The Science of Writing and Illustrating a Biography for Children 2

Author and illustrator Mary Ann Fraser breaks down her scientific process for creating an educational biography for young readers. 

Recently I was asked to speak at a STEMposium about the creation of my latest book, Alexander Graham Bell Answers the Call. The book chronicles Alexander (Aleck) Bell’s childhood. I’m not an educator, but while preparing for my talk, I looked at the current science standards for elementary education and made a remarkable discovery — the process I use as an author and illustrator of children’s books is much like the method employed by scientists. Using Alexander Graham Bell Answers the Call as an example, the steps typically break down something like this:

1. First, much like a scientist, I posed a question. In the case of the Bell book, I asked, “How did Alexander Graham Bell grow up to become the inventor of the telephone?”

2. Next, I conducted background research. Whereas a scientist might examine previous studies and other experts in the field, I sought out archives, museums, literature, and libraries. Along the way, I gathered visual references, Bell’s own notes, and family photos. 

3. I developed multiple strategies and solutions by testing out various points of view to determine how best to tell my story. A book is a puzzle with many pieces that must work together to make a whole. Often, I use a storyboard as the map to putting them together. Later I add very rough sketches.

4. I created a prototype. I started with a loose dummy, which is a mock-up of the book derived from my final storyboard. I then refined the layout through multiple revisions which included re-sketching, shifting elements between pages, multiple edits to the text and its positioning.

5. Following the sale of the project, I then spent over two years testing, evaluating, and redefining my work. This involved developing a new approach to my art. Bell and his family had embraced photography early on. I decided to do the same by incorporating reproductions of photographs from the Bell archives, as well as original photos of my own, into the art. I scavenged for ephemera which could be added to enrich the imagery. I drew diagrams to explain complex concepts.

The outcome of these five steps was not only the book, but also a new way of looking at my process. I no longer consider my work space as simply a studio or office. I think of it as a laboratory — a story laboratory, and I am the inventor.

Purchase Alexander Graham Bell Answers the Call for your readers today!

A Tomorrow for Vivian 2

Author JaNay Brown-Wood, author of Grandma's Tiny House: A Counting Story, discusses adding her own shades of color to children’s literature and breaking down stereotypical walls.

I have always been a storyteller at heart. When I was younger, I’d make up stories using my Barbie dolls and teddy bears as the main characters. When I learned to write, I’d capture stories on paper. And when I learned to type, there was no stopping my fingers from creating a world on my computer screen. I write because I love to create and because I enjoy pushing the possibilities of my own creativity.

However, I’ve come to realize that I write for a bigger cause now. Yes, it’s therapeutic and fun, but now writing is so much more than that for me. You see, in late January, I welcomed my first child into this world, a beautiful baby girl who is my everything. And although I’ve always known that diversity is important, it feels even more dire. Now, I write so that I can help kids see themselves on bookshelves, in libraries and bookstores, in stories that make it to the big screen. I write so diversity can be embraced and transformed into acceptance and compassion instead of fear and disdain for the unfamiliar. I write for a better tomorrow for my daughter, Vivian (pictured below).

Let me take you back.

When I was younger, I don’t remember seeing myself in the books I read. Even though there were some stories that featured black children, I remember many of them being about experiences that were a part of my history, but were not my story. For example, I remember reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor, but never feeling like I saw myself. It felt more like a history lesson. I know that there is so much value in books like these, historical fiction or stories seeped in the tension-fraught history of African Americans in this country, but that book wasn’t a mirror for me. Off the top of my head, I can think of very few stories that came across my lap that I felt reflected me as a kid.

JaNay front and center wearing red and white with her Grandma behind her

With the current push for diversity, we hear of the importance of windows and doorways to see the experiences of others, as well as mirrors to reflect, and walls or stereotypes to be broken down. This is so important! This allows for people to look at differences as strengths and to accept each other despite these differences. And it has to start early. It has to be seamless for young readers so their acceptance of diversity is so inherent in their experiences that they don’t know any other way. Then, they can feel validated when they see someone like themselves overcoming obstacles in the pages they read at home and in school. If that had been the case for me, I wonder how it might have shaped the person I am today.

See, when I was younger, I was not a fan of reading at all. I despised it. My older sister could lock herself in her bedroom for days and read books as if she didn’t need food because her books were nourishment enough, but I couldn’t. I didn’t. Books were boring. I wonder if I had found books that I saw myself in, that sucked me into the world of literature, whether I’d be telling a different story about my past right now. It really wasn’t until the Harry Potter series came out that I began loving to read, and I was reluctant to pick those books up—I didn’t even touch them until I was well into my late teenage years because of my aversion to reading. And even so, those books didn’t reflect me; they were just so entertaining to read. So this made me wonder: what if as a young teenager, I had found a book like The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, and had the chance to read about a young black girl coexisting in both a very black and also white world. Or, who’s natural hair stands tall and proud on the cover of the book. Might that have colored my world in a different way? Even as an adult, reading this book touched me at such a deep level because I could relate to Starr in multiple ways.

