Oh I am so excited for this giveaway!

Horray for another SIGNED Picture book from the lovely Lauren Castillo!

I mentioned this book last month as a new favorite Christmas book. Her work is so charming and simple and wonderful. I can’t say I’ve ever come across another illustrator like her.

A little about Lauren: She graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2003 and moved to Manhattan straight away. She knocked on some doors, and landed her first picture book (and my favorite of hers, actually) What Happens on Wednesdays. She now lives in Brooklyn, NY and is illustrating up a storm with CHRISTMAS IS HERE as her latest feature.

I first fell in love with her work when I noticed her buildings and cityscapes. Lauren has a way with illustrating architecture. It’s almost as though the buildings come alive. These are some of my favorites:

And here are some winter scenes that I just love too!

So, back to Christmas is Here: I was so happy when I came across this Christmas Picture book, with text right from the Bible. What more do you need than that! You’ll love this sweet interpretation of the Nativity story…and we love it too!

Lauren actually will be going to Romania very, very soon and will be giving 300 free copies of this book to orphan children along with her church group. It makes me so happy to imagine those children with an illustrated copy of the Nativity all of their own!

So when Lauren was willing to send me TWO signed copies of her books to giveaway, I was thrilled!  Again…so tempted to keep one myself. But, ’tis the Christmas Season, and I’m feeling rather generous:) That, and my children have already loved up a copy of their own!

So, for the giveaway?

Giveaway instructions:

• leave a comment making sure to enter your name and email where it asks you to
• comments will be closed on Sunday Dec. 12th at Midnight EST
• TWO winners will be chosen to receive an autographed copy of CHRISTMAS IS HERE
• Winners will be contacted via email
• I’ll ship them out Tuesday the 13th to make sure you get them for Christmas!

Best of luck!

I’ve been wanting to do this advent calendar for years…and I finally get to do it!  This will be our first Christmas home since having children, and I’ve wanted to have this be a family tradition of ours since I saw this idea from a neighbor of mine years back.

Children’s Picture Book Advent Calendar: What is it?

24 Christmas Picture Books, all wrapped up and marked for each day leading up until Christmas. This way, we will be reading one Christmas story a night!

Now don’t panic…getting 24 Christmas Books isn’t as hard as it looks. When you can check out Christmas books from the Library for 3 weeks at a time, it makes it rather simple….you may need to renew one time in there, but it still makes for a lovely tradition! And inexpensive too!

And Book #24……is the Bible, so that lessens the load a bit. But you’d be surprised how many Christmas books you already have.  Really, I am sure you have more than you think you do. I think books on winter can even count too… And don’t forget any Christmas Anthologies with short stories in there too.

Here’s a list of a few of mine in there:

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

I’ll Be Home For Christmas

The Polar Express

The 12 Prayers of Christmas

Christmas In the Manger

Christmas is Here

Christmas Day in the Morning

Snowmen at Christmas

A Wish to be a Christmas Tree

God Gave us Christmas

Who is Coming to Our House?

Olive, the Other Reindeer

Oh there are SO many Christmas books that I want to get my hands on….I have so many favorites that I don’t even have own yet! But this year, most of the books in our Advent Calender we DO own (thanks to the need to have a few books for “research” when working on my book) but even still….to the children, these books will be like new since they are all wrapped up.

These books are now in our open bookcase in the basement (thus the really lousy photo…sorry!) But this way, they are in plain visibility. Another good place is the hearth of the fireplace…or in your child’s bedroom.

Anyways…I wanted to share in case anyone needed a good idea for an advent calendar this year. And the best part? It’s either “rented” or a good reason to add to your already established Christmas collection.

Have any of you ever tried this one? It’s a new tradition for us this year, and I think this one is here to stay!

Happy Christmas!

xo

sarah

P.S. And don’t forget! The Cyber Monday and Tuesday Sale in the shop ends tonight at midnight!

