Happy Thursday Critters! Today we have an interview with author Brooke Hartman, whose second picture book just released this past October. I’m thrilled to have Brooke with us today and I can’t wait for you all to see her new incredibly beautiful book, Lotte’s Magical Paper Puppets: The Woman Behind the First Animated Feature Film, illustrated by Kathryn Carr, with Page Street Kids.
As an illustrator working in cut paper, I’m completely head over heels for this book— the art is absolutely stunning and the text is lovely and lyrical. It takes the idea of a picture book biography to a whole new level. When I first came across the book I had no idea that Brooke and I were repped by the same agent— a lovely coincidence! This book is magical— opening it you’ll feel as though you’ve been transported into Lotte’s world. It’s truly incredible.
So without further ado, please welcome Brooke Hartman!
Where do you live?
Chugiak, Alaska
How many years have you been in publishing?
My first book came out in 2019, but I’ve been writing as a “serious hobby” since 2002!
How did you first get published?
Like so many published books out there, my first picture book had a vastly different path to publication than my others. Though I’ve been working on various manuscripts for over a decade, including YA Fantasy, Science Fiction, and of course picture books, my first contract took me by surprise. I was introduced to Alaskan artist Evon Zerbetz (www.EvonZerbetz.com) who works in linocut art and has done a myriad of work throughout Alaska and elsewhere. I thought one of her public art installations reminded me a lot of a poem that I’d written as a “side of a side” project years before, so I showed the poem to her. She did some mock-up sketches of what the illustrations for this poem might look like, I revised some of the stanzas, we submitted them to a publisher… and the rest is history! Dream Flights on Arctic Nights was released in February 2019 through West Margin Press. I have to be careful telling this story to folks looking to have their picture book published, though, because as you probably know, it is NOT typical to collaborate with an illustrator beforehand. This publication was entirely serendipitous.
Do you write full-time?
I mom full time, lol, though I also have a part-time job as the community education director for a behavioral health treatment center (TMS Center of Alaska).
What inspires you to create picture books?
My kids, and my wacky imagination. I was that teenager who was petrified to try drugs because, if my brain could think of stuff this weird when I wasn’t high, I was afraid of what might happen if I ever was!
What surprised you the most working as an author?
Edits. SO. MANY. EDITS. To anyone who thinks that when you sign with an editor your manuscript is done, I have bad news for you. I’ve only worked with an editor on four picture book texts so far, but each of them had at least a dozen edits on top of the already two dozen you’ve done just to get to that point. And these are picture book texts! We’re talking less than 600 words, to begin with.
What is your favorite thing about being an author?
There’s something so completely satisfying about seeing your story rewritten and perfected and then paired with amazing illustrations until it becomes this beautiful thing you can’t even believe you helped create.
What do you find difficult working as an author?
Back to that whole “edits” thing. 90% of the time, I agree with what an editor is suggesting, or at least the idea they’re suggesting if not the actual execution of it. But occasionally there’s some dichotomy on what you envision vs. what the editor envisions, and that can be frustrating. The biggest advice I try to give myself when this happens is to take a “brush my teeth” moment on it. Let those comments simmer. If I still don’t agree with them a day or two later, formulate an alternate solution that might serve as a compromise, or compose a firm-but-kind way to explain why you think the text is stronger as is.
What do you do to shake the rust off or get new ideas?
I honestly have never had to look for new ideas. I have so many picture book and novel ideas stacked up at any given moment, it’s all I can do to carve out enough time just to put a handful of them to paper. Are all of those ideas awesome and should be a book? Nope! But at least they’re ideas.
Anything you are habitual about when it comes to creativity?
I like alone time without kids to write, which usually means seeking out a coffee shop. Some people can tune out household hustle and bustle while they write, but I’m 100% the default parent for my kids, which makes it hard for me to just ignore everything going on around me. Plus, when I’m home, I’m constantly making someone a meal or snack. I swear my kids have tapeworms.
Can you share a positive experience you’ve had in the Kid Lit community?
