My new old-fashioned book

My second book is now out and available! Zishe the Strongman, written by Robert Rubinstein, is about the life of Sigmund "Zishe" Breitbart, a poor Polish Jew, who became the featured Strongman of circuses throughout the world. Published by Kar-Ben publishing, who did an awesome job on the text and layout design!

This book was fun to create, and I got to do a lot of research on strongmen in the early 20th century. Check it out here, and soon I'll have some signed copies to sell!

An Elephant's dilemma

The problem: Elephant is hungry.
The solution: He eats a coconut, his favorite snack.
The REAL problem: There's no easy way to get a coconut, but with friends to help it just might work!

These are scenes from my story, "The Hungry Elephant" which will be available for iPad soon. I think it will be available as a traditional book as well... more on that later. In any case, here he is, Elephant the hungry!

Also, new goal for self, new blog post at least twice a month...

Star gazing storytime

My story, Philippe's Wish, is now available in the app store for the iPad and I'm so excited I could pop! Just had to share the cool news! Creating this story has been such fun and like no other experience. It is about Philippe and his journey into the sky to catch a star and make a wish. There are animations, interactivity, games, narration and music that create an almost movie-like experience.

So if you have an iPad, check it out! Let me know what you think of it, as I've just finished a second story, "The Hungry Elephant", and I'm working on a third.

Above are a couple screen shots and here is a link to it in the app store.

SCBWI LA conference

So it was a long, and very fast 4 days of knowledge, inspiration, insight, meetings, meet-ups, and of course, more knowledge. The SCBWI summer conference in LA. Here are a few of the speakers that I really enjoyed:


Of course the one, the only, the first (and former) ambassador of young people's literature and author of "The Stinky Cheese Man" and "The True Story of The 3 Little Pigs", among other books; Jon Scieszka. A very funny guy, but also very smart and not afraid to tell it like it is.


The very prolific Paul Fleischman, who had some very good tips on working on a project more involved and longer than you may be used to.


Priscilla Burris (right) and David Diaz (left) were awesome as the illustrator team heading up the artist portion of the conference. David had some great things to say about the modern world, and how nothing perfect goes away (books), but the design and style may change to reflect the times.



Gordon Korman, a great speaker with some witty, funny insights into the mind of a 14 year old. Author of 2 of the "39 Clues" books which sound very interesting... here I come library!


And finally, Loren Long. What can you say about such a cool guy? His art is incredible and he is just such a great guy. He had great things to say about keeping it simple when working on books. "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." Just do one drawing in one day, one piece at a time. Super fun guy with great art, great stories, and an inspiration.

All in all, an amazing first conference for me, met lots of cool people (send me an email or facebook me if we met!), learned bunches, and got inspired. Looking forward to next year!

Double Juggle... or... My childhood knife juggling gypsy hero

When I was younger, the biggest event of every summer was "The Fair". The Nevada County Fair, to be exact. A wonder filled week of smoking carnies, ear bleeding AC/DC and vomit inducing entertainment. You'd see all of your friends, plus get a special peak into the down n' dirty "real world" of the redneck-coon-killin' white trash mullet-sportin-sleeveless-shirt wearin' (because you tore them off to show your muscles... or pit hair) 'Mericans. All the sweaty, dirty, beer soaked, corn dog luvin, metal music mayhem one could hope to dream for in our land of freedom.

And every year I looked forward to seeing the man, the legend, the exotic storytelling magical juggling of Izzy Tooinsky. He juggled knives, balls, played with fire and told fascinating stories the whole time, all without breaking a sweat (and while wearing sleeves on his shirts!). Always a favorite of mine, Izzy was a man from another land, a gypsy like character with incredible skill.

So here is my very quick sketch in honor of him, and the Little Giant Theater. A "double" take on the wonderful magic of childhood entertainment. Perhaps I'll have to do a finished painting in his honor soon.

...On another note, seriously, if you're in LA for the SCBWI conference this weekend, send me an email and let's meet!

Grumpy breakfast

Someone woke up on the wrong side today, tired, isn't hungry, and of course it's a bad hair day. To top it off, oatmeal again!

On a separate note, is anyone out there going to the SCBWI summer conference in LA next week? I'll be there and looking to meet some new friends. If you're going, send me a comment or an email and maybe we can meet up. Would love to met some fellow artist/writer friends from the interwebs!

Summertime swim

I've been working on another book for the iPad and it has been shaping up nicely. Lots of fun with animals and a silly story about one hungry elephant. Just wanted to share a little bit of the action!