Today ends the two-year reign of our first ever Children's Book Ambassador, Jon Scieszka. Tomorrow somebody else will be named to fill his very large shoes. So let's take a moment to recognize the trail Jon blazed in this new role. First off, he's a danged nice guy as I've had the chance to learn on more than one occasion - like when he visited Little Shop of Stories. But more importantly, he made a difference. He helped put children's books more on the map. He helped boys find books they would love at GuysRead. And he helped break down some walls between the different ways we read in this new age. All-in-all, he turned the role into one of influence with high expectations for those who follow. (No pressure, hehe.) I suppose my favorite Scieszka book is still THE STINKY CHEESE MAN. He turned picture book storytelling on its head in that one - and made a lot of people laugh while he was at it! So, THANK YOU Jon!!
Many thanks to Little Shop of Stories - our AMAZING independent children's book store. They threw the most baddest assest Graveyard Halloween Party in the country and won a visit from Neil Gaiman to our fair city! (Yes, THAT Neil - Newbery winning author of THE GRAVEYARD BOOK.) Tickets were a hot commodity in our little corner of the world, let me tell you! (We're talking lines for tickets, sales of first-borns, you name it.) But everybody was amazingly behaved Monday night as they headed into Presser Hall at Agnes Scott (the only nearby venue large enough to handle the crowd - this photo doesn't begin to do it justice). Here we are winding our way in... And my poor attempt at getting a shot of him onstage (no flash allowed)... And truly, the original plan was to stick around and get him to sign some of our books (a Sandman comic, the PB The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, Anansi Boys, and Odd and the Frost Giants). But man o' man. They let the families with kids go first (for obvious reasons) and it was apparent it would be a long wait until we would get to Neil. So hubbie and I gave up our signing slots to whoever was next in line. Even so, Neil was signing until about 1:00AM!!! No wonder he doesn't do this very often! But gads, it was great to see him - seems like a normal guy - with a fantastic talent. And I am SO PROUD of my bookstore!! Diane and Dave and all the rest - you ROCK OUR WORLD!!!!
Thursday I had the pleasure of being invited again to the Atlanta Press Club Holiday Author Party. It's an opportunity for tv, radio, and media people in the Atlanta area to learn about local authors and their latest books (along with bidding for items in a silent auction). Well, hubbie ended up with a cold, so couldn't join me. And all the way there I was thinking, this won't be nearly as fun now - I won't know anybody there. HA! I walked in to find I knew a TON of the authors - all buds. So I went from Squeal! Hug! to Squeal! Hug! And of course, I didn't get pics with everybody. Like how did Jessica Handler and I not get a picture together? But here I am with my SCBWI peeps PJ Shaw and Donna Bowman: Here's PJ's and my set-up: With interested visitors! And I had the fun, rare opportunity to hang with some of my adult author peeps too. Here I am with Karin Slaughter and Hollis Gillespie: Also there were Mimi Schroeder of Max Communications; Kolinda Scialabba of the Gwinnett County Schools; Media Escort Esther Levine; former owner of Chapter 11, Vivian Lawand; Library Manager James Taylor; author Don O'Briant; and author Susan Rebecca White. Thanks to Wil Ennis of B&N for supplying so many of my books (they asked me to sign them all!) and to Lauri Strauss, the Executive Director of the Atlanta Press Club for the kind invitation. I love events like these - they end up being a great opportunity to catch up with friends while celebrating everybody's successes. And I even won a beautiful hand-blown glass vase in the silent auction - yay!
