Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,200 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 37 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

It’s time for another wonderful interview. This time the interviewee is author Lisa Wheeler. I had the good fortune of attending one of her recent Picture Book Boot Camps, a one-day inclusive workshop for picture book writers. It was a great experience. She really knows her stuff. She ought to, she’s had many books of her own published. The three pictured above are a small sampling of some of my favorites. Enjoy the interview!

Interview with Author Lisa Wheeler (11/2/2011)

Q. Why do you like to write children’s picture books and how did you get started?

LW. Like most writers, I’d been writing all my life. But it wasn’t until 1995 that I felt the desire to be published. I began sending my work out and gathering my rejections. It took nearly 4 years and 225 rejections before I ever sold a book. In the meantime, my writing had been improving and I was learning what makes a good children’s story. I’d had some success in children’s magazines and also did a freelance job writing very tight stories for the educational market. This was all a very helpful education. No one I knew had the internet when I began doing this. It wasn’t until 1997 that we decided to try it out. That was when I began meeting other writers, forming critique groups, and I learned about SCBWI. I do think I learned more in 6 months after joining SCBWI than I was able to find out on my own in the years prior to that. I sold One Dark Night—my first sale—on Oct. 30, 1998.

Q. I really like your book One Dark Night. How did you come up with the idea for that one?

LW. It’s hard to recall. That book started with wordplay and scribbles on a piece of paper. I was at work and on my clipboard I had written In a wee little house/in a wee little hole/lived a wee little mouse/ and a wee little mole. At the time I wrote that, I just liked the way it sounded and had no idea where the story would go. This was back in 1998, so I cannot recall how I figured out the rest of the story.

Q. You have written several books, any favorites?

LW. You know I can’t pick a favorite! The books are like my kids, if I pick a favorite, they’ll fight. My house would be full of imaginary fur and feathers. But like my kids, my books are each good at different things. For instance, my favorites to read aloud are Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum, Sixteen Cows, Jazz Baby, Ugly Pie, and the dino-sports series. The characters I like to spend time with are Sailor Moo, Cushion the porcupine, and Fitch and Chip. I think my funniest books are Turk and Runt and Spinster Goose. For each of my books, I have a different reason for it to be a favorite.

Q. What are you working on right now?

LW. I am working on the 6^th book in the dino-sports series, Dino-Wrestling.  I am also preparing for another Picture Book Boot Camp, which is my one day intensive workshop on picture book writing.

Q. Who are your favorite picture book authors?

LW. Phyllis Root, Brock Cole, and Kevin Henkes

Q. Where can fans go to learn more about you and your books?

LW. www.lisawheelerbooks.com

Q. Any closing thoughts?

LW. Writing picture books for children is my dream come true. It took lots of years and lots of hard work, but I feel as if I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing with my life. If you have a passion, back it up with hard work, surround yourself with supportive people, and be willing to ‘put yourself out there for rejection’, you will be following your dreams. Getting paid to do a job you would do for free—icing on the cake!

That Pup!  is perfect for the youngest picture book enthusiasts. The text is simple. The illustrations are big and bright (my favorite kind). And the main characters are a puppy and a squirrel. The story is fun. The darling puppy digs up all of the squirrel’s acorns, much to the squirrel’s dismay (he was storing them for the winter). After the squirrel tells the puppy that the acorns are his, the puppy and the squirrel play a new game-hide the acorns. This is a great book for fall or anytime of the year.

Gibbus Moony Wants to Bite You! is for children who are a little bit older, around four to eight years old. I like this one for Halloween. It’s about a vampire child and his vampire family. Don’t worry, it’s not at all scary. These vampires eat fruits and vegetables. This book would be a great tool if you have a biter in the family. It will help teach your little “vampire” that biting people (and household items) is not appropriate, but biting food sure is. The text and the colorful illustrations are humorous. This book is a lot of fun.   

At the end of the rainbow there’s a magical place

that transcends time and compresses all space.

Do you know what’s there?

Care to venture a guess?

I’ll give you a clue,

it’s not a skirt or a dress.

It isn’t pants or underwear.

And you won’t find shorts or blouses there.

No coats, no ties, no belts, no vests.

No shoes, no hats, no suits well pressed.

What remains? Have you figured out

what’s deposited by the magical spout?

It’s a great big pile of rainbow loot 

that traveled along the rainbow chute.

It isn’t shining coins or sparkling diamond rocks.

Straight from your laundry room it’s…

Scroll Down

Keep Going

Almost There

Just a Little Bit Further 

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Frog,

You Are Lost In The Fog.

You Need To Glow,

Shine Your Light.

Make It Shine,

With All Your Might.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Frog,

You Found Your Way Out Of The Fog.

Now you try rhyming!