First Draft Episode #275: Carson Ellis

Carson Ellis, author and illustrator of bestselling picture books Home and Caldecott Honor book Du Iz Tak?, talks about her newest picture book, In the Half Room.

This episode is brought to you by Everything I Thought I Knew, by Shannon Takoaka, out from Candlewick Press October 13, 2020.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry and Wesley Dennis
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak
The New Yorker
Mac Barnett’s Children’s Book Proclamation (more context about that proclamation), signed by—among others—Carson Ellis, Jon Klassen (listen to his episode of First Draft here), Dan Santat (listen to his First Draft episode here)
Ursula Nordstrom, legendary picture book editor at HarperCollins
Shel Silverstein, author and illustrator of The Giving Tree, Where the Sidewalk Ends, and A Light in the Attic
Ruth Krauss wrote and Maurice Sendak illustrated classic picture books such as Open House for Butterflies and A Very Special House
Colin Meloy, guitarist and singer for The Decemberists and author of the Wildwood series
The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kids
Castaways and Cutouts album art
Steven Malk, literary agent with
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, illustrated by Carson Ellis
The Composer is Dead by Lemony Snicket (a.k.a. Daniel Handler), illustrated by Carson Ellis
Stagecoach Sal by Deborah Hopkinson
The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper, illustrated by Carson Ellis
The Darkness Rising by Susan Cooper
People by Blexbolex
Richard Scarry, author and illustrator of Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy Town, and Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks From A to Z
Elizabeth Bicknell, editor at Candlewick
Maile Meloy , author of The Apothecary, Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It, and more, is Carons’s sister in law

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