Illustration Notes-Yes or No?

An often-debated question among authors, is whether to put illustration notes in a manuscript or not. The most common advice is to use them sparingly and only when they are necessary for the editor/agent to understand the story.

You would not specify the color of a character’s clothing unless it matter to the story. For example, in a work-in-progress, Chicken Little’s Grade-A Idea, I included two illustration notes. The first (show billboards) indicates what Chicken Little is pointing to as he suggests something they could do to get people to drink more milk. The other was (Cows Lose Their Jobs), referring to what the headline of the newspaper Chicken Little reads should say.

Normally I add very few illustrator notes. First, I hope my words evoke the images and secondly, I trust an illustrator to bring the words to life by adding their vision. But there was one time I should have added a note.

When I submitted No More Noisy Nights to Shari Dash Greenspan at Flashlight Press, her initial decision to reject it was because she was picturing Jackson as an adult. As you see in this email excerpt.

I say I was picturing Jackson as an animal. This is a way children can explore adult behavior by using animals as main characters. But sure, I’ll rewrite.  So, I rewrite it with Jackson helping his grandma move.

But, she doesn’t like it.  And she begins seeing Jackson not as a person, but a mole and a matter of a few minutes the tide turns and Jackson is closer to finding a home at Flashlight Press!

 

 

So, lesson learned. If I’d specified that it was an animal, not a human, maybe a mole we might have saved time. EXCEPT, there was value in my rewrite as each thing we write improves our writing. It also gave Shari a chance to see my ability to take editorial comments and work with them.

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A Rewrite for the Illustrator

This month I’m looking at how authors think about illustrations as they write. I CAN’T STOP: A STORY ABOUT TOURETTE SYNDROME leans more toward the illustrated story side of the spectrum. You could read the text and know what is happening without the pictures. But the pictures help bring a challenging subject to younger readers.

I am not an illustrator. So, I look forward to the sketches to see how an illustrator “sees” my story. For this book the illustrator, Meryl Treatner used models for her illustrations. When I received the sketches there were many things I liked, but I felt that some of the children looked older. As written the final pages of the book took place during recess. The text was:

One day at recess, Nathan and Josh saw some kids whispering and laughing. “Those kids better stop.” Josh was mad.

               “This is a funny tic.” Nathan laughed. “I call it ‘the chicken’.”

               Josh smiled. “It does look like a chicken, but they shouldn’t make fun of you.”

               “They don’t bother me,” Nathan said, getting in line for the tornado slide. “Not with a friend like you.”

The final page showed Nathan going down the slide. The text:

               Nathan sat at the top of the slide. “Look out below!” He closed his eyes and pushed off. He was a marble rolling down the slide, heading for the bowl. He knew that the tics were part of him, but they wouldn’t always get in the way.

               “Watch out, tics,” he thought. “You don’t stand a chance.”

The children who were making fun of Nathan looked too old to be in elementary school. The editor did not want to ask the illustrator to redo those illustrations as she would have to pay new models, so I was asked to rewrite the ending.

               One day on the way to the soccer field, Nathan and Josh saw some kids whispering and laughing. Josh was mad. “Those kids better stop,” he said.

              “This is a funny tic.” Nathan laughed. “I call it ‘the chicken’.”

               Josh smiled. “It does look like a chicken, but they shouldn’t make fun of you.”

               “They don’t bother me,” Nathan said. “Not with a friend like you.”

The final spread showed Nathan kicking a soccer ball.

During the game, Nathan took a shot and watched the ball fly into the net. As the kids cheered, he grinned.

               He knew that the tics were part of him, but they wouldn’t always get in the way. Watch out, tics, he thought. You’re not the only moves I can make!

At first I wasn’t happy that I was going to do a rewrite, but making a book is a collaborative effort. So  I did a minor rewrite to accommodate the illustrator, and once I did, I decided it made for a stronger ending anyway. What do you think?

Make Room for the Illustrator

This month I want to talk about the relationship between the text and illustrations in picture books. There is a distinction between a picture book and an illustrated story book. The pictures in the former should add to the story. In the later they just show something from the story.

Think about a book like Jan Brett’s THE MITTEN where lots of things are happening in the pictures that are not in the text, but without them you wouldn’t understand the story. 

Generally, picture books are shorter.  So, an author thinks about this as they write. They don’t waste words on descriptions unless it’s necessary to the story. An author needs to “leave room” in the story for the illustrator.

