Fall, 2007
YEE-HAW!
Cowboy & Octopus by Scieszka and Smith is in stores now!
January 17
Happy birthday BEN! You don't look a day over 300.
January 8
Fun that is funny
My pal, PHIL NEL is a habitual CD compiler. His average is ten to fifteen mix-Cds a week… this can’t be healthy. Fortunately, Young Nel has found another outlet for his OCD (Obsessive Compact Disking). That outlet is book writin’... and his new one is a doozy. Actually a super-dooper-doozidy-floozer of a doozy. Did that sound Seussian? No? Yeah, well there was only one Dr. Seuss. By comparison, the rest of us are only pikers.
To say The Cat in the Hat was revolutionary is an understatement. It changed kid’s books forever and now Mr. Nel has edited The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats. For Seuss fanatics like myself it’s as sweet as pink cake (with little cross-hatch lines on the sides).
“Why an ‘annotated’ Cat?” asks the jacket copy. “Aren’t most annotated editions based on books with a little more heft? The Cat and the Hat and its sequel, The Cat and the Hat Comes Back, together don’t amount to more than 3,300 words. It is even arguable that Ted Geisel – otherwise known as Dr. Seuss – would have been a tad uneasy about such an undertaking. Geisel was once heard to say that treatises and theses based on his children’s books were ‘a waste of time.’ But despite the author’s modesty, these books are worthy of annotation. Philip Nel, one of the world’s foremost Seuss scholars, tells us here exactly how worthy.”
And doggone it, he does. Look for the “fun that is funny” at your independent bookstore, library, or on Amazon.
January 6
Cat Scans
Oodles o' Noodles
January 4
Reading Rockets
Here's an interview I did with READING ROCKETS. You can watch it online, read it, or listen to the podcast HERE. You can also see and hear many other authors and illustrators via their homepage.
January 1, 2007!
December 24
Cat Scans (Part Three)
Malk doubts these are real cats.
Noodle (with apologies to Keane).
Pretzel profile.
December 22
Cat Scans Continued. . .
Pretzel with full coat.
A pear-shaped Noodle.
December 21
Cat Scans
Molly and I have two cats, Noodle and Pretzel. (I didn't give them the high carb names, Molly did.) They don't act like real cats. Hey, they don't act like real animals for that matter. They act like wind-up toys or a mad scientist's experiment gone haywire.
Here's Noodle. . .
Here's Pretzel. . .
Goofy looking, huh ?
These guys provide constant inspiration for my illustrations but rarely do I include literal representations of them in my books. Most of the "straight" sketches I do of them never see the light of day. So at the risk of becoming CatFancy.com I would like to introduce a new segment to this site. . .
Ye Olde Cat Scan of the Week
Pretzel waking up.
December 18
Hey, that Pigeon Guy's got a blog!
Check out Mo's doodles, dawdles and dabblings HERE.
December 13
Molly and I are working on a new book with Jon Scieszka. It's called Cowboy and Octopus. It's nearly done. With every book I illustrate I lose steam in the final stretch... that is until I give it to Molly when her always inspiring design reinvigorates me. We're at that stage now with C&O. It's going to be great.
I remembered an article in Publishers Weekly years ago where Isabel Warren-Lynch said it much more eloquently: "...Warren-Lynch designer of Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl and Carl Hiaasen's Hoot echoed many of her colleagues when she said, "Molly Leach opened the door in a lot of ways. When we saw The Stinky Cheese Man, designers said, 'This is what we want to do, too!'—and that it worked and sold made that possible." The Stinky Cheese Man is widely recognized as the book that moved children's design into a new era..."
Read the entire article HERE.
December 6
Those other four lads...
I thought this was pretty funny. Rock bands from Legos.
December 4
From Ye Olde Mailbag...
Hi Sha'Terria. Thanks for writing. You said you wear short hair but do you wear glasses? Hey to Ms. Dewberry.
