When stunning poetry and glorious visuals collide, you get an epic and memorable exploration of faith.

Rebecca Janni is the author of Spin (Grosset & Dunlap), Jammy Dance (FSG), and the Cowgirl picture book series (Dutton). Branch began as a poem she wrote for her church’s Easter celebration.. As research for the story, Rebecca examined the role of trees in the Bible―from Genesis to Revelation―and read various biblical translations, looking for every mention of trees, branches, vines, and seeds. A native of Iowa, Rebecca recently moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where she lives with her family. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on X or Facebook.

Michelle Carlos is a Filipina artist based in Stuttgart, Germany. She has illustrated almost a dozen books for children and young adults, including The Roach King of Raleigh (Blink), Past Watchful Dragons (Word on Fire), A Little Bit of Everything (Sleeping Bear), and Nikki Grimes’ Lullaby for the King (Beaming). Michelle’s work for Branch draws from her Catholic upbringing, her interest in the universe’s origins, biblical trees and birds, and other subjects. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Instagram or BlueSky.

BRANCH is a poetry picture book. It explores trees all throughout the bible. This book ties in so many different pieces thematically and visually that it’s quite boggling to behold. The illustrations are reminiscent of many classic works while also taking a clearly modern approach to the presentation. Frankly, this book is incredible!

Welcome Rebecca and Michelle!

Me: Can you talk about your creative journeys? How did you get started writing and/or illustrating? How did that lead you to the work you’re doing now with books for kids?

Rebecca: For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved stories – reading stories, writing stories, living stories. Family and friends know I never go anywhere without a book (or several) and a journal (or several). Love of story led me to major in English and French in college and to teach high school English. And then, I became a mother. 

I loved to write. I loved my kids. Somewhere in that intersection, new stories were born. I wouldn’t even have known to call them children’s picture book manuscripts at the time. I was just doing what I had always loved, but with a new audience in heart and mind. 

I attended my first SCBWI conference with an air of nonchalance. “I’ll give this a try.” What happened caught me off guard. I felt like someone had lit a match inside me. I loved the space and time for creating, the workshops devoted to the writing craft, the exposure to current titles in children’s literature, the engaging speakers, and the lovely people who all shared a passion for children and stories. I decided that even if I never landed a book contract, I would keep coming to workshops and conferences anyway. But I did get that book contract. Through SCBWI, I sold Every Cowgirl Needs a Horse, which became a series, and signed with my wonderful agent Jamie Weiss Chilton of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

Michelle: Although I graduated with a Fine Arts degree, I didn’t practice professionally for two decades because I was more passionate about filmmaking and then life happened. But when my husband and I moved to South Africa in 2016, I could not work and so I went back to being creative. I thought if there’s one thing I could do anywhere, it would be making art. I also signed up on an online course called Make Art that Sells, from which I relearned commercial illustration and fell in love with children’s books. I decided to pivot my career and continued doing this course for three more years until I developed a workflow and slowly built my portfolio. I signed up on SCBWI and a few notable people in the industry including artist agents discovered my work during an online portfolio showcase. I signed up with my agency, Astound US, in 2021 and had my first children’s book published the year after and so here we are. It’s a shameless plug but I talk a lot about my creative journey and process on my blog posts, too. It was such a long ride to get here.

Me: Rebecca, this is an astounding concept. I love the way you’ve woven trees throughout the bible into this poem (aka picture book). What gave you the idea for this book?

Rebecca: Thank you so much. Branch began as a poem about trees for Easter services at our church, and once I started writing it, I couldn’t let it go. I kept thinking about trees in the Bible—the Tree of Life, in Creation and Revelation; the Cross of Christ, made of a tree, often called a tree; the expansive, all-encompassing family tree in the genealogies of the Old and New Testaments; the metaphor of Jesus as a vine giving life to his followers, the branches. I realized that trees themselves tell the stories at the heart of Christian faith. I began to wonder if this manuscript could become a children’s picture book, a gentle way to tell the Easter story through the wonderfully accessible metaphor of a tree.

