"The Countess and Her Cats" opens at The Mark Twain House and Museum, Hartford, CT

Exhibition opening: "The Countess & Her Cats" and "Illustrating Twain"

The Mark Twain House and Museum

Thursday, October 18, 5:30 p.m.

We will be showing diorama and dollhouse art from the artist Cynthia von Buhler, author of the children's books "But Who Will Bell the Cats" and "The Cat Who Would Not Come Inside." Von Buhler combines dioramas she constructs with illustration in an imaginative way in her delightful tales. "Illustrating Twain" will feature illustrations by Mark Twain and about Mark Twain. Through January 15.

The opening reception on Oct. 18 is free of charge. The exhibit may be viewed with the purchase of a Mark Twain House tour or for a $5.00 museum-only admission .

and

A Halloween Tea Party with the Countess

The Mark Twain House and Museum

Saturday, October 27, 2:00 p.m.

The younger set are invited to don their Halloween finery for a tea with "Countess" Cynthia von Buhler, author and illustrator of But Who Will Bell the Cats? Kids will feast on tea and sweets, tour our new exhibition The Countess & Her Cats and enjoy a spooky performance by Hartford Children’s Theatre.

Tickets $15 for adults, $10 for children. Call (860) 280-3130.

Flowers Can Kill Your Cat

I'm not talking about science fiction. It's true. Flowers can kill your pet.

Easter is around the corner. Before you give someone an Easter Lily make sure that they don't have a cat!

Every year I try to let people know that the white Easter Lily is extremely toxic to cats. Even the orange powder which falls from the flower onto the counter or floor is toxic. A little bit licked off your pet's paw can cause renal failure and death. Flower shops will not tell you this because they could lose money.

I had no idea about this until my cat Cleopatra almost died. Most people are clueless about which plants are poisonous to their pets.

The ASPCA has a great list that can be searched by cat, dog or horse. Click HERE.

The Countess and her Cats

Did you know that Mark Twain loved cats? His cats had fantastic names like Pestilence, Satan, Sin, and Famine.
Fans of Cynthia von Buhler's children's book sets and characters will be able to see her work in person once again. The exhibit at The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, CT opens in October of 2012. We will post more information soon.

Above: Cynthia von Buhler has exhibited her sets at The Nassau County Museum of Art (Long Island, NY), The Staten Island Museum of Art (Staten Island, NY), The Society of Illustrator's Museum (NY, NY), The Carrozzini von Buhler Gallery (NY, NY), and Books of Wonder (NY, NY).
A drawing by Mark Twain titled "Morning Song."
A painting which hangs in Mark Twain's home.
Mark Twain's home in Hartford, CT.

Neil Gaiman Presents Our Evelyn Evelyn Book Trailer

Fairy Tales (with a Twist!) at Portland Stage

But Who Will Bell the Cats? will be presented as part of Portland Stage's Theater for Kids on April 23rd at 10:30.

Once upon a time...they all lived happily ever after. Or did they? Join Theater for Kids as we explore the realm of twisted fairy tales and fractured fables. Watch our professional actors turn traditions upside down during the readings, then work on your own fairy tale reinvention during an interactive workshop!

April 2 - The Amazing Bone by William Steig
April 9 - Cinder Edna by Ellen Jackson
April 23 - But Who Will Bell the Cats? by Cynthia von Buhler
April 30 - The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka

Theater workshop series starts Saturday April 2nd at 10:30 AM. Sign up your child for the whole series of 5 readings + workshops or choose your favorite, $60 for the series or $15 each. Click here for a registration form, email theaterforkids@portlandstage.org or call 207-774-1043 x117 with questions or to sign up.

Click here for Portland Stage's Theater for Kids website.

I Had A Marvelous Party

Elizabeth Bird, New York public librarian and blogger extraordinaire, was a guest at my birthday party. She blogged about it on the School Library Journal website.Elizabeth Bird rides the rooftop Merry-Go-Round at my party.
From "I've Been To A Marvelous Party" by Elizabeth Bird, School Library Journal, 10/12/10:

That was Party #1. I have begun with the low-key party because I feel that if I began with Party #2 you would be disinclined to believe me about it. Here is a taste of what I am talking about:
Lemony Snicket rides the rooftop Merry-Go-Round at my party.
Do you know what you are looking at? Alas, you do not. It is a dark picture and I’ve found that Android phones don’t quite match iPhones in terms of picture quality. Well in any case you are looking at Daniel Handler a.k.a. Lemony Snicket on the roof of a penthouse, sitting on a merry-go-round built for two (complete with animatronic monkeys and a bubble machine) as he merrily sings in the shadow of The Empire State Building. THAT is what you are looking at.

