Happy Birthday to My First Picture Book, ANIMAL HOUSE!!!!

What more can I say? I'm speechless................


Please join the Animal House wordplay antics going on right now at illustrator Nathan Hale's blog.

Visit the "My Books" page on my website to get your very own copy and to read reviews of the book. I'd especially love and appreciate your efforts to support independent bookstores when you support me. Thanks!!

Plus, you can have a chance at winning an autographed copy of Animal House on Goodreads by clicking here. The giveaway will run through the month of August. Good luck!!

Monsters and Miracles Family Day at the Skirball Part 3: Gerald McDermott

Did you know that Gerald McDermott is a rock star? Well, not technically, but more on that later...

Caldecott Award-winning author/illustrator Gerald McDermott shows the crowd what his early artistic attempts looked like, when he tried to draw things as he saw them. Such early efforts did not impress the young Gerald.

One day, he decided to try and draw things as he felt them. The above image demonstrates how Gerald learned to express a subject's energy and not just its form. Such results were far more pleasing to the young Gerald.

Mentored by Joseph Campbell, Gerald McDermott is widely-acclaimed for exploring myth and folklore in his children's books. Here, he shares a spirited reading of Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest.Musician Aaron Nigel Smith joins Gerald for a grand finale rhythmic reading of Zomo the Rabbit: A Trickster Tale from West Africa. And now Gerald rocks on!