Welcome, Zara! Thanks for stopping and for sharing your kidlit journey with us!

Thanks for inviting me!

Do tell! How did you find your way into illustrating for children?

I don’t know that I can pinpoint the exact path, or even when I “started.” My answer may be considered a clichéd illustrator’s, but I can’t remember a time when I didn’t draw. The form those drawings have taken has always been one that leaned with a whimsical bent. 

That being said, my path to illustrating children’s books has been a long and winding one. Although in retrospect it should have been the obvious place for me to start (considering my love of stories and drawing), for some reason it was not. I think I was so convinced I couldn’t do it that I had to try everything else I possibly could before I finally let myself admit that this was where I wanted to be. 

So I led a few creative lives before I stumbled into the wonderful world of children’s publishing. And now I never want to leave!

What do you love about illustrating for children?

I love that anything is possible. Children don’t care that elephants are supposed to be grey or that people don’t usually wear snails on their heads. Their minds are open and they are interested in EVERYTHING. The smallest thing in an illustration might be the thing they obsess over. I keep that in mind when I am drawing and try to stuff each page full of interesting bits and pieces for them to find.

Describe your process, please. 

I’m pretty loose when it comes to how I work. I don’t have a set process in place, but rather let the project dictate how I will approach it. It’s a little hokey, but I tend to do a lot things based on what feels right.

For the book I’m working on right now, I read the manuscript a number of times just to get the voice and flow of it stuck in my head. Then I gave myself lots of opportunities to let my mind wander—walking the dog, gardening, cooking. I do my best thinking when my body is otherwise occupied, and that’s where I find a lot of my ideas and meet my characters.
 
I do a lot of doodling, too, trying to coax the things I see in my head out onto paper. In theory, these doodles are all in a special notebook I start at the beginning of the project. In reality, they are often on scraps of paper and drawn with whatever happens to be handy.

I’m also a total creative magpie. I keep scrap files for inspiration and tend to collect interesting patterns and color combinations that I might want to remember for some future project, so I’ll often pull these out when I am looking for inspiration or trying to spark new ideas.

How would you say your family, cultural influences, your travels, and/or your life's experiences shape your work?

I think they are woven into everything that I do. From the subjects I choose to illustrate to the stories I choose to tell. Every one of them is somehow touched by my experiences, whether I realize it at that moment or not.
 
I don’t think we can extract ourselves from our work no matter how much we might try, but luckily those are the things that make us unique and give our work it’s unique character. 

What type of children's books do you want to continue to illustrate?

I want to illustrate books that feature diverse characters—especially characters that are part of more than one culture. This is particularly important to me as a Latina, a Jew, the wife of an immigrant and as a mother of a child growing up at the intersection of multiple cultures. 

Zara González Hoang grew up in a little bungalow in the great white North. Surrounded by snow she spent her days dreaming, doodling and listening to the colorful stories of her dad’s life growing up in Puerto Rico while trying to figure out where she fit in as a mixed-race Latina Jew in a sea of Scandinavians. (She’s still figuring that out.)

These days, she lives outside of DC in a magical suburban forest with her Mad Man husband, her son, and curly coated corgi. She still spends her days dreaming and doodling, but now instead of listening to stories, she’s starting to tell some of her own.

Zara's first picture book, Thread of Love--published by Beach Lane Books  an imprint of Simon & Schuster in 2018, and written by mother-son team Surishtha and  Kabir Sehgal--was chosen by Seattle Public Library as one of the best picture books of 2018! Find her and her delightful portfolio at zaralikestodraw.com and  follow her on Twitter and Instagram @zarprey. Zara is represented by Andrea Morrison at Writers House. 

​How did you find your way to becoming a kidlit illustrator?

Before I decided to change careers, I used to be a high school teacher for German and English literature and so books always had a very important status in my life. When I had my three children, I obviously introduced them to kidlit early on and that’s when my creative side emerged again and it could not be stopped. It was a very powerful calling that made me see who I really am.

Your work infuses such true-to-life humor! How do you find your inspiration?

I just think I try to look at things in a humorous way whenever possible. Life can be too hard otherwise.

How would you say your cultural heritage influences your creative decisions when you are creating art for children?

My art is a direct reflection of my cultural heritage and upbringing—you will find a lot of the spirit of European kidlit or even music I was brought up with in my illustrations and stories. Themes with darker emotions are not taboo and unconventional characters are very common in European stories for children.

