American Illustration 32

Guess who’s been chosen for American Illustration 32? You guessed it...the RATS! These guys have been getting around—in addition to a cameo in the “Spring Children’s Book” issue of Publisher’s Weekly, Candlewick selected them for their World Rat Day promotional poster. 

Rizzoli, Rats and Raffs

On the heels of the big World Rat Day event at Rizzoli, I did a little traveling, so this post is over a week late. Still, I wanted to share a few photos—it was a fantastic turnout! Thanks to everyone who was there, bought books, and helped celebrate Poetry Month. And special thanks to the great people at Rizzoli—especially publicist Meg Parsont—and Candlewick for providing the bubbly and the big poster for the store window! Boy was my hand tired by the end, but in a really good way.

Rizzoli Bookstore - April 13th, 3–4:30 p.m.

Come celebrate the publication of World Rat Day with me at the legendary Rizzoli Bookstore this Saturday afternoon! 

MoCCA Arts Festival 2013 - April 6th & 7th

April is the busiest month ~ This weekend (April 6th and 7th) is the annual MoCCA Arts Fest at the 69th Regiment Armory at Lexington Avenue and 25th Street—open both days from 11am to 6pm.

Stop by table D97 where I’ll be selling a new, limited edition, hand-bound book featuring art from my bird image blog Ornithoblogical, called What the Duck? (You may remember earlier this year, I devoted an entire week on to ducks.)

My other MoCCA offerings will include a new set of hand-painted children’s t-shirts;  Ornithoblogical magnets, buttons, and prints; and a new line of notebooks featuring hand-painted tip-on images of robots and martians. And of course, I’ll be selling and signing copies of World Rat Day and Sylvia’s Spinach.

Once again, the lovely Sophia Wiedeman and I will be sharing a table. What table, was that again? Table D97. And just to make it easier on you, here a map. See you there!...

At the Bank St. Bookstore - April 4th

On the afternoon of Thursday, April 4th (World Rat Day proper) I’ll be presenting World Rat Day to the after-school set at the Bank Street Bookstore on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Click here for details. If you can’t make it to that event, you can still celebrate World Rat Day with me at Rizzoli Bookstore on Saturday, April 13th. More information from my earlier post can be found here. In addition to reading some of J. Patrick Lewis’ wonderful poems, we’ll be drawing rats, and inventing our own holidays. Hope to see you there!

sloths in creative quarterly 31

With all of my focus on rats these days, I was thrilled to learn that my sloths image from World Rat Day snuck into the spring Creative Quarterly competition as a runner-up. Of course, if you look closely, you’ll see the rat squad is in there too. 

The Release of the Rats!

Today’s the day World Rat Day, by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by me, storms bookstores and mailboxes. Here are a couple of reviews...

“Funny from start to finish, these superbly crafted poems and inventive illustrations celebrate...holidays that the elementary-school crowd will love. Raff’s intelligent artwork adds to the lighthearted play with many surprises...The entire book is such fun that children will will want to shout, “It’s J. Patrick Lewis Day!”  

—School Library Journal 

“J. Patrick Lewis gives...ear food for elementary school kids accompanied
by charming illustrations by Anna Raff!” —Bobbi Katz

:^)