Making Trains at the BPL

Stand clear of the closing doors! This Saturday at the BPL I'll be leading a hands-on workshop for kids making subway trains. I'll read from my illustrated book My Subway Ride, as well as Christoph Niemann's new book Subway, to get your 8-10 year olds in the mood to create– using color, subway maps, metro cards & buttons. I tried this project out with my son and he loved it (see above)! Join me tomorrow at 2:30 for this FREE afternoon of fun. (And while you're there, be sure to check out the Drawn In Brooklyn exhibition. It's up through January, but time flies...!)

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Brooklyn Public Library

Grand Army Plaza, 2nd floor

2:30 PM

FREE

Book Maker's Dozen

It's a great time to shop early for the holidays!

13 children's book makers - who also happen to be friends - have gotten together to form the BOOK MAKER'S DOZEN. You can find us at Etsy selling archival prints from our children's books for just $100 each. Affordable art from some of your favorite books make terrific gifts for loved ones, children's rooms, or as well-deserved treats for oneself!

Who are the book makers, you might be asking yourselves? None other than...

Sophie Blackall

Sean Qualls

Brian Floca

Dan Yaccarino

John Bemelmans Marciano

Brett Helquist

John Rocco

Peter Brown

Boris Kulikov

Aileen Leijten

Sergio Ruzzier

David Gordon

and myself, Selina Alko

There will be not one - but TWO - opportunities to meet members of the Book Maker's Dozen and buy prints in person.

PowerHouse Arena is having 2 holiday party events!

1) December 2nd from 7 - 9 PM; A panel discussion cocktail party where 13 of us will talk about our work, answer questions, and sign books. Join us for some wine and inspiration!

2) December 5 from 4 - 5 PM; Another holiday party where rumor has it Santa may make an appearance. So be sure to bring your little ones!

PowerHouse Arena

37 Main Street

DUMBO, Brooklyn

Author Costume Photo Shoot

Halloween was perfect timing this year. The kids had to dress-up anyway AND I needed an author photo for my Dress-Up book. How apropos!

Ginger is still young enough that I can impose my ideas on her. Lucky for her, being Frida Khalo is a pretty cool idea. Frida's a character in my book, Every-Day Dress-Up (Knopf, 2011). Or I should say, my main character dresses-up as Frida. And her sister dresses-up as Georgia O'Keefe (That's me! That's right, I made myself look 40 years older for this photo-shoot. I am not vain!) Oh and Diego Rivera is, well, he's not really in the book. But I thought it would be only fair to include Isaiah. The thing is, he wasn't so into it. His idea of a real Halloween costume is something super scary. After this photo shoot he coined himself, "The Mysterious Freak", wearing blood red clothes with plastic spiders all over... but, I digress. For the sake of getting a 'cute author photo' I had to dress-up my kids appropriately, darn-it.

In the end, I chose the top photo of me & Ginger; Two Female Artists– since it IS a book about girls dressing-up (& their role-models). Anyway, I think Isaiah already had his turn in the spotlight as the protagonist in, "I'm Your Peanut Butter Big Brother". It's only fair, after all.