Jan Carr

Toe Shoe Mouse visits Turn of the Corkscrew, Books & Wine in Rockville Centre.

Just in time for The Nutrcacker!

Toe Shoe Mouse on display at Pacific Northwest Ballet's Amusement Gift Shop at Seattle Center.

It's also on sale at the merchandise counters of NYC Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and Boston Ballet.

A perfect holiday gift for all little ballet lovers!

The P.S. 9 kids in Ms. Cruz's class were the first to arrive in the beautiful Brooklyn Public Library Dweck Auditorium -- even though they'd had to hike through the rain!

The students in the snappy orange blazers are from St. Mark's Day School. The auditorium is filling up!

Filling up the 189-seat auditorium were students from P.S. 115 and Macademy. ALL the kids had such interesting things to say, really smart observations to contribute to our discussions.
Thank you, BPL for an AWESOME author visit!

Hey, isn't that
Toe Shoe Mouse
on the merchandise counter of
New York City Ballet?

Why, yes it is!

It's also being carried by
• American Ballet Theatre
• Pacific Northwest Ballet
• Boston Ballet

Here it's flanked by 2 Balanchine DVDs,
an impressive honor guard.

Does Mr. B himself like the book?
I like to think so!

Toe Shoe Mouse visited KidsCentre in Seattle. Because the mouse in the story visits the costume shop and snips pieces of ribbon, we brought big baskets of ribbons for a craft project to to follow the story.

Everyone got to pick out different colors of card stock to work on.

Teacher Andrea helped kids pick out ribbons and sequins and rickrack. Everyone had different ideas about how to arrange them artfully in order to win the heart of the ballerina in the story -- just like Toe Shoe Mouse!

Ta da! Here are some of the very interesting collages that resulted. We think the ballerina in Toe Shoe Mouse would love them!

The awesome Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene, Brooklyn has a Saturday morning Author Story Time for kids, and TOE SHOE MOUSE snagged a slot!

The inspiration for the "ballet-themed craft" after the reading was this illustration by Jennifer A. Bell, in which Tendu, the little mouse, snips off bits of ribbon in the costume shop of the ballet theater.

I tried to replicate some of the spools of ribbon and braid from the illustration. Thank goodness for 99¢ stores, where I found some of the coolest notions ever. Rickrack! Sequins! Tiny satin roses!

The table of ribbons and notions that we set up at Greenlight Bookstore -- ready for the collage craft that followed the reading.

Since Tendu brought snips of "rickrack and braid" to befriend the ballerina, this young man chose strips of rickrack for his collage.

"A circlet of sequins," as per the story, and some very shiny ribbons!

Good friend Katie Yamasaki (author/illustrator of FISH FOR JIMMY) showed up at the reading to say hi.

And author and friend Caron Levis (STUCK WITH THE BLOOZ) showed up, too!

It's a book! The box of author's copies has arrived!

Countdown to publication date! My new book Toe Shoe Mouse will arrive in the warehouses on January 14. Though Santa couldn't deliver it, the new year will!

I have this great new board book out!
You have the toddler?
I have the book!

The Author/Illustrator Evening at Post Road School in White Plains is a biennial event organized by the visionary teachers Lori Mollo and Anthony Russo. The kids made the amazing poster pictured here, creating a collage in the style of the art for Splish Splash Spring. It was inspiring to see so many families show up on a busy weeknight to buy books and meet authors and illustrators. But it was also fun to gab with other authors, including my friend Greg Holch who took these photos.

Thanks to all at Post Road School. You guys rock!

Sixteen years after we worked "together" on the book The Nature of the Beast, I got to meet the illustrator, G. Brian Karas at the Post Road School event!