Diana Magnuson: The Interview!

Diana Magnuson's snowflake was highlighted in the beginning of November. For more information on the snowflake auction, Robert's Snow, go here.

Diana agreed to an interview, so here is some additional insight into Diana's work, her process, and her snowflake. She reveals what the faerie is holding; and she gives the best answer, ever, to my stock question: what is your pop culture area of expertise!

Liz B: I blog not just about books; but about how important story is in our lives. What children's book or children's book illustrator has most inspired you?

Diana: Gennady Spirin inspired me. The Russian trained artists have amazing compositions.

Liz B: How did you get involved with Robert's Snow?

Diana: They contacted my online writers/illustrators group (PicBookArts) and asked for volunteers.

Liz B: What inspired your snowflake?

Diana: I wanted to do something 3-dimensional and love drawing fairies, elves, trolls...and stuck an earring of mine on there as I lost the other one.

Liz B: Could you tell us something about your most recent book, Home on the Range?

Diana: It hasn't really got a strong story line as it's an American heritage song. I had photos from Dayton Hyde's ranch in the Dakotas that rescues mustangs for the background. He actually grew up in our house by Lake Superior. He's a writer. The illustrations show a non-traditional family on a cattle drive. It's quite subtle but the little boy is learning to ride throughout.

Liz B: I also blog about pop culture. What is your "pop culture" area of expertise?

Diana: Mind-body health, organic foods, tai chi.....

Liz B: Thanks, Diana!

Robert's Snow: Week Five

As you know if you've been visiting any children's book blogs for the past few weeks, Robert's Snow is an online auction that benefits Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Over 200 children's book illustrators have created art on individual snowflake-shaped wooden templates. The snowflakes will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to cancer research. You can view all of the 2007 snowflakes here. Jules and Eisha from Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast have found a way for bloggers to help with this effort, by blogging about individual illustrators and their snowflakes. The idea is to drive traffic to the Robert's Snow site so that many snowflakes will be sold, and much money raised to fight cancer. The illustrator profiles have been wonderful so far - diverse and creative and colorful. And there are lots more to go.

Here's the schedule for Week 5, which starts Monday. As previously, this early schedule links to the participating blogs, instead of to the individual posts. You can find links to the posts themselves, and any last-minute updates, each morning at 7-Imp. Jules and Eisha have also set up a special page at 7-Imp containing a comprehensive list of links to the profiles posted so far. Also not to be missed is Kris Bordessa's post summarizing snowflake-related contests to date over at Paradise Found.

Monday, November 12

• John Nez at ChatRabbit


• Liza Woodruff at Check It Out


• Jane Dippold at Just Like the Nut


• Mike Wohnoutka at laurasalas

Tuesday, November 13

• Cynthia Decker at The Silver Lining


• Cecily Lang at Kate's Book Blog


• Jane Dyer at Whimsy Books


• Gutierrez at AmoXcalli and Cuentecitos


• Lee White at Please Come Flying

Wednesday, November 14

• Philomena O'Neill at Jo's Journal


• Maggie Swanson at Chicken Spaghetti


• Timothy Bush at Here in the Bonny Glen


• Peter Emmerich at Loree Griffin Burns: A Life in Books

Thursday, November 15

• Yangsook Choi at What Adrienne Thinks About That


• Laura Jacques at cynthialord's Journal


• Mary Newell Depalma at Wild Rose Reader


• Leanne Franson at Just Like the Nut

Friday, November 16

• Mary Haverfield at Your Neighborhood Librarian


• Lisa Kopelke at Lisa's Little Corner of the Internet


• Salley Mavor at ChatRabbit


• Greg Newbold at The Longstockings


• Elizabeth Sayles at AmoXcalli and Cuentecitos

Saturday, November 17

• Paul Brewer at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy


• Aaron Zenz at Jo's Journal


• Wendy Edelson at What Adrienne Thinks About That


• Joan Waites at Chicken Spaghetti

Sunday, November 18

• Giles Laroche at Book, Book, Book


• Annie Patterson at Check It Out


• Teri Sloat at The Miss Rumphius Effect


• Annette Heiberg at Lisa's Little Corner of the Internet


• Wade Zahares at Wild Rose Reader

Please take time out to visit all of these blogs, and read about these fabulous illustrators. And, if you're so inclined, think about bidding for a snowflake in the Robert's Snow auction. Each snowflake makes a unique gift (for yourself or for someone else), and supports an important cause.

