Subway Storytime

The Transit Museum event was wonderful. It was amazing to be back in this subway car, sharing the book, surrounded by friends and family.

A write up of the event appeared in Publisher's Weekly here, and there are more photos at the Transit Museum's flikr stream here.
This was such a great experience. Thanks so much to everyone who came out and special thanks to Virgil Talaid and the staff of the Transit Museum for planning the event.

"In support of Libraries, books, words, ideas and those places that house our treasures..."

- from a tag accompanying a mysterious and beautiful paper sculpture found in the National Museum of Scotland.

The note was attached to a copy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost World that this T-Rex is bursting through (his tail pokes through the other side of the spine of the book!) This was one of ten sculptures in all, left anonymously in libraries and museums in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In mid-november a clue in library guest book first pointed the way to a small pair of gloves and a feathered hat, all made of paper at the Scottish Poetry Library.

a close up of the hat feathers made of book pages

Then came a "Poetree", found sitting on a table in the same library, with an eggshell filled with strips that when properly assembled, became a poem about birds, "A Trace of Wings" by Edwin Morgan.

These were made as a token of thanks by an unknown woman, celebrating the importance of libraries, books, words, and ideas. The sculptures are fantastic. And it's such a beautiful and inspiring project!

Discover the full story and see more of her fantastic creations, read the NPR articles here and here. And for the source of these (and more) photos, check out Central Station Blog's post here.

Transit Museum Event!

I'm really excited to be doing a very special event at the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn this Saturday. I'll be reading 'Subway Story' inside the subway train car where I first heard the true story that inspired it!
If you haven't been to the Transit Museum yet, it's an amazing place. The turnstiles alone can keep me endlessly occupied...

Train fans, New York fans, picture book fans - Please join me for a very special event!

Here's what Lee Magill of Time Out New York Kids has to say about the event:

"It's not every day that a visit to a museum inspires an undertaking as enormous as writing, illustrating and publishing a picture book, but that's just what happened to Julia Sarcone-Roach at the New York Transit Museum. It was there she learned about the subway car recycling program that sparked her Subway Story (Knopf, $17; ages 5 to 9), a tale about a 1960s-era MTA car named Jessie who flourishes as the newest and brightest train in the fleet, is abandoned in a railyard after decades of service, then begins life anew on the bottom of the ocean as a manmade reef in which shellfish, coral and fish slowly take up residence. Author-illustrator Sarcone-Roach's colorful, evocative images draw out the magic in the already remarkable true story... as though she'd dreamt the tale up herself. It's fitting that the artist is returning to the museum to share her book with her intended audience: adventurous kids with a passion for trains and serious love for the environment."   

 Thanks Lee!


So please come for the story, and stay for the turnstiles!

all ages welcome

More information on the Transit Museum is here.
Corner of Boerum Pl and Schermerhorn St.

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

I had a wonderful visit with Jules over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast - one of my absolute favorite blogs! Read her thoughts on my books and learn more about the making of Subway Story and some secrets of the Secret Plan here.
(Find out what Rosalind Russell has in common with a Morse code obsessed kitten...)

A Family of Readers

This past Sunday, Roger Sutton and Martha Parravano, Editors of the Horn Book Magazine discussed their book, A Family of Readers at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, MA. They also introduced "new books from 2011 that they found exceptional and wished they could add to their 2010 book as excellent examples each genre and reading level."

I'm honored to report that Subway Story was included on this list! About Subway Story they said:

"Reminiscent of classic Virginia Lee Burton, this story of a subway car turned into a reef is a fresh, innovative way to approach nonfiction. While the story is factual, the subway car talks with a personality of it own, creating an accessible and entertaining blend of fiction and nonfiction."

There's Jessie, in a crowd of great books!

 Thanks to Roger Sutton and Martha Parravano! More on their list of 2011 books here.

Come hear Subway Story this weekend in New York!

This Saturday, November 19th, I'll be reading at the New York Book Fair at noon at the Goddard Riverside Community Center (593 Columbus Ave., New York, NY- at 88th St.) I'm also looking forward to hearing Selina Alko read from her great new book, Everyday Dress-Up at the festival too!

Proceeds from the Book Fair support Goddard Riverside Community Center, which provide services annually to 17,600 people from Manhattan’s Upper West Side and Harlem. The agency manages 600 units of affordable housing. It advocates for justice and enriches community life with recreational, cultural and arts activities. More information about the book festival can be found here.

