Off to ONE of the 10,000 Lakes

In 24 hours, I'll be in the vast expanse known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes," the 'hood of Paul Bunyan, and the home of the Mosquito Air Force! MINNESOTA, HERE WE COME!!! It's a semi-grand family reunion (any family reunion is grand, but this year, many cousins can't make it...). I'm hoping to try water-skiing, and other crazy water sports! We might hop to Fargo, North Dakota, the home of Uff-Da, ya-sure, and U.S.-made lefsa! And with a little luck, we may discover a thing or two about Native Minnesotan tribes by learning about their culture on their reservations (I have such wonderful memories of doing this when I was a kid!). And yes, I may even go fishing again (although, except for my very first fishing expedition, I've NEVER had any luck fishing since!).

Yours truly,

Fish's best friend!

Mad about Maddie!

As I'm working on the breakdowns of the early reader graphic novel project that won first prize for the best "picture book" manuscript at the last Los Angeles SCBWI Writer's Day contest, I'm in search of the look of my characters. Maddie (shown here) will play a BIG role in this graphic novel, so I'm not going to quit sketching until she's the most adorable talkative girl in the world! What do you think? Which one do you like best?!

Loving "Flight Explorer"

At the BEA, I had the pleasure of running into Kazu Kibuishi, who edited the terrific children's graphic novel collection of short stories, Flight Explorer. I've meant to tell you about it for weeks! Yes, it's that good!!! The art in that anthology sings! The graphic novellettes by Johane Matte, Matthew S. Armstrong, and Bannister have such elegance and fun designs. Stories by Steve Hamaker, Philip Craven and Kazu blend wit, adventure, and poetry. And some characters are a riot! From the fish-in-a-bowl, who controls a sophisticated robot seeking to save the universe, to the Siamese cat with an inflated pride the size of Egyptian pyramids, but constantly stomped by distractions like teeny birds and fellow poofy cats! The anthology contains a great mix of boy and girl stories, making it likely to please any child 6 to 11 years old.

"The Hidden Life of the Burrowing Owl" in Play at Annecy

My good buddy, Mike Roush, is living his dream as we speak! His passions? 2D animation and animals. He combined them in his first solo short animation, "The Hidden Life of the Borrowing Owl." The result? It's been chosen to compete in the world's most selective animation festival, the Annecy International Film Festival in France. In fact, Mike is there right now! Check out the website for "The Hidden Life of the Borrowing Owl," The trailer doesn't show much, but the images in the gallery are superb! Way to go, Mike!!!