Matt Tavares Books

Indiebound bestseller list

2009-12-10T07:34:00.000-08:00

Good news: The Gingerbread Pirates made the Indiebound bestseller list! It just made the cut, at #15 in the Children's Illustrated category.

New Indie Bookstore in southern Maine

2009-11-19T06:56:00.000-08:00

Join me this weekend in Kennebunk, Maine to welcome a great new independent bookstore, Kennebooks, to the southern Maine community. It's a 3,500 square foot space with 11,000 books, but it also has the comforts of home- a wood stove, a couch, a front porch. And their knowlegable staff can help you find just the right book. Especially if you happen to be looking for a book about pirate cookies who come to life in Christmas Eve...

I'll be signing copies of "The Gingerbread Pirates" at 10:30 this Saturday, November 21, and there will be other fun stuff going on all weekend as part of their Holiday Open House. Hope to see you there!

new studio

2009-11-17T05:38:00.000-08:00

I spent yesterday morning rearranging my studio. Before yesterday, when I worked digitally I just put my monitor, laptop, and wacom drawing tablet on a drawing table, which was fine but a bit awkward. But now that I'm going to be working digitally more (just for sketches at this point, all the pictures in my books are still done with traditional media like paint, pencil, paper, etc.), I decided to make the computer setup a bit more permanent, and a lot more comfortable.

I got a corner computer desk and replaced the keyboard section with an 18 x 24 portable drawing table. Here's how it looks now, with my old drawing table and paints on the left, and my new computer/monitor/drawing tablet on the right:

Horn Book Magazine Holiday High Notes

2009-11-03T05:26:00.001-08:00

The Horn Book Magazine came out with its annual list of recommended new holiday books, and The Gingerbread Pirates made the list!

Henry Aaron's Dream

2009-10-26T17:54:00.000-07:00

I just got my first real copy of my next book, Henry Aaron's Dream (Candlewick, January 2010). Here it is!

first day of school

2009-09-08T06:40:00.001-07:00

I've heard a lot of people say that having a new book released is like sending your child out into the world. Well, I have a new book that comes out today, and I started my day by watching my little girl get on the school bus for her first day of kindergarten. I'm proud of The Gingerbread Pirates, and I hope it does well and all, but after watching that school bus drive away, I have to say that having a new book released is nothing at all like sending your child out into the world. Not even close.

The Gingerbread Pirates Tour

2009-08-31T14:21:00.000-07:00

The Gingerbread Pirates comes out on September 8, and Kristin Kladstrup and I will be spending some time this Fall traveling around, signing books, reading to kids, and eating lots of gingerbread men! So if you like books, cookies, Christmas, pirates, or all of the above, come see us! It's rare to get the author AND the illustrator together in the same place, so this should be lots of fun!

Here's where we'll be:

September 19 2:00-4:00 pm. Talk Like A Pirate Day! G. Willikers in downtown Portsmouth, NH (I need to practice for this one. So far I just know "arrrrr", "matey", and "swashbuckling".)

September 20 3:00 pm launch party and book signing at Book Ends in Winchester, MA
(we're working on getting The Gingerbread Construction Company bakery involved. Yummmmm.)

October 24 time TDA, at The Blue Bunny in Dedham, MA

November 22 11:00 am book signing and story hour at Barnes & Noble in Portsmouth, NH

December 5 2:00 at The Wenham Museum in Wenham, MA, as part of their annual Gingerbrad Express event.

Worst Book Review Ever?

2009-07-22T07:24:00.000-07:00

I wonder how many book reviewers have ever been tempted to write something like this:

"This is an irreviewable performance, because the nonsense we encounter in perusing it, is insufferable."

Ouch.

The review is from the 1766 edition of "The Critical Review", for a book entitled "The Life of John Buncle, containing various Observations and Reflections, made in several Parts of the World, and many extraordinary Relations, Vol II", which, incidentaly, is available on Amazon, some 243 years later. I am oddly curious to read it.

(See attached image of review #40. Somehow it seems more scathing in ye Olde English)

Monhegan

2009-07-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a painting I did last week while I was on Monhegan Island. It's watercolor on 300 lb cold press arches paper, about 8"x10".

watercolor, 8x10

The Gingerbread Pirates

2009-07-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

I got my first real copy of my next book, The Gingerbread Pirates, written by Kristin Kladstrup, illustrated by me. Here it is!

Reach Out and Read

2009-05-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

I did a reading and drawing demonstration at the Claypit Hill School in Wayland, MA on Monday, in conjunction with Reach Out and Read, a national non-profit organization that promotes early literacy by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud.

