Blue for autism

I saw so many "familiar faces" in the book! Great job everyone.
Mine is page 34 i think? Young boy with zipper face with blue puzzle underneath.

Congrats on being on the cover! Awesome!

I'm on page 54! This is sooo exciting That book is gorgeous and full of amazing artists!

Congrats to all of you..Face painting mom, I couldnt get the link to work. Is the title of the book the samw as the heading for this topic. I have a very good friend who's 4 year old has autism and would love to get the book.

I am bummed. I have several people (including my grandmother, and two friends who are teachers who wanted the book in their classrooms) who will not buy the book because of the nudity. Not because they are uptight, but because my grandmother is with the church, and my teacher friends are under school regulations. We need a PG version or to keep it PG next year. I am so disappointed

Well, the book was suppose to be body art, but he started allowing face paintings, too.

I'm a preachers daughter and I'm very proud to say that I am in the book. I don't consider it nudity, but some may be offended.

Could you "censor" the nudity with some pasted on black paper? I think we may do that for Rachel's school, she really wants to buy one for her library, so I may just take some glossy black or blue paper, and paste over the nudity. Problem solved.

I love the book and I am glad he decided to expand it to include face art because the face is part of the body...lolol I also just as a personal preference only do body art work on those parts that can legally be exposed. Again that is just my preference, my taste, my comfort level. I think body art designs are beautiful and am blown away at the level of creativity of some artist.

I don't know how expensive it is, or cost effective it would be to create a second version that doesn't contain nudity, if there is only little demand for it. Is there some way a poll could be done so Daniel could see just how much interest (from people actually committed to buying a copy) there is.

Daniel can then weigh out the practicality of doing so.

I think it's fine the way it is, absolutely. But the fact of the matter is, America is uptight and that's the way it is. If it's about raising money for a cause, and MORE books will be sold if the photos are PG, then they should be. It's still art if nipple covers are used, its not going to take away from the art of body painting, it's just going to make it so MORE people can and will buy the book. Nipple covers are definitely not going to cost HIM anything to make a requirement. Little demand? THREE people that I know alone backed out of buying it in ONE day because of the nudity. Three in one day and that's JUST people that *I* know. That's 150 bucks taken away from the cause in one day alone. It just boils down to what's more important? Nipples? Or the cause we are trying to support?

YAY what an awesome thing. I'm in there too and I was soooooooooooooooo excited to see BOTH of Martha's daughter's made the front cover!!! SOOOO COOL!

I knowww isn't it great? Martha said her little girl was on CLOUD NINE!!

Beautiful work from extremely talented people. Proud to know you!

Congrats to all the talented artist who's design appears in the book. What an honor to be a part of something so important... for those that didn't we can do our share by purchasing a copy.

Yes, as for the nipple issue, unless I censor it, the book cannot be in the library of Rachel's school, which is a terrific school for kids with Autism spectrum disorders. Half the kids are on the spectrum, and half are typcial and they all go to school together. If there was any school where this book should be, it is here! Not to mention that Rachel is determined to get it there...These are middle school and high school kids, and if the autistic boys knew that there were boobies in this book, there would be more than your typical national geographic library scene at Oakstone, IYKNWIM. Kids on the spectrum don't all have the restraint we would like. The comedy is free, but the librarian might not cut us so much slack on library fines after this!

Maybe you could remove the pgs in question or since it is your own personal copy, a black sharpie bathing suit on certain ones?

I like Jody's idea about the sharpie. Why not?!

I like that idea! Much better than either cutting out the pages or putting something over them, I worried that if I did that, some kids would just be determined to find out what was under there (autistic kids are far more determined than some others, boobies or no boobies, they just may have to see what is under the paper, just because it is not supposed to be there!) If I do it right, most of the kids will have no idea anything was up. I can get to work on our copy to donate, then get another copy to keep.

I will let you guys know how my PG copy turns out! Maybe there is hope for the others who want one for places where they cannot display the nudity for what ever reason.

Thanks to everyone for not making this a debate about art. I love the whole book, and I am not offended, and don't worry about my children seeing nudity, but want to have the book do as much good as the book can, in the world we live in today, and in the autistic community, there are many parents who just can't share this with their kids (obsessive, rule bound, I can't see that) kids. I know a couple of kids, boys, for whom this book would cause a meltdown, they are very intelegent boys, but, they are rule bound and one of the rules that they cannot break is that they are not supposed to see girls private parts. For one of them, melt down is an understatement. So, a BIG THANK YOU to every one, for not making this discussion about art. For me, it is about Autism!

And....Thanks to everyone who particpated or purchased a copy! There is still time to get yours too! A GREAT CAUSE, BUY ONE TODAY!

I'm loving the book & all the amazing art work in it!

I wish I'd known we could submit more than 1 design. Next year I'll do more:-)