Book birthdays are always special…even more so when they are for author friends. And guess what? This author has more than one book launching today!!!
So please clear your throats and get ready to sing out for these beautiful books!
Forgive me…I couldn’t wait! I had to just splash them right up there!
Both books are illustrated by Suzie Mason and are published by Amicus, Ink and are part of the Little Animals Friends series.
And now that you’ve had a little time to enjoy these beautiful covers, please sit back and relax because author Julie and illustrator Suzie kindly agreed to stop by to chat with us…and have a piece of birthday cake, of course.
JULIE: Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Littles,
Happy birthday to YOU!
Thanks for having us on your blog today, Vivian. I do love to sing, and it’s double the JOY when you have book birthday TWINS and can share the day with your incredible illustrator, Suzie Mason. It is very exciting to think that we are now publishing book 3 and 4 together.
SUZIE AND JULIE IN BOLOGNA
I think most of you know that the Little Animal Friends series started out with one little story. A very little story, in fact, as it was less than 50 words and was for your 50 Precious Words contest in 2016, Vivian. I was overjoyed and incredibly honored when you announced it as your top place story and kicked off my publishing journey.
But Little Tiger wasn’t keen to be an only book, so I wrote Little Panda. It was a very proud moment when the first two launched as board books last year.
When Amicus Ink asked for two new stories, I started to research animals again. So, let me tell you a little about my process.
I look through animal books, photos and videos and when something makes me go “Ahhhh” that often starts a story idea.
Each book is based on the principle that baby animals act just like our human little ones – all about action and exploring, and sometimes overstepping the line. The key is to find lots of action verbs to really ‘show’ what is going on and if those verbs can be specific to the animal that’s even better. I keep track of these verb pairs for all the books on an excel spreadsheet, that way I don’t repeat myself too much.
The books have a consistent structure, but each animal has its own adventure. They have a maximum of 80 words over the 10 spreads. The first line of each quatrain is fixed, Little Hippo, Little Monkey etc. Then each spread follows a similar pattern with the problem climax on spread 6 and Mama to the rescue on spread 7. I know that generally we aim for the protagonist to solve their own problem, but I felt that as young animals and children grow, they need a helping hand from time to time.
When I work on stanzas, the musicality is the driving force for me. The rhyme, rhythm and flow of the words must work to enable the story to be read aloud fluidly. I aim to create a songlike quality and finding the right words can take a long time! I often sing books with children and have a tune which fits the little books, but on a school visit I discovered that the children could rap these stories quite well too!! Oh, I wish I had taken a video!
Thank you so much for having me today, Vivian. And it’s over to Suzie…
Suzie’s Process:
For Julie’s books I like to have a really good grounding in the anatomy of the animal protagonist before I begin. The art style is simple and sweet, so the animals have to be very clear and understandable, especially as the target audience is the younger end of the children’s age groups. For Little Monkey I was lucky enough to be able to visit a zoo that had the chosen monkey species. I took a lot of reference photos – monkeys in all sorts of odd positions, interacting with each other, and especially in motion! Back at home I spent some time sketching these photos, trying to reduce the detail until I could draw the monkey with a simple outline and have him still be recognisable. The trickiest part was figuring out his snout and ears!
Once I have a style in mind I’ll draw up a couple of sketches of each spread based on Julie’s text. Sometimes the publishers ask me to include a certain setting or action, and sometimes it’s up to me to interpret the text from scratch. I have to ensure there is plenty of ‘blank’ space on each spread to incorporate the text, and to allow the animals to stand out and not get overwhelmed with background details. I send the sketches over and make any amendments where suggested, then when the publishers have picked their favourite sketches they’ll tell me where the text is going and I can start illustrating!
All my art is hand drawn in photoshop, so I’ll start with a white page with my sketch superposed over it, and fill in the different areas with colour piece by piece, using multiple layers. I use a lot of texture brushes to get a soft look, and only ever use pure black for the animals’ features, such as eyes and paw lines. When black is usually called for, such as the black fur of the monkeys, I use darker shades of other colours to keep the animals colourful and ensure their facial expressions are always easily readable. For example, Little Panda has purples, blues and pinks in his ‘black’ fur areas!
I use light and bright palettes, which I choose at the start, in order to bring a cohesiveness to the book. Each book has its own palette – when picking a colour for the scene I’ll first use one from that palette and then add others as needed to bring interest.
Once the scenes are all drawn, I send them to the publishers who will come back to request any changes. For example, for Little Monkey one of the spreads had two rounds of amendments – first to add more colour in the scene with extra plants and flowers, and then to bring in a blue sky to brighten the whole scene up. When the art is all approved, my portion of the work is done, and I don’t see anything else until a box of books shows up on my doorstep several months later! Seeing the books in real life with the art and text together is one of my favourite parts of this job.
Wow…thank you so much, Julie and Suzie. You just gave us a mini-workshop in writing and illustrating a board book!
To find out more about Julie:
Julie Abery is a children’s author and former Pre-K teacher. Originally from England, she has spent half of her life living in Europe, bringing up her three (now grown up) children and experiencing new languages and cultures. She now calls Switzerland home.
Julie’s debut board books Little Tiger and Little Panda illustrated by Suzie Mason, published in March 2019 with Amicus Ink. Little Hippo and Little Monkey joined the Little Animal Friends series in February 2020; a nonfiction picture book biography entitled Yusra Swims, Creative Editions, illustrated by Sally Deng in February 2020; a true story THE OLD MAN AND THE PENGUIN, Kids Can Press (Fall 2020) and nonfiction picture book bio SAKAMOTO AND THE SUGAR-DITCH KIDS, Kids Can Press (Spring 2021).
