{"id":5110,"date":"2020-05-24T00:01:05","date_gmt":"2020-05-24T06:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5110"},"modified":"2020-05-23T13:46:55","modified_gmt":"2020-05-23T19:46:55","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-692-featuring-susanna-chapman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5110","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #692: Featuring Susanna Chapman"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nYou all may remember this deferred-hug art<\/a><\/strong> from illustrator Susanna Chapman<\/a><\/strong> back in late March. Susanna visits 7-Imp again today to talk about creating the illustrations for Laurie Ann Thompson’s<\/a><\/strong> Elizabeth Warren’s Big, Bold Plans<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (Atheneum, May 2020). <\/p>\n

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This picture book biography takes readers from Elizabeth’s childhood in Oklahoma to her decision to run for President. Thompson stresses young Elizabeth’s love for school and teaching other classmates and writes about her father’s heart attack when Elizabeth was twelve years old \u2014 and how it changed the family. She includes Elizabeth’s high school experience; her admission to George Washington University at the age of 16; her decision to drop out of college to get married and teach, while simultaneously finishing her degree; the birth of her children; and her work as a lawyer. The last few spreads focus on her work with Obama and her decision to run for the Senate \u2014 and, eventually, President. Through it all, Thompson reiterates, Elizabeth always had a plan. With straightforward prose and much reverence, Thompson also stresses Elizabeth’s work to convince “people in power to do something to help those with none.” <\/p>\n

Susanna’s warm, relaxed-line illustrations, rendered in watercolors and with a Photoshop assist, are brightly colored and expertly capture Warren’s body language. She’s here today to talk about what it was like to work on this book \u2014 and in a time crunch. I thank her for visiting. Let’s get to it. …<\/p>\n

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\nSusanna<\/font><\/strong>: This book had a wildly fast schedule! Author Laurie Ann Thompson and I even overlapped for about a month while she was finishing the manuscript and I was beginning visual research and character sketches.
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\nI received a preliminary manuscript in October 2019. I had only until January to finish all the art, and I opted to give myself a running start by sketching scenes from that first manuscript. I knew it was a risk \u2014 I would need to adjust sketches as the words were edited, perhaps significantly. But in the end it was all a good growing process for learning to be flexible with lots of healthy sketch-pruning along the way. Here is one example of how the first spread\u2019s words and images evolved concurrently:
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Final spread: “As a child, Elizabeth Warren never dreamed
she would one day run for president of the United States. …”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n(I can\u2019t deny I was happy to revisit Pluto\u2019s former glory as a planet for that 1950s classroom scene!) <\/p>\n

Along with significant sketch adjustments, there were some smaller, fun edits too. The Atheneum team mused that the tea I had served young Elizabeth Warren\u2019s family looked too British and suggested a more all-American beverage, like milk, for the final art. I agree that, in the end, the scene feels feels more true with that small change.
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“The family made it through those tough times, together.”<\/em>
(Click either image to enlarge both sketch and final art)<\/center>
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\nThere was only one burning question that Laurie and I couldn\u2019t answer through our research alone: What did Missy, Elizabeth Warren\u2019s childhood dog, look like? The pup was mentioned in books, but no photos or descriptions of this dog could be found. Since we were working on this book right in the middle of Senator Warren\u2019s campaign, we couldn\u2019t go to her with willy-nilly questions. But this felt important. Our editor reached out, and in a little while we had our answer: Missy was a brown and black 1-2 lb Pekingese with an underbite. It seems like a small detail to some, and Missy only appears twice in two scenes in the book, but we were all so deeply glad to feel integrity down to the last detail in telling the remarkable story of this inspiring and integrity-filled person.
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“Elizabeth finished her remaining classes by mail and earned her diploma.”<\/em>
(Click either image to see spread in its entirety)<\/center>
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“There was only one choice: She had to try. And she succeeded.”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge and read text in its entirety)<\/center>
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\nELIZABETH’S BIG, BOLD PLANS. Text copyright \u00a9 2020 by Laurie Ann Thompson. Illustrations copyright \u00a9 2020 by Susanna Chapman. Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher and Susanna Chapman. All sketches reproduced by permission of Susanna Chapman.<\/em><\/p>\n

Note for any new readers: 7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. New kickers are always welcome.<\/p>\n

* * * Jules’ Kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font>
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1)<\/strong><\/font> We 2020 Boston Globe-Horn Book judges made our decisions last weekend!<\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> The winners will be announced this Wednesday. <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> My daughters wrapped up the school year. <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> And we baked a cake to celebrate their hard work and good grades. <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> Sharing books and seeing friends, even if from a distance. <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> Because I gave away stacks of books, I can see my office floor again. <\/p>\n

7)<\/strong><\/font> New music:
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