Tillie Walden's ON A SUNBEAM

I have fallen in love with On a Sunbeam created by Tillie Walden. On a Sunbeam reminded me so much of the television series Firefly, but with an all-female cast (which I didn’t even realise until I was well into the book), and I am as addicted to this new world as I was to the the world of Firefly. The shocking thing is that this extremely well-done and captivating story is offered online for free, although the book is available for purchase as well. (You’ll want to buy it.) If you’re into graphic novels, you may already be familiar with Tillie’s work. But if you’re new to them, you are in for a treat! Tillie stopped by to discuss her brilliant On a Sunbeam - enjoy!
e: Tillie, what is your creative process/medium for creating graphic novels, can you walk us through it?
Tillie:
My creative process is a little ridiculous. I just fly by the seat of my pants. I have an idea, and I just get my blank pages and pens and start making it. I was literally designing the characters for On a Sunbeam as I was drawing the first pages. It’s not a process I would really recommend, but when I get excited about something I can’t really hold myself back. So, I draw like mad, and then I rely on editors to make it coherent. In a nutshell, that’s my process.
e: You offer On a Sunbeam online for free - why is that? Did it lead to traditional publishing for you?
Tillie:
I had worked with traditional publishing before putting OAS up as a webcomic. I wanted it to be accessible. And not everyone has 20 bucks to drop on a book. A lot of my audience is teenagers, and I put OAS up for free really for them. I don’t want there to be any barriers for people to access good queer stories. And I mean, of course I worked with publishers to get the book version out there and to make some money so I can keep doing what I’m doing, but the webcomic will remain up for all eternity.
e: Is there a unique or funny story behind the creation of On a Sunbeam?
Tillie:
Well, for those who have read it, you know about the character Grace. And while I was drawing the first chapter I was like, I have to kill Grace. Grace must die. She doesn’t, of course. And reading the story now it would make no sense, but I was planning for some major annihilation of characters at the beginning, but then I began to love them so much I couldn’t pull the trigger. And I’m glad I didn’t!
e: Me too! What do you think makes an illustration magical, what I call "Heart Art” - the sort that makes a reader want to come back to look again and again?
Tillie:
I think if the person was feeling joy while they were making their art, that’s where the magic is. You can see that in someone’s work. And in OAS, I think it’s apparent I love what I do when you look at it.
e: What is your favorite or most challenging part of being a creator?
Tillie:
Favorite? Spending my days in my own head and drawing whatever comes to me. Most challenging part? Book tours, promotion in general.
e: Is there something in particular about On a Sunbeam you hope readers will take away with them, perhaps something that isn’t immediately obvious?
Tillie:
No, not really. Readers can take whatever they want. I’ve never felt like I can control what a reader thinks. That’s the road to madness, I think. I made the book with my own intentions, but once its out there, what people take from it is out of my hands. Its up to you, y’all.

e: You have several other graphic novels available here (I’ll include a link to your website). What are you working on next or what would be your dream project?
Tillie:
I have a book coming out later this year called Are You Listening? Which is another fictional graphic novel. And then of course I’m working on… three other books. Maybe four. Who knows. I’m working, I’m drawing, more will come!
Thanks Elizabeth!!

e: Thank you, Tillie!

ALA Youth Media Awards!

American Library Association announces the 2019 youth media award winners

John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature:
“Merci Suárez Changes Gears,” written by Meg Medina, is the 2019 Newbery Medal winner (Candlewick Press)
Newbery Honor Books
The Night Diary, by Veera Hiranandani (Penguin Children's)
The Book of Boy, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock (Greenwillow)

Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children:
“Hello Lighthouse,” illustrated and written by Sophie Blackall is the 2019 Caldecott Medal winner (Little, Brown)
Caldecott Honor Books
Alma and How She Got Her Name, by Jauna Martinez-Neal (Candlewick)
A Big Mooncake for Little Star, by Grace Lin (Little Brown)
The Rough Patch, by Brian Lies (Greenwillow) WHO I INTERVIEWED HERE
Thank You, Omu!, by Oge Mora (Little Brown)

