Tag: picture book

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GKP Writing News

Creating Picture Books

A homeschool group has approached me about teaching a short course on creating picture books. The idea is intriguing.

What Is a Picture Book?

This is the first question to answer. The obvious answer is a book of pictures with a story. In reviewing many picture books, this is far too simple.

B.J. Novak’s “The Book With No Pictures” is a picture book with no pictures, all text. Matthew Cordell’s “Wolf In the Snow” is all pictures with no story text. Both are great picture books.

Many picture books, like “The Little Spider”, include a page about the animal or animals shown in the text. The page in this book is about spider ballooning, the method used by spiders to move to new places.

The amount of text depends on the age the picture book is for. Those for very young children like Kate Duke’s “The Guinea Pig ABC” and many of the “Pete the Cat” books have very few words. Another way to appeal to children is with repetitive text as in my “The Little Spider”.

Picture books for older children have lots of text. In these the pictures augment the story, not tell it. Tiffany Hammond’s “A Day With No Words” and Katherine Kirkpatrick’s “Redcoats and Petticoats” are this way.

Another approach is seen in Jim Arnosky’s “All About Turkeys”. There is a story and pictures. Facts about turkeys are on streamers by the pictures.

The obvious answer is right, a picture book is pictures with text. However, there is a lot of leeway in how these are used depending on the age the book is for.

cover for "Waiting For Fairies" by Karen GoatKeeper
Although the text and illustrations in this book are about Ozark night creatures the child sees, the illustrations tell another story about fairies.

Creating Picture Books

I would start by writing down my idea, maybe even some illustration ideas. Then I would look at lots of picture books especially those for the age of the children I wanted to write for. This is not to copy these books, but to get a feel for the type of book that appeals to that age.

Afterwards I can look at my idea again. It’s time for a rewrite because creating picture books is as hard or maybe harder than writing a novel.

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GKP Writing News

Opal and Agate Picture Books

I enjoy reading picture books and have been reading four a week to do reviews on my Goodreads blog. However, this is making writing my Opal and Agate picture books harder.

There are so many wonderful picture books on the shelves of my library. Some tell stories, fun or scary. Others tell about events or activities. They make me wonder if I can write picture books as good as they are.

Nubian doe kid Opal will star in some animal stories
Nubian doe High Reaches Opal deserves a good picture book series.

Picture Book Goats

A famous goat story is Billy Goats Gruff. It’s a cute story. Dairy goat owners tend to despise the illustrations. These are of caricature goats with shaggy coats, big horns and big goatees.

My library just acquired a beginning reading book about farm goats. It uses photographs of goats. Except almost all of them have horns and the book makes a big deal about horns.

My take is that the author knew nothing about goats, had never owned a goat or talked to many people who owned goats and never been to a goat show.

Yes, goats are usually born with horns. However, dairy goats with the exception of Nigerian Dwarfs have those horns removed. Any horned dairy goat in a show is disqualified.

Novel boring times can use friendly faces like Nubian goats
No horns. No shaggy coats. Nubian goats from my herd. High Reaches Spring is in front.

My Goats?

My goats don’t go to shows. They stay on the farm now. However, I do take their horns off and try to maintain the dairy goat standards for Nubians. These standards were set up to improve the breed to live longer, healthier lives and give more milk.

My goats are getting old now. Violet is fourteen. Drucilla, Opal’s mother, is thirteen. Goats usually live twelve to fifteen years.

The herd still goes out on good days – no rain or snow. They still climb the hills. Yes, they are slower, but they still range widely.

I want my Opal and Agate picture books to show how beautiful Nubian goats can be, no horns, no shaggy coats.

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Animal Stories

Animal stories seem to be very popular with young children. They did stay popular with older children too, as I remember.

My favorites were horse stories. I read lots of them, fiction and nonfiction, until my mother started limiting how many I could check out. Then I moved to nature stories and still read many of both.

“Clarence: The Life of a Sparrow”

I picked up this little book years ago. It lived on my book shelf for years as I read others instead. It finally rose to the top of my reading list and I wish I had read it sooner.

Clare Kipps, the author, found Clarence as a hatchling on her door step. He had no feathers. His eyes were still closed. She fed the little mite some warm milk and went to bed thinking he wouldn’t make it through the night.

This common house sparrow was her companion for twelve years. He showed behaviors not seen in wild sparrows. She writes of his accomplishments and adventures, the devotion between them evident on every page.

cover of "For Love of Goats" by Karen GoatKeeper
Fact and fiction mix in this book of short stories and tongue twisters based on my fifty years living with goats.

My Goats

When I started writing books, I started with a book about goats, “Goat Games”, and have written about my goats in several other books. Most of the books are novels, but the actions and adventures are based on things my goats have done over the years.

The last and more serious book about goats was “For Love of Goats”. Goats have been part of my life for fifty years now. The things in this little book are based on my relationships with goats. The memoir pieces are actual happenings.

Nubian doe kid Opal will star in some animal stories
Nubian doe High Reaches Opal will be one star of the series Opal and Agate: Partners in Adventure. This is a planned series of picture books about Nubian goat kids exploring their world and getting into trouble, something kids are good at.

