Let's Get Busy Podcast

I'm honored to be today's guest on Matthew Winner's excellent Let's Get Busy Podcast. We talk about Growing Up Pedro, Candlewick Press, kickball, and more.

I often listen to Matthew Winner's podcast while I'm painting, and really enjoy it. If you like children's books and have never listened to this awesome podcast, you're in for a treat. I hope episode #166 lives up to the awesomeness of the other 165. Enjoy!

AASL Conference

Hey school librarians! I'll be signing and presenting at the AASL National Conference in Hartford, Connecticut, this Saturday, November 16.

Here's my schedule:
9:15-9:45 AM, signing with Doreen Rappaport at the Mackin booth #401
10:15-11:30 AM, speaking on "Biographies Through Picture Books: A Focus on the Common Core", a panel discussion with Melissa Sweet, Jennifer Bryant, Doreen Rappaport and Andrea Davis Pinkney.
11:30-1:00 signing books in "Authors Alley"

The panel discussion should be great. But if you can't make it to that, come to one of my signings and say hi!

Award News for HELEN'S BIG WORLD!

I just got some very exciting news- Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller made the Charlotte Zolotow Award Highly Commended list!

The Charlotte Zolotow Award is given annually for outstanding writing in a picture book published in the United States in the preceding year. Up to five honor books and up to ten highly commended titles may also be named each year.

The award is for writing, so really this honor belongs to my esteemed collaborator, Doreen Rappaport. So I'm just along for the ride, but I'll still celebrate!

Here's an article in School Library Journal announcing all the winners. 

Helen's Big World in The New York Times!

Great news! Helen's Big World got a stellar review in yesterday's New York Times! Here it is...

HELEN'S BIG WORLD Publication Day!

Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller, written by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by me, published by Disney-Hyperion, comes out today! This is my third collaboration with the amazing Doreen Rappaport, and I'm really proud to be a part of it. 

Here's an excerpt from my illustrator's note, where I wrote about some of the challenges I faced in trying to visually capture the story of a person who could not see or hear:

Helen Keller never saw the ocean or heard the sound of crashing waves. But she could feel the exhilaration of jumping in the water. She could ride in a sailboat, and feel the fluttering in her stomach as the sea rose and fell. She could taste the salty ocean spray, and feel the cold water as it splashed on her face. I kept this in mind as I illustrated this book, and tried to make sure my pictures focused on all the things she could do, instead of the two things she couldn’t do. 

It's always exciting (and a little bit nerve-wracking) when a book is finally done and people actually get to read it. Fortunately, the early response to Helen's Big World has been overwhelmingly positive (phew!). Here's a roundup of some of the great feedback the book has gotten so far:

 "Tavares's illustrations for Helen's Big World are, per the title, big and bold and often in intense close-up. Stirring and awe-inspiring..."
*The Horn Book Magazine (starred review)

 "A great design, incorporating the words in large type, makes this book visually striking.... The full images, without borders, invite children into Helen's world, while showing how big it truly became.... A dramatic spread shows the pupil and teacher in a boat, majestically cresting a wave, emphasizing what the youngster does experience more than what she does not. While there are many books available about Helen Keller for this age group, this title offers a unique and beautiful perspective on her life."
*School Library Journal (starred review)

"A magisterial account." -Kirkus Reviews

"Tavares’s illustrations evoke deep emotional response, incorporating large close ups and changing in color to reflect mood and tone. Particularly striking is his depiction on the front endpapers of the break through moment when Helen realizes her teacher, Annie Sullivan is providing her with words with which to express her experiences. Students reading this text cannot help but think about how they experience the world in which they live and offer their own words to communicate with those around them."
-The Classroom Bookshelf

Winner of a 2012 Oppenheim Platinum Award

Winner of a 2012 Oppenheim SNAP Award (for Special Needs Adaptable Products) 

2012 ABC Best Books For Children

For more about Helen's Big World, you can visit Doreen Rappaport's brand new web site. And for some great ideas about how to use this book in the classroom, please check out this excellent blog post on The Classroom Bookshelf.  

