Friday, April 17, 2009

My Book at the White House!

If you, like me, have a crush on the entire Obama family unit, and you, like me, have been following their search for a dog with great interest, you may have seen this Washington Post article from Tuesday about the arrival of little Bo. Bo was a gift to the family from Senator Edward Kennedy and his wife, and the article says the Kennedys also gave the Obamas this:


I edited this book, which was illustrated by the marvelous David Small, so this news delighted me no end! It's a very fun book for my favorite First Family.

And while the Obamas will have no idea about this, blog readers might recognize this walk-on character late in the book:


Yes, this is a David Small caricature of me. When we were working on the book in late 2004, David, his lovely wife Sarah, several other Scholastic people, and I gathered in Washington to meet Senator Kennedy and his dogs and tour the scenes where the book is set. Toward the end of our Capitol visit, I sat down to rest in the window seat of the Senate reception room, which is pictured in this spread. A few minutes later, David came over and showed me the amazingly complete sketch he'd made of the room, including me seated in the corner, and he later worked that long-haired blonde woman into the final picture. You can read more about our trip and the editorial process for this book here.

14 comments:

  1. Indeed, a very neat story.

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  2. That is very neat. I will probably buy it for classroom. One of my students' favorite book is about presidential pets.

    Why is the cover pictured on you page so different from the one on the Scholastic page?

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  3. How fun that he put you in the picture!

    playingwithchildren.blogspot.com

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  4. Congratulations!
    It must be such a great feeling to have your work taken into the most important house in the USA where you know it will be appreciated and loved.

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  5. I went and read your article about how the book was written. What fun, and to have a picture of yourself in the book is so cool! Now that book is in the White House! Even more cool. And yes, I have a crush on the Obama family too.

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  6. What fun for you! But I'm more envious of the fact that you have an ARC of FIRE!

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  7. Goes to show that you never know what mark you leave on the world around you. Good job, and we are very proud of you.

    Joslyn Art Museaum (Omaha) is doing a showing of David Small illustrations currently. Some of the original drawings from this book are at that showing.

    Uncle John

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  8. So great, Cheryl. Congratulations. Perhaps you'll receive an engraved invitation to the next state dinner.

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  9. Oh, I hope they keep the David Small exhibit going until I go to Omaha in May! I love the Joslyn.

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  10. I love this book, especially as a friend of mine used to be Sen. Kennedy's dog-walker. He also loves this book!

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