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African-American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:
“A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919,” written by Claire Hartfield, is the King Author Book winner (Clarion Books)
Three King Author Honor Books were selected:
“Finding Langston,” written by Lesa Cline-Ransome and published by Holiday House
“The Parker Inheritance,” written by Varian Johnson (Scholastic)
“The Season of Styx Malone,” written by Kekla Magoon (Random House)
Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award:
“The Stuff of Stars,” illustrated by Ekua Holmes, is the King Illustrator Book winner. The book is written by Marion Dane Bauer (Candlewick Press)
Three King Illustrator Honor Book were selected:
“Hidden Figures,” illustrated by Laura Freeman, written by Margot Lee Shetterly (HarperCollins)
“Let the Children March,” illustrated by Frank Morrison, written by Monica Clark-Robinson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
“Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop,” illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, written by Alice Faye Duncan (Calkins Creek)

Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults:
“The Poet X,” written by Elizabeth Acevedo (HarperTeen)
Three Printz Honor Books also were named:
“Damsel,” written by Elana K. Arnold HarperCollins)
“A Heart in a Body in the World,” written by Deb Caletti (Simon & Schuster)
“I, Claudia,” written by Mary McCoy (Lerner Publishing Group)

For a full list of winners, go to the ALA WEBSITE.

Coloring Page Tuesday - Reading Fairy 2019

     You know I love creating Reading Fairies - so here's a new one for 2019.
CLICK HERE for more coloring pages.
If you use my coloring pages often, please...

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     I create my coloring pages to draw your attention to my books! For instance...
my latest picture book, Crow Not Crow - written by New York Times Best-selling author Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple.
     Kirkus calls it "a solid choice for introducing the hobby [birdwatching] to younger readers."
      Also, A Bird on Water Street is now available in Chinese!
      
     I create my coloring pages for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to enjoy for free with their children, but you can also purchase rights to an image for commercial use, please contact me. If you have questions about usage, please visit my Angel Policy page.

VIDEO: The Evolution of YA: Young Adult Fiction, Explained

This video is part of a new series by PBS as a run-up to the Great American Read, and is a great, quick background on the genre called Young Adult Fiction.

Snow at the University of Glasgow

This video of snow at the University of Glasgow this past week has gotten a lot of attention - for good reason. How lovely! Click the image to watch the video on the UoG website.

Debasmita Dasgupta's MINA VS. THE MONSOON

I love featuring books from other cultures and countries and here is a perfect example. Today I have the pleasure of talking to the illustrator of MINA VS. THE MONSOON, Debasmita Dasgupta. The story was written by Rukhsanna Guidroz for Yali Books.
e: What was your creative process/medium for Mina Vs. The Monsoon, can you walk us through it?
Debasmita:
Like all my picture books and graphic novels, the creative process for Mina Vs. The Monsoon, also started with an extensive visual research. After reading the manuscript and the brief from the publisher I knew that the story is set in northern hilly parts of India in the rainy season. The story is part outdoor and part indoor. So I went through scores of images from northern India to document how the landscape looks in monsoon. Thankfully, being an Indian and having the opportunity to travel many hill stations in India, I had a fairly basic idea of the region that was complemented with my research. However, the indoors were more challenging. For that I had to figure out Mina’s socio-economic status accordingly I could decide on the kind of furnitures, even the colours of furnitures and other household items such as bed linens, pillow covers, etc. in Mina’s house. The cultural context was also important because Mina is a Muslim girl. So both Mina and her Ammi (mother) dress in a certain way. The overall colour palette of the story is influenced by the colours of monsoon. That’s why you see a lot of earthy colours such as cyan, ochre and sienna throughout the visual narrative.
      My visual research was followed by character sketching and storyboarding of the entire book. Once these were settled, I started creating pencil sketches for the full story. Later all my sketches were scanned and coloured digitally on Photoshop. I have also used a lot of hand-drawn textures and patterns in my visual storytelling.
e: What was your path to publication?
Debasmita:
In case of Mina Vs. The Monsoon when Ambika, co-founder of Yali Books approached me with the offer, I was thrilled to hear the plot. It was simple yet nuanced and I could immediately see a lot of visual possibilities.
e: Is there a unique or funny story behind the creation of Mina Vs. The Monsoon?
Debasmita:
So I have this habit of talking to my characters when I am illustrating them :) I spend hours in my home studio, alone, illustrating stories. When my characters cry and smile, I do the same. During the making of Mina, a friend of mine was visiting me in Singapore and one morning she found me talking to Mina and thought I am completely crazy. Ha ha…it took me a while to explain her I am not.

