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INTERVIEW with Award Winning Author Sherri L. Smith: New Book Alert! Candace, The Universe, and Everything

By on October 13, 2026   /   Articles   /   Leave a comment

You probably already know Sherri L. Smith. She has written scores of books, most of which  have been selected for various “it book” lists including JLG Best Books For Children. Sherri’s book The Blossom and the Firefly was the Golden Kite winner, and Flygirl was the California Book Award Gold Medalist. So when I had the chance to interview her about her beautiful new book, Candace, the Universe, and Everything, I was over the moon. The book is a touching, generational book that will be perfect for moms and daughters to share. It mixes science and fantasy seamlessly.  Sherri and her work are inspirational.

Sherri, the book connected with me on so many different levels. As a middle aged woman trying to figure it all out…and as a mom watching my own 13 year old deal with similar issues, this book really speaks to girls and women. Thank you for a book I can read with my daughter! 

  1. In today’s society, the importance of science and the strength and voices of women, especially women of color, are being silenced. The book is skillfully written as a thoughtful yet complex middle grade book, while still giving voice to the voiceless. When you were working on the manuscript, was this your intent? 

I knew from the beginning that this would be a multigeneration book building on the idea that we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.  I think it’s important to recognize how we are uplifted, and who we can uplift in return.  It’s how humans grow, even when the noise of the world would say different.

  1. A wormhole in a school locker is such a wild idea. How did it come to you?

Who doesn’t love a surprise portal to another place?  Narnia is the ultimate, but since I was a kid I was curious about (and sometimes terrified of) hidden doors.  And lockers are the least intriguing, most commonplace doors we open a million times in school without ever going through (barring a bully coming along), so it just made sense.

  1. The three characters and their gifts: Candace is an artist, Tracy is a writer who becomes a scientist, Loretta is a scientist who becomes a writer. I love the connection with Window in the Sky.  I love that it was made into a bad movie. 

Ha ha!  It happens all the time, doesn’t it?  And yet a book being made into a movie is seen as a sign of success.  I mean, I wouldn’t knock it!  But hopefully it lets moviegoers discover the books, too.

Weaving a story and mixing up the timelines must have been very complicated. How did you manage to weave it all together so seamlessly? 

If it’s seamless, we have to thank my editor, Stephanie Pitts, who has wrangled me through several woven timeline books by now.  I knew from the start that the story would take place mostly in Candace’s timeline, but I think it’s really interesting to see how people become who they are as adults.  It’s not a perspective you get to have that often when you are young.  So looking for key instances in Tracey and Loretta’s lives was the starting point.  And then creating snippets from Loretta’s book, Window in the Sky, that resonated with their storylines came next.  There was some back and forth and tears over it all before it was done, but it sounds like it works!

  1. Tracy’s friend tells her she’s a bad writer. Have you ever had a moment where you almost gave up? 

A moment?  Let’s say moments, multiple times, sometimes in just trying to get the words right, or finish, or figure out what’s next, quitting is always a handy option, but not one I’ve ever taken.  Simply because I know in a day or a week or a few minutes, I’ll just keep writing anyway.  So you might as well stay the course.  That said, I’ve learned that there are great writers, and writers who are learning.  Even the greats are still learning.  So if someone tells you your work is no good, ask for constructive, not destructive, criticism.  If they can’t give useful feedback, move on and get back to work.

  1. Was there another version to the ending of the book? Did you always want Candace to go through? 

What a good question!  Without giving too much away, I’ll say I tend to protect my protagonists in early drafts.  I love Candace and wanted her to stay safe.  I also didn’t want her modeling reckless behavior.  But a dear friend who is also a brilliant writer pointed out it was the biggest question in the book.  And books can go where we can’t, so why not let them?  It reminded me that where we feel resistance in our writing is usually where we need to go.  That’s where the story is waiting. 

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Under the Mike-croscope: Illustrator-Author Katya Tabakh

By on October 9, 2026   /   Articles, Author Interviews, books, kidlit  

I first crossed paths with Katya Tabakh on Instagram and fell in love with her art and her illustration skills. As a follower and participant of the Instagram Book Series Challenge, the pieces from Katya caught my eye immediately. I was completely blown away by her Alice in Wonderland illustrations, one of which was selected for the Children’s Market category of Illustration West 63, an exhibition organized by the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles. 

