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Holy Charlie Buckets, everyone! There were 90 entries in the picture book critique giveaway. What an enthusiastic response!
Random.org picked #57…and that means…
ROSE MARSH
…is the winner!
Rose, be on the lookout for an email from me.
Thanks to everyone who entered! I’ll be sure to host another critique giveaway soon, so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already.
And now the consolation prize: a little chuckle. I think my daughter drew me so well for her Mother’s Day Gazette—a striking resemblance, don’tchathink? (OK, this is a terrible consolation prize. But since this blog is “Writing for Kids (While Raising Them)” I gotta stuff some kiddo stuff in every once in a while.)
Today is the release day for THE EMOTION THESAURUS, and as part of the launch, Becca and Angela from the Bookshelf Muse are hosting Random Acts of Kindness Towards Writers!
Move over, I’m jumping on the bandwagon! (Yes, it’s a Radio Flyer. And the band is Maroon 5. And I have to smoosh in close to Adam Levine.)
Think about your fellow writers today and how they have helped you to achieve your literary goals. I have critique partners, blog followers, other bloggers, plus published authors and illustrators to thank. All those who have befriended me on the path to publication–people I didn’t know who offered that boost of encouragement when I most needed it. (And boy, do I need it A LOT! Why are we always so hard on ourselves?)
Come on, what other professional community is so awesome?
So as part of the kindapalooza today, I’m giving away a picture book critique. Just comment below to be entered; one entry per person by midnight tonight, but you can claim the prize at any time. It’s my way of giving back today.
And if there were any way I could shove a chocolate lava cake through the ether, you know I’d be giving that away, too. You’re just that incredible, writers!
Today is a very special day. No, it’s not National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. It’s the release of Lynne Kelly’s debut novel CHAINED!
Why am I so excited? Well, not only is CHAINED a phenomenal read, but Lynne Kelly is one of the first people I met on Twitter a few years ago. And definitely one of the funniest. I’ve been waiting for CHAINED almost as long as she has!
I interviewed Lynne on the Lucky 13s Blog today. Would you believe this layered tale set in India began as a PICTURE BOOK?! Read how it transformed into the stellar middle-grade novel it is today. Who knows, maybe your picture book will evolve into a novel, too!
Congratulations, Lynne! (I am a proud Auntie.)
Time for a new fun little feature called “Feedback Friday”. I’d love to know…
If you were stranded on a desert island, what ONE picture book would you want to have with you? And why?
Here’s my answer:
Why this book?
Because as a young girl, I loved my stuffed animals. I thought they were real. This is exactly how Emily Brown feels about Stanley. I get Emily Brown, I really do. In the story, Stanley accompanies Emily Brown on all her adventures…into the sea, into space…and a silly, naughty Queen takes notice. The Queen begs for her Bunny-Wunny, but Emily Brown won’t budge. She’s a little firecracker, that one.
This story has adventure, mystery, royalty, and a happy ending for all. I’ve read it a hundred times and it’s never gotten old. If I can’t cuddle with a stuffed animal while I’m stranded, I’ll be fine and dandy cuddling with my copy of this book (especially if it’s paperback and not hardcover).
So tell me, what ONE picture book would you want to wash up on the shore?
You’ve been patiently waiting…so here is the winner of the BOY + BOT AFFIRMATIVELY AWESOME PRIZE PACK which includes the BOT clip, stickers, bookmarks, and a copy of the book!
ConBOTulations, KIRSTEN LARSON!
And these folks win a copy of BOY + BOT:
PENNY MORRISON
JEN MASCHARI
Now, onto our PUZZLED BY PINK winner!
ConPINKulatiolns, MARIA GIANFERRARI!
(Maria, your email bounced so please get in touch with me at tarawrites (at) yahoo (dot) com.)
I’ll be emailing everyone shortly to collect your postal addresses.
Stay tuned because I’ll be picking our PUGS IN A BUG winner tomorrow! (You’ve still got until the end of today to enter.)
