The Laurie Keller Trifecta

The Nerdy Book Club, Colby Sharp, and I are celebrating author-illustrator Laurie Keller. Have fun jumping from blog to blog! :) 

I wrote the words in green, and Laurie wrote the words in brown. 

Bowling Alley Bandit and Invasion of the Ufonuts are the first two books in my new series, The Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut.  I wanted to write some early chapter books and was thinking up characters to write about (which I’m still planning on doing) when my editor, Christy Ottaviano, suggested I try writing one about Arnie.  She knew that when I go to school talks kids always ask for more books about him and sometimes even start chanting his name.  I hadn’t planned on writing more books about Arnie because I figured he was settled happily as a doughnut-dog, living with Mr. Bing, but once I started playing around with the idea I knew it was something I wanted to pursue.  I like the new format and having more pages to draw out jokes.  I have to be pretty sure though that kids will understand the jokes since they’re “front and center” rather than in random asides as I use them in picture books.  

Arnie the Doughnut first appeared in a pastry case in his self-titled picture book, Arnie the Doughnut.  I got the idea for the book after stepping into a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop for the first time in NYC.  I stood for about 20 minutes watching the doughnuts being made and thought they looked like little characters coming to life.  I was so intrigued by the process that I decided then and there to write about one of them.

Composer/lyricist George Howe wrote a musical adaptation of Arnie the Doughnut! He and director/adaptor, Frances Limoncelli, developed the show for the Lifeline Theater in Chicago.  I was so impressed with George’s song-writing skills and the professional quality of whole production.  It was really exciting to see the characters from my book come to life in such a way and to see how the audience responded to it.  In 2012 the show was performed with a new cast in the New York Musical Theater Festival.  It was so SURREAL to see a book I created while living in NYC come full-circle (unintended doughnut pun) and be performed in a Broadway theater.  It was an INCREDIBLE experience!

My studio for the past 8 years wasn’t much to speak of. I lived in a cute, little cottage with no room for a studio (cue the violins please) so I worked in the corner of my living room (need a tissue yet?).  As a result I always felt like I needed to be careful as to not make a mess so I started creating most of my of illustrations on the computer. I liked working digitally but I missed painting and having room to work and play. BUT I recently bought a house and am in the process of fixing up a big loft studio.  It’s full of windows and skylights and it overlooks Lake Michigan — truly a dream come true.  I’m looking forward to having several work stations so I can start painting and collaging again in addition to digital work. 

Picture books are and always will be in my blood.  I started collecting them more than 20 years ago after discovering books by Lane Smith, Jon Sciezska, Maira Kalman and Petra Mathers.  Their work was what made me want to make picture books of my own.  It’s exciting every time I see one of my stories in print and I’m grateful every day that I have a career doing something I would do just for fun. But the big BONUS of making picture books has been seeing how kids respond to them (at school visits and book signings).  When they laugh and quote their favorite lines to me it melts my heart!  

Reading is, among a million other positive attributes, a bridge between people with not much else in common.  You know those times when you’re with someone and you try and try but you can’t find anything meaningful to talk about and then eventually you discover that you both like the same book(s) and all of a sudden it’s, “Wait — you’ve read The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America? You mean the one by Julian Montague? NO WAY! Let’s be best friends forever!”

Mr. Schu, you should have asked me about my penchant for inanimate objects.  When I was a kid I was convinced that anything and everything had feelings — the raggedy gum wrapper on the side of the road, the leftover hotdog on the grill, the stray shoe in the middle of the highway (how does that happen anyway?).  I’d see these things, lost and alone, and it would tear me up inside.  I always figured I’d grow out of that but I haven’t (a friend dubbed me the Patron Saint of Inanimate Objects).  I can’t go into a store and pick something off the shelf and leave one by itself — it kills me.  So most times I buy them both (I know, I know — FREAK SHOW! Tell me about it — it gets EXPENSIVE!).  Once in awhile I can resolve my angst by placing the leftover item near another somewhat similar item (maybe a different scent or size) so it’s not alone.  I always hope it will make new friends — and maybe even bond by chatting about a beloved book.

