Dashka Slater's THE BOOK OF FATAL ERRORS

Dashka Slater has visited dulemba.com before, I'm obviously a fan of her wonderful stories! Well, she has a new book out called THE BOOK OF FATAL ERRORS, and I can't wait to read it. She stopped by to tell us about it...      This is the story of how I wrote a book about mistakes, and what it taught me about making them. The book is called The Book of Fatal Errors and it’s a middle-grade fantasy novel. It didn’t start out that way, however. It started out as a picture book. That was in 2007.

At the time, I’d published two picture books and had a third one forthcoming so I thought I knew something about the craft. But when I showed my husband my manuscript about a boy who finds a toy train that turns out to belong to some fairies, he wasn’t impressed.

“Are you sure this is this a picture book?” he asked me.

No. I wasn’t sure. The story was complicated and the more I tried to tease out its logic, the more questions I had. Why had the fairies lost their train? How did the boy come to have it? And what did the boy’s grandfather, Grandpa Jack, have to do with it? The more I tried to figure it out, the more back-story I unearthed. So, I set it aside. The book was a mistake.

Then came the 2008 recession. I made my living as a freelance magazine journalist but now journalism was in free-fall. Magazines folded. Editors lost their jobs. For a while it seemed that the profession of journalism might not survive. Depressed and dispirited, I decided to try writing that fairy train story as something longer, just for fun.

Just for fun was my mantra, and it’s a useful one. When you write for a living, as I have for my entire adult life, you become results-oriented. You’re constantly calculating the ratio between time spent and money earned. “For fun” was a way to keep my touch light, my frustration at bay, my anxiety levels manageable, and my doggedness intact. (Here's Dashka's fave writing spot.) Then, in 2010, Alisha Niehaus Berger, an editor I was working with on a picture book at Penguin, asked me if I had ever thought of writing something longer. Actually, I told her, I was writing a novel for children already – just for fun. She asked to see it. And — with great trepidation and many caveats – I showed it to her.

     She liked it.
     She wanted to see more.
     She had suggestions.

Suddenly I was in a place I had always dreamed about. I had an editor I trusted who was willing to help me figure out how to write the book I wanted to write. If she bought it as a partial manuscript, I could set aside my deadline-driven life as a journalist and live off the advance while I finished it.

A few blissful months passed during which I rewrote the early chapters and outlined the later ones and waited for a firm offer. One afternoon, I got a call from my agent. But it wasn’t the one I’d been hoping for. Alisha was leaving publishing. There would be no deal.

I went downstairs to tell my husband what had happened. Then I curled up in a fetal position and stayed there for the rest of the day.

Eventually my agent submitted the manuscript to other editors. But the book was both unfinished and a mess. In 2011, my agent suggested that I put it aside.

“This one isn’t going anywhere,” she said. “Let it go.”

Good advice, perhaps. But instead of listening, I stubbornly, secretly, kept writing. I was still in love with the story and I wanted to know what happened. Plus I wanted to learn how to write a middle grade novel. Whatever else happens, I told myself, this book will teach me.

I joined a critique group. I went to a craft conference. I parted ways with my old agent, and found a new one – one who loved the first few chapters of the totally-rewritten-but-still-unfinished manuscript. And in 2013, I reconnected with Alisha Niehaus Berger. When she told me she had started to do some writing of her own, I invited her to join my critique group. She did, arriving in time to help me figure out how to write the book I wanted to write.

Along the way I made dozens of mistakes. My main character was flat. The plot was meandering. The scenes went on and on. It wasn’t until the fourth draft that I figured out what the book was really about. The book itself had been telling me all along.

It was about mistakes.

Without mistakes there wouldn’t be stories, the book’s hero says at the end. And it was true. The story I wrote would never have happened without the terrible early drafts. The corners I wrote myself into. The submissions I made too soon. All of the false starts and wrong turns were part of the manuscript that is now The Book of Fatal Errors.

Against all odds, it’s now a book. I’m working on the sequel.

Just for fun.


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DANGEROUSLY EVER AFTER with Dashka Slater and Valeria Docampo - GIVEAWAY!

Today I have the rare treat of talking to both the author, Dashka Slater, and the illustrator, Valeria Docampo, of the new picture book DANGEROUSLY EVER AFTER (Dial). Valeria's native tongue is Spanish (she's from Buenos Aires, Argentina), so while she asked for forgiveness on any translation errors - I think her English is quite good! Take it away ladies...

