dulemba

Coloring Page Tuesday - Ready for the Snow!

     I want to play in the snow - and I might get to! The weather here in Georgia is calling for some frigid and snow ready temperatures!
     This is an old piece of art I did when I was working for a children's clothing company about 20+ years ago (gulp). I'm going through old artwork in preparation for this move to Scotland and I'm coming across all sorts of old treasures. I always liked this one - hope you do too!
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my debut novel, A BIRD ON WATER STREET - winner of six literary awards. Click the cover to learn more!
When the birds return to Water Street, will anyone be left to hear them sing? A miner's strike allows green and growing things to return to the Red Hills, but that same strike may force residents to seek new homes and livelihoods elsewhere. Follow the story of Jack Hicks as he struggles to hold onto everything he loves most.
I create my coloring pages for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to enjoy for free with their children, but you can also purchase rights to an image for commercial use, please contact me. If you have questions about usage, please visit my Angel Policy page.

Missed Connections

Still in the glow of Valentine's Day, I share "Missed Connections" brought to you by The Strand Bookstore in New York. Apparently folks meet in the Strand all the time and try to reconnect via Craigslist. But lo, most do not reconnect. The folks at the Strand have created romantic reenactments of these missed connections, starting with this one (click the image to watch the series on YouTube):

Classic Love Poems

Happy Valentine's Day! Audible.com has a free clip of Love Poems for you to relish in, read by velvet-voiced Richard Armitage (of The Hobbit). In the clip, he reads Sonnet 116, by William Shakespeare - can you say "butta"!? The full FREE recording includes 15 works by Shakespeare, Tennyson, Keats, Marlowe, Browning, Cummings, Emmerson, the list goes on! CLICK HERE to download your free luv mooshie gushie lovey words. What a wonderful way to say 'I love you' to your favorite someone!
As Richard says,

“Narrating these classic love poems for Audible has been particularly gratifying for me as an actor,” said Armitage. “These are some of the most beautiful and most romantic verses ever written in the English language. I hope that those who are already admirers of these works enjoy my recitation, and that those discovering them for the first time through this production fall in love with the melodious and heartfelt poetry that makes Valentine’s Day and every day just a little bit more romantic.”

Friday Linky List - February 13, 2015

From the Scottish Book Trust: Who is your literary love match?

From Publishers Lunch: True: Harper Lee to Publish Second Novel with Harper - wow

From Brain Pickings (via PW): Happy Birthday, Ursula Nordstrom: How the Greatest Patron Saint of Childhood Stood Up for Creativity Against Commercial Cowardice

From School Library Journal: Fringe Factor: Small Presses and Self-Publishing

From PW - Q&A with Strand Book Store Children's Buyer Stella Williams

At Jane Friedman - Guest post by Harry Bingham: Why Authors Walk Away From Good, Big 5 Publishers

From Picture Book Builders: That One Line by Jill Esbaum

From Janice Hardy's Fiction University - At-Home Workshop: Revise Your Novel in 31 Days (For all you NaNo graduates!)

At Education Week Teacher: Fall Back in Love With Teaching

From The Guardian (via 100 Scope Notes): The 2015 Kate Greenaway Medal picture book prize long list

At Entrepreneur: Everything You Need to Know About Hiring a Freelancer Love this quote:

...don’t ask your freelancer to do speculative work or to complete a project for free with the promise of more work later. It’s disrespectful of the freelancer’s time. If you can’t afford to test the freelancer with a project and if the freelancer’s portfolio and references are not giving you confidence, it’s best to move on leaving everyone with dignity intact.

THE JAGUAR STONES by Jon and Pamela Craik Voelkel - Guest Post

THE ACCIDENTAL ILLUSTRATOR
Jon Voelkel explains how an obsession with Maya glyphs inspired him to illustrate the Jaguar Stones books
Growing up, all the books I loved had illustrations in them. I can remember poring over the maps in The Hobbit, tracing Bilbo's journey. I can still picture, clear as day, the illustration from Robinson Crusoe where the castaway spies the footprint in the sand; that one bare footprint, so loaded with mystery and possibility. And I sure would have struggled to imagine marshwiggles, fauns and other fantastic creatures without the illustrations in my Narnia books.
Fast forward thirty years, and I was writing my own book. Or at least I was attempting to write down my kids' favorite bedtime story (an action-packed yarn based on my childhood in Latin America) and my wife, Pamela, an advertising copywriter, was attempting to turn it into a book. The setting for my story was some cool pyramids in the jungle. We began to research the people who'd built those pyramids - and that was when our obsession with the Maya began.