Picture Books and Animal Stories

I’ve been reading several picture books a week. Animal stories abound on the shelves. Two recent ones are “Togo” about the dog sleds taking serum to cure diptheria from Anchorage to Nome and “Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!” about a gardener trying to outwit some hungry bunnies.

The first of my Opal and Agate: Partners in Adventure series is half written and I am beginning to do sketches for it. Much as I enjoy writing novels, it is relaxing to again be remembering my goats.

Why Are Animal Stories so Appealing?

Perhaps these stories help us remember our relationship to the Earth and the animals that become important parts of our lives.

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GKP Writing News

Meet At the Laundromat

Many years ago I was asked to clean the local laundromat one day a week. As I washed my laundry there, I was already at the laundromat, so why not? Now you can meet At the Laundromat to find out more about this interesting and necessary place.

Any business, especially those open to the public, need cleaning every day. In this case, dirt, hair, dryer sheets, spilled detergent and softener along with bits of paper and spilled food make cleaning essential.

Behind the Scenes

People come into the laundromat with their baskets or bags of laundry, stuff them into a washer to wash, a dryer to dry, fold them up and cart them home again. Sometimes friends meet at the laundromat. They take the place for granted.

cover for "At the Laundromat" by Karen GoatKeeper
Find a topic, start gathering ideas and taking pictures, and a picture book seems to write itself.

At the laundromat I work at, there is the water softener to tend to, any broken machines to fix, change to put back into the machines after getting it out of the washers and dryers. All of that just keeps the place working.

Cleaning is what makes the place a good place for people to come into. Dirt and lint mount up fast. All kinds of things get left in the machines and must be taken out. Do you clean out your pockets before washing your clothes? Lots of people forget.

Folding clean clothes on tables sticky with spilled soda, coffee or mustard defeats the purpose of washing them in the first place. Washing clothes in a machine filled with animal hair doesn’t do much good either.

Using a Laundromat

People think this is easy. Easy until their quarters get stuck. Frustrating when a machine doesn’t work right. Efficient until they find some of their clothes disappeared.

At the Laundromat I work at, these problems do occur. The first is carelessness when feeding quarters into the slots. The second takes a phone call to use a different machine for free. The last takes better checking inside the machines to find clothes hidden inside.

Surprise Gift

Yes, I wrote this little picture book as a surprise for the laundromat owners as they are special people. But it wanted to be more than that. I hope it is.

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Announcing The Little Spider

Book marketing is not easy for me. It takes time and knowledge I don’t have. But I am announcing The Little Spider with a combination book launch party and signing.

This wasn’t really my idea. The Salem Public Library Head Librarian asked me to set up a table in the library. She’s seen the book file, is a picture book enthusiast and really likes it.

I’ve seen these author tables in the library before. It is a lonely vigil. Unless the author has lots of friends or readers or both, few people notice or stop at the table.

Finding an Audience

Sitting around waiting is not my favorite occupation. It doesn’t send the best message to get deeply involved in reading a book or typing away on a laptop.

Therefore, I need company, potential readers to stop by. And the library has such an audience available through their preschool reading program.

My author table will sit by itself. I will have a book reading. And the potential audience will be my target age group for my book.

On the Table

My author table needs to be large as there will be sixteen books on it. This includes my new novel “Hopes, Dreams and Reality”. Even though I will be announcing The Little Spider, I can possibly interest people in some of my other books.

All but “Goat Games” are in the library. They do get checked out now and then. However, I am still a relatively unknown author.

Looking To the Future

One of the best ways to encourage people to read my books is to get some people to read them and recommend them to others. So many people only try out books with lots of reviews which my books don’t have. I know people do read my books, but they don’t leave reviews.

Announcing The Little Spider in the midst of spider themed Halloween decorations with a book reading may encourage people to look my books over, maybe check a few out.

And, as a bonus, there may be time to read some of the stories and tongue twisters from “For Love of Goats” too.

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GKP Writing News

Finishing The Little Spider

Putting ‘The End’ on a book is always exciting and a relief. This is especially true for a book that has taken years. Finishing “The Little Spider” is one of those.

I wrote the text draft years ago. That was the easy part. Picture books require illustrations. That was the hard part.

Getting Picture Book Illustrations

When the text got written, I did no drawing. I wrote. Period.

So I talked to several people who did draw. No one was willing to take this project on. So the text sat on my computer, moved to two new computers, waited.

Then I ended up doing the illustrations for “For Love of Goats”. Finding anyone else was not really an option as I wanted good illustrations for half a dozen different breeds of goats. They may all be goats, but they don’t look alike. It’s like both an Arabian and a Quarter Horse are both horses, but they don’t look exactly alike.

cover of "For Love of Goats" by Karen GoatKeeper
One advantage of doing my own illustrations is getting the ones I want, the ones I’ve pictured in my mind as fitting the story. This was certainly true in “For Love of Goats”, my book of tongue twisters, alliterative stories, short fiction and memories of goats and goatkeeping. I’m glad I can do the illustrations well enough for publishing, an important consideration.

