William & the Missing Masterpiece… a cheesy mystery!

  William & the Missing Masterpiece made me laugh. It was smart and silly and… cheesy. The cover alone is hilarious as the author/illustrator, Helen Hancocks has cleverly shown only bits of what we know are famous paintings. The first page opens with William, “international cat of mystery” receiving an …

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A Heavenly Design… Stars, by Mary Lyn Ray and Marla Frazee

Stars, by Mary Lyn Ray and Marla Frazee. What a beautiful, beautiful book. No names are on the front cover. None. Which made me really want to explore this book and look for the answer to ‘why’ that decision was made? The jacket features just the word, “Stars” brighter at the …

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The Perilous Paper Predicament

  A few weeks ago my family came home to a very grumpy me. Over the next several days my mood worsened. As I explained the magnitude of my  situation to my compassionate loved ones, I became aware that most people don’t know the importance of something which is absolutely critical to an illustrator’s vocation— paper. My …

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Illustrating THE INVENTOR’S SECRET—A Book Give-Away!!!!! And Suzanne’s Winners Announced!

Charlesbridge Publishing contacted me in June, of 2013 to ask if I would illustrate a non-fiction picture book written by our very own, spectacular, Suzanne Slade. The book is titled, THE INVENTOR’S SECRET, WHAT THOMAS EDISON TOLD HENRY FORD. In this 48 page non-fiction picture book, Suzanne shares the story of Thomas Edison’s successes and Henry …

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The Secret is Out: The Inventor’s Secret releases today (plus a unique give-away!)

Okay, so what are the odds? I post once a month on Picture Book Builders, and this month my turn fell on September 8, the release date of my newest book, The Inventor’s Secret: What Thomas Edison Told Henry Ford.  (By the way, my son calculated the odds of this …

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“Visual Inspiration”, or “My Life as a Potential Hoarder”

The first step when beginning a picture book project is to go shopping. I have only recently acknowledged this because I seem to be amassing quite a collection of, “stuff”, all in the name of my “craft”. I don’t recall learning this step in art school, so I began paying attention, noticing, contemplating this …

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Ho Hum, Meet the Dullards is Wonderfully Boring!

Meet the Dullards by Sara Pennypacker and illustrated by Daniel Salmieri is very dull. It’s also very funny. Meet the Dullards — they are a family who loves things dull and boring. But, the Dullard’s three children, Blanda, Borely, and Little Dud are straying from their parent’s quest for all …

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Making it More

  You Nest Here with Me is a beautiful, lyrical picture book by the mother daughter team of Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple. Illustrated (perfectly) by Melissa Sweet. It’s a book about birds. What? You say that’s not enough? Okay then— It rhymes. It rhymes brilliantly. The back flap copy …

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Ivan— And the Added Challenges of a Non-Fiction Picture Book

I’ve been reading and thinking about non fiction picture books a lot lately. One reason is that there seems to be quite an abundance of them. Which, I think is a good thing. But, getting a non-fiction story to work has added hurdles. Its subject matter is usually known to …

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