Tales from the Rushmore Kid

Non-Fiction Monday Roundup

Today I am hosting posts for Kidlitosphere on Non-Fiction Monday.  Kidlit bloggers and others will offer their best posts for non-fiction. Keep checking back as I update posts all day.

Mary Farrell at StoryForce http://storyforce-storyforce.blogspot.com reviews Matthew Henson, Polar Explorer, a forceful biography by Carole Boston Weatherford and Illustrated by Eric Velasquez.

Picture book opening at Ventura County Museum

 My buddies, picture book authors and illustrators Alexis O'Neill, Carol Heyer, Jody Fickes Shapiro, Mary Ann Fraser, Amada Irma Perez and Sims Taback are part of a show at the Ventura County Museum of Art. Picture This, The Magic of Children's Books opens next Friday, April 3, 2009 from 6:00-8:00 p.m.  All are invited to cheer on our gang of very talented SCBWI folks.

Ventura Museum, 89 South California Street, Ventura http://www.venturamuseum.org
SHOW RUNS UNTIL JULY 5TH.

The New Covey Book Trailer Awards

For a third time I have been nominated for a New Covey Book Trailer Award.   This time for a financial book, The End of Prosperity. The New Covey is really a popularity contest; whichever trailer gets the most votes wins. If you'd like to vote for mine, click on the link, go to the black left hand column and vote for #5! You can also view the other nominated trailers here.

Val Hobbs - Writing Class for YA and Middle Grade

One of the great things about being an artist and writer is the opportunity to continuously evolve my creative skills. That is why I take classes in art, computer and writing any chance I get . For years, I tried and finally managed to get into the Writing for Novels class of the great Val Hobbs (author of Defiance).  Limited to eight students who met once a week in Val's home to critique manuscripts, we learned about pacing, plot and other helpful topics. Pictured here from left to right are Val Hobbs, Maggie Desruisseaux, Gwen Dandridge, Sherrie Petersen, Jody Fickes Shapiro, me and Stephanie Sneddon.  I thank them all for their wonderful insights.

Contest Art

I'm big into contests. I find that they motivate me to experiment with new art techniques and to sharpen up manuscripts. Over the years I have entered many illustrators' and writers' contests. I've lost more competitions than I've won, but the experience is always worthwhile. This is a piece I did for an SCBWI Writer's Day illustration contest. The theme was "Happily Ever After with Books." I won runner up!

Brooklyn Bridge - Karen Hesse - Sydney Taylor Book Award

A new book by Karen Hesse is like a gourmet meal waiting to be devoured, and her Sydney Taylor Book Award winner, Brooklyn Bridge, is a banquet. It is everything I adore in a middle grade novel: family, history and hope.

Set in Brooklyn during 1903, the story features fourteen year old Joseph, the son of Russian immigrants, who finds his life turned upside down when his parents develop a little stuffed bear toy in honor of the president, Teddy Roosevelt.

Anastasia Suen - Writing Tip of the Day

 Today I asked the fabulous Anastasia Suen to give us a Writing Tip of the Day.

Writing Tip of the Day

Read - think - write is how the process works.

First you read
then you think
and THEN you write.

National Portrait Gallery

Often when I am stuck for an idea for a book or painting, I go to museums. Back in art college, the instructors used to take us to the galleries and make us copy the masters. This was helpful for studying composition, light and color. It also gave me, the ham, an opportunity to gab it up with all the museum goers. I find history fascinating, and every painting has a story behind it, whether the subject is person, place or thing.  One of my favorite museums is the National Portrait Gallery in D.C.

Tourist Art

There are many ways to make a living as an artist. One side biz I did for a while was creating tourist art. I would paint a black and white sketch of some famous local tourist spot, run a limited edition at Kinkos, then watercolor each print. This example is from a series I did on Laguna Beach. I took on an alias and signed my sketches Chic V.

Alice Pope - Editor, Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market

I've  seen Alice Pope for many years at the SCBWI National conferences.  Last year I attended a fun and informative round-table discussion on marketing research that she chaired. For the past fifteen years Alice has been editor for Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market.  I am proud to say that I will have an article on blog tours and book promotion in the 2010 edition.  Alice also writes a very hip kidlit blog, Alice's CWIM Blog.

When did the annual book Children’s Writer's and Illustrator's Market first come out?
 
My company began publishing CWIM in 1989. After publishing Writer’s Market since the 1920s, they began to focus on some niche markets and children’s publishing was one of them.

Chemainus - Mural Town - Vancouver Island B.C.

Last summer I had the opportunity to drive through Vancouver Island and visit many small towns. One town that I had to visit, as a muralist, was Chemainus, known as Mural Town.