Polar Bear's underwear


Prepare to be shocked... The new book from Chronicle Books, POLAR BEAR'S underwear by team tupera tupera requires you to pull his underwear off to get into the book. The red pair, that is. Literally, the underwear goes all the way around the book. Okay, says I as I do so.
     Polar Bear has lost his underwear and mouse is determined to help out...
     "Look at this colorful striped underwear! Is this your pair, Polar Bear?"
     "No, this is not my underwear."
     Whose underwear is it?


     At first the artwork and theme seem reminiscent of Jon Klassen's I WANT MY HAT BACK, but don't let that fool you. This book is its own thing. Each page has a die-cut cut out, revealing a pattern from the next page. So you see stripes before you learn...
     It's Zebra's underwear! And it's his favorite pair, too.

     And mouse is worried about what appear to be frills before you discover...
     Wiggle, wiggle. It's Squid's underwear. And he has ten legs!

     And mouse is humbled, then scared when he discovers...
     Oh no! It's Cat's underwear! RUN!

     And the great kicker at the end is...
     No, I can't do it to you. Just trust me, the end will have you laughing out loud. This book is HILARIOUS!!!

El día de los niños, El día de los libros!

April 30th we celebrate El día de los ninos, El día de los libros! Instill a love of reading to ALL of your students by promoting this happy day!
     Día means "day" in Spanish. In 1996, author Pat Mora learned about the Mexican tradition of celebrating April 30th as El día del niño, the day of the child. Pat thought, “We have Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Yes! We need kids’ day too, but I want to connect all children with bookjoy, the pleasure of reading.” She even created a FREE booklet to help your organize YOUR Día celebration (click the cover).
     Pat was enthusiastically assisted to start this community-based, family literacy initiative by REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. El día de los niños, El día de los libros/Children's Day, Book Day, now known as Día, is a daily commitment to link all children to books, languages and cultures, day by day, día por día. Día is now housed at the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association. Every year, across the country, libraries, schools, and community organizations, etc. plan culminating book fiestas creating April Día celebrations that unite communities. Join us!
     I'm joining in on the initiative by reminding you of my two bilingual picture books Paco and the Giant Chile Plant ~ Paco y la planta de chile gigante and Soap, soap, soap ~ Jabon, jabon, jabon.

     Each title has activity pages you can share (click on the titles or the covers) - including bilingual word search puzzles, which make a great literacy tool. There are also free coloring pages and recipes to share.
     And since we're so close to Cinco de Mayo - some of those coloring pages might be a good fit as well!
     Join the Diz community! Follow Pat Mora on Facebook, her blog, and twitter. If you're tweeting about your celebrations, please use the hastag: #diabookjoy!

Coloring Page Tuesday - Dancing Porcupines

     What are porcupines to do when they want to dance? Be very, very careful!
     CLICK HERE for more coloring pages!
     Sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and... Please check out my books! Especially...
my debut novel, A BIRD ON WATER STREET - winner of nine literary awards. Click the cover to learn more!
     When the birds return to Water Street, will anyone be left to hear them sing? A miner's strike allows green and growing things to return to the Red Hills, but that same strike may force residents to seek new homes and livelihoods elsewhere. Follow the story of Jack Hicks as he struggles to hold onto everything he loves most.
     I create my coloring pages for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to enjoy for free with their children, but you can also purchase rights to an image for commercial use, please contact me. If you have questions about usage, please visit my Angel Policy page.

5 Ways To Kill Your Dreams

I like this TED talk by Entrepreneur Bel Pesce from Brazil. Have a listen, have an inspiration. Click the image to watch the video at TEDGlobal:

Anniversary Rituals

Every year, Stan and I celebrate our anniversary by attending the Inman Park Festival and buying art. We've been married 14 years, so we've gathered some nice items over time. Today we found our last festival treasure before we start some new traditions in Scotland. It's a lovely (little) print by Andrew Kosten of Gum Pal Press. I adored all his work, so it was hard to decide. Stan, of course, leaned toward the piece with wheels. Isn't he great? Click here or the image to go see more of Andrew's work (and maybe buy some for yourself)!

M.K. Hutchins DRIFT

I love the cover for M.K. Hutchins new book, DRIFT. It's based on the Mayan mythology that their world existed on the back of a sea turtle with a sea of hell all around. I'm thrilled to have M.K. Hutchins on as my guest poster today to talk about her new book, DRIFT...

