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Greetings, Aaron. Let’s talk about your book, Journey. You do a masterful job in that opening spread, making full use of the copyright page, establishing the core elements of the story to come. Journey begins with a bored girl on her front stoop. Inside her home, through a cutaway device, we see her father looking at the computer, her mother talking on the phone, her sister staring at an electronic device. The world is dull and monochromatic –- except for one red scooter and, off to the side, almost unnoticed, a boy with a purple piece of chalk. Is that how this story started for you? As a reaction against our hyper-involvement with technology?

Yes, to the extent that much of my childhood was spent hoping my Dad would get off the home computer. I never saw the computer as an answer to life’s biggest questions; to me it was clear that there was more value in my imaginary play than anything I could gain on a machine’s screen.

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Next comes what I consider the essential illustration to the story. And my favorite. The girl is alone in her room: bored, bored, bored. I love that critical moment, because I’m a huge believer in the positive value of boredom. Most people have an aversion to empty space –- on the radio, silence is called “dead air.” Thanks to technological progress, we can now pick up a phone and scroll through Instagram at the first momentary lull. Crisis averted. Many of us seem to have lost our ability to work our way through (and beyond) that boredom.

This is the crux of it. It’s interesting too, because during the lead up to the election, I depended a lot on the internet as a source of comfort to ease my concerns for the outcome that I feared. I was aware of this, and even went so far as to go on a writing retreat away from the news cycle the week before the vote. Now that we’re on the other side, I can see so clearly that these tools were a false comfort to begin with. It’s been much easier for me to stay off social media and news websites this past week, and not just because I don’t want to see evidence that we have a new President. It’s more that I realize there’s no use in building one’s sense of reality on something that is so removed from our actual physical existence on Earth. In a sense, I felt betrayed by technology once again. It’s a lesson I hope to remember.

I’m sorry, what, were you talking? I was just checking my . . . [puts away phone]. It occurs to me that if you gave your central character an iPhone, she would have never gone on that journey. You would have lost an entire trilogy.

I do think there’s a loss. When I was a kid, I watched way too much junky TV after school (which, I would like to add was brought on by actual policy from Reagan’s FCC that allowed toy makers to create half hour commercials as entertainment for children) and I often think this hampered my brain’s ability to function as an adult. But I’m also not entirely convinced that we were that much better off before. People have a lot more access to different types of storytelling (and stories) than they ever have. It’s a busy landscape to navigate and I’d like to think that the children out there today that can manage the overload will come out with some pretty amazing stories to tell. That said, I’m not sure I could survive it. When my friends were all moving onto advanced gaming consoles, Pac Man was about all I could handle. One joystick and no buttons.

I think when people are bored, they ultimately have two choices: 1) Stay bored (and become boring themselves), or 2) Get creative, do stuff, make things happen. Quick story: I witnessed this dynamic when we took our kids on vacations in the Adirondacks. We often rented a cabin on a lake with no Wi-Fi, no TV, no town, no stores. For the first half hour, every year, they were lost. What now? Then, you know, they got busy. They built forts, went fishing, swam out to the peer, played cards, explored the grounds, looked for frogs, read, drew. All thanks to that wonderful boredom!

I was bored for most of my childhood. School was excruciatingly boring. At home, my family was of the serious academic variety and I was the only one interested in play. So I had to figure it out on my own. I didn’t need the Adirondacks; it was like that for me 24/7. I was industrious. I used the Styrofoam from my Dad’s computer boxes to build stuff. And in 5^th grade, I moved down into the basement to decorate my own universe. I should also add that three of my close friends from elementary school in Baltimore, who suffered the same boredom as I did on all fronts, have gone on to distinguished careers as writers including a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a New York Times staff writer, and a children’s book author. Go Baltimore City Public Schools!

Stuck in a room, another famous children’s book character had to imagine his escape from boredom. Illustration by Maurice Sendak from WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE — but everybody knows that.

