Steve's First day of School

I recently had the opportunity to read my latest book, Dinosaur Woods, at my son's school.

It was also my first chance to break in my reading partner Steve ( he's the yellow one with orange stripes)

I love it when Sam (he's the one with blonde hair and no stripes) is brought forward to introduce and help me with my presentation. I find it very hard to concentrate on my book as I proudly beam at my boy.

And before I get hit with playing favorites , I just want to say that the same thing happens with my younger son I just don't have any photos to put up.

Dinosaur Parenting

Dinosaur Woods made it into the June issue of Parenting!

These little gems of excitement are few and far between in my world.

I truly do treasure the acknowledgment.

Thank you Parenting!

Dinosaur Woods

I had my first signing for my new book Dinosaur Woods last Sunday.

Maureen Palacios from Once Upon a Time bookstore, www.onceupona.com , created a fantastic environment to perform in.

I brought my dinosaur, Milo, to help me read and draw.

The kids were great and I had a wonderful time.

My First Book

I had always wanted to write a children's book. I foolishly thought "How hard could it be? It's just for kids." So I dove in armed only with a limited grasp of the English language and no formal literary training. Twenty rejection slips later, I started to understand "How hard could it be?"

My first book was published in 2001 by Hyperion. Jake Gander Storyville Detective. 

Developing picture books is truly a collaborative process as I found out when told  " We love the story, just change the beginning and ending."  Publishers, in my experience, have your best interests at heart and when they ask for changes you either 1. Dig in to defend / clarify your original vision or 2. Change the beginning and ending. I did the later and it was the right choice.

The images above show the before and after (the after and before for the cover) of some of the art for the book.

This is my first post so please forgive the bad layout. I promise I'll get better.