Bunny falls into Fall

Beautiful photography by Catalina Giraldo. Upstate New York.

Bunny Slopes among the 12 Great Winter Picture Books

A nice review from the We Have Kids page:

Bunny Slopes is a clever little take on the term used for the gentle hills beginning skiers use for practice. Many children start out their skiing careers on the "bunny slopes," but in this case, Rueda has drawn an actual bunny going down a hill.

The drawings are cute and charming, but the actual reason I chose this book is that it's part of a trend of interactive books that address the reader and ask them to do certain motions. The thing that delights the children is that when they do what the book says, they can turn the page and see what has happened as a result of their actions.

I'll describe how it works in this book. First, a little bunny on skis says, "Hello? Oh, it's you. Want to join me for a ski day?" When you turn the page, the bunny has noticed that he is on a flat slope with no snow. At first, our bunny seems distressed to see the lack of snow, but then he brightens and says, "Maybe we can make some! Could you please shake the book?" (I can't really reproduce the typography here, but the word "shake" is in large, red letters, and there are little movement marks around the word.)

This is your cue to hand the book to the child and let him or her shake it until they think it's good enough. Then, it's time to turn the page. You'll see a light drifting of snow, but the bunny will ask if you can shake the book much harder. Of course, your child will be happy to do a harder shake. Turn to the next page, and you'll see just the bunny's ears under a pile of snow, which should elicit at least a giggle. The bunny will tell you that maybe that was a little too much shaking and ask you to "tap tap tap" the top of the book to pack down the snow.

The story continues in like fashion, and you and the child you're sharing the book with can tilt to make a hill, turn the book when the bunny goes off a cliff, and watch as the bunny falls in a hole (an actual circle is cut into the book.) I won't give away the ending. Suffice it to say that falling into a hole can sometimes be a good thing.

Another thing I like about this book--outside of its entertainment value--is that it teaches a child to follow directions. It also teaches some vocabulary, like the word "tilt" and also some concepts, like faster and slower and left and right.

It's a great little book that guides you in ways to interact and play with your child by reading it.

French edition of Hungry Bunny

Veux-tu aider Lapin à cueillir des pommes ?
Il a besoin de toi pour attraper,
pour grimper, pour transporter...
Alors, tu es prêt ? C'est parti !


Bayard Jeunesse

See you at FILIJ 2018!

So excited to be part of the III Seminario Internacional de Ilustración in Mexico and to share with a very talented group of illustrators and authors including Isol Misenta, Pablo Bernasconi, Cecilia Rebora, Juan Palomino, Gusti and Oliver Jeffers.




Click here to watch the video

Hungry Bunny #1 Amazon Hot Release on Seasons

Nice surprise for Bunny. Here the Link.

Good memories from the Barranquilla Book Fair

 An enlightening conversation about books for small children with Diana Rey from Fundalectura. It was so inspiring to speak having the legendary Magdalena river behind us.

 The Oceano stand at de Bookfair.

A live drawing of my book "La Linea" on a workshop about creativity.

PARENTS MAGAZINE BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKS OF 2018

Parents Magazine announces Best Children's Books of 2018. Hungry Bunny has been named this year's Best First Picture Book.

I really like their unique selection process: Literacy experts, including librarians and teachers, nominated more than 200 high-quality titles from the thousands released in 2018. Then 75 kid testers and their families read books in one or more of 15 categories, including best bedtime story and best book to give as a gift.

You can read the news here

Additional book details will be found in the November issue of Parents and online at Parents.com/BestBooks.Parent's 15 Best Children's Books

Hungry Bunny is Published by Chronicle Books.

Hungry Bunny publication day!

Buy at Amazon , the Junior Library Guild or wherever books are found

Hungry Bunny in Dutch and Korean

It's  always a treat to see my books published in languages I cannot read. The Dutch and Korean editions of Hungry Bunny are already out. Uitgeverij Gottmer is the publisher of the dutch edition and Pauline Kim of the Korean edition. I love the pink colour on that one.