I am giving away a copy of Invasion of the UFONUTS. 

Rules for the Giveaway 

1. It will run from 3/9 to 11:59 p.m. on 3/11. 

2. You must be at least 13. 

3. Please pay it forward. 

Laurie Keller designed and illustrated the logo for Nerd Camp 2014. 

"Librarians know the kids’ names.  They smile when students rush through the doors eager to get a book or even a HUG — from their LIBRARIAN!  It’s a great thing to see." - Laurie Keller

Author Elise Broach

Every Friday, an author, an illustrator, or an educator drops by to finish my sentences. Today's special guest is one of my favorite authors, Elise Broach. We discussed her new series, Kelly Murphy's amazing illustrations, Caldecott Medalist David Small, picture books, and reading. I wrote the words in red, and she wrote the words in black. Many thanks, Elise! 

The Miniature World of Marvin and James is the first book in a series for younger readers called The Masterpiece Adventures, based on the characters from my middle-grade novel, Masterpiece.  The reading level is good for children from the ages of about six to nine, in that transitional stage between early readers and longer chapter books.  It’s so fun for me to be back in the world of Marvin and James! My hope is that the miniature, dollhouse details of the beetles’ lives – the tiny scale of their world – will have a special appeal to children of this age.  In the first book of the series, James goes away on vacation, and a lonely Marvin joins his cousin Elaine on a hair-raising adventure (or that’s what it would be, if beetles had hair!).

Illustration credit: Kelly Murphy 

Kelly Murphy’s illustrations are purely AMAZING!  She captures so much about my characters in the simplest of lines.  Look at Marvin and Elaine’s faces when they find themselves trapped inside an electric pencil sharpener – each gradation of surprise, worry, panic, and terror is perfectly conveyed.  To manage all that when the characters are beetles, whose faces consist only of eyes and a mouth, is truly astonishing.  I’ve heard Kelly called “an illustrator’s illustrator” for her wonderful sense of line and composition; these gifts are on full display in The Miniature World of Marvin and James, and I think her two-color art gives the book both a stylish sophistication and an old-fashioned, classic feel.

Hero and Danny Cordova are the two main characters in my first novel, Shakespeare’s Secret, and even though they’re a girl and a boy, in 6^th grade and 8^th grade, they become close friends. I had a number of good friends who were boys when I was growing up, and I wanted to write a story that involved that particular kind of friendship, with its adventures and banter and little spark of difference— but without either antagonism or romance.  Hero is reserved and methodical, while Danny is out-going and relaxed, but they support each other.  They draw each other out of their respective comfort zones in ways that change them for good.

Caldecott Medalist David Small illustrated my picture book When Dinosaurs Came with Everything.  It was so thrilling and fitting to have him as the illustrator for this book because I used to read his lovely picture book Imogene’s Antlers to my children.  When Dinosaurs Came with Everything is also about one extraordinary day in the life of a child—a boy discovers that instead of the usual balloons or pencils or stickers, storekeepers are giving kids a bunch of real, live dinosaurs.  On a school visit once, a student asked me, “Which of your books would you most like to spend a day inside of?”  The answer was easy!  This one.  

Picture books are a unique and wonderful art form.  They combine two things I love:  words and art.  There are so many ways in which picture books are utterly distinct from novels, poetry, short stories, and the visual arts.  They’re meant to be looked at AND read.  Their impact depends as much on the story as the pictures.  They’re meant to be read aloud; the sound of the words matters.  Perhaps most importantly, they’re meant to be shared.  The ideal place for a picture book is between two people—one reading, one listening—sitting side by side, preferably with the book open across their laps.

Reading is one of life’s greatest pleasures.  It’s fun.  It’s cheap.  It expands your mind.  You can do it anywhere, and it whisks you away to different places, circumstances, mindsets, or times.  Reading can be as exciting as a roller coaster ride or as soothing as a cup of tea on a chilly day.  A good book feeds you the way a good meal does; it engages all your senses, fills up your imagination, sustains you, and leaves you sated.

