Tag Archives: children’s books

SCBWI Prairie IL Writer’s and Illustrator’s Day

Posted on November 25, 2023 by | Comments Off on SCBWI Prairie IL Writer’s and Illustrator’s Day

 

thank you to prairie illinois SCBWI

I had my very first keynote speech earlier this month, and I am still buzzing! SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) has chapters all over the United States and the world. The Prairie Illinois chapter had an amazing lineup this year, and I'm not just tooting my own horn here. They had established authors as well as up-and-coming authors (<-- that's me!) in addition to publishing-industry professionals like my art director for TUMBLE. I was really humbled to be included in the lineup. 

Michael Leali was the first keynote speaker, and I am glad I didn't know that going in because my anxiety may have taken over. Leali is the author of the award-winning middle grade novel THE CIVIL WAR OF AMOS ABERNATHY, and his keynote speech was so very moving and inspiring. I was able to be a fly on the wall for a few of the sessions and learn new things.



At the faculty dinner, I finally met the lovely and personable Sarah Aronson who cross-marketed her book BRAND NEW BUBBE with my book ABUELITA AND I MAKE FLAN last year. I got to meet illustrator Denise Holmes, too! We've been internet friends since I started making my way back into the art and design world in 2016 or so! Natasha Tarpley shared a bench and some fresh air with me. Denise and Natasha, thanks for being great lunchtime buddies! 

I was even able to reconnect with my friend Beth Schneider who lives in the area. Beth and I exhibited  our surface pattern and illustration work at Blueprint and Surtex pre-pandemic. Feels like a lifetime ago.

The entire SCBWI IL team, faculty members, and membership were so incredibly welcoming. I couldn't have asked for a better first-time-faculty experience. November is shaping up to be quite a month!

(Please note: authors and illustrator names have been linked to their books via Amazon affiliate links)

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How to Help Your Author and Illustrator Friends (for FREE!)

Posted on November 2, 2023 by | Comments Off on How to Help Your Author and Illustrator Friends (for FREE!)

Confession time: I sometimes feel lost in the publishing industry. Even though I've been an artist and designer for decades, it wasn't until 2017 that I got serious about kidlit and 2022 that my first book as author-illustrator came out. Currently, I'm trying to make new work to sell another book while simultaneously marketing existing books, and it's a challenge!

Publishers shoulder some of the outreach responsibilities, but most titles on their lists do not get the kind of marketing that their "lead" titles do. Lead titles are the ones that get the big posters, cardboard cutouts, commercials, billboards, etc. And, as many authors will tell you, most books don't get the red carpet treatment and most books' marketing and outreach falls on the shoulders of the author.

But all is not lost. What can you do to help? I'm so glad you asked! There are things people like you, dear reader, can do to help a book succeed.

Here a few FREE ways that you can help get the word out about a book without spending a single penny. Here are just a few:

  1. Request any of my books from your local library.
  2. Recommend my books and/or me to your local school for an author-illustrator visit. I love inspiring kids to write and draw.
  3. Submit any of my books to your state book award! This state book awards list from Vanderbilt University is really well organized by region and is updated regularly.
  4. Add my books to your Goodreads "want to read" list and vote for my books if they make it on any of those lovely local lists.
  5. Suggest my books to your local bookstore share my information as a possible visitor or storytime author.
  6. Leave a positive review on any of the big sites like Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Here's the information you'll likely need to do any of those tasks (title, ISBN, ordering info)...

  • ABUELITA AND I MAKE FLAN, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, ISBN 9781623542658
  • ABUELITA Y YO HACEMOS UN FLAN, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, ISBN 9781623543990
  • TUMBLE, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, ISBN 9781338828665
  • COUNTDOWN FOR NOCHEBUENA, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, Hardcover ISBN 9780316467919, Board book ISBN 9780316467810

But all is not lost. What can you do to help? I'm so glad you asked! There are things people like you, dear reader, can do to help a book succeed.

Here a few FREE ways that you can help get the word out about a book without spending a single penny. Here are just a few:

  1. Request any of my books from your local library.
  2. Recommend my books and/or me to your local school for an author-illustrator visit. I love inspiring kids to write and draw.
  3. Submit any of my books to your state book award! This state book awards list from Vanderbilt University is really well organized by region and is updated regularly.
  4. Add my books to your Goodreads "want to read" list and vote for my books if they make it on any of those lovely local lists.
  5. Suggest my books to your local bookstore share my information as a possible visitor or storytime author.
  6. Leave a positive review on any of the big sites like Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Here's the information you'll likely need to do any of those tasks (title, ISBN, ordering info)...

  • ABUELITA AND I MAKE FLAN, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, ISBN 9781623542658
  • ABUELITA Y YO HACEMOS UN FLAN, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, ISBN 9781623543990
  • TUMBLE, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, ISBN 9781338828665
  • COUNTDOWN FOR NOCHEBUENA, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, Hardcover ISBN 9780316467919, Board book ISBN 9780316467810

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TUMBLE! An origin story

Posted on May 10, 2023 by | Comments Off on TUMBLE! An origin story

There's just one more month until TUMBLE 'tumbles' onto bookshelves everywhere, and I am so proud of this little book! It received a Starred Kirkus Review and was positively received by many beta readers.