Ok! It’s time to start reviewing Christmas Picture books! I can’t wait. We have LOTS around here, and I have to tell you about my new favorite.

Just out this year, Christmas is Here is illustrated by one of my new favorite illustrators, Lauren Castillo. Maybe you’ve seen some other books of hers. This book is a favorite in our house. Her style is so fresh and different than anything else we have in the house, which is so attractive to me. My kids love her books, and will look at her illustrations so closely. Though they are loose and naive in a sense, the illustrations almost seem to move and come alive. I love it.

So, Christmas Is Here is super special because it is the text from the Bible! Straight from Luke, this is the story that most families read every night on Christmas Eve as they are acting out the nativity. I have never realized up until this point, that I’ve never seen a picture book depict the Biblical text before! And only the text…no add-ins, or summaries. The first few pages are wordless, because it starts with a family walking past a live nativity, and the rest is the little boy imagining the first Christmas as it is being read aloud to him. So precious.

So, I see a Christmas Tradition starting: Reading this book at Christmas around the tree. We’re starting our Christmas reading on the 1st, and I am so happy this is part of our collection!

This is a new favorite, because it’s the story that we all know and share. It’s also really dear to me, because the book that I illustrated, Christmas Goodnight coming NEXT Christmas, has some similarities that were fun to notice too.

You can get Lauren’s book here .

And let me mention too, that Lauren is taking a trip  to Romania where she is giving away 500 books to orphan children this Christmas. It’s even being translated in Romanian! But to help with the funds, Lauren is donating 100% of her ETSY shop sales to the cause. You can visit her lovely site here, and know that for every print you get, a child will be getting a picture book of the biblical story of Christmas!

Thanks Lauren for this wonderful book! Hope you all enjoy.

Do you remember the Picture Book post I did a while back about Dotty? It was I think the most popular post of that  month, and I had so many of you email me thanking me for the review, as well as people who mentioned that they loved it just as much and went out and bought it. Horray! I love that. Especially as an illustrator myself, I love sharing wonderful experiences that picture books offer!

So I thought to myself, I am just going to contact Julia (the illustrator) and see if I can’t do a giveaway? What the heck…the internet is a nice and friendly world right?…and it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Well, a few days after asking about it,  I got this sweet package in the mail with TWO autographed books complete with sketch of Dotty and set of 4 stickers. AH! I need to tell you that if I wasn’t an honest person, I would be keeping them for myself!!! These are so precious! Really…this is one of my new favorite pictures books.

Dotty is the story of Ida who goes to first day of school with her imaginary friend Dotty. But it’s just as well, since the rest of her class has imaginary friends too. As the year wears on, Ida realizes that the rest of the kids have “grown up” and think imaginary friends are for babies, and Ida is put in a tough spot because she still has Dotty. This picture book explores the emotions and playfulness of children with big imaginations, and has a VERY satisfying ending. You can read  more of my review here.

Julia is a darling person. I’ve follwed her blog for a while, and I think you’ll just fall in love with her work! She’s working on some really great books right now, and I can’t wait to get hands on all of them.

Here’s a little about her:

Julia is a recently married illustrator living in Quincy, Massachusetts just outside of Boston where she graduated with a B.F.A. in illustration from the Art institute of Boston at Lesley. She worked in a flower shop, followed by a children’s bookstore where she was working when she landed her first job in 2007. Since then, she’s illustrated 8 books for children, with several more on the way. Her 8th book, coming out in Janury looks delightful: what a dream to illustrate a Picture book on Audrey Hepburn!! So jealous.

She has a darling studio apt in Quincy which is gorgeous, with plenty of natural light!

She is just a darling person, and I’ve been so happy to get to know the person behind the books that my children love so much. You can get to know her a lot better here on this wonderfully thorough interview. Thanks so much Julia for this great giveaway!

