RISD Alumni Holiday Art Sale

I'll be selling books and prints once again at the RISD Alumni Holiday Art Sale (as will Grace!), this Saturday at the Rhode Island Convention Center. As always, the sale is a great place to do your holiday shopping- I love to stroll the aisles and pick out handmade goodies for my xmas list. Come join us! The sale is from 10:00-5:00.

Last weekend at the sale

The Fall RISD Sale was bustling and fun. It was a full day that started early and flew by.

But there was one sweet moment that caught my attention. In the early afternoon, a small girl sidled up to my table and looked through a bin of prints. She picked out an image of a bird in a nest and asked how much it was. Then she plunked a little pouch onto the table, and with her mother's help began to count out dollars and coins to pay for it. 

"Is that your allowance money?" I asked. "Yes," she said, and kept counting. I was tempted just to give her the print, but then I remembered the pride and feeling of independence that goes with buying something yourself. I remembered saving up my money and carefully deciding what to buy, contemplating the many different ways it could be spent. Though I don't remember wanting to buy things like artwork at that age, I think I would have gone for a toy or game. I was really touched that she wanted to buy my print, and impressed that she was bringing home something that couldn't be played with or worn or quickly thrown away. 

Thanks for the lovely moment, and to everyone who came out on Saturday!

We Art Boston

I am so proud to be part of We Art Boston, a fundraiser for the Emergency and Trauma Fund at Boston Children’s Hospital. Original illustratons from over 40 children's book artists (including Grace!) will be auctioned off beginning October 10th. 

On the 20th there will be a fabulous celebration on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, with art activities for kids, a stuffed animal portrait station, book signings, and book making station, among other things. Come by and say hello! I will either be signing books, manning the book making station, or sneaking my daughter's stuffed lamb over to get her portrait drawn...

Here is the piece I donated, from Abigail Spells: 

Winchester Authorfest

Come join me tomorrow, April 9th, for the Winchester Authorfest!

I'll be signing books along with a long list of wonderful authors and illustrators: Kathleen Duble, Karen Day, Jackie Dembar Green, Amy MacDonald, David Biedrzycki, David Elliott, Matt Tavares, Marty Kelley, Susan Lubner, Susan Goodman, Jerry Pallotta, Ralph Masiello, Brian Lies, Scott Magoon, and Nancy Poydar.

Come to get a signed book or just say hello!

3:00-5:00 pm
Winchester Town Hall
71 Mt Vernon St, Winchester, MA

RISD Holiday Art Sale this Saturday

Grace and I will be selling books and prints (and possibly ornaments if I can finish them in time!) at the RISD Holiday Art Sale this Saturday at the Rhode Island Convention Center from 10:00-5:00 pm. Come say hello and do a little shopping if you're in the area!

Comic Con and Symphony Space

           




Happy Fall, all! We've had relatively gorgeous Fall weather in NY, aside from one wintry day, and some gloomy rain. This past weeekend looked like this:

Prospect Park in Brooklyn, NY

There are always book-related events going on in NYC, but lately there seem to have been more than usual. Last weekend was New York ComicCon. I hadn't been in about three years, and I was shocked at how big and crowded it's become--much closer to what San Diego Comic Con is like, I was told. I was speaking on a panel, so I got a pass that looked like this:

I joked on Twitter that this is what I looked like after thirty minutes at ComicCon.

I spoke on the Kids/YA Publishers Spotlight panel--basically, ten different publishers buzzed about recent and upcoming Middle Grade and Young Adult books. This was the room my panel was in--it was a packed house! And the best part was that it was filled with fans of books. In fact, the audience would clap enthusiastically when the slide showed a book or author they were excited about, and not just the "big" books. That was pretty cool.

Here was the Little, Brown Books for Young Readers booth:

I had wanted to walk around a bit after my panel, but it was so crowded and overwhelming I couldn't take it. One of the best things about Comic Con, though, is that the majority of the attendees went all out in terms of their costumes. I didn't take any pictures, but there are plenty online, including here, here, and here. So many little kids were dressed up, too.

