Tag: Ryan G. Van Cleave

Educational Activities: Space Mice by Lori Haskins Houran

On By Only Picture BooksIn Educational Activities

Space Mice
Author: Lori Haskins Houran
Illustrator: Priscilla Alpaugh
Albert Whitman & Co.
1 March 2020
32 pages

Book description from Goodreads: “When two hungry mice spot a giant yellow ball of cheese in the night sky, they get right to work building a rocket ship so they can take a big bite out of that glowing full moon. After sailing through starry skies, the mice arrive at the feast of their dreams–and soon the moon isn’t so full anymore! Simple, rhythmic text makes this a great read-​aloud for future astronauts.”

Need some reviews of Space Mice?

Educational Activities inspired by Lori Haskins Houran’s Space Mice:

  • Before Reading–From looking at the front and back cover: 
    • Where and when does this story seem to take place?
    • What do you already know about astronauts?
    • Why might mice want to travel into space?
    • What emotion do the mice on the cover seem to be feeling?
    • If you could ask the author any question before you read the book, what would it be?
  • After Reading–Now that you’ve read the story: 
    • Is this book fiction or nonfiction? How do you know?
    • What is problem do the mice face in the story?
    • What were the most important events in the story?
    • What is the main message of this book?
    • What other story does this one remind you of?
    • Which of the sound effects did you most like? Grumble grumble, phew phew, or something else?
    • If the story had a sequel, what do you think it would be about? Where else might those hungry mice go?
  • Writing–Clearly these mice are interested in science and technology. Using your own imagination, write about another situation where they use science and/​or technology to solve a different problem than being hungry. Feel free to draw pictures to go with the story. Consider sharing your finished piece with an adult or friend and ask them what they enjoy best about your work.
  • Interview–Sometimes the best way to get to know someone is interviewing them. If you interviewed the space mice with the following questions, how might they respond? Consider inviting an adult or friend to either ask questions (or answer them) as they imagine the mice might. Feel free to add more questions of your own! 
    • What is your favorite cheese?
    • What do you like most about the moon?
    • What was the biggest challenge in building the rocket ship?
    • What’s your favorite sport?
    • What is your earliest memory?
    • What secret do you have?
    • What is your dream job?
    • Where would you most like to live?
  • Craft–With an adult’s help, try some of the following space-​themed crafts: 
  • Further Reading–Space Mice is–as one might reasonably expect–about two mice who build a rocket and travel into space. Which of these other picture books about space travel have you read? (Click on the book cover for more information on any of these titles!)

 

Author/​Illustrator Interview: Elisha Cooper

On By Only Picture BooksIn Author Interviews, Illustrator Interviews

This month’s interview is with Elisha Cooper, an author who both writes and illustrates his own picture books. Instead of doing a standard bio paragraph here, let’s begin the process of getting to know him and his work a little bit better via two lists.

List One—Books Elisha Made:

  • While Elisha has created a lot of picture books, here are a few that OPB especially digs. For details on any of them, go ahead and click on those lovely covers!

List Two—Stuff Elisha Likes:

 

And, because we like to underpromise and overdeliver here at OPB, I offer a bonus third list, detailing a few of the various ways you can find out more about Elisha’s fine work via the Internet.

List Three—Bonus Stuff!

With that, let’s move on to the interview!

RVC: I confess—after reading scads of interviews others have done with you, I can’t find anyone who asked this question, so I’ll ask it. How do you pronounce your name? Is “Elisha” like Uh-​LIE-​sha, or Uh-​LEE-​sha? Something else entirely? This word-​loving, name-​loving person needs to know!

EC: It’s Uh-​LIE-​sha, though I’m fine with any pronunciation. I had a friend in high school who spent four years calling me “Isaiah.” There have been times I wish I’d been named Elijah (the more famous prophet), as that is easier to pronounce, and sounds tougher. But I’ve come to appreciate my name, its ambiguity.

Just this week The Cleveland Plain Dealer reviewed my book, praising the author and “her” beautiful watercolors. I sort of love that.

RVC: Wow, that’s some crackerjack reporting from The Cleveland Plain Dealer. Well done them!

Now that we’ve gotten the vital 411 on this name situation, let’s talk about your most recent picture book, River, which has been well received by readers and critics. In your Author’s Note for that book, you thank the Sendak Foundation. But on other occasions, you’ve also claimed to have been “the worst Maurice Sendak Fellow ever.” I’m getting the sense that you’re a man of great contradictions.

I wonder—is this an example of what you wrote in 2008 for Publisher’s Weekly in an article called “About the Author” where you mused on the “unique ridiculousness of the author’s note”?

EC: I know I’m trying to have it both ways. I was one of the worst Sendak fellows (I didn’t work in the studio they gave me), but the fellowship was also incredibly important for River. It allowed me the space to think, and start sketching nature along the Hudson. With that Publisher’s Weekly piece I believe I was trying to point out how we as authors (we as humans, really) are always trying to craft and present a more perfect version of ourselves. I’m as guilty of that as anyone.

RVC: Speaking of versions of ourselves…how did the actual version of yourself that grew up on a farm inform your work as a picture book maker?

EC: Animals, animals, animals. And views! I was surrounded by barn cats, dogs, goats and cows. I drew them, walked with them, milked them (my goats), and read with them. They were my companions. I read a ton, too, when I wasn’t shooting my BB gun or throwing a football.

In some deep way–and I know this answer has that crafting revisionism I was just disparaging–my childhood could not have been better designed for a future children’s book author.

RVC: Rumor has it that you would’ve preferred to play in the NFL than create kid’s books. Fact, or alternate fact?