Her Alice in Wonderland series of pieces are a fresh and fantastic interpretation of a classic story that is familiar in both story and visuals. It is an honor to host Katya for a From the Mixed-Up Files…of Middle-Grade Authors interview and have the chance to take a closer look at her wonderful illustration work.

 

Alice in Wonderland. Watercolors, color pencils

Katya, welcome and thank you for being our guest today. Can you give us a glimpse into your origin story and background as a creator?

I am a San Francisco-based artist, children’s book illustrator, and author (this title I am still getting used to). I was born and raised in Moscow, Russia, and moved to the U.S. in the mid-1990s. I got a degree in theatrical set design, but then learned traditional drawn animation and worked as an animator here and there for a while. However, when traditional animation jobs gradually started moving overseas, I ultimately decided to devote myself fully to the art of bookmaking.

 

When did art first show up in your life?

I grew up in an artistic family, surrounded by my parents’ brushes and paints – the smells, the textures, and the sound of a pencil on paper. So I didn’t think much about choosing my career path and went straight to art school.

 

WIND IN THE WILLOWS, Procreate, watercolor textures

 

Did you have a support structure for your talent and interests when you were young?

Being an artist’s child gives you one benefit: unlike many other parents who think art is just a hobby and their child should get “a real job,” my parents were very supportive and encouraging.

At the same time, they were very busy with their own projects and very successful in their endeavors, so they didn’t bother to give their child any formal art lessons. That’s why, even after graduating from art school, I felt like an impostor for many years. It only went away recently. 🙂

What is your formal training in art?

I graduated from the famous Moscow Art Theater School with an MA in Theatrical Set Design. Can we also consider years of working in traditional drawn animation as formal art training? There were hours and hours of drawing and redrawing characters in different poses. 🙂

Can you share some of your art and cultural influences?

Frankly, there are too many. I am lucky that I was taught art and art history, which “calibrated” my eye for good visual art.

There are artists I keep returning to when I’m looking for answers to my questions. I have three fine art books on my desk right now: Bruegel, Paul Klee, and contemporary Russian illustrator and painter Evgeny Revyakov.

When did narrative illustration blossom and take hold in your creative life?

I got my first book illustration offer out of nowhere – and it was for a Japanese publisher’s YA edition of Chekhov. I ended up making three books with them. It was the most liberating project I had ever done at that point.

Pivoting from animation to book illustration gave me much more freedom, because as an animator, you need to adapt to the very different artistic visions of art directors. I now illustrate children’s books for all ages, from toddlers to young adult readers.

 

WIND IN THE WILLOWS, Procreate, watercolor textures

What are some of your favorite children’s books and stories?

The classics: Astrid Lindgren’s books, Winnie-the-Pooh, Mary Poppins, and Lewis Carroll’s Alice series (dah!). I can also mention a great Russian children’s book writer, Yuri Koval.

These are my favorites – the books my grandma read to me as a child and that I read to my own kids many years later.

Of all your fabulous work, my personal favorite is your Alice In Wonderland series. Can you walk us through your process on these exceptional pieces?

 

Alice in Wonderland. Watercolors, color pencils

 

Genesis of the idea.

The project itself started as a collection of drawings for a small art gallery. An artist friend asked if I could do a series of Alice in Wonderland works for their Mad Tea Party room.

The first artwork was not what you see now, but I enjoyed the process so much that it pushed me toward one of the greatest classic children’s books of all time. And I was free to draw whatever I wanted. Isn’t it fabulous?

Concept development.

Basically, I create illustrations that I would have liked to see as a child. I feel a little bit like Alice myself. Doesn’t everyone need to be Alice sometimes?

At the same time, this is probably the hardest part of every illustration project for me. Sometimes I can sit for hours and days drawing things that look like doodles. My sketchbooks are filled with these scribbles – not like the beautiful sketches I see on some artists’ Instagram accounts.

The phantasmagorical nature of the text gives an illustrator the widest range of possibilities. I think thousands of illustrations for this book have already been created. So I need to close my eyes and listen only to myself.

I can’t describe the moment when the scribbles turn into something real. I think every artist knows that feeling. It’s like the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. And then you only need to draw that butterfly on a piece of paper.

