It's a New Book!

Like Christy and Stephanie, I am excited to have a new book coming out in 2012. It's a Tiger!, illustrated by Jeremy Tankard, will be published by Chronicle in the fall of this year. I'll be sure to post the cover design as soon as it's available.

In the meantime, I'll show the cover of a book I read today at the library which is one of the funniest picture books I've read in a long time. Stuck, by Oliver Jeffers, is about a boy whose kite gets stuck in a tree. In an attempt to get his kite down, he throws his favorite shoe at it. Now both the kite and shoe are stuck. It's not often that a book genuinely surprises me, but this clever book did...and it made me laugh. If you've ever been so mad you could throw your shoe, check this one out.

Publishing before the world ends

Crazy, I know, but I did think about the Mayan calendar when publication dates were discussed. I’m counting on a 2013, but will sneak in three book publications before the end of 2012, just in case the Mayans were on to something.

First up in spring is the first book on the first list of Philip Lee's new venture, Readers to Eaters: Our School Garden! by Rick Swann with illustrations by me shows fun ways to integrate the school garden into the curriculum all year long.











Fall title with Fiewel & Friends: The Forgiveness Garden by Lauren Thompson with illustrations by me is about a conflict that begins between two villages when stones are thrown across a stream. I love the message of this book. There is an actual “Garden of Forgiveness” in Beirut—the vision of Alexandra Asseily, humanitarian, activist, and psychotherapist, who has declared that “every act of revenge is a time bomb thrown into the future.” The dedication page is pictured here.

I’m most excited about my third title, also a fall publication—this one with Lee & Low. Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building is my second book as both author and illustrator. I have been dreaming this up for years. The book is a combo of concrete poetry, nonfiction, illustration, and photography, and is meant to inspire young builders with examples of modern international architecture. Stay tuned on this one. I’m starting the finished art now.

2012

I didn't have a new book out in 2011, so I'm looking forward to August 2012, when this shiny new one hits the shelves:

This novel is about 15-year-old Robie. She gets on a small plane in Honolulu, headed for Midway Island, and then bad things happen. I'm not very nice to her. Not at all.

Which should make it a pretty good read...