Review news and ALA

It was a big day here last week when word of two coming reviews for Locomotive arrived on the same afternoon, one right after the other. 

First, a starred review from Booklist: “Floca follows up the acclaimed Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 (2009) with this ebullient, breathtaking look at a family’s 1869 journey from Omaha to Sacramento via the newly completed Transcontinental Railroad…. The substantial text is delivered in nonrhyming stanzas as enlightening as they are poetic…. Just as heart pounding are Floca’s bold, detailed watercolors.... It’s impossible to turn a page without learning something, but it’s these multiple wow moments that will knock readers from their chairs. Fantastic opening and closing notes make this the book for young train enthusiasts.” 

Second, a starred review from School Library Journal: “As in Moonshot (2009) and Lightship (2007, both S&S), Floca proves himself masterful with words, art, and ideas. The book’s large format offers space for a robust story in a hefty package of information…. Train buffs and history fans of many ages will find much to savor in this gorgeously rendered and intelligent effort.” 

Thanks to an early Kirkus review, these are the second and third starred reviews for Locomotive. Either of them alone would have made my day. Thank you to Booklist and SLJ!

Next up for Locomotive is ALA in Chicago this coming weekend, where I’m looking forward to sharing the book and some of the process behind it. I’ll be at the Simon & Schuster Original Art Lunch on Sunday, June 30, from 12:00 to 2:00 PM, and signing at the S&S booth (number 2312) from 3:00 to 4:00, also on Sunday. Chicago was a jumping off point from the East to the transcontinental railroad in 1869, and I’m hoping it will be in 2013, too. If you’re going to be at ALA, I hope you’ll come by and say hello!

EDIT: The date above has been corrected to Sunday, June 30 (not Saturday). 

New Orleans review

Despite it taking an honest thirteen hours to get there (Delta! LaGuardia! Fog!) I had a great time in New Orleans this past weekend at the American Library Association Annual Conference. Thank you to those who gave reason to make the trip, to Caroline Ward for hosting a panel that I enjoyed being a part of (a little bit more on that via Shelf Awareness, here), and to this year’s Robert F. Sibert Committee for a Sibert Honor for Ballet for Martha. Thanks to Neal Porter and everyone at Roaring Brook and Macmillan for bringing me down and for lodging and feed, and to Simon & Schuster for signing time and a ticket to this year’s Newbery/Caldecott banquet. Between seeing old and new friends, and getting a glimpse of the remarkable books people are making, and trying to get just a little bit of a feel for the city, the days were overfull, in the best way.

New Orleans!

I’m looking forward to attending the American Library Association Annual Conference this weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana. I grew up next door, relatively speaking, but I’ve never been.

I’ll be on a panel 10:30 Saturday morning with Neal Porter, Jan Greenberg, Sandra Jordan, and distinguished others whom I’m looking forward to seeing and meeting. The moderator is Caroline Ward, and our theme is “Strange Bedfellows: Unusual Pairings of Artists and Writers.” See event details and the full list of participating authors, illustrators, and editors here. Then Jan, Sandra, and I will be signing Ballet for Martha at the Macmillan booth (no. 1115) from 2:00 to 3:00.

Later on Saturday I’ll be signing Moonshot and other of my Simon & Schuster titles at the S&S booth (no. 1139) from 4:00 to 5:00. (And sometime after ALA I’ll start blogging about what I’m working on now for S&S. It’s overdue. The blogging, and the book.)

On Sunday I’ll stray from the convention center to engage in some extracurricular eating, then look forward to attending the Newbery/Caldecott banquet.

Monday morning, I’ll have the pleasure of attending the ALSC Awards Presentation and joining Jan and Sandra in accepting a Sibert Honor for Ballet for Martha.

I feel as if I know an more-than-usual number of librarians, editors, publishing friends, and fellow authors and illustrators who are heading to ALA this year, and I’m looking forward to the weekend!

ALA recap

Recently I’ve been trying to spend (a little) less time on the great and terrible internet, so I’m late in saying thank you to Simon & Schuster for sending me to Washington for ALA, where I had a wonderful time, and thank you to this year’s Sibert Committee for the Sibert Honor for Moonshot (a considerable contributor to the wonderful time), and thank you to Roaring Brook for a chance to have a Ballet for Martha signing while at the conference. (Ballet for Martha! Coming next month!) Thanks also to everyone who came by and picked up a book!

