Wednesday Links

Why Picture Books Are Important

Picture Book Month!

Calendar designed and illustrated by Elizabeth O. Dulemba  Logo by Joyce Wan

November is Picture Book Month! So head over and help celebrate. 
You'll find new posts each day from champions in the field 
reminding us of why picture books are important. Just follow this link.

Links, links, and more links!

Author and illustrator Megan Bair has put together a wonderful blog, full of monthly interviews, reviews, illustration "Greats", reading lists, tutorials, but best of all, she features an Illustrator of the Day. Every day! How's that for inspiration! Follow her passion at Children’s Illustrator’s on Fire. Megan Bair, your blog is on fire! Follow here Facebook page here.

Four very talented gals got together to host Mini-Interviews 2013 on their blogs each week for the month of November: Juana Martinez-Neal on Tuesdays, Molly Idle on Wednesdays, Mikela Prevost on Thursdays and Laura Jacobsen on Fridays. And it didn't just start this year. Head back in time and check out the interviews from 2012 and 2011.

Over at Design Mom, writer, librarian, and designer Carter Higgins takes on the Author Interview Series. Yup! Click on that link. There are tons of great interviews. You'll find plenty of illustration there too! Plus, her blog Design of the Picture Book is loaded with just that. Wonderfully designed picture books. 

Heck, follow all the links listed in this post. You're in for a real treat!

Wednesday Links

I must have found this on one of those days when I was reacting just like those people on the commercial for Bing. It's in my bookmarked folder, but I have no recollection of how I found it, or where it came from. But I'm glad I bookmarked it! It's a good one. Here's the link. How to be a Children's Book Illustrator. Last week they had some great videos with Caldecott Medal Winner Brian Selznick. Oh, and try not to get lost while you're checking it out.

Wednesday Links

Cybil 2008 Fiction Picture Book Finalists
I'm a little late here, but in case you haven't checked out the the Children's & Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards, the finalist were posted last week. There are some awesome titles in the running. And they're in great company with last year's winner and finalists. To see the 2008 finalist in all categories go here.


Quentin Blake-Ten minutes of Illustration
Got an extra ten minutes? Be sure to check out this video of British Illustrator Quentin Blake as he tours you through his studio and demonstrates the method he has used to illustrate over 300 books! I love his system for archiving all of his original artwork. Simply amazing to see. You can also check out a slide show of his workspace and tools.

Wednesday Links

Check out what books are winning awards!
NY Times Best Illustrated Children's books

Check out contests and book giveaways.
Cynsations
Anastasia Suen's Blog
The Apple (Teachers only-Winner gets 35 Autographed Copies of Jack of All Tails by Kim Norman for their school.)

Check out a great round-up of holiday books.
Wild Rose Reader

Remember to support the industry.

Links

Stop by my friend and fellow illustrator's blog for a great round-up (with photos!) of the Founders' Workshop in Honesdale, Pennsylvania put on by the Highlights Foundation. Tanja is always great at sharing everything she learns and continually supports our local talent. Thanks for passing on our promos Tanja!
Tanja Bauerle's Blog

You'll find a great video with Patrick Arrasmith explaining how he creates his amazing scratchboard illustrations and how book design helps define what he creates at:
Mishaps and Adventures

Head over and find the answers to "Seven Questions Over Breakfast with Brian Lies" and see some very cool behind the scenes sketches (Love Brian’s sketch of the library from Bats at the Library!) at:
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Don't forget to keep checking the Cynsations Blog. There's been some great giveaways. And of course always great interviews. You might even get lucky and win a book like I did. This week my mailbox held this little treasure. Listening for Crickets by David Gifaldi . Thank you Cynthia!

Wednesday Links

Just for fun check out these links!

Test Your Color IQ*
Left Brain vs Right Brain Test
A Royal Test
Spinning Wheels
Checker Board

On the color IQ test I scored a 4 the first time. In my category, the best is a 0 and the worst is 1409, so I took it again to see if I could get a perfect score. I came up with a 3 the second time. The blue-greens were my trouble area. Thanks go to Jennifer at Art Words Life for the link.

On the left vs right test found out I can make my brain work both ways!

On the Royal test I made a very good guess. That's all it was, a guess . But interesting answer.

The other two are just plain mind games, but maybe this isn't all just for fun. Color theory and reasoning skills are good things to brush up on. If you want a better understanding how color works, you can read about Josef Albers and color theory here.

Wednesday Links

For an inside look, and a wonderfully detailed post by editor Alvina Ling on how illustrators are chosen head over to

The Blue Rose Girls

For some wrap-ups on the Rabbit Hill Festival of Literature check out these great blogs.

The Blue Rose Girls
Wild Rose Reader
Art Words Life

Thanks Alvina, Grace, Elaine, and Jennifer!

