woolly mammoth boogers . . .

"When you drink water through your trunk, does it taste like boogers?" -- Ice Age 4



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If you haven't been following Rob Sanders' Picture This blog, you don't know what you're missing. This week it's all about First-Book Deals, so far we've heard from Fred Koehler and Aimee Reid.



My own book, Rabbit Surprise, had been rejected like 10 or 12 times (or maybe more), and I had given up on it, filed it away some place . . . and 2 years later . . . I get this phone call . . . where a slush-reader had liked the story, had not been able to convince the powers-that-be, had saved the story and now that she was working at a different publishing house and was one of the powers-that-be herself (Thank You Tracy!) . . . well, that's my story.


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and here's a little article I enjoyed reading: The Dot and Ish by Peter H. Reynolds


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kiss a frog, eat a bug

"There is no way I'm kissing a frog and eating a bug in the same day." - Princess Tiana, from The Princess and the Frog

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Listen to Elizabeth Ellis and Brother Wolf talk about how Story helps develop empathy and build a solid foundation of ethical behavior in children at The Art of Storytelling.


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Check out the Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Chat Board at Verla Kay's Website, I found the thread entitled 'rising above the slush' particularly insightful. 


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and, sadly, an obit: Else Minarik, 91, author of ‘Little Bear’ picture books


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and this youtube, brought to my attention by the amazing Donna Washington:

I don't eat cats . . .

"Chill out, man.  I don't eat cats... Too much fur." -  Dodger, on first meeting Oliver.

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July 16 . . . my birthday! all I really, really want is a Book Contract ! lol. 4 manuscripts in the mail, 2 additional stories going through final revisions and 3 more stories in the creation process.


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and this tip from Kathy Temean's blog, Sharing Information About Writing and Illustrating for Children, lots of good stuff here, be sure to pay the site a visit.


"This should turn as light on for a smart published picture book author. Getting your book’s illustrator featured on Illustrator Saturday is a great way to drum up more publicity for your book."


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and a great article on one author's journey in creating, revising and getting published. Go read about Amy Timberlake and "The Dirty Cowboy" on Harold Underdown's fabulously informational The Purple Crayon website.


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gravel in the bed . . .

"If kids like a picture book, they're going to read it at least 50 times. Read anything that often, and even minor imperfections start to feel like gravel in the bed." -- Mark Haddon 

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and this morning i stumbled across this:

Network with PEOPLE in the children's book industry
700+ Children's book-related BLOGS
Database of 900,000+ CHILDREN'S BOOKS
reviews of books on Members' BOOKSHELVES
Database of 200,000+ CHILDREN'S BOOK CREATORS
Book Videos (Trailers, Interviews, Readings, and more)

JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults 


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Author and historian Leonard Marcus discusses children's literature from colonial times to present day. His colleague Audrey Niffenegger muses on her own interaction with childrens books and the impact they've had on her work. Donna Seaman moderates.

becoming real . . .

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real." -- Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

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i just discovered Southern Breeze SCBWI . . . serving Alabama, Georgia & Mississippi . . . check out their homepage and while your there read their newsletter!

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interesting BEA podcast entitled BEA Selects: Reader Centric Publishing – Bringing Authors and Readers Together some really interesting stuff here on what publishers are doing to help bring authors and readers together using the various forms of social media.

and a whole pageful of brief picture-book author interviews from BEA (BookExpo America).

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and this really, really, cool youtube of Oliver Jeffers reading STUCK:

commonplace language, startling power

“It's possible, in a poem or short story, to write about commonplace things and objects using commonplace but precise language, and to endow those things—a chair, a window curtain, a fork, a stone, a woman's earring—with immense, even startling power.”  ― Raymond Carver


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I've stumbled upon another awesomely amazing blog: Kimberly Lynn! She's got lotsa pictures, information, insight, links and . . . well, i'm still working my way through the archives. Stop in and check it out.


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picture book news:


from publisher's weekly
CafePress Partners with Penguin Young Readers Group



and from licensing biz: 
Angelina Ballerina UK 'mousical' confirmed


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Candlewick's 'We Believe in Picture Books' (which i discovered via Kimberly, thank you!) . . . 365 days, 365 stories, 365 videos! . . . starting in August. I can't wait . . . but it gets better . . . you can submit your own video! how cool is that. check out the submission guidelines.

He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.

"Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters, sometimes very hastily, but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, 'Dear Jim: I loved your card.' Then I got a letter back from his mother, and she said, 'Jim loved your card so much he ate it.' That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. . . . He saw it, he loved it, he ate it." -Maurice Sendak in an interview on NPR's "Fresh Air"


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Yesterday I was listening to a DNTO podcast with an interesting talk to Marc Kuly of the  Storytelling Classroom, and that's just one of the interviews in What is the Real Power of Story?


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Be sure to check out Rob Sanders' final segment in his interview with Frances Gilbert, Editorial Director at Doubleday Children’s Books, Random House at Picture This!


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