The entire text of THE DAY I RAN AWAY is written in dialogue. Grace recounts her day as her dad tucks her in. The bedtime scenes on the left side of the spread and the daytime on the right.

This posed a bit of an illustrative challenge. While the things that happened during her day were varied, the bedtime scenes would be somewhat repetitive.

Enter the creative editor, Shari Dash Greenspan. She suggested that Grace do bedtime yoga. I must admit that I was skeptical at first, but I loved the ways  Isabella Ongaro depicted Grace, Dad and Charlie dog winding with the simple poses. It added to the story.

 

In my text the little girl is not named and there are no dialogue tags.  Shari suggested I choose a name and that would be shown in the illustrations. The reader who looks carefully at the pictures will find her name.

I loved this idea and was thankful for it later as I began to talk about my book at schools or bookstores. Much easier to talk about Grace, than the little girl or the main character.

As you study picture books look at how the pictures add to a story. Are things missing if you just look at the pictures or if you just read the words?

 

Waffles Anytime!

It’s time for the end of the month recipe! And a book, of course!

I love breakfast foods any time of day. Because it’s easy, my go-to weekday breakfast is cold cereal, but on the weekends or at a restaurant I love waffles, pancakes, omelets, biscuits, French toast, eggs benedict and whatever else might look interesting. 

So I loved this book! Doesn’t everyone want a waffle?

Wood Pecker Wants a Waffle
By Steve Breen
HarperCollins 2016

Benny the woodpecker wakes to the delicious smell of waffles coming from the grand opening of Moe’s-Home of the Waffle Breakfast. He tries various funny ways to gain entrance into the Moe’s, but they all fail. The animals gather as he is wishing for waffles. They think it’s silly for a woodpecker to eat waffles. But Benny replies, “why not?” At first the animals don’t have an answer, but finally Bunny said, “because I said so.” To which Benny replies, “I really don’t have time for this ‘said so’ nonsense.” Don’t all kids feel that way sometimes! Benny shares an elaborate plan to get the waffles involving, cannons, juggling and fireworks. But when the animals show up at Moe’s to see Benny in action he isn’t there. Or is he? When the people in the dinner come out to see the animals, Benny sneaks in and finds some “sweet” waffles!

I know you’re thinking-
PUMPKIN-in June!

But I’m a pumpkin anytime kind of girl!

The Impact of Fathers

Yesterday was Father’s Day. A day to reflect on and celebrate the men in our lives that had a positive impact on us or those we love.

I was lucky to have my father in my life until he passed away at the age of 79. I was born in the late 1950s when fathers were not often seen doing the inside household chores and that was true of my father. Although he did flip the Sunday morning pancakes!

But Dad was very much a part of our lives. He was strict. One look and you know you’d done something wrong. But he was interested in all we did.  We ate dinner together as a family. He helped with homework, attended extracurricular activities, chauffeured us, interacted with our friends and always had LOTS of advice!

Dad and Mom had a huge impact on my love of reading. Both of them encouraged us by doing. Mom always had a book going (as do I)! Dad was not a fiction reader, but read the newspaper every night (as do I) and read magazines (as do I). I have memories of reading the comics in the newspaper with Dad, of him reading to us at bedtime or sometimes telling us stories. Trips to the library were frequent and books were given as presents.

As an adult, I began writing because my mom suggested I take an aptitude test for a children’s writing course. When I was accepted Mom and Dad supported me by giving me a state of the art (then!) word processor which save me time as I squeezed writing in around raising two toddlers. And of course they always LOVED my stories.

 Even at my age I trace my love of reading and writing all the way back to my parents. Think about that…If your children were asked, at the age of 60+, why do you like to read or why don’t you like to read; will they mention you in their answer? 

The Writer’s Notebook

An educator friend of mine shared the idea of a Writer’s Notebook with me and I love it! I talk with students about collecting words, but I hadn’t considered all the possibilities a Writer’s Notebook could hold.

As an author I have used notebooks or word documents to keep track of ideas, names, titles that pop into my head and the evolving versions of a story.

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I am a list maker in my personal and writing life, and for that I love steno pads. The middle division allows me to have more than one type of list on a page.

 

 

I have a notebook where I did exercises from books on writing. Sometimes I flip through to see if an idea for a story might emerge.

 

 

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For the teachers reading this I’m probably preaching to the choir, but parents or other caregivers think about introducing the Writer’s Notebook over the summer. It will keep writing interest and skills alive!