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In the girl’s bedroom, you scatter little clues about her character. The air balloon hanging from her ceiling, the drawings of the pyramids, the map of the world on her wall –- and even, very small, a plane flying outside her window. That’s important to you, isn’t it? The sense that we’re living in a great big world.

I think I’ve always been looking for a way out, and so to that end the world offered possibilities. It’s not that my home life was terrible. I just wasn’t getting what I needed so I looked beyond it for an answer. I’d imagine most of us can relate to that!

Obviously, your book owes a debt to Crockett Johnson’s Harold and the Purple Crayon. The device, the crayon, is the same, but the execution could not be more different. Also, the basic plot is timeless: using the imagination as escape, as a way to explore new worlds. Were those books important to you as a child?

Actually, I was never a big fan of that book! I think the drawings bugged me somehow. But I do remember that when I finished Journey someone mentioned the similarity and so I looked at it as an adult. I was amazed at the similarities in the story! I probably would never have made Journey if I was aware that there was something so similar already out there!

Yes, I hear that. I was talking about this issue with Jessica Olien recently. There’s a freedom in not-knowing. I mean, I’m aware of authors who avidly read Publishers Weekly and stay up-to-the-moment about what’s being published. But I’m the opposite, because my tendency is the same as yours: “Oh, rats, it’s already been done.” Creatively, I feel better off not knowing too much. A little bit goes a long way. I’m not a librarian or a publisher; I’m a maker. Our work has different requirements.

I’m a big fan of picture books and illustration in general, so I’ll often go to stores that do a nice job of curating their shelves (like the one at the Eric Carle Museum here in Amherst) and pick out a few books to take home that I like. But I’ve never been interested in following trends or trying to interpret the market of what sells or is popular with critics. I feel like I have this chance with the books I make to create something akin to actual fine art, in that I feel like I’m making something entirely fueled by my own curiosity and interests. The minute I start to create books that I think will sell well is the minute I might as well go back to working as a hired gun for advertising or film. 

Amen, brother! During her journey, our female protagonist experiences great beauty in the natural world. But there are also dark forces at work. The soldiers and guards who seek to capture and control. Are you saying, in effect, that there are forces that conspire against our imagination?

I’ve always thought that the emperor and his soldiers are interested in capturing the purple bird because it represents something they can’t understand or access. They’re aware that the bird has some sort of magical quality to it and it frightens them. But the girl just wants to set it free. She doesn’t hesitate. The emperor represents that force inside of us that might more against that spontaneity of creation. Self-doubt, jealousy, envy, fear. We all have it.

We hate what we do not understand. Except for your art! I have no idea how you do it, Aaron, but I love your work. What materials do you use to create these illustrations? Smoke and mirrors and what else? Forgive me, I’m no Julie Danielson; I’m a little lost when it comes to talking about artwork.

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Pencil sketch, opening spread.

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I start with pencils until the story is working. Then I build some 3D models in the computer to aid in the perspective of the architecture; these models get printed lightly out onto paper and I do another, more detailed pencil drawing for each spread. Then I scan that pencil in the computer so that I can print it out very lightly onto watercolor paper as the basis for my ink drawing. From there, it’s just like a traditional water color painting. Journey took me about a year and a half to produce. It’s laborious but it’s the only way I know!

This is a wordless book, and your very first. Congratulations on such a jaw-dropping accomplishment, for it is a debut book that announced the arrival of an exciting new voice. I enjoyed thinking about your story long after I first encountered it in the wild. Did it have words in early iterations? The wordlessness seems to open up the potentialities of story in ways that wouldn’t be possible if it included text.

Thanks. I do feel like I made the book I wanted to make and the success that has followed has been just one giant blessing. I didn’t plan on it being wordless. But my when I fished my first draft, which was literally a series of small thumbnail sketches on one big sheet of paper, I realized that adding words would only be redundant. The story was already there.

There are currently three books in Aaron Becker’s “Journey” Trilogy: Journey, Quest, and Return. If readers are feeling ignore or bored, you can find Aaron’s website by searching high and low on the interwebs. It might inspire your imagination.

