At a recent meeting of New England Children’s Booksellers Advisory Council, Ken Geist, vice president and editorial director of Orchard Books and Cartwheel Books and author of the picture book The Three Little Fish, pleaded with booksellers to promote picture books. You can read the full article here.
In the ensuing discussion, one bookseller suggested making next year the Year of the Picture Book.
What a great idea!!
My mind is all a twitter with ideas for the Year of the Picture Book and of course at the forefront would have to be our beloved audience – kids.
So even though no one has declared 2011 “the year” yet, let’s get the ball rolling and have some fun. Let’s plan, right here on this blog, the perfect Year of the Picture Book.
Maybe it will be 2012 or 2013. Or maybe every year should be “the year.” No ideas are too big or too small, so let’s hear yours. And who knows – maybe someone will listen.
This summer, my daughter Molly and I are traveling to Iganga, Uganda to spend two weeks with the kids at Musana Children’s Home.
If you have any doubts that anyone can make a difference, please read the story of how three college-age girls founded this home and school for over one hundred vulnerable children and orphans, most of which have lost parents to HIV/AIDS. Musana gives these children a loving home where they are properly cared for and inspired to pursue a future. In addition to their education, the children at Musana participate in activities such as: arts and crafts, music, income generating activities, agriculture, and spirituality.
Among the donations I’ll be taking with me to Musana, I’d love to take books. But with airline baggage weight restrictions, I’m afraid hardback books would tip the scales. So after talking to the folks at Musana, we decided to go for quantity versus quality – softcover books, that is.
(Please be assured I’m only referring to the physical quality of paperback books. I trust the content to be always of the highest quality.)
So, if you have any extra F&Gs or softcover picture books that you’d be willing to donate, please e-mail me at reidy(dot)jean(at)gmail(dot)com and I’ll send you my address. I’ll be collecting until July 1st. Musana is a 501(c)(3) and all donations are tax deductible.
Thanks for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you … and possibly reading your book to those beautiful children. Best, Jean
Just when I thought life couldn’t get crazier, June hit like a Volkswagen of clowns. But not to worry. The end of July and beginning of August will bring not only my TOO PICKLEY! Party but also my next Picture Book Peek Week – a free critique contest for my fellow picture books writers.
I know that feels like a long way off, but consider using the next few weeks to polish up your picture books.
As a gift for your patience, here are 6 Tips for Writing Picture Books from my fellow Colorado author Kathleen Pelley. Kathleen enchants young readers and engages listeners with her lovely Scottish voice. I hope you’re inspired by her gentle passion.
Well, actually not resting, just blog darn quiet. Had a college grad and now I have a couple of kids home that I don’t get to see so much. When they leave, in a few days, I’ll be revving up the Romp again. You can’t count on it.
… and your friends will be pickle-green with envy! Okay, maybe that’s going too far but I couldn’t resist because – I’m giving away one autographed F&G of TOO PICKLEY! which doesn’t officially hit bookstore shelves until 7/6/10.
Three generous and talented Nashville authors – Victoria Schwab, Amanda Morgan and Myra McEntire – have joined forces to help flood ravaged Nashville, Tennessee.
In Victoria Schwab’s own words:
So if you haven’t heard, Nashville, TN is in a MAJOR crisis.
On May 1st and 2nd, Nashville, Tennessee received a record amount of rain—nearly 13.5 inches.
By May 3rd, huge portions of our city were under water, including the The Grand Ole Opry, Opryland, The Nashville Symphony Hall, the downtown area, and countless homes. Families, many of whom did not have flood insurance, have lost everything. One of the hydro plants is flooded, which means we’re running short on water. Many lives have been extinguished and more bodies are being recovered each day.
Essentially, our city is drowning.
Three Nashville authors, myself included, are going to be auctioning off critiques, signed books, and more from authors, agents, editors, and other industry professionals.
I applaud these ladies for stepping up to help their beautiful city and I’ll be adding a Picture Book Peek Critique to the list of auction items – so watch for it soon.
In the meantime, bid high and bid often at Do the Write Thing for Nashville and we can rescue our reading and our writing all while we help rescue our lovely sister city, Nashville.
