I posted these last year, I believe, but something happened and they were erased from my server.  Without further ado (again), here is a list of activities to accompany Our Children Can Soar in your home and classroom. I’d love to hear your feedback. Please send pics and comments to me at news at shadrastrickland dot com. Enjoy! Stay tuned for activities from White Water!

This summer, CBBC will be held in Pennsylvania at the Highlights Foundation…a verrrrry cool retreat with log cabins, great cuisine and all of the amenities needed to tuck yourself away for four days and WORK.  It will be the first SUPER CBBC…which means you get to work with four author/illustrators….Pat Cummings, Bruce Degen, Denise Fleming and Paul O. Zelinsky….before meeting with Rotem Moscovich (Editor at Hyperion), Laurent Linn (Art Director at Simon & Schuster) and Rachel Ward (Literary agent with Prospect) to pitch your book project.

Happy New Year! I can hardly believe how deep we are into 2014 already. Twenty thirteen was a stressful and exhausting year for me, but I am since renewed with the onset of a new year filled with possibilities and reaping the fruits of last year’s labor.  Great things are on the horizon. I just wrapped a set of instructional videos for Craftsy.com titled “The Art of the Picturebook”! All of you talented visual storytellers who are interested in making picture books can sign up and learn about the craft-from generating story ideas to making a complete picturebook dummy. I share examples and tips from my published and unpublished work as well as a few examples from my super talented students at MICA (with their consent, of course). Classes should be available at the end of February to early March. Stay in the loop by signing up for my mailing list at www.shadrastrickland.com for announcements.

Willa Banks, Educational Programs Coordinator at the Benjamin Banneker Museum, has invited me back for a second visit to share the ins and outs of my work on WHITE WATER. Best part is, with a $6 field trip fee, EVERY student will take home a signed copy of the book! The presentation will be held on February 11.

Last August Roger Sutton invited me to test out my writing chops on an article about my graduate school experience. That article expanded to include ideas about my path to publication and working in the industry in general. The piece is tentatively titled “Do Good Work and the Rest Will Follow.” After many revisions and a very gracious pre-edit by the lovely and talented Zetta Elliott, that article will run in the 2014 March/April issue of The Horn Book Magazine! I am honored to have been asked. I tell you, though, writing with a real and large audience in mind is waaaaaay more intimidating than writing for my blog readers (all twenty of you) ;-). When I write for “Living the Dream”, I do so with only a handful of people watching and am much less self-conscious about how I present my ideas. Writing for a “real” publication is like standing outside naked stuttering though pages of my journal.

On February 21-23 I will be in New York for SCBWI’s winter conference. It will be my first SCBWI conference and my first time as a faculty member! I can’t wait to meet everyone and am certainly looking forward to my panel with Peter Brown, Raul Colon, Marla Frazee, and Oliver Jeffers on The Art of the Picturebook. Stay tuned also for an invitation to join me, and Zoobean’s Chief Mom, Jordan Lloyd Bookey for an on-air chat via Google Hangout about PLEASE, LOUISE!

And lastly, but not leastly, PLEASE, LOUISE will be in stores on March 4! My wonderful art director, Laurent Linn sent me a couple of advance copies hot off the press with lovely comments about our work together. I am so proud of the book and hope that it will be well received by book lovers across the globe. If you are on pins and needles like I am, you may pre-order the book now at Amazon.com. Stay tuned to the blog for book launch details, upcoming events, and sign up for the mailing list for special giveaways! Look for an article with Toni Morrison next month in American Way Magazine where she will talk a bit about our Louise!

Happy New Year, and thanks for reading!

Well hello January! I am sitting in my studio looking at single digit temperatures on the thermometer, thanking my lucky stars that I don’t have to leave my house today. There are many people who aren’t as fortunate. Last month I read Blue Balliett’s YA novel, Hold Fast, the story of a girl who falls into Chicago’s shelter system, and from there must solve the mystery of her father’s strange disappearance (from Amazon). I was on the edge of my seat and totally engrossed in this family’s story.

Not only did Balliett do a fantastic job at constructing a wonderful mystery with fun wordplay and magical details of the Chicago Public Library, she helped shed light on stories that we often overlook. Many people who find themselves in shelters are there because of circumstances unforeseen. It could be anything, from an illness that renders one incapacitated and unable to continue work—to persons who are laid off with not enough income to live on their own and no friends or family to turn to.

With an unemployment benefit extension up for debate this morning, I wonder how many more Americans will be looking for shelter in 2014. That being said, those of us who do have homes, food, and clothes are in a fortunate position to be able to help. Every new year we make lists of self improvements, we clean out our closets to make way for new energy, new ideas, and new stuff to fill our lives. We donate to Goodwill, The American Kidney Fund, the Food Bank and other organizations put in place to help our fellow-man. Most of us—as good intentioned as we are—never think of taking our gently used clothes, coats, and canned goods to our local shelters. So, this year, wash up those old clothes, pack up those discarded toys and electronics, box up a few of those books you can spare, buy extra toiletries when you are grocery shopping, and donate them to your neighborhood shelter. Happy New Year~

Dreams

Don’t you love that moment when you sit down to work and procrastination that you scheduled two days prior and had forgotten about comes calling and you feign disappointment thinking to yourself, “Dang, I was just getting into a groove.”, while a sinister smile crawls across your lips?