Me: Michelle, your work here is mind boggling. There’s such a grandiose sweeping design all throughout every single spread. I see some influences (is that Klimt I see?), but it’s hard to suss them all out. Can you talk about your illustrations? What medium did you use to create these? Are you a traditional or digital illustrator (or a blend of both)? What research did you have to do for your illustrations in this book? 

Michelle: Thank you. Yes, that’s how the inner workings of my brain probably look like. My technique is hybrid. I paint the elements of the scene separately using watercolors, scan hi-res and then compose in Photoshop. I can have as much as 200 layers in an artwork but with Branch, I decided to minimize the steps to save time and paint some of the spreads in one go like the resurrection spread or the Earth spread as though it was a fine art painting although I still needed to add the background and few more details digitally. I also decide on an overall look and feel for the entire book, in which a mood board would come in handy. For this picture book, I wanted it to be epic, organic and golden. I made sure that the sketches were clear so that an elaborate explanation to the client was unnecessary. It also reduces the rounds of feedback before coloring. Once the concept was defined and sketches were approved, a lot of technical planning was involved for each spread. 

Prior to that I did a deep dive into research about regional flora and fauna because the concept was to use tree symbolisms from the Bible to represent the Old and New Testaments and the Resurrection. I looked up 1st AD Palestinian clothing, Jewish burial customs, as well as Roman crucifixion tools and then drew inspiration from Byzantine mosaics, illuminated manuscripts and medieval tapestries to Oriental gold leaf screens. I wanted the pages to burst with color, ornaments and action to match the flow of Rebecca’s poetic verses and so I drew a lot from my ornate style and paid homage to Hieronymous Bosch, and yes, Gustav Klimt—always, and to contemporary artists like Olaf Hajek and Lizbeth Zwerger. I was also lucky to peek into the thought processes of Rébecca Dautremer during a workshop with her when she showcased her originals from her own interpretation of the Bible. In my travels, I made sure I visited churches in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium and of course, here in Germany to study early Christian art and architecture and just feel that awe when entering them, which I hope translated onto the spreads.

Me:  This book really dives deep into biblical narrative in a symbolic way. Why is that an important thing for each of you to share with young readers?

Rebecca: I have always wrestled with how to share this crux of Christian faith with young children in my life. Who can fathom such violence as the crucifixion or such redemption and hope as the resurrection? If children have known any earthly death of a loved one, they have only known the physical, permanent, gutting loss. How do we begin to plant the seed of faith that believes in the promise of resurrection? I think we must look to the seeds. And the trees. Buried in earth or snow for a season, they break through the ground that hides them from sight to bud and bloom and grow. 

My parents and grandparents have all passed away, but not before planting a seed of faith in me that I believe has grown into this story. My 101-year-old grandmother lived longest and shared both her faith and her stories of trees with me up until her very last day. Before she died, I was able to share this story with her and tell her this book would be dedicated to her.

Michelle: When I read the manuscript I understood the assignment right away. But I was not really thinking of this book’s importance. It’s not up to me to suggest what’s important to the young readers anyway. My job was to make it easier for them to understand the metaphor of branches as a growing Christian family tree through my illustrations without leaning into clichéd literal Biblical visuals to perhaps invite a conversation amongst the readers—young and old, while aligning with my client’s vision. There was no specific mention of which tree in the manuscript that I should feature. It was my creative decision to divide the Biblical events in trees and plants that were ubiquitous in the scriptures. Although unverified, in Jewish tradition the fig tree was thought of to be the “Tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” whereas an olive branch signaled the resurgence of land after the great flood that paved the way to the new lineage of ancestors in the New Testament until the scene at the Garden of Gethsemane, which was aptly an olive grove. Meanwhile, Jesus referred to himself as the “true vine” and so I associated that to his resurrection and the spread of Christianity, like a trailing but structured grape vine, all through the modern world. I tried to create this dynamic zooming in and out of movement as you turn each page as though the branches are really stretching out because Rebecca’s lyrical text was simply calling for it.

