It just makes me chuckle," said Tomie dePaola. "Just when everyone my age [he turns 67 in September] is starting to slow down, I'm revving up." Is he ever. Over the past 30 years dePaola has written or illustrated more than 200 children's books and sold more than six million copies worldwide. And if the coming months are any indication, he's running full speed ahead.

The publication last month of the picture book Meet the Barkers (Putnam) marks the debut of a family of Welsh terriers inspired by dePaola's own beloved pets. Plans are to take twin pups Moffat and Morgan Barker and other terrier characters into several different publishing areas. "For the first time we're going to use the same characters across all the lines—board books, picture books, easy-to-reads," dePaola explained. Grosset & Dunlap will release the All Aboard Reading titles Hide-and-Seek All Week and Boss for a Day in October.

DePaola noted that the Barkers idea is a departure for him in another way, too. "I haven't really done books about contemporary children," he said. "But I have a good friend who's a literacy consultant and she acts as an adviser on the Barker books. She has a young son and has her finger on the pulse of those issues that touch today's children."

From twin pooches dePaola moves to The Holy Twins (Putnam, Sept.) by author and poet Kathleen Norris, a picture book he illustrated about Saint Scholastica and her twin brother, Saint Benedict, who established the Benedictine Rule followed by many religious orders. "It's the year of the twins," dePaola joked.

DePaola spoke glowingly of his collaboration with Norris. "I've been a fan of hers ever since I read The Cloister Walk," Norris's bestselling book about the year that she and her husband lived among Benedictine monks. Coincidentally, Norris's interests and experiences nicely dovetailed with dePaola's own: as a young man dePaola explored a spiritual vocation by spending a brief time with Benedictine monks at Weston Priory in Vermont. "I had wanted to do a book on Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica," he said, "and I thought, 'Wouldn't it be fun to collaborate with her?'" DePaola wrote Norris a letter and found her very receptive to the idea. The result is "a picture book for all ages," he said. "It was a really wonderful project to work on. Kathleen gave me lots of breadth like a good writer does." Author and illustrator became friends via correspondence and will finally meet in person on September 28, when they will embark on a national book tour (dePaola will tour solo for a week, beginning September 21). The duo will wrap up their promotional jaunt with a joint appearance at UMBA in St. Paul, Minn., in early October.

A TV Debut

Despite all the books on his slate, dePaola's most ambitious project of late isn't on the page, but on the small screen. "In August, I become a TV star," he said with a laugh. DePaola stars in and is an executive producer of the live-action children's television program Jim Henson's Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola, scheduled to premiere on the brand-new Hallmark Channel (formerly Odyssey Channel) on Monday, Aug. 6, 7:30—8 a.m. EST. Telling Stories is a daily episodic series produced by Jim Henson Television and will be part of a "Watch with Me TV" morning programming block for young children.

"My feeling is that every one of us is a born storyteller, we just don't know how to do it sometimes," dePaola said of the philosophy behind the program. He and some Henson-created puppets, including sidekick Gabe the red squirrel, will attempt to "get kids to use their imaginations, memories and feelings to create stories. But it's very light-handed. It's like a magazine show and I'm the glue that holds it all together."

Guest storytellers and artists, including chef Mary Anne Esposito and author Tony Johnston, will appear on various episodes demonstrating that "there are many ways to tell a story." Each show will feature a vignette with dePaola book characters Strega Nona, Big Anthony and Bambalona and will end with dePaola reading from his Newbery Honor book 26 Fairmount Avenue as a voice-over, while viewers see footage of a young actor in period clothing with dePaola's own home movies and photographs in the background. "It has a remarkable nostalgic quality," he said.

Twenty-six episodes are currently in the can, with hopes for more in the future. "I'm very nervous and excited about it," dePaola said. "It was a real hoot to do. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it gets picked up for a second season."

In the meantime, he's got plenty on his drawing table to keep him busy, including What a Year, a new 26 Fairmount Avenue book due out next spring, which recounts his experiences from Halloween up to New Year's Day 1941. Also on tap are more Barkers titles and an original Mexican Cinderella story.

DePaola has not forgotten about downtime altogether, however; he plans a trip to Mexico (a favorite destination—and obvious source of inspiration—over the past several years) in September. "I'm getting less sleep, but I'm really enjoying it all," he said happily. His fans will be glad to know that his creative engine is running so well.