My wonderful art director over at Simon & Schuster, Laurent Linn, sent me the jacket mechs from our upcoming release, Please, Louise (written by Toni Morrison). Over the course of my short career, I have learned that deciding on cover art and design is never solely up to the artist. Jacket art is usually agreed upon by the editorial team and sales/marketing team. Artists are also asked to address cover art while final art is in completion (this is a personal grievance of mine). Mostly, my art directors have asked to see cover sketches and ideas towards the end of the book. I prefer this because once I’m focused on interior finishes, it is hard for me to switch gears and think about anything else.

Most artists are a bit dramatic…a tad diva-esque, and maybe slightly egotistical when it comes to their ideas. I am a crazy mixture of “of course I’m right, I’m a gangsta” and “…wait, I know nothing! You decide.” when it comes to my work. One of the most frustrating things that ever happens to me is when I get to the “of course I’m right” stage on an idea that took hours to conceptualize and I hear that marketing and sales chimes in and says, “it isn’t (awesome, great, wonderful, perfect, marketable, etc.) enough. As an artist, I can certainly admit that I am a bit of a snob when it comes to non-artists telling me what to do with my work—my mother was kicked out of my studio many a day for offering her loving constructive criticism after a long day of paint, sweat, and tears—and at times I have felt 100% vindicated when I have given people what they want only to have them come back to say they would use my original idea (“of course I’m right”).

Well, today, I was totally shocked and amazed by the marketing team over at Simon and Schuster. Laurent sent me two mechs, one using cover art we cooked up together with Paula Wiseman, and another mech using a piece of interior art that marketing suggested. I can’t show you the two covers now, but let me just say, the S&S team knocked it out of the park! I am now a convert that yes, you can judge a book by its cover and the one that will be displayed on shelves will make you want to take the book home with you. I promise.

So, kudos to salespeople and marketeers! And cheers to teamwork! Please, Louise is the most collaborative book I have been a part of. I can’t wait to share it with the world.

For more hilarious book publishing memes, head on over to Designer In Publishing.
It’s funny because it’s true.
And for my life in Bitstrips, head on over to my facebook page and say hi.

Ever wish you could receive stunning picturebooks in the mail each month for yourself or you a loved one? Zoobean is a service that not only offers picturebooks by mail, but you can also personalize subscriptions by age, gender, and interests. Created by fellow Syracuse University alumn, Felix Brandon Lloyd and his wife Jordan Bookey, Zoobean is the most exciting addition to picturebooks for me since Reading Rainbow! Welcome to the blog, Zoobean!

How would you describe Zoobean?

“Zoobean is the lovechild of your fave indie bookstore and trusted children’s librarian.”  Well, we stole that description from a recent review on Red Tricycle, but it’s perfect, so it’s worth quoting!  Our more formal description is that we are a discovery and personalization service that delights families with products curated just for them, beginning with kids’ books.  

I think a subscription based book club is a great idea! When I was a kid—actually, even now, I still love receiving things in the mail. How did you come up with the idea of Zoobean, and how is it different from similar services?

Our son received the children’s book “All the World,” in the mail as a gift from a friend.  He was so excited to open his gift, and when we read the story, he kept saying, “Me, me, me!” about the little boy.  The family in All the World happens to look like our family, and that was a powerful moment for us.  But, more importantly, it’s simply a great story.  We thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful to delight families with relevant, beautiful books that would engage their kids and inspire an even deeper love of reading. 

At Zoobean, we have curators (all parents who also happen to be children’s librarians or reading specialists) who handpick the books we have in our catalog.  We are quite deliberate with our featured book selections, and we also offer a personalized subscription.  Our highly tagged catalog of thousands of books gives us the ability to curate personalized subscriptions for families.  So, you tell us about your child and what you’d like for them to read (characters’ backgrounds, topics, genres, etc.), and we curate a unique subscription for you.  What’s more?  We offer reading guides for each and every book that is a part of a featured or personalized subscription.

Both of you are super educators. Can you talk a little about the educational component that is built into Zoobean and why that is important to you?

Yes, we met as teachers and Felix was named Washington, DC’s Teacher of the Year!  (Jordan ran education outreach for Google). At its core, Zoobean is inspiring a love of reading in kids by ensuring that all kids (and families) can see themselves and their situations in what they are reading.  As teachers, we understood the importance and power of building lifelong readers.  It’s really as parents that this became even more personal.  Through our personalized curation and highly developed reading guides (the books’ authors rave about them), we help excite kids and give parents the tools to engage even deeper with the literature in their homes.

