Numberlys Screenings at the MoMA and Book Signings this weekend in NYC

Hey New York City! Give William Joyce an epic high five this weekend at one of these special events:

Friday, October 17 at 10am – Barnes and Noble Upper East Side (86th & Lexington Ave) will host a presentation from Joyce and Q&A with local school groups. This event is also open to the public. For more information, visit the B&N event listing.

Saturday, October 18 at 12pm – The Museum of Modern Art will screen The Numberlys, the latest short film by Moonbot Studios . Following the screening and a Q&A, Joyce will sign copies of The Numberlys picture book and A Bean A Stalk and a Boy Named Jack. The Numberlys short film has won several festival awards including a Kids Audience Award at the Toronto International Film Fest Kids and Best Animated Short at the Cleveland International Film Festival where it qualified for Academy Award consideration. For more information on tickets or about the Family Programs at the MoMA, see the event listing on their website.

Sunday, October 19th from 12-2 pm – Books of Wonder (18 West 18th St.) will host a spectacular book signing for William Joyce's latest book, A Bean, A Stalk and A Boy Named Jack. The signing will be proceeded by a short presentation by Joyce. For more information, visit http://www.booksofwonder.com.

Shreveport Book Signing at Barnes & Noble 8/16

Barnes & Noble will be hosting a book signing for William Joyce's latest picture book, The Numberlys on Saturday, August 16. Joyce co-illustrated the book with Christina Ellis, an artist at Moonbot Studios.  From 3-5 PM, attendees can meet Joyce and Ellis and get their books signed.

Looking to complete your Moonbot Books collection? For a limited time, you can pick up The Numberlys picture book from Barnes & Noble for only $8.99 with the purchase of any children's book. Look for it at a B&N near you or order online!

The Latest From William Joyce: A Bean, a Stalk and a Boy Named Jack

When a king’s pinky grows stinky, it is up to a smallish boy and a smallish pea to come up with a GIANT plan to save the kingdom— a fractured fairy tale from William Joyce and Moonbot artist, Kenny Callicutt. It's the latest book from Moonbot Books, an imprint of Atheneum Books for Young Readers and Simon & Schuster.

You might think you know the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, but you might want to think again. In this fairy tale with a twist, it hasn’t rained in days and the king has dictated that something must be done—his royal pinky is getting stinky! With a little magic from a wizard, young Jack, paired with his pea pod pal, will find a GIANT reason as to why there’s no water left in the kingdom...and prove that size doesn’t prevent anyone from doing something BIG.

Kirkus says of the book: "Engrossing illustrations and quirky humor, hitched to Joyce's renown, will earn this its audience." Read the full review on their website.

A Bean, a Stalk and a Boy Named Jack arrives in October 2014. Pre-order your book from an online retailer or your favorite independent book store near you:

• Amazon
  
• Barnes and Noble
  
• Books-A-Million
  
• IndieBound - Indie Bookstores Listings
  

Numberlys Storytime at Barnes and Noble, Special Sale through August 25th

On Saturday, July 12, at 11 a.m., stores nationwide will celebrate reading via a free event for children ages 3 to 7 featuring William Joyce's new picture book, The Numberlys. Based on the award-winning app, this is author William Joyce's homage to everyone who knows there is more to life than shades of black and gray.

The Numberlys is the creative story about friends with dull lives because there are only boring numbers. So, they break out hard hats and welders, hammers and glue guns, and start creating numbers. One letter after another emerges until there are 26, and when the letters enter the world, something truly wondrous begins to happen like Pizza! Jelly beans! Color! Books! The book highlights the process of making art and the thrill of discovering new things through one's imagination.

From July 15 to August 25, while supplies last, customers who want to bring the fun home can buy The Numberlys for only $8.99 (regularly priced at $17.99) with the purchase of any children's book.

Use the Barnes and Noble store locator to find a storytime at a store near you!

Photos from the 2014 Children’s Art & Literacy Festival in Abilene

Photo by Joy Lewis, Abilene Reporter News

Hanging with the Guardians, including MiM!

One of the six Guardians statues unveiled during the festival.

A fierce Guardians pose.

Folks waiting outside for a screening of films until...

...a hailstorm courtesy of Jack Frost poured down.

Thanks to everyone who came out to Abilene to celebrate the Children's Art & Literacy Festival! During the festival, six new Guardians sculptures were unveiled, including Jack Frost, Nicholas St. North, Toothiana, E. Aster Bunnymund, Sandman and Man in the Moon. The exhibit "William Joyce: Guardian of Childhood" will be presented at the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature until September 27.

William Joyce, Christina Ellis and friends at Toy Fair for the Numberlys Book Signing

Post by Moonbot Studios.

William Joyce, Peter de Sève, Carlos Nine and Bill Plympton Exhibit Work in "Icons of Animation" Exhibit

June 4th - August 16th, the Society of Illustrators will celebrate the work of four iconic illustrators including William Joyce, Peter de Sève, Carlos Nine and Bill Plympton. The exhibit features one hundred pieces of original works including illustrations and work from each artist's films, including the above image from the upcoming Jack Frost picture book. For more details, visit the Society of Illustrators website.

