This is a twist on the traditional Mother Goose tale, except this one stars a grumpy bear who reluctantly becomes the "Mama" of four abandoned goslings. The illustrations by Ryan Higgins are adorable and hilarious. 

“Higgins’ softly fascinating textures, deft lines, savvy use of scale, and luminous landscapes (which evoke traditional romantic landscape painting, atmospheric in air and light) make for gorgeous art. Visually beautiful, clever, edgy, and very funny.” —Kirkus Reviews

A stunning picture book by David Teague and Antoinette Portis about a young boy who follows a red hat when it is taken by the wind and finds his true love. There are wild specs on this book: 5th color red and spot UV on the interior and jacket. I worked hand in hand with our production manager, the printer, and Antoinette to coordinate all the complicated spec layers. 

“The ever-present antagonist here is the wind, pictured as a glossy, lightly embossed, swirling pattern on each page, a turquoise line against the restrained palette of black, white, taupe, sky-blue, and crimson. Teague’s rhythmical and unadorned text is fleshed out by Portis’s graphically arresting compositions. The color red, for example, has its own character and plot: the temporary roadblock of a red light, the welcoming red carpet, the subtly recurring shape of a red heart. When this love story ends with the words ‘The Beginning,’ we believe it.” —The Horn Book

This tale of friendship between two opposite personalities is perfect for fans of Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious. Starring a lovable character who brings sunshine and rainbows everywhere she goes.

“Great for one-on-one sharing or read-alouds. Sure to be popular with the Fancy Nancy crowd and has a nice bit of friendship wisdom to boot.” —School Library Journal

A picture book written by Grammy Award-winning artist Kelly Clarkson as a lullaby to her daughter. River Rose is excited to go to the zoo for the very first time and settles into a dreamy sleep the night before where she dances with brown bears and plays hopscotch with hippos.

“A cheerful effort with a tiny, heartfelt message.” —Kirkus Reviews

A hilarious story about a topsy-turvy day with an unlikely and disgusting turn of events starring a booger so big it threatens to destroy the town!

When Bear and Boy meet in the woods, they're scared at first. Really scared. But soon these kings of the wild realize that no mountain is too big to conquer if you have a friend to climb it by your side.

"[An] exquisite book . . . [with] ravishing art." —USA Today

A picture book about a spunky princess who is tired of waiting for her prince so she sets out to find one herself. The first cover featured a very happy Princess Patty with a nondescript smile, which we felt didn’t convey her personality. So I felt we needed to add the sheepish prince and change Patty’s expression and body position to reflect her independent spirit. The original title was “Princess Patty,” but at my suggestion we added “Meets Her Match” to give it a little more punch There is glitter galore on this cover.

“This proactive princess will captivate readers with her charmingly unconventional tale.” —Kirkus Reviews

The follow-up to the beloved Spoon about a pair of chopsticks who have to learn to do things on their own after one of them breaks in half during a karate move. I used Filosofia for the interior, which complements the font in Spoon yet isn’t the same.

“Most picture books that deal with a separation between friends focus either on healing after an argument or getting by after a friend has moved away. This is refreshing in its lighthearted, upbeat treatment of the value of occasionally going one's own way. Who knew there were so many lessons to be learned from a cutlery drawer?” —Kirkus Reviews

Another hilarious picture book collaboration by Mac Barnett and Kevin Cornell about a prince whose vanity nearly causes the downfall of his kingdom, if not for his savvy subjects. This cover concept was obvious to us, and Kevin pulled it off seamlessly. 

A hilarious counting book for older picture book readers by the very talented Mac Barnett and Kevin Cornell. The book stars several animals, so we knew we wanted to show more than one on the cover. The solution was to make the focus on the title with the animals interacting with the type.

The breakout picture book by animator Cale Atkinson. Cale is a newcomer to picture books, so working with him involved a lot of art direction during sketches through finishes. We used fifth color orange throughout and I used spot UV on the cover to create the illusion of water.

A girl transforms into a super-hero princess at night. I didn’t want to depict the typical beautiful, shrinking violet princess on the cover, so we made sure the illustration captured her spunk and bravery. There is lots of glitter on this cover!

An inspiring picture book by Brian Pinkney about a young soccer player who follows his imagination and learns to stay focused, even when things get a little overwhelming. This was really fun to design. Brian has that wonderful swirly style to his art so my type design mimics those curves. 

A sweet picture book about a busy elephant pastry chef who nearly misses her own birthday if not for her loyal mice friends. I have always loved Betsy Lewin’s illustrations, so it was a dream to work with her. After trying different options for title type, I ultimately felt that hiring a hand letterer would give us just the right feel.

A bedtime book about a young boy who sooths grumpy dragons with hot chocolate. I loved designing this book -- Pascal Lemaitre’s illustrations are magical and they marry with the lyrical text beautifully. We had Pascal base the cover art on one of the endearing interior pieces.

A charming picture book about friendship and mistaken identity. This was a new, simpler, art style for Sergio Ruzzier that I was really taken with. For the interior I chose the chunky “Telegraph” font, so it stands up against the thick black outline in the art. I created the series logo.

A holiday picture book about the story of Hanukah. The mixed-media illustrations were a few years in the making, and the result is incredible. With the market filled with picture books about Christmas, I was happy to be able to design a heartwarming story about Hanukah. 

A slapstick story about the unlikely friendship between two type-A ducks and a careless but loveable moose. The only text in the book is “Duck, Duck, Moose”, so I kept the type a little quirky and friendly. I think the cover perfectly and simply depicts the dynamic between disastrous Moose and his straight-laced friends.

Murphy has a case of the heebee jeebies and tries any excuse not to go to school. The illustrations by Brendan Murphy are adorable and wonderfully graphic. There are lots of fantastic interior scenes with clever cropping, which is what inspired the cover.