MotherReader

Wow, Denise Fleming. I’ve loved her books since I first read Mama Cat Has Three Kittens to my daughters. That silly, sleepy kitten Boris cracked us up. Then I discovered the wonderful Time to Sleep, which doubles as both a seasonal and a bedtime story. Afterward, I was hooked on a Fleming and high on believing in her amazing work. I’ve read her books to my daughters. I’ve used them in storytimes at the library. I’ve urged my library to include them in summer reading lists.

Fleming images are so vibrant and vivid. Her illustrations are the visual equivalent of running across a wide green grass field on a bright summer day with a blue sky overhead dotted with white puffy clouds. Well, before I got old and overweight and running made me short of breath and slightly nauseous, but you get my point.

Her newest book, Beetle Bop, came out earlier this year and takes readers into the world of brightly colored bugs with a rocking reading rhythm. Beetle Bop is Fleming's fifteenth — fifteenth! — book, sticking with her basic book-a-year plan, starting with the publication of In the Tall, Tall Grass in 1991.

All of her books are listed at her fantastic website. Along with that list of all of her books — with their various accolades — she also has activities related to each of her titles and information on papermaking. I had planned on asking her about her process, but couldn’t do any better than the question-and-answer section she had on her site. (And, ahem, couldn't get around to writing her.) So if you were curious as to how long it takes her to make a book — and, by the way, what’s involved in that — you might find this helpful:

I work on a book for about a year. Now, I don’t work each and every day and at certain points I may put the book away for a week or two so that I can look at what I have done with fresh eyes, but from start to finish a year passes. Some pictures I do quite quickly — 3 or 4 days, other pictures may take longer. Making a picture requires quite a few steps: design the page, transfer the design to foam board for the stencils, cut the stencils, dye the cotton fiber, pour the picture using cotton fiber, flip off the finished picture, sponge excess moisture from the picture, put picture in vacuum table to get out even more moisture, then put the picture in the drying press for 3–5 days, once a day I change the blotter paper in the drying press…WHEW, I am exhausted just thinking about it!
 P. S. and of course I have to write the book… that comes first :-)

Now I have the great fortune to profile her snowflake for Robert Snow. Isn't it lovely? (Click on the picture to make it larger.)

As has been mentioned all through the kidlit blogs, artists from all over the children’s book illustrating community have created special snowflakes to be auctioned off, with the proceeds benefiting sarcoma research at Dana-Farber. These snowflake auctions became known as the event “Robert’s Snow.”

This year, more than 200 well-known children’s book illustrators from around the world have been given a five-inch wooden snowflake to decorate at will. The 2007 online auctions for bidding on these hand-painted snowflakes will take place in three separate auctions, open to everyone, from November 19–23, November 26–30 (this is when you'll find the Fleming snowflake!), and December 3–7. You can go to the event site for more information and to participate in the auction.

Many, but not all, of the snowflake-making illustrators will be featured across sixty-five blogs. An updated list of snowflake and illustrator features is available at Seven Impossible Things, along with more information about the push behind the bloggers’ involvement in the project and the original call to action. The past week of snowflake features follows:

Monday, October 15

• Randy Cecil at ChatRabbit
  
• Michelle Chang at The Longstockings
  
• Kevin Hawkes at Cynthia Lord’s Journal
  
• Barbara Lehman at The Excelsior File
  
• Grace Lin at In the Pages
  

Tuesday, October 16

• Selina Alko at Brooklyn Arden
  
• Scott Bakal at Wild Rose Reader
  
• Alexandra Boiger at Paradise Found
  
• Paige Keiser at Your Neighborhood Librarian
  
• Janet Stevens at The Miss Rumphius Effect
  

Wednesday, October 17

• Rick Chrustowski at laurasalas
  
• Diane DeGroat at Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup
  
• Ilene Richard at Something Different Every Day
  
• Brie Spangler at Lectitans
  
• Don Tate at The Silver Lining
  

Thursday, October 18

• Brooke Dyer at Bookshelves of Doom
  
• D.B. Johnson at Lessons from the Tortoise
  
• Erin Eitter Kono at Sam Riddleburger
  
• Sherry Rogers at A Life in Books
  
• Jennifer Thermes at Through the Studio Door
  

Friday, October 19

• Graeme Base at Just One More Book
  
• Denise Fleming at MotherReader
  
• Jeff Mack at AmoXcalli
  
• Jeff Newman at A Year of Reading
  
• Ruth Sanderson at Book Moot
  

Saturday, October 20

• Linas Alsenas at A Wrung Sponge
  
• Theresa Brandon at The Shady Glade
  
• Karen Katz at Whimsy Books
  
• Judy Schachner at Kate’s Book Blog
  
• Sally Vitsky at Shelf Elf: read, write, rave
  

Sunday, October 21

• Matthew Cordell at Just Like the Nut
  
• Maxwell Eaton III at Books and Other Thoughts
  
• Roz Fulcher at Goading the Pen
  
• Susie Jin at sruble’s world
  
• Susan Mitchell at Check It Out
  

Please take time out to visit these blogs, and read about these fabulous illustrators. And, if you’re so inclined, think about bidding for a snowflake in the Robert’s Snow auction. Each snowflake makes a unique gift (for yourself or for someone else), and supports an important cause.