Ye Olde Kudos
John, Paul, George & Ben has been receiving some nice year end notices:
The New York Times picked it as a 2006 Notable Book and a Best Illustrated Book of the Year. They said, "...this refreshingly different and gorgeously designed introduction to ye olde founding fathers presents a hilarious mix of sense and nonsense about “four lads” who were there at the beginning..."
Nice of them to note Molly's gorgeous design. Speaking of Molly's design, she also picked up a merit award for children’s trade hardcover in the Bookbinder’s Guild New York Book Show.
Here are her shoes...
The New York Daily News includes JPG&B in their Jolly Good Books Round Up and says, "... witty and silly (in the best sense), here is the story of the men who were boys before they were founding fathers. (Ages 5 and up, and up)..."
I like the "up and up" part.
Parenting Magazine names us a Book of the Year and says it's "Mom Tested" and "...history made both hilarious and more human..." Here are the other books in the 4 to 8 category chosen by the judges (with help from moms and kids across the country... and I'm guessing good ol' Leonard S. Marcus too).
The Horn Book Fanfare list of Best Books of 2006 calls JPG&B a "...freewheeling introduction to our Founding Fathers. Part history text, part joke book, part “Peanuts” homage, this piece of mischief encourages readers to sort out the what-ifs, what-happeneds, and why-nots of early American history."
The San Francisco Chronicle includes JPG&B on their Best Books of the Season year end list as well.
The Columbus Dispatch found "...25 adults who not only enjoy children's books but also get passionate about them. These men and women -- authors, librarians, teachers, scholars and booksellers -- participated in our annual survey, submitting nominees for the best children's books of 2006..." Nice to be on the list along with Pals like Kevin Henkes, Dave Shannon, Kadir Nelson, Maurice Sendak and David Wiesner.
More kudos, shameless self-promotion, and all around back slapping on the YE OLDE REVIEWS page.
December 1
Stinky Cheese and Big Underwear
I had a nice chat with Adventures Underground's Amanda Divine about my early days in art school and as a struggling illustrator in New York. You can read it HERE.
November 29
Goodnight Mush
An interesting article in the current issue of the New Yorker by Elizabeth Kolbert divides kid’s books into two camps: the protectionists “…who argue, in effect, that what children really like doesn’t much matter.... To this group what’s important is childhood, a hypothetical state of innocence and fancy…” and the permissive market, “…where anything goes.”
It seems John, Paul, George & Ben falls into the latter. Well, as Mr. Porter says:
Times have changed,
And we've often rewound the clock,
Since the Puritans got a shock,
When they landed on Plymouth Rock.
If today any shock they should try to stem,
'Stead of landing on Plymouth Rock,
Plymouth Rock would land on them.
Good authors too who once knew better words,
Now only use four letter words,
Writing prose,
Anything goes.
Thanksgiving 2006
"Some object to the bald eagle as looking too much like a turkey. For my own part, I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character; he does not get his living honestly; you may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing-hawk; and, when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to his nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the bald eagle pursues him, and takes it from him. With all this injustice he is never in good case; but, like those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy. Besides, he is a rank coward; the little kingbird, not bigger than a sparrow, attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America, who have driven all the kingbirds from our country... in truth, the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America. Eagles have been found in all countries, but the turkey was peculiar to ours; the first of the species seen in Europe, being brought to France by the Jesuits from Canada, and served up at the wedding table of Charles the Ninth. He is, besides (though a little vain and silly, it is true, but not the worse emblem for that) a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards, who should presume to invade his farmyard with a red coat on." –– Ben
"Sure you love the turkey Ben! But how do you explain that little experiment of yours last week?" – Paul
November 20
Knock Off Man
My friend Richard found this in Tokyo awhile back. This Stinky Cheese Man doppelganger hits himself on the head when you wind him up.
November 13
From ye olde mailbag . . .
November 6
See all the fine books HERE.