Mr. Schu, you should have asked me what’s next?  The third book in my Superstition Mountain trilogy, Revenge of Superstition Mountain, will come out in August.  The series is set in Arizona, at the real mountain that has been the site of mysterious deaths and disappearances for more than a hundred years.  In this final book, the three Barker boys and their friend Delilah make another trek to the ghost town, unearth (literally!) a new mystery at the cemetery, return to the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine, and explore Superstition Mountain one last time, as they try to figure out its haunting secrets once and for all.

I am giving away one copy of Marvin and James. 

Rules for the Giveaway 

1. It will run from 3/7 to 11:59 p.m. on 3/9. 

2. You must be at least 13. 

3. Please pay it forward. 

4 Questions (Plus one Sentence Starter) with Angela DiTerlizzi

Thank you for dropping by to chat with me about your new picture book, Some Bugs.  I read that you were inspired to write it after your daughter shared what one of her classmates thought about bugs. Please share that story with us. 

Angela DiTerlizzi: One afternoon, at preschool pick up, our then 4-year old daughter, Sophia, told me that the she was sad to hear one of her classmates exclaim, “Bugs are disgusting!” Eager to defend her insect interests, she responded, “I think bugs are cool!”

 Like her Dad, Sophia shares a fascination of the backyard micro-cosmos and all of its insect inhabitants. She listens to the songs of cicadas while following Monarch butterflies as they flutter across our field, seeking milkweed. Her eyes widen when she discovers wooly bear caterpillars nestled in fallen autumn leaves, and peering at praying mantids camouflaged within the long grasses is a pastime. So, it didn’t surprise me that she was quick to defend these small, yet fascinating creatures. Still, I wanted to encourage her to see someone else’s point of view.

 "Well, some people think bugs are disgusting because SOME BUGS sting and some bugs bite.” I explained. “And some bugs STINK and some bugs FIGHT!” she quickly added.In that moment, the first stanza was written.

Sophia and I rushed home, where I grabbed pen and paper, darted to the backyard and submerged myself in the sounds of chirping crickets and the hum of bees. We discussed the different actions and habits of bugs with my husband, Tony, our favorite armchair entomologist, and I enveloped myself in insect inspiration. 

Thank you for writing a book that is a ton of fun to read aloud and share with my students. Did you read it aloud over and over and over before you got every word just right?

Angela DiTerlizzi: I did read it aloud, over and over again. I read the manuscript aloud to myself and to my family. I then called friends and colleagues and read it to them so that I could hear the beats and the words flow, and of course, I trusted my editor, Andrea Welch, to call me out on any questionable rhythmic moments. As both an author and a parent, I want the shared experience of reading to a child and listening to the rhyme to be engaging, anticipatory and clever. I want to offer meter and language that is both predictable and surprising. I often revisit the precision, wit and rhyme of Margaret Wise Brown, Dr. Seuss, and Shel Silverstein in hopes of capturing a glimpse of that in my writing. 

I’m sure a million people are going to ask you this question: What is your favorite bug?

Angela DiTerlizzi: This is a tough one. My list of favorites has expanded since my interest in insects has grown over the years. They are each so captivating in their own way. The praying mantis is both fascinating and terrifying. It’s like the T-Rex of the bug world. The Blue Morpho butterfly is stunning with its vivid, metallic, shimmering shades of blue and green camouflaged by a dull brown underwing. And, just the other day I held a Jungle Nymph. Never in my life have I held an insect that large. It was beautiful and creepy all at once.

But, I would have to say that I adore the woolly bear caterpillar because, it’s well, woolly. I love how they curl up in your hand with their fuzzy black and russet colored bands. For many children, I think this cozy critter is an introduction to the curious, natural world in their own backyards.

Brendan Wenzel’s mixed-media illustrations are eye-catching and go perfectly with your words. What ran through your head the first time you saw the finished illustrations?

Angela DiTerlizzi: I am obsessed with children’s book illustration! I admire it, pour over it and Tony and I even collect it.  When I write, I usually have a vision for what I hope the final artwork will look like and the tone it will convey. Fortunately for me, my editor, Andrea Welch, welcomes my thoughts.

