Started in Australia, "The Next Big Thing" is now racing across the globe as authors and illustrators tag one  another- asking/answering 10 questions on their blogs about their "next big thing" in children's books.

This week, thanks to Courtney, (whose blog I totally recommend you check out), I am "it"!

So here are my ten answers to Courtney's Questions for...

The Next Big Thing!

 1) What is the  title of your next/most recent book?

TEA REX
(Which is especially fitting for this blog post as Rex, himself, is VERY big indeed!)

2) Who is publishing it?

TEA REX, is being published by  the fabulous folks at Viking Children's Books- an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group

3) When does it hit bookstore shelves?

APRIL 9, 2013!

4) What genre does your book fall under? Picture book? Middle Grade? YA?

Picture Book (sub-genres: Etiquette, Tea Parties, Dinosaurs, Mayhem... )

5) Please give  a  one-sentence synopsis of your book…

TEA REX is a book that will teach young readers everything they need to know about hosting a proper tea party.*

*As long as they don't look at the pictures... which tell an entirely different story.

6) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? 

One afternoon, over a cup of tea.

7. How long did it take you to complete the finished artwork?

Many afternoons, countless cups of tea, and scores of scones (Mmmmm... scones).

8.) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

A little voice from the back seat of the car asking me: "Mom... do T-Rexes like crumpets?"*

*For the answer to that question- you'll just have to read the book.

9.) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a
movie rendition? 

Oh, that's a toughy... In my mind, the book plays out like a silent film... so I'm thinking Charlie Chaplain would have made a fantastic  Rex... or Buster Keaton... Yes, Buster Keaton in a dinosaur suit. That would be awesome!

10) What else would you like readers to know about this book?
That is best enjoyed with a friend... and a cup of tea... and a cookie.

And speaking of friends... it's time for me to tag another author/illustrator pal!

Susan Reagan- author/illustrator of the adorable new Picture Book TWEET HEARTS...
You're "it"!

Check out more of Susan's work on her  Facebook page,  online at Painted-Words, and on her blog.

The fabulous folks at Viking Children's Books and Penguin Young Readers Group, are playing host to me  for a week long, cross country tea party to celebrate the publication of TEA REX! I'll be stopping in for tea and biscuits (and books) in Raleigh, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, before coming back home  for the terrific TEA REX launch party at Changing Hands Bookstore on April 13!

And, as one good turn deserves another, I would like to play host to your class- for a tea party in my studio!

A virtual tea party...  which includes:

*A classroom Skype visit with me (and REX) over tea

*A copy of TEA REX

* Tea and Cookies for everyone!

To enter your class for a chance to win, kindly R.S.V.P. by leaving a comment below before midnight (PST) April 14, 2013.

And please spread the word by inviting a friend to do the same!

One winning entry will be randomly chosen  on April 15.

Cheers!

But I AM giving away four- count 'em FOUR- copies of FLORA AND THE FLAMINGO!

In keeping with the "International" part of International Book Giving Day- I'm giving away

one copy each of the English, Spanish, French and Italian translations/editions of the book!

To enter for your chance to win  simply leave a comment here... in any language :)

Winners will be randomly chosen from all of the entries, and I'll announce the lucky four

tonight at 9PM (MST)!

Thank you!

Gracias!

Merci!

Grazie!

With January 1 falling on a Tuesday this year- though it's only the 8th- it's already time for...

TEA REX Tea for Two Tuesday!

This time, I'm giving away this original pencil sketch of Rex to one lucky winner!

To enter for your chance to win, simply do one or more of the following:

1. Leave a comment here

2. If you found this post via Twitter- RT with the hash-tag #TEAREX

or

3. If you found this post via FaceBook- "Like" the post.

One lucky winner will be chosen at random from all the entries and announced here next Tuesday, January 15, 2013!

Cheers!

And while Rex is forgoing his usual tea and biscuits for milk and cookies (which were supposed to be for Santa)...