November 3
Baby Hocky: Matchmaker
Keltie from Toronto writes, "...one of my friends introduced me to your writing and illustrations through a gift of The Happy Hocky Family a long time ago, and it was because of that book (and you) that I met the man I'm engaged to now..."
Wow! Baby Hocky has some crazy mojo powers!
I have the mojo.
Do you have the mojo?
I have the mojo.
Read more of Keltie's blog HERE and learn how The Happy Hocky Family can change your lovelife too.
November 1
This costume stinks!
This Cheese Man was made by HEIDI KENNEY for her son.
Sent in by Maria Mercado. Thanks Maria.
October 31
Happy Halloween
Below, Writers House interns under a very scary poster. Steven Malk describes the three as "random caped costume, Patty Hearst, and a butterfly." What more would you want for a spooktacular All Hallows Eve?
October 26
Tattoo Curse
I received this picture and note from EDEN who works in the Children's Department at a Florida library. Eden writes: "...the book that you & Jon collaborated on meant so much to me, I wanted to have a little piece of it with me for the rest of my life. I am attaching a photo of my newest tattoo..."
On her BLOG she continues, "...It's the boy (in pjs, not a dress) jumping free from the Math Curse..."
I guess I should set the record straight since Jon and I get this question all the time. Eden's right, those are PJs, not a dress but it's a girl not a boy. I wanted to draw a tomboyish girl and I guess my somewhat androgynous-looking kid confused more than a few. Eden, I hope you keep the tattoo. Jon and I are forever flattered by any body art based on our characters.
Now HERE'S your math homework for today.
October 24
Updates and notices
Book Bud contributer Deb Clark reveals: "I had a crush, sight unseen, on Elmo’s puppeteer. I thought it would be fun to go to a Wiggles concert and throw granny panties on stage..." and other interesting tidbits in her review of John, Paul, George & Ben. Read her entire review and others HERE.
J,P,G&B is an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award Winner for 2007 in the category of "Later School Years Books." Thanks Oppenheimers!
WESTON WOODS is doing an animated short of J,P,G&B. James Earl Jones reads. You can see it Spring 2007.
October 16
Mount Vernon, Va. -- Forget what you think George Washington looked like -- that familiar face on the dollar bill -- because he didn't. In fact, the Father of Our Country was not always well served by his portraitists (or his dentists)... READ ON HERE.
Thanks to JOHN ROZUM for the link. By the way, check out John's blog after you've finished reading up on George. The leaves are changing color, there's a nip in the air and ghouls, skeletons and pumpkins are making their annual appearance. Must be close to Halloween. John's site has fun, daily updates of all things creepy, nostalgic, black and orange.
October 13
One from the vaults. . .
T is for Triskaidekaphobia.
Happy Friday the Thirteenth. Here's an image from Spooky ABC written by the late, great Eve Merriam.
October 12
The Quills
The 2006 Quill Awards were held the other night at the Museum of Natural History.
John, Paul, George and Ben were bested by a pig. Yep, this year’s Quill for best Children’s Illustrated Book went to that little porker from If You Give a Pig a Party. Don’t they know if you give a pig a Quill she’s just going to want a Caldecott? When you give her the Caldecott, she'll just have to have a Pulitzer?
Congratulations to Laura Numeroff, Felicia Bond and all the other winners. Read more about the event HERE.
October 3
Congrats to my pals, Jon Scieszka, Dave Shannon and Loren Long for seeing their dream come true. NASA just announced they and three others would helm the next shuttle mission (launch date TBA).
Here they are in their nifty space suits holding some stuff that fell off the craft at last week's trial run.
September 23
One from the vaults
I did this album cover over twenty years ago. I was on a serious Dr. Caligari kick back then.
September 19
Walking the hallowed hills of Valley Forge, my friend Barbara Fullerton was so moved she felt she needed something to take home... a reminder of the sacrifice our forefathers made. She found this in the gift shop.
She bought me one too. Look, it lights up!
September 17
Thanks to everyone who came to the NAIBA conference in Valley Forge, PA. It was a blast.
