The Kane County community will get a rare chance to purchase original illustrations and prints by New York Times best-selling children’s book author/illustrator and Geneva resident Tom Lichtenheld at a used book sale Saturday.

The Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva used book sale will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1, at the church’s historic building at 110 S. 2nd Street in downtown Geneva.

The sale will feature more than 1,000 lightly-used and very well-priced books of all types for all ages, ranging from fiction, mysteries and children’s books to biographies, cookbooks, science books, graphic novels, spirituality books and much more.

A highlight of the sale will be a rare opportunity to purchase signed original illustrations and prints by New York Times best-selling children’s book author/illustrator and Geneva resident Tom Lichtenheld. In addition to his artwork, a limited number of his new children’s books, also signed by Lichtenheld, will be available for sale.

Proceeds from the sale will be shared with Literacy Volunteers Fox Valley, based in St. Charles, whose mission is to help individuals in the region acquire the English-language literacy skills that they need to function more effectively in contemporary society and participate fully in our community.

Feature photo caption

Noted children’s book author/illustrator Tom Lichtenheld’s original exploratory illustration for his New York Times Best Seller “I Wish You More” is among the items for sale at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva’s book sale on Aug. 1.

About UUSG

The Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva, established in 1842 and the oldest church in Geneva, is a diverse, welcoming community that endeavors to make its Covenant a living reality. We provide religious education and opportunities for spiritual growth. We encourage individual and mutual responsibility as together we work to be a liberal religious voice in the community and a force for compassionate social justice. For more information, visit www.uusg.org.

About Tom Lichtenheld

SOURCE: Amazon.com

Children’s book author & illustrator Tom Lichtenheld writes for kids who love to laugh and adults who love to laugh along with them. See all of his books and get a glimpse of how he creates them at tomlichtenheld.com.

Lichtenheld in His Own Words

SOURCE: tomlichtenheld.com

I’ve always loved to draw pictures and make up stories, and I’ve been lucky enough to make a living by using my imagination for over 25 years.

My earliest childhood memory is of sitting in the kitchen, drawing pictures of ships and trucks on a blackboard. I also remember spending hours staring at the illustrations in National Geographic and thinking how wonderful it would be to be one of the people who got to make all those incredible pictures.

My venture into children’s books was a happy accident. It happened like this:

Back in 1995 I got a letter from my nephew Adam, who LOVED pirates, asking me to draw him a picture of a pirate. I sat down at my drawing board to draw a few pirates and ended up creating 20 pages of silly pictures and nonsense about pirates. It was enough to fill a book, so that’s what I did. I called it Everything I Know About Pirates. I sent it off to my nephew and saved a copy for myself. After four years of submitting the idea to editors, it was accepted by Simon & Schuster and published in 2000.

The question I hear most often from readers is “Where do you get your ideas?” I get ideas by keeping my eyes and ears open, especially when I’m around kids. Then I try to see things as a child would and write from their perspective. I always write with a specific child in mind, as if we’re just having a fun conversation. I try to remember how smart kids are, which is why my books also appeal to older kids and adults.

For inspiration, I have a bunch of photos of kids on my wall. Whenever I’m stuck for an idea, I look at one of those photographs and think to myself, “What would make THAT kid laugh?”

My books start out as rough doodles. An entire book can come from a simple observation and one drawing. For instance, What Are You So Grumpy About? was inspired by a grumpy guy I was sitting next to on an airplane. I did a few doodles on the spot, sitting next to Mr. Grumpypants, and they eventually became a book.

My illustrations are done in watercolor and colored pencil. The first step is pencil sketches, then I create black line art and print it on watercolor paper. (It’s kind of like a home-made coloring book!) Then I paint a layer of watercolor and build up the shapes with colored pencils. I get a lot of help from our cats, who lay on my pencils, my drawings, my hands and anything else that puts them in the way of what I’m trying to do.

I couldn’t do any of this without my wonderful wife, Jan. She helps edit my ideas and often comes up with ideas for the endings for my books, which is the hardest part. She also helps keep me organized and on schedule. Thank you, Jan!

Until I come up with a better one, that’s my story. Thanks for your support..