Neal Porter Books

09/06/2014

Viva Frida is here!

09/06/2014

Making Viva Frida

We wanted a closer look at Yuyi Morales' process for her latest book VIVA FRIDA, and we couldn't have asked for anything better. Enjoy this stunning video of Yuyi making her book's characters from scratch: http://youtu.be/8mu8mZLmewI

And insight into the making of the book Viva Frida. With spare, polished text and luscious illustrations, award-winning author/illustrator Yuyi Morales explo...

07/21/2014

Ciolli: Welcoming Matt Davies, Newsday's new cartoonist - Newsday

Our very own Matt Davies, author of Ben Rides On and the forthcoming Ben Draws Trouble has been named Newsday's new cartoonist! Congratulations, Matt!

http://www.newsday.com/opinion/oped/ciolli-welcoming-matt-davies-newsday-s-new-cartoonist-1.8819873

Matt Davies, an extraordinary talent, is our new editorial cartoonist. He replaces Walt Handelsman, who returned to New Orleans last fall.

07/08/2014

www.ala.org

Like reading good speeches? Here's a great one by Yuyi Morales as she accepted her Pura Belpre award for Nino Wrestles the World!

http://www.ala.org/alsc/sites/ala.org.alsc/files/content/awardsgrants/bookmedia/belpre-14.pdf

06/18/2014

Watch. Connect. Read.: The Emily's Blue Period Trifecta

We're so proud of this book, Emily's Blue Period (on sale now!) and the talented author and illustrator who created it! Here are some interviews for your viewing pleasure:

http://mrschureads.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-emilys-blue-period-trifecta.html

http://mrcolbysharp.com/2014/06/17/5-4-3-2-1-interview-cathleen-daly/

http://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/the-adventures-of-a-childhood-fueled-by-books-by-cathleen-daly/

04/14/2014

¡ VIVAN LAS LUCHAS !

03/31/2014

Not your average family! George O'Connor poses with the poster that comes with the Olympians Boxed Set, pubbing in October 2014.

03/18/2014

Feast your eyes on these! Recipe included in the back of Brian and Liam Anderson's MONSTER CHEFS! Out today! Trust us, make these and they'll be gone in a blink. Enough eyeball puns? We can keep going...

Eyeballs, anyone?

Eyeball cupcakes to test a recipe in the upcoming picture book MONSTER CHEFS by Brian Anderson.

03/18/2014

Hungry? How about some cupcakes...made of EYEBALLS!?!? Look what pubs today! Yummmm.

02/26/2014

Yuyi Morales wins 2014 Pura Belpré Illustrator Award

She can dance, too! Congratulations again, Yuyi Morales, on your Pura Belpré Illustrator Award! What can't you do?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2FDU0B32cc&sns=fb

Yuyi Morales, illustrator of "Niño Wrestles the World" is the 2014 winners of the Pura Belpré Illustrator Award which honors Latino illustrators whose work b...

02/03/2014

Adorable! Thank you, Leda Schubert, for showing us this dedicated young fan!

01/27/2014

Go Mad Potter!

01/27/2014

Neal Porter with the Pura Belpré committee. Viva Niño!

01/27/2014

Macmillan Children's School & Library

Congratulations to all of Macmillan Children's 2014 ALA Youth Media Award winners!

01/27/2014

Congratulations, Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan on your Sibert Honor!

01/27/2014

Niño! Niño! Niño! Congratulations, Yuyi Morales on your Pura Belpré Illustrator Award!

01/15/2014

The Making of Ares

01/07/2014

Kitty wasn't always bad... somebody made her that way.
And that somebody was...

Her author!

Available today: the latest installment in the bestselling Bad Kitty series, Bad Kitty: Drawn to Trouble!

01/07/2014

Happy New Year, Facebook friends!! To kick the year off right, we wanted to share this post about the talented Mr. George O'Connor and his epic Olympians series, written with affection by Neal:


The Olympians series began with a quip, when I remarked to George O’Connor that a mutual acquaintance of ours reminded me of Cerberus, the three-headed hound who guards the entrance to Hades. Not a particularly kind or clever remark, but one that led to our discovery that we shared a mutual interest, and love of, Greek mythology. It was a short leap from there to the idea of doing a graphic novel based on those myths, and another to George’s notion that we should do twelve—one for each god who graced the summit of Mount Olympus.

As we near the midpoint of what has become a critically acclaimed and much loved sequence of books it seems time to raise a goblet of nectar in the direction of Mr. O’Connor, the tireless researcher, master storyteller, and superbly talented artist who created them. What astonishes me most of all is George’s ability to shape these stories of the gods and those they touch into a cohesive and dramatic narrative that moves from book to book, sometimes doubling back on itself, sometimes leaping forward like a kind of celestial Mobius strip.

