Here's a fun review from our dear friend and fellow Georgian at Book Review Mama. Just click the chick to check it out!
We're so happy to share this fun post from Babies To Bookworms that includes lots of fun activities for you to build around a storytime with Free Rain. Just click on any of the images to go to the post and review.
This is an advance copy I'm holding, but the rest of the books are scheduled to arrive this wednesday 4/26/2017! If you order a copy now, I'll ship it out the same day that I receive the books.
What an honor to have South Magazine do an article on me and my children's books! It's just now hitting the stands, so pick up your copy today! This one is the Arts and Celebrations issue, so I get to hang out in the magazine with a lot of my favorite Savannah folks like Clinton Edminster, Britt Spencer, Liz Winnel, and more! Click on the cover below to read the piece.
It's been a couple weeks ago now, but the Savannah Children's Book Festival was an incredible event! Here are some photos and videos from the event that might not be out there yet. A lot of the photos are from school visits leading up to the event.
The interior of the book is all ready to go, so now I have the task of designing the cover. I'm sure there are some artists that would say this needs to be done much earlier in the process, but for me- I don't think the cover of the book should dictate what happens within the book- instead, the cover idea will be revealed after spending time in the story. Also, there's quite a bit of editing and rearranging throughout the whole process, so the story can make some significant changes throughout the whole process. Therefore, I won't truly have an idea of what the cover should be until I have the story and illustrations locked into place.
Having said all that, I'm still trying out a few different versions of the cover, which I'll share with you here. Please let me know what you think of them, and which is your favorite. When it comes to design, I really scrutinize, but when it comes to a cover design, I scrutinize like crazy!
It's funny... the saying, "You can't judge a book by its cover", applies to a lot of things, but in this day and age, it really doesn't apply to books.
The images are numbered in the lower left-hand corner to help you declare your favorite version, or talk about certain elements of different covers. Please leave me some feedback. Thanks!
Why is Orange Chicken so bummed out? Find out when these chickens make their debut this Winter!
Awww, don't be sad, Orange- the book is just about wrapped up! I just had a phone meeting with the writer, Dan Wentzel, who lives in Seattle, and ironed out some things with the text, so now it's time to start laying it in.
The release date has been pushed back a little bit, because there's just no way we'll have it done by the Savannah Children's Book Festival, but it looks like we'll make it by the Christmas season.
A view from the phone meeting between illustrator and author.
Wow, it's been quite a while since I've posted here, but I assure you that it's for a good reason. Just about every possible moment of the past 6 months has been spent working on the new book. It's about a group of chickens making the transition from Caged to Free-Range. I'm about 75% done with the illustrations, and then I'll move on to laying in the text. The goal is to have it released in November at the Savannah Children's Book Festival, but that means I've got a lot of work to knock out in a relatively short amount of time!
Here are some sneak peeks.
Blue hears some exciting news!
Red and Orange are a little less eager to embark on the new journey.
We have some other barnyard animal appearances.
The chickens are setting their plan into motion, but what are they going to discover out there?
Well that's all for now, but I'll try to take a few more breaks to post some status updates as I go. If you really would like to keep up with what's going on, please follow my Instagram account; it's just easier to post things on the fly over there.
Thanks!
Wowzers, the folks over at Library In Motion came up with some really cool activities to pair up with a reading of Heave Ho! Check them out over at their website!
We feel honored that Lovelane would make such a cool post featuring Heave Ho! and the mural I did over at 40th and Drayton! If you don't know about them yet, hop on over and check them out- the coolest and cutest little superhero gear around! Lovelane Designs
