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We’re thrilled to announce that LEE & LOW BOOKS was named the 2016 Carle Honors Angel from the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

Here is the list of fellow 2016 Carle Honorees:

Artist: Allen Say. Allen Say was born in Japan and moved to the United States as a teenager. Having trained in both Japanese and Western styles of art, after a successful career in commercial photography, he became a full-time writer and illustrator of picture books at 53. His exemplary and award-winning children’s books explore many aspects of his bicultural experience. 

Mentor: Regina Hayes. Regina Hayes served for 30 years as publisher and is now
editor-at large at Viking Children’s Books, long known for innovation and dedication to quality. A champion of picture books and picture book art throughout her distinguished career, she has worked with such well-known authors and artists as Barbara Cooney, James Marshall, Simms Taback, Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, John Bemelmans Marciano and Sophie Blackall, and Rosemary Wells.

Bridge: Steven Heller. A visionary in graphic design and illustration and the recipient of the 2011 Smithsonian National Design Award for “Design Mind,” Steven Heller is the co-chair of the School of Visual Arts MFA Design/Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program. The author or co-author of over 170 books on design, he writes for Wired, Atlantic, Print, Design Observer and The New York Time.

According to the Eric Carle Museum, “the Carle Honors Angel award recognizes those people and organizations whose resources are critical to making picture book art and education programs a reality. Lee and Low Books has inspired so many people with its dedication to multicultural books and to a new generation of artists and authors who offer children both mirrors and windows to the world.”

The Eleventh Annual Carle Honors will awarded in New York City at Guastavino’s on Wednesday, September 28, 2016!

Lee & Low Books truly appreciates this honor. Our warmest congratulations go out to the other honorees.

The ALA Awards were presented last week. There were a LOT of winners. Mom wasn’t any of them. Not only did she not WRITE any of the winning books, she has barely READ any of the winning books. I think she needs to step up her game. She has printed out the list, so that’s a good start.

Meanwhile, I have been winning awards left and right over here.

Our friends Wallace and Samuel  and Coccolino gave us the Best Blog Around the World Award.

Around the WORLD – Hear that, Mom?

Our friend at Trifles gave us the Cracking Chrispmouse Bloggywog Award

and the Opposites Attract Award

See, Mom? I spread joy, peace, cheer, and stuff like that all over the place.

And our friends Little B. and Granny at Angelswhisper gave us the Excellence Award. Excellence, Mom. Not just-OK or good-enough or kinda-nice or a Rate-Your-Story-4.

Thanks to all of our bloggy friends for sharing these awards.

And Mom, it’s seriously time to step up your game.

Less this….

…and more this!

Today we are counting down about winning. Not the Charlie Sheen kind which was kind of weird, but the writer kind. And the blogging-dog-of-a-writer-kind.

Mom is a Winner

3. Mom’s book won a prize once. It’s called The Moonbeam Award. It shows as a badge on the cover of her book. I think it would look better shaped like a dog bone.

2. In 2013, Mom’s story Show and Tell Surprise was in Humpty Dumpty Magazine. That was a winner. Plus, magazines taste delicious.

1. Mom also had an acceptance from MeeGenius for her first ever ebook, named What If I Don’t. We can’t even wait to see that one in the MeeGenius Bookstore. BIG winner. Plus, inside my head, I often think, “What-if-I-don’t?”. I hope someday to say it out loud.

78. Mom is a winner in the 12×12 Challenge. She wrote 12 storybooks in 12 months. Just barely by the skin of her teeth, but she did it.

I am a Winner, too!

3. Hutch a Good Life awarded me the Sunshine Award. Yay! I love sunshine. Plus I am afraid of the dark. 

2. Along with Nikitaland, Hutch also gave me the Blog of the Year Award. I have seen friends that have this award, and I am in good company with it. Plus stars are my favorite shape – except for dog bones.

1. Bacon and AngelsWhisper both awarded me the Friends and Followers Award. I love friends and followers. So, thanks, friends! And thanks, followers!

67. I will give myself the Biggest Rule Breaker Award.

Something smells good in here…..

I always ignore rules, so if you are reading my blog, you deserve an award. Feel free to share my bling, and also take a minute to click my friends’ links and check them out. Then maybe you can be a Rule Breaker, too.

Mom left a cup of coffee for me. Yay!

