Josh Funk's Blog, page 9
June 8, 2015
Lady Pancake Book Trailer Premiere!
Very exciting news! I had the fortunate pleasure of sharing the Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast book trailer on Mr. Schu‘s Watch. Connect. Read. site yesterday. You can see the entire post here:
It was great fun making the trailer. I wrote, arranged, and recorded the song entirely using an app on my phone. No fancy microphones, studios, or four-track recorders for me! To make the video, I did need a computer, but the images are all from the fabulous Brendan Kearney. I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think!
And if you’re not familiar with Mr. Schu, you’re missing out. Follow this exemplary librarian – he is the ultimate kidlit mover & shaker.
Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast is available for pre-order now and will be served in bookstores and libraries on September 1!
May 18, 2015
My First Review: May the Syrup Be Ever in Your Flavor!
The last several years have been filled with firsts … and there are certainly more on the way. But my first official review for LADY PANCAKE & SIR FRENCH TOAST appeared today on the Kirkus website. I’ve pasted the review below, but you can see it in its entirety here.
Brace yourself for descriptions of acrobatic rhymes, trippy wonders, illustrations that kick butter, and a comparison to the Hunger Games! (not a joke – I definitely didn’t see that one coming)
I hope you enjoy digging in to the book as much as this Kirkus reviewer did!
May 7, 2015
My First Trip to NYC
I’ve been to New York City before. Many times, actually. With my parents. On school trips. With friends. Twice in college to see Conan. With my wife. But I realized as I got off the train at Penn Station on Monday afternoon that I had never been in New York City alone. It strangely felt like I’d never been before. And I’ve certainly never had an experience quite like the past few days.
I was invited to speak at the Sterling Publishing Sales a Conference this past Tuesday (er, I was invited months ago, but the conference was this past Tuesday, forgive my grammar).
The Sales Conference was not held here, but … Belgian Waffle Bar!
What happens at a sales conference, you ask? This is where the Editorial, Publicity, and Marketing departments of the Publisher reveal the upcoming season’s list of books to the Sales Representatives who will then try to sell those books to bookstores around the U.S. and Canada. And let me tell you, Sterling’s Fall list looks awesome (and I’m not just saying that cause I wrote one of the books on it).
Why was I invited, you might still be wondering? Sterling thought I could get the sales reps excited about LADY PANCAKE & SIR FRENCH TOAST.
Me and the extra large book cover!
After a quick breakfast and some remarks by the editorial director, my editor introduced me with some very kind words. I shared a sneak peak of the book trailer (coming soon, I promise, Mr. Schu), and talked a bit about the book and what some of my marketing/promotional plans might be. And then I got a sneak peak of everything else Sterling is offering this Summer & Fall.
The Sterling Editorial, Marketing, & Publicity team showing off MIND YOUR MONSTERS by Catherine Bailey & Oriol Vidal
At the end of the day, everyone went out for done fancy cocktails (I got a Shirley Temple, just like my editor). At a luxurious dinner (where I should note there were zero children), I got a chance to chat with many of the sales folks, about breakfast foods, kids books, and everything else. I met Jeff Anderson, author of the forthcoming middle grade from Sterling, ZACK DELACRUZ: ME AND MY BIG MOUTH. And got to hang out with many of the the other book creators on the Sterling team.
But the remarkable thing was that people treated me like I was something special. In all seriousness, this was strange. A good strange, but I never thought anything I would do or say would be worth paying attention to.
(I mean I think everything I do and say is worth paying attention to, but until now, nobody else ever seemed to feel that way).
Click to view slideshow.
I keep thinking how fortunate I am to have found perfect homes for three of my manuscripts, connected with a great agent, and made all these friends along the way. This whole ride just seems so surreal. But I’m not saying I’d trade it in.
It’s strange, and might even be crazy. But it’s crazy awesome.
April 19, 2015
My Top Read-Aloud Picture Books of 2014
Hi, friends! In case you missed it (and if you did, see Colby Sharp’s post right here), the authors and illustrators of the 2015 E. B. White Read-Aloud Picture Book Award & Honor books are all dudes. I read some excellently awesome Read-Aloud Picture Books last year myself, and I’d like to add some of those to the mix (in no particular order):
Josh Funk’s Top Read-Aloud Picture Books of 2014
Backhoe Joe written by Lori Alexander & illustrated by Craig Cameron
Baking Day at Grandma’s written by Anika Denise & illustrated by Christopher Denise
Cock-a-Doodle Oops! written by Lori Degman & illustrated by Deborah Zemke
Crankenstein written by Samantha Berger & illustrated by Dan Santat
Duck, Duck, Moose written by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen & illustrated by Noah Z. Jones
Edgar’s Second Word written by Audrey Vernick & illustrated by Priscilla Burris
Found written & illustrated by Salina Yoon
Frances Dean Who Loved to Dance and Dance written & illustrated by Birgita Sif
Froodle written & illustrated by Antoinette Portis
Gaston by written by Kelly DiPucchio & illustrated by Christian Robinson
Happy Birthday, Madame Chapeau written by Andrea Beaty & illustrated by David Roberts
I Am Cow, Hear Me Moo written by Jill Esbaum & illustrated by Gus Gordon
The Jacket written by Kristen Hall & illustrated by Dasha Tolstikova
Louise Loves Art written & illustrated by Kelly Light
Maple written & illustrated by Lori Nichols
Nana in the City written & illustrated by Lauren Castillo
Ninja Red Riding Hood written by Corey Rosen Schwartz & illustrated by Dan Santat
One Big Pair of Underwear by Laura Gehl & illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
Orangutangled written by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen & illustrated by Aaron Zenz
A Piece of Cake written & illustrated by LeUyen Pham
Sparky written by Jenny Offil & illustrated by Chris Applehans
Tap Tap Boom Boom written by Elizabeth Bluemle & illustrated by G. Brian Karas
There Was a Wee Lassie Who Swallowed a Midgie written by Rebecca Colby & illustrated by Kate McLelland
This Orq. (He Cave Boy.) written by David Elliott & illustrated by Lori Nichols
Uni the Unicorn written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & illustrated by Brigette Barrager
Very Little Red Riding Hood written by Teresa Heapy & illustrated by Sue Heap
Viva Frida written & illustrated by Yuyi Morales
You Are (Not) Small written by Anna Kang & illustrated by Christopher Weyant
What are your favorite Read-Aloud Picture Books published in 2014?
