TimeOut NY Kids; a tasty read!

Here's my interview in TONY Kids!  I will post a link when it appears online in March.  For now this scan will have to do (click on image to enlarge).  I have to say, I am pretty thrilled with this bit of press and hope that it inspires people's interest in my latest book I'm Your Peanut Butter Big Brother (Knopf, $17; ages 4-8)

While I have your attention, please save the date Friday, March 13th for I'm Your Peanut Butter Big Brother's book release party at Book Court!  Beginning at 7 PM, rub shoulders with - and get books signed by - the author/illustrator (ahem), and kick-off the week-end with some fine wine & cheese.  FYI, we were going to have some fancy peanut butter hors d'oervres, but decided not to take the chance of accidentally poisoning anyone who might show up!

If you can't get a babysitter or you chose to leave the kids behind for the book's Friday night shin dig, bring them instead on Sunday, March 15th,  for a special child-friendly reading @ 11 AM, also at Book Court.

Book Court 

163 Court Street, Brooklyn NY

  

Chapter Books; a whole new world!

Last week, at Books of Wonder, I was on a panel with a bunch of cool folks who write chapter books.  Until last week, I knew next to nothing about chapter books.  That evening I discovered, much to my delight, it's quite a different beast!  Like an older, more sophisticated, distant relative to children's books.  Still, like picture books, chapter books tell stories for a young audience.  I was completely captivated as my colleagues revealed tales about their characters and how they came to be.  I sat with Jackie Longstead (of the Sister's 8 series), Bruce Hale (his latest, From Russia with Lunch) and Charise Mericle Harper (Just Grace books fame).  The second coolest part of the evening for me, next to hearing all of their back-stories, was discovering that Charise Mericle Harper not only writes and illustrates books (like me!), lives in the NY area w/ her 2 kids (like me!), but is from Vancouver, B.C., (like me!), AND went to Prince of Wales high school (like me!! - only we missed each other by a year).  What are the odds of that?  I discovered I absolutely adore Charise's work.  Her main character, Grace, has the super power of empathy!  How cool is that?  I love the fact that even though I was probably misplaced on the panel to begin with (ie/ Greetings from the 50 States is not exactly a chapter book!), it was totally worth the effort to make that random connection and to learn just a bit more about the world of chapter books!  Rebecca Sherman (my agent), my daughter Ginger and I are featured above at the Cupcake Cafe in Books of Wonder.