Diversity is a huge issue in children’s publishing today. According to the the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (http://ccblogc.blogspot.fr/2013/07/i-see-white-people.html) there have been 1183 books published so far in 2013 about human beings, 124 of those books feature people of color. Do Zoobean curators try to create lists that reflect this issue?

One of our earliest customers, enjoying our very first featured book!

At Zoobean, we have three core values: love, inclusion, and remarkability. For us, that means we want to be sure that all of our books are high caliber, and that we do our very best to ensure that all families and kids are able to see themselves in the books we include in our catalog and featured selections.  More importantly, our catalog can serve as a discovery platform.  We’re one of the few places where a parent can go and search specifically by character’s background, including gender, ethnicity, family type, and religion.

Have you reached out to the children’s book community at large (publishers, authors, illustrators, librarians, etc.)? How have they received Zoobean?

We are getting there!  The majority of our curators are in fact librarians, so they have helped plug us into much of the library community.  Generally, librarians are big fans of ours.  Authors and illustrators, especially those with smaller distribution love our platform and often try to get their books listed in our catalog. 

What are your plans for Zoobean’s future?

We intend to extend our catalog, and help families by curating more than books.  We are currently considering apps, along with other markets for which it has become challenging for parents to discover the best products for their children.  One day, we hope that a parent (or aunt, family friend, etc.) sees our Zoobean logo and views it as a trusted seal that represents quality and our core values of love, inclusion, and remarkability.

Thank you so much for stopping by, Zoobean. I am so looking forward to watching you grow and ordering subscriptions for all the young readers in my life!

I was talking with The Bean recently about the joys of masking. We debated the pros and cons of frisket film vs. masking fluid. I am a huge fan of masking fluid because I can paint it directly onto my paper instead of having to wrangle with scissors and X-Acto blades to cut perfect shapes with frisket film. Masking fluid is essentially liquid rubber and when it dries in your brushes it renders them useless for painting. I have two brushes devoted solely to masking. When they get too gloopy, I pull the dried rubber off with my fingers.

For super straight edges, I use artist tape. The danger in any of these masking techniques is ruining your paper. For the most part, standard watercolor paper can stand up to the removal of masks, because it has been sized with gelatin (which acts as a sealant for the fibers of paper). I typically like working on unsized paper because of it’s softer texture. Most masking devices completely destroy the surface of unsized paper when I remove them. To combat this, I use a hair dryer to heat the rubber while I rub it off with a rubber cement block. If I am masking with tape, I stick it to my pants leg first to pick up a little dust so that there isn’t so much adhesive that may damage my paper. Even then, I may still use a dryer to loosen the glue.Be warned, colored masking fluid may stain your paper months after it has been removed. When I worked on Bird, I used a yellow masking fluid instead of white, thinking there was no difference. The work hung on my wall for a few months with no change in color, but when the paintings came back from my publisher, there were stains where the masking fluid had been used. Fortunately, it didn’t print in the artwork much, but as time went on, the masked areas darkened even more.

I now use colourless masking fluid by Winsor & Newton.

Some basic rules:

1. Only apply masking fluid to dry paper. If the fibers of your paper are wet or damp when you apply the fluid, the more likely it is that you will tear your paper upon removal.

2. Do not leave masking fluid on for extended periods of time. I recommend a day, tops. Again, the longer the fluid remains on your paper, it may stain or tear once removed.

3. Use a hair dryer when removing masking fluid from soft sized paper. The heat will loosen the adhesive quality and make it easier to remove.

4. Invest in a good rubber cement block for removal. You can use your finger, but the skin’s natural oils may leave stains on your work.

5. Remove masking fluid after your work is completely dry. Nothing is worse than spending an hour masking an area out, than smearing wet paint across your pristine masked shapes.

6. Dedicate brushes solely for applying masking fluid. For the most part, if you wash your brushes with soap and water immediately after you have used masking fluid, they will be fine. I am not that disciplined, so I have a set of brushes that are already firm from continued use.

7. Try other applications. Use color shapers, a toothbrush to splatter, finger, etc. to create interesting textures in your work.

Hope this is helpful!

Last night I took B. B. Bright to Harrisburg, PA and read to a boat full of children on the Pride of the Susquehana! The Pride is one of only 7 remaining “authentic” paddle wheel riverboat in the United States. This means that the Pride ONLY uses the paddle wheels for both propulsion and steering.  There are no propellers, rudders or other forms of propulsion or steering. Truly a gem in our modern world!

The evening was idyllic. Standing on the deck of the boat cruising up and down the river, I was lulled by calming waters and impressed with the beautiful islands surrounding us.  Overlooking the water and setting sun over the trees, I thought of how beautiful this country truly is and how it is such a shame that corrupt government and failing industry has destroyed so many, once thriving, cities. Harrisburg has similar histories to Detroit and Baltimore. Failing industry, white flight, crime and poverty has left race relations very tense within the cities. It is really unfortunate because all of these citites hold so much charm and beauty.