EC: Fact. Who wouldn’t?! Yes, like any number of kids in the 80s, I dreamed of playing professional football. I even sent drawings of Lynn Swann to Lynn Swann (the Pittsburgh Steelers were my team). I think I still have the autographed photo he sent me in response. I played football at Yale, but was a back-​up. I still love football, how within the brutal mayhem there can be moments of grace and beauty.

RVC: At what point did you realize you were well-​suited to create picture books? Was it post-​college during that stint as a messenger for The New Yorker where you delivered art and manuscripts (which sounds pretty cool, by the way)?

EC: Hmm, I don’t know if there was one moment. I’ve always kept sketchbooks. Always written, always drawn. When I was at The New Yorker, a colleague  suggested I try children’s books and I sort of slid into the field. I’m still uncertain what makes a picture book a children’s book (Sendak has a great rant about that). My hope is that if I love something, and draw and write about it, a child or an adult out there may love it, too.

I don’t mean to punt on your question, but I don’t think I’ve ever had one “eureka” moment. I’ve always felt art in me. Which doesn’t mean I don’t get stuck, or rip stuff up, or struggle. I know something’s good, though, when I tape it on my wall and it stays there.

RVC: I suspect that most picture book makers believe their process to be bizarre, messy, and/​or inefficient. Given that, I’m still asking: what’s YOUR process? How does the magic happen for you?

EC: Coffee. Family. Newspaper. Second coffee. Music. Write (café), or paint (home). Third coffee. Paint more. Run. Visit bookstore. Bike along river. Read. Cook. Family. Sports. Sleep.

Repeat.

RVC: How does the process differ for making your non-​kid books, like A Year in New York and Falling: A Daughter, a Father, and a Journey Back?

EC: For my books of essays, the memoirs (Crawling and Falling), I just spent more time writing. Which is sort of obvious! More hours in Brooklyn at favorite cafés, taking notes then writing up those notes, then editing editing editing. The more I make books, the more I think of myself as an editor. This goes for my children’s books, as well. I put something up on the wall, look at it hard, then change it.

RVC: Here’s something that’ll likely surprise you. I think I personally know some of the barns you used in your book Farm. How? Well, I went to Northern Illinois University for my undergrad degree (Go Huskies!), and I’ve read that you spent a lot of time driving around DeKalb County (for you non-​NIU types, that’s where NIU is located—about 60 miles west of Chicago, smack-​dab in the middle of Big Corn country) with your sketchbook while cooking up that book. Is this possible or am I way off base here?

EC: That’s so cool. Go Huskies! Yes, Farm is set almost entirely in DeKalb County. I drove many back roads there. While the farm in my book is a combination of a few farms, the main “model” was a farm in Hinckley, Illinois. A wonderful family let me hang around their farm for the year; a highlight was riding in the their combine harvester.

Writing that sentence, I realize how lucky I am to be doing what I’m doing (whatever that is).

RVC: What’s the most challenging part about drawing a barn well?

EC: No challenge. A barn is a barn, and I like to draw them (which reminds me: Edward Hopper painted barns so well). Now, having said that, and knowing this makes me sound a little cocky, here’s a list of things I can’t draw: donkeys, giraffes, horses, dinosaurs, dragons, faces, cactuses, politicians, canyons, hands, violins, lips. The list goes on!

RVC: Here’s one final set of questions for this part of the interview. Looking back at Big Cat, Little Cat—one of my Elisha Cooper favs that could’ve been included at the list in the intro but I wanted to save it for the Big Finish here!—what are you most proud of about it now? How has your relationship with it changed over the years? 

EC: Thank you! I’m so glad you like the book. Though, I’m not sure if I view my books in that way, with pride (in other words, it’s just a book). That could be my hang-​up with the word “pride,” as I do feel a sense of contentment with this book. I like the simple ink line in Big Cat. I had never used ink before, so that was a cool learning experience. I suppose the Caldecott Honor changed my relationship with the book, but I have tried not to let it. I try to remember the book I made.

RVC: Okay, it’s time to shift gears to part two of the interview—the no-​holds-​barred LIGHTNING ROUND! Zippy questions and zappy answers, please. Ready?

EC: Scared!

RVC: Most underrated Pittsburgh Steeler of all time?

EC: Louis Lipps.

RVC: Most surprising thing on your playlist right now?

EC: What’s a playlist? Don’t have one. Though I do have an old wood-​cased CD player next to my desk.

For River, I penciled the book to Hamilton, and painted it to Turandot, La Boheme, and Madame Butterfly.

RVC: Which animal didn’t quite make the cut (but you wished had!) for 8: An Animal Alphabet?

EC: Ooof. I think I packed every animal I could into that book.

RVC: Which do you fret over more—words or images?

EC: Don’t fret.

RVC: Best compliment a child ever gave on your picture books?

EC: Oh, goodness. I’d have to answer with the image, in my mind’s eye, of a kid after a school assembly clutching my book in her arms and looking up at me. That look floors me every time.

RVC: Three words that sum up your philosophy of picture books?

EC: Location, location, location. Um, no. Isn’t that for real estate? But, you know what, since where I actually am–whether it be in a café or alongside a river–is so essential to my work, I’ll stick with that answer.

 RVC: Thanks so much, Elisha!

EC: And thank you! This was fun.

