What stops you in your tracks and makes you exclaim “WOW!” in amazement?

Chana Stiefel has visited my blog a few times before. She is the award-winning author of more than 30 humorous and heartfelt books for children. Her nonfiction books include THE TOWER OF LIFE, the true story of Holocaust survivor and historian Yaffa Eliach, who created the Tower of Faces at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (a Junior Libary Guild Gold Medal Selection, Scholastic Press); LET LIBERTY RISE: How America’s Schoolchildren Helped Save the Statue of Liberty (a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, Scholastic Press, 2021); and ANIMAL ZOMBIES & OTHER REAL-LIFE MONSTERS (a Top 10 YALSA Quick Pick, NatGeoKids). Chana’s funny fictional picture books include MENDEL’S HANUKKAH MESS UP (Kalaniot), MY NAME IS WAKAWAKALOCH (HMH), and DADDY DEPOT (Feiwel & Friends). She loves to visit schools and libraries to share her passion for reading and writing with children. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.

While Susan Gal has worked with Chana before, this is her first time visiting my blog. She began her illustration career, after completing her BFA at Art Center College of Design, as a poster and calendar artist. She is an award-winning illustrator of several picture books, including Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail by Lesléa Newman, winner of both the Sydney Taylor Book Award and the National Jewish Book Award, and The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs by Chana Stiefel, recipient of the Sydney Taylor Book Award and Robert F. Sibert Honor. Susan lives with her husband in Berkeley, California, where she creates fun and whimsical illustrations while attempting to live a caffeine- and nuclear-free life. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Instagram.

AWE! is a picture book that focuses on the emotional experience of awe. It’s a stunning review of almost every aspect that can cause us to experience awe and attempts to define what exactly that nebulous feeling is. This is one of those picture books that gives me goose bumps (and awe!). It’s the perfect marriage of words and illustrations. The illustrations are every bit as stunning as the sparse text that leads the reader on a mind-blowing journey. I’m just going to put this out into the universe now: I hope this book gets nominated for a Caldecott!

Welcome Chana and Susan!

Me: Chana, you have managed to capture an elusive emotion so beautifully here. What inspired the idea for this manuscript?

Chana: Thank you, Jena. Growing up in Miami, my parents instilled in me and my siblings a deep love of nature. We would go canoeing on the canal next to our house and look for tiny tadpoles and huge manatees. We visited many national parks from the Everglades to the Grand Canyon. Gratefully, I’ve been able to share these experiences with my own children. But I could never put my finger on exactly why I love these experiences so much. 

In 2023, I listened to a podcast with Dr. Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at Berkeley, who described “the one emotion that might be the key to happiness,” and that’s awe! Diving into the research on awe, I learned that experiencing awe can lessen anxiety, connect us to other people, and foster kindness, curiosity, and creativity. I knew that I had to write a children’s book about this Awesome Wondrous Empowering emotion.

Me: Susan, your work here is stunning! The colors and play of light, the variety of scenes, everything you’ve put into this is incredible. Can you talk about the mediums you used to create these illustrations? Are you a traditional or digital illustrator (or a blend of both)?

Susan: Thank you for your kind words about my work! I draw and paint traditionally on paper with watercolor, gouache, ink, pastel, etc. Recently I’ve been experimenting with acrylic and crayons. I do my sketches and paintings on paper, scan them, and collage them digitally. I’m forever looking at the work of old and modern masters for inspiration and guidance. 

Me: Both of you are talented creators in your own right. Yet this project is an opportunity for collaboration, especially as you’ve worked together before. Have you met in real life? Have you communicated at all about this book during its creation? Have you gotten to know each other better through publishing together?

Chana: YES! Susan and I bonded while collaborating on THE TOWER OF LIFE: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs (Scholastic). Even though we live on opposite coasts (Susan’s in CA, I’m in NJ), we met a few times after our first book launched. We discovered how much we have in common, including our love of travel and exploring nature. 

When I wrote AWE!, I knew that I wanted Susan to illustrate it and I feel so fortunate that she said yes! While creating this book, we both traveled independently to Yosemite, Loch Awe in Scotland, and the observation deck of the Edge, a 101-story skyscraper in NYC. And we both saw the northern lights! How awesome is that?

Susan: Traditionally authors and illustrators do not collaborate. As Chana mentioned, we bonded while working on our previous book and we were thrilled to work together with the same design team that created THE TOWER OF LIFE. 

Me:  This book is full of awe. You’ve both literally managed to capture the essence with your words and art! It’s amazing and yet, hard to tell who is creating which part of that experience. With such a lyrical and deliciously sparse text, was there a vision as to what would go with each concept? Were there art notes about any of this? Who invented what parts? 

Chana: It was a uniquely collaborative process. I did provide a few art suggestions in my original manuscript, but Susan’s creativity took them to the next level. We also had some back and forth discussions to solve some problems (for example, we had too many ideas and not enough pages, so unfortunately a few ideas were left on the cutting room floor). It all worked out beautifully. 

Susan: Chana was very open and gracious to suggestions on how to interpret her text. She gave me the space to let my imagination run free. That is priceless for an illustrator! In turn, it  allowed me to dig deeper and put as much emotion as I could into the story. For the both of us, it was important for the reader to understand and feel awe so they in turn could find their own ways of seeking awe. 

Me: Chana, I love that you don’t have just one person experiencing every moment throughout this whole book. Was that always a part of your manuscript or did it come about from revision? Were there a lot of revisions of this manuscript?

Chana: I think AWE! is for people of all ages and backgrounds. If you look carefully, the diverse children that Susan created on the cover appear throughout the book. So while the text doesn’t follow a specific character (it’s written in second person, directed at you, the reader), you can follow the characters that Susan created on their shared journey exploring awe.

Me: Susan, I remember loving the work you did in THE TOWER OF LIFE. I was surprised by some of your choices and deeply moved. While this book has the same artistic look as your other work, it also feels wonderfully different. Did you do anything new artistically in this book than you have done for others? Was there anything new to surprise you as you created these illustrations? Any struggles?

Susan: For both books I remembered being deeply moved and delighted the first time I read Chana’s manuscript. I then did a lot of research before starting rough sketches. The thing I struggled with the most was making sure that I got it “right” for each story. For TOWER, it was staying true to Yaffa’s story and her resilience. But AWE! was about capturing a feeling; I did my best to interpret and represent those emotions in a visual way. Because Chana trusted me and gave me artistic space I was able to let loose and experiment with different mediums. I painted in a way that I haven’t painted in years and the biggest surprise was how much I enjoyed it. I think you can see some of that joy in the color and flow of the book.

Me: I can! It really just vibrates off the page! What is something that surprised each of you in the creation of this story?

Chana: I have become much more attuned to finding awe every day. I’m much more mindful about noticing awe in nature, people, music, art, and books that I read. When my eyes tear up or I feel chills, I can now put a word to that emotion. Awe is truly everywhere! 

Susan: While researching and creating the art for the book I developed an even deeper appreciation and admiration for the everyday awe that exists all around us. 

I love that ladies! Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today.

Dear readers, this book published at the beginning of the month. If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, I highly recommend that you track it down. It’s completely jam packed with moments (big and small) that cause many of us to experience awe in such staggeringly wonderful writing, page turns, and illustrations. Trust me when I say, you won’t want to miss this one!