CHICKS RUN WILD Photo Essay Contest

How do you RUN WILD? We (as in, the writer and the illustrator of CHICKS RUN WILD) want to know! Teachers and educators, this contest is a chance for your class to go crazy and run wild! Send entries to Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen and you may win!

And if you're not a teacher, send this to one you know! Here's a downloadable version for you:

CHICKS Photo Essay Contest Poster BIG

The Chicken Suit

Yup. It happened. The chicken suit was acquired and promptly donned on a beautifully grey day in Portland this week. Portlanders, in case you're wondering who that was dressed up as a bright yellow chicken walking across the Burnside bridge or crossing the road (har!) in front of Powell's, or having a Maple Bacon doughnut at Voodoo Donuts, it was me. I'm an illustrator. I drew a children's book titled "Chicks Run Wild," hence the chicken reference. This silly stunt was part of a crazy promotion to get people to know about the book, written by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen.

I have to say, it was a lot of fun. Honestly, I probably would've worn the darn suit even if we didn't get 300 fans or friends on Facebook. But I'm happy to see that we exceeded our goal—a full week before the deadline! That's awesome.

So, here you go, Portland. Here you go Oregon. The United States of America. THE WORLD... Ward Jenkins in a chicken suit:





My Presidential pose.


My Profile pose.


Oh, hey. Look at that. I'm about to cross the road. IMAGINE THAT


Why did I cross the road? To read Chicks Run Wild, of course.


Chicken admirers. Sadly, I wasn't Bieber.


It's hard work, this shameless promotion-thing.


This is my favorite part of the whole book-drawin' experience: reading the book to the kiddos.






I paid a visit to the library to sneak a copy of the book in the bookshelves.


The librarian totally caught me!

More photos soon. To see more check out:

The Chicken Suit on Facebook.
Chicks Run Wild on Flickr.

Now you know, I'm a man of my word.

Chicks Caught Out in the Wild

One the greatest experiences of illustrating a book is seeing it in the bookstores. The first time I saw my first book was so exciting - and to have my family there to experience it with me made it all the more sweeter.

The first time I saw Chicks Run Wild out in the wild was at A Children's Place, an excellent independent bookstore on NE Fremont - who "offer a wide selection of children's books for readers aged newborn to young adult." I was with Ezra, who was in a mood. He did NOT want to get out of the car. Too bad, bucko. You're coming with me.

Allow me to beam a bit as I share with you some photos of my first Chicks sighting:


Such a great little bookstore.


Regarding the cover: I've never been a big fan of the bold blue with yellow & orange letters, but I do have to say it makes it hard to miss the book. That particular color combination is not evident in the book itself - I wanted to go with a more tanish/salmon-like color with bold red letters (which would better connect with the pages within), but sometimes you just have to choose your battles.


It's in my contract to make this face when I see my book anywhere.


Ezra. Notice he's got his arms crossed, brooding. Oh, what a HORRIBLE dad I am, forcing my kid to go to our local bookstore! OH! the humanity!

Be sure to visit Chicks Run Wild on Facebook: I've been posting reviews (so far, very good!), photos (like these shown here), and sketches & artwork, etc.

And YES, the chicken suit is happening. Word on the street is that it'll happen this week.

Box full o' CHICKS

A box arrived at my doorstep the other day. This is what I found when I opened it:



It's always a happy moment to open up that box and see your books all printed up and looking nice. A very happy moment indeed.



It's even better to hold the book in your hand.

It's quite an honor to have something like this printed up and see it on the bookshelves. Well, I haven't been out that much lately, so I'm assuming the books are in bookstores at this time. Seeing as the book was officially released on the 25th, I'd like to think that yes, the books are available NOW! Go now! Buy buy buy! Spend spend spend! AND, if you could, go to your local independent bookstore to buy your copy of the book there. They'd thank you for it.

Coming soon: more photos. (Of course!) And a CHICKS RUN WILD photo contest! Stay tuned.

