Monica Brown "10" celebration and tour

Award-winning picture book writer Monica Brown celebrates 10 picture books published this month with a week-long tour to the Washington DC area. Monica will feature her latest fall 2011 releases MARISOL MCDONALD DOESN'T MATCH, illustrated by Sara Palacios (Children's Book Press) and WAITING FOR THE BIBLIOBURRO, illustrated by John Parra (Random House) here:

October 11, 7:00 pm
ARLINGTON CENTRAL LIBRARY
presentation and book signing

October 12, 10:30 am
POLITICS AND PROSE BOOKSTORE
reading and book signing

Monica will also be visiting several schools in the area and squeezing in a taping for COLORIN COLORADO -- stay tuned for showtimes!

Monica is an amazing success story, at a time when picture books are getting more negative than positive media coverage. What better time to share a bit about how I met Monica than at this milestone? Shortly after co-founding Full Circle Literary around six years ago, I had the honor of meeting Monica at a SCWBI conference in Palm Springs. I was the "new agent"on faculty and Monica's first picture book, MY NAME IS CELIA, was about to launch from small press Rising Moon. I have to say, we felt a kindred spirit as newbies around so much published talent. (CELIA later went on to win the Americas Award for Children's Literature and Pura Belpre Honor for Illustration---what a debut!). Monica shared some sample pages, and we talked about her vision for writing picture book biographies and fiction stories for children. Monica's writing pulled from her professional experience as an academic and personal experience as a mother---I saw something special right away. Monica could uniquely tell the story of a historic figure in a way that excited and informed young children. Brilliance like this is hard to find and shortly after I offered her representation --- Monica become one of our first Full Circle picture book clients!

Last weekend I attended a conference sponsored by the same SCBWI chapter that hosted the conference where I met Monica. Needless to say, I was thrilled to share the success story with SCBWI regional chairperson Francesca Ruckas and many new writers. Monica celebrates 10 picture books published this fall---and counting! Her forthcoming titles include: CLARA AND THE CURANDERA (Pinata Books), a picture book biography about Tito Puente illustrated by Pura Belpre award-winning artist Rafael Lopez (HarperCollins), and a picture book biography about Picasso (Santillana USA).


Congratulations to Monica on her big "10"--- here is to all the young readers she has touched through the years and the many inspirations she has yet to share!
--Stefanie