Just finished anorher illustration for Charline & Lauren’s story, “Tartan Meets the Queen.”
To see other posts on “Tartan Meets the Queen,” check out :
“Tartan Meets the Queen” © Charline Crous & Lauren Everton, Illustrations © Heather Castles
I’m pretty stoked as my most recent children’s book, “The Lottle Boy’s Smile” by Tom Krause, has gone to print at Trafford! I’m not too embarrassed to say I’m proud of this book and am happy with how the illustrations turned out! I was given quite a bit of creative freedom in the project, thanks to the generous author, and I think my enjoyment in the project reflects throughout. Will post once it’s printed & available online.
Author Lisa Chalifoux just took part in an interview over at Blog Talk Radio, and shares a little about her experience working with me on our book “Spotty & Eddie Learn to Compromise.” Lisa also chats a bit about her experience with self-publishing her first book.
You can listen to the interview here!
I just read a kind review of my book, “Good-bye, Baby Max” by Lillian Brummet over at Chrsty’s Book Reviews :
“Good-bye Baby Max is a wonderful children’s book for those who are coping with the end of life. A former kindergarten teacher who currently works as a professional counselor and life coach in Texas wrote the hardcover book. The author, Diane Cantrell, states that the book was written to stimulate discussion on a topic that is often difficult to broach.
The illustrations are filled with gold, red, green and blue in the art are filled with activity, creations on the walls by the class and teacher’s lessons displayed here and there. The nature scenes are lovely and occasionally spotted with cute ladybugs - which might be fun to inspire your children find them….
Children will enjoy the opening and closing pages that are filled with tiny yellow chicks…. Rating 4 out of 5 stars.”
Here’s my submission for this week’s theme of “Garden” at IllustrationFriday.com. (You can click on the image to see it at a larger size)
Love it when I get these in my email… here’s another Border’s coupon for 25% off a full-priced children’s book, expires March 13th ‘08.
I stumbled across another review of my book, “Good-bye, Baby Max” over at TheCelebrityCafe.com by Janet Pope :
“Mrs. B’s kindergarten class anxiously awaited the arrival of three baby chicks, which they have already named. But Max, the last one to hatch, doesn’t make it into the world. The next morning, Mrs. B has to break the sad news to the class. The rest of the story, told in rhyming text, shows how the children and the teacher handle their grief. “Silence falls over the room. Liz and Rob begin to cry. ‘Don’t worry,’ says Mrs. B. ‘We’ll find a way to say good-bye.’”
This simple and tender story takes a look at an occurrence that most every child, unfortunately experiences at least once during their childhood - the death of a class pet or a pet of their own. The colorful illustrations by Heather Castles are soft and muted, adding to the seriousness of the subject. The expressions on the faces of the multi-cultural children are precious and touching.
This a a great book for any young child experiencing a loss, especially appropriate for ages 4 through 8. This is a difficult subject to approach with a young child and this book would ease that conversation.”
Another down-to-earth way to be responsible for the products we purchase: Eco-Libris encourages avid book lovers to donate $1 for each book they purchase, which will go towards planting trees to offset the consumed paper. You even get a nifty recycled sticker to put inside your book to boast it’s new green qualities.
While book publishers are starting to print books with more recycled & FSC-certified content, they are still a far cry from making books sustainable, which means the books we purchase & love are still not as “green” as they can be. While many other companies are going paperless, the book publishing industry depends on paper consumption as alternative resources are still too expensive for their bottom line. The more book lovers are concerned & aware of the impact the publishing industry has on their environment, the more pressure it will put on them to make changes towards sustainable books.
So booklovers, think of putting a little something back in the ground for the little something that was taken out to make your book. Check out Eco-Libris and donate to plant trees for each of your favourite books… or go all-out and make your home library greener! Buy a few extra stickers to stick in the books you give to your family & friends.
Illustrators & Authors can take it a step further… consider buying stickers to give out at your next book signing. Or check out Eco-Libris’ Publishers & Authors program to find out how you can print Eco-Libris’ logo on the cover of your upcoming picturebook!
Diane & Rich Cantrell just passed this review by Ernest Dempsey onto me for our book, “Good-bye, Baby Max:”
“Many children books are printed each month to amuse kids of varying ages. This colorful, hardcover children’s title Good-bye, Baby Max (Bridgeway Books, Texas, 2007) by Diane Cantrell & Heather Castles is special in its purpose of teaching an invaluable lesson: that of properly saying the final farewell to a loved one who is no more. The book tells the story of the unfortunate baby chick Max who doesn’t make it into life while his twins Dora and Spiderman appear healthy out of their shells. The kids, eagerly awaiting the birth of the chicks, are heartbroken over the death of Baby Max and so their teacher uses her wisdom and care to lead them toward the appropriate way of showing their love and expressing their grief.
The importance of involving children in mourning is increasingly being acknowledged by developmental psychologists since children do sense the loss no matter how much they are coaxed into believing that ‘everything is ok.’ By being left out with the ‘mystery’, their wee minds are inclined to conclude that something terribly wrong has happened; something that is not worth speaking. This sows the seeds of fear and detachment in their mental development. Being a Licensed Professional Counselor and former KG teacher, Diane Cantrell has created a very purposeful book for children-one that is at once a story, a poem, and a healthy course of helping children get over grief. The book’s illustrations by Heather Castles are very appealing to a child’s imagination. There is a good deal here in Good-bye, Baby Max to learn for children ages 4 to 8 years and the 32-pages book is a must read for all kids of this age category.”
I just finished painting the last of the illustrations for Tom Krause’s “The Little Boy’s Smile” Not a day too soon as I’m taking some time off for maternity leave tomorrow! I will to leave you in suspense as to how the rest of the illustrations turned out until they are all approved & sent to the printer… but in the mean time, here are a couple of my favourites from the book :)