Q.     Congratulations to you both! DANGEROUSLY EVER AFTER has got to be one of the most beautiful and unique stories I've ever read. Dashka, how did you come up with the story?
A.     Thanks so much!
     I stole the idea from a small child, actually. One day my son came home from first grade and announced he was going to write a story about a queen who tried to plant rose seeds but accidentally planted nose seeds. I couldn’t wait to read it! But days went by, and then weeks, and he never wrote it, so finally I decided that the only way I’d ever get to read it is if I wrote it myself.


Q.     Valeria, were you completely stumped as to how to approach the illustrations when you received the manuscript, or did images immediately start popping into your head?
A.     When I read the manuscript for the first time, of course I was surprised by some fantastic elements of the story, such as the plants that sting and stink, the grenapes and the nose roses. Since all imaginary things come from an unknown combination of known elements, I started by entering the world of botany and studying centuries-old illustrated books on flowers and plants.
     Starting from this scientific and literary background, I began to play, combining it with very different elements such as swords, grenades, and armour to create a new botany for the particular world of this book.
     This is how the first studies of new plants and species began. Once I had defined each one, I started to design the garden where the story would take place and placed the plants there, tracing out the map that appears on the title page. That is, the first step was to create this new botany and the scenery.
     Then I started to imagine Amanita, a character that also contains very dissimilar elements such as her care for flowers and her passion for danger. Since Amanita continued to be a princess in spite of loving knives and thorns, I imagined her with sumptuous clothes and elaborate hairstyles. The first hairstyle and outfit that I imagined brings to mind a scorpion. The editor saw this first character study and suggested that Amanita wear different outfits and hairstyles in the different stages of the story; because of this we see her later with caterpillar, spider, and mushroom suits (her cat also wears coordinating clothing). Amanita’s different outfits also served to expand on the development of the character. For example, on the final page, when Amanita falls in love, we see her with her hair down and in a jellyfish outfit, which is much more romantic and delicate than the armour-like scorpion outfit on the cover. [[Click the image to see a larger version in a new window.]]

     After I had the species, scenery, and wardrobe, I worked on the characters and the general atmosphere of the book. From the beginning, I very much liked the role reversal that the story proposed. It is for this reason that Amanita is a blue princess instead of pink, and Florian is dressed in warm tones. I was also interested in toning down the danger in the images, taking a bit of the drama out of the relationship with the swords, thorns, and knives, because no one is completely bad or good, and I believe that the richness of the story lies in this ambiguity. [[Click the image to see a larger version in a new window.]]


Q.     Dashka, Are you a gardener - why plants?
A.     I had a lush and enticing garden filled with artfully-arranged sculptures, secret bowers, tinkling fountains and a writing desk shaded by a grape arbor. Unfortunately, it was stolen in the dead of night by some cruel prankster who replaced it with a couple of sickly roses that get eaten by deer every time they flower and a lot of blackberry brambles and poison oak.
      Perhaps you can see now why Amanita has a dangerous garden rather than a pretty one.

Q.     Valeria, How did you approach creating the "nose roses"? That must have been challenging!
A.     It was very interesting and fun! I looked at many pictures of exotic flowers until I ended up with a flower that had a shape similar to a nose. Starting there, I tried to create a “nose rose” that had expressive characteristics, because these flowers are really an additional character in the story. Since the text talked about new flowers, the second challenge was to give a unique character to each one and show them in different postures and situations. Therefore, the next step was a study of each “nose rose” and its different positions.


Q.     Dashka, You have some other impressive titles under your belt, like THE SEA SERPENT AND ME illustrated by Catia Chien, FIREFIGHTERS IN THE DARK illustrated by Nicoletta Ceccoli, and BABY SHOES illustrated by Hiroe Nakata. What's it been like to work with so many talented illustrators and see their adaptation of your words for the first time?
A.     It’s a humbling experience. With every book I write, I have vivid illustrations in my mind and there’s always a moment before the first sketch dummy arrives that I wonder how the real illustrations will possibly measure up to what I imagine. And then I see the illustrations and discover that the images I’ve imagined are awfully limp and ordinary when compared to the work of a real artist. Valeria’s nose flowers are so wonderfully botanical, like fleshy orchids that you might discover blossoming in a remote crocodile-infested swamp. They’re not at all what I pictured when I was writing the book, but once I saw them, my own mental nose flower picture just kind of covered itself with a towel and ran out of the room in shame.
     Could there be anything better than having an artist whose work you adore make paintings based on the ideas floating around inside your head? I’m pretty much the luckiest person on earth to have had that experience four different times with these four amazing illustrators.