 

Picture Book Review: Tiara’s Hat Parade by Kelly Starling Lyons

On By Only Picture BooksIn Picture Book Reviews2 Comments

Tiara’s Hat Parade
Author: Kelly Starling Lyons
Illustrator: Nicole Tadgell
Albert Whitman & Co.
1 April 2020
32 pages

This month’s PB review is by Ryan G. Van Cleave (champion hat-​wearer at Only Picture Books) and Ringling College of Art and Design Illustration Professor (and OPB friend) David C. Gardner.

–Ryan’s Review of the Writing–

This new book by Kelly Starling Lyons tells a tale you don’t often see in picture books–capitalism. Tiara’s momma is terrific at making hats, but along comes a new store in town that sells them cheaper, so when Momma’s sales bottom out, she reluctantly shuts down her small business–the Tracy Rose Millinery. But Tiara isn’t fine with that because she loved Momma’s creations, and not just because Tiara was its top hat model.

Even though Momma eventually finds another outlet for her creativity–teaching art at Tiara’s school–it’s not the same. She’s clearly still sad about her defunct business and no longer being able to make her beloved hats for friends, family, and the community. Tiara can tell how much Momma misses it. So, when it’s time on Fun Friday to choose the next class art project, Tiara suggests, “Hats!” That’s what the class does, and Momma and the students have a blast.

But Tiara takes it a step further. She advertises a Hat Parade at Height Elementary, with the request that people come and wear their favorite Tracy Rose hat. They come out in droves with each taking a turn on stage to model their hats and share how empowering and individually meaningful they are. Momma is touched, and she starts to get orders for new hats once again. Maybe, too, Tiara has discovered her own future calling as well after finding great pleasure in helping her friend, Matti, improve on her art class creation.

I’ll leave it to David to speak about how these interesting visuals complement the story, but Tiara’s Hat Parade goes well beyond the tale of a small business that fails and finally comes around again thanks to community spirit. It’s also about a young girl’s indefatigable spirit and deep love for family. A thoughtful Author’s Note also shares the author’s own experience with hats and explains how they are a vital part of Black women’s–and men’s–style. A list of Famous Black Milliners is an added bonus to the back matter.

This emotional-​but-​triumphant story utilizes language at times that matches the beauty of Momma’s fine hats, which is a very nice touch.

4.25  out of 5 pencils

– David’s Review of the Illustrations–

The illustrations by Nicole Tadgell are light, lively, and expressive. They highlight the characters’ relationships, never missing an opportunity to show characters interacting playfully with one another. The text relies on these relationships to tell the story, but the pictures show us these relationships–the closeness, the joy and the humor–in a way the text cannot, from Tiara’s closeness to her mom, to the joy in the big finale, the hat parade, the women’s outfits, colorful and varied.

The expressions of the characters are clear on every single page due to Ms. Tadgell’s thoughtful depiction of facial expressions, body language, and her attention to the emotions of color. For example, when Tiara’s mother and her family go through hard times, the colors take us down, cool and desaturated, without dipping too far down into mere drabness.

Even in a sad moment though, there is a fluidity and charm to Ms. Tadgell’s style, due in part to the sensitivity of the watercolor paintings and the light, loose holding line of the pencil which, at its best, recalls the charm of Trina Schart Hyman’s classic work. The mother, in particular, rings true. Using specific details, such as her distinctive hairstyle, glasses, and even the type of clothing Momma chooses to wear, she leaps from the realm of generic mother to being a warm, real person. There’s the visual contrast between Tiara, thin and angular, and Momma, round and soft, which sets up a pleasing–and essential–variety to the central relationship of the book.

The great success of these pictures is the emotion they convey on every page, and, by extension, the connections and relationships: Mother and daughter dancing in the hat shop to friends’ applause (a clever visual foreshadowing of the climactic parade), the family gathered around the dinner table in unspoken sadness, Momma dancing in front of her giddy students at school. The colorful hat parade of the title splashes across a series of pages, each wonderfully realized model/​friend alive in a spotlight of her own. A sense of community, togetherness, and fun is conveyed through the characters’ constantly moving–dancing, strutting, reaching–and through the colors, bright but never garish.

Ms. Tadgell skimps a bit on the background details now and then, such as a window frame that feels sketched in as an afterthought and could have used the same loving attention as the observed detail on Momma’s dress or a nearby jade plant. Proportions and perspective in the drawings feels a bit off at times. But those details seem minor considering the overall fun in the spot-​on hat designs and colors, full of rich, observed detail.

It’s clear to see why Tracy Rose’s hats bring so much joy to others, and clearly these pictures will delight any child.

4.5 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.

Agent Interview: Erin Murphy (Erin Murphy Literary Agency)

On By Only Picture BooksIn Agent Interviews8 Comments

The first Industry Insider interview of 2020 is with Erin Murphy. She’s a fifth-​generation Arizona native now living in southern Maine where she’s President of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency (EMLA), the company she founded in 1999. “As founder of EMLA,” she notes, “I focus not just on publishing books, but on building careers—and creating a sense of community, as well.”

For those who like personal bio tidbits, Erin’s a fan of:

  • reading (of course!)
  • knitting
  • walking
  • kayaking
  • traveling
  • watching movies
  • and “figuring out How People Work”

If you want to do a little research of your own, here are some links to do some Erin Murphy/​EMLA sleuthing. But with that, it’s time for the interview!

RVC: Like many agents, you didn’t set out to become one. You started as an editor at a small children’s book imprint, right? How did you get from there to where you are now? 

EM: I was an editor of both adult and children’s books at a small, regional house that does not exist any longer. This was more than twenty years ago. It was right at the time that publishing houses were closing to slush and suddenly children’s writers needed agents—and there weren’t very many agents who did anything at all with children’s books at the time. (Listen to me! “Back in the olden days…”) I thought I’d be an editorial freelancer focusing on regional nonfiction or adults, but instead, I decided I should try my hand at agenting and focus on children’s books.