Please share a little about your process.

A normal work day without any pressing deadlines usually starts with a long walk with my dog to clear my head or even find inspiration in nature. Then I start drawing in my tiny studio until my children come home from school. In the evenings I often work on my manuscripts. 

When I’m working on projects together with editors, I usually spend some days reading the manuscript I’m supposed to illustrate. Then I begin rough sketching and collecting material. Next stage is the storyboarding and then, when everything has been approved, I start working on the final coloured illustrations.

What are you working on now? And are you enjoying it?

I’m currently working on a picture book about an English bulldog as the main character and am very much enjoying it. There are other projects in the pipeline I can’t officially talk about yet!

​When you first received the manuscript for BUSY-EYED DAY, what did you love about it?

Whenever I get sent a text, the way I know it is right for me is that I am immediately hit with  an urge to start drawing. I found the sweet jollity of Anne Marie’s text instantly appealing and all I wanted to do was to start creating the characters of the two siblings. My mind led itself into the oasis of a city park and I wanted to get drawing as soon as I could. 


How did you do to get into the spirit of the story so you could tell it authentically?

This project was the first thing I came back to after my maternity leave for my first baby. For the three months previous, I had spent pretty much everyday pushing around my new-born in our local park. She was considerate enough to be born in June so thankfully my walks were taken through the summer months. 

My local park is huge and is right in the middle of Brixton in South London. If you walk to the top of the hill you can look back over the expanse of the city and see the imposing and impressive Skyline of London, while still surrounded by bird song and greenery. I used this time to take reference photos of trees and other elements of a city park that I could work from later on. Although the park in BUSY-EYED DAY isn’t directly based on my local park, it undoubtedly influenced by it!

Do tell! What was your illustrative process? 

All picture books usually start with a storyboard so you are able to map out the pages before you start the actual illustrations. This is an integral bit at this point, allowing you to nail the narrative, and that makes the illustrative process a lot easier later down the line. I also spent a while trying to get the characters right. After this I would create rough pencil sketches that I would scan into my computer and work on digitally to create a collage layered look. I'd then add textures to achieve my final colour spreads. All of this is done within Photoshop. I used a mixture of scanned in mediums, such as paint textures, and also Photoshop brushes to achieve the end result. 

Describe how you and your art director, NAME, worked together on BUSY-EYED DAY.

Creating a book is such a collaborative project. Often you will send your art director all of the storyboards that they then comment on and there is a lot of back and forth to get them to a place you are all happy with. I then started on the first round of “rough” illustrations. This took me a few months and, when I felt I was in a good place with these, I sent them off to the publisher. This is always such an interesting and nerve-wrecking point as, once they have been shown around to the appropriate people at the publisher, you receive back all the comments. When illustrating someone else’s text, this is also the point where they first see the interpretations of their words and I am always nervous to hear their thoughts! 

What are your plans for launching this book? 

As I don’t live in the States, I am slightly removed from directly launching BUSY-EYED DAY in bookshop events or schools. The book isn’t currently being published in the UK, so my main aim is to support it on lovely blogs like this one and also to make use of social media to get it noticed in the world! 

​Frann Preston-Gannon is a London based author and illustrator of books for children. Her books have been published worldwide and include THE JOURNEY HOME, DAVE'S CAVE, BECAUSE OF AN ACORN, and HOW TO LOSE A LEMUR. In April 2011, she became the first UK recipient of the Sendak Fellowship and spent a month in autumn living with and learning from the great master of illustration, Maurice Sendak, at his home in Connecticut. Fran can be found at frann.co.uk, on Twitter @frannpg, and on Instagram @frann.pg.

How did you find your way into illustrating for children?

It was a loooong way. I’ve always wanted to be an artist. I studied graphic design at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest. I started my career as a graphic designer. Soon I became an art director at a big advertising company, DDB. Working in this area was fine, but I missed something. Eventually, I realized that my job as a graphic designer wasn't bringing fun into my life any more, so I started looking for something else. I saw that drawing gave me the best feeling I’ve ever felt, so the rest came quite quickly. One of my friends was developing a children’s magazine application and he asked me to illustrate some of the stories. The three bears were born then. I started to share my work on the Internet and finally an agency found me. Good Illustration Agency is a London based agency and I have a really good relationship with them. If I could start my career again, I would begin as a children's illustrator.

Why do you love creating illustrations for young readers?