Q.     Valeria, Can you describe your illustration method to my readers?
A.     The illustrations for Dangerous Ever After were painted by hand in gouache on paper and then digitally retouched.


Q.     Dashka, How do you come up with ideas - what makes one stand out to you? And how did you break into children's books?
A.      Idea generation is the least of my worries –my brain tends to turn anything that happens to me into a story. Turning those squirming, irregularly-shaped ideas into finished manuscripts – that’s a different kettle of fish altogether. The ideas that stand out – that feel worth trying to wrestle into submission -- are the ones that surprise me. A surprising idea feels like being goosed -- I think I literally hoot with pleasure when I think of something unexpected. This is why I don’t write in cafes, by the way. Nothing like hooting with pleasure at your own idea to make the other patrons grip their laptops firmly and edge toward the exit.
      I started out as a poet, then became a journalist, and then published a novel, all before attempting my first children’s book. What brought me to children’s books was publishing a book for adults and having to field that favorite interview question: “Which writers influenced your work?” I found that the writers I wanted to talk about were children’s writers, which I thought showed that I wasn’t actually a very serious person. Then I gave birth to my first child and had an excuse to start reading children’s books again. I felt like I was returning to my first love. Because I had started my writing career as a poet, the economical language of picture books felt very natural to me and I loved writing something that was meant to be read aloud.

Q.     Valeria, You also have a slew of books under your belt in Argentina and around the world. How did you get into children's book illustration?
A.     I started painting as a child and then studied Fine Arts. I graduated in Graphic Design and made commercial illustrations for magazines and packaging. But my passion for painting, cinema, and literature soon brought me into children’s territory. In illustrating children’s books, I found a fascinating language where all at once a story is told, characters and scenes are created, contrast with the text is made, and an entire universe unfolds with the tools of painting: light, shadow, colour, and composition.

Q.     Thanks guys!
A.     Thanks for having us, Elizabeth!

DANGEROUSLY EVER AFTER is on tour with OH NO, LITTLE DRAGON which I featured on November 15th - CLICK HERE for the interview with Jim Averbeck. (Review copies supplied by the publisher.)

GIVEAWAY!
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The Fan Brothers' THE ANTLERED SHIP

Dashka Slater (who I interviewed HERE) has written a new book illustrated by the same team that illustrated The Night Gardener. I'm thrilled to have The Fan Brothers, Eric and Terry, here today to talk about illustrating THE ANTLERED SHIP. e: Can you walk us through your creative process behind The Antlered Ship?
The Fan Brothers: The first step to creating any picture book is to do concept sketches and eventually a rough dummy. The dummy is a guide for all the final art and allows the editor and art director—in this case Andrea Welch and Lauren Rille at Beach Lane Books—to offer feedback and guidance when the book is still in its formative stages. Usually there are a few versions of the dummy created to address their feedback and to refine the layouts and page turns to everyone's satisfaction. 
      There are always a variety of different approaches you can take with a story, so the purpose of doing sketches is also to refine what approach will best carry the narrative you're attempting to illustrate. For example, early on we weren't sure if the characters in The Antlered Ship should be anthropomorphized or whether they should be more naturalistic. We eventually opted for the latter, but here's an early sketch where the animals were fully anthropomorphized: And here are some concept sketches of the ship itself:
​And finally, some examples of what the dummy looks like compared to final art:
As you can see​, sometimes the dummy image stays pretty close to the final, and sometimes it veers significantly. We originally had exotic animals on the dock, but Andrea and Lauren suggested—I think sensibly—that having animals that were geographically relevant to the deer might make the world seem more grounded and internally consistent. That change happened while we were doing final art, and we had already started the process of rendering the other animals, which never made it into the book, although we did sneak the tortoise into a later scene (minus his little hat). ​ e: How was this book different from your amazing debut, The Night Gardner?
The Fan Brothers: We've always enjoyed drawing animals, and while The Night Gardener had its share of animals in the form of topiaries, The Antlered Ship was the first story we've done with an entire animal cast of characters. It's also a very different setting than The Night Gardener, since it's a sea voyage, which takes the characters to a variety of different locales.   

