Katie Woo!

Greetings from the design cube! Today I get to share with you my most favorite little character and series of books, Katie Woo. Katie is special for many reasons-she's got the sass, spunk and curiosity that makes her a great, relatable character for children.

Katie Woo is an amazing series to be working on, and my favorite part of the project (it's very difficult to pick just one!) was helping to create her outfit and look. In the beginning I had some ideas-she had to have glasses, and she must look like she picked out her own clothes to wear. From there, I let the illustrator concept how she saw Katie in her head. There were revisions of course, until we came to a version that everyone was happy with. Below is the evolution of Katie Woo:

Round 1: While cute, we were looking for something a little more funky and colorful.

Round 2: Much closer to what we had envisioned. However, we still felt like she needed something to make her 

stand out.

Round 3: Perfection! We love everything, from the cowboy boots to the turquoise glasses. She's done!

As I type this, the next set of Katie books for Spring 2010 is in the works. It was important that her look evolve a bit, something new for the new season, but still very Katie Woo. Stay tuned!

Katie has been out in the world for about a month now and people already have great things to say about her, for example:

"I stumbled across the new series, Katie Woo by Fran Manushkin, published by Picture Window Books/Capstone Books. It has me pumped!!! Kids already love Junie B. Jones for her fun and enthusiasm - I think Katie Woo has all that AND will appeal to younger kids." From In The Pages Blog, please check out the entire article!

With Fran Manushkin's excellent stories and Tammie Lyon's fabulous illustrations, Katie Woo is bound for success. I hope young readers everywhere will love her as much as I do, and that these books will spark their interest in reading that turns into a lifelong love, like Ramona Quimby did for me when I was young.

More soon!

Emily