I am so excited! Friday, I received f&gs for my poetry picture book coming out next spring with Clarion: STAMPEDE: POEMS ABOUT THE WILD SIDE OF SCHOOL.
(An f&g, by the way, is a folded and gathered signature. It means it’s a set of the pages for my picture book, with illustrations, but the pages are just folded…they’re not bound in any way. It’s like a set of galleys/proofs.)
I have to tell you that up to this point, I had not seen a single sketch, stroke, or scene by illustrator Steven Salerno. I’m not sure if that’s the policy of Clarion, my particular editor at Clarion, or what. But while writer friends have excitedly shared sketches and thumbnails of their forthcoming books, I’ve been bouncing up and down in impatience, waiting to see something…anything…from my book! I hinted as much to my editor, but she never offered to share. I think with new trade authors, maybe they’re afraid I’d think I had input on the illustrations or something.
Anyway, when that oversized padded envelope arrived, I ripped it open to devour the f&gs.
Wow.
Steve’s colorful, stylized, retro art is so lively and funny! I wish I could show you a spread or two, but I don’t know what the rules are and I don’t want to tick anybody off! Hopefully closer to pub date I’ll be able to share a couple of spreads.
I’m so relieved. I knew I liked his style from his website (check out his site to see the wonderful children’s books he’s illustrated), but I couldn’t wait to see how he interpreted my poems. Here are covers of a few of his previous books:
Isn’t all that color and motion fantastic?
I was a little suprised at how old some of the kids look, but it’s a very stylized look, and even though the look of the characters’ age doesn’t always match the audience age (around 1st grade), I think/hope/pray kids will love it. The humor is wonderful, as the animal-like students swoop, swing, and lumber their way through the pages. It’s amazing how he manages to convey the animal a kid is being compared to through posture, clothing, expression, shape of face, etc.
One step closer to publication–yea!
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