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 …
I’m a collector of ideas. Though not a very good one. I have a tendency to let brilliant, world-changing picture book ideas escape by not writing them down. Great ideas slip into my head at inopportune times. Almost never when I am at my keyboard or sitting with pen and …
A passion for picture books isn’t difficult to explain. They make us laugh out loud, they make us sad (and then rescue us,) they make us happy, they teach us about the world. Some just warm our insides. Every now and then a picture book comes along that is important. …