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Catwoman Counting 
Series: DC Board Books
Written by Benjamin Bird
Illustrated by Ethen Beavers
Picture Window Books 8/01/2014
978-1-4795-5209-2
20 pages Age 1 to 3
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“Catwoman is on the loose in Gotham City! Young readers team up with Batman, tracking down the cat burglar and learning their numbers along the way!” [publisher summary]
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Yesterday, Book-O-Beards was a good choice for boys. Today, Catwoman Counting, will level field with a book that will immediately appeal to young girls. On the 75th birthday of Batman, young readers have a new and exciting way to learn their numbers one to ten. Catwoman steals 1 bag of precious jewels, but in the night sky is the bat signal. Soon, Batman will be on the case of the missing jewels! Ah, but Catwoman can hear Batman with her 2 pointy ears. Batman throws his 3 batarangs into the night sky as Catwoman transverses 4 rooftops.
The chase is on. Who will win this clawed caper? Will 6 foot, er, paw-prints lead Batman to Catwoman’s lair? Will Catwoman escape with the 9 stolen jewels or will Batman and his 8 bats capture and cage this criminal-kitty? Stay tuned to Catwoman Counting for the fur-raising conclusion.
Young children who like Batman, or super-heroes in general—or adults wanting to introduce their children to this 1960’s icon—will be intrigued with this one-to-ten counting book. Large hero-villain personas chase through the colorful, glossy pages of this counting cat caper. The large 10” by 10” book brings the larger-than-life story to young eyes who will love counting villains, pointy ears, batarangs, rooftops, windows, footprints, trees, bats, jewels, and claws.
Counting is easy with Catwoman Counting. Each spread is a new, in order, number. The pages are made of thick cardboard made to withstand little hands, multiple readings, and grape jelly (strawberry, if you prefer). I really like the look and feel of Catwoman Counting and believe kids will as well. The cover of Catwoman Counting will appeal more to young girls, yet with the inclusion of Batman, boys will also like this imaginative counting book.
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CATWOMAN COUNTING. Text copyright © 2014 by Benjamin Bird. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Ethen Beavers. Reproduced by permission of Picture Window Books, a Capstone imprint, North Manakato, MN.
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Purchase Catwoman Counting at Amazon—B&N—Book Depository—Capstone.
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Learn more about Catwoman Counting HERE.
Meet the author, Benjamin Bird, at his website:
Meet the illustrator, Ethen Beavers, at his website: http://cretineb.deviantart.com/
Find more DC Board Books at the Capstone website: http://www.capstonepub.com/
Picture Book Windows is a Capstone imprint.
Also available in the DC Board Books series.
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Batman is Brave!
Superman to the Rescue!
Superman Fights for Truth!
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Copyright © 2015 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews
Filed under:
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Series Tagged:
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Character sketch of JULIO "FLINCH" ESCALA
Now that the interior and jacket have been sent to the printer I have some time to share a bunch of sketches
Ethen Beavers and I went through to get the illustrations in NERDS to be just right . . . for a nerd.
Dr. Jig and Ben Franklin Character sketches
Sensor Sketches.
To get to the next level these sensors test he readers worthiness to gain access. For example you have to wipe BOOGERS, SWEAT, and SALIVA among other things to have access granted. Gross.
More character sketches
Character sketches of JACKSON "BRACEFACE" JONES
Character sketches of HEATHCLIFF " CHOPPERS" HODGES
"I imagine people will be surprised at how much work goes into this
type of project. I'm surprised, and I participated in it!" —Ethen Beavers
The following shows the process Ethen and I went through working on the cover for Michael Buckley's latest series, NERDS.
I wish I could have better descriptions but I don't want to give away all my secrets.
Step one find an Illustrator.
To find the perfect illustrator I teamed up with Michael and headed down to our local comic store,
Rocketship on a cold January afternoon. We shifted through comics and graphic novels , compiling a list of ten names that we would present to our editor Susan Van Metre. In the end Ethen Beavers was the nerd for us. I tracked Ethen down by leaving a message on his art message board since all other searches came up flat. He responded which was a welcomed surprise.
I then sent him Michael's 2nd draft manuscript and a brief summary.
NERDS book description:
A secret spy ring of nerdy elementary school misfits
Combining all the excitement of international espionage and all the awkwardness of elementary school, NERDS, featuring a group of unpopular students who run a spy network from inside their school, hits the mark. With the help of cutting-edge science, their nerdy qualities are enhanced and transformed into incredible abilities! They battle the Hyena, a former junior beauty pageant contestant turned assassin, and an array of James Bond–style villains, each with an evil plan more diabolical and more ridiculous than the last.
Step two begin sketch phase
Ethen's first sketch
My first alternate compositional sketch. The idea was to introduce the all the characters.
Here the idea is the same but a little more realized. We added braces in the type. I add to a nerdy style as well as to highlight the main characters nerdy quality. This would be repeated through out the series. Only there was something still not quite working.
We where forgetting the Spy angle to the NERDS story.
here are some additional sketches working out new compositions
The idea of and official seal came up.
Finally a font was chosenHere we begin to work out color and how it will be used throughout a 6 book series
Next how to treat the type. I wanted a techie feel to the type as seen below.
Final type
But the seal still is working correctly. So we tried to nerd that up as well.
In the end it proved to be to much.
At last the color and composition is worked out.
Only something is still not working.
Again we needed more spy imagery. So I research James Bond and Mission Impossible imagery.
Ethen worked up these great sketches reworking the characters.
Ethen then combined the two ideas in to a final sketch
Then we took it to a cover meeting to see if we were on track.
Turns out we were!Final art with out text.
Can't wait to get my copy. One of the advantages of being the librarian, I get to read it first!!