Chris Van Dusen's Blog, page 3

Sorry! My Calendar is Full

I still receive school visit requests almost daily, so I thought I’d post it here that unfortunately my schedule is full for the 2016-17 school year. Sorry! Things filled up very quickly this year. Therefore, I’m not taking on any new school visits until the 2017-18 school year.

If you’d like to book a future school visit, please contact me at the end of this school year, or late May/early June.

Thanks! 

Next Event

If you stopped by The Owl & Turtle Bookshop this last weekend, thank you. The signing was a big success and I met some very nice people. It was a really fun event. But if you missed it and you’re in the Camden, Maine area on Sunday, August 21st at 1:00 PM, I’ll be having another signing at Sherman’s on Main Street and this one will be a blast!

I’ll be joined by my friends and fellow author/illustrators Kara LaReau and Matt Myers. They will be singing their new chapter book that Kara wrote and Matt illustrated called The Infamous Ratsos. I haven’t had the chance to read it yet, but Kara’s a terrific writer and Matt’s amazing, so it promises to be a great series. I’ll be signing the latest Tales From Deckawoo Drive book, Where Are You Going, Baby Lincoln? by Kate DiCamillo and I’m sure we’ll all be signing some of our other titles as well.

So please stop by if you’re in the area. We’d love to see you!

“Baby” Book Launch

I hope you’ll join me this Saturday at The Owl & Turtle Bookshop on Bayview Street in Camden from 10-12 where I’ll be signing  the latest book in the Tales From Deckawoo Drive series, Where Are You Going, Baby Lincoln?

This Mercy Watson spinoff series is written by Kate DiCamillo and I was lucky enough to illustrate it. This story features the younger of the Lincoln sisters, Baby, who’s finally had enough of her older sister Eugenia bossing her around. So she sets off on a “necessary journey“. It’s a beautiful story, incredibly written and very touching. If you get the chance, check it out.

See you Saturday!

My Summer Schedule

Someone sent me a nice note recently and asked me if I would list the events I have planned for this summer. Since I don’t have any new books out this spring, and since the next Tales from Deckawoo Drive won’t be released until August 2nd, my schedule is pretty light. It mostly consists of library visits. Here’s what I have coming up:

Fri. June 17th, 2 PM – South Paris Library, S. Paris, ME
Wed. June 22nd, 6:30 PM – Jay-Niles Memorial Library, Jay, ME
Sat. June 25th, 12-2 PM – Reading & Signing, Freeport Historical Society, Freeport ME
Tues. July 26th, 3:30 PM – Skowhegan Library visit at Lake George State Park, Canaan, ME
Sat. August 6th, 10-12 PM – Book launch, Owl & Turtle Bookshop, Camden, ME
Sun. August 21st, 1 PM – Signing, Sherman’s, Camden, ME

 

If anything else comes up, I’ll be sure to add it to this list. As always, I hope to see you at one of these events.

Happy Summer!

New HOUSE Prints

In a past post titled “House Help”, I asked your assistance in picking images from If I Built a House for a couple new prints I planned to offer for sale. Well, the votes are in and so are the prints. The winners are the Racetrack Room and the Fish Tank Room. You can check them out on the “Prints” page.

Thanks for your help!

Cape AuthorFest 2016

If you find yourself in or near Cape Elizabeth, Maine this Saturday, (April 9th) I hope you’ll stop by the high school for AuthorFest. On hand will be over 70 authors and illustrators to sign your books, which will be available for sale, thanks to Bull Moose. The event runs from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM and will include break out sessions with various authors who will read their books and answer your questions. If it’s anything like last year, it should be a great time.

I really hope to see you there!

House Help

A few people have asked me lately if I have prints available from If I Built a House.  Currently I don’t, but I’m thinking I might add a couple to my Prints page. Here’s where I need your help. If you have a second and you’ve seen the book, please send me a note with your top two choices for illustrations you’d like to see offered as prints. Don’t worry, I won’t hold you to these and you certainly don’t have to buy anything. That’s not the point. I’d just like to hear what two illustrations are your favorites from If I Built a House.

Thanks so much in advance!

Royal Checkout

This afternoon I stopped by my local library, the Camden Public Library, and Miss Amy, our fabulous children’s librarian, informed me that King Hugo’s Huge Ego was the number one most checked out children’s picture book for 2015. Strange since that book came out four years ago. Maybe it’s because big egos are currently in the news! But I guess I’m in good company because Rick Riordan’s The Blood of Olympus was the most checked out YA novel.

If King Hugo heard this he might say, “Tis no wonder everyone loves me, I’m HUGE!”

Anyway, thank you for all the nice notes this year. I really enjoyed hearing from you. I wish you all a very Happy New Year. Have Fun and Stay Safe!

What’s Coming Up

A few people have asked me lately when my next book will be coming out. It has been a while! For the last two years (2014 and 2015) I’ve only released one book per year, and those are the first two books in the Tales From Deckawoo Drive series written by Kate DiCamillo. And yet it seems like I’m busier than ever – so busy in fact, that I’ve had to put school visits on hold until I finish up some of these projects. So here’s a list of what I’ve been working on and what’s coming up.

- This summer I finished up the artwork for a picture book written by Lisa Wheeler. It’s a fun rhyming book titled Even Monsters Need to Sleep. It will be published by Balzer+Bray and it will be released in the fall of 2016.

- Currently I’m working on the illustrations for the third Tales From Deckawoo Drive book. This one features Baby Lincoln and it’s a terrific story. It actually brings me to tears each time I read it. It will be published by Candlewick Press and come out in the fall of 2016.

- After that, I’ll finish up the illustrations for my next book, a story I wrote called Hattie & Hudson. I have about 2/3rds of the illustrations completed but I had to set it aside to work on the two books I just mentioned. I’m very excited about this story. It’s the first time I’ve written a story with a female main character, in this case a girl named Hattie. It’s also my first attempt at writing a non-rhyming story. I actually wrote it originally in verse (in fact I wrote it several times in rhyme!) but after multiple rewrites I realized it really would work better in prose. It’s a 40 page picture book that will be published by Candlewick. It’s scheduled to be released in the spring of 2017.

- I also have to fit another picture book project in my already crowded schedule. Unfortunately I can’t tell you much about this title but it’s a book I didn’t write. I’m just the illustrator. I’m not sure I’m going to meet the deadline on this one so I’m uncertain when it will actually be published. Right now it’s scheduled for a spring 2017 release.

-The last two books I have to illustrate are: a follow-up to Even Monsters Need to Sleep and the fourth Tales From Deckawoo Drive book, but I have no idea when these are due or when they will come out.

Stay tuned!

 

This Weekend!

I have two appearances this holiday season and they both happen this weekend. Here are the details:

On Saturday the 5th, I will be joining Scott Nash to celebrate Take Your Children to a Bookstore Day! It happens at 10:00 AM at Longfellow Books in Portland, Maine. For more info, please visit their website – longfellowbooks.com. It should be a lot of fun!

And on Sunday the 6th, I will be at the Ho Ho Holiday Children’s Book Fair at the Camden Public Library in Camden, Maine from 2:00-4:00 PM. Thirteen author/illustrators will be on hand to sign books and chat with friends. This will be a great opportunity to pick up some personalized Christmas presents. For more information on this event, including a list of attending authors, please visit librarycamden.org.

Wishing you all a happy holiday season and I hope I see you soon!