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Showing posts with label Melissa Iwai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Melissa Iwai. Show all posts

Friday, April 30, 2021

"Thirty Minutes Over Oregon" illustrator's mom witnessed Pearl Harbor attack

To my surprise, I only now realized that I had not yet shared here a startling behind-the-scenes fact related to Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: the mother of Melissa Iwai, the book's illustrator, was walking the hills of Honolulu on December 7, 1941...and witnessed the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

That infamous attack provoked the also infamous Doolittle Raid in April 1942, which then provoked the lesser-known Lookout Air Raids in September 1942, which are the focus of the book.


I have explained that I requested to work on this book with an illustrator of Japanese descent out of respect for the culture at the center of the story. (I hit the trifecta because Melissa is also super talented and super nice.) 

Also, our collaboration parallels a central theme of the book: reconciliation. Melissa and I never quarreled, and therefore never reconciled, but I mean reconciliation in a broader sense: people of different heritages coming together in harmony.

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Friday, December 6, 2019

NCTE 2019

Though the panel (on empathy) I pitched for the 2019 National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention was not accepted, I got to go anyway.

 Because Thirty Minutes Over Oregon was named a 2019 Orbis Pictus Honor Book at NCTE 2018, its publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, kindly invited me to partake in the celebratory festivities of 11/23/19. 

 This included, in rapid succession:
  • 11 am-12 pm book signing 
  • 12-2:30 pm luncheon for the Orbis Pictus (nonfiction) and Charlotte Huck (fiction) winners and honorees
  • 2:45-5 pm panel of Orbis Pictus Honor Book authors/illustrators
  • 7-10 pm dinner for all honorees, representatives from their publishers, and Orbis Pictus committee members

 At 9:10 am, Melissa Iwai, the book's illustrator, emailed to ask me if I was already at the convention. NCTE was held in Baltimore, 45 minutes from where I live. I said I'd arrive in time for the luncheon (meaning I'd leave around 10:45 am), and she said "What about the signing at 11?"

 On my schedule, my signing was at 4 pm. As you see above, my panel would also be in medias res at 4 pm...so HMH moved my signing to 11 am. 

 But I did not get that update.

 And so it was that I fast-forwarded my morning, arriving at the convention center around the time I originally planned to leave. HMH was covering my travel expenses, so I reasoned that would include any possible moving violation. Kidding. Children's authors never exceed the speed limit.

 The award luncheon was lovely. Honorees simply walked across the stage and received our certificate, like a graduation. It was a privilege to listen to the speeches of the three winners, Sandra Neil Wallace and illustrator Bryan Collier for Between the Lines (Orbis Pictus) and Jonathan Auxier for Sweep (Charlotte Huck). 


I like panels under almost any circumstance, so though ours was sparsely attended, I had fun. 

 Dinner was aptly held at a restaurant called Pen & Quill. Despite that name and the occupation of most of our party, no writing occurred during the meal. 

I had to duck out earlier than most to drive back in heavy rain to pick up my teenager from a post-musical-performance party.

Congrats again to the winners and other nominees and thanks again to the Orbis Pictus committee (Mary Ann Cappiello, Denise Davila, Seemi Aziz, Amina Chaudhri, Daryl Grabarek, Jennifer Graff, Julie Waugh, Suzanne Costner, and Sanjuana Rodriguez. Special thanks to my TMOO editor Jennifer Greene, who was at the luncheon and dinner. It was only the second time I'd spent time with her in person (first time was February 2016!). If you'd told us then the circumstance of our next meeting...
me, Jennifer Greene, Melissa Iwai;
first photo of Team TMOO!
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Sunday, October 21, 2018

Maryland Association of School Librarians (MASL) 2018 Conference keynote

On 10/19/18, I did two things: silently celebrate the 30th anniversary of getting my driver's license and loudly deliver a keynote at the Maryland Association of School Librarians (MASL) 2018 Conference. The former was a solo effort, the latter involved a banquet hall's worth of people.
 Thanks to Bookworm Central for offering so many copies
of my books for sale...yet still not enough!
(You never can predict...)