When I wrote the manuscript for SOME BUGS I imagined the illustrations looking something like Eric Carle meets Leo Lionni meets Charlie Harper. I felt that in order for children to really connect with the bugs they needed to be colorful, engaging and appealing. I hoped this book would be a field guide primer of sorts, with the characters based on real bugs.

So, I began searching for the perfect illustrator. When I discovered Brendan’s illustrations of wildlife it was love at first sight! His artwork completely captures the charm and vibrancy that I hoped SOME BUGS would embody, and though rendered in vibrant, mixed media, they accurately depict each species of insect and their appropriate environment. Brendan’s fabulous work paired with the skillful and cheerful design of Lauren Rille created the perfect, playful backyard microcosmos that I want to grab magnifying glass, get inside and explore.

Please finish this sentence:

Picture books are my obsession.

I didn’t grow up in a house with many books. I was a reluctant reader who had difficulty with reading comprehension. I lost interest when I was forced to read books without pictures. It wasn’t until the age of 20, when I met my then aspiring children’s book illustrator, now husband, Tony, that I was reintroduced to a missing literary childhood. I pulled The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka and Steve Johnson off of his bookshelf and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Thank you, Angela! I cannot wait for everyone to read and share Some Bugs. 

I am giving away one copy of Some Bugs. 

Rules for the Giveaway 

1. It will run from 3/6 to 11:59 p.m. on 3/7. 

2. You must be at least 13. 

3. Please pay it forward. 

Borrow Some Bugs from your school or public library. Whenever possible, please support independent bookshops. 

Book Trailer of the Month: The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat

Holy bagumba!  I'm thankful Margie Myers-Culver told me to stop what I was doing to watch the book trailer for Dan Santat's The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend. 

OK, I need to run to celebrate World Read Aloud Day with a first-grade class. Happy watching! Happy connecting! Happy reading! Thank you, Dan and Margie! 

(I'll write more about Beekle in a forthcoming blog post.) 

I am giving away one copy of Dan Santat's The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend. 

Rules for the Giveaway 

1. It will end tonight at 11:59. 

2. You must be at least 13. 

3. Please pay it forward. 

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend  will be released on April 1. 

Tomorrow is World Read Aloud Day

Imagine a world where everyone can read...

If you were sitting next to me right now, I would ask you the following questions. 

Are you ready to celebrate World Read Aloud Day? What will you read? What are you most excited about? What is your favorite read aloud? What is your earliest memory of someone reading aloud to you? Is there a book you used to read over and over when you were a child? Why is it important to show children that we support their future? 

What would you ask me? 

Newbery Medalist Christopher Paul Curtis reads The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

Patrica Storms reads Never Let You Go.

Barbara Reid reads Perfect Snow.

Robert Paul Weston reads from Prince Puggly of Spud and The Kingdom of Spiff. 

Nancy Pearl reads Isabella: Star of the Story. 

Stephanie McLellan reads  Hoogie in the Middle. 

Helaine Becker reads from Zoobots: Wild Robots Inspired by Real Animals 

The March #SharpSchu Book Club Meeting

Happy Sunday! Colby Sharp and I are celebrating one of the most famous literary characters: Harriet M. Welsch (a.k.a. Harriet the Spy). I don't think I've read Harriet the Spy since I was in fourth or fifth grade. I'm excited to re-read it. 

 Do you own a dog-eared and marked-up copy? If yes, dig it out. Are you going to buy the just-released special anniversary edition? I hope so! :)  

I am giving away a copy of Harriet the Spy:50th Anniversary Edition. 

Rules for the Giveaway 

1. It will run from 3/2 to 11:59 p.m. on 3/4. 

2. You must be at least 13. 

3. Please pay it forward. 

Newbery Honor-Winning Author Margarita Engle

Michael Leonard introduced me to Margarita Engle's The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom when I was a student in his Library Materials for Children class. At the time, he was busy evaluating books as a member of the 2009 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award selection committee. The Surrender Tree received an Honor citation.  

