picture book and middle-grade author
Writing is waiting. That’s the whole of it. If you sit in your chair not doing anything else for long enough, the answer will come. You have to be in your chair, though, ready to write it down.
— Agnes Lee, the protagonist of Alice Elliot Dark’s Fellowship Point
age range: 3-5 years
format / topics: picture book; welcoming a new baby
Linda Davick’s website
Mem Fox’s website
With delightfully rhyming text and brightly colored illustrations, this breezy picture book showcases the experiences of two human parents and their newest family member: a baby dragon. A lively read-aloud perfect for newly expanded families.
— Booklist
Please tell us about your book.
Our Dragon was written by our beloved Mem Fox. I first met Mem at a SCBWI conference five years ago but never had worked with her before. When my editor Allyn Johnston asked if I’d be interested in illustrating this manuscript, I jumped at the chance.
Mem loves babies of all sorts: human babies, animal babies–even dragon babies. Our Dragon covers topics like impatience, mischievousness, attention-seeking, naughtiness, fear, regret, forgiveness, happiness, and unconditional love. All these feelings emerge as we encounter burning toys, shattered vases, smoking shoes, splattered coffee, airborne fruit salad, and flooded carpets–all fun things to draw.
What did you find most enjoyable about illustrating this book?
A reader posed this question to Mem: What do editors want from an illustrator?
Mem’s Answer: They look at the feelings in the story and then try to find an illustrator who can best express those feelings in their artwork.
I had a terrific time illustrating the dragon’s range of feelings. It made my experience even more challenging and fun in that the baby dragon couldn’t use words to express his feelings–I had to show all his feelings through his one-toothed dragon face and his body-and-tail language. From the beginning, I looked upon this assignment as an illustrated compendium of feelings.
What is the most surprising thing that happened while illustrating this book?
Surprises always materialize while illustrating a book, just as they do when writing a book. In this case, the baby dragon’s parents–who were originally conceived as adult dragons–turned into adult humans as I went through the sketching process! Mem, as well as my editor, went right along with it, so all was well. And even the dragon’s human parents didn’t seem to be the slightest bit miffed that their baby turned out to be green with spots, stripes, and scales.
Writers do lots of research. Do illustrators need to do research, too? Especially when the main character is a creature that doesn’t really exist?
1. Yes. Doesn’t it seem absurd to feel the need to research a creature that doesn’t really exist? But the research I did gave me confidence about creating my own dragon. I learned that dragons have appeared in stories for thousands of years, in every country in the world. Some dragons are lizard-like; some snake-like; some have four legs, scales and wings; some have three heads! Some dragons are good, many are evil. My goal was to create a dragon unlike any I’d seen in pictures, while also making sure it would be instantly recognizable as a dragon. And on top of that, it had to be a darling dragon.
2. One thing I always find myself researching is hands. Hands are impossible! Even when my humans are simple characters bordering on cartoons (as the dragon’s mom and dad are), in almost every case I have to look for a photograph of hands in the exact position I’d like to draw them in, or use my own hands in the mirror as a reference, or take a photos of my husband’s hands and use those to draw from.
What did you find the hardest about illustrating this book?
1. My publisher, art director, and I often go through as many as 20-30 versions of thumbnail book layouts before we’re ready to begin full-size sketches. This think-and-sketch period can last for years, as it did with Our Dragon.
2. The most difficult part of doing the final art was illustrating the human parents. I love drawing kids and creatures, but drawing adults does not come naturally! In the two middle grade books I’ve written, I solved that problem by not allowing any parents into the stories. In Our Dragon, the adult humans just jumped into the book and wouldn’t leave.
3. The trickiest part of illustrating the book was keeping the characters consistent. For instance, the dragon appears 23 times throughout the book in different sizes, poses, and wearing different expressions. I used stripes, triangular scales, dots, horns, wings–and all those elements had to be consistent throughout. The number of scales, the number of stripes–and the proportions of all his body parts needed to be the same every time he appeared.
