Month: June 2021

Agent Interview: Adria Goetz (Martin Literary Management)

On By Only Picture BooksIn Agent Interviews5 Comments

This month’s Industry Insider Interview is with Adria Goetz, a Senior Literary Manager at Martin Literary Management. In addition to earning a BA in English (with a creative writing emphasis) from the University of Washington, she graduated from The Columbia Publishing Course’s intensive coursework in all aspects of book, magazine, and digital media publishing.

Before moving into her current role, Adria worked in the Pierce County Library System’s Communications department, in addition to spending three years as an intern and assistant at Martin Literary.

These days, she lives in an old Victorian farmhouse in the Seattle area—which she dearly hopes is haunted with friendly ghosts—with her husband and two cats.

Adria represents a wide range of writing, including:

  • picture books
  • middle grade
  • young adult
  • graphic novels
  • adult fiction (especially rom-​coms, female-​driven thrillers/​suspense, and general fiction)
  • quirky gift books
  • Christian devotionals

Let’s share some links and get right to the interview!

RVC: I’ve heard rumors that you’ve got a secret weapon in terms of your agenting—the 5 in 5 Rule. Care to dish?

AG: Sure! The 5 in 5 rule is: if I can’t think of 5 specific editors I’d send a project to within reading five chapters of a manuscript, I pass. This is because I want to make sure that if I offer representation to someone, it’s because I love their work but also because I think I’m the right advocate for them. If I don’t have a good sense for which editors would be a good fit for a project, then I’m probably not the right fit for that writer and am better off cheering them on from the sidelines, rather than guiding their career.

RVC: What’s the picture book equivalent of 5 in 5?

AG: I think it’s the same general idea with picture books, in that when I’m reviewing a picture book submission, I really need to make sure that I have a strong sense for which editors are looking for that type of project. Most of the time with picture books, I can make that call at based off their pitch/​description of the project in their query letter. If the concept excites me, then I’ll take a good look at the manuscript to review the writing.

RVC: What appeals to you most about picture books?

AG: I’m a very visual person and I’ve always loved art (my house is covered in art and wallpaper with lots of different patterns and textures), so I love that picture books are a very unique and specific form of visual storytelling.

RVC: What was the story of your first picture book sale?

AG: Aw! The first picture book I ever sold was Rice from Heaven, which was written by Tina Cho and illustrated by Keum Jin Song, and sold to Little Bee Books. I represented the author, Tina Cho, who crafted a really interesting manuscript based on a real story of people in South Korea who fill giant balloons full of rice and float them over the mountainous border into North Korea, with the hope that they’ll be able to help feed the starving, impoverished people who live there. It’s a beautiful story of empathy and kindness.

RVC: That sounds absolutely lovely.

AG: We submitted it to a small list of publishers, and we received good feedback, but it felt like something was missing. It was sort of a straightforward text at the time. I shared the manuscript with my colleague Clelia Gore [OPB interjection and horn-​tooting here–we interviewed her back in 2020!] to get her perspective, and she encouraged us to rework the language to make it feel more lyrical. Once I gave that simple note to Tina, it was like she knew exactly what to do. She reworked it to make it more lyrical and poetic, and the text came to life. We shopped that new version and sold it pretty quickly to Little Bee Books.

Tina Cho was one of the first clients I ever signed, and she really, really took a chance on a brand new, very green agent. Since then, we’ve done a slew of books together: Rice from Heaven (Little Bee Books, 2018), Korean Celebrations (Tuttle, 2018), My Breakfast with Jesus (Harvest House Kids, 2020), The Ocean Calls (Kokila, 2020) which received three starred reviews, and an upcoming graphic novel-​in-​verse called The Other Side of Tomorrow, which will publish with HarperAlley in 2023. There will be many more in the future, too!

RVC: I know The Ocean Calls quite well. It even made it onto the OPB 20 Favorites of 2020 list!

AG: It’s a very special book!

RVC: What about Rice from Heaven initially grabbed you in manuscript form?

AG: I loved that it showed an example of a tangible way to show kindness in a very conflict-​filled world.

RVC: Let’s get into the agenting day-​to-​day stuff. You recently announced on Twitter that while you’ve never closed to queries before, you’re temporarily doing that. How bloated did you inbox get?

AG: That’s right, this is the first time I’ve EVER closed since I started agenting! It’s bittersweet because I love getting to review submissions every day. I’ve never felt like, “Ugh, my slush pile.” I still think it’s somewhat magical to wake up every morning and have a bunch of new stories in my inbox, waiting for me to read them. I only closed because I am taking a temporary medical leave while I recover from an upcoming surgery. (Nothing scary, for what it’s worth.) I already can’t wait to open back up, though!

