Kick Off ’17
Everybody seemed eager to kick 2016 into history. Yeah, there were losses, that Election, hate, and plenty of things I want to forget. But a New Year…is a perennial place for hope. An earnest band of neighbors called the Get a Grip club gathered at our house on New Year’s Eve, armed with resolutions of change, good humor, and some hand-made glasses we will use for envisioning a better world. Rest assured, we will keep a grip on what matters! A few days later I visited King Middle School, a hive of young people poised to take over the world. It was my 9th outing as a visiting...
Read MoreLibrary Love
Happy National Library Week! I’m still floating from last week’s Maine Library Association’s 27th Annual Reading Round-Up of Children’s and Young Adult Literature. No better place to be than in a fine flock of kidlit advocates. Winning a Lupine Award with Eva Murray for our book Island Birthday is a spectacular honor. Inspired by Maine artist, Barbara Cooney’s Miss Rumphius, the Lupine is presented to a living author or illustrator who is a resident of Maine, or who has created a work whose focus is on Maine, shown through the characteristics, plot, or setting....
Read MoreCelebrating Literacy at PIES
It’s a treat to visit schools where literacy is celebrated. But it’s downright spectacular when it’s the island school down the street, where your own child learned to read. The Peaks Island Elementary School invited Scott Nash, Anne Sibley O’Brien, and me to meet teachers and students who read our books and created book reviews, skits, and reports. Teacher Leader Renee Bourgoine-Serio opened the evening with questions from kids. Mainly they wanted to know: WHEN is Scott coming out with a sequel to The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate? And then the Draw...
Read Morelong live lunacy
Have you heard? There will be a full moon on Christmas for the first time since 1977. I’m well versed in lunar cycles, thanks to my contributions to the Lunar Calendar since 1983. Over the years, I’ve had the honor of creating the color cover several times, always a treat. These are a few of the ideas I presented to publisher Nancy F. W. Passmore for the 40th edition. The calendar is a vertical format with a fold, and I like to cross that, if possible. Nancy is fond of the idea of keeping her moon boat afloat, so she picked the bottom left. I was happy to develop the one idea...
Read MoreLong Island celebration
What fun to island hop for another celebration of summer reading, this time at the Long Island Library. As a long-time member of the Island Institute, I enjoy learning about other islands, but visiting them is too rare. The logistics of going “down the bay” requires first a trip to Portland on Casco Bay Lines and then another ferry to another 4 stops. What would have been about an hour-plus of ferry time became a 15 minute trip on a water taxi instead, thanks to my host. But man, was it a soupy morning. No horizon line visible, and nothing to see in our wake, either. Captain John...
Read Moredrawing Miss Daisy
Our daughter Daisy has always had a keen eye. And she’s provided infinite inspiration over the years. She’s front and center with her tribe of island peers in Seven Days of Daisy. This original hangs now at the Portland Public Library in my exhibit, Storybook Waters. Peaks Island has provided a spectacular background for visual stories. This image of Daisy dreaming helped me land my first children’s book from Charlesbridge. Daisy’s love for Moonrise Kingdom found it’s way into my Sketchbook Project Shop Walk, many thanks to Find for the vintage dress....
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