What topics does your book touch upon that would make it a perfect fit for the classroom?
There’s plenty to talk about (and to draw upon for art projects and plays) within the pages of Our Dragon. For instance, children might be asked to describe how they feel–or draw what their face looks like–when:
Have you discovered any secrets that give your work a boost?
Tales From a Teaching Life: Vignettes in Verse by Patricia Austin
Pat and I met years ago when I lived in Louisiana. We’d both signed up through our local SCBWI chapter for a weekend revision retreat with Darcy Pattison. I was in awe. Pat was PUBLISHED. So it was a honor a few months ago to get an email from her asking if I might blurb her newest book, Tales from a Teaching Life. Here’s what I had to say:
I can’t help thinking what a gift this book would have been to me in my early teaching days. Written with a mix of joy and grit, Patricia Austin’s memoir in verse takes us through her years of relatable frustrations and triumphs with real-life kids in classrooms from elementary school to college. This book is an ode to the bonds that make learning happen and the importance of teachers’ life-changing work. I read with heart soaring and tears in my eyes.
If you are an education student or teacher (or have someone like this in your life), I highly recommend finding a copy.
John Adams by David McCullough
This is one of my husband Dan’s favorite books (he’s read McCullough’s Truman and John Adams multiple times), and he thought it was pretty cool my book club picked it recently. John Adams is a substantial book, and I went into it telling myself I didn’t need to remember everything or hold onto every name. I’m happy to report McCullough’s incredibly detailed history was also great storytelling. I learned so much! I enjoyed it immensely!
I’ve always found John Adams to be a refreshingly human Founding Father. He was a warts-and-all man aware of his vanity and tendency to clash with others, but he was profoundly devoted to our country (I’m assuming most reading here are Americans), to duty, and to his dear Abigail. One of the many things that struck me is how lonely and sometimes despairing Adams often was and, at the same time, how he was almost always deeply satisfied with his work. (Even after leaving the presidency pretty disillusioned and done with politics, I would say this was still the case.) Finding his way as an American diplomat, as the first vice president and the like, he was blazing a trail, figuring things out as he took on roles that hadn’t existed before. I loved the complexity of his relationship with Thomas Jefferson. (My impression had been they were enemies that came around toward the end of their lives, but while not always agreeing and sometimes sharing less-than-flattering opinions of each other, there was great respect and affection, too. I’d definitely call it friendship. It was so sad that a warm, supportive letter Jefferson wrote to Adams after Adams was elected president was never sent on the advice of Madison. Madison warned Jefferson never to mix friendship and politics. The letter really would have done Adams good. And it was beautiful to see Adams and Jefferson as old men set their differences aside and rekindle the friendship and respect they had had for each other.)
I loved John and Abigail’s commitment to each other and to their sense of duty to our country (which was sometimes in opposition to their personal happiness). There were too many things to list that I learned, but one I found especially interesting was how in serving a newly-fledged nation overseas, Adams in being away was sometimes out of step with the very people he was representing (because of time and distance).
Dan wants me to read Truman next. Maybe someday. For now, I’m really glad I dug into this one.
How to Write a Poem by Kwame Alexander and Deanna Nikaido, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
This is a glorious picture book full of wonderful figurative language and imagery and illustrations. It opens like this: Begin with a question / like an acorn waiting for spring. It connects to so many things I tell kids when we talk about writing. I encourage them to “listen to the world” — to stay curious and collect words and ideas and any old thing in a notebook. …Dive deep into the silent sea / of your imagination, the poets tell us. Yes, that’s it exactly! The words have been waiting to slide down your pencil / into your small precious hand.
This is the second time Kwame Alexander and Melissa Sweet have paired up to create a picture book. Be sure to check out their first, How to Read a Book, just as delightful — Don’t rush through: / Your eyes need / time to taste. / Your soul needs / room to bloom.