authors

hotTEAs of Children’s Literature: Josh Funk

~ jama ~ 10 Comments
Josh Funk grew up in New England and studied Computer Science in school. Today, he still lives in New England and when not writing Java code or Python scripts, he drinks Java coffee and writes picture book manuscripts alongside his wife, children, and assorted pets & monsters.

 

☕ CUPPA OF CHOICE: Black coffee, today’s choice was Baroida from Papua New Guinea – from Josh’s favorite local coffee shop, Haute Coffee in Concord, three steps away from his local indie, The Concord Bookshop.

☕ HOT OFF THE PRESSES: Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast, illustrated by Brendan Kearney (Sterling, 2015), as well as the forthcoming picture books Dear Dragon (Viking/Penguin 2016), Pirasaurs! (Scholastic 2017), and several more.

 

☕ FAVE FOODIE CHILDREN’S BOOK: The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss (Random House, 1984).

☕ HOTtea IN THE FLESH: Josh will be appearing at a special superstar storytime at Wellesley Books (Saturday, October 24, 11 a.m.) and at The Blue Bunny Books and Toys (Saturday, November 14, 2015, 10:30 a.m.).

☕ Visit Josh Funk’s Official Website and Blog. Catch him on Twitter: @joshfunkbooks. Josh will also be a guest poster for Tara Lazar’s Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo), on November 2.

 

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Copyright © 2015 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.

Indie Artist Spotlight: Debbie Ritter of Uneek Doll Designs

~ jama ~ 32 Comments
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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).

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Oscar Wilde
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Emily Dickinson
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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!).

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William and Kate
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Marx Brothers
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Andy, Aunt Bea and Barney Fife

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