Little kids have a lot to say. In fact, during my school visits, I wouldn’t need to do much talking at all. I could simply introduce myself and my suitcase of “uncomfy clothes” and the kids would take it from there – most likely talking about neither.
Recently a precocious kindergartner treated me to a complete commentary on Mo Willems, all Mo’s books and what makes them special. She was delighted to know that I’m a big Mo fan as well. Never mind, TOO PURPLEY!, TOO PICKLEY! or any other book I’ve written. We were completely wrapped up in pigeons and stuffed bunnies and the magic of our favorite books.
But my chats with the kids often trail off on unexpected tangents having little to do with books or reading or writing.
During a recent discussion about one of the pictures in TOO PURPLEY! a sweet little boy raised his hand and said, “I’ve got a lot of bowling stuff.” Of course, I had to wonder if that meant this tot actually donned his own bowling shirt with his name stitched on the pocket – after all, we’d been talking about clothes. But I never got a chance to explore the comment because several hands shot up. “I’ve been bowling.” “I bowled a strike once.” “I love bowling.” And even a bit later when the moderating teacher asked, “Now does anyone have any questions for Miss Jean about her books or about being an author?” one girl shyly raised her hand and said, “One time when I went bowling, I got a pink ball.” She hadn’t gotten to tell me earlier.
I’ve heard about pets, living and dead. I’ve heard about toys, and grandmas and babies. I’ve heard about The Princess and the Frog and why one little guy loves Tony Hawk. And every once in a while we talk about my books – and it usually comes in the form of advice as to what I should write about. Hmmmm. Maybe my next book should be about bowling.
Maybe it’s something in my books or my suitcase or my face (I think that’s where the grandmas stories come from) that lights their little light bulbs and rockets their hands high in the air until they can hardly hold in their news. Ideas come to life often from unlikely inspiration.
But no matter what the source of their sparks, I love that these brilliant little ones have so many stories to share – and they feel so comfortable sharing them with me.
Broken Links Mended Lives: A selection of short stories by members of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, Janet Lane, Susan Mackay Smith and Jeanne C. Stein, editors, RMFW Press
A Dozen on Denver: Stories, Rocky Mountain News, editor, Fulcrum Publishing
Beats At Naropa: An Anthology, Anne Waldman and Laura Wright, editors, Coffee House Press
Biography
Rosalie Edge, Hawk of Mercy: The Activist Who Saved Nature from the Conservationists, by Dyana Z. Furmansky, The University of Georgia Press
Turbulence Before Takeoff: The Life & Times of Aviation Pioneer Marlon DeWitt Green, by Flint Whitlock, Cable Publishing
Eddie Robinson “…he was the Martin Luther King of football” by Denny Dressman, ComServ Books
Children’s Literature
Always My Brother by Jean Reagan, illustrated by Phyllis Pollema-Cahill, Tilbury House Publishers
Grandmother, Have the Angels Come? by Denise Vega, illustrated by Erin Eitter Kono, Little, Brown and Company
Mule Train Mail by Craig Brown, Charlesbridge
The Splatters Learn Some Manners by Marty Mokler Banks, illustrated by Cecilia Rébora, Harvest House Publishers
Creative Nonfiction
Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America by Helen Thorpe, Scribner
Power In The Blood: A Family Narrative by Linda Tate, Ohio University Press
A Dragon’s Tale by Long Lee, Tate Publishing
General Nonfiction
Voices of the American West by Corinne Platt & Meredith Ogilby, Fulcrum Publishing
Between XX and XY: Intersexuality and the Myth of Two Sexes by Gerald N. Callahan, Ph.D., Chicago Review Press
Going Green: True Tales from Gleaners, Scavengers, and Dumpster Divers, Laura Pritchett, editor, University of Oklahoma Press
Genre Fiction – Historical & Romance
A Land Beyond Ravens: Book 4 of the Macsen’s Treasure Series by Kathleen Cunningham Guler, Bardsong Press
Hawkmoon: A Novel by Nancy Williams, Loon in Balloon
Sage Cane’s House of Grace & Favor by Christy Hubbard, Five Star
