Book Birthday!

I’m excited to announce the release of my newest book, TAKÓžA: WALKS WITH THE BLUE MOON GIRL, by Tara Perron, illustrated/designed by Alicia Schwab. From: Black Bears and Blueberries Publishing ISBN: 978-1-7327706-3-8, release date: May 2020. Order a copy today!

Tara Perron, a Dakota/Ojibwe author, has written an endearing, lyrical children's story about a young Dakota girl (Walks With the Blue Moon Girl) and her Kunsi (grandmother). The grandmother teacher her Takoza (granddaughter) through story while making star quilts and planting and caring for a garden.

Dakota Star Quilt

by Gwen Westerman
South Dakota

Dignity of Earth & Sky statue in Chamberlain, South Dakota; (photo: wikipedia)

“Black Bears and Blueberries Publishing is a Native owned non-profit company that publishes children’s fiction and non-fiction paperback books and ebooks, reading levels K-6, on Native topics serving a regional audience, including the Dakotas, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.”

I was hired to tell the story about a loving family through art, working with the publisher and members of the Native American community to ensure my art represents the characters in the best, truest and most meaningful way. I was initially drawn into this beautiful story because of the similarities to my own childhood. I helped my mom and grandmom pick raspberries from the patch, and we grew our own vegetables. My mom canned, froze and preserved food for us to eat all year, and she taught me how to cook. As she made us clothes to wear and quilts for our beds, I also learned to sew. We often had cut fabric pieces around the dining room table, just like in this story. 

From the book, TAKÓžA: WALKS WITH THE BLUE MOON GIRL by Tara Perron illustrated by Alicia Schwab. “Then, together they fill the kettle with water and make cedar tea and feast on bread with maple syrup.”

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Baby Quilt

By Sue Broenkow (my aunt)
California

I have never made a quilt, but I admire those who do. Recently, I’ve sewn 100s of cloth face masks to donate to hospitals to supplement their PPE supplies during the Covid19 pandemic.

I hope you enjoy this book TAKÓžA: WALKS WITH THE BLUE MOON GIRL as much as I do. Please be kind and do good work.

Sewing for Our Heroes

I’m doing my part during social distancing to sew up face masks for my friend who works in a hospital and all her coworkers.

Step 1: Wash and dry cotton fabric.

Step2: Make a template 9” wide by 5.5” tall. Use a rotary cutting knife or scissors to cut fabric into to measurements.

Step 3: Cut the fabric for the ties. Cut 2” wide by 42” long. You will need two ties per mask. Currently, elastic banding (for sewing) is out of stock and Amazon is postponing shipping until May 1st. They are price gouging faster orders, which in my opinion is horrible! But you can make a mask without elastic. Need a video tutorial?

Step 4: Iron the ties by folding them in half length wise (like a hotdog). Then open and fold each edge into the middle

It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. Sew the folded edges of the tie together like this.

With right sides together, sew two pieces of 9” x 5.5” fabrics together. The pieces are already sewn together and turned right side out and ironed.

Sew your ties to the top and bottom (see how in this video). Add two pleats and sew the sides.

Stamps!

This is so much fun! Custom made stamps with art foam.

Art process

I’ve been playing and tweaking my process. I still love to paint acrylic on w/c paper but I’m now assembling all my images digitally in Photoshop. It’s a combo of traditional and digital mediums which has been so fun!

The Loft Wordplay Festival-May 2019

Last weekend (May 11-12, 2019) was packed with amazing speakers, workshops, books, food trucks and more. I had lots of fun at our book signing with several other fabulous Minnesota authors and illustrators in the Children’s Expo Area E. We are looking forward to next year’s event!

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

From Left to Right: Alicia Schwab, Yvonne Pearson, Amanda Huneke, Quinette Cook, and Rebecca K. S. Ansari

SCBWI Marvelous Midwest Conference

What a fantastic conference! The Marvelous Midwest Conference is a multi-region event that is held every three years. There were lots of great speakers and events. I volunteered as a Caricature Artist at the “Going to the Fair” party. I had a great manuscript and portfolio review. And I won Honorable Mention in the People’s Choice Award in the Art Show.

