Coloring Page Tuesday! - Big Yellow Bus

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     Is your favorite little one riding a big yellow bus for the first time? Maybe this friendly bus will make the journey a little less scary...
     Click the image to open a .jpg to print and color. Send your colored image (less than 1mb) to coloringpages@dulemba.com and I'll post it to my blog! Click here to find more coloring pages.


As the school year sends our schedules into chaos, make your day a little easier by learning about proper parenting language and the power of choice in, Ready for Bed! , Ready for the Day!, and Ready to Play! - click the covers!

Please follow my copyright policy when you use my images! And share your creation on the Coloring Page Tuesday facebook page!





Wow - look what Alicia's son did. Good job!

Lafayette Book Store


We have another book mobile! Although this one has an interesting start - it's an evolution from a struggling bookstore. The owners of the Lafayette Book Store decided to put the whole thing on wheels and now the Bay Area Bookmobile, or "Big Blue," can go straight to the people at schools, festivals, book clubs, you name it! It's the first "Independent Bookstore on Wheels" that I've ever heard of, and I think it's a great idea.

Librarian Action Figure!!!


Faster than a speeding book theif, able to leap tall bookshelves in a single bound... It's the Deluxe Librarian Action Figure! She comes complete with a bookshelf, computer, books, and the ever present finger of "Shhhhhh!!!!"
     It's from the crazy novelty Archie McPhee company where you can also get Cat Eye glasses, and other action figures like Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, you name it!

Suwanee Book Festival

This Sunday (today), August 29th, I'll speak at the first annual Suwanee Festival of Books in Suwanee, Georgia (Gwinnett County). The organizers have done a bang up job making sure this is a fabulous affair, which you can see by the awesome line-up and sponsors on their website. I'll be onstage at 1:00pm and hope to see you there!

Big Purple Bus!


It's not a giant grape, it's the San Antonio Public Library's Bookmobile! And here I thought bookmobiles were a fading thing. Not at all!
 I love the quote they include on their site:
The book goes to the man, not waiting for the man to come to the book." - Mary Titcom, the first bookmobile lady.

International Read Comics in Public Day

International Read Comics in Public Day is TODAY!! So go forth in public and proudly proclaim "I am reading a comic book!" Maybe choose a great one like OWLY by Andy Runton - one of the "25 Books All Young Georgians Should Read."
(Thanks to Shelf Awareness for the heads up!)

25 Books All Young Georgians Should Read - public event!

It just gets better! Saturday, August 28th at 10:00 am at the Gazebo in downtown Decatur, Georgia, many of the authors and illustrators will be available for book signings and activities as the Georgia Center for the Book "25 Books All Young Georgians Should Read" inaugural list is made public!!! If you're anywhere nearby - I hope you'll join us!

(Photo used with permission by Kim Siegelson.)

25 Books All Young Georgians Should Read


Yesterday, the Georgia Center for the Book announced their very first "25 Books All Young Georgians Should Read" list. All the books chosen have some connection with Georgia either by subject or creator (we have some amazing talent here).
     The GCB has been creating an adult list since 2002, but a children's list is a milestone. This was the first. Because, after all, you have to create a love for reading when people are young, if you want to have readers as adults.
     The list has something to offer for all ages, from two to eighteen, a board book to young adult fiction. Here are the covers with their titles listed below. (Click the image to see it larger in a new window.)

     It took a lot of people on a mission to make this wonderful list a reality!!! Thanks are in order to Bill Starr & Joe Davich of the Georgia Center for the Book; Richard Lenz and Ryan Klee of LENZ marketing for making us look GOOD; Parker's on Ponce for the awesome celebration space; Georgia Humanities Council for their support; and the Board members of the Georgia Center for the Book. What a wonderfully dedicated group we have for literacy in our state!
     We had a grand shindig at Parker's on Ponce in downtown Decatur, Georgia, with lots of press. Almost all the award winners were in attendance - including James Dashner whose publisher flew him out from Utah! Here's the whole gang after the awards were handed out. (Photo taken and used with permission by Ryan Klee.)

And me with my award for SOAP, SOAP, SOAP ~ JABON, JABON, JABON.

