How to use this Page

June is always a busy time in my household! Year-end school activities, dance recitals, birthday celebrations and Father’s Day seem to make the month fly by. In addition, this year we are in the final stages of preparation for our trip of a lifetime - a 2 month boat trip from Vancouver, BC to Juneau, Alaska. Most people are excited for us: however there are definitely some people that think we are crazy (2 adults, 2 kids and 1 dog on a boat for 8 weeks!!!??) and wonder how the kids keep occupied during long passages. The obvious answer - books!!! As long as there is plenty of reading material on board we shouldn’t suffer mutiny.

Knowing that this trip will take us to many First Nation communities, I have attempted to select books which will enrich my children’s understanding of the First Nations people, their culture and history. Charlotte had some great resources in her post Aboriginal Illustrators and Writers and Debbie Reece has a wonderful blog entitled American Indians in Children’s Literature. Another resource is the American Indian Library Association (AILA) - an affiliate of the American Library Association (ALA). The ALA is holding their annual conference June 26 - July 2 in Anaheim, CA and on June 30th the American Indian Library Association presents their 2008 awards for Best Native American Picture Book, Best Middle School Book, and Best Young Adult Book to this year’s recipients. “This new literary award was created as a way to identify and honor the very best writing and illustrations by and about American Indians ” says the ALA. ” Books selected to receive the award present Native Americans in the fullness of their humanity in the present and past contexts”.

The following winners will each receive a cash award of $500 and a custom made beaded medallion. Reviews have been provided by the AILA Book Awards committee.

Picture Book Winner:

Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom by Tim Tingle, illustrated by Jeanne Rorex Bridge. Cinco Puntos Press, 2006.

A beautifully inspired story of a friendship between Martha Tom, a Choctaw girl and Li’ Mo, a slave boy and how their relationship brought wholeness and freedom to Mo’s family and also to many slaves. Bridge’s illustrations enhance the story by resonating the joy of friendship, the light of faith, and the leadership of children.

Middle School Winner:

Counting Coup: Becoming a Crow Chief on the Reservation and Beyond, by Joseph Medicine Crow. National Geographic, 2006.

This appealing autobiography of Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow (Absarokee) is a winner with the young and old. The author recounts his adventures and training as a traditional Crow warrior and his service as a decorated World War II veteran. Walk, run and ride with him as you learn first-hand about real-life on the Crow reservation before during and after encounters with newcomers. In a text that is not preachy, but and honest read, Joseph Medicine Crow tell how he over came many challenges to fulfill his role as Chief of the Crow Nation.

Best Young Adult:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Little Brown Publishers, 2007.

A realistic, bitter-sweet yet, humorous look at the life of Arnold, a Spokane Indian teenager making his way in life on the reservation while attending an all white high school. Alexie brings to life the challenges many young native people experience as they learn to navigate and balance Indian life in a modern world. Part autobiography, Alexie’s Arnold reminds us of the complexities of coming of age, bigotry, bullies, loyalty to family and the meaning of love.

The winners will be in attendance at the gala reception on the 30th. The reception will also feature a traditional blessing and keynote address by Georgiana Sanchez and traditional cultural dancing by local California Native people. “We are grateful to have this opportunity to honor authors and illustrators who best portray Native American culture for young readers,” says Naomi Caldwell, Chair, AILA American Indian Youth Literature Award committee. “We celebrate the official recognition American Indian literature for youth. “

What is SCBWI? I'll tell you. It is The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and a pretty darn amazing organization. They are all about helping people learn more about publishing in the children's book world. Here are a couple of things I love about SCBWI.

1. Conferences: Conferences are the coolest. They have SCBWI conferences all over the place plus two huge ones every year. One in New York and on in LA. I went to the NY conf. once. It was great fun.
I have attended the annual SCBWI conference here in Utah for the last 4 years. It is coming up again in March. I am so excited. At conferences you can meet your heroes. I have personally met Richard Peck, Shannon Hale, Brett Helquist, Mark Brown, Jenifer Holm, and so many more. They always have cool stuff to say and they sign your books too. At conferences you also get to Talk to other people in your field of work, in your area. Meet editors and agents. Ask all kinds of questions about publishing, and so much more.

2. The SCBWI newsletter. It comes every other month and has all kinds of good information in it from illustrator tips, to legal advice for the publishing world.

3. Discussion boards. If you are wondering about anything related to children's book publishing, (if you can't find it on CBBFI) just ask the other discussers on the SCBWI discussion boards.

4. Other resources such as agent contact info and publisher lists and submission guidelines.

5. And one thing I find really valuable is the local chapter. In our local chapter We have a small SCBWI meeting once a month. It is a fun place to make fiends and learn about the industry. We also receive a newsletter with all the local news about events and local authors and illustrators. It's great.
So check it out!

If you are an illustrator like me, one of your ultimate goals is to write your own story to illustrate. Being trained in illustration and not children's writing, I love getting any helpful hints I can get. Here is a great one I learned from a writer at a critique group.

Start by folding a regular 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper in half.