Giveaway instructions:

• leave a comment making sure to enter your name and email where it asks you to
• comments will be closed on Sunday Nov. 7th at Midnight EST
• TWO winners will be chosen to receive an autographed copy of DOTTY
• Winners will be contacted via email

Best of luck!

**COMMENTS CLOSED**

Good morning!

I bring you a picture book I love…and know you will too. Taeeun Yoo, one of my favorite up and coming illustrators, illustrated this charming book: Only a Witch Can Fly. Just look:

It’s just a charming halloween book about a young witch who desperately wants to fly, but doesn’t know how.

Here’s an excerpt:

If you were a witch, who had not yet flown

And the dark night sky held a round yellow moon,

and her moon shown her light on the silent broom

and the dark black cat beside you croaned, Soar,

would you too begin to cry,

because your longing to fly?

Only a witch can fly.

So perfect for Halloween! This book was nominated as one of the Top Ten Illustrated Books of 2009. And for a good reason. It’s gorgeous!

This time of year has such wonderful Halloween Reads. I will try and post more soon. But this one is at the top of my list for sure! Enjoy!

**And just to let you know, this blog is getting a major fall cleaning and redo. So, it may be a little messy this week as we shift things around. Stay tuned!

With the theme of school starting, I have to introduce you to our family’s favorite new book! I mean TRUE favorite. The kind of favorite that had my 5 year old sleeping with this book 2 nights in a row even though it kept poking her in the elbow when she slept. We’re big fans.

Julia Denos has been a favorite new illustrator of mine. Personally, I think this book matches her brilliance. Dotty is a book about Ida’s first day at school, and how she spends the school year with her imaginary friend Dotty…which is some kind of polka-dotted half-cow, half-lion, half-who knows what! She learns that most of the other kids in her class have imaginary friends too, but as the year wears on, they start to get too big and grown up for their pretend play mates, and Dotty finds herself trying to learn how to handle the fact that she still has one. The ending is so incredibly charming, and sent my children in complete justification for having their imaginary friends (we have Jason, Max and Sally come visit regularly to our house!)

But honestly….just look at the illustrations. Julia has reinvented this fresh vintage-y whimsical style that I appreciate so much. Her freshness and creative take on her characters matches the fun flair in the story. It’s a perfect match!

I don’t think I have ever read a picture book about imaginary friends. Honestly, I wish I had the idea first! But this is charming, and a PERFECT first day of school gift. I can’t decide who likes it more….me or my children. We keep fighting for who gets to read it next!

Happy first days of school to everyone!

Polly Dunbar’s Tilly books are so delightful. Have you seen these books yet? They are rather new. You may have heard of her from this favorite picture book. She is a young British illustrator, and I just love her whimsicality. Her stories are very simple, but that is what makes them so appealing. If you can’t tell, I am a big lover of simple childhood…and these stories are just that. Childhood at it’s essence.

You’ll fall in love with her sweet characters.

And even better..there’s a whole series of books about each of her friends. If you library doesn’t have these, talk with your Librarian about getting them. They really are delightful little books perfect for very young readers.

Can I tell you how much my family loves this book?

My mother read it to us when when we were children, and I am most certain my mother’s mother read it to her.  My 5 year old brain remembers so well the silly characters and faces from which I learned to say “please” and “thank you.” My Mother bought this (at Anthropologie of all places) for Addie and Ian on their first Christmas together, and honestly…I think my kids love it as much as I still do. But honestly…tell me the beginning of the book isn’t pure genius.

If you can’t read it, here’s how the book begins:

“Having good manners is really just living with other people pleasantly. If you lived all by yourself out on a desert island, others would not care whether you had good manners or not. It wouldn’t bother them. Most of us don’t live on desert islands. So this is what we do-We meet people…” And so it goes on. Simple and brilliant.

Addie’s favorite part is the section where you meet the children who are very unpleasant to be around. The Whiney is so ugly and unappealing, Addie has vowed to never whine again. Uh-hum. She makes strong promises. But the impact of these illustrations does the trick. Coupled with a naive yet very modern 1930′s illustrative style, this book catches your attention almost surprisingly.