Aphrodite, the sixth volume in the series, is a perfect example. Its beginning harkens back to the creation story George so movingly depicted in Zeus. But here the narrators are the three Charities, Aphrodite’s attendants and they artfully describe the events leading to the goddess’s birth, shown in a gorgeous drawing that slyly winks at Botticelli’s Venus. The narrative then propels us up to Olympus, whose households are thrown into a bit of a state by the arrival of this graceful and wily creature. In time we learn of her hastily arranged marriage to Hephaistos, not exactly Olympus’s answer to George Clooney: the birth of Eros, the story of Pygmalion and Galatea, and ultimately the contest of the golden apple, the Judgment of Paris, and a foreshadowing of the battle that is to follow.

All this in 80 pages! George is not only a teller of tales but also a weaver of stories, who has created a tapestry that will only deepen in richness and complexity in the volumes to come. Personally, I can’t wait to see what happens next!
- See more at: http://www.firstsecondbooks.com/#sthash.COucbjcP.dpuf

12/05/2013

Best Picture Books of 2013

Most fun? Most charming? We'll take it!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/minhle/best-picture-books-of-201_b_4378532.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

2013 was the first full year after the death of the legendary Maurice Sendak. While it's impossible to replace an icon like Sendak, this year's offerings reminded us that children's literature is still rich with talented writers and illustrators to carry on the tradition of making great picture book...

11/26/2013

Congratulations to Leda Schubert and Gerard DuBois, winners of this year's NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Monsieur Marceau!

11/12/2013

Timeline Photos

11/01/2013

Tea With Grandpa, Book Trailer

Get ready to be attacked by cuteness! Here's the trailer for our upcoming picture book TEA WITH GRANDPA, by the very talented Barney Saltzberg! Look for it on 4/15/2014!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khi6bzpKq5Q

A picture book by Barney Saltzberg. Pub date, April 15, 2014. A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press

10/14/2013

Jane Breskin Zalben's MOUSTERPIECE showing its face at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art last weekend!

09/30/2013

Greetings, Friends

Welcome to the first ever Neal Porter Books ASK ME ANYTHING forum. Our first guest is acclaimed picture book author/illustrator Laura Vaccaro Seeger. Laura's many distinctive books are FIRST THE EGG and GREEN, both Caldecott Honor Books, ONE BOY, a Geisel Honor Book, and DOG AND BEAR: TWO FRIENDS, THREE STORIES, winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award.

Please email questions to [email protected] by 10/4/13. Once we've gathered the questions, Laura will respond and we'll post her answers the following week.

Ask away!

09/24/2013

Look out behind you, Neal.... It's a monster from Brian Anderson's upcoming picture book MONSTER CHEFS!

09/24/2013

An illustrated Neal Porter by artist Matthew Cordell.

09/24/2013

Neal Porter Books's cover photo

09/13/2013

Timeline Photos

09/13/2013

When was the last time you fell in love with a city? How about picture book characters? Well, prepare for both with Gus Gordon's HERMAN AND ROSIE. Check out this starred review from Publishers Weekly:

"While the title makes it sound like they’re a couple, Australian author/illustrator Gordon’s crocodile hero and deer-like heroine remain unknown to one another until the penultimate spread, even though they live in adjacent buildings and have important things in common: a love of music (oboe for him, jazz singing for her) and “watching films about the ocean.” But that’s like in the big city- New York City, in particular, which Gordon brings alive through lyrical drawings and inventive collage. His soul-mate characters are equally terrific: two sweet but lonely souls (think Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine- or maybe it’s Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan) who live in tiny apartments and eke out a living while keeping their wistful chins up. If it sounds too sophisticated for the target audience, rest assured it isn’t (although some may grow anxious when both characters lose their jobs). Readers of all ages will fall for Herman and Rosie from the start, and Gordon knows how to keep the dramatic and romantic tension just taut enough to keep the pages turning toward their inevitable meeting."

09/06/2013

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast » Blog Archive » A Short Essay (With Lots of Pictures)...

If you need one more thing to do before breakfast, we suggest taking a look at this article about Phil Stead's latest book, Hello, My Name is Ruby!

http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=2809#more-2809

Philip C. Stead, pictured here in one very cozy-looking hat, is visiting 7-Imp this morning to talk about the creation of his newest picture book, Hello, My Name Is Ruby, a Neal Porter/Roaring Press Book, released just this week.

09/04/2013

‘Bully,’ by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, and More

Read BULLY, don't be a bully!