I began our evening by sharing a little information about 13-year-old B. B. Bright and her tiny magical island home, much like the small islands that surrounded us that evening. The kids share with me some of the pros and cons of living on an island…one of the pros being free coconuts! What a great launch into our story.

After a couple of chapters, the kids became a little restless and began clamoring to the windows to see the water. I then asked two volunteers to come up and draw themselves as independent princesses. Taking a cue from our sassy and unique, Black Bee Bright, the girls came up with many original princess ideas. One was a gymnastic princess, another was a warrior princess who hunted ravens, another was a fashion princess, and last, but not least, I signed a copy of B. B. Bright to a young zebra princess!

If you haven’t snagged a copy of The Diary of B. B. Bright, Possible Princess, here’s an excerpt to help whet your appetite! There is a young possible princess in your life who would love this!

To see a few more pics from the evening, head on over to my facebook page! Many thanks to Harrisburg’s gem of a bookstore, The Little Scholar! Happy Reading~

What a weekend. Friday afternoon I traveled to NYC to attend the Phillis Wheatley Award ceremony. I met up with my wonderful friend and fellow illustrator, Taeeun Yoo earlier in the day for a great lunch at Cho Dang Gol of Stone Bowl Bibimbap and Dak Galbi. Next we took the 1 train to 125th street and walked 6 avenues over to Lenox Avenue. I had no idea the red line split in opposite directions and overshot us so far from our destination. Once we made it to Lenox and 125th, we walked 10 blocks to the Schomburg at 135th. It was well over 95 degrees on Friday, so needless to say, we were drenched. Please don’t ask me why I didn’t think to grab a cab or take the bus because I have no logical or reasonable answer to that.

Tae and I arrived just in time to hear the winners announced for the Young Adult Readers category. I sat in my seat anxiously awaiting the results and was thrilled to see The Diary of B. B. Bright flash onto the screen as this year’s winning book! I was so happy to be able to receive the award on behalf of the authors. To be clear, the Wheatley Awards are primarily to honor the writers of books for children. Though I was honored to be a part of the project, the award certainly belongs to Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams, the authors.

This was my first year attending the Harlem Book Fair and the Wheatley Awards Ceremony. The Wheatley’s were held at the Schomburg Center for Cultural Research, which is home to Aaron Douglas’s amazing series, Aspects of Negro Life. 

Aaron Douglas. Aspects of Negro Life. The Negro in an African Setting. Oil on canvas, 1934. The New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Art and Artifacts Division.

I was saddened because many of the authors who won that night had no representation. Taeeun and I both stared in awe when an award winner was announced and no one took the stage to receive the honor and give thanks. I understand that many people live out of state and can’t just hop on a bus to go to New York, but many of the publishers are in New York City and if the author or illustrator couldn’t be in attendance, at least a representative from the house could be there. On facebook and in close circles, people complain about the industry and how people don’t read anymore and don’t respect books, etc. etc. If we who create the work don’t celebrate it, how can we expect others to do so?

The winners who did receive their awards were more than gracious and it was a treat to hear them give thanks and talk about their journey to publication. I was glad to be a part of such a great evening. Though the emcee made a few unwelcome remarks, one being a joke about the difference between an author and a bucket of chicken (a bucket of chicken can feed a family) or maybe I was being too sensitive…overall the mood was celebratory. Many people approached me after the evening ended to sincerely congratulate me on the win.

The icing on the cake for me was seeing Sonia Sanchez receive the receive 1st Annual Sonia Sanchez ​Award in Poetry. I grew up knowing Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, and Alice Walker. Sonia Sanchez never made it to my classrooms. But, as a black woman in America, how can you live a lifetime without knowing Sonia? My literary friends have shared her with me, but it wasn’t until seeing her fill the stage on Friday night that I understood who she really is…amazing. See for yourself.

 Congratulations to this year’s winners of the 2013 Phillis Wheatley Awards:

Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah by Patricia Smith
Tea Cakes for Toshby Kelly Starling Lyons, illustrated by E. B. Lewis
The Diary of BB Bright: Possible Princess, written by Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams,
illustrated by Shadra Strickland
Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner That Shocked a Nation by Deborah Davis (Winner)
by Deborah Davis
Gather at the Tableby Sharon Leslie Morgan and Thomas Morgan DeWolf
Love In A Carry-on Bag by Sadeqa Johnson
Antebellumby R. K. Thomas

Thank you to the NYPL and Harlem Book Fair for this prestigious honor.

