Some pics from the "Forest of Reading" awards ceremony at Harbourfront last week. Kari and I and the Sloth hanging around together. We were nominated for the Blue Spruce award and received an Honour distinction. Very amazing!!
Kari and I in the Gallery with one of my illustrations from Jeffrey and Sloth.
Kari, Sloth and I with some incredible artists!
I arrived a bit late to the activity centre and we were doodling up a storm.
One of my fave illustrators, Bill Slavin. A great guy and a mind blowing artist. It's always a treat to hang around him.

I loved drawing these guys. The ogres from the board game "Ogres and Elves".

These illustrations are from "Ogres and Elves". Another of the co-operative board games from Family Pastimes.

Years ago I worked with a board game company near Ottawa called Family Pastimes. (http://www.familypastimes.com) I think they're the only "co-operative" board game company in North America. I illustrated a few of their games. The illustrations above are from "Hotel Ritz". I always liked these drawings.

In the May issue of Mothering magazine there's a lovely little review of What I Be. (pg 87) They also used an image from the book to open the article. Very nice. AND...this issue contains a great interview with Ani Difranco. How awesome is that!?!

Some veeeeery scaaaary drawings from the past. The bottom one was created using scratchboard. I love the look but it's a messy process. Little black "scratchings" flying everywhere. I should really look into it. I'd like to play around with it more sometime in the future. It's cool.

Jeffrey and Sloth has been selected for the Ontario Library Association’s Canadian Materials Committee Best Bets list for children. Each year the committee selects the top ten Canadian picturebooks and Jeffrey and Sloth was one of them!

Great news! 'Twas the Day Before Zoo Day has just been selected as a Book Sense Summer 2008 Children’s Pick!!

At the OLA Superconference I did a short presentation at the OLA/CANSCAIP Mega-Book Launch.
It was for Jeffrey and Sloth. I wanted to talk about the story without giving too much away.
It went something like this…

This is Jeffrey.

Hi there, Jeffrey.

Jeffrey is pretty stressed. He has a problem. What’s your problem, Jeffrey?

You have homework? And you have to write a story? Yes, that can be pretty stressful, but there are a lot of things you can write about. Just pick something.


Oh. That is a problem. Well, you just have to be creative. What’s making it so hard to get started?


UGH. The blank piece of paper. Yuck. That is one of the biggest creative blocks I know. Who can think with all of that blankness sucking in every idea like a black hole. We’ll just have to make it a little less blank. Let’s try doodling.


Why not start by doodling a few of your favorite buildings.


And then make it a little more exciting by adding a monster and a space alien.

Now just let your mind wander and go abstract. A few shapes and squiggles.

How about doodling your favorite animal… the three toed sloth?

That’s great! Um…Jeffrey, you didn’t draw the sloth with his hands on his hips. That’s strange.

Uh oh, Jeffrey. You’re doodle is moving. And the only thing worse than a doodle that moves, is a doodle that moves with attitude! Good luck with your story! I think you’re going to need it!

A little ad I did for a local hipster bookshop. I could pretty much do whatever I wanted, as long as the info was there. Such fun.

A few sketches from my sketchbooks.

I had the good fortune to be interviewed by Lori Calabrese. Read it here...
http://loricalabrese.blogspot.com/2008/04/illustrator-interview-ben-hodson.html

(A pic of me at the OLA SuperConference in Toronto signing some books...)

Wahoo! Jeffrey and Sloth has been nominated for the
Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize!
Very exciting stuff. A HUGE honour to be listed with all of the other fantastic books.
http://www.bcbookprizes.ca/winners (scroll waaay down to find it)

Also, see what an incredibly creative teacher, Mrs. McGowan,
in Spring Lake, NJ did for the book.
Very cool.
http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/projects/jeffrey_sloth.htm

This Saturday, I'll be launching my most recently illustrated book, 'Twas the Day Before Zoo Day. The launch will be at Kaleidoscope Kids' Books (www.kaleidoscopekidsbooks.ca) in Ottawa. We'll have a reading and then a bit of a drawing lesson. I'm thinking giraffes, elephants and gorillas. We'll see how much time we have. Should be good fun.

Zoe is such a little bookworm. She found War and Peace a bit dry and long winded, but is a big fan of Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb.

A wonderful Potter by the name of Jackie Seaton has a yearly fundraiser named "Empty Bowls". The money raised goes towards child poverty. Read more www.emptybowls.ca