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.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Dummy is ready to submit (I think)

The phenomenon of the dancing penguins would only happen when Julia wasn't in sight. When she wasn't there, the penguins moved and grooved, whirled and twirled, hip-hopped and boogie-bopped. But every time Julia stepped into the penguin cove, the penguins stared blankly at her.



These are from my picture book dummy that I just finished sketching last night. I've been revising this story over and over for a couple years now in between my published books. I've gone through a number of complete rewrites where the plot changed entirely, but the dancing penguins remained dancing through it all. I love this version and feel ready to submit (I think).

The picture book market is tough, but hopefully these penguins will dance their way into some agent's and editor's hearts to find a home!

I'm now Regional Advisor for Indiana SCBWI

I'm the new Regional Advisor for Indiana SCBWI!

I've learned so much from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Getting my portfolio critiqued at conferences by children's book art directors and following their advice has been so beneficial to my career. It helped me to learn the difference between the look of educational illustration, mass market illustration, and trade book illustration, and how to better portray emotion, narration, interaction, characters, and color. I've also learned a lot about what makes a great picture book manuscript (and no, not everyone can write a publishable picture book!). I want to give back to SCBWI and other children's book writers and illustrators as a volunteer Regional Advisor. It's a time-consuming job, but I'm looking forward to meeting more professionals in the ever-changing children's book industry.

Children's book people are so genuinely nice!


Photo: Trish Batey (our former Regional Advisor), Peggy Archer (Assistant Regional Advisor), and me

The Goodbye Cancer Garden

Janie spots a couple pumpkins hiding beneath elephant-ear leaves.


I'm excited to announce a picture book that I illustrated, The Goodbye Cancer Garden, is now available for pre-order from Amazon. It's written by Janna Matthies and published by Albert Whitman & Company.

In this story, Mom has cancer. When the doctor says that Mom will probably feel better by pumpkin time, the whole family decides to plant a garden. As the healthy veggies grow, Mom grows healthier too. Janna has written a beautiful story, and I pray that this book will bring hope to many families.

Midsouth SCBWI Conference 2010

Over 120 children's book writers and illustrators plus editors, agents, an art director, contests, an art display, hot fudge... what a fabulous Midsouth SCBWI conference this weekend!

My dancing penguins in their old-fashioned attire above won Honorable Mention in the illustration contest, and my manuscript won Honorable Mention in the picture book contest. Yay!

Some of my favorite notes from the conference:

As an example of using voice in manuscripts, Ruta Rimas (Balzer & Bray) rewrote Mo Willem's DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS without voice. Basically something like, "Once there was a pigeon with big googly eyes. A mean man wouldn't let him drive a bus but the pigeon really wanted to..." Then Ruta read the actual text of the book with the pigeon pleading and yelling at us. Wow. So much more effective and playful.

"Put every word on trial for its life," from the book READING LIKE A WRITER by Francine Prose.

Is your picture book manuscript strong enough to carry an $18 price tag? - Diane Muldrow (Random House).

From the first pages session by Agents Kelly Sonnack and Linda Pratt:
Text and illustrations are a comic duo - the text is the setup man for the illustrations.
Books don't need to teach imagination to kids. They already have it!
Too much description in an action scene slows down the pacing. Keep the action building with forward momentum.
Make your reader feel smart. They shouldn't have to reread to get it.

From an art session by Patti Ann Harris (Senior Art Director, Little, Brown) and Diane Muldrow (Editorial Director, Random House):
Your character needs to be strong, winning, and loveable but not necessarily likeable.
Patti Ann will go to illustrators' websites, pull some jpgs, and print them on a sheet with the illustrator's name for her files, so you need a portfolio website.
Be yourself on your website. Don't overdo it with Flash and things that take awhile to load and are distracting.
Emotional resonance is key in illustrations.
It's all about the character. Everyone can draw a car, but not everyone can draw a character with strong personality/humor/emotion.
Mailers need to have focus, kind of like a book cover. It should grab you from across the room, and shouldn't be too busy.
Study online PDFs of catalogs from different publishers to understand the "look" of each publisher.

The only sad part of the weekend was my continued cupcake tragedy. The conference is held across the street from Gigi's Cupcakes. Last year I was pregnant and I waited until after dinner to try to satisfy my huge cupcake craving. It was too late - the cupcake shop was closed! This year I vowed to get my hands on those cupcakes before dinner, but the shop closed even earlier this year and so I didn't get them again! Next year, you cupcakes will be MINE!