Book Trailer Premiere: Claymates by Dev Petty and Lauren Eldridge

Happy Friday, Lauren Eldridge! Welcome to Watch. Connect. Read. I hope this is the first of many times you will drop by to celebrate books and reading with me. 

Lauren: Thank you so much for starting sentences and for releasing the Claymates trailer, Mr. Schu! So excited to be here!

I LOVE Claymates. It is INCREDIBLE! 

The book trailer for Claymates is great example of how Dev can capture the essence a story and express it in an unexpected, but somehow totally perfect way. I’m in the middle of final art for a different project so Dev said, “just send me the behind-the-scenes pictures and I’ll handle it!”

I really love how she and Chris (Dev’s husband and man-behind-the-music) tailored everything to suit the feeling and pace of the visuals, as well as the personalities of our main characters. They did an amazing job and I’m so grateful!

Credit: Dev Petty and Lauren Eldridge 

The Claymates are two mischievous, lovable blobs of clay who realize they can sculpt themselves into anything. They have a lot of fun, make a lot of mistakes, and become great friends in the process.

Credit: Dev Petty and Lauren Eldridge 

Dev Petty and I will meet in person for the first time on June 25^th - the same day as our book launch/party in San Francisco! It’s a very cool thing to know that after four years of collaboration and friendship, we’ll finally be able to tell who’s taller! HOORAY!

Credit: Dev Petty and Lauren Eldridge

Photography is brutally honest and unforgiving in the best way! It’s the single most important tool I use in storytelling for many reasons but mostly because it allows me to establish a special kind of trust with our readers. People tend to trust their eyes and they know that real things, in real life, typically have imperfections.

In the case of Claymates, I used the fact that “the lens captures everything” to my advantage. I specifically chose not to correct any imperfection in post because those minor details (fingerprints, accidental nudges, not-perfect sculpting, etc.) are the very things that make clay so innately expressive… and wonderful!

By showing our readers raw, flawed shots, they begin to believe that what they’re seeing is real. Every frame in Claymates ACTUALLY HAPPENED on my desk – it had to in order for this book to exist… so my most difficult job was to make the reader believe that the characters and their story actually happened, too!

Visit Lauren's website to view process shots. 

School libraries are vital. They have EVERYTHING! No matter who you are or whether you identify as a “reader” – there are countless resources available in school libraries that make us better versions of ourselves. They allow us to follow our interests and introduce us to people, places, and things we might never know about otherwise.

Mr. Schu, you should have asked me if I’m excited for nErDcamp this year. I AM! I CAN’T WAIT! Such an amazing energy and such amazing people! I’m especially excited to hang out with the kids at nErDcamp Jr… we’re gunna have some fun, y’all!

Look for Claymates on June 20, 2017.