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?
The Fan Brothers: "Heart Art" for us is art that engages the imagination in such a way that it opens a doorway back to our own childhoods. So we always try to create art that resonates with the part of us that still remembers that sense of wonder and mystery, and we hope that some of that feeling carries over to readers.  

e: Is there a unique or funny story behind the creation of The Antlered Ship?
The Fan Brothers: I'm not sure if it qualifies as unique or funny, but The Antlered Ship was the first book we've done where we built a little reference model to help us with a couple of illustrations. We were faced with the challenge of keeping the antlers on the ship's masthead consistent, so we constructed a mock-up in Fimo modelling clay as a guide: e: What was your path into publishing?
The Fan Brothers:   Both of us had a rather circuitous path into picture books. We attended OCAD University in Toronto to study art, but after graduating, life took us in a few different directions. For a while we had a literary agent in Hollywood and were attempting to sell a spec script that we had written with our younger brother Devin. In the meantime we were working in non-art-related jobs and doing art on the side. When our dreams of Hollywood fame and fortune failed to materialize, we both started submitting t-shirt designs to a new website called Threadless. We were fortunate enough to get some of our designs selected, and I think this reignited our passion for doing art. When Threadless partnered with another website called Society6, we started uploading our art there, which eventually caught the eye of our agent-extraordinaire Kirsten Hall, who had just started her new agency, Catbird. She asked us if we had any story ideas she could pitch, and we remembered a t-shirt design we had done many years ago called The Night Gardener. Even though it was a standalone design, we always felt there was a story waiting to be told that we could build from the image: ​ e: What is your favorite or most challenging part of being a creator?
The Fan Brothers: Our favorite part of being creators—specifically of picture books—is the possibility that our work will impact a reader in the same way that we were impacted by art when we were kids. There's nothing more gratifying than hearing from a reader who loved your work or was inspired by it—whether it's a kid or an adult. The most challenging part is to keep dipping into the creative well and hoping you still find something inspiring there. It's the same challenge that every artist inevitably faces—the blank sheet of paper.    e: Is there something in particular about this story you hope readers will take away with them, perhaps something that isn’t immediately obvious?
The Fan Brothers: When we originally read The Antlered Ship, which was written by Dashka Slater, I think what struck us—beyond the core message that finding what you're looking for is sometimes right under your nose—was the open-ended quality of the story. It ends where it begins: with questions. I think there's an apt metaphor for life there. We never get all the answers we're looking for, but asking questions carries us to places that give our lives meaning and purpose. It's a particularly resonant theme for children, because children are the ultimate question-askers, and in that way Marco is touchingly childlike (but never childish).   

e: What are you working on next or what would be your dream project?
The Fan Brothers: We just finished working on our next book, Ocean Meets Sky, which we think qualifies as a dream project since we wrote and illustrated it together, like The Night Gardener.
      Thanks for taking the time to interview us!
Best,
The Fan Brothers

e: Thank you, Eric and Terry! We look forward to seeing more of your wonderful work, including Ocean Meets Sky!

Jim Averbeck's OH NO, LITTLE DRAGON! - GIVEAWAY!

Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Jim Averbeck, author of the Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book, IN A BLUE ROOM (Harcourt, 2008), about his latest picture book, OH NO, LITTLE DRAGON! He's kindly offered to give away TWO signed/dedicated copies of OH NO, LITTLE DRAGON - so read on!

Q.     Welcome Jim! I adore Little Dragon. It's so sweet and seemingly simple, how did the idea come to you?
A.     I think like with most stories, a few things were brewing in my brain and they came together in an "aha!" moment. I'd been wanting to do a story about a boy - a rambunctious, destructive boy - that showed that underneath it all, boys really do have deep emotions and a need for love. Then I was in China and my guide's name, in Chinese, was "Little Dragon" and I thought, "that sounds like a nice destructive little character." Then I thought about what a little dragon might treasure most- his flame, of course. And I decided to make him lose it. I like to be mean to my characters.


