Kooky Crumbs

Unlike my other pictures which follow a narrative story over 15 or 16 spreads, Kooky Crumbs is a collection of poems about unusual holidays. That meant i was creating a world on each page! I decided to make a cast of recurring characters - a skunk, cat, crocodile, and shark - that show up every few spreads so that the book had a little bit of a cohesive feel. By Mary Uhles (illustrator)

Actually, once I got in the groove of it, NOT having to worry about keeping characters or a setting the same on every page was quite freeing. By Mary Uhles (illustrator)

I did research on most every holiday to try to get inspiration for each illustrations. Our Invisible Friends proved to be a challenge because the holiday is based on something kind of somber - funding research for chromosomal diseases. I feel like I created a hopeful scene... the older brother waiting for his sibling to be born. But pay attention to the pattern on mom's dress. That's how I was able to bring the heart of the holiday into the book. By Mary Uhles (illustrator)