connections on the book trail
I recently visited Judy Labrasca’s narrative book class at Maine College of Art, scene of the crime 9 years ago when I hatched my own Seven Days of Daisy. It’s a marvelous class, and I enjoy revisiting the space where stories begin. Judy always brings in lots of supplies, all organized in irresistible fashion. She also brings in loads of books for browsing when the mind draws a blank. Quite satisfying that mine are in the mix. Judy shares a ton of information, which might seem overwhelming, but becomes a backdrop to all the inspiration. She made small books for students to start...
Read Moreone world
On the seventh day of the seventh month, my busy tour of bookish events around Seven Days of Daisy began at the Graves Memorial Library in Kennebunkport. Quite auspiciously, too, since I was there over four years ago on a visit with Mitali Perkins and Rickshaw Girl. Nice to start with familiar faces! In keeping with the summer reading program of One World, Many Voices, I gave a presentation first to a book group of girls who had just read Rickshaw Girl. I showed images from my childhood, my early career as an illustrator, and then sketches and referencing in the making of illustrations for...
Read Morebook peeps
Wooooo! This just arrived via Charlesbridge Publishing. Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins is now published in Korea! It’s a thrill to see my illustrations paired with another language, and to know the book is getting a wider audience. And in other news: Seven Days of Daisy is scheduled to be published by Down East next May! My wee book about the passage of time, island-style, has come a long way since I wrote it back in 2002. Now Nana needs a walker and lives in assisted living in Portland. But some things don’t change, such as Daisy’s fascination with the little things. A...
Read Morenews splash
You’ve heard that, right, that no man is an island? It’s pretty cool that being three miles out to sea (give or take several strokes, if you are swimming the Peaks to Portland Race) doesn’t necessarily put me off the map. I’ve hit the online trifecta with recent blogposts that feature my work. Three cheers and a splash for my mermaid cohort, Judith Hunt, in the Maine Illustrators Collective for posting bios of all those featured in the current show at the Kennebunk Free Library. Hooray to Liz Yanoff of the New York Reading Association Youth Book Blog. I was...
Read Morebusy bookish bee
It’s been a hectic couple of weeks, all revolving around books and bookmaking. There’s moaning about the death of print, but the tangible satisfactions evoked by the simple turning of a page will not perish. Not in my world! I had good news about Rickshaw Girl, a book that has brought me many connections and inspirations. The publisher sold translation rights in India! This doesn’t mean much in the way of money for me, but more importantly, way more readers will become familiar with the story. Very cool. This is the title page from the book. I was also interviewed by the...
Read Morebon annee!
Yep, today marks a year of blogging for me. Hard to believe. It was a quick year. I was skeptical about blogs, about me blogging, about the intention and time involved. Whether anybody reads it or not, it has been a challenging exercise and mostly a good one. I started at the urging of Kirsten Cappy, who has no doubt singlehandedly spawned a megaplanet of bloggers. The impetus was to give visibility to Rickshaw Girl, which I illustrated for Charlesbridge Publishing. The author, Mitali Perkins, was coming to Portland for a library talk with me. It turned out to be a swell event; I could...
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