Coloring Page Tuesday - Early Bird!

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     The early bird gets the book! I'm not sure how this little guy came to me, but he makes me smile. I hope he makes you smile too!
     Click here to view the entire Coloring Page Tuesday collection.
     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 the covers to learn about my picture book, Soap, soap, soap and Soap, soap, soap ~ Jabón, jabón, jabón.

SCBWI Southern Breeze Gallery Show - 2011

Friday evening marked the opening of the 2011 SCBWI Southern Breeze Gallery Show at Little Shop of Stories, during the Decatur (GA) Arts Festival's opening night ArtWalk celebration. Six of our published members showed work representing 13 currently available picture books. The represented artists were: Laura Freeman, Mark Braught, Laura Knorr, Michael Austin, Shadra Strickland, and Yours Truly. The number made for a lovely presentation in the store:

Click to see a larger image.
     Hanging out for much of opening night were:

Laura Freeman, Michael Austin, Mark Braught, Yours Truly, and former Southern Breeze Regional Advisor Donna Bowman.
     Rather than demonstration drawings, we ended up each adding a line to a drawing in progress, which ended up creating some crazy images and was lots of fun. Bada Bing once again came through on the catering. And, of course, our friends at Little Shop of Stories were incredibly accommodating and supportive - thanks guys!
     The show will be up through Memorial Day weekend and the week following, so stop by!

Scott Weaver's Rolling Through the Bay

Mr. Weaver obviously had a blast creating this kinetic sculpture out of TOOTHPICKS. In this video he takes us on a mini-tour and it's amazing!!!

Scott Weaver's Rolling through the Bay from Learning Studio on Vimeo.

Thanks to Nathan Bransford for the link!

Shout out for Vicky Alvear Shecter!

My friend Vicky Alvear Shecter is in New York doing various promotions for her forthcoming book CLEOPATRA'S MOON. (Coming soon and boy will I be shouting about it then!) In the mean time, here is a great picture of Vicky with her Scholastic editors Arthur A. Levine and Cheryl Klein (Vicky is in the middle). Notice Cleopatra sitting on Arthur's shoulder - she's seeing the world! (Yes, this is the team of editors who brought us Harry Potter!)
     And don't miss Vicky's blog - History with a Twist. Especially her Friday Funnies - where ancient history meets with modern day humor - awesome!

Coloring Page Tuesday - Book Baby!

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     Some readers start young. When did you fall in love with books?
     Click here to view the entire Coloring Page Tuesday collection.
     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 the covers to learn about my picture book, Soap, soap, soap and Soap, soap, soap ~ Jabón, jabón, jabón.

Children's Author Maryann Cocca-Leffler

This was a great interview with children's book author/illustrator Maryann Cocca-Leffler by Manchester News, WMUR Manchester. Click the image to go view...
     Maryann is embracing turning stories into eBooks/apps because with her incredible publishing history (over 50 books!), she has several title out of print where the rights reverted back to her. She's breathing new life into these classics by turning them into eBooks/apps which can be enjoyed on the iPhone/Touch/Pad. It's a great example of how new technology can expand a successful career and benefit authors and illustrators.
     Maryann is also part of my e is for book blog. Go visit to find links to her eBooks under "Our eBooks."

The Other Side of the Story: Supporting Authors You Love

From one of my favorite blogs...
The Other Side of the Story: Noteworthy Links: Sharing the Love, author Janice Hardy says:

"Jody Hedlund writes one of my favorite blogs, and she did a post on ways you can support authors you love. I read this at a time when I was thinking about a post on the same topic, so she saved me having to write it myself...."

What does she link to? Jody Hedlund's post "10 Simple Ways to Support Authors You Love":

Before I was published, I didn’t realize how much authors appreciated readers taking the time to publicly support them. In fact, I didn’t know my support was important. And even if I had known, I wouldn’t have had a clue what kinds of things would help my favorite authors the most.

But now that I’m on the other side of the fence, with one published book out and another hitting the shelves in four months, I realize just how much it means when readers take a little extra time to offer their public support.

Yes, THE best support is actually reading the author’s book. But, if you enjoyed the book, you’ll do the author a BIG favor by taking the support one step further. That one step can make a huge difference. A reader’s word-of-mouth promotion has an enormous influence on pushing a book even further into the public eye. ...

Click here to read the entire post.