Hungry Bunny on Brightly's List

Click here for the complete list

Hungry Bunny goes to Beijing

Happy to learn that Hungry Bunny is part of the first five books published by Chronicle new partnership with Trustbridge Global Media in China. The news were announced at the Beijing International Book fair which closed last Sunday.

Here the link to the post

SLJ invites teachers to use Huff & Puff

Exploring Cut Outs. Gather a collection of titles that use cut-outs / die-cut in their illustrations. Include titles such as Laura Vaccaro Seeger’s First the Egg and Lemons are Not Red, Petr Horacek’s Choo Choo, Claudia Rueda’s Huff & Puff, and Lizi Boyd’s Inside Outside. Read through the titles together, discussing what purposes the cut out serve and how they enhance the meaning of each book. Next provide students with a variety of art materials and invite them to play with using cut outs to tell a story or to explain a concept. School Library Journal

A SLJ starred review for Hungry Bunny

«“A first choice for libraries.” –School Library Journal, starred review

This interactive adventure invites readers to assist a very hungry Bunny with a “tummy rumble” as he gathers apples to take home. Large font instructions in colorfully contrasting red text plead with children to “shake” apples and “blow” leaves from a tree, while a helpful attached ribbon of a scarf allows readers to “grab,” “place,” “hold,” and eventually “make a bridge” while assisting Bunny. The way home is filled with additional instructions, propelling Bunny’s wagon faster as children tilt, rock, and turn the book to move him along toward home—just in time to pop through a hole and add apples to Mom’s homemade pie. The simplicity of cartoon images enhanced by graphite pencil shading with minimal use of bold color allows the easy identification of Bunny’s actions, expressions, and important objects on the page. Text separated on facing pages emphasizes action words and invites readers to follow Bunny’s activity through turning ¬pages. VERDICT This engaging title encourages listening, identification of events in the story, and interactivity. A first choice for libraries.

Nice invitation from a talented young girl

The Power of Girl is a brave and wonderful project from teenage student Lily Riccio. She created this platform to help girls like her become inspired or have the confidence to pursue their passion. Congratulations to Lily for this project!

Pez Linterna interview

Very happy to be sharing this interview with dear Colombian Children's Books authors Jairo Buitrago, Francisco Montaña and Pilar Lozano. And congrats to Freddy Gonçalves and to his Pez Linterna project.

Bunny Slopes is an Anna Dewdney Honor book

 Bunny Slopes is one of 2nd Annual Anna Dewdney Read Together Award this year. This award is given annually to a picture book that is both a superb read-aloud and also sparks compassion, empathy, and connection. The award commemorates the life and work of author/illustrator Anna Dewdney, and celebrates her commitment to reading with young children and putting books into as many little hands as possible.

Talking curiosity with Marie Louise Gay

On Friday we'll be talking about Curiosity with talented Canadian picture book author Marie-Louise Gay, as part of the Bogota Book fair events.

La Hora del Cuento bookstore
6pm

It looks like Bunny is having fun at the Bologna Bookfair

An illustration from my book Hungry Bunny, generously displayed at the Chronicle Books stand in Bologna.

Three Illustrations for FilBo

The Bogota Bookfair's theme this year is The Emotions. The organizers asked writers and illustrators to send texts or images on three out of eight emotions: Fear, Anger, Sadness, Joy, Disgust, Guilt, Love and Sympathy. I chose the first three, maybe from my inclination to find beauty in the dark side of life. These are my images.

Bunny's hanging out at the Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver

Hungry Bunny at PW Fall 2018 Children’s Sneak Previews

Very nice to see this page from my new book HUNGRY BUNNY at the Publishers Weekly Fall 2018 Children's sneak preview.
(Chronicle Books)

Two of my books in the Fundación Cuatrogatos 2018 list

Thanks to the Fundación Cuatrogatos for including two of my books in their 2018 Best Books for Children selection.

La línea published by Editorial Oceano and El Rey de la Semilla by Ediciones Norma.