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/books/review/bully-by-laura-vaccaro-seeger-and-more.html

In four picture books, a menagerie of creatures teaches lessons on making friends and getting along.

09/03/2013

Review of the Day: Ben Rides On by Matt Davies — @fuseeight A Fuse #8 Production

Can a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist create an outstanding picture book? Take a look!

http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2013/09/02/review-of-the-day-ben-rides-on-by-matt-davies/

Ben Rides On By Matt Davies A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press (an imprint of Macmillan) $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-59643-794-4 Ages 3-7 On shelves now.

07/29/2013

Jason Chin talks nonfiction picture books at this year's Children's Literature Summer Institute at Simmons College in Boston.

07/17/2013

Reviewers are loving Musk Ox and Zebra's attempt to count to ten: "The banter between a persnickety zebra and a go-with-the-flow musk ox that made A Is for Musk Ox so much fun gets the job done in this counting-themed sequel, too. Musk ox refuses to stay put, instead joining two yaks for a game of Twister and frightening four birds, who cause trouble of their own. “Remember the birds I scared away?” the musk asks the zebra on the “six” page. “Well, I think they’ve taken care of the snails.” Cabatingan and Myers are entirely in sync as they deliver verbal and visual jokes on every page. " - Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

07/17/2013

Legendary Editor Frances Foster Retires

A salute to our colleague and friend, Frances Foster:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/58271-legendary-editor-frances-foster-retires.html

Farrar, Straus and Giroux has announced that Frances Foster, who has headed up Frances Foster Books since 1994 and has worked in children's publishing for over 55 years, is retiring after a long illness.

07/03/2013

Look at that medal! Laura Vaccaro Seeger shows off her official plaque for her Caldecott Honor for GREEN.

07/03/2013

The happy author and editor at the award ceremony at ALA.

06/26/2013

Jun 26, 2013 5:11pm

We hope you enjoy this trailer for the upcoming Laura Vaccaro Seeger book BULLY.

06/26/2013

The making of Grandma and the Great Gourd

06/26/2013

We asked Susy Pilgrim Waters about how she created her beautiful illustrations for Chitra Divakaruni's Grandma and the Great Gourd, a debut picture book for both author and artist. Here she is, talking about the physical and emotional processes of her work:

“My starting point for the books was to ignore the slight tinge of fear in the pit of my tummy and just go to town, PLAYING( i.e. working) and just DOING. I pretended not to care, and told the self-critical voices to bog off and tried to be unselfconscious about who would see the work, but really once I am in it I really don’t care.

I was always drawn to Indian culture. It’s such a massive continent so rich and varied in history and culture. How could I begin to represent this wee slice?

I keep sketchbooks all the time, sometimes three to five at a time. This accordion book has organic, rather thick absorbent paper (not so tolerant for light lines or lettering : ). I saw I could just p l o s h about, make little pages or longer spreads, work on what Granny might look like, think about the story, the garden the plethora of Indian cultural pattern icons, flowers, color, textures, and depth. I just travelled through the accordion book, adding silk with green ink splotches, fenugreek, curry powder and poppy seeds. I studied patterns, drew rangoli, looked at architectural references, thought about the vessels Granny might use, went to an Indian grocery to look at veggies, scanned in Indian white cotton woven fabric, made wet watercolor pages to use as a library of color and textures for use in Photoshop or to tear and collage with. I explored all my media and hoped the page from an Indian newspaper was notoffensive...``Toshed`` broad strokes of hot spicy persimmon and iridescent-lime-chartreuse-moss-fern-toad green and more...covered every inch of the sketchbook which when fully extended one crazy long messy adventure (it’s about 12 foot long)...with the odd added in piece of vellum paper, or brownpaper bag. Every surface is used back and front.”

06/25/2013

Find out what Jeff can do in this hilarious, energetic new book from Jeff Mack. THE THINGS I CAN DO pubs today!

06/24/2013

Our feisty young Nino made SLJ/Fuse 8's review of the day!

http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2013/06/24/review-of-the-day-nino-wrestles-the-world-by-yuyi-morales/

05/28/2013

Picture Book Panel Discussion at Politics & Prose

Fascinating picture book panel from Politics and Prose!
(Video courtesy of Politics and Prose)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqJKxQF2sIY

This event was recorded at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington D.C., on May 19, 2013. More information is available at http://www.politics-prose.com/eve...

05/24/2013

Folio Jr.

Folio Jr.

Congrats to Julie Fogliano and Erin E. Stead! IF YOU WANT TO SEE A WHALE has received a fourth starred review (this one from SLJ) and is a NAIBA Indie Bestseller!