JUSTIN CASE 2 out now!

I'm like a broken record here on the ol' blog... I'm behind in the posting of important stuff. Problem is, I update my Facebook profile more than I seem to update my blog nowadays. No excuse. If, however, you aren't my friend on Facebook, and you're reading this, please friend me up right here! So what I'm behind on now, is celebrating my latest book release (book 5 of the 2012 Matthew Cordell Children's Book Explosion!!).

Book 5 is JUSTIN CASE: SHELLS, SMELLS, AND THE HORRIBLE FLIP-FLOPS OF DOOM. Now if that most excellent title doesn't grab you, I am here to tell you that Justin Case 2 (for those not in the know, it's a sequel to JUSTIN CASE: SCHOOL, DROOL, AND OTHER DAILY DISASTERS) is every bit as hilarious, if not more so to tell truth, as its predecessor. The coolest Rachel Vail has topped herself, what I'm saying.

Help me in celebrating by checking out the cover and a sampling of drawings I did (there's a kabillion of them peppered throughout the text) and go out there and find a copy to read! Hooray, Justin!

BAT AND RAT in the NY Times!

I'm a bit lagged on my bloggin' here, but some great news I've been meaning to post... BAT AND RAT, my newest picture book, written by Patrick Jennings, got a very kind review here in last Sunday's New York Times Book Review! It was part of  a semi-annual big children's book pullout section they do. And the review was written by the great publisher and children's book expert and writer, Anita Silvey, as part of a roundup of friendship books. All very, very cool stuff. Here's the bit where she talks about our pals Bat and Rat. Hooray!

In Patrick Jennings’s “Bat and Rat” readers meet another pair of animals, both occupants of the Hotel Midnight, yet unlikely to become friends. But although Bat lives on the top floor and Rat in the basement, the two rendezvous to play music together and share simple joys like going out for ice cream. They only really differ on what flavor to choose — Mosquito Ripple, Butter Beetle Pecan or Mint Fly Chip? In the end, the duo perform Rat’s new song inspired by the events of the evening. The talented illustrator Matthew Cordell keeps this soufflé of an adventure rising; in two stellar double-page spreads he shows Bat swooping down to the lobby while Rat painstakingly climbs the steps to get to the same place.

EXPLODE v. 4

May 1 marked the release of book # 4 of the 2012 Matthew Cordell Children's Book Explosion!!

BAT AND RAT, a wonderfully hep picture book by author Patrick Jennings about a jazzy, nocturnal musical duo playing it out in the big city. From our pals at Abrams Books for Young Readers. SKA-BOOOM!!

I will post some samples from the book directly... stay tuned! 


Til then, if you haven't seen it yet, please check out the way rad book trailer:

IRA signings

For any and all folk who will be attending the upcoming IRA conference in Chicago, please come by one or all of my signings! I would love to see you there. I'll even draw a picture in your book(s)!

Tuesday, May 1

11:30-12pm Simon and Schuster, booth #2611. Signing copies of ITSY-BITSY BABY MOUSE  and LEAP BACK HOME TO ME

2-3pm Abrams, booth #2438. Signing copies of BAT AND RAT (it'll be BRAND NEW!) and LIKE PICKLE JUICE ON A COOKIE

3-3:30 Macmillan, booth #2440 . Signing copies of ANOTHER BROTHER, TROUBLE GUM, and JUSTIN CASE


Wednesday, May 2

10-11:30am Boyds Mills Press, booth #1542. Signing preview samplers of the upcoming poetry collection (fall 2012) IF YOU WERE A CHOCOLATE MUSTACHE, with the man himself, J. Patrick Lewis!

From the Drawing Board

Just a couple of random recent samplings from the drawing table. I'm scribbling like mad these days. I'm in finishes (watercolors) on a picture book, finished drawings for a 160 pp poetry book, and sketch revisions for another poetry book. Drawing these days with whatever makes an interesting mark. Pencil, sharpie, but mostly bamboo pen. Bamboo (essentially it's like dipping a stick in ink and pulling it across paper) is horribly frustrating, but when it's good, it's so good. What matters... keep the line loose, fresh, varied, and beautifully ugly. If that makes sense...