Yes, Darcy! I want to share the story
of the Oldest Wild Bird in the World
with a special child(ren).
"On Dec. 10, 1956, early in my first visit to Midway, I banded 99 incubating Laysan Albatrosses in the downtown area of Sand Island, Midway. Wisdom (band number 587-51945) is still alive, healthy, and incubating again in December 2011 (and in 2012 and in 2013). While I have grown old and gray and get around only with the use of a cane, Wisdom still looks and acts just the same as on the day I banded her. . .remarkable true story. . . beautifully illustrated in color." -- Chandler S. Robbins, Sc.D., Senior Scientist (Retired), USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD.
CLICK BELOW to view
the story of the 63-year-old bird
in your favorite store.

• Kindle
• Paperback on Amazon
• Hardcover on Amazon
• Barnes & Noble (Nook)

Thank you to all my readers! You’ve been terrific in supporting the Fiction Notes Blog. Thank you for nominating it for one of the Top 10 Writing Blogs of 2013. We won!

Each year, the Write to Done blog opens for nominations for the best blogs and this year, there were 1100 entries. The award is for Writing Blogs, not for writing about freelancing or business-related posts. At least half of a blogs posts needed to be about the writing process itself. And that’s exactly what Fiction Notes tries to do.

Thank you for your support!

Fiction Notes is named a Top Writing Blog of 2013

Today, we’re counting down my latest awards.

My friends at Dog Daz Zoo sent me the Dragon’s Loyalty Award. I won it once before right here.  Thanks, girls!

Nikitaland sent me the Versa-tail Blogger Award or something like that. Yay! Thanks. I have never had that one before. I think it means my tail is pretty, and not a freaky monkey-tail, like Mom says.

Whether you have a tail or not, feel free to add some bling to your blog and share either one of my awards.

Both awards want me to tell seven things about myself. I’m not much with the math, but I’ll try, and maybe I’ll even let Mom tell one or two things about herself, too.

Seven Things

1. I love sleeping under the covers on Mom’s bed.

2. My birthday was in September. I’m seven.

3. Sometimes, I try to hatch my toys like eggs.

4. When my feet touch sand, I run in circles like I am a deranged lunatic.

5. One day, while Mom was driving to the VA, there was a devil in her rearview mirror.

6. I like lollipops.

7. Mom read a book that had a dog named Cupcake in it. It wasn’t me.

92. Mom is falling behind in her reading challenge. She planned to read 200 picture books this year. She is not on target, but plans to catch up. We’ll see.

46. Speaking of falling behind, she also missed the month of June in the 12×12 challenge, so she’s hoping to do her June manuscript in December. We’ll see.

21. Mom promised to take me to the park today. I’m really tired from working at Read to a Pet Night at the library last night.

Being a good girl, listening to a story…

Plus it’s really cold outside. I’m not sure I want to go to the park. ….We’ll see….

2013 GradeReading.NET Summer Reading Lists

Children’s Picture Book Award: New Voices Award

While the population of the United States is skewing toward more and more “persons of color,” the publishing world has yet to catch up. In a press release, Lee & Low publishers say that less than 7% of children’s books published are by persons of color. To help encourage writers, Lee and Low has opened submissions for its 14th Annual New Voices Award. The Award is given for a picture book manuscript by an unpublished writer of color.

The Award winner receives a cash prize of $1000 and Lee & Low’s standard publication contract, including their basic advance and royalties for a first time author. The contest is open to writers of color who are residents of the United States and who have not previously had a children’s picture book published.

Past New Voices Award-winning books have gone on to win major awards such as the Ezra Jack Keats Award and the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent.

For full details on submission, see Lee & Low’s New Voices website.

Children’s Novel Award: New Visions Award

TU BOOKS, the fantasy, science fiction, and mystery imprint of LEE & LOW BOOKS, award-winning publisher of children’s books, has just announced the first annual NEW VISIONS AWARD. The NEW VISIONS AWARD will be given for a middle grade or young adult fantasy, science fiction, or mystery novel by a writer of color. The Award winner receives a cash grant of $1000 and their standard publication contract, including our basic advance and royalties for a first time author. An Honor Award winner will receive a cash grant of $500.

TU BOOKS was launched in 2010, dedicated to diversity in the beloved genre fiction market for young people. Titles include Wolf Mark, Tankborn, and Cat Girl’s Day Off.

