Shennen Bersani's Weblog

Any books I know? Read here to learn more about my books.

 

Banned Books

An absolutely wonderful friend sent me a link to this photo “I Love Book” on Facebook.

Never in my wildest imagination would I have thought I would be the illustrator of a ‘banned’ book. But I am illustrating my 37th children’s picture book, and they have sold an overall world-wide total combined 3+ million copies…. so I can’t even begin to comprehend where the books have gone off to….

Apparently A Case Of Sense ended up being banned in Duval County, Florida. Along with 175 other children’s titles. Read all about it here. 

A Case of Sense, written by Songju Ma Daemicke is a children’s book about ‘senses’, yup that’s what I said - smelling and hearing. And how is learning about your senses controversial? You got me, you’d have to ask the administrators down in Duval County, Florida, that question. The great state of Kansas loved the book! It is on the 2017 Kansas NEA Reading Circle Catalogue Selection. I’m proud of that. My friends, such as the one who sent me that quote from Isaac Asimov, tell me I should be proud the book was banned - that it makes it a ‘book of honor’, a ‘book worth reading’. What it does is make me sad, sad that there are students in Duval County, Florida, who don’t have access to the book. 

A Case of Sense is available from Arbordale Publishing in English, Spanish, and Chinese. Here is the book’s description from it’s webpage:

While Ming plays outside one summer day, the smell of delicious food fills the air. It is coming from greedy Fu Wang’s house. "What is he up to?" wonders Ming. To his alarm, Fu Wang demands that all the neighbors pay him for the pleasant smells. When the neighbors refuse, the case goes to court. How will the judge rule in this unusual case and will justice be served? Can Fu Wang make money from the neighbors’ sense of smell? A wise judge makes use of another sense to close the case with clever and convincing logic.

This fictional story includes a 4-page For Creative Minds section in the back of the book and a 23-page cross-curricular Teaching Activity Guide online. A Case of Sense is vetted by experts and designed to encourage parental engagement. Its extensive back matter helps teachers with time-saving lesson ideas, provides extensions for science, math, and social studies units, and uses inquiry-based learning to help build critical thinking skills in young readers. The Spanish translation supports ELL and dual-language programs. The interactive ebook reads aloud in both English and Spanish with word highlighting and audio speed control to promote oral language skills, fluency, pronunciation, text engagement, and reading comprehension. Tap animals and other things that make noise to hear their sounds.

Written by Songju Ma Daemicke, Illustrated by Shennen Bersani
32 pg, 8.5x10, Ages 4-8, Grades K-3, Lexile: AD 550L, AR: 3.3, F&P: M

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First of all you really should check out Arbordale’s ebook collection! They are interactive and they do make sounds! I personally love them! 
Second, I’m serious about ‘sounds’ and ‘smells’, spoiler alert - two pages from the book:

I hope you take a moment to visit the book’s homepage where you can purchase it directly from Arbordale Publishing. On the top right corner of that page you will find fantastic free Teaching Activities for your classroom or homeschool use, including coloring pages.  

Third, please check out author Songju Ma Daemicke’s website. Songju is an amazing multi award-winning author of numerous books. Plus, she is such a lovely, lovely person! I am honored and proud to have illustrated A Case of Sense! 

Pages from my Books

The other day I dropped off these five pieces and a portfolio of my children’s book work at The Brush Art Gallery & Studios in Lowell, MA, for their upcoming exhibit: Cartoons, Illustrations & Sketches.

All of the framed pieces are prints of my illustrations.

Top image, is a spread from Animal Partners, by Scotti Cohn, Arbordale Publishing. The lower image is a spread from Achoo! Why Pollen Counts, written and illustrated by Shennen Bersani, Arbordale Publishing.

This is the cover of Once Upon an Elephant, by Linda Stanek, Arbordale Publishing.

This is a spread from Sea Slime: It’s Eeuwy, Gooey, and Under the Sea, by Ellen Prager, Arbordale Publishing.

This is a spread from Once Upon an Elephant, by Linda Stanek, Arbordale Publishing.

Samples shown from my portfolio on display. 

Later I will share photos of how these are hung. 

Cartoons, Illustrations & Sketches 

The Brush Art Gallery & Studios

256 Market Street

Lowell, MA 01852

Exhibition: February 25 to April 8, 2023

Reception: Saturday, March 18, 2:00 PM

* This exhibit is made possible in part by the Lowell National Historical Park.

By the way, fun fact! Arbordale’s books are available in English and Spanish, as well as in many other languages! Perfect learning tools for people of any age to learn a new language. Check them out here, Arbordale Publishing.

Lucky, the mouse

A little peek into my work process, here’s Lucky 🍀 the mouse, from sketch to finish:

Lucky art pins

Over the past few months I’ve created and gifted over 100 of these art pins. 

Shown here resting on an unfinished acrylic portrait I’m working on.

I first used 4-leaf clovers I had come across. 




For years I saved lucky clovers that I’d found and pressed them into a thick book for safe keeping. Once I reached 50 clovers I knew I wanted to share them with others, just wasn’t sure how to do that.  


