Picture This

It's hard to get noticed in the biz. I guess what I mean is even when I tell book stores, schools, and libraries that I'm available for signings and visits they think I'm a nut job. I speak to them on the phone, meet in person and send letters. No luck. It took me 3 months to get a book signing with a major chain. Took 3 months of persistence to get the visit at a library. Which I'm exciting about the library visit. It's a chance to hone my skills at working a crowd. It's also a chance to give back as a volunteer. My local library has provided the majority of my language art tie in w/my Kindergarten curriculum. Children at that age just love to be read to. As long as the book is interesting the kids they listen. Use the silly voices for each character if it's appropriate. The kids like it. Cuts down on behavior problems in the first 10 min. of class. I've been checking out other children's book illustrators/authors site to see how the handle such eve...

Read Across America is starting March 2nd, Dr. Suess' birthday! Some great free stuff on the National Education Associations Site.

I thought this was interesting you can make your widgets at Widget Box . Nice.

Got a good review on the first picture book I illustrated from the Christian Children's Book Review Blog .You have to scroll down to see it. Here's a screen shot of it.

I have a NYC friend of mine that just saw the exhibit and loved it. Check out the online MOMA site if you can't make the exhibit.

A good read for Martin Luther King Holiday. This picture-book biography provides an ideal introduction to this leader and his works. Juxtaposing original text with quotes from King's writing and speeches, Rappaport's (Escape from Slavery) narrative offers a pastiche of scenes from King's life, beginning with his childhood experience of seeing "White Only" signs sprinkled throughout his hometown. He questions his mother about their meaning, and she assures him, "You are as good as anyone." Listening to his father preach, the boy asserts that "When I grow up, I'm going to get big words, too." Rappaport also touches upon King's role in the Montgomery bus strike that followed Rosa Park's 1955 arrest for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger and his subsequent efforts as a civil rights crusader. After briefly describing the circumstances of his death, the story concludes, quite abruptly, with the statement, "His big word...

This is an illustration I did for Summer Shorts Anthology. It's a scan from the book. It was a poem about having to go on the high dive. With all the other kids waiting behind you. I'd feel confine if I was afraid of the height and had only 1 way out.