September 14
After much anticipation Amid Amidi's CARTOON MODERN is out and getting rave reviews... rightly so. If you love 50s animation and design, this is the bible. Amid has invested years of research which is apparent on every page of this classic.
September 12
I've finally figured it out! I have the greatest agent - Steven Malk of Writers House. For the longest time I couldn't put my finger on why I like him so much. It just hit me! When I was a kid I loved ventriloquist dolls. That's right, ventriloquist dolls. Laugh if you want but ventriloquist dolls are cool. Alright, maybe not cool. . . okay, downright creepy. Well, to most folks. Not to me. Anyway, my favorite was Knucklehead Smif. Check out the photo of Steve next to Mr. Smif. The resemblance is uncanny!
By the way, my pal Kelly Asbury wrote a great book on Knucklehead and all his pals. It's called DUMMY DAYS.
Get your books signed on September 10, 2006
In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail, and implored the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small market town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburgh, but which is more generally and properly known by the name of Tarrytown. . .
– The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Come see a bunch of writers and artists at the 8th ANNUAL CELEBRATE CHILDREN'S BOOK DAY at Washington Irving's Sunnyside. I'll be there from 12:30 to 2:00.
September 2
Judy Freeman has written a 25 page Teacher's Guide for John, Paul, George & Ben that manages to be both entertaining and (gulp) educational. I believe anyone can receive one by contacting my publisher, Hyperion. Judy has really knocked herself out with this project providing many great activities and several historical (and hysterical) links. One of my favorites is ASK THOMAS JEFFERSON where kids can write to Tom and receive an actual response signed by the man himself.
August 25
On this day in history...
1776: influential political philosopher David Hume dies in Edinburgh, Scotland. Although Hume died when the American Revolution was barely underway, his essay Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth greatly affected the ideas of the drafters of the federal Constitution in 1787.
Notable births on this date: Ivan the Terrible, Ruby Keeler, Elvis Costello, Tim Burton, Walt Kelly, Sean Connery, Lane Smith.
August 18
Book Crossings!
This cracked me up. Apparently these folks encourage reading by abandoning perfectly good books in odd places hoping some wayward soul will find them, and if not too soiled, read them, then leave them somewhere else for another poor sap. I'm all for it! Here's my book left next to some goats. Read more about it HERE.
I'm gonna try it myself. I have a bunch of celebrity-penned children's books that I'm taking to the dump later today.
August 14
From ye olde mailbag. . .
Awesome artwork by Ben Wells of Virginia.
I especially like the chainsaw for George... much more efficient.
August 11
On this date in 1776 George Washington acquired a somewhat unpleasant hangnail. It plagued the General for two days.
August 8
On this date in 1786 Congress adopted a monetary system based on the Spanish dollar with a gold piece valued at $10.00, silver pieces at $1.00 and pennies made of copper.
August 7
From ye olde mailbag . . .
Amanda, I'll think about that monkey book. But I like the look of your simians. Maybe you should do your own? Want some inspiration? Here's the script from the original 1960s Planet of the Apes. (One of my favorite movies featuring talking apes.)
August 4
Near Sharon, Connecticut? Then stop by the Green this evening and say hi to the many authors who will be hanging out at the 10th Annual Summer Book Signing to benefit the Hotchkiss Library. Get all the info HERE.
Here I am with my three biggest fans. (Katie's the one with the pony tail.) We're at last week's Tea For 200 event in Washington. 
August 1
I was born in Oklahoma. All my relatives still live there (and still wear cowboy hats). Here's my Grandpa Rual putting my brother, Shane in a trash can. Ha! Ha! That's country humor for ya.
Anyway, my mom's constant harassment of the local paper finally paid off. I guess they figured it would be easier to go ahead and write a little article on John, Paul, George & Ben, than continue to receive the hourly calls about "her Artist Son on the east coast." You can read it HERE in my favorite paper, The Sapulpa Herald.
