BOOK GIVEAWAY: FOLLOW ME DOWN TO NICODEMUS TOWN

DARLENE BECK JACOBSON won I’M DONE by Gretchen Brandenburg McLellan

KATIE ENGEN won EVEN SUPERHEROES MAKE MISTAKES by Shelly Becker

CLAIRE LONDON won POLAR BEAR ISLAND by Lindsay Bonilla

Please send addresses!

Illustrator Nicole Tadgell has a new picture book titled, FOLLOW ME DOWN TO NICODEMUS TOWN. It is available in bookstores now. Nicole has agreed to share a book with one lucky winner. All you have to do to get in the running is to leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Just let me know the other things you do to share the good news, so I can put in the right amount of tickets in my basket for you.

Sharing on Facebook, Twitter, reblogging really helps spread the word for a new book. Thanks for helping Nicole!

BOOK’S DESCRIPTION:

When Dede sees a notice offering land to black people in Kansas, her family decides to give up their life of sharecropping to become homesteading pioneers in the Midwest. Inspired by the true story of Nicodemus, Kansas, a town founded in the late 1870s by Exodusters—former slaves leaving the Jim Crow South in search of a new beginning—this fictional story follows Dede and her parents as they set out to stake and secure a claim, finally allowing them to have a home to call their own.

BOOK’S JOURNEY:

I’ve been fascinated with the Great Plains and frontier life in the 1800’s since about 8 years old. I read voraciously as a child, and felt an affinity to Laura Ingalls Wilder; the second daughter in a family of girls, moving around frequently, having adventures outdoors. I enjoyed sewing and cooking, calico dresses, As I grew older, my interest in that time period grew to exploring Native american life and culture.

My process follows three phases: Rough pencils, final pencils, final color. Research and lots of deep thinking are at the core from the start. With this book, I am grateful that I was free to travel to the Nicodemus National Historical site to see the land with my own eyes! Trip planning is often stressful, so to alleviate that I decided to just get out there and not have plans other than just see the site. I was lucky enough to meet descendants of the original settlers, including local historian, author, artist, and all-around creative force Angela Bates! She also is an amazing chef and runs Ernestine’s just up the road from the historic site. They have an enormous family reunion – homecoming – every year in June. I did just miss it as my trip was in August!

I got an iPad pro to draw on, and some of the sketches I did on the iPad, rough thumbnail sketches only, the finals were are hand-drawn. After the drawings are completed and approved with editorial, I scan and print them directly onto watercolor paper. That way, if I make a mistake painting, I can simply print it again and don’t have to redraw. This helps keep everything loose and experimental. After I’m satisfied with the paintings, I make high resolution scans with my scanner and upload them.

NICOLE’S BIO:

Nicole Tadgell was born in Detroit, Michigan. Frequent moves increased her shyness; sometimes the only black kid in the class or even the whole grade drew Nicole further into her own created worlds on paper, art was both fun and an escape.

While studying studio art at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, she recalled how much fun it was to draw her own stories – illustrating children’s books could be the right path. Today, Nicole has over twenty books. “I love working on children’s books,” Nicole says. “Sometimes I pretend I’m the kid in the book, and do what they do in the story, really getting a feel for each book.”  Nicole also visits schools, gives lectures and conducts workshops.

Nicole’s work has been honored with the Children’s Africana Book Award, the Americas Award, the Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award, and the Growing Good Kids Award. Many of her books are among: the Bank Street Best College of Education, the Smithsonian Notable Books for Children, Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices Annual List, New York Public Library’s Best 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, Eastern Washington University Excellent Choice, Maine’s A Capital Read, and Rutgers University Top 5.

Nicole, Thank you for sharing your book, your journey, and illustrations with us. Your artwork is beautiful. A La Faye is very lucky to have gotten you to illustrate her book.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy