Little Lunch Truck Anniversary

Five years ago today, I got the news that I would be working with the wonderfully talented, Liz Szabla on Little Lunch Truck. What started as a bike ride with my grandson became my second picture book. The story brings together two of my favorite things: vehicles and food! Yay!

Special thank you to Liz and all of the folks at Feiwel & Friends for publishing this story and turning it into something you could hold in your hands and read again and again.

It's hot!

This has been an interesting summer. Thank goodness we upgraded our AC unit last year. It is working great- keeping us cool despite the record breaking heat. We walk regularly in the park near our house and it is depressingly dry. I feel very sorry for the animals, insects, birds and amphibians who call it home.

LIT BookBar Book Fest

Special thanks to Jillian and LIT BookBar for inviting me to be a part of their first Book Fest! Despite the stormy weather I had a great time drawing and sharing my sketchbooks with all of my new buddies under the big tent. We got to meet other authors, hear poetry and book excerpts. Even the ducks showed up to take part in the fun.

One of the best little book stores in Texas

Back in January I had the pleasure to read to a group of Chip & Ben fans at Blue Willow Book Shop in Houston. Blue Willow is a perfect place for book lovers- cozy with great nooks to sit and read, loads of titles to browse, wonderfully knowledgeable shopkeepers to help you and a size that can only be described as “just right.” The kids were great and we had a lot of fun together.

Little Lunch Truck's Number One Fan

Recently I received the following email that had me reaching for the tissues.

"I just wanted to write to let you know that we bought your book Little Lunch Truck for my son, and he loves it. He is six, but has significant physical, intellectual and developmental disabilities so he can't read. Nonetheless he loves your book. It is by far his favorite and he requests to read it many times each day. He loves it so much that it has been loved to death and we are now on our third copy.

Just wanted to let you know your book has brought a lot of joy to someone with great challenges. We hope you write more."

This is the kind of message that keeps creative people going. It is better than any other reward I could possibly receive. I sent a box to David right away with some new books and a big certificate honoring him as the official, number one fan of Little Lunch Truck.

Thank you David, and David’s Mom for making my day.

Make Art not War

As I work, I always have some sort of news program or podcast about current affairs playing on my computer. I have found that practice to be incredibly rewarding over the years. I have learned so much about so many people, places and things. We are lucky to have free access to stations and programs from NPR and the BBC. It is like having graduate degree seminars delivered to my studio every day.

Needless to say the news over the past two weeks has been heart breaking. The war in Ukraine and the stories that have come out of that part of the world are both profoundly depressing and awesomely inspiring at the same time. I hope that the people of Ukraine will persevere and that the Russian people will grasp the meaning of their government’s epic waste of lives and resources.

I saw a great quote recently that was attributed to Walter Cronkite.

“War itself, is of course, a form of madness. It’s hardly a civilized pursuit. It’s amazing how we spend so much time inventing devices to kill each other and so little time working on how to achieve peace.”

I couldn’t agree more and will begin my own protest to this senseless act of destruction by posting these simple cartoons showing the things that make life worth living to me. Little things that we take for granted. Little things that make us smile and make us human.

A new friend

Today began very grey and misty. It changed when the sun came out and a wonderful event happened that we have been anticipating for a few weeks now.

It started when Tracy was given a milkweed plant for her birthday at the end of January. We soon discovered that it had three monarch caterpillars crawling on it. One was bigger and we assumed older and after some days of watching him devour his host plant, he soon made his way to a spot where he created his cocoon. Watching the development has been incredibly fascinating even though I remember watching many videos of the very same process when I was in school. On a much smaller scale it is as fascinating as watching your own children develop. Seeing the incredible changes that happen and feeling so overwhelmed trying to protect them from the dangers that you know may happen to them (see Mr. Gecko who also noticed our new friend).

Release Date for My Friend Ben and the Big Race

Get ready, get set, Go! The third book in the series: My Friend Ben and the Big Race will be released March 1st!

This book was inspired by summer memories of snorkeling in the mountain lake at my aunt and uncle’s cabin. I loved exploring the bottom of the lake which had old growth stumps and gnarly logs from the early logging days in the state of Washington. From underwater these stumps and logs looked like amazing cities populated by all kinds of fresh water critters: crayfish, bass, catfish, and snails.

One of my favorite illustrations from the book is the map of the beaver pond. I had a blast drawing all of the locations of where Chip and Ben love to have their adventures. What is your favorite illustration from the Chip & Ben Books? Hit the contact button on my site or leave a comment to let me know.