My newest book:
Round-up of SVA books
I like to keep an eye out for new books by people who have been in my class at School of Visual Arts at one time or another. I am a proud clucking mother hen! One of these is a debut book, one is by a veteran author, and the others are by people who now have a growing backlist of books. I hope you enjoy hearing about these new books by a very talented bunch of authors and illustrators.
I've posted about Selina Alko and her books several times. Her newest book, I'm Your Peanut Butter Big Brother is very special because it is her first book that she has written as well as illustrated. She first started this book when she was pregnant with her first child, and when she was in my class. She is married to Sean Qualls, also an illustrator, and they are a biracial couple. A young neighbor's curiosity about what their baby was going to look like sparked the original seed of the idea. But books can take a long time to grow: her second child was born last year! A lesson in patience and persistence (and revisions!) in the midst of deadlines with other books and illustration assignments, and a very busy family life! In Selina's book a little boy wonders about the baby in his mother's tummy: "Baby brother or sister, will you look like me?" The mom and dad and little boy in the pictures look alot like Selina and Sean and their son and she has said she often has fun putting people from her life in her illustrations! With the jaunty and poetic text that perfectly matches the art in her personal story, she captures the universal curiosity and excitement that surely every soon-to-be big sibling has.
Susie Lee Jin's Good Table Manners for Little Monkeys is a cute board book for toddlers. The lessons in the books, such as "First, wash your hands...Sit up straight in your chair..." are made appealing with the adorable pictures. They are bright and colorful and the little, busy monkey characters are super-cute. Board books with stiff, laminated pages and rounded corners, are pretty indestructible for little kids who still put everything in their mouths. Actually I imagine that they might want to take this one to their highchairs where they can put the lessons into action! And nice news: Susie has told me she is at work with her publisher on more books to go with this one.
And it is especially exciting when someone's very first book is published! Joyce Wan wrote and illustrated her picturebook, Greetings from Kiwi and Pear. It is about two monkeys who travel the world, complete with a map and STICKERS - surefire road to success!
Jeanne Betancourt has written many, many books, and her newest novel is Ava Tree and the Wishes Three for children aged 6-9 is about the power of wishes and magic. When Jeanne took class she was working on a picturebook that she would illustrate as well as write. That project has not been published yet but some of the ideas seem to have worked their way into this novel. Ideas can take many different forms! Her book is receiving rave reviews!
Linas Alsenas is amazingly prolific with TWO new books. Recently his third picturebook, Hello My Name is Bob was published, by Scholastic, and his nonfiction book for teenagers, Gay America: Struggle for Equality was published by Abrams. Gay America has received excellent reviews and many important awards. In a starred review Booklist called it a "Landmark history...This first-ever book to cover this material for young adults is essential reading for all young people -- gay, lesbian, and straight." His picture book is about Bob the bear and Jack the panda who are totally different from each other, but best friends nonetheless. What a nice review from Kirkus : "The genius of this work is not simply in the contrasts, but that, in slowing kids down, Bob's visual narrative will make them see the beauty of such simple acts as looking at the moon. Stories of unlikely friendships may be a dime a dozen, but this duo is endearing. A simple lesson of celebrated differences."
CONGRATULATIONS to everyone!!! For more info, everyone has websites:
Linas Alsenas' website and his blog (he often writes about living in Sweden with humor and wit) and here is the link for my interview with him
Selina Alko's website and her blog and here is the link for my interview with her
Thanks for such a lovely review of my book! I am just thrilled to hear
about Jeanne's book, as well as many of your other former student's
successes. I appreciate your keeping up with these newsy blog posts,
especially because I know how busy you are!
You and Jeanne were in class together all those years ago! On your blog I
love the pictures that you posted recently that some kids did when you
visited a school and read your book with them!