The Printer's Proof

Over the last five months, I have been very busy working on lots of picture book projects. After a book is finished and all the artwork is uploaded to the publisher, I have to force myself to just put the book out of my mind for awhile because it takes at least another six months before you get to see the finished product.

I work for one publisher, though, who actually sends me the printer's first proof. It ususally comes within a month after the art is finished. So much fun to see all that hard work in print so quickly! And so nice for the designer to actually ask me to look everything over and see how I like the color, etc.

The publisher is Viking and the book I worked on is call "Ready or Not, Here Comes Scout!"

It is the story of an over-eager, but lovable puppy who learns how to make friends at the dog park. I was considered for this particular job because I had done a chapter book for Viking last year call "Labracadabra," which was also about a dog.

The authors of this book are Jill Abramson, the Executive Director of the New York Times, who wrote a blog, followed by a book, called "Puppy Diaries" which was all about her white Golden Retriever puppy "Scout." She teamed up with her sister, Jane O'Connor, author of the "Fancy Nancy" books, to write a fun picture book for the very young, introducing them to the silly antics of her puppy.

I felt like this job was meant for me as I go to the dog park nearly every day with my Airedale,

Mack. Embedded in my subconscious are thousands of mental pictures of dogs playing together. The publishers have given me permission to blog about the book, so in the next weeks, I will be showing you a few spreads and talk about some of the process of creating a book that was on a very fast track. Stay tuned!