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Also, this Sunday, November 20th at 11 am, I'll be reading and signing Subway Story as part of an event with my friend Meghan McCarthy, who will be reading from her new book, Balto, at BookCourt in Brooklyn. (163 Court St  Brooklyn, New York) Please stop by and say hello!

Wow!

Release Party at Hooray For Books!

On Saturday, I was delighted to return to Hooray For Books in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia to celebrate the release of Subway Story. Thanks to all my friends and family who came out to support me. It was great to see some familiar faces! And to my Mom who provided many delicious treats and Adam, for the cake collaboration. 

Many thanks to Meghan, Megan, Patrick and Trish at Hooray For Books for such a great event, and I look forward to returning soon!

Jessie in cake form.

Beautiful cookies from Mother's Macaroons, thanks to my own mom!

Some enthusiastic audience members helped me spot Milo's sneaky feet in The Secret Plan.

It's hard to hide an elephant in a cats' house!

Author and friend Marc Tyler Nobleman stopped by!

Thanks to Mitchell Schneider and Adam Kesner for the photos.

Big Weekend for Subway Story

On Saturday I'll be celebrating Subway Story with an event at Hooray For Books in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia at 2pm. Join me for a reading, signing, and refreshments!


And this Sunday, Pete Hamill's wonderful review of Subway Story will be in the New York Times Book Section here. The article is great, and I'm honored and humbled by the kind words from such an amazing New York author.

The picture above accompanies the article, and is actually a self-portrait of my boyfriend Adam and I. I was painting this page as we were baking a wedding cake for a friend. (Incidentally, he and I will be carrying cake down to Virginia from Brooklyn for the Hooray for Books event.) I had such a delightful time when I was there last for The Secret Plan release party, I'm looking forward to returning and hope to see some familiar faces tomorrow!

Please come for books, and stay for cake!

Common Frog Cure

Sometimes when I'm having trouble figuring something out in a project, I take a time out and just paint. And then I become unstuck.

So, here are some nice hibernating frogs:

Questions for a Subway Conductor

For anyone curious about what operating a modern subway car is like - there's an interesting interview with a subway conductor in Gothamist. The full interview is on Reddit here, including a true story about a man who would serially impersonate subway conductors so that he could sneak on and drive the train!

Holy Smokes!

Subway Story received a wonderful starred review in the Horn Book!

"Sarcone-Roach displays a discipline not always seen in books about the environment; she allows her theme of reuse and recycling to emerge naturally from a fine story and lets readers draw their own conclusions without adding a heavy-handed one of her own. Here youngsters meet Jessie, a subway car that begins service during the 1964 New York World’s Fair and contentedly operates for approximately fifty years before she is dismantled. Jessie and other cars like her are hauled out to sea and, in a small scary moment (which is quickly resolved), dumped into the ocean. There she happily resides as an artificial reef that’s home to myriad sea animals. Illustrations, unexpectedly cozy-looking, emphasize the story’s tone. Structurally and artistically, the book recalls Virginia Lee Burton’s The Little House (rev. 11/42) (“Over the years, Jessie saw the city change, and she had some changes of her own”): Jessie’s half-century of traveling the city is depicted through a series of curved routes much like the streets and roads that close in on the Little House with the passage of time. Front end pages trace Jessie’s original underground route; final ones show a peaceful, blue ocean where she now rests. An author’s note describing the science behind similar projects and a bibliography conclude the book. - Betty Carter"

I'm grateful for this thoughtful appreciation of Subway Story by the Horn Book. The observations about details like the endpapers and the Virginia Lee Burton parallels make me especially happy. She's been a lifelong inspiration for me, and The Little House is one of my favorite picture books.

Here's a picture of my desk as I was beginning to develop early character sketches for Subway Story, complete with breakfast brownie, coffee and copy of Katy and the Big Snow. (Don't those snow drifts on the cover look a little like waves?)



Many thanks to Betty Carter and the Horn Book!

Upcoming Events

There are some exciting events ahead for Subway Story. Please join me if you can!

Community Bookstore - Sunday, October 16th at 11am - I'll be reading and signing Subway Story in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, NY.

Boulevard Books and Cafe - Saturday, October 22nd at 11am - Come join me as I read and sign Subway Story in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, NY. $20 Includes signed copy of the book, storytime and activity!

