STAMPEDE!

The Fat Stock Stampede at the Houston Rodeo is here! Autographed copies available at the bookstore.

Go Buggy For Books!

The 2008 Summer Library Program is now available for your library! For more information click here!

1.December

A Special Visitor Comes to Possum Ridge is here!   Fresh off the presses!

Because the of the Katrina-damaged Old Capital's closing, the annual Christmas train layout was cancelled.   The Mississippi Department of Archives and History created a DVD of a story written by MDAH staffer Elizabeth Coleman about a hobo who arrives in Possum Ridge, Mississippi, the fictional train layout town, on Christmas Eve.   The story aired on Mississippi Public Broadcast television that season and has become a very popular tradition with MPB-TV viewers during the Christmas season.

The story was so popular that folks began to ask about a possible picture book being published.   In 2006, C.G. agreed to edit the DVD text to picture book length and illustrate the story.

The train layout has found a temporary home in the William Winter Archives Building during the Christmas season each year while the Old Capital is being repaired.

This year, on December 1st , Lucky Osborne (aka; Lucky), the main character of the book, read to the children who had come to visit the trains.  

Author Elizabeth Coleman and C.G. (photo left) signed copies of Possum Ridge for all the children, parents and grand parents who had come for the special book signing event.  

2.October

Introducing... the first ever C.G. coloring page for you to download.   For FREE!   Click on the ghostie at the left to go to the coloring page.    Download all the pages you want for your school's class or library story time.  

These drawings are not intended for publication, however. If you would like to use one of them for print or internet, please email me with details; chuck@chuckgaley.com.

27 September

Each fall, C.G. teaches an illustration course at Mississippi State University.   The group of students gets pretty wild as they are mostly graduating seniors and senioritus is about to set in.

Fortunately, we were able to get them to pause for a moment during class for a group picture.   Pictured here are (left to right) Matt Reynolds, Lee Faucette (back), Shauna Cliett (front), C.G., "Cat" Kennedy, Geoffrey Karr, Becky Busby, Michael Moran, Katie O'Neal (with finger in nose), Nicholas Henderson, Su Jin Lim, Sarah Newman (in hat directly behind Su Jin), Cameron Belk and Kanika Dean.

Check out some of the creative illustration geniuses at work.   Click here for more pictures.

23.September-

Happy first day of fall, everyone!

Check out this cool sight where you can look at and make
folded paper toys for you and your young friends!   It's so
amusing and fun!   Click on THE TOYMAKER'S logo to the
left to takeyou to the site.   Have fun!

7 September

Pictured at left are C.G. and Jeff Wells, owner of Fleet Feet Sports in Jackson, Mississippi.   C.G. just completed a mural on the store front windows promoting the store's trail running shoes.  

With colorful fall designs, the small woodland creatures use the trail running shoes to their advantage to enjoy the autumnal air.

Did that last paragraph sound as if it was written by a copywriter for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade? Click here for more pictures.

28.August-

As summer winds down, I thought I would show some of the flowers that I grew from seeds around the studio. These wonderful sunflowers were planted on April 1st. It takes around 90 days for the blossums to grow full. They always remind me of the energy and vitality of summer.

1 June-

Summer is here and it's time for Summer Reading in Mississippi and Louisiana.   Come back for a visit and updates of CG's visits to libraries around the South!

Click here for library updates.

7.February-

Trinity Episcopal Day School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana hosted C.G. for a full day of visiting with the students and giving presentations.   In addition, he prepared and presented an in-service workshop for the teachers.   Thanks to Mary Martha Allen, school librarian, and all the energetic teachers at Trinity School!   Checkout their website; www.trinityschoolbr.org .

1.February-

Good news!   Rock 'n' Roll Dogs , written by David Davis and illustrated by C.G. has been added to Renaissance Learning's Accelerated Reader list!   This is a great honor because it means many students and teachers will be encouraged to use it in the classroom more and more!

30.January-

The sketch to the left is a study of the main character "Lucky" of A Special Visitor Comes to Possum Ridge.   This is one of the books that C.G. is currently illustrating.   It should be available in November, 2007. See January 2, below.

26.January-  

Check out what's coming up this summer as C.G. prepares for Get A Clue!, Mississippi libraries' Summer Reading Program theme!   CLICK HERE for more information.

2.January- C.G. looks over the protective glass of a model train layout presented annually during the Christmas holiday season by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.   School children and adults from all over the state love to come for a visit to watch the engineers run the trains.   The fictional town of Possum Ridge is portrayed in painstaking detail.   From human figures, to animals, to small town homes and businesses, Possum Ridge represents small town Mississippi during the depression and war years.

The model train layout is usually presented each year in the Senate chamber of the Old Capital in Jackson.   However, when hurricane Katrina blew through in August of 2005, the building's roof was severely damaged.

  So much damage was done that the building was closed for repairs and subsequent renovation.   In other words, the Possum Ridge model train layout no longer had a home.

In order to continue the tradition, somewhat, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History produced a short DVD in 2005 titled A Special Visitor Comes to Possum Ridge to send out to schools as a gift until the train layout could find a new home.  

The story was so popular that folks began to ask about a possible picture book being published.   In 2006, C.G. agreed to edit the DVD text to picture book length and illustrate the story.

The book A Special Visitor Comes to Possum Ridge will be available in November, 2007.   Look for more information on the production of the illustrations in coming weeks.

1.January-   Happy New Year, everyone!

There are some very cool things happening right away.   C.G. will be on the radio this Wednesday, January 3 rd .   The Open Windows Bookstore in Monroe, Louisiana produces a weekly radio program on AM talk radio in the Monroe area.   The program is rebroadcast by That Bookstore in Blytheville (Blytheville, Arkansas) for the Memphis area.    

Although the producers did not give us the specific radio station call letters or dial numbers, the interview is streamed live over the internet and then the pod-cast is available for later downloading.   Their website address is www.thebookreport.net .   Check it out!   It has cool interviews with Mo Willums, Lane Smith, Kathi Appelt and other authors and illustrators that you'll enjoy.

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