Happy Holidays!

by Jen Kulman

Do you have fun annual traditions for this time of the year? Like buying fresh new pajamas for everyone to rip into on Christmas Eve? Or using themes for each night of Hanukkah gifts?

My husband usually builds us a roaring fire for Christmas Eve, while our son careens about giddy with anticipation. This year, I put together a special S'mores kit for him. In addition to the boxed supplies, it also comes with an expandable metal stick for marshmallow roasting (hopefully not pug poking). We still in need fresh wood for our fire this year. For some reason, the wood fetcher is reluctant to face the opossum who recently claimed our woodpile as his den. No kidding.

Kane/Miller offers the perfect books for this time of year! It's Christmas by Tina Burke is a wonderful choice, featuring the sweetest illustrations. I like that the text is somewhat spare, which prompts children to give their own interpretations of what each photo represents. This is a wonderfully simple book that is a joy to read many times over.

Happy Holidays from all of us at Kane/Miller!

Mom's Choice Awards

The 2008 Mom's Choice Awards were officially announced yesterday. Two Kane/Miller titles were included among the great list of finalists.

Congratulations to both Satoru Onishi and Tina Burke!

From Australia
It’s Christmas
by Tina Burke

2008 Silver Recipient: Seasonal, Holidays & Festivals


From Japan
Who’s Hiding?
by Satoru Onishi
2008 Gold Recipient: Basic Concepts

Girl Power

We have many strong female protagonists among the characters found in our books. Several female characters were excluded from this list because they're not human, such as Bobbie Dazzler, Hannah Duck, Martine (from The Truffle Hunter), Rosaura (from A Bicycle for Rosaura) and Marta (from Marta and the Bicycle). There are quite a few girls to include in this list and I'll be sure to list their male counterparts in a future posting.

Monique

From Unique Monique

Rosa

From Little Fish

Minji

From Minji's Salon

Maja

From Flusi the Sock Monster

Grace

From Are We There Yet?

Lisa

From And What Comes After a Thousand?

Ziba

From Ziba Came on a Boat

Nina

From Nina Bonita

Shau-Yu

From On My Way to Buy Eggs

Tina Burke's unnamed toddler

From Fly, Little Bird

Mi-chan

From Girl From the Snow Country

Anna

From You Be Me, I'll Be You

Sophie

From Sophie's Big Bed

Little Princess

From Wash Your Hands!
Say Please!
I Want My Potty
I Want My Pacifier
I Don't Want to Go to Bed
I Want My Tooth

Suzy Lee's adorable zoo visitor

From The Zoo

Tina in Toronto

I'm meeting Tina Burke today for the first time. She's just moved to Toronto and since I'm here on business, it's the perfect opportunity to sit down with her and learn more about her future projects and what types of promotions she and I can work on together. She's created several beautiful titles with us over the past few years and we're anxious to learn about how we can have her appear in the schools, bookstores and libraries in Canada and the U.S. to promote her work.

by Tina Burke
From Australia


Fly, Little Bird


It's Christmas


Sophie's Big Bed
(Toddler Tales)

Tina grew up in Warriewood on Sydney's northern beaches, with her parents, Ron and Janet, and two older brothers, Paul and Sean. Her mother was always interested in art, and got Tina interested too by asking for her opinion when she was working on a painting, and then eventually buying her a box of pastels and a sketch pad. Tina always seemed to enjoy drawing and painting animals most of all.

Eventually, Tina moved to Sydney's eastern beaches - first Bondi Beach, then Coogee Beach (which looks a lot like La Jolla, California) before moving to Toronto, Canada last month.

Fly, Little Bird was Tina Burke's first book for children, but not her first work for children. For six years, she worked for Walt Disney animation.

On the Road Again

I leave this weekend for a quick trip to Canada. Feel free to send me warm wishes as I visit with our neighbors to the North - the cold, snowy North.

My day begins early Sunday morning when I head to Atlanta. Yes, I realize that this is not the direction I'm supposed to be heading but you know how airlines can be. I hang out in the airport for a few hours there before flying into Buffalo, New York. From there, I will take my rental car and drive across the border. I have a feeling that it will be much more difficult to get in and out of Canada than it is to drive South to Tijuana from here (and vice versa). My hotel is in Niagara-on-the-Lake which I hear is quite a pleasant little town.

On the Road
by Susan Steggall

Monday, I will meet our Canadian Distributors for a Sales Presenatation of our Spring 2008 titles, followed by a lunch with author and illustrator, Tina Burke, who recently moved to Toronto from Australia. I'm not sure where I will end up that afternoon, but I meet the crew from H.B. Fenn for a dinner meeting later that evening.

Tuesday morning I have an early lunch with an editor from a Canadian magazine before heading back to Buffalo to try and make it home by 11pm that night. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the flights are not delayed but at this time of year, one can never be sure.