Find Helen's Big World at a bookstore near you, or any of the usual places online.

"Dark and almost demonic, it conveys instantly both the catastrophic nature of Helen's disabilities and the steely will that raged to be unleashed." -Publisher's Weekly, describing this illustration from Helen's Big World

 

Books of Wonder

I had a great time in New York City last weekend. Doreen Rappaport and I introduced our new book, Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller, at one of my favorite book stores anywhere, Books of Wonder. Here are a few pictures...

Very exciting to see Helen's Big World in the window of Books of Wonder! This was our very first public event for this book (It doesn't actually come out until next Tuesday.)

Nice display inside the store

Doreen and I did a little presentation about the book.

After the Books of Wonder, event, we visited the Helen Keller Archives at the American Foundation for the Blind, which was amazing. Here's a picture of Helen from the AFB reading a letter that Mark Twain wrote to Helen Keller! (Pictured, left to right: Doreen Rappaport, our editor Rotem Moscovich, Helen Selsdon of the AFB, and Doreen's husband, Bob).

My illustration of Helen learning to write, above a display case containing some of the actual papers I used as reference for my illustration.

Doreen sitting at Helen Keller's desk!

Doreen and I signed plenty of stock, so if you missed the Books of Wonder event but still want a copy of Helen's Big World signed by both of us, you can still get one!

Now I'm home for a few days, then it's off to Wisconsin for the Waupaca Book Festival next weekend!

Fall Events Schedule

At Book Ends in Winchester, MA in 2010 (I'll be there on October 20 at 1:00 pm!)

I'm just about to start final art for my current picture book project, so I don't have a ton of events planned for this fall... but I will be traveling around a little bit, with events planned in New York, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and California (but oddly, none in Maine, which is where I live...). 

So if you happen to be in or near New York City, Winchester, MA, Newington, NH, Waupaca, WI, or Tustin, CA, please come join me for one of these fun events! Here's where I'll be:

October 6	12:00-2:00 pm, book signing and talk with author Doreen Rappaport on our new book, Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller, at Books of Wonder in New York City.
October 12-13	Waupaca Book Festival, Waupaca, Wisconsin.
October 20	1:00 pm, book signing and talk on Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller, at Book Ends in Winchester, MA.
October 24	School visit, Mast Way School, Lee, NH
October 25	6:00 pm. Opening reception for "The Original Art 2012: Celebrating the Fine Art of Children's Book Illustration". Original artwork from There Goes Ted Williams will be included in this exhibit at the Museum of American Illustration, at The Society of Illustrators in New York City. The juried exhibit will be on display October 24-December 22.
November 17	1:00-4:00 pm, Barnes and Noble, Newington, NH, book signing for Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller, part of a book fair for Wells Elementary School.
December 1	1:00-5:00 pm, Opening reception for 21st Annual Children's Book Illustration Show, Chemers Gallery, Tustin, CA. This is a group exhibit featuring original artwork by 5 comtemporary children's book illustrators: E.B. Lewis, Sylvia Long, Chris Sheban, Boris Kulikov, and Matt Tavares.
December 7	6:00-9:00 pm, reading and signing my Christmas books at Barnes and Noble in Newington, NH, part of their annual Polar Express night. I read at 6:00, then there's a reading of The Polar Epress, and lots of other fun stuff (like free cookies and hot chocolate!)...

Sneak peek at my next book...

My next book, Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller (written by the amazing Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by me, published by Disney-Hyperion) doesn't come out until October, but my editor gave me the go-ahead to post the cover image on my web site. So... here it is!

Report from Tucson: Books Are Not Dead!

During one of my sessions at the Tucson Festival of Books last weekend, someone asked the question that seems to come up in pretty much every Q & A session these days, about what's going to happen now that everything is switching over to ebooks.

My answer was something along the lines of, "Right now, we're at a book festival, and there are one hundred thousand people here..." I wasn't trying to go for the easy applause, but everyone clapped at that point (which, I admit, was nice).