A child (or adult) with a notebook dedicated to writing will start to see themselves as a writer. A nice writing utensil helps too! And writers will tell you they don’t just write on certain days and times. So that notebook should always be handy.

So how might a child use the notebook?

• To write thoughts or feelings
• React to things they see or hear or that happen to them
• T0 play with writing and with language
• To keep a list of words
• To invent new words
• To list names they like
• To write down things that inspire them
  • song lyrics, poems,  quotes from a book, movie or TV show
• To sketch
• To describe things using all 5 senses

Remember this notebook is the writers. It is not for some else to correct or question. It is a place to experiment, where mistakes can be made. Think of it as a safe. It holds beautiful things that the owner can keep for themselves or choose to share with others.

Will you be my pen pal?

As you may have gathered I love the Peanuts comic strip. I’ve been reading it since I was a child and was sad when it ended. Shulz had recurring storylines and one I’ve always enjoyed was Charlie Brown writing to his pen pal. Sometimes the humor was about  Charlie Brown’s use of pen vs pencil, but sometimes Shulz conveyed profound thoughts.

I think Charlie Brown was on to something. A back and forth of letters allows us to learn about each other, to share things we might not be comfortable saying out loud. And the more we know about someone the easier it is to understand them-to not hate them.

Charlie Brown’s pen pal was in another country, but pen pals in our own country might help us overcome our differences. I love the idea of students writing to other students. It works on writing skills, communication and social skills. It could be in the same district, town, state or different state or region of the country. Sometimes we forget how much we have in common.

I’m thinking adults need pen pals too. After all children are more likely to do as we do! To that end I write a letter to my grandkids each week. At age 2 and 5 months they don’t write back yet, but I hope someday. I know we’ll learn a lot about each other that way.

Here’s a book showing the benefits of a school-to-school pen pal project.

Dear Dragon
By Josh Funk
Illustrated by Rodolfo Motalvo
2016 Viking

Two teachers announce, in their respective schools, a pen pal poetry project. Students write to each other all year . In June there will be a picnic where they will meet. George is a human and Blaise is a dragon, but they don’t know that. When each receives their letter they picture what is happening from their perspective. So when the dragon mentions skydiving the human pictures himself with a parachute. Before the picnic they decide to keep writing to each other. At first they are surprised they are different species, but then friends. That was the teachers plan all along!

If you start a pen pal project I’d love to hear about it-and you!

Travels

Memorial weekend may find many traveling this year as vaccinations are allowing us to visit with family and friends. (Please get vaccinated! Please continue to mask up where appropriate.) We will be traveling 10 hours to Lawrence KS to spend time with our daughter and her husband. They moved there a little over a year ago as the pandemic was changing our lives. This past year even families that lived in the same town weren’t visiting, but somehow having our daughter 10 hours away instead of the previous hour and a half felt worse. For them it meant moving with no in-person good byes to family and friends, no going away parties. And the pandemic made getting acquainted with their new town and making new friends difficult. I’ve mentioned before that books are an integral part of our family, so it was fun to hear that Beth and David started a book club. Just the two of them! I love it and it will be wonderful to see them, their home and their new life, and discuss books.

When I visit our kids I usually bring some kind of baked goods. Eating together was also a big part of our family! So the recipe for today is one that my sister made MANY years ago. Since then, Chocolate Chip Apple Cake is often requested and loved by all!

A Little Love for Teachers

My elementary school. New Windsor, NY

Do you have a favorite teacher? There are teachers I remember even though decades have passed since I was in their classroom. I think the best teachers help us see the joy in learning and the benefits of knowledge. They see our potential and help us see it too. No easy task.

Teachers aren’t drawn to the profession for the money! Because we certainly don’t pay them what they are worth. I think most want to make a difference. To see a face light up when they’ve reached a student. It’s always been a difficult profession. Teaching a group of individuals, while figuring out how to reach each one takes skill.

In the decades since I was in school the world has changed and those changes have increased the challenges our teachers face. And on top of that the impact of the pandemic students, their families, their communities has added challenges and stress we will be measuring for years.

And so I want to say THANK YOU to teachers past and present. The future of the world truly is in your hands as you teach each generation. (No pressure!) I hope, as a nation, we soon recognize that investing in education is integral to our country truly having “liberty and justice for all” and being a country where ANYONE can achieve their dreams.

And to celebrate…
a couple of books!

