Some kids absolutely love the freedom of playing with line, shape, and color without trying to make their art look like something realistic. Others may have a hard time letting go of the concrete, or of ways of drawing familiar shapes like hearts or stars that they have been taught.

This free, downloadable class introduces kids to some famous abstract artists, and to some of the basic elements of design: line, shape, and color.  It includes a game and a simple,  name-based painting project that makes abstract art and color theory accessible to elementary age kids (or preschoolers with a bit of help from an adult) 

CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF: 

If your house is anything like mine, there is a lot of screen time going on right now. Screens for school, screens for work, screens for fun, screens because you are stuck inside while it is sleeting in April and there is nowhere to go.  I wanted to share some ideas with you that I've created over years of teaching art to kids for ways to unplug and tap into the creative process.  All of us can use these - even myself!  After long days of working on digital illustration I can feel disconnected from the world.  Some hands-on crafting reconnects me to the playful side of art making. 

I've chosen to create these in pdf form instead of making a video because I feel overwhelmed by all of the (fantastic) educational videos and online events being created right now. Sometimes what we all need is to slow down, unplug, and do a home scavenger hunt through our recycling. 

Feel free to download or print this first "class."  Please credit my work and link to it here if you share.

Click on the image below to view pdf: 

In honor of World Poetry Day - check out the cover of NO VOICE TO SMALL: FOURTEEN YOUNG AMERICANS MAKING HISTORY on Here Wee Read!    

Written by Christine McDonnell, and illustrated by myself, WHEN THE BABIES CAME TO STAY is coming March 24 from Viking.  Here are some advance reviews of the book: 

"Charming pastel illustrations, which are digitally painted, vary from vignettes to single pages and spreads, revealing the cozy living arrangements. Life above the library, sleeping in cribs made from lobster traps, and learning about all the wonders of the island combine to create an idyllic childhood. VERDICT This delightful tale is the embodiment of the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child.”
–Maryann H. Owen, Oak Creek Public Library WI School Library Journal 

"This is a lovely story about family and about a community that welcomes in four little babies in need of a home. The soft illustrations are a perfect match for the gentle text -this will be a wonderful story to snuggle up with and share with little ones."  
- Sandy Scott at Galaxy Bookshop 

“An absolutely charming and timely story about the power of community, accepting those who need help, building the family you need, and welcoming new people into our lives regardless of where they came from or how they got there. Combined with beautiful illustrations, WHEN THE BABIES CAME TO STAY will make a powerful addition to any storytime this spring.”
- Beth Seufer Buss from Bookmarks

I had the privilege of chatting with Corrina Allen on All the Wonders This Week about new releases in picture books and graphic novels, what we've been reading, and thoughts on books that make us hungry and soft censorship in schools. 

