Just found this little gal...

And she needs a story.  If anyone has any ideas...

Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco Event!

Hey all -- I'm going to be demonstrating how I work and doing some samples of art this Sunday at the CJM in San Francisco.  If you've ever wanted to see some of my originals, I'll be bringing a slew of them to the event.  Please swing by!   

https://www.facebook.com/events/1539575652947012/

Samples of art I'll bringing include Princess in Black, Mama Seeton's Whistle, AND art from a book that I'm working on now...  Sample below included!

ABFEE ART AUCTION!

Princess in Black art up for auction!  AS well as loads of other fabulous illustrations!  Go put a big on your favorite artist, AND support the American Bookseller's Foundation Freedom of Expression.  All the art is EXTREMELY reasonable, but it IS an auction, so put in your bid now!  Here's my piece up for auction.

http://www.ebay.com/usr/abffe

Other amazing artists include John Muth, Adam Rex, Lisa Brown, and lots lots lots more. 

Princess In Black on NYT BESTSELLER!!!

Here's a sneak peek of the line up for the NEXT Princess in Black book.  Let me know what you think...

Latest News and Goodies

Hey all!  Quick shout out, I'm going to be in Arlington, Virginia this Friday evening at One More Page Books.  I'll be running the same ornament workshop, so see posting below.  Here's more info:

Also, thought I'd post this -- I was asked to illustrate the latest 826 Valencia quarterly, and here it is... 826, in case you don't know, is an awesome non-profit organization dedicated to supporting kids from 6-18 in creative writing skills.  This quarterly is filled with students writings, and believe me, it was fun to illustrate. Find out more info here at http://826valencia.org/ . You can order their books there too, and all proceeds go directly to their creative writing program.

12 Days of Christmas Ornament Making and Booksigning!

It seems I'm only posting signings these days!  I apologize, I hate that, but I've been mired in deadlines and never seem able to post much else.  That, and let's face it, the holiday season is at hand and I'm going from store to store doing my best to pump up the economy!  My latest contribution?  Here it is:

Yup, another signing!  This is a ticketed event, so sign up at :

tiny.cc/leuyen

It's a free ornament making workshop.  I LOVE making ornaments, and it seems appropriate to the season, so here's what you'll make if you sign up for the workshop:

this one I'll just be providing patterns for...

this one we can make out of recycled christmas cards

this one is a favorite with the kids

and these are walnuts, pine cones, and corks.

Sign up your kids, stay for cookies and cider, and don't forgot I'll make a special drawing for your books!  Hopefully see you there!

ANOTHER LEUYEN PHAM SIGHTING COMING UP!

SATURDAY, October 25th at 11 am

The Princess in Black has arrived! Yes, the time has come, the Walrus said, for LeUyen 

to venture out and do another signing.  And THIS time, it’s for my latest collaboration 

with award winning authors Shannon and Dean Hale, a story about a super sweet pink princess by day, 

and a monster-butt-kicking superhero by night!

Reasons to come...

SUPER COOL STICKERS to give away!

Princesses, Superheroes, and monsters galore on this 

limited edition stickers, only available at this signing!

PINK AND BLACK BOOKMARKS!

For the superhero princess in all of us…

SPECIAL SKETCHES BY ME!

Bring your own little superheroes, and I’ll 

sketch them in the book when I sign!

@ Books Inc in the Marina

2251 Chestnut Street, San Francisco CA

Call in advance to reserve your copy!

http://www.leuyenpham.com

How Do You Pronounce LeUyen Pham?!? At Facebook

http://www.leuyenpham.blogspot.com

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I know, I'm early this year, but MY CHRISTMAS BOOK COMES OUT TODAY!!!!!

I've always loved this song, and my kids all know it by heart.  So it was a natural that I'd be illustrating it someday!  The book just came out today, but maybe do your shopping a little bit early! And if you leave a comment or contact me through my website, I'll put you on the mailing list for a christmas card, taken from images in the book!

Here's the STARRED review from Publisher's Weekly:

«THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

LeUyen Pham. Doubleday, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-385-37413-2

Pham brings an international scope to this traditional holiday song. A youthful couple, donning their Christmas finery, lead a playful dance through the song’s cumulative lyrics as the boy tries to wrangle each unwieldy gift for his girl. Pham’s (A Piece of Cake) eye for detail is evident as she showcases varieties of French hens, geese, and swans, but her paintings truly shine in the depiction of maids, lords, drummers, and ladies who hail not just different countries, but varied periods in history. Milkmaids from Africa, Europe, Asia and beyond greet the children; a Peruvian pan flutist rubs shoulders with a Scottish bagpiper; and so on—it’s nothing short of a global postcard. Musical notation and a note about the song’s origins are included, and readers are invited to locate all 78 gifts. Ages 3–7. Agent: Linda Pratt, Wernick & Pratt. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 09/12/2014 | Details & Permalink

And for those who've been talking about diversity in books, this one's got in spades.  My 8 maids, 9 ladies, 10 lords, 11 pipers, and 12 drummers all hail from around the world!

There will be a special book event for this one on November 23rd, where I'll be holding a crafts event to make ornaments from the book.  It'll be at Folio Books in Noe Valley, San Francisco, starting at 3 pm.  More details to come!

Would you go to this signing?

sketch from my latest penned endeavor.  i am such a duck...

On my mind...

The haps this week...