Submission details will be available in June; see Lee & Low’s New Visions website.

Award Winners

Here are three examples of recent winners; I was surprised that the most recent I could find was 2007, which means that some of the award winning titles are waiting more than five years to be published. When I asked, a Lee & Low representative said, “This depends on a lot of factors including the amount of editing the manuscript needs upon acquisition and the schedules of the illustrators. Several of our New Voices authors have been paired with established illustrators who are often working on several books at once, which lengthens the process – but their illustrations are well worth the wait. New Voices Award winning-books have gone on to win major awards such as the Ezra Jack Keats Award, the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, and a spot on the Texas Bluebonnet Masterlist.”

2007 New Voices Award Winner

2006 New Voices Award winner

2005 New Voices Award winner

There’s a crack in everything – that’s how the light gets in.
~Leonard Cohen~

There seems to be a crack in the head of my laughing dog. Plus his ear is missing.

I think his head accidentally cracked open because Mom turned on the switch and he started laughing too much. I’ve heard of “laughing your head off,” but I’ve never heard of “laughing your head open so the light can get in.”

Mom is always looking for where the light gets in. She says if her story is tight enough, nothing can crack it open. So she checks it and checks it. She says she’s troubleshooting. I don’t like trouble and I don’t like shooting, so I hope she is just kidding. But she reads her story out loud to herself all the time. She says, “Does the ending match the beginning?” and “Is my character believable?” and “How much does the problem really matter?” and “Where is the laughing dog’s ear?!”

Mom keeps deleting and rewriting sections of her story trying to make it perfect before she brings it to show her writing group named DavidLaurieandOtherDavid. She says, “Am I telling too much?” and “Am I showing enough?” and “I guess I’ll have to sew up the rip in his head.”

Mom might be able to make her story perfect, but as you can see, the laughing dog’s head will never be perfect again. I wonder where his ear went…..

Click the video to hear the laughing dog laugh.

Thanks to our writer friend, Chelsea at Jenny Mac Book Blog for giving us the Sunshine Award and to Bubba and Mumma and the gang at Bumpy Road to Bubba for giving us the Why I Love Thee Award. Click here for our Sunshine questions and answers, and here or here for the story of how Mom and I found each other. We love all our sunshiny blogging friends, so feel free to take an award or two and list your own Sunshine answers or Love Story.

Inkygirl.com was included in the Writer's Yearbook 2013 list of Top 101 Websites For Writers! Apparently 4,350 nominations for sites were sent in, and the Writer's Digest editorial team sifted through them to choose the final list. Thanks to all who nominated me and to Writer's Digest for choosing Inkygirl!

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross, the subject of my 2012 picture book has returned to Midway Island and laid a new egg. She was banded by Chandler Robbins on December 10, 1956 while sitting on an egg and presumed to be a minimum of five years old. That makes her at least 62 years old–and she’s going to be a new momma. Wow!

Wisdom and her mate prepare to begin their first shift of incubation, Photo credit: Pete Leary, USFWS

Read more about alternate publishing. Read more about how to write a children’s picture book.

This is my new bandana which Mom picked out at Mollie’s blog.  I think I look adorable and Christmas-sy in it. 

I also have a couple of awards to say thank you for today. 

Thanks to Easy for the Super Sweet Award.  He definitely got it right.  I AM super sweet… except when I’m not….  See my super sweet answers here and help yourself to the award if you’re sweet most of the time.

Thanks to AngelsWhisper for the Seven Things About Me Award. 

For this award, I need to tell 7 things about myself, which I love to do. I will also invite anyone who likes telling about themselves to take this award and tell us about yourself.

1. I am part Jack Russell and part something else.  Mom thinks I might be part monkey because of my long monkey tail.

2. I love treats.  My new favorite is called Gooberlicious. It’s not what you think.  They look and taste like peanuts. Yum.

3. I love stuffed animals, but not the mechanical ones.  I think mechanical toys are evil, and I’m pretty sure they’re trying to kill me.

4. I help Mom with her writing a lot.  I take her to the park and for rides in the car so she can get ideas. I bring toys to her while she’s working, so she can get up and play with me and not sit still too long.

