OVERCUP BLOG — picture book

Tolly has a special place in our hearts. Thankfully, retailers around town have also found this artistic and inspiring children’s book to be treasure, and stock it on their shelves. We’d like to give a shoutout to these wonderful Portland shops and bookstores that stock Tolly, among other great books and products. Green Bean Books is a whimsical children’s bookstore in the Alberta Arts District. They have story times in multiple languages, summer camps, and even a deck and a garden! If you and your children haven’t visited this adorable bookshop, put some of their events (such as their monthly “Read to...

It’s been a few weeks since Tolly has been released in the world to be enjoyed by adults and children alike, but we’re still amazed by the effort, time, patience, and loving detail that was put into the book by creator Maryanna Hoggatt. After developing the character of Tolly, a brave battle raccoon, and writing his story, she sculpted his body and multiple different heads for Tolly’s different facial expressions, and created several miniature sets so that she could photograph him for the book. However, all that effort certainly seems worth it when you end up with such a gorgeous children’s...

Imagine a place with all-you-can-eat ice cream, a pool full of sprinkles, edible balloons, and a chocolate fountain...sounds like something out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, doesn’t it? But for a while, this was no work of fiction, but a real place. Where, you ask, could you find all of these magical things? The Museum of Ice Cream. It popped up for a month in NYC this August, and tickets were—understandably—quickly sold out.  Sure, we all would have liked a chance to visit the Museum of Ice Cream, but nobody would have enjoyed it more than Ice Cream Man...

Here’s a funny thing about theme days on the calendar: most of us don’t know about them. There’s a Watermelon Day, Left Handers Day, even a Rollercoaster Day. If these were on your calendar already, would you make a special effort to celebrate them? Well, August 9th is Book Lovers Day and as a proud bibliophile, I don’t need a special day on the calendar to love books. I have bookshelves full of them. From books about writing, biographies, literary fiction, mass market fiction, lots of young adult, and even a few children’s books I read yearly. Let’s talk some...

Hello friends, it’s summer in the northern hemisphere and the unusual weather has left us in a state of perplexity; last week the highs were approaching 100 degrees, and now it has dipped into the mid 50s with dreary rain and blustery days. Regardless of the barometric pressure in the atmosphere, we’re always in the mood to take a break, find the nearest shady locale or coffee shop, and unwind with a good book. Writing blog posts is a wonderful opportunity for the Overcup staff to revisit the beautiful artwork featured in the Tall Trees series. We’re able to explore...