e: What do you think makes an illustration magical, what I call “Heart Art” - the sort that makes a reader want to come back to look again and again?
Debasmita:
To me “Heart Art” is the visual detail in a story that’s only possible when you closely, very closely observe the story and its characters. Those visual details are embedded in the visual narrative. In the first reading you might not even realise them but when you come back, you start finding those elements, which makes the storytelling much more impactful without shouting in your face.
e: How do you advertise yourself?
Debasmita:
I am still learning how to do that :) At the moment, my Instagram page is where I share most of my work. I love how Instagram helps me to connect with publishers and other collaborators who otherwise I could have never imagined to find in the first place.

e: What is your favourite or most challenging part of being a creator?
Debasmita:
The favourite and which is also most challenging part for me is to experiment with new visual styles keeping my core visual identity unchanged.
e: Is there something in particular about Mina Vs. The Monsoon you hope readers will take away with them, perhaps something that isn’t immediately obvious?
Debasmita:
Besides Mina and her Ammi, there is one more very interesting chemistry in the story - Mina and her cat, which I feel the young readers will remember. The cat responds to Mina’s acts with surprise and wonderment. It is present from page one in the story and is an integral part of the visual narrative. However, after you finish reading the story you will realise that the cat was not a part of the text. So on one hand you won’t find any textual description of the cat and its emotions while on the other hand it adds a lot visual drama in the story.
e: What are you working on next or what would be your dream project?
Debasmita:
Currently I am working on a picture book “The Boy Who Talks in Bits and Bobs” is written by a very good friend and a fantastic writer, Eva Wong Nava. The publisher is Armour Publishing in Singapore. I am also working on a super exciting project to be published by Scholastic India in 2019. A project that’s very close to my heart for many reasons. So looking forward to the new year!

Coloring Page Tuesday - Hairy Coo Hugs!

     The best Scottish love I know is a proper Hairy Coo Hug! (These are the Highland Cows Scotland is so famous for, also known as "Hairy Coos"!)
CLICK HERE for more coloring pages.
If you use my coloring pages often, please...

Just love this one image? Consider a one-time donation...

CLICK HERE to sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week.

     I create my coloring pages to draw your attention to my books! For instance...
my latest picture book, Crow Not Crow - written by New York Times Best-selling author Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple.
     Kirkus calls it "a solid choice for introducing the hobby [birdwatching] to younger readers."
      Also, A Bird on Water Street is now available in Chinese!
      
     I create my coloring pages for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to enjoy for free with their children, but you can also purchase rights to an image for commercial use, please contact me. If you have questions about usage, please visit my Angel Policy page.

MerBaby's Lullaby Proofs!

Proofs for my board book MerBaby's Lullaby written by Jane Yolen for Simon and Schuster came in today! I love the note from my editor, Jeff Salane, with the little pink stamp of "This book belongs to: Elizabeth D." - so sweet!
The cover has two varnish layers - hence these black overlays that show where it will be. That means it will have lovely bling to pop off the shelves!
Inside, you can see the printer's color break-down running on the left side of the art. It's so groovy to see this final step of color matching.
And the next step will be the actual book! More soon!

VIDEO: Howard Lyon Demo

Prepare to be mesmerized as you watch this process video of Howard Lyon working his illustrative magic over at Muddy Colors. Wowsa!

