Agent Interview: Stephen Barr (Writers House)

On February 22, 2021February 21, 2021 By Only Picture BooksIn Agent Interviews

This month, we welcome Stephen Barr to the OPB friends and family club. He’s an agent at Writers House, which is one of the largest literary agencies in the industry.

Fun fact: it’s an actual house—see for yourself!

Back to Stephen…he graduated from UCLA with a degree in English, then flew to NYC with the goal of riding the carousel in Central Park…and maybe becoming an editor. If you bribe him with a Frappuccino, he’ll confess he didn’t even know literary agents existed, but after coming up short in his hunt for one of a slew of editorial assistant jobs, he chased internships, and those were all at literary agencies. So, he landed an agent’s assistant gig at Writers house, and the rest is literary history.

But that’s not enough Stephenness. We need more! So, here are seven fun Stephen-centric bio-facts.

He had a New York Times article written about him in 2011 where he confessed to being “freakishly, dangerously ambitious.”
His clients include David Macaulay (Caldecott Medalist and MacArthur Fellow), Emily Hughes, and Christopher Silas Neal
He loves silly and/or sweet and/or heartbreaking picture books
His Twitter bio awesomely claims “customer at Pancake House”
He’s 110% pro-lightsaber
He wrote and recorded a song to score a book trailer for the very first book he found in the slush pile
He met his future wife in the spiral staircase at Writers House, five years before their first date

For those of you who want to check out Stephen social-media-wise, here are some URLs. Everyone else? Let’s get to that interview!

RVC: You joined Writers House in 2008. What’s the story of how you got there? Where did you develop the itch for agenting?

SB: Had I known that literary agents existed, I suspect I would’ve been pretty laser focused on becoming one! But editors are more visible cultural figures, I’d argue, in a way that literary agents are not, so the former was all I knew while growing up as a bookworm.

After graduating from college in Southern California, moving to New York with crossed fingers and whiffing a handful of interviews for editorial assistant positions, I started interning at Writers House and saw how much room for variety and self-starting there is in agenting.

Cue the itch!

RVC: Please share your literary-world résumé gimmick.

SB: Alas, there were quite a few, some more embarrassing than others, but I landed an interview at Bantam Books by rubber-banding my resume around a Batman action figure, which I’d spent a few hours adapting from “Submarine Adventure Batman” into “Editorial Assistant Bantam,” who looked stupendously nerdy (and for some reason had a trident).

RVC: Sounds totally reasonable to me, but then again I still try hard to convince people that chocolate milk comes from brown cows.

Now, since we’re being honest, one of the reasons you’ve been on my radar is your uncommonly high SPF—Smarty-Pants Factor. My evidence? There’s a lot to choose from, such as your one and only post on MS Wishlist which says “send me your epistolary novel and our correspondence can be a plot point in your larger epistolary novel. #manuscriptofmydreams.” How vital is it that clients—current or future—share your same level of hah-hahness?

SB: As long as they can successfully ignore the majority of my dad jokes, we should be fine : )

RVC: What’s your secret vice when it comes to a picture book manuscript?

SB: Double-meanings!

RVC: What are the top three reasons you reject a picture book submission?

SB: 1) no surprises 2) no heart, 3), no double-meanings!

RVC: Since you’ve brought it up twice…please offer up an example of double meanings in a picture book so I’m sure we’re on the same page.

SB: Well, I feel like there are a whole bunch of different ways to peel that banana, but Sydney Smith’s Small in the City does an inhumanly amazing job of getting twice the impact out of single lines.

RVC: Fantastic–thanks! Now, how do you describe your agenting style?

SB: Joyful, creative, collaborative, never settling, always dreaming.

RVC: At one point, you admitted in an interview that you love being an agent “cartoonishly much.” Why?

SB: Let me count the ways, etc. But certainly because it’s given me a golden opportunity to help good people make their dreams come true (and when those dreams come true, the world has more art in it!)

RVC: What’s a favorite author success story?