Here's the entire list of titles:

Picture Books (Pre K+)
Liz Conrad (illustrator) – Little Duck
Carmen Deedy (author), Thomas Gonzalez (illustrator) – 14 Cows for America
Elizabeth O. Dulemba (author & illustrator) – Soap, Soap, Soap – Jabón, Jabón, Jabón
Nathaniel Lachenmeyer (author), Aki Sogabe (illustrator) – The Origami Master
Eric Litwin (author), James Dean (illustrator) – Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes
Danny Schnitzlein (author), Bill Mayer (illustrator) – The Monster Who Did My Math
Diane Z. Shore & Jessica Alexander (authors), James Ransome (illustrator) – This is the Dream

Early Readers (grades K – 3)
Lola Schaefer – Mittens

Graphic Novel (grades 4+)
Andy Runton – Owly

Middle Readers (grades 4-8)
Evelyn Coleman – Freedom Train
Ted Dunagan – A Yellow Watermelon
Gail Karwoski & Loretta Johnson Hammer – The Tree that Owns Itself and Other Adventure Tales from Georgia's Past
Shelia Moses – Joseph
Mary Ann Rodman – Yankee Girl
Vicky Alvear Shecter – Alexander the Great Rocks the World
Kim L. Siegelson – Honey Bea
Doris Smith Buchanan – A Taste of Blackberries
Laurel Snyder – Any Which Wall
Deborah Wiles – Each Little Bird That Sings

Young Adults (grades 7+)
Jodi Lynn Anderson – Peaches
Lynn Cullen – I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter
James Dashner – The Maze Runner
S.A. Harazin – Blood Brothers
Terra McVoy – Pure
Walter Sorrells – First Shot

     Wow! I hope to interview some of these guys here on my blog over the next few months/years as the GCB promotes them and their books here in the state of Georgia - so check back.
     In the mean time, go read about these books and learn more about their creators at the Georgia Center for the Book website!

More pics coming in!!! Here is a pic of some of Me Girls, Gail Karwoski, Mary Ann Rodman, Kim Siegelson, me and Lola Schaefer!

And me peeps Diane Capriola (co-owner of Little Shop of Stories), Vicky Alvear Shecter and hubbie, Bruce, Laurel Snyder, moi, and Joe Davich of the Georgia Center for the Book! Photograph used with permission and taken by Deborah Wiles.

Debbie with Bill Starr - Executive Director of the Georgia Center for the Book:


RELATED ARTICLES:
Decatur News Online
Deborah Wiles: One Pomegranate
Georgia Center for the Book facebook page
Atlanta INtown
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Baby Got Books

25 Books All Young Georgians Should Read

As a board member of the Georgia Center for the Book I am proud to share that tomorrow we will announce our very first "25 Books All Young Georgians Should Read" list. All books are somehow connected to Georgia either by subject or creator, and we have some amazing talent in the state. Whether or not you live here, you may know some of these titles. Check the GCB website on Friday for the official list, but in the mean time, here's a hint. Do you recognize graphics from any of the covers of your favorite books?

Who Needs Publishers? We All Do! The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-goldberg/who-needs-publishers-we-a_b_689763.html

Coloring Page Tuesday! - Back To School Squirrel

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     It seems too hot for summer to be over, but all over the country it's time for books and studies. I always loved the potential of a new school year. What amazing things will you do this year?
     Click the image to open a .jpg to print and color. Send your colored image (less than 1mb) to coloringpages@dulemba.com and I'll post it to my blog! Click here to find more coloring pages.


     Click the covers to learn about my picture book, Soap, soap, soap and Soap, soap, soap ~ Jabón, jabón, jabón. Teachers - it's a great tie-in for lessons on hygeine!



Please follow my copyright policy when you use my images! And share your creation on the Coloring Page Tuesday facebook page!




How cute is this!!?? Look what Cely did!

Top 10 Highest-Paid Authors

Forbes In Pictures: The Top 10 Highest-Paid Authors. The good news is three of the authors are on the list with "children's books" - two almost exclusively. No surprise they are J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter) and Stephanie Meyer (Twilight). (I supposedly write like her!)

     But before you run out to write a kids book thinking you'll hit it rich - here are some statistics you might want to consider:
"81% of the population feels they have a book inside them . . .
20% would do a picture book, cookbook, etc.
6 million have written a manuscript.
6 million manuscripts are making the rounds.
Out of every 10,000 children's books, 3 get published."
- Jerrold Jenkins. 15 May 99.
A common misconception is that all published authors must be rich. So, is there money in it? The stats are as follows. In all the arts:
3% make the 'big bucks' (these are the creators most people have heard of).
12% make enough to live on (and boy is that relative).
85% make under $10-12k a year.
     I'll let you guess where I fall on that scale, but let's just say I'm not laying on a beach in Morocco with my private body guards...
     Here's another way to look at it. Think about how many people play pro-basketball or pro-football. Now (considering you're not a way crazy fan) think of how many you can name off the top of your head. Um, yeah.
     Thanks to Nathan Bransford for the Forbes link.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On


Thank you, thank you to Elizabeth Bluemle of Shelf Talker and Kara LaReau for sharing this!! Read Elizabeth's post to learn more about this charming video.
OMG. I just sent my novel to my agent. I think I'm going to go throw up now.

