GrC 462 Senior Project: Creating a Children’s Book Process Book By Sarah Hughes June 2020
Table of Contents About Me 2 Abstract 3 Problem Statement 4 Project Scope & Objectives 5 Project Limitations & Risks 7 Research 8 Work Breakdown Structure 13 Gantt Chart 14 Project Execution Process 15 Results 22 Project Reflection 27 Works Cited 30
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About Me Sarah Hughes is a graduating Graphic Communication major concentrating in Management and minoring in Integrated Marketing Communications at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Sarah has significant work experience in people and project management. She will be pursuing a full-time career in project management postgraduation in San Francisco, CA.
About Me
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Abstract The focus for my GRC 462 Senior Project, is to write, design, and illustrate a children’s book, titled My Mom Makes French Toast with Chopsticks, a story about a young biracial character learning to understand and accept her ethnic background. The book will represent a unique and authentic experience that contributes to increasing diverse racial representation in children’s literature. Throughout the quarter, I documented the progress of the project and utilized different project management tools to ensure its success.
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Abstract
Problem Statement “Books in the Mixed Race In/Visibility category depicted stereotypical experiences and provided little or no opportunity for critique of racism. Mixed Race Blending books featured characters whose mixed-race identity was descriptive but not functional in their lives. Mixed Race Awareness books represented a range of possible life experiences for biracial characters who responded to social discomfort about their racial identity in complex and credible ways.” (Chaudri & Teale, 2013). The problem is there is a lack of intersectional and diverse racial representation and experiences in children’s literature. The final project is purposed to create a contribution to the solution to this problem by writing, designing, and illustrating a children’s book that comprehensively represents an intersectional multiracial (bi-racial) experience.
Problem Statement
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Project Scope & Objectives Write, design, and illustrate a children’s book that comprehensively represents an intersectional multiracial (bi-racial) experience while working towards personal and professional objectives. My Mom Makes French Toast with Chopsticks is about a young, half-Korean, half-White girl learning to understand and accept her multiracial background.
Self-Improvement Objectives: Design • Learn and apply professional and proper book design skills. • Learn how to design children’s picture books. • Apply and research accessibility standards. Research & Development • Research the problem before writing, designing, and illustrating. • Learn more about the importance of multi-racial representation and where there is need in children’s literature. Writing • Research writing processes for children’s literature. • Properly outline the story and ensure each line holds importance to the story. • Follow up writing drafts with professionals that work with children (like teachers).
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Project Scope & Objectives
Professional Objectives Audience and Market Research • Professionally, I would like to improve my marketing skills, specifically conducting audience and market research. A product must be market driven otherwise it won’t succeed. • Research the audience and ensure they will be receptive to the final drafts by having them read the book and provide feedback. Project Management & Organization • Create a plan outlined with deadlines for myself via calendar. • Use the class syllabus as a guideline. • Plan meetings with collaborators per deadlines. Communication & Being Receptive to Constructive Feedback • Document feedback, research ways to apply the feedback, and follow up with results. • Present final result by showcasing a comprehensive look into the research and process.
Project Scope & Objectives
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Project Limitations & Risks Time I’m concerned about finishing the illustration on time. I will be working with two other people to accomplish the illustration portion. This quarter is only nine weeks rather than ten. I think writing and illustrating a whole children’s book would have been difficult even in ten weeks. Printing It is unlikely that I’ll be able to print the final book. I’ll distribute it via PDF and Issuu (online publishing site).
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Project Limitations & Risks
Research Resources: I found a variety of resources (#1-#5) that include articles and journals that critically analyze the importance of multicultural children’s literature. #6-#10 are websites that have tips on how to design and write a children’s book. Since I am unable to go to the library and look at physical children’s books, something I originally planned on doing before the current situation, I tried to find websites with examples as well (see #9). I think the articles, journals, and few examples I found will help me discover the limitations. I tried researching children’s books that cover Asian American multicultural experiences and I could not find any – this is a limitation. Chaudhri, A., & Teale, W. (2013). Stories of Multiracial Experiences in Literature for Children, Ages 9–14. Children’s Literature in Education, 44(4), 359-376. • Summary: “This study analyzed 90 realistic novels written and published in the United States between the years 2000 and 2010 and featuring mixed race characters. The researchers examined specific textual features of these works of contemporary and historical fiction and employed Critical Race Theory tocontextualize the books within paradigms about multiracial identity. Findings indicated three broad trends in representations of mixed race identity with an almost equal number of novels falling among three descriptive categories. Books in the Mixed Race In/Visibility category depicted stereotypical experiences and provided little or no opportunity for critique of racism. Mixed Race Blending books featured characters whose mixed race identity was descriptive but Research
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not functional in their lives. Mixed Race Awareness books represented a range of possible life experiences for biracial characters who responded to social discomfort about their racial identity in complex and credible ways. This study has implications for research and pedagogy in the fields of education and children’s literature as they expand to become more inclusive of this type of diversity.” • Strengths: This article applies “Critical Race Theory” (“CRT is based on the notion that racism is ubiquitous and must be revealed as such”) during its discussion and study of multiracial experiences in literature. This was my first introduction to “Critical Race Theory” and is the reason why I cite this source in my problem statement. • “It sought to understand the nature of multiracial representation in the literature with respect to dominant ideological perspectives about mixed race identity. The study was guided by the question: what is current children’s literature aimed at 9–14 year-olds saying about the experience of being mixed race?” • A major strength of this article is that it studies published works and what they are saying about the experience of being mixed race. Understanding the critical analyses of these works will guide me in the topics I would like to cover and my book’s main themes based on where the need is (if the need appropriately applies). • Weaknesses: This article doesn’t have weaknesses, but rather exposes the weaknesses and reasoning for creating more 9
Research
literary works with a multicultural theme. “In general, the body of research in multicultural literature makes only sporadic or tangential mention of mixed race issues.” • “Additional information about context included characters’ socioeconomic circumstances, family structures and the racial and ethnic makeup of their environments. These features were studied because race and class are intricately connected factors in North American society and tend to bear significantly on identity construction. Family and community influences are integral to how children understand their identities. A salient finding about family situations was that in almost half of the books one or both biological parents were absent, dead, or basically uninvolved in the their children’s lives. Solitary protagonists are common in children’s literature and support an individualistic ideology, so this finding was perhaps not surprising. However, interracial relationships described as failing because of “racial incompatibility” echo and sustain segregationist notions. Biracial characters either speculated about the notion that racial or cultural differences were the likely reason that their biological parents were not together or were directly told so.” • It’s important that I do not make any segregationist notions in my writing, often a weakness in multiracial literature. The experience of my protagonist must be unique and not stereotypical.