ABOUT THE “5 Questions” INTERVIEW SERIES: It’s a little project I’ve assigned myself, hoping to reach 52 authors & illustrators in the course of a year, always focusing on one book. I almost called it “Author to Author” but I didn’t want to push myself to the front of it, though that is part of what makes these interviews unique. We’re in the same leaky boat.

Coming next week, my great pal Matthew Cordell (Wish) You can hit the “SUBSCRIBE” icon and, hopefully, it will work. Scheduled for future dates, in no particular order: London Ladd, Lizzy Rockwell, Matthew Phelan, Bruce Coville, Jeff Mack, Jeff Newman, and more. To find past interviews, click on the “5 Questions” link on the right sidebar, under CATEGORIES, and scroll till your heart’s content. Or use the handy SEARCH option. 

Guest so far:

1) Hudson Talbott, “From Wolf to Woof”

2) Hazel Mitchell, “Toby”

3) Ann Hood, “Ada’s Violin

4) Matthew McElligott, “Mad Scientist Academy: The Weather Disaster”

5) Jessica Olien, “The Blobfish Book”

6) Nancy Castaldo, “The Story of Seeds”

I haven’t read this one yet, by the firm of Bird, Danielson & Sieruta, but it’s high on my reading list.

Writing “scary” has been liberating. A blast. In the past, I’ve mostly written realistic fiction. But for these stories I’ve tapped into a different sort of imagination, what I think of as the unpossible. The trick is that once you accept that one impossible element—a zombie or a ghost in the mirror—then the story plays out in a straightforward manner.All storytelling has its backbone in realistic fiction.

The response to Bystander has been incredible—and humbling. Many middle schools have used it as their “One School, One Book” community reads, which is such an honor.I attempted to write a lively, unsentimental, informed, fast-paced story. I hope that I’ve given readers something to think about, while leaving them to draw their own conclusions. I didn’t write a pamphlet, 10 steps to bully-proof your school. Robert McKee, in his book Story, says that stories are “equipment for living.” I believe in the power of literature to help us experience empathy.

“Two weeks before Morgan Mallen threw herself off the water tower, I might have sent a message to her social media page that read, ‘Just die! die! die! No one cares about you anyway! (I’m just saying: It could have been me.)”

I was guided throughout my writing by a powerful quote from the great lawyer and activist Bryan Stevenson: “I’ve come to understand and to believe that each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”

THE ONE-EYED DOLL. Copyright © 2014 by James Preller. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Iacopo Bruno and used by permission of the publisher, Feiwel & Friends, New York. 

Julie Danielson (Jules) conducts interviews and features of authors and illustrators at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, a children’s literature blog primarily focused on illustration and picture books.

Think of it like Voltron.  Or, better yet, don’t.

If you are a clever daily blog reader and you have already seen the posts at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, Nine Kinds of Pie, and 100 Scope Notes then what I’m about to tell you will come as no surprise.  To wit:

The Niblings is a new blog consortium, over at Facbeook and Twitter, representing Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast (Jules Danielson), A Fuse #8 Production (this guy), Nine Kinds of Pie (Philip Nel), and 100 Scope Notes (Travis Jonker).

We considered calling this page “100 Notes on Why 7 8 9,” but it sounded too much like a math page. And when Philip Nel suggested “The Niblings,” we all fell hard for it.

Our goal with this group is to share — in one convenient location — links from our blogs, as well as other interesting links related to the field of children’s literature. Instead of us sharing links to our respective blogs on four separate pages, consider this (the Facebook page or Twitter feed) a one-stop resource center for information on children’s literature. This was initially Jules’ very smart idea and she clearly couldn’t pass up the fun numerology in these four blog titles.  Can you blame her?  So in short:

• The Niblings is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheNiblings
• And we’re on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TheNiblings4

Whence the name?  Well, “The Niblings” comes from Tove Jansson’s Moomin series:

“Do you like educational games?” Hodgkins asked cautiously.
“I love them!” said the Nibling.
I sat down and didn’t know what to say.
— Tove Jannson, final chapter of Moominpappa’s Memoirs (1968, revision of The Exploits of Moominpappa, 1950), translated by Thomas Warburton, p. 147

Why this name for our group?

