Getting back into showing progress again, since I’m spending most of my time on boards! I’m hoping to line and colour these within the next week or so :)
The anatomy isn’t amazing here but I love the expressions and also the idea that this is the last time Atlas is seen wearing that shirt. It just… disappears. Never seen again. Hmmm…
Hey Everybody! It’s the holiday season, which means that it’s time for another yearly round of Secret Santa!
Welcome to the Helena Bonham Carter Secret Santa Project 2016
HOW IT WORKS:
On December 1st, you will receive the name of a blog. You’ll be said blog’s secret santa for the month!
Your job is to send this person messages and/or submit whatever you like. Considering this is for the HBC fandom, I’d recommend edits, icons, fanfiction, or whatever you think that person would enjoy! MAKE SURE IT’S ANONYMOUS.
You’ll also be receiving things from your own secret santa!
On December 25th, you’ll reveal yourself to your assigned person.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
Reblog this post. Likes will not be counted. (it’d also help if you put a little ‘count me in!’ or something in the tags to let me know you’re committed)
You don’t have to be FOLLOWING ME, but I’d really appreciate it
Please enter BEFORE NOVEMBER 30th
Have your ask box and submit open, with anonymous enabled.
Try to be as active as possible, at least send one kind message a day!
If you want, tag your asks as #hbc secret santa so that we can all see each other’s work and positivity!
Edit: You can see this short 8 min film for free on their Facebook page. Highly recommended - he does such an amazing job here displaying so many emotions!
In 2013 Dr. Singh, a practicing doctor and professor from Columbia University was attacked by a group of young men in upper Manhattan. It was unfortunately not the first such news story I was reading. The story stayed with me. It could have been me, or someone from my family.
In the following years, the prevalence of hate crimes had risen – and I was alarmed at the escalation in bullying in schools. I felt compelled to write a story that would address this, and help readers process the events going on around us.
At the time I also saw people coming out and speaking against hate and supporting each other. These positive voices gave me hope.
Count Me In is therefore an uplifting story, told through the alternating voices of two middle-schoolers, in which a community rallies to reject racism.
You’ve written both picture books and middle grade – how is the writing process different for each?
With picture books I have help from a partner, the illustrator. We bring the characters and the story to life together. In my latest picture book, The Home Builders, I didn’t even name The Home Builders, till the babies are born. I didn’t need to. The illustrator, Simona Mulazzani did it for me.
With middle grade books, it’s my words alone that have to go forth and make the characters breathe and the story feel real.
Count Me In features a heartwarming intergenerational friendship. Is that something you particularly wanted to include and why?
I wanted to highlight the difference in perspectives within immigrant families. Papa is the immigrant and his generation’s thoughts and actions are different from Karina, who is born in America. Generations have so much to give each other. Their stories, their experiences and their viewpoints. When I visit schools and interact with children, I grow as a person.
What do you hope readers will take away from reading Count Me In?
This book is an open letter to America and the values and ideals it embodies. I remember watching President Obama speak at the DNC in 2004 when he said that “in no other country on earth is my story even possible.” His story, he said, was possible in a “tolerant” and “generous” America.
I hope readers realize that each one of us can make a difference to make sure that this country continues to live up to its ideals.
Tell us a little about how the wonderfully diverse cover came to be!
The cover is magnificent and the work of the talented Eleni Kalorkoti (www.elenikalorkoti.com). Without giving away the story, it looks a whole lot like a project that Karina and Chris undertake.
All those beautiful faces reflect the diversity of my community, my city, and of America.
Karina and Chris show us how a few voices can make a difference. What are the things that give you hope about this generation?
Having both Chris and Karina’s voices tell the story was so important to me because it was yet another way to show different perspectives. The younger generation in most cities and towns in America has only known a diverse student body. They have grown up eating different foods, they have been exposed to different music, and cultures through social media. When I see not only their acceptance of their diverse reality, but their excitement at its richness, it makes me happy. When I see the courage of young people like Malala and others it is inspiring.
Varsha Bajaj(varshabajaj.com) also wrote the picture books The Home BuildersandThis Is Our Baby, Born Today (a Bank Street Best Book). She grew up in Mumbai, India, and when she came to the United States to obtain her master’s degree, her adjustment to the country was aided by her awareness of the culture through books. In addition to her previous picture books, she wrote the middle-grade novel Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood, which was shortlisted for the Cybils Award and included on the Spirit of Texas Reading Program. She lives in Houston, Texas.
How to train your dragon at Universal Epic Universe in Orlando
“One of the new park’s themed lands will be based on the DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon film series. Thanks to some recently filed permits we’re learning more about the World of Dragons land at Epic Universe, including some of the layouts for the new land’s proposed attractions.”
Omt guys can you believe that???? There will be a whole land dedicated to HTTYD!!
There should be a Forbidden Friendship attraction where you must befriend Toothless in order to gain access to the park. And if you are successful, he spits up a raw fish that unlocks the rest of the rides. (You get to keep the fish)
