Book Launch Buttons for Book Bloggers

We’re officially getting ready for the launch of A Pig, A Fox and A Box in June! This Young Reader (Penguin USA) Jonathan wrote and illustrated features three stories with Pig and Fox and their pranking antics involving a Box.

With each book, we like to send out copies to our book bloggers who are working hard to let readers know about great books, new and old. This year, we’ll mail one of these buttons with the books!

If you’re a book blogger who would like to receive a copy of A Pig, A Fox and A Box, please leave a comment or send a note to me, Jennifer, at jennifer [AT] fatandappy [DOT] com. Thank you!

Parents and library staff, if you are in the market for an easy reader or young reader children’s book, we invite you to check out Jonathan’s other titles with Penguin, Love Is in the Air, Guppy Up and Woodward and McTwee. 

Middle Grade Novel Illustration

I’ve finished my middle grade novel, Magical Raintree Daughters. It’s so good to be done! With Book 1, anyway. Now, I will be searching for a children’s literary agent. Jonathan, meanwhile, has been looking for his own literary agent as well. Update: He has an agent! Carrie Hannigan of HSG Agency. Yippie! How do you spell fun? Q-u-e-r-y!

As you may remember, Jonathan and I collaborated on the novel; he is doing the illustrations. Here’s a sketch board of some of the characters. Wish us luck as we try to make this dream a real-live book (or three).

 

A Peek at Woodward and McTwee

This illustration is from the forthcoming Woodward and McTwee children’s book written and illustrated by Jonathan Fenske, to be published by Penguin USA in March 2014. Here’s the marketing blurb from the publisher:

“Woodward and McTwee are the silliest of friends. A bird and a hippopotamus could not be more different, but they love playing hide-and-seek and pulling pranks on each other. Join Woodward and McTwee for a ton of fun with two hilarious stories!”

I’ve loved watching this book take shape and morph and then finally find a home at Penguin. Hurray! Can’t wait until it comes out. I know Jonathan is eager, too. Meanwhile,  he’s working on a series with three books, the first being called A Pig, A Fox and A Box (I’ve blogged about this one before). I’m picking up again where I left off on Magical Raintree Daughters (a middle grade adventure novel) and we’re both trying to keep up with the girls. Also on the to do list: put the garden to bed, weed the stones in the front and backyard and start pruning our climbing roses. Confidential to YouTube video makers: your advice on rose pruning is horribly inconsistent. I am lost.

Thanks for stopping by. We love ya’ll so much and it’s great to share art and beauty with you. And broken lightbulbs. And messy houses. Until next time!

What’s Your Favorite Children’s Book? + Book News

If you have kids in your home, you read a lot of children’s books. Books are everywhere around here. And beware the tidy mother who attempts to curate the collection. There were howls of protest when I started to “thin” out the bookshelves earlier this week. But we had to…shelves were stuffed and books were piled and the baby would drag them around, chewing and mewing for someone to read to her. (Kidding! She’s in that stage where a book is simply not that interesting. We still read to her, of course, but she wanders off to see how her older sisters are clobbering each other. True story.)

In any event, we filled a box-o-books to take to Goodwill.

This book curating made me think of a guest post Jonathan did in February over at The Write Now Coach, Rochelle Melander. I’ve known Rochelle for many years and she’s a true tour-de-force of a writing coach, author, editor…the list goes on. She kindly had Jonathan on her blog and he guest posted about his 5 favorite children’s books. Here’s an excerpt:

“When we had our first daughter seven years ago, I delighted in buying old picture books at thrift stores and discovering new titles at our local bookstore. When I wrote Love Is in the Air (indeed, whenever I write) all of my favorite books were (and are) swirling in my head, a beautiful, highly respected and influential mass of collective imagination.”

In book news, we’re pleased as punch to tell you that Penguin USA made an offer for Woodward and McTwee. It’s one of several stories about a sweet, innocent hippo and a super snarky bird. The book will be published in 2014. We love Penguin, including Jonathan’s editor, Bonnie Bader. Go book people!

Here’s a homemade mock-up of the cover:

That’s it from here! We invite you to head over to the new home of Fat and Appy, and our new collection of canvas prints for children featuring Jonathan’s designs. Save 15% by signing up for our newsletter. Thank you for visiting. We adore you so much.

Tell us in the comments: what is your favorite children’s book? 

Free Book Friday: Win a Copy of Love Is in the Air

Hi friends! Jonathan and I are super happy to launch a new Friday freebie: we’re giving away a hardcover copy of Love Is in the Air each Friday for five weeks. That’s five chances to win!

For today, please leave a comment telling us the answer to this question: Who will you read Love Is in the Air with?

On Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, we’ll choose a number from Random.org and that number entry will be our winner. Easy! (Contest is open to U.S. addresses only, please.)

Want to know more about Love Is in the Air? Read this wonderful review by the children’s book blog Sweet on Books. It’s posted on their blog and also the NYC local ABC affiliate, WABC’s website. I think the WABC link will only work for one week, so click today to see it!

Melissa from Sweet on Books writes: “Love Is in the Air is a cheerful, heart-warming story; this is a subject not often found in “Learn to Read” books. This particular kind of children’s book is deceptively hard to write, and write well. I don’t think that many authors even attempt it. So much of what is out there is just meh. But Jonathan Fenske has changed that.”

Thanks very much to Melissa and the folks at Sweet on Books. Stop in there for quality children’s book recommendations, plus a gorgeously designed site that makes you want to stay around for a long time. They have an awesome rating system, plus you can sort recommendations by reader level which is very helpful.

Good luck and get those entries in!

Space Bug Eats Cheery Astronaut

As you may know if you read our blog, Jonathan loves vintage toys. He often sets them up in funny or poignant situations and then photographs them to see how the scene works. He takes the scene that he likes best and then paints with acrylics onto board. Voila!

Sometimes, I see him processing an image from one of these photo shoots that makes me laugh out loud. This is one such image. It’s called Final Transmission.