Q.     The illustration style is made up of bold shapes and strong lines - except for the fire, which looks rather complicated. What is your illustration method?
A.     For OH NO, LITTLE DRAGON! I sketched out the general body gestures and expressions I wanted. Then scanned those sketches and changed the line work to blue in Photoshop. These scans I printed multiple times on textured paper, then "traced" quickly over them, again and again, with an oil pastel. By doing many quick "tracings" with the sketches as a guide, I hoped to capture the vibrancy and life that sketches always seem to have. I chose the best oil line work and scanned that in. Then I scanned in textured, colored papers and electronically cut them to fit behind the line work. The fire, on the other hand, was made completely in Photoshop. I created brushes from photographs of flame and shapes of smoke and sparks. Then I painted layer after layer in Photoshop using these brushes. I think each fire image has around 15 layers. Oddly enough, one of those layers is green. But Photoshop allows you to tell the program how to mix the layers. So even though I was painting with green, it came out a bright yellow. Then I added some glow and blur through the program. I really liked the contrast between the simple lines and the complicated fire, which pops off the page.

Q.     I love how he tries to relight his fire. Was this perhaps inspired by a wicked night of Mexican food?
A.     No kidding! As I get older I find I need a good 12-hour head start on a piece of pizza before I go to bed. Unlike Little Dragon, I'm usually looking for a way to put out the spark in my heart.

Q.     You're promoting OH NO, LITTLE DRAGON by joining Dashka Slater, author of DANGEROUSLY EVER AFTER, in a "Dragon and the Dangerous Princess" blog tour. How did the two of you come together and then come up with this idea?
A.     It was Dashka's idea. We've known each other for a few years. We met when we were both presenting at Kidquake, part of the Bay Area's Litquake literary festival. She recently approached me at one of the many elegant kidlit soirees around here and asked if I wanted to team up to do our marketing for the two books we had coming out around the same time. I had decided earlier in the year that 2012 would be "the year of yes" and I would accept all offers that came my way. So I said "yes" and here we are. It's been great for me, because having someone counting on me to do my part means I can't skip the whole marketing phase all together. Thanks Dashka!


Q.     Finally, what was your path to publication? And do you have any advice for my readers?
A.      I guess the first thing I did on my path was to learn to write for children. For me, the best way was to take a class. Too many beginners, I think, skip this step. They do themselves a great disservice. Writing for children has certain rules and you need to learn them. You can break them later, but learn them first so you can break them with intention. The second thing I did was join a great critique group. Find one you click with and commit to it. The third thing was to join SCBWI and volunteer. Doing this gave me face time with editors, agents, writers and illustrators that I wouldn't have otherwise had. Your first book is often the result of "who you know" in this business. So get to know people. Be nice to everyone (except your characters).
     So my advice to your readers is- follow that path. Join SCBWI. Learn. Oh- and ALWAYS submit your manuscript for review at conferences. If you get an editor or agent, celebrate because they may help you get that book published. And if you get a fellow writer, listen closely. They will give you the advice which will get you an editor next time. Commit and expect it to take a while. Good luck!

GIVEAWAY!
     Must live in the continental US to win. The drawing will be held next Wednesday!
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BABY PENGUINS EVERYWHERE! by Melissa Guion - GIVEAWAY!

There is a sweet new book out called BABY PENGUINS EVERYWHERE! by debut children's book creator Melissa Guion. If you're a new parent, or a new sibling, this is the book for you! Per the flap copy: "What happens when alone time disappears - when babies arrive and what was quiet becomes chaos?" PENGUINS - that's what! Fun, chaotic, troublesome, cuddly PENGUINS!
     Today, I ask Melissa some questions about her new book.

Q. As a debut children's book creator - I know my readers are interested in your path to publication. Do you mind sharing?
A. Of course! One thing readers might find interesting is that I didn't pursue this career until my mid-thirties. I had a few previous careers, including one in finance which began accidentally when I moved to NYC and took a mailroom job at a hedge fund. I thought it was temporary, but I got swept up the ladder and ended up in a pretty serious role. My time in that world taught me a lot, but it got to the point where it was literally painful to go to work, I was so clearly in the wrong place.
      When I decided to pursue children's books, which was in 2003 or so, I was really starting over from scratch. I have an English degree but I hoped to illustrate as well as write, so one of the first things I did was sign up for some art classes to get a bit of technique under my belt. I really went about the whole thing in first gear: creeping along, drawing when I wanted to, working an unrelated part-time job and doing life stuff like renovating a house and starting a family. In 2006, I met Steve Malk, of Writers House. A former colleague of Steve's kept offering to introduce us and I kept putting him off, because I had only a smattering of personal work to show. Thank goodness my friend introduced us anyway, because Steve loved my work and gave me tons of valuable advice and encouragement. I wish I could say that lit a fire under me, but it only kicked me into second gear.
      By 2008, I had enough finished artwork to assemble a portfolio, and Steve lined up a round of editor meetings that proved to be totally fruitless. In retrospect, not getting a book then was really valuable. It toughened me up, the experience of sharing creative work face to face, and not hearing "yes." I also learned a lesson about staying with an interaction that isn't going your way. I had a meeting with Anne Schwartz and Lee Wade where it was quickly clear I was not going to get considered, let alone hired, but I lingered sort of despite myself. We ended up having a great conversation about other illustrators, including James Marshall, one of my heroes. Anne dug out some of his original art to show me. I shared a few out of print books I liked, which they'd never seen. The meeting was a lot of fun, it probably lasted an hour, and I'd have missed the best part if I'd left when I saw there was no job in it.

