Big Cat Pepper in Brooklyn

My pal Allyson spotted this: Big Cat Pepper, on a ramble in a forest of books. Maybe Pepper was wandering back to Lauren Castillo's Brooklyn drawing board where he sprung to life.

Pepper has been getting some nice blog love, as Lauren noted on her blog.

Big Cat Pepper, wonderful reviews, and my beloved cat Coyote

The package hit the front porch with a thud. Penny barked. And here it was: Big Cat Pepper, the real book. Warm apricot-yellow endpapers, beautiful, heart-warming illustrations by Lauren Castillo, so gorgeous on their final paper, soft and creamy and inviting, desolation of olive green nights lightening to spring-green grass under a lemon-yellow sunrise.

Two great reviews have already come in. One from Kirkus: "...Castillo’s mixed-media illustrations of a rural, single-parent family are smudgily warm and comforting. The entirely secular explanation of death and the fact that there is no substitution pet added to the family in the end make this a very worthwhile addition to bibliotheraputic literature for the young."

I love "...smudgily warm..." Yum!

And from Booklist: "Because of their loyalty and innocence, the death of a pet is especially poignant, and Partridge gets it just right with this tale of a boy and his beloved cat, Pepper...."

The next day, our beloved cat Coyote died. As a hungry barn kitten, she'd somehow pulled her trapped leg out of the metal teeth of a coyote trap set by a sheep farmer. She arrived at my sister's house in the country, one back leg partly degloved of skin and fur. We nurtured her back to a healthy, sweet cat and had her for 17 years.


Tom dug her a grave in the backyard by the fence, right near her favorite mousing grounds (still a barn cat at heart, she was a great mouser). We covered her with dirt and sprinkled on rose petals, carefully watched by Penny.

Penny put her head deep in the grave, sniffed and sniffed, then settled back and pushed crumbling dirt into the grave with her nose, over and over again. I've never seen her bury anything -- no bone, no treasure, nothing.

Sleep well, Coyote.

Odd book titles, finishing touches on Big Cat Pepper

My blog today should be "read, write, laugh."

One of the things I don't do well is come up with titles. I admire people who do short snappy titles -- Laurie Halse Anderson is incredible at this with titles like Speak and Chains. I seem to prefer ten words or more....

So here's a contest for oddest book title of the year, started at the international Bologna Book Fair. Read to the end (it's a short article) for a good laugh.

We're getting down to the details on Big Cat Pepper. Melanie Cecka at Bloomsbury just sent me flap copy to check over, and asked for my dedication. Lauren Castillo's artwork is all done and is absolutely gorgeous.

Big Cat Pepper illustrations

Just went over to Lauren Castillo's blog..... she has posted another spread from our upcoming book, Big Cat Pepper (Bloomsbury, spring 2009).

I'm so awed and thrilled to see what she is doing. This is the huge honor of writing down a poem and having an illustrator make those words into a whole world. Truly, it doesn't get better than this.

Now, I have the home-court advantage of knowing what the text is on the spread she has posted, but check out those slippers sliding off the boy's feet. They say it all. And the sad, tender look on his face. And the beautiful textures and colors.

Gorgeous.

Illustrator Lauren Castillo interview

Over at Seven Impossible Things there's a fantastic interview with Lauren Castillo, who's illustrating my manuscript, Big Cat Pepper, (Bloomsbury, summer 2009) right now. Jules Danielson came up with terrific questions and posted lots of images. I especially loved seeing the thumbnails, and Lauren's studio where she's working on Pepper. What is it about seeing people's work spaces? I'm always curious where people work. And artists always have really cool stuff up on their walls. Writers tend to just get buried in paper. (Okay, I should just speak for myself here. Totally. Buried. In. Paper.)

And Lauren's got her first contract as author-illustrator! Congratulations, Lauren!

Illustrator at work

One of the most wonderful things about writing a picture book is seeing what the illustrator brings to life. It's the most exciting sense of anticipation... what will my main character look like? Where will she live? Will she be made of delicate water colors or carefully cut paper, or combinations of art supplies that only illustrators and art directors know how to talk about?

My manuscript, Big Cat Pepper, is in the hands of illustrator Lauren Castillo. Her drawings are delicate and whimsical and touching all at the same time. She's posted a few incredible cat sketches on her blog as she finds her way into the manuscript. Which one will turn into my beloved Pepper?

People often don't realize that the editors get to choose the illustrators. There are a lot of good reasons for this. Editors see lots of portfolios, know who is fun to work with, who gets their work in on time, and all kinds of things I know nothing about. But if you are really, really lucky, your editor will ask you how you feel about someone they are thinking of approaching. When Jill Davis told me she was considering Lauren, I went to her website and starting shouting, "Yes! Yes! Ask her!"

And Lauren said yes, and here I am, eagerly waiting to see what Big Cat Pepper looks like, where he lives, and the boy and his mom who love him.