But it's true.  Spending the weekend at a book festival attended by over 100,000 people, watching enthusiastic readers walking around with armloads of signed books, definitely made me feel pretty good about making books- especially picture books.

Now I'm back in my studio, working on my next picture book. Maybe some people will end up reading this on a kindle fire, or a nook, or who knows what the next thing will be. But as I work on it, I'm still looking at it as a physical work of art that people will hold in their hands.

Anyway... here are a few pictures from the Tucson Book Festival:

The University of Arizona. Not sure how much work I would have gotten done if I'd gone to college here!

The campus looked a bit different than the east coast schools I'm used to.

The Festival

My first event of the weekend was a book signing, and about 200 feet from where I was signing, there was, literally, A CIRCUS! I assumed nobody would come to my signing, but thankfully, plenty of people did.

The tablecloth at my first signing had 25 years worth of drawings and signatures from all the authors and illustrators who had signed there. Pretty amazing stuff. I particularly loved this one by the brilliant David Wiesner.

me signing

I drew this picture of Ted Williams on the tablecloth.

It's right next to one by pop-up master Robert Sabuda!

It got REALLY crowded!

I was part of a panel called "Bats, Balls, and Gloves: Great Sports Heroes" with my friends Phil Bildner and Kadir Nelson

Then I presented with Kadir Nelson and Doreen Rappaport, on a panel called "She Writes, We Draw: A Story of One Author and Two Illustrators". (For a sneak peek at my next book, look under Kadir's hands.)

reading There Goes Ted Williams at the Story Blanket

me doing a drawing demonstration at the Story Blanket

It was really a wonderful event. I met a bunch of people, and I got to hang out with some author and illustrator friends like Doreen Rappaport, Phil Bildner, Chris Van Dusen, and Kadir Nelson. I also got to meet so many authors and Illustrators I'd never met before, like Jack Gantos, Adam Rex, Mac Barnett, Maxwell Eaton III, Chris Gall, Jon Scieszka... what a fun weekend.


Now, back to work.

Tucson Festival of Books

I'm getting ready to head to Arizona this weekend for the Tucson Festival of Books. I've never been before, and it sounds like an amazing event. If you happen to be one of the 100,000 people they're expecting to attend (!!), and you'd like to come to one of my sessions, here's my schedule:

Saturday, March 10

10:30-11:15 am signing copies of There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived at the Candlewick/Kids Center booth

 

1:00-2:00 pm "Bats, Balls and Gloves: Great Sports Heroes" panel discussion with Phil Bildner, Kadir Nelson, and me, followed by autograph session.

3:00-3:30 pm reading of There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived in the "Storyblanket" area, followed by autograph session.

4:00-5:00 pm "She Writes, We Drew: A Story of Two Illustrators and One Author" panel discussion with Doreen Rappaort, Kadir Nelson, and me, followed by autograph session.

Sunday, March 11

10:15-11:00 am signing copies of There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived at the Candlewick/Kids Center booth

Time to pack!

Behind the Scenes- Lady Liberty: A Biography

Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Lady Liberty: A Biography, where I talk about collaborating with Doreen Rappaport. This was originally part of a DVD Candlewick Press put together a few years ago called "Open Studios", which also featured my friends, fellow Candlewick author-illustrators Timothy Basil Ering and Peter H. Reynolds. Enjoy!

Upcoming Events

With the release of There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived a little over a month away, I've got some exciting events planned for this winter and spring, including two museum exhibits, a trip to the Tucson Festival of Books, and plenty of other fun stuff. A few events are still in the works, but here's what's confirmed so far. If I'll be in your area, come say hi! As more events get booked, I'll add them to the events page on my web site.

