“Oh, I’m Skippyjon Jones, and I bounce on my bed; And one or six times, I land on my head!!!”

Today’s illustrator feature for the Robert’s Snow: For Cancer’s Cure Fundraiser is none other than Judy Schachner, created of the beloved Skippyjon Jones series and many more fantastic books for kids and kids at heart.

Blogger’s Note:  I’m a children’s author and a middle school English teacher, so my students are collaborating on our series of illustrator profiles! Today’s feature is courtesy of the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders of the SMS Writers Club!

We were asked to feature writer/illustrator Judy Schachner here to help raise awareness of the Robert’s Snow fundraiser.  Robert’s Snow raises money for cancer research at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.  Judy was kind enough to agree to an interview and has donated a signed copy of one of her books and a Skippyjon Jones doll to a lucky blog reader!

Thanks for joining us, Judy!  We love Skippyjon Jones, so we were so happy that you created a snowflake. Why are you involved in the Robert’s Snow fundraiser?

Because it feels good to give. And because I lost my mother to cancer when I was young and then later my stepmother.

Could you tell us about your snowflake for this year’s auction?

This is the third snowflake I’ve painted. It’s the second time I’ve painted my cat Skippyjon Jones (with mittens on his ears). It’s done in acrylics.

What led you to become an author/illustrator?

A huge love of drawing, painting and storytelling that I’ve done since I was a very little girl.

What other career dreams did you have when you were younger?

I was too shy to star on Broadway, I didn’t have the math grades for nursing, and too many bad habits to be a nun so a life in art was my only choice.

Many of your illustrations go along with stories that have some humor. How come?

I love “funny” but other books of mine are quite different – Yo Vikings, The Grannyman, Mr. Emerson’s Cook, and Willy and May.

The Skippyjon Jones books are so popular, and we wonder if that’s partly because the name is just so much fun to say. How did you come up with Skippyjon’s name?

Cats should always have more than one name. SkippyjonJones is what my cat called himself.

We just learned that your real Skippyjon Jones, your own Siamese cat,  passed away recently, and we’re so sorry.

Skippyjon died in September. I can’t tell you how sad I am.  Here’s a picture of him in his younger days.

So he was the inspiration for the Skippyjon Jones books?  How did you create the stories?

Skippyjon’s character is like a good stew. You start with a big pot. Then add a very funny brother named Kevin, who was famous in our house for his over-active imagination. Add a handful of Siamese cat named Skippy, one basement with a bumblebee in it, and a tussle in the litterbox. Finally a dash of Antonio Banderas.

Which came first for this series of books — the story or the illustration ideas?

I like to work in dummy form right from the beginning. Pictures fill in the spaces where the words aren’t working and vice-versa. I usually think of a title right away and almost always have my beginning sentence. It’s the rest of the book that’s a problem.

Of the books you’ve illustrated, do you have a favorite?

Yes, Yo Vikings, it’s about my children and it’s based on a true story.

Now a few rapid-fire questions…
If you had to choose a favorite author and a favorite book of all time, what
would they be?
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Your favorite food?
Angel Food Cake

Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
Read, re-arrange the furniture, and kiss my cats.

Favorite time of year?
Give me snow!!

Bring on the snow!  Judy Schachner’s snowflake is featured in Auction #3, which runs from December 3-7.  If you would like to bid on a snowflake for Robert’s Snow, click here to check out Judy’s creation and the others.

If you’d like to be entered in a drawing to win a signed copy of one of Judy’s books AND a Skippyjon Jones doll, here’s what you need to do.  Simply visit Auction #3, and then come back here and leave us a comment to tell us about a snowflake that you love.  We’ll enter your name in the drawing, and a member of the Writers Club will draw one lucky winner out of a hat to win a signed book and doll.  (Note: If you don’t have an LJ account, please make sure you leave your name.  It’s tough to enter “anonymous” in a drawing and even tougher to track her down if she wins…)

Be sure to check out today’s other Robert’s Snow illustrator features…

• Linas Alsenas at A Wrung Sponge
• Theresa Brandon at The Shady Glade
• Karen Katz at Whimsy Books
• Sally Vitsky at Shelf Elf: read, write, rave

Have you ever given a presentation, and NO ONE wants to ask a question during the Q and A?  I hate that.  But I LOVED visiting with the Oak St. School 3rd graders today.

