Floating on Mama's Song written by Laura Lacamara and illustrated by Yours Truly has been released this week. To celebration begins with a blog tour and the chance to win a copy of the book. Here are the details and the schedule:
Monday, August 30 - Floating on Mama's Song synopsis, reviews:
Out of the Paintbox
Tuesday, August 31 - Interview with author, Laura Lacamara:
On Beyond Words and Pictures
Wednesday, September 1- Interview with editor, Katherine Tegen:
Tales from the Rushmore Kid
Thursday, September 2 - Interview with illustrator, Yuyi Morales:
Latin Baby Book Club
Friday, September 3 – Announcement of contest winner:
Out of the Paintbox
How to win a book? Just post a comment on any of the blogs on the tour.
Follow the virtual book tour and you can be the lucky winner of a signed copy of this wonderful bilingual book. Leaving a comment on any of the tour's host sites enters you in the drawing to win a copy of Floating on Mama’s Song! So I hope you will check out all the stops on the tour:
Monday, Aug. 30 - Floating on Mama's Song synopsis, reviews
http://www.dianebrowningillustrations.com/(Out of the Paintbox)
Tuesday, Aug. 31- Laura Lacámara (author) interview
http://www.onbeyondwordsandpictures.com/ (On Beyond Words & Pictures) Megan Frances
Wednesday, Sept. 1- Katherine Tegen (editor) interview -- book comes out today!
http://www.tinanicholscouryblog.com/(Tales from the Rushmore Kid)
Thursday, Sept. 2 - Yuyi Morales (illustrator) interview
http://www.latinbabybookclub.com/ (Latin Baby Book Club) René Colato Laínez
Friday, Sept. 3 - Announcement of contest winner!
http://www.dianebrowningillustrations.com/(Out of the Paintbox)
A la mamá de Anita le encanta cantar. Sus canciones son tan bonitas y felices que crean algo mágico: todo el que escucha su música se eleva y flota en el aire. Pero la mamá de Anita deja de cantar. ¿Logrará Anita recobrar los tiempos felices y los momentos mágicos para ella y su familia?
La lírica e inspiradora historia de Laura Lacámara y el arte espectacular de Yuyi Morales retratan una celebración mágica de la familia, la música y la felicidad.From North to South/ Del Norte al Sur
Floating on Mama’s Song
by Laura Lacamácara
Illustrated by Yuyi MoralesA few years ago, when a fellow artist suggested my images would be ideal for picture books, I signed up for a children’s book illustration class at Otis College of Art and Design. Students were expected to finish a black and white dummy and one full-color illustration by the end of the ten weeks. Our teacher believed in students illustrating their own stories, so I wrote the first draft of Floating on Mama’s Song simply to have something I could get excited about illustrating.
My initial inspiration for the story was to write about my mother, who had once been an opera singer in Havana. Imagining illustrating the character’s costumes and the lush tropical setting excited me artistically, but I still didn’t have a plot. Then, in the middle of the night, it came to me! What would happen if mama’s singing literally lifted her off the ground? Who in the story would love it and be supportive? Who might feel threatened by mama’s floating and want to stop it?
That’s when the story became deeply personal for me. I know first-hand how crucial creative expression can be to one’s happiness. My mother dropped her operatic career after she had had my brother and me, and our family fled Cuba. I often wondered how my mother’s life would have been different, if she had sung opera in the USA.
Growing up, it always seemed to be my father’s creative career as a graphic designer and illustrator that took center stage. Rental pianos, on which my mother could play classical music and accompany her arias, seemed to leave the house as quickly as they arrived. I can still hear my father’s familiar chant, “We can’t afford it.” Thus, the early drafts of Floating on Mama’s Song feature the father as the disapproving character who feels threatened by Mama’s singing.
Anyway, getting back to the process of manuscript to publication: One month after the children’s book illustration class at Otis ended, I joined SCBWI (the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) and took my polished manuscript and dummy (with two full-color illustrations) to SCBWI’s “Illustrator’s Day.” I proudly displayed my creation there for all to see. No one paid the slightest attention to it, and I recall feeling crushed! Realizing I was suffering from a bruised ego, I dusted myself off and got back to seeking the next opportunity to present my work.
Fortunately, my brother’s friend knows several literary agents in New York. This friend, Phillip, liked my story and pictures, so he hooked me up with three agents to submit my work to. The first two agents passed on it, but the third one, Bill, liked my writing and illustrations, and he was specifically interested in representing Latino manu
Floating on Mama's Song written by Laura Lacamara and illustrated by Yours Truly has been released this week. To celebration begins with a blog tour and the chance to win a copy of the book. Here are the details and the schedule:
I reviewed Floating on Mama's Song, today.
http://thehappynappybookseller.blogspot.com/
Loved it. Its crazy good.
Rene, much congrats on the new release. For some reason I thought it was coming out later in the year. I will had it to my new release feature for next Tuesday.
Side by Side/Lado a Lado by Monica Brown was also released today. illus. by Joe Cepeda as well.
Thanks Doret,
Next year Laura, Monica and I can celebrate the first birthday of our books.