 I had the pleasure of sitting on the second panel in as many weeks
(and states) with the illustrator of Thirty Minutes Over Oregon, 
Melissa Iwai, along with Minh Lê, Robbi Behr and Matthew Swanson, 
Paula Chase-Hyman, and Liz Reed, moderated by the always
quick-witted Matthew Winner. Pictured above: Minh, Matthew,
Melissa, Marc (me). The Four Ms!

 Then there was a draw-off.

 Featuring those who can actually draw.

 That crowd in the distance is the keynote audience.


A highlight among highlights
(and a first for me):
signing a copy of 
one of my books 
(The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra, 
which co-stars three goats)
to two goats.

 Thank you again to Matthew Winner, April Wathen, and all else who made my participation possible.

 And thank you to all who tweeted such kindness, such as these two:
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Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Nonfiction books of wonder

On 10/7/18, at the year-old Upper West Side outpost of Books of Wonder, I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel alongside Thirty Minutes Over Oregon illustrator Melissa Iwai and other creators of nonfiction Wendell Minor, Hudson Talbott, and Rachel Ignotofsky (the last two of whom I'd not met before).


I participate in events like this in part to hear from my peers. If I sell a few books in the process, I consider that a bonus.

 photo courtesy Meg Parsont
photo courtesy Florence Minor

The last time I was on a panel at Books of Wonder was 10 years ago (almost to the day), which was also the last time I appeared on a panel with one of my illustrators (Ross MacDonald), which was also the first time I appeared on a panel with one of my illustrators.

 The only photo I have from that event:
The boy of drool with Boys of Steel is the son
of two of my best friends.

Books of Wonder ringleader Peter Glassman was, alas, home recuperating from surgery; I haven't seen him in years. A few months before that first panel, Peter and I had a sidewalk adventure during a sales experiment for Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman.

 The adventure led to a confrontation.

 Back in the present, Peter's Books of Wonder staff was the picture of warmth and professionalism. Friends and strangers alike turned up that warm early fall afternoon, including illustrator Justin LaRocca Hansen, which was so meaningful. 

 Justin was one of the first to believe in Thirty Minutes Over Oregon and therefore one of its first illustrators:

Wait, what? 

 This. (Speaking of experiments.)

 We writers are lucky to get to work with any talented illustrator; I've gotten to work with many—even on the same book (though vastly different stages). 

 Melissa pumped so much heart and thought into this book, even overcoming a hand injury to stay on schedule. I feel privileged to have worked with her and I am so enamored with how the book looks—you can feel the emotions throughout. Here's her flight path for this project.
Melissa is holding a model of Nobuo's plane
(bought off ebay; thanks Brian Floca).

While the panel was paneling, Justin was in the audience taking notes. Or so I thought till after, when I saw what he was really doing in that notebook.
artwork copyright Justin LaRocca Hansen

Another highlight: posing for a photo with both Justin and Melissa, who hadn't met before. Even though they're in the same industry, I felt like I was introducing a school friend and a camp friend.

Nobuo helped unite a town and now, years after his passing, he is uniting still.
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Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Illustrators for “Oregon” and “Chupacabra”...with a twist

I am thrilled (and long overdue) in announcing the illustrators for two of my upcoming picture books: Melissa Iwai for Thirty Minutes Over Oregon (nonfiction) and Ana Aranda​ (who also goes by Anaranda) for The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra (fiction, obviously).

With each book, I wanted to work with an artist whose cultural background aligns with the subject, and my editors (Jennifer Greene at Clarion, Nancy Paulsen at Penguin Random House) kindly indulged me: Oregon is about a Japanese WWII pilot, Melissa has Japanese heritage; Chupacabra is about a myth that arose in Latino communities, Ana was born and raised in Mexico.

Thank you, Melissa and Ana, for signing on.

Sayonaradios!
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