Fuse #8 Review

Elizabeth Bird over at A Fuse #8 Production (and NY children's librarian extraordinaire) has written a very astute review of Pouch!

While you're there, check out her many other excellent articles on all things kid lit. She is truly an preeminent blogger in her field. (And she was the only reviewer so far to notice Pouch!'s snazzy endpapers!)

See you at the circulation desk,
David

A Best Book of 2009

Pouch! has been named a Best Book of 2009 on The Book Case, the blog of BookPage.

See the list here.
(Scroll down to Best Picture Books.)

Pou-ooooooch!

(PS–this image was an early style idea for the book.)

Profile on Finding Dulcinea

Hey folks,

Finding Dulcinea just ran a very thoughtful and comprehensive feature on my work. It begins:

David Ezra Stein's children’s books celebrate joy and simplicity, eschewing flash in favor of genuine introspection. His subtle interweaving of lessons in self-sufficiency and acceptance of change is neither intimidating nor heavy-handed. Themes of friendship and nature, seen in “Pouch!” and “Leaves” and “Monster Hug!” appeal to an international audience.

It was written by Sarah Amandolare. Read the rest HERE.

See you in the blogs,
David

Fall Met Drawings

Top to bottom: Bis poles, New Guinea; pig mask, Borneo; Sea Bear mask, NW American Indians; a capella group on steps of Met; wooden figure, New Guinea; Mask, Solomon Islands.

I Made an Owl

Look! Look what I made! An owl!

Ghouls & Gourds Photos

What a wonderful day at the botanic garden!

As usual, Ghouls & Gourds was a blast. I met lots of families and got to connect with fellow author/artists. There were hordes of cute babies and kids in costume, amazing stilt walkers, and catchy music. And some long-lost friends came to visit.

See all the photos HERE.

I will be at the Early Childhood Center of Park Slope on Nov. 11
and The Brooklyn Museum on Nov. 21.

See you at the next one!
David

Ghouls & Gourds '09!

Hey all you Halloweensters,

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Ghouls & Gourds Festival is this weekend! (Sunday at 12 in the Cherry Esplanade.) Parades, music, kids in costumes, and of course a fantastic crop of local authors and illustrators sharing their books. Hope you will join us! I will be reading Pouch! and I will have my trusty kangaroo cut-out for funny photo ops!

INFO

See you in the garden,
David

PS- There is a chance we could have our baby in the next few days, so. . . I might have to ask you how it was!

Pouch! at the Children's Museum of Manhattan

"Pou-oooooooch!"

WHY I LOVE BOOKS

Holding them, chewing them, turning the pages: Even the littlest people can get something out of a book!

. . . As shown by this 2-year-old little guy at the CMOM event last Saturday. He was telling the story to mom, with "POUCH!"-es and everything. This kid is into books! (Well, his mom is a librarian.)

He is doing a great job of showing the pictures, by the way. Took me quite a few readings to learn how to do that.

More pics of this event to come!

Bookishly yours,
David

CMOM Reading Tomorrow

Hi all,

The hickory nuts are falling here in Forest Park, which means it is time for fall book events!
And the very next one is tomorrow at Children's Museum of Manhattan. Swing on by at 11 AM for a reading and wacky kangaroo photos, and leave with a freshly signed copy of Pouch! in your pouch.

MORE INFO

See you in the museum!
David

Hooray for Book Blogs!

Hey all, did you know last week was Book Blogger Appreciation Week? Well I just found that out on a blog called On My Bookshelf , where there is a lovely review of Pouch! today.

Thanks to Holly for the write-up and for the heads-up.

And Pouch! was recently a Pick of the Day at Hooray for Books.

I for one appreciate the attention of children's book bloggers such as Just One More Book, 7-Imp, Fuse #8, Hip Writer Mama, and now On My Bookshelf. . . and Hooray for Books.

Hooray for Blogs!
David

Pouch Party!

Last night lots of lovely folks hopped over to Books of Wonder for the Pouch! Publication Party. We read the story, yelled "pouch!", learned how to draw Joey, and took our pictures as kangaroos. There were delicious cupcakes from the Cupcake Cafe and lots of books to sign.

If you missed out, you can still get a signed copy at the store, or order on their web site.

See you at the hop,
David

POUCH!:The Trailer

Dear folks, in conjunction with the release of Pouch!, here is the trailer for the book.

I have been trying to get this up on YouTube, but due to ongoing file incompatibility woes, I will have to settle on posting a link here for now. Enjoy!

