The Doodling Desk

How embarrassing! I made a video! Actually Tara Nathan made it...

Tue, 07 May 2013 22:04:15 -0400

How embarrassing! I made a video! Actually Tara Nathan made it for me, and I think it’s goofy, but it’s a start in creating a YouTube presence for my Doodlebug series. Yikes. For more of this sort of thing, visit (and subscribe to?) my YouTube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7XNxUmbYKFkG5Pr5jQ3_A?feature=guide

Glanzman is from the Bronx. Knew it.

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:38:50 -0400

Glanzman is from the Bronx. Knew it.

Title page, verso. I’m loving the juxtaposition of name...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:36:38 -0400

Title page, verso. I’m loving the juxtaposition of name and character that lets us know about the competition between these two.

Here’s the cover by Louis Glanzman. He knows what skaters...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:35:34 -0400

Here’s the cover by Louis Glanzman. He knows what skaters look like. He knows how to use a cover to show a dynamic, and to show where the focus of the book is. He knows the Bronx. And that’s a very believable Veronica. Next, the title page.

This at least seems to be in the right spirit of the characters,...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:31:40 -0400

This at least seems to be in the right spirit of the characters, although it also seems designed to prove Peter’s assertion that

Veronica Ganz

Doesn’t wear pants.

Good Lord. Once again i am forced to digress. Here is a girl who...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:29:56 -0400

Good Lord. Once again i am forced to digress. Here is a girl who has never thrown a punch in her life. Veronica Ganz with cleavage.

Here’s our girl on the book with her own name. Why would...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:28:26 -0400

Here’s our girl on the book with her own name. Why would you ever change this cover?

I’m sure some marketer could tell me.

Pause. Station break. I had to hold off on the REAL Louis...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:27:14 -0400

Pause. Station break. I had to hold off on the REAL Louis Glanzman cover because I encountered this gem. From my beloved Dell Yearlings books comes this tragic depiction of Veronica, who is in EIGHTH GRADE, for pete’s (Peter’s) sake!

Then there’s this one. Isn’t it fetching? A real New...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:19:07 -0400

Then there’s this one. Isn’t it fetching? A real New York sycamore tree. Yeah, it looks more like Brooklyn than the Bronx, but don’t most illustrators live in Brooklyn these days? This is a dainty-looking Veronica, but at least her hair’s the right color. As for Peter — well, he’s a nice Jewish boy, once again. How I do prefer Glanzman’s Peter.

Of the three I’ve shown, this one is preferable to me — but still, doesn’t it have an air of “Peter and Veronica, up in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g?” Which would never happen!

Is this what we have to do to sell a book about a boy who becomes friend with his bullying enemy on the cusp of high school?

As a child, I thought this one of the most interesting books ever, and I still think the relationship is sparkling, original, funny, and most of all true. That’s more than I can say for these covers.

Next up — the original Glanzman.

How could anyone not like Veronica? That’s what this...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:14:12 -0400

How could anyone not like Veronica?

That’s what this cover says. And indicates: she’s a cutie in pink (as if Veronica Ganz would ever ever wear pink) and she’s got swinging blond locks (like the girl on the current cover) and a come hither look in her eye. And Peter who (like the boy on the current cover) has dark hair (like he never ever would, making me wonder whether he’s been darkened up because he’s supposed to be Jewish. Or is that crazy talk?) Also, Peter is looking kind of disco. It’s hard to imagine his mom ever springing for the satin jacket. Snaps to the illustrator for making this look like New York, with real brownstone, a real stoop, and even a garbage can.

Here’s the current cover Amazon is showing of Peter and...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:10:06 -0400

Here’s the current cover Amazon is showing of Peter and Veronica. Let me first say that skates like that would fall off your feet. There’s no toe hold. Am I wrong? Then also this doesn’t look like any Bronx street I’ve ever seen. Still, for me it’s the least of the problematic covers, because at least it isn’t coy. To be continued…

I’ve been rereading Peter and Veronica by Marilyn Sachs, a...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:05:32 -0400

I’ve been rereading Peter and Veronica by Marilyn Sachs, a book I’ve loved forever. In fact I’ve loved anything about Veronica Ganz forever. She’s tall, like me, but unlike me she’s kind of a bully and a thug, with a soft heart for her family. Prickly, smart, tough: that’s Veronica. And Peter Wedemeyer? Who knows why he’s so interested in Veronica. Maybe because he’s a short boy who likes a challenge? Maybe because at heart Veronica is a bigger deal than he is, and he knows it? Anyway. This thread is going to be about the art.

The art is really splendid. The illustrations, by Louis Glanzman, give a distinctly sixties New York sensibility to a book that is set during World War II. Should I object to that? I don’t. The pictures are so cool, the characters, to my thinking, so concisely rendered. I love the pegged pants and Keds Peter wears, the homespun-weave in Veronica’s coats and sweaters, the tuft of hair at the top of her head and the way her bangs hang over her eyes and her little pug nose. Best of all I love the boots a lot of the boys wear and the way the kids are real, not beautiful.

But the covers! This poor book, over the years, has been the victim of marketing departments galore. Some examples follow.

What I painted when I was supposed to be doing something else....

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 16:41:30 -0400

What I painted when I was supposed to be doing something else. (Sneaky, eh?)

A huge thank you to Alice Hutchinson and Byrd’s Books for...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:38:39 -0400

A huge thank you to Alice Hutchinson and Byrd’s Books for hosting the book launch party for Stuck in the Middle (Of Middle School)!

Oh so beautiful!

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:43:36 -0400

Oh so beautiful!

Free Doodles!

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 00:30:45 -0400

Free Doodles! :

Enter to win a copy of Stuck in the Middle (Of Middle School)!

Ctulhu, anyone?

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 00:30:42 -0400

Ctulhu, anyone? :

Frozen stuff comes to life.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson: Does the universe have a purpose?

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:37:58 -0400

Neil DeGrasse Tyson: Does the universe have a purpose? :

I still believe in karma, but there’s no arguing with the greatness of the questions my hero Neil asks here — or the doodled animations used to present them.

Sooooo excited that my new book is coming out TUESDAY, March 19,...

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:46:47 -0400

Sooooo excited that my new book is coming out TUESDAY, March 19, 2013!

Stuck in the Middle (Of Middle School): A Novel in Doodles is the sequel to the award-winning and delightful Doodlebug!

Please pick up a copy at your local independent book store, which you can locate here and also visit my website for reviews and other jazzy doodlings and doings.

A frog in gouache. Well, why not?

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 19:32:44 -0500

A frog in gouache. Well, why not?