Dear Dragon
By Josh Funk
Illustrated by Rodolfo Motalvo
2016 Viking

Two teachers announce, in their respective schools, a pen pal poetry project. Students will right to their pen pals all year but it must rhyme. In June there will be a picnic where they will meet. George is a human and Blaise is a dragon, but they don’t know that. When each receives their letter, they picture what their pen pal is talking about from their own perspective. So, when the dragon mentions skydiving the human pictures himself with a parachute. Of course, the dragon is flying! George and Blaise enjoy writing to each other so much that they decide they will continue after the project is over. They can’t wit to meet at the picnic. When they meet, they are hesitant at first since they are different, but all the pen pals soon become friends which is what the teachers planned all along. (Teachers are smart!)

This is a sweet story about looking past physical differences.  I love the idea of letter writing and pen pals. It’s a wonderful way to get to know someone. As Blaise writes, “Who’d have thought this pen pal thing would make me a new friend?”

Because I Had a Teacher
Kobi Yamada
Illustrated by Natalie Russell
Compendium, 2016

A quiet tribute to all the teachers in our lives. The simple text and quiet illustrations show what kinds of things we learn from teachers. Things like that mistakes are part of getting something right, that there are different ways to be smart, challenges can be fun. Most important, it concludes that “because I had you, I learned to believe in me.”

Better Speech & Hearing Month

This week I’m putting on my other hat! It’s Better Speech & Hearing Month and I’m a speech therapist. Most people have some idea of what we do but most don’t know the full scope of our profession. We need a more encompassing name because speech is on a part of what we do. We work on speech and language disorders in adults and children. Fluency disorders, including stuttering. Voice and resonance disorders. Swallowing disorders in adults, children and infants. Cognitive-communication disorders including social communication skills, reasoning, problem solving, memory and executive functions. Accent modification for ESL speakers. Both speech therapist and audiologists work with people with hearing disorders.

Being able to communicate want and needs, to socialize and interact with others is an essential part of living. Most of us take this ability for granted. It is what makes us feel connected to our life, our families, our world. It is also how we feel in control of our life. Think about a child as they learn language. Very early they learn the power in words-particularly NO. They learn that if they call you, you come. Remember you couldn’t wait to hear mama or dada and later you wished you could change your name?

Speech therapist try to find the key that makes communication a reality for each person they work with. The client or patient, and often their families, are partners in this quest. Everyone has work to do. Communication is a two-way street. Sometimes when we see someone struggling to communicate our first instinct is to talk for them. Sometimes that’s ok, but most of the time what is most helpful is to show patience as they communicate in their own way.

Eating is another ability we take for granted. It is also essential to living not just because it fuels our body, but it also connects us with others as we break bread together. For some the ability to chew or safely swallow food is compromised. This can affect people of all ages and the causes vary, but speech therapists work to help clients consume a diet that will sustain them and give them pleasure. You may be asking, why a speech therapist? We are uniquely qualified because the muscles, structures, nerves we use to eat we also use to talk.

You can help

If you know someone who has difficulty communicating ask yourself,

• How would I feel if that was me?
• Would I want to be ignored or acknowledged?
• How would I want to be treated?
• Can I change how I’m communicating to help them?
• Are there other ways I can communicate-a smile, a touch?

And of course, a book!

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A Boy and A Jaguar
Alan Rabinowitz
Illustrated by Catia Chien
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014

A real-life story with powerful illustrations about zoologist and conservationist Alan Rabinowitz. When Alan was a boy, he was a severe stutterer. His father often took him to the Bronx Zoo because he loved animals. And when he talked to animals he did not stutter. He decides he will be a voice for animals so they aren’t misunderstood like he is. While his family tries to get him help it is not until he is in college that he receives the help he needs and becomes a fluent stutter. Now he can speak, but he says, “I can speak but nothing has changed on the inside. I still feel broken.” So, he goes to nature, where he is at home and studies animals. He studies jaguars in the jungle. He works to get protected areas for the jaguars. He uses his voice to speak for them and the result is the world’s first and only jaguar preserve. He sits with a jaguar and thanks him because he is now whole and at home.

Dr. Rabinowitz has a Q&A about cats on the jacket. He is an advocate for stutters and feels his stuttering put him on the path toward his passion so he credits it.

So if you see a speech therapist or an audiologist this month ask them about what they do and thank them for helping others in their quest to communicate and break bread with you!