See also the following note from Elaine Magliaro of Wild Rose Reader:

Note to Blog Readers about Blogging for a Cure: When Jules of 7-Imp put out her call in September for bloggers to interview/feature artists who had created snowflakes for Robert’s Snow 2007 at their blogs, a number of artists had not yet sent in their snowflakes to Dana-Farber. As time was of the essence to get Blogging for a Cure underway, we worked with the list of artists whose snowflakes were already in possession of Dana-Farber. Therefore, not all the participating artists will be featured. This in no way diminishes our appreciation for their contributions to this worthy cause. We hope everyone will understand that once the list of artists was emailed to bloggers and it was determined which bloggers would feature which artists at their blogs, a schedule was organized and sent out so we could get to work on Blogging for a Cure ASAP. Our aim is to raise people’s awareness about Robert’s Snow and to promote the three auctions. We hope our efforts will help to make Robert’s Snow 2007 a resounding success.

thanks to Jen Robinson for writing this post and doing all the code!

Robert's Snow: Week Four

As you know if you've been visiting any children's book blogs for the past few weeks, Robert's Snow is an online auction that benefits Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Over 200 children's book illustrators have created art on individual snowflake-shaped wooden templates. The snowflakes will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to cancer research. You can view all of the 2007 snowflakes here. Jules and Eisha from Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast have found a way for bloggers to help with this effort, by blogging about individual illustrators and their snowflakes. The idea is to drive traffic to the Robert's Snow site so that many snowflakes will be sold, and much money raised to fight cancer. The illustrator profiles have been wonderful so far - diverse and creative and colorful. And there are lots more to go.

Here's the schedule for Week 4, which starts Monday. As previously, this early schedule links to the participating blogs, instead of to the individual posts. You can find links to the posts themselves, and any last-minute updates, each morning at 7-Imp. Jules and Eisha have also set up a special page at 7-Imp containing a comprehensive list of links to the profiles posted so far. Also not to be missed is Kris Bordessa's post summarizing snowflake-related contests to date over at Paradise Found.

Monday, November 5

• Ana Alter at The Longstockings



• Laura Huliska Beith at Just One More Book!!



• Cece Bell at Jo's Journal



• Denise Ortakales at cynthialord’s Journal

Tuesday, November 6

• Carol Heyer at The Shady Glade



• Joe Kulka at ChatRabbit



• Steven James Petruccio at Blog From the Windowsill



• Carol Schwartz at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup

Wednesday, November 7

• Jeff Ebbeler at Sam Riddleburger's blog



• Scott Magoon at Just One More Book!!



• Connie McLennan at The Shady Glade
  
  
• Julie Paschkis at the excelsior file

Thursday, November 8

• Genevieve Cote at a wrung sponge



• Linda Graves at Your Neighborhood Librarian



• James Gurney at Charlotte's Library



• Matt Tavares at Please Come Flying

Friday, November 9

• Susan Kathleen Hartung at Wild Rose Reader



• Mary Peterson at Brooklyn Arden



• Annette Simon at Check It Out and Deo Writer



• Melanie Watt at Whimsy Books

Saturday, November 10

• R.W. Alley at at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup



• Jeannie Brett at cynthialord’s Journal



• Daniel Mahoney at Paradise Found and Great Solutions to Team Challenges



• Amy Young at Kate's Book Blog

Sunday, November 11

• Tim Coffey at The Silver Lining



• Elizabeth Dulemba at sruble's world



• Chris Gall at Through the Studio Door



• Amy Schimler > at Please Come Flying

Please take time out to visit all of these blogs, and read about these fabulous illustrators. And, if you're so inclined, think about bidding for a snowflake in the Robert's Snow auction. Each snowflake makes a unique gift (for yourself or for someone else), and supports an important cause.

See also the following note from Elaine Magliaro of Wild Rose Reader:

Note to Blog Readers about Blogging for a Cure: When Jules of 7-Imp put out her call in September for bloggers to interview/feature artists who had created snowflakes for Robert’s Snow 2007 at their blogs, a number of artists had not yet sent in their snowflakes to Dana-Farber. As time was of the essence to get Blogging for a Cure underway, we worked with the list of artists whose snowflakes were already in possession of Dana-Farber. Therefore, not all the participating artists will be featured. This in no way diminishes our appreciation for their contributions to this worthy cause. We hope everyone will understand that once the list of artists was emailed to bloggers and it was determined which bloggers would feature which artists at their blogs, a schedule was organized and sent out so we could get to work on Blogging for a Cure ASAP. Our aim is to raise people’s awareness about Robert’s Snow and to promote the three auctions. We hope our efforts will help to make Robert’s Snow 2007 a resounding success.

