Bronze Award in Society of Illustrators Los Angeles Illustration West 52

Hurrah for One Word Pearl!

This is the image that got a Bronze Award in the Children's Market category of their 'Illustration West 52' exhibition.

I'm excited and so is Pearl!

Find out more about the competition here http://si-la.org/news/sila/illustration-west-52-judged/ ... it was stiff judging and I was over the moon to be in the exhibit, let alone get an award.

OK .. winter is nearly over. I've been quiet lately, hunkered in the studio, finishing 'Imani's Moon' for Charlesbridge (Fall 2014) and working on an ABC book due Fall also. But we'll have a proper catch up soon!

Toodles!
Hazel

Big Old Giveaway for 'One Word Pearl'

I had over 100 entries for my giveaway for 'One Word Pearl' and the winner is Bobbi Miller! Congrats to you!

ONE WORD PEARL 

is here 

and I'm celebrating with a MEGA giveaway!

Pearl loves words. All kinds of words. Words make up songs, stories, poems . . . and what does a lover of words do? She collects them, of course!

But one day, most of Pearl’s words are blown away, leaving her only a few which she keeps safely in her treasure chest. After that day, she uses each word carefully—one at a time, until she has no words left. When her teacher asks her questions at school, she doesn’t answer. When her friend wants to know what she has for lunch, she can’t respond. What will Pearl do without her precious words? Will she ever find them?

One Word Pearl explores the power of words to transform, inspire, and cultivate imagination. This whimsical story is the winner of the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) Children’s Book Competition in the Picture Book category. 

Here's what you could win:

Signed and personalised copy of 'One Word Pearl'
Original signed sketch from the book.
One Word pearl poster AND I will change the words to whatever you would like!
Signed postcard.

To enter: Share this blog post with your friends on any social media network, and send or message me with the link (email hazel-mitchell@hotmail.com).
I will make the draw on Friday August 16th at 8pm.

Good luck!

Toodles
Hazel

Buy ONE WORD PEARL here

Book Blog Tour

I was tagged by my friend Jennifer Marsh Morris to participate in a blog tour. I've known Jennifer several years now (hell we were even roomies at a conference) and she's ALWAYS busy! She has two books out soon: the first is called The Ice Cream Shop. It's being released by Scholastic next summer (2014) A second book called The Sea Monster is scheduled for the fall. Here are the critters who inspired the stories  ...

... read more about Jenn's books here http://jemorris.blogspot.com/2013/04/i-was-tagged-by-my-friend-sue-fliess-to.html

 Here are the questions that I am supposed to answer...

1) What is the working title of your next book?
The title is 'One Word Pearl' written by Nicole Groeneweg.

2) Where did the book idea come from for the book?
Nicole is the winner of The National Association of Elementary School Principals Foundation Annual National Children’s Book of the Year Award Contest - the winning book is published by Charlesbridge Publishing. It's a very cute story about  a little girl who loves to collect words!

3) What genre does your book fall into?
 It's a picture book.

 4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Hmm ... I think it would be an animated story. I am thinking Emma Watson for Pearl.

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Pearl loves to collect words and uses them whenever she can - until one day the words go crazy and chaos ensues!

6) Who is publishing your book?
Mackinac Island Press, an imprint of Charlesbridge.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
In this case the manuscript was already written, so my job was to create a rough layout of the book which took me about 2 weeks.

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I think Pearl would relate to Madeline, Fancy Nancy, Lady Bug Girl.

9) Who or what inspired you to write and/or illustrate this book?
Pearl reminded me of ME in a way, I was always cutting out words and pictures and making up stories when I was young, so it wasn't hard to relate. The story also allowed me to work in a more abstract way with some of the images and with collage, the language used is a lot of fun and inspiring!

10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

Definitely the use of words. This is a great book for teachers to use with young children, to get them thinking about words and how they can be used in with the core curriculum. I hope the reader will enjoy the fun pictures too!

Pearl is available on pre-order http://www.amazon.com/One-Word-Pearl-Nicole-Groeneweg/dp/1934133531/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1366981322&sr=8-1

Here is the next link on this blog tour... Russ Cox at Smiling Otis Studio! /hazelmitchell/2013/04/book-blog-tour.html

Toodles!
Hazel