***

Speaking of costumes, yesterday I went to the Symphony Space for a costume party/Book Release Special Event for The Diviners. It featured a conversation (aka hilarious banter) between authors Maureen Johnson and Libba Bray, a reading from the book by actress Ella Rae Peck (Gossip Girl), and a performance by Dandy Wellington and his Band. Everyone was decked out in their 20s garb (Maureen wore satin pajamas, a la the character Theta in the book), and a grand old time was had. Maureen and Libba talked about their mutual love of serial killers, how the house in The Diviners was inspired by the house built by H.H. Holmes (of The Devil in the White City fame), and how The Diviners was inspired by Libba wanting to write about post-9/11 America--she found many similarities and parallels with 1920s America. Oh, and we also determined that there is no such thing as a sherpa farm (Libba had meant to say "llama farm").

(pardon the odd lighting of the photo) Ella reading with Maureen and Libba listening on stage.

At one point during the Q&A, Maureen and Libba ended up as puddles on the floor. I don't actually recall why they did this...

Dandy Wellington and his Band.

the artists! Don't they look ab-so-tute-ly sharp?

book signing with a fan in costume.

Here's a little snippet of the musical performance:
Libba is doing another booksigning this Thursday at Books of Wonder--it's a Teen Fantasy event with six other YA authors from 6-8 pm. Come on out! I'll be there.

Wednesday night I'll be back at Symphony Space for an event with Lemony Snicket--his new book, Who Could That Be at This Hour? comes out tomorrow--it's a new four-book series, a prequel to The Series of Unfortunate Events. Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler) will be sitting down with author Sarah Vowell of This American Life fame.

If you're in the NY area, I hope to see you at one or both of these events!

Speaking of Daniel Handler, check out this hilarious interview:
He is a funny, funny man.

I must say, going to all of these events reminded me that I really like going to readings and other book events. I really should try to go to more that aren't books I've worked on. Have any of you gone to any literary events of note recently? Any upcoming ones you'd recommend?

West coast book signing with Grace and Anna

Come join Grace and myself in L.A.! We will be reading and signing our books, doing a drawing demonstration, and answering any questions kids have about how to make a book at Pages Bookstore in Manhattan Beach.

Hope to see you there!

Details:
Sunday, July 22nd
1:00 pm
904 Manhattan avenue
Manhattan Beach, ca 90266
pagesabookstore.com
t: 310-318-0900 (if you can't make it, call & order a signed book!)

Book Signing and Mix and Mingle at The Eric Carle Museum

This Friday, I'll be signing books and chatting with attendees of the NESCBWI annual conference at The Eric Carle Museum. If you are attending this year's conference, please come by and say hello! Details below.

Book Signing and Mix and Mingle at The Eric Carle Museum on April 20th from 11:30-1:30 pm. This event is part of the SCBWI-NE spring conference. Anna will be joined by Harry Bliss, Dan Yaccarino, Carlyn Beccia, Brian Lies, and Shelley Rotner.

Library of the Early Mind

For those of you in the Boston area, on October 19 at Harvard University there will be a premier screening of Library of the Early Mind, a documentary exploring children’s literature, directed by Edward J. Delaney and produced by Steven Withrow. Grace and BRG friend JJK are in it among others (there are too many to mention, but you can see a list of the cast here)!

The event is free and open to the public and will include book sale, reception with book signing, and Q&A with a panel from the film, including Lois Lowry, Lesléa Newman, Jerry Pinkney, Roger Sutton, and Padma Venkatraman. If I was in the area, I would definitely go check it out! Trailer and details below...



I love how Francoise Mouly says that young kids aren't looking for escape and fantasy so much as organization, so true. There is a lot of food for thought just in the trailer!

5:30 p.m.
Askwith Auditorium
Longfellow Hall, Appian Way
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Cambridge, MA 02138

San Francisco adventures and a book signing

We are at last getting settled in our new city! Its so gorgeous here, I could spend hours wandering around the different neighborhoods taking it all in. I love that gardens are still in full bloom... there seem to be rose bushes and nasturtiums and bougainvillea everywhere.



This is the view from a nearby hilltop, looking north towards the Marina. The hill we hiked to get there was so steep it had stairs!



The architecture around here is just amazing.



Here are some shots from a recent hike around the Lincoln Park area; China Beach, Lands End, and the Sutro Baths.







