Road Work Ahead- School Market Edition

 
I recently got a copy of Road Work Ahead, Scholastic's school market edition. It makes me nostalgic since I use to work at Scholastic Book Clubs. I use to dream about having my books in the catalogs I use to design. So its a warm and fuzzy feeling to see that red Scholastic label on the cover.

Spooky Pick of the Month!

Its that time again when The Haunted Ghoul Bus is popping up everywhere! Here it is in this month's Scholastic Firefly book club. Being in the book club catalog means alot to me, since I use to work there years ago, designing the pages, and hoping one day I will have my own book in it.

Thank you for those of you who have bought the book, emailed me about seeing it in stores, and the many kind words about it!

HighFive Magazine and Scholastic book club

A few things printed recently:
My spread from this month's High Five magazine.

And here are my I'm Reading Now! series in Scholastic's Firefly book club catalog, November.

Yay! :-)

Ben and Ruby Character Sketches

Thank you for all the comments on the I'm Reading Now series! Working on a big series like this, the most important thing is to have the character sketches down pat when I start. I got a short character description of the whole family, and here is what I came up with. Here, the main characters Ben and Ruby:

Ben is suppose to be 5 years old and Ruby is 4. Here they look a bit too old. Try again!

Better here. But what's up with the Elvis hair on Ben? And I was told the dress on Ruby was a bit too old fashioned (Hey, I would wear that cherry dress at 4!)

Perfect!

Ok, actually there were many more rounds back and forth with the art director and editors before I got it just right. But its better to get it right in the beginning than later.

And last but not least, a BIG shout out to Alicia Padrón's kids for their fantastic critique of my tree entry for The Wish Trees giveway! It was a gift in itself listening to their reaction (I've never heard directly from my audience before) and it truly confirms I am in the right profession! It was so gratifying and made me all warm and fuzzy inside!!! So thank you, Gabriel and Alexandra. And kudos for everyone who entered, I had alot of fun looking at everything!

I'm Reading Now! Series

I'm so excited to show these books after working on them for over a year. They are a series for Scholastic called I'm Reading Now! There are 4 sets to be published throughout the year, with the first set (shown here) coming out in September. Available through Scholastic Book Clubs.
Each set comes with 8 books, about the adventures of a 5 and 4 year old named Ben and Ruby.

I just recently finished the last set; it was sad to see Ben and Ruby go. But it was very rewarding to see the printed books for these- I'm happy with the way it turned out.

Happy July 4th to the folks in the US!

A milestone

I use to work as a designer at Scholastic book clubs years ago. As I worked on these book club catalogs, I had a dream that one day, one of my books would be in them. My name would be in the illustrator by-line.

That dream finally came true.
Here is the October Firefly book club catalog, where The Mixed-Up Alphabet, a book I illustrated, is on page 4. It means alot to me because I know I am moving ahead towards all the goals and dreams I've set for myself. I better take a moment and acknowledge it.

A special thanks to Kritty who told me she saw my book in the catalog and ordered it! I can't begin to express how much it means to me.

And Tracy, who is a teacher, recommended it as a book pick in a newsletter she sends home to the kids. Holy smokes! WOW!

Thank you so much.