author/illustrator interviews

SOUP’S ON: Anna Alter in the Kitchen Interview and Book Giveaway!

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Many of you know my penchant passion obsession with books featuring food, bears, and the alphabet. Just so happens that our special guest today, children’s author/illustrator, Anna Alter, has all these bases covered.

Yes, I drooled right through her first picture book, Estelle and Lucy (raspberry biscuits), loved her adorable Three Little Kittens (mitten and pie endpapers!), eyed up the bowl of porridge in Priscilla and the Hollyhocks, and fell in love with her recycling activity book that just came out in March, What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe (charming bears, cats and bunnies).

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surprise guest: quacking up with jackie urbanovic

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Quello quello!

 

My favorite quack is back!

 

Jackie Urbanovic, author/illustrator of the wildly popular picture book series about Max the duck, has stopped by today to share some fabulous news. Some of you may remember my two-part interview with Jackie last year, where she gave us the scoop on her creative process, extolled her love for comic books, and revealed a surprising fondness for Gobstoppers.

 

Well, the first two Max books, Duck at the Door (2007) and Duck Soup (2008), both New York Times Bestsellers, have been chosen to be part of Kohl’s Cares for Kids® campaign! During May and June, both books will be available at stores across the country for the amazingly low price of just $5 each! And there’s more – both Max the duck, and Brody the St. Bernard, have gone three dimensional! They’re now available as adorable, cuddly plush animals, also at $5 each. Best part is, 100% of the net profits from the sale of these items will support health and educational opportunities for children in your own community!

 

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SOUP’S ON: Melissa Sweet in the Kitchen Interview and Book Giveaway!

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Melissa with Rufus and Nellie.

Friends, I’m tickled pink and over the moon, because our very special guest at alphabet soup today is 2009 Caldecott Honor Medal winner, Melissa Sweet!

 I can’t think of a better way to top off National Poetry Month, than with the illustrator who so brilliantly rendered the story of how Willie Williams, a doctor from Rutherford, New Jersey, became one of America’s most influential twentieth century poets.


If you’ve seen Melissa’s masterful work in A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams (beautifully written by Jen Bryant), then you know the award was supremely well deserved. Her mixed media collages embody the very soul and spirit of the poet, who “walked through the high grasses and along the soft dirt paths . . . stretched out beside the Passaic River . . . watched everything,” took notes “about things he’d heard, seen, or done . . . looked at the words . . . and shaped them into poems.”

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SOUP’S ON: Carla Golembe in the Kitchen Interview and Book Giveaway

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Carla and Joe, husband and soulmate of 28 years.

Today, I’m thrilled to welcome award winning artist, author, illustrator, and teacher, Carla Golembe, to alphabet soup!

I first learned about Carla’s beautiful work back in the 90’s, when she signed on to illustrate my third picture book, The Woman in the Moon. Back then, it was frowned upon for authors and illustrators to communicate about book projects, so we never met or even wrote to each other in those pre-email days. Instead, I oohed and ahhed over some of the books she had illustrated for Mary-Joan Gerson, like People of Corn, How Night Came from the Sea, and Why the Sky is Far Away, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book.

 

Carla’s art is eminently suited for multicultural stories. She is especially adept at capturing the essence, rhythms, and natural beauty of places like Central America, Brazil, Nigeria, and Hawai’i through her sensual, color-saturated, vibrant and exotic paintings, which bring to mind Frida Kahlo, Matisse, Gauguin, and some of the whimsical and mystical elements of traditional folk art. On her website, she says her intention is “to create a visual haven that encourages viewers to enter my personal vision.”

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SOUP’S ON: James Rumford in the Kitchen Interview!

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Today I have the distinct honor and privilege of welcoming award winning children’s author/illustrator, James Rumford, to alphabet soup! As I mentioned in the profile I posted recently, Jim has published over a dozen picture books; most are works of historical fiction or biography, which display his passion for and unsurpassed knowledge of ancient languages, alphabets and numbers.

A native of Long Beach, California, Jim is a world traveler who has lived in Manoa, on the island of O’ahu, for the last thirty years or so. There he creates gorgeous picture books that are a distinctive blend of art, calligraphy, lyrical text, and innovative book design. Jim also makes beautiful handmade books for his own company, Manoa Press.

In 2008, Jim published Silent Music (Roaring Brook Press), and Chee-lin: A Giraffe’s Journey (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). I asked him about these two projects, his love for languages, and all about his general creative process. You will see, by his answers, why he has been called a Renaissance Man.

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