Every year at the conference, on the first day,
there’s the PAL booksale.
PAL standing for Published And Listed,
but I think they should be my pals too 🙂
Now, every year I go there and eat whatever free food they offer
(it’s usually 6 p.m. at that point)
and walk around with NO intention of buying any books.
This year, I made sure to leave room in my budget to buy some books.
I thought, “Wouldn’t I want people to come and look at my book?”
I thought I could buy five but I totally forgot about that whole VALET parking business,
so I could only buy two.
But the two I got are pretty awesome 🙂
First I spotted Kent Culotta, illustrator of the book, “Dan the Taxi Man” written by Eric Ode.
I knew about the book because I met Eric two years ago when I first entered the
March Madness Poetry competition, hosted on thinkkidthink.com.
I also remember seeing Kent’s work and REALLY liking it!
Dan, The Taxi Man is a rollicking read!
You get to ride along with Dan as he picks up all the members of a band on their way to a gig.
The book reads like a song,
is FILLED with great rhymes,
and even has all the fun sounds that the instruments make for you to read aloud!
I dare you to read this book and NOT smile!
The illustrations are amazing too.
The colors, movement, and especially the different angles and perspectives really got me.
I was very happy to have Kent sign this for me:
Next I spotted Jesse Klausmeier,
and hustled over to her table to get a signed copy of this book:
Have you seen this book yet?
It’s AMAZING!
You’ve really got to see the video to appreciate it:
Open this little book is VERY fun.
The story is simple and entertaining, about books and friends and sharing both!
It is such a clever idea and this book feels timeless to me already.
Suzy Lee’s illustrations match the book perfectly;
I’m a huge fan of her book, WAVE.
Singe Singe loved being read to by Jesse:
and I LOVE my signed copy of the book:
More SCBWI posts coming your way soon;
and many more pictures of Singe Singe and authors!
Until next time,
KE and SS
Okay, I think I need to buy Open This Little Book for my favorite little girls!
Kathy Ellen, you rock my Casbah! Thanks so much for picking up a copy of Dan. I can hardly believe you got to meet Kent before I did! AND you have a signed copy of the book from him and I don’t! Where’s the justice in that?
And to set the record straight, we didn’t just meet through the March Madness Poetry Competition; you beat my sock monkeys off.