     Patience is an under-sung virtue in the publishing world.
      Nearly a decade ago, I sat in a college classroom listening to a professor talk about how the Classic Maya envisioned the world as being on the back of a turtle, surrounded by a watery hell. I knew I had to write a story about that.
      And so, in between studying and midterms and a lot of archaeology classes, I wrote the core of the novel that would one day become Drift. But it wasn’t that novel, yet. It was broken. I revised and revised and...I metaphorically threw it in a drawer and wrote something else. I had no idea how to fix it. Opening the document was an exercise in frustration and futility.
      I didn’t realize it at the time, but I simply didn’t have the writing chops to pull off the novel. I’d written two other books in high school, but that didn’t mean I had any idea what I was doing (I applaud the brilliant YA authors who do figure out how to craft beautiful novels a year or two out of high school; I just wasn’t one of them).
      So, I wrote more things. Best of all, I joined a writing group. Suddenly, instead of writing in a vacuum where I was mostly guessing how well scenes were working, I had real live people pointing out problems that I hadn’t even considered. I found more great books and articles on writing. And I kept writing. A lot.
      Then in 2010, I reread the book I’d neglected for so long. Suddenly, it was easy to fix all the things that I’d known were wrong before. I felt like a hobbit who had left home uncertain, then returned from a great adventure to scour the Shire. In 2011, I submitted Drift to Tu Books.
      I was fortunate enough to have a great editor to push me further. My critique group had pointed out problems; my editor found mediocre parts and told me to make them all awesome instead.
      Rounds of revisions followed, starting from big-picture items and narrowing down to the final copy-edit. The book was type-set and a cover was designed. In some magical place unknown to me, it was printed. Then in mid-2014, Drift was actually released.
      When I’ve told some people this story, they look at me like I’m insane. It took how long? But the truth is, getting Drift out took as long as it needed to. It wasn’t ready to submit when I first wrote it. And it wasn’t ready for typesetting when I first submitted it, either. Plenty of hard work and revision needed to come first -- work I’m so glad I did. Now people can read the best version of the story I was carrying around in my head, instead of my first efforts to put it onto paper.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
      Tenjat lives on the shores of Hell, an ocean filled with ravenous naga monsters. His island, a massive Turtle, is slowed by the people living on its back. Tenjat is poor as poor gets: poor enough, even, to condescend to the shame of marriage, so his children can help support him one day.
      But Tenjat has a plan to avoid this fate. He will join the Handlers, those who defend and rule the island. Handlers never marry, and they can even provide for an additional family member. Against his sister's wishes, Tenjat joins the Handlers. And just in time: the Handlers are ramping up for a dangerous battle against the naga monsters, and they need every fighter they can get.
      As the naga battle approaches, Tenjat's training intensifies, but a long-hidden family secret—not to mention his own growing feelings for Avi—put his plans in jeopardy, and might threaten the very survival of his island.


Bio:
     M.K. Hutchins' YA fantasy novel Drift is both a Junior Library Guild Selection and a VOYA Top Shelf Honoree. Her short fiction appears in IGMS and Daily Science Fiction. She studied archaeology at BYU, giving her the opportunity to compile ancient Maya genealogies, excavate in Belize, and work as a faunal analyst. She blogs at www.mkhutchins.com.

Coloring Page Tuesday - Earth Day 2015

     Earth Day is April 22nd and Arbor Day is April 24th. I can't think of a better way to celebrate than to plant a tree. They need soil, sun, and water to grow strong.
     CLICK HERE for more Earth Day coloring pages!
     Sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and... Please check out my books! Especially...
my debut novel, A BIRD ON WATER STREET - winner of nine literary awards. Click the cover to learn more!
     When the birds return to Water Street, will anyone be left to hear them sing? A miner's strike allows green and growing things to return to the Red Hills, but that same strike may force residents to seek new homes and livelihoods elsewhere. Follow the story of Jack Hicks as he struggles to hold onto everything he loves most.
     I create my coloring pages for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to enjoy for free with their children, but you can also purchase rights to an image for commercial use, please contact me. If you have questions about usage, please visit my Angel Policy page.

Earth Day Brownie!

Beth Klosterboer of Hungry Happenings recently emailed me to ask permission to use my Earth Day image "Love the World You're On..." for a baking craft. I love it when people create unusual things with my images, so of course I said 'yes'! And look how great it turned out! Visit her website to learn how to make this Earth Day Brownie yourself!