JaNay holding one of her baby cousins

All children should have this opportunity: to see themselves while also being able to learn about and see others who are different than they are. And then learn to embrace diversity. And so I write.

With Grandma’s Tiny House: A Counting Story, I’ve already heard so many people of differing backgrounds and skin colors say “that’s how it was at my grandma’s house, too!” Talk about breaking down stereotypical walls with works that double as mirrors and windows as readers see themselves and realize the similarities they share with each other. I can’t wait to have discussions with children about their own family gatherings, so they can hear from the kids in their classes and see that many share similar traditions—whether it’s piling into a grandma’s house, eating similar dishes, or something else entirely.

So, I am realizing that I do write because I love it, because it’s a part of me and has always been. But, I am also writing to help add my own shades of color to children’s literature, adding my mirrors so others can see themselves, too. And what an accomplishment it would be for children’s literature if in the future, when Vivian talks about the books she read and was read to as a child, and those she studied in school, that she can’t choose just one to talk about because so many reflect her. That would show progress.

And progress is a really, really good thing.

Purchase Grandma's Tiny House: A Counting Story for your readers today!

Board Books – A Head-start for Babies 1

Author-illustrator Phyllis Limbacher Tildes reminisces on her motivation for creating board books for babies and her own personal connection to educational reading.

In my twenty-two years with Charlesbridge, I have been fortunate to have authored and/or illustrated twenty-three books. Perhaps the most gratifying have been my baby board books. What a thrill it has been to know that infants as young as two weeks old are introduced to an interactive experience with their parents through my illustrations and simple words.

Baby Animals Black and White has been continually in print since 1998. I believe it is in its 25th printing. Many parents and grandparents supply me with photos of their babies excitedly engaged with the graphically illustrated images of cute animal baby faces. These pictures often show loving and intimate interactions between infant and adult. I have even seen a video of a baby doing a fast belly crawl to reach an open copy of the book.

It has long been established that infants respond to bold images, especially faces, because they can stimulate eyesight and brain development. I always include human babies in the last spreads of my board books about animals. In one of my newest books with Marsha Diane Arnold, Baby Animals Take a Nap (which is in color!), I actually illustrated my son Jeff holding a sleeping infant. Two months after the release of the book I learned that I will soon be a grandma and he will be holding his own baby boy! I can’t wait to be able to read my very own books to him.

Many people have told me that my black-and-white Baby Animals series – comprised of Baby Animals Black and White (1998), Baby Animals Spots and Stripes (2015), and Baby Animals Day and Night (2016) – is a good gift choice for a baby shower. Through a local charity called The One Hundred, one of these three titles is always included in their “baby bundles,” which are given to newborns at Memorial Hospital where I live in Savannah, Georgia.

Certainly my own experience as a child, as well as my son’s was enriched by books. But that is not the case for many children whose own parents never had that kind of childhood. Because of my interest in engaging children at an early age to the magic of books, I have begun to volunteer with a wonderful local organization, Savannah Early Childhood Foundation. Quoting their President, Paul Fisher, “SECF is partnered with Parent University to create a special module called Early Learning College. This parent-centric program is designed to enhance parenting skills for caregivers of children from birth to three years old, a time when research shows the vast majority of brain development occurs. The goal is to improve a child’s school readiness by teaching their parents how to create safe, nurturing, language-rich environments during this critical stage of life.”

These classes are held at elementary schools in various neighborhoods in and around Savannah. As the word has spread, these offerings have become popular and the attendance continues to grow. Parents and grandparents bring their children, and childcare and lunch are provided. I have entertained the children with my own interactive program, reading my books and providing drawing demonstrations. I was pleased and surprised when Savannah Early Childhood Foundation purchased many of my books to be used in baby showers they have for expectant parents. I look forward to helping out in the fall in whatever capacity they feel they can use my talents. I hope to instill a sense of wonder and discovery with my books and those of other favorite authors. Perhaps these parents will hear their children say, “One more story, please!”

Phyllis’ most recent board book, Baby’s First Book of Birds and Colors

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Painting A New School Year for Charlesbridge 0

Illustrator Mika Song discusses creating the illustrations for her new book A New School Year: Stories in Six Voices

When I first read Sally Derby’s poems in A New School Year I was struck by how familiar each character felt to me. My goal for the illustrations was to keep them simple and show the emotions in the poems.

I had been volunteering as a reading tutor, so kids and classrooms were already fresh in my mind. My agent sent me photos of her son’s preschool walls to give me ideas. The rest is from my own memories. Happily, schools haven’t really changed much since my childhood. Before I started working, Susan Sherman (Art Director at Charlesbridge) sent me pages with the poems already set in their places. It made it really easy to see the overall composition of each spread. I just added my drawings wherever they balanced well with the shapes of the poems and the white space. 

Finally, I traced or just tried to copy the sketch onto watercolor paper for the final art. My favorite part of the process was mixing the different skin tones from the same three colors.

Watch a time-lapse of one of the characters (Mia) from Sally Derby’s A New School Year 

Purchase A New School Year: Stories in Six Voices for your readers today!