      There's so much misinformation on the internet that I signed up for a course at Harvard to learn how to read and write Maya glyphs. That opened a window into the Maya mind. One of the first things I learned was that the Maya used the same glyph for "scribe" and "artist", because Maya writing is art and Maya art is embedded with words. The artists like to tell you what things are made of, what they feel like and smell like, if they’re good or evil. There are swirly scrolls to indicate speech, breath and other, ahem, gaseous emissions. You can't help but smile. Everything bubbles with life and personality; not just plants and animals, but places, buildings, rocks - even time.
      As our first Jaguar Stones book, MIDDLEWORLD, took shape, we talked a lot about how to convey this amazing, vibrant, and essentially alien world.
      Even Maya architecture is a challenge. If pushed, some kids can visualize Chichen Itza. But most imagine an Egyptian pyramid. They're amazed to hear that every Maya pyramid is different: temples, palaces, observatories, offices - all wildly painted and ornamented. More thrilling still, these pyramids were alive to the Maya and crackling with ancestral mojo.
      So you can see why the Jaguar Stones books had to be illustrated. You can't describe this stuff succinctly in words. Kids needed to see on the page what we were seeing in our heads, so they wouldn't get hung up on trying to imagine the weirdness of it all. And since we couldn't find an illustrator who could capture this vibe, I stepped up to the plate.

      Of course, so much Maya art was destroyed in the conquest that we don't have a record of everything. So for THE LOST CITY, I've even gone a step further and created a spread of Maya monsters based on folktales.
      And before you ask, no I did not go to art school. I've been an inveterate doodler all my life, but I actually went to business school. So I had to invent my own techniques, based on trial and error. Pamela helps and is never short of ideas for illustrations: "A howler monkey riding a tapir!", "A Death Lord wearing a necklace of human eyeballs that's exploding because he's so angry!") I'm proud to say that we have never NOT included a picture because we couldn't find a way to make it happen.
      When I'm trying to mimic a Maya artist, I use modern versions of the tools they would have used. First I draw in pen and ink, then I scan the drawing, and add texture and shading with watercolor-like washes in Photoshop.
      For the full-page illustrations, I use a photo-realistic style. I start by taking dozens of photographs and collage them together on the computer. I then draw and paint on top of them to meld them into one seamless whole.

It's been part of our mission to share our research with our readers, and draw them into the Maya universe. Our hope is that they not only enjoy a thrilling adventure, but also experience a glimpse into an ancient world that is more incredible, more advanced and more extraordinary than anything any of us could ever invent.

Jon Voelkel grew up in Peru, Costa Rica, and Colombia, all the while dreaming of a boring life in suburbia. Eventually, having survived monkey stew, an attack by giant rats, and a plane crash in the jungle, he rolled up his hammock and decamped to Europe. Meanwhile, growing up in a sedate seaside town in northern England, Pamela Craik Voelkel was dreaming of travel and adventure. The pair met in London, where they both worked in advertising. They went on to help found an award-winning agency, for which Jon was named one of the fifty most creative minds in Britain by the Financial Times. The authors' first book in the Jaguar Stones series, Middleworld, was an Al Roker Book Club pick. The Voelkels now live in Vermont with their three children. You can visit them online at www.jaguarstones.com.

THE JAGUAR STONES 2015 BLOG TOUR
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Sharon Pinky Pollack - Q&A and Giveaway
Tricia Springstub - Guest Post and Giveaway
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Erin Prefontaine - Guest Post and Giveaway
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Elizabeth O. Dulemba - Guest Post
Friday, February 13, 2015
Heidi Grange - Review, Guest Post and Giveaway
Katie Barlow - Guest Post and Giveaway
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Pamela Thompson
Monday, February 16, 2015
Holly Schindler - Guest post and giveaway
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Charlotte Taylor

Guest post at Janice Hardy's Blog...

