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Creating is such a leap of faith for me. Today I'm channeling all the art totems and spirits I hold close as I forge deeper into a project that is scary, thrilling and exquisitely exciting. Not ready to post sketches of it.... but soon.

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A sketch for today. May all of you out there creating, whatever form you choose, have a lovely day.

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A cold night brings a beautiful morning outside my studio window.

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Thank you BookPage for including Flight School in your best of the 2014 list! What an honor to be in such company.

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I thought I'd share an oil painting I painted on location when we first moved to New Hampshire. What a cold, beautiful day it was, like today.

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Fight School The Musical! If only I could go back in time and tell my little girl self when I was going to school in a small logging town -- that someday I'd have a book getting adapted into an off-Broadway musical for a children's theater in New York City! What miracles may come when you choose to believe in dreams! Thank you Vital Theatre for making Flight School The Musical a reality.

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Please stop by and check out the lovely Cynthia Leitich Smith blog Cynsations. Here is a link to an interview I did for my newest book, Born in the Wild.

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Seeing a book begin to take shape after over a year of sketching and revising is exciting!

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Just home from New York City -- what a great time at the Society of Illustrators Original Art show!! It was such an honor to be a part of this fantastic show and get to see so many wonderful friends and colleagues. It was a special treat!!

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Starting to paint after months sketching this book. My favorite kind of day!

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I love back to school time - I'm looking forward to going into classrooms again this year! I get so inspired talking with the kids. As we head into the school year I thought I'd update my school brochure. To all my teacher friends, here is a link.

Download my School Visit Info: Schools_2014-15.pdf

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FLIGHT SCHOOL was recently mentioned in Barbara Gruener's lovely blog, The Corner on Character, and has been included in this year's Character Case at her school in Friendswood, Texas. Here's a link to the article.

Here's a small section from the article:

As we head into this year's dash, don't our little birds deserve to see their potential as eagles, not their limitations as penguins? We must take our role as flight instructors to assist and support them with "the technical parts" seriously.

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Reading Flight School and making penguins with new friends at the Norwich library last weekend. That was fun. Thanks also to the Eric Carle Museum for hosting me at their storytime!

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I'm so hopeful for my next book (out this fall)- two reviews are in and both are STARRED. Thank you School Library Journal and Kirkus!!

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So many beautiful faces to draw in this world.

I woke up feeling like dancing today.

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Was a great trip to NYC, but always feels great to be back in the studio, working on sketches for the next book. The light is pouring in my windows - I love this time of year.

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This morning, the year's first white tailed fawn wobbled out of the ferns in our yard. I love this time of year. He looked like he didn't quite know how to balance on those long legs. Mama licked him and sent him back to the ferns to hide. I didn't want to miss a moment by getting the camera, so I thought I'd share this drawing instead - it's in my upcoming book, BORN IN THE WILD, out this fall with Roaring Brook.

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Thank you Bank Street College Center for Children's Literature for selecting HOW BIG WERE DINOSAURS? as a book of outstanding merit for The Best Children’s Books of the Year, 2014 Edition.

Link to the 2014 list of Best Children’s Books of the Year from the Bank Street College Center for Children's Literature.

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Getting lots of help packing for next week's author visit to Wilmington, MA.

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Today I learned that US Fish and Wildlife Service is commemorating my grandmother as a Fish and Wildlife Conservation Hero. I'm so proud of her. My grandfather as well, for they worked together tirelessly to save the environment and wildlife.

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Killdeers calling along the river this morning. I love this time of year. This is a little sketch from my sketchbook.

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Please join us in creating an activity for Flight School!

One of the most fulfilling aspects to my life as a creator of children’s books is when I hear how teachers are using my books in classrooms to excite kids passion for reading, creating, and learning. I have been fortunate that so many teachers have given their time and energy to create activities and lessons around my books. But often I only hear of these efforts through perusing others’ blogs. I thought it would be wonderful to collaborate a little more directly with teachers.

A collaboration of this kind seems appropriate for Flight School. This is a story about a little penguin with the soul of an eagle who finds his way to a place where birds teach birds to fly. Only through the perseverance and kindness of his teachers does this little penguin get to lift off in the wind. In the spirit of the book, I would like to work with you.

Any teacher that would like to participate is welcome! Please create a craft or activity around the book, Flight School, and post it to your blog, pinterest, or facebook site, or just share it with your fellow teachers and classes. And send me a copy of the activity so I can post it to my blog and website. Photos of your classroom activities that I can post, to share with my readers, and inspire others, would be much appreciated!

Then as a huge thank you, to show my appreciation for the work you do, I will send you a signed limited print from an illustration in the book to share with your classroom.

Create Activities for Flight School!

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I'd like to thank everyone who came to see me at the Toadstool Bookshop in Peterborough last weekend!

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I spent Easter Sunday looking through old sketchbooks, dreaming about new ideas from old thoughts. I love sketchbooks – they have the ability to keep ideas and memories alive. I also find when creating them, I'm much braver while on an adventure than in my studio, to try different things. My journal is a place where I explore, and do a little re-inventing. Sometimes things just sit between the pages of a sketchbook forever, but occasionally they leap out a decade later and prompt a new story or direction in my work.

Here's an example of a painting I probably would never create in the studio, but it was just a moment of joy captured within the pages of my Paris journal. I passed this little dog each morning on my walk into the city. I thought he had both panache and whimsy so I played with a brightly colored sketch on the back of a little blue paper bag that held a scarf I had just purchased. It's fun to try new things.

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I'm just settling back to the easel after a trip to Sweden. It's always good to get out of the studio to see and draw new things. Here are a few of the sketches done in my sketchbook while away. I wish I could spend my whole life wandering around this beautiful world looking at art and sketching.

Our first day in Stockholm – snow blanketed this cemetery. I loved the stark gravestones and cross against the white and brilliant yellow of the church.

Wedding spoons of the Sami people – carved reindeer antlers

Swedish Folklore design

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