SB: It’s impossible to pick just one, so here are ninety! Or okay, I’ll at least start with Bethany Barton, who’s practically a walking picture book herself (in terms of her energy, her expressiveness, her casual profundity, etc.) but needed a nudge to carve out time from the rest of her busy artistic life to devote to picture books. Her first two books (This Monster Needs a Haircut and This Monster Cannot Wait!) were supremely delightful but never quite took off…so we were talking about who knows what one afternoon when she mentioned these terrifying spiders that had taken up residence in her studio and how, even though she desperately wanted to squash them, she was “trying to love spiders.”

Bethany’s heart is Guinness-world-record-sized, so it was an utterly Bethany thing to say, but we also immediately realized it was the title of her next book…so what felt like seventeen seconds later, she resurfaced with a perfect dummy for I’m Trying to Love Spiders, which launched a series of briskly-selling books about facing your fears with curiosity that’s now moving on to its fifth installment, I’m Trying to Love Garbage.

RVC: One last question for this part of the interview. (Spoiler—it’s a toughie.) What type of long-term effect do you see COVID-19 having on the kidlit industry?

SB: I was speaking about this to a fellow at the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. (a front for Dave Eggers’ 826 NYC literacy non-profit) and the combination of 1) school districts hustling to provide their students with sufficient technology to support remote learning and 2) authors and publishers adapting so many of their events to online spaces means that more schools serving low-income students will be able to bring those students in front of more authors, without budget issues or technology issues standing in the way!

RVC: Alright, Stephen…you are now entering…THE LAND OF THE SIX-QUESTION SPEED ROUND! ARE YOU READY?

SB: Absolutely not, but let us proceed.

RVC: Your six questions start…NOW! Best place in NYC for an astonishingly good cupcake?

SB: If my son eats more than one cupcake from Ladybird Bakery in Park Slope, he’s capable of generating an apocalypse.

RVC: West Wing, Mad Men, or Twin Peaks?

SB: Twin Peaks, unless it’s past midnight, in which case it would be too scary, in which case I’ll just color in my Twin Peaks coloring book.

RVC: You’re hosting a picture-book pizza party picnic and can bring four picture book friends. Who gets the invites?

SB: Wait, is this real humans in the picture book world, or picture book characters? Either way, Elephant & Piggie and George & Martha.

RVC: What’s the One That Got Away?

SB: Cindy Derby, bless her beautifully odd heart.

RVC: Last non-Writers House picture book that you just loved.

SB: The humongous deluxe edition of Big Picture Press’s MAPS by Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielińscy, which is perfect for just leaving open in your living room every day while a little bit of the world slips into your life.

RVC: If you had an agenting motto, it’d be…

SB: in Latin, and I wouldn’t understand it.

RVC: Thanks oodles, Stephen! This was quite the experience!

Educational Activities: Anonymouse by Vikki VanSickle

On February 15, 2021February 15, 2021 By Only Picture BooksIn Educational Activities

Anonymouse
Author: Vikki VanSickle
Illustrator: Anna Pirolli
9 February 2021
Tundra Books
40 pages

I’ve always liked street art, and the work of Banksy seems to serve as an inspiration for this fine, fun tale.

Book description from Goodreads: “Animal-friendly street art is popping up all over the city, but who is creating these masterpieces? There is no explanation, only a name: Anonymouse. For fans of Sidewalk Flowers and Art & Max.

Art for the birds.
Art for the ants.
Art for the dogs, cats, and raccoons.
Art to make them laugh, make them think, make them feel at home.
But who is creating it?
Only Anonymouse knows for sure …

This clever tale mixes street art, animals, and gorgeous illustrations to create a meditation on how art can uplift any creature’s spirit — human or animal — when it speaks directly to them. Every page of Anna Pirolli’s stunning artwork is its own masterpiece with its bold pops of colour and sly humor, elevating Vikki VanSickle’s subtle but evocative text.”

Need some reviews of Anonymouse?

