A Very Witchy Spelling Bee

With Martha out and about and children all over the land heading her warning about green beans, I may as well talk about my next book. A Very Witchy Spelling Bee will be out in late July or August…I think.  It’s about a young witch and an old witch. It’s about casting SPELLS and spelling correctly. All the better to celebrate Autumn, the return to school and the return of  spelling tests. And boy, do I remember some spelling tests in third grade. I was, and still am, a very good creative speller. But the teachers never graded on creativity on a spelling test. I’ll share some of my spelling test stories including my one PERFECT score and what unfolded after that! I’m still recovering…

Below, Our hero Cordelia faces Beulah Divine in the final round…What will happen next?

Wait until July!

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How Martha Signs book in Portland!

I will be reading and signing copies of my newest picture book, How Martha Saved Her Family from Green Beans at the entirely appropriately named, Green Bean books in Portland, Oregon on Saturday, May 4th. Stop by around 2 to join in the fun. Drop in about 1:45 to see me sweating and worrying that I forgot what I was going to say.

Green beans are welcome as long as they behave. I’ll read, draw some beans and answer questions about green beans. But I won’t pick any green beans up. They bite.

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West Linn Library invaded by bad beans!

If you’re in the area stop by the West Linn Public Library on Tuesday around 4:30 (that link is to more info on the event from the local paper) and you’ll get a book reading, I’ll attempt a few drawings, the kids will get to do some drawing activities and there’s a raffle for two of my books!

This is part of the continuing celebration of the publishing of How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans, the best picture book of 2013, written by David LaRochelle. OK…So maybe it’s not THE BEST picture book of 2013. I’m just saying it’s a good book…and I’m sure kids of all ages will love the book and the event at the library.

See you there.

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Red Balloons and Green Beans

Some nice pics from a wonderful event at Red Balloon Bookshop in Minnesota on Sunday the 21st to celebrate the release of How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans. My thanks to author David LaRochelle and many thanks to the marvelous Red Balloon Bookshop for being a gracious host!

And it was wonderful meeting so many friends and book fans whether they eat green beans or not!

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A little local press for Martha and the bad beans

I’ll be at the West Linn Public Library reading and giving a drawing lesson on April 30th at 4:30. Here’s some more info from the local newspaper about the book and event.

As mentioned in the article, I’ll also be at Green Bean Books (yes, that’s the most appropriate name ever for a bookstore that sells this book!) on Saturday, May 4th at 2:00. Drawing lessons, creating some wanted posters for bad beans, a reading and book signing extravagnaza it will be!

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Bad Green Beans in St. Paul, Minnesota, Sunday the 21st!

There will be some bad beans at Red Balloon Books in St. Paul on Sunday. Author David LaRochelle will be there keeping things under control. I’ll draw some bad beans and I hope you can to! Stop by and say hi if you are in the Twin Cities area. If you are further away, say Ohio, start driving now.

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How to tell when green beans have gone bad…

How do you tell if green beans have gone bad? When they chase you around the neighborhood and throw you in garbage cans they are definitely bad.

How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans.

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It’s the Martha book trailer.

Book trailers. They don’t give out an Academy Award for them – yet.

Here’s a trailer for How Martha Saved her Parents from Green Beans. If you haven’t picked up your three copies of the book yet, order soon. Remember, when ordering new books it’s alwasy best to have several extra to lend out or give as gifts. How many times have you been excited to get that new book and BAM! There’s a flash flood and that book is just so much moist tissue paper. Too bad you didn’t have an extra copy of that book, carefully wrapped in protective plastic.

A few notes about this book trailer. It cost about 19 million to make and took almost a year of post production. We lost a great deal of the live action footage when several external hard drives failed after being used as cutting boards. The actors had already moved to their next films and there was no way to get Ben Affleck and Meryl Streep back to the set. So this 35 seconds is all we got…

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This is no ordinary stuffed bean…

I was trying to get laundry in the dryer when I heard a knock at the door. By the time I opened it all I saw was a box sitting on the welcome matt. A box that seemed to be moving slightly. I picked it up and heard muffled exclamations coming from inside. Before I had gotten back to the kitchen the box was opening on its own and out popped one ornery bean!

Obviously he jumped off the pages of How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans, a new picture book written by David LaRochelle and illustrated by some guy from Oregon by way of Minnesota and Wisconsin and California. And now this bean is here to stay.

This totally too-cool Bean was made by the super talented Jody Rice. You can check out some of the cool beans stuff she sells at her Etsy store. As they say, ‘You’ll never be disappointed in a Satsuma Street Design!’ (And a Lannister always pays their debts.) But sorry, this bean is not for sale. He’s the rarest of green beans. A one of a kind.

But check out her Etsy store for all your cross stitching desires.

This bean enjoys yelling things at the neighbors from my dining room windows.

You will notice that this stuffed bean is a perfect replica of the baddest bean in the book. You can see him and his bean minions below. As grandpa used to say, “Never trust a green bean with a hat.” Of course grandpa also warned me to make sure I kept the monkeys out of the cheese.

Order your copy of How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans before it’s too late. And remember, always order three copies of new books. What if one gets water spilled on it from the night table? Or perhaps it is left alone with an excitable 3 year old and RIP! Keep an extra on hand so at least one book stays in mint condition.

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How Martha Had a Book Signing in St. Paul, Minnesota.

I’m happy to report that I will be appearing, along with author David LaRochelle, at Red Balloon Books in St. Paul, Minnesota for a super-duper, book kick-off extravaganza! Officially it’s being called a Publication Party for How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans. And green beans are invited too. But they better behave.

It’s not that often that an illustrator and author of a picture book get to sign together or are even seen together is this day of projects being divided out long distance. Especially not when separated by 1,800 miles or so. But of course I still consider myself a Minnesotan for life, so I had to make this one. It’s like a reverse Oregon Trail experience. I’m headed back east from the wild, wooly, muddy, pierced and tattooed frontier. But I’ll use an airplane. And I’ll have an iPad to entertain myself with. There will be much less to do with Ox’s this time around.

You can check out an early review of this picture book at Kirkus by clicking here AND clicking your heels together three times and saying, “There’s no place like Kirkus for a review…” Here’s a excerpt from the review that examines the illustrations, I mean, come on. Of course I’ll going to excerpt that part!

“Dramatically comic illustrations rely on bold colors as well as exaggerated gestures and facial expressions to heighten the absurd. With their silly black hats, boots, mustaches and eyes, the spindly green beans actually do look menacing enough to steal the show.”

See you on April 21st, in St. Paul Minnesota at Red Balloon Books!

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