VIEW POUCH BOOK TRAILER

Happiest of Autumns,
David

PS- Remain on the lookout for Pouch!: the lunch box, Pouch!: the pull toy, Pouch! the breakfast cereal, and Pouch!: the pouch.

An Interview in The Q Note

Hey all, Alia Akkam (founder and editorial director) ran a nice piece on me in The Q Note yesterday in honor of the release of Pouch!. The Q Note is a newsletter of life in the borough of Queens.

You can read it HERE in its original location.

See ya in the borough,
David

Pouch! Starred Review

Booklist has honored my forthcoming book Pouch! with a starred review.

Since I don't subscribe to Booklist, I can't link to the review, but here's an excerpt:

. . . Neatly embodying the way a young child’s drive toward independence seesaws with fear of the unknown, the panicky little kangaroos are vulnerable, appealing, and funny. The short, pithy text tells a story young listeners will immediately understand, right down to its heartening conclusion. . . . The artwork has a fresh, energetic quality that suits the story well. Stein, who won the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award for Leaves (2007), once again shows his talent for creating a fresh story in a few well chosen words and illustrating it with humor and verve.

School Library Journal also wrote a very lovely review, and here are some tidbits as well:

Stein continues to create deceptively simple yet very affecting picture books. . . . Stein’s choice of easily identifiable animals (a bee, a rabbit, and a bird) is particularly apropos, giving the book universality. . . . The repetition will appeal to the intended audience, as will the chance to identify each animal Joey meets. The subtle sophistication of the story gives it broad appeal. . . .

Thank you Reviewers!
David

Award

Hey folks,

Back in February I wrote and illustrated a wee reader called Tim and Sam for Hooked on Phonics' total revamping of their Learn to Read program. In doing so, I was pleased to join the company of such children's book stars as Rosemary Wells and Michelle Knudsen.

I was assigned the kindergarten level, and given a list of a hundred or so 3-letter words with which to write a compelling story. This resulted in Tim and Sam, the tale of a race between a fox and a bulldog. It is based on the sentence, "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." I had a lot of fun with the vocabulary challenge, and with letting the art speak the volumes that the text couldn't.

So now iParenting has awarded HOP with their Media Award for Outstanding Products. My book is a small part of the total package, but I'm glad to have been involved. Congrats to HOP.

[Thanks to Amy Kraft for the last two photos used here. (They are from the HOP blog.)]

See ya at the races,
David

Three Years On

It's my third anniversary as a published author! Yes, my very first book, Cowboy Ned & Andy, came out July 11, 2006. Which seems like forever ago.

Yesterday, I handed in the art for my EIGHTH book, Interrupting Chicken! It will come out next summer.

In three years as your author, I feel I have learned many things. One was to lose the hat.

See ya in the book-o-sphere,
David

We Have a Chicken in Progress

After a little time off to recalibrate the ending and iron out some things, Interrupting Chicken is underway again. Luckily the weather has been pretty uninviting, so I am happy to stay in and work! Cutting stencils, putting down watercolor, scribbling with crayons—fun.

This book probably looks a lot different than my previous work, but there is a logical progression. I used crayon in The Nice Book as an accent. I used stencils to get sharp edges with watercolor, and more crayon in Pouch! (coming September 2009). Then I used complex multi-color stencils and more crayon in a book I did for Hooked on Phonics in the beginning of this year.

When Chicken came around, I decided to use multi-color stencils for the characters, and build the backgrounds out of a dark wash (working dark to light). Crayons take a much more central role. And I don't mean Crayolas—I am using Caran D'Ache water soluble crayons. It is a real joy to build up areas of light; I feel like I am really starting to paint. (Come to think of it, I always was a big fan of Degas's pastel work. . . .)

See you in the studio,
David

A Good Book for Kids

The blog Good Books for Kids has a new review of The Nice Book. It includes suggestions on how to use the book in working with children. Very nice.

So why is there a strawberry with a face up there? Well, it looks like a nice strawberry, doesn't it? It looks like this strawberry has read my book, doesn't it! So there you are.

Click here to read the review.

See you in the classroom,
David

State Prizes

I am officially on the short list for two State prizes: in Ohio for Monster Hug!, and in South Dakota for Leaves! Also there is some buzz about Cowboy Ned and Andy in Arizona. . . . I will keep you posted!

DES

SPRING DRAWINGS

The weather is great and that means I've been out drawing! Babies, gardens, friends, family, pets. . . . While these drawings may look very different from my book work, they are really at the core of it. All the observation, color, and light carries over. And (to paraphrase a quote I recently heard about meditation) drawing cultivates love of, and interest in, the world.

See you in the sun,
David