Go ahead, tell the world you love reading by wearing this adorable “Keep Calm and Read On” tee designed by ToryNova.com!
They’re now available in the PiBoIdMo shop, with all profits ($3 per item) to benefit Reading is Fundamental (RIF).
Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) is the largest children’s literacy nonprofit in the United States. They prepare and motivate children to read by delivering free books and literacy resources to those children and families who need them most. They inspire children to be lifelong readers through the power of choice. RIF provides new, free books for children to choose from and make their own.
And yes, children’s tees are available, too!
And if there’s something you’d like with this logo on it and it’s not listed in the shop, just leave a comment here and I’ll add it.
Thanks for your support of RIF!
Ever heard of the picture book THE LOUDS MOVE IN? It’s one of my all-time favorites, with a cast of unique characters like Miss Shushermush, who eats quiet meals of leftover mashed potatoes. When the Loud family moves onto Earmuffle Avenue, the chaos begins and friendships are eventually [noisily] forged.
Ever since I read THE LOUDS I have been a huge fan of author Carolyn Crimi. So when I heard about her newest book PUGS IN A BUG, and then saw the illustrations by Stephanie Buscema, I nearly fell off my chair with an attack of acute cuteness. Punch-buggy green! Gotcha!
PUGS is a “catchy canine counting book” with a jaunty joy-ride rhyme and a groovin’ get-up-and-go beat. It’s so much fun to read aloud with its twists and turns in language—and in the road. Chugging along, the pugs meet up with a pooch parade, so there’s not only pugs in a bug, but bulldogs in a taxi and poodles on skateboards. This book proves that it’s not always about the destination but the journey. Beep, beep! Bow wow! I know you want to win it now!
So Carolyn and Stephanie are both here today to talk about the creation of PUGS…and yes, you can win it!
TL: Carolyn, are pugs your favorite kind of dog? Do you own a pug? Why PUGS?
CC: I actually love all kinds of dogs. I met a Newfoundland yesterday that I was ready to take home with me. Alas, she was a big dog and probably would not have fit in my car. But pugs are probably my favorite. They’re the comedians of the dog world. When I walk down the street with my pug Emerson people laugh. I kind of love that about him—he brings laughter with him wherever he goes.
Not that he cares about that. All he really cares about is food. If he had to choose between me and a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken I’m afraid there would be no contest. KFC would win, paws down.
Not only do I own a pug, I also own a VW Bug. It’s even green, just like the one in the book. I came up with the entire idea for PUGS IN A BUG the very first time I took Emerson for a ride in my car. That was way back in 2001. I still have both the pug and the Bug. I highly recommend both!
I’ve attached a pic of Emerson for your amusement.
TL: Aww, I love Emerson! His tongue is hilarious.
So you had the idea for the book over 10 years ago. How long did it take you to write it?
CC: Boy, I wish I had a timeline for this book, but I don’t have a clear idea of when I wrote the first draft. I don’t think it was submitted until 2003. Of course the whole submission process takes forever and a day. I also probably revised it a bunch of times to no avail. Then I think it took a while to find the right illustrator.
In other words, same ole same ole.
My first drafts don’t usually take long at all. Maybe just a couple of days. It’s the many revisions I do that take years. Yup, years. I’ll put something away for a while if it doesn’t sell right away. I’ll take another look at it years later and will sometimes be able to see the changes that need to be made. Sometimes I can’t see how to change it. I have a lot of unsold manuscripts lurking in my computer just waiting for the day when I can fix them.
I often tell new writers that this is not a microwave career where you stick in a hastily written manuscript and a six figure income pops out thirty seconds later. It takes oodles of revisions and a lot of “thinking time” to polish a manuscript into submission-ready form.
TL: I remember you once said that an illustrator never does what you imagine—they do far better than you ever could have imagined. What did Stephanie do with PUGS that really surprised you?
CC: Lots of things!
She gave them all hats, which I love, especially since I have been known to, um, dress up my pug on occasion. This lends a distinct personality to each pug. Genius!
