Daughter's of Two Nations Book Signing

Our own PALS coordinator, Carolyn Dee Flores and SWTX, board member, Peggy Caravantes had a successful book signing of their book, The Daughter's of Two Nations, this weekend at Barnes & Noble. Another board member, Lupe Flores mediated the event.

Peggy spoke of how important these women were in history, even stating which one of the ladies she felt was her favorite. Carolyn had some beautiful artwork on display for all to see. She talked not only about her technique but also about how the images came to be.

Click this link: The Daughter's of Two Nations to purchase their book.

Lupe Flores, Carolyn Flores, and Peggy Caravantes

Photographed above: Akiko White (with her purse-pet), Carolyn Dee Flores, 

Guadalupe Garcia Mccall, Catherine Stier, Peggy Caravantes.

 Cupcakes provided by Akiko White Cakelustrator.

The 2014 Tomie dePaolo winner is...

We're so proud to announce that Illustrator Coordinator Akiko White

has won the 2014 Tomie dePaola Illustrator Award!

Every year, Tomie gives illustrators a prompt. Part of this year's prompt: "Illustrate a poem (see below) in full color for a book of poems that will be "pitched" to parents to read to their babies, toddlers, etc. The poem: 

Sneeze

A sneeze
Is a breeze
In
Your
Nose."

Akiko's Winning Submission…

From Akiko:

"The poem that Tomie dePaola assigned to us made me immediately think of an elephant with its extremely long trunk. I was also inspired by a children's book that was given to me by my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Clampitt, in 1974: "Stand Back," Said the Elephant, "I'm Going To Sneeze!" written by Patricia Thomas and illustrated by Wallace Tripp. It is a fun and beautifully illustrated story about an elephant who is about to sneeze, but unexpectedly laughs instead. [For my piece] I used fondant, gum-paste, isomalt (very little for the mouse's whiskers), and the cake is a vanilla yellow cake covered in buttercream. I added the font in Photoshop. I almost didn't enter the contest because I had a cake order for a vineyard but [the order] fell through so it allowed me to put my time into this image."

Nice Work, Akiko. Congratulations!

The Tomie dePaola Illustrator Award is given annually to an illustrator of promise chosen by Tomie himself. Akiko will receive full tuition, transportation, and accommodations to the 2014 Winter Confence in New York in February, where the award will be presented. SCBWI will feature her winning piece at the Illustrator Showcase. As a special addition to the prize this year, she will also get to have lunch with Tomie at the conference!

Click here for more info, including runner's-up and the SCBWI's official announcement of the award.

Your Regional Team,

SCBWI Southwest Texas