Porch 2012

Every year we do a theme porch for Halloween. This year it was the Scaremount movie Theatre. Despite the rain, we had lots of kids and even ran out of candy!

Here are some pics....

Neil, Larry and cats (and fish)

If you read the Neil Flambe books you'll know that Neil has an army of cats who camp underneath his kitchen window waiting for scraps of food that don't meet Neil's HIGH standards. (This happens a lot and the cats are quite chubby).

Larry's job is to make sure the kitchen window stays in good repair. But he gets distracted so easily by coffee....

Oops.

This original is available as a raffle prize at the Giller Light Bash in Toronto, which I will emcee tomorrow (October 30th). Get your info and tickets here!

Help an independent book seller TODAY!

I love all book stores, but the independents are the heart and soul of the publishing world.

Books of Wonder is a great one in New York that just got handed a raw deal from a tenant.

They need some cash to help cover the bills, fast. They are auctioning off some AMAZING artwork, including signed Sendak prints, Alan Lee, Lane Smith.... Kate Camillo... so many!

You can find out more about the campaign here. (I've got my dibs on the Alan Lee postcards, so hands off!)

Peter Glassman, the proprieter, has kindly accepted my offer of some signed Neil Flambé stuff (books, etc) and an original print.

Here's the print.

Do your best to help Peter, if you can, and keep supporting great kids books stores in Canada... such as (but definitely NOT limited to)....

Mabel's Fables

Blue Heron Books

Kidsbooks

Mulberry Bush Bookstore

Laughing Oyster

The Tanner's Children's Bookshop

The Cookbook Store (of course!)

Ella Minnow

Type Books 

Book City 

The Canadian Booksellers Association


And please, if you are an indie bookseller, add a comment below with a link to your store.

movie!

The great crew at the Cookbook Store made a video of the installation and reveal of the Neil Flambe mural.

Just in case you don't think we kids authors do heavy lifting!

The "oops" halfway through is me screwing up my own signature... argh.

Thanks to Alison and John and everyone at the store, Mateo with his drill, Michelle from SandS and my brother Doug and brother-in-law Al for all the help.

Outdoor artwork revealed!

 The big Neil Flambe #4 launch art reveal took place today at the Cookbook Store in Toronto.

Alison Fryer and the gang invited me to paint a mural on the outside wall. Voila, here is the final product!

If you missed today's big event (and the free pocky and sushi) you can drop by the store anytime, or just stroll by and check it out in person!

Maybe even take a picture of yourself with my crazed Neil! I'd love to see some pics, even post them here on the blog or neilflambe.com. (Use the @NeilFlambe handle in your tweets.)

Just for a sense of scale, here's a pic of me standing next to the wall.

I took a gazillion pics of the process, so stay tuned for a behind-the-scenes movie sometime soon.

Big REVEAL!

This is an open invitation for everyone and anyone. It's in Toronto and there will be snacks! And free chefs hats! And a big surprise art reveal.... what could it be?

Come to the Cookbook Store in Toronto this Saturday at 1 to find out.

Wow.. what a day!

Readers of my books, and blog, will know that I love the OLA's Forest of Reading program. It's amazes me every year how much students love to read and vote for their favourite books.

I've been honoured and lucky enough to be nominated again this year... TWICE!

It's my first time being nominated for the Blue Spruce. Splinters, my first picture book, is nominated. In honour of that, here's the sketch of Cindy, the hero of the book, that I kept over my desk during the writing and illustrating of Splinters.

And Neil Flambe and the Crusader's Curse is nominated for the Silver Birch. That's three Neil books out and three nominations! I am gobsmacked! Here's a bonus pic that got cut from the final version.

AND Neil Flambe and the Tokyo Treasure is released this week.... and there's a special "secret" release party this coming Saturday at 1pm in Toronto. Shhhh.... details later.

(I will say that free stuff, and good eats, will be part of the event....)

St. Peter's Fall Fair

We have a great event coming up in Toronto with some amazing opportunities.

Photographer Michael Helmer is going to take portraits for only $10 (print will be available the following week)

Check out Michael's work here.

And we have just been given box seats for the November Neil Young and Bob Dylan concerts in Toronto as well as a box seat for a Raptor game (date to be worked out).

Come visit the Church across from the Bathurst station October 13th and 14th for your chance to get those tix....

And there's also great food from our various communities (Italian, Portuguese, Filipino for example) and games for kids.

We're also showing a family movie Saturday night around 7.... possibly outdoors if the weather is nice, or in our big auditorium if it's too cool.

Too cool!

Mark October 29th

Top secret now... but some Neil stuff... October 20th... sometime in the afternoon, somewhere in Toronto... that's all I'm saying...

Tapestry this week

On CBC Radio's Tapestry, which I'm guest-hosting for a couple more weeks, we are looking at how we humans cope with life's speed bumps.

The very funny Robyn Michele Levy - author of Most of Me - is going to talk about coping through humour. Buy the book!

Then Rabbi Harold S. Kushner on the incredibly complex and moving biblical Book of Job. While interviewing Rabbi Kushner I doodled God appearing in a whirlwind (He's so dramatic). Here's the doodle.

You can listen online or tune into CBC Radio One on Sunday afternoon.

I had a great weekend in Kingston for the WritersFest. There's something cool about a room full of kids with Neil Flambe chef hats on! (Picture to come).

I did visits with Frontenac and St. Peter school yesterday and there was a lot of buzz about the "how to draw Neil" video.