Something else that surprised me was that two sweet little birds appear on every spread. (TL: Can you find them below?) That’s the kind of thing kids love to follow in a book. Also, toward the end a rascally squirrel jumps onto the back of the Bug, unbeknownst to the pugs riding in it. So fun! Stephanie has added so many details like this. It’s the kind of book that has endless surprises in the illustrations. I’m still finding things in it that I hadn’t noticed before!
TL: Stephanie, what drew you to PUGS IN A BUG?
SB: When I got the manuscript for PUGS, I was thrilled with the subject matter (I love drawing and painting animals) and was immediately drawn to it! The story had so much room for play, color and lots of fun character designs. I’m a big fan of Carolyn’s work, so it was an honor to illustrate one of her books.
TL: What kind of tricks do you use to keep so many similar-looking characters diverse? Did you name the Pugs as you drew them?
SB: I didn’t name them, but I did add in little pug accessories so that the reader would know each pug was different (and so I could keep track, haha)!
TL: LOL! Yes, I love all the little details like the bow ties and hats, although I confess the girl with the flower in her fur is my favorite. Or maybe it’s the cool jazz dude. Or the one with the pink horn-rimmed glasses. Oh, I can’t choose!
What was your favorite spread to illustrate?
SB: I have to say, I enjoyed most of the spreads. I think my most favorite spreads to paint were the pages at the beginning of the book. It was really fun to push myself with the landscapes and scene changes. If I had to chose one? I think the spread with the 3 pugs driving into the city was my favorite to paint. The entire book was painted in gouache and cel-vinyl (animation) paints on watercolor paper.
TL: Do you do any Photoshop or computer work once your paintings are finished?
SB: Nope, I work 100% traditional. Sometimes we’ll have to clean up a little spot here or there, and of course in the proofing stage if something isn’t bright enough we’ll bump it up. But other then that, I don’t use Photoshop in the art stages at all.
TL: How do you hope readers will react to the illustrations?
SB: Like any job I do, I always hope the readers enjoy the visuals and pick up on the sense of joy I get out of painting a book.
TL: I think that is totally obvious with this book—the bright color and playfulness just jumps out and slaps a seatbelt on you. Sit down and enjoy the ride!
Carolyn, you have published so many terrific books—WHERE’S MY MUMMY?, HENRY & THE BUCCANEER BUNNIES, DON’T NEED FRIENDS—and now PUGS is added to that list. Can you even pick a favorite?
CC: Well, I have to say based on the writing alone, I like my book DEAR TABBY the best. I love all my books, but I think DEAR TABBY is the funniest. And while I don’t believe in heavy-handed message books, if you read the last page you’ll know my philosophy of life. More importantly, I had a ton of fun writing it!
TL: And those are the best books–the ones that gave the author the most pleasure often give the audience the most fun. Your joy and enthusiasm shine through.
Thanks, Carolyn and Stephanie! I know everyone will have a blast with PUGS…so let’s give them a chance to win it!
See the pugs on the cover above? Which is your favorite? And just what *is* that pugs name? Name that dog! (Which also happens to be another book illustrated by Stephanie.) I hope you come up with names as creative as Carolyn’s nicknames for Emerson: Sir Scratch and Sniff, Mr. Wiggle Butt, The Mayor and Circus Dog.
You get an extra entry for each share on social media—just mention it in the comments.
Comments close the end of April 30 and a random winner will be chosen shortly thereafter.
Good luck and thanks for stopping by!
Beep, beep! Bow wow!
Visit CarolynCrimi.com and StephanieBuscema.com to learn more about their books!
Thanks to all the children who participated in Ammi-Joan Paquette’s THE TIPTOE GUIDE cover contest! We asked you to draw the cover of what you imagined could be the next book in the series, and we received some very creative entries. Since they were all so good, we randomly selected a winner. So…
Congratulations, Annika, age 9!
