MY ART ON DISPLAY AT THE UCLA EMERITI/RETIREES ARTS AND CRAFTS EXHIBIT

On Tuesday, May 19th, I was one of 23 artists exhibiting at the annual Silvia Winstein UCLA Emeriti/Retirees Arts and Crafts Exhibit at the UCLA University Club in Los Angeles, California. I showed prints of my cut-paper book illustrations. Many thanks to Chair Kay Deeney and all the people who make the event happen. This year's featured artists were Shirley Ho, calligraphist, and Craig Schoenbaum, photographer.

The tradition of the show began many years ago when Sylvia, the young widow of UCLA Chemistry Professor Saul Winstein, had a tea for some friends and displayed several paintings. Artistic emeriti friends and spouses were so enthusiastic that Sylvia organized and supported what has become a very special yearly celebration. 

The event is  jointly presented by the UCLA Emeriti Association, the UCLA Emeriti/Retirees Relations Center, and the UCLA Retirees Association. 

Radical Changes in the Editing Process: Santa Barbara Breakfast With the Authors

Greg Trine, Joan Graham, Heidi Gill, Susan Casey, Valerie Hobbs, Alexis O'Neill, Sherry Shahan, Mel Gilden, Sara Kras, Marianne Richmond, Caroline Arnold, Robin Mellom, Amy Koss

Last Saturday I participated, along with thirteen other authors, in the 62nd annual Breakfast with the Authors sponsored by the Santa Barbara County Office of Education.  After time to mingle and chat and eat a delicious breakfast we each had the opportunity to address the question:  What is the most radical change you have made to your manuscript in the editing and rewriting processes?

For me, the answer was easy.  It was the conversion of my 24 page nonfiction picture book A Panda’s World (PictureWindow Books, 2006) to a 20 page board book.  First of all, the page sizes were shrunk from 11 by 11 inches, to 8 by 8 inches. (The illustrations remain the same, except smaller.) Then all the front matter (information about panda size, weight, etc.) was eliminated along with three pages of back matter (map, fun facts, glossary, etc.).  Then, the text on each page spread had to be shortened from two paragraphs to about two sentences! That's a radical change! And, the sidebars with fun facts were also eliminated. What was left were the essentials of the story.  Net result: a new book perfectly suited for a parent to read to a young child or for a beginning reader to read alone.  The board book edition of A Panda’s World will be published in February 2015, along with three other titles from the same series–A Penguin’s World, A Zebra’s World and A Polar Bear’s World.  I am delighted to have the new board book versions of these books, which make the stories available to a whole new audience.

The morning’s program also included a panel of teen readers who responded to anonymous first pages.  It was fascinating to hear their opinions and find out how they identified with the characters in the stories.
Thanks so much to Rose, Matt, Fred and Doris for all the hard work to organize the breakfast.  It is always a pleasure to participate!

Art from A PENGUIN'S WORLD Helping to Support Free Expression at BEA

"Penguin's First Swim" from A Penguin's World (PictureWindow Books, 2006)

A book is challenged in a school or library in the United States almost every day. Just this month the Chicago Public Schools banned Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel Persepolis in middle school classes.

The good news is that the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE)--the bookseller's voice in the fight against censorship, is leading the fight against book censorship. Its Kids' Right to Read Project (KRRP), co-founded with the National Coalition Against Censorship, is providing critical support for the students, parents, teachers, and librarians who are fighting challenges in their local communities.

That's why ABFFE has agreed to co-host the 19th Annual Children's Book Art Silent Auction at BookExpo America. Proceeds will support ABFFE's defense of the free speech rights of young readers. The event will be held on Wednesday, May 29, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the River Pavilion of the Jacob Javits Convention Center.  There will also be an online auction. It begins on Saturday, May 18 at 9am and closes on Friday, May 24 at 9pm. It can be found here: http://myworld.ebay.com/abffe. Feel free to spread the word. ;) For more info, please visit the auction's website.

I have donated "Penguin's First Swim" from my book A Penguin's World (Picture Window Books, 2006) to the auction.  It will be available in the online auction. Check it out!
And, if you are planning to attend BEA, please stop by ABFFE.

