November Hedge a Gram

Hi! This is my November hedge a gram. The time I take to pause and write to you about what I'm doing. For all of you future illustrators and writers, I want to answer your questions about what happens when!

I've finished the art for the Gingerbread Baby, although I'll still be working on the art for the case when I come back from my bookstore tour. Does that count? By the way, the case is the hard cover of a picture book. Sometimes it's made of cloth, sometimes it repeats the art on the dust jacket (the paper that folds around and protects the book). At my publisher Penguin/Putnam the art director suggested I do special art for the case. She feels (and I agree with her) that it offers a surprise and adds to the artistry of the whole book.

I'm getting ready for a tour of bookstores all across the country. It's my chance to meet the boys, girls, the parents and teachers who know my books. I always forget how much people know about me. For example children will remember a tidbit from a book, or learn something from my Internet site and I'll be stunned that they know something that I've forgotten. Kids know that I raised guinea pigs, that my husband plays the double bass, and even that my best friend Marla and I only drew horses when we were in school!

But I like to know what kids are thinking and about the stories they're drawing and writing. I hope I'll see you at one of the signings, and if the line isn't to long, I hope we'll get to talk about you!

Bye for now.

Love,

Jan