Send a Nice-O-Gram for Valentine's Day

For a limited time only, you can send someone you love a gift wrapped copy of The Nice Book, inscribed with your personal message and signed by me.

For those who don't know, The Nice Book is all about ways to show someone you love them, as demonstrated by lots of cute and colorful animals—A gift that you can curl up with and read together.

To order, CLICK HERE.

See you in the clouds,
David

DES on Facebook

Hi folks,

I now have a fan page on Facebook! You will soon be able to find out about upcoming books and events and see artwork in progress. No biggie. Come say hi.

David

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!"

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!: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.

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

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

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

Chicken in Progress

Hi!

For the last month or two, I have been working on the final art for Interrupting Chicken, forthcoming next year from Candlewick. This is without a doubt the most complex book I've done so far. Things are going well, but I am still pecking away. Here's a sneak peek while I shirk work (for a moment)!

See ya in the studio,
David

Just One More Book Interview

Hi all,

Back in November I was glad to be part of a really lovely conversation with YA author Jeanne Birdsall, illustrator Jane Dyer, and author/illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka, at Jeanne's house. It was moderated and recorded by Mark Blevis of Just One More Book.

We all talked about our love of books and how we got into the business, shared some laughs (and ate some delicious pound cake). Now it's been edited, snazzy jazz has been added, and you can hear it here! [Just scroll down to April 14 (Rock Stars of Reading 7).]

Listening brought back warm memories of a cold night in Massachusetts.

See ya in the podcasts,
David

'Roo the Day!

Hey folks, my new book Pouch! (the saga of a young kangaroo who takes his first hops) is now available for pre-order on Amazon. It won't be shipped till September, tho'. But just thought I'd let ya know.

See ya in the meadow,
David