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:

Rabbit & Robot plot suggestions from some groovy-cool kids!

Mr. Donahue is an awesome first-grade teacher who recently shared his groovy cool students’ suggestions for what Rabbit and Robot should do next. Check ’em out:

These are super suggestions and I really think that lightning bugs belong in the new book. And a dinosaur, why not? Rabbit and Robot going to the beach and playing in the snow were popular, too, which makes me think a Rabbit & Robot All Year (huge hat tips to Arnold Lobel, of course) could work as well. Hmmm. All this to say that there will indeed be a second Rabbit & Robot. Huzzah!

Mr. Donahue’s students also made their own little books inspired by Rabbit & Robot. Here are some of their covers and spreads. Thanks, Mr. Donahue!

And oh yeah…I’ll be back soon to talk up my new graphic novel, El Deafo, out from Abrams in September of this year. In the meantime, stay groovy cool!

Sock Monkey as the Nutcracker: bits and pieces from the Vault of the Unpublished Stuff

So…I’ve been waiting to hear from the lovely folks at Candlewick Press about what might happen to the Sock Monkey books that we did together, starting an entire decade ago. The books are no longer in print, so if you’re not familiar with them, that’s ok. The books are called SOCK MONKEY GOES TO HOLLYWOOD, SOCK MONKEY BOOGIE WOOGIE, and SOCK MONKEY RIDES AGAIN, and there are two possibilities: I’ll either get the rights back to them, or Candlewick will decide to republish them. I wait with baited breath about the decision Candlewick will make!

Meanwhile, several years ago I tried out a Sock Monkey Christmas book, which Candlewick felt wasn’t quite up to snuff, and while I might not have thought so then, upon re-reading it, I’d have to agree. But there are some parts I like, and so I’ll share a little bit here with you, without giving the whole thing away. Because you never know. Maybe I’ll rework it and get it right!

Here are a few pages:

Sock Monkey finds his friends doing various holiday things, and asks them for some help and advice with his dancing. Here’s how Froggie (who apparently is Jewish and therefore celebrating Hannukah) helps him out:

Sock Monkey gets help from Miss Bunn and Blue Pig, too. But look what happens when he asks Sock Buddy for some help with his costume:

Of course, after this, Sock Monkey is furious, and treats Sock Buddy like garbage. Which is not the way one should treat one’s friends, should one?

What happens next? Well, hopefully someday you will find out!

Sock Monkey and I wish you a wonderful holiday season with your family and friends!

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!

 

 

 

Birth of a Crankee

Amazing writer and friend Kirby Larson (Hattie Big Sky, The Friendship Doll) features us on her blog today. Tom talks about how we basically wrote Crankee Doodle in the car, and here are the notes (and rough layout) to prove it:

“Handy with the ladies?” Ruh-roh!

Figuring out the layout is my favorite part of the whole process.

Be sure to check out Kirby’s books. They are magnificent. Especially The Friendship Doll. It’s my personal favorite of all her great books.

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.