I'm thrilled to announce the release of TRUCK STOP, written by Anne Rockwell and illustrated by moi!! The official Viking pub date is this Thursday, but we are kicking off our blog tour today. TRUCK STOP is a fun picture book for young kids that celebrates all the different trucks and their drivers who gather for breakfast every day at the young narrator's family's truck stop diner.
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Debbie in her Cullman, Alabama, sunroom studio.
I think it was Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference who first tipped me off to Debbie Ritter’s wonderful handmade character dolls at Uneek Doll Designs.
I was delighted to see so many of my favorite authors and poets (Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, the Brontë sisters, Emily Dickinson, Laura Ingalls Wilder, James Joyce) in miniature form, and impressed by the quality of workmanship, attention to detail, and amazing quantity and variety of figures available (600+ items currently listed at Etsy).
Oscar Wilde
Emily Dickinson
Charlotte Bronte
Debbie is an artist after my own heart. In addition to creating lots of writers, she also features the characters in their stories (Scarlett O’Hara, Anna Karenina, Anne Shirley, Sherlock Holmes, Mr. Darcy!). And just as fabulous as her literary dolls are her artists, musicians, singers, historical figures, movie stars and TV personalities (love the Three Stooges, Lucille Ball, Willie Nelson, Aunt Bea, Captain Kangaroo, The Marx Brothers, the Royal Family!).
William and Kate
Marx Brothers
Andy, Aunt Bea and Barney Fife
Posted in indie artist spotlights | Tagged art, artist interviews, authors, caricatures, collectibles, debbie ritter, dolls, history, indie artists, interviews, literature, popular culture, uneek doll designs, writers | 32 Comments »
“Wine and cheese are ageless companions, like aspirin and aches, or June and moon, or good people and noble ventures.” ~ M.F.K. Fisher
Mr. Charles Cheddar Ghigna, our own Eminent Cheese Poet
Was it G.K. Chesterton who said, “The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese”?
Clearly he wasn’t up on his Canadian poets, or he would have sung the praises of one James McIntyre of Ingersoll, Ontario, who’s known far and wide as “the cheese poet.” Who could forget (even if they wanted to) McIntyre’s masterpiece, “Ode on the Mammoth Cheese Weighing Over 7,000 Pounds”?
If Chesterton had lived long enough, he would have drooled over Donald Hall’s “O Cheese,” which Diane Mayr shared at Random Noodling last year. “Cheeses that dance in the moonlight/cheeses that mingle with sausages” — who could resist such free-spirited, sociable chunks of goodness? And who, among us, could ever turn our backs on the steadfast comfort of homemade mac and cheese, the golden brown delights of a friendly grilled cheese sandwich, the pull-apart-melty-string gooeyness of mozzarella married to pizza crust?
Posted in poetry friday | Tagged charles ghigna, cheese, donald hall, food poems, james mcintyre, poetry | 58 Comments »
If you’re in the mood for a tempestuous tale of jealousy, greed and world domination, you’ve come to the right place.
The frenetically talented and unusually hungry author, illustrator, animator and art director Dan Krall (yes, he’s tall) has just today released a brand new shiny briny picture book called The Great Lollipop Caper (Simon & Schuster, 2013)! Yay, Lollipops!
Some would say respectable grown men shouldn’t write about sweet lollipops, but here’s the lick: at first glance, this may seem like a simple, albeit saccharine story. But all you diehard sourpusses will be happy to hear this tome has a testy tart edge — it taps into the inner torment (for crying out loud) of one little green wrinkly caper. Oy, a caper’s cautionary caper — bite me!
Before I tempt you any further, a couple of party accoutrements.
Posted in book reviews (all genres), picture books, soup of the day, weekend cooking | Tagged book reviews, candy, capers, children's books, dan krall, giveaways, humor, illustration, picture books | 56 Comments »
Aloha, Friends!
Yes, the cat in the hat is back.
It’s nice to be home again after spending the last several weeks in Hawai’i with my family. Both of my parents are doing as well as can be expected for now, but when you’re 88 and 98, each day brings new challenges and concerns.
While it was very unsettling to have to suddenly drop everything and fly out there, I’m glad I was able to go and be of some help. No doubt there will be more frequent trips in the near future, so if you know anyone who can arrange to move Hawai’i just a tad closer to Virginia, I’d really appreciate it. 
Must thank you all so much for your support, good wishes, encouragement and advice. Your comments, emails, and surprise care packages really cheered me up and kept me going — proof yet again of the restorative power of chocolate, and that you are simply the best (and most good looking) blog readers on the planet.
Poetry for What Ails You
Though I wasn’t able to blog at all during April, I must mention how much I enjoyed reading your wonderful National Poetry Month posts. In past years, when I was tied up with my own Poetry Potluck, I didn’t have as much time to keep up with what everyone else was doing.
Posted in cookbooks, picture books, Uncategorized, young adult | 42 Comments »
