Happy Good News Day Tuesday! Today I am excited to be celebrating with Chiêu Anh Uban. Chiêu's novelty board book, AWAY WE GO!, was recently published by Scholastic Cartwheel. What a clever concept!

Thanks so much to Chiêu for these very informative answers! And hope you enter for a chance to win a copy of Away We Go!. Details about the giveaway are at the end of this post!

Enjoy the interview!:


Can you tell us about your recently released book, AWAY WE GO!?

Away We Go! A Shape and Seek Book is a novelty board book published by Scholastic, Cartwheel.  This concept book introduces basic shapes and transportation modes, and is brightly illustrated with bold, colorful geometric shapes.  Die-cuts of shapes are layered throughout each page for a fun shape-and seek-game.  The challenge is to find the vehicles in the shapes and the shapes in the vehicles.


How did you come up with this wonderfully creative visual idea?

I have a background in graphic design, and love creating playful books that offer fun exploration for our youngest readers.  One of my illustration technique is to build images using shapes.  I enjoy working with die-cuts, and thought it would be fun to layer them on every page as an interesting transition to each transportation mode, which we see everyday.

What do you see as the unique benefits and challenges of writing for young readers?

It’s very heartwarming to create and share a storytime experience with little children. They are learning and exploring everyday, and I love creating books that are fun for them.  One of the challenges I face is designing an innovative novelty book that isn’t too expensive for production.  I have many neat ideas I would love to see as books, but know that the cost of producing them may not be feasible.


Can you describe your path to publication as an author/illustrator? 

It took six years for my debut novelty book, Raindrops: A Shower of Colors to be published.  During this time, I attended many SCBWI conferences, and learned as much as I could about the publishing world.  Over a year after publishing with Sterling, I started working with Ronnie Ann Herman of the Herman Agency. Another year of hard work went by before Scholastic acquired my second title, Away We Go!  I try to develop two to three new novelty concepts each year and hope for the best.

What advice would you give to new and aspiring author/illustrators?

Continue to work on your craft, and attend SCBWI conferences. They have played a large role in my journey as an author/illustrator.  There will be many discouraging moments, but don’t give up! Learn from them, and you’ll be a step closer to publication.


Would you like to enter for a chance to win a copy of AWAY WE GO! A SHAPE AND SEEK BOOK!?  Just post a comment following this post letting Chiêu know who you'd love to give it to (of course, keeping it for yourself is fine too. :o) ) To be entered, you must comment before Tuesday July 8th at 11:59 p.m Pacific Standard Time. Please make sure that I can find your contact information when I click on your name. All those who comment will be entered into a random drawing for a chance to win one copy of Chieu's awesome board book, AWAY WE GO! 


Chiêu Anh Urban is an author/illustrator and graphic designer, and enjoys creating fun, innovative books for the youngest readers.  She designs novelty formats that provide playful exploration of early concepts. Her debut book, Raindrops: A Shower of Colors uses acetate to show how primary colors blend to make new ones.  Away We Go! A Shape and Seek Book is published with Scholastic, Cartwheel this summer, and incorporates layered die-cuts to introduce shapes and transportation modes for a fun search-and-find game.  When she’s not working on book ideas, she’s most likely baking and doing crafts with her girls.