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that six years later Margarita agreed to finish my sentences. The library student sitting in Michael's class would never have imagined all the wonderful opportunities that I've experienced because of passionate teachers like Michael who inspired and encouraged me to become involved in the world of children's books. Thank you, Michael! 

Image credit: Margarita Engle

I wrote the words in red, and Margarita wrote the words in black. Thank you, Margarita, for dropping by Watch. Connect. Read. 

Tony and Gabe are the city boy and wilderness search and rescue dog who become great friends in my adventurous middle grade verse novel, Mountain Dog.  Tony’s mother is in prison for dog-fighting.  When he’s sent to live with his great-uncle who is a forest ranger, he learns that dogs can save lives by finding lost hikers, and he learns what it means to be part of a family.

Search and rescue dogs are a big part of my daily life.  The dogs in Mountain Dog and my picture book, When You Wander, are inspired by my husband’s volunteer work with our own SAR dogs.  Search dogs need practice finding a lost person, so I often hide in the forest, serving as a volunteer “victim.”  It’s usually very relaxing.  I’ve only heard the La Llorona scream of a mountain lion once, and there has only been one close call with bullets from a hunter’s gun.  I always take a book, pen and paper.  Quite a few of my poems have been written under a tree.

Silver People: Voices From the Panama Canal, and Tiny Rabbit’s Big Wish, are my 2014 books, both to be released by Harcourt in March.  The first is a historical YA verse novel about tens of thousands of Caribbean islanders who were recruited by the U.S. to dig the canal, then subjected to apartheid, with islanders and southern Europeans paid in silver, while Americans and northern Europeans were paid in gold.  Silver People is also my personal love letter to the tropical rain forest, with poems in the voices of howler monkeys, hummingbirds, snakes, jaguars, and trees. Raúl Colón did the gorgeous cover art.  (There is a simultaneous University of Queensland Press, Australia/New Zealand edition, with a different cover, different subtitle, and different spelling, vocabulary, and grammar.) Tiny Rabbit’s Big Wish is a poem in the form of a picture book for very young children, inspired by a Cuban folktale about a little bunny who wants to grow.  It’s really a story about accepting ourselves, and realizing that we all have different strengths.   David Walker did the adorable illustrations.

Illustration credit: Renee Kurilla

Renee Kurilla is the absolutely fabulous illustrator of my 2015 Holt picture book about orangutans, told entirely in tanka poems.  (Yes, the title is Orangutanka!)  I wrote this book after speaking at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore, during a side trip to Borneo, where we visited a reserve for returning rescued orangutans to the wild.  It was one of the most moving experiences of my life.  Other amazing illustrators I am privileged to be working with on pending picture books include Rafael López, and Aliona Bereghici.

Poetry is music in a wild forest.  It makes the outdoor part of our minds feel like dancing.

Reading is exploration, time travel, telepathy, and shape shifting, all rolled up into one.  It is the only way we can communicate directly with other minds, including those from the past, and from distant lands.  Writing for children is the only way we can communicate with minds of the future.

Mr. Schu, you should have asked me what I am working on now.  The answer is a verse memoir about my childhood travels between California and Cuba during the Cold War.  It’s scheduled for publication by Harcourt in March, 2015.  Writing it was the most challenging experience of my life.

Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American author of The Surrender Tree, which received the first Newbery Honor ever awarded to a Latino.  Her young adult verse novels have also received two Pura Belpré Awards and three Honors, as well as three Américas Awards and the Jane Addams Peace Award, among others. 

Margarita’s next verse novel is Silver People, Voices From the Panama Canal (March, 2014, Harcourt).  Books for younger children include Mountain Dog, Summer Birds, When You Wander, and Tiny Rabbit’s Big Wish (March, 2014, Harcourt).

Margarita lives in central California, where she enjoys hiding in the forest to help train her husband’s wilderness search and rescue dogs.

I am giving away a copy of Mountain Dog. 

Rules for the Giveaway 

1. It will run from 2/28 to 11:59 p.m. on 3/2. 

2. You must be at least 13. 

3. Please pay it forward.