5. I want Mom to write a book about me so I can go to school visits with her. I know how to behave… except when I don’t…

6. After I eat my food every day, I try to eat my bowl.  That’s just how delicious my food is!!

7. I love to wear dresses.

Prizes! Yay! We have won another award or two or three. We were given the One Sweet Blog Award from our friends at Hutch a Good Life and the Super Sweet Blogging Award from our friend Clowie and the whole zoo at Dog Daz.  Take a look at them!

Cupcakes! Like my name! Mom named me Cupcake because I am so sweet and now my blog is also sweet, just like me!

Mom bakes cupcakes sometimes. She mixes up butter, sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla, flour, and baking powder.  She says, “Baking is like writing.  All the ingredients need to be in there.” and “If I leave anything out, the cupcakes won’t be any good.” and “Get your head out of the oven!”

When Mom writes a new story, she has to get all the ingredients into it. Right now, she’s working on two stories at once. Each one needs original characters, an interesting setting, some scene changes, a fun plot with lots of conflict and a satisfying resolution, opportunity for illustration, poetic language, humor, tension, and dialogue. And vanilla and eggs. (I’m lying about that last part.)

After Mom gets to the end of the story, she has to leave it alone for a while. That’s like when the cupcakes have to cool off. When the story cools off for a while, Mom will put frosting on it.  Oh no! That’s the cupcakes. She’ll revise the story A LOT.  She’ll cut words that slow the story down, add words that move the story along, read it out loud ten million times, do everything she can to make it better, and cover the top with sprinkles. Wait. What? I love sprinkles. And frosting.  And cupcakes. And stories!

There are no rules for the One Sweet Blog Award (except to be sweet). For the Super Sweet Blog Award the rules are:

1. Give credit to the person who chose you.

2. Answer the ‘Super Sweet’ questions below.

3. Nominate a “Baker’s Dozen” (13) blogs.

Super Sweet Questions:

1. Cookies or Cake? Both. And bacon. And anything from the garbage pail. And goose poop.

2. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate is poison, for dogs, so I’ll say chocolate.  I like eating poison every chance I get.

3. What is your favorite sweet treat? Mom’s homemade frozen yogurt dog pops.

4. When do you crave sweet things the most? Every minute of every day.

5. If you had a sweet nickname, what would it be? I already have a sweet name!!

Now I will name 13 blogs that I like.  If you already have the award, then congratulations. Either way, we picked you because we like you, and want lots of other people to like you along with us. 

1. Jenny

2. Charlie Eve

3. Bubba

4. Mollie

5. Misaki

6. Sammy

7. Susanna

8. Hamsters

9. Doggy

10. Collies

11. Bassa

12. Marcie

13. Donna

I wish a baker’s dozen was 100, because we really like a LOT of blogs!

Today’s five words are about the dark.

1. Fall. Now that it’s fall, it stays dark for a long time in the morning. That means it’s slow-starting around here. The longer it takes to get showered and dressed and get finished with “writing time” the longer I’m waiting around to do something fun.

2. Fall. Now that it’s fall, it gets dark really early. That means when we go outside after dinner, we only stay for 2 minutes. That’s absolutely NO fun.

3. Monsters. There could be monsters out there in the dark. Mom is not afraid of monsters, but I am! She writes about them sometimes, so she can make them nice or mean or scary or friendly. I guess if I could dream up my own monsters like she does, I would not be so afraid.

4. Dark thinking. Sometimes a writer might have some dark thinking. Dark thinking is: “I’m completely out of good ideas.” and “I can never cut an extra 300 words from this story.” and “Book Number Two will never happen.” Dark thinking is bad. If Mom starts to do it, I will always cheer her up.

5. Light! We are lit up over some awards we received lately. Thanks to our friends at Bumpy Road to Bubba for the Addictive Blog Award, to Collies of the Meadow for the One Lovely Blog, and Wonderful Team Member Readership Award, and to AngelsWhisper  and Come Wag Along for the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award. 

You can see our Addictive Blog reasons for blogging here. 

To be a Wonderful Team Member, I must complete this sentence: A great reader is…

I think a great reader is someone who laughs at the right times, says, “Awwww,” at the right times, and thinks I’m cute. 

Now I will take the lazy way out, and list a few of the new, fun blogs that I’ve been visiting, and invite ALL of my blog friends to feel free to take any badge/award that you don’t already have and share it.

