Picture This

Prizes! Win Cool Prizes!

2008-07-02T17:10:00.010-04:00

Multimedia rocker (Brand new, still in the box)

Courtesy of Floyd Memorial Library

Unshelved T Shirt

Courtesy of Unshelved

Dungeons and Dragons starter game (Brand new, still in the box)

Courtesy of Wizards of the Coast

Other cool prizes include signed copy of 2008 Alex Award-winning Essex County courtesy of Jeff Lemire and Top Shelf Comics, a Comic Con gift basket, and a gourmet pocky gift basket courtesy of Nola Thacker.

2008-06-24T11:29:00.005-04:00

The Open Book

135 Main Street Suite 1
Westhampton Beach
New York, 11978

631-288-2120

The Open Book will provide a bookstore for Picture This. Attendees will be able to purchase copies of books created by our talented guests. All of our program participants will be signing copies of their work. Be sure to reserve books early. Last year we ran out of some titles.
Books may be reserved through August 14. Use the book reservation form to ensure you have copies of those books that you would like. Payment can be made on September 4.

RESERVE YOUR BOOKS TODAY !

Learn more about The Open Book.

Robin Brenner

2008-06-20T11:30:00.002-04:00

Robin Brenner is a compelling reason to attend Picture This: Using Images to Illuminate Young Adult Literature. Robin's credentials are impressive: teen librarian, creator of No Flying No Tights website, member of YALSA's Great Graphic Novels committee, judge for the Eisner Awards, instructor for Simmons College, and author of Understanding Manga and Anime. She is also one of the nicest and most interesting people you will meet.

Here is what Robin has said about manga: "I am particularly responsive to images, and finding all of the information and emotion wrapped up in manga's panels feels like the perfect storytelling form to me. "

Chris Butzer

2008-05-30T11:59:00.004-04:00

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

2008-05-29T10:31:00.004-04:00

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

2008-05-19T10:54:00.005-04:00

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.

Danica Novgorodoff

2008-04-21T15:17:00.006-04:00

The cover of Slow Storm hints at this beautiful evocative book . I was able to view some early pages of this story of a Kentucky fire-fighter and an illegal immigrant and promise that you won't be disappointed.

Danica is a designer for First Second and is responsible for the cover design for several First Second titles, including the Printz-winning American Born Chinese.

View more of Danica's work and learn more about her at the First Second blog. Danica will be creating for Just Desserts and signing copies of her book. I can't wait!

Matt Loux

2008-04-21T15:03:00.004-04:00

We caught up with Matt Loux (last name rhymes with "ducks") at Comicon. Salt Water Taffy, his newest title was available for the first time and we were lucky enough to get a signed copy. I just love the two brothers: Jack and Benny. (I wonder if this is a send-up to the old comedian Jack Benny?) I think they are modeled after Matt and his older brother and its not hard to guess which brother was modeled after Matt. A fun book for children with a monster salt-water-taffy-eating lobster, and this monster is a female!

Matt is also the author of Top Ten Great Graphic Novel Sidescrollers. Matt will be a creating during Just Desserts and signing copies of his books.

Meet Matt on My Space.

Misako Rocks!

2008-04-21T14:53:00.008-04:00

Misako really truly Rocks! She participated in a panel discussion at the Splat Graphic Novel Symposium in NYC and she literally lights up the room. She is so animated that you can't help but get excited about her work.

We all know Biker Girl and New York Public Library's Books for the Teen Age Rock and Roll Love. However, now there is a new Misako title to watch for and it will be coming out this fall: Detective Jermain. The story of a high school girl whose parents are world-famous detectives, she begins investigating the disappearance of a classmate. Come watch Misako create at the Bourne Mansion and get signed copies of her books. She is one charismatic artist you won't want to miss!

Check out her blog.

Artist to Artist

2008-01-07T11:35:00.000-05:00

I just spent some time with this wonderful book. Yes, I know it is a children's book, but the fold-out images are so wonderful and each personal narrative so inspiring - that it is worth a look for anyone.

You'll have to view the images for yourself ( and read how many of the artists were inspired by comics), but here are a few quotes that I liked:

"...we are all connected by our pictures. Artists who are working today, making paintings and picture books and cartoons, and those who lived hundreds and even thousands of years ago...all speak to us ." Mordicai Gerstein

"Illustration is an enlargement, an interpretaton of the text, so that the reader will comprehend the words better....You must never illustrate exactly what is written. You must find the space in the text so that the pictures can do the work. Then you must let the words take over where words do it best. It's a funny kind of juggling act." Maurice Sendak

Learning to Look

2007-12-20T14:26:00.001-05:00

A long time ago I worked as an elementary school art teacher. (By the way, it really was a lot of fun.) The course of study that the children used was titled "Learning to Look."
I have been thinking about that concept with respect to "Picture This".

When I was a young girl, my parents enrolled me in a watercolor art class. Every Saturday I would go to Mrs. MacDonald's house where we would paint bowls of fruit during the winter. In the summer we would trek outdoors to paint landscapes. The object of those exercises was to try to exactly replicate the image I saw. Things changed when I got to high school. My art teacher decided to take our class to a San Francisco gallery to view an exhibit of Paul Klee's work. I realized right away that this wasn't going to be a day with Mrs. MacDonald! We walked into the gallery and the first thing I saw was this Klee quote:

I cannot be understood in purely earthly terms.

It was then that the "eyes of my eyes" (e.e.cummings) were opened and I realized that I had to learn to look in a new way.

I think that is how I have been approaching graphic novels. To appreciate them, I must learn to look (and think) in different terms.

Bourne Mansion

2007-12-19T16:13:00.000-05:00

Stacy, Beth, and I braved the arctic winds on Monday morning to tour the Bourne Mansion. As we shivered outside, waiting for the guard to let us in, Beth told me a little bit about the building. Built by the Singer family, of sewing machine fame, it was originally named Indian Neck Hall.

The guard let us in and I gasped. What a place!
The grand staircase in the foyer, the crystal chandelier in the dining room; the ballroom with the beautiful skylight set in a 40 foot ceiling, pipe organ, and balcony; the massive fireplace and elegant long table in the library; the parquet floors and Persian rugs; the views of the bay. Oh my, graphic novels definitely have arrived!

This mansion will set the stage of what is sure to be a memorable event.