I had only worked with a couple of agents as an editor, so honestly, I didn’t have a solid impression of what agents could do. And I had never worked in publishing in New York, so I had no contacts there. I did, however, have a solid background in negotiating and reviewing contracts, as my publishing house had revised its contract during my tenure there, and the publishing law expert who did the revision trained me thoroughly. If it hadn’t been for that, I don’t think it would have occurred to me to try being an agent.

RVC: What is it about the children’s book industry that appeals to you? For those who don’t know, your agency specializes in that area.

EM: Three primary things:

  1. The work we do feels very important, because we’re not just making books, we’re making books for society’s youngest members, and therefore, we are shaping the next generation. Turning kids into readers is important, important work, and providing good and fun and interesting and moving books to hook them is a necessary part of that.
  2. The people in children’s publishing are generally incredibly nice. The competitive spirit isn’t as driving here, and there’s a sense of success for one book/​creator/​agent/​publisher being good for the whole industry.
  3. I can’t think of another job that would daily thrill my inner child so much!

RVC: How do you handle existing clients who suddenly want to branch out into writing, say, an adult thriller or a Malcolm-​Gladwell-​style cultural commentary book for adults?

EM: My colleague Ammi-​Joan Paquette generally says, “Bring it on!” when her clients do that, and she gets to work researching appropriate editors on the adult side of publishing. I, however, usually say “Uncle!” because I don’t have time to get to know a whole new set of editorial contacts from scratch. But there have also been times when a client thought their next project might be right for adults, and it turned out it actually worked better (or just as well) on the juvenile side.

RVC: What do you say to a prospective client who wonders why you’re located in southern Maine versus, say, the Flatiron building or in a loft on 27th Avenue in NYC? (Beyond the rent being WAY better in Maine, one assumes!)

EM: Whatever editor I need to reach is just a phone call or email away. I’m not a city gal; I’m happier, and more inspired, when I’m spending most of my time in the countryside. I’ve been doing this for more than twenty years while working far from Manhattan, and it seems to have worked out all right. But listen, especially while the industry is having important conversations about how we exclude a lot of people from becoming a part of the publishing industry because of the financial hurdle of living in NYC, I would hope that “lives in NYC” is not a primary requirement of authors seeking agents. My far-​flung colleagues deserve better.

RVC: Let’s talk about your agenting interests and style. Stop me if I’m way off base here, but in scrutinizing the authors/​books you rep, it SEEMS like you’re often taken by quieter subjects, styles, and themes. Is that fair? 

EM: I do think that’s fair, so long as it’s not all three at once. Something needs to make a book stand out and find its readership! Still, I do love being emotionally moved by a text’s subject, style, or themes—and emotion sometimes gets equated with quietness in literature. Take Deborah Underwood’s The Quiet Book as an obvious example. (I rep Deborah but signed her after The Quiet Book came out.) It has a very understated (and brilliant) writing style and the subject is literally quiet, but it taps into a universal feeling on every page. And it works so well because it’s not lacking for an obvious readership—what parent doesn’t want a book that inspires both conversation and quietness for bedtime reading?

Don’t get me wrong—I love fantasy and high stakes. I do represent Robin LaFevers’ His Fair Assassins series, which pitches as “teenage Medieval assassin nuns,” after all—and in picture books, Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton jumps to mind as a non-​quiet book! (See its companion book Fire Truck vs. Dragon, releasing in March 2020.) I just think high stakes are equally valid when they are internal, especially for kids who are figuring out the world and their place in it, and I find that very compelling.

I also find it especially compelling when it concerns voices that have rarely been heard in U.S. children’s publishing. A quiet, emotional story sometimes paradoxically makes a wider window into a world that children of the dominant culture are unfamiliar with—and a more powerful mirror for the children who haven’t seen themselves in books before. (Credit to Rudine Sims Bishop for mirrors/​windows!) My client Andrea Wang was inspired by Bao Phi and Thi Bui’s A Different Pond to write a story from her own childhood, about being a daughter of immigrants, which is forthcoming from Neal Porter Books (with Jason Chin illustrating)—so A Different Pond’s effects will ripple through the new book (tentatively titled Watercress) and beyond. I recently signed Kao Kalia Yang, whose stories of the refugee experience are incredibly powerful and boundary-breaking—and also very simple and poetic.

RVC: You have a rep for being an editorial agent. What does that mean to you, and what are examples of the types of things you’ll do for a client and their manuscript?

EM: Naturally I’m often aware of projects before they start or while they’re in progress and I’ll raise flags if a topic seems problematic, overdone, or not very easy to find an audience for, but that’s not what you’re asking about. I would hope that between a client telling me about an idea and me seeing a manuscript for the first time, they will have done a lot of drafting, re-​drafting, throwing things out, revising further—finding what a text actually needs to be and getting it as far as they can with the help of beta readers and critique partners.

RVC: You’ve got to love how a good critique group can help get a manuscript in submission-​worthy shape!

EM: Totally right! I only get one first look at a manuscript, and what I hope I will be doing with my editorial talents at that point in a picture book’s development is seeing what the author is wanting to do with it and clearing the way to make their vision even more crystallized and irresistible. I ask a lot of questions. I notice little clues the author left for their subconscious to pick up and do more with. I point out lazy writing or obvious “darlings” that the writer loves but that aren’t serving the whole. I point out brilliant writing and ask for more of it. I do a lot of suggesting the author go deeper or take ideas further. I ask them to justify their choices. Sometimes I say, “This is still just an idea, not a picture book text. Your text is talking about it, not telling a story. Go find another way in.”