You’d think 75 kids packed into a small classroom might be a little chaotic.  It wasn’t.  

You’d think 75 third graders squeezed together like puppies in a basket might be noisy.  They weren’t. 

Those Oak Street kids are fabulous listeners, friendly hosts, and some of the best question-askers ever.  Here’s a sampling of our conversation:

How long did it take you to read and learn about everything so you could write your book?

About a year and a half.  I loved doing all that reading and learning, and then the writing was fun, too.

How long did it take colonial guys to make a fire with that flint and steel you showed us?

I guess it would depend on how good they were at it.  I think it would take me a very long time!

Yeah, you only got a few  sparks.

What made you want to write this story, in particular?

I live on Lake Champlain, and I always look out at the water and think about what happened here years ago — all the battles and the people who lived here before us.  I wanted to tell their story.

Sometimes, I go camping on Valcour Island, where your story happens.  Have you ever been camping there?

Yes, I have. It’s pretty, isn’t it?  My family likes to have campfires there and roast marshmallows.

I like s’mores.

Me, too!

Hey, how did they make things shoot out of that powder horn you showed us?

They didn’t make things shoot out of it. They used it to store their black powder so they could fire their muskets and cannon.

Oh. (disappointed look).  Nothing ever shot out of it?

Nope. Sorry.

Do you know my sister?  She goes to the  middle school.

Yes, I do.  She’s nice.

At that point, I had to leave the rest of the questions unanswered to go back to the middle school, where that particular sister and a few other siblings were waiting for 3rd period English to start.   I was sorry to leave with hands still in the air, but I’ve promised to follow-up with an email or another blog post.  I have no doubt there were some future researchers and authors in that audience today!

I got an email this week from Mr. Smythe, my high school English teacher who read about SPITFIRE in a newspaper clipping someone mailed him.  He’s proud of me.

You have to understand — Mr. Smythe wasn’t just any teacher.  He was that teacher.  If you’ve survived high school and lived to tell about it, you know what I mean.  The teacher who makes you believe you can do better.  The teacher who makes you work harder than you’ve ever worked and makes you love every minute of it.  

Long before I met Harry and Hermione, Mr. Smythe introduced me to Hermia and Helena, Lysander and Demetrius, and their magic was no less charming.  Mr. Smythe had a way of bringing those old stories to life, making them feel as urgent and real as the upcoming prom.  And when we wrote for his class, we wrote with passion. Language mattered.  It mattered with an intensity that burned long past the end of 9th period…and burns to this day.  Thanks, Mr. Smythe.

Two kinds of SNOW news today!

First of all…it snowed in the Adirondacks Saturday night, so my drive down Interstate 87 to the Chronicle Book Fair in Glens Falls, NY was stunning — blazing red, orange, and yellow fall foliage, mixed with sugar-snow mountaintops in the distance.  I arrived at the book fair content that the views alone were worth the two-hour drive.  It was icing on the cake when the Dog Ate My Homework Bookstore sold out of SPITFIRE and then went on to sell a bunch of my backup copies, too.  I loved signing books and chatting with all the kids, teachers, history lovers, and librarians who stopped by my table.  Truth be told, though, I had two favorite guests…

And there’s more SNOW news….  Robert’s Snow: For Cancer’s Cure officially kicks off this week!  You can visit the participating bloggers listed below to read all about the children’s book illustrators who have donated their time and talents to create incredible, original, wooden snowflake ornaments to raise money for the  Dana Farber Cancer Institute.  You can bid on your favorite snowflake, knowing that the funds raised will help to fight cancer.  On Saturday, members of my middle school writers club and I will feature Judy  Schachner, creator of the amazing SKIPPYJON JONES series!  You’ll even have a chance to win a signed copy of one of her books and a SKIPPYJON JONES doll!  Be sure to stop by on Saturday to meet Judy and see her incredible snowflake.

