Last week book reviewer and blogsite, Bermudaonion, after having reviewed Angels earlier, posted a very nice interview with me about my experiences with paper engineering. Thank you for some insightful and interesting questions!
And then yesterday, Publishers Weekly Children’s Bookshelf ran a notice about our book event at Books of Wonder in New York. See Pop Go the Authors.
Just returned from New York where I had been invited by the store’s owner, Peter Glassman, to attend the annual Books of Wonder Pop-Up Celebration. It was a fantastic experience that allowed me to present my four new books for the fall, see some old friends and make lots of new ones. Also present was Kyle Olman, Matthew Reinhart, Sam Ita, David Carter, Chuck Fischer, and Bert Fink. Kyle presented his new book of sign language for toddlers, Baby Signs; Matthew his newest release, Nursery Rhymes; Sam showed us his Christmas Tree in a Box; David the last in his incredible abstract art series, White Noise; Chuck walked us through our newest collaboration, Angels; Bert gave us some wonderful backstory to The Sound of Music for which he adapted the text; and I spoke about my other two books, Mo Willems’ Big Frog Can’t Fit In and Sports Illustrated Kids’ Wow! The Pop-Up Book of Sports. See photo.
While in New York I, my wife Lori, and my good friends, Gene Vosough, Beth Bugler (my talented creative director from Sports Illustrated Kids), and her husband Tom dined at the Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant, Nougatine. The executive pastry chef is the renowned chef/author Johnny Iuzzini, with whom I am planning a future book. Johnny surprised us with a mind-boggling display of cutting edge desserts that have to be experienced to be fully appreciated. Thank you, Johnny! Then Johnny reacted in his customarily understated way to our pop up book of sports.
And I want to remind everyone about the Little Auction That Could (see previous story below). This online auction for a new library for The Hibiscus Childen’s Center is up and running. There are some once-in-a-lifetime opportunities here, including some great pop-ups. You can bid on a group of 75 books signed by an incredible group of celebrities, authors, and illustrators, including President Obama himself, who signed my friend Chuck Fischer’s White House pop up book. I myself have two interesting entries available here. My Sports Illustrated Kids book was signed by none other than Serena Williams, as seen popping up in the photo with Johnny. I also donated and signed a vintage, collector’s edition three volume set of The Lord of the Rings, the book I selected as my most influential childhood book. I would probably not be a designer if not for that book. Really. This is a great cause and an exciting opportunity for you book collectors. Lets get bidding!
My friends at Sports Illustrated Kids have made a video giving a sneak peek at the development of Wow! Included are glimpses of a couple of my developing dummies and a nesting sheet from the printer prior to cutting out the pieces.
Still trying to learn how to post videos using this program, but in the meantime, this link will suffice….
Tom Hoffarth wrote a review a couple of weeks ago for Wow! The Pop Up Book of Sports and then contacted me for a followup interview. He has posted that interview now. You can read it here:
Wow cont A Bruce Foster QandA Farther Off the Wall
The original review can be found here.
Just returned from Austin where I was fortunate to co-present with Mo Willems at the Texas Book Festival. This was a wonderful experience and Mo was hilarious as usual, appearing behind me on a large TV monitor via Skype. Mo gave us all a virtual tour of his New York studio and joined me in a Q/A session afterwards. The audiences were wonderful and very attentive. Thank you Madi and Emily for a wonderful introduction! After that I led 60 future pop up artists and their families through the construction of a new Big Frog pop up. This pop up will be available for download soon on this and Mo’s websites. So check back soon for that!
Also making news this morning is a new online interview involving Wow! The Pop-Up Book of Sports! Click here to see this great segment on CBS: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5442376n