[Interview] New pre-reader: Inspired by our puppy, rubber ducks, and wordless books!

UPDATE: Our NEW picture book is here!

We are so excited to unveil something unlike anything we have ever done!

When I finished my first children’s book last fall (–>you can find signed copies here), I started to think about what I wanted my next book to be.

While I knew I wanted to create another Sacred Art book in the future (it’s underway!), I was looking for something a little different to work on leading up to Christmas.

Unexpectedly, I began thinking of a series of wordless books all my kids loved growing up.

Have you ever heard of Carl the Dog?

He was a family favorite for many years (in fact, one of my granddaughters got a Carl book for Christmas–this Christmas!).

I started wondering if we could create Catholic wordless books that would help children grow in their love for Catholic family life through beautiful illustrations.

Psstt—a wordless book means that the story is told through pictures. If you have more questions about the benefits of wordless books for kids of all ages, our friend at Read Aloud Revival have a podcast episode where you can learn more!

Obviously, creating a wordless book means that you need an artist who can create beautiful illustrations that can tell a story!

Luckily, longtime Holy Heroes illustrator Chris Pelicano was energized for the task!

And so, Lucy and Patrick Pray the Rosary was born!

You can order Lucy and Patrick Pray the Rosary –> HERE

Let me give credit where it is due:

For such a book as this, the illustrator is really carrying much of the “author” load, so he graciously offered to answer a series of questions about how he created the engaging illustrations that took my meager outline and rough ideas and turned them into a real story! (If you have any budding artists in your family, they will love this peek “behind the scenes” with a professional artist!)

When this idea first came up, had you ever heard of the “Carl the Dog” books?

Chris: The Carl the Dog books were new to me, but I was very familiar with the idea of telling a story in just pictures. When I was a kid I loved comic books, but I never read them, I just looked at the pictures … and undertood what was going without reading the words. Years later in art school I was encouraged to make my illustrations good enough to be “worth a thousand words.” So, that is what I tried to do with the Lucy & Patrick art. I think it worked pretty well … maybe 950 words worth!

How did you go about creating the “story” through pictures from my skimpy outline?

Chris: The initial outline might have been “skimpy,” but the main idea of two young kids stepping up to be the quiet heroes of the family rosary was golden. You had a lot of thoughts from having endured (!) just such family prayer time! I just had to mine your thoughts and my own experience for hidden gold; art is always work. I also knew that ordinary family prayer time is rich with special moments of grace, both serious and funny. So, I thought back to when my kids were little, and I jotted down my random memories hoping some of them would be useful.

Where did some of your ideas for the story come from?

Chris: New ideas often come from collaborating with the unexpected contributions of others. So, I discussed my random ideas with other Holy Heroes team members and some select family members, paying special attention to their natural reactions–positive and negative. Good ideas always need refining and “bad” ideas can lead to good ones faster than you think. So it is good idea to treat all feedback as valuable. I think every Catholic family who has ever prayed the rosary together at the end of a long day will recognize themselves or other family members in these pictures!

How did you develop the illustrations of each person (and pet)?

Storyboards! Film makers use rough sketches to work out the sequence of camera shots they will use to shoot their movie. They turn to illustrators and concept artists to create storyboards for them. As an illustrator, I created my own series of rough thumbnail sketches (some were just scribbles) to help me visualize what scenes or parts of scenes I would need to “tell the Lucy & Patrick story” in pictures. I shared those sketches with the Holy Heroes team and listened again to their feedback. I revised the storyboards as needed then used them to guide me (along with some photos of kids and grandkids) in creating the finished paintings. What remained was to bring the illustrations into the layout of the book, evaluate how it flowed, and make final revisions. 

Can families expect MORE books about Lucy and Patrick?

Lucy & Patrick Pray the Rosary is at the book bindery now (Jan 7, 2020) and will arrive to fulfill orders in a few days. We are very excited to see the finished book and to send copies out to families everywhere! I cannot wait to get feedback from other Catholic families; I hope they enjoy it! The illustrator in me is always looking forward to the next art project so I am glad to have already been handed another “skimpy” outline for the next Lucy & Patrick book. So, the creative process begins again! No spoilers, but let’s just say I will be a little bit distracted this Sunday at Mass trying (not) to notice the families with small children in the pews around of me.

We are so excited for this new book to arrive and to get it into your hands! Please sign up here to be alerted as soon as it becomes available!

Thank you for your continual support of our children’s books!