I'm here to share the recipe for my family's favorite CHRISTMAS TEA!

It's a sort of instant wassail- guaranteed to warm your spirits as well as your tummy.

CHRISTMAS TEA!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Sugar

1/2 cup Instant Tea

2 cups Tang (or other orange powdered drink mix)

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Ground Cloves

1 small package lemonade mix

Directions:

Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.

Makes enough to serve one large party of holiday revelers, or one very large dinosaur.

Add 2-3 spoonfuls of the mix to a mug of hot water, stir, and enjoy!

And speaking of enjoying...

The two lucky winners of this month's TEA REX GIVEAWAY each get to enjoy their very own signed TEA REX print, courtesy of Viking Children's Books!

And the winners are...

Carter Higgins

and

Gail Maki Wilson

Happy Holidays to you two!

And to all of you- warm wishes for a  Merry Holiday Season and a very Happy New Year.

Cheers!

She handed me this book to pass around the room of conference of attendees- but it never made it out of my hands. The art work was so amazing- I was immediately transfixed- but just as amazing was the concept and mechanics of the book itself! If you've never had the pleasure of perusing a copy- go out and find one now. Seriously. I'll wait...

The book jacket is literally a  BOOK JACKET- the Old Lady's Coat. And once you help her out of her coat, the surprises only get better!  Seeing the way in which Jeremy reinterpreted the form of the book- completely revolutionized the way I thought about what was possible in storytelling on the page. And so it happened, after having my bookmaking world turned upside down by Jeremy's work, that a few years later I ended up with the idea for a new type of wordless and reader interactive book titled FLORA and the FLAMINGO, coming out next spring from... Chronicle Books.

So, Jeremy and I now share a publisher, as well as a love of scrumdiddlyumptious baked goods, and- luckily for me- he's also willing to share a bit more about his work with all of us here in this Mini Interview!

Born in Landstuhl, Germany and raised in Auburn, New York, Jeremy enjoys long walks through the various flea markets of Eastern Pennsylvania in search of all things odd and peculiar for inspiration. Equipped with a Masters Degree from Tyler School of Art, and a Bachelors of Science in Graphic Design from Philadelphia University, he takes his place every morning as Mutt Ink’s resident widget aficionado.The QUESTIONS...

1. Describe yourself in five words:

Empathetic

Chocolate

Dork

Determined

(Burnt) Orange

2. Now, please tell us how you got started in picture book illustration (in more than five words)...

Truth be told, I've always known I was destined to become an artist. Yep, I was that Van Halen t-shirt sporting 6th grader who'd sit around all day drawing horses from memory… Well, maybe not from memory… and maybe not horses…  OK… OK… FINE! I didn't draw or own a Van Halen t-shirt… I was more the Huey Lewis hoodie toting "dork grader" who couldn't sit still long enough to tie his own shoe and who was constantly being reprimanded for day dreaming. Fortunately for me, my flaws are now my strengths as a picture book maker. Unfortunately, I'd be well into my 30's before I'd come to realize any of this.

That said, I'd guess you'd say my picture book pilgrimage began in my early 30's, with my decision to attend the MFA program at Tyler School of Art. Originally, I returned to school to study graphic design, but my intentions swiftly shifted upon meeting the brilliant Joe Scorsone. Joe is the one responsible for recognizing and funneling my talents towards illustration and the splendiferous world of children's books. It would be during grad school that I'd create my first children's book, "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly," but it would take an additional 4 years and the vision of some extraordinary people at Chronicle Books before I could officially shout the words "I'm published."

3. If you had to describe your work in terms of your artistic influences, you would say it is...

Jeremy's Picture Perfect Potion:

One hair from a Who

Two terrible yellow eyes

A dark colored crystal

An enormous carrot grown by a steadfast little boy

A purple crayon

A handful of Peanuts

A giant peach

and the "Holy Moly" of a Meggendorfer making.

4. Of the six fundamentals of 2D design (line, shape, volume, perspective, shading, and color):

a. Which is your greatest strength?