These other books are just as delightful, and will invite your kids to think manners really are fun. I find it fun to think that these books are still teaching kids after nearly 75 years (these were published in 1936.)  And if anything, I’ve used these for decoration. The book jackets are so colorful, and make me so happy. Display them on the bookcase and you’ve made your point already. Subtle hints…but pretty, yes?

I found this book last week. And it changed me.

Sounds of Color, written and illustrated by Jimmy Liao a very different picture book than you’ve ever seen. It’s about a girl who goes blind, and is on a journey to find her home of light and color. She takes these subway trains from station to station and we get to see what she imagines her journey to look like. It’s breathtaking. Each page is filled with the possibilities of what could be, since she can’t see what is in front of her.  This book will capture your heart. Jimmy Liao, the author and illustrator, paints with his soul. He taught me this week as I discovered this book, that color and light bring so much joy and comfort to us each day, and he illustrates that with all he has.

I haven’t yet read this to my children. It’s long at 80 pages, although it’s mostly pictures and the text is very brief. But I have been so moved by it that I have to recommend it. It would be a wonderful way to help your children understand their gift of sight.

The book was originally written in Chinese and published in Taiwan. The english translation is beautiful, but I can only imagine how gorgeous it must be in it’s native language. According to the end credits of the book, SOUNDS OF COLOR has been adapted into a stage play as well as a motion picture.

Just listen to the text.

It begins:

“A year ago
I began to notice
that my sight was slipping away.
I sat at home alone
and felt the darkness settle around me.
But today I walked outside
into the thin gray rain
and made my way to the subway.
I have a journey to go on.
There are some things
I need to find.”

“I have forgotten how blue the sky can be. But in my mind I still watch the clouds change shape.”

“Sometimes the streets twist themselves into a maze.”

“I never know if this station is the same as it was yesterday. Did it change overnight? Grow into something new?”

“Now I listen for the sound of the colors I can’t see. I try to smell the shapes, taste the light and dark.”

“There must be someone who’ll sit beside me, sip tea, tell me her hopes for the future, and listen to mine.”

This week, I have been reminded of the incredible gift of sight. As an artist, it’s my favorite sensory experience. This sweet story will inspire you to see all that you can and look deeper into the gift of color and light.

Enjoy!

So, I need to tell you where I am at the moment. Well, I am here, at my computer of course. But I am in the middle of the FOR YOUNG READERS writing and illustrating week long course in Salt Lake City, Utah. Which basically translates to: I’m in heaven and I don’t want to come back. My last post about having to balance family and creativity? This is one of those weeks where I get to feast on days mostly full of creativity, and I hope the meal lasts a long time!

I’ll share more about the experience soon, but before I do, I wanted to share some of the books I have come to love this week.

Kevin Hawkes is the illustration instructor that I have been so fortunate to spend 20 hours with this week, along with 12 other talented students who are just as hungry as I am for learning.He is a brilliant artist, father of 5, loyal New Englander and has a great sense of humor. It is really delightful to spend the week with someone who has spent over 20 years painting at home (in an open studio by the way….with kids around and all) who not only loves what he does, but is wonderfully successful.

So, if you are at the library or bookstore this week, you will LOVE THESE:

You may know him from this New York Best Seller. One of our family’s favorites.

He wrote and illustrated these “Toddlah” books about a baby in Maine who is exceptionally large and all the funny ways to deal with raising him. My kids love it. They even say it with the accent, and it’s delightful.

And, the sequel (which I was able to see in class, but won’t come out until April 2011) is even more delightful:

Other books of his you will LOVE:

This is perfect for spring time and summer with all the butterflies out. My daughter slept with this book last night, she loved it so much.

This is  a wordless picture book which is really fun to spend time looking at. I love the colors!

You’ll love the whimsicality in his illustrations and his attention to really fun details. Happy reading!