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Erica S. Perl is an award-winning children’s book author.  Her new picture book, Dotty, illustrated by Julia Denos, was published by Abrams in August, 2010.

Bookmark, The First Book Blog, is the last stop of the blog tour for my new book, Dotty.  Dotty is the story of a girl named Ida, her extremely persistent imaginary friend, Dotty, and her perceptive and kind teacher, Ms. Raymond.  When Ida starts school with Dotty in tow, she is pleased to discover that her classmates also have imaginary friends.  But as the year continues, all the other imaginary friends disappear, while Dotty remains… and playground conflict ensues.  Ms. Raymond steps in — not to rescue Ida, but to show her that she is not alone and that imagination is very much welcomed and encouraged in her classroom.

This blog tour has been a blast and as a special treat for the First Book blog, I’ve invited Julia Denos, Dotty’s wonderful illustrator, to join me today!  I’ve asked her three questions that I often get asked, and that – coincidentally – make great jumping off points if you read Dotty with kids and want to discuss it and do extension activities:

• Hi Julia!  Thanks for joining us.  First question: what is your “Dotty” (that is, what is the secret side of you that not everyone gets to see… and that won’t go away)?

My inner child is my “Dotty”! She’s always hanging around. I don’t think I will ever really totally grow up, I will always sort of have one foot in the imaginary realm and the other in reality, a little like Ida I guess… this makes me forgetful about practical things/open/dreamy half of the time, but worried I’ve forgotten my keys/grown-up acting/super-organized (to try to make up for it) the other half of the time. Most of the time people see grown-up me, but the inner child is the real deal, behind me on a very long blue leash.

• Can you tell us about a really good friend… real or imaginary?

My best friend is named Matt. He’s a talented artist. He creates character designs and outfit concepts for video games now, but we used to draw in high school art class together. He used to skate board and I used to try to balance on his board, not very well. He is very good at being practical and patient when I am dreaming off on a little cloud and forgetful (Matt’s a secret dreamer too). He’s the best listener I know. His favorite snack are peanuts-in-the-shell. We make each other laugh. We just got married this year!

• Okay, last question:  What would you like to see Ida and Dotty do next, if they had another adventure?

Ida learns to ride on Dotty’s back and Dotty learns to fly. Recess is spent at Dotty’s house (they fly there) having tea, instead of on the black top. Katya is invited if she’s nice.

Hmm, a flying adventure.  I like that.  Guess I better do some more writing!

Thanks for joining the blog tour, Julia! It has been such fun visiting blogs and meeting new friends along the way.  But never fear, I have some live-in-person events coming up, including the Princeton Children’s Book Festival tomorrow (9/11/10) from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. in Princeton, NJ and many more, so please check the events page at my website – eri

This month bulletin board features Because I am Your Daddy the follow-up to Because You Are My Baby, cover sketches for DOTTY, Diary of a Wimpy Kid Newspaper Ad, Jellybeans and the Big Book Bonanza, Meanwhile, Mama Is It Summer Yet? and On a Windy Night.

EP: When I was a kid, I had imaginary friends. I told my parents that two of them were twins but were not the same age (which they found funny, though I didn't understand why for years) and their names were Sahti and Dahti. I was probably about three or four at the time, which I know because we moved to Rhode Island when I was four and these memories predate the move. I also had an imaginary pet (a sheep) when we lived in Vermont, where we didn't move until I turned eight. But by then I was pretty sure that I'd get teased if anyone found out about my imaginary sheep, so I didn't tell anyone. I think the initial idea for DOTTY came out of both of these experiences: having an imaginary friend that interested and amused others, as was the case with Sahti and Dahti, and having an imaginary friend that might be a source of ridicule. And, of course, the name "Dotty" came from "Dahti."

On writing the manuscript:

EP: When I first wrote the story, I relied on this memory I have of overhearing a girl gossiping about me to a friend and the friend replying, "Who's Erica?" And then the first girl pointed me out by saying, "Hey, ERICA, I like your sweater." But when I went to storyboard out the book, I was surprised by the intensity of Ida's —and Dotty's —reaction. This sometimes happens when I write a piece… it is much neater in word form, but if I start sketching and drawing, ideas flow and things happen. It's why I always encourage writing students to draw, even if they don't want to be illustrators. Sometimes you don't know what you want to say with words until you get an image.