Me: The text is a beautiful collage of poetry and abstract thought. The illustrations are gorgeous, full of maps, emotions, plants, and so much more. How many revisions did each of you have to make to get this story to the final product?

Rebecca: It would be difficult to count revisions for this story or poem, because I was working with paper and pen/pencil in a journal, crossing out and erasing as I went. I had written the opening lines in early spring, but they sat in my journal until the next fall when I signed up for a Jen Wilkin Bible study on the book of Genesis. One of the workbook writing prompts asked to summarize Genesis chapter 2 using “the voice of a storyteller speaking to a child.” I went looking for the poem I had started and revised it to answer the prompt. My mom passed away in 2019, but one of her dear friends was sitting beside me at the table that day. When I shared what I had written, she gave me a hug and said, “Rebecca, write THAT story.” 

Her invitation sent me on a quest. I took the next year to read the Bible again, from Genesis to Revelation, cross-referencing multiple translations, highlighting every mention of trees, branches, vines, and seeds, and studying the genealogy of Jesus. When I believed I was done, I still hesitated to send the manuscript to my agent Jamie. In the Genesis study, I had learned about the Hebrew word “ruach” meaning spirit, breath, or wind – the life God breathes into creation. I told my husband that I didn’t think the manuscript was ready yet; I thought it was missing the “ruach.” But he insisted I had sat with it long enough and it was time to send it in. One thing I love about Jamie is her willingness to give editorial feedback that strengthens every story. She often gives me quite a bit of feedback for a first manuscript, but for Branch, she had one single suggestion: 

I have one question and possible suggestion, that occurred to me after a few readings and some mulling. I think your ending beautifully echoes the beginning, and I wonder about emphasizing the connection even more, by incorporating “breath” into the opening. Maybe something like, “At the beginning of all things, a breath. God spoke a Word.” And also possibly slowing down the pacing of your last line, either with commas, or by breaking it into three lines, like: “…light, and life, and breath” or “…light/ and life/and breath.”

Her suggestion was the “ruach” that had been missing. 

Michelle: There were minimal tweaks in some spreads but there was a few back and forth with the background color of the dust jacket because I was really hoping to get a golden book inspired by the Book of Kells as well as to highlight the symbolic color of Easter. At the end of the day, the cover must really catch attention not only on the shelves but also on digital thumbnails and so I converted it to what I called “Genesis blue” instead to tie in with the dark space in the first spread.

Me: Amazing! Were there any surprises for either of you as you worked on this project?

Rebecca: Michelle’s breathtaking art. I remember when the first drafts landed in my inbox. My oldest daughter was home for Thanksgiving break. I sat down to check email, not expecting anything out of the ordinary. I opened the attachment and was so moved that I started to cry. My daughter – not typically a crier – saw me in tears, said, “oh no,” and came over to see what was wrong. She put her hands on my shoulders, saw Michelle’s art and started weeping too. My husband saw us both and hurried over to see what had happened. He was moved to tears, too. We were a sight. I had seen Michelle’s portfolio and knew I would love her art, but wow, I was blown away. We all were.

Michelle: It was astounding how ingrained in my memory the Bible stories were, when I thought I was just daydreaming during Religion class or Holy Mass. That’s what I meant by understanding the assignment right away.

Me: I love both of your responses! Do either of you have any advice for new writers and/or illustrators?

Rebecca: Be patient. The process may be long, but it is so rewarding. You really don’t want shortcuts; you don’t want to outsource story, art or faith to AI. Working alone is inevitable but do find a community of writers where you can give and receive feedback and encouragement, share sorrows and joys. 

Michelle: Whether you use traditional or digital techniques, made by human hands is still preferred in the industry and you need to not only build but also ruthlessly curate your portfolio on your own website because serious clients will have real credentials on a website, respect your name, value your skills, input and time and so should you.

That is excellent advice ladies. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today.

Dear readers, this fantastic piece of art published yesterday! If you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, I highly recommend it. The art is breath taking, the words are lyrical, and the book as a whole is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Trust me when I say, you won’t want to miss it.