The progression of a book cover.

I believed, stupidly, that once I had the main story written that the other bits and bobs would fall into place in a matter of weeks.

How silly of me. (Naive I think is the word.)

Editing took a long time mainly down to me. But the evolution of the cover was the work of Sara. She asked for an outline of the book. I sent it on, along with a draft copy. Then there were a few telephone calls and much to my delight I received the first idea. Here it is:

The debate began. A few suggestions were made and this was the next idea,

which we liked but the problem was Harry the seagull had been cut from the story.

So back to the drawing board and then with Harry cut, deleted, the next debate was the title and the type face (font) colours etc.

Finally this was the final  image.

Did we get it right or wrong? Everyone’s opinion is appreciated.

 

 

#967 – Abigail the Whale by Davide Cali and Sonja Bougaeva — Kid Lit Reviews

Abigail the Whale Written by Davide Cali Translated by Karen Li Illustrated by Sonja Bougaeva Owlkids Books 9/15/2016 978-1-77147-198-5 32 pages Ages 6—9 . “Abigail dreads swimming lessons. Every time she dives into the pool, she makes a big splash, and all the girls in her class shout: “Abigail’s a whale!” Abigail can see […]

via #967 – Abigail the Whale by Davide Cali and Sonja Bougaeva — Kid Lit Reviews

A baby dragon finds her name.

She was the smallest dragon ever born. Everyone loved her. When the question was asked, “what is her name?” The answer was, “we haven’t found just the right one for this sweet little dragon yet, but we are working on it.”

The days rolled by and still she was called “sweetie.”

In desperation her mum, Katya said, “she doesn’t look fierce so we can’t call her Norberta or Saphira after her Grandmothers, I have been playing with the idea of a more traditional names of Tintaglia, Firsen and Cordelia but they don’t sound right either.”

Her dad said, “right we will work on it, but she doesn’t sound sweet today.”

And he was correct. The tiniest dragon with pink and purple scales was howling like a banshee. She hadn’t eaten in a long time. The trouble was she didn’t like anything they fed her. Her older sister Tabitha arrived at that moment clutching a bunch of nasturtiums and sweet peas. “I thought these would look nice on our salad mum.” she said walking past her baby sister.

The baby grabbed the sweet peas in her tiny claws then ate them in one swift  gulp. Tabitha stopped and smiled. “You like them, don’t you?” She held out the entire bunch to the baby. Seconds later they were gone and with a delicate belch and smile the baby fell asleep.

Tabitha looked at her mum and dad. “I think you should call her Sweet-pea.”

And they did.

Here she is, Sweetpea  my coloured-in version and a blank one for you to colour in;

 

The Cloud Who Learnt to Hug. 280 words.

This is a piece I had written some time ago. It was an idea the kept revolving in my head and finally I put it down on paper. One question remains unanswered. Should I make it longer?   Please let me know what you think.

Mudpile Wood

(Inspired by a dream from Breeze)

Tiny cloud was small and thin.

At first he didn’t notice how small he was.  He dived and soared. When he tired of this he stopped and looked around him.

High above him large clouds rolled in an elegant and smooth fashion. They flowed through the sky.

He wished he  could dance like they could.

A cloud ducked low over the earth and  sat on a mountain.  He must be tired, Tiny cloud thought.

Then as tiny cloud watched the giant cloud hugged the mountain.

He felt sad.

“I want to learn to hug.” He sang as he whizzed past his bigger friends.

“Slow down, enjoy” they whispered. “It will happen when it happens.”

But he was gone.  “I want to be big and great” he sang.

Birds didn’t notice him or hear him. He was moving too fast.

He dived around the…

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