Wednesday Links

Have you headed over to the Cybils (the premier Web awards for children's literature) to nominate your favorite book of 2008 yet? Don't forget to do it by October 15! You can read the rules here. Remember, once a book has been nominated it's in. No need to second that nomination.

I'm looking forward to nominating a book this year. Last year I had the honor of being one of the judges in the fiction picture book category, and felt it would be wrong to have a favorite going in. But not to worry. Others liked a certain book just as much as I did. It made it to the finals! With the first-round panelists narrowing it down to these outstanding finalists, it was a fierce battle. But in the end, a well deserved win went to The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County.

Pam Coughlan, the organizer of the 2008 Cybils fiction picture book category, sums it up best. "A good picture book is a pleasing merger of text and artwork. A great picture book is a celebration of story and illustration, with lasting appeal for kids and/or adults. The best picture books completely excel in art, story, kid-friendliness, and adult appeal."

Check out these links for all the previous winners.
2006 Cybils Awards
2007 Cybils Awards

Wednesday Links

Read a Banned Book!


Join Random House in the fight against censorship. Celebrate your First Amendment right. Read a banned book! Check out the list of banned books Random House has put together. You'll be amazed at what you see. Their First Amendment First Aide Kit site features interviews with banned authors, strategies for teachers, librarians, and booksellers to stand up to censorship, and tips for talking about these issues.

Just the other day my daughter noticed I had Lois Lowry's The Giver sitting out. She told me it was "a really good book." My kids had read it in school. I'm so glad our local schools have not succumbed to censorship. That's the banned book I'm going to read. How about you?

Wednesday Links-Must have books

Here's a new book I ran across recently that I just have to add to my library. Check it out! I'm very excited about the first one. It falls in a category that seems to rarely see new additions.

Show and Tell: Exploring the Fine Art of Children's Book Illustration
by Dilys Evans.









It can join these others on my book shelf.

Illustrating Children's Books
By Martin Salisbury











A Caldecott Celbration
By Lenard S. Marcus










Wings of an Artist
by Julie Cummins









Talking With Artists (Series)
by Pat Cummings *










And these that I hope to have soon.

Artist to Artist
by Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art










Pass It Down
By Lenard S. Marcus









* Update on Pat Cummings workshop: If you are in town for Pat's workshop on October 4th be sure to join her at a Picture Book Writer's Roundtable on Friday evening. You can find more information and sign up here.

Wdnesday Links

Have you seen what's cooking over at Book Roast yet? There's a great line-up this month. Starting off the week, you'll find the following agent, editor roasts. Questions will be answered throughout the day and books will be given away!

Mon, Sept 8: Evil Editor
Tues, Sep 9: Editorial Anonymous
Wed, Sep 10: Mystery Agent
Thurs, Sep 11: Moonrat
Fri, Sept 12: Janet Reid

Talk about links! Be sure to check in at Cynsations this week too. I always find tons of great information on her blog. Cynthia Leitich Smith is celebrating the 10th anniversary of her website with more great interviews, and a 10th anniversary giveaway. Love those interviews! Congratulations and thank you Cynthia!

First Books is running their What Book Got You hooked? literacy awareness campaign again this year. You can cast a vote, share a memory of the first book that made reading fun for you and help get more kids hooked. They will be giving away 50,000 new books for children in need to the state that receives the most votes. (Voting ends Sept. 15th.) Last year I wrote about the book that hooked me here.

Wednesday Links

Highlights Foundation's website is a great resource for writers. In addition to the wonderful workshops they offer, you will find a whole library of writing tips given at previous Highlights Foundation Writers Workshop at Chautauqua. You can search the archives by topic, author, or title.

While I'm on tips, have you seen Writer's Digest Writing Tip of the Day? Today's tip comes from Jane Yolen, directly from her book Take Joy. (Which every writer needs to have!)

Don't forget to sign up for CWIM's monthly newsletter. You'll be one of the first to get news, tips, and market information hot off the desk of editor Alice Pope. The email sign-up can be found at the top of the homepage.

And no, you're not off a day. It's me. It really is Thursday. This short week just has me off a day!

Wednesday Links

Now that summer is over, school has started, and it's back to a scheduled life, I'm giving myself a deadline. For me deadlines make things happen. In the past I posted on this blog at whim. I still will for the most part, but I've decided to reserve one day a week for posting links to other great blogs I've run across. This will help me remember where to find them, and help spread the word. (Sometimes one link leads to another, and another, and another, and I forget where I started!)

Book design links:
Book Design Review
Jacket Whys

What editors want (In manuscript submissions and web portfolios):
Full Circle Literary
Editorial Anonymous

Challenge, and future quiz, on "Everything We Think You Should Know If You're Going To Call Yourself a Pro In This Field":
Susan Sandmore

Studio lighting:
Gurney Journey

Thanks Mishaps and Adventures for the book design links.