Because I started drawing later in life, I can't honestly say I'm overly confident with any of the fundamentals… but if you held a fork full of brussel sprouts to my mouth and forced me to answer, I'd say color.

b. Which poses your greatest challenge?

I would have to say perspective hurts my brain the most. Having to draw a character from multiple vantage points makes my hands clammy.

5. Given that illustration is different than many day to day jobs, how do you manage your time and maintain a daily routine?

Because the income model for a newbie author/illustrator is a bit unpredictable (and because I'm a father of 2), I have to teach part-time at the University of Pennsylvania for some financial stability. In short, I don't sleep much. If I'm not changing diapers or taking attendance, I'm drawing.

6. What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve been given as an illustrator?

Never let a good idea get in the way of a great one. Oh, and work hard… and then work harder.

7. What new projects have you got coming down the pike?

I'm currently finishing up a picture book for Schwartz and Wade titled, "Poem-Mobiles," by the wonderful J. Patrick Lewis and Douglas Florian. I'm also putting the final pencil marks on a chapter book for Little Brown titled, "What We Found In the Sofa and How It Saved the World," by Henry Clark.

8. Bonus Question! Coffee or Tea?

Coffee… preferably dark roasted with 2 Splenda and a touch of cream

If you'd like to pour yourself a cuppa coffee, and peruse more of Jeremy's work, (and I certainly suggest that you do), you can visit:

http://www.muttink.com/

https://twitter.com/jeremysdesk

http://dribbble.com/jeremyholmes

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mutt-Ink/58780006632?ref=ts

I can hardly believe it!

But believe it or not, it's here, and along with it... our final four Mini Interviews for 2012.

And, I think you'll agree that though they may be last- they are certainly not least!

Here's the lineup...

Constanze Von Kitzing  visits Juana's blog on Tuesday.

Jeremy Holmes will be here on Wednesday

Alexandra Ball chats with Mikela on Thursday

and

Brian Karas finishes out the week on Laura's Blog, Friday.

What a week!

Full disclosure: I think Lynne Avril is awesome. So, you'll find no unbiased reviews here!

Lynne is the sort of a person who makes you smile just by walking into a room. Her energy and enthusiasm for life and art are contagious! She is also- cool. That word gets bandied about with abandon these days, but  Lynne really is. Children's book illustrator extraordinaire by day (and night depending on the number of deadlines she's juggling); in her spare time she plays bass in a blues band, and spends her summers in Paris.  I'd say that I want to be like Lynne when I grow up, but one of the many wonderful things about Lynne is that I don't think she has ever totally grown up... And I'd venture to say that  it's that sense of play in her life, spilling over into her work, that makes her art so appealing!

But enough of me gushing about Lynne- let's hear what she has to say in answer to our Mini Interview questions!

We begin with a Bonus Question...

Coffe or Tea?

COFFEE!!!!!!!

Excellent choice! Now onto...

The (real) QUESTIONS...
1. Describe yourself in five words:
hedonistic, perserverant, energetic, hard-working, creative

2. Now, please tell us how you got started in picture book illustration (in more than five words)...

I've always been an artist of some sort, whether it was oil painting,  sign painting, or mural painting, but after my second child was born, I was doing free-lance graphic art and any other job that would come my way. I was actually throwing my son in his car seat and driving around town to various print shops delivering typeset at that moment. So one day, the typesetter person mentioned she had recieved a random call from someone looking to hire an artist to do some children's illustration. Since I am game for about anything, I went to the office of Josten's Learning Corporation in downtown Phoenix, which was somewhat intimidating for me at that time, being a small-town Montana girl. But I had three things to show: one birth announcement for my son, one for my daughter, and one I did for a friend's kid. As luck would have it, I got hired on the spot. Maybe nobody else had answered the call. Or nobody else had had such cute kids. Whatever, I ended up illustrating 18 small black and white storybooks for them, and I knew I had found my metier. So I sent samples to New York, and I got great responses but they said they would really like to see some of my color work. OK. I'll get those right to you.....So I went out and bought some watercolors and brushes, sent out more samples, and one day I came home and there was a message from Lucille Chomowicz at Simon and Schustser, that she had a book for me! And I've been busy working every day since then and that was 20 years ago. I was just damn lucky that's all.

