The Three Little Beavers

Hopefully you like beavers because you'll be seeing them off and on for the rest of this year. Here's a preview for you, the working cover for The Three Little Beavers, for Sylvan Dell Publishing. The type will change - I just like playing around with type placement, mainly to see if I'm leaving enough room - otherwise I tend to fill in every inch possible.

This book is by Jean Heilprin Diehl and it's a very cute, fun story about guess what? Yes, the adventures of Beverly, Bevan and Beatrix, the three little beavers. Look for it spring of 2012!

Animalogy: Animal Analogies

I was honored to be teamed up with Marianne Berkes, one of my favorite picture book authors today. She's a retired teacher and librarian who has turned her love of nature and teaching into writing. Marianne uses rhyming analogies about animals to give kids a different way to see how animals are related. . . bat is to flit as eagle is to soar; dog is to bark as lion is to roar. Comparisons include sounds, physical adaptations, behaviors, animals classes and are so fun, readers learn without even realizing it. Animals are to nature, as Animalogy is to fun!

My daughter, Andrea Brown produced the book trailer and did a great job. See Sylvan Dell Publishing's webpage for eBook preview, teaching activities, reviews and more.

One project completed, now on to the next.

I'm going to miss drawing cats, but on to the next project. Currently everything I'm working on is about animals. One picture book I'm illustrating is titled The Three Little Beavers, another fun project for Sylvan Dell Publishing. The other one is my first book as writer and illustrator. I'll have details and images coming shortly. All in all it's a nice way to spend my summer non-vacation.

Cat Calls by Jeanne Adlon & Susan Logan

Mainly I work in the world of children's publishing so when I get a call from Square One Publishers to illustrate one of their books, it's always a new and exciting challenge for me. They don't do children's books but do publish wonderful books on food and cooking, parenting, health, the list goes on and on.

This time it's Cat Calls, Wonderful Stories and Practical Advice from a Veteran Cat Sitter, by Jeanne Adlon and Susan Logan. Here's a sneak peek of the art that will be used for Chapter Headings. I see it as a sort of Sex in the City tell-all about the extraordinary life of a well known cat sitter in NYC. But it's also full of valuable information and advice for cat owners. The coauthor is Susan Logan, editor of Cat Fancy Magazine and will have a foreword by Jim Davis, creator of Garfield. It's going to be such a great, fun book and I'm honored to be apart of it.

Look for it this fall!

My interview by Simon Rose

The very talented Simon Rose, based in Calgary, Alberta in Western Canada is the author of science fiction and fantasy novels for young readers. Some of his titles include The Alchemist's Portrait, The Sorcerer's Letterbox, The Clone Conspiracy, The Doomsday Mask among others. He's also known for his dynamic author visits, workshops and presentations.

Simon celebrates all genres of children's literacy with weekly children's book author and illustrator interviews on Face Book. This week he's interviewing me.

Thanks Simon for including me in your interviews. See the entire list at Children's Authors and Illustrators on Facebook and please visit Simon Rose's website to find out more about the writing community.

Animalogy's original and revised cover

Here's a behind-the-scenes-look at the development of a book cover. The first cover was considered too hard to read from a distance by the marketing folks at Sylvan Dell Publishing. Normally when I hear the marketing department wants changes all sorts of red flags go up. But I really trust this publisher, they just know how to do things right so I was happy to work with them on cover revisions. We took one of the interior spreads and made a few adjustments and now it's our new cover for Animalogy. It actually wraps around the back which you don't see here. I think it's a stronger cover and hopefully easier to read. Most people still judge a book by its cover, don't you?

The original cover art is now moved to the title page so I'm glad that artwork will still see the light of day.