James Ransome's Watercolor Method

I recently stumbled across this video by James Ransome creating the cover illustration for his book LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS. I shared it with a student, but I think the world should see!

Friday Linky List - April 17, 2015

From The Guardian: Growing up I thought Filipinos weren't allowed to be in books - by Candy Gourlay

From Publishers Weekly: Bologna 2015: The Hunt for Something 'Special'

From IrishCentral: Why the real story of the Irish Famine is not taught in U.S. schools - interesting and relevant!

From Futurebook: Are publishers getting the #authorsay message? Interesting.

Here's more on the topic at AgentHunter.co.uk: Grumbling, but not quitting: what authors really think of publishers

From The New York Times (and linked by well, everybody): Her Stinging Critiques Propel Young Adult Best Sellers. Guess whose slush pile is about to get a little deeper...

From Shelf Awareness: Sunday on NPR's Weekend Edition: Chantel Acevedo, author of The Distant Marvels (Sunday, April 12th for your archive search)

From School Library Journal: Despite Citywide Cuts, West Philadelphia Alliance for Children Opens 18th School Library Wow - just wow.

From BuzzFeed (via PW): For National Poetry Month: 48 of The Most Beautiful Lines of Poetry

From PW ShelfTalker: Coloring Books Are All the Rage - Of course I'm interested!

From The New York Times: When the World Went Pop

From The Guardian: Improbably libraries: unusual places to bury your head in a book

Ashley Wolff's COMPOST STEW!

I'm thrilled to have back my friend and fellow professor at Hollins University, Ashley Wolff. Her wonderfully environmental book, COMPOST STEW, has just been released in paperback, and she dropped by to talk about it's creation. Take it away Ashley!
COMPOST STEW has just released in paperback in time for Earth Day 2015! CLICK HERE!
In order to heighten the "recycle, reduce, and reuse" message of this alphabet book, I used as many actual recycled objects in the collage artwork as I could. I was able to include real coffee grounds, tea bags, eggshells, nut shells, insects, seaweed, newspaper, mineral powder, and laundry lint.

I dressed the children in origami clothing made from the pages of the Old Farmer's Almanac along with the produce pages from a local grocery store flyer. Luckily I snagged 14 copies of that flyer, since I needed the same section showing narrow, green stripes again and again!
My favorite page is the last one, where Mary Mckenna Siddal's wonderful verse gives down to earth composting advice, and my border shows a snippet of every element that went into this Compost Stew! (Click to see a larger version in a new window.)
Bio:
     Ashley Wolff has illustrated and written dozens of books. She is always trying out new media if she thinks it will serve the story. Collage was perfect for Compost Stew. Read more about her at http://ashleywolff.com/.

     Here's a photo of Ashley on the beach with seaweed. She's always so creative, one of her fave things to do is to collect little things that wash up on shore and make Beach Faces out of them!



And I love this last Beach Face with her sweetie, Tula. (R.I.P.)

Coloring Page Tuesday - Ibis

     "Save Our Wetlands." In anticipation of Earth Day, Mr. Ibis has a lovely long beak, perfect for writing letters to his Congressman about being kind to his wetland home.
     Sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and... Please check out my books! Especially...
my debut novel, A BIRD ON WATER STREET - winner of ten literary awards and honors. Click the cover to learn more!
     When the birds return to Water Street, will anyone be left to hear them sing? A miner's strike allows green and growing things to return to the Red Hills, but that same strike may force residents to seek new homes and livelihoods elsewhere. Follow the story of Jack Hicks as he struggles to hold onto everything he loves most.
     I create my coloring pages for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to enjoy for free with their children, but you can also purchase rights to an image for commercial use, please contact me. If you have questions about usage, please visit my Angel Policy page.

Game of Chairs

Sesame Street has created a parody on the Game of Thrones. If you are a fan (of GOT), you'll catch all kinds of silly references to the series. Who will win the Game of Chairs? Joffrey, Daenerys, Tyrion or Cersei? Ned Stark oversees the contest... Read more about it at Cult of Mac or click the image to watch on YouTube:

Friday Linky List - April 10, 2015

From Write For Kids: How To Figure Out What Editors *Really* Want by Jane Choate

From School Library Journal: 5 Things Libraries Can Learn from Starbucks and Lego

From Publishers Weekly: The Case for Libraries - When it comes to books, libraries and publishers should be in it together, argues a leading marketing expert.