One day I had the idea of making art pins out of them. After the clovers had been given away I got the idea of using flowers. So far I’ve made 70 with flowers, and have given 60 of those away as gifts. 

Then came a series of frogs.

I’ve got some great, unique ideas for my next series… something for Valentine’s Day. ❤️ 

#art #sharing #goodluck #gifts #illustrator #author

Books for the children in Mzuzu, Malawi

Last night Fr. Edmond Nyoka sent me these photos, I wept for a good hour, with tears of joy seeing their smiling faces and enthusiasm! 

I’m on Twitter @ShennenBersani over there I’ve met some amazing, compassionate people who were donating to a Catholic priest, Father Edmond Nyoka in the Mzuzu, Malawi, Diocese of Saint Monica Parish. Fr. Edmond is an amazing soul, he has been raising money to purchase corn and rice for his famished community - and he has been teaching the children English. Other people in Scotland are raising money to purchase desks for the children, currently they have to sit on the floor. To help Fr. teach the children English, I sent 14 of my books to them:

Icky Bug Shapes; Jerry Pallotta, Scholastic

Ocean Counting: Odd Numbers; Jerry Pallotta, Charlesbridge

Butterfly Counting; Jerry Pallotta, Charlesbridge

Not a Butterfly Alphabet Book; Jerry Pallotta, Charlesbridge

The Eyeball Alphabet Book; Jerry Pallotta, Charlesbridge

Snakes: Long, Longer, Longest; Jerry Pallotta, Scholastic

Sharks: Big, Bigger, Biggest; Jerry Pallotta, Scholastic

Achoo! Why Pollen Counts; Shennen Bersani, Arbordale Publishing

Once Upon an Elephant; Linda Stanek, Arbordale Publishing

Cheetah Dreams, Linda Stanek, Arbordale Publishing

River Otter’s Adventure; Linda Stanek; Arbordale Publishing

Home in the Cave; Janet Halfmann, Arbordale Publishing

Yay for Big Brothers!; Janet Halfmann, Arbordale Publishing

The Shape Family Babies; Kristin Haas, Arbordale Publishing

I purchased my own books using my royalties and paid for the FedEx shipping with those royalties. If you choose to purchase any of my books please know my future royalties will be used to donate to others. I have a priest in Ghana waiting patiently for his donation of books. 

If you are interested in helping out, donating to, Father Edmond, and his community (they do need more corn and rice), you can DM him on Twitter @ednyoka 

🙏❤️

The winner of the pumpkin carving contest is announced!

At my house we had a pumpkin carving contest! Two contestants, me and Mr. Raccoon. Here are our two entries for this year’s competition:

And this year’s winner is:

Caught red-handed! Mr. Raccoon! 🥳🎉😂

Read about raccoons and other night creepers in Night Creepers, illustrated by me, written by Linda Stanek, and published by Arbordale Kids. Available in English, Spanish, and French. 

500 reviews, kinda a big deal

Butterfly Colors and Counting hit 500 reviews on Amazon today. Just sharing, ‘cause I feel it’s kinda a big deal. 🥳

Find the book on Amazon here: Butterfly Colors and Counting

Also, check out the 32 page accompanying book, Butterfly Counting.

And if you enjoy counting butterflies, you will love Not a Butterfly Alphabet Book! All three of these are published by Charlesbridge, written by Jerry Pallotta, and illustrated by me. 

Follow this link to check out all 5 of my Charlesbridge books! 

Sharing a cookie

I’m about to illustrate some ants, that set me thinking about cookie crumbs. So here’s a little cookie illustration. BTW for any book, illustration, or art inquiries I can be reached at Shennen at Mac dot com. Currently, I’m illustrating my 35th picture book. 📚 I also do portrait commissions, some graphic design, and fine art paintings. 🎨

Updated date for my FressCafe Art Show

We have a new date for the art show at Fress Cafe in Natick, MA: June 11, 4:00-6:30 PM.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused people, but we are working behind the scenes to make the event even grander, and well worth the visit… so come on by if you are in the area.

This is an 11x14 watercolor portrait (16x20 frame), of Levi, painted by me, Shennen Bersani.

Temporary Postponed

The May 21st 4:00-6:30 Art Gallery Show at FressCafe in Natick, MA, Featuring a Wide Array of Award Winning Works by Shennen Bersani has Been Temporarily Postponed. Thank You for The Many Responses Received From the Expected Audience. It Has Grown Way Beyond Expectations. A New Date Will Be Posted Soon, and We Look Forward to Seeing All of You Then.

20th Anniversary!

April, 2022. It’s my 20th anniversary of illustrating children’s books, 34 books, over 3 million copies sold worldwide! How am I celebrating? With an art show, of course! #savethedate

The past 20 years is only half of my art career. I’ve been a professional artist for 41 years, so in reality this art show will be a celebration of my life’s work. 📚🎨💗🎉

I’ve been painting watercolor portraits

Yes, I’m currently illustrating two books… but every few weeks I’ve been working on watercolor portraits. Today I delivered “Levi” to my dear friend, Pablah. 