So where did the idea come from?

TUMBLE's origins are kind of sad, but it's a story of survival and so I'll share it with you. Rewind to Fall of 2020. COVID lockdowns. My family had traveled to be closer to my mom and stepdad who was in the final stages of cancer. As they were in home hospice at my stepsister's, we were doing the best we could e-learning at my mother's condo. Zoom school with first graders who had already missed half of the social skills from kindergarten was not easy. 

After e-learning one day, kiddo turned to me at the table wanting to write a story about "tumble." Tumble? I asked if he wanted me to write the words for him as I'd done previously, and with an emphatic "NO!" said he wanted to challenge me to a duel... a story duel! I don't know where he got the word from, but we got to work. He on his version. Me on mine... I started with some thumbnails that came quickly, and the words followed.

A bit later I brought it to my online critique group and they thought it was great. They were so encouraging! They helped me polish the text into the rhyming couplets you see in the final.

You can find the book here on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61780003-tumble

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Tumble by Adriana Hernández Bergstrom

Tumble

by Adriana Hernández Bergstrom

Giveaway ends June 08, 2023.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Also, there's currently a giveaway for TUMBLE! Entries opened today and anyone in the U.S. can enter until it closes June 8. 

TUMBLE goes on sale June 6 wherever books are sold.

I hope you win!

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Part 2, Sketch to Final: Abuelita and I Make Flan

Posted on February 15, 2023 by | Comments Off on Part 2, Sketch to Final: Abuelita and I Make Flan

 from sketch to final for abuelita and i make flan book

Back in 2017, when I started writing ABUELITA AND I MAKE FLAN my story looked like a list of ingredients (literally) and a recipe. I took this to my first writing critique group (!!Qué pena!! but you have to start somewhere). I had a hazy vision in my head for a story about a grandchild and grandparent making flan together.

The story changed shape many times between 2017 and it's publication in 2022.

Abuelita and I Make Flan early draft

 

In between, I realized the story was missing 'the heart'. So I combined a memory of baking with my own Abuelita with that feeling where you think everything's going wrong, but you're still safe and loved and accepted as an imperfect child deserving of love. This was a big step in learning to write for kids. There needs to be some kind of heart or hook or something for kids to relate to.

 

thumbnail dummies for abuelita and i make flan children's book
Next, I did a sketch dummy from Debbie Ohi's site:  https://debbieohi.com/resources/. I played with different thumbnail illustrations until the story made sense to me (and my agent!). Then I enlarged it to a full size dummy, refined the illos, and began the back and forth of editing and revising.

 

I needed to add more tension! Here are some of the people who saw it and offered editing thoughts: critique partners, mentors, teachers from various courses and organizations, professional/industry critiquers, peers, and my mother*. And this jogged a memory of me breaking my mom's wedding plate while we were moving back in with my grandparents.

*For my second and third books, I did not have to take it so far and wide for editing. It took a lot for me to grow confident in my writing abilities! Also, sometimes your family doesn't know what makes a good children's book!

And that was the key! Once I added that broken plate, it all came together and we sold the manuscript to Charlesbridge in 2020, and it finally came out in August of 2022.

These days, my process for writing is more like a yes/no flowchart: outline or list, then a test draft in prose (does it work? yes/no), if no, a draft in lyrical language. When I think something's working, I'll exchange with a critique group (love/hate/boring?)... rinse repeat until it's feeling ready-ish enough to submit to my agent.

 

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Chappaquiddick Lullaby Revisited…

Posted on February 28, 2019 by | Comments Off on Chappaquiddick Lullaby Revisited…

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I think one of the nicest children’s books about MV is “Chappaquiddick Lullaby – a song of Martha’s Vineyard” written in 2006 by Stacy Elizabeth Hall and illustrated by Judith Pfeiffer.

The book also includes a CD by Kate Taylor and Taylor Brown.

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The book is basically about the activities and daydreams that children have during the summer. The illustrations are abundant with Island landmarks and places… you need to read the book several times before you’ve picked out everything included in this rich and lovely book.

One of the things that drew us to this book is that we had our own Chappaquiddick in the family, a Boykin spaniel we called Chappy,  and when we found out that there was a Chappy song, sung no less by Kate Taylor who we, and Chappy, have had the pleasure of meeting, we had to have the book,  which was autographed to my daughter Deb and her Chappy by the author Stacy Hall and her dog, Cala 🙂

(Chappy passed away a few years ago but these precious memories linger on and I’m always happy to share them).

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I also want to mention Stacy’s first book…

“The Legend of Katama” is a beautifully told story of Katama, a brave young Wampanoag woman and how she changed her world.

Interestingly our first Boykin spaniel was named Katama (Katy)… do you see a pattern here:)

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❤

 

 

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