Educational Activities inspired by Anonymouse:

Before Reading–From looking at the front and back cover:
- Where and when do you think this story takes place?
- What do you think this story will be about?
- What’s strange about the A in the title?
  - If you don’t know the word “anonymous,” here’s the definition!
- Why do you think the artist chose the bright pink berry color to use on the cover?
- What kind of animals do you see on the front and back cover?
  - Are there any that surprise you?
After Reading–Now that you’ve read the book:
- Which of Anonymouse’s pieces of art did you like the most?
- Why do you think Anonymouse kept his identity a secret?
- How did you feel when Anonymouse seemed to vanish from the story? (“There hadn’t been anything new from Anonymouse in a long time.”)
- Is Anonymouse gone for good?
  - If not, why not?
- In what ways were the animals affected by the artwork of Anonymouse?
- What other story/book/film/tv show does Anonymouse remind you of?
Writing–There are a number of mysteries at the heart of this story.
- Who IS Anonymouse?
- Why does Anonymouse choose to remain anonymous?
- Where does Anonymouse go when he’s not creating public art?
- Why does he give away his art versus sell it or display it in a gallery or museum?
- Take any one of these as inspiration, then write a brief story that explains the answer. Handle it in any way you that you choose–silly, serious, scary, weird. When you’re done, consider sharing it with a friend or adult. (Artists of all types–including Anonymouse–love to share their work with others.)
Art–Clearly this is a book about creating visual art. Use crayons, colored pencils, or makers to create your own artistic response to it. If an adult agrees and will supervise, perhaps let your canvas be a wall, a sidewalk, or anything like Anonymouse used in the story! Otherwise, paper or poster board is still a terrific option. Consider sharing your artwork with a friend or adult, and explain your creative choices.
Crafting–Try your hand at one or more of the following crafts. Get an art- or mouse-loving adult to help:
- Big Paper Mouse–This one’s got a video to show you every step.
- Easy Paper Mouse Craft–This one makes a lovely mouse–no doubt about it!
- Even Easier Paper Mouse Craft–Perfect for Valentine’s Day or just because. All you need are paper, scissors, and glue.
- Styrofoam Mouse Craft–Just ignore when they slip and start calling it a “handprint chicken craft.” The rest is all good and it really does make a super-cool mouse!
- Toilet Paper Roll Mouse–This requires printing a template, but other than that, it’s quite doable and cute.
Further Reading–Which of these other picture books about amazing mice have you read? (Click on any book cover for more information about these titles!)

Author Interview: Beth Ferry

On February 8, 2021February 9, 2021 By Only Picture BooksIn Author Interviews

When I saw that Beth Ferry’s website had this quote from Albus Dumbledore (“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic”), I knew she’d be a terrific choice for the February 2021 Author Interview at OPB.

Plus, she was already on my radar thanks to my trip to Book Expo America in May 2019.

Hmm…I wonder why…

In case you don’t see the fun here, the banner (above) for Beth’s book (below) was about fifty feet long. Maybe bigger.

Before we get to Beth directly, let’s do a little more backgrounding.

Beth:

loves every shade of purple
has mad love for bulldogs
lives within a stone’s throw of a New Jersey beach
only grows pumpkins in her garden
can never have enough lemon cookies and hot tea
adores Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables

And she’s the author of more than a dozen picture books including these fine titles (which I heartily endorse).

Okay, now that we’ve gotten a good sense of who Beth is and what she’s about, let’s dive into the interview.

Website: www.bethferry.com

Twitter: @bethferry1

Instagram: @bethferry1

RVC: What role did SCBWI (Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators) play in your writing journey?

BF: SCBWI was the first real resource that helped me understand how publishing works. It answered the many questions I had and showed me how much I really needed to learn. SCBWI taught me to treat my writing as a profession. Once I approached writing that way, it helped focus me.

RVC: What were some crucial mentor texts in those early years of writing?

BF: The first book that comes to mind is Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. That book made me realize the simplicity, the complexity, the brilliance, and the sublime silliness inherent in the best picture books. It was the book I remember having on my desk when I wrote Stick and Stone.

