#childrensbookchallenge

A while back, I started this picture book lovefest thing on Facebook called A Children's Book Challenge. All I wanted was for more people to find, love, and share the love about their new, favorite picture books. I still want that, but due to being swamped in deadlines, I had to let that project sit idle for a while. At any rate, I'll try to be better about being on there and sharing my personal new favorites/discoveries. And I still hope for and encourage others to share their favorite new (or newish) titles as well. As part of the program, I'll now do some cross-platforming by doing the same here on my blog and on twitter with the hash tag #childrensbookchallenge. Here is one of my latest pic book loves.

A HOME FOR BIRD by Philip C. Stead (Roaring Brook) The thing that stands out most in Philip Stead's books is his incredibly strong, tasteful, timeless sense of good drawing and design. And sophisticated, and also warm, satisfying storytelling. A HOME FOR BIRD is, for sure, to be added to great Stead books. Our hero, Vernon, a toad, is a bit of a collector and he stumbles across a new curiosity. Or, perhaps, a friend. A bird. Unlike Vernon and his friends, Skunk and Porcupine, Bird is not a real, living creature (he's a charming, homespun, toy-like creation with vacant, button eyes). But Vernon and co. can't tell the difference and they treat him just like one of them. They all think he's lost and Vernon is prepared to do all he can to help Bird find his way back home. What follows, the journey and, ultimately, the resolution, are equally as satisfying as the setup. (As they set sail in a teacup, climb mailboxes, telephone poles, and float high in the sky in a red balloon.) After multiple readings, one of the many things I love here is how Vernon is so sure that Bird is real, and is so devoted to him, that we, the readers, are almost as convinced of this same living, breathing Bird. Or, at the very least, we're certainly convinced of a real, true sense of loyalty, friendship, and overwhelming compassion. Either way, it just feels good.

HELLO! HELLO! Kirkus star and Mr. Schu!

So psyched to report a second review of HELLO! HELLO! has come in, this one from Kirkus, and it is a starred review! Thank you, Kirkus!

Also delighted to see this blog post (Watch. Connect. Read.) from super-cool, uber-librarian, John Schumacher, aka Mr. Schu, aka @MrSchuReads. He is currently on a road trip down south, with the point of meeting, at Zoo Atlanta, the real Ivan from Katherine Applegate's masterpiece, THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN. Along the way, he's documenting himself reading books at various indie bookshops, libraries, and general roadside attractions. Here's our man reading noneotherthan, HELLO! HELLO! Most excellent!

Check out this hilarious vid of Mr. Schu bouncing while reading.

HELLO! HELLO! Welcome to bamboo country.

More or less, I have been pretty tried and true to the pen and ink with watercolor form in my life as an illustrator. I have experimented some, recently, with using pencil and watercolor and that's been fun and gone well, but I pretty much hold fast to drawing in pen and ink.

Some time ago, years back, my mom gave me these bamboo pens for an xmas gift. She gave me a bunch of random art supplies, many of which I'd never used. Including the bamboo. A relative creature of habit, I set them aside and didn't give it a whirl for a long, long time.

*I don't think I always need to say this, but I always do. Please click on any images here to get a closer, better view!*

bamboo pens

Then, still years back, I came upon the work of Serge Bloch.

I'm oft blown away by the Bloch. He draws in lots of different ways, with, I imagine, lots of different tools. One of his things is he has a wild, drippy, fluid line and it looked like he's using something unconventional. "Maybe this guy uses bamboo?" I guessed. (could be brush...) I also, at some point, noted that one of my fave pic book guys, David Ezra Stein, in one of my all time favorite pic books, Leaves, had employed the mighty bamboo.

An outtake from Leaves by David Ezra Stein drawn in, yep, bamboo. (I yanked this from Jules at her 7-Imp interview!)

So, at long last, I picked up the bamboo and started playing. It gave me some incredible results (not necessarily Bloch-esque, not necessarily Ezra Stein-esque) but incredible nonetheless. But also incredibly unpredictable. Drawing with, essentially, the pointy end of a stick dipped in ink, is not going to guarantee any consistency. So, I never quite got the nerve to use it for final art.

Close-up of the legendary bamboo. I am not bound to this brand, but it's one I use.

Until...

