Look what Justin Chanda @jpchanda sent me from the ALA conference last night (!!)

Thanks SOOOOO MUCH to Judy Blume and my editor Justin Chanda for this wonderful photo  taken yesterday at the annual American Library Association conference (ALA). This photo makes me VERY VERY HAPPY FOR MANY REASONS. Here's more info about the revamped books from Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, how I became a Judy Blume illustrator and my history as a Judy Blume fangirl.

#BookADay: SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE by Morgan Matson @morgan_m

Just finished reading SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE by Morgan Matson (Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, 2014). Loved this book, especially the main character, Emily. How I wish this book had been published years ago! I was very much like Emily when I was a teen: timid and insecure on my own, plus I spent a chunk of time in the shadow of a much more outgoing friend. Reading this book might have helped give me the courage to step out of my friend's shadow and find my own adventures.

Something else I loved: the twist on the stereotypical timid girl/outgoing or mean girl scenario. I won't go into details for fear of giving away spoilers. Read this book!

Synopsis:

The Pre-Sloane Emily didn't go to parties, she barely talked to guys, she didn't do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—the one who yanks you out of your shell.But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just... disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list. On it, thirteen Sloane-selected-definitely-bizarre-tasks that Emily would never try... unless they could lead back to her best friend.

Apple Picking at Night? Ok, easy enough.

Dance until Dawn? Sure. Why not?

Kiss a Stranger? Wait... what?

Getting through Sloane’s list would mean a lot of firsts. But Emily has this whole unexpected summer ahead of her, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected) to check things off. Who knows what she’ll find?

Go Skinny Dipping? Um...

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Find out more about Donalyn Miller's Summer Book-A-Day Challenge on the Nerdy Book Club site, and you can read archives of my #BookADay posts.

#BookADay: HOORAY FOR HAT! by Brian Won, plus advice for children's book illustrators

HOORAY FOR HAT is Brian Won's debut picture book, and was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt earlier this year.

Synopsis:

"Elephant wakes up grumpy—until ding, dong! What’s in the surprise box at the front door? A hat! HOORAY FOR HAT! Elephant marches off to show Zebra, but Zebra is having a grumpy day, too—until Elephant shares his new hat and cheers up his friend. Off they march to show Turtle! The parade continues as every animal brightens the day of a grumpy friend. An irresistible celebration of friendship, sharing, and fabulous hats."

I wrote about Brian and HOORAY FOR HAT earlier this month. 

Three things children's book writer/illustrators can learn from Brian:

1. Understand the emotions behind the characters you are illustrating.

2. Don't compare yourself to others. Instead, compare where you are now to where you came from.

3. Join the SCBWI and attend conferences, enter the Portfolio Showcase. You never know what might happen!

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Find out more about Donalyn Miller's Summer Book-A-Day Challenge on the Nerdy Book Club site, and you can read archives of my #BookADay posts.

#BookADay: ONE WORD PEARL by Nicole Groeneweg and Hazel Mitchell, plus advice for aspiring children's book illustrators

Today's #BookADay: ONE WORD PEARL written by Nicole Groeneweg and illustrated by Hazel Mitchell (Charlesbridge, 2013).

Synopsis:

Pearl loves words. All kinds of words. Words make up songs, stories, poems . . . and what does a lover of words do? She collects them, of course! But one day, most of Pearl’s words are blown away, leaving her only a few which she keeps safely in her treasure chest.

After that day, she uses each word carefully—one at a time, until she has no words left. When her teacher asks her questions at school, she doesn’t answer. When her friend wants to know what she has for lunch, she can’t respond. What will Pearl do without her precious words? Will she ever find them?

One Word Pearl explores the power of words to transform, inspire, and cultivate imagination.

I was delighted to interview the illustrator of ONE WORD PEARL last year. Do check out Hazel Mitchell's interview for a great peek into her process (lots of photos) and advice for aspiring children's book illustrators.

