Meet the Winners of the JacketFlap OC Book Festival Booth Contest

The Orange County Children's Book Festival will be held this Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009 from 9:30AM - 4:30PM. The Festival is free to attend and is expected to draw 20,000 people. Just like last year, JacketFlap held a contest for authors and illustrators to win space in the booth to display, sign and sell their books. I'm excited to announce the six winners whom will be sharing the JacketFlap booth this weekend are Joy Allen, Erik Brooks, Merrily Kutner, Susan Lendroth, Dan Santat, and Ashley Wolff!

Following is some information on each of the winners. Please click on their names to visit their profiles and wish them congratulations!

Joy Allen will be promoting her latest work - PRINCESS PARTY (Putnam Children's Books). Joy's board book BABY SIGNS is on Oprah's website (Oprah.com) as recommended reading for infants ; she received the Oppenheim Toy Platinum Award for her artwork in books with American Girls; the Silver Angel Award for her illustrations in Mud Pie Annie (Zonderkidz); the Bank Street choice for BEING FRIENDS (Dial). She is the illustrator for the CAM JANSEN series (Viking).

Erik Brooks is an author and an illustrator. He will be promoting his latest illustration project - BOO'S SURPRISE (Henry Holt), which was written by Betsy Byars, and is a sequel to their 2006 collaboration BOO'S DINOSAUR. Erik has illustrated several books, including MONKEY BUSINESS: STORIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD, 2005 Bank Street "Best Book" and New York City Public Library's "100 Titles for Reading and Sharing" selection.

Merrily Kutner will be promoting THE ZOMBIE NITE CAFÉ (Holiday House), which won a Children's Moonbeam Award (gold medal) for best picture book of the year in the Holiday Category. She is also the picture book author of Z IS FOR ZOMBIE. Her next book ALPHABET MAGIC is forthcoming from Roaring Brook Press/Neal Porter Books in the fall of 2010. Merrily teaches an online course given through the UCLA Extension Writers Program entitled Structure Your Picture Books Like The Pros. She teaches a unique course on picture book diagramming and offers one-on-one online instruction and written critiques.

Susan Lendroth will be promoting OCEAN WIDE, OCEAN DEEP (Tricycle Press). Susan has had a lifelong fascination with history. The seaside setting of OCEAN WIDE, OCEAN DEEP, which follows her first picture book, WHY EXPLORE?, also depicts her love of the ocean. When she's not working on picture books, Susan writes essays and freelance travel articles for a variety of newspapers and magazines.

Dan Santat will be promoting BOBBY VS GIRLS (Arthur Levine Books). Dan appeared on the scene with his first book THE GUILD OF GENIUSES in 2004 (Arthur A Levine Books) which won several awards including the Marion Vanett Ridgeway Award for best debut author/illustrator. He illustrated the OTTO UNDERCOVER series written by Rhea Perlman and THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER KITTY by Barbara Jean Hicks (Knopf). He is also the creator of the new animated series, "The Replacements" which is currently featured on ABC and the Disney Channel. He is currently working on THE DOMESTICATED FOUR (Arthur A. Levine Books) and illustrating THE GHOSTS OF LUCKLESS GULCH written by Anne Isaacs (Atheneum). Dan graduated with distinction from the Art Center, College of Design in 2001. He was recently one of the 2009 National Green Earth Book Winners.

Ashley Wolff will be promoting I CALL MY GRANDMA NANA and I CALL MY GRANDPA PAPA (Tricycle Press). Ashley is an author/illustrator of more than 60 books including ONLY THE CAT SAW, BLOCK CITY by Robert Louis Stevenson, BABY BELUGA by Raffi, STELLA AND ROY GO CAMPING, The Miss Bindergarten series by Joseph Slate, ME BABY, YOU BABY, SHE'LL BE COMIN' ROUND THE MOUNTAIN by Philemon Sturges and MAMA'S MILK by Michael Ross. Her books have won numerous state and national awards.

For directions and more information about the event, you can visit the event website at:

www.kidsbookfestival.com

Congratulations again to the winners, and if you're at the OC Book Festival this Sunday, please stop by the JacketFlap booth to say hi!

Tracy