Hello, World! books

Books take a long time to work on.  Two years ago I was approached by Random House Kids to write & illustrate their new Hello, World! book series.  The books are geared towards babies & toddlers & are designed to share simple concepts about nature & science.  I was thrilled to have this opportunity. The first two books in the series Weather & Solar System were released early this week. You can get them at Barnes & Noble, Target.com or Amazon.
Two more titles in this series will be available in the spring 2017.

Illustrating the books, sure-piece of cake. Writing the books, yikes.  I was filled with self doubt.  I'm dyslexic & all the negative comments I heard about my writing growing up came tumbling back to me.  At the time I didn't let the editor know.  This was something I wanted to do.  I chased the fear away, sat down & took my time really exploring what I wanted to say.  It took me a long time -too long- but because the books are based on facts about the world around us I had a platform to comfortably explore. I was also grateful that the books are geared towards toddlers.  So simple, straight forward sentences with some imagination did the trick.

Dsylexia is a funny thing.  I often think of letters I add to a design as another design element, neglecting the fact that the general public wants to be able to read those letters to create a properly spelled word.  I've always added words & fitting phrases to my art.  I often come up with back stories for characters or give them names, likes & dislikes on projects I'll be spending an extended amount of time on.  I've fancied myself a storyteller & now it's a beautiful feeling to know that in some way I am!

I'm pleased to introduce you to the Hello, World! series.  I hope you enjoy sharing these books with the little ones in your life!