RVC: So, you have an annual agency retreat. What kind of things are on the agenda each year?

EM: The retreat is a mix of scheduled and unscheduled time. The scheduled time is kind of conference-​like, pulling from the expertise of the agents, special guests, and clients who are in attendance, and it’s high-​level stuff—but the real magic happens in the unscheduled time, when attendees gather spontaneously or intentionally. Plot-​brainstorming sessions have become staples. Readings of works in progress are beloved, and have made it easier for writers to find each other and collaborate—we have several co-​written books that have resulted from the retreat.

There’s also lots of silliness and fun: goofy door prizes, a costume contest, some serious poker-​playing, lots of dessert, jigsaw puzzles, drawing/​painting sessions, Giant Jenga, singalongs, walks, shopping, and last year, a first-​ever EMLA retreat scavenger hunt, a truly evil thing organized by a visiting editor that absolutely captivated the attendees who participated. The main thing is, people really connect there, and they come away feeling creatively rejuvenated. We’re taking 2020 off to step back and evaluate what is really working and what isn’t, and as much as the staff needs the break, we’re all going to miss it a ton, too. It’s pretty great.

RVC: Sounds like fun! What many authors tell me isn’t as much fun, though, is PR. For many, promoting themselves and their books is the biggest anxiety-​causing part of the entire process. What are some of your agency’s best PR success stories?

EM: One of the best things I ever did for EMLA was set up a collaborative relationship with marketing firm Curious City and its brilliant creator, Kirsten Cappy. She takes on marketing concerns for the agency as a whole, but she also is available for our clients who need help with PR and marketing.

So, yes, book promotion can cause anxiety—it is hard to know what to do to support picture book sales and when one is doing enough—but Kirsten encourages our clients to worry less about the immediacy of PR and work more towards establishing long term tools for picture book programmers.  By providing library and classrooms with engagement activities, picture books can be introduced to children and families again and again, long after release. Recently, we have had some significant sales and PR successes that were driven at least partially by the creation of those tools.

After Nancy Raines Day released a Baby & Toddler Story Hour Kit for her book Baby’s First (Charlesbridge), an early literacy program discovered the title and bought 11,000 copies.

Picture book author Maria Gianferrari worked with Curious City to create a Pet Adoption Event Kit for libraries and organizations that centered on her book Operation Rescue Dog (Little Bee). Maria was invited onto the Hallmark Channel to talk about the book, and the talk show hosts celebrated Maria’s “giving back” to the community with the availability of the kit.

(Nancy and Maria are repped by EMLA agents Tricia Lawrence and Ammi-​Joan Paquette, respectively.)

RVC: Dealbreakers in query letters, cover letters, or pitches of any type?

EM: An obvious lack of knowledge of publishing in general or children’s publishing in particular. There is no excuse for not self-​educating when there is so much information that is freely available. I am not interested in dabblers!

RVC: How do you measure your clients’ success?

EM: My primary benchmark is growth. This can be growth in craft and professionalism, expanding into new formats/​genres, increasing sales and recognition, coming closer to getting offers on submission, engaging with wider circles of readers and gatekeepers, etc.

RVC: Talk about the reasons for having the no open submission policy. My guess is that it’s a measured, client-​focused decision that you still probably continue to revisit and debate from time to time.

EM: Actually, you’re only half right! We’ve been closed to slush since maybe my third year as an agent, and I have never once regretted the decision enough to revisit or debate it. We do take queries from people who attend conferences where we speak, and we take referrals (of which we get a lot), and when we realized how much our closed policy has been a barrier for marginalized writers, we started making a serious point of participating in online events like DVPit, doing more reach-​outs, etc. There are avenues to get to us, but we aren’t dealing with nearly the quantity of queries a lot of agents are, and it allows us to have larger numbers of clients than most do. I’m answering this question during the first work week of the new year and an agent from another agency posted that he had gotten 250 queries by Thursday. I can’t fathom dealing in that volume.

RVC: It’s time for the LIGHTNING ROUND! Zippy-​fast questions followed by zappy-​quick responses, please. Ready?

EM: Bring it on!

RVC: Best place for pizza in your neck of the woods (Windham, ME)?

EM: This one hurts. No good answer close by—but we are fans of Otto’s if we want to go a little further.

RVC: In a parallel universe where I wasn’t involved with books at all, I’d instead be ________.

EM: A news editor in some medium or other.

RVC: Favorite non-​kidlit guilty reading pleasure?

EM: Historical mysteries.

RVC: Best non-​client picture book of 2019?

EM: Ooh, that’s not fair! One book! Okay, this is the best I can do…a tie between Saturday by Oge Mora and Small in the City by Sydney Smith.

RVC: The #1 attribute for agenting success?

EM: Flexibility.

RVC: Three words that sum up the EMLA philosophy?

EM: Integrity, community, growth. (Or possibly “unicorns, pie, poker.”)

RVC: Way to end strong! Thanks so much, Erin!

 

Educational Activities: Naughty Ninja Takes a Bath by Todd Tarpley

On By Only Picture BooksIn Educational Activities

Naughty Ninja Takes a Bath
Author: Todd Tarpley
Illustrator: Vin Vogel
Two Lions
1 December 2019
32 pages

Book description from Goodreads: “After crossing raging rivers and tromping through the jungle, Naughty Ninja returns to his secret ninja training camp for lunch. But when he gets inside, his parents tell him he needs a bath. Before Naughty Ninja gets in the tub, he notices poisonous flies and an angry alligator circling his dad, who doesn’t even seem to know he’s in trouble. Good thing Naughty Ninja is around to save the day!

