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The University of North Carolina (Charlotte) College of Arts is creating a musical theater adaptation of my poetry book A HATFUL OF DRAGONS, to be performed to young audiences in the Charlotte area in March and April of 2023. How exciting is that! The production will be designed and created entirely by UNC using the poems in my book as the basis. Can't wait to see it! 
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 A lovely advanced review of OWL & PENGUIN from Kirkus Reviews, who is comparing, be still my beating heart, OWL & PENGUIN with Arnold Lobel's FROG & TOAD (the touchstone of early reader friendship books!!!!)
"Engaging vignettes in the lives of two adorable friends. (Graphic early reader. 3-6) Birds of a feather—and flipper—flock together.... The three stories in this graphic novel are told with minimal text; Owl and Penguin communicate with word balloons, using only illustrations and emojis. Some of the panels contain simple narration in boxes; if children are still learning, however, they can deduce meaning based on the illustrations. Reminiscent of the strong bond between Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad, Owl and Penguin’s friendship is deep and delightful, and this easy reader makes the story comprehensible as it addresses themes of envy, sadness, and problem-solving in an accessible and entertaining way. " - KIRKUS REVIEWS  Coming in January 2023, the fourth book in my BOBO & PUP-PUP series with Nicola Slater, BOBO & PUP-PUP HATCH AN EGG.
Look for it everywhere books are sold! Flipped 4 Sci-Fi/Mystery is a new anthology for kids published by Harper Collins India. This unique format allows the kids to flip the book to access twice as much fun content. I have a longer science-fiction poem in this book, titled 'Dino-Mites'. Check it out if you are in India! Available from Indian bookstores and also here.   My upcoming Owl & Penguin graphic novel for beginning readers has been selected as a GOLD STANDARD selection by the Junior Library Guild.
The Junior Library Guild is an organization that curates books for schools and libraries. Less than 3% of the books the review receive the GOLD STANDARD designation and they take great pride in stating that 95% of their GOLD STANDARD books go on to win starred reviews and book awards. So yes, it's an honor! :) I am delighted to unveil the cover of my very first graphic novel, OWL & PENGUIN, releasing September 2022, published by Holiday House Books for Kids. Learn more here.  The Lil' Reaper Generative Art project combines coding with hand-drawn art to create a system capable of generating quadrillions of unique, one-of-a-kind images. What is 'Generative Art'? Generative Art is when an artist creates art by automating, with algorithms, some of the decisions the artist would normally make during the creation process. This project started as a thought experiment on how I might create some unique versions of my characteristic Lil' Reaper art in some automated way, without losing the integrity of my own style & vision. This thought experiment led me to hand-draw a modular set of art elements and write software code to combine these elements in unpredictable ways. I had so much fun developing the system, which can combine some combination of over a 100 different hand-drawn elements to produce QUADRILLIONS of images. Some are being made available as physical prints through KickStarter. Others will be available as NFTs through OpenSea.  Each generated image varies in background patterns as well as a selection of supporting elements surrounding the Lil' Reaper. For example there may be pets (cat / dog / rabbit / 1-3 snakes), birds, bats, ghosts, spiders, skulls, and more. Both the above images are composed from the same building blocks. The variations, however, are introduced by my computer code on the fly - I cannot predict how any particular image will turn out! In addition my algorithms introduce subtle (or not-so-subtle) color variations on the fly. For example, look closely at the phones in this image: Note that some of the color changes in each image are very subtle. For example, look closely at the 'message' colors in the phones these 3 Lil' Reapers are holding:  Or the colors in these coffee cups and skulls and snakes:   All prints and NFTs will be hand curated - i.e. I will run the system thousands of times, and carefully hand-select the images that will be used for prints or NFTs. For Prints, original files are deleted after printing ensuring there is no physical or digital duplicate of the file. NFTs will be made available in collections themed by what the Lil' Reaper is holding - e.g. the Teddy Collection, the Phone Collection, the Balloon Collection, etc. For NFTs, look for ArtByVikram on OpenSea.     I am pleased to announce a new book project: ZOONI TALES, a graphic novel to be published in 2023 by Holiday House Books for Young Readers. The protagonist in these stories is inspired by our pup, Zooni, the sweetest dog in the whole wide world!
 The first 2 books from my new BOBO & PUP-PUP Series, Illustrated by Nicola Slater, are now available everywhere books are sold. These books are ideal for beginning and emerging readers ages 4-8. In addition to action-packed visuals, the books use "simple dialogue, stealthy repetition, and amusing sound effects [to] emphasize phonics [and] help kids develop a love of reading.
Ask your independent bookstore for signed copies - I will mail any bookstore a set of signed bookplates they can use to put inside any copies you order. Available everywhere books are sold! For Lil' Reaper fans, I have a Kickstarter Project going on during Nov and Dec. Check it out and snag some cool Kickstarter Rewards:  |
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