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Here's an assortment of winged creatures I've illustrated for some books...

Sometimes

ya just gotta

take it.

On April 1st, Lionsgate Home Entertainment will release "Birds Of Paradise" on DVD exclusively at Walmart and Redbox. If the film looks and feels suspicously like Fox's "Rio" franchise, well...that's the point. One of the film's PR people sent us a press release that states matter-of-factly that "Birds of Paradise" is "timed to the theatrical release of 'Rio 2.'" The latter Blue Sky Studios-produced movie will be released on April 11.

“The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings”

 
Fairy Wings

Ridiculed by all but her animal friends, little wingless Fia spends her days on the earth rather than in the sky. But when the boy fairy Kip invites her to attend the May Dance, Fia timidly accepts. Her wingless condition creates a stir until the dance is interrupted by a wicked troll seeking a late-night snack of fairy wings!

If you liked this, try:

Fia and the Imp
The Book of Little Folk
If you See a Fairy Ring
Fairy Houses
How to Find Flower Fairies

Hi all! I am participating in Princess Bookie's Recreate a YA Cover Contest. Check out my entry below!

Guardians, messengers, protectors…what are angels? In Angels: A History, David Albert Jones, Director of the Centre for Bioethics and Emerging Technologies at St Mary’s University College, explores the enduring power of angels over the human imagination. He argues that they teach us something about our own existence, whether or not we believe in theirs. In this excerpt from the book, Professor Jones talks about what different religious texts tells us about what angels look like.

Ancient Depictions of the Cherubim

The Ten Commandments in the Hebrew Scriptures include a very severe warning about carving images: ‘You shall not make for yourself a graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath’ (Exodus 20: 4). Nevertheless the same book describes how to carve two cherubim with wings facing one another to overshadow the ‘mercy seat’ to sit on top of the ark (Exodus 25: 20–1). This is nicely ironic, as the ark is the box that holds the tablets on which are written the Ten Commandments— which say you should not make images.

When Solomon built a temple to house the ark, in the sanctuary he placed two cherubim, each 10 cubits high with a 10 cubit wingspan—that is, around 17.5 feet (5.3 metres) high and the same distance across (1 Kings 6: 24). The wings of the cherubim were outstretched, so that the tip of one touched the wall and the tip of the other touched the other cherub. Unfortunately the ark was later lost (as any film-goer will know!). The ark was taken or hidden or destroyed when the Babylonians destroyed the Temple in 586 BCE. When the Temple was rebuilt after the exile there were no ark and no giant cherubim. It is, therefore, very difficult to know what the cherubim looked like. Some have imagined that cherubim looked like the winged bulls (the ‘shedu’) of the Assyrians or like a sphinx or a griffin (there is a scholarly theory that the words cherubim and griffin are related, but this is disputed). This idea is also based on the role of the cherubim as guards of the sanctuary. In other ancient cultures the shedu, griffin, or sphinx has this role.

The book of Ezekiel describes the cherubim as having wings outstretched and with faces of a man, an eagle, an ox, and a lion (Ezekiel 1: 10; see also Ezekiel 10: 14). However, Ezekiel does not say the cherubim have the body of an animal. Furthermore, the imagery of Ezekiel is deliberately exaggerated and may not reflect the Temple as it was. The other biblical accounts do not mention animal body parts in relation to cherubim. The cherubim on top of the ark face one another, and their wings ‘overshadow’ the mercy seat. This posture does not have parallels with images of shedu or other animal guards and Jewish writers from the third century CE suggest that these cherubs had human form (though not necessarily a human face).

It is certain that there were carved cherubim above the ark and in the sanctuary of Solomon’s Temple before the exile (586 BCE), but unfortunately these were lost or destroyed centuries before Jesus was born, and no image of them remains. What is more, the descriptions in the Bible do not give a clear picture of what they looked like. According to Josephus, no one in his day knew what cherubim were supposed to look like. There is a break, then, between these ancient images of the cherubim and the images of angels painted by later artists.

Wings and Halos

The traditional depiction of angels has been shaped largely by Christian artists. This is in part because both in Judaism and in Islam there has been a reluctance to depict angels. Images of angels found in Islamic manuscripts from medieval Persia or in Ottoman cu

Bookish Halloween costume ideas
Still haven’t decided on your Halloween costume? This article provides a few bookish possibilities to get your costume ideas flowing.

Last Day to Vote For The Book You Want Cheerios to Put in Boxes in 2010
Vote TODAY for your chance to help select the book that Cheerios will put in boxes in 2010. Don’t miss your chance to vote.

“Leave a Mark” online auction – Wings by Aprilynne Pike
The latest offering in the “Leave a Mark” auctions benefiting First Book is a marked-up copy of Aprilynne Pike’s Wings. Bids are accepted online through 11:59 PM ET on Sunday, November 1 – cast your bid today!

What Do Teens Want? An Industry Study.
Take a look at this interesting survey by Teenreads.com that investigates the ins and outs of teen readers, their attitudes towards books and book-buying habits.

Society of Illustrators Gives Lifetime Achievement Award to Van Allsburg
The Society of Illustrators honored two-time Caldecott Medalist Chris Van Allsburg with its Lifetime Achievement Award during the association’s annual Original Art exhibit last week.

Publishers Weekly’s Top 10 Best Books of 2009: The Reviews
Read reviews of PW’s list of top 10 books of the year. A few of these titles are on my fall reading list. How many have you read?

Dexter was a bit overzealous at the annual Hot Wings Eating Contest.

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Author: Lita Judge
Illustrator: Lita Judge
Published: 2007 Hyperion Books (on JOMB)
ISBN: 1423100085 Chapters.ca Amazon.com

Eye-opening scatterings of yellowed newspaper footprints, handwritten lists and aged, intimate snapshots make vivid this beautifully told true story of hardship, generosity and the pulling together of communities torn to opposite sides of war.

Other books mentioned:

• The Gardener

More books about generosity on JOMB:

• Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed

More books about war and peace on JOMB:

• Seven Brave Women
• A Poppy is to Remember
• Gleam and Glow
• The Cello of Mr. O
• What We Remember

Check out the full list of non-fiction picture books nominated for the 2007 Cybils Awards here.

Author: Bob Graham
Illustrator: Bob Graham
Published: 2001 Candlewick Press (on JOMB)
ISBN: 0763621935 Chapters.ca Amazon.com

Cluttered with the happy chaos of a connected family and told with spunk and wit, this deceptively breezy-looking story reels us through grief, joy, yearning and elation, buoying us all the while with candid peeks at the casual, crazy comedy that is domestic life.

More Dogs on JOMB:

• The Pound from the Hound
• Poodlena
• The Trouble with Tilly Trumble
• The Outside Dog
• Dogs’ Night
• I Want A Dog

You can find more about dog books here.