The Peaceful Sloth

Around the time the building of The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art was coming to completion, nearly a decade ago, I was feeling overwhelmed, and so I locked myself in my studio and hung out the DO NOT DISTURB sign. My life had become so busy with meetings and appointments. That was when the gentle and slow moving Sloth came to my mind. I became fascinated by this strange creature that sleeps up to 20 out of 24 hours; this boring animal who eats 10% of what animals of equal size and weight consume; this expressionless critter who lives by itself and rarely makes a noise seemed the perfect antidote to the hectic situation I found myself in.

Our lives have become increasingly frenetic. We are constantly bombarded by all kinds of messages about scandals, wars and what soap to buy. We eat fast food, rush to the next appointment, click away at our computers, fly and drive in all directions. Maybe the peaceful Sloth can teach us something...? This image is an alternative collage illustration that was not used in my book Slowly, Slowly, Slowly, said the Sloth. You might be interested to know that pictures from my book Slowly are currently on exhibit at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and that this year -- 2012 -- the Museum will be celebrating its 10th anniversary!

Mermaid Theatre visits Massachusetts

The puppeteers and stage managers of The Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia bring my stories to life on stage in the black-light puppetry productions of my books. One such troupe (including Christine Oakey, Sarah-Jean Begin
and Dan Bates in photo above) recently performed in Massachusetts and stopped by The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and our offices in Western MA. If only I had been there to say hello and thank them in person. I know they work very hard using their talents to make magic happen. They are currently touring in North America. Since October, they have performed for more than 100,000 spectators and have traveled more than 49,000 miles! I hope you will be able to see one of their upcoming shows.

Here is a link to the schedule.