Here’s a schedule for the rest of this week’s illustrator features & interviews:

Monday, October 15

• Randy Cecil at ChatRabbit
• Michelle Chang at The Longstockings
• Kevin Hawkes at Cynthia Lord’s Journal
• Barbara Lehman at The Excelsior File
• Grace Lin at In the Pages

Tuesday, October 16

• Selina Alko at Brooklyn Arden
• Scott Bakal at Wild Rose Reader
• Alexandra Boiger at Paradise Found
• Paige Keiser at Your Neighborhood Librarian
• Janet Stevens at The Miss Rumphius Effect

Wednesday, October 17

• Rick Chrustowski at laurasalas
• Diane DeGroat at Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup
• Ilene Richard at Something Different Every Day
• Brie Spangler at Lectitans
• Don Tate at The Silver Lining

Thursday, October 18

• Brooke Dyer at Bookshelves of Doom
• D.B. Johnson at Lessons from the Tortoise
• Erin Eitter Kono at Sam Riddleburger
• Sherry Rogers at A Life in Books
• Jennifer Thermes at Through the Studio Door

Friday, October 19

• Graeme Base at Just One More Book
• Denise Fleming at MotherReader
• Jeff Mack at AmoXcalli
• Jeff Newman at A Year of Reading
• Ruth Sanderson at Book Moot

Saturday, October 20

• Linas Alsenas at A Wrung Sponge
• Theresa Brandon at The Shady Glade
• Karen Katz at Whimsy Books
• Judy Schachner right here at Kate’s Book Blog!
• Sally Vitsky at Shelf Elf: read, write, rave

Sunday, October 21

• Matthew Cordell at Just Like the Nut
• Maxwell Eaton III at Books and Other Thoughts
• Roz Fulcher at Goading the Pen
• Susie Jin at sruble’s world
• Susan Mitchell at Check It Out

I went to the post office after school today to mail the manuscript for the option book from my SPITFIRE contract.  This, despite the fact that I am still finishing up some revisions. 

Why?   Because there’s a bit of a time issue.  The book is about Samuel de Champlain’s voyage from Quebec to Lake Champlain in 1609, and there are big, big happenings being planned in NY, VT, and Quebec for the Quadricentennial in 2009.  That’s not so far away in the world of publishing. My editor, who knows all of this, asked to see what I have so far.  I am hoping that this is a good sign, but it was still painful to stuff the thing in that Priority Mail envelope knowing that there’s more work to do.  I had an almost overwhelming urge to leap over the counter and snatch it back out of the bin, but I decided that would have scared the post office lady too much.

So the manuscript is gone.  Think good thoughts for it, okay?

Five things they don’t tell you about having your first book published…

1. You will not have time to eat lunch for a few weeks. You will get used to this and will keep bananas in your car to make up for it.  When you forget about one of them, fruit flies will come and hover around your steering wheel, but rest assured, this is part of being a published author.

2. You will say things like this to your spouse:  “Honey, guess what? My Amazon.com sales ranking is 31,472 right now!”  By the time you have finished explaining what this means (that someone — probably your Aunt Betty– bought two books)  your sales ranking will be 487,249.

3. People will stop you in hallways, hardware stores, and bathrooms to ask:
    a) When do I get my free copy of (insert title here)?
    b) Can you have your editor publish my book?

4. You will not suddenly feel wise and gifted in all things writing.  You will continue to write chapters, go to bed, and wake up in the middle of the night in a panic that you may be hit by a bus before you have time to revise.

5.  There will be wonderful moments of signing books and talking with kids who love what you wrote.  And there will be moments like this one, when a fellow teacher told me about a phone call he got at his house. 

“Hello, is this Mr. C?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Did you lose a copy of SPITFIRE?”

“Well, no, I didn’t lose a copy. But I do have some copies in my classroom that I’ve loaned out to students.”

“Oh.  Because I just ran over one on Lynde Street. It has your name in it.”

(Happily, said copy only suffered minor tire marks and was returned slightly weathered to Mr. C’s classroom library the next day.  But still… )

By the way…Sunday will be one of those lunchless days.  I’ll be at the Chronicle Book Fair at the Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls, NY from 11-4.

I’m reading from SPITFIRE, participating in a panel discussion on historical fiction, and signing books.  

I’ll be set up next to the Dog Ate My Homework Bookstore table. (Isn’t that the greatest name?)  If you live near Glens Falls, please stop by and say hello!

I cross-posted this at Verla’s…but just in case I don’t run into you there…
What are your favorite revision strategies that teachers might also encourage students to use when revising writing in a classroom setting? 

Reading out loud?  Post-it notes?  Critique partners?  Bring it on!