RVC: I’ll definitely be sending you some warm, healing thoughts!

AG: Thanks!

RVC: In the past, you’ve given a workshop entitled “The Art of the Query Letter.” What’s the extra pizzazz you recommend people use to capture the attention of an agent or editor?

AG: I love teaching that workshop! The most important part of query letters is to make sure to include all of the basics: title, genre, reader category (meaning PB, MG, YA, etc.), word count, concise pitch, comp titles, and an author bio.

My hyper-​specific “pro tip” is to use a specific subject line in your email. When I receive a query, the first place I usually see it is on my phone when I get an email notification. So if I see the subject line “Query” or “Submission” it doesn’t catch my eye and I’ll probably quickly shuffle it to my query folder to look at later. But if I were to see the subject line “Query for MG Fantasy – THE LIBRARY OF CURIOSITIES” I’m instantly intrigued, and probably going to stop everything I’m doing to take a look. And that did happen, by the way, when Jenny Lundquist queried me with The Library of Curiosities, which we are now shopping. 🙂

RVC: When you start reading queries again, what type of picture books would you be most interested in seeing? Mermaids? Raccoons? Ghosts? Karaōke? Something else?

AG: Yes to all of those! Also, my picture book trinity tends to be the three following categories: humor, Own Voices, and magical.

RVC: I find that writers often aren’t sure how to navigate a career that spans both the Christian and general marketplace. What advice do you have for them? 

AG: I would say: learn how to tailor your projects for both markets. Some projects might be inspired by scripture, but if they don’t directly reference the Bible or the Christian faith, they could potentially appeal to the general market. It works the other way around, too. Rice from Heaven by Tina Cho and Keum Jin Song, Taste Your Words by Bonnie Clark and Todd Bright, and The Other Side of Tomorrow by Tina Cho and Deb Lee are a few examples of projects that were pitched to both markets.

RVC: Do you have other clients who offer a good blueprint for this kind of wide-​ranging career?

AG: Caryn Rivadeneira and Dave Connis both write for the general market and the Christian market, and juggle things beautifully, I think.

RVC: Speaking of advice, what’s the best piece of agenting advice you ever received?

AG: My boss Sharlene Martin has always said, “You can’t get what you don’t ask for.” And my colleague Clelia Gore has oftentimes told me, “Plead your case.” I keep both of these in mind when I’m negotiating for my clients, or advocating on their behalf. It’s amazing what you can get if you just ask for what you want, and explain why you should get it. It’s very intuitive and it’s basically Negotiating 101, but it’s stuck with me because I remember when I was a kid watching Trump on “Celebrity Apprentice” and just thinking… there’s no way I could ever be a businesswoman that negotiates because I thought you had to be a bully in order to be good at negotiating. It seemed so scary to me. Now that I’m in the real world as an adult, working with all female mentors and in a heavily female industry, I know that when it comes to negotiating, just being smart and respectful in negotiations can usually get you what you want.

RVC: I ask this a lot, but writers want me to keep asking, so here goes. What are your thoughts on illustration notes?

AG: I think a handful of illustration notes in a picture book manuscript is just fine. I encourage my clients to only use them when it’s something that is crucial to the storytelling, and can only happen within the illustrations themselves. It’s also a project-​by-​project basis. For example, comedic picture books that utilize dissonance between what the character is saying and what is happening in the art, like The Big Bed by Bunmi Laditan, might require more notes to clearly communicate what’s going on in the story.

RVC: We’re on the same page here, it seems. We reviewed The Big Bed, as well!

Now, here’s a weird curveball question—in your “My Favorite Books” board on Pinterest, you have Lisel Mueller’s Alive Together: New and Selected Poems. She’s one of my top five poets of all time because of how she (among other things) manipulates language and animates the world with wonder and sorrow in equal measure. I could go on and on about the bittersweet, shadowy depths of her writing.

What do you like about her work?

AG: Oh my goodness, that collection of poetry is just pure magic, isn’t it? I pulled out my copy this morning and have been rereading all of the dog-​eared and marked-​up pages I have. I personally love reading poetry that feels very accessible, but still has depth to it, which is exactly how I would describe her work. You can see how much empathy and imagination and whimsy she had as a person, but as someone who was a young girl in Germany as the Nazis were rising to power, and then immigrated with her family to the United States, she experienced a lot of trauma and grief at a very formative time in her life, and you can see that in her work. So, her poetry has whimsy, but it also has grit, and I think that’s a really captivating combination.

