THIS SITE HAS MOVED. Inkygirl posts are now part of DebbieOhi.com.
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Debbie Ridpath Ohi reads, writes and illustrates for young people. Every once in a while she shares new art, writing and reading resources; subscribe below. Browse the archives here.
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*NEW!* Also see my Broken Crayon resource
Writer comics by Debbie Ridpath Ohi are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
More details: Comic Use Policy
Welcome to Inkygirl: Reading, Writing and Illustrating Children's Books (archive list here) which includes my Creating Picture Books series, Advice For Young Writers and Illustrators, Writer's and Illustrator's Guide To Twitter, Interviews With Authors And Illustrators, #BookADay archives, writing/publishing industry surveys, and 250, 500, 1000 Words/Day Writing Challenge. Also see my Inkygirl archives, and comics for writers. Also check out my Print-Ready Archives for Teachers, Librarians, Booksellers and Young Readers.
I tweet about the craft and business of writing and illustrating at @inkyelbows. If you're interested in my art or other projects, please do visit DebbieOhi.com. Thanks for visiting! -- Debbie Ridpath Ohi
I'm thrilled that my books have been translated into French, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese, and am grateful to the Curtis Brown Translation Rights department for all their help. Jonathan Lyons and Sarah Perillo have kindly agreed to answer a few questions for me about the picture book translation rights process at Curtis Brown.
In honor of Banned Books Week, I've illustrated one of my favorite Judy Blume quotes:
"Having the freedom to read and the freedom to choose is one of the best gifts my parents ever gave me."
I was lucky that way, too. My father used to take the whole family to our local public library every week, and we kids could choose whatever books we wanted. My parents never questioned my choices, and I will always be grateful to them for that trust.
You can download a free, print-ready poster here.
Also see my Print-Ready Archives as well as my Illustrating Judy Blume resource.
Guest post by Chuck Sambuchino
I once joked that debut picture books are the one of the most difficult things to get published—perhaps second only to gay Amish novellas. While that was an exaggeration for humor’s sake, the truth remains that compiling a large list of literary agents who actively seek picture books has never been an easy task.
As the editor of the 2016 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market, it’s my job to compile oodles of markets for kidlit writers and illustrators. But the truth is that not every market listed everywhere is 100% open—it’s not that simple. Sometimes a few agents at any agency are open to signing new writers, whereas others are not. Sometimes a publisher or agent closes themselves down to submissions for a while. With all these ins and outs, what’s a writer to do?
For more info about Sylvia McNicoll, see SylviaMcNicoll.com.
If you're looking for funny, smart middle grade books and lots of entertaining animal facts, you need to check out Jess Keating's "My Life Is A Zoo" series. I met Jess through Torkidlit and Nerd Camp. The third book in her series, HOW TO OUTFOX YOUR FRIENDS WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE A CLUE, comes out from Sourcebooks Jabberwocky on October 6th.
Happy National Punctuation Day! Be kind to a comma today, and beware of misplaced apostrophe's.
Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 8:37 AM | Post a Comment | Email Article | Share Article | Permalink 
Just finished AWKWARD, an absolutely wonderful middle grade graphic novel by Svetlana Chmakova (Yen Press/Hachette, 2015). Omigosh, this needs to be in every school library. Why? Because it Svetlana does SUCH a great job at capturing the awkwardness of middle school personal interactions, especially for the insecure and shy. I wish this book had been around when I was that age, because it would have inspired me to take more risks, to not be so afraid of making mistakes when it came to social situations.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015 at 3:37 PM | Post a Comment | Email Article | Share Article | Permalink 
I love this quote by Robert Cormier so much that I've made it available as a free, print-ready poster.
Download the poster here. (after opening the image, right-click for PC, ctrl-click and hold for Mac)
Also see my free, print-ready Archives.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015 at 11:32 AM | Post a Comment | Email Article | Share Article | Permalink 
One of my favourite Neil Gaiman quotes: "Just write. Many writers have a vague hope that elves will come in the night and finish any stories for you for you. They won’t." You can see the original video in which he offers advice for young writers:
Just finished THE KIDNEY HYPOTHETICAL: OR HOW TO RUIN YOUR LIFE IN SEVEN DAYS by Lisa Yee (Arthur Levine Books, Mar/2015). I've been a fan of Lisa's since MILLICENT MIN, and I thoroughly enjoyed her new YA. What I love about all of Lisa's books, including this one: the wry sense of humor, flawed and appealing characters, how the relationships develop throughout the story. And who could NOT love a character named Higgs Boson Bing? :-)
Every journey to publication is different. Don't compare yourself to others. Find your OWN path, at your own pace.
Added to my For The Love Of Reading resource for teachers, librarians, booksellers and young readers: a free, print-ready "Reading Lets Your Imagination Soar" poster. For all my free, print-ready material, please see Debbie's Print-Ready Archive.
What I just tweeted:
Just finished BONE GAP by @thatlauraruby. Thx @auntierez for rec at #nerdcampmi! Loved the voice. Disturbing, mysterious, thought-provoking.
— Debbie Ridpath Ohi (@inkyelbows) September 17, 2015
Just heard that BONE GAP made the 2015 National Book Award Longlist!
Thursday, September 17, 2015 at 3:22 PM | Post a Comment | Email Article | Share Article | Permalink 
There are already a bunch of online thesaurus sites out there, like Thesaurus.com, Merriam-Webster's Thesaurus, Collins Thesaurus, Visual Thesaurus and others, but Power Thesaurus was the first crowd-sourced online thesaurus I've come across.
Thursday, September 17, 2015 at 2:47 PM | Post a Comment | Email Article | Share Article | Permalink 
I've added a free, print-ready poster version of this wonderful Madeleine L'Engle quote to my For The Love Of Reading page.
You can find links to ALL my free, print-ready bonus goodies at Debbie's Print-Ready Archive.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015 at 9:10 AM | Post a Comment | Email Article | Share Article | Permalink 
Anyone who thinks that picture books are easy to write because they're short needs to read this advice from my Simon & Schuster editor, Justin Chanda.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015 at 8:06 AM | Post a Comment | Email Article | Share Article | Permalink 
Did you know that Madeleine L'Engle almost gave up writing when she turned 40 after getting yet another rejection notice? "With all the hours I spent writing, I was still not pulling my own weight financially." She discovered, however, that her subconscious wouldn't let her NOT write.
"I had to write. I had no choice in the matter. It was not up to me to say I would stop because I could not. It didn't matter how small or inadequate my talent. If I never had another book published, and it was very clear to me that this was a real possibility, I still had to go on writing." (Source)
Yay, my copy of LADY PANCAKE & SIR FRENCH TOAST by Josh Funk and Brendan Kearney (Sterling) just arrived! Such a delicious read, plus I love the surprise fold-out ending. This would make a great readaloud, with lots of potential discussion with young readers about the fun art details, food and friendship.
If you haven't already, do read my Three Questions interview with Josh Funk.
You can also find out more about the book (plus there's a free activity kit) on Josh's book page.
Thursday, September 10, 2015 at 7:59 AM | Post a Comment | Email Article | Share Article | Permalink 
Thanks to my friend Therese Walsh for the great caption! You can find out more about Therese at ThereseWalsh.com and on Twitter at @ThereseWalsh.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015 at 12:53 PM | Post a Comment | Email Article | Share Article | Permalink 