Because I can be funny and make many, many children laugh through my illustrations.

​How do you tap into your inner kid when you are illustrating for children?

That’s an interesting question. I don't need to tap into my inner kid because I become kid when I draw! I feel happy and I am very open and creative. I see things as a child. It is very liberating.

What type of books for children do you enjoy illustrating?

My favorites are funny, humorous stories with a hilarious and surprising end. I prefer animal characters, but I like drawing human characters as well. I found that animals are very funny with cute facial expressions, and I use a lot of that in my illustrations. So I love funny stories with animals. My favorites are from Heather Pindar. She is the author of STRICTLY NO CROCS and BEWARE THE MIGHTY BITEY. I love both books very much. It was so much fun to work on illustrating them.

​How does your cultural heritage and/or family upbringing influence your illustrative style/voice?

My mother and my father had really good manual skills. My father loved to draw just for fun. I learned a lot from him. My mother decorated the walls of my room with Minnie and Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. I was so happy as a child and this inspires me very much.

​Life in the 70’s and 80's in Hungary was so much fun for me. Growing up, I was exposed to many kinds of illustrative styles. We had fantastic children's books (I still own a few!) and I loved the cartoons. Hungary imported cartoons from everywhere around the world. From the United States, for example, I loved the Flintstones. Plus we had our own cartoons. My favorite was a Hungarian one, Gombóc Artúr (Arthur Chubby--I can’t translate it exactly). Every Hungarian child knew him. He was a funny, plump blue bird who loved every kind of chocolate very much. I've just recently realized that my style is very similar.​

What children's project(s) are you working on now?

I am working on a Brazilian folktale--The Boy and the Violin. The other project is a Spanish book about Mama Duck and her little son who travel for a while. And I have just begun a book about cats--a lot of cats! I love those cats!

​Susan Batori is a Hungarian illustrator, graphic designer and a character design addict. She studied graphic design at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary. As an art director at DDB Advertising Agency, Susan designed many print ads, websites, posters, packages, etc. for years. Than she noticed that drawing hilarious characters was much more fun. She likes to laugh with her boyfriend Robert and her cat Kamilla. They inspire her funny characters. She also loves creating new digital textures, reading, watching great movies, drinking coffee, walking in a forest or pampering herself with a good salted caramel ice cream. Since 2012, Susan has been working as a freelance children’s book illustrator. Humor is the one thing in her studio that she could not live without. She is represented by Good Illustration Ltd., London. Her clients have come to include Maverick Arts Publishing, Highlights for Children's Magazine, Oxford University Press,  I See Me! Personalized Children's Books, and Spider Magazine, an imprint of Cricket Media. Find Susan and her fun-filled portfolio on Facebook, Behance, Instagram, Pintrest, at batori.hu, and susanbatori.myportfolio.com.

What inspired you to write THIS LITTLE PIGGY: AN OWNER’S MANUAL?

There were a lot of different inspirations for this book as it evolved. The idea first sparked when I found the word “hogwash” funny. I was just minding my own business, doodling on the couch when I heard someone on whatever show my family was watching say “hogwash,” and I got images in my head of kids trying to bathe a pig. The first version of my story was pretty much a long-running (and probably annoying) joke of having to bathe and immediately re-bathe, over and over, a pig named Snowflake. I had originally intended to title my project HOGWASH, but I found a couple of other children’s books with that title. Still, I finished creating the story, and my agent and I submitted it as THE ULTIMATE PIG CARE HANDBOOK. Eventually, it became THIS LITTLE PIGGY: AN OWNER’S MANUAL. 

In your story, Brother and Sister's mother is quite obsessive about her garden, and is not at all keen on them getting a pet pig. Any similar childhood experiences?
 
My own mother was equally obsessive and overly-fond of her garden, so much so that I used to tell her I hated her flowers and didn’t want to have to look at them. She (jokingly, I think) threatened to ground me once if I didn’t come look at her garden, so she partly inspired the mom-character in the book. (Incidentally, she still makes me look at her garden when I visit her, but I don’t mind so much anymore.) 

I also desperately wanted a pet when I was a kid and embarked on a many-years-long campaign of pestering my dad to let me get a puppy. When I turned 15, I changed tactics and my friend Rozz and I conspired. She got me a kitten for my birthday and I begged and made sad faces until my dad gave in and said I could keep him. 

In your illustrations, you chose to depict a blended family. Any particular reason why? 

