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Elizabeth has worked as a book designer at Macmillan for the past three years, covering mostly
Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, Feiwel & Friends and Square Fish, the paperback imprint.
Her background also includes working at Bedford/St. Martin’s Press and Ferrar, Straus & Giroux
(FSG), imprints of Macmillan. Liz took some time out to offer Sprouts readers a behind-the-scenes look at her job, advice on illustration and what to think about when sending samples.

How did you end up becoming a designer at Macmillan?

I moved to New York City after I finished my graduate degree and interned with the adult art
department at FSG. While there, I connected with the Creative Director at Henry Holt and interviewed for an assistant position in the art department.

Please describe a typical work day for you?

A typical day for me involves some cover design (usually comps for an upcoming paperback or novel
or fi nalizing a design that’s ready to start routing to the editors), making corrections to mechanicals* that are already routing, and maybe logging in some artwork that just arrived. There are always proofs coming in that need to be checked and corrected and lots of little issues that come up during the day that are taken care of as quickly as possible (images needed in marketing or sales, tracking down mechanicals, checking on reprints, etc).

What is the difference between being an art director and a book designer?

An art director or creative director is involved in every part of the process and is the person that a designer goes to for advice and direction—they have to know what’s going on with every title while managing their designers and freelancers and art directing illustrators. A book designer is more focused on their own projects—moving forward with their designs and keeping in touch with the editors and illustrators as the design progresses. It’s not uncommon to back up an art director or fellow designer though, if they need assistance.

What is it about children’s books that make you want to design them?

I love children’s literature and it’s a pleasure to design picture books as well as novels. I think designing children’s books allows a little more flexibility in some ways (we design the interior and jacket to make a cohesive book, whereas adult titles are often done by two different designers). There is also the bonus of working with picture books, which I love. There is nothing else like a picture book and if it’s done well I think it’s one of the most beautiful forms a book can take.

PLEASE GIVE ILLUSTRATORS A COUPLE DESIGN TIPS TO CONSIDER WHEN WORKING ON THEIR ILLUSTRATIONS:

PICTURE BOOKS

• When working on picture books, be careful of the gutter.  You don’t want to lose any important parts of the artwork when the book is bound.

• Leave room for the designers to place type.  The more you think about this at the dummy stage the less the designer will have to move things around. If you discuss this up front you’ll all be happy with the placement.

• Think about how the spreads work off each other and try to vary the veiw points and angles from spread to spread to keep things interesting.

• Always include bleed on all sides of your pieces.

COVERS

• A lot of the picture book tips work for jackets, too.  Movement and dynamic angles are always eye catching and work nicely on jackets, but they aren’t necessarily right for every book. Talk with the art director/designer and don’t be afraid

#21 Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag (1928)
66 points

The phrase “hundreds and thousands and millions and billions and trillions of cats” still rings in my head from hundred and thousands (but not quite billions and trillions) of readings. - Ellen L. Ramsay

More nostalgia. This one, I remember reading to myself when I was very small when we would go to my great-grandmother’s house. She had some old books in her bookcase, and I know I read this one more than once. Since then, I read it to my own sons, and I still love using it in storytime. That refrain is unforgettable, and I love getting kids to chant along with me, “Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats!” – Sondra Eklund

A classic, that could make anyone a cat lover. – Pat Vasilik

Who would have thought that a tale of cannibalistic felines would turn out to be one of the greatest storytime classics of all time?

The last time we conducted this poll, Millions of Cats actually ended up in the top ten at #9.  Now, like its compatriot Madeline, it has sunk down into the double digits.  What has taken its place?  Will you be appalled when you hear?  Time will tell . . .

With its 1928 publication date, Millions of Cats came close to becoming the oldest picture book on this list.  It was narrowly beaten by The Tale of Peter Rabbit (cheekily published in 1902).  However, according to 100 Best Books for Children, this title has the distinction of being the American picture book that has continuously been in print the longest.  Take THAT you wascally wabbit!

The synopsis of this book’s plot from B&N reads, “An old couple is lonely – if only they had a pretty white cat! The old man finds a hill covered with cats and brings them home. His wife points out that they cannot possibly keep them all. The cats get in a fight over who gets to stay, and the couple is left with a scrawny little kitten. With love, the kitten becomes the most beautiful cat in the world.”

