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I must have found this on one of those days when I was reacting just like those people on the commercial for Bing. It's in my bookmarked folder, but I have no recollection of how I found it, or where it came from. But I'm glad I bookmarked it! It's a good one. Here's the link. How to be a Children's Book Illustrator. Last week they had some great videos with Caldecott Medal Winner Brian Selznick. Oh, and try not to get lost while you're checking it out.

Just for fun check out these links!

Test Your Color IQ*
Left Brain vs Right Brain Test
A Royal Test
Spinning Wheels
Checker Board

On the color IQ test I scored a 4 the first time. In my category, the best is a 0 and the worst is 1409, so I took it again to see if I could get a perfect score. I came up with a 3 the second time. The blue-greens were my trouble area. Thanks go to Jennifer at Art Words Life for the link.

On the left vs right test found out I can make my brain work both ways!

On the Royal test I made a very good guess. That's all it was, a guess . But interesting answer.

The other two are just plain mind games, but maybe this isn't all just for fun. Color theory and reasoning skills are good things to brush up on. If you want a better understanding how color works, you can read about Josef Albers and color theory here.

For an inside look, and a wonderfully detailed post by editor Alvina Ling on how illustrators are chosen head over to

The Blue Rose Girls

For some wrap-ups on the Rabbit Hill Festival of Literature check out these great blogs.

The Blue Rose Girls
Wild Rose Reader
Art Words Life

Thanks Alvina, Grace, Elaine, and Jennifer!

Have you headed over to the Cybils (the premier Web awards for children's literature) to nominate your favorite book of 2008 yet? Don't forget to do it by October 15! You can read the rules here. Remember, once a book has been nominated it's in. No need to second that nomination.

I'm looking forward to nominating a book this year. Last year I had the honor of being one of the judges in the fiction picture book category, and felt it would be wrong to have a favorite going in. But not to worry. Others liked a certain book just as much as I did. It made it to the finals! With the first-round panelists narrowing it down to these outstanding finalists, it was a fierce battle. But in the end, a well deserved win went to The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County.

Pam Coughlan, the organizer of the 2008 Cybils fiction picture book category, sums it up best. "A good picture book is a pleasing merger of text and artwork. A great picture book is a celebration of story and illustration, with lasting appeal for kids and/or adults. The best picture books completely excel in art, story, kid-friendliness, and adult appeal."

Check out these links for all the previous winners.
2006 Cybils Awards
2007 Cybils Awards

Read a Banned Book!


Join Random House in the fight against censorship. Celebrate your First Amendment right. Read a banned book! Check out the list of banned books Random House has put together. You'll be amazed at what you see. Their First Amendment First Aide Kit site features interviews with banned authors, strategies for teachers, librarians, and booksellers to stand up to censorship, and tips for talking about these issues.

Just the other day my daughter noticed I had Lois Lowry's The Giver sitting out. She told me it was "a really good book." My kids had read it in school. I'm so glad our local schools have not succumbed to censorship. That's the banned book I'm going to read. How about you?

Here's a new book I ran across recently that I just have to add to my library. Check it out! I'm very excited about the first one. It falls in a category that seems to rarely see new additions.

Show and Tell: Exploring the Fine Art of Children's Book Illustration
by Dilys Evans.









It can join these others on my book shelf.

Illustrating Children's Books
By Martin Salisbury











A Caldecott Celbration
By Lenard S. Marcus










Wings of an Artist
by Julie Cummins









Talking With Artists (Series)
by Pat Cummings *










And these that I hope to have soon.

Artist to Artist
by Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art










Pass It Down
By Lenard S. Marcus









* Update on Pat Cummings workshop: If you are in town for Pat's workshop on October 4th be sure to join her at a Picture Book Writer's Roundtable on Friday evening. You can find more information and sign up here.

Have you seen what's cooking over at Book Roast yet? There's a great line-up this month. Starting off the week, you'll find the following agent, editor roasts. Questions will be answered throughout the day and books will be given away!

Mon, Sept 8: Evil Editor
Tues, Sep 9: Editorial Anonymous
Wed, Sep 10: Mystery Agent
Thurs, Sep 11: Moonrat
Fri, Sept 12: Janet Reid

Talk about links! Be sure to check in at Cynsations this week too. I always find tons of great information on her blog. Cynthia Leitich Smith is celebrating the 10th anniversary of her website with more great interviews, and a 10th anniversary giveaway. Love those interviews! Congratulations and thank you Cynthia!

First Books is running their What Book Got You hooked? literacy awareness campaign again this year. You can cast a vote, share a memory of the first book that made reading fun for you and help get more kids hooked. They will be giving away 50,000 new books for children in need to the state that receives the most votes. (Voting ends Sept. 15th.) Last year I wrote about the book that hooked me here.

Highlights Foundation's website is a great resource for writers. In addition to the wonderful workshops they offer, you will find a whole library of writing tips given at previous Highlights Foundation Writers Workshop at Chautauqua. You can search the archives by topic, author, or title.

While I'm on tips, have you seen Writer's Digest Writing Tip of the Day? Today's tip comes from Jane Yolen, directly from her book Take Joy. (Which every writer needs to have!)

Don't forget to sign up for CWIM's monthly newsletter. You'll be one of the first to get news, tips, and market information hot off the desk of editor Alice Pope. The email sign-up can be found at the top of the homepage.

And no, you're not off a day. It's me. It really is Thursday. This short week just has me off a day!