Ad-PR
Today is our stop on the Kaleidoscopic Tours blog tour for The Crossodile by Rachel Morrisroe and Ella Okstad.
My son was so excited when this book arrived that I have been reading it to him every evening. It's such a great story.
I am thrilled to be sharing a guest post by Ella Okstad as my stop on the tour.
What do you like best about writing children's books?
Books are such an important part of childhood. Being read to, reading your very first book all on
your own, looking at illustrations in picture books and make
them come alive with imagination. We
need silly stories, adventure stories, sad stories, exiting
stories sprinkled with magic to learn
about ourselves and the world. I have always been fascinated
with how illustrations in picture
books works. They add a new dimension to the text that take
twists and turns and lifts the story.
They also make you want to pause and talk about what you see
along the way. Picture books are
great conversation starters.
I have been drawing from the very moment I was able to pick
up a pencil as a child. Once I found
out that it could actually be a career path, it was no
turing back. It has now been my job for over 20
years. I feel very privileged to get to work with so many
great authors and publishing people.
I love working with Rachel and her absolutely fantastic
rhyming stories; The Drama Llama, The
Truth about Yeticorns and If you See a Crossodile. The way
they all deal with different emotions in
a fun and engaging way is just brilliant.
Illustrating picture books is a long process with many
stages. Each stage has its own pace, some
runs smoothly and some makes me want to scream and tear my
hair out. Walking the dog or
washing dishes often helps. One of the best things about
this job is when I sit down at my desk and
dive into a story from one of my authors for the first time.
Then the characters slowly emerge from
my pencil onto a blank piece of paper and starts to live a
life of their own.
What really warms my heart is when I get feedback from
children and grown ups around the world
and the fact that my illustrations might become part of
someones childhood memories. That makes