I wanted to depict a blended family where two single adults with children come together. Brother and Sister are step-siblings, with the emphasis on siblings. There is also a dad in This Little Piggy’s family, he just didn’t make it into the final version, as Mom is the one they ultimately have to convince.

Why did you decide to tell the story using a comic-book style for a format, and was this type of book fun to create?

I think stories aimed at kids who are emerging or struggling readers work really well in a hybrid chapter book/graphic novel format. Speech bubbles help to break up the text into smaller blocks so it’s not as daunting to read. The pictures help them to decode the words and also provide a lot of humor and interest to hold their attention. Aladdin Pix books are part chapter book, part graphic novel, and part picture book. 

Besides, comic books are just cool and even cooler to create. 

As both the writer and the illustrator of this book, please share your process. 

For this story, I wrote the words first, then sketched the illustrations, but I made art notes for myself while writing. More recently, on a new project, I’ve simultaneously written the text and drew rough thumbnail sketches, and that’s been a really fun and productive way for me to work. 

Did you do a lot of research about pigs for this project?

I researched pigs because I wanted to include a few fun facts in the text, but the drawings of Snowflake came from my head with no visual reference. I meant for him to look like a child’s drawing. I also wanted the original version to appear like it was a how-to manual written by kids for other kids. I had painted lined paper, added the characters with a stick-figure feel to them, and doodled all over the pages. But that ended up being a bit busy.

I still drew the kids and Snowflake to be reminiscent of stick figures. And as the narrator of the book, I talk directly to the kids as if advising them on how to care for their pet pig. (Unfortunately, I don't always give them the best advice.)

What did you love about working with Karen and Laura, your editor and art director, throughout this project?

Karen and Laura are oodles of fun to work with! We had a few conference calls with all three of us to go over the art and text together as the book was developing, and my cheeks hurt from laughing so much. Plus, they are both brilliantly creative and come up with fantastic ideas. I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. 

When revising as per the suggestions of your agent, editor, and art director, what were some of the challenges? But why are you glad you made those changes? 

Adriann is a gifted editorial agent and is always super insightful and sharp. She suggested I cut short the running gag of the never-ending bath, and impose more of a narrative. So I went back to the drawing board, and included other kinds of pig care into the plot. The story ended with the kids doing a great job caring for him, and then presenting Snowflake to mom. (Only the house, garden, and yard are pretty much destroyed.) So Adriann's suggestions allowed me to further explore the family-pet relationship of the kids and Snowflake.

The biggest change I made came from Karen, my editor's, suggestion. After she acquired the project, she wanted me to turn the original story, a picture book, into a chapter book. So I had to start almost from scratch to expand the story. I really love the new version and I’ve recently discovered that a lot of my unpublished picture books really need to be chapter books, too. 

On the design end, Laura, my art director, asked me to redesign sister's look. Originally, Sister was wearing a purple dress with a strawberry on it. Her hair was similar, wavy and flowed horizontally, but it wasn’t pulled back from her face. She also wore big, red-rimmed glasses. Laura thought she looked a bit too granny-ish. She asked me to re-draw Sister wearing shorts like her brother. I  mulled over her suggestion, and opted to dress Sister in clam-diggers, as they were one of my favorite things to wear when I was a kid. I removed Sister's glasses and tied up her hair, and I think she’s absolutely adorable now.

When you received your box of author copies, what did you love about the final product? 

As of this writing, I haven't received my author copies yet, but my lovely and thoughtful editor, Karen Nagel, surprised me with two advance final copies, tied in a pretty red ribbon. I was thrilled! I think Aladdin makes beautiful books. I was giddy over the finishing details: spot gloss on the front and back paper-over-board cover, beautiful red end pages, and high quality interior pages. It’s a chapter book but it’s picture book quality. It will endure many readings and after-reading hugs. (Or am I the only one who hugs their books?) 

What kind of fun activities do you have in store for your book launch and school visits?

I live in a small town in Canada, so I haven’t really planned anything....yet. I did recently visit a school where I gave four presentations. I read from THIS LITTLE PIGGY and we did a few fun activities, including making our own Pet Wish-List, like brother does in the book. I’m pretty shy and get some serious stage fright, so I find in-person and even online visits a bit scary, but I am trying to be more outgoing and social these days. The kids are just too much fun.

What do you hope kids who read this book will carry away with them?

