Tomorrow, I'll be speaking at the Michigan Reading Association's annual conference that I mentioned in the previous post. Here is an exercise that I'll be demonstrating as part of my talk. The above three images are printouts, download here. Here is how it works: Cut out the small, medium and large person, sun and house. Then using the third printout, put the small house on the horizon line, the medium sun at the top of the page and the large person at the bottom of the page. Which is closer the person or the house?  Now let's try something different. Put the small person on the horizon line, the medium sun at the top of the page and the big house at the bottom of the page. Which is closer now, the person or the house?  Color adds even more possibilities. For this picture I used the large, person, sun and house and I added lots of red and orange. Does the picture seem warm or cool?  What size person, sun and house did I use on this picture? What colors did I use? Is the person feeling warm or cool?  What is going on here???  There are so many different ways to make a picture. Have fun!
Mother Mag's 50+ Gift Guide for Babies and Toddlers included a few book and Shapes was one of them. Looking at all the little toys and clothes reminded me how sweet those first few years are. Somehow, it is easy to forget the lack of sleep, etc! Shapes was also on the Let's Talk Picture Books blog as one of their Crushes of the Week. It is nice to be crushed!
 As you can see from the poster, I'll be having a chat with Nanny Miss Monique on October 29th at 1PM CST on Instagram Live @nannymissmonique. Nanny Miss Monique is a great resource for inclusive picture books, plus she is a lot of fun. I look forward to our chat!
It was exciting to see This Is a Book of Shapes appear on the 2020 Holiday 20 recommended book list from Publishers Weekly's ShelfTalker blog. You can read the article here. It is a fun read! It was also exciting to see a nice review of the book appear on the Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast (a children's book illustration blog). I have enjoyed and respected that blog for as long as I have been making picture books, so it was a pleasant surprise to see Shapes appear there. You can read the post here. On Saturday, 10 at 11AM, I'll be doing a Facebook Live event with good old Schuler Books. I'll read This Is a Book of Shapes and who knows what else! We'll have fun! On Wednesday, October 21 at 11AM, I'll be doing a Facebook Live event with the fabulous Nicola's Books. Similar antics as above. It was great to see This Is a Book of Shapes listed on ReadBrightly.com's Best Children's Books of September 2020! The turtles on this post are courtesy of the coloring page I made for Shapes. You can download it from the coloring pages page or right here.
 This Is a Book of Shapes hits the shelves today! You can find it at your favorite independent bookstore or at an online retailer like Indiebound, Barnes and Noble, Target, or Amazon.
Below is the recording of the KidLit4BlackLivesRally that took place on June 4, hosted by the Brown Bookshelf. Lots of different children's book authors share their thoughts on where we are on race in the USA and how we can move forward. I found it very useful in guiding my own thinking. The rally starts at around 10 minutes into the video. On a separate note, Wild Honey from the Moon was listed on the Bank Street Best Children's Books of 2020 and given an outstanding merit designation in the 5-8 year old category.
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