On June 5th at 7:00PM at the Academy Theater, Bill Plympton and Peter de Seve will present a series of film clips of their work and participate in a panel on the craft of motion picture animation. The panel will be moderated by J.J. Sedelmaier and is presented by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. For tickets and more information, visit the Academy's website.

William Joyce Exhibit at the Children’s Art & Literacy Festival - June 12–14

This year, the third annual Children’s Art & Literacy Festival (C.A.L.F.) in downtown Abilene, Texas celebrates William Joyce, June 12–14. C.A.L.F is hosted by the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council and the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature (NCCIL).

Along with Abilene’s Center for Contempoary Arts, NCCIL will host an exhibition entitled “William Joyce: A Guardian of Childhood” featuring original work created for the Guardians of Childhood picture books, Meet the Robinsons and The Mischievians. It’s the first time these 20 new works have ever toured, so it’s an opportunity to not be missed.

Festival events with William Joyce include:

June 12 at 6:30 PM: Artist Talk & Book Signing

Join artist William Joyce at the Paramount Theatre for insights into his work with a book signign to follow. NCCIL’s Camp Reader’s Theatre will perform a theatrical version of the Academy® Award winning film The Fanstastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore starting at 6:00PM. This event is FREE.

June 13 at 6:30 PM: William Joyce Homecoming Dinner.

A special exhibition viewing and dinner in honor of William Joyce at the NCCIL Gallery. Ticket sales available online. Must RSVP not later than June 4th.

Other Book Signings

Friday June 13 @ 10:30 AM and Saturday, June 14 @ 10:30 AM in the NCCIL Gallery

The NCCIL is a nonprofit that relies on donations, memberships and bookstore sales. Only books purchased from the NCCIL will be signed. Avoid long lines: pre-order your books at the NCCIL bookstore today.

Mischievians a SIBA Book Award Finalist

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance has announced that The Mischievians among the children's book finalists for the 2014 SIBA Book Awards, recognizing great southern literature from the last year. There are twenty-two books on the 2014 list, representing booksellers' favorite hand sells of the year in fiction, nonfiction, children's, young adult, poetry and cooking.

Finalists will be judged by a juried panel of SIBA booksellers, and winners will be announced on July 4, "Independents Day." More information about the SIBA Book Awards can be found at sibaweb.com/siba-book-award.

Thanks, SIBA for honoring Moonbot, William Joyce and Dr. Zooper and spreading the word about the mayhem that these Mischievians have been creating around the globe.

William Joyce Chats with the Turner Classic Movies Podcast

One of the first things that visitors to Moonbot Studios see is our lobby television that's usually tuned to Turner Classic Movies. William Joyce recently sat down with TCM's Podcast to talk about classic movies, the Numberlys animated short and how he was first introduced to their programming.

Check out both episodes of the podcast below:

Get a Sneak Preview of The Numberlys Short Film

Our latest short film, The Numberlys, has been screening around the globe at film festivals. Now you can catch an exclusive sneak peek at the Good Morning America blog, which says "when five, charismatic little inhabitants of this 'numberly' world decided to put their heads together ... they ended up creating something extraordinary."

View the clip and read more on the Good Morning America blog.





The full film will be released online soon; but if you can't wait, check out a screening of the Numberlys short film at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 24th during the Family Picture Show.

Don't forget that the Numberlys picture book by William Joyce and Christina Ellis will be available at a local bookstore near you on May 27th.

"The Numberlys" Now Available for Pre-order!

The bots are excited to announce that The Numberlys picture book is now available for pre-order, delivered anywhere, including the moon! 

Once upon a time there was no alphabet, only numbers…

Life was…fine. Orderly. Dull as gray paint. Very…numberly. But our five jaunty heroes weren’t willing to accept that this was all there could be. They knew there had to be more.

So they broke out hard hats and welders, hammers and glue guns, and they started knocking some numbers together. Removing a piece here. Adding a piece there. At first, it was awful. But the five kept at it, and soon it was…artful! One letter after another emerged, until there were twenty-six. Twenty-six letters—and they were beautiful. All colorful, shiny, and new. Exactly what our heroes didn’t even know they were missing.

And when the letters entered the world, something truly wondrous began to happen…Pizza! Jelly beans! Color! Books!

Based on the award-winning app, this is William Joyce and Moonbot’s Metropolis-inspired homage to everyone who knows there is more to life than shades of black and gray.

Add some color and jellybeans to your life and pre-order The Numberlys today! The book will release on May 27. 

Chipotle Scarecrow Receives Annie Award for Best Animated Special Production

Joe Bluhm, Lead Artist;  Kevin Koch, Animation Supervisor; William Joyce, Partner; Beavan Blocker, Animator; Brandon Oldenburg, Partner

The Annie Awards were held this past weekend in Los Angeles, California. The Annie Awards are awarded for accomplishments in animation. Moonbot took home the Best Animated Special Production award for their work on Chipotle's Scarecrow! The animated short follows the Scarecrow as he attempts to cultivate a better world by bringing fresh, unprocessed food to the citizens of Plenty.

This was one of three nominations for the studio including a nomiation for The Numberlys for Best Animated Short Subject and Diggs Nightcrawler for Best Animated Video Game.

There to accept the award were fellow bots Joe Bluhm, Kevin Koch, Beavan Blocker, Brandon Oldenburg and William Joyce. 

Congratulations to the Moonbot team for all of their hard work!