If you are loyal to this blog, you might remember that my game was wildly changed when I got this large format inkjet printer that will print waterproof ink on watercolor paper. (Read all about it here!) Which, to make a long story somewhat shorter,  means I can make my drawings on any old paper and then scan in, rework, and/or redraw/rescan/rework (if need be) and then print a final, possibly edited, drawing on watercolor paper ready to paint. This gave me a heck of a lot more freedom to experiment and draw freely without the consequence. Before, if I drew a drawing and the ink or pen totally screwed me, that would be one large sheet of expensive paper in the trash. Now, I can draw it, mess it up, mess it up, fix it, mess it up, etc. but then print when finally ready on the expensive paper. Ahhhhh. Breathe deep.

Having said all this, my upcoming picture book, hello! hello!, (available everywhere you buy books on October 23!) was the first book I had the guts to draw in bamboo. And, boy, was I/am I excited about it. It is such an expressive line. Very wet at times, and also very dry at times. When the ink's running dry on the tip of the pen, the line line has almost a a graphite texture to it. It's very loose. Very free. I dig it.

Now. Backing up a bit... I've always been one to try and play with ways to get the most expressive, characteristic line in my drawings. I've used different nibs and played with unconventional (possibly, um, unsophisticated) techniques when drawing. (e.g. Often times, I let the ink cake up on my nib so that when the ink flows, or doesn't, the line gets totally jacked and weird.) Here are a few different styles of nibs I've toyed with over the years, and some sample art from each nib.

Ink I'm currently using. Again, not so much loyal to the Speedball, but it's done right by me lately.

This piece is from my book, Trouble Gum, which was drawn with a calligraphy nib.

This piece is from Another Brother, which was drawn with a crow quill nib.

Here are some samples of art I created for my first pitch of hello! hello! to accompany the manuscript. The bamboo is in full effect!

 (That bottom drawing's done with a crow quill. I was toying with mixing styles within this book. More on that factoid at a later date...)

And here's a couple of sample finished pieces from hello! hello! drawing with bamboo.

And here are some other things I've done with the bamboo.

Since hello! hello!, I have continued to work with the bamboo. Like I said, it is wildly varied and expressive, but also wildly unpredictable and this can wreak havoc on the nerves. But all in all, I'd say it is quite worth it.

I might also add, I incorporated some graphite to my drawings in hello! hello! Sometimes, the ol' bamboo wasn't cutting it, so I nabbed a graphite stick to get, you know, some roughly drawn fur on a bison. Or something like that.

At any rate, as you can maybe tell, I'm plainly stoked with the results here. Maybe, I mean possibly, you are too. I mean, I get that the average picture book reader will give zero cents about what kind of pen I use, but this is, true enough, the kind of junk that keeps me awake at night.

Hey, any other bamboo users out there? Bamboo solidarity! I mean, bamboo-4-eva.

I might also reiterate... hello! hello! is available anywhere you buy books on October 23! And my personal preference always lies with the brick-and-mortar stores. Buy books!

hello! hello!

Good, Old Books

One of my simple pleasures is, while at the local public library, browsing over the little store there where they sell off old library copies (weeded from the collection) and donations brought in from patrons. Bits of money made here go into the library cause. All in good fun.

I have picked up some uber choice pic books and illustrated mid-grade stuff in my days doing this. (None of which ever cost over a buck.) Including these fine specimens:

An edition of CHITTY that is insanely, awesomely illustrated by my #1 dude, John Burningham.

Ungerer, well he's also in the top slots for me.

 And, of course, who can be without one of these?

I came across this weird '66 semi-scientific oddity, all fun facts regarding hair (learned quite a bit here, truthfully). Superb 60's Ed Emberley accompaniment. (wrongfully uncredited on cover!) And, hey, that IS silkscreen on the case cover.

Most recently, came across this absolute gem. Some straight up vintage, prime Arnold Lobel. 

It's 1963, and Harper, so perhaps Ursula Nordstom had her hand in this, but I couldn't sleuth it out. Mildred Myrick... great name. Was this her only published work? I could not tell. Probably not...

At any rate, the illustrator's hand (in art and design) is top notch here and could easily stand just as tall today as any day before it. Character designs, drawing, composition, color, lettering all are tight as a drum. (One kid wears a dang colander/helmet on his head. Why? We never quite know, other than that's what awesome kids do.)

Here are a few sample pages and spreads that knock my socks off. Good ol' Lobel.

 half title

 title

P.S. All of these books have that smell. You know the one.

P.P.S. May we always have libraries. May we always have books. (Of course, I mean print.)

