Hi,
Paul! Thank you for visiting Watch. Connect. Read. to share the cover for How
to Sell Your Family to the Aliens and to finish my sentences.
Paul Noth: Thanks
for having me, Mr Schu. It’s an honor.
Publication Date: April 3, 2018
The
cover illustration for How to Sell Your Family to the Aliensdepicts a kid with
a lizard on his head happily counting money while a tentacled beast carries his
family into the sky. It's designed to to appeal to other
eight-to-twelve-year-olds with lizards on their heads.
Happy
Conklin Jr. is your
average ten-year-old with a beard who sells his family
to extraterrestrials. Actually, he’s a lot like me when I was a kid. I
have two brothers and six sisters, so life was a constant quest for a
minute to myself. Hap feels the same way, but carries things a bit further than
I ever did.
Hap’s
family is weird. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. They’re unusual
people. Grandma tested products on Hap and his siblings, which is why he has a
beard and his sister Kayla has an imaginary bee named Alphonso. Personally, I
think Kayla has a better attitude about it than Hap. She likes being different.
He hates it.
I
wrote How to Sell Your Family to the Aliensbecause I thought
the title was funny, then I thought the first page was funny, and then I kept
needing to know what happens. Sometimes it felt more like reading a book than
writing one. I hope readers have as much fun in there as I did.
Mr.
Schu, you should have asked meabout the sequels! There are at least two
more Conklin family books coming. I was really hoping you'd ask me about them,
because their contents are still top-secret. I’ve always wanted to be pressed
for information that I’m not at liberty to divulge.
Paul Noth’s cartoons have
appeared regularly in TheNew Yorker since 2004. He
has created short animated films for Late Night with Conan O’Brien,
and been an animation consultant for Saturday Night Live.Visit him online at www.paulnoth.com
and on Twitter at @PaulNoth.
Howdy, Tim Miller Welcome back to Watch. Connect. Read.! What are Moo Moo and Mr. Quackers up to in book 2?
Tim Miller: Hi Mr. Schu! Thanks so much for having me again. I’m
delighted to be back!
In their second book Moo Moo and Mr. Quackers want to find a
way to spend a little more quality time together so they decide to open their
own restaurant. However much to their surprise, the restaurant business proves
more complicated than they expected. When things don’t go as planned, they have
to do some quick thinking to find the perfect recipe to save the day!
What comes first: the words or the illustrations?
Tim Miller: That’s such a good question. I was just speaking with some
students about it on a recent school visit. For me the pictures usually come
first as I’m trying to work out an idea, and then the words will often spring
up in response to what I’m drawing. After that, it turns into a dance between
the two as I hone in and nail things down.
What's your favorite meal to cook?
Tim Miller: I don’t know if it qualifies as a proper meal, but I like to
cook omelettes. My specialty is something I call the TKO that I make with
Cumin, Cayenne Pepper, Scallions, and Cheddar Cheese. I’m getting hungry just
thinking about it!
Please finish this sentence starter: Picture books are a marriage of words and pictures that offer a window of exploration and self-discovery. The words and pictures work independently, but also build upon one another to carry the reader into the realm of imagination, replete with possibility. Not a bad place to visit if you ask me.
Hi, Mr. Sharp, Happy Saturday! I ran out of space on my phone before I was finished talking. BoooOooOOOoooOO! I need a new phone. :( See you next week! -John -
Hello, Jon Burgerman! Welcome to Watch. Connect. Read.!
Thank you for sharing Splat's adorable book trailer and for finishing my sentences.
Jon Burgerman: Thanks for having me here. I’m happy to finish any sentences,
crossword puzzles or donuts you might have lying about.
Ha! Thank you! I'll take you up on that one day.
Splat’s book trailer was very messy to make. I suspect the
publisher enjoyed throwing cold macaroni cheese at me a little too much.
Also they suggested we film it all twice. I had to wash myself in a
bathroom down the hall from the little studio room.
I got some raised eyebrows when I walked past people working at
their desks covered in blue jelly.
Illustration Credit: Jon Burgerman
Flip the page andSPLAT! I always wondered what happens
to the thing on the other side of the page as it’s turned over. I love
animation and I think the idea has roots from making simple things like this. A lot can
happen between two simple pictures.
I created Splat’s illustrations to be as colourful
and loud and splatty as possible. I hand drew everything in my sketchbook
before scanning them in and colouring it on the computer. I was inspired in part by Dick
Bruna.
Murals are so much fun to do. If you have a blank wall (and some
sandwiches), please invite me over to draw and doodle! Note: I won’t draw on
the sandwiches.
Mr. Schu, you should have asked me about quantum
physics, or my concept for a clean energy source that also makes the air smell
like popcorn, or how to make the perfect poached egg, but I guess that will have to wait until
another time.
Welcome back to Watch. Connect. Read.! Thank you for dropping by to share the wonderful cover illustration for John Lockdown Is in the Building! I'm excited to celebrate it today and again in February 2018.
Happy reading!
-John
Dear Mr Schu,
Thank you so
much for having me back!
About a year
ago, I was so excited to reveal the beautiful cover of The Someday Birds here on your site – a book about bird-loving, routine-loving Charlie,
whose life is disrupted when he travels cross-country to see his war-injured
dad.
Now, moving from
Charlie’s bird-world, I hope you and your readers will enjoy traveling with me
to Stanley’s comical universe. I am SO
EXCITED to be here today with the cover reveal of John Lockdown Is in the
Building! My second middle-grade novel hits shelves (kapow!) on Feb.
6, 2018, thanks to HarperCollins Children’s Books! Here’s the John Lockdown lowdown…
Nobody knows comics
trivia like Stanley Fortinbras knows comics trivia.
