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Work too long in any single profession for an extended amount of time and there’s a danger of growing jaded. In my particular case, sometimes I’ll have days where I feel as if nothing original or new is being published anymore. I’ll get into a slump of sorts, nit-picking and kvetching over the various lovely […]
Your books, as you yourself have described on your website, display, "a recurring interest in notions of ‘belonging’, particularly the finding or losing of it." That’s certainly true of your newest work. Is it true of all your art, or just your children’s books? And if it’s just the children’s, why do you suppose that […]
Are there any graphic novelists in particular that you gravitate towards? Did any of them affect The Arrival? Yes, there are a handful. Raymond Briggs was one who probably had the greatest influence on The Arrival, especially in the early concept stages, which took some cues from his silent picture book The Snowman. I was […]
New York isn’t the only American city that’s going to get to see the staged adaptations of Neil Gaiman’s picture book The Wolves in the Walls. Now L.A.’s getting a piece of the action as well. I don’t mind. Someday I may have to move to that city. Any kidlit connections that establish themselves there […]
Certain things in this world make me happy. Cupcakes. My tiny little Fuseman. More cupcakes. And then there are those odd quirks of fate that just make you happy to be a creature with the wherewithal to acknowledge peculiarities. I am referring, of course, to a recent Mo Willems blog posting that meticulously explains the […]
The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley by Colin Thompson and Amy Lissiat. Kane/Miller. $15.95. The Aussies are different from you and I. They’re not afraid of picture books that look like the love children of Robert Crumb and Monty Python. Take, as today’s example, a little number going by the name of “The […]
Prediction on Why it Will Raise a Ruckus: There’s a brief glimpse of Raphael’s painting of the two bored looking cherubs. Only in this version, one is Norman and the other is smoking a cigarette. When was the last time you saw a cigarette in a picture book that wasn’t being condemned? Oh, this is […]
4th grade teacher and current Newbery committee member Monica Edinger recently received a scrapbook from her schoolchildren advising her on what kinds of books she should give the next big book award to. For those of you interested in the process, you might want to see what actual honest-to-goodness children think should win this year. […]
Remember remember to go and read some interviews. Tom & Dorothy Hoobler at Chasing Ray Mitali Perkins at Big A, Little a Sara Zarr at Interactive Reader Justina Chen Headley at Hip Writer Mama Justine Larbalestier at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy Dana Reinhardt at lectitans Brent Hartinger at Seven Impossible Things […]
I can’t read everything. Stuff is bound to slip through the cracks sometimes. Still, while looking at a MySpace page for a fictional character today I couldn’t help but notice that there are whole library systems out there with pages of their own. Hennepin County Library has one. Central Falls Free Public Library another. Even […]