That being yourself is what matters most.

Brother and Sister want to adopt Snowflake as a member of the family. They think Mom will accept Snowflake only if he is well-groomed, eats his veggies, stays out of the compost, and wins a prize at the fair. Snowflake isn’t the perfect pig the kids thought they needed him to be, but they love him anyway, and are determined to keep him. But they have to convince mom. In the end, Snowflake is just being himself (chasing after some pesky crows eating Mom’s garden). He manages to win over Mom. She thinks, like Brother and Sister, that he is SOME pig. 

Oh, and I also hope kids will agree with Snowflake that eating jelly doughnuts is awesome (just not stale ones from the compost)!

​What do you love about the process of illustrating children's books?

I love that in trying to incite the imagination of children I can be as creative as I want to be. I cannot express how rewarding it is to do this for a living, to have the chance to bring a story to life!

How did you find your way into the field of kidlit illustration?

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always wanted to be an artist. I went to college for fine art, not knowing where that path would lead me, but in my free time I drew illustrations for fun. It was only when I graduated and had more spare time to create anything my heart desired (which mainly consisted of fairies, mermaids and other mythical beings) that I accepted my true calling of being a kidlit illustrator.  

Afterwards, I devoted my time and energy to learning about the children’s book industry and how to show my work to the right audience. I also got involved with organizations like SCBWI, and I began posting my artwork on social media. Eventually, I found myself in a niche with other kidlit enthusiasts who shared my passion for literature and art.

 What is your process for creating characters that show natural, kid-like expressions? 

Simply put, I sketch a lot. When I’m not working on an assignment, I like to experiment by playing around with different facial features and expressions. And when I remember to do so, I carry around my sketchbook, in case I come across a person with interesting features, or if inspiration happens to strike.

What are you working on now?

At the moment I am working on two children’s books that will be published in 2018. The first is a picture book about a sweet little girl who loves to wear her mother’s khimar, a head covering worn by some Muslim women. The second is a picture book biography about the talented Janet Collins who was the first African American prima ballerina to perform at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House. I’m really excited for everyone to see these books when they’re published!

Any advice for kidlit artists regarding developing a personal style?

Draw as often as you can until you feel comfortable and proud of the artwork you produce. I believe you’ll have a gut feeling when your work is coming together because it will just feel right. Also, I highly recommend that you look at a variety of illustrators’ artwork. I have found this to be very inspiring, and hopefully it will light a fire within you to create something amazing.   

Why do you love creating illustrations with children in mind?
 
Children know how to play. Everything is possible for them. Everything has the power to amaze them. I love their minds, their ability to fly. What is there not to enjoy and love about making their little hearts sing?
 
What type of children's books would you like to illustrate?
 
I’m really new to the book-illustrating business, but I do love the creative process of taking a story and making it fly, using my art to add magic to it. There’s so much drama in our lives, and so it brings me joy to be able to add happiness to the world through my art. I love happy and shiny.
 
Describe your process.
 
First, I do an observational study of whatever I’m going to draw—animals, bugs, plants. I capture the detail, the structure, what makes them what they are. That is my sketching stage. Then, I add to the sketching process by finding my way, my style when drawing them. Once I have decided how I’ll draw them, I begin the first stage of the artwork, the painting stage. At this point, I use a very loose expression of the animal’s shape and colour. Next, I add the contours. The inking stage is usually the last step. Finally, I do a last check-up, inspecting the piece for all the fine details.
 
Of course, in the case of illustrating a book, I will have to do extra sketches and put on paper my ideas for every scene. I’ll have to express through my art the core message of the book. It will be a wonderful process where I will need to get in touch with the author’s feelings and thoughts for that particular scene, and then see what I can add to that.
 
What stylistic choices do you make in order to instill so much joy and fun into your illustrations?
 
I love impressionism, the use of colour and expressing the core of things without needing to create perfect contours. I love lines. Lines add strength and structure. While loose lines make us feel relaxed somehow. I love naivety too, and I try to infuse a naive sense of perspective into the space and volume of the piece. I love the happiness I find in colours. I love happy. Mostly, I try to create something that instills part of my soul into whatever I’m creating.

​Tell me about yourself. Have you always loved drawing?
 