3. If you had to describe your work in terms of your artistic influences, you would say it is...

I would say a lot of my influence comes from European aritsts and illustrators.  I would say Bemelmans, Charlotte Voake, Tibor Gergely, Sempe, Dufy. I also love Maira Kahlman, Laura Cornell, and Marjorie Priceman.  And don't forget Quentin Blake! I love the Disney artiste extraordinaire, Mary Blair. And I have to give credit to my good friend Brian G. Karas. He's the one who helped me get my first agent too.

4. Of the six fundamentals of 2D design (line, shape, volume, perspective, shading, and color):
a. Which is your greatest strength?

Mmm, I think maybe line and color. Do you know, back in the days, in primary school we had penmanship - yes, children really learned the art of making beautiful lines! And I think that gave me an appreciation for the beauty of line and a control that stuck with me. And as far as color, to me that's like cooking - making something so delicious you want to eat it!

b. Which poses your greatest challenge?

It's probably perspective hahaha but not making it RIGHT, making it WRONG. I like things a little topsy-turvey and nothing makes me as nervous as a straight horizon line. My dad tried to teach me how to draw everything right, and it took me  years to unlearn it.

5. Given that illustration is different than many day to day jobs, how to you manage your time and maintain a daily routine?

What I love about my job is the freedom it gives me. I call it my "office in a box" because I can pick it up and work from anywhere. I have been living in Paris for two months of the year for the last four years. I generally work every day from 4 - 16 hours. I don't have set hours, I just know what needs to get done that day and I do it. I used to be a late night person, but now, I'm an early bird.

6. What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve been given as an illustrator?

Here are some good ones: Use the biggest brush possible for the situation. Don't ever crumple up an attempt. A shot of tequila gets the flow going. Never be late on a deadline. Draw everything and all the time.

7. What new projects have you got coming down the pike?

2013 is  Amelia Bedelia's 50th anniversary, so we've been very busy getting books ready - picture books, I Can Read books, and chapter books. I have one or two of each of those done and in production at this time. I also have a new Cowgirl book done, called "Every Cowgirl Loves her School", a very fun picturebook called "The Underpants Dance" (which is done all except the cover), a new Ruby Valentine book in the works, and a new book with author Marilyn Singer called "I"m Gonna Climb a Mountain in my Patent Leather Shoes".

Well, if anyone can climb a mountain in patent leather shoes- it's Lynne!

If you're interested in learning more about Lynne's work you can check out her website: www.lynneavril.com

And/Or

Her page on Facebook

See you back here next Wednesday for another Mini Interview!

And in the meantime... You can check out the rest of this week's Mini Interviews with...

Amanda Shepherd on Juana's Blog (posted Tuesday)

Alexandra Boiger on Mikela's Blog - Thursday

and

Mary Sullivan on Laura's Blog- Friday

Cheers!

This month, with all of the holiday goodies being shared, I'm wondering... What do you like to nibble in-between sips of your favorite brew?

I'm a huge fan of anything chocolate! So when my friend Dominique, sent me the link to these scrumptious chocolate dipped shortbread cookies shaped like tea bags... Well, I just couldn't resist- I had to share it too!

A good recipie, like a good story is always better when you share it with a friend. And if that friend is Tea Rex? Well... Maybe you'd better double the recipie.

And speaking of sharing a good story...

If you are in the San Diego area this weekend, you can share both a good story, and a cuppa tea at Mysterious Galaxy Books! They will be hosting a Tea Rex Tea Party for young readers at noon on Saturday November, 17- click here for more information.
Two lucky tea party guests will win a framed, signed print from Tea Rex!

