Part II - Picture Book Posts for Hen and Ink Literary

Good morning!

Click HERE for Part II of my recap from the 17th Texas Book Festival on picture book advice at Hen & inkblots. This post Language Serves the Story highlights advice from authors Liz Garton Scanlon and Candace Fleming.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what resonates? Do you have any revision tricks up your sleeve? How many times do you revise to make art?

Happy Friday!

Picture Book Posts for Hen & Ink Literary Studio

It's a crisp morning and the sun is shining and it's Picture Book Month! Cluck! Cluck!

In celebration of that and to pass along information I gleamed from attending the 17th Texas Book Festival in Austin this past October, I have done two posts for my agent Erzsi Deak and the agency Hen & Ink Literary Studio. Part I - How Children See the World ran yesterday and if you missed it you can click HERE to read it. Thanks, Erzsi! It was a dream reporting for Hen & inkblots and clucking about picture book panels!

Check out Hen & inkblots on Friday, November 16, 2012 for Part II - Language Serves the Story. If you missed this year's festival or couldn't attend all the incredible panels of authors/illustrators, I hope these two posts give you a flavor of the literary extravaganza Texas hosts.  Enjoy!

Celebrate Picture Book Month

I'm celebrating Picture Book Month!! Are you?

There's a lovely post at Picture Book Month by Alma Flor Ada in where she talks about why picture books are important for children. The bond it creates between adult and child and that picture books can be enjoyed by the very young as well as the older more sophisticated child reader. Each day of the month a different picture book champion weighs in on why they think picture books are important.

The Bear in the Book (Farrar Straus Giroux, Oct. 2012) written by Kate Banks (also an agency sister with Hen & Ink Literary) and illustrated by Georg Hallensleben is a beautiful representation of storytelling between parent and child, where a little boy listens to a story being read by his mother and metaphorically speaking he's so caught up in the story that he enters the world of the bear. He identifies with the words and pictures he sees playing out over the pages. Excerpt below:

Snowflakes began to fall across the pages of the book.
The snow sat snugly in the boughs of the trees.
The boy could almost feel it.
"Snow is cold," he said. He nestled closely against his mother.
"I like snow," he said.

Winter settled like a big hush," read the boy's mother.
"And the big black bear slept."
"Shh," said the boy.

It's picture book storytelling at it's best! And the vivid artwork by Hallensleben is extraordinary like watching a painting come to life. It's a tribute to fostering a love of reading in children at least that's the conclusion I'm drawing, and I say Bravo!

I showed you one of my new favorite picture books now it's your turn. Celebrate picture book month with me by leaving a comment below listing one of your favorite picture books.

Happy Picture Book Month! Happy reading!

ReaderKidZ Review: Pigmares & Last Laughs

Halloween is just around the corner and I've reviewed two picture books that will tickle children's funny bones and have them screaming with laughter!

Pigmares: Porcine Poems of the Silver Screen by Doug Cushman, (Charlesbridge, 2012) and Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen, illustrated by Jeffrey Stewart Timmins (Charlesbridge, 2012)

Hop on over to ReaderKidz and read my reviews HERE. Both picture books are for ages 7 and up.

ReaderKidZ is a website devoted to fostering a love of reading in kids K - 5.

Book Review: Arlo Needs Glasses by Barney Saltzberg

Arlo Needs Glasses by Barry Saltzberg (Workman Publishing, 2012)

This inventive and interactive picture book is more than just about a boy who discovers his dog needs glasses and they fit him for the perfect pair. It's about celebrating individuality and uniqueness and not being afraid to be different. Stand out. Be YOU!

Kids will love trying on the movie star, superhero, mad scientist, or "Arlo" glasses that are inside the book. They'll love Arlo and his willingness to embrace  his new look and get back to doing what he loves to do best and that's play catch.

In fact wearing glasses allows Arlo to discover there's something he likes even more than playing catch -- he loves to read.

I wish there had been a book like this when I was a child. I didn't need glasses then (reading glasses now) but I would've had fun trying on the cardboard creations in this zany book, reading the story again and again, and engaging with the interactive features. For ages 3 and up.

