Bunny Slopes selected as one of NYPL's Best Books for Kids 2016.

Very happy news: The New York Public Library Reveals its List of Best Books for Kids and Bunny Slopes is in there!

Link to the New York Public Library

Santa Cat paperback edition is ready for the holiday season!

Bunny Slopes an Amazon "Little Bookworms" Selection

The editors at Amazon have chosen BUNNY SLOPES as a “Little Bookworm” selection!

My favorite kind of reviews

Thanks for sharing this.  Here is the link.

Bunny Slopes at the NCIBA Annual Meeting

Signing books and sharing Bunny Slopes with booksellers and with my dear editor Ariel Richardson at the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association annual meeting in San Francisco.

School Library Journal talks Bunny Slopes

Rueda scores another win with this adorable offering that’s perfect for one-on-one and small group sharing.

Cute cartoon Bunny is ready to hit the bunny slopes. Skis on and red scarf knotted, Bunny needs help from his readers to complete his adventure. Large, conversational text greets readers and asks them to join in the fun. First, they are asked to “shake” the book to produce snow and then “tap tap tap” the book to pack it down, followed by “tilt,” “turn,” “jump,” and so forth. The action words are in red, matching Bunny’s jaunty red scarf on the opposite pages. Eventually, Bunny skis into a hole (an actual die-cut hole through three pages of the book) and falls. His mom then greets Bunny with a warm bowl of food and takes him to their den to rest. Only two colors, light blue and bright red, are used, with charcoal lines against a white backdrop. The premise is simple, skiing down a slope, but it is the interaction between the book and readers that makes for a special experience. If the title is read with a small audience, each action could be played out for interactive fun. VERDICT Rueda scores another win with this adorable offering that’s perfect for one-on-one and small group sharing.

From School Library Journal

Memories from my visit to the Tadó public library

Currently the Colombian Ministry of Culture aims to increase the index of books read per year by Colombians from 1.9 to 3.2. I had the privilege to be part of a program by the National Library of Colombia and the National Network of Public Libraries to bring the national writers to readers of remote communities that have been directly affected by many years of violence.This video shows some moments from my visit to the beautiful community from Tadó, Chocó.

Bunny Slopes is a Fall 2016 Junior Library Guild selection

Link to the Junior Library Guild site

Nice to see BUNNY SLOPES featured in this Brightly Picture Book selection

Here the link to www.readbrightly.com

Review for the Italian edition of Bunny Slopes

Every action in the story has a reaction from the reader: irresistible! 

After enchanting children with her book "NO" - winner of the 2011 Born to Read award, Claudia Rueda offers a new picture book with soft colors and white as the snow, where interactivity is always at the service of the story. Unexpected events and surprises are not lacking, giving the children a captivating reading as well as rewarding playful experience.

Bunny Slopes around the world

Italian edition by Lapis Edizioni.

Japanese edition by Froebel-kan.

Santa Cat is now Père Noël

The French edition by Circonflexe 

The paperback edition of Santa Cat is out today

Bunny Slopes is Shelf Awareness trailer of the day

Shelf Awareness website

A bright smile from Bunny Slopes. Available now!

Bunny Slopes beautiful French edition

From Bayard Jeunesse

Nice video from the Murray Library

Bunny Slopes preview at the School Library Journal

Chronicle Fall 2016 Preview Shows Off Unique Approaches for All Ages

By Amy Cheney on June 29, 2016 Leave a Comment

It’s fall! Well, at least in the world of Chronicle Books. The publisher recently shared the anticipation of their next season releases with a gaggle of giddy librarians and booksellers.

PICTURE BOOKS

My favorite book of the morning was Bunny Slopes by Claudia Rueda (Oct., 2016). It’s an interactive book in which readers help Bunny tackle the ski slope, from shaking the book to creating snow to tilting it so that Bunny can gain some traction to get down the hill. As the protagonist gets going a bit too fast, kids need to help by turning the book around.