RVC: What’s the story behind Stick and Stone, your first picture book sale?

BF: I brought Stick and Stone to NJ SCBWI’s June 2011 conference. I had a one-on-one with an editor from Penguin who gave me some really positive feedback. He encouraged me to get an agent.

RVC: Is that how you ended up with super-agent Elena Giovinazzo at Pippin Properties?

BF: Like I said, I was told: “Get an agent.”

Three little words.

One BIG task.

RVC: Totally agree!

BF: I submitted Stick and Stone to Pippin in the fall of 2011 and Elena pulled it from the slush pile and sold it in December. How’s that for crazy?

RVC: I often tell my students that hard work + timing + luck is the winning combo. Clearly it was for you, too!

But back to that first book. The hardest part of writing Stick and Stone was __________.

BF: …keeping to the word count I set for myself. I gave myself the goal of writing a story in under 200 words. I began writing Stick and Stone in prose, but couldn’t keep to the word count, so I decided to try it in rhyme. Once I switched over to rhyme, it just worked.

RVC: What surprised you most about Tom Lichtenheld’s illustrations?

BF: How perfect they were. Tom sent 3 different versions of the book for us to consider. I’m sure that every author you interview will tell you that the feeling of seeing the art for your very first book for the very first time is magical, indescribable, euphoric. And it is. Tom’s illustrations brought the story to life in the most perfect way. What surprised me even more is what a great guy he is. I’m extremely lucky to get to work with someone as talented and wise as he is.

RVC: Picture books are a whole bunch of collaborations of one type or another, but perhaps the most important is the author + agent combo. Why are you and Elena such a great fit?

BF: Elena understands that I’m prolific and supports me fully, no matter how many manuscripts I send her. She often pushes me to write things I may not have considered writing, such as graphic novels and chapter books. I know she believes in me and that helps me through the ups and downs of publishing.

RVC: What’s Elena’s superpower?

BF: Persistence! She never gives up on a story that we both love, or that I feel very strongly about. If it gets rejected a number of times, we might take a break from submission, but I know she’ll never give up on it, which really translates to knowing she’ll never give up on me.

If that’s not a superpower, I don’t know what is.

RVC: When did you realize that you could do this for a living? And how did you know?

BF: That’s a great question with not a great answer. I write because I love it, because I can’t not write. I would do it even if I couldn’t make a living at it. There’s no magic moment where you believe you’ve made it or done it. There’s always just the next book. The next great idea.

RVC: You just had a new book come out in January—Marsha Is Magnetic. When I first read it, I was struck by the pace of the book. When you turn in a manuscript like this, are you marking the page breaks yourself? How conscious are you of crafting effective page turns?

BF: I never paginate any of my manuscripts and actually don’t consciously consider page turns. I know how important they are, yet I focus more on making sure the story is satisfying. That’s my favorite word to describe a successful picture book – satisfying!

RVC: It seems as if you like rhyme even though you write plenty of books that don’t use it. In those non-rhyming books (like Marsha Is Magnetic) how much do you tinker with the text to get the sound and rhythm satisfying?

BF: I love writing in rhyme and I always try to have some type of rhyme in all my books, whether it’s internal rhyme or just a rhyming couplet thrown in there somewhere. But you’re totally right that there’s a rhythm and pace to all picture books and I work really hard to make sure that my books have this. I spend most of my time tweaking my stories until I love how they sound when I read them aloud.

RVC: And…you’ve got a new book coming out in just over a month. It’s a bedtime story entitled The Nice Dream Truck. Care to give us a little teaser?

BF: Oh, how I love everything about this book. Playing with the words ice cream was the spark for the story and anything that has to do with ice cream and words is pretty excellent in my book. And this book explores the idea that nice dreams can be served up just like ice cream. It’s a bedtime story that encourages children to choose what they want to dream about right before going to sleep. I’ll have a triple scoop of bulldog puppies, please!

RVC: Me, too! Sounds sleepily scrumptious.

How do you handle making a bedtime book engaging while not revving a kid up so much that they (ironically) can’t get to sleep?