April 9, 2015
Happy International Rhyming Picture Book Day!
Today��I declare that from this day forward��April 9th shall henceforth be known as International Rhyming Picture Book Day!
Why Rhyming Picture Books? As April is National Poetry Month (and has been since 1996 as declared by the Academy of American Poets), and Rhyming is one small sliver of poetry, I think 1 out of the 30 days in April should be dedicated explicitly to Rhyming Picture Books. It also happens to coincide with Angie Karcher’s RhyPiBoMo (Rhyming Picture Book Month) for writers of rhyming texts.
Why International? Because I kind of like Canada, too.
Why April 9th? No particular reason.
So celebrate International Rhyming Picture Book Day with me today! Read a Rhyming Picture Book (or two, or twelve). Buy one at your local book store or take one out of your library! Read one to a child. Or whisper one to your dog.
How will you celebrate International Rhyming Picture Book Day (#IRPBD)?
What’s your favorite Rhyming Picture Book?
March 9, 2015
Cover Reveal for Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast
It’s a mere 176 days until LADY PANCAKE & SIR FRENCH TOAST is released (who’s counting?), but today I can share with you the cover:
In addition, Margie Myers-Culver interviewed both me and Brendan Kearney, the book’s illustrator. It’s my first interview ever! Don’t miss it! And I’d like to thank��all the folks at Sterling Publishing for all their hard work and support! I love the cover! What do you think?
In addition, you can now pre-order the book from indiebound and other retailers, if you’d like (more info at my website http://www.joshfunkbooks.com).
February 9, 2015
I’m Heading to nErDcamp 2015
This summer, on Monday, July 6th and Tuesday, July 7th, I’ll be attending nErDcamp 2015 in Parma, Michigan. Founded by Colby Sharp, his wife, and the Nerdy Book Club, nErDcamp is an��(un)conference with a focus on literacy in learning along with over a few dozen authors & illustrators, hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of teachers, librarians, educators, book lovers, readers, and students.
If you’d like to register for nErDcamp, click here. Don’t miss out on the 5k Nerd Run and nErDcampJr. I can’t wait to meet up with all my #NerdyBookClub friends!
January 21, 2015
How to Pre-Order a Pancake
Normally I wouldn’t recommend ordering pancakes 7+ months in advance, but in this case … MY FIRST BOOK IS UP ON AMAZON!!! How cool is that?!?!? And check out the awesome summary the folks at Sterling��posted for it!
I now have an author page and an ISBN (978-1454914044) and��a cover:
(oh, wait, that’s not the cover … that’ll come soon…)
But you don’t need to pre-order yet! I’d personally recommend waiting a few months and then pre-ordering from your local book store.
That’s all for now!
January 14, 2015
New Website: JoshFunkBooks.com
Hey, all! Brand new for 2015, I’ve gone out (or rather, sat at my computer) and put together a new author website for myself at www.joshfunkbooks.com:
I’ll still be using this WordPress site as a blog, but the new site (which I created myself with Wix) has a lot of fun features. I’ve also added a mailing list which you can join from the��new site, if you’d like to sign up for special top secret news and get the early scoop on things related to my books.
Happy 2015!
December 29, 2014
Books I Dug from 2014
I was challenged to (or maybe it was simply suggested that I) share my favorite books from 2014 by Kellee & Ricki of Unleashing Readers. Check out Ricki’s choices here. The following are a handful of my favorites – some that were published in 2014 others that I simply didn’t discover until 2014. They are listed in no particular order.
El Deafo by Cece Bell – best book of the year.
My Teacher is a Monster (No I Am Not) by Peter Brown – rivals The Curious Garden as my favorite of his books.
The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat – fingers crossed as award season nears.
City Cat by Kate Banks & Lauren Castillo – my introduction to LC’s wonderful world of illustration.
One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt – LMH is a literary force.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle – apparently it was a book first.
Herman and Rosie by Gus Gordon – would have equaled Caldecott if GG were American.
Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot Series by Dav Pilkey & Dan Santat – newly re-illustrated versions are fabulous.
A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff – NBC’s Heroes went so downhill after season 1.
Platypus Police Squad Series by Jarrett J. Krosoczka – between these and Lunch Lady and Comics Squad, JJK signed 13 books for me my kids in one sitting.
There are probably loads of others I’m forgetting, but I’ll go with these ten for now. What were your favorite books from 2014?
What books are you most looking forward to in 2015? (hint: the answer should involve breakfast foods)
[oh, and happy 40th anniversary, mom & dad]