Designer Amelia Mack reflected that “with so many interactive elements, creating the book often turned into a logic problem. For example, if the book is turned upside down to prevent Bunny from falling, how does Bunny move? Where does he land? Solving these problems often led to contemplating deeper questions, like how a book really works, or what guidance a reader needs in order to move forward.”

Link to SLJ

Bunny Slopes Book Trailer

Picture books beyond borders

A happy package just arrived in the mail. It's amazing to see my books being reshaped in foreign languages, wearing beautiful signs I do not understand.

- Todo es Relativo in Korean
- A Veces in Korean
- Todo es Relativo in Chinese

FILBO 2016

The best part of Book Fairs is to get to see good friends from the picturebook world. Here at the Bogota International Book Fair in the company of Jutta Bauer from Germany, Roger Mello and Odilon Moraes from Brazil and Yolanda Reyes, Pilar Lozano and Ivar da Coll from Colombia.
Also, a generous display from Fundalectura, after my 2016 Andersen award nomination.

Congratulations to Groundwood Books

Groundwood Books was named best North American children’s publisher of the year at the 2016 Bologna Children’s Book Fair on April 4. This international award acknowledges the most significant publishers in each of the six areas of the world, who have most distinguished themselves for their creative and publishing excellence over the year, showing originality as well as professional and intellectual skills.

Congratulations to Groundwood for many years of publishing excellent and thought-provoking children's books.

Groundwood is the house of the English edition of my book No.

Picture Books of the Twentieth Century

During this and the next week I will be talking about pioneers and groundbreakers of the twentieth century in the art of picture books. These talks will be part of a series held by the Gimnasio Moderno on how the century looked at childhood from the point of view of its picture book creators. Inspirational and exciting!

The link to the article in Arcadia cultural magazine. Thanks Arcadia.

Die Osterkatze reviewed

Wie es wohl wäre, würde nicht wie sonst der Osterhase die kleinen Geschenke bringen, sondern zur Abwechslung mal eine Osterkatze? Genau diese Frage stellt sich die Hauptkatze in dem Buch „Gestatten, die Osterkatze“. Ich habe mir das im LOEWE-Verlag erschienene Kinderbuch mal genauer angeschaut.

More in here.

At the Yucatan Book Fair FILEY

It was a real pleasure to share this panel about illustration, creativity and the Pink Panther with the talented comic artist Bernardo Fernandez BEF. This was part of the wonderful Book Fair FILEY (Fiesta de la lectura de Yucatán) in beautiful Merida. Here is the link to the full program.

An interview with Cultura LIJ

Under the title "A celebration of the accident", children's literature magazine Cultura LIJ from Buenos Aires has just published the conversation we had last year during the FIibita 2015 event.
Here is the link to a readable version in Spanish.

Santa Cat selected for the Picture This 2015 Award

The WSRA (The Wisconsin State Reading Association) Children's Literature Committee members dedicate themselves to reading widely in order to evaluate the newest books published each year. This is done to recommend the most interesting and valuable books for educators and children to read. The committee considers titles published during the 15 months prior to the convention calendar year and evaluates books based on the quality of the literature, the appeal for students, and the value for classroom use. The committee creates two lists to help educators select titles for use in their specific areas. The "Just One More Page" list highlights the committee's recommendations for the best of the newest chapter books through eighth grade, while "Picture This" highlights the recommendations for the best of the newest picture books.


More information about the award here

Coming soon from Buenos Aires querido

Cultura Lij

6 hrs · 

Se viene... una charla profunda y distendida con Claudia Rueda.
Como nunca la leíste.
‪#‎LeeCulturaLIJ‬ En marzo no te lo pierdas.

Five books to celebrate Colombian human diversity

I was fortunate to participate in this committed project by the ICBF in coordination with Fundalectura. Five books in paper and digital format include play songs and lullabies from the diverse Colombian human map. THe project I illustrated included songs from the Nasa, Inga, SIkuani, Caacwa and Totoro communities, five of the one thousand and two indigenous people in Colombia. You can download the digital for your tablet here for free and be able to listen to the songs in their original language. It is a cultural treasure, ignored by our school's colonialist telescope.

