I started writing a post about the importance of virtual community for creatives that work alone. But I trashed it at the last minute. I was using that theme as an excuse to write about what I really wanted to write about: my agency and my agency’s retreat. So I …
Today I‘m looking at two books concerning teachers and the sometimes (often?) superficial disconnect between teachers and students. But they are a lot more fun than that opening sentence. As a kid, seeing a teacher outside of school is always weird. I remember as a fifth-grader, at an outdoor mall with my …
I wouldn’t usually be drawn to a book about a Ballet Cat, because 1) ballet, and 2) cat. Not that there is anything wrong with ballet OR cats, they just don’t really gun my scooter. Besides a title that did not reel me in, I was a little iffy on …
Can a picture book be 96 pages long? ODD DUCK by Cecil Castellucci and illustrated by Sara Varon may be just that; a 96 page picture book. It is published by First Second Books, publisher of graphic novels. I guess it could be a graphic novel for the picture book …
Cat just wants to be loved. And he is kind of a…um…control freak. When he realizes how loved the Easter Bunny is he is a little put off or jealous. With his snappish back and forth with the reader (using signs, because, really, cats don’t talk) he takes us up …
There is so much to love about YETI AND THE BIRD by Nadia Shireen (Atheneum). I am a sucker for friendship books. Friends found, friends discovered, and friendships of the unlikely. This book seems to have them all. Bird, a little bit clueless, finds a friend when she crashes into Yeti’s …
Last week I had a book launch party for my first authored picture book, BUNNIES!!! I have illustrated a handful of books by other authors. Some of them have gone on to win awards. A couple, after six or seven years, continues to sell extremely well. I never had a …
There is great satisfaction in engaging and compelling nonfiction picture books. Barb Rosentsock reminded me of this recently in her post about THE IRIDESCENCE OF BIRDS, by Patrica MacLachlan. I made a point to seek this book out and found it gorgeous. Both the writing and the delightful illustrations by Hadley …
A favorite adult book of mine is ABOUT A BOY by Nick Hornby. They also made a pretty good movie based on the book, and currently there is a bearable TV show a little more loosely based on it. There is one premise in the book that has always fascinated …
I love simple picture books. I enjoy complex picture books too, but mostly I gravitate towards simply told stories and illustration. That is the kind of books I want to and try to make. It is easy to be awed by the wonderful art of the Chris Van Allsburgs, the …