Gaining Confidence

After finding I could really do the illustrations, I got brave. I tackled the illustrations for “Waiting for Fairies”. The different animals weren’t that hard. People are hard to draw. I’m glad little children are so forgiving about illustrations.

So now I’m finishing “The Little Spider” illustrations. Actually all of them are done now. There are two things left.

One is a border for the last page about spider ballooning, the topic of the story. I could leave the text on its own, but a little border of the little spider running around the text would be fun.

What should I put on the cover? Obviously, the little spider goes on the cover. I haven’t decided what the spider will be doing or how the title and author name will go around it.

The Final Steps

Once I have those two things done, I can start the process of getting the book printed. Although there will be eBook versions, the conversions seem to distort the images. I don’t know how to fix this problem.

One thing is certain. Finishing “The Little Spider” will open up some writing time. Of course that is already filled with three other projects.

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GKP Writing News

Garden Spider Watching

Two big tubs sit near the back porch. Each contains a tomato plant. Besides picking cherry tomatoes to eat, we get to do some garden spider watching.

These black and yellow zipper spiders are not as common as they were years ago. The changing weather patterns might be the reason with late frosts and droughts. That makes it special to have such a beauty right outside the back door.

Another reason this is special is my work on “The Little Spider” picture book. The spiderling grows up into a big black and yellow beauty.

"The Little Spider" is a picture book by Karen GoatKeeper and will be published in Fall, 2023.
“The Little Spider” is a picture book by Karen GoatKeeper and will be published in Fall, 2023.

Orb Weaving Spiders

Late summer into fall is a good time to spot these architectural masters. They hatch out in the spring, but stay small and inconspicuous until now.

Summer is insect bonanza time and these small spiders start growing into big adults. We’ve seen this garden spider watching as ours doubled in size in a couple of weeks.

Every morning this female spider spins a new web. Knowing the spider is nearly blind, seeing only light and shadow, and spins this large web only by feel makes it even more amazing.

garden spider watching
Spiders are amazing creatures. Watching one spin a web is fascinating. They eat lots of insects and these never get immune as they do to insecticides that poison more than the insects. This zipper garden spider will produce an egg case soon.

Patient Hunters

All day the spider hangs mead downwards on the zipper in the center of her web. The big spiders are all females.

A male came to call last week. He is a quarter of the size of the female. He spun a little web close to hers and carefully courted her until she invited him to call.

The male is gone, escaped safely to court another spider somewhere else. The female is now trying to put on a lot of size and weight. Her web is bigger with more stickly strands.

The nearby rain barrels catch various insects. We turn wasps, bees and the like loose. However, Japanese beetles and grasshoppers get tossed into the spider web.

The spider pounces, backs off a minute or so, moves back in and wraps ther catch up in silk. About five minutes later, she moves in for a meal.

End of Summer

In time the spider will spin an egg cocoon. When frost comes, she will die. That will bring an end to this year’s garden spider watching. Maybe one of her spiderlings will stay so we can do the same next year.    

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GKP Writing News

The Little Spider

In late spring long lines of spider silk waft across the yard. These are single strands, not webs. “The Little Spider” was written as I found out more about these gossamer strands.

Lots of spiders call my place home. They come in many sizes and colors. They are welcome as they help decimate the fly and mosquito populations. The orb web weavers are the main ones to make gossamer silk in the spring.

Spring Spiders

Wolf and jumping spiders survive the winter hidden in building crevices or leaf litter in the woods. They come out on warm winter days and in the spring. By summer these have laid eggs that hatch over the summer into fall. These rarely make gossamer silk.

The Little Spider was once an egg in a case
In late summer the large garden spiders – all females – mate and create egg cases like these. The spiders will die with frost. The egg cases will survive the winter protecting the eggs inside. These will become baby spiders once spring warms the area.

Orb weaving spiders die in the fall. They leave behind silken egg containers filled with eggs that hatch in the spring (Remember “Charlotte’s Web”?). These spiderlings scatter and build tiny webs in the grass. I see them decorated with dew shining in the morning sun.

These spiderlings are nearly blind as were their parents. However they do want to move away into their own territories so they can get more food.

Spiders On the Move

Tiny spiderlings may run fast, but it takes a long time for them to go any distance simply because they are so small. “The Little Spider” is about such a little spiderling that wants to move and has a way to go a great distance.

When the temperature is warm and the air has a slight updraft, spiderlings find a high place to stand. They spin a strand of gossamer silk. The air catches the silk and pulls it upward.

When the silk is long enough, the pull is great enough for the spiderling to be pulled aloft. This is called ballooning.

How Far?

Although most spiderlings don’t drift very far, others do. They have been found thousands of feet in the air on airplanes or miles out to sea on ships. Some cross the English Channel.

gossamer spider silk on pasture
Gossamer silk spreads across the pasture after spiders go ballooning and return to earth. A few build webs soon after landing.

After landing, the spiderlings cut loose their silk strand. These gossamer strands are left spread across pastures, buildings or blowing in the wind.

This journey is the story in my proposed picture book “The Little Spider”. Being a picture book, illustrations are important and take a long time to do. They begin with the sketches I am doing now just as a tiny spider’s journey begins with finding that high spot.