My friend/critique partner, Louise Aamodt won the manuscript contest for her picture book, FOREST FIRE!

Three Mice won People’s Choice Award Honorable Mention in the Art Show.

Paths to Publication

How do you get your book into stores and in front of readers? Let’s talk about the path to publication. What is traditional publisher? Writers Digest’s definition is, “Traditional book publishing is when a publisher offers the author a contract and, in turn, prints, publishes, and sells your book through booksellers and other retailers. The publisher essentially buys the right to publish your book and pays you royalties from the sales.” You do not pay up front to have your book produced but you also do not earn all the profits. A publisher shoulders the risk and can distribute it even further with media coverage and reviews. The publisher will use their expert knowledge in book editing, production, marketing and publicity to sell the book for you. And your book will more likely get on the shelf at bookstores. Traditional publishers include the big five, New York publishing houses. (like Scholastic) and small presses & University presses. 

When embarking on your journey as an author or illustrator, you will want to pitch your work to the right publisher or to the right agent. This takes time to practice your craft and research which topics are a good fit for your genre. You can learn more about how to practice you writing and illustration skills with the book list from this blog. 

Once you have your work ready to send out, you will need to research which publisher is the best fit for your book. Visit your local bookstore or library to see what is currently being offered. The books you grew up reading are different than the books on the market now. Visit the Publishers Weekly to research which house or agent is the best fit for you. SCBWI has a publication called THE BOOK, which has loads of useful information for members, as well. Another source book is the CHILDREN'S WRITERS & ILLUSTRATOR MARKET.

I should also mention self-publishing. With this route you can choose to pay for a fully assisted publishing service. The cost varies depending on the services offered and can be beneficial for those who have no desire to handle the business side. The Author receives better royalties than a traditional publisher contract. However, with the following Do-It-Yourself options you may earn more: EBooks-only Publishing Services such as wattpad.com, Print-on-Demand (POD) Services or Traditional Print Runs.

For more details on the different paths to publication, Jane Friedman, CEO and Co-Founder of Open Road Integrated Media has created a very helpful info graphic that you can link to here.

Updating your children's book portfolio

It’s important to update your printed book portfolio annually to showcase your latest work. I’ve put together my most recent work to show at the Marvelous Midwest SCBWI Conference, May 3-5. I will talk all about how to put together the best presentation of a book portfolio at the May Loft Picture Book Salon, hosted by Molly Beth Griffin.

WomenWhoDraw.com →

I proud to be included in this international directory of Women Who Draw!

The Loft: WORDPLAY Book Signing →

BOOK SALE AND SIGNING: Join Minnesota SCBWI as we support the LOFT in this first annual event. May 10—12, 2019, 10 am –5 pm. https://loft.org/wordplay/wordplay-schedule

May 6th : Picture Book Salon–Portfolios & Postcards with Alicia Schwab →

Come to the Picture Book Salon at the Loft.org on May 6th to hear all about creating a Children’s Book Portfolio and what to include on your self-promotional postcard mailings. You will also hear about my book, THE MUKLUK BALL and get a sneak peek at my upcoming book, THE GOAT THAT ATE THE REMOTE.

Put Your Best Foot Forward: Portfolios & Postcards

School Visits

 Alicia Schwab does school visits! I read my books to the students and we make up and perform our very own "Bear Hug Twist" dance from THE MUKLUK BALL, by Katharine Johnson and illustrations by Alicia Schwab.

Contact me for your next school visit.

In March 2018

Michelle Cusolito

and Jeanette Bradley put launched this very informative survey on 

“Transparency in Pay for Author and Illustrator School Visits”

. It was featured in the September 12the, 2018 issue of the Pro Insider (a publication for PAL "Published and Listed" members os SCBWI.) I have also been learning all about school visits from this blog and from Emma Walton Hamilton's

self-paced courses

.