2012	There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived Events
January 14	11:00-2:00 New Stars for Young Stars VII, at Jillian's on Lansdowne Street in Boston. Presented by the Jimmy Fund Council of Greater Boston, this Boston Red Sox autograph-signing event provides a unique and memorable opportunity to meet and greet Red Sox players, including the Greatest Red Sox Pitcher of All Time, Pedro Martinez! Tickets start at $150 and VIP tickets are $250. All proceeds from the 2012 event will benefit the Jimmy Fund and Pedro Martinez and Brothers Foundation. Ted Williams was the single most influential person in helping to raise money for The Jimmy Fund in its early days. So I am thrilled for this event to be my very frst book signing for There Goes Ted Williams. The book doesn't actually come out until Fenruary 14, but Candlewick Press is donating books so every kid from the Jimmy Fund Clinic gets a free copy.
Febraury 3- May 6	Exhibit: "Picture This: 90 Years of Storybook Art" Art exhibit at The Wenham Museum in Wenham, MA, featuring original artwork from nearly a century of classic books including work by Leo Leonni, Tasha Tudor, and illustrations from my books Zachary's Ball and The Gingerbread Pirates.
February 14	Release date for There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived, Zachary's Ball: Fenway Centennial Edition (to be released simultaneously in hardcover and paperback), and Henry Aaron's Dream (now available in paperback!)
March 10	Tucson Festival of Books, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 1:00-2:00 pm, "Bats, Balls and Gloves: Great Sports Heroes" panel discussion with Phil Bildner, Kadir Nelson, and Matt Tavares, followed by autograph session. 3:00-3:30- reading of There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived in the "Storyblanket" area, followed by autograph session. 4:00-5:00, "She Writes, We Drew: A Story of Two Illustrators and One Author" panel discussion with Doreen Rappaort, Kadir Nelson, and Matt Tavares, followed by autograph session.
March 11	Tucson Festival of Books, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 10:30 am, book signing for There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived at the Candlewick/Kids Center booth
March 17	Barnes and Noble, Newington, NH, book signing for There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived , part of book fair for Wells Elementary School. Time TBD
April 5- May 27	Exhibit: "There Goes Ted Williams: Matt Tavares and Arthur Griffin" Come see the original artwork from my book, There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived, at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA. This exhibit will feature the original illustrations from my book, alongside spectacular historic photographs of Ted Williams, taken by Arthur Griffin during Ted Williams's rookie season in 1939. I'm really excited for this! Come to the launch party and opening reception on April 12 (details below)!
April 12	3:00-5:00 pm, Winchester Authorfest, signing There Goes Ted Williams at the Winchester Town Hall, Wincehster, MA
April 12	7:00-8:30 pm, BOOK LAUNCH PARTY! for my book, There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived, and opening reception for the "There Goes Ted WIlliams: Matt Tavares and Arthur Griffin" exhibit, at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA. Free admission, everyone welcome! Book sales handled by my hometown independent bookseller, Book Ends
April 21	2:00 pm, book signing at Wenham Museum in Wenham, MA, part of the Picture This: 90 Years of Storybook Art exhibit
April 22	3:00 pm, book signing and artist talk at the Griffin Museum in Winchester, MA, part of the exhibit, "There Goes Ted Williams: Matt Tavares and Arthur Griffin". I'll sign books, and do a presentation about the making of There Goes Ted Williams.
May 20	2:00 pm, presentation and book signing for There Goes Ted Williams at the Louis T. Graves Memorial Library in Kennebunkport, Maine, part of the Pasco Lecture Series.
June 5-6	Georgia Conference on Teaching Writing and Reading, Perry, Georgia

JFK Library Event

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of John F. Kennedy, and I was honored to be a part of the festivities.

I presented with Doreen Rappaport at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, and it was a wonderful event. We had an audience of 200 enthusiastic 5th graders from Boston Public Schools. The JFK library generously bought a copy of Jack's Path of Courage: The Life of John F. Kennedy for every single student, which really helped make it a special day for everyone. We started off the day by signing all the books (close to 300 in total, including the ones we signed for the museum shop).

Doreen with a group of students, just before we started signing. Look at all those books!

brand new camera = lots of blurry pictures.

Doreen and me signing.

