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| Cartoon by Jimmy Gownley |
The Dumbest Idea Ever is the true story of Girardville native Jimmy Gownley and his quest to become a professional cartoonist.
The book is being released worldwide on February 25th. You can follow updates and get behind the scenes info by liking the book's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/dumbestideaever?fref=ts
Jimmy Gownley (born 1972) is a New York Times best selling cartoonist best known for his award winning graphic novel series AMELIA RULES. Gown ley grew up in the small town of Girardville, Pennsylvania and started to wr~e and draw his own comics as a teenager. His first published work was SHADES OF GRAY, which he self-published. Two issues (#0 and #1 ), self-distributed in an edition of about100 copies, were published in 1988-89 while the artist was still in high school. In 2001 Gownley's AMELIA RULES/ hit the stands, amid a fturry of rave reviews. Since then, it has been featured in Scholastic book clubs and book fairs, and was the first graphic novel chosen by the Children's Book of the Month Club. Amelia Rules! has been translated into German, Italian and Spanish.
In 2006, AMELIA RULES/ VOL. 3: SUPERHEROES won the Cybil Award for Best Kids Graphic Novel. Gownley has been nominated for many other awards including The Harvey Award, The Day Prize, and a Mid-Atlantic Em my Award. He has been nominated for a total of 13 Eisner awards, the comic book industry's highest honors.
In 2008 Amelia Rules Vol. 4: When the Past is a Present became a winner of the Pennsylvania library Association's One Book/one Conference Award.
Gownley launched a new project in September 2011. GRACI ELAND is a weekly webstrip featuring the comic exploits of a Catholic School gi~ and her family found immediate favor, receiving favorable reviews on Comics Worth Reading and Comic Book Resources. Gownley produces the strip with his long-time friend, and Catholic School educator Ellen Toole . In 2012, Gownley brought his AMELIA RULES! series to a conclusion with the epic HER PERMANENT RECORD, which quickly landed on the New York Times Best-Seller list.
Jimmy is an advocate for kids' comics, having co-founded the organization Kids Love Comics which works to promote comic books and graphic novels as a valuable tool for literacy and education in schools, libraries, and at home. He has been featured on Radio Disney New York and Radio Disney Philadelphia, been the artist in residence at both the Cartoon Art Museum and The Chartes M. Schulz Museum and Research Center.