Projects: Polar Bears, Penguins and More

Two weeks ago I did an author visit at Ecole Bilingue, a bilingual French/English school in Berkeley, California.  (I do not speak French, so my program was during the English part of the day!)  I spoke to the first and second graders and was impressed by their enthusiasm and the preparation they had done for my visit.  As I approached the library, a huge bulletin board display was dedicated to my book A Platypus’ World, which the students had translated into French and the librarian had reproduced.  After my first program, the students presented me with my own copy of the book–my first to be translated into French! (I learned the French word for platypus: ornithorynque.)

The students had also read A Polar Bear's World, A Panda's World and A Penguin's World. Inside the library was a wonderful display of the children’s art projects–roly-poly clay polar bears; cardboard tube penguins, 3-D penguin pictures; salt paintings of polar bears, paper plate pandas, and more.  I really appreciate all the hard work done by the teachers and librarians to help the children be familiar with my books.  By involving the students BEFORE my visit, they not only learned about the animals in my books but were primed for my program and got that much more out of it.  The value of author day is not just in the one day I visit, but in the learning that goes on before and after.  I know the students will be checking my books out of the library for a long time to come and remembering the day that they met me when I came to their school.  I will certainly be remembering them and all their creative art projects!

Penguin Coloring Page

Pair of Adelie Penguins at their Nest

One of my favorite New Yorker cartoons depicts a penguin colony in which several penguins are posing while another is snapping a photo.  The caption reads: “You didn’t have to spring for colored film!"  Penguins in Antarctica are definitely mostly a black and white picture, and color film would seem to be a waste. (This cartoon appeared before the advent of digital cameras.)  My challenge, when I was illustrating my book A Penguin’s World was to find ways to insert some color into my illustrations.  When I could, I silhouetted the birds against a blue sky or the deep blue of the ocean. The main other color in the book is the pink of the penguins’ beaks and pink feet.  When you color the picture above, see if you can think of any other ways to add color to the scene.
Go to my webpage for A Penguin's World to download the coloring page for the penguins.  You'll also find directions for making a paper bag penguin puppet.
You can also learn about penguins and how they have been impacted by climate change in my new book A Warmer World.

Turning a Jumble of Facts into an Idea

When I was a child, my favorite lunch was Campbell’s alphabet soup. I loved to fish out the noodle letters and arrange them on my plate until they spelled a word. Writing and illustrating a book is a little bit like that. I take a jumble of facts and put them together so they make sense. Just as the letters in my soup could be made into a variety of different words, facts can be arranged to tell a variety of different stories.

In my book A Penguin’s World, I followed two Adelie penguin chicks through a year of their life. The organizing principle is time sequence. In this book, I illustrated each step with my own cut paper art.
In Australian Animals, I grouped the animals by the places where they live. The organizing principle is a common space. This book is illustrated with photographs, many of them taken by me on my several trips to Australia.
In Birds: Nature’s Magnificent Flying Machines, I showed how each part of a bird’s body helps it to fly. The organizing principle is the physical act of flying. This book is illustrated with beautiful, scientifically accurate art by Patricia Wynne.

Each of these books is organized in a different way, but by the end of each one, all the pieces fit together in logical order to make a unified whole.

Colorful Animals

Nobody ever said that animals have to have realistic colors! At a recent event, I set up a table with crayons, colored paper, scissors, glue and coloring pages from some of my animal books. Then I let the children free to use the materials as they liked. The picture above shows the ingenious use of the materials by Jossi and Laura, two nine year old girls. I love the way they let the shapes of the animals inspire the filling of the space and how they made patterns of colors and lines. The coloring pages for the koala and penguins can be downloaded from the book pages on my website. A Koala’s World and A Penguin’s World. Go to the project section of each page to click on the link. Have fun making your own creative and colorful animal art!

Celebrity Parents Magazine

Last week I had the honor of being interviewed by Jennifer Parris of Celebrity Parents Magazine (an online weekly magazine) while I was in New Fairfield, Connecticut doing a school visit. We did a photo session in the school library and then talked about my books and the challenges of being a parent while developing a career. I began writing and illustrating when my children were in preschool. At that time my work hours were limited by the number of hours they spent in school. As they grew, they spent longer days at school and my work day grew as well. You can read the interview at www.celebrityparentsmag.com.