PhD Talk

All of the PhD Researchers in the University of Glasgow School of Education are given the opportunity to talk about their progress at some point during their studies in the Postgraduate Researcher-led Seminar Series hosted by Dr Cathryn Lido. Two of us speak for 30 minutes each at a once a month gathering. It's a great chance to collate one's thoughts, see if the research is holding together well, and gain valuable feedback from the vast range of experience from fellow researchers and faculty who attend the talks. I attended all of them during my first year of study and it gave me a solid idea of where I wanted to be at this stage in my research. This past week, it was my turn to talk about my own research to date (I'm officially half-way through my studies). My supervisor Dr Maureen Farrell gave me a lovely introduction.
I talked about my journey on my thesis topic "Tricksters, Witches, and Warriors: Rewriting a Patriarchal Narrative in Children's Fantasy Literature." I talked about the break-throughs I've made, along with some misdirections, such as realizing the Wild Man (which I illustrated) isn't actually a trickster.
I discussed how women warriors are a natural evolution in trying to write empowered female protagonists and how many female tricksters are actually known as witches.
My second supervisor, Dr Bob Davis was extremely complimentary of my talk. (I have wonderfully supportive supervisors.)
Fellow researcher and American Krissi gave the second talk of the day on her fascinating work with elderly social support. In fact, there were three Americans running the show that day - Krissi, Cathryn, and me.
Friends in the audience took photographs for me - thanks to Maureen, Jen Chou (sp?), and Yaxi, who gave my talk a big thumbs up.
Thanks guys!

Friday Links List - 18 January 2019

From Chronicle Vitae: How To Teach A Good First Day of Class

From BrainPickings: Rebecca Solnit's Lovely Letter to Children About How Books Solace, Empower, and Transform Us

From Shelf Awareness: AAP Sales: Huge Jump for Trade Titles in November (and LOOK at the Children's Books!)

From The Art Room Plant: Semen Bukharin is a school janitor who decided to entertain the children by making snow paintings for them as he cleared the paths - this is PURE creative JOY!

From SLJ: Engaging Young Citizen Activists

From Book Riot: Goodnight Moon is Overrated and Other Controversial Kidlit Opinions (with suggested alternatives)

From TES: How reading could reduce anxiety

From The Bookseller: Bluemoose reveals plans to publish only female writers in 2020

From The Guardian: Publishers failing to improve racial and regional diversity, survey finds

From Shelf Awareness: Soucebooks Expands Children's Publishing Division (this is the publisher of my novel, A BIRD ON WATER STREET)

And more from PW about Sourcebooks' new imprints

From SLJ: Author Bill Konigsberg Calls for Continued Conversation in Response to Hatred and Bigotry

From The Atlantic: Fairy Tales for Young Socialists: A collection of political fables from late-19th- and early-20th-century Great Britain offers striking allegories that remain pertinent today.

From Brain Pickings: A 100-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor on How Books Save Lives

From The Scottish Book Trust: Great Books By Scottish LGBTQ Authors

From Scholastic Parents: 10 Books Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. for Early Readers

Elizabeth Wein's A THOUSAND SISTERS

You may recall the hit CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein that was a Printz Honor Book, an Edgar Award-winner, and was shortlisted for a Carnegie, among other awards. Well, Elizabeth is still following those WWII Aviator women with her new book, A THOUSAND SISTERS. Elizabeth lives in Scotland and I get to hang out with her every year at Jane Yolen's Wayside, so it's my great pleasure to have her here today to talk about her latest book. Take it away Elizabeth!
A Thousand Sisters wasn’t the hardest book I’ve ever had to write, but it is definitely the one that made me work the hardest. It’s a project I wouldn’t have thought of tackling on my own, but I got pushed.

Here’s a very abbreviated peek at how the book came together over nearly four years.

January 2015: Editor Kristin Rens at HarperCollins contacted my agent, Ginger Clark, with the question: “Would Elizabeth ever be interested in writing a nonfiction book about the Night Witches (or any other nonfiction for young readers, for that matter)?”