Heading off to the Decatur Book Festival this Friday!  For anyone going, make sure to come find me, I think my panel is 10:00 AM Saturday.

There's a cool online place to buy kids books, called Childrensbookstore.com.  They've got a great review of my latest "A Piece of Cake" you can read here:
http://www.childrensbookstore.com/shop/books/a-piece-of-cake-9780061992643/
or you can even peruse all my books at once here:
http://www.childrensbookstore.com/contributor/ct-leuyen-pham/
They seem awesome, so give them a shot next time you buy online.

Lastly, my cartoon for the week.  This and a bunch of other cartoons will be released in a bi-yearly publication called "826 Quarterly", a very cool project that has kids from early age to twenties writing stories, poems, essays, etc.  Put together by my local 826 Valencia, read here to find out more:
http://826valencia.org/our-programs/publishing/

stuff on BookPeople's Blog

Hi all!  I've been crazy busy this summer, so haven't had a chance to blog much.  So I'll put it all in one go:

I'm at it again, commenting online, which i'm not crazy for, but it's good to keep your hat in.  And the blog is totally worth it -- the very awesome BookPeople's Blog, which represents Texas' best independent bookstore.  The people there are awesome, and this is a very cool series of essays they're doing which addresses diversity in kids' books.  So if you want to read my two cents, just click on the link:

http://bookpeopleblog.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/leuyen-pham-my-kids-see-themselves-in-every-book-they-read/

and here's the image that I had drawn to go with it (those are my kids):

NEXT UP, I'll be on a panel with the ever awesome ANGELA DITERLIZZI and the marvelous MAC BARNETT at the Decatur Book Festival this year.  The festival goes from the 29th to the 31st, and features the best and most noteworthy in the literary field.  Our little panel will be talking about our latest books, plus an open Q&A with the audience, followed by a signing.  If you're in Georgie or anywhere in those parts, please consider dropping by!

Finally a little fun sketch I did before going to bed the other night.  I need to sketch for fun more often...

What's on my mind...

I'm not a huge fan of online interviews, but this one is an exception. Here's all the dirt you might want to know about my personal life, in which I reveal SO MUCH, without really revealing a thing.  If you'd like to read a little about my tiny corner of this world, check out the fabulous Sandra Nickel's blog "What was on Her...", where you get to find out tidbits about all those writers you love so much.  For the full thing, click here:

http://whatwason.net/2014/07/20/leuyen-pham-what-was-on-her/

Here's a smidgen to whet your whistle:

Posted this before...

but I had to take it down because the book hadn't come out.  From "Sketchtravel", and awesome collection of art by illustrators and artists from around the world.  Here's more info:

http://www.sketchtravel.com

New Book

Not going to say much about this one.  Keeping it a surprise.  But thought you'd like a sneak peek at some side characters...

Monsters!

Designs for monsters from the next series of books I'm illustrating, "The Princess In Black", by the great writing duo Shannon and Dean Hale.  Enjoy!

An Orca/Rocketship

My son Adrien is turning four this Sunday! We had his party this past Saturday, and he wanted an Orce/Rocket ship theme. What the hell does that mean, you wonder? Well, this is what it means...

Made of lemon cake with lemon curd filling, and that's mostly buttercream on top, because I hate the taste of fondant. The cake has been chowed down, but we saved the fondant whale...

Another dug up painting...

This one is from "Piggies In A Polka", my third book ever.

Just sketching...

I need to do something with these guys...  Any ideas?

Thank you, thank you for coming...

A HUGE thank you to everyone who came out to my book signing and made it such a great event! I was overwhelmed by everyone there, and the kind words people had to say. Special thanks Ingrid Nystrom, manager at Books Inc, who made a special birthday cake for the occasion, plus the whole staff at the store, who dealt with the very noisy group, all the kids from Lycée Francais who showed up to eat cake and get their picture drawn, my lovely husband and kids, who patiently waited the whole day, Ms Sabrina Bot for her incredible and generous camera work, Michael Cabana Baby Doctor Extraordinaire and number 1 fan, Chef Matthew Dolan for creating a cake recipe for me out of HONEY, MILK, EGGS, and NUTS, and to Anne-Claire Dolan, for taking these lovely pictures you see here.

My first major book signing in, what, three years?!? See you in another three years!

From "Aunt Mary's Rose"

From "Aunt Mary's Rose"

Many Many Mouse Cookies

Preparing for my book signing tomorrow. Spent the last couple days making Mouse Cookies -- Come and get one tomorrow! Hopefully see some of you there!

1 pm at Books Inc In Laurel Village, San Francisco

For Monsieur Poilu

So if you don't already know it, I really don't like posting photos online.  Don't know why, just feels too close somehow.  BUT, I have no problems at all revealing my love life in comic form.  Because let's face it, life is funnier when pared down and parsed to just the nice bits.

This weekend is the 13th anniversary of me and my French man.  That is, when we first got together, in that lovely Paris flat, during that ridiculously golden summer that will always make the 3rd Arrondisement the best in the world for me.  I thought I'd post the wedding booklet we made.  It only chronicles from when we met to when we got married, hence the early dates.  We have more cartoons since then, mostly with the kids and buying a house and all, but I think today it's nice just to post life pre-children.  You know, when we could still sleep in, had extra mula, and had time to sit around and draw each other...

Happy Anniversary, my Monsieur Poilu!