 |
| Creative Commons 5 Search |
By: Kathy Weller,
on 2/27/2012
Caught myself lingering on the Fat Quarter Shop site today. I saw so many thoughtful and inspired fabric designs I just had to blog 'em out. Looking to be bitten by the inspiration bug? See below.  |
| Sesame Workshop - Red Tonal Elmo |
 |
| Heather Bailey - Fresh Cut (Mums) |
 |
| Amy Schimler - Fly Away Home |
By: Annie Beth Ericsson,
on 11/15/2010
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed – just like Ian Falconer’s Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris.
Phew, what an exciting week we had on the blog for the 1st annual Illustration Week! To be honest, when I first put out the idea, I completely underestimated what an amazing response I’d receive from my talented fellow illustrators, and what a positive reception the entire idea would get on the internet. Thanks to everyone for tuning in!
I’d like to thank everyone who got the word out last week about our New Artist Showcase, starting with kids-lit blog gurus Betsy Bird at School Library Journal’s Fuse #8 blog, and Jules over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast for their fantastic write-ups! Also a big thanks to featured artists Chris Harrington, Heather Sisson, and Daniel K. Harlow for the nice words on their own blogs.
I also can’t forget to mention that numerous people gave this blog event a shout-out on Twitter… so if you have Twitter, go on over and follow them, please! Thanks to my publisher Nancy Paulsen @nancyrosep, advisor for emerging illustrators Jon Woodward of Zero2Illo @jonwoodward, top-notch illustration blog A Journey Round My Skull @roundmyskull, starchitect/roommate Adrielle Emilia @adrielleemilia, alma mater Pratt Career Services @PrattCareer, too-hilarious writer/blogger/badger Merit Badger @meritblog, and one of the best children’s book news bloggers in the biz, Travis at 100 Scope Notes @100scopenotes.
Did I miss anyone . . .? Let me know!
While I don’t think I could ever keep up with posting daily, I will continue to feature up-and-coming illustrators. I personally learned a lot from the artists who were interviewed, and I can’t wait to expand it more. So if you are/know someone who would be great for the New Artist Showcase, do let me know!
In the meantime, here’s a round-up of all the artists of this week (in case you missed any), and don’t forget to check out today’s finale illustrator, Chris Harrington!
By: DGLM,
on 11/20/2009
by Lauren
It’s been a busy week around these parts, with Sarah Palin’s book hitting the shelves; publishers ignoring potential breakout hits in a neverending search for obvious frontlist; and debate on Harlequin’s branching out into self-publishing territory. We answered questions on fiction credentials and platform building; admitted to guilty pleasure reading; explained publishing; practically wrote your letter to Santa for you; analyzed the reading habits of youth; asked for short story suggestions; and Chasya told you why she’s here in the first place.
Elsewhere in the blogosphere, the New Yorker’s Book Bench blog posted a covers contest so challenging that even previous winners Jim and I couldn’t get ‘em all. (Seriously, people, what are #2 and #4? They haven’t posted the answers yet, and it’s driving me a bit nuts.) They also interviewed a seriously awesome 4-year-old on his love of books and monsters. Everyone talked about the eminently deserving Colum McCann’s win of the National Book Award. Eric at Pimp My Novel pointed out that we’re writing a lot of books about people’s daughters lately. Michael Cairns at PersonaNonData analyzed e-book pricing. The author behind Belle de Jour, blog-turned-book-turned-TV-show about a prostitute in London, turned out to be a research scientist. And Nathan Bransford made a pretty compelling argument for the eventual supremacy of e-books because people gravitate toward efficiency (on the one hand, I dream about one day having a home library with rolling ladders to reach the higher shelves; on the other, I’m kind of an efficiency nerd).
And now I’m off to figure out how to efficiently fit a library large enough to require rolling ladders in a New York City apartment.
By: Jennie,
on 6/26/2008
Welcome to Poetry Friday! It's my first time hosting, but I think after some initial scufflawing in the sandbox, Mr. Linky and I are now friends...
So... first some poetry and then the round-up!
There's this story that says during the Ming Dynasty, the scholar-official Zhao Mengfu wanted to take a concubine and wrote a poem to gauge his wife's reaction:
I'm a scholar-official
and you are the official wife.
Haven't you ever heard that scholar-official Wang had Peach Leaf and Peach Root,
Scholar-official Su had Morning Clouds and Evening Clouds?
Even if I marry a few beauties from Wu and Yue--it wouldn't be too much
since you're already over forty.
You'll still control Spring in the Jade Hall.
Zhao's wife, Guan Daosheng, wrote this poem in response:
You and I
have too much passion.
Where the passion is, is hot like fire
I knead a piece of clay into a you
and a me
then smash them
and mix them with water.
Again I knew it into a you
then a me.
There is you in my clay,
and me in your clay.
I'll share your quilt while we live
and your coffin after death.
He didn't take a concubine.
Both poems are from The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry: From Ancient to Contemporary, The Full 3000-Year Tradition ed. Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping
Leave your Poetry Friday links below!
