Triumph!

You will scarcely credit this, I’m sure, but my strategy of humiliation has paid off with my Backstreet Writers.

I’m not going to name names for privacy reasons, but the writers who were there yesterday brought in AMAZING CHILDREN’S BOOKS YOU GUYS! I asked permission to take a few photos so I could brag about their work here, and they gave it.

First up, A Cat Named ‘This’, about a stray cat who shows up at a farm “answering an ad for a barn cat.”

The cover of A cat named ‘this’

I love what the author did here with the illustrations, using photographs of the cat and then tracing them. I also want to point out that as an ABORTIVE ATTEMPT, our author felt free to cycle back through and just tape/glue edits over the originals.

LEft: But luckily “this” decided to stay. ‘This’ sits in a box in a workshop; he is thinking “my box.”
right: "‘this’ looks out over the farm; beyond a fence is the barn. he is thinking, “My barn."

This showed up with his sister, named That, but That moved on. (She is pictured as hopping a flight at the airport.) I love these last two pages.

Next up, Pedals!, about a three-year-old who wants PEDALS after seeing the big kids go fast, and what happens when her grandfather buys her a tricycle.

As you can see, this one is truly an ABORTIVE ATTEMPT. The book itself is solid, and the group had some discussion on how to illustrate it. (The author is married to an artist who has carefully explained to him that she is not that guy.) I suggested taking photos of himself and his granddaughter and turning those into line drawings via software.

left: i had to watch where i was going and pedal. this was a lot. after getting her trike and being pushed by her grandfather, she realizes she’s in charge of steering the thing.
right: If papa didn’t push, the pedals didn’t move. then he told me to push — and off i went. i did it! pedals and i went fast fast fast. mama, is this a bike? she realizes her own agency.

You will notice how this author took his folded pages and wrote out the action in pencil for each page, then came back and wrote the dialog in red ink. That’s what I did for A Bug’s Lunch, even leaving pages blank when I didn’t know exactly what went there. (In fact, looking at my ABORTIVE ATTEMPT prototype just now, I find that pp. 8–11 were absolutely devoid of content.)

And finally, we have an interesting opening to a children’s book. Its author has a great setup, so I’m really intrigued how he’s going to continue.

(He needs a name, I think.)

Aren’t you curious about what happens?

I was delighted with these writers’ attempts. I think all three are readable, enjoyable, and publishable, so I’m exploring our possibilities.