January 2009 Archives

I'd be a very bad children's lit blogger if I didn't mention that the ALA announced the Caldecott and Newbery award-winners today. Big congratulations to The House in the Night by Susan Marie Sawnson and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Also honored with the Coretta Scott King award were The Blacker the Berry by Joyce Carol Thomas, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, and We Are the Ship, written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson.

After you check out all the winners, run over to Neil Gaiman's blog for his shocked reaction to the award.

Almost everyone is familiar with the Caldecott and Newberry awards for children's books, but you might be surprised to learn about the "Off the Cuff" awards put out by Publishers Weekly. The awards ask booksellers to name their favorite (and not so favorite) children's books of the year. Beyond the typical categories of "Best Picture Book" and "Best Novel," there are some more... unusual... categories to check out:

Book You Couldn't Shut Up About: Savvy
Book You Wish Everyone Would Shut Up About: Twilight
Oddest Request by a Customer: "Do you have anyone here who would be willing to dress up as a leprechaun and come to my daughter's class and read Irish stories?"

Just One More Book is a great podcast focusing exclusively on children's books. Last year, they did a short interview with John Thompson, our president. In addition, the podcast did two separate episodes featuring two of our books, Cassandra's Angel and Little Squarehead. These podcasts are a terrific way to get to know our books and our company, if you aren't already familiar.

And, in case you missed out on last week's live interview with Maureen Moss and Gerald Purnell, author and illustrator of God's Promise, I've got the archived file embedded below for you.

The latest in our series of author/illustrator interviews at OnlineWithAndrea happens in just over an hour! The creators of God's Promise, author Maureen Moss and illustrator Gerald Purnell, will be speaking live and available for your questions. Get the inside scoop on the creative process for this inspiring book.

If you miss the interview, it will be archived on the OnlineWithAndrea website, and I will also embed a copy here for easy listening.

One of our illustrators, Steve Jameson (aka "Wodin") was recently featured in his hometown newspaper. The article delves into Jameson's inspiration and vision for illustrating Just Imagine:

Jameson was going through a "rough spell" in his life when three unrelated people from different areas in the country shared the same dream. They all had a dream of a spirit that told them to contact Jameson and tell him he was in God's hands.

Jameson thought back to when he used to play on a sand pile with his cars and trucks on the farmland near his home. He realized while he played that his mom was at home caring for his six siblings and his father was at work downtown at a finance office, and no one really knew where he was.

"I was having so much fun with my cars and trucks that it just occurred to me when I saw that vision that if there was a God and he was looking down at little Stevie playing there then maybe that's how God gets pleasure out of this creation, by watching all the children in the world play," Jameson said. "How much fun that must be to vicariously enjoy that experience through children."

If you enjoy the article, you may also want to check out an interview I did with Steve Jameson on this very website last year.

The Children's Books Blog for Illustrators has some great tips for aspiring picture book illustrators. Among them is this gem:

If you want to illustrate a picture book, send samples of work that looks like it could go into a picture book. Avoid art that looks to commercial or cartoon-networky (this varies from publisher to publisher). Subjects need to be appropriate for children's books, not for a business meeting (for example, a man in a suit). Your artwork should tell a story without words.

I can't tell you how many times I've received a sample that looks like it fell out of a Disney cartoon. I put those samples directly in the trash. We want to see examples of your unique style, not the styles of your teacher or your biggest inspiration.