Once or twice a year I teach in the North Carolina Mountains at the John C. Campbell Folk School. This past weekend I taught "Creating Picture Books" and it's a treat for me made even better when I have an enthusiastic group of students. Like last year's, this year's group was just as awesome. Of course, this year we had a wonderful new twist... snow. It was mostly gone by the time I took this photo, but the entire valley was breathtakingly beautiful throughout the weekend. This was the view from our writing studio.... It was my first time to teach during the colder months and the school was decorated for Christmas for their annual Fireside Sale - a fantastic kick-off to the holiday season. Greenery and pretty lights created a holiday mood and the happy energy was tangible. It was in this environment that I spent the weekend with eight budding children's book authors, eager to learn their new craft. It was an intense weekend. Each student arrived with a manuscript and we got to work reducing them down to their cores and tightening them up to their possibilities. Amazingly, one manuscript was about ready to go out for submissions while three others were nearly there. What a talented group! Each created a 'mini-dummy' illustrating the four components of their story's arcs: problem/desire/goal presented; escalation of conflict or obstacles; climax; and resolution. Some of my students had to hit the road early, but here are a few with their creations: The bonus during the closing ceremonies was the pie-making class who shared samples of their weekend's labors - yum!! Afterwards I had lunch with good friends who I don't get to see nearly enough, then drove home. What a fabulous time! I love my weekends at John C. Campbell!
The weather was perfect, the crowds were huge. It couldn't have been a better weekend for book lovers and readers at the Savannah Children's Book Festival this past weekend. Friday evening the Live Oaks Library threw a low-country boil with some of the best shrimp I've ever had. They also let us illustrators loose in a special corner of the kids library - we got to draw on the walls. That knight needed a dragon by golly! Here I am with Joe Davich of the Georgia Center for the book, and my kind hostess Janet Langford: I also got to hang with talents Miss Rosa, Kyle Puttkammer, Antonio Sacre, Charles R. Smith Jr., Michael White, Dave Biedrzycki, Lucy Nolan, and Laurel Snyder. It was also cool to see our Storybook Look show at the library - and Liz's work. I spoke twice on Saturday. Hubbie says I'm a goof - I have no idea what he means.... and the day was a huge success for everybody, including the SCBWI Southern Breeze tent run by Daniel Powers, Susan Spain and PJ Shaw. We all had dinner that night (with Daniel's wife Silke too). What a great, great day. Sunday, Stan and I wandered around downtown, found a great breakfast place, then meandered home. *sigh* All weekends should be this good.
Want to get a feel for what the festival was like? Kyle Puttkammer shot some great video of his Galaxy Man table and the fantastic crowds. See it HERE.
Speaking at the Savannah Children's Book Festival!
I'll be speaking at the Savannah Children's Book Festival, this Saturday! ... November 14th in Savannah, Georgia (2 times: 12:00pm in tent #10 and, 3:00 in tent #12). If you live nearby, I hope you'll come join me! Click the cover to learn about the book I'll be featuring, Soap, soap, soap and Soap, soap, soap ~ Jabón, jabón, jabón.
National Bookstore Day is tomorrow!!! It's sponsored by Publishers Weekly to help drive traffic to bookstores as sellers gear up for the holiday book-buying season. And what better way to show love than to share a book? Go visit your local bookseller this weekend!!!
Saturday I trucked on up to Rome, Georgia for this year's Georgia Literary Festival put on by the Georgia Center for the Book (of which I am now a board member). If you've been down south you know how wacky the weather has been lately and Saturday was no exception. It was windy, overcast and cold! It definitely did a number on attendance, but it was still wonderful to go. Local volunteers had made a smorgasbord of goodies for the authors to enjoy in the hospitality area and the escorts (thanks Tony!) and stage managers (thanks Virginia!) were wonderful all day long. I spoke in the children's theatre room at the new library (what a GREAT facility!) and while the crowd was small, everybody seemed to really want to be there. (Heck, I'll take quality over quantity any day.) So we had a good time. I read Paco and Soap and drew a rubber duckie and a cow (yes, this is my job - stop giggling). Afterwards I went to sign and was thrilled to see the scads of my books Barnes & Noble had ordered - even a book I thought had gone out of print: Haley and the Big Blast! It made me wonder if the book buyer was the same I'd met during the Cedar Valley Arts Festival two years ago. I had to go say 'hi'... Sure enough it was Kris. Like I've said so many times, whether it's an indie or a chain, a dedicated bookseller can make such a difference in their community and Kris is obviously one of those people. She is connected and involved and is therefore an absolute pleasure to work with. I also got to meet some fellow authors: the infamous Terry Kay (what a nice man - I hope to get the opportunity to talk to him more another day); Lynn Coulter (a long-time SCBWI comrade); Lauretta Hannon (author of The Cracker Queeen and a total hoot!); Akbar Imhotep (storyteller); Natalie Jones (storyteller); Virginia Willis (author of Bon apetit Y'all); and Anthony Grooms (author). Thanks to Ray Atkins, this year's committee chair, for putting together such a charming event, to Bill Starr of the Georgia Center for the Book for his continued and much-appreciated support, and to Rome for the warm welcome. I hope to return soon!