You see, I have over the years made the acquaintance of a very fine, very fascinating, very interesting young lady. She is known as Cynthia von Buhler, and you may know her best as the mad genius behind the intense picture book But Who Will Bell the Cats? which came out a year or so ago. A performance artist, artist artist, and friend of the wandering musician, Ms. von Buhler was kind enough to invite me to her recent FREAKS party. The thing is, if I tell you what went on it’s best that I mention everything seen in a list. That way it’s a bit more manageable.

Continue to read this article HERE.

Life Imitating Art

Last night my cats caught a bat. I rescued it and it flew out a window. It had a little hole in one wing, but it seemed to be flying well. This is a perfect example of life imitating art. See my display window at Books of Wonder which features cats trying to catch bats.8

Kids Bring an Aesop Fable to Life With Dioramas - DNAinfo.com

Click HERE to watch the slideshow.

A Video of my Books of Wonder Animatronic Window Display

Thanks to Carl Divito for shooting this video and placing it on YouTube.

July Issue: Time Out NY Kids Feature on Cynthia von Buhler - Written by Elizabeth Bird

Cat fancy
An artist brings her latest feline-centric story to life at Books of Wonder.

Note: The slideshow is now up on the Time Out Kids website. See it HERE.

Called “one of the top contemporary surrealists” by Art & Antiques magazine, Cynthia von Buhler boasts a résumé that includes painting, sculpture, performance and video projection, for which she uses materials and media such as living fauna, collage, and electronic audio. Her art has been published everywhere from The New Yorker to Rolling Stone, but she’s also become renowned for her children’s books.

After working on titles for other authors, beginning with 1998’s Little Girl in a Red Dress with Cat and Dog, Von Buhler—who lives in a castle-like home on Staten Island—has gone on to write and illustrate her own stories. The first, The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside (Houghton Mifflin, 2006), was based on the artist’s encounter with a stray; she created the scenes by photographing dioramas in her childhood dollhouse.

For her next book, But Who Will Bell the Cats? (Houghton Mifflin, 2009), a riff on Aesop’s fable, Von Buhler acted as set builder, painter, sculptor, gardener, plumber and mason. An elaborate concoction of sumptuous interiors photographed in a model castle, the book is impressive in every detail, from the chateau’s real stone walls to the floors she crafted from inlaid wood, mother-of-pearl and plaster.

City kids can visit the world of Bell the Cats this summer, when Von Buhler re-creates the story in Books of Wonder’s storefront, using sets that appear in the book.
Life-size animated characters from the tale, among them a kitty maid in Alice-in-Wonderland garb, will play with the paper dolls and furniture—like children decorating a dollhouse.

DIY types have a chance to work with the artist on their own mini sets. The rest of us can consider the display a summertime version of NYC’s opulent holiday windows—and there’s no reason such a glorious tradition should be confined to the winter.
Books of Wonder, 18 W 18 St between Fifth and Sixth Aves (212-989-3270, booksofwonder.com). Display will be on view July1–Aug 30. - EB

See the Time Out NY Kids article HERE. Coming soon: Pictures and a video of the actual window display.

Cynthia von Buhler Presents an Animated Window Display & Dollhouse Diorama Workshop at Manhattan’s Books of Wonder.

Meet Cynthia, get your books signed, and have your picture taken
with characters from the book.

Children’s book author and illustrator Cynthia von Buhler is creating an animated window display featuring handmade sets and painted characters from her children’s book But Who Will Bell the Cats? for Books of Wonder bookstore in Manhattan. The elaborate window will be on display from July 1 through August 30, 2010.

Dollhouse Diorama and Paper Doll Workshops – Free (with book purchase)!
Sunday, July 25, 2010 from 12 NOON – 2PM.
Monday, July 26, 2010 from 12 NOON – 2PM
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 from 6PM – 8PM

Come to Books of Wonder and learn to how to make a dollhouse room from a shoebox. Cynthia von Buhler’s characters and castle rooms will be available as pre-printed full-color sheets for children to cut out and make into their own dollhouse diorama. Please bring a standard shoebox with you to the workshop. The author/illustrator will also be signing books. Characters from But Who Will Bell the Cats will make an appearance at the events and will give away free bells on ribbon for children to wear around their necks (as supplies last).