After conference duties were done I spent a day at the National Gallery, and after seeing a few great things, I happened onto the museum’s collection of Renaissance Portrait Medals. The medals, given as “tokens of esteem,” were created very deliberately on the model of ancient Roman coins. (Click to enlarge the sketch.) I looked at these for a minute before I realized, ah ha, here are the great grandparents of the Newbery, the Caldecott, the Sibert (the Pulitzer, the Nobel) and so on. Today’s children’s literature medals have fewer swords, less nudity, and no elephants, but the connection is clear. That discovery made a coda to ALA, and I left Washington satisfied. (Also, the exhibit was an opportunity to to brush up on usage for the word “obverse,” so that was another bonus.)

ALA 2010

I’m preparing today to leave the sweltering, muggy weather of Brooklyn, New York to attend the American Library Association Annual Conference in the sweltering, muggy weather of Washington, D.C. (I learned something about library budgets years ago when I realized that the January conferences are always in places like Boston and Chicago, and the July conferences are always in places like Washington, D.C. or Anaheim, CA.) I’ll be signing Moonshot at the Simon & Schuster booth on Sunday, from 1:00 to 2:00, and advance copies of Ballet for Martha at the Macmillan booth on Monday, from 12:30 to 1:00. And on Monday morning, I’ll be happy and honored to receive a Sibert Honor Award for Moonshot. I’m looking forward to seeing old and new friends and to a weekend full of librarians, authors, illustrators, editors, publishers, and books. If you’re going to be in D.C., I hope I’ll see you there!

The Hinky-Pink is notable!

The American Library Association’s 2009 Notable Children’s Books list is now online, here, and it’s a happy honor that The Hinky-Pink is on it. Thanks to the 2009 Notable Children’s Books Committee, and congratulations to all the week’s award winners!

Candid camera

If you’ve found your way to this blog then you likely already read Betsy Bird’s A Fuse #8 Production blog at School Library Journal. But just in case: here is her footage of the S&S Original Art Lunch at ALA. I only make a cameo (not a problem, Betsy!) but there I am, mumbling and fumbling with the microphone, and then there’s the rest of the gang, including some of Atheneum’s incredible editorial and art directing talent, and David Smalls, speaking for a lot of us (I presume) as he describes the dark and torturous path that one struggles to cut as one works on — picture book covers.

ALA and back again

A redeye flight, the crossing of multiple time zones, and a congenital tendency to stay up late — these things are making the return from Anaheim a slog, but back I am and it was an inspiring trip, jet lag and all. I saw friends and editors, gave and received glimpses of/at forthcoming books, met librarians and admired fellow bookmakers, misplaced and mispronounced various names, saw Caldecott and Newbery speeches which went into ALA lore even as they were being delivered, and had the pleasure and honor of picking up Lightship’s Sibert Honor award.
I also attended the Simon & Schuster Original Art Lunch mentioned in the previous post. There, the bulk of my carefully considered remarks left my head the minute I stood to deliver them. There, too, I realized that a small book full of sketches and reference images is hard to show in the context of a big and busy group. (All the more reason to throw images from it up on the blog as we get closer to The Hinky-Pink’s publication date.) So, that was that.
A second lunch made up for it, though, one with the Sibert Committee following the ALSC awards ceremony. It was a small and relaxed group and we had time to go beyond presentation and into actual conversation. I was impressed and charmed by the librarians on the committee and the whole thing made me feel great all over again about Lightship’s selection by the committee. Thanks again to them, and thanks to S&S for the trip west!

Above: an unused vignette from Lightship. A piece that I liked, but the sunrise version of this scene won out.

ALA

I’m off to Anaheim later this week for the American Library Association Annual Conference. I’ll be signing at the Simon & Schuster booth on Sunday morning, June 29, from 9:00 to 10:00. Later that day, for the Simon & Schuster Original Art Lunch (or whatever it’s now called), I’ve printed up a book which lays bare the relationship between sketches, research, and final art for the funny and forthcoming The Hinky-Pink, by Megan McDonald. (It also lays bare an ability to make typos in both English and Italian. There is no in-house copy editor here at the studio, for any language.) Finally, on Monday morning, I’ll happily attend the presentations of the Sibert Committee on behalf of the crew (and cat) of Lightship. Librarians of America, I’ll hope to see you there!

When it rains it pours

And, Lightship is now an ALA Notable Book, and a finalist for a Cybils (Children’s & YA Bloggers’ Literary Awards), in the category Nonfiction Picture Book. Thank you librarians, and thank you bloggers!