R.I.P.

Taking a moment to acknowledge the passing of Barack Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, also known as “Toots”. May she rest in peace.

The Dancing Shoeshine Boy

My first Korean book is out now! Before BIRD, I worked on a picture book for Tantani Media in Seoul, Korea. The book was scheduled to debut two years ago. At one point I didn’t think it would see the light of day, but it is alive and well at Tantani. I’m not sure how … Read more

Brinton Turkle

So, I came across this wonderful book called THE BOY WHO DIDN’T BELIEVE IN SPRING. It is written by Lucille Clifton, and illustrated by Brinton Turkle. Brinton Turkle was born 15 August 1915, in Alliance, Ohio, the son of Edgar Harold (a funeral director) and Ada (Cassaday) Turkle. He attended Carnegie Institute of Technology (now … Read more

Booklist Reviews BIRD

Check out the Nov. 1st issue of Booklist to see a lovely review of BIRD 🙂 “In this beautiful picture book for older readers, Elliott and Strickland tell a moving story in spare free verse and clear mixed-media pictures of an African American boy who loves to draw. At first Bird’s mentor is his older … Read more

Congratulations Bean!

I’d like to send a special congratulations out to our good friend, Jonathan Bean for being chosen as this year’s Boston Globe-Horn Book award winner for his picture book, AT NIGHT. You can hear his acceptance speech here.

A WISH AFTER MIDNIGHT

One of the fun things about being in the NYC book business is getting to work with creative people directly. Here is a cover design that I designed with Zetta Elliott. It is for her young adult novel, A WISH AFTER MIDNIGHT. You can see this and other work by Zetta here.