HAZEL MITCHELL'S ADVICE:

Attend all the conferences/workshops you can afford (and some you can't) and absorb information.

Learn the craft. Children's book illustration is an art-unto-itself. Study the masters, attend workshops where great illustrators are teaching. Go back to college if you need to.

Draw. Draw. Draw. There is no substitute for drawing.

Read. Read. Read. Immerse yourself in discovering new and old picture books, illustrated middle grade, cover work, graphic novels.

Find your voice ... how do you do that? By drawing and learning and imitating and seeking critique and then finally becoming unconscious of your style. Then you have found your illustration voice.

Work on your portfolio. A portfolio for children's illustration! Creating a website portfolio is very important! Tell people you exist!

Mail out, submit, direct people to look at your work.

Be open. become proficient in social networking. It's free and it can benefit you in unbelievable ways. But always give back.

Seek out other illustrators and create a band of brothers.

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Find out more about Donalyn Miller's Summer Book-A-Day Challenge on the Nerdy Book Club site, and you can read archives of my #BookADay posts.

#BookADay: SAY HELLO TO ZORRO! by Carter Goodrich, plus a peek into his illustration process

Catching up on my #BookADay: SAY HELLO TO ZORRO! by Carter Goodrich (Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, 2011). The two dog characters in this story are soooooo adorable. And I was very excited to discover that MISTER BUD WEARS THE CONE just came out!

According to a Readeo.com interview, Zorro was apparently loosely based on his aunt's pug. The pug's name was Ozzie but Carter has dyslexia, so called him Zorro. Carter used watercolor for the illustrations, which was new for him.

"The best part of an image is the part I couldn’t control, the happy accident. When something strange would happen in a piece, it would always be better than something I might purposefully do. Like when Zorro is shifting position on the couch. I did a lot of takes on that. I was still working with pencil and trying to shape it and tone it. I thought, “I have to paint the couch really quickly, and it’s either going to hit or not.” There are little things where the paint did everything on its own,. But then I had to repeat it. And that was alright, too. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be."

Read more about Carter's process in Jenny Brown's interview with him on Readeo.

And check out the cover of the just-released Mister Bud Wears The Cone:

Find out more about Donalyn Miller's Summer Book-A-Day Challenge on the Nerdy Book Club site, and you can read archives of my #BookADay posts.

Comic: International Writer Crisis

Ironically, I recycled one of my old comics from 2006 and revamped the art for the above. :-)

#BookADay: BOY + BOT by Ame Dyckman and Dan Yaccarino (and advice for aspiring picture book authors and illustrators)

Just reread BOY + BOT, written by Ame Dyckman and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino (Knopf/Random House, 2012). Wonderfully entertaining story of friendship. 

On Goodreads - On Indiebound

Synopsis: "One day, a boy and a robot meet in the woods. They play. They have fun. But when Bot gets switched off, Boy thinks he's sick. The usual remedies—applesauce, reading a story—don't help, so Boy tucks the sick Bot in, then falls asleep. Bot is worried when he powers on and finds his friend powered off. He takes Boy home with him and tries all his remedies: oil, reading an instruction manual. Nothing revives the malfunctioning Boy! Can the Inventor help fix him? Using the perfect blend of sweetness and humor, this story of an adorable duo will win the hearts of the very youngest readers."

I read each of these #BookADay picture books out loud to myself in my home office, as I've mentioned before. I STRONGLY STRONGLY RECOMMEND that aspiring children's picture authors and illustrators do this, both for other people's picture books as well as your own works-in-progress.

In this readaloud, it was SO fun to do the robot's voice. I also loved the text and visual parallels in how the boy and robot tried to fix each other.

Kidlit types on Twitter, by the way, need to follow Ame Dyckman at @AmeDyckman. She is bubbly, energetic, enthusiastic, and a joy to read. I interviewed Ame about BOY + BOT on Inkygirl a while back and was delighted to meet her in person at SCBWI-LA some time later.