You Did It

Well, you guys did it! We reached 300 friends (or likes) on CHICKS RUN WILD's Facebook page and now I will dress up in a chicken suit and prance around downtown Portland (and other locations in the city) for all to gawk and ponder at in the very near future. (I've been very busy lately and haven't had the time or energy to do anything chicken suit-related.) I'm actually looking forward to doing this stunt. Very curious to see the reactions I'll get when I walk around town. Pretty sure some witnesses won't even break stride.

To offer some sort of prize for everyone who participated, here are some scans of the very first sketches I did for the book. I already had the ball-like look of the little chicks in mind when I first started drawing some ideas in my sketchbook oh, so long ago. (These drawings are dated August 30th, 2009 - I've been done with all the artwork for CHICKS since February of last year!) Enjoy:







To keep up to date with anything happening with the book, including listings of any appearances or readings that both the author, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, and I will be doing for CHICKS, as well as sketches, drawings, artwork, reviews, etc., be sure to like us on the CHICKS RUN WILD Facebook page! If any kids get inspired to draw their own wild runnin' chicks, we'll post them there as well. Should be a lot of fun.

CHICKS RUN WILD will be released on January 25th - in FIVE DAYS. Can't wait!

Happy New Year & Happy Chicken Suit

Happy 2011! I know it's two weeks into it, but better late than never, right? Well, what better way to start off the new year than to post a pic of me in a chicken suit?



Nothing like good ol' fashioned shameless self-promotion to get the ball rolling for 2011. Yes! My newest children's book, CHICKS RUN WILD will be released later on this month, on January 25th. If we get 300 friends (or "likes", however you want to say it) for CHICKS on Facebook, then I'll wear a chicken suit out in public. Seriously. I'll get my wife, Andrea, to take photographic evidence (both photos and video) for those doubting Thomas's out there, and will post it all here and on the CHICKS Facebook page for everyone to gawk at. I mean, c'mon! Who wouldn't want to see your favorite neighborhood illustrator don a big suit of feathers and make a big fool of himself? Out in public? I thought so.

We've been stalled at around 232. Go tell your friends!

Go here: Chicks Run Wild on Facebook.

If you'd like to take a look at what's inside the book, you can check out the CHICKS pages on my website HERE.

Big News and an Update

Lots to announce today! It's been a long time coming, so let me start with this:


CHICKS RUN WILD by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen and illustrated by me, Ward Jenkins! To be released by Simon & Schuster on January 25th, 2011.

My second children's book! I'm so excited. It's a fun one. Had tons of fun working on it, with all the little chicks going crazy throughout the story. I also enjoyed drawing Mama Hen and coming up with all the various ways of her reacting to her little ones.

In case you're wondering, you can pre-order the book HERE and also check out the official Facebook page HERE. I know! It's all very up-to-date and all!

By the way, if you do a search for the book, be sure to type "chicks RUN wild." Not "go" or "gone" wild. Just sayin'.

In honor of this occasion, I've updated my website - somehow, a bunch of chicks were set free and are now running wild all over the site:



See if you can find them all!

Along with a few added illustrations in the Portfolio, I've also updated the Books section to accommodate Chicks Run Wild. Once there, you can take a peek inside, follow along as I show you my process for making the book, and a few other surprises (soon).

My last bit of news is very VERY exciting for me: I am now represented by the wonderful Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literary Agency. If you’d like me to illustrate a book, a book cover, etc., please contact her via email. I really enjoy Jennifer's enthusiasm for the world of children's and YA literature. Outspoken, honest, to-the-point, and very engaging, Jennifer is the real deal. All the more reason why I'm so ecstatic about sharing this news with you all. Be sure to check out Jennifer's blog. She shares a great deal of insight into the publishing world. Don't miss out.

Alright! There ya go! Lots of good things happening here at The Ward-O-Matic. Very excited.