To which I responded with an unguarded, “WHY YES. YES SHE WOULD.”

March 2015: HarperCollins makes an offer for my services.

April 2015: I start reading MANY BOOKS.

I knew who the Night Witches were – Soviet women who flew World War II bombing missions in flimsy bi-planes made of balsa wood and fabric. But I didn’t know much about how they got the job. My early reading made me aware that I was going to have to include a small-scale history of the Soviet Union if this story was to make any sense at all to a Western reader.

The last time I worked on a non-fiction project of this scale, it was my PhD thesis. For that, I did my academic research in the Bodleian library in Oxford, whose catalogue at the time was kept in handwritten leather-bound books. Nostalgically anticipating the work I’d be doing for my new assignment, I foolishly bought a supply of index cards.

I took a bunch of notes on a few of them and then recycled them.

June 2015: At this point, I’d learned that the Night Witches were only a small part of the picture. I knew that the story I wanted to tell had to include three different Soviet women’s aviation regiments, and I needed to focus on one pioneering woman, Marina Raskova, the celebrity aviator who brought them together.

July 2015: Sitting on a picnic bench below the Cape May Lighthouse, I made the first of many calls to Kristin, and discussed the way to structure the book.

Nothing that got proposed in this conversation actually made it into the final draft.

August 2015: The contract is signed!

September 2015 – September 2016: I worked on writing something else (The Pearl Thief, my most recent novel with Hyperion, published in 2017) – all the while reading and taking notes on the Soviet Union.

November 2016: I decided to go to Russia with someone I met on Twitter.

No lie –YA author Amber Lough, who was also researching a historical project about Russian military women, suggested we travel together. The travel arrangements got made in about three weeks, and Amber and I met in real life for the first time in a hotel in St. Petersburg. The entire city was under a blanket of snow two feet deep. For me, the highlight of this research trip – though not technically research itself – was visiting Marina Raskova’s grave in the Kremlin Wall.
December 2016: With a draft due in about six weeks, I’m finally ready to write. My laptop expires after about 10,000 words.

Fortunately I’d saved the partial manuscript on a memory stick, and for the next month I continued to work on an object dubbed “Frankenpooter”: constructed by my IT-genius son, it consisted of a $70 android tablet, an external keyboard, and an external hard drive. It was impossible to connect the keyboard and a power source at the same time, so I had to work in two-hour increments: type like crazy till the battery died, then switch plugs and charge up again.
I bought myself a new laptop for Christmas.

January 2017: About a third of the book is handed in on time.

February – December 2017: Probably the most productive year of my life, as I completed the proposed “Night Witches” manuscript – now called A Thousand Sisters – and wrote two other books at the same time.

January 2018: We realize A Thousand Sisters is about 150 pages too long for middle-grade non-fiction, and…

February 2018: …Much to everyone’s relief, Kristin manages to bump it up to her young adult list.

April – October 2018: Editing, tightening; pulling in an expert reader; finding and choosing appropriate photographs for illustrations; organizing and checking the endnotes; copyediting; creating an index and maps; creating the cover.

Although I wrote and researched the book, there is so much that I had help with. A team of researchers at HarperCollins tracked down and got permissions for the photos, created the index, cross-referenced my notes with the correct page numbers, and fact-checked details like crazy.

November 2018: The first professional review comes in the day after we finish correcting the final map image.

Which leads us to:
January 22, 2019: RELEASE DAY!

I have NO REGRETS.

Elizabeth's writing spot for A Thousand Sisters - her daughter's flat (at the time) in Salisbury in the attic of a building built in 1666 with a view of Salisbury Cathedral!
And Elizabeth in a Lysander.

MerBaby's Lullaby!!!

My new board book, MERBABY'S LULLABY written by Jane Yolen for Simon & Schuster has just made its first appearance in the wild at the Mile High Reading Blog! I'm thrilled to have my book in such fine company - woohoo!!!!