And yup - I'm an author too and I LOVE your support! e

Brian Dettmer's Altered Books on CBS

Remember when I featured Book Sculptor Brian Dettmer? Well, he was recently featured on CBS Evening News in anticipation of his New York show which opens this Thursday - Click here for more info.
You can also view it by clicking HERE.
Needless to say, I've become a fan.

Coloring Page Tuesday - Bernie on a tractor!

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     Bernie's down on the farm this week. Jennifer G. asked for a tractor coloring page last week for "Grandpa on Father's Day" and I couldn't believe I didn't have one. Especially considering I have my Bernie driving a tractor on the cover of my latest book, THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA. So, to fix the matter, I have turned the image into a coloring page.
     Jennifer - I hope you'll send in Andrew's creation once he's done coloring! I have two places to share: my Coloring Page Tuesday facebook gallery, and (NEW!) now on flickr too! It's where I find the creations I feature each week in my Coloring Page Tuesday Alerts (click here to subscribe).
     Click here to view the entire Coloring Page Tuesday collection.
     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 the cover to learn about my newest picture book THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA!

Keep Our Librarians!!!!

In response to this awful article: "The disgraceful interrogation of L.A. School Librarians" http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0513-tobar-20110513,0,4862226,full.column

Dear Mr. John Deasy ( john.deasy@lausd.net ) ,
I am heartbroken that your district would consider getting rid of librarians as a viable option to trim your budget. Without a human there to make sure books are kept where they're supposed to be and cared for in an appropriate manner, a library would quickly turn into a junk pile of dog-eared books - an impossible to use resource. As a long time advocate of literacy, I know our schools are vitally important, but I know our libraries may be even more so. There are so many households that don't own books, the library becomes not only a resource, but oftentimes a safe haven. It also produces thinking, literate adults which makes the world a better place for us all. By the time the young children of today graduate, I'll be nearing retirement. In other words, I'll be in their hands. I can't imagine the governing citizenship being an illiterate one with little care for knowledge or books. I imagine retirement is in your future as well. Please consider this issue carefully as the decisions you make today could heavily impact your future and mine in ways we can only imagine. I find it ironic that here in America we spout how much we support our youth, and yet issues like this are seriously considered. A move like this not only doesn't support our youth - it harms them - and our future as Americans as well.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth O. Dulemba
http://dulemba.com

UPDATES:
A blog post by an attending librarian: Settle in. It's a long one. at The Library is Not a Fruit.

From School Library Journal:
Layoffs, Interrogations: L.A. School Librarians Under Fire

The response I received to my letter:
Thank you for your email and sharing your thoughts. As you are most likely aware our school district, state, and nation are currently facing a serious budget shortfall. While librarians and library aides are extremely important, there is not an area in the school district that has not been cut.
Again, thank you.
Patricia Carranza on behalf
Dr. John E. Deasy
Office of the Superintendent
(213) 241-7000

p.s. - 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. Or heck - send it to Mr. Deasy! And please follow my Angel Policy copyright guidelines when using my Coloring Page Tuesday images.

The First Grader

National Geographic released The First Grader in theaters May 13th. It's an amazing movie about the power of literacy. And while being a powerful story, every time the trailer is viewed, 50¢ will go to Reading is Fundamental, Kakenya Center for Excellence, and the South Sundan Institute (up to $50,000/100,000 views)! So get watching...

Thanks to Reading is Fundamental for the heads up.

Dollar Store Wreath

I just love this. Isn't this the perfect children's wreath? And apparently easy to make...
:)
Thanks to Boing boing for the link.

Super Sprayer

Spray Paint art in a whole new way and wow is it gorgeous!

See more of his work at SpacePaintings.com.

Coloring Page Tuesday - Fishie!

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     It's starting to warm up out there (in the northern hemisphere anyhow). And all our little ones will soon be turning into fishies - diving into pools, running through sprinklers. Do you have some little fishies in your family?
     Click here to view the entire Coloring Page Tuesday collection.
     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!
     Learn more about my fun picture book Glitter Girl and the Crazy Cheese - click the cover.

The Flux Chair

The Flux Chair is so cool! But I think they're missing the mark. They should contract with Target and sell them at $20 each - they'd make a MINT! At $199 each - they're just a tad too rich for me. Although dang - both lime green and orange! If they had teal, they'd have my entire color palette covered! Loves them, I do.
See more pics at DesignMilk, and thanks to SwissMiss for the heads up.

Happy Mother's Day!

Here are some flowers for your mom -
a boquet of Spring blooms.
     Click the image to open a .jpg to print and color. Send me your colored version (less than 1mb) to coloringpages@dulemba.com and I'll post it to my blog!

