Tag Archives: giveaway

Boy + Bot {giveaway!}

19 November 2012

33 Comments

It’s no super big secret that I love this book. And I adore Ame Dyckman. (She tweets about squirrels! And blanket forts! And puns!)

So when she had an item up for bids at Jen Malone’s Hurricane Sandy auction, I raised my paddle a few times. Poor Ame will have to muddle her way through one of my PB manuscripts, but some goodies came along with her critique.

And the thing is, I already have a copy of Boy + Bot because it’s amazing. So I figured one of you might want this? That’s it above, signed by the sparkly Ame herself.

Also! Some other Boy + Bot swag…I am tempted to open this little goodie bag, but I see a bookmark, a frisbee, a sticker and a bracelet!

Just comment here sometime before Turkey Day at noon PST, and I’ll pick a winner.

Am I thankful for you? AFFIRMATIVE!

PS: Kate Messner and Joanne Levy have been running another amazing auction to raise funds for Sandy Relief. Some auctions are still open over at Joanne’s corner of the internet, so check it out! (Just don’t bid against me!)

Extra Yarn

16 April 2012

37 Comments

Saturday. Burbank. Unwind Yarn. A genius author/artist combo in my neighborhood? One that I have proclaimed love for on multiple occasions? It was perfect.

{Cake pops wrapped in yarn. Adorable!}

And the dynamic duo: illustrator Jon Klassen, and author Mac Barnett.

{I have been to Mac’s website plenty of times, and only now realize the dapper man holding up the piano is HIM. Click over, am I right??}

I even met my Twitter buddy, Alyson Beecher!

…And heard Mac read Extra Yarn to the crowd. I mean, wow…his own words in his own voice…magical, really.

So…what the heck is up with this awesome book?

On a cold afternoon, in a cold little town,

where everywhere you looked was either the white of snow

or the black soot from chimneys,

Annabelle found a box filled with yarn of every color.

And she goes knit-crazy, wrapping her town with the color and warmth of this magic yarn. Remember the knit covered house in the picture above? Yeah. That happens.

I tried SO HARD to keep my cool while talking to Jon Klassen about design, really I did. He explained to me his reasonings for using white space and the puzzle of leaving room for the reader to create their own stories in the space left behind by both the words AND the pictures. We talked about texture and trailers and the differences in animating for the screen and designing for the book page. I managed to not faint and fall in it, thank-you-very-much. It was unreal.

But a notable design consideration in Extra Yarn is of course, color. Annabelle’s creations bring life to a drab, cold town.

Jon told us that he bought a $5 sweater from Goodwill, photographed it over a light table, and digitally colored over the photo-real stitches to get the look of the knits in Extra Yarn. Straight from the illustrator’s mouth: “Everything else I tried just looked stupid.”

Recognize that bear?

The archduke: the bad guy, out to get Annabelle’s yarn. Hearing Mac’s voice for the archduke? Also amazing.

What a day, what an event, what a book. See that?

Want it? Your own author AND illustrator signed copy of Extra Yarn?

Duh.

Leave a comment here by Sunday, April 22 at midnight PST to win it! I’ll announce a winner on Monday, April 23rd. Good luck!