This week, I'll be meeting author/illustrator Barney Saltzberg as he's in town for the 2012 Texas Book Festival and good friend Marika Flatt, owner of Pr by the Book, and I will be his chauffeur this Friday evening as we attend the Texas Book Festival Children's Author, Illustrator and Moderator Welcome Party at The Writing Barn, a book lover's haven created by author friend Bethany Hegedus. Barney will be on the Lines that Make you Laugh panel with fellow Austin author Philip Yates, Rob Scotton and Tad Hills and the details are HERE.  See you there! Check out the book trailer -- it's fabulous!

Texas Book Festival 2012

Every year the Texas Book Festival and their committees work tirelessly to bring a spectacular line-up of authors and illustrators to entertain and inspire Texas families and 2012 is no different. On Saturday, October 27th and Sunday, October 28th, thousands of families will descend on downtown Austin to partake in the 17th annual literary event. The entire list of programming can be found by clicking HERE.

I have many author and illustrator friends on panels this year and I'm going to lace up my sneakers, bring a gallon of water and make it to as many of their creative presentations as I can. I also have the honor of moderating again this year and would love to see your friendly faces in the crowd at:

JUST THE WRITE WORD with authors Liz Garton Scanlon and Candace Fleming

Date: Sunday, October 28th, 2012 

Time: 12:30 - 1:30 pm

Where: Capitol Extension Room E2.010

Everyone knows writers need to choose their words carefully, but these two picture books have become instant classics by matching entrancing images with the playful power of words, Liz Garton Scanlon's Think Big is told in bite-sized, rhyming couplets and follows young kids trying on future, artistic careers. Candace Fleming's Oh, No! encourages children to read out loud as a whole cast of animals comes across a mysterious, deep hole.

If you want to narrow in on just attending the youth events at the festival click HERE to view a list compiled by author friend Greg Leitich Smith who will also be talking about his middle grade book Chronal Engine on the World Turned Upside Down panel.

And if you want a list of events aimed just at the picture book crowd click HERE. There are seven panels devoted to picture books this year! Thank you TBF organizers and supporters!!

This year's festival is lit-up with dynamic authors and illustrators, some who've traveled quite a distance to visit our city, let's give them a Texas-size welcome and support them. Can't wait to see you and your family there. Yeehaw! 

Illustrator E.B. Lewis Keynote Speaker at the Austin SCBWI 2013 conference, Kick It Up A Notch

When first daughter was about four years old, we visited the Book Mark in the village of Kingsway, a charming older wealthy area in Toronto, Canada. My husband and I were in search to find a new picture book to read to daughter while we were vacationing and visiting friends. When I asked the proprietor to assist me, she eagerly led me to Down the Road by Alice Schertle, illustrated by E.B. Lewis. Since that moment, I have been a huge fan of E.B.'s work. Today, we still have that book on our shelf and the watercolor illustrations E.B. painted scroll through my mind like slides on a projector. Image after gorgeous image. Hetty shopping at Mr. Birdie's Emporium, Hetty juggling her basket of eggs, and Hetty in the apple tree with Mama and Papa. I could go on and on, it's a collaboration of text and art at it's finest! If you haven't seen this book, it's a treasure worth hunting for.

Here's my favorite refrain from Down the Road:

Down the road,
One and two,
Eggs for breakfast,
how-de-do!

Eggs for breakfast,
clickety-clack,
eggs for breakfast,
not a crack!

So needless to say when RA Debbie Gonzales confirmed that E.B. Lewis accepted our invitation to come to our Austin SCBWI Kick it Up a Notch regional conference and give the keynote address, my mind flew to that spot, where Hetty sat up high, high in the apple tree. Wheeee! People, we're in for a sweet, juicy, apple treat!

This week, Mark G. Mitchell, illustrator chair for the Austin SCBWI chapter included an old interview he'd done with E.B. Lewis on his blog post "Mary's Magic." And I'm pointing you toward it, it's worth every four minutes of your time to watch it. Click Here to read that post and hear the interview with E.B. There's also a wonderful glimpse into Mary Sullivan's latest picture book Ball (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013) and it, too, is worth viewing! Her illustrations capture the emotions and actions of a dog in a way that leaves you spellbound and awestruck.

I hope to see many of you starry-eyed like me when E.B. takes to the podium at the Kick It Up a Notch ASCBWI Conference. I'm holding my breath, counting the days until Saturday, February 8th, 2013. Click Here to register.