Planes, trains, and now boats, Brooke has the Alaskan transportation picture book market covered. But what’s this about a fat bear?

Brooke Hartman has visited my blog several times before. She is the award-winning author of numerous picture books, including The Littlest Airplane, Dream Flights on Arctic Nights, and Klyde the Kraken Wants a Friend. She lives in Chugiak, Alaska, where the dramatic landscapes of mountains and sea inspire her stories. You can learn more about her at her website, or follow her on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

ONE LITTLE FISHING BOAT is a picture book all about a skiff. These types of boats are still used in several locations in Alaska for fishing, so it makes perfect sense to focus on a smaller boat like this. A fun lilting rhyme and a repeated refrain carries the reader through each page as more and more sea creatures become involved in the story. Young readers will love this story, especially if they love Alaskan sea life. For this book, Brooke was paired once again with illustrator John Joseph who brings the story to life. This is their third pairing together (John Joseph also illustrated THE LITTLEST AIRPLANE and ALL ABOARD THE ALASKA TRAIN).

BIG FAT BEAR BATTLE is another picture book based on an Alaskan phenomenon. Yes, there really is a contest and a vote for the fattest bear of the year. Though, it’s not quite as this book imagines. Here, a fox and a moose report live from the scene, weighing each contestant on a scale, and reporting on the drama as it unfolds. It’s a hilarious take full of puns and Brooke’s wit on a funny tradition. The illustrations by Can Tugrul really compliment the sense of humor this text is going for. Let’s get ready to Grrrrr-umble!

Welcome back Brooke!

Me: I adore the repeating phrases you have in ONE LITTLE FISHING BOAT, yet you also manage to include variety in the animals and plot you’re able to weave in. What gave you the initial idea for the story? Did the idea stay the same from the beginning? Was the first draft pretty much like the final state, or did this take many revisions?

Brooke: Thank you! I’m so happy you noticed the rhyme scheme and meter. The rhythmic text in this book was actually inspired by a favorite librarian at one of my local libraries. I did a story time takeover a couple years ago and she had the most wonderful way of including songs with her book. The kiddos were so engaged and, by the end of story time, everyone sang along even if it was their first time attending. Fast forward to when I was writing One Little Fishing Boat; I knew I wanted the book to sound as though you were rocking back and forth with the waves plus include a lot of active verbs for the marine animals who would join the story. It took a bit of toying with, but the result is a fun mixture of the two I hope young readers (and the favorite librarian) will enjoy!

Me: ONE LITTLE FISHING BOAT is your third book illustrated by John Joseph. You also collaborated on THE LITTLEST AIRPLANE and ALL ABOARD THE ALASKA TRAIN. His illustrations really bring these stories to life and each one has been about a form of transportation still active in Alaska. After three books together, were there still any illustration surprises for you? Any favorites? Any future plans for collaboration again?

Brooke: John is THE BEST! He has such a fabulous way of bringing to life both non-living items, such as machines, and animals/people. Even his landscapes are breathtaking. I could go on and… wait, what was the question again? Oh yes! Surprises. I did love the way he portrayed the family as blended and multi-generational; this fits an Alaska fishing family so well. This state has so many folks from various cultures and backgrounds forming one big melting pot, and grandparents who take their kids fishing is a common occurrence around here! As for future projects… well, nothing I can talk about yet (wink wink).

Me: I adore the hilarious pun-filled approach you took in BIG FAT BEAR BATTLE, focusing on the competition like a reality tv show. What gave you that idea?

Brooke: Thanks Jena! The shell of this manuscript actually started as another book called “Sleepover Smackdown” about kids getting ready for bed and wrestling with their parents and family members, pets, etc.. But when I started thinking about writing a Fat Bear Week book, many of the same themes (battles and puns and all that fun stuff) kept rising to the surface. In the end, I sort of smushed the two ideas together and Big Fat Bear Battle was born! Just goes to show that no book idea is ever officially caput, it just may find new life with a different theme.

Me: The illustrations by Can Tuğrul are fantastic. I love the way he differentiated the different speakers with different color speech bubbles and showed a sneak peek at the surprise twist coming. Were there any illustration surprises for you? Any favorites?

Brooke: Baby Bear is my favorite. We went back and forth about how many clothes the bears should be wearing (if any); the illustrations started with all the animals wearing full outfits, but since there aren’t any Targets or Walmarts in Katmai National Park, we decided to scale that back. The result is a fun blend of fact and fiction, serious and silly.

Me: I noticed that both books had back matter about the true Alaskan traditions behind each story. Can you tell us a bit about your research process? How long did it take you to research all the different facts that went into each story? Any favorite research methods?

Brooke: Bear Battle definitely took the longer of the two to research. Not only did I want to get as many bear facts as possible in the story and back matter, but I had to wrap some details about Fat Bear Week and Katmai in there, too. Since my family has a cabin near Katmai National Park, of course I had to make a few extra visits there and take lots (and LOTS) of pictures!

With Fishing Boat, our family fishes every summer in Bristol Bay. While we mostly sport fish and have only set netted a handful of times, I wanted to use this form of fishing to show the type of fishing that cultures in the area have used for thousands of years, and now continue to use across families and generations today—including ours! Even with our own experience, I made sure several of my friends had eyes on this manuscript (and illustrations and back matter) to check for anything I may have missed.

Me: What surprised you in writing either story that you hadn’t encountered in your writing before?

Brooke: How different yet similar picture book projects can be. Here are two books, both about nonfiction Alaskan topics, both portraying animals, both stories wrapped in a fictional “shell,” both with back matter—but written in two entirely different ways. It’s just more proof that there’s no singular way to approach a writing project no matter what it may be about.

Me: You have now written and published several different picture books that have been set in Alaska. What is it about Alaska that so inspires you to write (and continue to write) stories for young readers about it?

Brooke: Well since you live here too, Jena, I think you know! This state is so awe inspiring, even when it’s thirty below or blasting freezing winds in your face, or melting all the snow in January, it’s still breathtaking. There’s inspiration around every corner and a story to tell happening every day. The question isn’t, do you have something to write about; it’s which stories to write, because there’s never enough time to write them all!

Ha! Good point Brooke. Thank you for stopping by my blog again today.

Dear readers, ONE LITTLE FISHING BOAT publishes next week and BIG FAT BEAR BATTLE publishes at the end of the month. If you love Alaskan stories or hilarious send ups, these books are for you. Keep an eye out! Trust me when I say, you won’t want to miss them.