#TBT in B&W

Maggie meets her grandmother, and Oliver gets a scolding. (From MAGGIE & OLIVER OR A BONE OF ONE'S OWN.)

3x3!

Last week I learned that my illustrations for Maggie & Oliver, or A Bone of One's Own won a place in the 3x3 Children's Show No. 9! Here's the list of all the winners. So exciting!

2012 Best Children's Books of the Year

Yesterday I was thrilled to find out that Maggie & Oliver made the Bank Street College 2012 Best Children's Books of the Year list. Yippee! I'm also happy to see so many great books by friends and acquaintances on the list. Congrats to all!

Here are a few pieces of interior art. These are scans from the originals... they are printed in a lovely soft sepia color in the book:





















 

Whohoo, Reviews!

So, we are powerless yet again, after Saturday's Epic October Snowstorm. I'm posting from my town's municipal center. (Free wifi and Starbucks, yay!) No worries. Other than the heartbreak of seeing so many beautiful old trees destroyed, none landed on our house, fortunately. And, we have a generator and wood stove. Water and heat rock! (We also managed to polish off all the Halloween candy ourselves, since they cancelled trick or treating. Well-deserved chocolate, I say!)

I'm thrilled to be posting a few lovely reviews for Maggie & Oliver. One from last week's Shelf Awareness, (scroll down), and one in the November/December issue of The Horn Book Magazine! Here's a snippet:

"This is Victoriana with no steampunk shenanigans and no tongues in cheeks, just well-orchestrated, straightforward storytelling for newish readers– with a bonus of warm pencil drawings reminiscent of Lois Lenski."


Wow. (Lois Lenski!) Just wow. Thank you, Shelf Awareness and Horn Book!

Hey! It's a Giveaway!

To celebrate the  release of Maggie & Oliver, I'm giving away two copies signed by me, the illustrator! Click on the link below to enter. The winners will be chosen on November 22nd.

 
 

    Goodreads Book Giveaway
 

 
  
   

    
       
    
   

  
   

     

      
          Maggie and Oliver or A Bone of One's Own
      
     

     

      
          by Valerie Hobbs
      
     

    
     

      
         
            Giveaway ends November 22, 2011.
         

         
            See the giveaway details
            at Goodreads.
         

      
     

   

   

  
  
      Enter to win
  
  
 

(I'd pick the names out of a hat myself, but can't trust that my pup wouldn't eat them first. And who knows what the cats would do! Ahh... life with animals.)

Happy Book Birthday!

 Maggie & Oliver officially enters the world today!

New Fall Postcard

Box O' New Books!

Look what Mr. UPS guy delivered yesterday! Hardcover copies of Maggie and Oliver, or A Bone of One's Own! The official release date is in less than three weeks, on October 25!



















Such fun to page through it...

The book is printed in a nice brownish ink, which fits the time period well, I think! Here are a few interior spreads...

While working on the endpapers, my editor and designer came up with the brilliant idea of having Maggie and Oliver separate on the front end... (See the girl and the dog close to the gutter?)

... and coming together on the back end, as they do in the story.

And it was a lovely surprise to see that they had taken one of interior spots...

... and embossed it on the hardcover of the book. Sweet detail!

I'll post more in the coming weeks, but for now, time for a great big Happy Dance!

Fall 2011 Children's Announcements!

From Publisher's Weekly

MACMILLAN/HENRY HOLT
Maggie and Oliver or a Bone of One’s Own by Valerie Hobbs, illus. by Jennifer Thermes (Oct; $15.99; ISBN 978-0-8050-9294-3) relays the adventures of an orphan girl and an orphaned dog in turn-of-the-century Boston. Ages 8 to 12.