From The Guardian: 100 Great Children's Picture Books - Highlights from 1922-2011

From Read It Forward (via Shelf Awareness): 9 Beautiful Libraries with the Best Reading Rooms

From The Hollywood Reporter (via Shelf Awareness): George R. R. Martin Developing New HBO Series - centering on a TV writer in 1949, "Captain Cosmos"

From USA Today: Maya Angelou stamp quote isn't hers? 89-year-old "Children's author Joan Walsh Anglund told The Washington Post Monday night that she originated the sentence... It appears on page 15 of her book of poems "A Cup of Sun" published in 1967." OMG.

From Digg (via my hubby): How To Draw Like Disney's Best Animators

What's Your Story Time Fail? Check out Obama's "Bee incident" at 100 Scope Notes

From Publishing Talk: Lucy Coats, Contributing Editor to the Children's Publishing issue of Publishing Talk Magazine, reports back from this year's Bologna children's Book Fair - quite thorough!

At Bazaar: Why I Wear The Exact Same Thing To Work Everyday

Harold Underdown's CHILDREN'S WRITER'S AND ILLUSTRATOR'S MARKET


GUEST POST by Harold Underdown

     I started working in children’s book publishing in the late 1980’s. Back in the day, there was no Internet with a million websites competing for our attention, no email, no blogs, no YouTube videos. It was a challenge for aspiring children’s book writers and illustrators to find out about the publishers to which they might want to send their manuscripts or art samples. On the bright side, publishers were still open to unsolicited submissions and researching agents wasn’t an additional necessity. To find information about publishers, writers and illustrators had to send a SASE for submission guidelines. They could also send away for their catalog or perhaps pick one up at a conference. The SCBWI compiled a limited market guide. There was little else.
      And there was Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market, an annual burden for young assistants like me, because we were the ones who were charged with filling out the survey they sent out to publishers in order to have comprehensive and current information. But for the writers and illustrators, it was a god-send—updated information on a wide variety of publishers, both book and magazine, as well as features, conferences, and more.
      Today, the challenge for artists and writers isn’t gathering information, it’s filtering the over-abundant information available via the Internet. Submission guidelines and more are available from publisher websites; so are PDFs of catalogs. Databases such as Publishers Marketplace track all kinds of information, including agents’ reports on their deals. The obsessed can track down editors and agents in interviews and personal blogs, dig out nuggets from the discussions on the the excellent "Blue Boards" on the SCBWI site, do 140-character online pitching on Twitter via hashtags… Where do you stop?
      Fortunately, Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market is still around to help illustrators and authors make sense of it all. I have been working with them for the past year to make CWIM better, and I might be biased by the relationship, but I had been recommending the book for years and years before that on my own. Yes, you can hunt down tons of information online, but why take the time when it’s compiled for you in one place? I’ve got some more information on it on my website: http://www.underdown.org/childrens-writers-market.htm.

Earth Day is coming!

And you know it means the world to me! Each Earth Day I make my Earth Day images (like the one to the right) available to you and your civic groups for t-shirts to wear while doing your volunteer clean-up activities, handouts, or posters to drum up attention for the important day. You can buy my items through my Zazzle Store. Or you can download the coloring pages and use them as you see fit. All I ask in return is that you share some photos with me of the images being used. It's my way of giving back and I love to know that I'm helping out in some small way!

Coloring Page Tuesday - Squirrel ABC

     Little squirrel is learning to read - how exciting!
     Sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and... Please check out my books! Especially...
my debut novel, A BIRD ON WATER STREET - winner of ten literary awards and honors. Click the cover to learn more!
     When the birds return to Water Street, will anyone be left to hear them sing? A miner's strike allows green and growing things to return to the Red Hills, but that same strike may force residents to seek new homes and livelihoods elsewhere. Follow the story of Jack Hicks as he struggles to hold onto everything he loves most.
     I create my coloring pages for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to enjoy for free with their children, but you can also purchase rights to an image for commercial use, please contact me. If you have questions about usage, please visit my Angel Policy page.

Support Our Libraries!

These days libraries aren't just about books, they are about endless resources. Common Craft recently released a video about what our modern libraries do... (Click the image to see the video at School Library Journal.)

Happy Easter!!

Want to fill your Easter basket with something other than chocolate? Download some of my FREE Easter coloring pages - click here. Happy Easter!

