It has been so hectic this year with injured staff, winning
awards and all the excitement surrounding this year’s Children’s Book
Illustration Show, I’ve hardly had a chance to think. Soooo, here is my “tug at
your heart strings” “ gut reaction” to our fantastic illustrations.
From the first moment I saw
John Parra’s original
illustrations at the ALA show last year, he had me hooked. The way he paints
his illustration board to look like
old folk art from Latin America exhibits
such talent. I love this dreamy picture from
My Name is Gabriela where fantastical zebra dance with angels. I am
also a sucker for true stories about amazing women like Gabriela Mistral.
Stacy, Stacy,
Stacy Innerst… I don’t think anyone
could have illustrated
The Beatles Were
Fab (and they were funny) any better than you!
From your
iconic Abbey Road walk to the
individual images of the Fab Four, the imagery is spot on. My favorite is this
whimsical rollercoaster ride on a guitar case. Although I was a miserable guitarist,
it reminds me of my guitar playing days as a teen & college student with
all the ups and downs of growing up.
Stepping into the unknown, trying something new is
what I imagine when I look at this illustration from
Zombelina by
Molly Idle. Take a deep breath and just walk through
the door… Can you imagine this is 100% colored pencil! I think I would have
finished the little bat above the door and decided I couldn’t color any more.
Molly gets such
smoothness and intensity with her steady, untiring hands.
My sick sense of humor shows through with my
Brett Helquist picks. I just couldn't pick one & I forced myself to just pick two...and I haven't even read the
Scary Stories books from which these illustrations are found. I can't possibly tell you why I love them so much except that they are so well done and the shading of grey is so
expressive. I so look forward to meeting the twisted brain that created these characters!
We have been wanting to exhibit
Michael Hague’s
work for so many years and now that the work is here, we couldn’t be more in
awe of his talent. This winter fairy from
Good
Night, Fairies is breathtaking, in person. At once ethereal and almost so
real you can feel the snow, the velvety softness of this
classical
illustration reminds me of illustrations of yesteryear. BTW, this book was
written by Michael’s wife, Kathleen Hague.
We are thrilled to have a number of authors attending this
year’s show, as well. Not only have Brett Helquist and Molly Idle written some
of their books, we also have authors Kathleen Krull & Paul Brewer who wrote
the Beatles book (they will be signing some of their other new books too),
Kathleen Hague (noted above) and a special appearance by Roseanne Greenfield
Thong who wrote John Parra’s Round is a Tortilla.
As always, we feel so fortunate to partner with
ChapmanUniversity to make this event special. The work they do with their students and
our community is stellar. Thank you for working with us. Special thanks to the
OrangeCounty Children’s Book Festival who will be videotaping illustrator
talks/demos. To our myriad of volunteers who help prior to our show and who
will help during our show, we couldn’t do it without you!
Until Saturday… Dec 7th… it’s back to work!