Hooray For Books - Saturday, November 12th - I'm delighted to be returning to Old Town, Alexandria, VA for a VA/DC Book Release Event for Subway Story. There will be snacks!

BookCourt - Sunday, November 20th - I'll be reading and signing Subway Story at an event in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn with Meghan McCarthy, who will be presenting her book, The Incredible Life of Balto.

Stay tuned for more events!

Book Release Day!

Today is the official release date for Subway Story, and in Jessie's honor, here's a great ad from 1964 for the brand new R33 subway trains:

Subway Story at PowerHouse Books!

This Sunday, October 9th at 4pm - I'll be reading and signing Subway Story, two days before it's officially released at an event at powerHouse books in DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY! See Subway Story early and be the envy of your friends and neighbors!
I'll be there with authors Jenny Offill and Nancy Carpenter who will be presenting their delightful book 11 Experiments That Failed. And Meghan McCarthy will also be reading and signing her great new book, The Incredible Life of Balto. She will also be raffling off some original drawings at the event.


Here's the first glimpse of Subway Story in powerHouse's window!

Thanks to Jesse Zryb for the photo.

Subway Story Reviews

Subway Story has received some very nice early reviews -

from Kirkus:

Jessie weighs 75,122 pounds and is a beautiful, brand-new subway car.
She was brought to New York in the early 1960s for the World’s Fair, and she loves traveling all over the city. She speeds around curves and ducks under rivers. When musicians practice on board, she accompanies them with deep rumbles and toe-tapping clacks. Over the years, there are many changes, but Jessie never forgets her most important job—helping people travel safely. Until one season, sleek, shiny new silver trains start taking over the tracks. A downcast Jessie sits in a dusty yard, poignantly wondering about the people she had carried. “Did they notice she was gone?” Thankfully, her adventure doesn’t end there. She is taken to the Atlantic and sunk to become an artificial reef, home to many barnacles, coral and fish. Sarcone-Roach cleverly brings the story full circle: Jessie was once an integral part of a bustling city, and now a whole city lives inside of her. With sprawling landscapes and vast underground tunnels as a backdrop, readers will cheer Jessie’s story of revival. The author's acrylics gently anthropomorphize Jessie, giving her headlight-eyes and a winsome smile.
Immensely readable and surprisingly touching, this large heft of metal totes a lot of charm. (author’s note, bibliography, further reading) (Picture book. 3-6)

from School Library Journal:

This story of “Jessie,” a subway car built in the early 1960s, was inspired by the author’s trip to the New York Transit Museum and is a lovely tribute to the city and its boroughs. Told in a clever biographical format, the story begins with Jessie’s “birth” details: weight, length, etc. The shiny, new car takes her responsibilities seriously as she safely carries children to school, adults to work, and friends and family members to visit one another. As the decades pass, Jessie delivers visitors to the 1964 World’s Fair in Queens, is covered in graffiti, then painted red, repaired, and refurbished, including air-conditioning to replace outdated fans. Eventually, she is retired and becomes part of an artificial reef in the Atlantic Ocean, where she assumes her new job. The expressive acrylic illustrations set the tone and give the story depth. The features on the front of the subway car are used to make Jessie’s eyes, nose, and mouth. An author’s note gives details about the history of subway cars around the world. This title will be appreciated by train buffs and those curious about the history of New York City.
–Anne Beier, Clifton Public Library, NJ


Thanks to Anne Beier, School Library Journal, and Kirkus Reviews!

30 Minutes Over Oregon

Author and friend, Marc Tyler Nobleman has written a great non-fiction picture book manuscript which has received some great responses from teachers, kids and editors, but has yet to be acquired by a publisher. Marc approached some illustrator friends (including me) to design mock covers for the manuscript.



Here's his description of the story:

"Thirty Minutes Over Oregon

Hiroshima. Dresden. London. Brookings?

Americans know the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii as one of the most infamous events of WWII. However, few on either side know that the next year, the Japanese also bombed mainland America—twice. Navy pilot Nobuo Fujita launched his two-seater seaplane off a submarine and hit the woods outside tiny Brookings, Oregon. He was the first (and still only) wartime enemy to complete an aerial attack on American soil.