      In the fall of the following year, 2009, Steve and I did a postcard mailing featuring some of my artwork that led very quickly to a meeting with Michael Green, the president of Philomel Books (Penguin). Michael offered me a single picture book deal on the spot. (I think I signed the actual contract with Penguin in 2010, because the agencies and the publishers were mired in negotiations about electronic rights throughout that fall and winter.) That resulted in my recently published picture book, BABY PENGUINS EVERYWHERE! In 2012, just before my first book came out, I signed a multiple-book contract with Penguin, and a deal for a BABY PENGUINS EVERYWHERE! board book.

Q. How did this particular story come to you, and is it more for the parents or for the brand new brothers and sisters in a family?
A. I always had penguins in my portfolio but they were just playful characters without a story. Michael, my editor, really wanted to do something with them, and it was he who supplied the premise of the solitary penguin and the magic hat that produces little penguins. Together, we grew it into what it is now, which is nice since it's a book about the benefits of togetherness. Of course, the idea resonated with me as a new mother.

      I certainly hope the book speaks to parents. A lot of my experience with my three year old went directly into the book. I hadn't particularly thought of it as being for (or not for) siblings, but funnily enough, I just got a message from a woman whose 2- and 5-year-old like to read the book together. The 2-year-old enjoys looking at the little penguins, and the older one relates to needing time alone. So it's field-tested for sibling use as well.

Q. The artwork in BABY PENGUINS EVERYWHERE! is delicate and charming. What is your method?
A. The art is just a soft graphite pencil and watercolor on 140lb Fabriano cold press paper. I used a bit of white gouache to make the grey of the baby penguins.
      As far as my working method, I made preparatory sketches and color tests on a cheap paper. I spent a lot of time getting the forms right because I knew the art would be spare. I worked mostly from my imagination; I didn't need much in the way of photo research, though I did look at some pictures of icebergs.
      Then I drew and painted the final art directly onto my good paper, without tracing. I lost some precision in my compositions that way, but it gave me the loose line quality I wanted.

Q. Your simple drawings have so much joy and character - I'm sure you must apply this skill to other critters as well. What others tug at your heart?
A. I like to draw birds. Birds really make me laugh. I also have a book in a drawer about a fish, and a lot of drawings of mean rabbits. My daughter has two guinea pigs and I've thought of turning them into characters. I mean, they're already characters, I'd just be committing them to paper.

Q. Are you doing anything special to help promote your new book? Please share! And what are you working on to follow such a stupendous debut?
A. I'd never heard of a "blog tour" until this summer, if you can believe it. I put one together for myself and it was really helpful in terms of getting to know, and be known by, the kids book community.
      I'm also doing a bookplate promotion with four other authors (including Dashka Slater, who I think you just interviewed). We designed bookplates for our latest books; buyers can request them, then we personalize them, sign them, and mail them out. Several media outlets picked up on the promotion, and the response has been good. I have to say I really enjoyed ganging up with other book creators on that project, because book promotion is not my idea of fun. (Is it anybody's?) It's much nicer to do with friends.
      As far as what I'm doing next: the board book version of BABY PENGUINS EVERYWHERE! comes out next fall, which thankfully requires no work on my part. I'm working hard on a second penguin book for Spring 2014, and I have a third book under contract for Spring 2015. I'm not sure what that one will be yet. I have a few ideas.

Thanks for sharing Melissa!

GIVEAWAY:
      One lucky commenter will win a free copy of BABY PENGUINS EVERYWHERE. Must live in the continental US to win. Review copy provided by the publisher.
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