P.S. It makes me so happy to think of people visiting that Pinterest board, so thank you!

RVC: Happy to help!

Now… last question for this part of the interview. What’s a current picture book project that you’re totally stoked about?

AG: Lou by Breanna Carzoo. It’s about a fire hydrant named Lou who has grown weary of being the neighborhood dog toilet. It’s hilarious, the art is incredible, and I’m so excited for it to publish with HarperCollins in 2022.

RVC: Hah–sounds great! But now it’s time for the SPEED ROUND. Blasty fasty question and zippy skippy answers please. Are…you…ready?

AG: Let’s do it.

RVC: Dinosaurs, dragons, or dolphins?

AG: Dragons.

RVC: Best place to get a Seattle cup of coffee?

AG: Jewel Box Café. Mostly because of the atmosphere—it has a very dark academia aesthetic, you feel like you’re having a cup of coffee in the Beauty and the Beast library.

RVC: If you had to be “trapped” in a picture book for a day, what book would you choose?

AG: Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall! I’d love to be a lighthouse keeper.

RVC: What’s a recent Christian picture book that really got your attention?

AG: I thought The Wonder That Is You by Glenys Nellist and Aurelie Blanz was beautiful.

RVC: What’s the One That Got Away?

AG: Oh, gosh! Just one? So many people have turned me down over the years! Well, there is one wonderful author/​illustrator in particular who comes to mind, but I won’t mention her by name. She signed with an incredible agent though, so I really don’t blame her!

RVC: Your picture book philosophy in five words or less.

AG: Every child deserves a mirror.

RVC: Thanks so much, Adria! This has been fun.

Educational Activities: Albert Einstein by Inspired Inner Genius

On By Only Picture BooksIn Educational Activities

Albert Einstein
Author: Stephanie Willis
Illustrator: Aimee Hawk
30 March 2021
Inspired Inner Genius
34 pages

Book description from Goodreads: “Today, Einstein is widely recognized as a genius and one of the greatest physicists in history, but things didn’t start off that way. Einstein was slow at speech and spoke only from the age of 3. Despite his slow start, Einstein was always curious and imaginative. It was these qualities that eventually lead to some of his craziest ideas and experiments. Some of his most famous inventions include the mass energy equivalence formula E = MC2, the theory of relativity and quantum theory.

Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. — Albert Einstein

Imagine the disaster if Einstein stopped inventing because of fear. Now, imagine the possibilities if everyone explored courageously just like him. Let’s realize that imagination.”

Educational Activities inspired by Inspired Inner Genius’ Albert Einstein:

  • Before Reading–From looking at the front and back cover: 
    • Where and when do you think this story takes place?
    • Does think this book will be real or make believe?
    • What does the name “Albert Einstein” mean to you?
    • From looking at the images around him, what kind of work do you think Albert does?
  • After Reading–Now that you’ve read the story: 
    • Who was Albert Einstein?
    • Why was Albert so important?
    • How did you feel when that teacher said Albert would never amount to anything?
    • Why didn’t Albert give up when no one took his ideas about science seriously?
    • What’s the most useful lesson from Albert’s life?
    • Which of the pictures of Albert do you like the most? Why?
  • Creativity–Part of what made Albert Einstein so successful in everything he did was his creativity, which is finding new and useful ways of doing or thinking about something. Let’s practice that ourselves! How many different uses can you think of for a sock? A paperclip? A pencil? Consider having a contest with a friend to see who can dream up the most new possibilities in one minute.
  • Art–Albert Einstein had a lot of ideas about the sun and our planets. Make a drawing of your favorite planet, whether it’s Earth or not! Feel free to get creative with how you handle color, size, shape, and style. Have fun with it–Albert would approve!
  • Crafting–Try your hand at one or more of the following crafts (use recyclable materials when you can!) about the many things we find in space–Albert Einstein loved looking at and thinking about space! Get an adult to help, just to be on the safe side: 
  • Further Reading–Which of these other picture books about famous scientists have you read? (Click on any book cover for more information on these titles!)

 

Author Interview: Nicola Davies

On By Only Picture BooksIn Author Interviews

June’s Author Interview is with English zoologist and writer Nicola Davies, who was one of the original presenters for the terrific BBC children’s show “The Really Wild Show.” Nicola got her first pair of binoculars at age eight, and she’s been gazing out at the world of animals ever since, from geese in Scotland to humpbacked whales in NewFoundland to chameleons in Madagascar to bat-​eared foxes in Kenya to saltwater crocodiles in Australia.