Yes! Since I was a little girl, I loved to craft, to paint, to draw and create all kind of things. When I was five, I invented a stamping process for myself. I made tons of landscapes with trees using ink. I even sold them! I made clay sculptures and sold them, too. I held weekly drawing contests with my best friend and we had a lot of fun selecting a theme for it and choosing the winners. My friend and I took the drawings to a professional art teacher, my mom’s friend, and she critiqued the drawings. She was lovely and taught us a lot during those two years of contests.
 
What was your path toward being a professional illustrator?
 
I graduated college with a degree in computer science. I moved to a small town, apart from my parents, and started working as a computer-programming teacher at the local university. In the meantime, my dad sent me a surprise gift—a small drawing tablet. I loved it. It was like starting my creative process all over again! Many years later, after developing my own digital style, I got in touch with my current mentor and art teacher, Carlos Palacios. I’ve been his student for four years now. He has been teaching me how to draw portraits and academic drawing, using paper and pencil--old-school stuff. The learning process has been fun and hard work, a rewarding experience.
 
How has living in Argentina influenced your artistic style?
 
Hmmm. I’m not sure it has influenced me at all. I supposed there must be an influence, as I am Argentinian, but I can’t tell you exactly what it could possibly be! I am online a lot. Like a lot. I’m always admiring amazing artists and illustrators. And I’m always taking online courses.
 
Have you been able to quit your day job in order to illustrate full-time?
 
Not yet. I am still teaching about computers at the local university. But I do sell my handicrafts, hand-painted journals, and art locally. On my online store, I sell hand-crafted miniatures and prints of my work on bags, mugs, shower curtains, pillows, clocks... I’d love to one day have a big art studio where I can work all day long, but right now, when my day-job is done, I go home and make my crafts, or paint, or go to my computer and do what I love—create art.

Describe your creative process for RACE CAR DREAMS.

Once I read the manuscript, I started sketching out all the different possible expressions and views of our little car.
I try to do as many versions of the character as I can. I ended up doing quite a few and then we narrowed it down to the race car we were happy with. The other thing I had to really think about was the world race car lived in. Were there people? What other objects needed to be brought to life? Since we had this car with personality we needed to make characters out of the gas pumps, garage tools and things like that. Also, the little race car follows a road throughout his day. So I needed to make sure I had these important landmarks thought through. For example, the race track was a key part of his day. The creative process for this project involved sketching and mapping out all of these things. 

What inspired your color palette for this project?

I was inspired by race car colors of the 1960’s and 70’s. In particular the color of the car. The blue/green color worked for us in keeping away from the red cars and trucks that are commonly used. Also, I was inspired by the colors you see when driving home at dusk or night. Traffic lights on a dark blue night scene. 

Did you have an especially fun time envisioning a certain scene in the book?

Yes, the last scene when Race Car is dreaming of finishing first. Up until that point in the story, everything was grounded. It was fun to paint a dreamy, loose scene of the car winning it all. 

What was it like working with art director/book designer, Teresa Bonaddio, on this project?

The art director was really great to work with. I was chosen for this job based on all the little tractor paintings I had done. So, the direction was to follow that type of colorful, textured work. I enjoyed it because it forced me to step out of my comfort zone. I needed to paint more scenes and environments, which I should do more of.

How do you feel about the finished project of RACE CAR DREAMS? What do you think of the book trailer?
​
I was happy with it. I thought the book trailer was great. The overhead scene of the car driving was one of my favorites.

Tell us, how did your titles, LILY'S NEW HOME and WANT TO PLAY?, come into being.

This one I can’t really answer because our Lee & Low editors came up with the titles.

Why do you think a book's characters, even in those for the earliest of readers, should reflect the diversity seen in real life settings?

​Diverse characters in real life settings are very important for young readers to see at an early age because they can identify with these characters on a universal level. Of course there are important children’s books that deal specifically with issues of diversity and discrimination and racism, but it’s also equally important to show diverse characters dealing with universal stories so children of all backgrounds can identify and relate with them.

Did you create character sketches for Lily, Henry, Mei, Padma and Pablo? If so, what distinctive qualities did you created for each one?

The characters already existed from the Lee & Low series template. They hired me as the writer for the first two books in the series (there are other authors also involved with different books in the series). I was honored to be selected for the first two books, so I was very conscientious of making sure we knew each character’s personality right away. 

I was given brief descriptions of each child--Lily is very inquisitive and compassionate, Pablo is a shy bookworm, Mei is an active yet clumsy girl, Henry is an enthusiastic musician who likes to get everyone involved in projects, and Padma is a strong and outspoken girl.