Austrian, J. J., and Mike Curato. 2016. Worm loves Worm. First edition. ed. New York, N. Y.: Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers. 
Brannen, Sarah S. 2008. Uncle Bobby's wedding. 1 vols. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
Costello, David. 2017. Little Pig saves the ship. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge. 
Crum, Shutta, and Patrice Barton. 2015. Uh-oh! First edition. ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 
DePaola, Tomie. 1979. Oliver Button is a sissy. 1st ed. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Engel, Christiane, and Kate DePalma. 2017. Baby's first words. Cambridge, MA: Barefoot Books. 
Fogliano, Julie, and Christopher Raschka. 2016. Old dog baby baby. First edition. ed. New York: Roaring Brook Press. 
Haan, Linda de, and Stern Nijland. 2002. King & King. 1 vols. Berkeley: Tricycle Press.
Hall, Michael. 2015. Red : a crayon's story. First Edition. ed. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers. 
Herthel, Jessica, Jazz Jennings, and Shelagh McNicholas. 2014. I am Jazz! New York, New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.
Kushner, Elisabeth, and Mike Byrne. 2013. The Purim superhero. 1 vols. Minneapolis: Kar-Ben Pub.
Lambert, Megan Dowd. 2015. Reading picture books with children : how to shake up storytime and get kids talking about what they see. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
Lambert, Megan Dowd, and David Costello. 2015. A crow of his own. 1 vols. Watertown, Mass.: Charlesbridge.
Lambert, Megan Dowd, and Jessica Lanan. 2019. A kid of their own. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge. 
Lambert, Megan Dowd, and Nicole Tadgell. 2016. Real sisters pretend. Thomaston, Maine: Tilbury House Publishers.
Loney, Andrea J. 2017. Bunnybear. Albert Whitman & Company
Love, Jessica. 2018. Julián is a mermaid. First edition. ed. Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press. 
Maranville, Amy, and Tim Palin. 2017. Harini & Padmini say namaste, Bharat babies L2. Herndon, VA: Mascot Books. 
Miller, Pat Zietlow, and Jen Hill. 2018. Be kind. First edition. ed. New York: Roaring Brook Press. 
Newman, Leslea, and Carol Thompson. 2009a. Mommy, mama, and me. 1 vols, My family tree. Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press.
Newman, Lesléa, and Russell Crocker. 1991. Gloria goes to Gay Pride. 1st ed. Boston, Mass.: Alyson Wonderland.
Newman, Lesléa, and Mike Dutton. 2011. Donovan's big day. 1st ed. 1 vols. Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press.
Newman, Lesléa, and Maria Mola. 2017. Sparkle boy. First edition. ed. New York: Lee & Low Books Inc.
Newman, Lesléa, and Diana Souza. 1989. Heather has two mommies. Boston, Mass.: Alyson Wonderland.
Newman, Lesléa, and Carol Thompson. 2009b. Daddy, papa, and me. 1 vols. Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press.
O'Leary, Sara, and Qin Leng. 2016. A family is a family is a family. Toronto ; Berkeley: Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press. 
Richardson, Justin, Peter Parnell, and Henry Cole. 2005. And Tango makes three. 1st ed. 1 vols. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
Sanders, Rob, and Jamey Christoph. 2019. Stonewall : the uprising for gay rights. First edition. ed. New York: Random House.
Sanders, Rob, and Steven Salerno. 2018. Pride : the story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag. First edition. ed. New York: Random House.
Sima, Jessie. 2017. Not quite narwhal. First edition. ed. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. 
Sima, Jessie. 2018. Harriet gets carried away. First Edition. ed. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. 
Snyder, Laurel, and Emily Hughes. 2017. Charlie & Mouse. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. still image.
Spanyol, Jessica author artist. Clive and his art; Clive and his babies; Clive and his bags; Clive and his hats; Clive is a librarian. Child's Play International. 2016.
Spanyol, Jessica author artist. Rosa loves dinosaurs; Rosa plays ball; Rosa plays cars; Rosa rides her scooter. Child's Play International. 2018.
Stevenson, Robin. 2019. Pride colors. Custer, WA: Orca Book Publishers.
Thorn, Theresa, and Noah Grigni. 2019. It feels good to be yourself : a book about gender identity. First edition. ed. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Trimmer, Christian, and Madeline Valentine. 2018. Teddy's favorite toy. First edition. ed. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 
Walton, Jessica, and Dougal MacPherson. 2016. Introducing Teddy : a gentle story about gender and friendship. New York: Bloomsbury. 
Zolotow, Charlotte, and William Pène du Bois. 1972. William's doll. New York,: Harper & Row.

Many great authors and illustrators are going to be at Kidlitcon (Hotel Providence, Matthewson St, downtown), and both days (March 22 and 23)  the public is invited to come meet them free of charge from 4-6 pm.  Barrington Books will be on hand to sell books for most of the authors (and will take credit cards), and some will be sold by the authors themselves.
Here are the authors/illustrators who will be at the conference Friday:
LeUyen Pham
Kimberly Newton Fusco
Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Padma Venkatraman
Rebecca Caprara
Laurie Smith Murphy
Anita Sanchez
Jason Viola
Heidi Fiedler
Sara Levine
Lisa Carroll
Krista Aronson
Lisa Rogers
Emma Otheguy
Lauren Neil
Jannie Ho
Gaia Cornwall
Alison Goldberg
Gina Perry
Traci Sorell
Michelle Cusolito
Sarah Lynne Reul
Jeanette Bradley
Christy Mihaly
Padma Venkatraman
Lyn Miller-Lachmann
Kip Wilson
Chris Tebbetts
Megan Dowd Lambert
Andrea Loney
Christian Trimmer
Jeanette Bradley
And here’s who will be there Saturday:
Debbi Michiko Florence
Kara LaReau
Megan Frazer Blakemore
David. A. Kelly
Jarrett Lerner
Zetta Elliott
Anna Meriano
Alex Graudins
LeUyen Pham
Ann Braden
Paula Chase
Barbara Dee
Varian Johnson
Jo Knowles
Anika Denise
Josh Funk
Lee Wind
Christopher Denise
Cindy Rodriguez
Sheela Chari
Erin Dionne
Diana Renn
Tui T. Sutherland
Antoine Revoy
David Neilsen
Nancy Tupper Ling
Isabel Roxas
Oge Mora
Janet Costa Bates
Kirsten Cappy
And more–other authors who aren’t speaking at the conference, but who plan to be signing include
Joshua Levy, Anne O’Brien Carelli, Kirsti Call, and Carol Gordon Ekster, and all authors who register at Kidlitcon have been invited to be part of the book signing too!
So do pop into Hotel Providence on either, or both, evenings!
139 Mathewson Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02903

(reposted from KidLitCon) 

So pleased to announce this forthcoming anthology that I get to work on alongside the fabulous writers Keila V. Dawson and Lindsay H. Metcalf, with the amazing Karen Boss of Charlesbridge.