Gallery Show: "Children's Book Illustrators"

This upcoming art exhibit is still several months away, but I'm really excited about it so I want to start spreading the word:


The Brush Art Gallery and Studios presents "Children's Book Illustrators", a group show featuring seven contemporary children's book illustrators:


Chris Van Allsburg, David Wisener, David Macaulay, Beth Krommes, Christopher Bing, Kelly Murphy, and Matt Tavares


Brush Art Gallery and Studios, 256 Market St., Lowell, MA 01852
Exhibit runs September 19 - October 24, 2010
Reception, book signing and artists' talk on Saturday, October 2


I'd be excited for this exhibit even if I wasn't one of the featured artists. It's an incredible honor, and somewhat surreal, to be included in this group of illustrators, alongside some of the true masters of children's book illustration. I just hope all the artists can come to the reception, so I can meet them in person.


Now I just need to decide which four illustrations to include in the exhibit...

Award News

Susan Stevens Crummel and Janet Stevens accepting the Bluebonnet Award at the Texas Library Association conference in San Antonio last week

I just got home from my trip to Texas, where I attended the Texas Library Association conference and visited 4 schools. Lady Liberty: A Biography (written by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by me) was on the Bluebonnet Award list, and it was amazing to see how many of the librarians I met (pretty much every single one of them) knew about Lady Liberty because it was a Bluebonnet book.


One of the highlights of my trip was attending the Bluebonnet Award luncheon, where Susan Stevens Crummel and Janet Stevens did a fantastic stand-up routine as they accepted the Bluebonnet Award for their book, Help Me, Mr. Mutt.

And now I found out that Lady Liberty is a finalist for a couple other state book awards-the Buckeye Children's Book Award in Ohio, and the South Carolina Book Award. And on top of that, Mudball is a finalist for the 2011 Monarch Award in Illinois. All three of these awards are chosen by kids, so it's very cool to know that a whole bunch of kids in Illinois, Ohio, and South Carolina will be reading (and hopefully voting for) my books!