Announcements

UTAH CHILDREN'S WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS

Announcement List--January 9, 2003



****************
NEW BOOKS

from Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson, book 12 in their National Parks Mystery series.

from Mette Harrison, THE MONSTER IN ME, Holiday House, middle grade.

from Rick Walton, BUNNIES ON THE GO, HarperCollins, picture book.


****************
COMING SOON

February, 2003
from Sherry Meidell, illustrator, THE DAY THE PICTURE MAN CAME, text by Faye Gibbons.

March, 2003
from Barbara Williams, ALBERT'S IMPOSSIBLE TOOTHACHE, picture book, Candlewick

Spring, 2003
from Michael Tunnell, THE PRYDAIN COMPANION, a guide to Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles, Henry Holt.


********************
APPEARANCES AND EVENTS


January 13--Rick Walton will be at Manila Elementary in Pleasant Grove.

January 24--Ron Woods will be doing a school visit in Boise.

February 8-9--Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) National Mid-Year Conference, New York City.

February 13-15--Life, the Universe, & Everything XXI, BYU, http://humanities.byu.edu/ltue.

February 14--Gloria Skurzynski will be a panelist at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Denver.

February 22--Kim Williams-Justesen will be teaching a day-long workshop on writing for children from 9am-4pm at the Park City campus of the U of U's Life Long Learning program. For information call 801-587-5433 or go to www.lifelong.utah.edu. 

March 21-22--UVSC Children's Literature Conference.

March 24-April 14--Kim Williams-Justesen will be teaching a six-week workshop on writing for children at the Annex building of the University of Utah campus. For information call 801-587-5433 or go to www.lifelong.utah.edu. 

April 8--Rick Walton will be speaking to the Davis School District Librarians at Knowlton Elementary in Farmington, from 4-6 pm.

********************
NEWS

From Mark and Cara Buehner: Great signings in December. We are very grateful to our local booksellers, who have been so supportive of local authors, and have had a great time seeing some of you at the signings. Both Christmas Day in the Morning and Snowmen at Night sold out of their print runs. Snowmen at Night will be back in the bookstores this week, but Christmas Day in the Morning won't be reprinted until next year. We've had some good reviews, but my favorite was from CHINABERRY, in which the reviewer gave a wonderful recommendation for Christmas Day in the Morning, stating that one of the interior illustrations was one of the most beautiful he/she had ever seen. (I agree, of course; it's hanging on my wall). The most exciting happening for us was that Snowmen at Night made the New York Times Bestseller list (#9) the week of December 29, 2002! A first for the Buehners. Blessings to you for 2003, Cara Buehner.

********************
REVIEWS

for THE DAY THE PICTURE MAN CAME, by Faye Gibbons, illustrated by Sherry Meidell: "Gibbons and Meidell (Emma Jo's Song) team up again to produce a rollicking tale of a turn-of-the-20th-century Georgia mountain family visited by a traveling photographer...When the family decides to sit for a portrait--dogs, cat and goat included--the stage is set for an entertaining ruckus. Meidell's watercolors whir with motion, from the energetic barefoot children in their Sunday best to the wild-eyed family pets as they madly pursue one another....Whatever difficulty readers may have in keeping the names of animals and children straight won't distract much from the comedy that is relayed through the fast-paced, dialect-peppered text and the playful illustrations. Meidell's use of multiple shades of the same color adds texture and depth, while pleasingly containing the chaos. Two sepia-toned "photos" of the mayhem-cursed menagerie serve as a fitting conclusion."--Publishers Weekly, December 16, 2002.


********************
LOOKING AHEAD

May 4-8, 2003--International Reading Association, Orlando, Florida.

May 23-25, 2003--Conduit 13: Salt Lake's Science Fiction Weekend.

May 30-June 1, 2003--Book Expo America, Los Angeles.

June 19-25, 2003--American Library Association annual conference, Toronto, Canada.

July 7-11, 2003--BYU Writing for Young Readers Workshop.

July 18-19, 2003--BYU Books for Young Readers Symposium--Guests include Bethanne Anderson, Franny Billingsley, Susan Fletcher, Russell Freedman, David Small, Laurence Yep.

*********************

Are you, or do you know an author or illustrator of books for young readers? Are you sponsoring a children's literature related event? Is there something else related to this list that we should announce? Send announcements to rick@rickwalton.com.

Are you interested in writing for kids? If so, you should join the Utah Children's Writers listserv. Get involved with other writers in discussions about writing, reading, and marketing literature for kids. To join, send a blank e-mail to utahchildrenswriters-
subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Please forward this announcement to anyone you would like.

If you had this message forwarded to you, you can receive news of what Utah authors and illustrators of books for young readers are doing delivered directly to you. To join Utah Writers send a blank e-mail to utahwriters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

To unsubscribe, send a blank email to utahwriters-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.