HELLO! HELLO! origins

To begin my semi-regular blogging about my next book, hello! hello!, I'd like to take us back all the way to where this book got its legs. How and where I got the idea. Just so you know, full disclosure, my 3 year old daughter gave me this idea, straight up. (I like to say she is, you know, a good investment.)

Here's what happened.

I was watching Romy one afternoon, all by myself, and this was back when she was around 2 years old. (Just to preface a bit here, she was very verbal early on. She was speaking, at times, in full sentences by then. I'm not being all brag-Dad, I just have to say so, or this story ain't gonna seem credible.) We were playing in our family room on the floor, like with her Polly Pockets or whatever. Like many families' family rooms, there is a tv (it was off), couches, plenty of toys, clutter, etc. And in this particular family room there is also a laptop computer that floats around for general use.

So, yes, Polly Pockets. Well then... there was this moment where we're playing Pollys and I maybe, maybe, lost interest a second (it happens, ok?) and I happened to look over and see the laptop and I think all sly, "I'll just go over there and check my email and she won't even know I'm gone." (But probably I was doing something much worse like checking my Facebook page.)

So, I crept over to the laptop. Started pecking away at the keys, logging in someplace. She's still playing. I  got my face in the screen. When I hear,

"Daddy, stop checking email and come play."

Ugh. That kinda broke my heart. And, dang, I did not even know she knew the word email. How awful. It was the first time, and it won't be the last time, that I got checked for slacking on the job.

So, after I shook that first showing of slack-Dad guilt, then came the epiphany. What had just happened did not just happen to me. I mean, it's not happening to only me. This is a thing. This is a 21st century across-the-board thing that is a wedge between parent and child. This is universal.

This pic is hard evidence of what I'm talking about. Circa the same time period, actually. A nice family moment, right? And the dude in the upper right corner wasting away with his nose in the computer? Yeah, that's me. (p.s. the laptop the girl's got her hands on is one she spilled coffee on. Call it a sign?)

In the home, the laptop is one thing. But now, with the whole smart-phone-web-enabled-plugged-in-can't-escape-techo-temptation, we can take it with us. And we are constantly wandering from connecting with our kids. From being completely present parents for our kids. Right?

It's so easy to be plugged in, anywhere and everywhere we go these days. It's so easy to be connected that we are losing our connection with the people standing right beside us. I started thinking about how many times I'd seen kids whose parents were on the iphone or crackberry at parks, kids' ball games, shopping malls, restaurants.

And on the other side of the coin, kids do have their stuff too. The portable vid games, computers, tv's... even those "take it with you" flip down ones you see in the SUV's. Some little ones even have phones of their own.

Either way, that wedge is omnipresent. I mean it's omnipresent if we let it be omnipresent.

Now. Do not get me wrong. I am not here to wag my finger. Not with this blog post and not with this book. As I plainly said, I am as guilty as the next Dad, Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, etc. who is or has put the wedge in. Staying plugged in is not a crime nor would I be the guy who's copping you if it were. But a line must be drawn. If it must be a line of guilt, or shame, so be it. I've got my line of shame and I hope you've got one too.

Keeping that line intact, that is what this book is about. That is, hello! hello! (available October 23 in stores everywhere!)

hello! hello! jacket wraparound

I really feel like this story needs to be told now. And it really needs to be told as a picture book. (Is there any better place to do it?) And it really needs to be told as a printed picture book. But that's a whole other rant...

So all together now.

Stop checking email and come play.

Shall we?

hello! hello!

HELLO! HELLO! starred review in PW

This just in! The first review for hello! hello! and it's a starred one from Publishers Weekly! So pumped! Thank you, PW!

Hello! Hello!

Matthew Cordell. Disney-Hyperion, $16.99 (56p) ISBN 978-1-4231-5906-3

Cordell (Another Brother) outdoes himself with this silly, loving nose-tweak to digital civilization. Lydia’s electronic gadgets fail to charm her one afternoon, and her family members—all drawn in shades of gray—are lost in their own virtual worlds. “Pec Pec Pec,” her father texts in an anonymous LCD font. “Zap Beep Pow,” chirps her brother’s video game. Led outside by a stray leaf, Lydia discovers trees, bugs, flowers, and a horse who knows her name. The outdoor world appears in full color, Cordell’s text becomes hand-lettered, and the action unspools faster and faster. The horse carries Lydia through the flowers, picking up by twos and threes an improbable group of animal friends—a fish, a gorilla, a swan, even a whale—who chorus “hello” and thunder across the fields with them, until Lydia’s cellphone rings and everything comes to a halt. Fortunately, upon her return, Lydia is able to entice her family outside. The vision of Lydia and her escape is a glorious image of liberation; it’s required reading for any kid with a phone. Ages 2–6. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio. (Sept.)

