{"id":1991,"date":"2010-09-07T00:01:22","date_gmt":"2010-09-07T06:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1991"},"modified":"2010-09-07T00:01:32","modified_gmt":"2010-09-07T06:01:32","slug":"seven-questions-over-breakfast-with-julia-denoswith-visits-from-cecil-castellucci-and-erica-s-perl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1991","title":{"rendered":"Seven Questions Over Breakfast with Julia Denos
(with visits from authors Cecil Castellucci and Erica S. Perl)<\/font>"},"content":{"rendered":"

For one of Julia Denos’s<\/a><\/strong> recent illustrated titles, Erica S. Perl’s<\/a><\/strong> Dotty<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, Publishers Weekly<\/em> had this to say about her artwork: “Denos’s…paintings are an unadulterated delight, combining the na\u00eff styling of scribbly children’s drawings for the creatures and the easy, playful elegance of pattern book illustrations from the 1950s.”<\/em> I like this, because “unadulterated delight” would be a good description of my very first response to her art work, years ago<\/a><\/strong>, when I first discovered it. Just don’t call her illustrations “cute”; as you’ll see below in her responses to the Pivot Questionnaire, that may not be her favorite descriptor. But that’s just the thing about her artwork: On the surface, it seems light and cheery, what with her lush, luminescent watercolors, but look carefully. It’s not all easy-breezy sunny flowers and fashionable young ladies. Denos injects a just-right, subtle drama into her work. As one reviewer for Cecil Castellucci’s<\/a><\/strong> Grandma’s Gloves<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (the other of Julia’s 2010 illustrated titles) wrote, “she also shows a real gift for portraying both characters and a setting marked by loss.” And Julia’s other strong suit? Her distinctive, can-spot-it-from-a-million-miles-out-in-space style, all her own. <\/p>\n


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“I run to her, and she folds me in her fleshy arms for a big kiss. She smells like earth and coffee and hair spray and perfume. Those are my favorite smells.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

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Speaking of those two picture book titles, have you seen them? Wonderful stuff. Both of ’em. YA author Cecil Castellucci<\/a><\/strong> had this to say when I asked her about Grandma’s Gloves<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Candlewick, August 2010), her first picture book and the story of a young girl who loses her beloved grandmother and begins her own search for comfort, and Julia’s artwork for it:<\/p>\n

Cecil:<\/font><\/strong> I wrote Grandma’s Gloves<\/em> in 2000 right after my grandmother died. I wrote the book, and it has remained pretty much as I wrote it with only slight changes. I actually switched two of the pages late in the process after seeing Julia’s images and thinking the story flowed better. At first, our editor, Deb, was like, “what are you doing, Cecil?” But then it turned out perfect. Other than that, it’s a bit weird for me, because I don’t really have a picture book voice. I mean, obviously, I do, but as you know, I am much more comfortable with YA. But that is how this book and this particular story came out, and so there you go. And even though it was not the first book that I sold, it was the first book that opened the doors for me at Candlewick and I really think of it as the book that started my career, so I am so happy that it is out. Art-wise, it was really important to me that the Grandma be a modern day grandma. You know, one that wore crocs and had a cool haircut. Julia worked hard on getting the Grandma and the little girl to be sassy ladies, and when I saw the image of Grandma hosing the little girl (no, I know, they don’t have names; they are you and your grandma or me and my grandma), I knew that Julia had really nailed it. I love how soft the images are, and yet they are not too over the top for such a sensitive (and sad) story.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n


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Early sketch for <\/em>Grandma’s Gloves: “Grandma always says, ‘You are my most special flower of all.’ And on hot days she waters me with the hose.”<\/em><\/center> <\/p>\n

And then there’s Erica’s<\/a><\/strong> Dotty<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, also released this August (Abrams), the story of a young girl named Ida and her first day of school. Heading off to school with a long, blue string and her special, invisible friend Dotty attached to it, Ida and Dotty find out her classmates have also brought along other imaginary friends — but they don’t stay for long. As the year progresses, fewer imaginary friends come to class, and Ida wonders if Dotty is even welcome at school anymore. I asked Erica to weigh in, too, on this book and Julia’s work in it:<\/p>\n


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Spread from Erica S. Perl’s<\/em> Dotty<\/center><\/p>\n

Erica:<\/font><\/strong> Dotty<\/em> came from my own childhood relationships with imaginary friends. First, when I was about four, I had Sahti and Dahti, who were twins but were not the same ages (a detail adults found adorable), and several years later, I acquired an imaginary sheep. I kept the sheep to myself, though, because I had become more concerned with what people might think. My editor at Abrams, Susan Van Metre, loved Dotty<\/em> from the start and snapped the manuscript up with surprising speed. (We usually have some back-and-forth over drafts before going to contract.) It took a long time to choose an illustrator, because we wanted someone who would just be perfect. Susan and Chad Beckerman, the book’s designer, and I had a lot of conversations about this illustrator and that one, but no one we found seemed like they could capture the book’s tone just right…until Julia. I give Chad credit for finding her. As soon as he showed me and Susan her work, the reaction was immediate: Yes! Can we get her? She’s perfect! <\/p>\n

The first thing I told Julia when she agreed to illustrate Dotty<\/em> was that I had been reading the story aloud, un-illustrated, at school visits, and I had discovered something unexpected. I had always thought of Dotty as a sheep or a goat (there are references to her horns and the fact that she nibbles on the classroom rug), but when I asked kids what Dotty was, each child had a different vision of her. I realized that Dotty probably wasn’t any one kind of creature, and she didn’t need to be. So I encouraged Julia to make Dotty—and all the other imaginary friends in the book—unique creatures. That’s where the fun really began. She did tons of character sketches, and Susan and Chad and I weighed in, and there was a lot of back and forth. It’s one thing I love about doing picture books — my experience at Abrams has been that the process is extremely collaborative. And Julia seemed to really enjoy getting feedback, which she would then incorporate into her drawings. The thing that I love the most is the way she foreshadowed the book’s ending in her art. Whenever I read the book to groups and share the surprise ending, we then go back through the book once more and see Julia’s magic — all the spots in which her illustrations hinted at what was coming without revealing the secret.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Julia joins me this morning for “strawberry blintzes and mint tea (or just lots of strawberries!)”<\/font>… She’s even got the below images to show us how scrumptious our breakfast will be. Indeed. I’ll put a pot of strong coffee on for Erica and Cecil, too, and anyone else who wants to join us. I thank Julia—and Erica and Cecil—kindly for stopping by. <\/p>\n


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7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: Are you an illustrator or author\/illustrator?<\/font><\/p>\n

Julia<\/font><\/strong>: Illustrator and author-in-training. <\/p>\n

(Here’s<\/a><\/strong> a link to my blog about my first “book” cover in 1st grade after I just learned how to make sentences.)<\/p>\n


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7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: Can you list your books-to-date?<\/font><\/p>\n


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Julia<\/font><\/strong>: <\/p>\n