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HOW GURPLE AND PREEN WAS CREATED
A Guide For Young Readers
Last updated February 28, 2020
PART 1: How The Book Got Started
A few years ago, Debbie accidentally broke a crayon.
Debbie looked at the broken crayon and thought, "You never know what will come out of a broken crayon." Here is one of the drawings she did with a broken crayon early on:
Children's book author Linda Sue Park liked Debbie's broken crayon art! Linda Sue Park is the author of many wonderful books, such as:
After a conversation at the SCBWI children's book writer and illustrator conference in northern Ohio, Linda Sue and Debbie decided to make a book together.
;)
First, Linda Sue came up with a story idea. Linda Sue's biggest tip for young people who want to become writers: READ. "If you want to be a writer, you have to read a LOT. Reading is training for writers the same way that working out is training for athletes!"
Debbie loved Linda Sue's story idea, and they decided to approach Debbie's editor at Simon & Schuster, Justin Chanda:
;)
Justin wanted to publish their Broken Crayon book, hurray! And Laurent Linn was going to be the Art Director!
;)
The exciting news was announced in Publisher's Weekly:
;)
Now it was time to get to work.
Before Debbie could start working on the illustrations, Linda Sue Park worked with editor Justin Chanda to finetune the text for the story.
Linda Sue advises young writers to put writing the same compartment in their heads as sports and music; the more you practice, the better you'll get.