Ten writers for children. All with something to say.

9/6/11

Vacation, who me?

Today was my radio debut on KQED public radio. Listen to my Perspective and leave a comment. I'm archived at http://www.kqed.org/a/perspectives/R201109060735/. You can still hear the piece streamed live tonight at 11:30 pm (Pacific time) or in a more extensive program of 9/11 Perspectives on Sunday, September 11, at 7:37 am.

Much of this summer I've been finishing art for a picture book for Philip Lee, a publisher familiar to many of us. I began art direction and design work with Philip back in 1991, working on Lee & Low's first list. One of my projects a few year later was John Coy's book Strong to the Hoop. I went on to illustrate books for Lee & Low (including three by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen). More recently my authorial debut with the company originated with an aside Philip made in 2002, about wishing he had a picture book about Isamu Noguchi. Philip left Lee & Low before my Noguchi book published. I'm excited to work with him again in his new venture, Readers to Eaters (http://www.readerstoeaters.com/).

Readers to Eaters mission is to promote food literacy from the ground up, so children and families become active participants in their local food culture.
They do so in three ways:
1) Retail books about food, featuring newly published and classic titles, popular as well as undiscovered staff picks
2) Publish books about food for children and their families, as well as teachers and librarians, whom are essential in the food dialogue
3) Develop programs and events about our food system by partnering with farmers, gardeners, chefs, teachers, librarians, parents, organizations and communities

Our School Garden! kicks off the Readers to Eaters publishing program and I am the illustrator and designer. Here are a couple of pages for a sneak preview.





13 comments:

Lauren said...

Christy, you have been busy this summer! I love the mission of the Readers to Eaters publisher. It fits so well with the local food movement which builds on healthy individuals, healthy community, healthy environment. And your illustrations are lovely- great texture, faces, color! (Note: When I clicked on readerstoeaters.com it brought me back to 1potato10.) I have not met Phillip, but he sounds like a man with a vision-- how fortunate for you to be able to work with him again! Great post!

Lauren said...

Oh! And I have not had time to listen to your 9/11 interview yet, so that is why I did not comment yet~ but I look forward to it.

Christy said...

Thanks, Lauren. I fixed the link. Definitely check out Readers to Eaters, and if you have a great food-related picture book idea, submit it!

Lauren said...

Just listened to "Lady Liberty"~ I loved hearing your voice, something I have yet to hear in person and your story, powerful.

Christy said...

My voice isn't always so shaky, but we MUST meet in person so I can prove it!

Lauren said...

Definitely! I will be presenting at the Smiley Library in Redlands on October 1st. I am going to try to get north afterwards-- stay tuned!

Stephanie said...

I love the look of that new book:) And I couldn't get my thing to post, still, so I'll try again later in the week.

David LaRochelle said...

I agree with Lauren: what an excellent mission for Readers to Eaters. And I also agree that your illustrations are lovely, Christy (I'm still enjoying your 2011 calendar with illustrations from the East/West House, which hangs next to my computer)!

Mark said...

Christy, thanks for sharing the information about Readers to Eaters, and also some more of your artwork, which, as always, inspires me.

Diane Adams said...

Love this Christy!!!

Edie Hemingway said...

Dear Christy,
What a powerful first hand perspective of 9/11 and the images it presents! And it's so good to see your beautiful artwork for this interesting new series. Thanks for the sneak preview.

Jackie Briggs Martin said...
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Jackie Briggs Martin said...
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