I’m giving a presentation on revision at the New York State English Council Conference in NYC this November. It’s called “Walking the Walk: How Teacher-Writers Can Encourage Student Revision.”  As part of that presentation, I’ll be talking about how teachers can use the concept of “mentor authors” in their classrooms.  (This doesn’t involve you interacting directly with students; it simply means that teachers use excerpts from your work to talk about and model specific writing skills & strategies.)

My hope is to put together a PowerPoint presentation that teachers can use in their classrooms to share some of YOUR favorite revision strategies with their students.  Sometimes, a revision suggestion coming from a favorite author has more clout with kids than a suggestion that comes from a teacher.  I’m going to share the presentation at the workshop and make it available for download on my website so teachers can access it to use in their classrooms. 

Are you game to be featured as a mentor author?  If so, please respond to this post and tell me about one specific revision strategy you like to use. Let me know what it is and if it’s a general strategy or one that’s specifically useful for novels, non-fiction, poetry, picture books, magazine articles, etc.  I’ll choose a good selection of these to use in the presentation.  I’ll include your advice to students, along with a link to your website, your picture, and a picture of your books if you’re published, in the multimedia presentation.  (To keep things simple, I’ll grab these from your website unless you object.)   This is a general session at NYSEC, so authors for all ages, from PB to YA are welcome!

If you respond to this post, I’ll assume it’s okay for me to feature you in the presentation unless you tell me otherwise.  It’s a great way for you to provide help to young writers and to make teachers & kids more aware of your work.  Thanks!

After a book-signing in Medina, NY  (and a really fast lunch scarfed down in the car on the NY Thruway), we arrived at the Pat Rini Rohrer Gallery in Canandaigua for a second Saturday event.  This one featured the original SPITFIRE cover painting (which I hadn’t seen before this weekend!).

We signed another 65 books at the Canandaigua event and basked in the beautiful setting.  The gallery has a show on called “Small Works…Small Wonders,”  and I found myself getting lost in the paintings whenever we had a break.  My mom, Spitfire cover artist Gail Smith Schirmer, has a number of paintings in that show through November 3rd.  But there’s one small work in particular that’s gone…

This one came home to Lake Champlain with me.

1.  Because an author visit to the public library is front-page news in the local paper.

http://www.journal-register.com/local/local_story_277210036.html

2.  Because when I showed up for my presentation at Lee Whedon Library, I was greeted at the door by this….

…and greeted inside by more than sixty people who came to hear the presentation on Saturday morning.

Even though I have a horrible expression on my face in this photo, I had fun giving my presentation on SPITFIRE…really…

My new friend Thomas did a great job modeling a Revolutionary War sailor’s outfit.

The make-your-own-powder-horn project was a big hit.  (Thanks to J for helping kids out with this project while I signed books!)

My mom, artist Gail Smith Schirmer,  did SPITFIRE’s cover painting and joined me in signing more than 70 books after the presentation.

It was extra special signing books for several of my classmates’ kids and some of my former teachers!

By the time the line died down, it was time for us to leave for our second event of the day in Canandaigua. 

Medina, NY gave us such a wonderful, warm welcome that it was hard to leave.  The town where I grew up remains every bit as friendly and family-oriented as it was twenty years ago, and it was wonderful to be back.  One BIG improvement I noticed on this visit… the addition of The Book Shoppe on Main St. – a fantastic, cozy bookstore with a great kids’ section.  Thanks, Sue, for handling book sales at Saturday’s event!

When people see the cover of Spitfire, their first question is often, “Who did the painting?”  

My answer always comes along with an ear-to-ear grin.  “My mom.”  In the credits, she’s Gail Smith Schirmer. 

Then people who know a thing or two about publishing ask, “How did that happen?”  That’s because usually, an author has very little say over what shows up on the cover of his or her book.  In this case, I let my editor know early on that my mom was an artist and would be happy to do a painting for the cover.  The people at North Country Books, who are very nice and patient , said okay…they’d take a look but they usually handled that on their own, so there were no guarantees. 

We sent a photo of this oil painting my mom had done of the battle scene in the book.

Patient publisher/editor man said, “That’s a beautiful painting, but…”  

Too abstract for a children’s book.  Too dark and foreboding.  They decided they’d go in another direction.