Amid sudsy fun, a boy’s imaginary ninja life and his everyday world collide in the ultimate bath time adventure.”

Need some reviews of Naughty Ninja Takes a Bath?

Educational Activities inspired by Todd Tarpley’s Naughty Ninja Takes a Bath:

  • Before Reading–From looking at the front and back cover: 
    • What do you think of when you think about ninjas?
    • What type of naughtiness do you expect here?
    • Where and when does this story seem to take place?
    • What type of creatures are lurking in the water?
    • What is the Naughty Ninja up to on the back cover?
    • If you could ask the author any one question before you read the book, what would it be?
  • After Reading–Now that you’ve read the story: 
    • Which events in the story seemed most important?
    • How did you react when Ninja Dad fell into the tub?
    • What would you have done if you were the ninja and you realized there were “wild, poisonous flies”?
    • Do you think the Naughty Ninja means to cause trouble?
  • Writing–Naughty Ninjas get into trouble, even when they don’t mean to. What other adventures might this Naughty Ninja get into? Dream up one of them, and write that story yourself. Will Ninja Dad end up in the tub water again? Will Naughty Ninja save the day? Consider using crayons to draw pictures to go with your story.
  • Craft–With an adult’s help, try some of the following ninja-​themed crafts: 
    • LEGO Ninjas–You have to have LEGOs of your own here, but if you have some, these are easy to make with this guide.
    • Ninja Stress Ball–There are lots of ways to make these and even more ways to fill them. Fun!
    • Origami Ninja Stars–Lots of folding here, but these are both pretty and cool.
    • Paper Bag Ninja Craft–This one requires a bit more work and help than others, but the result is worth it.
    • Toilet Roll Ninjas–All you need are toilet roll paper cores, paint, straws, and a black marker.
  • Further Reading–Who doesn’t love ninjas, right? How many other books about ninjas have you read? Here are a few of OPB’s favorites. (Click on the book cover for more information on any of these titles!)

Author Interview: Heidi E.Y. Stemple

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OPB’s first author interview of 2020 is with Heidi E.Y. Stemple. Over the years, I’d had three personal picture-​book-​related interactions with her. The first was a paid critique at an SCBWI regional event in Miami a few years back. The next was me participating in the famous Picture Book Boot Camp at Jane Yolen’s super-​cool farmhouse back in 2017, where Heidi both cooked (OMG and YUM!) and helped out with feedback and discussions, plus she took a bunch of us owling! The most recent was last month at a Highlights Foundation workshop where Heidi served as a faculty member (she’s the one in the front on the right–I’m just above her to the right, though since all the rest of the people there were women, I’m pretty hard to miss!)

Let’s put it plainly: Heidi knows her stuff. I know that firsthand, which is why I’ve asked her to help kick off the year with an interview that’s designed to get all picture book writers—from the newbies to the done-​it-​forever folks—inspired to make 2020 a great picture book year for us all.

But I know readers always want a bit of biographical goodness before getting into the Qs and the As and the Ins and Outs, so here are seven things about Heidi.

  1. Lives next to her mom…by choice!
  2. Barred owl hoot is 100% authentic.
  3. Undergraduate degree was in psychology.
  4. Worked as a private investigator.
  5. Author of 25+ books (as well as oodles of short stories and poems).
  6. Is the little girl in Owl Moon.
  7. Grandfather Will was International Kite Flying Champion (and the inspiration for Heidi’s co-​authored book A Kite for Moon).

With that, let’s zip right along to the interview. Let’s go!

website: www.heidieystemple.com
Twitter: @heidieys
Facebook: www.facebook.com/heidieystemple
Facebook: Owl Count

RVC: Let’s deal with the dinosaur in the room—your incredibly awesome mom, Jane Yolen (whose own OPB interview is here!). At what point did you realize the type of impact writing in general—and her writing, in specific—had on young readers?

HEYS: How do dinosaurs impact readers? (Bad joke?)

I grew up with a mom-​writer and a father who was a bird watcher. Both those things are so intertwined into my upbringing that I cannot imagine a life without books and nature. As you can imagine, I have always been privy to people telling us what my mom’s writing has contributed to their and their children’s lives. But, I think that the full impact of this has really come in more recent times—when she and I began to work together so closely. When I started writing (I guess my “recent times” means in the last 25 years—ha!) and when I really took a deep dive into picture books—keeping up with the market and teaching—that is when I started paying attention to the real impact.

There is a moment any time writers are together that we say “and THAT is why we do this.” It’s often a reaction to something a kid reader, or a parent or teacher said. One kid, after a school visit, wrote to me and said “reading Bad Girls made me want to be a great writer.” Another couldn’t believe I had written about being a bird watcher because he thought he was the only person who loved owls so much and it was exciting to know there were more of us. But, there are bigger stories, too. The kid who, after being burned in an accident, wanted to share How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? with every kid in the burn unit. The girl who wrote to say she had been an awful sister to her twin brother until she read Mapping the Bones and she was going to make a real effort to be better.

I have been talking about Owl Moon for so many years. I take the responsibility of being that little girl (my mom’s book is based on my father and my—as well as my brothers’—nighttime owling adventures) quite seriously. The fact is, many kids don’t have nature outside their backdoor, or a trusted adult to take them out at night. All too often, their first time out in the woods—or the only time– is within those pages.