Fold it in half again.

And again.

And one more time.

Now unfold your piece of paper. You now have 16 squares.
Number each square 1-16 as seen above.

As you probably may know, most trade picture books have 32 pages, or 16 spreads. So this will be a visual way (for us visual people) to figure out what will happen in the story. As you have probably guessed, each square represents a spread (two pages). The following guidelines are what many good children's books go by. Write these things in the boxes as follows:

In box #1 write: character and setting. This is where the characters and setting are introduced to us. This is also developed in box 2 and 3.

In box #4 write: Problem shows up. This is where we start to see our conflict.

In box #5 write: Action- characters make 2 attempts to solve problem and fail. This part of the story is developed from spread 5-11.

In box #12 write: Crisis happens and everything falls apart.

In box #13 write: Feelings and reaction to crisis.

In box #14-15 write: Third attempt to solve problem.

And then finally in box #16 write: character's reaction to success.

I have also been told that in almost all children's picture books, there is a happy ending, or at least a hope for things to go better. So keep that in mind.

Hopefully this is a good help to you visual learners out there who would like to write your own stories.

,

I often find myself designing characters for my books or illustrations. Being able to create a character and draw him again and again has been a fun skill to develop. Lately I have enjoyed learning a ton about the process of character design from different sources such as DVD,s, and books. But one of my favorite places to go for inspiration and education about character design is the Character Design Blog.

It is a place where character designers are interviewed and their work is showcased. The designers featured on the site tell about their process, recent work, favorite jobs and all kinds of things.
So if you are ever in need of some character design inspiration check it out. It features awesome artists and has tons of great drawings.

When I have attended conferences in the past I have often heard questions regarding the classification of children's books, such as, "What is the difference between Middle Grade and YA?" Knowing the different classifications that the publishing industry uses can help us as illustrators as we market our stuff to find work, as we work with the publishers, and as we try to publish books that we have written and illustrated.


Here is how I commonly see children's books classified.
Preschool- Age Three and younger. These are the books we see with bright colors and pictures. They have no or very little plot development. Board books fit in this category.

Picture Books- For ages three to five. This are the books we most often imagine when we think if children's books. They are usually meant to read aloud to children that don't know how to read yet. Often, but not always, the protagonists are young children. Where the Wild Things Are is a good picture book example.

Beginning Reader- These books are aimed at about ages six to nine. They are written for children learning to read on their own, and are usually illustrated chapter books. These books have fast moving plots and fun characters. The Junie B. Jones, series is a good example of books in this category.

Middle Grade- Ages nine to 12. These books often have fun engaging plots and great characters. The biggest difference between these books and YA is the age of the protagonist. Usually the main character in middle grade novels is at or a little older than the age of the child reading the book. The Spiderwick series and The Black Cauldron are some examples of middle grade novels.

Young Adult- For ages 12 and Up. Often the only difference between these books and books for adults is the age of the protagonist. If the main character is younger than 18 (not quite old enough to be out on their own) it usually qualifies as a YA novel. Many YA novels are a lot edgier than books meant for younger children. Content such as drugs, sex, and violence, does not often play a part in deciding whether or not the book is marketed for teens or adults.

But the lines between categories are not totally precise.
I have often heard Pat Castelli the Orem City Library's children's librarian talk about how difficult it is to decide exactly where books get categorized in her library. For example she says The first couple Harry Potter books qualify as middle grade, but as Harry gets older and has different experiences they fall in the young adult classification. So she has to split them up, but where do you draw the middle grade YA line? Its a mystery.

I thought for my post today I would give some advice to some of us who haven't gotten the art supplies out for a while but wished they had.

One of the best pieces of advice I have ever read is "Do something permanent every day." As a mom, I have found that I feel down when all I do is clean, cook and taking care of the kids all day (especially during the cold winter). This is not to say that this work is not important. Your children and family should be the most important thing in your life. But house work, although necessary, is something that can be undone in just a few minutes. I believe it is also important to find time every day to do something permanent. And that is not to say you should find so many things to occupy your self that you totally ignore your kids or housework. Balance is important.

But let's get back to the topic at hand. Doing something permanent could include keeping a journal. . .but for us artsy people, why not a sketch journal (boy, I need to follow my own advice). If you are planning to start an illustration career a little later in life, and are either taking time off to spend it with your kids or to have a steady paying job for a while, it's important to not just put your art away. Find some quiet time to do some little sketch after the kids have gone to bed or on your lunch break. It doesn't need to be a masterpiece. Just anything to keep your mind going and your skills up. If you just have to watch that certain tv show, you can get the sketch book out and doodle during the comercials.

And speaking to you moms with young children and you women who plan to become moms: an illustration career is possible for you. Naptime and bedtime are the keys. At times work may go slower when things come up with the kids (sicknesses, new babies, screaming kids etc). And the illustration field is almost always a challenge to break into. But doing something you love can be very rewarding and fulfilling. So whatever you do, don't give up. Take that leap of faith, and do what you love to do. And always remember to do something permanent. Draw every day-- make time for it.