4:00pm.

Please join me at the event as I will be reading my new children's book, Please Write Back! I will be doing a drawing demo and will also have activities on hand for the kids.

Also at the event, author Lois Barry will talk about her adult book, Always First Class - The Pleasure of Writing Letters. I'm looking forward to meeting Lois and picking up a copy of her book.

There will also be free stamps and prizes for the kids. So if you are in the Boston area, please stop by. It should be a lot of fun. I think I'll go dust off my old stamp collection.

I didn't realize Please Write Back! was on Google Books with a nice looking preview. So is May I Please Have a Cookie? but without the preview pages. It was really nice to see all the user reviews out there. Wow, thank you everyone!

Ooo and look, and I'm in a reference book too. I have never actually seen my entry. The local libraries don't have these books, one of these days I'll to track it down.

My friends and family are probably sick of hearing about Alfie. But here's a little book trailer that I put together for the new book, Please Write Back!

Oh, did I mention that there is a new Alfie book out this month? It's called Please Write Back! :)

Yippee! Please Write Back! the newest Alfie the Alligator book is now available is stores. You can purchase it through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders or your local independent book seller. There is also a hardcover, library edition available.

I hope that you and your kids enjoy the book!

The local PTO is hosting a barn dance fundraiser and they asked local businesses and individuals to donate items for the raffle table. I was going to donate some books but a stack of books looked kind of boring so I went to Michael's and got a plain canvas tote bags and some iron-on transfers. I thought the tote worked out so well I made myself one too. See ya'll at the barn dance, partner!

I volunteered to help out at the primary school book fair last week and although I enjoy helping out at the school I also had a selfish motive. I wanted to get my hands on a copy of the Alfie flip book that Scholastic is selling at the book fairs this spring. It was hard not to stuff my book into the hands of every little kindergarten kid that came through but I controlled myself and let them choose their own books. But I bet they'll regret buying those Sparkle Magic Glitter Kitty Princess books someday. Well, "Sparkle Magic Glitter Kitty Princess" might not have been the exact title but I'm sure it was something like that. ;)

I heard a rumor that Scholastic may publish a version of "Please Write Back!" that flipped over and had "May I Please Have a Cookie?" on the other side (is there an official name for this type of book - is it called a flip book?). Anyways, I'm so happy, because it looks like they did print them. Even better it's a featured book on the Scholastic Book Fairs website.

Go Alfie!

I always like it when folks share the thought process that went into their illustrations so here are some of the revisions to the cover of "Please Write Back!" I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted. I knew I wanted Alfie holding an envelope and I wanted the title of the book on the envelope but alas, nothing is easy. I quickly added some color to each sketch in Photoshop sometimes with color it's really apparent when something is not working. Here's version number one..
.

As you can see, the title hasn't been decided on yet. I don't think this version is too bad but it was pointed out that not everyone might realize that's an envelope he is holding.

Here's number 2...


The envelope is more readable but this one of those times where adding the color made a huge difference. The pencil sketch looked okay but once I added color is was very apparent to me that he looks naked! Yes, I know it's not like his funny little red shirt actually covers anything but it's like Donald Duck with out his sailor shirt, he just looks weird naked.

So here's try number 3...


This is okay but we lost the lettering on the envelope. And I don't like how the title looks scrunched into the corner.

And here is version 4 which we all agreed was the best version...


Here's the final art. We just changed the background colors so it didn't look quite so much like the first book.

Good grief! This book is going to town without me! I just found out this weekend that Please Write Back! was available through the Scholastic Book Clubs this month. And while I was searching for something else today I found this review of the book on line. Thank you "Kiss the Book" for the kind words!

Yay! Alfie has arrived! My friend Monique works in a kindergarten class and told me she saw "Please Write Back!" in the Scholastic book club flier this month. I don't think it will be officially released until April. But it looks like you can order it now through the book clubs this month (at half price even!) It's in the Firefly brochure.

My friend Jannie Ho's books are also available through the book clubs this month. Her books are in the same Firefly brochure on the exact same page. We are both at the bottom of page 4.



Wow, I just noticed that the first Alfie book is in the SeeSaw brochure this month (page 4 again)...

I was so excited when a friend said my new book, "Please Write Back!" was in the Scholastic Firefly book club flier this month, I didn't think the book was suppose to be released until April. Yay! I ordered myself a copy so I didn't have to wait to see it. Okay, I ordered 12 but whose counting.

But what's even more cool was when I started looking at the rest of the page I noticed right on the other side of "Biscuit" were Jannie Ho's emergent readers. It's so funny, not only did they put us in the same flier they put us practically right next each other.

Yipee! it's official. It won't be out until April, but I just noticed that Alfie's new book, "Please Write Back!" is now available on a few internet sites for pre-order. Amazon has it, and hopefully other will soon.

Okay I usually don't post three blog entries in a row but I've got lots of news this week. The last big chunk of news that I would like to announce is that Alfie has returned, or should I say, will be returning in April 2010 in a new Scholastic Reader. I received a preview copy in the mail the other day. It's so exciting to see my story actually looking like a real book. Look for more info to come as the release date gets closer.