RVC: You avoided going into the “Family business” for a long time. What did you do along the way, and what skills/​habits did those non-​writing things give you that serve you well as an author?

HEYS: Every part of my journey to now impacts my writing—what I write about, how I write, why I write. After college, I worked as a probation/​parole officer and a private investigator. I worked in and around law enforcement with victims and offenders for years. You can still find bits of this in my writing. Bad Girls is about women who committed all sorts of crimes. The Unsolved Mysteries from History are about investigation. My forthcoming graphic novel called (tentatively) Maddi Mouse and the Private Spies is about solving a crime. On the flip side of this is my love of birds from my dad. You Nest Here With Me, Fly with Me, and Counting Birds come directly from the way he raised me.

RVC: Your first publication was in a book called Famous Writers and Their Kids Write Spooky Stories. What’s the story of how that came to happen?

HEYS: I had just interviewed for a new job as a counselor at a battered woman’s shelter. I discovered I was pregnant on the same day I got the call saying I got the job. Problem was, I was so sick in my early pregnancy, I could barely leave the house. No way I could start a new job. I was bored. So, I accepted a co-​authorship opportunity for a story with my mom.

During the writing, I discovered some things about myself. Mainly, that I could write fiction. I knew I was a good writer, but that had been primarily report and legal writing (at the Department of Corrections, I wrote a lot of really great PSIs—Pre-Sentence Investigations). But, also, I learned that I could write an ending. I had written lots of stories without endings. That was always what scared me about fiction. Not finding ideas, or the writing, or the revision. But, endings are intimidating.

Funny story—it wasn’t until years later that I realized that so many pieces of my life had wound up in that story. In fact, it was about solving a ghost mystery. Turns out (spoiler alert) the woman who became the ghost had been killed by her abusive husband. How did I not connect those dots?

RVC: Tell me why the majority of your books are picture books. What’s so special about them versus, say, MG or YA?

HEYS: I actually just love picture books. They are the perfect size. You are constrained by your 32 pages and there is very little wiggle room. You really have to boil down your story to its essence without losing the beauty of it. It is often a puzzle how to have enough and not too much—detail, texture, beautiful (or pithy or funny or lyrical) language. That economy of language is a challenge. And picture books are meant for sharing. Just last night, I read two of my children’s books aloud to a group of adults at my bird club. Many of them came up to me after and said how moving it was to be read to—that no one had read aloud to them in ages, if ever.

I do love a middle grade length, and I’m working on a couple longer-​form manuscripts right now. YA isn’t for me. Too much angst.

My real love is picture books.

RVC: Many of your books are collaborations of one type or another, with Jane Yolen being a frequent partner. Talk about some of the Best Practices you’ve learned along the way in terms of effectively working with other creatives.

HEYS: Be open, be honest, be flexible, be organized, and be kind. I’m super bossy and opinionated, so not all these things are easy all of the time. But, if you are working with someone else, it’s really important to have a balance with that partner (or all of your collaborators, as in Fly with Me and Animal Stories, both of which I wrote with my mother and both brothers). If you don’t agree, stepping back and looking again with an open mind is one of my best pieces of advice. I am working with a non-​family member on a new book right now and I have to remember that she and I don’t have shorthand yet. My mom and I work so closely on so many projects, we can just jump in without the niceties. In critiquing, the rule is always “say something nice first.” But, when you work more closely, and have no fear of hurting any feelings, the process is easier—more direct.

RVC: Your jointly created book with your mom, You Nest Here With Me, has a unique story from idea to publication. What happened?

HEYS: You Nest Here With Me was written and sold more than 11 years before it was published. We sold the manuscript to the amazing Liz Van Doren when she worked at Harcourt. We were working with her when the publishing house was purchased by a bigger house and Liz was let go. Our book was orphaned. The new editor who inherited it didn’t love it as much.  It got shuffled around and eventually we got the rights back. That was just about the time that Liz Van Doren arrived at Boyds Mills Press. Turns out, she had been watching to see if and when the book come out and she asked after it. We sent it immediately back to her and she, for the second time, purchased it. Melissa Sweet agreed to illustrate (we were thrilled!) and we got on her 3‑year wait list (she is very much in demand). We had already waited 8 years, what was another 3? But, she got to it in early, 2 years later, and the book finally came out—11 years after that first sale.

The moral of this story—never give up.

RVC: I think some people have the misconception that every book idea created by a successful writer like you somehow readily translates into a publication deal. Care to dispel that belief?

HEYS: That is hilarious! I have drawers and files of unsold manuscripts. Some are no good (what was I thinking??) and some are quite wonderful and it baffles me why they don’t sell. But, at the risk of repeating myself, I will say again, never give up. I have a picture book manuscript that I sent around and it got a bunch of rejections. The common theme of the comments was “would she consider writing a longer book about this character?” Why yes! I would absolutely consider it. I, too, love the character. So, I am working on converting the rhyming picture book manuscript into a chapter book. That, too, may not sell. But, you never know until you try.

I have lots of ideas. I just keep writing and sending them out. Eventually some of them will sell, but not all of them. You never know what will happen when, maybe years from now, I pull them out—maybe the market will have changed. Maybe I will be a better writer by then and will give them a new life. Maybe I will look at them and know why they were rejected. But, I will keep writing and growing and, hopefully, selling books!

RVC: How vital is it for picture book authors to have literary agents, and what do you appreciate most about yours?

