Premier of DON’T CALL ME FUZZYBUTT! Book Trailer

I am thrilled beyond words to finally share the book trailer for DON’T CALL ME FUZZYBUTT! Mega thanks to the AMAZINGLY talented Julie Gribble and her AWESOME crew at KidLit TV for all of their hard work making the trailer super adorable.

Now, without further ado, let’s start the show!

Pre-order a signed copy of DON’T CALL ME FUZZYBUTT! from Books of Wonder by clicking here. The first 100 pre-orders will receive a BEAR-TAS-TIC swag bag with their purchase. And stay tuned for news re the launch party! WOOHOO!!!!

Celebrating #WRAD18 @KidLit TV

 

A conversation between me and one of my favorite blog readers:

Me: My sincere apologies for being a little late to the party.

Blog reader: Didn’t World Read Aloud Day ’18 happen last week on February 1st?

Me: It did. I had the best of intentions of doing a blog post last week but I got a tad bogged down with rewrites. And then I found myself complaining about the rewrites that needed rewrites. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.

Blog reader: You are quite gifted in the complaining department.

Me: Thank you! Everyone needs a talent. In any event, in spite of my lateness, I had a blast celebrating World Read Aloud Day ’18 at KidLit TV and I wanted to shout out a HUGE THANK YOU to Julie Gribble, Rocco Staino, and the entire KidLit TV crew for making the day extra special. And if you want to know how very special that day was take a look at this:

Help make World Read Aloud Day an every day event!

KidLit TV’s Live Stream Read Aloud

I’m a tad late to the party in posting about this AMAZING event hosted by KidLit TV, but better late than never.

March is National Reading Awareness Month and to celebrate KidLit TV invited authors and illustrators to read their picture books for their first Live Stream Read Aloud Marathon on Friday, March 3, 2017.

The Read Aloud received over 3,000 views and was featured in Publisher’s Weekly column, In Brief.

Below are a few photographic highlights:

Rocco Stanno and Katya Szewczuk

Cynthia Weill and Orel Protopopescu

Laurie Wallmark 

Roxie Munro, Barbara McClintock and Elizabeth Upton

Kat Yeh

Me, Laurie Wallmark and Orel Protopopescu

Roxie Munro and Carol Weston 

Julie Gribble 

Steve Light 

Selene Castrovilla

Me and Rosanne Kurstedt

Kelly Light

Susanna Reich

Katya Szewczuk and Laurie Wallmark 

That’s one scary witch! 

Erica Rand Silverman and David Weinstone 

Orel Protopopescu, Cynthia Weill and Susanna Reich 

Rosanne Kurstedt 

Laura Sassi 

The Reading Ninjas 

Ender, a super adorable Reading Ninja, reading Hildie Bitterpickles Needs Her Sleep.

 (This made my day!) 

A GINORMOUS THANK YOU to the amazing Julie Gribble, Erica Rand Silverman, Katya Szewczuk, Rocco Staino, and to everyone at KidLit TV who made this extraordinary celebration of reading so very special. Happy Reading!

 

 

 

The 2016 NJ SCBWI Annual Conference—The Best Conference Ever!

 

Every year the NJ SCBWI Annual Conference gets better and better. This year did not disappoint.

Here are some photographic highlights: 

Opening Keynote Speaker, David Wiesner

My amazing agent, Liza Fleissig, and my fellow Liza Royce Agency peeps! 

Yvonne Ventresca, Cathy Breisacher, Laurie Wallmark, Darlene Beck-Jacobson, Erica George, Leslie Santamaria, me, and Liza Fleissig 

Diana Murray and me

Johanna Bilbo Staton, Yvonne Ventresca, and Cathy Breisacher 

Katey Howes

Lauri Meyers

Darlene Beck-Jacobson and Carole Lindstrom

Annie Silvestro and Kim Pfennigwerth

Me and Cristina Ergunay (Mawrters in the house! Anassa kata!) 

Beth Ferry 

Julie Matysik and Yvonne Ventresca

Jacki Morris

Liza Fleissig, Keisha Senter, Kathy Temean, Carole Lindstrom, Leslie Santamaria, me, Karl Jones, Colleen Rowan Kosinski, Marlaina Cockcroft, and Linda Patterson Kujawski

Laura Sassi and Diana Murray 

Leeza Hernandez

Me and Katya Szewczuk

Tara Lazar 

Lori Degman 

Laurie Wallmark accepting the Crystal Kyte Award.

Julie Gribble 

Tish Rabe

Jonathan Rockefeller 

Guy Olivieri and Charlotte Bennardo 

Closing Keynote Speaker, Suzy Ismail

Me and Suzy Ismail 

A very big THANK YOU to everyone who made this year’s conference so special. I’m already packing my bags for next year’s conference. I can’t wait!

