Chris Van Dusen's Blog, page 9

Happy Birthday, Robert McCloskey!

Today is Robert McCloskey's birthday. He would have been 96 today.

Robert McCloskey tops my list of favorite children's book illustrators of all time. His drawings are simply perfect. His line work is so confident that his illustrations appear effortless. He masterfully captured gesture and mood  in every picture. He only wrote and illustrated eight books, but of that eight, two won the Caldecott Medal (Make Way for Ducklings in 1941 and Time of Wonder in 1957) and two received  Caldecott...

Found!

UPDATE- the Van Dusen Cache has been found! A couple of days ago I received a nice note from a retired first grade teacher named Cynthia. She told me she found my cache, but the book was gone. Apparently she wasn't the first one there. Boy, that was quick!

Thanks Cynthia, for letting me know.

I'm a Cache!

Recently, I gave a talk at the Bridgton Public Library in Bridgton, Maine. Afterwards, I had a book signing for the people who attended. Now, I've signed books for kids, college students, parents, unborn babies, first ladies, fellow authors and just about anyone else you can think of, but I NEVER signed a book like the one I signed that afternoon.

A nice woman named Alison approached the table and asked me if I'd sign a book for her cache. I must have had a puzzled look on my face because...

Sage Tells a Story

Not long ago, a nice family sent me this link to a YouTube video they posted. In it, their daughter Sage (age 5) does a FANTASTIC job reciting "The Circus Ship". Check it out! And thank you so much Sage.

Mr. Magee Rides (or Skis) Again!

Today I'm shipping off the last of the artwork for my next book, Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee. The publisher is Chronicle Books and it will be released this Fall/Winter.

It's always a good feeling to finish up a book and send it off, but a lot of people don't realize that it takes nearly a year from the time I send in the finals to when the book is released! Most children's picture books are printed in Asia (usually China, Singapore or Hong Kong) and to send the artwork overseas for...

Happy New Year!

At the end of the year I always like to read the "Top 10″ lists that pop up in magazines, newspapers and on websites. I'm particularly interested in the "Best Children's Books", so I thought I'd take a crack at my own list and highlight some of my favorite children's books of 2009. Here are a few that stood out for me:

Billy Twitters and his Blue Whale Problems by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Adam Rex – This book is a wonderful combination of informative reporting and wacky storytelling. Plus A...

The Return of Mr. Magee!

Every few days I receive a note from someone having trouble finding the Mr. Magee books, especially A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee. I really appreciate you taking the time to write to me, and I apologize that you've had such a hard time. Camping Spree did indeed go out of print for awhile, but I have good news to report – both Magee books will be reprinted in hardcover by Chronicle Books, and they'll be available in January! For those of you who wrote, I forwarded your e-mails to Chronicle...

My Fall Schedule

I'm so excited to hit the road to promote my new book, The Circus Ship! I really look forward to meeting new friends along the way. Hopefully, I'll see you soon! Here's my schedule for upcoming book signings and appearances:

Saturday, November 21st – Flying Pig Bookstore, Shelburne, Vermont – 4:00 PM

Sunday, November 22nd – Northshire Books, Manchester, Vermont – 1:00 PM

Saturday, November 28th – The Book Cellar, Waterville, Maine – 10:00 AM

Saturday, December 5th – Kennebooks, Kennebunk, Maine

The Exquisite Corpse Adventure

If you're a fan of children's literature you owe it to yourself to visit www.read.gov. When you get there, click on The Exquisite Corpse Adventure and the Read it box until the story comes up. Then get ready for a unique adventure!

The Exquisite Corpse Adventure (ECA) is not as morbid as it sounds. It's named after an old parlor game where one person would write a sentence on a piece of paper, fold it over and pass it on to the next person who would write another sentence and so on until the p...

The Circus Ship Sets Sail!

I'm happy to report that my latest book, The Circus Ship, was published this week by Candlewick Press. Here's one of the illustrations from the book.

 

If you've seen the book, I'd love to hear what you think. You can drop me a line through the form on the Contact page. Thanks!