This week we’re delighted to bring you a Q & A with children’s book author and illustrator Sue Hendra. Sue is the illustrator of the My First Bob Books series and lives in Brighton, England with her partner, Paul and young daughter, Wanda. She has illustrated over 90 children’s books; to see a partial list of titles please visit her JacketFlap profile.
Q. How did you get started? Why did you choose illustration as a career?
A. I’ve always loved drawing and telling stories with pictures. Art was definitely my favorite subject at school and I went on to receive a degree studying illustration at The University of Brighton in the south of England. I’d always had a fascination with children’s books and so that’s what I decided to specialize in.
Q. How many books have you illustrated?
A. I think it’s about ninety something now. Some that stand out include: Scary Party, which I wrote and illustrated (Walker Books, 1998) and Monsters don’t eat Broccoli by Barbara Jean Hicks (Knopf, 2009). I think monsters and aliens and dinosaurs are my favorite subject matter so I’m always happy when I’m drawing them. A surprising big success in the UK has been a book I wrote and illustrated a called Barry the Fish with Fingers (Knopf, 2009). A slightly different version of it is going to be published by Random House in the U.S. next year. The book I’m most excited about is Wanda and the Alien (Random House, 2011). I wrote it when I was expecting my little girl who is also named Wanda. In the story Wanda is a little rabbit who befriends an alien. I really enjoyed illustrating that one because it’s for my daughter who is very lovely. It will be out in May 2011 which will give her time to learn to read it . . . with a bit of luck.
Q. Tell us about the process of illustrating My First Bob Books. What was it like to work with the Maslens?
A. The process is that author Lynn Maslen Kertell draws totally amazing pictures of how she wants the spreads to look. Scholastic has comments, and eventually I get the go ahead to do a finished version. I felt extremely honored to be given the job of illustrating Bob Books. Initially it was very daunting as John Maslen’s drawings are so fantastic, what a tough act to follow! John helped me a lot at the beginning with the drawing style; he was very patient. I’ve tried to draw like him but inevitably my drawings are bound to look different. All I can hope is that my illustrations have a little bit of that special Bob Books humor that makes them so much fun for parents and children to read.
Q. What do you like best about illustrating? Describe your creative process.
A. I get to draw monsters and dinosaurs and aliens! I get to be immature for a living– who wouldn’t love that? It’s really great fun. My partner Paul is also an illustrator so together we come up with funny ideas, work out page layouts and have heated discussions about how the illustrations should look. I think the fact that we brainstorm about storylines and visuals makes the end product much better. We have a lot of fun making books together.
Q. What are you working on now?
A. The publishers that I work for like me to keep the details under my hat but I can say that one is about a little slug called Norman and the other is about a very unusual farm. The farm book is one that’s been knocking about in my head for years so I’m very excited about it.
Q. How are you balancing your career and motherhood?
A. It’s a bit hectic, I did try and work during the day when Wanda was awake but I just couldn’t get anything done. Now Paul and I start work at 8 o’clock after Wanda has gone to bed. This way we get lots done and dance around to silly music at two in the morning feeling a bit bonkers due to lack of sleep. We feel very lucky to be able to set our own schedule and do a job that we love.
Q. Anything else you’d like to share?
A. I think Bob Books are fantastic and I’m so glad they came into our lives. They will definitely be part of Wanda’s education.
