These bright and crisp postcards just came back from the printer, so we've begun sending the little balloon baby out into the world.
And...I got my first bound copy of Wonderful Things (and the Dream Animals board book edition, so chunky & cute, which is out the same day!)
It won't be too long now...only a month & change. I'm so happy holding this new book in my hands...even if I know *exactly* what they look like, I peer at the endpapers at least every other day.
Other bookish news:
At the end of June, I spent the weekend in San Francisco for the ALA conference. I did a signing on the show floor & inscribed books to children with beautiful names & met lots of lovely librarians. Random House also threw an Original Art cocktail party, where they celebrated the art & background story behind several soon-to-be-released picture books (and Wonderful Things was one.) I was too swept up in all the excitement to take pictures (rats!) but there was a whole table full of original art & big blowups of the illustrations. So nice!
I felt lucky to be at my first Caldecott/Newbery dinner & hear (and cry embarrassingly during) Dan Santat's Caldecott acceptance speech. You can read it here. It's so vulnerable and true. All about doing the work and when the work is too much. Every relatable doubt & thought is in there. I couldn't find a place where you can listen, BUT if you want to hear him talk about the making of Beekle and all of the other dozens of books he's made, here's his interview on the Picturebooking podcast.
Whew!
I'm working hard on my next picture book & I'm excited...the next thing is always my favorite thing.