Can't make it to San Diego this weekend? You still have a chance to win a signed print right here...
Simply post a comment here naming your favorite tea time treat!
Two winners will be chosen at random from all of the entries on December 10, 2012.

Cheers!

I first met Adam on another fine fall day, a few years ago in New York. We met up to peruse the artwork on display at the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show. And after that, chatting over a cuppa coffee, I was totally stoked to discover that, not only is he an amazing illustrator (I knew THAT already), but that his talent, creativity and humor spill over into his family life as well...

In talking about life as a parent of two small boys, (something we have in common), Adam regaled me with a a story about how he and his wife taught their eldest son about fractions by sitting around their kitchen table, taking it in turn to be human numerators and denominators! Now, this may sound odd to some of you, but having grown up in a home where one of our favorite games was looking for prime numbers on license plates...

Well, lets just say I knew I had found a kindred spirit!

We begin with a bonus question...
(Don't worry, there's no math involved.)

Bonus Question! Coffee or Tea?

COFFEE. In fact, I don’t believe I’ve ever refused a cup of coffee.

The rest of the QUESTIONS....
1. Describe yourself in five words:

(Police describe the suspect as) Medium height, boxy head, effusive.

 (Mind Your Manners, Alice Roosevelt! written by Leslie Kimmelman. Peachtree Publishers, 2009.)

2. Now, please tell us how you got started in picture book illustration (in more than five words)...

When I was in my senior year at Rowan College/University in South Jersey, I spent a lot of time at newsstands, looking for magazines that I thought might hire someone with work like mine; I copied down their staff boxes, and sent off color photocopies of my work to several, including The Oxford American Magazine and Cricket (who at age 12 I'd won two art contests in the back of).

I heard back pretty quickly from these two, and in the Spring semester had two commissions to finish up, each stories with character driven arcs and three or four images apiece.

This was pretty representative of the sort of work I got hired to do over the next year. With a few bits of serial work in my portfolio (if you could call it that...it might be more aptly referred to as a "body of work"), I started looking around at childrens' sections of book stores, much in the same way I had newsstands, writing the the names and addresses of companies I thought might consider me. I sent off packets of my samples to as many of them as I could, monthly.

The Autumn after I'd graduated, I received a call back. Ann Bobco, at Simon and Schuster's Margaret McElderry imprint, called me with my first book, Good Luck, Mrs. K! At the time, my portfolio was full of funny looking people, feral hog wrestling, oddball flying farm animals... The offer was to illustrate Louise Borden's sensitive portrayal (in blank verse) of a third grade girl whose favorite teacher receives an diagnosis of cancer.

So I threw myself into it, particularly the pacing of the story and finding a dynamic but natural looking way to design the art around the long columns of intricate, asymmetrical text. I learned an awful lot from it; aside from the page breaks and design, it was an amazing crash course in finding my way into a story that I wouldn't have necessarily seen myself in, but that Ann had the presence of mind to trust me with.

It also helped me develop a thick skin; it was a finalist for a Christopher Award and well reviewed in childrens' trade publications, but the New York Times wrote a scathing critique of it and another cancer-themed title released the same month. The year it came out, I met — at age 23 — a number of people who viscerally disliked my art for it and told me so in no uncertain terms. Things that are still in my imaginary list of the meanest things I've ever been told about my art. Things I would never tell some kid after his first book was released.

In the past 16 years, I've constantly promoted myself in all avenues of illustration, but picture books are where I've always found the most work, and the pacing and large scale problem solving of it have become a very comfortable

(Lost and Found written by Bill Harley. Peachtree Publishers, 2012.)

3. If you had to describe your work in terms of your artistic influences, you would say it is...

Thomas Nast's people in a Bonnard composition with Balthus' paint surface donning the light and color of Fairfield Porter, acting in a community theater production of The Big Lebowski for an audience of John Tenniel's animals.

4. Of the six fundamentals of 2D design (line, shape, volume, perspective,shading, and color):

a. Which is your greatest strength?