On Saturday afternoon I spent the day at the Harlem Book Fair. Wade and Cheryl Hudson organized and sponsored the Children’s Book Pavilion where many fantastic authors and illustrators shared their work. Visit Wade Hudson’s page to see a few highlights. Special THANK YOU to recent MICA alumn, Dingding Hu for coming out to celebrate, my dear friends, The DeSouza’s for sheltering me for the night and, Araba S., creator of Asenya for spending the day with me at the fair and giving my feet a rest for a while at her home. I hope to see everyone again next year~

Come out and hear great stories this Saturday at the Harlem Book Fair.

I love my work. I love making something that reaches far beyond my hands and home and touches people in intimate and personal ways. More importantly, I love being able to share my work with young people and hopefully inspire them to follow their dreams. Back in the spring at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, a young woman approached me about my work. We talked and I found out that she was a MICA graduate and a teacher. She invited me to come and speak with her students at some point and followed up a few months after we met. Yesterday I visited Mika and her students at Jubliee Arts Center here in Baltimore.

I became an artist because I had a mother who saw talent and nurtured it. She exposed me to art though summer art camps, trips to the library, trips to the museum, and thousands of dollars invested in art supplies throughout my teenage years. She then continued her support by allowing me to choose the college I wanted to attend and encouraging me to go ahead and apply for loans to finance my dreams. We weren’t rich by any means. My mother was a single parent and an educator. She made me a priority. She made my dreams a priority. She gave me the tools I needed to succeed. I was lucky. Not everyone gets to be so lucky.

Yesterday at Jubilee Arts I read Bird aloud and shared a slideshow of some of my early life including the very first drawing that won me attention, a copy of the magazine I wanted to create, the flute I played, the piano I wanted to be good at, but wasn’t, and some of the book series’s I read. From there I showed them my college work and talked about how I grew as an artist, but still wanted to be better. Moving on, I showed them a picture of my art homies in graduate school and told them how I began to become the artist I wanted to be through sharing and learning from my friends and community. The presentation then went into my books, how they are made, and how much work goes into making them.

At one point in the conversation when I shared A Place Where Hurricanes Happen, one of the students asked me if I saw Beasts of the Southern Wild. I have, and before sharing my opinion, I asked her what she thought. This lovely young lady…around 15 or so, shared that she liked the idea that the people who lived in The Bathtub were happy with who they were and wouldn’t be forced to leave their homes for a perceived better life by the outside world. I agreed with that, but countered with the problematic idea I took away from the film that poor people were likened to wild animals. She then countered by saying yes, but the community was diverse so it wasn’t just about black people. True, but still, why does poverty have to sit in a box with filth, slovenliness, and drunkenness? I didn’t want her to think my opinions then negated her own, so I went on to end on a high note about the beautiful magical elements in the film that made it memorable and special.

This wasn’t a debate that needed concluding. I was just so thrilled to talk to young people who are thinking. Two young women who sat on the front row were interested and engaging. After politely sitting through my talk, they began to share their own hopes and aspirations of wanting to be fashion designers, writers, and artists who do it all. I was thrilled…absolutely thrilled.

The highlight of the evening came when I shared with the teens that I had just sold my first manuscript that I would be both writing and illustrating. One student raised her hand and asked, “Why do you want to write too?” Simply because I want to put stories and ideas into the world that reflect who I am and what I hope for others. But also, because if I don’t write my stories, who will? It is a privilege and an honor to use my artistic voice and imagination to contribute to and help shape my community as best I can. Ideas are powerful and I want to do what’s in my power to give to young people the very best ideas about who they are and can be. Lastly, because growing up reading Bible stories, I was taught to nuture and share all of my talents.

The Trayvon Martin verdict was just announced. In light of this and the recent voting rights ruling, we need all of the voices as we can encouraging our young people to walk with their heads held high.

The Parable of the Talents

¹⁴ “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants^[a] and entrusted to them his property. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents,^[b] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. ¹⁶ He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. ¹⁷ So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. ¹⁸ But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. ¹⁹ Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ ²¹ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.^[c] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ²² And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ ²³ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ²⁴ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, ²⁵ so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ ²⁶ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? ²⁷ Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. ²⁸ So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. ²⁹ For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

At the end, we all gathered upstairs in the classroom for pizza and chit chat. The students really came to life then. Before leaving each student came over to me and gave me a hug, which surprised me a bit, but was more than welcomed. Mika Eubanks, the youth instructor who invited me, sat and chatted with for a few more moments about her own artistic journey and experience at MICA.  I encouraged her to see as much of the world as she could. She delightedly told me that she was already applying for her passport. I asked her if I could come back to Jubilee at some point to do some location drawing with the students. It will be an honor.

Congratulations to Alice Randall, Caroline Randall Williams, and the Turner Publishing team! The Diary of B. B. Bright, Possible Princess, is a 2013 Phillis Wheatley Award Book Finalist. Presented annually at The Harlem Book Fair, The Phillis Wheatley Book Awards recognize the best African American books and writers in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Children’s literature.