None were hurt, but all involved were changed. Twenty years later, amid a blaze of controversy, Brookings invited Nobuo back. Though nervous, he felt an obligation to say yes. He brought his family's 400-year-old samurai sword, the same he had taken on every war mission. Always a man of honor and now a man of peace, he planned to gift it to the town. He would be devastated if his onetime targets did not forgive him..."



Below are some notes and sketches I did after reading the manuscript. To see the cover that I designed, along with all the great covers, feedback, and comments, check out Marc's post about the project here.

Any day that I get to put a majorette hat on a raccoon...

is a GREAT day.

A sketch for an upcoming illustration.

Meet Jessie!

My new book, Subway Story will be coming out October 11th!
From Random House:

"Never was there a subway car who loved her job more than Jessie. From morning to night she carried all sorts of people all sorts of places—to work and school and World's Fairs, over bridges and through tunnels—sometimes she even took a pigeon along for the ride! But as time passed, sleek new silver cars began to take over the tracks, banishing Jessie to an abandoned lot. What will she do with no passengers to carry? And where will she go now that she's no longer welcome on the tracks?

Based on the true story of 1960's-era subway cars that are now being used to create artificial reefs in the Atlantic, this stunningly illustrated second book from Julia Sarcone-Roach is sure to delight scuba diving historians and kids alike."

Preorder it here!

Batten and Hatch

The day before Hurricane Irene was set to blow through New York, we found two more Black Swallowtail caterpillars on the anise plant in the yard, and brought them inside. They were named Batten and Hatch.
As the rain came down in fits and spurts and heavy winds whipped the trees outside, Batten, the largest one, went calmly about turning into a chrysalis while Hatch watched, and I drew. Here's our hurricane day:

Japanese Prints

I've been drawing some Japanese prints lately in the sketchbook for a extracurricular project. The pictures bled between the pages a bit, as the sketchbook and I received a good soaking in a downpour. It was a week before we both dried out and one of us ended up all warped and wrinkly.

(I Heart) We Heart Books Online

Here's an old picture to celebrate a nice new review. This was the view of my desk while I was working on a page of The Secret Plan, and my helpful cat model, Holly.


Here is a wonderful review of The Secret Plan by We Heart Books Online from Melbourne, Australia:

"Bedtime always gets in the way of the fun stuff!

Milo, a baby elephant and his kitten friends Henry, Harriet and Hildy love to play but mum saying 'Bedtime' always ruins their games. 'Bedtime! Had to be stopped!'

They need a plan - a secret plan to overcome bedtime and play all night. They try hiding, going undercover, blending in and sneaking out but are foiled by clever mum at every turn. Then they remember a certain pair of furry monster feet and Milo quietly makes a break for the attic to meet up with the kittens. 'It was the perfect late-night no-bedtime-ever hideout'

After some play and a late night feast however everyone starts to get a little drowsy - perhaps it's not such a good idea to stay up late after all?

Time to hatch a new secret plan - after a little rest!

This beautiful playful picture book is the perfect bedtime read. It's funny and engaging as well as ending on the best note of everyone falling asleep dreaming of the day ahead.

Julia Sarcone-Roach's amazing acrylic illustrations are vivid and intricate. She includes cross sections of the house showing the characters moving around carrying out their various plans and the delightful end papers are blue prints of the town house - designed by 'House by Mouse'.

There are many picture books about children avoiding bedtime but none as clever and funny as this one. The illustrations are warm and snug, enveloping you like a big quilt. The illustrations and the text fit perfectly making this a comforting bedtime story that I have no doubt will become a classic."

Thank you, We Heart Books Online, for the kind and thoughtful review!

Butterfly Birthday

There's a little spot of garden that I help keep up with some neighbors. Recently, our parsley had been mysteriously disappearing.

After several days of patience, the parsley thief was caught in the act.



It was a Black Swallowtail caterpillar (also known as a "Parsley Worm" or "BS cat" to those hip to caterpillar slang.) This is the caterpillar stage of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly. Here are a few sketchbook drawings of our BS cat (named Lieutenant Pinkerton) who ate a small forest of parsley before turning into a chrysalis inside a pickle jar in the studio.






And here is the Lieutenant right after turning into a butterfly:


(Photo thanks to Adam Kesner.)

Both male and female Black Swallowtails look identical as caterpillars, and it isn't until they reach the butterfly state that their sex is revealed. The deep blue spots on the wings reveal that the Lieutenant was a lady!

Moments after this photo was taken, she was released and fluttered off into Greenwood Cemetery.