When I started this project, I knew I wanted to give Carroll’s amazing original narrative as much space as possible. I also love doing hand-lettering, so I got the idea to incorporate handwritten quotes into the illustrations. That brought me to the final concept: the text behaves as a texture and as one of the book’s characters.

Design choices.

The design I use is rather classical, although I would love to be a bit more wild sometimes.

 

Alice in Wonderland. Watercolors, color pencils

 

Execution (media, color palette, etc.)

I work on Canson Canva Artboards – pretty big ones, 12” x 16”. First, I tone the surface a little with ochre watercolor. I love the warm undertone it gives me.

The artboard’s surface is very sturdy, so I can lift that yellowish undertone with an eraser wherever I need pure white. Then I draw the design with a yellow colored pencil. I love drawing with colored pencils instead of graphite, so the final colors stay purer and more interesting.

After that, I use watercolors and finish with another layer of colored pencils. I can also add some final touches with white acrylic gouache.

By the way, you can see my whole process in this IG post:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyONmPcLzWT/

What’s your favorite subject matter or sweet spot for your illustration work?

I generally love drawing kids. Any kids – big and small. 🙂

 

Planets: Stories of Ajudaris

 

What challenges, if any, do you find in illustrating material for the older reader in the middle-grade space? Does your visual approach change with the target audience?

Of course, the visual approach changes with every book because different texts require different art concepts! I think a more mature audience demands more accurate and visually precise illustration. With younger kids, you can be more liberal and add more fantasy to the visual side of the story. The research usually takes more time in the illustration process for middle-grade and YA books.

Are there some past projects that you want to highlight?

Well, I’d like to mention not a project, but one single drawing that I did for the SCBWI Tomie dePaola Award, which brought me that national award in 2017. It was a pivotal point in my career as an illustrator. I am so fortunate that I had the opportunity to meet Tomie dePaola in person and hear his stories, humor, and enthusiasm for his craft.

 

SCBWI 2017 Tomie dePaola Illustration Award: First Snow, Tree. Watercolor and sepia pen

 

What is on the horizon for your illustration career?

I am currently quite busy with a project that is actually related to my Alice in Wonderland pilot illustrations, but it’s too early to tell you all the details. We’ll see how it goes. 🙂

Can you briefly share how you navigate the business end of your illustration practice?

I do my own projects, which usually don’t bring in much money. For everything else, I’m lucky to be represented by a literary agent.

Unfortunately, it’s virtually impossible to make ends meet solely from freelance book illustration unless you are really famous. 🙂 So, my husband and I also run a small art business: we do fine-art printing, provide children’s book publishing services, work with some art galleries, etc.

I also teach children’s art and craft classes – and enjoy it very much.

Are you available for commissions? If so, how does a prospective client contact you about a project?

Yes, I always welcome new projects and illustration opportunities. I am represented by Jen Newens at Martin-Newens Literary Management, so for inquiries, please contact her directly at Jen@MartinLit.com.

Please share your website, portfolio, and social media information so we can follow your career.

My website/portfolio is at www.KatArtist.com.

You can find me on Instagram as @katya_tabakh

Thank you for being our guest on From the Mixed-Up Files…of Middle-Grade Authors! This opportunity to learn more about you and your work has been incredible. I hope people can discover your work and enjoy it as much as I do.

The pleasure is mine! Thank you so much for this opportunity to talk about my creative endeavors.

Take care and keep creating the fabulous work you create.

Same to you, and all the best wishes to your platform and your audience!

 

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Interview with Film Nerds author Sofia Warren

By on October 8, 2026   /   Articles, Author Interviews  

I’m excited to interview Sofia Warren, the author and illustrator of the graphic novel Film Nerds, which just came out September 29. She is also a cartoonist for The New Yorker. Welcome, Sofia!

About the Book

To start, can you give us a short summary of Film Nerds?

Film Nerds is about two best friends who make movies together. There’s nothing Ami and Ivy love more than getting together and making their epic sci-fi. . . that is, until the stressors of middle school start creeping into their project. Ami is having a hard time at school, but is trying to hide this fact from Ivy: what if Ivy sees her differently, and doesn’t want to be friends anymore? Ami’s convinced that if she can just show the movie to her classmates, things will get better, but Ivy doesn’t agree. What will Ami do? Will their collaboration survive? And more importantly: will their friendship?

Who would especially enjoy this book?

