Category: Writing Life

Come along on the picture journey of meeting Mo Willems! First, here’s something I wrote about him in an earlier Reading Journal entry, about an Elephant and Piggie book. Ok. I think it’s pretty obvious what happened here. I love this author and I went into volunteer at the library and saw that all of…

The first two books I found just when searching for poetry, and I loved them. I want to own the second one. As soon as I can. The third book I had seen around quite a bit, but most notably in the library at one of the schools I work at. I actually bought it…

The first book is a book you may not know from Maurice Sendak. I read about it in “Ways of Telling” and found it at the library a little later. The second is another animal book by an author we just met. The third is a great book to see what integrating another language into…

Whew. Day Three. Slept about four hours, thanks to the loud and rowdy international friends at the hostel. Rolled into the conference RIDICULOUSLY EARLY (I believe something like 7:30 for an 8:30 start) and just sat there and drew while munching on my starbucks oatmeal and sipping my half-caff coffee. Because, even though I was…

The first book showed up on too many lists to count. Plus, you don’t have to twist my arm to get me to read a David Wiesner book, though this one had more words than I was used to! I love the message that it says about art though; that is should loosen you up,…

The first book was recommended to me after I spent a week doing my programs in the library of a school. I love when I’m in the library, because we get to be loud in the library (which normally you aren’t allowed to do), and I get to ask librarians to tell me their favorite…

And Day 2. I could tell you that I had a wonderful night’s sleep on Friday night, but I would be lying. Nope, I stayed up and read my books (did I mention I spent a lot of time and money in the bookstore?) and then failed at sleeping when my dear hostel bar friends…

The first book is a book that I had been reading for a while, interviews with tons of illustrators, about their process, the way they see the world, about everything! It was reassuring to hear that a lot of illustrators didn’t have formal training and still were very successful (thanks James Marshall!) The second book…

Now that I have fully recovered from the conference, I can begin to talk about it! Day 1: Friday, August 5, 2011.   I was so excited I could barely sleep the night before. Or it could have been that my room at the hostel was right next to the bar. Either way, I was…

I know, I know. This will explain it all, in the form of a story. Grab a cup of cocoa and sit back and relax. Once upon a time there was a girl named Kathy Ellen. She loved to draw, like every other little kid, and she loved to color. She was a bit famous…