I taught myself to read (my mom tells me) when I was about four. She says it was very sudden — I woke up one morning and I could read. I don’t remember this, but I do have two memories from my very early reading life that I thought I would share because they illustrate aspects of my personality that are still very evident today.

First. I remember having a library book called In the Big City. I loved this book. It was a Dick & Jane type book, but a little longer and somewhat more advanced than simply “See Spot run.” I can very clearly remember the pleasure I felt in being able to read it. I also remember loving the pictures. There was one problem though. I misread the word City in the title — I thought the C was hard. I imagined that for some reason the entire story took place within the gaping maw of a giant kitty. I could not understand why they never mentioned this curious fact in the otherwise-banal story.

So, um, what does this say about my personality that’s still evident today? Well, I never asked about the kitty. I figured it out for myself (at least I thought I did), and came up with a crazy theory on my own. To this day, I would rather figure things out on my own than ask someone else. Often, to my detriment. :-P

Second memory. Another library book, a beginning reader called Ann Likes Red. I did not like this book. I didn’t like seeing Ann spelled without the e (my best friend was named Anne), and I did not like the text font, which was either Futura or a look-alike. Of course I did not have the vocabulary at the time to be able to say that I didn’t like the font. But I have a very clear memory of my awareness that I didn’t like the story because I didn’t like the way the words looked on the page. And to this day, of course, I am not only obsessed with typography & design, but I am still, constantly, pondering the relationship between form and content.

I think they came up with some great choices, but I’m surprised that there are no children’s books on the list. Here are a few I would add:

Not a Box. You can’t tell very well from this image, but it’s exactly the color and texture of a cardboard box. Notice the “Net Wt” there, and on the back it has the arrows with This End Up. Very cute & clever.

Another one I’d add is I Saw an Ant on the Railroad Track. In fact, it’s not just the cover. The whole book is terrific. The pictures of Switchman Jack are absolutely marvelous, particularly the one where he’s frozen in horror, his mouth full of sandwich, as he sees the approaching train. I also love the way the perspective changes from page to page — sometimes you’re down low at the ant’s level, other times at Jack’s, and sometimes you’re overhead. Amazingly, my 4yo loves this book too. I can count on one hand the number of books my kids and I have both liked.

One more picture book that I’d add is A Tale of Tulips, A Tale of Onions, which years ago I picked up off a remainder table somewhere. The story revolves around the tulip craze in Holland, the one that led to the world’s first stock market crash. The characters include a tulip grower named Ed Vard Grooter, his daughter Gretel, and a sea captain named Drooter van Zooter. (Say it out loud, I dare you: Drooter van Zooter!) The story includes true love, an ocean voyage, rats, cats, tulips, and onions. It’s got rhymes and puns and it’s based on a real historic event. What more could you ask?

Well, it’s also got some very clever illustrations. In the pictures, all the action takes place on stage. There is no mention anywhere in the text about the events actually being a play, and there’s nothing about the story that would seem to require it. The stage business is entirely gratuitous. And entirely charming. The front cover shows the theater poster, and the back cover shows the actors exiting the stage door. In between you see bits of the audience, the wings, stagehands, scenery, etc. The art adds a whole new dimension to the story. Love it!

What books would you add to the list?

We started by scanning the illustrations. Mekiah had drawn them in pencil, then used a lightbox to trace them over with ink. However, the pictures were not all the same size, and some had visible pencil or eraser marks. Leland and I spent a lot of time tweaking, resizing, and cleaning up the images. This was a good test of my Photoshop skills because with Leland sitting right next to me I felt like I had to be quick and efficient as well as accurate. I felt pretty smug when it occurred to me that I could get rid of a lot of the eraser marks simply by adjusting brightness and contrast.

Then we fired up InDesign and set up the master pages for the book. My font choice, Bell, was practically a no-brainer. Bell is perhaps my all-time favorite serif font, but I don’t find very many uses for it. It’s a little too quirky and beautiful for everyday use, and not as legible as I would like in smaller sizes. However, it’s perfectly suited for a children’s book, not just because of the larger size, but also because it’s reminiscent of Century Schoolbook, the quintessential children’s book font. Furthermore, the story partly takes place under the sea, and I thought that Bell’s elegant curves would reflect that very well.

Then the fun really began. Mekiah had worked with a professional artist, Anne Phillips, when he created the drawings. Leland, Anne, and I spent several afternoons crowded around my Mac, working out the composition of each page. Anne was fantastic. I learned so much from her. For the first time, I got to see Illustrator’s dreaded Pen Tool wielded by an expert. Not to mention a ton of keyboard shortcuts. And *cough* I showed her a couple of things in InDesign, too. Best of all, though, was the realization that the professional artist and I were speaking the same language and using the same methods — confirmation that my laboriously-acquired knowledge was legit.

And the most exciting moment of all? Leland might disagree, but for me, it was placing the bar code image on the back cover. I think it wasn’t until then that I really believed that there was going to be a real, true, actual book. Oh my goodness!

Throughout this process, of course, we were in contact with the printer, Bang Printing. We had some ups and downs along the way, for example, when there was some confusion about whether the book would be landscape- or portrait-oriented, and then when there was some confusion about whether the pages were supposed to be 10 or 10.5 inches wide. On the whole, however, I enjoyed working with them. They answered our questions quickly and helpfully, they finished the job on time, and the book looks great!

And what about the story? Well, I’ll tell you this: I think The Boy and the Shark is terrific. Kids and grownups seem to like it equally. It’s a fairy tale. It has sharks. And it was inspired by a historical event. Very cool.

We just recently went live with the companion website. Among other things, it describes the self-publishing process from his perspective. So, if you found this post interesting, you might want to check out his site, too.

Lessons learned:

• Rudiments of the Pen Tool and some keyboard shortcuts.
• Regarding the printer, get everything in writing. Send “just to confirm the details of our recent conversation” emails after every phone call.
• Do not sneer at self-published books. If Leland had gone the traditional route (he didn’t even consider it) there is no way he would have had this level of control over the finished product.