Then we did our presentation. Doreen went first, and spoke about her memories of the 1960 election, and about her inspiration for making this book about John F. Kennedy, then I showed a powerpoint presentation about how I made the pictures for this book. Then we answered questions. After that, the students did a choral recitation of excerpts from John F. Kennedy's inaugural address. They did a great job.

Our host at the JFK Library, Sam Rubin, kindly treated me and Doreen (and Doreen's husband Bob, and my wife and kids, and my parents...) to a delicious lunch. The chef at the museum cafe recreated the menu from the 1961 Inaugural Luncheon, so we got to eat just what JFK himself enjoyed for his first meal as president. As you might imagine, it was very good. Yum...

Then Sam gave me and my family a personal guided tour of the exhibits. This was definitely worth taking my first grader out of school for the day!

My 6-year-old daughter giving her inaugural address

 
Of all the information my daughters learned about JFK yesterday, their favorite part was hearing about how he carved a message into a coconut when he and his men were stranded on an island during World War II. So the highlight of their day came when they actually get to see "The Coconut".

The Coconut.

And after all that, I drove to Candlewick to deliver all the artwork for my book, There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived. I always love visiting Candlewick, and delivering all the finished artwork for a book is one of the most exciting parts of the whole process.

Then dinner at my parents house, then back to Maine. Then to bed.

50th anniversary of JFK's inauguration

Believe it or not, next Thursday, January 20, marks the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. There are going to be a lot of events going on around the country throughout the day, and I'm very honored to be a part of one of them.

Doreen Rappaport and I will be presenting together on January 20 at the JFK Library and Museum in Boston, MA, for a group of 200 students from Boston Public Schools. The best part of the event is that the JFK Library generously purchased books for every single kid! So not only will the kids hopefully learn something about JFK, but each student will also get to go home with their own copy of Jacks' Path of Courage, signed by the author and the illustrator.

The only down side is that the event isn't open to the public. But some of the other events are.  Here's a full list of what else is going on that day.

November 22, 1963

Perhaps the greatest challenge I faced while illustrating Jack's Path of Courage: The Life of John F. Kennedy was deciding how to illustrate the page that deals with his assassination. I tried a few different ideas, but ultimately I decided to let Doreen Rappaport's well-chosen words tell the tragic news of his death, and I focused my picture on the last moments of his life, when he looked so young, vibrant and happy.

talking about Jack's Path of Courage on '207'

Jack's Path of Courage is in stores, right... NOW!

Find Jack's Path of Courage: The Life of John F. Kennedy at a bookstore near you, or on Amazon.

Picture Book Biographies event at Books of Wonder

Award news for Jack's Path of Courage: The Life of John F. Kennedy

Good news- Jack's Path of Courage: The Life of John F. Kennedy, written by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by me (Disney-Hyperion, October 2010) won't be in stores until October 26, but it already won an Oppenheim Gold Seal Award!

first reviews for JACK'S PATH OF COURAGE

The first reviews of Jack's Path of Courage: The Life of John F. Kennedy are in! So far, so good:

From School Library Journal:
      "[Rappaport's] descriptive narration is spiced with memorable quotations and Tavares’s larger-than-life illustrations. The realistic paintings portray the different periods in JFK’s life with depth and detail, capturing his emotions, courage, and sovereignty while remaining true to this unique time in history.... This beautifully illustrated and gracefully told story serves as a superior introduction to our 35th president."

From Publisher's Weekly:
      "As with these collaborators' Lady Liberty, the striking cover of this picture-book biography features a closeup portrait of the subject, all the more compelling in this instance with the omission of any type.... Tavares's light- and shadow-infused paintings balance lifelike portrayals of Kennedy with renderings of dramatic events, notably a Japanese destroyer ramming Kennedy's PT boat during WWII and the planting of the American flag on the moon. An evenhanded, graphically stirring biography."

And from Kirkus:
      "A striking cover close-up of Kennedy (with the title information on the back of the jacket, à la the author's Martin's Big Words, illustrated by Bryan Collier, 2001) introduces the reader to this biography of the 35th president of the United States.... The handsome and vivid illustrations pop."