The Squirrels are Coming!

Posted on September 22, 2017 by Catherine Austen

Wonderful news: When the Squirrels Stole my Sister, my upcoming picture book with Fitzhenry & Whiteside, is going to be illustrated by Patricia Storms. 🙂

Patricia is an accomplished author/illustrator well-known in the Canadian kidlit scene. Her illustrations range from super-adorable to just-a-little-creepy (intentionally so, of course!) — which makes it totally exciting to know that she’ll be bringing my story to life, because I have no idea what kind of pictures she’ll create to do it.

Will my clever little squirrels be diabolically drawn? Or will their cunning natures be hidden behind sweet furry faces with just a glint in the eye? I can’t wait to find out.

But wait I will have to, because it takes a while to illustrate a book. I don’t have a firm publication date just yet, but it’s in the works. (A little girl with a big bag of peanuts has no idea what’s coming.) I’ll announce more here as the book develops.

In the meantime, check out the recently published books in Fitzhenry & Whiteside’s Fall 2017 catalogue.

And check out this week’s CBC radio stories about a baby squirrel rescue and a red squirrel study. Or just step outside, if you live most anywhere other than the poles, and you can probably find a busy squirrel to study yourself. They are certainly active this time of year, making their plans for winter….

For now, here’s an assortment of Patricia’s book covers: Never Let You Go, written and illustrated by Patricia Storms (Scholastic); The Pirate and the Penguin, written and illustrated by Patricia Storms (Owlkids Books); and 13 Ghosts of Halloween, written by Robin Muller and illustrated by Patricia Storms (Scholastic):

That’s all from me for this Friday.

(I write that as if I’d blogged last Friday instead of, oh, two months ago. I always intend to write again the following week but alas, I’ve been busy with my amateur squirrel studies. I’ll try to pop in a bit more often, and maybe even write a fable.)

Have a great weekend.