Happy Holidays!

Wishing everybody happy and joyful holidays,

and a great, healthy and successful new year 2013.

Holiday Wrapping Paper

I created a wrapping paper as Holiday promotion for Panama Advertising Agency in Stuttgart. It is a little narrative that they gave me to illustrate, without words. Their clients received the wrapping paper by mail, but also can come by on a special "gift-wrapping-day", to have their gifts wrapped by experts.
Thanks Panama for the great assignment!

THE WOODS Holiday promotion

If you own a Kindle, Chronicle Books and Amazon are giving you a chance to own my book for only $1.99 till December 22nd! The link is here. Happy Holidays!

"Hip and life- affirming": PEANUTStarred Review in Publisher's Weekly

Here is a wonderful review of PEANUT, from Publisher's Weekly, November 26, 2012! Thanks so much for the great endorsement, and for the kind words especially about my art!
  
    Peanut
Ayun Halliday, illus. by Paul Hoppe. Random/Schwartz and Wade, $17.99 (216p) ISBN 978-0-375-86590-9

    Inventing a deadly peanut allergy isn’t the first thing the average teenager would think of to make herself more interesting, but Halliday (Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo) takes the idea and runs with it. The moment that sophomore Sadie Wildhack puts her scheme into action, tension starts to build. Chatter from new classmates (“I’m like ‘Oh my God, stop acting like you’ve got cancer!’ ”) makes it clear Sadie will find little sympathy. Commentary from homeroom teacherMr. Larch provides just the right ironic counterpoint: “Ladies, please! This is algebra, not some tatty Guy de Maupassant story.”

The story’s arc is a long, slow fall into public embarrassment; only the attention of Chris “Zoo” Suzuki, a Luddite who hand-delivers his love notes because he doesn’t have a cellphone, saves Sadie from complete social failure. In loose gray cartoons accented with coral, Hoppe (Hat) provides maximum visual information without drawing attention to himself, nailing sequences like one in which Sadie imagines confessing, but struggles to find the words. It’s not easy being both hip and life- affirming, but this team has the secret formula. Ages 11–14. Agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Jan.)


Coming out January 2013, pre-order on IndieBound or Amazon.

Tales from Ovid, for The Phoenix

This is for the anouncement / review of a play in the Phoenix (formerly the Boston Phoenix). In this staging of Tales from Ovid, some scenes have the players perform hanging on fabric that is suspended from the ceiling.

It was interesting to read up on the background, on Ovid and his writings, and Greek Mythology. The inspiration for this image is the story of Phaethon, son of Helios, who was allowed to steer the sun-wagon, lost control and almost set the whole earth on fire. I enjoyed working with energetic brush strokes to emphasize raw energy in the piece.
Many thanks to AD Kevin Banks.

The Horn Book reviews PEANUT

The first Peanut review came in, from The Horn Book!

Peanut by Ayun Halliday; illus. by Paul Hoppe
Middle School, High School,
Schwartz & Wade / Random 210 pp. 12/12

In this introspective graphic novel, Sadie is apprehensive about changing high schools during her sophomore year. She breaks the ice with her classmates by casually dropping hints about her severe peanut allergy. Soon Sadie’s courage in the face of her serious medical condition and her dramatic tales of near-miss incidents attract new friends and a love interest.

There’s just one problem: Sadie isn’t really allergic to peanuts. Inspired by a friend’s suggestion that a new school provides “a do-over” and even the possibility of popularity, she has seized the opportunity to reinvent herself. Sadie orders a medical ID bracelet and researches epinephrine injectors to lend credence to her lies even as she agonizes over whether to ’fess up.

This secret, shared only with readers, places Sadie in a series of increasingly awkward situations, from cringe-worthy (the bronze-plated peanut on a chain with which new beau Zoo proudly presents her) to utterly humiliating (a school bake sale “emergency” where the truth is revealed). Underneath the many funny moments runs a poignant current as readers recognize—better than Sadie herself—the high costs of her dishonesty.

Pen-and-ink drawings, digitally colored in blue tones with Sadie always in red, capture nuances of a wide range of emotions: anxiety, self-satisfaction, guilt, betrayal, and ultimately, forgiveness.
January/February 2013 issue of The Horn Book

Thanks to Katie Bircher and The Horn Book for the great review!

To pre-order Peanut, click here.

The Lying Disease for The Stranger

A new piece for The Stranger in Seattle, about a woman battling cancer, who encounters a very strange phenomenon called Munchausen Syndrome.

As the woman is blogging about her journey, as a support and outlet, her page attracts not only compassionate supporters and people in the same situation, but also some that are faking the illness.

Some of these pathological fakers are just out for sympathy, but once the story comes out it is heartbreaking for the people who are actually sick. And some of the Munchauseners can even become very aggressive once outed.

Here's also my original sketch for this piece. Initially, I intended to ink it with a clear ink-line as I usually do.

But in this case there was something about the roughness of the sketch that was very appropriate for the topic. So I only redrew parts and kept much of the texture of the sketch.


With many thanks to AD Aaron Huffman.

New sketches for Highlights for Children

Here are all the sketches for the second of a series of books I'm doing with Highlights for Children. The pages contain mazes, hidden pictures, and other puzzling items. I just submitted them, which of course feels very good! Just in time for Thanksgiving I get a bit of a break.