I owe every last bit of me being published to the KidLit community. I went to my first SCBWI Conference (SCBWI Western Washington) in 2011, which was mind-blowing. Then I attended a local conference in 2012, where I met my critique group that’s still going strong to this day. The group has lost a few due members to attrition over the years, but there are still five of us, and we meet every single Monday night!
Recommended reading?
Anything in the genre you’re trying to publish in. For me, that’s picture books and YA Fantasy. Just within those two genres, my recommendations could go for days. But here are just a few:
YA Fantasy: Anything by Maggie Stiefvater, Neal Shusterman, or Melissa Meyer.
Picture Books: Anything by Mo Willems, Josh Funk, or Ryan T. Higgins
What has been the highlight of your career thus far?
My first book received a starred review from Kirkus, which was a fun surprise. Since then, the highlights have been stumbling over random mentions of your book on sites or YouTube channels you never knew about. Or hearing from someone that their child / grandchild / friend’s child absolutely LOVES your book and has to have it read to them every single night. Those are the best.
What is something you wish someone had told you when you first started writing?
Join SCBWI this very second.
Can you tell us about your newest book?
My newest book was another surprise for me. I was on Facebook one day and stumbled across a short but lovely YouTube biography on Lotte Reiniger, the woman who pioneered shadow puppet cinematography and created the first full length feature film over a decade before anyone even heard of Walt Disney. I was blown away. Her work was not only groundbreaking, it was gorgeous! I was absolutely smitten with this lesser-known hero of cinema history. My brain drummed up this stanza:
Long before a cartoon mouse,
Or Snow White swept a little house,
There was a girl named Charlotte.
Everyone called her Lotte.
Interior art from LOTTE’S MAGICAL PAPER PUPPETS: THE WOMAN BEHIND THE FIRST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM by Brooke Hartman, illustrated by Kathryn Carr, published by Page Street Kids
That stanza began my picture book biography on Lotte Reiniger. I was agentless at the time, but PitchWars came up, and I pitched it. Editor Courtney Burke of Page Street Kids liked my tweet. She’d been a film major in college, and even she had never heard of Lotte Reiniger! Courtney worked her magic on my text with many more revisions (all the edits!) and found the most perfect illustrator anyone could imagine for this project, Kathryn Carr, who works solely in shadow puppet illustration (www.GoCarrGo.com). The result was Lotte’s Magical Paper Puppets, the Woman Behind the First Animated Feature Film, which released this October from Page Street Kids.
Interior art from LOTTE’S MAGICAL PAPER PUPPETS: THE WOMAN BEHIND THE FIRST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM by Brooke Hartman, illustrated by Kathryn Carr, published by Page Street Kids
What’s up next for you?
I have more contracted projects with Page Street Kids, West Margin Press, and Innovation Press, all picture books. My amazing agent, Clelia Gore of Martin Literary Management, has a couple other picture books out on sub right now, with a few others we’re polishing in the meantime.
Anything else you’d like to share with aspiring authors and illustrators?
Read a TON in your genre. Get a critique group, find beta readers, and go to conferences—either in person or online! Soak up all that info and feedback, but then force yourself to actually write and submit.
And last, but not least, favorite 80s movie?
Oh man, this is a tough one. But I think it’s a hard tie between Labyrinth and The Last Unicorn.
Huge thank you to Brooke for stopping by Critter Lit today! Congrats on your wonderful books— we can’t wait to see what you come out with next!
BROOKE HARTMAN is an Alaskan mom and award winning author of silly, serious, and sometimes strange stories for children and young adults. Forthcoming titles include Klyde the Kraken Wants a Friend (2020, Innovation Press), Pega Sisters! (2022, Page Street Kids), and The Littlest Airplane (2022, WestMargin Press). When she isn’t writing, you can find her fishing, flying, and having fun with her family, enjoying all the magic Alaska life has to offer.
FOR MORE INFORMATION about Brooke or her work, visit her online, or follow her on social media:
Twitter: @BrookesBooksAK
ORDER THIS BOOK To order a copy of LOTTE’S MAGICAL PAPER PUPPETS: THE WOMAN BEHIND THE FIRST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM, click here.
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