Film Nerds is for creative kids— which is to say, all kids! It deals with themes of friendship, belonging, creativity, and overcoming hardship. Fans of Raina Telgemeier, Terri Libenson, and Kayla Miller will enjoy spending time with Ami and Ivy.

 

About the Author

What was your connection to cartoons and graphic novels growing up? What were some of your favorites?

I loved comics! I mostly read comic strips and syndicated cartoons, like Calvin and Hobbes, Zits, The Far Side, and For Better or For Worse. I also loved Asterix and Tintin. I didn’t really read graphic novels until after college, but once I discovered them in the library, I totally devoured them.

How did you become a cartoonist for The New Yorker? (To see some of her cartoons, check out her Instagram page).

New Yorker cartoonists (myself included) just pitch our work to the editor, and she either takes it or she doesn’t. I started submitting cartoons almost a decade ago after a friend explained the process to me, and I’ve been sending work in regularly ever since.

Tell us about the film you created as a tween: As the Moon Orbits.

I loved making movies! My two major projects were Mary-Kate and Ashley and the Sorcerer’s Scone, (a feature-length satire of Harry Potter) and As The Moon Orbits, a soap opera in which every character was played by either my friend Christen or myself. They may not be Oscar-worthy, but I learned so much and as a shy, awkward kid, I’m so grateful for the experience: making movies made me feel confident and energized. I wish I could show you a clip of these masterpieces, but sadly the soap was on a hard drive that got damaged, and I don’t want to share clips of the others without the consent of the other players.

Do you make films anymore? Have you dived into the world of animation?

I miss making movies, but I haven’t done so in a while— my main creative outlet is comics now. I did go to film school for college, and spent my first few years as an adult working on film sets (both professionally and with friends). I also worked in animation for a number of years, and still animate on occasion!

What was most relatable to me was the uncontrollable blushing—and it getting worse the more you try to stop it. Is this from personal experience? What else did you draw on to write Film Nerds?

Definitely! I was a big blusher. This book is certainly fiction, but much of it is pulled from my own experience: like Ami, making movies with my friends was my favorite thing to do, and like Ami, I was worried that I’d lose my best friend if she discovered my low standing in the popularity hierarchy. The events in the book aren’t real, but the feelings very much are.

What is something from your childhood that you snuck into the book?

I love the movie Waterworld, because it’s one of the few movies we had on VHS when I was a kid. I managed to sneak a reference to it into a fantasy sequence, and I’m very happy about that.

 

Graphic Novels

With graphic novels, it can be difficult to get the page turns to work. How did you plan the storyline with panels? What challenges did you face?

I wrote all of Film Nerds as a script first, which was broken down by panel and page. Because I’ve been making comics for a while, I had a pretty good sense of how much I could visually fit on each page before it started to feel rushed or dense. That said, I left room in the process to draw out a rough draft, and I did move things around at that stage: for instance, sometimes a particular story beat needed more space for emphasis. I drew things out in spreads, rather than pages, because I find that gives me a better overall picture of the pacing of the book.

Was it difficult to go from creating single-panel cartoons to writing a middle-grade graphic novel?

A lot of what I learned by making single-panel cartoons translates into longer-form work: drawing in a simplified style, and composing panels with an emphasis on clarity, humor, and efficient storytelling, for instance. That said, they’re very different processes. I wouldn’t say it was difficult to go from one to the other, because I’ve always worked in longer-form work alongside the cartoons, but it does require a different kind of approach with a lot more planning and less spontaneity.

I liked the use of the film strip Rovers of Time and Space and how it parallels what’s happening in the story. You ended up having to write a story within a story! Was this hard to do?

Thank you! I had a lot of fun writing the girls’ movie within the story. I wanted the stories to feel related without mapping exactly one-to-one, so I did make a chart with the big story beats to make sure they were lining up the way I wanted. Once I settled on the overall conceit of their sci-fi, I found it pretty organic to write the story for it.

 

For Teachers

Are you doing school visits related to this book?

I have a few visits planned, and would love to do more! I have different presentations and workshops planned for different age groups, which show art from the book talk about the process of making it. I’ll also be doing some comics workshops oriented for middle schoolers.

How can we learn more about you?

Thanks for asking! I’m online at sofiawarren.com and @sofiawarrenart on Instagram.

Thanks for your time, Sofia!

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