It’s what he
takes comfort in, when the world around him gets to be too much. And after
Stanley faints during one of Principal Coffin’s super-scary safety drills, he
levels up his love of comics by inventing an imaginary superhero named “John
Lockdown” to soothe his nerves and help him through.
Help is what he
needs, because Stanley’s also entered Trivia Quest – a giant comics-trivia
treasure hunt – to prove he can tackle his worries, score VIP passes to Comic
Fest, and win back his ex-best friend. Partnered with a fearless new neighbor,
Liberty Silverberg, Stanley faces his most epic, overwhelming, challenging day
ever.
What would John
Lockdown do?
Stanley’s about
to find out.
Okay now… Are we
ready for the cover reveal?
Ahhhhh! I could
stare at it for hours! So many details
on this cover refer to little things mentioned in the book.
The cover, as
well as the interior cartoon art, is by the amazing Steve Wolfhard. Steve draws
“Adventure Time” for Cartoon Network, as well as other quirky, cool things that
you can see on his site. I am a
diehard fan! This art is a perfect fit for this story (which the word “quirky”
pretty much describes).
I’d like to
extend a big thanks to David Curtis and Alison Donalty from Harper’s design
department for their excellent work on this, as well as my Harper editor, the
amazing and talented Jessica MacLeish.
This book was SO
MUCH FUN to write! Set in my hometown of San Diego, it features a treasure
hunt, with superhero trivia clues that readers can solve along with Stanley and
Liberty. And there are some comics in the book! Stan secretly sketches about
his many fears on an easel in a spare office. Then, one day, a mysterious
artist starts cartooning back...
Okay,
okay, I’ll stop now.
Thank
you so much for allowing me to come visit, Mr. Schu. Thanks for letting me
share my excitement – and Steve’s amazing art – with you today!
Hi, Matt! Thank you for dropping by to celebrate Red
& Lulu’sbook trailer. What should everyone do before
pressing play?
Matt Tavares: Thanks for having me, Mr. Schu! The story of Red &
Lulu has been a part of my life for so long (it began back in 2011!),
so it’s very exciting to be finally start sharing it with readers.
Red & Lulu is about a pair of cardinals
who live happily in a big, beautiful evergreen tree, until one day when
something unthinkable happens and they become separated. It’s a Christmas
story, and a love story, and a story about what happens when your world is
turned upside down unexpectedly, and you’re forced to focus on what’s really
important.
Before pressing play, imagine for a moment that it’s early
December, there’s a chill in the air, and the sky looks like it might
snow.
How did the cardinals who regularly visit your backyard inspire
you to write and illustrate Red & Lulu?
Matt: Yes, this story began with a pair of cardinals who visited my
yard countless times. When my kids were very young, it became a sort of game.
If we spotted one of the cardinals out at the bird feeder, we’d go to the
window to see if we could find the other one. They were almost always together.
I was struck by their devotion to each other and wondered how far one of them
might fly to be with the other, if they ever became separated.
What medium did you use to create the STUNNING illustrations?
Matt: Thank you! The illustrations for Red & Lulu were
done in watercolor and gouache. I used a somewhat limited palate, so the red
cardinal would really stand out. Originally I planned on making the
illustrations black and white except for the cardinals, because I loved the
idea of the bright red bird really popping against a monochromatic background.
But then I realized that this happens naturally, especially
since much of the story takes place during the winter months, when the trees
are bare and there aren’t a lot of bright colors. Full-color illustrations also
allowed me to show the passage of time through the changing seasons.
Illustration Credit: Matt Tavares
Red & Lulu seem to like Rockefeller Center and Central Park.
Where is your favorite place in NYC?
Matt: Not surprisingly, Red and Lulu’s favorite places are also some
of my favorite places! I love New York City at Christmastime,
especially Rockefeller Center. There is something magical about the combination
of the city lights and the holiday decorations- especially when snow is
falling.
I don’t know if I have one favorite place in New York City, but
my favorite thing to do in New York City is to take really long walks and just
see where we end up, soaking in the energy of the city. I love Central Park,
and the Museum of Natural History, and Books of Wonder, and the New York Public
Library. But I also love just wandering around and finding places I’ve never
been before, and will probably never find again.
Please finish these sentence starters:
School libraries are every kid's portal to everywhere.I spend a lot of time visiting schools, and I am constantly
reminded of the vital role that school libraries, and school librarians, play
in children's lives.
Mr. Schu, you should have asked me why this book took me so
long! Some story ideas are pretty straightforward. But this one came
at me from a few different directions, over the course of five or six years.
It began with an idea for a story about a pair of cardinals. I
knew there was something there, but I wasn’t sure exactly what. Meanwhile,
inspired by the magic of New York City at Christmastime, I was working on a
different idea for a nonfiction book about the Rockefeller Center Christmas
Tree. But neither idea was really coming together- until it occurred to me that
maybe the cardinals and the tree might actually be part of the same story. That
led to my first draft of Red & Lulu.
That version had about a thousand words. My editor and art
director at Candlewick liked it, but asked if I would consider turning it into
a wordless book. I was intrigued, and spent months working on that. But when I
shared the wordless version with friends, there was something missing- sort of
an emotional disconnect. So I went to my editor with both versions, and we
worked on creating a hybrid version, adding back words where they seemed
necessary, but leaving some spreads wordless.
The final version has about 450 words. Even though it
didn’t end up being wordless, I think that exercise helped the book quite a
bit, and I learned a lot about visual storytelling.
By the time I started final art, I felt like this book
could really be something special. It felt different from my other books, which
was exciting, but also a little nerve-wracking. I really didn’t want to mess it
up! So it took me a while to loosen up and get in a groove with the
illustrations. I missed my deadline by a few months. But by the time I was
done, I was really happy with how it came out. I poured my heart into this
book. I hope it means as much to readers as it does to me.
