Category Archives: Art and Book Design

An inside look at picture book illustrations, cover artwork, and book design.

A Q&A with Alicia and the Hurricane / Alicia y el huracán Illustrator Elizabeth Erazo Baez

Today on the blog, we’re sharing a Q&A conducted with Elizabeth Erazo Baez, the illustrator of the recently released Alicia and the Hurricane / Alicia y el huracán: A Story of Puerto Rico / Un cuento de Puerto Rico.

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Cover Reveal of BLESSING’S BEAD + Interview with Cover Artist Nasugraq Rainey Hopson

Today we are so excited to reveal the new cover for Blessing’s Bead by Debby Dahl Edwardson! Available in paperback on June 29, 2022, this acclaimed middle-grade novel traces four generations of an Inupiaq family in Alaska. In this blog post, we interviewed cover artist Nasugraq Rainey Hopson about the cover creation process and the significance of incorporating Inupiaq cultural elements into her work.

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Cover Reveal: Black Was the Ink by Michelle Coles

Today we’re so excited to reveal the cover for our upcoming young adult novel, Black Was the Ink by Michelle Coles with illustrations by Justin Johnson, coming September 2021!

In Black Was the Ink, sixteen-year-old Malcolm is sent on a journey through Reconstruction-era America with the help of a ghostly ancestor. At the same time, he must work to save his family’s farm in present-day Mississippi from being claimed by the State.

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Cover Reveal: The Shadow Prince by David Anthony Durham

Five deadly tests. Only One Shadow Prince. 

Today we’re so excited to reveal the cover for our upcoming middle grade novel, The Shadow Prince by David Anthony Durham, coming September 2021!

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Illustrator Archana Sreenivasan Takes Us Behind the Art of Seven Golden Rings

Released last month, Seven Golden Rings: A Tale of Music and Math by Rajani LaRocca and illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan tells the story of an Indian boy who untangles a mathematical conundrum to win a place at the Rajah’s court. In this blog post, illustrator Archana Sreeenivasan takes us behind the scenes of her creative process. 

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Cover Reveal: JULIETA AND THE DIAMOND ENIGMA

A cursed diamond. A thief on the run. And one very busy young detective!

Today we’re so excited to reveal the cover for our upcoming middle grade novel, Julieta and the Diamond Enigma, by Luisana Duarte Armendáriz! A New Visions Award winner, this title will be out this May!

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A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Rise! From Caged Bird to Poet of the People, Maya Angelou

Rise! From Caged Bird to Poet of the PeopleWe’re excited to celebrate the upcoming release of Rise! From Caged Bird to Poet of the People, Maya Angelou, the first in-depth picture book biography of Maya Angelou, ahead of the fiftieth anniversary celebration of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Writer, activist, trolley car conductor, dancer, mother, and humanitarian–Maya Angelou’s life was marked by transformation and perseverance. In this comprehensive picture-book biography geared towards older readers, Bethany Hegedus lyrically traces Maya’s life from her early days in Stamps, Arkansas, through her work as a freedom fighter to her triumphant rise as a poet of the people.

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Cover Reveal: Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis with Traci Sorell

We’re excited to reveal the full cover for Indian No More, a moving middle grade novel about Regina, a ten-year-old Umpqua girl, whose family is forced to relocate from Oregon to Los Angeles during the Indian termination era of the 1950s. Written by the late Charlene Willing McManis, and completed by author Traci Sorell, Indian No More (September 2019) draws upon Charlene’s own tribal history and we are so excited to see it all coming together!

In this blog post, editor Elise McMullen-Ciotti dives into the symbolism and meaning behind the cover of Indian No More and how the cover came to be.

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