Valentine Cat again on the Indie Bestsellers list

Indiebound

The Horn Book verdict on Valentine Cat

Review of Here Comes Valentine Cat

FEBRUARY 8, 2016 BY SHOSHANA FLAX 

Here Comes Valentine Cat
by Deborah Underwood; 
illus. by Claudia Rueda
Preschool   Dial   88 pp.
12/16   978-0-525-42915-9   $16.99   g

Valentine’s Day has its haters, and Cat (Here Comes the Easter Cat, rev. 3/14, and sequels) is one of them. Cat can’t think of anyone to grace with a Valentine, and new neighbor Dog doesn’t seem a likely candidate, what with all the bones he annoyingly keeps lobbing over the fence. Using this series’ trademark format — offstage narrator addresses nonverbal Cat, who responds with humorous placards and body language — the book shows Cat’s escalating plans against Dog (starting, but not ending, with a few not-so-sweet Valentines), and then shows that Dog may not deserve such poor treatment. Rueda’s ink and colored-pencil illustrations, surrounded by white space, once again convey lots of information via Cat’s facial expressions and other simple cues. Young listeners should enjoy the simply delivered misunderstandings, as well as the opportunities to yell emphatically at the main character (“You can’t send Dog to the moon!”).

From the January/February 2016 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

CNN is fan of Valentine Cat !

"Using a grumpy cat and a new dog in town, it teaches kids to think about others' points of view."




Here is an excerpt from this great CNN Editor's note on love and sharing in this angry world we live in:

(CNN) The Valentine's Day frenzy is almost over.

Instead of ignoring all the lovey dovey stuff, let's expand the love we express at Valentine's Day to include ourselves, family, friends, community and the planet. Best of all, you don't need to shop today for most of these gifts. You can act on them anytime of year.

There's still a lot of anger in the world — and plenty of reason to be angry. But don't you feel better when you do good in the world? Here are a few ways to try.

Love for our children. It's a perfect day to remind our children of their love for humans and animals alike. My child's school allows children to hand out simple, homemade cards if they go to everyone in the class, no store-bought gifts and no exclusions. Handmade cards are wonderful.

We're also fans of "Here Comes Valentine Cat," with words by Deborah Underwood and illustrations by Claudia Rueda. Using a grumpy cat and a new dog in town, it teaches kids to think about others' points of view.

Link to CNN page

Valentine Cat #10 on the Indie Bestsellers list

HERE COMES VALENTINE CAT debuted at #10 on the Indie Bestsellers Children's Illustrated list for last week!!!

Revista Semana on the Andersen Award nomination

CULTURA | 2016/02/05 16:13

Reconocimiento a la literatura infantil colombiana

Cuatro connacionales se consagraron entre los mejores exponentes de la literatura infantil del mundo.

Tres obras de autores colombianos fueron incluidas en la lista de honor de la International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). La organización con sede en Suiza selecciona cada año los libros de mayor calidad en el mundo para niños y jóvenes.

Triunfo Arciniegas, Amalia Satizábal y María del Sol Peralta se consagraron entre los mejores exponentes de la literatura infantil del mundo, además de otros 170 seleccionados. La escritora Claudia Rueda, por su parte, fue postulada al Hans Cristian Andersen 2016. La IBBY no solo reconoce el trabajo de autores, ilustradores, traductores y sellos editoriales, sino que alienta la producción de nuevas obras y difunde entre los lectores del país títulos que "enriquecerán su experiencia vital".

Claudia Rueda, candidata al Hans Cristian Andersen 2016

A su vez, Fundalectura nominó a la colombiana Claudia Rueda al premio Hans Christian Andersen 2016, el reconocimiento internacional más importante a la literatura infantil y juvenil. Rueda es autora e ilustradora de más de veinte libros para niños. Su trabajo ha sido descrito como ingenioso, refinado y de permanente exploración gráfica. Sus libros, que se han publicado en México, Colombia, España, Asia y los Estados Unidos y se han traducido a diez idiomas, han recibido varios premios, entre los que sobresalen el Nati per Leggere de Italia, la selección del New York Society of illustrators Original Art Show y la Lista de Honor IBBY.