She is represented by Essie White of Storm Literary Agency.
Website: https://littleredstoryshed.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @juliedawnabery
Facebook: julieabery
Instagram: juliedawnabery
To learn more about Suzie:
Suzie was born and raised in a tiny village in Buckinghamshire, where she was always drawing and creating things. She then chose to pursue science by studying astrophysics at university, with no end game in mind for such an oddly-specific degree, and tried out events management before returning to academia. While searching for a creative outlet during her studies, she discovered and fell headlong in love with digital art. Now back in another tiny village, this time in Worcestershire, she is delighted to be able to spend her time drawing and creating things once again.
To learn more about Suzie and her wonderful books:
- Website: Www.suziemason.com
- Instagram: @waffleandbear
And that’s not all folks. Julie actually has ANOTHER book that launches today...YUSRA SWIMS (Creative Editions, illustrated by Sally Deng)
And we are not done yet! Please leave a comment and share on social media to be entered in the giveaway of a copy of LITTLE HIPPO or LITTLE MONKEY.
It’s been a busy month…the first half I spent in Chicago, doing school visits and bookstore events…and the second half I spent in Spain with my son and his family…today I fly home…and will be working hard on the #50PreciousWord International Writing Contest official post…I hope all of you have been working hard on your stories! I can’t wait to read your precious words!
Julie and Suzie’s board books look simply precious! And Wow! Yusra Swims looks powerful and delicate, what a talented combination in a picture book biography. I would love to have a review copy to take to my PA Young Readers Choice Award committee for consideration. Please reach out to me. Congratulations Julie on this amazing book birthday! And thank you Vivian for keeping this librarian up to date on important books like these.
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Thank you so much for your kind words, Nadine! Would be thrilled to hear about the PA Readers Choice, I have connected with you on FB and Twitter.
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These are so sweet! Congratulations, Julie, on the book birthdays! I also look forward to reading, and reviewing, Yasra Swims.
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Thanks so much, Patricia! That would be fabulous.
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Happy birthday x 3 Julie! I love the LITTLE books and have given them as gifts to new babies. Now I look forward to adding these to the mix. As you know, I’ve already had the pleasure of seeing the new ones, and if I had to choose a favorite …
Just kidding! All babies are wonderful.
Congratulations on Yusra Swims, too. What a happy day. 🎂🎂🎂
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No favorites here, Laura, just absolute cuties 🙂 Thanks for the cheers!
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Those books are so sweet. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the 50 precious words contest too!
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Thank you so much, Deb.
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What beautiful books! Loved reading about the process behind the text and illustrations. Inspired for the 50 precious words contest. Thanks!
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So glad you enjoyed the post, Jessica. I am looking forward to 50 Precious words too,
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These books look adorable and perfect for a baby shower gift! I’m working on my 50 words and hope to be ready to share! Thank you!
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Thanks, Linda. Good luck with the writing.
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Happy Birthday, Julie and Congratulations!
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Thank you, Lynne Marie!
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Happy Book Birthday to the Littles! My granddaughter is one month old. She’ll love all of these! PS- Julie, when you have your next school visit, I bet you can get the kids to rap it again OR message the other school. I bet they’d do a video for you!
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Thanks, Rinda. I will certainly give it a try! It was precious!
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Happy Book Birthday to the Littles! My granddaughter is one month old. She’ll love all of these! PS- Julie, when you have your next school visit, I bet you can get the kids to rap it again OR message the other school. I bet they’d do a video for you!
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I love hearing how people’s stories took off after entering/winning contests like 50 Precious works! Congrats on the books and happy book birthday!
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Thank you so much, Katie,
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Happy Book Birthday! Working on my contest entry as well!
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Very good! Keep on it!
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Congratulations! I love the simplicity and bright colors of these books for little ones.
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Thank you, Carol.
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Congratulations, Juli and Suzi. The board books are adorable. I want to reach out and hug those babies!
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They are so huggable!
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Animals have always been my favorite topic and these books are going to be fun to read out loud as mentor text for me. I appreciate the author sharing her writing process and the reminder to use strong verbs. I’m working on my entry for the contest this year as I promised myself I would get back into my writing. I shared on pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/570620215289064179
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Thank you for sharing, Danielle, and I am glad the post was helpful.
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These books looks wonderful, Julie! I will definitely have to get them for my two grandchildren. And Yusra Swims is already on my wish list.
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Thanks so much, Rose.
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Congratulation on more of these adorable books.
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Thanks, David.
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Happy Book Birthday, Julie and Suzie! I love the sweet illustrations and rhyming text. It is so interesting to see the illustration process. It’s quite fascinating. Congratulations! Thank you so much for sharing, Vivian.
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So glad you liked the post, Pamela.
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The first two in this board book series are absolutely delightful, and I can’t wait to get my hands on these new additions! Congratulations, Julie and Suzie! (And welcome home, Vivian!)
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Thanks, Sandy! And thanks for the lovely reviews too.
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Happy Book Birthday!! Congratulations Julie and Suzi!! The Little series book covers are so lovely and alive.
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Thank you so much, Naana.
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Wow, so much fun and great books! Congratulations! I look forward to reading these.
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Those babies are so precious! We have a new great-niece (whose parents are animal-lovers, as are we). My list of “Books for Gwendolyn” just keeps growing. I’m helpless when surrounded by all of this baby cuteness.
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I posted this on Pinterest…which gives me a chance to thank you for the very interesting explanation of the editing process.
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