Inspiring children to learn and grow is really fun! I look forward to reading and dancing with the kids in schools in the near future.

Minnesota SCBWI Banner

Alicia Schwab created the 2019 image for all our Minnesota SCBWI social media sites (SCBWI, Facebook, Twitter and our Postcard blog). I hand-made the type as well. And I used my digital illustration skills to crop and resize the type in the design of each format. Every social media site has different image size requirements which makes it tricky to design and illustrate an image to be used across several sites. Enjoy!

Steger Mukluk Encore Book launch

 We are so pleased to be going back to Steger Mukluk store in Ely, MN February 9th, 2019 at 11 am! Author Katherine Johnson and I will whoop it up with our fans in Ely, MN this weekend. In the bold north, not only are we not afraid of winter we celebrate it. There will be lots of activities in the region celebrating the Winter Festival. On February 16th, there will be a Mukluk Ball at the Grand Ely Lodge. And on February 9th, there will be a Mukluk Ball at the Hygge Festival in Grand Marais, MN. Come read, dance and get a signed book at our book party, Steger Mukluks, 33 East Sheridan St., Ely, MN 55731

Books for Breakfast

photo: Kristin Johnson

The 25th annual Books for Breakfast was a great event this past weekend on February 2nd, 2019. Lots of fabulous presentations. Although, I was not a presenter at this event my publisher, Minnesota Historical Society Press had a very nice table and sold lots of great books!

Outdoor Book Events

With the release of my new picture book THE MUKLUK BALL, I have been doing a large variety of events around the Midwest since mid-summer, including outdoor events. As we know, the Midwest region offers a wide degree of temperatures. One of my first events this summer was at Target Field Stadium in Minneapolis–in which, I read my book to families in 95 degrees F. Later in December, I read my book to families at the Holidazzle event in Loring Park (near downtown Minneapolis) in only 27 degrees.

If you're doing an event outside when it is hot, it is important to wear sunscreen, drink lots of water, and pace yourself during time there. When it’s cold be sure to wear fingerless gloves so you can turn the pages of the book. Keep your presentation short so the audience doesn’t have to sit too long. Pen and cameras can freeze in cold temperatures too and you may have to warm them up before you can sign books or take photos. The Norwegians have a saying, “"Det finnes ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlige klær / There no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” In other words, prepare yourself, wear extra layers and good boots. “TIP: Weather, like most things in life, is as bad as you make it to be. Change your mind-set, buy a proper jacket and do not let the weather stop you. You will feel as happy as a Norwegian.” (source)

I hope to see you at my next event!

November Drury Lane Books Newsletter

From the newsletter, WINTER AT DRURY LANE BOOKS, Garnd Marais, MN
Vol 24, November 2018

"GRACE'S RECOMMENDATION
The Mukluk Ball — Katherine Johnson, illus. Alicia Schwab
3-year-old Grace loves dancing with her stuffed bear; he even has his own tutu. So this wintery Northwoods picture book of a Bear preparing for a Mukluk Ball was an instant hit. Bear learns to polka, tango, and chachacha...and then just has to figure out how to wake up from hibernation to attend the Ball!"

I love Indie's and this recommendation made my day! Grace is a girl after my own heart. I began dancing in the living room around 3-years-old. My parents bought a cassette tape of the Chieftains (Irish folk music) and when I heard that I couldn't stop myself. I had to cut a rug. Mind you, our living room was wall-to-wall shag carpeting. And if I shuffled my feet fast enough and touched the lamp...ZAP!–I could do static electricity experiments, as well! Keep on dancing, Grace!

The Mukluk Ball Dance Party

The Book Launch Party on November 17th, 2018 at The Red Balloon Bookshop for THE MUKLUK BALL, by Katharine Johnson and illustrated by Alicia Schwab 2018 Minnesota Historical Society Press. It was not only a success but a blast as well. The kids had a lot of fun. Katharine read the book to them and Alicia danced The Twist with Angela, sales associates. What a ball!  We look forward to doing more events together.