Tanto la Lista de Honor IBBY 2016 como el nombre de los ganadores del premio Hans Christian Andersen se revelarán el 4 de abril durante la Feria Internacional del Libro Infantil de Bolonia y los diplomas y medallas correspondientes se entregarán el 20 de agosto de 2016, en el 35º Congreso Internacional de IBBY, que tendrá lugar en Auckland, Nueva Zelandia

Link to the article
.

I love kids' reviews

PW Starred review of Valentine Cat

Underwood and Rueda clearly know how well sweet and salty go together. 

Given Cat’s previous attempts to stand in for the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and the Tooth Fairy, readers might expect some Cupid-style matchmaking from the mischievous feline in his fourth outing. But Cat’s feelings toward the dog next door are far from loving: “Roses are Red/ Violets are Blue/ Who’s the Worst Neighbor?/ I think it’s you!” reads his proposed valentine. The interplay between the unseen narrator’s prompts and Cat’s sardonic, silent replies is as wickedly fun as ever—Underwood and Rueda clearly know how well sweet and salty go together. 

Link to PW page

Valentine Cat Kirkus Review

Rueda masterfully uses white space and Cat’s facial expressions and body language to play up the emotions, exploiting the expansive page count for beautifully pitched comic timing.

Underwood’s endearing, voiceless cat is back, this time getting a lesson in Valentine’s Day tact. Using signs and props to communicate with an off-page, unseen, seemingly adult figure, Cat first establishes that he doesn’t like Valentine’s Day. It gradually comes out that, other than his stuffed squid, he has no friends. Just then, the conversation is interrupted by a bone, thrown over the fence by Cat’s new neighbor, Dog, and it’s not the first bone he’s thrown, either. Cat, being Cat, jumps to conclusions, especially after a thrown ball clobbers him. “Cat, what are you up to? // You are going to give Dog a valentine? // Oh, dear.” That about sums it up. Needless to say, the Roses are Red… poems Cat comes up with are not very tactful. But his construction of a rocket (to send Dog to the moon, of course) is interrupted by a valentine that flutters down and lands on its tip. Perhaps Dog isn’t the mean, awful neighbor Cat took him to be? Maybe he’s even a potential friend. Rueda masterfully uses white space and Cat’s facial expressions and body language to play up the emotions, exploiting the expansive page count for beautifully pitched comic timing.

Cat hasn’t lost his ability to charm readers, if for no other reason than children are so able to see themselves in him.


Link to the Kirkus review page

Valentine Cat at The Washington Post

Valentine’s Day books for kids (and parents)
Wry humor and a twist ending make this book a charmer.

It’s almost time for kids to choose a box of valentines, address them to each classmate and deliver them into desktop mailboxes. Before the big day, though, grab one of these books and spend some heartfelt time reading together with your littlest loved ones.

Here Comes Valentine Cat, by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Claudia Rueda

Cat isn’t in the mood for the fun of Valentine’s Day. For one, Cat doesn’t have a friend to make a card for. Making matters worse, a new neighbor has moved in: Dog. Soon, bones are flying over the fence and hitting Cat in the head. Can these two be friends? Throughout the story, a narrator converses with Cat and asks questions. Cat’s answers are sometimes revealed in signs he holds up, like a not-so-sweet valentine created by Cat for Dog: “Roses are Red/Violets are Blue/Who’s the Worst Neighbor?/I think it’s You!” Cat’s facial expressions perfectly mimic those of a toddler’s and are captured within a pleasing soft-palette of ink and color pencil drawings. Wry humor and a twist ending make this book a charmer.

Link to The Washington Post article

Letra Robadas is part of the 2016 IBBY Honor List

IBBY page

Building character

This is one of my favorite parts from the picturebook creation process. Here is Mr. Clay posing for my pictures.

Valentine Cat is Out

The Valentine Cat book is out!

The fourth and my favorite in the Cat series so far. Congratulations to Deborah Underwood. Sequels are harder to write than original books and she's done it so right. It's also getting a star from PW: http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-525-42915-9