Interior Art and Middle Grade

Artwork is a complete unknown for me. Not being a picture book writer, and not having had a book published, I've never had to worry about it before. Now I'm pondering cover images, sketches for my website and something I never expected: interior art for my middle grade book.

When my publisher suggested line drawings for each chapter of The Invisible Sister, I said, "Huh?" In my mind, pictures belonged in picture books and chapter books. Certainly not in my serious, middle-grade novel!

Then I went to the Treasure Valley Children's Literature Festival. There, I traded editing notes with Sydney Salter, 2K9 author of My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters, and asked her about artwork. It seems, with graphic novels becoming so popular, and the wonderful anomaly that is The Invention of Hugo Cabret, interior art is suddenly hot...even for novels.

Sydney and I wandered around the bookstore, checking out MG books, noting some beautiful art. She pointed out The Graveyard Book. We also noticed most of the classics (Black Beauty, Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island) were illustrated. I remember reading those as a kid, and loving the pictures.

I have an illustrator/writer friend who recently attended a Highlights Foundation workshop, and came back totally jazzed about incorporating art and writing...even for middle grade. And I know how much my son loves pictures in books. The first thing he does when he gets a new book is flip through and look at all the pictures. So now, I'm thinking I'd like to have illustrations scattered throughout my book. I'm even envisioning the scenes.

What about the rest of you writers? Have you thought about interior art? Does it makes a book seem too 'young' for some readers? Would it work for MG but not YA? What do you think?

Quick Kid Quote

Recent conversation with my 8-year-old:

Son: Hey, look. Goody's is open.
Me: Really? It's 8:30 in the morning. That's a little early for ice cream.
Son: Well, Mom. They have candy too.

Oh right...silly me.

Friday Favorites

I've made an official decision. From now on, every Friday, I'll blog about something new and fabulous I've discovered...whether it be a great new book, the very best hand cream or a really scrumptous bag of bbq potato chips. Hopefully, you guys will comment about your favorites too, and we can expand our horizons (and potato chip selection) with a little collective ...er... conscious.

I'm kicking this off with my favorite writing-related website. I'm not talking about my daily blogs, messageboards or My-Face, Space-Book stuff. This is a flat-out tool page. I use it over and over and over (just like Tess used to read Green Eggs & Ham) and I'm hoping it might be helpful for you too! So, without further adieu...

Renaissance Learning's Word Count Page Once you log in by clicking your country, you can search the title of any book and find out gobs of helpful info including reading level, number of pages and (my favorite) word count! Priceless for determining where your book might fit in the fabric of children's lit.

So--post comments about your favorite writing tool websites! I'm sure there are places out there I haven't discovered yet, and with all the laundry I have piling up around here, chances are I won't find it on my own!