Thursday, January 22, 2015

Giveaway: Freddie and Gingersnap Find a Cloud to Keep by Vincent X. Kirsch

I'm excited to be announcing my first ever giveaway! 4 winners will receive one (1) copy of Vincent Kirsch's second book in the Freddie & Gingersnap series: Freddie & Gingersnap Find a Cloud to Keep and one (1) lucky Grand Prize winner will get one (1) copy of both books in the series: Freddie & Gingersnap and Freddie & Gingersnap Find a Cloud to Keep! The giveaway will run from 12am ET 1/23 to 12am ET 1/30! 

Thank you to Disney Publishing Worldwide for providing the copies to giveaway!

About Vincent X. Kirsch:

VINCENT X. KIRSCH is an author and illustrator living in Los Angeles. He spent over thirty years in New York City before heading for the sunny side of the country. Before he happened into picture books, Vincent kept busy doing things such as working as a stockboy at the original Dean & Deluca (he later became the visual merchandiser, overseeing everything visual for all stores around the world), serving as the print art director at Showtime, designing Broadway posters, designing windows and displays for Bergdorf Goodman, and illustrating book jackets, to name a few. Then… one day, out of the blue, an editor called from BloomsburyUSA Children’s Books and asked if he was interested in doing picture books. His answer was “Yes! Very interested!!”

Website@VincenzoXKirsch  | Goodreads


Freddie & Gingersnap Meet a Cloud to Keep (Disney, Jan. 2015):
Freddie and Gingersnap meet a cloud. It's a peculiar cloud. It sings a song. It asks questions. It knows magic. And Freddie wants to keep it. . .but Gingersnap knows you can't keep a cloud. Or could you?

Enjoy this winsome reminder that sometimes the best and only place to keep something wonderful is in the heart.


Freddie & Gingersnap (Disney, Jan. 2014):
Freddie is a little dinosaur that wants more than anything to know what clouds are like. Gingersnap is a little dragon that wishes more than anything to fly. When Gingersnap in a failed first attempt at flight falls right on top of Freddie, the two glare at each other. Then they growl and hiss at each other. But when their individual howls and stomps find a common rhythm, their attempts at aggression transform into a dance of friendship and brings each of them that much closer to realizing his or her dream.

"Young listeners are sure to enjoy the text’s vivid aural language and the Little Shop of Horrors–style illustrations...This makes a good story hour choice, with lots of potential for creative drama." --Booklist

"This stylish tale of an unlikely friendship has an infectious rhythm."--School Library Journal

If you missed Vincent's interview on the McIntosh & Otis blog check it out here!
  • The giveaway is open to US entrants only.
  • When the winners are chosen, it will be announced here and the winners will be emailed.
  • Please enter your email address in the Rafflecopter form and not the comments.
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Wednesday, January 7, 2015

BIRD & DIZ, Illustrated by Ed Young, Receives Starred Reviews

BIRD & DIZ, a picture book homage to music legends Dizzie Gillespie and Charlier Parker written by Gary Golio and illustrated by Ed Young, has received two starred reviewsPublishers Weekly notes, “scribbles of pink, orange, and blue correspond to bursts of bright notes…the book’s language and images are every bit as vibrant as the music they celebrate.” Meanwhile, School Library Journal praised the “amusing…frolicking” illustrations of “the ever-experimental Young.” BIRD & DIZ is available from Candlewick Press March 10th, 2015. Congrats, Ed!  http://edyoungart.com/ 

About the book:

An award-winning author and a Caldecott Medalist improvise a playful tribute to the creators of bebop—Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

When sax player Charlie "Bird" Parker and trumpeter John "Dizzy" Gillespie make music together, they toss notes back and forth like a game of tag and chase each other with sounds. As Dizzy’s cheeks puff out like a frog with glasses, the two friends beep and bop and push each other to create a new kind of music—a thrilling fast jazz full of surprises. Blending a playful, rhythmic narration with expressive illustrations as fluid and dynamic as their subjects, this tribute to the masters of bebop by acclaimed biographer Gary Golio and beloved artist Ed Young will have readers hankering to listen for themselves.  


About the author and illustrator:

Ed Young is the illustrator of more than eighty books for children, seventeen of which he has also written. Among his books is the Caldecott Medal winner Lon Po Po, which he both wrote and illustrated. He says that his work is inspired by the philosophy of Chinese painting. He lives in Westchester County, New York.

Gary Golio is the author of several best-selling and award-winning musical picture-book biographies, includingJimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow, When Bob Met Woody, and Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane’s Musical Journey. Gary Golio lives in Hudson Valley, New York.

Pre-order: