#BookADay: WE PLANTED A TREE by Diane Muldrow and Bob Staake, advice for aspiring children's book writers and illustrators

Today's #BookADay: WE PLANTED A TREE, written by Diane Muldrow and illustrated by Bob Staake, published by Golden Books/Random House. In addition to being an author, Diane is also editorial director at Golden Books/Random House. 

I bought WE PLANTED A TREE at the 2010 SCBWI conference in Los Angeles, which was also the first conference at which I took a picture book writing workshop (taught by Diane Muldrow). It was an EXCELLENT course, and I learned a great deal. I also bought WE PLANTED A TREE and had it signed by the author:

This was also the conference where I won some awards at the SCBWI Portfolio Showcase and was offered a book illustration project by Simon & Schuster Children's and when I told Diane, she congratulated me. :-) My friend Kimberly Gee interviewed Diane Muldrow for KidLitArtists.com, and she offered useful advice for aspiring children's book writers.

Excerpt:

"I think the most common mistake is that many aspiring writers don’t write material that is very marketable. We editors are looking for manuscripts that have an interesting hook—something that we can show to our sales force and marketing people, and say, “This book is perfect for Father’s Day,” or “This book is a fresh take on the cowboy/first day of school/new friend/bedtime/etc./ theme.”

Find out more about Donalyn Miller's Summer Book-A-Day Challenge on the Nerdy Book Club site, and you can read archives of my #BookADay posts.