Teen Read Week starts today and there are all sorts of things going on around the intranets to drum up interest in this sometimes hard to reach group... And they really shouldn't be that hard to reach when there are SO MANY great books out there. Heck, it's MY favorite genre (and I'm well past teen). Anyhow, learn more at the American Library Association - Young Adult Library Service Association (yalsa). Go visit Readergirlz for some fun activities there. And School Library Journal for a panel on new YA releases!
This past weekend Hubbie and I travelled to Nashville, Tennessee for the Southern Festival of Books. I feel a real affinity for this region since I lived in Chattanooga for ten years (long enough that I root for Tennessee and the Titans). And of course, I have lots of children's book friends there too. Have I mentioned how much I love doing book festivals? Truly - they're like big parties - especially for the authors. I got to hang with so many buds, old and new: Loretta Ellsworth and her sis Monica (LUV those two!); Hester Bass; Linda Ragsdale; John Hulme and Michael Wexler (The Seems); Sara Zarr; Genetta Adair, Tracy Barrett, Patricia Wiles, Alyson Lyne and Shellie Braeuner of the SCBWI MidSouth Region; Donny Seagraves; and more! Like I said - Par-tay! Although it was impossible to see everybody since many of our speaking times overlapped, and I actually missed a few friends who were also there, like Jessica Handler. GREAT line-up! So, we arrived Friday afternoon under a cloud that looked much like the Kansas sky from the Wizard of Oz. Spooky! But it dried up just enough for us to go check out the main drag in downtown Nashville. Music, music, everywhere! And we saw a celebrity - here's Stan with 'da Man.' And since we didn't feel like driving any more - we ended up at Morton's for dinner. Woosie, woosie. Ran into Loretta and her sis in the bar first and we ended up talking about hypnotizing roosters. No really - supposedly it really can be done. It was a very "fowl" conversation - ha! (Stan is above showing off the Nashville pin we got in my author goodie bag. What a goof!) Saturday I was on an author/illustrator panel with Alex Beard. It ended up being a very different kind of talk about working in this industry, creating a platform, and marketing. I really enjoyed it and am told the podcast will be available soon on the Humanities Tennessee Website. I'll link as soon as it's live. Afterwards I got to sign some books then return to the same room to hear Elise Primavera!! Her work inspired me when I was first diving into this crazy business and it was so nice to meet her and say 'thanks'! I also saw Sara, Donny and Hester do their things. Then several of us (mostly MidSouth SCBWIers) met for drinks and a wind up of the day. What a great group! Stan, Shelly and I headed over to the Author Party where we did more mingling and I got to meet Lacey Cook - my kind hostess for the festival. (Thank you Lacey!) Sunday we awoke early (still on Eastern Standard Time) so had plenty of time to set up on the Children's Stage... Get a load of what Linda did with it this year!!! She is so incredibly creative and I love that she shares too! Have you checked out my SOAP activity page? Linda created several of the fun things there! And be sure to check out her latest creation - The Peace Dragon website! Anyhow - I had a great time sharing SOAP and PACO and handing out rubber duckies. Signed some more books... and then sadly, we were done. We loaded up the car and left on a beautiful sunny day. In other words, the sky was smiling too. What a great weekend!