Chug on over to Janice Hardy's Fiction University where I talk about "On Switching Gears" in creating children's books. Here's a teaser:

Coloring Page Tuesday - Eskimo Kiss

     Happy Valentine's Day this Saturday! Love is in the air! Even in the very cold air, where a kiss is simply rubbing noses. Eskimo kisses for all!
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A neighborhood walk and getting unstuck

Yesterday was unseasonably warm for Georgia - into the 60s! So Stan and I took Bernie for a walk. It had been a while since we'd been able to enjoy a leisurely sojourn outside, and it reminded me of how good these moments are for my creativity. When I suffer from writer's block or get stuck on a certain scene or puzzle in my writing, I go take a walk!
In my neighborhood, a walk means going up what we affectionately call "poop alley" where everybody walks their dogs (hence the name). It's a dead end road just outside my neighborhood. There's only one house on it, so the half mile is mostly trees and rocks and banks covered with chipmunk dwellings. It also happens to be one Bernie's favorite places. We walk all the way to the end where the road meets the local elementary school before turning around. He loves it and so do I.

I can't tell you how many times I've made this walk, trying to shake loose a problem or idea. Something about watching the birds diving through the canopy, my dog sniffing at invisible (to me) treasures, and the light filtering through various shades of green - it loosens the creative cogs.

     It also doesn't hurt that stories are waiting to be had on our little walk. For instance, meet "The Don." This is a male tom cat who lives a few houses up the street from us (and is one of the reasons our cat is an indoor cat). He is the boss of the street and I've seen him face off with many cats over the years.
     His ears used to stand up straight, until about a year ago. I'm sure some lesser cat required some straightening out. Ever since then, The Don has been much calmer, crooked ear and all - confident in his quiet control of our street as he basks in the sunshine on his concrete driveway.
Ironically, he's actually quite friendly - to humans. And he does get along with other cats, as long as they don't question his authority.
      We actually don't know his real name. But for us, for years, he has been "The Don." There's a story there, which I'll write one of these days. Or he'll become a character in a larger story. At any rate, do you see what I mean?
     Squirrels chasing each other, hawks soaring above, gentle breezes and dancing seedpods - they all have stories. Where did they come from, where are they going, what is the relationship, and why? They can all help shake your own story loose even if it's just adding some dimension to an already existing story, character, or setting.
     So, if you find yourself stuck with your writing - take a walk!
     Photos by Stan Dulemba.

Mardi Gras!

Yesterday Stan and I joined in on a Mardi Gras celebration that ended up at one of our fave weekend hangouts: The Imperial. (The broccoli salad is to die for!) Stan took some fantastic photos, which you can see at his Stan's Tumblr page, along with this one:

Folks were all kinds of dressed up for the parade! I especially liked the man who wore a mardi gras colors "cat in the hat" hat with a kilt and argyle socks - it was a collision of our past and our future coming together in one outfit!! Also, a friend's band, Spackle, played and we had fun listening to them. All in all, it was a great way to spend a beautiful Saturday!

Friday Linky List - February 6, 2015

From School Library Journal at Fuse #8 - For some of the best behind-the-scenes videos from the ALA award events - CLICK HERE. FUN!

From Bottom Shelf Books: Extreme Caldecott Placement - funny!

From The Guardian (via PW): 15 Signs to prove you're a book addict

From PW: 10 Random Facts About Lewis Carroll

Storyline Online: The Kissing Hand read by Audrey Penn

At BookTrust: When author school visits turn bad

Kameron Hurley: What I Get Paid For My Novels: Or, Why I'm Not Quitting My Day Job (from Sarah Dennard's Misfits & Daydreamers)

At GalleyCat (via Sarah Dennard): 2014 TED Presentations from Writers

From PW: CBC and ECAR Revamp Children's Choice Awards (...on the heels of a controversy that flared up last year...)

From BookRiot (via PW): 40 Tiny Tasks For a Richer Reading Life

From The Bookseller (via PW): Children's Book Industry Discusses Diversity Charter

From Vogue (via PW): Dress Like Your Favorite Children's Boo kCharacter, From Paddington to Madeline

From The Telegraph: JK Rowling: life after Harry Potter (and her amazing Harvard commencement speech)

Hester Bass' SEEDS OF FREEDOM - Guest post

Guest Post by Hester Bass
Sometimes I feel as if I live in a world of labels. Entertainment is certainly categorized and targeted. I miss the wide marketplace of my youth, when I could pick up any book I could read, my family went to any movie that caught our interest, and we could watch any show on television – four networks to choose from, until the national anthem played and the stations went off the air. That world felt full of possibilities to me.