• Tove Jansson’s Niblings love educational games and are, of course, often hungry. And we four children’s-lit bloggers have a comparably rapacious curiosity.

• It is the nature of blogs to take small bites of things. Niblings like to gnaw on things, too. (Niblings also chew off noses they think are too long. We vow not to do this.)

• “Niblings” is a term for nieces or nephews and thus offers an additional link to young readers.

• The word evokes other literary groups, such as the Inklings (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, et al), as well as Fanny Burney’s 1779 play The Witlings (which satirizes the literary world).

• It’s slightly absurd, rather like Monty Python, Moxy Fruvous, Boing Boing (the blog), or, let’s face it, A Fuse #8 Production (which, if we’re going to get technical about it, was named after a car part).

We hope you enjoy our consortium over there in Facebook Land, should you be a Facebook-user.

The Niblings art here was created by the great Megan Montague Cash and is © 2013 The Niblings (Betsy Bird, Julie Danielson, Travis Jonker, Philip Nel).

When looking for Kids' Books Websites, I usually visit a few search engines and put in terms like children's books, kids' books, reviews of kids books, etc.

Today I did something brilliant.  I borrowed links from my favorite KBWs.  Let others do the work, say I - at least, some of the time.

Head on over to Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast and have breakfast with me. There’s plenty of food and some art to boot! Thanks to Jules for pestering inviting me to share my work with her wonderful readers .

Also, Baltimore City Paper is going to publish my students’ drawings from Occupy Baltimore! SO excited!

A few things, first, check out the interview I did with Casey Ahn over at Count Me in Kids, a new blog whose goal is to empower the next generation of Asian-American children by exposing them to books, artwork, television programming and movies that reflect their faces and their lives. Casey featured my work last month and I chimed in to say thanks. She then asked for an interview; we chatted on the phone for about half an hour and the rest is history. The interview is very concise as she was typing as I talked, and I am impressed to see that all of the bases were covered! Thanks Casey for taking the time to share my work with your readers~ Stop on over and share your thoughts with her.

Secondly, a big THANKS to Jules over at Seven-Imp for sharing my “Spring Splash” print on her blog. Check that out along with the work of Amy Shimler. You’re in for a real treat.

Lastly, Stone Mountain Patch is stopping by the studio today. Look for that interview soon~

In non-Shadra related news, a big congratulations goes out to Jillian Tamaki for her AMAZING Penguin Threads Deluxe Classics. Here is one of the covers taken from her blog. Head on over to her sketchblog to see the rest and how she did them. They’re awesome.

{{{ SQUEAL }}}

Here is a trio of great links from the past week around the Kidlitosphere:

7-Imps met up with Yuyi Morales over desayuno this week…

Cynsations has a guest post from author/illustrator Elizabeth O. Dulemba about Writing Bilingual Books…

Uma Krishnaswami has a commentary on racial stereotyping over at Writing with a Broken Tusk, following up on an article by Binyavanga Wainaina, ‘a wonderfully funny satirical piece in Granta magazine called “How to Write About Africa”‘, from which she quotes, and a video of a presentation given by Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie earlier this year, entitled “The danger of a single story”: well worth watching…

Check out this wonderful blog about books called Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

Thank heavens for Adrienne and Eisha. Because they were at the Rochester Teen Book Festival last weekend, and actually had the strength to write a post about it. Which I’m totally stealing now. Or look at this one, which includes a clip of Wordgirl, with my new pal Jack Ferraiolo doing the [...]

One of the many awesome things about getting my book published has been discovering the on-line kidlit community. I think a lot of people know about this community before selling their first book but I lack internet savvy and so it was a wonderful surprise for me. My first discovery was the wonderful Fuse#8 , which is the perfect starting point since she is the center of everything kidlit. Her blog lead me to favorites like Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast and Bookshelves of Doom, as well as clueing me in to some great new books.

