ALA Wrap up

The American Library Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition in beautiful Washington D.C. was a great success.

An enormous thank-you to our authors who came by to sign their books.  We wouldn’t be here without you!

Thank you also to the many librarians, educators, booksellers, bloggers, reviewers, writers, artists and library professionals who stopped by to chat about our new titles or even just to say hello.  Your feedback is always appreciated!

Fantastic fall covers on display at booth #2916

Marthe Jocelyn was on hand to sign copies of Which Way?

Michael Mazo signed copies of Brothers

And then posed for a photo with his beautiful family; wife Natallia and daughter Esme

Finn the half-Great author, Theo Caldwell signs his book in green ink
 
See you in San Diego in January for ALA Midwinter!

The American Library Association 2010 Annual Conference in Washington D.C.

Will you be attending the 2010 Annual Conference? The conference will be taking place on June 24-29, 2010 in the Washington Convention Center.

Tundra will be at booth #2916. Stop by to say “hello” to Alison and Pamela or ask them about our books. We will be handing out Fall 2010 catalogues, BLADs, Samplers, F&Gs, posters, postcards, and bookmarks! In addition, how about some author signings?

Marthe Jocelyn @ 10:30am on Saturday, June 26th
Which Way?
Written by Marthe Jocelyn
Illustrated by Tom Slaughter
Hardcover | 24 Pages
Ages 2-5
ISBN 978-0-88776-970-2
“Simple directional text is complemented by bold illustrations in bright colours. Some pages ask questions: ‘How do we know which way to go?’ My four-year-old loved declaring answers and making choices.” – ParentDish

Michael Mazo @ 3:00 pm on Saturday, June 26th
Brothers
Written by Michael Mazo
Illustrated by Michael Soloviov
Hardcover | 32 Pages
All Ages
ISBN 978-0-88776-922-1
“…Soloviov’s cartoon art, stylishly placed… grown-ups are bound to chuckle: Rarely has tongue been more firmly ensconced in cheek.” – Kirkus Reviews

Theo Caldwell @ 11:00 am on Sunday, June 27th
Finn the half-Great
Written by Theo Caldwell
Hardcover | 392 Pages
Ages 11+
ISBN 978-0-88776-931-3
“The humour and trickery of Caldwell’s sources shines through, lifting it out of the humdrum war stuff of conventional fantasy…” – The Toronto Star

Holiday List of Lists

There are a lot of lists circulating out there. Best-of lists, gift ideas, and reading suggestions for the holidays. Why don’t we make it easier for you? We compiled some of our books that were featured in lists this year!

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
By Lewis Carroll
Illustrated by Oleg Lipchenko
ISBN 978-0-88776-932-0
All Ages
112 Pages
Hardcover
Listed in: Books for Winter Break (Bookslut); Kids books with a ‘wow’ factor (The Chronicle Herald); Books for children to go under the tree (The Record)

A Big City Alphabet
By Allan Moak
ISBN 978-0-88776-939-9
Ages 4+
32 Pages
Trade Paperback
Listed in: WHERE Magazine’s Holiday Gift Guide (Where Toronto)

Brothers
By Michael Mazo
Illustrated by Michael Soloviov
ISBN 978-0-88776-822-1
All Ages
32 Pages
Hardcover
Listed in: Holiday gift guide: A survey of some of the hottest adult and children’s books, just in time for your holiday shopping (Kelowna)

Finn the half-Great
By Theo Caldwell
ISBN 978-0-88776-931-3
Ages 11+
392 Pages
Hardcover
Listed in: Holiday Reads: Deirdre Baker’s Fantasy Books for Kids (The Toronto Star)

Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas
By Cary Fagan
Illustrated by Dušan Petričić
ISBN 978-0-88776-895-8
Ages 8-11
112 Pages
Hardcover
Listed in: Books of the Year 2009: The 15 Books That Mattered (Quill & Quire); Holiday Gift Guide (EYE WEEKLY)

A Mountain Alphabet
By Margriet Ruurs
Illustrated by Andrew Kiss
ISBN 978-0-88776-940-5
Ages 4+
32 Pages
Trade Paperback
Listed in: Brief reviews of books for kids for Christmas (Kelowna)

A Thousand Years of Pirates
By William Gilkerson
ISBN 978-0-88776-924-5
Ages 10+
96 Pages
Hardcover
Listed in: Kids books with a ‘wow’ factor (The Chronicle Herald); Books for children to go under the tree (The Record); Books Quarterly: Lit for little ones (The National Post)

Vanishing Girl: The Boy Sherlock Holmes – His Third Case
By Shane Peacock
ISBN 978-0-88776-852-1
Ages 10-14
320 Pages
Hardcover
Listed in: Books Quarterly: Lit for little ones (The National Post)

Are these critic’s picks on your list? Tell us which books you are recommending this holiday season!

Guest Post: Michael Mazo and Michael Soloviov

BrothersDo you remember the previous guest post by Michael Mazo and Michael Soloviov? Well now we have a behind-the-scenes look at how the author and illustrator collaborated!

Finding inspiration from The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, author Michael Mazo and illustrator Michael Soloviov created their own version of Robert Ford vs. Jesse James. In their adaptation, Julius the Elder and William the Upstart, are the two characters from their debut picture book Brothers.

Michael Mazo: So the illustration that I kindly wanted Mr. Soloviov to create was like this one. As you can see I’ve been taking art classes. One of the dogs is raising his paws in victory. The other is on his knees in defeat. It’s an old western town. It’s meant to look like a gunfight, like the gunfight in Back to the Future 3:
Mazo gunfight illustration

MM: I really wanted Julius to show the utter agony of defeat (like a defeated athlete on his knees). Mr. Soloviov replied with, “Oh yeah, Mike, so you’ve seen a lot of dogs on their knees?” But he is a magician and can do anything. This was the first draft:
version 1

MM: I only asked for one correction: to make our hero’s stomachs bigger and stuff their cheeks (especially William because he is the winner):
version 2

MM: And this is the final illustration. The only corrections I asked for were to dress the dogs (and put bones where guns would go) and add some hay rolling across the street like in a movie:
version 3 final

MM: And then I kindly asked Mr. Soloviov to take the text I wrote and make it look like it came from an old newspaper. You can see the result by clicking here and click here to view the original New York Times story about Jesse James.