Big Cat Pepper kindness

There have been a couple nice new reviews for Big Cat Pepper:A spread from WNC Parent Magazine, February 2010 issue (click to enlarge).

Also, a very kind review from the cool Canadian blog, Books r Fun!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Georgia and Alabama like Buffalo Music!

Cool new news: Buffalo Music has been nominated for the 2010-2011 Georgia Book Award! This award was established in 1968 by Sheldon Root, a professor at the Department of Education at the University of Georgia. The award was started to promote a love of reading in the children of Georgia. This month students across the state will vote on which book they feel should win. More info about the award, and a complete list of this years nominees can be found right here.

Also (!), Buffalo Music is being considered for the Alabama Camellia Children's Choice Award! The Alabama Camellia Award program (formerly known as the Emphasis on Reading program) selects books from three grade level categories: K-1, 2-3, and 4-6. For the full list of nominees please check out their website.

It is such a great feeling to know that so many little hands will be holding and flipping through the pages of this book. HUGE thanks to the states of Georgia and Alabama for recognizing Buffalo Music and including it on their short lists!

Hooray for Papa's Way!

The Cooperative Children's Book Center has just come out with their CCBC Choices 2010 annual best-of-the-year list, and That's Papa's Way is on it! The Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) is a unique examination, study and research library of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The complete CCBC Choices 2010 publication will be available March 6th, and will include annotations and recommended ages for all of the books included, as well as an author/title/subject index, and a commentary on the publishing year. Thanks so much to this years panel of ladies, Kathleen T. Horning, Merri V. Lindgren and Megan Schliesman and Tessa Michaelson, for selecting Papa's Way!
*You can check out the complete list of titles right here

ALFIE in Japanese!

My editor just shared the exciting news that my new book ALFIE RUNS AWAY, written by Ken Cadow, is going to be published in Japanese! Holp Shuppan will be publishing the edition in the next 24 months~I can't wait!

p.s. the U.S. edition hits shelves this Spring. More info on ALFIE to come!

brooklyn blizzard

I love that it is snowing today while I'm wrapping up my Christmas book. Perfect timing. And I also love how cute the little green car looks right across the street~~Yay for snow days :)

It's still Christmas over here...

I refuse to take down my fake mini tree until I finish this book! Nearing the end of final art for a project with Simon and Schuster, now titled CHRISTMAS IS HERE. In three weeks all the art will be complete, and on its way to China to print in time for publication this Fall. Fastest turnaround on a book I've ever experienced. I'm used to waiting a good 1.5 years to see a final product, so it's pretty fun that I'll be holding a bound copy of this sucker in just a few short months (well, maybe 6 or 8, but still FAST). I'll share more about the project later on this year, as publication time approaches...For now, back to the drawing board. Got a deadline to make!

Happy 2010!

A new year, a new studio! Well, very soon! And while the new studio is being renovated, I am temporarily set up in my living room, in the back of the apartment. I'm loving it because my desk faces the windows, where I can watch the neighborhood cats and squirrels walk wires and fences between backyards all day long. And each evening as the sun says goodbye, the buildings become one beautiful silhouette against the darkening sky. This evening I was inspired to make a little ink and watercolor because it was just that pretty :)

Wishing you all a very happy 2010, filled with much beauty & wonder~

Feature on 7-imp

Today, Jules over at the fabulous Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog has featured my two books that came out this year~Thank you, Jules! Please drop on by and take a look at some of the art from That's Papa's Way, and Big Cat Pepper. Jules also highlighted some of the beautiful art from Leslie Evans newest title, Faces of the Moon. Maybe you are still in search of that last minute Christmas gift for a child you know...books are always a wonderful present :)

Happy Holidays everyone!

Come out to the Brooklyn Museum!

This Saturday I'll be signing books, along with many lovely and talented authors & illustrators, at the Brooklyn Museum's 3rd annual Children's Book Fair. Come say HI, and grab some early Christmas gifts for your friends and family!