Much thanks to The Miss Rumphius Effect for the above post & all the linking.

Robert's Snow: Week Three

As you know if you've been visiting any children's book blogs for the past few weeks, Robert's Snow is an online auction that benefits Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Over 200 children's book illustrators have created art on individual snowflake-shaped wooden templates. The snowflakes will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to cancer research. You can view all of the 2007 snowflakes here. Jules and Eisha from Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast have found a way for bloggers to help with this effort, by blogging about individual illustrators and their snowflakes. The idea is to drive traffic to the Robert's Snow site so that many snowflakes will be sold, and much money raised to fight cancer. The illustrator profiles have been wonderful so far - diverse and creative and colorful. And there are lots more to go.

Here's the schedule for Week 3, which starts Monday. As previously, this early schedule links to the participating blogs, instead of to the individual posts. You can find links to the posts themselves, and any last-minute updates, each morning at 7-Imp. Jules and Eisha have also set up a special page at 7-Imp containing a comprehensive list of links to the profiles posted so far. Also not to be missed is Kris Bordessa's post summarizing snowflake-related contests to date over at Paradise Found.

Monday, October 29

• Dan Santat at Writing and Ruminating



• Joanne Friar at The Longstockings



• Alissa Imre Geis at Wild Rose Reader



• Diane Greenseid at Just One More Book!!



• Sean Qualls at Brooklyn Arden

Tuesday, October 30

• Ann Koffsky at Book Buds



• Bill Carman at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy



• Gretel Parker at Finding Wonderland



• Matt Phelan at A Year of Reading



• Stephanie Roth at Writing with a broken tusk

Wednesday, October 31

• Shawna Tenney at Kate's Book Blog



• Adam Rex at Booktopia and Welcome to my Tweendom



• Mo Willems at MotherReader



• Rolandas Kiaulevicius at a wrung sponge

Thursday, November 1

• Karen Lee at sruble's world



• Diana Magnuson at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy



• Melissa Iwai at Brooklyn Arden



• Victoria Jamieson at AmoXcalli and Cuentecitos



• Molly Idle at The Shady Glade



• Meghan McCarthy at A Fuse #8 Production

Friday, November 2

• Tracy McGuinness-Kelly at Sam Riddleburger's blog



• Sarah Kahn at Kate's Book Blog



• Sylvia Long at Whimsy Books



• Jeremy Tankard at the excelsior file



• Holli Conger at Please Come Flying

Saturday, November 3

• Susan Miller at Your Neighborhood Librarian



• Ellen Beier at What Adrienne Thinks About That



• Hideko Takahashi at The Silver Lining



• Judith Moffat at Jo's Journal



• Wendell Minor at Wild Rose Reader

Sunday, November 4

• Joy Allen at Check It Out



• Robin Brickman at Greetings from Nowhere



• Lauren Stringer at laurasalas



• Nancy Wallace at In the Pages . . .

Please take time out to visit all of these blogs, and read about these fabulous illustrators. And, if you're so inclined, think about bidding for a snowflake in the Robert's Snow auction. Each snowflake makes a unique gift (for yourself or for someone else), and supports an important cause.

See also the following note from Elaine Magliaro of Wild Rose Reader:

Note to Blog Readers about Blogging for a Cure: When Jules of 7-Imp put out her call in September for bloggers to interview/feature artists who had created snowflakes for Robert’s Snow 2007 at their blogs, a number of artists had not yet sent in their snowflakes to Dana-Farber. As time was of the essence to get Blogging for a Cure underway, we worked with the list of artists whose snowflakes were already in possession of Dana-Farber. Therefore, not all the participating artists will be featured. This in no way diminishes our appreciation for their contributions to this worthy cause. We hope everyone will understand that once the list of artists was emailed to bloggers and it was determined which bloggers would feature which artists at their blogs, a schedule was organized and sent out so we could get to work on Blogging for a Cure ASAP. Our aim is to raise people’s awareness about Robert’s Snow and to promote the three auctions. We hope our efforts will help to make Robert’s Snow 2007 a resounding success.

*******

Thanks to Jen Robinson for putting this post together; she wrote and coded it, and I just tweaked it so it would work in blogger. Man, it's nice when the content creates itself...or is created by others. Thanks, Jen!

Robert's Snow Illustrators

Please take time out to visit all of these blogs, and read about these fabulous illustrators. And, if you're so inclined, think about bidding for a snowflake in the Robert's Snow auction. Each snowflake makes a unique gift (for yourself or for someone else), and supports an important cause.