MySpace lead me to some great YA review blogs, like BookChic, And Another Book Read and the Compulsive Reader. It also lead me to a bunch of author sites. I follow a lot of author blogs now but my favorites are Meg Cabot’s and The Disco Mermaids. I also love blogs of people breaking into the business, like the wonderful Debbi Michiko Florence and Hip Writer Mama.

For years I was embarrassed to be an adult who read kid books. I thought I was the only one and I’d hide the covers of my books when I read on the subway, stuffing my latest YA favorite into my backpack so fast that no one could see that the thirty-something woman across the aisle was reading a book for teens. But now I’m part of this incredible community that loves kid books as much as I do. I know there are thousands of us around the country, reading and loving our teen and MG books. I now display my books with pride, and smile when I see that people are reading over my shoulder. Who wouldn’t want to read over my shoulder when I’m in the middle of BRALESS IN WONDERLAND or the latest Sarah Dessen?!

What I love the most about all these sites is how warm and open people are. This business could be so competitive and mean but instead it’s a group of people bound together by a love of kidlit, who are thrilled to discover another new book by another new author. Which is pretty much a dream come true for this new author!

We’re starting to count the days in our family to when school will break up for all of us… we’re looking forward to indulging in some good “book sessions”, when we can all snuggle up and take turns in reading piles of books to each other – old favorites and new.

Two very different books I’m looking forward to sharing with the boys this year are The Huron Christmas Carol illustrated by Ian Wallace and Santa Knows by husband and wife team Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith.

The Huron Carol takes its text from a carol which, as the name suggests, was originally written in the old Huron language in c. 1641, probably by Father Brébeuf, a French Jesuit missionary in what is now Ontario, Canada. Sung to the tune of a traditional French carol, it was translated into English in 1921, beginning “’Twas in the moon of wintertime”. This is the version which forms the text of this lovely book, although both the Huron and French words for one verse are given at the end, along with the tune. In it, the Christmas Story is set among the Huron Indians, so that, for example, “chiefs from far before him knelt/ with gifts of fox and beaver pelt”. Ian Wallace’s illustrations emphasise the cultural setting within the intimate space of a Huron longhouse, as well as through his sweeping depictions of the Canadian landscape filled with local wildlife. This book is a really special way to share the universality of the Christmas message, made relevant to a specific group of people by being placed into their own, familiar context.

Meanwhile, you just have to see the cover of Santa Knows to know that this book is going to be a fun

This one would make a rousing read-aloud to the elementary-aged children at which it’s aimed

– I definitely agree: especially as that is just the age when the questions about whether Santa exists are starting to emerge. Let Alfie F. Snorklepuss’ experiences (what a glorious name!) be a warning to all those doubters out there! And just to add to the excitement, run to the end of this Cynsations post from a few days ago, where Cynthia Leitich Smith gives details of how to ask her for a signed “Santa Knows” bookplate.

Last week Jules and Eisha, the clever, creative and captivating hosts of the Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast children’s book blog, featured Andrea’s side of the Just One More Book! story.

Pop over to 7imp today for the scoop on Just One More Book! co-host Mark Blevis — the technical genius who makes it all possible.

What do Jack Gantos, Grace Lin, Adam Rex, John Scieszka, Jarrett Krosoczka and Mo Willems have in common with me, Andrea Ross?

Absolutely nothing — except that, as of today, we’re among the 56 and counting children’s book authors, illustrators and enthusiasts who have been guests of Jules and Eisha, the brainy, eloquent and always entertaining hosts of the revered Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast children’s book blog.

Pop over to 7imp today for the scoop on JOMB — and learn much more than you ever wanted to know about one half of the duo behind it.

Unfortunately owing to timing issues and being out all day Saturday, I found out too late that Midwestern Lodestar was hosting the 12th Carnival of Children's Literature, but do check it out - it's huge ! (And if you want to know what a "Carnival of Children's Literature" is, check out this explanation from Susan at Chicken Spaghetti). Fortunately, I already know that Jen Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page is hosting the next one, so the date's firmly in my "diary" to participate.