Here's a short video about Reach Out and Read:

Just One More Book

2009-01-27T17:01:00.000-08:00

Here's an interview I did the other day with Mark Blevis from the Just One More Book podcast.

Just One More Book is a thrice-weekly podcast which promotes and celebrates literacy and great children’s books. I love listening to Mark and Andrea interview authors and illustrators, so it was an honor to be featured on their show. Definitely visit their web site, and scroll down their amazing list of authors and illustrator interviews and book reviews.

Happy Inauguration Day!

2009-01-20T06:46:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama, here's a video message from the Tavares kids:

Lady Liberty video

2008-09-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a short video about the collaborative process involved in creating Lady Liberty: A Biography. It's a clip from a DVD produced by Candlewick Press entitled "Open Studios", which also features segments about Peter Reynolds and Timothy Basil Ering. You can view other clips from the DVD at Candlewick.com.

Lady Liberty interview

2008-07-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a recent interview from "207", a nightly magazine show on Portland, Maine's NBC affiliate, WCSH.

Upcoming Events for Lady Liberty: A Biography

2008-05-09T06:46:00.000-07:00

When Doreen Rappaport and I arrived at Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Georgia on Wednesday, we were greeted by this gigantic frog, sitting in the window, reading Lady Liberty: A Biography to a smaller frog. They seemed to like it. I think they could relate to Lady Liberty, because they're also green, and made of copper.
Here are some of the other places I'll be during the next couple weeks:

May 10 2:00-4:00 Book Ends, Winchester, MA, slide presentation on the making of Lady Liberty: A Biography, and book signing

May 17 12:00-2:00 Barnes & Noble, Newington, NH, reading and book signing

May 18 12:30-2:30 Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, slide presentation on the making of Lady Liberty: A Biography, and book signing

Here she is...

2008-05-08T13:53:00.001-07:00

photo by Paula Renda

Monhegan Library

2008-01-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos from one of my favorite library events of 2007- the reading/signing I did at Monhegan Library on Monhegan Island, in Maine.

note: I brought the illustration I was working on to the library that day, to show people an illustration in progress. If you look closely, you can see the partially-painted picture from Lady Liberty displayed on the easel. The final illustration is now on my web site.

Yaz

2007-12-14T06:59:00.000-08:00

I guess it's time to take the autographed picture of Roger Clemens down from my studio wall.

There goes one childhood hero. At least I still have Yaz... I drew this picture of Carl Yastrzemski in 1983, when I was 7. If I remember correctly, I was coloring at my grandparents' coffee table on the day of Yaz's final game at Fenway. I think I copied a photograph from that day's Boston Globe.

(note: I still think Z's should face the other way...)

Robert's Snow- For Cancer's Cure

2007-11-08T04:45:00.001-08:00

All the snowflakes for Robert's Snow 2007 are up on their web site! The first round of bidding starts on November 19. My snowflake is in the second group, which starts on November 26.
Here's my snowflake, entitled "Sunset Over Manana":

NYC

2007-10-17T06:46:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited for this weekend, because I'm going to be doing a presentation and book signing at Books of Wonder in New York City with one of my favorite illustrators, five-time Caldecott Honor winner, Jerry Pinkney. And as if that's not exciting enough, I'll also be joined by Barbara McClintock, Christopher Myers, and Wendell Minor. Wow!

So if you're in the New York City area, and you love picture books, stop by Books of Wonder on Saturday, October 20, and meet some of your favorite illustrators.

rain

2007-10-15T11:40:00.000-07:00

This is a study of rain and clouds I did while I was working on Mudball. The whole story takes place in the pouring rain, so I spent a lot of time looking out the window on rainy days, trying to figure out a good way to draw rain.
rain study, 12.5" x 9", watercolor and pencil, 2003

baseball bookmark

2007-10-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was asked to make a bookmark for an upcoming school visit, with a little sketch and my signature, so the teachers could pass them out to all the students. I drew this with a black pen, holding a baseball in my left hand while I was drawing. Feel free to print one out.

sketchbook

2007-10-09T09:52:00.000-07:00

Here's another drawing from an old sketchbook. During a trip to Paris in 1999, I sat in the courtyard outside the Louvre, and drew this picture of a statue of Louis XIV:

from an old sketchbook

2007-10-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

Looking through some old sketchbooks, I found this one I drew while my friends Scott LaPierre and John Pham were playing chess, at my old apartment in Arlington, MA.

Scott Playing Chess, red pencil, 6/28/99