May 2019

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May Reading List: TD Book Week

Our reading list this month is all TD Canadian Children’s Book Week Here are books by the 2019 touring creators to be read in the classroom, in libraries or at home.

Read the full list here.

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Author’s Corner: Naseem Hrab

Naseem Hrab is a writer, funny (enough) person and maker of ice cream. She is the author of the funny (enough) picture books Ira Crumb Makes a Pretty Good Friend and Ira Crumb Feels the Feelings, illustrated by Josh Holinaty (Owlkids). She is also the author of the forthcoming (but not funny) picture book Weekend Dad, illustrated by Frank Viva (Groundwood). When she’s not writing and performing, Naseem works in children’s publishing. She previously worked as the librarian at the Canadian Children’s Book Centre and currently works as the Associate Publisher, Creative at Kids Can Press. Naseem lives in Toronto with her pet fish, Ian.

Tell us a little about yourself. How did you get your start as an as an author?

I’m the author of two picture books: Ira Crumb Makes a Pretty Good Friend and Ira Crumb Feels the Feelings, illustrated by the amazing Josh Holinaty and published by Owlkids Books. Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a writer whether it was a poet, a playwright or a screenwriter. It wasn’t until I started working in marketing at a children’s book publishing company that I actually started to see that it was possible to be an author. After that, I thought about writing for another ten years before actually forming a writing group and sitting down to write picture book.

We love the Ira Crumb books! Where did the inspiration for the character come from?

The inspiration for Ira came from my own neuroses. Ira has a big personality, big feelings and big troubles making friends … and he thinks he’s really funny. I can totally relate to him!

What advice would you have for educators and librarians who want to use your books in schools?

I think both books are great tools for teaching kids about friendships and feelings in a completely accessible and hilarious way. For example, Ira Crumb Feels the Feelings can help start discussions about what it means to express your emotions and be empathetic towards others … and includes a really fancy fart joke. I realize that some educators and librarians are not entirely comfortable reading comics-style books out loud (or fart jokes) and my advice is to do silly voices and have fun!

You are one of the touring creators for the 2019 TD Canadian Children’s Book Week. What are you most looking forward to and is there anything you’re nervous about?

I’m most looking forward to meeting kids in Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet and, hopefully, laughing together! I’m nervous about whether or not the kids will enjoy my presentations or like the Ira books!

What is next for you? What projects are you working on now?

I have a picture book coming out in Spring 2020 called Weekend Dad. It’s illustrated by Frank Viva and will be published by Groundwood Books. It tells the story of a little boy visiting his dad’s new apartment after his parents get separated and it features a letter my dad wrote to me when I was nine-years-old. I think it will make readers feel all the feels. I’m also working on a picture book about death because I guess I’m moving away from fart jokes for now … BUT NOT FOREVER!

Find out more about Naseem on her website at www.naseemhrab.com

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YA Write with Amy Mathers

In 2014, Amy Mathers read and reviewed 365 YA books to raise funds to create the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award.

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Illustrator’s Studio: Tony Cliff

Tony Cliff is the author of DELILAH DIRK AND THE PILLARS OF HERCULES, available August 2018. It is the third in the critically-acclaimed DELILAH DIRK series of books. A New York Times Bestselling author and nominee for Shuster, Harvey, and Eisner awards, Tony was raised in and currently lives in Vancouver, BC, where he is a thirteen-year veteran of that city’s animation industry.

Tell us a little about yourself. How did you get your start as an as an author and illustrator?
I think I was lucky to have a lot of really great teachers throughout elementary and high school, all who encouraged creativity with their time and resources. Mom and dad always put me in drawing classes, too, and now I don’t remember whose idea that was, nor whether I kept drawing because I was good at it or was good at drawing because I kept at it. Either way, I did, and in my mid-20s got involved with the FLIGHT comics community, with Kazu Kibuishi, Kean Soo, Raina Telgemeier, and many others. And, you know, peer pressure is what it is, so here we are.