HELLO! HELLO! let it begin...

As noted in my previous post, with my ode to ALA/Anaheim, I debuted my next (my third) author-illustrator picture book, hello! hello!, to a room of 100+ librarians, some authors, some illustrators, and various Disney-Hyperion personnel. It was great fun, and exhilarating to finally get it out there and start talking about it.

I'd like to start beating that drum now on a more semi-regular basis. By blogging about the book from now until it's publication date of September 18, 2012. Which, from now, is about 2 months time. I'll have to dust off the blog a bit since I haven't had time or, at least, put time into it for a while. But I'd really like to start sharing what went into this book, how it came to be, and what it means to me.

With this post, I will just start with some kind words from someone other than myself. Brenda Kahn, a middle school librarian and blogger, posted a sort of review/synopsis/rumination of and about hello! hello!. Since ALA and that particular Disney-Hyperion Story Time event, I've seen a few great mentions of the book (thank you, Mr. Schu!), but Ms. Kahn's blog post at proseandkahn is the first to pick it apart. Thank you, Brenda, and please, reader, read on here!

More to come...

Back from Anaheim, ALA, Disneyland!

It was a wonderful time out in California last week (and early this). The fam and I (meaning lovely wife, kiddo, mom-in-law, me) trekked out to Anaheim Wednesday morn early to do Disneyland for a few days before hitting the ground running at this summer's American Library Association Annual Conference. It was an amazing family vaca combined with an amazing conference, seeing lots of old publishing and library and blogger pals (Mr. Jonker!) and lots of new ones too (Mr. Schu!). How awesome is ALA to host in Anaheim?

After thoroughly enjoying watching the kiddo lose her mind at Disneyland, Julie and I kicked off our ALA with head-to-head signings at Macmillan (her awesome upcoming YA novel, HAVE A NICE DAY, and me with ANOTHER BROTHER and JUSTIN CASE books).

HAVE A NICE DAY, available October 16, 2012.

My next day, Saturday, was slap full. A signing at Simon and Schuster first thing in the AM, right after a stampede of librarians pushed in (think back to the crowds awaiting store openings on "Black Friday") at 9 AM. Followed this up with some walking around booth/publisher browsing and chatting. Followed this up with a lunch with our lovely agent, Rosemary Stimola. Followed this up with a wonderful signing of IF YOU WERE A CHOCOLATE MUSTACHE with my new too-cool pal, the crazy clever Mr. J. Patrick Lewis. MUSTACHE is a new, brilliant collection of poems I've illustrated by JPL that will be out in October from our friends at the newly Liz Van Doren revamped Boyds Mills Press. Though the book's not out til October, BMP printed up advance hardcover copies to be touted at ALA. I'm terribly honored to be a part of this collection.

IF YOU WERE A CHOCOLATE MUSTACHE, available October 1, 2012.

After this, (it's still Saturday) I had a brisk walk over to the Sheraton to take part in Disney-Hyperion's "Storytime Preview." After meeting some very kind folks from the publisher, I was to introduce and read my upcoming (what will be my third) author-illustrator picture book, HELLO! HELLO! (to be released on September 18) I am so incredibly excited for this book, and was very proud to be presenting it (first time ever!) to a room slap full of librarians (think I saw standing room only, at one point?) alongside other Disney-Hyperion authors and illustrators also talking up their forthcoming projects--YA wordsmiths and picture book craftsmen alike including John Rocco, Marilyn Singer, and Mo Willems.

Above from the Disney-Hyperion Story Time Preview. Photo from Travis Jonker.

Speaking of HELLO! HELLO!, I will soon be assembling a book trailer and talking this up non-stop from here til September. Plus... I am incredibly fortunate to have convinced multi-talented picture book force-of-nature Philip Stead to create the music for said not-yet-created book trailer. Though the trailer still needs envisioning, the tune is 100% done and perfectly ready to be backdropped. In fact, listen and download now (for free!) here on Phil's site!

hello! hello!, available September 18, 2012.