This Sunday I'll have my first book signing for Disappearing Desmond, which just came out last month. I'm excited to get to know some west coast book stores and read the book to kids for the first time! If you're in the area please join me. Here are the details:

Sunday, October 3rd
11:30 am
Kepler's Books
1010 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA 94025
(650) 324-4321

OH NO! Eyewitness Charity Auction has begun!

Grace, Meghan, and I all have pieces up for auction this week! Click here to bid on our pieces for the Eyewitness reports auction. This profits from this fundraiser go entirely to support 826LA, a fabulous literacy organization. Bid on an original piece of children's book art and support a great cause!

This is what my piece looks like:

North Andover Public Library on Wednesday

This Wednesday (the 11th) I'll be giving a presentation at the North Andover Public Library to celebrate the Go Green theme in Massachusetts libraries this summer. I'll be talking about the making of What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe? and showing lots of sketches and artwork. Come join us if you can!

The Details:

2:00 to 3:00 pm
Stevens Memorial Library
345 Main St. North Andover, MA 01845
978-688-9505

Mattapoisett Free Public Library on Friday

If you are in the area, come visit me at the Mattapoisett Free Public Library on Friday at 11 am, where I'll be giving a free presentation for kids about my work as part of their Go Green summer reading program. I'll be focusing on how I made What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe? and showing some of the recycling craft activities in the book. Hope to see you there!

Winchester Authorfest

If any of you are in the area, come see me Thursday at the Winchester Authorfest! I'll be presenting at some local schools in the morning, then signing books at the Town Hall Book Signing in the afternoon, which is open to the public.

Here are the details:

Town Hall Book Signing
71 Mt. Vernon Street (next to Public Library)
Winchester MA 01890

3:00-5:00 pm

Last time I participated in the Authorfest there were dozens of other authors there. I don't know who will be participating this year but there is bound to be lots of amazing local talent. Its not often you have that many authors in one place!

Back North

Last week was the busiest I've had in awhile! As I mentioned in my last post, I was traveling down South to give school visits as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book and a few other lovely book gatherings. I am from Virginia, so its always fun to go back there and visit family and friends while I have some book fun. And of course its encouraging to see the first signs of spring that have not yet made their way to Massachusetts:



I had the pleasure of speaking to both little kiddos and teachers... the week began at James Madison University speaking to their kidlit class, taught by the amazing Joan Kindig. Teachers always have such great questions and are so polite, enthusiastic, and fun to talk to, truly its one of my favorite groups to visit.

Then I began my week of visiting little ones. One school I went to was having a "book-in" on the day of my visit. Everyone came to school in pajamas, ate chocolate chip pancakes and waffles, and laid around reading books all day (sounds like a good time to me!). The campus was composed largely of log cabins in the woods and had the most adorable little library I've ever seen. Don't you just want to curl up in one of those rocking chairs and read all afternoon?



Here I am drawing a soccer playing dragon, as suggested by my very cute audience of K-3rd graders:


In my slideshow I start by showing a pic of me drawing as a little kid:


Then I show them all the cats in my house growing up, which inspired me to make up animal stories:

The week finished off at the New Jersey Annual Kindergarten Teacher's spring conference, where they had a "go green" theme, and thus brought me in to talk about What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe? A Green Activity Book About Reuse. I had a lot of fun walking through how this book evolved, and what the book making process is like. I went over my favorite art activities from my years spent teaching, such as painting with "texture paintbrushes" and making paper by hand:





Then I described how these led to the activities with reused materials I made up for Old Red Shoe, such as the flip-flop activity:




And of course what you can do with that old red shoe:


These teachers just blew me away with their creativity... they collected 20 pairs of old red shoes and made centerpieces for each of the lunch tables, with green chrysanthemums, that looked like this:





And a decoration for the podium (Dorothy shoes!):


Groups of teachers presented their own recycling activity ideas, including this tri-fold board with ideas about how to combine recycling with math activities:


There were recycling songs with Woodsy the owl (Smokey the Bear's sidekick, remember?) sung bravely for the group:


One teacher made a ring toss with an old soda bottle, an Edible Arrangements box, and some reused tinfoil:


There was also a hockey game made from a pizza box and laundry detergent bottle tops (genius!):


And another favorite, a bowling set made from milk jugs and a tinfoil ball:


Thanks to everyone who made the week so much fun!