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Leeza Hernandez’ debut book hit the bookstores the week of June 10th.  That Friday night we celebrated in NYC with Leeza at her book party.  It was so much fun getting to see Leeza shine.  The picture on the left is Leeza and Connie Colon.  Notice the necklace that Leeza is wearing?  The ornanment on the chain is a dog bone – so cute!  She even had rice crispy treats made up in the shape of dog bones.  And the dress she wore was a knock out.  The whole thing should have made the society page or the book section of the New York Times.  Anyway, I thought I would show off Leeza a little on Illustrator Saturday to help you get to know the next New Jersey SCBWI Regional Advisor a little better.

I asked Leeza to share the journey to getting Dog Gone Published.  Here’s Leeza:

Dog Gone! has been in the making for almost three and  half years, so it’s wonderful to see it out in the world now. Early in 2009, I was invited to the Putnam office at Penguin to meet with art director Cecilia Yung, publisher Nancy Paulsen and editor Nicole Kasprzak. The meeting was a result of winning the Tomie de Paola portfolio award at the New York SCWI winter Conference that same year. I remember being so excited but crazy nervous, too! 

I shared my portfolio and we talked about ideas that I had for picture books. Cecilia pointed out a dog sample in the portfolio and asked if there was a story to go with it.

It just so happened I had with me what I call an ‘ideas’ book. It’s like a small portfolio but filled with loose sketches, notes and random papers. Luckily, there was a copy of the story tucked in the back. Nancy, Cecilia and Nicole read it. I sat quietly for what felt like hours and then Nancy said “Let’s take it.” It was that pinch-me moment when a good poker face can come in really handy. I gave a silly, goofy grin and managed to suppress the girlie squeals, but inside I was running round the office as if I just scored a hat trick at the World Cup! 

Writing a story wasn’t the plan, but thanks to an art director who requested a dog sample from me a year prior (there were only cats in my portfolio at the time), an idea germinated from simple word play on dog terms—“Hot Dog” became “Top Dog” which led to “Doggone it” then a-ha,“Dog Gone!” a story idea appeared about a puppy who runs away.

While working on the book, I have made a number of revisions, mostly to the illustrations; had the book release pushed back twice; saw a change in publisher and switched to a new editor. All par for the course apparently, although at the time I had no idea what to expect throughout the process, especially when a publication date gets changed. That’s hard to take when you are so excited and have to wait another six months or maybe a year before you get to see the book in hand.

Working with Susan and Cecilia has been great. Marikka Tamura was the designer on the book and nailed the type design to suit the illustrations perfectly. Everyone helped shape the book into what it is now and I could not have done it without them, for sure. You learn to appreciate very quickly that making children’s books is a collaborative team effort.

 Some other things I learned during the creation of this book:

Communication is key. Anything and everything is as simple as a conversation, so don’t be afraid