In trying to show these characters, we brainstormed scenes and storylines in which these qualities could shine and push the story and character relationships forward. For example, when Lily moves to her new home, she notices Pablo loves to read. So she visits the local library and quietly joins him on the steps to read books with him. To me, story IS character. All story plots are inspired by the characters’ personality traits and motivations. It was fun to imagine what these kids would do next!

What was your reaction when you saw your characters and their world illustrated to life by Shirley Ng-Benitez? 

For a lot of books that are heavily illustrated, it’s always such a joy and surprise to see the final art work. Some authors and illustrators work closely together, especially if they are a team, but it’s standard to have the writer and illustrator work separately. I assume this is so the writer can focus on the words and the artist can concentrate on the art! :) But when I saw Shirley’s work, I was so touched by her playful and gentle style. She’s incredibly talented and there’s a warmth and emotional glow to her art. I felt I had known these character forever when I saw her illustrations--she truly captured their essence!

What factors must you keep in mind while crafting an enjoyable story for emergent readers?

I am first and foremost a novelist and a screenwriter and then a picture book author, which means I write A LOT of words. My picture books are unusually long for the genre because they are non-fiction biographies geared to an older elementary school audience. So when I was invited to write the first two books of the Confetti Kids series, I thought it would be fun. But I had no idea how much WORK it would be. The writing is like mastering the art of haiku poetry. You have a VERY limited amount of text to write, so each word has to shine like a jewel. Just like in haiku, not one word can be wasted.

​With early emergent readers, you are also writing with an educational angle to teach the process of learning how to read. So there is also a strict vocabulary and sentence structure you must use. Compound and complex sentences are too complicated for this age group. I had to learn how to STRIP DOWN my writing and get to the very essence of the story--the bare bones, if you will. And yet at the same time, I also had to make sure the characters were compelling and the plot exciting and engaging.

In a nutshell, writing these books was THE HARDEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE. LOL! Oh the irony! :) But I’m grateful for the experience because I learned so much and it actually had a great influence on my other areas of writing. I became a much tighter writer as a result. Lesson learned--not one word wasted. :)

What do you appreciate about publishers like Lee & Low Books?

I have been with Lee & Low Books since my first picture book, SIXTEEN YEARS IN SIXTEEN SECONDS: THE SAMMY LEE STORY (illustrated by Dom Lee) was published in 2005 after winning the 2003 New Voices Award. I love Lee & Low’s mission to raise more awareness of diversity in children’s literature, to promote diverse stories AND diverse authors and illustrators, and the incredible quality of their work. It’s no surprise this publisher’s books have won many prestigious awards over the years--getting published here is a big deal. The editors are impeccable with their insights and editorial advice. These books are carefully constructed and edited and revised before hitting bookstores. Us writers are put through the wringer! But it’s worth it because you can stand by your book when it finally launches!

I also appreciate and admire Lee & Low’s recent activism in raising awareness about diversity issues in the media, especially with their famous surveys and statistical reports that have gone viral and actually caused huge waves in the publishing industry and influenced future changes in policy and editorial decisions regarding more inclusivity for multicultural stories and writers. They were ahead of their time and only now is the rest of the country catching up to their mission statement! It is truly an honor and privilege to work with this ground-breaking publisher.
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Paula Yoo is not only a children's book author and novelist, she's also a TV writer and producer. Her newest titles, LILY'S NEW HOME and WANT TO PLAY?, are both Junior Library Guild selections. Her picture-book biographies include: TWENTY-TWO CENTS: MUHAMMAD YUNUS AND THE VILLAGE BANK, a 2014 Junior Library Guild selection that is illustrated by Jamel Akib (Lee & Low Books 2014); SIXTEEN YEARS IN SIXTEEN SECONDS: THE SAMMY LEE STORY, an IRA Notable non-fiction title (Lee & Low Books, 2005); and SHINING STAR: THE ANNA MAY WONG STORY (Lee & Low Books, 2009), a winner of the 2010 Carter G. Woodson Award from the National Council for the Social Studies. Her young-adult novel, GOOD ENOUGH (HarperCollins 2008), was a 2009 Honor Book of the Youth Literature of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. Paula is currently adapting the popular Israeli teen drama, THE GREENHOUSE, for Netflix. Her other television credits include NBC’s THE WEST WING, SyFy’s EUREKA and DEFIANCE, and Amazon’s MOZART IN THE JUNGLE. When she’s not writing, Paula teaches, plays her violin and hangs out with her three cats. You can find her online at paulayoo.com and Tweeting @PaulaYoo.

