Pippo Rises Again

My very first picture book, Pippo the Fool, told the story of Filippo Brunelleschi (better known as 'Pippo') and his quest to build an extraordinary dome atop the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy.  The PBS show Nova recently aired a wonderful hour-long program, "The Great Cathedral Mystery," about Pippo and his dome.  The show sought to uncover the mystery of how Pippo constructed his huge dome by following a team of modern-day bricklayers as they constructed a small-scale reproduction of the dome.  As anyone who has ever visited the dome can agree, Pippo was anything but a fool!  His innovations, including a reverse gear pulley to carry supplies up and down, a spiral herringbone brick pattern, and a unique system of guide ropes, are the true secrets of the dome.  You can solve more of the mystery of the dome by watching "The Great Cathedral Mystery".

Barnum Brown

While researching another topic, I happened upon this wonderful photograph of Barnum Brown that I had never seen before.  Check out 'Mr. Bone's' dapper look:

Barnum really was an extraordinarily good dresser.  I especially love the boots!

Dare the Wind is Setting Sail

It's official!  DARE THE WIND is setting sail on February 18th.  Here are a few sneak peeks of the gorgeous illustrations by Emily Arnold McCully:

Here is young Ellen Prentiss, watching the clipper ships sail into Marblehead harbor:

And here is Ellen battling a storm aboard The Flying Cloud:

One of the many joys of writing picture books is seeing your words brought to life in illustrations that are even more beautiful than you imagined they could be.  Thank you, Emily!