Where did the inspiration for the Delilah Dirk series come from?
From a million different things, but mostly I wanted to make something that would make me (and readers) feel the way I felt watching the Indiana Jones movies when I was younger. Plus, I’d been gorging myself on Napoleonic War fiction (the Sharpe and Hornblower series, specifically), and that setting was a sandbox I wanted to play around in, so that’s where DD is set.

What comics/graphic novels would you recommend to young people who have never read anything from the genre?
It’s important for readers to think of comics and graphic novels as a medium, not a genre. Romance, sci-fi, fantasy, and western are all genres. Each of those genres of stories can be told in the pages of a comic book. Additionally, it’s not necessary to distinguish between comics and graphic novels. All graphic novels are comic books, but not all comic books are graphic novels. The only difference is that graphic novels are thicker, generally. Some people seem caught up in these labels or trappings as if they’re meaningful, but they’re not. Graphic novels, comics, novel-novels, “real” books, and so on — they exist at all points on the spectrum of literary quality, regardless of how they present themselves superficially.

The best person to recommend comics to a reader is a librarian. Each reader should be able to go to a librarian and say, “here is what I have been enjoying“—whether that is a Raina Telgemeier comic, the latest Battle Royale game, the Hottest New Anime, the fourteenth Avengers movie, a John le Carre novel, or War & Peace—and, after a follow-up question or two, the librarian will hopefully direct them toward some new work to enjoy. My recommendation to young readers is to make friends with their librarians and be open-minded. There’s a comic for every taste.
(And all young readers must read Calvin & Hobbes, regardless.)

We know that you worked on My Little Pony: The Movie. What was it like working on a film like that and how did it help you grow as an artist and a storyteller?
There’s a lot of crossover in the skills required to work in animation and comic books. They both require strong draftsmanship and an understanding of how to convey story through images. Think about a professional plumber. Sometimes someone’s building a big commercial building and they need a commercial plumber. Probably loads of them. Someone building a small house for themselves needs a plumber, too, because plumbing is an important part of any human structure. Working in feature or TV animation is like working on a big commercial building: there are lots of people involved. Everyone fills their own role. Many only ever work on commercial projects. Meanwhile, making my own graphic novel is like designing and building my own house.

The major difference is the work environment. In an animation studio, you get to joke around with and learn from your co-workers. I was doing visual development on MLP and was working with a really skilled group of artists. It was so instructive to go around and look at other peoples’ work and ask, “how’d you do that?” and push yourself to stay competitive. Working alone, the challenges and learning have to be more self-motivated, but regardless, I’ve found the growth experience to be similar: each project teaches you something new and offers a few more rungs on the skill ladder.

You are one of the touring creators for the 2019 TD Canadian Children’s Book Week. What are you most looking forward to and is there anything you’re nervous about?
Ha ha, I’m not a great traveller, and I don’t sleep well the first night in a new place, so I am nervous about going without sleep for an entire week. I’m also going straight from Book Week travelling into exhibiting at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, so I’m wondering how much of that I’ll be mentally present for. As context, comic conventions are exhausting enough on their own, so I’m looking forward to aging ten years over the course of a week.
Otherwise, I am generally looking forward to it. Visiting schools, talking to kids, there’s always something surprising and delightful that pops up, and you never know what it’ll be. That’s the fun part. The kids are always so much brighter and more engaged than adults would have you believe. I always leave schools feeling pretty optimistic about life.

What is next for you? What projects are you working on now?
I’ll have a kids’ hunt-and-seek book coming out called Let’s Get Sleepy, and I’m working on a few other projects that I can’t talk about. And the fourth Delilah Dirk book is under way, too. It’ll take us back to DD’s youth, pitting her against a ferocious pirate foe, and making it explicit what sort of push back a young English girl might have faced if she wanted to run around and swing swords in the 1800s. You know, for the one or two twelve-year-old readers out there who haven’t read Sense and Sensibility yet.

Find out more about Tony and his work at www.delilahdirk.com

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