Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 According to Aaron Reynolds, SEA MONKEY & BOB started as a story idea called Holy Mackerel! (see above image from Aaron’s writing journal) about a Mackerel who was scared he was sinking. The story didn’t quite work (“as many don’t”) but gradually evolved to become Sea Monkey . . .
Part 1 – Part 2 (Last updated May 17, 2016) First, you need to come up with a book idea. This is Lauren McLaughlin, the author of the Mitzi Tulane series: Lauren used to work in the film business as both a screenwriter and producer, and she is also the author of several teen novels. . . .
The first MITZI TULANE, PRESCHOOL DETECTIVE picture book launches next Tuesday from Random House Children’s! Here’s some insider info from the dedication page: mine is for my mom, who died of cancer when I was in my 20s. We didn’t have a ton of money when we were growing up, and Mom sewed . . .
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 (Last updated July 26, 2017) The next thing that arrived were the color proofs. Debbie checked them over to make sure everything looked ok: and what needed to fixed, like this floating torso in Ruby Rose’s cafeteria (eek!): Debbie let HarperCollins know things that could be . . .
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 (Last updated May 14, 2016) While Debbie was doing research, she noticed that Rob Sanders mentioned on his website that RUBY ROSE had been inspired by his great-niece Madi. She asked Rob for some reference photos, and based aspects of the picture book Ruby Rose on . . .
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 (Last updated July 26, 2017) Welcome! This post for young readers is about how the first Ruby Rose picture book was created. First, author Rob Sanders started with a character. He tried lots of characters and wrote lots of stories, looking for one “who was fresh and new, . . .
Woohoo, RUBY ROSE, OFF TO SCHOOL SHE GOES! dances into the world today!!! Ruby Rose loves to dance while she’s brushing her teeth, eating breakfast, and even on her way to class. But there’s NO DANCING at school! Or…is there? With a little luck and a lot of rhythm, Ruby Rose finds . . .
Just got permission to make this public: I am ***THRILLED*** to announce that I will be illustrating I’M SAD, a sequel to I’M BORED written by Michael Ian Black, coming out from Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2018! I’m excited to be working with editor Justin Chanda and art director . . .
When I was asked to illustrate my first picture book (I’m Bored) and I started researching picture book formats, I was confused. I knew a standard picture book had 32 pages, for example, but I discovered that these 32 pages might also include the title page and other non-story pages. Plus . . .
I’ve added some free print-ready templates for creating finger puppets related to I’M BORED and WHERE ARE MY BOOKS? You can preview the I’m Bored puppets here and download here. You can get the Where Are My Books? puppets here: Spencer & Mom download, Sis and Dad download and Squirrel/Narwhal/Book download. For all my free, print-ready material, see my Print-Ready Archives. Note that you don’t HAVE . . .