The UP House - in Real Life

"How Hard Can It Be?" to make a house fly with balloons? Apparently, it Can be done...

Thanks to SwissMiss for the link.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Click here to check out my Cinco de Mayo coloring pages. Or click a cover to download free activities like bilingual word find puzzles for my two bilingual picture books, SOAP, SOAP, SOAP ~ JABON, JABON, JABON and PACO AND THE GIANT CHILE PLANT ~ PACO Y LA PLANTA DE CHILE GIGANTE:

Intoducing Barry B Wary by Leslie Muir!

Sometimes even when you've broken into the tough world of publishing, it can still be an uphill climb to publication. My friend Leslie Muir is proof of that. She sold THREE picture book manuscripts several years ago, and has had to wait over THREE years to see them finally released. Well, I am excited to introduce you to the first - BARRY B. WARY!

Q. Leslie, This has been a long wait for your first book, BARRY B. WARY. Congratulations! Can you tell my readers a bit about your path to publishing?

A. Thanks, e! My path to publication wasn’t so very long in the big scheme of things. I’d been jotting down stories forever, but in early 2006 I started submitting my work in earnest. My first story was accepted two years later. But then I endured an additional three and a half years of thumb twiddling, hum-dee-dumming, and wondering if I’d ever hold a bona fide book in my hands. At this time I have four books under contract—and three of them come out this year! So I went from years of dead air to kaboom! Such a strange business. All that said, I know folks who’ve waited A LOT longer.

Q. BARRY B. WARY is such a cute story, what was the inspiration behind it?

A. I’m a big fan of dark humor in any medium, whether it’s art, fiction, or film. And dark humor definitely has a place in children’s literature. (Shel Silverstein, I love you). I adore characters that are a bit villainous, yet simultaneously likeable and vulnerable. And I think kids do too.

BARRY B. WARY is the story of a hirsute little spider who hankers for a friend, but tends to eat potential candidates (to his defense, he does so with culinary flair!). But he soon falls head-over-heels for a passing butterfly who, not surprisingly, is terrified of him. The rest of the book follows Barry as he struggles to kick his bug-eating ways and prove his love. A little tidbit: Prior to publication, I was asked to change the ending of BARRY to one, ahem, less sunny and keep my main character true to his nature. I won’t give away the ending, but I predict some “interesting” Amazon reader reviews.

Q. You wrote in rhyme, which can be so tricky. Does it come naturally to you or did you struggle with it?

A. I do have an ear for rhyme, but it’s always a labor of love. There are no shortcuts to doing it well. For me, the biggest challenge of writing picture books in rhyme is crafting an intriguing story while still being true to the constraints of the form. Writing perfectly executed rhyme does not necessarily yield a good tale. I’ve spent years toiling over a single story—and I have the bald patches to prove it.

Q. The illustrations by Carrie Gifford are so fresh - timeless and yet modern at the same time. What was your reaction when you saw the art for the first time?

A. Isn’t she amazing? Her style is totally hers, incredibly unique. Once you’ve seen her work, you’ll instantly recognize anything else she does. I love her painstakingly delicate lines and gorgeous little details (I’m still mooning over the end pages of the book. And the rose garden setting!). When I was shown the first images for BARRY B. WARY, I knew she was perfect. Carrie understood Barry, his dark nature and weird little quirks. She made him a tad creepy, yet sweetly comical and lovesick.

Q. Tell us about any book signings you have coming up for BARRY B. WARY. 

A. Barry and I will be visiting some local primary and elementary schools as part of a summer reading event. I’ve also been asked to read at public library branches here in the area. As the book just came out yesterday, I hope to bolster my schedule over the upcoming months. You can check out my website for more updates: www.lesliemuir.com.

Thanks Leslie! Y'all go visit her!

Coloring Page Tuesday! - Duckie Reads

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     Duckie reads because reading is duckie!
     Click here to view the entire Coloring Page Tuesday collection.
     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 the covers to learn about my picture book, Soap, soap, soap and Soap, soap, soap ~ Jabón, jabón, jabón - and check out my rubber duckie!

Children's Book Week 2011!

I'm especially excited about Children's Book Week this year, as I'll be a part of an official event, and for Cinco de Mayo, no less! I will be the Cinco de Mayo Storytime author at Little Shop of Stories on Thursday, May 5th at 7pm, and we are going to have a BLAST!!! I hope you'll come if you're in the neighborhood. And if not? There are tons of official events going on all over the country. Check it out and see if one is near you!