Ame's newest book is TEA PARTY RULES, illustrated by K.G. Campbell and published by Viking.

Find out more about Donalyn Miller's Summer Book-A-Day Challenge on the Nerdy Book Club site, and you can read archives of my #BookADay posts.

Writers and Libraries: An Ame Dyckman Quote

A while back, I interviewed children's book author Ame Dyckman about her writing process. If you haven't read it yet, you should! I loved her quote about libraries so much that I decided to turn it into an illustration. :-)

Edit: Thanks to Ame for giving me permission to turn this into a print-ready PDF poster!

#BookADay: THE STAMP COLLECTOR by Jennifer Lanthier and François Thisdale, advice for children's book writers & illustrators

Today's #BookADay: THE STAMP COLLECTOR, written by Jennifer Lanthier and illustrated by François Thisdale (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2012). Beautiful story, stunning artwork. A note by Jennifer at the end explains how the story was inspired by two writers. "Jian Weiping is a journalist who spent six years in a Chinese prison for exposing government corruption. Nurmuhemmet Yasin is a writer serving ten years in a Chinese prison for writing a short story called 'The Wild Pigeon.'" A portion of the proceeds from this book supports PEN Canada.

You can read a profile of Jennifer on the SCBWI blog about her 2013 Crystal Kite win, including advice for other children's book writers and illustrators. An excerpt:

"...Creating something is an extraordinary privilege and if exercising that privilege feels too hard sometimes, try to keep going. What did Samuel Beckett say? “No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Find out more about Donalyn Miller's Summer Book-A-Day Challenge on the Nerdy Book Club site, and you can read archives of my #BookADay posts.

#BookADay: THE MAZE RUNNER by James Dashner, movie trailer, advice for aspiring writers

Just finished listening to the audiobook version of THE MAZE RUNNER by James Dashner (Delacorte, 2010). The book is first in a series for ages 12 and up and soon to be a movie. Here's the book trailer:

James Dashner offered advice for writers on Writer's Digest website, so be sure to check 7 Things I've Learned So Far, by James Dashner. Two of these tips: 1. Networking is key, and 2. Immerse your reader in the story with depth. On his blog, he offers a great Q&A for aspiring writers. 

One of piece of useful advice: "Write a novel from beginning to end. I mean it. I don't care if it's the worst book in history, write a beginning, a middle, and an ending, and everything in between. You won't believe the magical power that will come over you once you've accomplished this task." Read the rest on his blog.

Find out more about Donalyn Miller's Summer Book-A-Day Challenge on the Nerdy Book Club site, and you can read archives of my #BookADay posts.

#BookADay: WE PLANTED A TREE by Diane Muldrow and Bob Staake, advice for aspiring children's book writers and illustrators

Today's #BookADay: WE PLANTED A TREE, written by Diane Muldrow and illustrated by Bob Staake, published by Golden Books/Random House. In addition to being an author, Diane is also editorial director at Golden Books/Random House. 

I bought WE PLANTED A TREE at the 2010 SCBWI conference in Los Angeles, which was also the first conference at which I took a picture book writing workshop (taught by Diane Muldrow). It was an EXCELLENT course, and I learned a great deal. I also bought WE PLANTED A TREE and had it signed by the author:

This was also the conference where I won some awards at the SCBWI Portfolio Showcase and was offered a book illustration project by Simon & Schuster Children's and when I told Diane, she congratulated me. :-) My friend Kimberly Gee interviewed Diane Muldrow for KidLitArtists.com, and she offered useful advice for aspiring children's book writers.

Excerpt:

"I think the most common mistake is that many aspiring writers don’t write material that is very marketable. We editors are looking for manuscripts that have an interesting hook—something that we can show to our sales force and marketing people, and say, “This book is perfect for Father’s Day,” or “This book is a fresh take on the cowboy/first day of school/new friend/bedtime/etc./ theme.”

