Apologies. This is by far the most scary Art Exchange image that I have posted yet.
Alas, said 'Exchange' hasn't really gone as planned this year -- with near zero participation by the partner -- and thus my own 4 month break from the practice. Hence the weirdness? Who can say. This is image no. 8 and I fully plan on completing the series by December 31st. Perhaps this will be come less of an exchange and more of a gifting process... I hope not. Any willing AND READY - meaning that you will actually complete your end of said bargin :) - exchangers out there for 2008? Drop me note.
Lots going on of late, but here are few recent happenings that I would like to bring to your attention:
• Slow Days, Fast Friends (Albert Whitman, 2005) is officially an Accelerated Reader title -- It joins both of my other author-illustrated books in this program and is Quiz No. 104937 EN for all of the curious students and teachers out there :)
• Polar Polka by Chérie Stihler (Sasquatch) is starting to show up on amazon.com and gives a release date of February 28, 2008. Just a little too late for Valentines day...In any case, Yahoo! After spending the better part of 2007 painting this book (at least that's the way it felt) I am super happy to see it come to fruition. Prepare yourselves for some mad polka fun!
• After at least a couple of hardcover print runs and an audio book release, Boo's Dinosaur by Betsy Byars (Henry Holt, 2006) will be coming to paperback in Spring 2008 as well. This is another first for me (confoundit Winslow Press...) and is thusly very exciting.
• And finally, some presentation news: I had a blast this past Saturday as a presenter for SCBWI's Eastern Washington/Northern Idaho SCBWI Regional Conference in Spokane, WA. A big thanks to Deby Fredericks for inviting me back, and to fellow presenters Chris Crutcher, Kenn Nesbitt, Kelly Milner Halls, and Chronicle Books Editor Traci Todd, for making me feel welcome and inspired. It was great to meet all of the Conference attendees as well and I sincerely urge you to keep up the good work. Many of you are just that close!
In October, I fly south to the Author Festival in Humbolt County California. This long-running author-illustrator gala event will be tons of fun and I am very excited to make the trip. In conjunction with the Oct. 17-20 festival, I also have 5 pieces of original art from various books on display at the Morris Graves Museum of Art. I'll give a full report upon return.
Write on!
Apologies. This is by far the most scary Art Exchange image that I have posted yet. 