Easy

iPhone Photoblogging

Sammy

What I Meant to Say

Doggy

Our Furever Family

Congratulations to Caitlyn Vernon, whose Nowhere Else on Earth: Standing Tall for the Great Bear Rainforest has been named a finalist for the 2012 Bolen Books Children’s Book Prize. The winners will be announced at an awards gala at the Union Club of Victoria on October 10 at 7:30. Tickets are $15 and are available now at Bolen Books, Munro’s Books, Ivy’s Bookshop and the Victoria Book Prize Society (250-589-8430).

About Nowhere Else on Earth
You don’t have to live in the Great Bear Rainforest to benefit from its existence, but after you read Nowhere Else on Earth you might want to visit this magnificent part of the planet. Environmental activist Caitlyn Vernon guides young readers through a forest of information, sharing her personal stories, her knowledge and her concern for this beautiful place.

Full of breathtaking photographs and suggestions for ways to preserve this unique ecosystem, Nowhere Else on Earth is a timely and inspiring reminder that we need to stand up for our wild places before they are gone.

Visit the book’s dedicated website at www.greatbearrainforest.ca to view photos from the book, download the study guide and access additional resources.

Or Purchase Nowhere Else on Earth from Orca Book Publishers.

A big thank you hug and cuddle to my friend Misaki and my friend AngelsWhisper for passing me The Addictive Blog Award.  That means they are ADDICTED to me.  That’s a good thing… I hope….  I think it means they want to give me treats. 

For this award I need to:

1. Thank the giving bloggers.
2. Put a link to their blogs.
3. Talk about why I blog and why I started blogging.
4. Post my award.
5. Nominate ten other bloggers for the award.

I can do this.

In case you haven’t noticed, Mom is a writer.  She writes a lot on her computer AND even more in her head.  Because of that, she’s also a reader.  She reads grown-up books on her Kindle, picture books from the library, directions, cereal boxes, websites, and junk mail. 

Back in December, 2010 she started reading blogs.  Mom said, “I can do this.” and “I have plenty to say.” and “Get off my lap. I can’t even see the screen.”

Turns out Mom did not have plenty to say at all, but I did.  I watch her all the time (she thinks it’s actually kind of creepy),

so I know what it’s like to be a writer, and what it’s like to be the dog of a writer. So in January, 2011, she said Bye-Bye to her blog and we started mine.  I will admit, she does the typing, because I’m too little to reach the computer on my own, and the keys are not correctly paw-sized. But I’m the one who tells her what to say.  We’ve been blogging about Mom’s writing and about ME, ever since.  We’ve learned a lot along the way and made a ton of human and furry friends.  Someday, we’re hoping to get to 100 followers.  That’s a nice round number, and we’re almost there!

Now, let’s see if I can find 10 fun  blogs that you should become addicted to and that hopefully don’t already have the Addictive Blogger Award.

1. Bassas Blog

3. Bongo

9. Chuck and the Collies

10. Nibbles, Nutty, Buddy, and Basil

Yup.  That’s 10!  Check them out for laughs and learning, and maybe some treats, because they’re addictive!

Last week I learned that my illustrations for Maggie & Oliver, or A Bone of One's Own won a place in the 3x3 Children's Show No. 9! Here's the list of all the winners. So exciting!

A huge cuddle and snuggle and I-hope-I-don’t-accidentally-bite-your-head-off-thank-you to Eve and Dexter and their human at Hamster Diaries for choosing us as June’s Best Blog.  Although I am still a little afraid of my mechanical hamster, Eve and Dexter don’t seem as scary as that baby Frankenstein monster in its evil, unpredictable plastic ball.

Mom also won two awards from our friend Beth at By Word of Beth.  These awards are for being a 12×12 writer, which Mom is.  To me it means Beth likes me.  She really really likes me. 

These awards require us to:

• Link back to the person who gave us the awards – Thanks, Beth!
• And tell 7 things about ourselves

You can read 7 things about me here or here or see 7 of my favorite toys here….

Having 3 new awards is helpful, since yesterday Mom found out she didn’t win the Highlights Annual Fiction Contest.  She said, “This story is SO cute, how did it not win?” and “Oh well.  I’ll enter a new story next year.” and “Being a dog is so simple….”

13 Comments on The Best, last added: 7/1/2012