BAT AND RAT book trailer!

Some of you may remember the very first ever book trailer I created and that was for ANOTHER BROTHER just a few months back. Today marks the day I finished my second ever book trailer for my next book out, BAT AND RAT, by the heavily-talented Patrick Jennings. Mr. Jennings helped me figure out the script here and his apparently also-heavily-talented daughter, Odette, swooped in to save us with her sweet, jingly, piano tune that goes perfectly with the song in the book, Favorite Favorite.

Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby present the world debut of the book trailer about two of the sweetest, hippest urban nocturnals that go by, simply enough, BAT AND RAT. (Trailer's super-mini here on the blog, but if you'd like to see it larger--go FULL SCREEN!--here's the official link to YouTube.) BAT AND RAT is available anywhere books are sold on May 1, 2012 from Abrams Books for Young Readers.

Donkeys and Dental Floss

By golly, it's been a long time since I've checked in here on the blog. It's just been slammed with work these days. Among other things, I'm currently in final art for a 160pp poetry book by none other than Children's Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis. It will be out in the fall of this year, titled IF YOU WERE A CHOCOLATE MUSTACHE. I'm doing the whole book in straight up pen and ink and very much enjoying it. Here's a taste of one of the final drawings. Two angry donkeys dueling over a strand of dental floss. (click it, make it bigger)

FORGIVE ME... you can win!

Contest! Enter your name to win an absolutely free copy of FORGIVE ME, I MEANT TO DO IT, a collection of false apology poems by Gail Carson Levine, illustrated by yours truly. All you need do is head over to the blog of my lovely wife (and YA scribe), Julie Halpern, and leave a comment on this post to put your name into the hat. You have until the end of the day on Wednesday, March 21 to get yourself entered.

And now... I present to you the cover and sample spreads from within. Huzzah! (click on images to make bigger)

ITSY-BITSY BABY MOUSE samples

I'm a bit behind in showing art from books that have been coming out this year. I'll start here by showing some favorite bits from ITSY-BITSY BABY MOUSE, a picture book I illustrated, written by Michelle Meadows, that came out last week from Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. Click 'em to see 'em bigger.

Explode! v.2

Tomorrow will see the release of book #3 of the 2012 Matthew Cordell Children's Book Explosion! FORGIVE ME, I MEANT TO DO IT (from our friends at Harper), a first-time poetry collection by acclaimed author, Gail Carson Levine. It's a collection of "false apology poems" based upon the originally written one by William Carlos Williams that goes:


This Is Just To Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
 
There's a lot of dark and wicked humor (much of it fairy tale infused) in FORGIVE ME, and I hope my drawings lend nicely to this wonderful witches brew of poems.

FORGIVE ME has gotten some very kind reviews, including two starred reviews in industry journals (Publishers Weekly and Booklist) as well as nice mentions and write-ups in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic. Here's a few clips that, I think, might go down nicely with the wonderfully sinister, but hilarious vibe of the book.

The prolific author of “Ella Enchanted” is determined here to strip poetry free of the high-mindedness with which schoolchildren often groaningly associate it.... Cordell’s cartoons are precisely attuned to the “I know you are, but what am I?” mind-set. –The New York Times 

Ms. Levine has devised verses written from the point of view of any number of unrepentant malefactors. Matthew Cordell's comic drawings leaven the mordant wit, as when Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother writes: "When you arrive / I will not be / lying / in my bed / where / you hungrily / hoped / to find me / Forgive me / tell my granddaughter / better one of us / should live." –The Wall Street Journal

True to form, many of her poems here riff off of fairy tails or nursery rhymes. Cows apologize for chewing through beanstalks; princesses apologize for leaving the dirty, smelly dwarves; the Beast apologizes for having Beauty to an unusual breakfast; and a girl apologizes for pushing Humpty-Dumpty off the wall ("Forgive me/all the king's horses/and all the king's men/ were bored")...The poems are complemented by Matthew Codell's dexterously messy line art, which nicely captures the rudeness of Levine's poem. –The Atlantic