The workshop is free for anyone who purchases Cynthia von Buhler’s books, But Who Will Bell the Cats? or The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside, from Books of Wonder the day of the event(s). Space is limited. Please R.S.V.P. by emailing hannah@drawbridge.com. The events are limited to 30 children per day. Children are required to bring a shoebox and a parent or guardian to assist them. Books of Wonder, 18 West 18th Street, NY, NY, 10011, (212)989-3270, www.booksofwonder.com
Recent reviews from But Who Will Bell the Cats?
My library’s secret weapon from here on in…Beautiful and haunting with the kinds of images kids will pore over." - Betsy Bird, Children's Librarian at The New York Public Library

"Destined to earn the ‘classic’ label." - Urban Baby

"this story of an indefatigable mouse should find a welcome place on the shelves of any castle...or library."- Horn Book

"Children will find a lot to discover in the details, even after repeated readings". - School Library Journal

“Young readers will pore over this one again and again." – Kirkus

Trailer for But Who Will Bell the Cats?

Click HERE to go to YouTube to watch it. Blogger seems to want to cut it off on the right.

PlanetEsme: "Dramatic in story and distinctive in style, this book is a stand-out."

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This original and haunting treatment of Aesop's fable is really two simultaneous stories that converge at rhythmic intervals, like a well-choreographed quadrille. Double-page spreads with upper and lower levels reveal the cats roaming a castle while a mouse lives in squalor. After a series of failed attempts by Mouse and his friend Bat, the resident princess shows them a kindness, inspiring the clever mouse to use the princess's birthday as the perfect diplomatic opportunity to bell the cats once and for all. A unique technique of placing illustrated cut-outs in sets of actual miniatures and then photographing them creates scenes of surprising depth and perspective. Dramatic in story and distinctive in style, this book is a stand-out. (7 and up) - Esme Codell, PlanetEsme Blog

Curled Up With A Good Kid's Book - "This is a book to buy and read over and over again."

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Cynthia Von Buhler provides a clever and witty take on the age-old question from Aesop’s fables - “But who will bell the cats?” - in the book of the same name.

In a dark, beautiful castle high upon a hill lives a princess with her eight pampered and not-so-nice cats; in the dingy cellar below live Mouse and his dear friend Brown Bat. While the cats dine at banquets and sleep in soft, perfumed beds, Mouse and Brown Bat make do with crumbs that fall through the floorboard and makeshift beds devised from matchboxes and smelly old socks. Some of the pages show the contrasting lives of the denizens of the upstairs and that of the cellar in two split images, which makes for an interesting and even amusing counterpoint.

Mouse is determined to make his way upstairs to avail himself of the luxurious life enjoyed by the cats. To do that, he must attach bells around the cats’ collars to serve as a warning of their proximity. This proves to be a perilous task (requiring frequent rescuing by Brown Bat) until Mouse finally hits upon an ingenious way to bell the cats.

Von Buhler has created an elegant, richly textured and detailed rendering of the interior of the castle. The unusual depth and layering to the artwork was achieved by creating original 3-D sets that were populated with paper cutout figures and photographed to achieve the desired visual effect. The multimedia collage art, edged in gilt and crafted with incredible attention to detail, makes for a strikingly gorgeous fairy tale book. The simple text does its job - which is to say, to move the story forward while not detracting from the artwork that is the real star here.

No detail is missed in the making of this book: in case the dust jacket gets lost or mangled as often happens with children’s books, the inside cover of the book features beautiful art so that the book can be displayed even without the dust jacket. This is a book to buy and read over and over again. - Curled Up With A Good Kid's Book

Cynthia von Buhler Signs With Eddie Gamarra & Hollywood Management Agency, The Gotham Group

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The author and artist plans to create concepts for animated films and children's television programs.

Cynthia von Buhler created this snow globe featuring characters from her children's book But Who Will Bell the Cats? for The Gotham Group's holiday card. The city in the background is their logo.

But Who Will Bell the Cats? Is Nominated For A Cybil Award, 2009

The book is nominated in the Fiction Picture Books category. Visit the Cybil's site for more information.

Grand Rapids Living: "Truly the cat’s meow."

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Royal cats no match for clever mouse in 'But Who Will Bell the Cats?'

“But Who Will Bell the Cats?” written and illustrated by Cynthia von Buhler, is truly the cat’s meow and my idea of a fantastic picture book. (Houghton Mifflin, $16, ages 4-9)

Everything is here — exciting art, an engaging story, even a happy ending. Based on Aesop’s fables, this is a story of cats and mice, of have and have-nots and of a clever, determined mouse that solves an age-old problem.

