Tom Lichtenheld

“Paging Doctor Giraffe…”

Tom Lichtenheld — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:08:13 +0000

I’m working on sketches for a book about animals who aspire to various vocations.
This lady wants to be a doctor. Or would it be a veterinarian?

What the heck is a Wumber?

Tom Lichtenheld — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:33:37 +0000

It’s a word cre8ed with a number! And it was wri10 by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Everyone is looking 4ward 2 it!

Thanks to Amy Author (as she’s known around our house), my agent Amy Rennert, and editor Victoria Rock. A very special thanks to book designer Sara Gillingham, whose design and conceptual expertise brought our book up at least three notches.

“Construction Site” reaches no. 1 on the NYT best seller list

Tom Lichtenheld — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:32:42 +0000

A few years ago, a young mom in Chicago went to load the dishwasher and was surprised to find that the silverware basket was missing. She discovered it had been appropriated by her truck-loving son, to be used as a carrier on the back of a toy truck. The mom was Sherri Duskey Rinker, and she turned her son’s passion for trucks into a children’s book manuscript. Chronicle Books bought it and proposed that it be illustrated by a guy who, to date, had only done one thing for them; an illustration so crude that you can’t tell whether it’s a duck or a rabbit. That lucky guy was me, and the book – Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site – just hit number one on the NYT bestseller list for picture books.

Huge thanks to everyone who made it happen; Sherri and her son, my agent Amy Rennert, editors Mary Colgan and Victoria Rock, designer Amelia Mack, and all the wonderful folks at Chronicle Books who do so much to make a book succeed.

I presume they mean “madness” in a good way.

Tom Lichtenheld — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:28:49 +0000

“What happens when the letter “E’’ has an accident and slides out of the language? Sheer madness, enhanced by Lichtenheld and Fields-Meyers’s unceasingly witty, manic visual, and verbal jokes.”
So says the Boston Globe, in naming E-mergency one of the best children’s books of 2011.

E-MERGENCY! gets more good press.

Tom Lichtenheld — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:21:51 +0000

The New York Times reviewed four new picture books about the alphabet, with some nice things to say about E-mergency.

E-MERGENCY named a top book of 2011

Tom Lichtenheld — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:14:50 +0000

Publishers Weekly has named E-mergency one of the best picture books of the year. This was a true collaboration, starting with Amy Krouse Rosenthal, who introduced me to Ezra Fields-Meyer and his video about a clumsy letter who falls off a roof. I also got loads of help from Victoria Rock, my editor at Chronicle, and Maria Walther, a fabulous first-grade teacher who helped me include lots of language lessons. And of course, I’m indebted to my wife Jan, who came up with some of the better gags, including the “E-book” announcement on the back cover. Thanks to all for making it happen.

Whole lotta signing goin’ on.

Tom Lichtenheld — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:00:59 +0000

This is about half of the books I signed recently at Books of Wonder in New York. I hope there are some left over for the rest of the country!

School visits make the news

Tom Lichtenheld — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:42:08 +0000

My visit to schools in Crystal lake got some coverage in the local paper.

My favorite part of the day...art class!

Behind the scenes at Tom’s studio

Tom Lichtenheld — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:08:13 +0000

Click here to learn about how I make books, my beverage of choice, and the studio dress code. Thanks to Jennifer Bertman for posing an interesting set of questions.

O and E heading out the door for their worldwide E-mergency publicity tour

An inspiring young man

Tom Lichtenheld — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 15:52:06 +0000

Read about my collaborator, Ezra Fields-Meyer, in the Wall Street Journal. He made the animated film that inspired my latest book, E-mergency. I had a ball creating the book, but getting to know Ezra has made it a uniquely inspiring experience.

Ezra, age 15, and his father Tom Fields-Meyer