Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Mr. Pig LIVE. . . with Little Red Gliding Hood!

Welcome to my hit daytime talk show, Mr. Pig LIVE! I'm your host, Mr. Pig. Today's guest is from my neck of the woods. She's the star of Tara Lazar and Troy Cummings's brand new picture book! Please give a cozy cottage welcome to. . .

LITTLE RED!


<<applause>>

We like to begin with an easy question. What is your full name? 
Little Red Gliding Hood. I know you’ve heard it’s Riding Hood, but you must have been playing “Telephone.”

What one word best describes you?
Plucky.

Do you have a belly button?
Do you have a curly little tail?

Fair enough. What is the best thing about being you?
My flying camel. (That’s a figure skating term, you know. Real camels don’t appreciate the cold weather.)

Neither do pigs, for the record. We freeze our curly little tails off. What is the worst thing about being you?
My worn-in, worn-out skates.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what would you bring?
I’d bring my skates, of course! And a volleyball.

What is your idea of the perfect day?
Swizzling and twizzling down the river.

FROM LITTLE RED GLIDING HOOD by Tara Lazar. Illustration © 2015 by Troy Cummings

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Landing the quadruple lutz.

What are you reading right now?
Grandma’s Cookie Cookbook.

What is your favorite word?
Salchow.

Gesundheit. What is you least favorite word?
Tonya.

What is your favorite sound?
The crunch of the ice beneath my blades.

What is your least favorite sound?
Awwwww-woooooooooo!

I can see why. Share one thing that most of our readers don’t know about you.
I’m not really fond of the color red. I’d rather be Little Periwinkle Gliding Hood.

FROM LITTLE RED GLIDING HOOD by Tara Lazar. Illustration © 2015 by Troy Cummings

If you could dine with three characters from other books, who would they be?
Oh, I’ve already done that. Jack, Jill and I had dinner at Little Jack Horner’s and he served a delightful plum pie for dessert.

If a genie gave you one wish, what would you wish for?
Brand new skates!

If you have a pocket, what is in it right now? 
Mulling spice.

What did you eat for breakfast this morning?
An apple cider donut.

What is your most embarrassing moment?
Oh slippery slush! That time my skate flew off!

FROM LITTLE RED GLIDING HOOD by Tara Lazar. Illustration © 2015 by Troy Cummings

Do you have a pet peeve?
When other skaters block the jump corner.

What was it like working with Tara Lazar?
It was an experience I’ll remember happily ever after!

And that is THE END of our interview. Thanks for coming all the way over the river and through the woods to chat with us today, Little Red. I hope you're hungry, because our caterer Nina from Mamabelly has whipped up an extra-delicious Literary Lunch just for you. Click here for peek at Nina's bento of goodies!

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Street magic performer. Hog-calling champion. Award-winning ice sculptor. These are all things Tara Lazar has never been. Instead, she writes quirky, humorous picture books featuring magical places that everyone will want to visit.

Her picture books available now are:

THE MONSTORE (Aladdin/S&S, 2013)
I THOUGHT THIS WAS A BEAR BOOK (Aladdin/S&S, 2015)
LITTLE RED GLIDING HOOD (Random House Children’s, Oct 2015)
These titles are coming soon:

NORMAL NORMAN (Sterling, March 2016)
WAY PAST  BEDTIME (Aladdin/S&S, Fall 2016)
7 ATE 9: THE UNTOLD STORY (Disney*Hyperion, 2017)

Tara loves children’s books. Her goal is to create books that children love.

She writes picture books and middle grade novels. She’s written short stories for Abe’s Peanut and is featured in Break These Rules, a book of life-lesson essays for teens, edited by author Luke Reynolds.

Tara created PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) as the picture book writer’s answer to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). PiBoIdMo is held on this blog every November. In 2014, PiBoIdMo featured over 1,300 participants from around the world.

Little Red Gliding Hood
(Random House BFYR/ October, 2015)
story by Tara Lazar
pictures by Troy Cummings

★ "The reliably fun concept of odd-couple ice skaters is perfectly meshed into a clever narrative enhanced by candy-colored artwork ripe with inside jokes. This one begs to be read, both over the river and through the woods." —Booklist, Starred Review

"An icy enchanted forest is home to a bevy of fairy tale characters, including Little Red Gliding Hood, an ice skater set on winning a new pair of skates in a skating competition. Lazar packs her story with fairy tale-based jokes....Cummings's cartoons feel as slick as ice, creating a playful backdrop for Lazar's wintry nursery rhyme punning." —Publisher's Weekly

"No skating on thin ice here--it's a winner."  —Kirkus Reviews

"A wonderful winter-themed fractured fairy tale with so many clever details that kids will want to read again and again." —School Library Journal

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