HEYS: Frankly, my agent (the amazing Elizabeth Harding at Curtis Brown, Ltd. [see here OPB interview here!]) does all the stuff I have no desire to do. She (and her fab assistants and the legal team and the financial team, etc.) take care of contracts and submissions, make sure I’m paid, deal with issues in the market, chase down books promised in contracts that we haven’t received. All the stuff. Also, she is on top of the market in a way I am not. If I send her a manuscript, she knows where to send it—who is looking for quirky character-​driven stories vs. who is looking for girl STEM books or quiet lyrical texts. And, her name opens doors, or more accurately, allows my stuff to be seen without hitting the slush pile. It is much harder to work as an unagented writer or illustrator in today’s market.

That being said, it is not impossible. Many people are happily unagented.

RVC: Let’s talk craft issues. What’s most often the difference between a really good picture book manuscript that doesn’t get accepted, and a manuscript that DOES get snapped up? What’s the secret sauce that even good writers sometimes forget or don’t use often enough?

HEYS: There is no secret sauce. There is no magic. Well, there is a little magic, but mostly it’s pretty feet-​on-​the-​ground, fingers-​on-​the-​keypad work. For me, the difference between a brilliant and a blah manuscript is the language. The problem with this question is that the language isn’t the same for every book. Each book is unique, but that story voice is what sends it up and over the top. For You Nest Here With Me, it’s the combination of the brevity of text and a spot-​on rhyme paired with the nonfictional element. It’s the pairing of themes—birds and home—that works. In Counting Birds, I took a nonfiction subject and boiled it down (fewer details, more heart) to a read aloud, making it accessible to the very youngest readers. I like to think the alliteration I use sparingly and gently helps. And the fact that the arc of the book begins with one point and grows exponentially, just like the subject matter, bringing it back to the beginning only on the last page. In A Kite for Moon, we collapsed time to show the growth of the character to adulthood in a way that excites me every time I read it aloud and, in my humble opinion, we lay out an ahhhh-​worthy ending without telling the reader how to feel.

Here are some other books that I think have been written perfectly:

Water Is Water (Miranda Paul, Jason Chin)
Circus Train (Jennifer Cole Judd, Melanie Matthews)
Always Remember (Cece Meng, Jago)
P. Zonka Lays An Egg (Julie Paschkis)
The Dress and the Girl (Camille Andros, Julie Morstad)

RVC: You’re a well-​known fan of backmatter. What’s your secret to making it a meaningful part of the book versus just an info dump of extra research the author did?

HEYS: Remembering who you are writing for is key–you are either writing the backmatter for the same kid who is reading the book or for the adult who will need scaffolding for questions after. I prefer to write it for the child reader. Make sure it’s organized. And, I like to answer 2 questions:

  1. Why me?
  2. Why this story?

Answering these questions give the child reader a deeper connection to the book because they have a connection to why I wanted to write it.

RVC: What’s the most unusual-​but-​still-​effective backmatter you’ve run across?

HEYS:  I love all backmatter. I love writing backmatter. One of my favorite things I’ve written is the backmatter in Eek, You Reek! in which I got to write a list of stinking words and then define them. Of course, they all mean “stink” (in some form) so I used humor to differentiate them. For example, “Bouquet: This should refer to the lovely smell of flowers, but in this case, it means the wafting smell of ick.” 

I love backmatter that connects fictional elements of a story to real life subjects. A new fun one I just discovered is in a book about a girl who is teleported different places because of shoes. The backmatter tells you nonfictional information about women who wore that type of shoe in history. Brilliant! Melissa Sweet’s use of endpages as star maps in Tupelo Rides the Rails is a brilliant way to add in supplemental information. Or the amazing diagram of the squid’s parts in Giant Squid. I love silly backmatter like in Some Pets that points out all the pets in the book (and gives them names as well as species) for very young readers. I am always fascinated with timelines that tie the book’s subject into historical context. Good backmatter almost always invites the reader back into the book–and what is better than having a kid read your book?

Having that kid read it twice!

RVC: Here’s the last question for the first part of the interview. What does writing success look like to you?

HEYS: I am not trying to be a bestseller or an award winner. I just want to keep writing. I am not dismissing those things—they are great. Every sale means I can pay my bills and eat. Every award means my book will be discovered by more schools and libraries and, therefore, read by more children. And, I love stickers on my books! Counting Birds has 5 now and I delight in putting them all on the cover. But, really, it’s just being able to continue working that is my idea of success.

RVC: Here it comes—the much-​ballyhooed and never-​quite-​equaled OPB LIGHTNING ROUND! Speed-​of-​sound questions followed by speed-​of-​light answers, please! Ready?

HEYS: Let’s do this!

RVC: What secret talent do you have that nobody would suspect?

HEYS: Most people sing in the shower—I practice owl calls in the shower.

RVC: Most underappreciated bird?

HEYS: Blue-​footed booby. People get stuck at its name and don’t see how amazing this little show off is. Go Google its amazing courtship walk.

RVC: The one food you could eat every day for the rest of your life? 

HEYS: Cheese. Also pancakes.

RVC: Your favorite three indie bookstores?

HEYS: I’m going to choose my locals: the Eric Carle Museum Bookstore, Odyssey Bookshop, and we have a new one I’d like to give a shout out to, even though I haven’t been there yet: High Five Books. But, I could make a very, very long list here.

RVC: The best non-​Yolen picture book of 2019?

HEYS: Zero percent chance of me being able to answer this! But, I am heading to Carle Museum Bookstore to buy a copy of Moth (a gorgeous new nonfiction about natural selection) and Margarita Engle’s new Dancing Hands because it looks so gorgeous.

RVC: Three words that sum up your picture book philosophy?

HEYS: Language, compression, readers.

RVC: Thanks so much, Heidi!