Oh, and she’s written a good number of things along the way, including novels, poetry, and picture books. A few OPB favorites include:

That’s it–thinking about those books again has me excited to hear from Nicola. Let’s get right to the interview!

RVC: Which came first—the love for animals or the love for stories?

ND: I don’t think I could separate them. I came from a family which loved both. My father trained as a biologist and was a keen naturalist but he loved poems and stories too, so information was always imparted in some kind of narrative. My mother was a natural storyteller and instinctively packaged information in narrative. So I grew up with nature poetry and story twined together.

RVC: What inspired you to combine your love of stories with the love of animals?

ND: Entirely intuitively. The natural world is full of ready-​made stories…seasonal cycles, life cycles, nutrient cycles, food chains–all of these are narratives ready and waiting to be retold.

RVC: On a scale of 1 to 10, how interested are kids in animals?

ND: Oh, about 12! I’ve never met a child who wasn’t instinctively connected with and interested in nature. That is the connection that I seek to deepen and strengthen into a lifetime bond.

RVC: Most of your kidlit seems to blend nonfiction and fiction. How do you find the balance?

ND: Narrative is a psychological carrier bag–it can carry real facts and invented ones. But with an invented narrative structure that carries real facts, the narrative itself also has to reflect reality and the factual content you want to deliver. With my hero of the wild series, real conservation stories are told through the medium of invented characters and storylines, but both character and plot are very closely based on real people and events.

The Lion Who Stole My Arm is based on a real conservation project in Mozambique, in the Niassa reserve, and the child at the centre of the story on a real child who was attacked by a lion. The only things I changed were the location of the child to just over the border in Tanzania; the age of my character is 10, the real one 5; and which arm he lost, with the real child losing the left and my character the right. Then I engineered the plot to reveal other background aspects of the real situation. It’s like patchwork!

I did the same with Ride the Wind–a story about a Chilean fisher family who catch an albatross on their long line. It conveys information about the catching of endangered sea birds but also about how some S and C American families are affected by migration to the US. Ditto my book about Hummingbirds.

RVC: Ideally, where do you want those books shelved in the library or at a bookstore?

ND: Anywhere where kids will find them! Ideally two copies–one in fiction and one in nonfiction.

RVC: You’re the first person I’ve interviewed here who worked with/​for the BBC. How did you get that gig, and what was it like?

ND: I was working on a PhD on bat feeding ecology at Bristol University, just a five-​minute walk from the NHU’s home at the BBC in Bristol. When it became obvious that the Tory government were cutting grants for primary research and that, in any case, research would be “preaching to the choir,” I jumped ship and knocked on their door until they let me in. But I wasn’t really cut out for TV–it was very competitive and I’m not good at competing.

I did discover that I could write, so I started writing scripts for the programmes I presented.

RVC: You’ve said before that “while every book is a story, every book also has its own story of how it came to be.” What’s the story behind Gaia Warriors, which is a book about climate change?

ND: My publisher was approached by James Lovelock who wanted to collaborate with a children’s writer to do a book about climate change. I was reluctant to work with him but I was persuaded, and in the end he just left me to it and we got on fine.

I wanted to do a book that gave children:

  1. the arguments to use to put forward the case to climate change deniers,
  2. hope that action is possible,
  3. examples of interesting ways to live their lives that would be stimulating, satisfying, AND fight CC.

RVC: What’s the most important thing writers should know or understand about creating a picture book that deals with a tough topic?

ND: Do your research. Talk to people who have experienced what you write about even if you also have your own experiences to draw on. Be sensitive, be brave, and remember there are as many ways to tell the same story as there are threads in a spider’s web. Find your way.

RVC: Your book Just Ducks! came out just a few months back. How do you go about writing a book like that so it’s more than just a pile of duck facts? 

ND: Find the true narrative that carries the facts. In this case it was easy…I really did live in a house by the river (the river Exe in Devon ) and I heard ducks every morning. So everything in that book happened to me multiple times. All I had to do was imagine it happening to a young child.

RVC: You’ve got a very strong view on what narrative is. Care to share it once again?

ND: It’s a piece of writing with a shape. A beginning, a middle, and an end. It should be memorable–i.e. psychologically portable. It should have a clear voice that speaks to the reader. And I like narratives with answered questions and open ends that the reader can think about and engage with.