Find out more about Donalyn Miller's Summer Book-A-Day Challenge on the Nerdy Book Club site, and you can read archives of my #BookADay posts.

#BookADay: CATS' NIGHT OUT by Caroline Stutson and Jon Klassen

Today's #BookADay: CATS' NIGHT OUT, written by Caroline Stutson and illustrated by Jon Klassen (Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster). Who can resist dancing cats? Love the musical theme in this beautifully illustrated counting book. I swear I can almost hear the music in the background as I read this book.  Jon Klassen was awarded a Governor General's Award for Children's Literature: Illustration in 2010.

From Alexandra Penfold on Twitter (first tweet was a response to my "who can resist dancing cats?"):

@inkyelbows it takes time to find just the right illustrator and @lucyruth introduced me to @burstofbeaden's work. Perfect match!

— Alexandra Penfold (@AgentPenfold) June 21, 2014

Find out more about Donalyn Miller's Summer Book-A-Day Challenge on the Nerdy Book Club site, and you can read archives of my #BookADay posts.

Comic: At Last

"The difference between a published author and an unpublished one is one day. It only takes one day, one moment, for your whole world to shift. I firmly believe that if you work hard at improving your craft and you simply do not give up, your day will come." - Mandy Hubbard

#BookADay: BREATHE by Scott Magoon

I loved BREATHE by Scott Magoon (Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster) soooo much. I found the combination of sparse and lyrical text with gorgeous, airy art irresistible and deeply moving. 

I confess it also made me weepy. Have no idea if it'll affect others the same way, but so much of this book can be appreciated on a grown-up level as well as by young readers: a reminder to take time to breathe and enjoy the moment, to be brave and explore, to listen and observe the beauty in the world around you, to not be afraid of obstacles but find other ways up, to dream big, to love and be loved.

And of course BREATHE can absolutely be appreciated simply as a wonderful bedtime readaloud, without any of the above interpretations. I so love books like this.

Seven Impossible Things has a great post about Scott's process for creating Breathe, and you should also visit Scott Magoon's page about Breathe.

Find out more about Donalyn Miller's Summer Book-A-Day Challenge on the Nerdy Book Club site, and you can read archives of my #BookADay posts.

Video: Tarik and the Roots performs a Harry Potter Rap on the Jimmy Fallon Show

Tarik and The Roots performed a Harry Potter-themed rap on the Jimmy Fallon show. Love. :-)

(Thanks to Mediabistro)

Comic: A Caution For Writers

#BookADay: GIFT DAYS, written by Kari-Lynn Winters & illustrated by Stephen Taylor

Today's #BookADay: GIFT DAYS by Kari-Lynn Winters (author) and Stephen Taylor (illustrator), published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside. The launch of this book raised money for the charity Because I Am A Girl and has already raised enough money to send ten girls to school in Uganda for a full year.

Find out more about Donalyn Miller's Summer Book-A-Day Challenge on the Nerdy Book Club site, and you can read archives of my #BookADay posts.

#BookADay: CHICKEN, PIG, COW by Ruth Ohi (my awesome sister)

 

I love my sister Ruth Ohi's CHICKEN, PIG, COW series from Annick Press!

Find out more about Donalyn Miller's Summer Book-A-Day Challenge on the Nerdy Book Club site, and you can read archives of my #BookADay posts.

Finding Time To Write Tip #176: Teaching Others To Respect Your Time

#BookADay: NEVER LET YOU GO by Patricia Storms (and advice for aspiring children's book writers & illustrators)

Today's #BookADay: NEVER LET YOU GO by Patricia Storms (Scholastic Canada).

You can read my interview with Patricia Storms about her process and personal growth during the creation of her book. Her advice to aspiring children's book writers/illustrators: "Try not to be too obsessed with what is selling in 'the market.'" and "It's really about discovering who you are, and what stories you want to tell."

Find out more about Donalyn Miller's Summer Book-A-Day Challenge on the Nerdy Book Club site, and you can read archives of my #BookADay posts.