Tuesday, July 3, 2012

My ABCs

Toward the end of the school year, our class had the opportunity to try their hands at being young authors. They each wrote and illustrated an ABC book, and with a couple blank books left over, I got in on it, too.

This was the most fun I've had in a while creatively. It was difficult enough to come up with appropriate drawings for each letter, but I also wanted to write a sentence for each comprised only of words beginning with that letter. Given the time restraints and my impatience, not every page succeeded in this way, but what I ended up with is still kind of fun, and the kids enjoyed having it on the classroom bookshelf for the last few weeks of school. To be honest, I probably enjoyed sharing it more than they did looking through its pages.

Wanna see?


















Thanks, Evan, for the idea for D.









It was cute when Sydney recognized the pattern I'd snuck into the ice cream flavors, something we worked on early in the year.







The kangaroo was Cara's favorite :)





I totally forgot the verb in this one!!! It should be, Majestic mountains ARE masked by mist. Blast!




So I get that some of the vocabulary is a bit above the first grade level, but I was working within some pretty tight self-imposed restrictions. And besides, as was pointed out by a colleague, what does it hurt to challenge young readers?



Some of these were a stretch...I'm pretty sure pigeons don't nest in pine trees (especially ones susceptible to strong gusts of wind) but hey, it was this or a grossly malformed pineapple.

The Q, on the other hand, I'm particularly proud of. Call it my version of "The pen is mightier than the sword."






The stinky socks were a favorite in the classroom. I can't imagine why.

Probably the most challenging/rewarding page I faced. I spent considerable time trying to figure out how to draw underwear in the shape of a U before coming up with Uncle Ute. 


Of course upon looking through the book, Chris mentioned I could have used undulates instead of hangs upside-down, but it's too hard to erase colored pencil.










                 The end :)










As I'm focusing on a YA (young adult) novel and getting involved with the local chapter of SCBWI (Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators - took me a YEAR to get the acronym right!), my love of drawing is daring me to bring it back into the mix. Me? Children's books? Maybe.

I hope you enjoyed my version of the ABCs.

4 comments:

  1. This is awesome!
    (I found the link to your blog on the Goodreads "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" book group. So glad I did!) If you ever publish this, I'd buy one. Seriously.
    Well done!

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  2. Me too! So glad I have front row seat to your creativity. Winter school break is over here on Monday - will try to catch up with you then!!!! This is fantastic work, Lindsey, can't wait to see what you come up with for a young adult novel!!!

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  3. I love this! Every time I read it, I notice something new!

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  4. I just reread this with nick! Awesome job, the u was my favorite;)

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