Time for Bed

Recently I've been working late into the night, which has reminded me of a moment I had while finishing the art for The Secret Plan.
I was up late working and didn't realize that I had used up all the sheets of paper on the pad that I'd been painting on. I went ahead and started another picture... on the white cardboard backing of the empty pad.

The texture seemed different and the painting kept looking funny but it still took me a little while to realize what I had done. And in the morning I found that I had left myself a note so I wouldn't forget the benefits of sleep.

jsarconeroach.com

Hooray! I now have a website!
Thanks to Adam Kesner.

Remoras! Our Awesome Underwater Friends

Recently I've been having fun identifying some underwater creatures from scuba videos. I came across these torpedo shaped guys who were hitchhiking on a turtle. They're Remoras (or 'Sharksuckers') and they attach to other fish, turtles, whales, sharks, and rays with a 'suckerlike organ'. I think they're tremendously neat.

Beach Dinosaur

Here's a horseshoe crab from Maryland!



Did I carry it around in a chip bag until I could draw it? I might have!

And did the removal of the small monster from chip bag freak out some surrounding beach goers? yes indeed!

Interview on Book By Its Cover

Check out my interview on Julia Rothman's very awesome book site!
Many thanks to Julia for the great interview!

Library Love

The Secret Plan was lucky to have received a couple of really lovely reviews online. The library was one of my particular favorite places to be as a kid, so I get rather excited when librarians welcome and enjoy The Secret Plan!

Jennifer, the librarian of the Jean Little Library wrote:

"Just when I thought we couldn't possibly use any more bedtime stories....I discover a new one. One which we must, must, must have!
...This isn't just a soothing bedtime story, it's a story about the magical days of childhood, when just five more minutes is never enough and the simplest things are exciting and wonderful."


One by Tasha Saecker of the Menasha Public Library in Menasha, WI.

"...This is such a winning book. The four main characters are real scamps and their plans and the outcomes are deliciously naughty and very funny. I especially appreciated Milo blending in with the wallpaper by painting stripes on himself. Their disguise is equally funny with all of them working together. But it is the ending of the book that really makes it work. Instead of getting into any trouble in their late night escapade, they have a quiet time with books and a tea party in the attic. There is no parental outrage, no repercussions, just the immense pleasure of a late night with friends.

Sarcone-Roach’s art works very well here. Done in acrylic paint, the illustrations are rich, vivid and engaging. A lot of the humor here is visual, though the wry tone of voice of the text offers some of the laughs. The house that the animals share is wonderfully tippy and upright, filled with stairs. A great book to share for a bedtime story or a special late night read."

(You can read the whole review here.)

Thank you all for taking the time to read, review, (and like!) The Secret Plan.

Snowy Brooklyn

the view from the studio.

2010 UBIE Award!

Wow! The Secret Plan is the Favorite Picture Book of the Year at the University of Washington Bookstore! It's in excellent company - check out the adorable stuffed critters looming over their favorite novel of the year (and Newbery Award Winner) - Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me.

Thank you, University of Washington!
GO HUSKIES!!

Booklist Review

"Harriet, Hildy, Henry, and Milo, three kittens and a baby elephant, want nothing more than to play uninterrupted. But various nuisances continue to sidetrack them. The biggest offender is bedtime, so the friends devise a secret plan to avoid it, which doesn’t quite work out as expected but is satisfying nonetheless. This is an enjoyable, inventive offering that incorporates single- and double-page spreads focused on the activity of the four friends, as well as comic-style acryllic illustrations that include crosssections of a townhouse that allow for multiple scenes to play out at the same time. In addition, speech bubbles that indicate parents calling for the young characters literally break into the text—and, consequently, the fun—and there is a certain conspiratorial amusement as the reader or listener is allowed in on the secret plan, as long as they “don’t tell.” Charming and genuinely funny, this will appeal to a wide audience."
- Booklist

Pink Me

A super cool review by Paula Willey of Pink Me:

"Milo the little elephant has great things going on with the kids next door, three kittens named Henry, Hildy, and Harriet. They make tin-can telephones. They build a house of cards, they play forts, and they dig for treasure. But JUST when they're about to uncover the chest full of loot, something intervenes. Something parental. Curses! Just when things are getting good, it's always lunch, or dinner, or even worse - BEDTIME.

They try everything to get around it. But hiding and sneaking aren't enough. They have to come up with a special secret plan. A plan that involves the fuzzy green monster feet from Milo's Halloween costume, and the cozy attic way upstairs.

This plot is VERY appealing to little kids. It has enough tension to keep them on the edge of their seats, but no actual consequences, as befitting a picture book. The details are adorable. The illustrations slyly extend the text, adding extra humor.

The design, especially the text layout, conspires with the other elements to give us tiptoeing, frustration, and being startled. It's almost concrete poetry.

The art, in its swishiness, somehow reminds me of Good Night, Gorilla. The sweetness, and the bedtime-circumvention plot, is like that too. And when I compare a book to Good Night, Gorilla, that is some of the highest praise I know."

That's so cool! Goodnight Gorilla is one of my favorite books! Thank you Paula! And the lovely text layout and book design of The Secret Plan are due to the talented Melissa Nelson.