Let My Colors Go

I’m excited to reveal the cover of my newest book, Let My Colors Go, written by Courtney Filigenzi. I few years back I illustrated Courtney’s Let My Colors Out, published by the American Cancer Society. LMCO is the story of a young boy who deals daily with his mother’s cancer, each day is defined by a ‘color’. He has his angry Red days, or his happy Yellow days, etc. I am forever emotionally entwined with LMCO. When I was first contacted regarding illustrating it, I mentioned to the client I knew no one with cancer. It hadn’t hit home with my family. Boy, can life hit you hard! Somewhere in the middle of illustrating the book I got the diagnosis of my own cancer. And I watched while my own children’s emotions mirrored those of the book’s protagonist. 

Here’s a excerpt from the book, SERENDIPITY, where I talk about LMCO, 

“Within an hour my phone rang. The caller said, “I'm publishing a series of books on a sensitive topic and I love what you’ve done with the girl with Down syndrome. Would you be interested in illustrating books for the American Cancer Society?”

Cancer hadn’t touched my family or my life, but I felt sympathetic with the people it had, I felt I could bring emotion to the subject. The first book I worked on for the Cancer Society, Let My Colors Out, written by Courtney Filigenzi, was a board book for young children. The protagonist’s mother was being treated for cancer and he showed his changing emotions with different colors. He had “blue” sad days, or “yellow” happy days. Each color of the rainbow was significant to the child.

Shortly after I signed onto the project, a delivery truck rear ended me at a red light. The accident injured both my hands, stopping my work while I recovered. Every day, I cursed that accident.  

However, initially, the hospital performed an MRI to check for neck and spine damage. The report came back, “We see a large nodule on your thyroid.”

With research, I found that approximately 1.1 percent of men and women will be diagnosed with thyroid cancer at some point during their lifetime. The odds were in my favor the nodule would be benign.

But while I illustrated Let My Colors Out, I learned that mine was malignant. I watched as my four children’s emotions mirrored the book’s protagonist’s to a tee. I had a thyroidectomy and have become a survivor.

Remarkably, my next book was Nana, What’s Cancer?, written by cancer survivor,  Beverlye Hyman Fead with her granddaughter, Tessa Mae Hamermesh. I flew to Los Angeles to meet the two. Beverlye’s tenacity for life was contagious. Every day I thank God for the car accident that saved my life! I had noticed no sign of having cancer, but without that MRI it most likely wouldn’t have been found in time.”

Read my entire story here, from the book: SERENDIPITY compiled by author Madonna Dries Christensen.

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Last year I was honored when Courtney asked me to illustrate her follow up book, LMCG. Going beyond cancer, this very special book is useful for children of families facing a sudden illness, a job loss, the loss of a loved one, a divorce or a sudden move. Children view life changes and challenges differently than adults do, each day brings out different colorful emotions. This book can help children understand that they are not alone with their feelings. 

Purchase on Amazon: Let My Colors Go

“A young boy uses color to express a range of emotions as his family undergoes a sudden life change. Some days he's sad, some days he's happy and other days he's scared or angry. The boy comes to realize that these "ups and downs" are perfectly normal for his situation.

Based on the award-winning books, Let My Colors Out and My Cancer Days, this beautifully illustrated book assures children of families facing a sudden illness, a job loss, the loss of a loved one, a divorce or a sudden move that they are not alone. Importantly, it helps them understand it's okay to let their feelings go. Drawing and journaling pages are included to encourage children to express themselves in a thoughtful and positive manner.”

New: Yay for Big Brothers! craft project!

UPDATED!

Here is the video!

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Some of you watched me Saturday afternoon on Legit Kid Lit’s Live Draw Off come back later in the week, I’ll be uploading the templates and instructions here for my Yay for Big Brothers! animal puppets and paper doll clothes! 

I just finished all the illustrations for a new book, releasing in March 2022…. (More on that later!) now I can focus on some new drawerofmanythings YouTube videos and new, free craft projects to go along with my books. 

Legit Kid Lit Draw Off: what does Buzz Lightyear, Mr. Incredible, corn, candy, pile of leaves, and Lorax have in common? Watch the latest episode and find out! 

Yay!! Yay for Big Brothers! is now out and available!

Just a quick note: Yay for Big Brothers! written by Janet Halfmann has been released and is now available in English and/or Spanish! Here at Arbordale.

I autographed a pile of them today and they are ready to be mailed! 

This is the second Janet Halfmann book I’ve illustrated. I also did the art for Home in the Cave. 

Both can be found at Arbordale or on Amazon. Yay for Big Brothers! is my 16th Arbordale book! Check them all out here! 

Big brothers are amazing! Did you know that big brothers are important in animal families, too? Animal big brothers do many of the same things as kid big brothers. They play with their younger siblings, teach them new things, and help with their care. Sometimes animal big brothers even babysit when their parents leave to hunt for food. Are you a big brother or do you have a big brother?

Written by Janet Halfmann, Illustrated by Shennen Bersani
32 pg, 8.5 x 10, Ages 4 - 8, Grades K - 3, Lexile: AD 520, F&P: L

Peerless watercolors

I absolutely love my Peerless watercolors! Check out their website. 

My tools:

My sweetheart:

I’ll be adding to this post soon!