Even though I painted the illustrations with Mark Baral’s character design in my early reader chapter books, Bandana Acres, I wanted a different look for my first middle-grade novel, Emeline ~ A Journey, which is scheduled to come out November 1, 2020.

This new book is a Christian historical fiction book for kids from ages 8-12. Based in the year 1890, thirteen-year old Emeline promises her dying pa she will make a journey and travel alone from Kearney, Missouri to Boston, Massachusetts to meet her grandfather.

Underneath all that, it’s a story about her development of courage, self-reliance, confidence, and personal faith.

I wanted the illustrations to be traditionally drawn and painted, just like they used to be back in earlier days. When printed, these illustrations will be on glossy white inserts between deckle-edged, natural paper in the hardcover format. (Do you know what deckle-edged is?) They will be printed on the regular paper in the softcover book.

Thanks to the internet, I found Claudia Gadotti, an extremely gifted artist who can do exactly the style I was looking for. It is interesting to work with someone who lives mainly in the next calendar day and in the opposite season! Without her, I would not be where I am today with this book. Thank you, Claudia!

LET’S MEET CLAUDIA GADOTTI

1) Where were you born and raised? Where else have you lived? Please share a picture from you elementary school days and also where you live now, if you can.

“I was born in Trento, Italy. I was raised there and all my family still lives there.”

2) What traditions did you family have when you were younger? Describe them. Where did these traditions come from? What about them were special to you?

“One thing we always did was to sit at the table for lunch. In Italy, lunch was the most important meal of the day, or at least it was more than 40 years ago. Having lunch with all the family was very important, we shared plans and what happened at school in the morning.”

3) What did your family do for fun when you were younger? Why was it so enjoyable?

“We had a small house at the beach and we moved there in summer. My dad drove there for the weekend and he went back on the Sunday night or Monday morning to go back to work. It was a couple of hours drive. We loved spending the summers there; we met all the friends from the summer before and we had more freedom just because we were on holiday.”

4) What event(s) in your personal life had significant impact on who you are today?

“There were 4 children in my family, 1 boy and 3 girls. I was the middle child, born after my sister and before my brother. I was kind of the forgotten child because I wasn’t the oldest, the only boy, or the youngest. I didn’t mind. I always thought I was the most independent in my family. In fact, I’m the only one who moved away and traveled. That is something I would never change in my life. Living in different countries has taught me a lot and broadened my horizons.”

5) When and how did you know you wanted to be an artist/illustrator? What is your favorite part of being an artist? (Why do you love it?)

“I always loved books and was always good at art. I had wanted to be some type of illustrator since I was young. Actually, my parents did not want for me to become an artist. But eventually, I moved first to London for a year to learn English, and then to California. There, I was first an au pair and then a student at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco where I graduated with a BFA in art. My professional art career all started from there. I have enjoyed illustrating children’s books for 13 years now and I also teach art part-time in primary school.”

6) Will you please tell me about your family and pets?

“In Italy, we were a family of six. We always had pets; dogs and cats. My younger sister and I were always the ones who loved them, so we were the ones who took care of them mostly. Today, my husband and I live with our two dogs in New Zealand; a 10-year old miniature schnauzer name Bruno and a 3-year old cairn terrier mix named Bow. We have lived here 12 years and love it.”