I was a first grader in Georgia in 1962-63, who wanted to be a writer. I was taught that people should not be labeled, that everyone deserved respect and a chance to realize their potential. I believed I could do anything I wanted to if I never gave up, and thought everybody felt that way. America’s a free country, right? Land of Opportunity. Of course, it was not that simple. As a child I didn’t always understand what I saw on TV in black and white, but I could tell that there were a lot of people who were violently upset about the color of skin.
When I visit schools as an author, one of the questions students ask me most often is: where do you get your ideas? I jokingly answer “on sale at Target” before revealing the truth: ideas come from everywhere all the time. I’m ever inspired by people and events – some from my experience, often in childhood, and some from quite outside my experience, often from history.

The inspiration for my latest book Seeds of Freedom: The Peaceful Integration of Huntsville, Alabama (Candlewick Press, illustrated by E. B. Lewis) took root on one of my first author visits for my first book, So Many Houses, when I was living in Huntsville. There’s an historical marker in the parking lot: “The first integrated elementary education classes in the state of Alabama took place quietly and peacefully here September 3, 1963.” It was further notable for its “reverse” integration nature – meaning that twelve white students enrolled at a school of black students.

My mind raced to my own elementary experience. All the students at my school were white. I lived in the country and when we went to town, I saw what we then called Negro children and wondered where they went to school, and why things were so separated into “colored” and “white.” More labels. I was happy to see that at this school, just as in their past, everybody was getting along just fine.
Later that year, I was driving beside one of the Huntsville hospitals when traffic stopped, and I noticed a second historical marker about “Fifth Avenue School: Site of Alabama’s First Public School Integration” on September 9, 1963. Same week as the other school. There must be a story here, I thought, and I went straight to the public library.

After nearly six years of digging through periodicals and interviewing people who were there, I wrote the manuscript – draft after draft after draft. I wanted to tell the facts in a way that would engage readers in the struggle and in the success. I was so inspired by the fact that both sides had to remain committed to nonviolence, and by the courage, creativity, and ultimately cooperation necessary for integration to be peaceful in Huntsville.

When I was at a dinner in Orlando in 2010, after accepting the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for The Secret World of Walter Anderson, the stranger sitting next to me asked what I was working on. When I told her about this story from Huntsville, she kind of blanched a little and told me that she had been a student at Fifth Avenue School when the first black child walked through the door. That same woman, now a friend, wrote the Teacher’s Guide for Seeds of Freedom. I could go on and on about the little moments of serendipity that stitched this piece of history into a book.
It must be difficult for children today to understand just how different things were at that time, when the world must not have felt so full of possibilities to children of color. It has been said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and one look at today’s headlines could make one wonder if we’re headed in that direction. (Artwork by E. B. Lewis.)

But just like the people of Huntsville, we have a choice. We can choose our own label. My hope for the book is that it will be one more nudge to help people realize that even small gestures by everyday individuals can ultimately help solve very big problems. My hope is that more people will embrace the labels of peacemaker and friend, until the seeds of freedom are planted everywhere, for everybody.
(The view from Hester's favorite writing spot.)

Coloring Page Tuesday - Fuzzy Socks

     I've returned to writing a daily journal and I always end with "5 Things I'm Grateful For." More often than not, "fuzzy socks" end up on that list. Because on a cold winter evening, there is nothing better!
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ALA Awards!

Congratulations to the Newbery and Caldecott-winning titles this year! They are:

There were two Newbery honor books, which were:
El Deafo by Cece Bell
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jaqueline Woodson

There were six Caldecott honor books, which were:
Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Jon Klassen and Mac Barnett
Nana in the City by Lauren Castillo
The Noisy Paint Box written by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Mary Grandpre
Viva Frida by Yuji Morales and Tim O'Meara
The Right Word, written by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki

CLICK HERE to learn more about the various medals awarded at ALA, such as the Coretta Scott King award, the Printz award, the Sibert, etc. Thanks to ALA Chicago for streaming the event online so that we could all enjoy the festivities!

Happy Groundhog Day!

Color my little groundhog dude today and let me know if he sees his shadow!

Environmental Installation by Ra Paulette - WOW

Ra Paulette creates art-filled caves from the sandstone mountains in Northern New Mexico. They are stunning and wondrous. This is art for art's sake and so inspiring. Click the image to watch the CBS Sunday Morning story on YouTube:

There's also a movie called "The CaveDigger" - a three-year-long documentary of Ra working - if you'd like to learn more. Visit his website for more information.