I 

NJ SCBWI

There’s No Place Like KidLit TV

If you’ve ever wanted to go to Oz, all you have to do is click your heels three times, take the #1 train to Franklin Street, and ring the doorbell at #112. As soon as you enter, you will realize there’s magic in the air. It’s the home of KidLit TV.

Julie Gribble and me (photo by Kassia Graham) 

I had the chance to spend the morning in this wonderfully magical place as I waited to record a reading of Hildie Bitterpickles Needs Her Sleep.

Hildie and I enjoying our KidLit TV debut.

Hildie closeup (Photo by Kassia Graham) 

Kassia Graham

Art by Kelly Light

I would love to take home each and everyone of these loveys. 

Painting of Franklin Street by Roxie Munro 

It was so much fun having my make up done by the incredibly talented Mable Pang. I so wish she could do my make up every day. How fun would it be showing up at school pick up looking like Cinderella rather than my usual Wicked Witch of the West in sweat pants. I wonder if my own son would recognize me.

Mable Pang reading Hildie Bitterpickles

Signing a copy of The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake for Maple Pang’s daughter.

Rocco Staino 

Steve Light

Steve Light (photos by Kassia Graham) 

Unfortunately, I missed catching up with Joyce Wan. But here are some photographs Kassia Graham took of her visit to KidLit TV.

On my way out, all that I could think of was “There’s no place like KidLit TV. . . . There’s no place like KidLit TV.”

 

Celebrating INDIES FIRST at Bank Street Book Store

 

It was a day of celebration at Bank Street Book Store, an INDIES FIRST select store. INDIES FIRST is a special day of reading in recognition of neighborhood bookstores. The date coordinates with Small Business Saturday by encouraging holiday shoppers to support independent booksellers, a most precious and valuable resource for all.

An all-star lineup of authors and illustrators came out in droves to support Bank Street on this very special day.

Here are some photographic highlights:

Robie Harris

Amy Hest 

Chris Grabenstein 

Vin Vogel 

Gail Lauren Karp

Todd Tarpley

Patricia Lakin 

Mike Curato and Steve Light

Steve Light 

A sneak peek of Steve Light’s new book, Swap! 

(Ahoy, Mateys! Swap! sails onto bookshelves February 2016)

Yippee Skippee Puppet Theatre, starring Andrew Laties

Julie Gribble from KidLit TV

The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake on a shelf at Bank Street Book Store.  🙂

Karin Lefranc and Dan Gutman 

Monica Wellington 

Daphne Benedis-Grab and Laura Pedersen

Thank you Bank Street Book Store for a terrific day.

****

During this holiday season, please remember to support your neighborhood independent bookstore.

 

Happy Birthday, KidLit TV!

It was a wonderful year of firsts for KidLit TV. Founded by Julie Gribble, KidLit TV is the first multimedia website created to aid parents and educators explore the world of children’s literature. It received its first big award, the Parents’ Choice Gold Award, and it is currently in the process of launching KidLit RADIO.

“KidLit TV is an exciting and informative destination for authors, illustrators, teachers, publishers, and anyone with a passion for children’s literature.” — Children’s Book Council

“Visitors are almost guaranteed to find something interesting and useful, whether they are consumers, producers, or curators of children’s literature.” — Parents’ Choice on KidLit TV

Authors, illustrators and fans of all ages came out in droves to celebrate KidLit TV’s BIG ONE.

Here are some photographic highlights:

Julie Gribble and Katya Szewczuk

Adam Lehrhaupt and Ame Dyckman 

Roxie Munro and spouse

Kelly Light and Kat Yeh

Nick Bruel and me 

Beth Ferry, Annie Silvestro, me and Kelly Calabrese

Annie Silvestro, me, Katya Szewczuk, Beth Ferry and Ame Dyckman 

Katya Szewczuk, Dan Yaccarino and Julie Gribble 

Katya Szewczuk, Julie Gribble and Nick Bruel 

Katya Szewczuk, Julie Gribble, Rocco Staino and Tad Hills

Rocco Staino and Kelly Light

Paul Zelinsky, Adam Lehrhaupt and Katya Szewczuk

And as part of this jubiliant celebration, KidLit TV teamed up with Tad Hills and ArtWorks for Youth (AWFY). AWFY provides free visual art instruction, academic support, and mentoring to students in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. To learn more about this wonderful program, please visit: http://artworksforyouth.co.za 

Happy Birthday, KidLit TV! I suspect that the BIG TWO is going to be even bigger and better.

For more information about KidLit TV, please visit: http://kidlit.tv