GC4K Elevator Pitch: The Ferret’s a Foot (and Eisner voting)

Hey! Hey, librarians! Hey, librarians who collect comics and graphic novels for your libraries! YEAH, YOU!

Did you know that as one of the “graphic novel librarians” you are considered an industry professional and can vote for the Eisner Awards? I know, right? How cool is that?!? Here’s the scoop straight from the San Diego International Comic-Con website:

“To vote, you must be a professional working in the comics or related industries, as a creator (writer, artist, cartoonist, colorist, letterer), a publisher an editor, a retailer (comics store owner or manager), a graphic novels librarian, or a comics historian/educator.”

The deadline for casting your vote is midnight PDT on June 4, 2012, so let’s get a move on, people. For more information on this year’s nominees (and to read about this year’s fabulous judges, including GC4K’s own Brigid Alverson and librarian judge Jesse Karp) and to download a pdf of the ballot, please visit http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_pr12_eisners_nominees.php.

So why, you may ask, am I telling you all this under an Elevator Pitch banner? Because for the first time ever, Lerner, an educational children’s book publisher, has been nominated for an Eisner Award. If you’ve been paying attention to comics awards over the past decade or so, you’ll recognize how big a deal this is. Lerner isn’t anywhere close to being one of the Big Two. It isn’t even one of the Big Children’s Book Companies. They’re small, they focus on a niche market, and they put out good books that generally fly under the radar of anyone not connected with that niche. And they’ve been nominated for an Eisner. Is it because there are librarians serving as Eisner judges now? Is it because people other than moms, teachers, and librarians are paying attention to kids comics? Or is it because people are beginning to look, really look, at the work being put out by non-mainstream, non-indie, non-big-book publishers? Maybe it’s all three. Or maybe I should stop typing and let Colleen AF Venable talk to you instead. Here’s her elevator pitch for her Eisner nominated book The Ferret’s a Foot:

The Ferret’s a Foot
written by Colleen AF Venable
illustrated by Stephanie Yue
Lerner, March 2011
ISBN: 9780761356295
48 pages, $6.95
Ages 7 to 10

Filed under: Interviews