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Last week, three of us from Stone Arch Books—one senior designer, one editor, and one creative director—headed to downtown Minneapolis for a photo shoot. We were working on the covers for the new Claudia Cristina Cortez books that will come out next July. It was a long, fun day. The day before, Kay, the book’s designer, did a ton of shopping. She had to pick out things for the model to wear, and other props for the covers—things like pizza boxes, balloons, and sunglasses. When we showed up at the photographer's studio, we set up the props and clothes. Then, once the model and her mom arrived, we got to work! We shot the four covers one at a time, and took as many as 100 photos for each cover. After the photographer finished taking pictures for each cover, the three of us looked at all of the images on the computer and decide which ones we liked the best. It was a long day, involving many wardrobe changes, but we had a great time. And we love our Claudia model. Marcelia is 13, and we chose her over other models because she seemed so friendly, as if lots of different kinds of kids would like her. Though she’s young, she’s very professional. She’s confident as she’s being photographed, which helps us get the shots we need. Plus, she’s exactly how we imagined Claudia—fun, friendly, and with a great smile! The next step is for Kay to use the photographs to create the Claudia covers. She’ll pick a background color, add the photograph, use a cool font to showcase the title, and add interesting design elements to make the cover pop. Once the back cover copy is added, the cover’s done, and soon, it’ll be in the hands of Claudia fans all over the country!

As we've said before, we love to hear what readers think of our books. But we also like to hear what grownups think. That’s why a good review in SLJ or Booklist means so much to us. Every time the reviews come in, we send them to everybody at Stone Arch Books. We all talk about what we think of the reviews, what we can learn from them, how they can better our future books, and whether we agree with the review. It’s rewarding when we see that a reviewer really gets what we’re doing.

This review was in the January School Library Journal.

GALLAGHER, Diana G. Guilty!: The Complicated Life of Claudia Cristina Cortez. ISBN 978-1-59889-838-5; ISBN 978-1-59889-881-1. LC 2007005955.
GALLAGHER, Diana G.. Whatever!: The Complicated Life of Claudia Cristina Cortez. ISBN 978-1-59889-839-2; ISBN 978-1-59889-880-4. LC 2007005954. ea vol: illus. by Brann Garvey. 81p. (Claudia Cristina Cortez Series). photos. glossary. Web sites. CIP. Stone Arch. Jan. 2008. PLB $23.93; pap. $5.95.

Gr 4–7—In Guilty!, seventh-grader Claudia and her friend Monica are accused of stealing from popular clique leader Anna. Learning the principle "innocent until proven guilty," Claudia tracks down the real thief, exposing other wrongdoings and earning a few extra bucks in the process. Whatever! describes the never-ending drama faced by many 13-year-olds. When longtime friend Adam wants to join Claudia and her friends' "Whatever Club," the trio must decide if letting a boy in will alter the way their club is run and, ultimately, affect their friendships. With their TV-sitcom-like tone, these books are lively and engaging. Their short sentences, changing and playful fonts, and cartoons will entice reluctant readers. Each title includes background information about the different characters and their relationship to the protagonist. Fans of Marissa Moss's "Amelia's Notebook" series (S & S) and Carol Weston's The Diary of Melanie Martin (Knopf, 2000) will enjoy Claudia and her dilemmas. Discussion questions and writing prompts are included.—Jennifer Cogan, Bucks County Free Library, Doylestown, PA (School Library Journal, 1/2008)



We loved that the reviewer could tell the Claudia books were meant for reluctant readers, since we designed the Claudia books specifically to appeal to the growing population of reluctant girl readers. We use cool fonts to emphasize key words and phrases. We are careful with sentence structure, in order to make reading easy and fun. The pages are lined with small illustrations to help identify characters and enliven the story. And the Cast of Characters in the beginning of the book helps readers predict the story and recognize characters immediately, thus removing one of the very first obstacles to reading.


We’ll have more Claudia in our Fall ’08 catalog. In fact, we’re having the photo shoot for the new Claudia covers in February!