The tale begins with the princess and her eight pampered cats living upstairs in style, taking bubble baths and sleeping on perfumed pillows, while Mouse and his friend Brown Bat live in the dingy downstairs fending for themselves. Mouse wants more; he wants to live the good life with the cats.

Mouse figures he needs to find a way to put a collar of bells around the royal cats, so he can be easily warned when his greatest enemy approaches.

Readers see a palace split into two worlds — upstairs and downstairs. A little storybook magic, combined with three-dimensional scenes, capture imaginations.

Kids will enjoy discovering how Mouse figures out a creative plan that work. - Gina Gilligan Read the article HERE: HERE.

Toledo Blade: "Her use of detail is amazing. A delightful experience!"

Kids books: Magic for the holidays and everyday

Count on these books to be welcome holiday gifts that will last long past their giving. Memorable characters, original plots, and vivid settings make these books fine choices.

The story is based on Aesop's familiar fable: who will bell the cats? The illustrations, however, are unique. In the dark basement of the castle, Mouse and his friend Brown Bat exist on leftover crumbs. Upstairs the Princess and her cats enjoy lavish meals. Mouse is convinced that the roles would be reversed if only the cats had bells on their collars. Finally he comes up with the perfect solution. The illustrations were constructed by hand as theater sets. Cynthia von Buhler's work has been displayed in several museums. Her use of detail is amazing. A delightful experience! (BSJ) Read the full article HERE.

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast: "This is one stylin’ book, and it’s like nothing I’ve seen this year."

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This is author/illustrator Cynthia von Buhler’s self-portrait-slash-doll. I invited Cynthia to 7-Imp this morning to share some art from her latest title, the downright luxurious But Who Will Bell the Cats? (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; September 2009). This title has been met with such lavish reviews as: “Dark, complicated mixed-media illustrations bring a humorously creepy feel to the tale…this story of an indefatigable mouse should find a welcome place on the shelves of any castle…or library” (Horn Book); “Children will find a lot to discover in the details, even after repeated readings” (School Library Journal); “Beautiful and haunting with the kinds of images kids will pore over, there ain’t nothing like it out there today. A new fable in an all-new style” (Betsy Bird at A Fuse #8 Production); “Young readers will pore over this one again and again” (Kirkus)…Oh, I could go on.

You all know the old Aesop fable, The Mice in Council, about the discussion of belling the cat by those poor mice. Cynthia has embellished this tale with inimitable style, rendered in detailed multimedia collage, adding a stately castle, a princess, an impoverished mouse and his sidekick friend, the Bat, and much more to the tale.

Including gilt. Lots of it. “(W)ouldn’t it be nice to give a princess-obsessed child something gorgeous to the eye with a truly original concept, story, and look, but without the standard pretty pretty princess conceit?” wrote Betsy Bird. Enter Cynthia. This is one stylin’ book, and it’s like nothing I’ve seen this year.

I’ve gotten to where I don’t even like to post about picture books anymore unless I can in some way show some art from it. The added extra benefit of that is I can shut my trap and let the art speak for itself. Or, in this morning’s case, let the artist, as well, tell you in her own words all about the book — and her creative process in bringing it to us. So, without further ado, here’s Cynthia, and I thank her for visiting. - Jules, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Read the whole article HERE.

Kirkus Reviews: "Young readers will pore over this one again and again."

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August, 2009:

Following a retelling of the Aesop fable, Von Buhler embellishes the tale with a luxurious castle, a princess, some pampered cats and an inventive, brave mouse with a faithful bat friend. The poor mouse lives in a dark basement, cold and hungry, surviving on the crumbs that fall through the floorboards. He has grandiose schemes to bell the cats, involving elaborate costumes. Of course he is spotted each time and subjected to much humiliation by the cats. The Princess’s unexpected kindness inspires the mouse’s final, successful plan. It’s an upstairs-downstairs scenario carried through in every way, the spreads frequently split in two horizontally to show the contrast. The typeface is appropriate to the location, heavy and bright in the Princess’s rooms, while thin and pale in the mouse’s quarters. The action is richly illustrated in profusely detailed multimedia collage, framed in ornate gilt, which again emphasizes the differences in the lifestyles of the characters. The upstairs scenes glow in lavish, bright gold tones, and the downstairs scenes are dark and gloomy. Young readers will pore over this one again and again. (Picture book. 5-8) - Kirkus Reviews