A Surprise in the Mail

I got my copies in the mail last week of a picture book I did for Kar-Ben Publishing (a division of Lerner Publishing Group) last summer. It turned out really sweet! The book will not be released until August 1st, but is available for preorder on Amazon.

Speak Up, Tommy! is about a kid who is teased about his Israeli accent and the way he speaks English.
But his knowledge of Hebrew makes him a hero when a police officer and his dog come to visit Tommy's school.

The story, written by Jacqueline Dembar Greene, was inspired by a newspaper article about Sgt. John Fosket of the Helena, Montana Police Department, who was given a dog by an organization called Pups for Peace. Sgt. Fosket had one problem. Miky, the dog, had been trained in Israel and only understood Hebrew commands. Sgt. Fosket enlisted the help of a rabbi and his Hebrew-speaking friends, but in this picturebook, Tommy is our hero.

I loved working on this book. It it's always such a relief when the book prints exactly as the art looked on my Mac. I'm a hybrid artist....I paint some of the art traditionally, some of it digitally and manipulate a lot of the layers by adding textures. So there is a lot of anticipation before I see the book in print.

I'll show you more art once the book is released and I will be doing an interview with the author later in the summer. So stay tuned!