It's 2016 ALREADY?!

Wowza wowza! Where did the time go? I feel like I just posted in my blog and it's already been over two months! So much has happened in my little corner of the world. The holidays were so much fun, a bit of a blur now, but I really did savor every second as much as possible. I was even fortunate enough to do a couple of interviews over the past couple of months. I was on the Podcast Storybook Spotlight hosted by Karen Santhanam.

It's sad to 2015 go because it was the best year of my life so far, but 2016 is already off to a great start!

In book world, there was much talk about Boats for Papa and the infamous Caldecott Medal, but alas, it was not meant to be. It was so exciting and flattering to be included in conversations with some of my favorite illustrators, it made me feel like a winner! I DID however get listed as one of the Notable Children's Books for 2016 by the ALA- such a HUGE honor!!!

I have to also make a special call out Sam Juliano for his generous and loving review of Boats for Papa on his blog. It was such a special review, I was truly touched.

And with the new year comes the launch of my second picture book, Before I Leave, staring the adorable hedgehog Zelda (pictured above). I've been lucky to receive a couple of starred reviews already from the School Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly and a lovely review from Kirkus! This was such a fun and sweet book to work on I'm excited for the world to see it on February 16th! As always you can pre-order through Amazon, but whenever possible, buy local and support your indy bookstores! And if you are in Seattle on February 16th, I am having a book launch for my book at Secret Garden Books in Ballard at 7pm. Hope to see you there!

AND in leading up to my book release, I will be posting a hedgehog a day until February 16th.

So much more to come for 2016! I can't wait. I hope you have a happy happy new year!