The Doorbell of Mystery

The apartment I live in is old and full of odd details. For example, in the hallway between the kitchen and bathroom there is a mystery button. It looks like a doorbell but doesn't ring. Or if it does, I'm not sure who hears it. Dogs down the block, maybe? Ghosts, probably. Maybe it rings in the past.
A few years after moving in, I painted the button red and added 'PANIC' above it.

However, the time has come to replace panic with something better. So here is the Doorbell of Mystery's new look.

Thanks to Shaun Tan (and Feliziano Flores) for the inspiration.

Switch Hitter

After a bad burn, I lost the use of my right hand and arm for awhile.

I'm right handed, and making things has always helped keep me going when life gets challenging.  Just putting pen to paper and filling a sketchbook page can be a distraction and relief.  I could put up with the clumsy eating and the free style toothbrushing, but with my right hand out of commission, I was worried that I'd lose my mind if I couldn't draw or write at all.

With immobility can come unique patience. Though my left hand shook a lot, trying to use it gave me something to focus on. After a few days I found that I had much better luck with a paintbrush than I did with a pencil, and playing with paint felt great.

These are a few left handed sketchbook pages from February.

Ladybug Parade

I illustrated a song called 'Parade' by Catherine Johnson in January's issue of 'Ladybug' Magazine. I grew up reading Ladybug, so this was a real honor and an a lot of fun. And it turned out to be a great opportunity to put a majorette hat on a raccoon!

Sing along and march with the bunnies here!

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!