By: Sylvia Vardell,
on 4/19/2008
I’m still riding the high of my Poetry Round Up at the Texas Library Association conference this week! Five fabulous poets, John Frank, Juanita Havill, Alan Katz, Linda Sue Park, and Adam Rex, worked their magic on an audience of nearly 200 participants. It was fantastic! John Frank read from How to Catch a Fish and his new collection, Keepers, in his deep and steady voice. Juanita shared excerpts from her new novel in verse, Grow, that brought several audience members to tears. Alan Katz had us in stitches laughing over poems from his new book, Oops, and his upcoming follow up, Uh-Oh. What fun to feature Linda Sue Park as a POET as she read her sijo poems from Tap Dancing on the Roof, plus a brand new sijo on explaining baseball to an alien. And Adam Rex wrapped it up for us with his deadpan delivery accompanied by slides from his hysterical collection, Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, as well as the upcoming sequel, Frankenstein Bakes a Cake. (Thank you ALL for coming and sharing!) [Unfortunately, poet Tracie Vaughn Zimmer was not able to come due to an illness, but we hope she is well soon and will join us for the Round Up next year!]
What fun! What variety! The different voices, styles, and approaches helped the audience see the tremendous range of poetry available for young people today. PLUS, the experience of HEARING poetry was moving and exhilarating. People stopped me throughout the rest of the conference to tell me how much they had enjoyed the session. One woman said, and I’m paraphrasing, “I loved just soaking up the words of the poets, sitting back and taking it all in. But I also realized that I was getting ideas about how to share the poems with kids, how to connect the poems with various activities, and get kids involved.” EXACTLY! We spend so much time at conferences attending informational sessions, learning new strategies, networking, etc. But so little time just reveling in literature, hearing the lyrical language of literature, remembering what motivates us all to work as librarians and teachers—sharing our love of literature with kids and hoping they’ll love it too. And in my experience, nothing captures that quite so well as experiencing the literature firsthand through reading and listening—especially to literature read by the creator. It’s primal!
I’m proud to say we’ve brought 26 poets to Texas over the last four years including: John Frank, Juanita Havill, Alan Katz, Linda Sue Park, Adam Rex, Jaime Adoff, Tony Crunk, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Charise Mericle Harper, Heidi Zingerline Mordhorst, Eileen Spinelli, Marilyn Singer, Calef Brown, Felipe Herrera, Kathi Appelt, Nikki Grimes, Stephanie Hemphill, Carole Boston Weatherford, Walter Dean Myers, Joyce Sidman, Quincy Troupe, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Janet Wong, Kurt Cyrus, Pat Mora, Susan Pearson. What an embarrassment of riches! Each voice has been a delight. I encourage you all to seek out poets and poetry and share them OUT LOUD with kids you care about. There’s nothing quite like it. It’s like a rock concert experience, a night at the theater, or meeting the President (any president!).
Some of the most interesting literature for children today can be found in poetry-- from humorous rhymes to verse novels. How do we create a welcoming environment for poetry? Poet and teacher Georgia Heard put it this way, “Kids need to become friends with poetry…. They need to know that poems can comfort them, make them laugh, help them remember, nurture them to know and understand themselves more completely” (1999, p.20). This session helped participants become familiar with some of the best poets writing for young people today with a panel of acclaimed poets sharing favorites from their own work through reading aloud or performance. Modeled after the “Poetry Blast” session first sponsored by ALSC at the 2004 ALA convention, this session reminds us all of the pleasures to be found in the spoken word. Look for it again next year at TLA in Houston—and in Anaheim at the ALSC Poetry Blast on Monday, June 30. See you there!
Picture credit: www.rccsd.org
By: Mary Hershey,
on 2/4/2008
Ever feel like you've lost control of your life- your schedule- your plans? Oh, moi? Gee, never. But I 'know' this children's author who is experiencing something like this. It's a lot like getting your arm wrenched out of its socket by a thundering bull or an exceptionally fast little white dog. All you can do is HOLD ON. The crashing from letting go would be worse!
Or, at least that is what I imagine it feels like to her. :-] Okay, fine, it's me, and my month hit the ground at warp speed. I have way more events and deadlines than any one violet should have to endure. Lots of people+lots of events are to introverts what Kryptonite is to Superman.
I'm going to make sure that I get lots of down time in my special ice fortress-- or bakery. The latter works very well for me. Give me a latte hot as lava and a chocolate chip scone, and my battery starts humming again. (Not just from the joe-- really.)
And for the day's major gaffe, in editing my new Facebook profile, per my Marketing Plan, I accidentally fired off a request to (nearly) everyone in the northern hemisphere asking them to be my "Friend". The long list included the mayor of Santa Barbara, nearly every student I've ever had, some very high-profile editors and authors, and Robin's son in college. It was truly an introvert's nightmare.
I know I'll be laughing about it later in the week.
But I do want to speed by and deliver the ** NEWS ** that having counted all the entries for the Ms. Viola Makeover Contest, it is confirmed. The new look for Ms. Viola wins-- but only by a hair. Whew! It was close, a real dead heat. Thanks for all your entries, everyone!
Melissa Camara Wilkins' entry was randomly selected, and she will be receiving a copy of the Plug Your Book by Steve Weber. Many congrats, Melissa! Will you email me off-line and send me your address so that I can get it shipped to you? Click here to email me.
We haven't done a Milestone Monday for some time. Do any of you have any news, breakthroughs, incremental victories that you would like to post? We would love to hear from you.
Homework for This Week:
1. Update my mailing and email list. I taught two workshop classes over the weekend, and I'm doing a presentation at the Women's Literary Festival in Santa Barbara this weekend. I've circulated an email list in the class on Saturday and I'll do it again this coming weekend. Those names will all be added to my notifications lists. When it is time for postcards to go out in late May or June, I don't want to have to be scrambling to get my list updated. And, when I do my school visits this months, I'll make sure I get teachers' contact info as well.
2. Invite Shrinking Violets to be my Friends. A-hem. Any of you on Facebook?
Best,
Mary Hershey
Fantastic, colourful and different! Some great designs on these fabrics Cheltenham designs.