Ogunquit painting

A few weeks ago, I took the morning off from working on my book and painted this picture of the view from the bridge to Ogunquit Beach. It's watercolor, about 7" by 20".

The Horn Book Magazine Summer Reading list

Children's summer reading recommended by The Horn Book Magazine (including Henry Aaron's Dream!)

Going once...

On the evening of May 25, the Association of Booksellers for Children will hold their annual silent auction of children's book art during Book Expo America in New York City. Money raised in the auction is used to fund projects that support independent booksellers. It's always a fun event, and it's even more amazing this year because David Wiesner is the keynote speaker.


Since I have two books coming out in 2010, I donated two pieces of artwork. If you're planning on attending the auction, keep your eyes open for them! The first one is a painting I did for Henry Aaron's Dream (Candlewick), of Henry Aaron hitting his record-setting 715th home run. In the end, I decided to include a full page of his career stats in the book instead of this illustration. But even though it didn't quite make it into the book, hopefully it will earn a few bucks for independent booksellers and look nice on someone's wall. Here it is:

My other donation is a sketch from my upcoming collaboration with Doreen Rappaport, Jack's Path of Courage: The Life of John F. Kennedy (Disney-Hyperion, October). It's a pencil sketch I did for the page in the book that discusses Kennedy's bold and ambitious goal of landing an American safely on the moon before the end of the 1960's. One interesting side note to this picture- this auction is being held on May 25, which is the anniversary of the day Kennedy announced this plan to the nation, May 25, 1961. Here's the sketch:

I also included a signed proof of the final illustration. Not sure if this will be out on display at the auction, but here it is:

first pitch, Pawtucket Red Sox @ Gwinnett Braves, 5-4-2010

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!

foreign editions

a couple cool things I got in the mail last week-

a new edition of Jack and the Beastalk, translated into Catalan, published by Vicens Vives Press, entitled, "En Jan i Les Mongetes Magiques". Strange to see my illustrations in a book that's designed so completely differently than the book I made with Candlewick:



and a special paperback UK edition of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, published by Walker Books: