It’s finally time to talk about EL DEAFO!

Coming in September: EL DEAFO! I’m very excited.

It’s my first graphic novel. It’s published by Amulet Books. It looks like this:

Happy holidays! Sock Monkey’s 2013 holiday card featured here!

Hey kids! Here it is: Sock Monkey’s 2013 card for the holidays!

Look! S.M. gives gifts to the bathing monkeys featured in SOCK MONKEY GOES TO HOLLYWOOD. I am right fond of the bathing monkeys.

This year’s was not so elaborate. I like to make ’em elaborate. But the reason it wasn’t very elaborate is that I was trying to meet a deadline for a book that I’m very excited about: a graphic novel/memoir about my early experiences with hearing loss called EL DEAFO. It’s supposed to come out in 2014. I’ll hopefully be able to reveal a few things about it in the coming months. But I can say that it has easily been the most difficult project I’ve ever worked on. And it’s the one I’m most worried about releasing to the world. Ai yi yi.

Check back for an extra holiday treat soon! In the meantime, here’s hoping you are all well and happy.

Crankee Doodle named one of People’s 100 Most Beautiful People

Well, not really. But close!

CRANKEE DOODLE is on page 67 of this week’s People magazine! Holy smokes. We are listed under the heading Best New Kids’ Books, along with THE DARK, by Lemony Snicket and illustrated by my current favorite illustrator, Jon Klassen; OL’ MAMA SQUIRREL, by David Ezra Stein; JOURNEY, by Aaron Becker; RUMP, by Liesl Shurtliff; DOLL BONES by Holly Black; and ELEANOR & PARK, by Rainbow Rowell. Some really fine company.

So, Crankee and Pony heard the news, and assumed that they would get a cover like this:

 

But it wasn’t to be. Crankee was quite jealous to see the lovely Duchess Kate holding her new baby on the cover instead; everyone in the aisle (where we were buying a copy of the magazine) heard him shout, “WE WON THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION FOR THIS?” Pony, on the other hand, exclaimed “I absolutely adore babies!” and promptly purchased a powder blue satin riding saddle for England’s future king.

There you have it. The actual page looks like this:

As Tom pointed out, brought to you by DulcoEase stool softener. A good reminder to stay humble, if ever I saw one.

All in all, a very nice surprise!

 

 

 

 

Birth of a Crankee cover

I’m gonna pause from practicing “Yankee Doodle” on my tenor saxophone (really and truly) to write this post. (Believe it or not, I can still play. Still play poorly, that is.)

I recently posted about the creation of Crankee, and got lots of positive responses. So, I thought I’d share with you all the different covers that I came up with before selecting this beauty:

Here are some original sketches:

 

And here are different color comps (colored digitally):

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s a lot of covers! It was hard to choose.

Hope you are having a wonderful summer thus far! Be sure to come and see us at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, NC on the 20th, and Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC on the 21st. That is, if you live in NC!

 

 

 

Happy 4th of July from Crankee, Pony, Tom, and me!

A review from Kirkus!

A review from the Horn Book!

A review from Publishers Weekly!

Here are links to the bookstores in North Carolina where we’ll be:

Quail Ridge Books

Flyleaf Books

Have a great holiday!

Happy Book Birthday to Crankee Doodle!

CRANKEE DOODLE, a picture book about a moody Yankee Doodle and his pony (by Mr. Tom Angleberger and myself) is now available for the entire nation to see! And in case you were wondering if we were “writing what we know,” look no farther than this picture:

Luv is a many-splendored thing…

A lovely summary of the book and its current reviews can be found here, at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Books for Young Readers website.

I also had a delightful time at BEA. I met Patricia Polacco(!), who was astonishing in her kindness and loveliness. 

And I also got to hang out with the amazing John Rocco, whose book Super Hair-O and the Barber of Doom is a real treat.

Rocco doesn’t know it, but we are actually wearing enormous guinea pigs on our heads!

Saw many stars and many friends! All of them awesome!

And at the end of BEA, here’s how I felt:

 

Happy Mother’s Day!

I made my mama a card for Mother’s Day. The card doesn’t really say so, but she is an amazing, witty, kind, generous, and strong person, the kind of person who can handle just about anything you throw at her. I admire the heck out of her. And thankfully, she has a wicked sense of humor, to boot. I hope she likes this when I give it to her tomorrow! And, for all you mamas out there, thank you for all you do.

Sock Monkey furious about Rabbit & Robot’s good fortune

OK. Most of you know my good news, which is, wonder of wonders, Rabbit & Robot received a Geisel Honor on Monday. Holy cow. I am stunned but grateful. Very grateful — especially to all of you who have been so supportive through the years, and to the committee who considered it a contender in the first place. Definitely take the time to check out all the folks whose hard work was rewarded by the ALA Youth Media Awards — I am a big fan of a lot of them!

Tom was there to hear the announcement. I knew the night before, but didn’t tell him. It was worth keeping it a secret! You can hear a distinct yell (or at least I think I can) when you watch the webcast! That yell made me very happy.

But someone was NOT happy. And that someone is your friend and mine, Sock Monkey. He’s here today to point out something very important, that often gets overlooked: Sock Monkey Boogie Woogie received the International Disco Ball Hall of Fame and Fortune and Dance Award. And he’s got the picture to prove it:

S.M.: A bad loser, or a good winner? You make the call.

Sock Monkey thinks the nice flowers that came for — ahem — someone else (and thank you Madge and Candlewick Press, very much) — actually came for him. And I’m letting him think that, because a moody monkey makes for a very difficult housemate. Here is the kitchen version of S.M. with his flowers:

Fleurs from Madge and her family…

…and fleurs from Candlewick Press. Featuring Thing from the Addams Family!

Anyway, thanks to EVERYONE everywhere who has made this such an exciting time for all of us. Just, wowza wow wow, is all that can really  be said.

 

 

An embarrassment of riches (journal kept by 14-year-old me discovered by my Mama)

My mom found a notebook that I used when I went to a writers’ camp at UVa back in 1985 or so. I was 14. And clearly unhappy: “I want to go home. Only 4 more days left!” Hmmm.

The writing is just absolutely atrocious, including this bizarro poem:

A Day at Kroger’s

My eye caught a jar of pig’s tongue
And Alex the Kroger Man noted with cynicism
That the tongue over pastrami would enhance
Your taste buds like Crispy Cereal Snacks. I
Hunted for the suggested cereal but found Mr. Bubble
The bath salts that leave one feeling sagordantly.
Still hunting for the cereal, I found these incredible
Pickles among the Kroger Graffiti Candy.
Forever hunting, a man from Zen Folks’
Circular Church asked me for a donation.
“Listen,” I said, “This place is Kroger’s. It’s
no place to ask for moo-la.” He left & Mrs. Terwilliger
The crazy woman from the Toy Shop approached
and offered me a peppermint candy.
I hate peppermint, but politeness forced me
To accept with charrin.

Sagordantly? What? Charrin? What what?

There’s much, much more. All of it rotten!

Extra, Extra! A nut shows up in elementary school paper…

The school librarian of Eagle Rock Elementary School in Eagle Rock, VA, sent me a copy of their school newspaper. Eagle Rock is a great little school and we had a great big time. The students wrote a story about my visit. The best part of the article says that “Her walls, her cabinets, her bathroom, her door, and her whole house is made out of sock monkeys.” That is probably why everything feels so damp lately. The monkeys have absorbed so much of this rain we’ve been getting. Anyway, here’s the article!