Annika wins a signed copy of THE TIPTOE GUIDE TO TRACKING MERMAIDS! And who knows, maybe sometime soon we’ll see a TIPTOE GUIDE TO TRACKING PEGASUSES! (PEGASI? PEGASU? Just what *is* the plural?!)
And here are the runners up…
Grace, age 9!
Katie, age 5! (With my personal favorite, MONSTERS!)
Lili, age 4! (Wow, nice lettering, Lili!)
And Molly, age 9, with a very colorful entry!
Thanks to all the kids who entered! It’s so much fun to see your creativity at work.
I promise to have more cover contests soon, including one for my upcoming book, THE MONSTORE!
I have something that’s so real.
Reality is your friend. That’s the best piece of advice I can give anyone about anything. Really.
Of course, it strikes even me that someone who makes a living distorting reality (i.e., writing fiction) would be so high on reality. Yet, here I am, with my message to other writers about elevating their fiction by keeping it real…
Now, let me take a step back and tell you that I wasn’t sure what this post was going to be about when I came up with this reality idea. (It was really only based on Tara’s brilliant Vogue cover.) Should I talk about the business of publishing, or the craft of writing? Should I talk about balancing life and art, or about using literature to explore life through art? I could see the positives in each of those approaches, and it made it really difficult to get started. So then I thought, maybe I could touch upon a few of these topics? Not all in one post, obviously, but maybe Tara would let me guest blog a few more times?
That’s my plan, at least. Shhh. Don’t tell her.
I’ve decided in this round, I’m going to focus on how we can use the reality of life to create meaningful art. So, to get back to where we started:
Reality is your friend. That’s the best piece of advice I can give anyone about anything. Really. But especially when it comes to writing fiction, reality is your best friend. It’s reality that makes your fiction come to life.
Whenever I’m at a school to talk about writing with kids, I spend a lot of time telling kids that every book is an autobiography. Obviously, that doesn’t mean that in my private moments I am a vampire pig (à la HAMPIRE) or a chicken in pajamas (à la CHICKS RUN WILD). But every book I write is informed by my own reality. In some way or another, I am every one of my main characters. My kids are my main characters, too, sometimes individually or sometimes as a blended product, but there’s always a piece of me. Because, at the end of the day, if the only way to be a successful storyteller is to write what you know, well, is there anyone we know better than ourselves?
The temptation when we start writing is to create something grander, bigger, more than ourselves. After all, my life is fairly boring—I barely want to hear about it!—so why would anyone else want to read about my reality? So we start out creating characters that are better than everyone else, smarter, prettier, more talented, more perfect. Their adventures are epic. Their adversaries are the embodiment of evil.
And the result is often—not always, but often—unbelievable. In the “no one would believe this and therefore this story rings false” way.
As much as readers turn to literature to escape, to experience things that they cannot do, the reality is (and, remember, reality is your friend) that no reader likes to read about someone better than him for too long. The main character has to be relatable to keep a reader’s interest. And how do you craft a relatable character?
By making sure he is just a regular guy (who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances.) Basically, by keeping him real.
(This is hardly new advice. In fact, I’ve given this advice myself in a different form in my picture book workshops – that you should always make sure your main character is interesting, but well and truly flawed. Because it’s the flaws that keep him real.)
So, how do we use reality to craft fictional characters? Obviously, we can’t just write about ourselves or our kids exactly as we are. (Trust me, I’ve tried that. That’s a little too much reality.) The trick, I’ve found, is to choose interesting traits (perhaps from several different sources) and blend them together to create a new, fictional character grounded in reality.
Here are some examples:
In HAMPIRE, Duck desperately wants a midnight snack, but is worried about running into the dreaded Hampire. The reality: every night, I want a midnight snack, and every night, I am convinced that if I step foot off my bed, the monsters will get me. The fiction: I am not a duck.