Talking of the lovely Jen, she's the latest Blogger to be interviewed by Jules and Eisha over at the fantastically named Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast (because why stop at Six ?!) Blog. I love "7-Imp" as it's affectionately known, though I've only recently started reading it (and must add them to my Blog roll !). Jules and Eisha also do a new series on a weekend called (at present) "Seven Good Things Before Monday", to which everyone's invited to contribute seven (or more, or less) good things that they've read, seen, heard, experienced - it's meant to be a celebration of the good things in life, to make up for all the dire news and grotty things that fill the newspapers and news stories.

And finally, Camille over at Book Moot linked to this FANTASTIC Hobbit House that was designed as a "fitting repository for a client's valuable collection of J. R. R. Tolkien manuscripts and artifacts" - I SO want to live here !! Do check the page out as the photos are awesome.

Yesterday I watched Bridge to Terabithia and The Lives of Others in quick succession. Literally one hour passed between the two. In that state of .... severe mental confusion is the only term that comes to mind, I was not able to write up my Review of the Day (and it's a doozy too) or even scout out much interesting info. So here are just a couple things I saw recently that caught my eye on other blogs as particularly smart/funny.

First up, books you love to hate. Or, rather, the ones you couldn't finish. When Leila Roy saw an article in The Guardian discussing the books your average British reader couldn't get through (check out #2), she opened up the topic and there definitely been some interesting comments. Who knew Francine Green couldn't hold her own?

Your average Pixie Stix Kids posting tends to come in a clump. There won't be anything for a week or so, and then suddenly you'll find yourself inundated with intelligent conversation. The most recent piece of interest? A trendwatch on emerging graphic forms for children. The hypothesis is thrown out that the graphic-centered book is a trend. Which is to say, it may go away. I think it is not a trend. Feel free to discuss. (UPDATE: Oh my God, she wrote even more information on the topic! I feel exhausted just looking at it).

Now I'm always delighted when editors take the time to give some advice to their authorial charges. Cheryl Klein is one of the best, so her recent piece Slush Pile Saturday, Ms. K offers her thoughts on, "The number one problem in novel submissions," poor first chapters, and the importance of killer last lines.

Speaking of advice, here's some from another sector entirely. I'm always terrible when it comes to promoting the latest publication of the online kidlit webzine The Edge of the Forest. Well, it's out now (go, shoo) and MotherReader's Pam Coughlan has a great piece in it entitled Be a B-List Blogger. If you have ever wondered how to increase stats on your kidlit blog, this piece may help.

Sometimes we're so smothered in snark that we have a hard time appreciating the "nice". And I'm talking actual "nice" here. Not ooey-gooey saccharine-filled "nice". So there's this new thing at 7-Imp that they're trying out where every week-end people will, "gather and discuss what Beautiful and/or Kick-Ass Things Happened to You or That You Read or That You Noticed This Week." Sounds good. It'd be cool if there were a blog program that could waver between a blog and a wiki whenever the mood struck you. Technology not having progressed quite so far, this will do in the interim.

I don't usually direct my readers to other blogs' reviews of children's books because I'm incredibly lazy. I figure you'll get there eventually. Can I confess something to you though? I'm addicted to the book reviews on Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Completely. Jules and Eisha have this easygoing rapport that your average blogger (yeah, that's me) would kill to acquire.

So anyway, they've this review up of A Drowned Maiden's Hair (the Middle Grade Fiction Cybil winner, no less) that's worth your time and effort. Especially if you haven't heard of the book. Go. Shoo. Off whichu. Read 'em.

Seven Impossible Things Before breakfast launched their remarkable Seven Impossible Interviews Before Breakfast series while I was at ALA with a look at Liz B. of A Chair, a Fireplace & a Tea Cozy fame. Now they've posted information on Fuse #8. It's neat. If I gave you my card at ALA and told you to look at my blog, this would be a nice thing to consult. And man, talk about research. They even found the old SLJ interview I did where I explained where the name "Fuse #8" comes from. Coo. A very nice series conducted by very nice people who have subsequently fed my very big ego.