Was Millions of Cats the impetus that brought about the Caldecott Medal?  Possibly.  As Minders of Make-Believe puts it, “when librarians awarded Millions of Cats a Newbery Honor, they chose to recognize the book’s distinction while apparently not feeling quite right about giving the literature prize to a picture book.  It may well have been then that the idea for a companion award for illustration was born, although it would be another decade before the Caldecott Medal became a reality. . .”  Remember, the first Newbery Award was given out in 1922.  It wouldn’t be until 1938 that the Caldecott would come along as well.

Wanda Gag, of course, is one of those artists that rocked the bohemian scene.  Ernestine Evans of Coward-McCann (coward?) attended one of Gag’s art shows and saw the potential there.  Minders says, “When Evans contacted her about the possibility of their working together on a picture book, Gag in her diary at first belittled the project as something to be executed rapidly, for the money.  She soon would decide otherwise and conclude that she had stumbled onto a major new pathway for her artistry.  Many another graphic artist of her generation – including some inspired directly by Gag’s example – would come to the same conclusion.”  100 Best Books for Children supplements this information with an additional note.  Apparently even before Evans came along, Gag had

#22 Corduroy by Donald Freeman (1976)
64 points

A classic that never grows old. – Jennifer Wharton

The kids want a puppy this summer. Selected name is Corduroy. Enough said. – Angela Gillette

I have a theory regarding this bear.  Why do we all find him so cute?  One word: Overalls.  Overalls are adorable, and not just in a Dexy’s Midnight Runners kind of way.

The publisher’s description of the plot reads, “Corduroy has been on the department store shelf for a long time. Yet as soon as Lisa sees him, she knows that he’s the bear she’s always wanted. Her mother, though, thinks he’s a little shopworn-he’s even missing a button! Still, Corduroy knows that with a bit of work, he can tidy himself up and be just the bear for Lisa. And where better to start than with a quick search through the department store for a new button!”

If you want to know the background behind this story there’s a wonderful page on Freeman’s website.  Said Freeman himself of the book, “Of course I can’t remember exactly how it started, but I do recall wanting to do a story about a department store in which a character wanders around at night after the doors close. Then I also wanted the story to show the vast difference between the luxury of a department store [and] the simple life [most people live].”  I find that fascinating.  An examination of class in a subtle fashion within the pages of a seemingly simple book.

One of the other things I love about Corduroy’s creator is how he came to become an artist in the first place.  From the man’s biography on that same website: “Freeman supported himself by working as a dance band musician at night, playing the trumpet in nightclubs and at wedding receptions. One night, on his way home from work, Freeman lost his trumpet on the subway. After that incident he decided it was time to concentrate on making a living from his sketches.”  How does one lose a trumpet on the subway, exactly?  And is Freeman’s trumpet still squirreled away somewhere in the deep dark recesses of the New York Metro Transit’s lost and found?

By the way, remember our discussion of Kay Thompson who wrote the Eloise books?  Don did a sketch of her once.  Whoo boy.

One of the notable things about this book is that the little girl Corduroy ends up with isn’t white, a fact that doesn’t garner a lot of discussion.  Originally written in 1976, this wasn’t necessarily groundbreaking, but it was rare enough to stand out in the field.  It’s something I’ve always respected about this story, even if the both didn’t cross my path very often as a kid.

FYI, Don Freeman’s website?  Awesome.  Now there’s a site I wouldn’t mind emulating.  The man is dead and he STILL has a blog!  Okay, fine.  His son Roy runs it.  But it’s pretty darn amazing.  You can also follow this link to a podcast Roy gave to Susan Raab at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in March 2009 about Don, Corduroy, and various other Freeman-related matters.

Corduroy did get his own movie.  There’s an old filmstrip my library would show every once in a while that was a terribly frightening combination of puppet and full-sized dude in Corduroy costume

I confess that ordinarily, I do not read animal stories.  I avoid horse stories due to my fourth grade reading of Black Beauty and the image of the expired Ginger being carted away that is seared into my imagination.   No Marguerite Henry for me, thank you very much.  To this day,  I am ignorant of  Misty of Chincoteague and King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian despite having happily handed them over to many passionate horse story loving girls over the years.  Even entling no.1's enthusiasm for the entire Black Stallion series complete with matching Breyer horses did not move me unil I saw the beautiful Black Stallion movie.   I did get through Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James one summer because it was on my grandparent's bookshelf and I was out of reading material.

The glorious cover of this new Iain Lawrence novel called to me though. I adored Pam Munoz Ryan's sweeping 2 Comments on 48 Hour Book Challenge 2012 #3, last added: 6/12/2012