UPCOMING:
May 7, 2019 (Harper Collins)
Titan and the Wild Boars: The True Cave Rescue of the Thai
Soccer Team, by Susan Hood and Patthana Sornhiran.
Being chosen to illustrate this book was such an honor, and I am really happy with how it has turned out! It was the most difficult project I've worked on to date for many reasons:
- It is a once-in-a-lifetime, unprecedented story of the world coming together to save these boys, written so beautifully by award winning author Susan Hood and Thai reporter Patthana Sornhiran. I felt a great responsibility to do my part in bringing this story to children in the best possible form for kids all over the world.
- The technically tricky task of drawing nonfiction characters that look like their real life selves: all those boys! And the rescuers! More real life people than I've drawn for my prior book projects!
- The other technically tricky task of drawing accurate nonfiction details of clothing, scenery, etc.
- Most characters are male (and prior to this project, I mostly did not draw many men or boys! I just didn't).
- I agreed to a tight turnaround time. I'd say this is the most efficiently I've ever worked.
- I want my art to make Thai people proud!
- The very hardest part was that my father passed away while I was working on this project. He knew I was working on it; for this I am grateful. I know how proud he would've been to see the outcome.
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| A Junior Library Guild Selection |
Stay tuned for announcements for four other upcoming titles.
AVAILABLE NOW:
Mela and the Elephant, winner of an SCBWI Emerging Voices Award, written by me, illustrated by Ziyue Chen (Sleeping Bear Press, March 15, 2018) - story about kindness. Mela finds herself lost in the jungle of northern Thailand. Will the animals of the jungle help her get home? It's my author debut! Catchy trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buGclicJ8uY&app=desktop
Counting on Katherine, written by Helaine Becker (Christy Ottaviano Books) - the inspiring story of Katherine Johnson, the black NASA mathematician who helped save Apollo 13. Katherine was featured in the recent Hidden Figures movie, played by Taraji Henson. It has received a starred review from Kirkus and is a JLG selection. Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19AqjuE73rU
Maya Lin, Artist-Architect of Light and Lines, written by Jeanne Walker Harvey (Christy Ottaviano Books)
- Junior Library Guild Spring Selection 2017 winner!
- an Amazon Best Book 2017
- an NSTA Best Stem Book of the Year
Did you know that Maya Lin was a senior in college when she won the contest anonymously to design the memorial? There were protests and hearings to change her design or go with a different design when they found out she was the winner. She stood by her design so that it ultimately was built. Here's a link to Macmillan's page about our book (with sample images!): http://us.macmillan.com/mayalin/jeannewalkerharvey/9781250112491/
Mouse's Christmas Gift, written by Mindy Baker (Zonderkidz, October 2018) - a lovely Christmas story of a mouse who works to save the day when Parson is ill on Christmas Eve.