Mom decided she’d try again, went back to her studio, and did another painting — a little less abstract and a lot brighter. The folks at North Country Books loved it,  and so do I.  It’s the cover you see on the book today.

Mom laughed when I asked if I could interview her on my blog, but ever the good sport, she answered my questions anyway…


When your first painting was turned down, did you have second thoughts about whether you wanted to try again?

Yes, I did. This is a new field for me – a cover of a novel, particularly a children’s novel – was something I’d n ever done before, and I wasn’t sure how to approach it so that it would be fitting for a middle grade book cover and still reflect my personal style.

So how did you balance those two things?

I thought about the way I taught middle grade students when I was an art teacher.  I always exposed my students to the masters.  I met students on their level and encouraged them to reach higher.

So, I painted the battle as I pictured it, including Valcour Island in the painting but also considering the mandates for a children’s book cover.   I started out trying to make it appealing to children, and then I kind of put that in the background and made it a work of art, because I know that children can appreciate good art.  It didn’t have to be childlike to appeal to them.

When we showed it to my eleven-year old grandson for some feedback, he said he couldn’t make out the American flag, and that was important.  He was right.  We needed to know that was an American gunboat.  So I went back and fine-tuned the flag, making it sure it showed up and was historically accurate.

You read the manuscript more than once before tackling the cover painting.  How did that influence your work?

It definitely influenced my work. I had to have the feeling of being there – the feeling of the battle, the feeling the children had and how they perceived it – how explosive and frightening it must have been.  I had to be there.

You taught art to elementary school students for 25 years before retiring and really making way for your own painting.  What was it like to start?

I was excited. I loved every minute of my teaching career, but when you teach, you don’t often have time to create paintings for pleasure. I had an art teacher in college who said, “If you want to paint, don’t teach because there won’t be time for yourself.” I wanted to teach, so I didn’t paint for myself until I stopped that.  For  me, it takes total immersion. 

And back then, you were busy helping the four of us with science projects and making jester costumes and wiping noses….

Right!

Even now, it’s a balancing act sometimes, but I’m fortunate to have an amazing, supportive husband who lets me paint, fixes dinner, takes care of framing, and so much more. He lets me be me.

How about the fact that your painting is on thousands of book covers, bookmarks, and even some temporary tattoos now?

It’s just really cool.  It was an extremely exciting moment when I held the book for the first time.  It had come full circle, and the painting was where it belonged.  It’s just been a trip – an amazing trip.

You and I have talked about how the creative process – whether it’s writing or painting – requires special time and space.  Can you describe your creative space?

My studio is very small, but looks out over Canandaigua Lake and has wonderful northern light.  It’s tiny, but it’s really all the space that I need.  I usually have three or four paintings going at once.  And I have my music.

Which is…?

Which is usually, depending on my mood, opera or New Age.

What are you working on now?

 I just completed some smaller paintings for a show called “Small Works…Small Wonders” at the Pat Rini Rohrer Gallery in Canandaigua.  I had a dozen pieces in that show – a few have already sold – but the rest will be on display at the gallery from now through November 3rd.

One more question…  Umm…. are you going make your chocolate chip cookies for this weekend?

I’m either going to make small ginger snaps or go to Wegmans and pick up something fancy that will look nice on the tables…

No, no… I don’t mean for the gallery reception!

Oh, for you guys?  Oh sure!  Maybe an apple pie, too.

Thanks, Mom…

Here are a few other selected works of Gail Smith Schirmer (aka Mom). 

You can visit her LJ

gailschirmer

, to see more. 

Mom and I will be signing books at two Western NY events this Saturday, October 6, and if you live in that area, we’d love it if you’d stop by and say hello.

Lee Whedon Memorial Library, Medina, NY
Presentation for Kids & Families
11:00-12:00

Pat Rini Rohrer Gallery, South Main St.  Canandaigua, NY
Book Signing, Display of the Spitfire cover painting, & Reception
3:00 – 5:00

And now that I’ve objectively asked all my questions and provided all my dates and times…

Let me just say that I’m posting this in time for Thankful Thursday for a reason.  My mom is a warm, talented woman and a spitfire in the very finest sense of the word.  I can’t imagine a gift better than sitting next to her this weekend, signing books full of my words, with her painting on the cover.