Since I knew that my illustrator, 13-year-old Bradley Simon, was not in school this week, I quickly called his mom to see if he could come along and be part of the process. He agreed to ride with us and he invited his cousin Amanda Bjerke to come along.
From left to right are me, Bradley Simon, and Amanda Bjerke.
Brad and Amanda are both 'A' students in New Prague Middle School.
My mom always told me that if I hung around with smart kids some "smarts" may rub off on me.
I figure that it's never too late to take Mom's advice.
The professionals at Beaver's Pond Press are always fun to visit, but after we exchanged"Hellos" and some small talk, we got right to work. Vice President Dara Beevas, who is my editor, was not in that day, but all the others pitched in to help.
Brad looks on as Managing Editor, Amy Quale, worked with Nancy and me
to pick just the right color for the end sheets.
Amanda and Brad look through the proof of the book.
What I Saw on the Farm is the first book Brad has illustrated.
He completed all the illustrations when he was twelve.
Even the top brass got involved.
Tom Kerber, Chief Publishing Editor of Beaver's Pond Press,
helped us decide how to address some needed changes in the proof.
From left to right are Tom Kerber, me, Brad Simon, and Amanda Bjerke.
Nancy and I thank all the professionals at Beaver's Pond for helping us with the proof.
It's always fun to visit with everyone again.
Photographs by Nancy A. Fredrickson
Congratulations on the near-publication of your next book, Gordon and Nancy! Did I miss an earlier post about your young illustrator, Brad? I'm curious to learn how you happened upon him and simply learn more about him as an artist.
ReplyDeleteMy first cousin kept telling me how much her grandson, Bradley Simon liked to draw. Finally, I asked her to see some of his work and when she showed me, I was impressed. I talked to his folks and we worked out a contract for him to do the illustrations.
ReplyDelete