I framed a couple of illustrations today for short-running group show of book related artwork that will run in the gallery in Artisan Square for Write on Bowen, the Bowen Island readers and writers festival. The festival is this coming weekend (July 10-12, 200). The panels are free, the workshops are reasonable and the island is worth a visit. http://www.biac.ca/writersfestival/ (and the food, coffee and the view at Artisan Eats is really really good).

As one of the Canadian Toy Testing Council’s 2009 recommended books, Looking for Loons was on a CTV segment about books as a good gift option.

The article and clip are here.

Looking for Loons is one of 10 books chosen for the Canadian Toy Testing Council’s Great Books for Children for 2009.

And there’s also a really nice review of Looking for Loons on the Scholastic blog – it squeaked in with its squirrel cameo (and there’s also one on the endpapers).

(mainly) Non-Fiction Fiona has written a whole *hexapod of reviews over on her blog of the books she picked up at the CWILL BC Spring Book Hatching this past weekend. And Looking for Loons was one of them. There are 4 more fantastic books from other talented BC authors and illustrators to read about in that post as well so I do recommend clicking over there for a visit. Actually, give the whole blog a good looking over – Fiona writes reviews of lots of other books as well posts about her writing life as a published author.

*actually there are five, not six, and none of the books are legged.

It’s almost time for the CWILL BC 2008 Spring Book Hatching.

It all goes down tomorrow (June 14th) between 1 and 3pm at the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch on Georgia Street (Peter Kaye Room and lower level).

Everything from picture books to young adult/teen novels will be represented. There will also be activities for kids, prizes to be won, autographs to be collected and book presentations to hear. Hope to see you there!

So, I’m really behind in my blogging. It’s been a crazy busy spring. When I haven’t been working (or trying to get the garden planted before it’s too late) I’ve been designing all the advertising pieces for CWILL BC’s upcoming Spring Book Hatching. The first one last year was such a success that CWILL BC is making this an annual event.

There’s a press release over on the CWILL BC blog that you can check out to learn all the details.

I’ll be at the SBH with my most recently illustrated book Looking for Loons. Drop by and say hello!

I spent a chunk of time last night reading through the other reviews. Some of them are pretty funny. This website is definitely worth a stop if you’re looking for a book that will appeal to you just as much as to your audience. If you’re going to be reading it out loud night after night at bedtime, it might as well be something you enjoy too, right?

There is a lovely review of Looking for Loons on Menasha Kids, the kidslit blog of Menasha Public Library in Menasha WI. The blog covers reviews of picture books to graphic novels, to novels to movies – all for kids and teens. There are also interviews with authors as well as extensive lists of links to other great kidlit related blogs, children’s book publishers and resources for children’s book creators and readers.

Library Goddesses blog is a fantastic resource with a whole pile of book write ups, reviews and recommendations. Do check it out!

I’ve uploaded a some of process photos of the Looking for Loons illustrations. They can be found here – you can either by click through them one at a time, or view them as a slideshow (where you can see them a lot larger).