Erica Perl on the evolution of Dotty:

EP: When my draft of the manuscript was finished -- long before Julia was selected as the illustrator -- I started reading the story aloud as part of my author visit presentations. I'd ask the kids to raise their hands and tell me what kind of animal Dotty was. And the kids would tell me: she's a bull! she's a goat! she's a giant guinea pig! So I realized for the first time that maybe Dotty was an animal unto herself… or a one-of-a-kind combination of many kinds of animals.

On selecting Julia Denos:

CW: It was actually kind of hard. Erica Perl ( author) remembers talking with Susan Van Metre and telling her here ideas and hearing hers. We were on the same page, both of us wanting someone who could capture the whimsical qualities of the piece without making it overly sentimental or losing the humor and range of emotions. Julia Denos was my pick among other. On a rare occasion do i find and illustrator from a mailer. Yet this is how I cam across Julia. Erica recalls checking out her online portfolio (after I sent here Julia site to review ) and thinking "YES! Oh please let us get HER!"

You might remember Julia Denos's work from Tim McGraw's picture book My Little Girl.

So we begin. Julia and I worked out a time table for sketches and final art as well as other contractual items.

Here are Julia's first sketches

Video Chatting over sketches.

"During Choice Time, Ida found out there were even more in her class. Pete and Repeat came to school with Max. They were twins, but not the identical kind.
Kay was Benny’s. She had razor-sharp teeth, but Benny swore she would never really hurt anyone. Beeku was tiny. She swung back and forth on Katya’s braids, chattering all day long.
And there was Dotty. Who kept mostly to herself, nibbling the rug. "

First round character and layout sketches
Ida Brunnette?

or Ida Blonde?

DOTTY character sketches

She started out as a gremlin on a leash

and slow began to look more like a buffalo
the more cow like

Other Imaginary friends

Final Dotty Character Sketch

NOW GET TO WORK DENOS!

To promote our books, several of my fellow children's authors and I are going on a two-week blog tour. Most of of us have been published by Guardian Angel Publishing.Reviews, interviews, inspirational articles will be posted and prized given at the end of the tour! Participating authors include:Mayra Calvani, Crash!http://www.mayrassecretbookcase.blogspot.com/Jennifer Gladen, A Star in the

Dotty's Topsy Tale, written by Donna J. Shepherd, illustrated by Kevin Scott Collier, the long awaited print sequel to Topsy Turvy Land, introduces a purple baby hippo named Violet into the inspirational series to explore the topic of discrimination. Kevin created 14 fun, colorful illustrations for the book._______Dotty is up on the publisher's website! Click HERE for more information. Dotty's

Dotty's Topsy Tale, written by Donna J. Shepherd, illustrated by Kevin Scott Collier, the long awaited print sequel to Topsy Turvy Land, introduces a purple baby hippo named Violet into the inspirational series to explore the topic of discrimination. Kevin created 14 fun, colorful illustrations for the book._______ Dotty is up on the publisher's website! Click HERE for more information. Dotty's

Where's Chizzy? Dotty sure looks scared, doesn't she? *Click on the picture, then print! It will print out full size ready to be colored. If that doesn't work with your printer, right click on the picture, and then 'save picture as...' and then you can print it out using your photo program.

New Blog! Topsy Tales! Click HERE!

This morning parents all over the land were slapping their heads with annoyance at having forgotten about World Book Day until being reminded that a costume would be needed five minutes before setting off to take their children to school. Or maybe that was just me.

Lack of preparation necessitated a fudge - a Nemo mask instead of a proper costume - but once inside the school gates there was little need to be embarrased. Sure, some parents (who are these people?) had really gone to town - I saw a passable Oliver Twist, what could have been a Jim Hawkins from Treasure Island and what looked like a refugee from Les Miserables. But these literary pretenders were seriously outnumbered by the Spidermen, Sportacuses and Disney Princesses, which I did feel was a little bit of a sad indictment of what our 4-6 year olds consider as characters from books.

Still, World Book Day cannot be a bad thing - children will spend the day listening to, reading and talking about books which is a cause for celebration. And, speaking personally, to make up for forgetting a costume and thinking that Nemo is a literary character, tonights' bedtime story will be a scene from Crime and Punishment.

Jeremy Ettinghausen, Digital Publisher

PS Over the next few days I'll be at the annual SXSW interactive festival. If you happen to find yourself in Austin, Texas on Sunday, come watch me try to sound intelligent talking about Stories, Games and Your Brand.

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