Authors and Illustrators Panel at the Athens Borders
Sunday I had the pleasure of addressing teachers and media specialists during the Borders Author/Illustrator panel. Have I mentioned I love doing panels? The pressure is divided up among all the speakers and in our small world of children's book creators, many of the fellow speakers end up being friends so it can be a fun get-together. And this time, I also got to meet two authors who were new to me - Gene Fehler and Margo Candelario. If you want boy/baseball (and some poetry) books - you need to check out Gene. And if you're going through a difficult loss, Margo's book Looking to the Clouds for Daddy might be of comfort. Above and from the left are Gene Fehler, Donny Bailey Seagraves, Margo Candelario, Me, Robyn Hood Black, and Donna Bowman. Thanks to Vicki Joyner of the Athens Border's for the kind invitation. And yeah, I'll take up pretty much any excuse to visit my alma-mater (University of Georgia) and hang at Harry Bissett's with the Hubs. Today I'm off to Nashville for the Southern Festival of Books. I'll be on a panel Saturday (12:00) and on the Children's Stage Sunday (12:00). Hope to see you there!!
...was this past Saturday and it was a HIT! We had two speakers, Donna German of Sylvan Dell Publishing as our Publisher/Art Director and Mark Braught as our Pro-Illustrator. Mark assigned a homework project to those who signed up early and they dove in and took it very seriously. Mark was so generous with his time, I received rave comments on how much people learned from him. Donna gave an impressive power point presentation on how Sylvan Dell works, what she looks for, and her relationship with illustrators. Sylvan Dell is one of the more forward thinking publishing houses when it comes to technology. They are almost entirely paperless, accept submissions electronically, and their new eBooks are becoming enormously popular in schools. (Here I am showing off one of their eBooks.) We held the event at the Decatur library and it was absolutely perfect. Joe Davich of the Georgia Center for the Book stuck around to be tech guru during the presentation - thank you Joe!!! Donna Bowman worked her magic and made the otherwise bare room come alive. (she's the one who makes Southern Breeze look GOOD!) So, between our two speakers and all the background support we had quite the line-up! Each speaker gave informative talks and then homework assignments were shown. Donna G. did a quick overview of the artwork and portfolios on hand. (We do this quickly on purpose to give an idea of how little time illustrators have to make an impression.) Many of the illustrators balked at adding their work to the tables when they saw some of the more professional portfolios but we all said "That's why you're here!" (Including Donna G. who was extremely supportive.) We didn't have anything like this when I was starting out. I had to go make my mistakes in person during interviews - gads. So it is a pleasure to make this opportunity available to others through Southern Breeze! The illustrators left with a better idea of how to prepare and present their portfolios, how to advertise themselves, and how to fine tune their own work for their desired market. In other words, they left smarter than they came in. The feedback has been outstanding and heartfelt and I couldn't be more pleased.
BLOG TOUR!!!! *sniff*sniff* We wrap up the Blog Book Tour for SOAP, SOAP, SOAP today with another two-fer: first, at Donny Seagrave's Winterville Writer. Donny's new book, Gone From These Woods came out almost the exact same time as SOAP, so you may still remember the interview I did with her the other day. Well hike on over to her blog to read our last interview for SOAP. AND I was a featured guest on THE MULTICULTURAL MINUTE - a one minute video look at multicultural books and happenings in children's literature! Along with being an awesome person, my hostess, Renee Ting of Shen's Books, was the author and publisher of my FIRST illustrated trade picture book, The Prince's Diary! And I LOVE this new feature she's created - so you gotta check it out!
Wowsa - it's been a GREAT Blog Book Tour and Celebratory launch for Soap, soap, soap and Soap, soap, soap ~ Jabón, jabón, jabón. I feel like my first book as both author and illustrator has been properly birthed and feted. I even had a surprise book signing last weekend during the SIBA Trade Show and had the longest book signing line I've ever had - ever! (Thank you Wanda!) Hope that means good things for SOAP's future!! And of course I haven't forgotten about the GIVEAWAYS... the winner of the drawing from the comments left on the Kick-off Day for the Blog Book Tour is (drum roll please....)Kristi Valiant!! YAY, WAHOO, AND CONGRATULATIONS!! A signed copy of SOAP will be heading her way soon!