RVC: I’m guessing that the reason you sometimes rhyme—as you do in The Secret of the Egg and other books—stems from your love of poetry. What are some strategies for getting rhyme to really work in a picture book?

ND: Well, the first is to have an editor who lets you do it. Not all allow it.

The second is don’t let the rhyme dictate the thought. Don’t use words you’d never otherwise use just to rhyme (unless you can make a really good aural joke with it). Be super careful with meter…don’t cheat!

RVC: One last question for this part of the interview. In all your experience in writing children’s literature, what has surprised you the most?

ND: I’ve had many lovely surprises from children who respond to and remember bits of my books, identify with characters, and point out things I’ve never thought of. It’s the BEST part of writing for kids.

RVC: Alright. Here we go with the Speed Round! Six fast questions coming at you, starting with…most underappreciated animal?

ND: All the ones that we allow to go extinct before we even named them. All the unseen insects and soil invertebrates that hold ecosystems together, on whom our very lives depend and which we totally ignore. Darwin understood this. That’s why he spent so much time studying earthworms.

RVC: Most underappreciated Welsh food?

ND: Lava bread. It looks a bit like fresh cow poo but is wonderful and very good for you. (It’s seaweed!)

RVC: Which animal would you most want to write a picture book biography about you?

ND:The tiger in my new novel The Song That Sings Us. He’s called Skrimsli.

RVC: Your favorite animal picture book of 2020?

ND: The Lost Spells by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris.

RVC: Your one-​sentence mission as a picture book author?

ND: To fan the spark of childhood curiosity into a lifelong bonfire.

RVC: Best compliment a child reader ever gave you?

ND: About my book The Promise, a very disadvantaged child from a school in Boston said, “THAT BOOK WAS ABOUT ME!” 

RVC: Thanks so much, Nicola! This was terrific.

Picture Book Review: Keeping the City Going by Brian Floca

On By Only Picture BooksIn Picture Book Reviews

27 April 2021
40 pages

This month’s PB review is by Ryan G. Van Cleave (#1 city-​goer at Only Picture Books) and freelance author/​illustrator Kelly Light.

–Ryan’s Review of the Writing–

Brian Floca’s new picture book, Keeping the City Going, tells a familiar story since it’s one we all lived some version of since early 2020. Our narrator is a young child who immediately turns the story’s focus outward into the “almost, but not entirely” empty streets where a few people are “there because we need them.” What Floca is directing our attention to are those who continued to work to keep the city going when COVID-​19 threatened to shut everything down.

Bus drivers, train engineers, food delivery people, police officers, taxi drivers, trash collectors, postal carriers, package couriers, construction crews, EMTs, doctors, nurses, aides, and more–they’re all here in these pages, each nobly doing what has to be done so that we can “not feel so alone” and that we can “stay connected.”

While the art is on par with Floca’s award-​winning work in his other books–I’ll let Kelly explain why below–his attention to sound is truly interesting. It starts with the awareness that “the voice of the city is low,” but as the story continues and we witness the work of so many brave souls, the noise–the life–of the city increases. “A clap, a whistle, a call.” Then “pots BANG! Drums BOOM! Bells RING! Horns BLOW!–a racket, a din, and a row!”

The end of the book follows through on this metaphor of the city having a voice. Ultimately, this voice says what we all want it to–a well-​earned THANK YOU to the people still out on the streets, working hard to keep our city going, whether it’s NYC, Chicago, Scranton, or Sarasota.

Those who didn’t experience COVID-​19 in NYC might find it odd for Floca to be so specific about the 7pm celebrations. An Author’s Note explains that: “I took additional inspiration from neighbors I could hear cheering every evening at seven o’clock, through the spring. Home from school and home from work, isolated and with stresses and struggles of their own, they were sounding from their windows and stoops a daily expression of gratitude toward healthcare and other workers still on the job—cheers we cannot imagine to be all we owe those workers, but that helped lift morale in the early, overwhelming days of the pandemic, when the lift was badly needed.”

What’s lovely is that the children at the start of the book are here, too, showing their appreciation and happiness along with the rest. They’re part of the “we” that includes us–the readers, too.

Like LeUyen Pham’s Outside, Inside (which we reviewed here at OPB), this is an important book to help young readers make sense of the pandemic. And it’s a welcome Thank You! to a group of people–and a city–that deserves it.

This heartfelt, earnest book is both delightful and appropriate.

