An over-eager alligator working on a construction crew? What could go wrong?

Brooke Hartman has visited my blog several times before. She is an Alaskan mom who seriously loves to write not-so-serious books for kids. Her writing has garnered multiple awards, including honors from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Writer’s Digest, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and the Alaska Writers Guild. Her debut picture book, Dream Flights on Arctic Nights, received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, while her 2020 release, Lotte’s Magical Paper Puppets: The Woman Behind the First Animated Feature Film was a Poetry and Prose First Edition Book Club selection. Brooke also serves as an occasional instructor of writing for Alaska Pacific University and member of the board of directors for the Alaska Writers Guild, and was an SCBWI Tribute Fund Scholarship Recipient. When she isn’t writing, you can find her flying, fishing, and having fun with her family, enjoying all the magic life has to offer. You can learn more about her at her website, or follow her on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

Michael Slack is an artist, illustrator, character designer, and award-winning app designer. He has illustrated many funny picture books, including Kitties on Dinosaurs, which he also authored, and the Nugget and Fang books by Tammi Sauer. He lives with his family in the San Francisco Bay area. You can learn more about him at his website or follow him on Instagram.

EXCA-GATOR! is a picture book all about a little gator who is absolutely thrilled to be working on a construction crew. Just like any over-eager five-year-old, he charges in enthusiastically and stumbles about causing chaos. The story will appeal to all kiddos interested in construction gear (or just playing in the dirt).

Welcome back Brooke and welcome Michael.

Me: Brooke, once again I see your love of word play at work here. Is that what inspired the idea for this story? How did the whole plot come together?

Brooke: Hi Jena! So fun to be back on your awesome “show,” haha. But to answer your question – YES! My youngest used to call excavators “exca gators.” We’d all laugh and chock it up to cute kid talk until one day I was like… WAIT, that would make a cute book! It makes me wonder how many more cute ideas have floated by my radar without notice.

Me: Michael, what drew you to this story and made you decide to work with Brooke’s text to bring it to life? How has this been a different experience than when you’ve both written and illustrated a story?

Michael: When I read the manuscript I thought the word play was great and that it would be a wonderful read-a-loud. I also have never illustrated a book set in a swamp or illustrated an alligator main character.  I love working on other people’s manuscripts. There is less pressure.  I can focus on one thing, creating engaging  images. My internal editor can get pretty loud when I’m working on my own manuscripts.

Me: Both of you are talented creators in your own right. Yet this project is an opportunity for collaboration. Have you met in real life? Have you communicated at all during the process? Have you gotten to know each other at all through this book’s creation?

Brooke: To date, I’ve only met one illustrator I’ve ever worked with (John Joseph), and that was only recently and by coincidence when an event I was doing happened to occur where he lives. But I would LOVE to meet Michael in person, and this book is so cleverly illustrated, it needs to happen!

Michael: I’m all about collaboration but I rarely meet the authors I have worked with.  If you’re not booked on a tour together or booked at festivals it is really difficult to find opportunities to meet face to face. I wish this was not the case.  I feel like I have learned about Brooke through her writing, and the characters she created. 

Me:  Let’s talk about the construction crew. Were there art notes about the other critters or equipment involved in the story? Who invented what parts? Michael, how did you choose what animals were on this crew?

Brooke: I try to give illustrators as much freedom as possible unless the art is essential to tell that part of the story. This book has a lot of fun, bouncy rhyme that, by itself, doesn’t really say much, so I had to inject the occasional art note so poor Michael wasn’t left scratching his head. And Michael took those notes and ran (rolled, revved, and rumbled) with them!

Michael: I know there was an art note for the crane to be operated by a crane. I don’t remember if there were specific animals but there may have been a list of potential crew members. Everyone on  the crew needed to be swamp dwellers.

Me: Brooke, I love that you have an over-eager alligator as the main character. His emotional journey in this story works incredibly well. Was that always a part of your manuscript or did it come about from revision?

Brooke: From the get-go, I knew who the character was and how exca-cited he’d be to drive his construction equipment every day. But that isn’t much of a story in and of itself. I also knew the rhyme and feel reminded me of Llama Llama, Red Pajama, which is heavy on the fun rhyme with a bit of a message tossed in. So I thought, what if I just turned up the “exca-citing” feel, to the point where he’s stepping on (or in this case, driving over) everyone else’s toes?

Me: Michael, I loved the way you showed dirt! Obviously this story needs a lot of it (it is a construction crew after all) and you managed to show it with so many different shapes and textures that it never once became the focus of any scene. It’s so naturally a part of the background and yet it’s so wonderfully varied too. Did you do anything different artistically in this book than you have before? Was there anything new to surprise you as you created these illustrations? Any struggles?

Michael: I wanted the swamp to be beautiful, including the mud. For this book I did more preliminary color sketches to fine tune the color palate than I usually do. I did lots of character sketches for the main character. Many, many iterations.  The challenge was finding the right balance of unbridled enthusiasm, innocence, and adorableness. It is always thrilling when the character arrives. 

Me: Both of you have published numerous books for kids at this point in your careers. In these difficult publishing times, what keeps you both creating them? What encouragement would you give to other creators who are trying to publish picture books in this market?

Brooke: Like many folks reading this, I’m one of those wackos who loves creating no matter what. I don’t have writer’s block, I have time block—on any given day, I have at least half a dozen stories jockeying for my time to write them down. The publishing part is just the icing on the cake. My advice to other writers is to, as Dory says, just keep swimming! Keep writing, keep creating, keep coming up with fun ideas. If you’re like me, creating is part of who you are and what you have to do no matter what comes of it. Sure, the publishing part is challenging, but don’t deny yourself the joy of creating just because the endgame is tricky. You owe it to yourself to write ALLLL the books!

Michael: It is my job. Personally I try to create stories and characters  that I would  have loved as a kid. Recently I have been creating early reader- comic/graphic novels. I love this format. It is really cool to write books that are connected to learning how to read. It is a direct connection to the reader’s imagination.  As far as encouragement goes, First I would suggest creators  develop unique, and surprising concepts then follow that up with a well crafted story.  Also, explore new platforms, and media. Does this awesome story need to be published as a traditional book? Can it be produced in a new way?  Be creative about how you get your work in front of people’s eyeballs.

That is great advice Brooke and Michael. Thank you for stopping by my blog today.

Dear readers, this book publishes in a couple of weeks. You’ll want to keep an eye out for this sweet eager gator and his crew. It’s a fun combination of rhyme, character, and mud that all comes together in a memorable picture book. You won’t want to miss it.