Red Bird Sings Book Launch!

We are delighted to share with you the Red Bird Sings book launch held at Mrs. Nelson's Toy and Book Shop in LaVerne, Ca. Our special thanks to Andrea Vuleta and Judy Nelson for allowing us the opportunity to share the publication of our book with family and friends. We are forever grateful to you!

Also, our amazing violinist, Asha, who performed period music of the 1800's on her violin.

With regard,

Gina and Q

Red Bird Sings Wins Gold Medal Award!

We are delighted to announce that Red Bird Sings has won the Moonbeam Children's Book Award gold medal for Multicultural Picturebooks. 

The Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards contest is designed to honor the year's best children’s books, authors and illustrators. The awards are presented by Jenkins Group and Independent Publisher magazine.  The guiding factor behind the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards is noble as these awards "bring increased recognition to exemplary children’s books and their creators, and to support childhood literacy and life-long reading. Awards are given in 38 categories covering the full range of subjects, styles and age groups that children’s books are written and published in today"

Both Q and I are honored and thrilled to recieve this gold medal award for Red Bird Sings!!

SCBWI-OC Features QL Pearce and Red Bird Sings

Just a little note on the SCBWI-OC Editor's Day in which both QL Pearce and I participated in.  One of our previous posts we mentioned that Red Bird Sings won the RAM Grant from the SCBWI.  And, while QL Pearce would never mention it, the grant is a direct result of her efforts.  She did, however, give a talk on the subject and offered advise as both a grant administrator and grant recipient.  

In the meantime, enjoy Q Pearce's overview on the wonderful SCBWI-OC Editor's Day!

Last weekend we held our thirteenth Editor’s Day!  We made several changes this year but the biggest change was our new venue, the Titan Theater at Cal State Fullerton. It was lovely and we were able to use several smaller rooms for our new breakout sessions.

            Our guests were Ruta Rimas, associate editor at Margaret K. Mc Elderry; Cindy Loh, Editorial Director of Splinter/Sterling; Daniel Nayeri editor at Clarion; and Greg Ferguson, editor at Egmont; Sara Scioto, agent at Full Circle Literary; and Gina Capaldi, author/illustrator of Red Bird Sings. Marilyn Scott-Waters and Q were spotlight speakers.

This was one of the most delightful groups of editors we’ve ever hosted. They were all so knowledgeable and approachable. The day included our traditional first pages panels and lunch with the editor, plus several new features that worked well. The pitch sessions were very popular. The attendees who signed up for a session each had five minutes with an editor or agent. That gave them time to pitch their manuscript and get feedback.

            Our illustrators participated in a terrific workshop with Gina Capaldi. In her last two books Gina has used a lovely technique of painting onto unique backgrounds and incorporating collage elements into each illustration. A couple of weeks before the event, Gina assigned each illustrator a page from Little Red Riding Hood and asked them to prepare a basic illustration. At the workshop she demonstrated her technique and then the participants had time to use collage to enhance the illustration they had prepared. Everyone seemed to love it and the only complaint we had was that the workshop wasn’t long enough. No one wanted to leave when it was over!

            All in all it was  great day.

Thanks Q for the overview...special thanks to Regional Advisor, Francesca Rusackas, for doing such a spectacular job!

(Photos by QL Pearce)