BF: I think the moments right before we fall asleep are when our minds are open to anything. We revisit parts of our day or we think of things we’re looking forward to. The idea that children can and should dream about goals or hopes or even fantastical romps with narwhals seems like such a satisfying way to head into dreamland.

RVC: In what ways did illustrator Brigette Barrager expand your original vision for The Nice Dream Truck?

BF: Brigette’s color palette is so dreamy and perfect. It totally captured the nighttime feel I had imagined, but her use of popsicles and ice cream scoops and cones for all the dream scenarios was such a wonderful surprise. Every page is full of ice cream! It makes so much sense, but it still surprised me!

RVC: You seem like you’ve got a very full plate in terms of your writing—witness five picture books coming out in 2021, and four in 2022! Congrats on all that success. How do you balance new work and under-contract projects? Between your writing and non-writing life?

BF: Time is such a strange thing. They say, if you want something done, ask a busy person. Which used to be me. But my three little “busys” have grown up, so now there’s not much difference between my writing life and my non-writing life.

RVC: One last question for this part of the interview. Clearly, you’re a Harry Potter fan. If you had JK’s blessing to do a Potter-themed picture book, what would you do?

BF: What a fun question! I think I’d have to do an unexpected friendship story, possibly between Hedwig and another owl. I’ve always wanted to do an owl book!

RVC: As JK might say, “Aparecium Interview Part 2!” which means, of course, that it’s now time for the SPEED ROUND. Zippy questions and zappy answers. Ready?

BF: Hit me!

RVC: Best place in Jersey for slice of pizza?

BF: Carmen’s Pizzeria in Neptune, a.k.a. Pete and Elda’s.

RVC: What’s your biggest time waster?

BF: Watching Top Chef. I don’t even like to cook.

RVC: Which of your picture book characters thinks they’re most like you?

BF: Swashby!

RVC: Which of your picture book characters is ACTUALLY most like you?

BF: The whale from A Small Blue Whale.

RVC: What are some recent picture books that really got your attention?

BF: I just read The Infamous Ratsos by Kara LaReau and loved it so much (although technically, it’s a chapter book.) I also thoroughly enjoyed the sweetness of Truman by Jean Reidy. I Really Want the Cake by Simon Philip made me laugh. And Tom Lichtenheld’s Louis, which he wrote, but did not illustrate, completely charmed me.

RVC: Best compliment a child ever gave your books?

BF: The very first time I read Stick and Stone to a group of 4‑year olds, they clapped. I was so surprised and delighted. I will never forget that day.

RVC: Thanks so much, Beth! Best of luck with your new titles this year!

BF: Thank you, Ryan, for these wonderful questions. I really enjoyed this.

Picture Book Review: Outside, Inside by LeUyen Pham

On February 1, 2021February 1, 2021 By Only Picture BooksIn Picture Book Reviews1 Comment

Outside, Inside

Author: LeUyen Pham
Illustrator: LeUyen Pham

Roaring Brook Press
5 January 2021
48 pages

This month’s PB review is by Ryan G. Van Cleave (Semi-Professional Insider at Only Picture Books) and Ringling College of Art and Design Illustration Professor (and OPB pal) David C. Gardner.

–Ryan’s Review of the Writing–

The story is quiet, calm, and simple. People who were once outside are now inside. And it’s not just people in one or two places who go inside–it’s “Everyone. Everywhere. All over the world.” But she adds, “Well, almost everyone. Some people needed to be…where they needed to be.”

Who are these people who are exempt from heading indoors? The art that tells us–it’s people from hospitals, police stations, and fire departments. And they’re all wearing face masks.

While the words “virus,” “pandemic,” and “COVID” aren’t included anywhere, that’s clearly what this book is addressing–it’s a fine example of an “of the moment” book. Pham captures the worldwide scope of the coronavirus situation via artwork showing people of all types, and the constant use of “We.” She does an admirable job of presenting both the private and public experiences of a world facing the challenges of a pandemic.