Next day, Sunday, I had two events. First up was an Abrams lunch with about 40 librarians, 4 other authors and/or illustrators (Michael Buckley, Susanna Reich, Susan Rubin, Barney Saltzberg) and a handful of wonderful Abrams personnel. For my part, I had to talk up my newest Abrams project, BAT AND RAT, a cool, nocturnal-urban-vermin-pals picture book I illustrated by the great Mr. Patrick Jennings. To minimize the spotlight on me, I crafted a puppet show (scrounged up my old t-shirts and put waaaay too much time in the designing, cutting, shaping, stitching of these Bat and Rat puppets) and convinced blogger/librarian/review pal, Travis Jonker, (man behind the curtain at 100 Scope Notes) to play the part of Rat. And he did not disappoint.

Above photo from BAT AND RAT puppet show at Abrams lunch (outside the House of Blues at Downtown Disney). Photo from Debra Marshall.

Thanks again, Trav! Fun was had (I think) by all! On the fly, afterward, we decided to give an encore performance with the puppets on the conference floor during my BAT AND RAT signing that was to follow this lunch. On the exhibits floor, it was equally as fun to hold a puppet show for passersby, though it did feel, you know, um, awkward in moments. Eh. What's fun without the awkward?

After all was said and done, we rode a ton of Disney rides, met a ton of costumed Disney characters, ate a ton of Disney food, bought a ton of Disney stuff for our Disneyfied 3 year old, then met a ton of awesome librarians, met a ton of awesome kid book publishing folk, did a ton of talking, had a ton of fun.

Epilogue: When I got home, after being asked about it by a few lovely and inquiring librarians, I bit the bullet and started a Twitter profile. Though, actually, I'm not sure how much use it'll get... but let's follow each other, shall we? My handle: @cordellmatthew. Already, I've connected with many cool librarians, many of whom were at one or both of the programs mentioned above, so Twitter's looking pretty alright so far.

Thank you Anaheim! Thank you ALA! Thank you Disney! Good night.

ALA! Anaheim! I'm there!

This weekend, when I'm not at Disneyland with the fam, I will be struttin' around the conference floor at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim. (Ok, maybe not with the struttin') I hope that you'll be there too and we'll have a chance to shake hands, say hello, and exchange pleasantries.

Here's my schedule:

Friday June 22
6:30-7 pm, signing ANOTHER BROTHER and JUSTIN CASE at Macmillan booth (Feiwel and Friends)
9-11 pm, kicking it at the Macmillan Dessert Party

Saturday June 23
9:30-10 am, signing ITSY-BITSY BABY MOUSE and LEAP BACK HOME TO ME at Simon and Shuster booth
1:30-3 pm, signing preview copies of IF YOU WERE A CHOCOLATE MUSTACHE with J. Patrick Lewis at Boyds Mills booth
3-4:30 pm, reading (first time ever!) my forthcoming book HELLO! HELLO! with many talented authors and illustrators at the Disney-Hyperion Storytime Preview
9-11:30 pm, kicking it at the Simon and Schuster dessert party

Sunday June 24
12-2 pm, Abrams Librarian lunch (where I'll be talking up BAT AND RAT)
2-3 pm, signing BAT AND RAT and LIKE PICKLE JUICE ON A COOKIE at Abrams booth

Here is a pic of these BAT AND RAT puppets I just finished up for use at the above described Abrams Lunch (a ridiculous amount of time spent which I do not have at the moment...). Blogger/Librarian/Reviewer/Pal extraordinaire, Travis Jonker (100 Scope Notes) will be voicing/pupetting the Rat to my Bat!

Hope to see you in sunny California!

JUSTIN CASE 2 out now!

I'm like a broken record here on the ol' blog... I'm behind in the posting of important stuff. Problem is, I update my Facebook profile more than I seem to update my blog nowadays. No excuse. If, however, you aren't my friend on Facebook, and you're reading this, please friend me up right here! So what I'm behind on now, is celebrating my latest book release (book 5 of the 2012 Matthew Cordell Children's Book Explosion!!).

Book 5 is JUSTIN CASE: SHELLS, SMELLS, AND THE HORRIBLE FLIP-FLOPS OF DOOM. Now if that most excellent title doesn't grab you, I am here to tell you that Justin Case 2 (for those not in the know, it's a sequel to JUSTIN CASE: SCHOOL, DROOL, AND OTHER DAILY DISASTERS) is every bit as hilarious, if not more so to tell truth, as its predecessor. The coolest Rachel Vail has topped herself, what I'm saying.

Help me in celebrating by checking out the cover and a sampling of drawings I did (there's a kabillion of them peppered throughout the text) and go out there and find a copy to read! Hooray, Justin!