Flying Poodles ~ A Christmas Story

from "Flying Poodles ~ A Christmas Story" written by 

Karen Morss and illustrated by 

Ginger Nielson.

Miss Sally helps harness little Max, who wears a hand knitted nose warmer as he prepares for the adventure of a lifetime.

The book is available from Flying Poodles and will soon be listed as an iPad/iPhone app.

My new books have arrived!

It's so fun receiving first copies of a book. Or two books! I received my first copies of Dancing Dreams and Oliver's First Christmas from Accord Publishing. I turned in the final illustrations for Dancing Dreams days before I had my baby in January, and the finals for Oliver's First Christmas were due in April. Both of these will be released within the next month.

They both use AniMotion(tm) technology, which is a fancy way of saying that there are action windows which look like animations as you turn the page. You can see the dancer in the red dress is in two different poses above. Super fun!

Kristi Valiant
www.kristivaliant.com
http://kristivaliant.blogspot.com

A shiny sticker on my book!

Gotta love shiny stickers!

CORA COOKS PANCIT was the Picture Book Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature.

The awards gala was during the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. in June. I loved getting to meet the author of Cora Cooks Pancit at the awards gala; she's a wonderful woman. Most of the time as an illustrator I don't have any contact with my authors; the publishers like to keep us separate so we can work more creatively in telling our own half of the picture book story.

In this book, Cora loves the kitchen but her older brother and sisters always get to help with the real cooking while she gets stuck with kid jobs like licking the spoon. When her older siblings head out for the day, Cora finally gets the chance to be Mama's assistant chef. She chooses to make her Grandpa's pancit recipe, a Filipino noodle dish. The recipe is in the book and it's yummy.

This has been a busy and wonderful year for me. Cora won this award, I had a baby girl, and I've illustrated 4 more picture books for great publishers: Albert Whitman & Co, Accord/Andrews McMeel, and Standard Publishing.

Kristi Valiant
http://kristivaliant.blogspot.com
www.kristivaliant.com

If Wishes Were Fishes

A second book I illustrated for 4RV publishing is due to be released this June. If Wishes Were Fishes was written by N. A. Sharpe.  A child's point of view makes some of the statements adults make come to life in a very literal sense.

I have a short trailer on my website for If Wishes Were Fishes. if you want to take a peek. Hopefully the trailer is working. Some viewers had trouble seeing it. The other trailer for
IN MY BATH does seem to be working okay.

All 4RV books are available on the 4RV website, Amazon.com and any and all bookstores.

2 new books - Dancing Dreams & Oliver's First Christmas

I have 2 picture books coming out this fall that I illustrated. The first is DANCING DREAMS, to be released in September 2010 by Accord Publishing. In this story, Gracie dreams of dancing everything from ballet to hula to flamenco:



And this one is from OLIVER'S FIRST CHRISTMAS, to be released in October 2010 by Accord Publishing. Here, Oliver the puppy is staying up to wait for Santa (oops - he fell asleep!):

Kristi Valiant
www.kristivaliant.com
http://kristivaliant.blogspot.com

Coming Soon.... to a bookshelf near you...

Coming Soon ~ In My Bath ~

I have had the privilege of illustrating a charming picture book written by Beth Bence Reinke. IN MY BATH is scheduled for release by 4RV Publishing LLC, this June. Children will love the adventurous imagination of a young boy who turns bath time into a splash, swish, and slosh of a romp!

Picture Book Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature

More great news: CORA COOKS PANCIT was the Picture Book Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature! Last year, the winner was WABI SABI, which is an incredible picture book, so I'm thrilled to be in such amazing company!

The award ceremony is during the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. in June.

Picture Book coming Fall 2010

I recently finished illustrating a picture book called DANCING DREAMS for Accord Publishing that will have Animotion panels making it look like a confined part of the illustration is animated (the older ballerina on stage in this spread). Accord did the same thing with the picture book, BEE & ME, which became a New York Times Best-Seller!

DANCING DREAMS incorporated a lot of styles of dance and was soooo much fun to illustrate. I love dancing. I used to be part of a performance and competition swing dance group. We also did latin and ballroom dancing. I miss all that fun exercise.

Accord offered me another illustration contract for a second picture book with Animotion panels. I've been working on cover sketches, and this one is going to be stinkin' cute!

Kristi Valiant
http://kristivaliant.blogspot.com
www.kristivaliant.com

POSTERS from Overnight Prints

Recently I learned that Overnight prints was offering Poster prints at 11 X 17 inches. I decided to try this out and was rewarded with the most beautiful prints! The color is perfect and the effect is fantastic. Well worth the money spent and there are always coupons available for discounts. If you have a book to promote or artwork you want to sell as posters this might be right for you as well.

Since I photographed this in natural light in the studio, it may not be as vivid as it is in real life, but I am really happy with the quality.

My First Book Signing in a store

I had my first picture book signing at Barnes & Noble last Saturday for Cora Cooks Pancit. I've done book signings at school visits and conferences before, but I was a little nervous about doing one at a store. What if no one came?

It turned out to be a smashing hit! Barnes & Noble sold out of the books they ordered for the signing, and then they sold 12 of my own copies that I brought in as backup. How fun is that!

The most fun part of it for me was seeing lots of friends from church, neighbors, in-laws, SCBWI friends, and friends of my mother-in-law (she sent the announcement to everyone she's ever known). It was quite the party! I brought a big pot of pancit (the Filipino noodle dish from the story - the recipe is in the book), and my husband handed out samples the whole time while I signed and chatted and hugged and "Wow - I haven't seen you in 2 months!" There was a lot of that, because I've been in bed for 2 months with severe morning sickness and dizziness. Being in the second trimester now rocks!

This is an illustration from the book.

Elizabeth Dulemba just interviewed me about this picture book on her fun blog: http://dulemba.com/blogger.html Check it out!

Kristi Valiant
http://kristivaliant.blogspot.com

A new beginning for something old

I had submitted the story of Gunther the Underwater Elephant to about five publishers before one became interested but then after a long session and wait they finally turned him down. It wasn't so much the pictures, they loved those, it was the story.
Me, being a bit of a control (not quite freak) person did not want to let go of the story so I took Gunther back and put him on the bookshelf for 6 months.

Recently I started working on two other dummies and during the process I realized that Gunther had possibilities I had not thought of. So naturally he is back on the drawing table and being re-dummied. The text is far more minimal and the pictures are telling the story from a more childlike point of view. I think a child could now hear the story once and then retell (READ) it by reading the pictures. And isn't that what a picture book should be about?

Cora Cooks Pancit

What have I been working on? Mainly this book: Cora Cooks Pancit for Shen's Books.

Cora loves the kitchen, but her older brother and sisters always get to help with the real cooking while she gets stuck with kid jobs like licking the spoon. When her older siblings head out for the day, Cora finally gets the chance to be Mama's assistant chef. She chooses to make her Grandpa's pancit recipe, a Filipino noodle dish.

The pancit recipe is included in the book, and it's delicious! My husband and I made a big pot of pancit a few weeks ago, and we've already bought ingredients to make it again. Mmmm...

Amazon says the book will be out in April, so look for it in April or May in your bookstore!

-Kristi Valiant

Picture

What am I currently working on? A sweet, trade picture book for Shen's Books. Here's a lil' sneak peek at the main character. I'm still in the sketch phase. It's so much fun to create a personality, a tiny life that exists in this book.