But Wait! There's still one more chance to win! You can still enter the drawing for the SUPER PRIZE PACK. Go back through my blog and leave a comment on every day of the book tour here at Dulemba.com (September 20 - October 2nd) and at least 8 of the blogs I visited (please leave a nice note for my gracious hosts), to have your name go into a drawing. The SUPER PRIZE PACK will include two signed copies of SOAP (one for you and one for a friend or your favorite library), a COLORING PAGE TUESDAY coloring book, SOAPy bookmarks and postcards, and a rubber duckie keychain!!!! But you only have two more days! The deadline to leave comments is October 4th. The winner will be announced as soon as I can tally up the entries and pick a name. (I sure hope you didn't sign anonymously!)
Special note for book reviewers/buyers: SOAP is available in an e-galley format (both the bilingual and all-English versions) if you would like a preview. Just email me at elizabeth at dulemba dot com and I'll send the details. Of course, my publisher will also be happy to send you hard-copy for your review. Just let me know and I'll make sure one heads your way.
And thanks to YOU, my readers! It's always an exciting and scary time when you release a new book into the world - but y'all have embraced SOAP and it means the world to me - THANK YOU!!! And I hope you've enjoyed the party!!! I want to end on a high note, so here is the ORIGINAL broadcast of Rubber Duckie from Sesame Street:
(The last spread from SOAP...) Now back to your regularly scheduled blog....
BLOG TOUR!!!! Today I visit Tarie Sabado's Into the Wardrobe. Doesn't she have the coolest header ever? (Had to share.) So, go through the door and go visit her blog today. See the rest of my BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE here. Tarie's header just makes me want to curl up with a good book (like SOAP, SOAP, SOAP!) and some cookies. So here's another decadent recipe, this time from Cooks.com.
Mud Pie Cookies INGREDIENTS: • 1 cup sugar • 1/2 cup milk • 1/4 cup butter • 3 cups quick cooking oats • 1/2 cup peanut butter • 1/4 cup cocoa
MICROWAVE: In a 2 quart microwave safe casserole combine sugar, milk and butter. Cook on High for 3-5 minutes or until the mixture boils. Stir in the remaining ingredients and drop by the teaspoonful on wax paper. Refrigerate until firm.
STOVETOP: In a heavy saucepan combine the sugar, milk and butter and cook over a medium heat until the mixture boils. Stir in the remaining ingredients and drop by the teaspoonful on wax paper. Refrigerate until firm.
Speaking of Food - Get a load of this!! The creator of this blog has been tracking food that resembles duckies!!! No kidding! Thanks to Cute Overload for the quacky link! And click to visit "This Peanut Looks Like a Duck." Click the cover to learn more about Soap, soap, soap and Soap, soap, soap ~ Jabón, jabón, jabón.
BLOG TOUR!!!! Today I'll be a guest at Jessica Handler's Swimming in the Trees. Remember when I talked about Jessica's new book Invisible Sisters? She writes for adults so had a different and interesting approach with her questions. Prepare to read about learning new languages! See the rest of my BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE here.
I'm still celebrating the release of my first picture book as both author and illustrator, Soap, soap, soap and Soap, soap, soap ~ Jabón, jabón, jabón. Today I'm sharing a SOAPy grocery list to help you remember what you need to buy at the store. (Hugo could have used one of these!) Jessica actually suggested this idea - and what a good one it was! Click the image to go to the SOAP ACTIVITY PAGE and download the grocery list! Click the cover to learn more about SOAP, Soap, soap, soap and Soap, soap, soap ~ Jabón, jabón, jabón.
I suppose my favorite Scieszka book is still THE STINKY CHEESE MAN. He turned picture book storytelling on its head in that one - and made a lot of people laugh while he was at it!
Get a load of what Linda did with it this year!!! She is so incredibly creative and I love that she shares too! Have you checked out my 