While you were reading Paula Yoo's text for the first time, what did you imagine regarding the illustrations? What happened next in your creative process?

The first time I read Paula’s manuscript, I pictured Lily in her new environment and how worried she must have been. Lily moves from the suburb to a big city, and I put myself in her shoes as I read. I thought of Lily’s worried face, so I started to sketch Lily, first and foremost, and then the images of her new city surroundings. Maria Mercado, a freelance book designer who works with Lee & Low, gave me wonderful art direction, and through two or three iterations, we came upon the exact Lily character, as well as Lily’s new neighborhood friends. Developing New York’s avenues and apartment buildings and stores were next. The buildings and details of the apartment buildings were challenging to create, but I had great fun researching “New York apartments” and “New York streets” and seeing the details on doors and banisters to try to give the book authenticity.

Did you create character sketches for Lily, Mei, Pablo, Henry, and Padma? If so, do tell us about each one.

Yes, each character came with art direction from Lee and Low. 

Lily is an African-American girl and an only child. She's a little shy at first, but once she's comfortable, she likes to ask a lot of questions. Pablo is a Latino boy and a New York native, he's the only boy in a family of three sisters. He's a bit of a bookworm and can often be found sitting on a corner reading a book. Mei is a Chinese-American girl, and much to her dismay, she's a bit klutzy. She has an older sister and lives with her parents and grandmother. Henry is a Caucasian boy who, like Lily, is an only child. He likes to play sports, play the drums, and motivates others to participate in different local events. Padma is a South-Asian girl, who's a bit sassy and outspoken. She lives with her parents, older sister, and younger brother.  

In Lily's New Home, your urban setting seamlessly reflects diversity, both in the people and in the places depicted. How do you go about creating such authenticity in your drawings?

I am so grateful to Maria and to my Lee & Low editor, Jessica Echeverria, for such great art direction and guidance. I sketched neighborhoods, buildings, street scenes, and even a map of where the characters lived in relation to one another. I believe this greatly helped my thinking about all of the kids and their relationship to the city. I loved the scene of the community garden and enjoyed thinking about how the kids could pass by it on their way to school. Research on the internet helped as well and I was able to further develop Lily’s new neighborhood which is patterned after a borough in New York. 

What medium did you use in creating the art for Lily's New Home and Want to Play?

I used a mixed-media medium consisting of pencil, watercolors, gouache, colored pencils, and final highlights and small details in Photoshop.  

Why do you think emergent readers should see characters in books that look like they do or come from similar cultural backgrounds as they do?

I feel that emergent readers would absolutely love to see themselves reflected in books they’re learning from. If there were many, many books from which to choose, all the better in my opinion! As my children were learning to read, there were very few books with cultural-specific hero characters. More often than not, the heroes were animals or Caucasian. Along with those heroes, I think that it would’ve been exciting and inspiring for them to have a selection of books with heroes from diverse cultural backgrounds, so that they could envision themselves or their friends as heroes in the books that they were learning from.  
   
What do you love about working with publishers like Lee & Low?

This was my first opportunity to work with Lee and Low, and it has been an incredible honor and delight. From the initial stages of sketches and tight layouts, to the final printing and then marketing of the books, I received great art direction, editing, production guidance, and marketing & promotional insight. Their commitment to publishing contemporary diverse stories that all children can enjoy, and their pledge to make a special effort to work with unpublished authors and illustrators of color, is admirable and inspiring and I’m proud to have worked on this new line of books. I am very excited to have another opportunity with Lee & Low, and am currently working on two new titles in this series.

Shirley Ng-Benitez loves to draw! Nature, family, and fond memories of her youth inspire her mixed-media illustrations. Since ’98, she’s owned gabbyandco.com designing, illustrating, and lettering for the technology, greeting card, medical, toy, and publishing industries. She’s living her dream, illustrating and writing picture books in San Martin, CA with her husband and two daughters. Shirley is honored to have illustrated Paula Yoo’s Dive Into Reading early emergent readers, LILY'S NEW HOME, and WANT TO PLAY? (Junior Library Guild Selections for 2016), published by Lee and Low Books. You can find her online at shirleyngbenitez.com and Tweeting  @shirleysillos.