Patsy’s Book Party
Patsy’s Book Party, a set on Flickr. My former English professor, dear friend, and stunning poet Patsy Cumming recently gifted me her collection of children’s books from her youth and from her daughters’ childhoods. Children’s book illustrators, Jamie Hogan and Mary Anne Lloyd joined me to sort through the titles and to spirit away their favorites into the night. Share...
Read MoreCurious Collaborators
Thank you to NESCBWI for inviting Deborah Sloan & Company and Curious City to talk to authors and illustrators about “Working with a Book Marketing Consultant.” It was delicious to hear about Deborah’s services and to meet her clients, author/illustrator Patricia Intriago and author, Deborah Heiligman. The unexpected delight came from the prep and delivery of Curious City’s history, mission, and projects. Out of the chatter on the snow-bound, sun-scorched road trip, the downstairs Northampton curry dinner, and the Eric Carle Museum exchange of marketing...
Read MoreMECA is Haute: An Illustration Assignment for the Gods
I had the undeniable pleasure of talking book covers and the children’s book business with illustrator Mary Anne Lloyd’s small and hearty band of Maine College of Art (MECA) Illustration students today about the mighty YA series, Sirenz. Curious City played Art Director today assigning the cover design for Sirenz (Book 3) which will appear as an e-book in 2013. Students gasped over the opening disaster featured in Book 1’s trailer in one breath and analyzed the covers of Book 1 and Book 2 in the next. Seeing no connection between the design of the first two covers,...
Read MoreA Warmer World
As the snow starts to fall in Maine during a winter that has seen so little snow, one might wonder and worry about “a warmer world.” Author Caroline Arnold brought a manuscript to Charlesbridge Publishing that outlined just that–a warmer world and how different species have been lost, have struggled, and have adapted to a globe that spins now without the insulation it so desperately needs. The manuscript landed with Jamie Hogan, an illustrator whose attention to detail reflects an innate tenderness for both the world she can see and the world she curiously...
Read MoreCity of Stories (Part One, The Illustrators)
When you pop on that jet plane and trundle off to a new city for a new conference or convention, you often have very little of that city on your mind. You cannot think about the hidden glories of the city because they will most often, well, stay hidden. Between conference schedules and shuttle vans you see only the stage sets of the city. Not so, when you head to SCBWI in the City of Stories– Austin, TX (dubbed so for this blog post alone and not yet adopted by the Austin City Council) –and absorb the city through its illustrators. Upon my first stumble into the hotel,...
Read MoreBalloons Over Broadway & No Strings International
It was was with loud cheers and bright tears that children’s literature enthusiasts met the news that Melissa Sweet had won The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal for her visually stunning, playfully funny, and meticulously researched, Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade. In honor of Melissa’s brilliant work and in memory of puppeteer Tony Sarg who she so lovingly portrays, readers around the country are making small donations to No Strings International, an incredible UK charity. No Strings teams the wonderful...
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