Social Media for Everyone!

It's time for a quick social media round up. If you love Twitter, follow @ScarlettaPress and @Scarletta_Kids for tons of bookish fun and news. Twitter not your style? Like us on Facebook. And if you're more into images, well there's always Pinterest. We have 24 boards and thinking of new ones every day. For audio excerpts, activity videos, puppet shows, music, and more, go to our YouTube channel.

We really have something for everyone, so click on any of the links below and find a new way to connect with us!

1. Scarletta Twitter
2. Scarletta Kids Twitter
3. Facebook
4. Pinterest
5. YouTube

Katie and Aaron DeYoe: Illustrator Interview

Katie and Aaron DeYoe are probably the cutest pair of redheads you'll ever meet, not to mention incredibly talented illustrators. They met while studying graphic design at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and though they are both full-time graphic designers, they spend most of their free time drawing, doodling, painting, and printing. They also enjoy riding their serendipitously matching red Schwinns around Minneapolis.

We took a bit of time to chat with Aaron about their work on The Mighty Quinn, out in May from Scarletta Junior Readers, and how it's been working as a duo.

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1. The Mighty Quinn is the first book that you’ve illustrated together. How has the experience been so far?

Really good! We have discovered that our process is mostly switching between art director and illustrator. Sometimes I will have a vision for a particular illustration that I know Katie can execute better than me...and vice versa.

2. What have you enjoyed most about it?

Discovering how we work as a team. A long-term goal of ours is work collaboratively full time, and this project is helping us discover what that will be like.

3. Have their been unexpected challenges?

We set high expectations for ourselves, and struggle with that sometimes. Otherwise, nothing too unexpected.

4. Where did the style for the drawings come from? Is it a combination of your personal styles or does it lean toward one of your personal styles?

A lot of the "body language" that the characters convey in the illustrations are products of Katie's expertise. I will try to simplify her sketches down into hard, minimal lines. We tag-team a lot of the details and usually art direct each other.

6. What is your process for creating the illustrations? And what medium do you use?

We've Got a New Website!

It's the first day of November, and with the new month, not only are we beginning our reading period but we're proud to announce that we have a new website! Have you seen it? It features a running slide of new and upcoming books, imprint pages, author pages, press rooms for all your media needs, and even an online store so you can buy our books directly from us. Pretty neat, huh?

When we were thinking of how to redesign our site, we wanted to make sure that the spirit of who we are as a publisher stayed intact. But we've also grown a lot in the past few years--expanding the number of books we publish and expanding into the children's and junior reader's markets--and we wanted our new website to reflect our new direction.

Another big change is that we've created new logos. We wanted to rebrand ourselves to reflect how we've changed as a publisher. And in the next few days, you'll see our social media sites change to connect them with our new look. Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, and even this blog will use the new logos and colors to create a cohesive identity that is Scarletta.  Check 'em out:

 

So if you haven't already, go to the new and improved www.scarlettapress.com, and let us know what you think of our new look!

Middle Grade or YA? A Mother Writes for Advanced Readers

When your first grader (or third grader) gobbles up Harry Potter, what’s next? When your eager reader begins to look past the chapter book section in the library to the middle-grade section and beyond, how should you steer that child? In a society that pushes early sexualization of children and treats tweens as consumers controlling parent purse strings, is it possible to help children grow their brains without cutting short their childhoods?

Twin Cities Book Festival 2012

First was Heartland Fall Forum, and then last Saturday, we hauled all of our books to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in  St. Paul for Rain Taxi Review's annual Twin Cities Book Festival.

This year was a little different as the festival wasn't held downtown at MCTC, but that just meant more space and WAY better parking. The weather ended up being pretty dreary, but the atmosphere inside was full of energy and excitement. Between the people stopping by our booth to buy books and the children in the children's pavilion across from us running around with painted faces and masks, it was a fun--and busy--day. Here are some of the pictures we managed to take throughout the day:

The sea of people browsing

Heartland Fall Forum - in Pictures

The end of last week was the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association's regional trade show, Heartland Fall Forum, and as it was right here in our backyard. This year was the first year that MIBA partnered with the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association (GLIBA) to hold one trade show for the twelve-state region, making it a pretty huge event.

We spent all day Friday in the exhibit hall, talking to booksellers, librarians, fellow publishers, and even the occasional student. It was a great day, and we enjoyed every minute of it. The Midwest is truly full of passionate book lovers, and we're happy to be a part of it.

So, without further ado, here are some of the pictures we took of the exhibit floor and our table.

Our table

Banned Books Week: Highlights

American Library Association’s 30th annual Banned Books Week is quickly coming to an end, and everywhere we turn, there are discussions and opinions on challenged books.
According to ALA, “Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read....it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.
We, at Scarletta Press, think it is important to support the written word and people’s right to choose what they will and will not read. After all, if you don’t agree with a book, you don’t need to read it. That doesn’t mean that other people shouldn’t be allowed to.
So to celebrate the right to read, we thought we’d put together a list of some of the highlights of Banned Book Week so far from across the internet. Feel free to share your own links, photos, or personal stories below. We want to know what things you’re enjoying this week.
First off, here is a highlighted list from ALA of the most often challenged titles. Some of them may surprise you.

1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker