Furball Friday

Just tails.

Playing with Photoshop

Gettin' hitched!

In case you didn't know, this summer I am gettin' hitched- yeehaw! I've been kind of haphazard about telling people I'm engaged- so apologies to those I should have told already, eek sorry!

We're still at the early planning stages, but that doesn't mean I can't start designing the invites. I feel a "bunnies in love" theme coming on.

Self portrait with Bruno (my fella in his new glasses) for the invitations:



The craftiness of DIY weddings has been my main form of entertainment as of late, more crafting goodness posts to come soon...

And the winners are...

I have to admit I have not read most of the ALSC winners this year (I am always behind on my reading), but I am thrilled to see two illustrators I love get recognized; Beth Krommes and Melissa Sweet. I ADORE their work and think its really great to see "quiet books" get some attention! When I worked at Houghton Mifflin way back when, I got to see original art from some of their books in person and it is GORGEOUS.

Newbery Medal:

"The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman

Newbery Honor Books:

"The Underneath" by Kathi Appelt, illustrated by David Small

"The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom" by Margarita Engle

"Savvy" by Ingrid Law

"After Tupac and D Foster" by Jacqueline Woodson

Caldecott Medal

"The House in the Night," illustrated by Beth Krommes and written by Susan Marie Swanson

Caldecott Honor Books:

"A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever" by Marla Frazee

"How I Learned Geography" by Uri Shulevitz

"A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams," illustrated by Melissa Sweet and written by Jen Bryant

Good news!

Priscilla and the Hollyhocks has been chosen as a 2008 National Council for Social Studies Notable Trade Book! Hurray! The book will be featured at the NCSS Exhibit in Atlanta in November, as well as in the NCSS magazine.

Furball Friday

Some recent poems

These are some poems (still in progress) from the sequel book proposal for What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe? I've been working on. Shoe will be on book shelves in just two months!



Solomon’s dad
had an old tin kazoo,
it was shiny and small
and broken.

It sat high on a shelf
painted robin’s egg blue,
a gift from his aunt
in Hoboken.



Sue eats cereal for breakfast
and cereal for lunch.
Her favorite kind to snack on
is banana crispy crunch.

There are boxes in the cupboard
and boxes in the sink.
Sue will have cornflakes at dinner time,
with chocolate milk to drink.

Furball Friday

Just some feet.

More sketches

I've been busy lately revising a book dummy for an upcoming project, Greta's Dad. Here are some sketches...

Small Graces

Fellow kid's book author/illustrator and friend Grace Lin has just started an auction fundraiser to benefit the Foundation for Children's Books, a fabulous organization in Boston that sponsors author/illustrator visits to schools that can't afford them (among other things).

Find out more information about Small Graces here. Grace will be auctioning off an original piece of art each month. You can bid on the very first piece right now!

Marketing genius

I just discovered more adorable marketing from Miranda July, author/performer extraordinaire. Its not an easy thing for most authors I know to "market" their books. But Miranda July seems to come up with many delightful ways to endear you to her work without seeming like she has an agenda. I just discovered this little video on amazon. Hilarious.

Earlier in the year, before reading her book No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories, I found the web site she created for it. She's just added on to it here. I think if I could make marketing my books as fun and she does it would become my favorite pastime.

Furball Friday

Jackson Pollock fun

I was recently researching Jackson Pollock's paintings for a scene in a book proposal I'm working on, when I came across this site. SO fun! I could play with it for hours. Make sure you click on the mouse to change the colors!

New sketches

Furball Friday

Since we have just begun a brand new year, I thought it would be a good time to take a look back at how much little George and Wilbur have changed over the past year. In their early days, they spent much of their time frolicking and napping in the bathroom sink.



Boy have things changed! Now only one of them fits in there. Not that they don't try to squeeze in together sometimes.