Merry Christmas!

Wow, Christmas is in 4 days! Last year was my first daughter's first Christmas. This year is my second daughter's first Christmas. It's so eye-opening to see Christmas through a child's eyes. One of the traditions we started last year was to make a birthday cake for Jesus for Christmas day and sing Happy Birthday to him. I'm looking forward to that again!

Illustration Friday - sink

From a picture book I illustrated called Cora Cooks Pancit.

PiBoIdMo

Have you heard of PiBoIdMo? It stands for Picture Book Idea Month, and it's a challenge you can sign up for to pledge to create 30 new picture book ideas in 30 days. It's quite tough to come up with one unique picture book idea that could make it in this market, much less 30 of them! But hey, let's give it a try. Want to join in?

Sweet blessing

Been a bit busy lately:

Meet Jovie!

App Giveaway of Cora Cooks Pancit

One of the picture books I illustrated has been turned into an app for iPhone/iPad and Android. The publisher is hosting a giveaway with 15 winners. Fun!

From a manuscript I'm writing

Little Wings Series, Conferences, Baby

So sorry for neglecting my blog for months! Anyone still out there?

It's been a busy time around here. I'm illustrating a series for Random House called Little Wings by Cecilia Galante and these books are oh so adorably cute. They're now listed on Random House's website.


Back in April/May, I hosted my first conference as Regional Advisor of Indiana SCBWI. I added a whole lot of stuff to the conference that we hadn't had before, the biggest being tacking on a day of intensives. The writing intensive sold out in 24 hours and the illustrating intensive sold out in 48 hours, and the entire conference and all individual critiques ending up selling out too - yay! It was wonderful to see so many writers and illustrators working on their craft and crawling out of their writing spaces and studios to get to know each other and be inspired. These conferences always give me such a boost. Here I am with one of our conference speakers, Lisa Yoskowitz from Disney/Hyperion, and one of my critique group members, Christi Atherton:


Soon I'm taking off for the big Summer SCBWI Conference in Los Angeles. I'm organizing my portfolio for the Portfolio Showcase and just about every piece is from this year. Even some super brand new ones from this week. I'm praying all goes well with traveling because I'll be 33 weeks pregnant! Lovin' the 3D ultrasounds of our little sweetheart:

Any name ideas for her? Her big sister's name is Ciana.

Agent & Book Announcement!

I have double great news: I'm now represented by an amazing literary agent, Linda Pratt of Wernick & Pratt Agency! And Random House is acquiring my picture book currently titled PENGUIN CHA-CHA!

PENGUIN CHA-CHA is about sneaky, dancing penguins (what could be more fun than sneaky, dancing penguins?) and will be the first picture book that I've both written and illustrated. Yay!

Hope you had a lovely Easter yesterday celebrating Jesus' return to life - the ultimate comeback after being dead 3 days!

There are a lot of exclamation points in this post. It's all so exciting!

Bookfair

The SCBWI Brunch & Bookfair on Saturday was loads of fun!

Here I am with three very talented authors, Rebecca Kai Dotlich (our upcoming conference speaker), Peggy Archer (my Assistant Regional Advisor), and Janna Matthies (the author of the book I illustrated, The Goodbye Cancer Garden):
Signing Dancing Dreams for an outgoing reader:
14 of our signing authors and illustrators (1 had to duck out early). Laurie Gray, Janna Matthies, me, Nathan Clement, Ron Mazellan, Peggy Archer, Lynn Rowe Reed, Keiko Kasza, Christine Johnson, Julia Karr, Saundra Mitchell, Margaret McMullan, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, and Tracy Richardson:

The Bookfair is still going on online, so if you're planning on buying any books soon from Barnes & Noble, go to bn.com/bookfairs to support Indiana SCBWI online before 03/10/11 by entering Bookfair ID 10417145 at checkout.

Bookfair March 5th

This Saturday, I'll be one of 15 children's book writers and illustrators signing books and giving presentations at Barnes & Noble in Carmel, Indiana on the north side of Indianapolis from noon to 2pm. Please come!

12:00 to 12:25—Middle Grade and YA authors panel:
Saundra Mitchell
Marlis Day
Laurie Gray
Julia Karr
12:30 to 12:55—Middle Grade and YA authors panel:
Christine Johnson
Margaret McMullan
Tracy Richardson
1:00—song by Janna Mathies
1:05 to 1:25—Picture book authors panel:
Peggy Archer
Rebecca Kai Dotlich
Janna Mathies
1:30—Illustration demonstration by Lynn Rowe Reed
1:40 to 1:55—Picture book author/illustrators panel:
Kristi Valiant
Nathan Clement
Keiko Kasza
Ron Mazellan
Lynn Rowe Reed

Starred Review and my monkey-lovin' baby

Janna Matthies and I received a STARRED REVIEW from School Library Journal for our picture book, THE GOODBYE CANCER GARDEN!

"Smoothly told in a reassuringly matter-of-fact and understated way, this is less a story about cancer than about one family’s response to it... Realistic emotions like her general sadness or Janie’s brother’s dismay at his mom’s baldness are included, but are downplayed. The sketchy illustrations are tender and sweet. After the first “breaking the news” scene, every page depicts grateful smiles and loving camaraderie. Outdoor scenes provide a feeling of fresh air and the healing of nature. An uplifting, hopeful story, well told and beautifully illustrated." - STARRED REVIEW School Library Journal

"A family uses creativity and humor to cope with a mother's breast cancer treatment in this heartening and informed story... wispy illustrations are characterized by frenetic sketchy outlines that initially heighten the children's nervousness, but later feel suggestive of the family's energy and hopefulness, which should reassure children facing similar ordeals." - Publishers Weekly

"An unexpectedly upbeat text and delicate illustrations distinguish this story based on the true experiences of a family’s journey through breast cancer treatment and recovery....it is a rare youth title about cancer that focuses on recovery rather than dealing only with loss." - Booklist

In more personal news, I can't believe my baby girl is 1 already!




And boy, does she love her Curious George.

Illustration Friday - Dusty

Heidi sure got dusty on her trek up the mountain. The goats didn't mind.

I entered this piece in the SCBWI Tomie dePaola Award Competition. The assignment was to illustrate the opening couple paragraphs from the novel, Heidi. You can see the winning entries on SCBWI's website.