Chris Butzer

Many publishers are creating books in honor of the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, but there is nothing like Chris Butzer's The Gettysburg Graphic. HarperCollins previewed tantalizing images from this forthcoming book and I was immediately captivated. The speech balloons are actual quotes from documented sources and the images bring the story to life. I predict that The Gettysburg Graphic will be THE Lincoln book that everyone will be reading and talking about in 2009. I am thrilled that we will be among the first to group of librarians to get a look at this incredible work!

Jonathan Bean

Jonathan Bean received the 2008 Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award for his his illustrations for The Apple Pie that Papa Baked. I also enjoy the charming illustrations for Mokie and Bik Go to Sea and Emmy and the Incredible Shriking Rat but my current favorite is At Night. I love the luminous quality of these images.

I had the opportunity to meet Jonathan at the award ceremony and am thrilled that he will be a part of Picture This.

Jessica Abel

Jessica Abel is one author I can't wait to hear. Drawing Words & Writing Pictures is a useful tool for artists and librarians. Great organization, clear instruction and illustration, and helpful tips make this an incredible resource for anyone who wants to create or appreciate and understand stories told in sequential art panels.

Life Sucks. What more can you say about a vegetarian vampire (he drinks only bottled plasma) who works the night shift at a convenience store? Things get worse when our sensitive young vampire falls for a customer at the store, the "girl of his dreams". Do dreams come true? Is there more to eternal life than bottled plasma and the late shift? It's all in the pages of LIfe Sucks.