Image used with permission; thanks to The Miss Rumphius Effect for doing all the code. I am participating in the blog project to highlight all illustrators who are involved in the Robert's Snow auction, but mine are later on in the process.

Please note that hundreds of illustrators are participating, and not all illustrators are being highlighted by blogs. See the Wild Rose Reader for an explanation of the process. The main point of Blogging for a Cure is to bring the auction to the attention of more people, so that money can be raised.

And now, this week's schedule:

Monday, October 22

• Rose Mary Berlin at Charlotte’s Library


• Christopher Demarest at Writing and Ruminating


• David Macaulay at Here in the Bonny Glen


• Mark Teague at The Miss Rumphius Effect


• Sharon Vargo at Finding Wonderland

Tuesday, October 23

• Carin Berger at Chasing Ray


• Sophie Blackall at not your mother’s bookclub


• Erik Brooks at Bildungsroman


• Marion Eldridge at Chicken Spaghetti


• Brian Lies at Greetings from Nowhere

Wednesday, October 24

• Sheila Bailey at lizjonesbooks


• Frank Dormer at What Adrienne Thinks About That


• Elisa Kleven at Big A, little a


• Jimmy Pickering at Shaken & Stirred


• Consie Powell at Becky’s Book Reviews

Thursday, October 25

• Margaret Chodos-Irvine at readergirlz


• Julia Denos at Interactive Reader


• Rebecca Doughty at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy (that's me!)


• Brian Floca at A Fuse #8 Production

Friday, October 26

• Margot Apple at Jo’s Journal


• Juli Kangas at Sam Riddleburger


• Ginger Nielson at MISS O's SCHOOL LIBRARY


• David Ezra Stein at Hip Writer Mama

Saturday, October 27

• Sarah Dillard at The Silver Lining


• Julie Fromme Fortenberry at Your Neighborhood Librarian


• John Hassett at cynthialord’s Journal


• Abigail Marble at Please Come Flying

Sunday, October 28

• Barbara Garrison at Brooklyn Arden


• Kelly Murphy at ChatRabbit


• Ashley Wolff at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy (yep, that's me!)

Blogging For A Cure

Last month, Robert Mercer, Grace Lin's husband, died. He had battled cancer for several years. Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast has this post, explaining a bit about an upcoming fundraiser:

By now, you have probably read the very sad news of the death of Robert Mercer, Grace Lin’s husband, at the end of last month, due to cancer.

You may remember from our May ’07 interview with Grace that she was the driving force behind the Robert’s Snow: for Cancer’s Cure fundraising effort after Robert was initially diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma and after writing Robert’s Snow (Viking Books; 2004) soon after that diagnosis. The fundraising effort entailed the auctioning off of special snowflakes, created by children’s book illustrators, whom Grace had gathered together in the name of raising money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). The auction raised a great deal of money in its first year after the publication of this book, which features these illustrators, many of them award-winning, and their creatively and uniquely designed wood snowflakes for the cause. One hundred percent of the royalties from the book’s sale went to the DFCI to support sarcoma research. Robert’s Snow is in its third year and has already raised more than $200,000 for Dana-Farber. (You can see the 2005 snowflakes here).

This year, more than 200 well-known children’s book illustrators from around the world have been given a five-inch wooden snowflake to decorate at will. Like actual snowflakes, each design is unique. The 2007 online auctions for bidding on these hand-painted snowflakes will take place in three separate auctions, open to everyone, from November 19 to 23, November 26-30, and December 3-7. You can read here for more information.

Jules goes on to explain how we in the blogosphere can help make this auction a success:

What we in the kidlitosphere community want to do to help drive traffic to the site for this year's auctions and help raise money for the cause is highlight at our blogs the illustrators who have created snowflakes for these upcoming ’07 auctions'; as well as post the unique snowflakes they have made (one at a time at each blog, which the DFCI has graciously given us permission to do), ultimately driving as much traffic as we possibly can to the Robert's Snow online auctions. Many bloggers have expressed a desire to do something, and we think this can be our unique contribution.

Please, head over to Seven Impossible Things... to get the information on how this will work. For this to be as successful as possible, we need to be coordinated in our efforts, and Jules at Seven Impossible Things... is keeping track of everything: what blog is highlighting which illustrator, making sure we don't duplicate efforts, and also compiling a master list of the illustrators and the blogs posting about them. So Seven Impossible Things... has some simple rules and guidelines for those blogs wishing to participate.