The art style seems to create some of the tension many of us have felt over the past year. I think it has to do with the textures and colors, but I’ll leave it to David to dig deeper into that aspect of things. Since Pham admits that she never thinks of the words first, I suspect there’s a rich trove of details to examine in the art that launched this book.

Regardless, it’s very hard to create a picture book that deals with such a topical issue, but Pham dodges both sentimentality and didacticism with the only attempt at nudging people toward specific action being in this spread below, near the end of the book.

Outside, Inside ends on an appropriate, uplifting note: “And we remembered that soon spring would come. Inside…and outside.” Utilizing the metaphorical versus the literal here is a wise choice that helps open up the book and make it feel bigger than other “of the moment” texts.

This book is a welcome, timely response to a crisis that has dominated our world for a year and requires vital, careful conversations with the children in our lives going forward. Well done, LeUyen Pham.

4.75 out of 5 pencils

–David’s Review of the Illustrations–

LeUyen Pham’s evocative cover sets the tone: a girl and her pet black cat, seen from behind, looking through a window. Outside, only white. It’s a playful and mysterious image – I couldn’t help wondering what was out there.

The book starts with a bustling neighborhood street, full of people. In the next spread, the same street is empty.

Something strange is going on.

Even without the words, we can see that. When the people disappear inside, they seem to take the bright colors with them. The palette becomes muted.

The book, we realize, is a visual journal, showing empty shops and everyday people grounded in everyday details: laptops, masks, indoor activities. And hopeful moments, too: a teddy bear in a window, a family happily baking bread, a drive-by birthday party.

Double spreads are interspersed with vignettes, illustrated scenes like snapshots, images that are common to us all now: Kids playing board games, attending online classes, parents worrying over bills to pay.

The artist has said that she based the pictures on daily drawings she made, recording the pandemic for herself, sketching moments from each day.

An especially effective spread is a mosaic of these vignettes centered around a hospital. In one image, an exhausted health care worker naps on a breakroom couch while another calls home.

We see other cartoon photos of exhausted nurses and doctors, patients on gurneys, and families, all types, huddled in concern and support.

At some point, the artist opens the story up to include the world. Early in her career, Ms. Pham worked as a layout artist for Dreamworks Animation, and her attention to environment and regional architectural details is quite effective. She tells us in pictures: This situation is global.

Still, she uses a light touch. The world never seems too big or overwhelming. In a brilliant, subtle bit of visual storytelling, the girl and her cat act as our tour guides. The bold, simple shapes reminded me of the lighthearted, gouache-painted Golden Book illustrations of Disney great Mary Blair. There are plenty of vibrant colors to appeal to a child, but she balances them with grayed tones that keep the story grounded in our shared, often challenging, reality.

In the end, the artist’s overall tone is one of hopefulness.

She visualizes this with plants, outside and inside. Growing things: A potted plant leafing out as the book progresses, trees that bud and bloom.

One especially effective passage near the book’s end suggests that we are all the same inside. Reaching a colorful crescendo, the flood of hearts could seem cliché as a visual symbol, but in this artist’s hands, the valentines become a lovely, moving design, a powerful extension of the text.

Ms. Pham captures the pandemic and the lockdown with a reporter’s eye and an artist’s big spirit. Whimsical and heart-tugging, the illustrations strike the perfect tone for a children’s book. This is a much-needed report from the trenches, and each page-turn offers a perspective that is sure to comfort children – and their grown-ups.

It certainly comforted me.

5 out of 5 crayons

David C. Gardner is an award-winning illustrator and visual development artist. A former artist for Walt Disney Animation Studios, he has illustrated numerous picture books, including his latest from Sleeping Bear Press, Write On, Irving Berlin! by Leslie Kimmelman (which appeared on OPB in May 2018). It tells the true story of little Izzy Baline, who immigrated to New York City in 1893 and grew up to become Irving Berlin, one of the most well-known composers of popular music in America. David teaches illustration at Ringling College of Art and Design.

To learn more about David’s own work, please visit FlyingDogStudio.com.