Phillis Wheatley (May 8, 1753 – December 5, 1784) was both the first published African-American poet and first published African-American woman.^[1] Born in Senegambia, she was sold into slavery at the age of 7 and transported to North America. She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write, and encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent.

The publication of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773) brought her fame, both in England and the American colonies; figures such as George Washington praised her work. During Wheatley’s visit to England with her master’s son, the African-American poet Jupiter Hammon praised her work in his own poem. Wheatley was emancipated after the death of her master John Wheatley.^[2] She married soon after; she and her husband lost two children as infants. After her husband was imprisoned for debt in 1784, Wheatley fell into poverty and died of illness, quickly followed by the death of her surviving infant son.

…Wikipedia

The award ceremony will be held on July 19th, from 7-9PM at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Tickets are $20 and available to the public.

 For a complete list of finalists please visit the Harlem Book Fair web site.

One of my facebook friends sent this message to me yesterday:

Hey Shadra! Hope you are well. I wrote a book a few years ago and am interested in trying to get it published. Do you happen to have any contacts you could connect me with or your advice on attempting to publish?

I also get this question pretty regularly:

Hi Shadra, I recently wrote a picturebook and am in need of an illustrator. Are you available? If not, where should I look?

Illustrating a book takes between 6 months to a year for most artists. Illustration advances typically start between $10,000 and $15,000, but can run even higher. A writer is not expected to hire their own illustrator. When a publisher decides to publish your manuscript they search for illustrators for you.

Some will decide to self-publish. In this case, yes you will want to look for your own illustrator. The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) is a great resource for this. you may also want to look to your local art school or university for students who are looking to hone their skills and are willing to work with your budget. SCBWI is also a great place to find other authors and writer’s groups who can offer constructive feedback and helpful critique before you are ready to submit your manuscript to publishers and agents.

So, that’s it!

Read, read, read.

Write, write, write.

Don’t give up.

Good luck!

Last week I visited Penn State Harrisburg to discuss my work and speak directly on the topic or “Art as a Healing Process”. I was initially a little intimidated about approaching the subject since I’m not an art therapist, but I remembered the article that Dr. Mary Napoli wrote in the Journal of Children’s Literature and used those questions as a way to explain the ideas behind my work and the choices that I make in my illustrations. Here are a few pictures from the event.

Sharing a letter from a young reader on how “Bird” impacted their life.

Posing with the members of Kappa Delta Pi~

Dr. Mary Napoli, Associate Professor of Reading and Children’s Literature

Yesterday at the Baltimore Book Festival, Derrick Barnes shared his series, Ruby and the Booker Boys and an excerpt from his YA novel, We Could Be Brothers. I met Derrick a few times at the African American Book Festival in Philly but had never heard him speak or read his work aloud. He shared his experiences of raising four young boys and using them as inspiration to write the character of Ruby, an 8 year old girl. During the question and answer session I asked him if it was challenging to write a female character without having a daughter. He said that because he was raised around a lot of women it isn’t that difficult to bring Ruby to life.

Derrick Barnes sharing some love and signing my book!

I think sometimes about how gender affects the creative process. I find that I am more comfortable illustrating boys than girls. I don’t know why yet. Maybe because I find that I can simplify male characters externally where with female characters I get caught up in details of clothing and hair and things that make them…girlie. I dunno. I don’t consider myself that girlie to begin with, but I do think about ideas of femininity and masculinity and what defines the two.

I am working on two books currently with female leads. So far, so good. One manuscript is story heavy, where I don’t have to work as much to describe the main character in gesture and expression. The other is picture driven and it is up to me to bring this little girl to life. It is extremely challenging and I have been in the planning stage for quite some time now. Along with her expression, I am also playing with mood to move the story along. It will be a big payoff in the end for sure..okay, hopefully.

I met the wonderful Sophie Blackall after she spoke with Annie Barrows about their Ivy & Bean series. It was the world premiere of the Ivy and Bean museum. What a treat for the rows of wide eyed girls who devoured the series.

Annie and Sophie opening the Ivy and Bean Museum

Hudson Talbott shared his hilarious ode to felines, It’s All About Me-Ow, I laughed out loud at the humor and thoroughly enjoyed seeing his beautiful painting.

To close the day, I saw Kevin O’Malley speak and wow us with stories. If you have never seen him speak before, you are missing out. Just crack open any of his wonderful books and you will see just the type of zany humor that I am referring to. I hope my students had as wonderful a weekend as I did!

It has been a wonderful month of book festivals here on the east coast. This weekend Baltimore is hosting it’s annual book festival in Monument Circle. Instead of class last week, we met yesterday and will meet again today at the children’s tent to hear presentations by some of our favorite illustrators.

Yesterday I met the legendary Ed Young. He shared his newest book, Nightime Ninja, and spoke a little about The House that Baba Built. I was able to have my book signed and he posed with me for a photo!