I Write Like...


Pop in your text at "I Write Like" and click the analyzer button to find out who you write like!
     My results? I write like Stephanie Meyer, wildly successful author of the Twilight series. Um, yeah. I'll take that!
Thanks to my awesome Book Sales Rep Teresa Kravtin for the link!

Guest tweetererer on #kidlitart tonight!


I'm the guest speaker/twitterer on Kidlitart tonight (#kidlitart). We'll be talking about creating children's book apps for the iPhone/Touch/Pad, like LULA'S BREW. 9:00PM EST, Thursday, August 19th. Tweet you then!

Brought to you by:


Update! The transcript is now available at KidLitArt.

Pimp My Bookcart


Have you been following the comic strip Unshelved? It's all about the crazy adventures experienced by librarians. Well, the creators are hosting a contest to see who can PIMP MY BOOKCART the best. There are great prizes, and various age group categories (for kids too). The deadline is NOvember 15th - so get creative!
Thanks to Shelf Awareness for the heads up.
How to Write a Novel http://t.co/FLukM00 via @NathanBransford GREAT advice!!!

Librarians Save the Day!


Great post at the Huff Post yesterday: Librarians Save the Day! 11 Great Movies In Which They Star. Pictured here is "The Music Man" (1962). You can vote on your favorites and learn about a few movies you may not have heard of (some were new to me). Fun! :)

Coloring Page Tuesday! - Back to School Snail

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     At a snail's pace? It's back to school time! Some of you may be more excited about that than others, but my snail is pretty siked. (May take him a while to get there though.)
     Click the image to open a .jpg to print and color. Send your colored image (less than 1mb) to coloringpages@dulemba.com and I'll post it to my blog! Click here to find more coloring pages.


     Click the covers to learn about my picture book, Soap, soap, soap and Soap, soap, soap ~ Jabón, jabón, jabón. Teachers - it's a great tie-in for lessons on hygeine!



Please follow my copyright policy when you use my images! And share your creation on the Coloring Page Tuesday facebook page!






Patty shared her awesome creation:

ABookandAHug.com


So in today's technological reading revolution, I am convinced reviewers will be more important than ever. With everything under the sun available to you, how else will you discover what's really good and worth your time?
     The other day I learned about a great site: ABookandAHug.com.
     Barb Langridge is the creator and she goes a long way in helping you sort through what's available out there. On her site are reviews (not just by her), interviews with top authors, age and theme categories, and a special section just for boys. Talk about being a big help!

John C. Campbell Folk School


Last weekend I taught "Creating Picture Books" at the John C. Campbell Folk School. I do this once a year, along with occasionally teaching "Beginning Drawing" as well. If you don't know about John C. - it's in beautiful Brasstown, North Carolina just south of Murphy in the heart of the Appalachians. Many of the buildings are old farm houses, or 1920's gathering halls. The place feels camp, which it is - camp for adults. They offer everything from blacksmithing to quilting to creating metal chickens. It's a very cool place and I love my annual escapades. Not to mention my classes.
     The writing class is small, just eight students and we really dig in and get to work. All the students show up with a story, so everybody in the class is quite serious about being there - any teacher's dream.
     The drawing class is a little more laid back but equally fun. I basically teach the way I was taught and I love seeing my students' work improve.
     Either way, I've got that teaching bug and I don't get to express it enough. It's why I love speaking at conferences too. But my fave will always be the John C. Campbell Folk School.

Read about some of my classes here:
Creating Picture Books 2009
Creating Picture Books 2008

My next classes:
I will teach Beginning Drawing in August 2011.
I teach Creating Picture Books again in December 2011.