In PIRATE PRINCESS (available in May 2012 from HarperCollins), Princess Bea dreams of the pirate life, but when she boards the pirate ship, she realizes she’s awful at deck-swabbing (she has no housekeeping skills), she can’t be their galley cook (no culinary talents), and she is an ineffective lookout in the crow’s nest (she get’s seasick). The reality: I have no housekeeping skills, I have no culinary talents, I get seasick, and I think I’d look dashing in a pirate hat. The fiction: while Princess Bea doesn’t like to dress in silk, brocade, or chintz, and can’t stand the idea of being married to a prince, I love dressing up and look forward to a life with my Prince Charming (yes, Daniel Craig, I’m talking to you!).
In my forthcoming chapter book series, THE SPECTACLES OF DESTINY, the main character, Destiny, discovers she needs glasses. She’s worried about what she will look like (especially about whether they will make her nose look big) and what others will think of her glasses, from her friends on her soccer team to her classmates in the fifth grade. This one is complicated, because I drew from a lot of different sources of reality, so here’s a little chart of some of the sources:
| Something about Destiny | The inspiration |
| She wears glasses | My daughter Brooklyn and I both wear glasses, and we both initially worried about what other people would think of them. |
| She’s concerned about the size of her nose. | I’m concerned about the massive size of my nose. |
| She’s in the 5th grade. | My daughter Bella is in the 5th grade. |
| She loves soccer. | Bella and Brooklyn both love soccer. |
| She plays goalie. | Brooklyn plays goalie. |
| She’s super smart. | Bella and Brooklyn are both super smart. |
| She’s afraid of spiders. | I’m afraid of spiders. |
| She’s Indian American. | My whole family is Indian American. |
| She lives in New Jersey, outside Philadelphia. | We live in New Jersey, outside Philadelphia. |
| Her first pair of glasses are dark tortoiseshell. | Brooklyn’s first pair of glasses are dark tortoiseshell. |
| Her second pair of glasses are black with zebra-printed sides. | Brooklyn’s new pair of glasses are black with zebra-printed sides. |
| Her glasses let her see bits of the future clearly. | Brooklyn’s glasses let her see the present clearly. |
Obviously, I could go on and on with more examples of traits that I drew from my life or from my children’s lives. But you’re getting the idea. Here’s something I would add, though: in every place in the revision process where my editor asked for more detail, the things I added were inevitably true things about someone in my house.
So, one more time, let’s go back to the beginning: reality is your friend.
Do you believe me yet?
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen is the award-winning author of many, many books for children, including picture books, nonfiction for young readers, and a forthcoming chapter book series called THE SPECTACLES OF DESTINY (due out in 2014). Her picture book QUACKENSTEIN HATCHES A FAMILY was selected for the California Readers 2011 Book Collections for School Libraries. BALLOTS FOR BELVA was named to the 2009 Amelia Bloomer List and received an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award in 2008 and FLYING EAGLE was a National Science Teachers Association Outstanding Science Trade Book selection for Students K–12 in 2010. Her science book, NATURE SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS, was named a finalist for the 2011 AAAS/Subaru Science Books & Films Prize for Excellence in Science Books. And her books CHICKS RUN WILD (named one of Bank Street’s Best Children’s Books of the Year in 2012) and HAMPIRE! (nominated for a Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award) are her personal favorites, and just fabulous.
Sudipta speaks at conferences, educator events, and schools across the country, teaching the craft of writing to children and adults. She lives outside Philadelphia with her three children and an imaginary pony named Penny. Learn more about her and her books at www.sudipta.com.
P.S. If you love Sudipta’s author headshot above, her photographer LifeArt Imaging is currently running a Groupon. Click here!
What a busy April over here! So many creative new picture books to celebrate!
Sarah Frances Hardy certainly has reason to party—even tea party. Her debut picture book releases today!
PUZZLED BY PINK is the story of what happens when Wednesday Addams meets Fancy Nancy, with whimsical watercolor illustrations that will delight little girls on both sides of the fence, whether they LOVE pink or just don’t get what the big fuss is all about.