Cheesing it up with Ed Young~

Yesterday I took a day trip to NYC for the Brooklyn Book Festival. Taking place annually each fall, the Brooklyn Book Festival hosts over 280 authors. I was honored to be invited and spent some time reading and drawing with children at the Target Children’s Tent. It was a perfect fall day. Many thanks to the Festival for inviting me and my dear friends who made it out to spend the afternoon with me. What a treat!

Warming the kiddies up from the “big chair”

Doing a little live drawing with children in the tent.

Drawing my lovely little volunteer, Ella~

Happy release day to Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams for their charming middle grade novel, The Diary of B. B. Bright, Possible Princess! I contributed cover art and black and white interior drawings for this title. B. B. is a 13 year-old-orphan who is coming into her own as a young princess. This is the type of story that I would have eaten up as a young girl. I hope you pick up a copy and enjoy it. For a great interview with the mother/daughter team, check out a fun blog post over at Crazy Quilts! Here are a few reviews to whet your appetite.

“Sweet, sassy and mystical, this novel deftly melds an old-fashioned story of princess preparation with the modern twist of body image and self-esteem.” - Kirkus Reviews

“The ‘godmommies’ are terrific characters and role models, and the illustrations by Shadra Strickland are outstanding as well. Highly recommended for both you and the growing girls in your lives!” - Rhapsody in Books

“I was quickly lost in B.B.’s fantasy world which was framed in an expert use of language, crafted in master storytelling techniques and decorated with darling drawings.” – Edi Campbell

“Talented authors Randall and Randall-Williams created this charming novel that tickled my imagination. . . . The Diary of B. B. Bright will provide readers with adventures that’ll lead them through the fast-moving exploits of a fresh new character, Black Bee Bright, a.k.a. Bee or B. B. Although Bee and her world is fantasy, the authors have kept it all very real. Contemporary readers will recognize Bee’s defiance of the Godmommies’ three rules, the secret of her father, and her struggle to pass the life-defining official princess training test . . . the dreaded OPT. A Black Princess? You betcha! This is a book that should win recognition and praise.” —Patricia McKissack

Shadra said, on 9/4/2012 5:46:00 AM

Happy release day to Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams for their charming middle grade novel, The Diary of B. B. Bright, Possible Princess! I contributed cover art and black and white interior drawings for this title. B. B. is a 13 year-old-orphan who is coming into her own as a young princess. This is the type of story that I would have eaten up as a young girl. I hope you pick up a copy and enjoy it. For a great interview with the mother/daughter team, check out a fun blog post over at Crazy Quilts! Here are a few reviews to whet your appetite.

“Sweet, sassy and mystical, this novel deftly melds an old-fashioned story of princess preparation with the modern twist of body image and self-esteem.” - Kirkus Reviews

“The ‘godmommies’ are terrific characters and role models, and the illustrations by Shadra Strickland are outstanding as well. Highly recommended for both you and the growing girls in your lives!” - Rhapsody in Books

“I was quickly lost in B.B.’s fantasy world which was framed in an expert use of language, crafted in master storytelling techniques and decorated with darling drawings.” – Edi Campbell

“Talented authors Randall and Randall-Williams created this charming novel that tickled my imagination. . . . The Diary of B. B. Bright will provide readers with adventures that’ll lead them through the fast-moving exploits of a fresh new character, Black Bee Bright, a.k.a. Bee or B. B. Although Bee and her world is fantasy, the authors have kept it all very real. Contemporary readers will recognize Bee’s defiance of the Godmommies’ three rules, the secret of her father, and her struggle to pass the life-defining official princess training test . . . the dreaded OPT. A Black Princess? You betcha! This is a book that should win recognition and praise.” —Patricia McKissack

Shadra said, on 9/24/2012 10:06:00 AM

Yesterday I took a day trip to NYC for the Brooklyn Book Festival. Taking place annually each fall, the Brooklyn Book Festival hosts over 280 authors. I was honored to be invited and spent some time reading and drawing with children at the Target Children’s Tent. It was a perfect fall day. Many thanks to the Festival for inviting me and my dear friends who made it out to spend the afternoon with me. What a treat!

Warming the kiddies up from the “big chair”

Doing a little live drawing with children in the tent.

Drawing my lovely little volunteer, Ella~

Shadra said, on 9/30/2012 10:11:00 AM

It has been a wonderful month of book festivals here on the east coast. This weekend Baltimore is hosting it’s annual book festival in Monument Circle. Instead of class last week, we met yesterday and will meet again today at the children’s tent to hear presentations by some of our favorite illustrators.

Yesterday I met the legendary Ed Young. He shared his newest book, Nightime Ninja, and spoke a little about The House that Baba Built. I was able to have my book signed and he posed with me for a photo!

