THE NEXT BIG THING: A global blog tour

A couple of weeks ago author/illustrator, Joyce Wan, tagged me to join in "The Next Big Thing", a blog tour about children's books that started in Australia and has spread around the world.  (You can see Joyce's post here). Thanks, Joyce!!

I'll be answering questions about my two up-coming books.  Here goes!!...

1.  What is the working title of your next book?

Cupcakes Cousins by Kate Hannigan and Baby Love by Angela DiTerlizzi.

2.  Where did the idea come from for the book?

The ideas came from Kate and Angela, authors extraordinaire!

3.  What genre does your book fall under?

Cupcake Cousins is an illustrated middle grade book.  Baby Love is a picture book.

4.  What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

The two main characters in Cupcake Cousins are Willow and Delia.  For Willow I think I'd choose a 10 year old Megan Follows, from Anne of Green Gables fame.  For Delia I think Amandla Stenberg, who played Rue in The Hunger Games, would be a good fit.

For Baby Love I'd choose my cousin, Laura and her very cute baby, Harper!

 5.  Who is publishing your book?

Cupcake Cousins is being published by Disney/Hyperion and Baby Love will be published by Beach Lane Books (an imprint of Simon and Schuster).

6.  How long did it take you to illustrate the book?

Well, I'm still working on both books, but it looks like each book will take about nine or ten months.

7.  What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Hm... I can't think of a book that I've read that reminds me of Cupcake Cousins.  Maybe Kate can field that one (you can see a link to her blog below).

Baby Love reminds me a little of Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, by Mem Fox.

8.  Who or what inspired you in illustrating this book?

For Cupcake Cousins I was very inspired by Kate's writing.  Her descriptions really brought the characters to life and I've loved exploring the world that Kate has created.  The two main characters love to bake and so do I, so that helped, too.

For Baby Love, Angela's text is really lovely and simple and left a lot of room for me to explore.  I asked both Angela and my cousin, Laura, to send me pictures of their babies, which has been really helpful since I don't have a baby of my own.  One of the most inspiring things has been to hang out with my friend Bethany and her darling baby and to see how they interact together.

9.  What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

Cupcake Cousins is such a warm, heart-felt, summertime story.  And there are recipes!!

Baby Love will make a wonderful gift for new parents (or anyone who likes babies!) and is a very sweet story.  It will be perfect to read to little ones at bedtime or anytime they need a little extra love.

And now it's my turn to do the tagging...

The fabulous Kate Hannigan will be talking about Cupcake Cousins.  Hooray, Kate!

Willow

Delia

 My friend, critique partner, and amazing author/illustrator, Tina Kugler, will be talking about her new picture book, In Mary's Garden, which she is creating with her husband, Carson Kugler.

an image from "In Mary's Garden"

 And my friend, critique partner, and extraordinary author/illustrator, Jessixa Bagley, will be talking about her new picture book, Boats for Papa. 

Thank you again to Joyce Wan for inviting me to be a part of "The Next Big Thing".  Please be sure to visit Joyce's blog. 

Thanks for reading and happy Tuesday!