SCBWI Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards


Voting is now open for the SCBWI Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards. This is a prestigious honor for books, voted on by their local peers. You must be an SCBWI member to vote - and the books available for your vote depend on the region with which you affiliate.
     A BIRD ON WATER STREET is votable in the Southern Breeze region of SCBWI. If you're a member, I sure hope you'll consider voting for my book. Although there are some other amazing titles in there, like... CURSES AND SMOKE: A BOOK OF POMPEII and HADES SPEAKS - both by my friend Vicky Alvear Shecter. (Click the titles to read her interviews.) AW, NUTS! - a debut picture book by Rob McClurkan - who stopped by my blog to talk about it. WANDERING WILDEBEEST - a book of poems by Irene Latham, which I featured recently. DEATH BY TOILET PAPER by Donna Gephart, who also stopped by recently. I AM JAZZ - the transgender picture book that received so much press - by the very young Jessica Herthel. Lori Nichols debut picture book, which has led to a busy career - MAPLE. And SEVEN STORIES UP by Laurel Snyder.
     In other words, there are several books I'll be rooting for. Whichever your favorite - I hope you'll go VOTE!!

International Children's Book Day!

Is today! From the IBBY site:
Since 1967, on or around Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, 2 April, International Children's Book Day (ICBD) is celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children's books.

Each year a different National Section of IBBY has the opportunity to be the international sponsor of ICBD. It decides upon a theme and invites a prominent author from the host country to write a message to the children of the world and a well-known illustrator to design a poster. These materials are used in different ways to promote books and reading. Many IBBY Sections promote ICBD through the media and organize activities in schools and public libraries. Often ICBD is linked to celebrations around children's books and other special events that may include encounters with authors and illustrators, writing competitions or announcements of book awards.

The sponsor for International Children's Book Day for 2015 is UAEBBY.
CLICK HERE to learn more about it.

Kevan Atteberry's BUNNIES - Guest Post

I am thrilled to have my friend, Kevan Atteberry on today to talk about his new picture book, BUNNIES!!! (Yes, that's three exclamation points.) I featured his book trailer on Sunday, but Kevan is here to tell us more about the story behind the story. Just in time for Easter! Take it away Kevan...
     Creating BUNNIES!!! was either magical or lucky. I'd been illustrating other people's picture books for years but I'd yet to sell a book that I had penned.
           For the past several years I've been creating a monster-a-day for the month of October. It started out as an exercise in creativity. It was challenging to come up with something completely from scratch every day. I posted them daily on Facebook so I could be held accountable. And boy was I held accountable.
     In 2012, when October wound down, I began participating in PiBoIdMo—an organized challenge to come up with one new picture book idea a day for the month of November. I was thumbing through images of mine at one point during the month and landed on this one.
     It was a monster I created and posted on October 20 of that year. It was a particular favorite of mine and the comments (about 100) were split on whether the monster was going to eat the bunnies or if he was excited to see them. And that got me thinking it might make a good story, so I added it to my list. Then in mid December, I pulled out my PiBoIdMo list, and began writing Bunnies!!! It came very quickly, I wrote it in no more than an hour, storyboarded it in a couple more hours and over the next couple of days, developed the characters and dummied it. The monster character was considerably different than the inspiring illustration, and considerably different than what he would eventually look like in the book. Here is a couple looks at the way he developed into the monster in the book. His name is Declan.
     When I showed the dummy to my critique group, they were initially speechless. They thought it was ready to go out the door right then and there. But we tweaked it some and a week or so later when I brought it back with the minor revisions—no more than two or three words—I felt it was ready to send out. I landed my amazing agent with this book and she had multiple publishers interested in it right away. It sold shortly in a two-book deal. That's why I call it lucky or magical. The time it took to write it, dummy it, critique it, get an agent, and sell it was only about six or seven weeks. Unfortunately, it set a pretty high bench mark going forward.
      And some working sketches of a page in the book. There are 3 versions from the 6 or 7 dummies and the finished piece.
     One technique I incorporated in creating the illustrations for BUNNIES!!! was to create all the characters in one file at the same time. This helped in maintaining the consistency of the character throughout the book.
     This file was about 36" tall.
      And here's s a look at my messy studio where fun stuff happens.
Kevan is an illustrator/writer living in the Seattle area. He has been drawing since he was knee-high to a crayon. He has designed and illustrated many things including award-winning children's books. His biggest claim to fame is creating Clippy the paperclip helper in Microsoft Office which still annoys millions of people every day. Visit him at www.kevanatteberry.com.