Cheesing it up with Ed Young~

Shadra said, on 10/1/2012 7:33:00 AM

Yesterday at the Baltimore Book Festival, Derrick Barnes shared his series, Ruby and the Booker Boys and an excerpt from his YA novel, We Could Be Brothers. I met Derrick a few times at the African American Book Festival in Philly but had never heard him speak or read his work aloud. He shared his experiences of raising four young boys and using them as inspiration to write the character of Ruby, an 8 year old girl. During the question and answer session I asked him if it was challenging to write a female character without having a daughter. He said that because he was raised around a lot of women it isn’t that difficult to bring Ruby to life.

Derrick Barnes sharing some love and signing my book!

I think sometimes about how gender affects the creative process. I find that I am more comfortable illustrating boys than girls. I don’t know why yet. Maybe because I find that I can simplify male characters externally where with female characters I get caught up in details of clothing and hair and things that make them…girlie. I dunno. I don’t consider myself that girlie to begin with, but I do think about ideas of femininity and masculinity and what defines the two.

I am working on two books currently with female leads. So far, so good. One manuscript is story heavy, where I don’t have to work as much to describe the main character in gesture and expression. The other is picture driven and it is up to me to bring this little girl to life. It is extremely challenging and I have been in the planning stage for quite some time now. Along with her expression, I am also playing with mood to move the story along. It will be a big payoff in the end for sure..okay, hopefully.

I met the wonderful Sophie Blackall after she spoke with Annie Barrows about their Ivy & Bean series. It was the world premiere of the Ivy and Bean museum. What a treat for the rows of wide eyed girls who devoured the series.

Annie and Sophie opening the Ivy and Bean Museum

Hudson Talbott shared his hilarious ode to felines, It’s All About Me-Ow, I laughed out loud at the humor and thoroughly enjoyed seeing his beautiful painting.

To close the day, I saw Kevin O’Malley speak and wow us with stories. If you have never seen him speak before, you are missing out. Just crack open any of his wonderful books and you will see just the type of zany humor that I am referring to. I hope my students had as wonderful a weekend as I did!

 

Super excited for my new sketchbook, 642 Things to Draw, by Chronicle Books. What a great way to expand one’s visual vocabulary. Often I find myself drawing some of the same things over and over. This book is a great way to draw outside of my self. Excited to share this with my students and to fill up my own copy!

This weekend I hung out in Harrisburg with Jonathan Bean, Taeeun Yoo, and Lauren Castillo for 3rd in the Burg. The third Friday of every month, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, artists open their doors and invite the community into their studios to learn about their work and process.

Taeeun at the opening ceremony

During that time Jonathan Bean hosts an art show in “The Steps Shown”, his charming stairwell gallery. Jonathan shows sketches, dummies, and final work of children’s book illustrators, the work that is usually never seen by the general public.

choosing work for the gallery

On Saturday morning we walked a few steps down the street to listen to Taeeun read and sign her books at The Midtown Scholar’s Children’s Section. The fab four hasn’t been together all in one place in quite some time. It was a historic reunion for us all.

The Fab Four in full effect

To see a wonderful video of Taeeun reading from her latest book, YOU ARE A LION, head here.

Taeeun Yoo with fish and lions

Shadra said, on 8/20/2012 10:23:00 AM

This weekend I hung out in Harrisburg with Jonathan Bean, Taeeun Yoo, and Lauren Castillo for 3rd in the Burg. The third Friday of every month, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, artists open their doors and invite the community into their studios to learn about their work and process.

Taeeun at the opening ceremony

During that time Jonathan Bean hosts an art show in “The Steps Shown”, his charming stairwell gallery. Jonathan shows sketches, dummies, and final work of children’s book illustrators, the work that is usually never seen by the general public.

choosing work for the gallery

On Saturday morning we walked a few steps down the street to listen to Taeeun read and sign her books at The Midtown Scholar’s Children’s Section. The fab four hasn’t been together all in one place in quite some time. It was a historic reunion for us all.

The Fab Four in full effect

To see a wonderful video of Taeeun reading from her latest book, YOU ARE A LION, head here.

Taeeun Yoo with fish and lions

 

If you missed the August newsletter in your inbox, you can access it here.

Congratulations and many thanks to the Auburn Avenue Research Library for their recent acquisition of two (of my favorite) original pieces of art from A Place Where Hurricanes Happen, “The Flood” and “Window”. I am excited and honored to have my work included in this collection so that other students and lovers of art can access it.

Tomorrow I will be working with researcher Charles Limb in his research on creative improvisation. Me and a few of my MICA illustration colleagues were invited last week to come to Johns Hopkins and draw while having our brains scanned. Ummmm, yes, please! It’s my Sheldon Cooper dream come true.

Mr. Limb gave a TedTalk last year on his research with jazz musicians and rappers. The premise is the same…perform with a controlled piece and then perform while improvising a piece while in an FMRI scanner. The illustrators that are participating will draw photographs exactly as they see it and then draw caricatures of that photograph. Controlled action versus improvisation.

Here is a video of Mr. Limb’s TedTalk, “Your Brain on Improv”. I will post thoughts on my experience tomorrow~