My latest picture book is launched today!
Released by
Holiday House Publishers on 15th January,
Crinkle, Crackle, CRACK, It's Spring!, is available in bookshops and online across North America, and in other countries via online bookstores.
The story is written by Marion Dane Bauer, regular followers may remember our previous picture book collaboration
Halloween Forest in 2012. This time the theme is the change of seasons.
In the middle of a cold, late winter night a child is awoken by strange noises outside. In the garden stands a bear, who takes the child in a mysterious journey through woods covered in melting snow.
Other animals join them as they go, a rabbit, a squirrel, a beaver, and a newly hatched bird, while the strange cracking sounds grow louder.
Eventually they discover a giant egg, which bursts to reveal - Spring!
A Japanese language edition is due for release in February from
Bronze Shuppan.
Crinkle, Crackle, CRACK, It's Spring! Words by Marion Dane Bauer
Illustrated by John Shelley
Holiday House Books for Children, 32 pages
ISBN: 9780823429523
I've just returned from five heady weeks in Tokyo, soaking up life back in the old metropolis, the place I lived for nearly half my life. Every year daughter and I go back to Japan, usually in the summer, every year we return with new and unique experiences, the only constant being the humidity and the constant murmur of cicadas, though this year there were several unseasonably cool spells amidst the swelter.
It's wonderful to explore familiar locations, see old friends and family, but I also had a very busy schedule of preparation, culminating in a ten day solo exhibition at
Space Yui in Aoyama, followed by another seven day show (currently still running as I write) at
Yui Garden in Yokohama.
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| The front porch of Space Yui |
No matter how many years go by my fascination with Tokyo remains undiminished, I try to be as busy as I can when we go back, it's a city that demands purpose and direction
. As I no longer live in Japan I find that without such direction and with daughter mostly staying with her grandparents I start to feel an emptiness, ponder too deeply on the past and other topics best left alone. No, move on, on, always onwards! Like the city itself, my relationship with Tokyo is constantly evolving, the journey continues.
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| Hanging day at Space Yui with gallery owner Hideyo Kimura |
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| It's On! |
It's been busy, inspiring and very encouraging. The exhibition, still on at Yui Garden, centres around original artwork from my recent picture book
Stone Giant (
Ishi no Kyojin in Japanese), from which visitors can order
Neograph prints (
giclée art prints overprinted with a fine silkscreen
to prevent oxidation and deterioration of colour, rendering prints that are virtually indistinguishable from artwork). I also created several smaller pieces of original art specifically for the show.
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| Book of prints, and artwork from Stone Giant |
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| Some of the smaller images created especially for the show |
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| The Librarian |
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| Wolves in the Forest |
The gallery staff have been supportive beyond measure, Space Yui is a key part of my platform in Japan, the care and encouragement I receive there is inspiriting and progressive, all credit due to Kimura-san and her team.
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Opening party, with guests including Komine Shoten editor
Tsuyoshi Yamagishi (left) and picture book creator Satoshi Kitamura (right) |
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| Opening party - with Togo Kasahara, designer Hiroyasu Murofushi (I & I Inc) and Takeshi Fujisaki |
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Opening party, with illustrator Satoshi Kitamura (background),
curator Taiko Nakazawa, Tomoe Furuhashi and DJ Young Richard |
The show at Space Yui began with a busy opening followed by a regular stream of visitors, I was quite overwhelmed by the large number of attendees. Signed copies of the Japanese edition of
Stone Giant (
Ishi no Kyojin) sold out within the first few days and had to be re-stocked by publisher Komine Shoten.
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| Signed copies of the Japanese edition Ishi no Kyojin |
There were several highlight successes, the biggest being news of several competing offers for the Japanese rights to my next US book
Crinkle, Crackle, Crack!. Written by Marion Dane Bauer (who also wrote the 2012 released
Halloween Forest), the US edition is due for publication through Holiday House next year. I'll post more about the Japanese edition when details have been confirmed.
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| With art director Susumu Yamada (Tokyo Planet Design) |
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| With members of SCBWI Japan |
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| With Emi Noguchi |
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| With my daughter and photographer Hitoshi Iwakiri |
The exhibition is now on at the fabulous new gallery
Yui Garden in Nakamachidai, Yokohama. In a building created by and for an architect's design office that overlooks Seseragi Park, the setting, interior and atmosphere is simply exquisite. If you're in the area before it closes on the 8th please do drop by.
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| Entrance to Yui Garden |
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| The show at Yui Garden |
It's been a wonderful summer. Many thanks to all the gallery staff and visitors to the exhibition!
It's been a while since my last post! In fact you may notice I've not blogged since the New Year, blimey, what's been going on?
Well the short answer is "work!". I usually write blog posts in two languages to go on separate English and Japanese language blogs, which can take up a chunk of time, so I took a tactical decision to stand back from blogging while I tackled more urgent matters. Other social media? Well, yes, to a point, but I've tried to keep my online activities short, sweet and quick. As some people read this blog from feeds on Facebook and Twitter I thought it would be quicker to just post occasional updates directly to those platforms, but it's not quite the same is it. Blogs are more personal, more of a journal, more themed. Earlier this year I posted daily sketches on Twitter and Facebook until work issues obliged me to stop that too - however sketches will return shortly!
Things have been very hectic. At the moment I'm working on a picture book for Holiday House in the US. It's my second collaboration with author Marion Dane Bauer, after the spooky
Halloween Forest. Though not a follow-up to that title at all, our new book has a somewhat complimentary rhythm.
Without giving too much away at this stage, I'll just say the book follows the journey of a bear, a child and various other animals through a late winter night, because, as the bear explains, "It is time..."
Time for what you ask? aha....
The title is
Crinkle, Crackle, CRACK! Right now I'm painting the spreads, here are some scans of the pen work before colouring.