Merit Badges for Writers


From the blog, Merit Badger... you can claim a badge for your site like the one on the right which symbolizes "My Bookshelves Overfloweth." Or maybe you've earned the proper query letter badge - represented by a heart on a mailing envelope? Funny Stuff!!!
Thanks to Nathan Bransford for the link.

eBooks vs. Print Books

Woah. Did y'all see this story at the Huff Post: E-books vs. Traditional Books? The original story was in The New York Times: Math of Publishing Meets the E-Book. The graphic they used kind of says it all!
     Note: I'm not including the graphic because I don't have copyright permission. But I'm wondering how the Huff Post does that? Yes they give credit, but as far as I know, that's not okay. Anybody know how they're getting away with that?

Shaun Tan's The Lost Thing Trailer

Is there anything this man cannot do!? Check out the trailer for Shaun Tan's latest creation, The Lost Thing. Fabulous!!!

Thanks to Irene Gallo's theArtDepartment for the link!
Great shout-out at Robyn Hood Black's blog today: http://robynhoodblack.com/blog.htm?post=733009 She interviewed me about my coloring pages!

Libri Foundation: Books for Children

I know a lot of libraries who could really benefit from the Libri Foundation Grant. If you are a rural library on a limited budget with a bona-fide children's department, you may qualify for free hardcover books. Grants are awarded three times per year with the current application window closing August 15th. Go to School Library Journal to learn more: Libri Foundation: Books for Children.

Coloring Page Tuesday - Zebra!

Sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and to view more coloring pages - click here!

     In honor of the new Zedonk (Pippi Longstocking!) born at the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve in Dahlonega, Georgia, this week I'm giving you an image of her dad - a Zebra! (Her mom is a Donkey and Pippi was born with stripey socks!)

     You can see photos and video and learn more about her on the TODAY show, 11 Alive, the Huff Post, the Early Show, the Associated Press, and YouTube. The original story broke in the Gainesville times here and here. (Do beware the comments which I hear got a bit out of hand.)
     Even better, I have a personal connection as one of my friends, Robyn Hood Black, is a volunteer at the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve and was kind enough to share her photos. She usually helps takes care of the wolves, who she met when she was working on her fabulous book, WOLVES. Here's one of her faves enjoying her book...

     Click the image to open a .jpg to print and color. Send your colored image (less than 1mb) to coloringpages@dulemba.com and I'll post it to my blog! Click here to find more coloring pages.

     Click the covers to learn about my newest picture book, Soap, soap, soap and Soap, soap, soap ~ Jabón, jabón, jabón.

Please follow my copyright policy when you use my images! And share your creation on the Coloring Page Tuesday facebook page!

We have a winner!

We reached 2,000 subscribers at Coloring Page Tuesdays and I drew two names to win a Dulemba prize pack. I heard back from Winner #1, Lee Tucker, right away! She said:
     Congratulations on your major accomplishment of 2,000 subscribers! And I was excited when I hit 50 followers on my blog! This is no surprise thanks to your fantabulous illustrations! I was so happy to find your illustrations that I mainly use for the cards I make for Operation Write Home. I can't thank you enough for providing your illustrations as freely as you do! I was also a long-time volunteer in my children's school library as well as the public library children's department where I received the Pikes Peak Library Dist. Volunteer of the Year in 1990 in Colorado Springs, CO. I'm disabled now, but I have 4 grandchildren with another due on Dec. 31st, so reading is still very important in our family households!
     There was more to her letter, but the whole thing just made me all melty. I LOVE my subscribers - what a great group of people you are!!!
     So I'm gathering a bunch of goodies together for Lee and her grandchildren and will send them out with smiles. Thanks for following Lee!
     Information on Winner #2 coming soon!

Brain Burps About Books


My good friend and faboo author/illustrator, Katie Davis, has a new iPhone App called Brain Burps About Books. It's a natural progression from her picture books, her radio show and her television segment to her new app where she talks about books, books, books. Creating them and loving them, she covers the gamut. New York librarian, Betsy Bird, from School Library Journal also stops by to share book reviews. And now we can listen to the episodes on our iPhones! Click the image to check it out.

Dogs and Car Windows


This is just weird. Dogs Love to hang out car windows and smell everything rushing past. Well, some people love to take pictures of them doing it and it leads to some pretty bizarre shots. Check out Dogs and Car Windows at Offbeat Earth.
     I'm also adding this image from Cute Overload. You do know about Cute Overload don't you? It's my daily dose of "Awwwww!ness"! :)

Book Jacket


You know I love the quirky things people use books for. How about fashion? Check out these ideas at Booktagger - including this awesome book jacket. (Knowing there's a sweater in there all you librarians will be jonesin' for!)
(Thanks to Rasco at RIF for the link!)