Color. This is weird, because I totally didn't GET color until I was out pretty well out of college.

b. Which poses your greatest challenge?

Perspective. This too is strange, because it's the thing that, for a long time, I thought was my strength.

(Rock and Roll Highway: The Robbie Robertson Story written by Sebastian Robertson. Christy Ottaviano Books, 2014.)

5. Given that illustration is different than many day to day jobs, how to you manage your time and maintain a daily routine?

Egads. I need to get better at that. I'm indebted to deadlines for what routine I have, to be honest. Things just need to get done, and time needs to be spent in the studio for that to happen.

Before I had kids, I was far more disciplined. I would get up, give myself an hour to adjust to the world, and get to work. I would take my coffee breaks out of the house/studio, and sketch wherever I was. Now that I have a family and I've been teaching a fair amount, I still take what time is available and approach any given project in the same order:

Look for inspiration. Troll through art books. (I have enough of these stacked in the studio that I'm occasionally worried about the structural integrity of my house. For the first ten years or so I was working, I allotted a hundred bucks or so from every job to book purchases.)
Thumbnail.
Dig out more inspiration.
Sketch.
Revisit inspiration.
Paint.
In between sittings at easel, revisit inspiration.
***Do some other creative thing as a reward for how disciplined I've been.***
Revisit inspiration.
Paint some more.

6. What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve been given as an illustrator?

Paraphrasing, it's something like: Pull your inspiration from things other than what you do.

As in, if you want to be an illustrator, don’t try to be your favorite illustrator. Be your version of that long sentence in the beginning of this interview, and borrow from unlimited sources. The world doesn’t need another version of someone who’s already out there and accepting work. And even if the market does, you don’t want to meet Brad Holland one day and introduce yourself as the guy who does all those crappy jobs he said “no” to.

7. What new projects have you got coming down the pike?

My latest book, Lost and Found (by Bill Harley), just came out and might be my favorite to date. After all these years, someone (the lovely folks at Peachtree Publishers) offered me a book that is downright silly. I take silliness very seriously, mind you. It’s a level of problem solving not to be taken too lightly.

So I put a taxidermist prepared flying badger in it.

(Lost and Found written by Bill Harley. Peachtree Publishers, 2012.)

I’m finishing up a children’s book biography of Robbie Robertson (of The Band), penned by his son Sebastian Robertson, for Christy Ottaviano Books right now, due out in 2014. Between the likenesses, a protagonist that ages 36 years in the course of the narrative, and all the scenes of guitar playing, it might be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’m very excited to see it all printed up, though for now the cover is still in the “fiddling with” stage.

I also just finished up a 5 page monochromatic zombie comic for inclusion in an anthology called “Dead Anyway,” to be released simultaneously with an album by the band No More Kings. It’s a first for me, and it has a nice moral to it: Zombies cannot metabolize the ennui of college undergrads, and feeding on them leads to nothing good for anyone.

Well, I think it's safe to say that Adam's work offers something good for everyone- even zombies. To enjoy more of a good thing you can visit...

http://adamgustavson.blogspot.com/
http://www.adamgustavson.com
http://redfoxliterary.com/adamgustavson-illustrator.html

And to enjoy more Mini Interviews- pour yourself a cuppa coffee and mosey on over to...
Juana's blog on Tuesdays
Mikela's blog on Thursdays
and
Laura's blog on Fridays throughout November!

See you back here next week with another mini interview!

Starting next Wednesday, and every Wednesday in November, I'll be hosting a mini interview right here with one of my favorite illustrators!

So, I am here to give you a sneak peek as to who I'll be chatting with- folks who are so talented it's SCARY...

Lynne Avril
Adam Gustavson
Jeremy Holmes
and
Kelly Light

See- now you're excited too right?!

Be sure to check in on Juana, Mikela and Laura's blogs this week to see who they'll be hosting!

I guarantee that the lineup is as SWEET as haul of Halloween candy!