4.5 out of 5 pencils

 

–Kelly’s Review of the Illustrations–

I moved from Brooklyn to Western, MA in the summer of 2019. Neither you nor I could have any clue that just a year later, we would be in an unprecedented, global lockdown. I was glued to the footage on the TV of NYC. I found it hard to fathom the rush, the hum, the cacophony of NYC, hushed. I was so moved by scenes of the exuberant 7PM pot clanging and cheering to honor the essential workers.

In his book Keeping the City Going, Brian Floca captures first-​hand the experience of living in NYC in 2020 as well as capturing the fighting NYC spirit as it endures an unimaginable pandemic. Floca must have been a wartime illustrator in a past life. Ernest Shepherd, illustrator of Winnie the Pooh and master draftsman, was himself a WWI illustrator. He might look at Floca’s work here and see a kindred pencil. Managing to merge a journalistic drawing approach with visual storytelling for an audience of young readers, Keeping the City Going is a time capsule of an awful time that chooses to hold on to and depict the best of what took place in the midst of the worst year in modern history. There is an intimacy in Floca’s art where there could have been a detached voyeuristic view in the streetscapes. There is a love, simply drawn into every line, for the city he calls home.

I found myself recognizing so much in Floca’s drawings. I saw the “Thank You, Thank You, Thank You” plastic bags found in every bodega used to deliver food all over the five boroughs. I recognized the brownstones, the skyline and the corner of Smith Street in Brooklyn. “The City” has specific shapes and colors–the repetitive rectangles of bricks and buildings and doors and stoops and skyscrapers and trucks and windows. The windows are the frames, the visual device Floca uses to help us focus in and recognize one other thing: the humanity. Keeping The City Going is truly a book about humanity. New York City’s greatness is its people. The faces seen through the windows, the children, the essential workers, the families and the cats are all giving us the feeling that we, too, are peering in to the city, appreciating everyone keeping it moving.

The palette is warm and golden, as if it is summer in the city, except that there are long sleeves and pants on everyone. Perhaps his choice of palette is intentional–to warm our feelings as we heal from our collective trauma. There are down jackets and scarves on the workers and bike delivery guys, letting us know that though there is a chill in the air, there is protection.

Floca begins the book with two children tentatively pulling back a curtain to look out of a window. The children appear on several more pages and we see them join in with the joyous 7PM tribute to the service workers of the city. Watching the children find ways to acclimate to this strange way of life is reassuring and affirms that life goes on. Floca draws humans in a simplified realistic style in contrast to his obvious enjoyment of mechanical detail. The figures are drawn expertly and not “over drawn.” He could have created visual noise with never-​ending detail. Instead, he treats the people with sensitivity and restraint and good gesture drawing.

The boldest illustration in the book is of the ambulance. The EMT is looking directly out at the reader, her two dot eyes making eye contact with us. The vehicle is drawn with the technical accuracy that has garnered Floca many awards including a Caldecott for 2013’s Locomotive.

His ability to draw is unquestionable. His ability to NOT over-​draw, is his greatest gift. Using watercolor and ink, Floca lifts his pen off of the paper in all of the right places. He allows the color to do some of the work to outline form. In some places, like on the side of a sanitation truck, every lever and button and reflector and decal is drawn, but the tires? They are loose with lines wrapping around to describe the tire more than define it. The faces with masks adorned are only given a touch of ink to maintain their softness. This skill comes from observational drawing–drawing from live models and sitting with a sketchbook on a lap. Floca has the uncanny ability to show you a lot, to teach you how things are made in his drawings and in this book, and to make you feel something with his art.

Keeping the City Going is more than another historical nonfiction feat of draftsmanship that marvels at the mechanics of man-​made wonders. Floca can draw those. This time out, he applied his skills to capture the greatest act of mankind–kindness.

4.5 out of 5 colored pencils

Kelly Light lives in Amherst, MA but grew up down the shore in New Jersey surrounded by giant pink dinosaurs, cotton candy colors, and Skee-​Ball sounds. She was schooled on Saturday-​morning cartoons and Sunday funny pages. She picked up a pencil, started drawing, and never stopped.

Kelly is the author/​Illustrator of the Louise series. Louise Loves Art and Louise and Andie, The Art of Friendship are the first two picture books in the series. Louise Loves Bake Sales and Louise and The Class Pet are the first readers in HarperCollins’ I Can Read program.

Kelly has also illustrated Elvis and the Underdogs and Elvis and the Underdogs: Secrets, Secret Service, and Room Service by Jenny Lee, and The Quirks series by Erin Soderberg.

Website: www.kellylight.com