Please welcome Sarah to the blog today! *throws confetti* *serves tea and orange-cranberry scones*
TD: Sarah, on this blog we like to talk about story ideas. Tell us, where did the inspiration for Izzie and her sister Rose come from?
SFH: The inspiration for Izzie came from my oldest daughter. When she was little, it seems like every book geared toward little girls was pink, pink, pink…and she just wasn’t into it. I wanted to write a book for girls who wanted to be girls, but they wanted to do it without having to wear pink-glittered fairy wings.
Rose, Izzie’s little sister, is inspired by my middle daughter who has always loved everything about being a girly-girl—from ballet to pink to tutus.
TD: So is your youngest daughter represented in the book?
SFH: Ha! She’s asked me that too, and I tell her that she is Jinx, the pet cat, who is actually the most fun character in the book. She’s thrilled.
TD: I’d love to be Jinx, too! Izzie a strong character who does her own thing even though it’s not popular. How do you hope young readers will relate to her?
SFH: Well, I think we’ve all had the experience of being excluded because we’re a little different or we’re not wearing the right thing. I hope kids will take away the message that you can be yourself, dress the way you want to, and still go to the party.
It takes courage to say you’re going to do your own thing and stick to your guns! But it’s always best to be true to yourself .
TD: So tell us a little about your journey to publication as an author-illustrator. We authors say it must be “easier” for an author-illustrator to break into the business, while author-illustrators may say it’s easier to wear just one hat. (I tend to think no matter how many hats you wear, it’s never easy! Especially if they’re sombreros and you can’t fit thru the doorway.) What do you think?
SFH: It is a sombrero! And the door feels like it’s tiny!
But I will say that it’s a little easier to get an agent if you are both an author/illustrator because you don’t have to split royalties, and there are more agents out there who are willing to represent you.
The downside is that you are giving editors TWO reasons to reject you, so I always tell people to be sure that their illustrations and text are equally strong.
My journey is fairly typical in that I spent years going to conferences and learning everything I could about the craft of writing and illustrating for children. I wrote some pretty terrible books, submitted them, and amassed a small mountain of rejection letters,
Finally, I came up with this character and concept, and I started getting a little interest. I signed with my amazing agent and worked on revisions for several months with her. In the summer of 2010, I sold my book to Viking Children’s Books.
TD: PUZZLED BY PINK is a great title many little girls (like my green-and-blue-loving one) can relate to. Was this your title from the start of the project?
SFH: No. It actually had the very boring title TEA PARTY at first. PUZZLED BY PINK actually emerged from a brainstorming session that I had when I was sending my manuscript out to agents. In earlier versions of the manuscript, my main character Izzie was an angry little girl—kind of a curmudgeon. I was talking about the book with a friend and I said “Izzie shouldn’t HATE pink…she just doesn’t get what the big deal is. She’s puzzled by pink.”
That phrase not only became the title but it helped me craft Izzie into a more likable character.
TD: Oh, I love that story! And I love how the title is all glittery pink on the cover, with Izzie giving a cute little smirk.
Your book has been described as “Wednesday Addams meets Fancy Nancy”. Wednesday is one of my all-time favorite TV characters. If she were to endorse your book, what do you think she’d say?
SFH: If she were to blurb my book, she’d probably say something like: “Finally! Someone who knows how to throw a decent party. I’ve found a kindred spirit in Izzie.”
TD: And we’ve found a kindred spirit in you, Sarah! Thanks for sharing the behind-the-tea-party scenes with us.
And now…someone please pass the cucumber sandwiches!
Whoops, sorry…I mean, please comment to win a copy of PUZZLED BY PINK!
You get one entry for commenting and then one entry for every share on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. Just mention it when you comment!
Comments will close at the end of April 25 with a winner announced on April 26.
Good luck!
Sarah Frances Hardy is an author-illustrator and fine artist living in Mississippi with her husband and three daughters (who are not named Izzie, Rose and Jinx). Visit her at sfhardy.com and connect with her “Picture This” blog…which features photos of a cool local window display (well, TWO displays) dedicated to her book!
Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) 