Research
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Examples of Illustrated Children’s Books (www.millcitypress. net/author-learning-hub/childrens-books/exampleschildrens-books/) • Summary: 4 examples of illustrated children’s books. Each book has a very different illustration style. • Strengths: There is a lot of room for creativity when it comes to children’s books. A strength I’d like to adopt is artistic typography that goes beyond plain black horizontal type. The example Evan Meets Bucky Lee features drawing bubbles rather than full-bleed drawing. I think this type of drawing may be beneficial to adopt because it will be easier and focus on details of the story. • Weaknesses: I find brighter colors and childlike drawings more appealing and easier to look at than the darker and more saturated colors. I also dislike the mature drawings with hard details of the characters. I want my book to contain serious and important topics, but I want the children to have fun reading it.
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Research
“Children’s literature continues to misrepresent underrepresented communities, and we wanted this infographic to show not just the low quantity of existing literature, but also the inaccuracy and uneven quality of some of those books,” Dahlen wrote. • To create the infographic below, Dahlen and Huyck used data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC), which has been compiling statistics on diversity in U.S. children’s books since 1985. • Of the 3,134 children’s books they reviewed in 2018, just 23, or one per cent, depicted Indigenous characters. Five per cent of the pics depicted LatinX characters, seven per cent had Asian Pacific Islander/Asian Pacific American characters, and 10 per cent had African/African American characters.
Research
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Work Breakdown Structure
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Work Breakdown Structure
Gantt Chart
Gantt Chart
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Project Execution Process Phase 1: Research In-depth research was conducted before writing, designing, and illustrating to learn more about the importance of multi-racial representation in media. In addition to researching multi-racial experiences in media, I researched children’s book design and writing. See “Research” for significant findings.
Phase 2: Writing Before I began writing, I had the title, My Mom Makes French Toast with Chopsticks, finalized. I knew the story would be about growing up bi-racially, but I did not know what would happen in the story yet. I struggled with this for about two weeks, until I decided to do a free writing exercise. While free writing, I recalled various childhood memories that I felt contributed to my identity formation and association with Korean culture. See below for samples from my free writing exercise.
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Project Execution Process
After I completed the free writing exercise, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. Originally, I had planned to create a full storyboard, but instead I summarized the story on a Google Doc. I split up the writing by pages and shared this Google Doc with my illustrator so she could use it as a guide. I also shared this Google Doc with people I thought would provide good feedback. See below for an example.
Phase 3: Illustrating Before my illustrator began drawing and sketching, we met multiple times to talk about how I wanted the style of the illustrations to be. I looked to Pinterest and published children’s books for inspiration. The illustrator is my sister which helped the project’s success because she was easily able to envision aspects of my childhood. The illustrator used traditional Korean Folk Art (Minhwa) and the artist Kim Hyun Jung as inspiration. See below for examples. Project Execution Process
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(Minhwa)
(Kim Hyun Jung)
(Minhwa)
I knew I wanted the art to not be full bleed, but rather glimpses into the story. I wanted to put emphasis on specific aspects of the visual story that personally stood out to me.
(Example/Inspiration)
(My Mom Makes French Toast with Chopsticks)
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Project Execution Process
At the beginning stages of this project, I originally planned for the illustrations to be full color. I realized around the halfway point that this was unrealistic to do in ten weeks. Instead, I intentionally colored only aspects of the illustrations. I brought the sketches into Adobe Illustrator, image traced or pen tooled them, and then filled the paths. I plan to work with illustrator to make the drawings more detailed after this project is completed.
Project Execution Process
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Illustrator Storyboards
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Project Execution Process
Phase 4: Design To begin the design phase, I needed to look at publishing standards for children’s books. The book size was finalized at 10x8 inches. I built the book in Adobe InDesign. I utlized master pages and paragraph styles for consistency. The final page count of the book was 32 pages, an industry standard due to binding and signatures. The structure of the book is: • Cover Page • End Pages (Glued to front and Back) • Copyright Page • Dedication Page • 24 Story Pages • End Page/Back While designing, I realized it would have been more efficient to create the file earlier on in the project. This way, I could give the dimensions to the illustrator and see how much copy landed on each page.
Project Execution Process
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Phase 5: Output Unfortunately, I was unable to print and bind a physical copy of the book due to no access to the Cal Poly Graphic Arts building, so I published the final pdf of the book on Issuu, a free digital publishing platform. The digital book can be found at: https://issuu.com/sarahhughes/docs/mymommakesfrenchtoastwithchopsticks_draft1
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Project Execution Process
Results
Results
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Results
Results
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Results
Results
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Project Reflection As I near the end of completing my senior project: writing, designing, and illustrating a children’s book, it is important to analyze what went well and what could go better. Reflecting on the successes and what could be improved will help me understand how to better manage projects in the future. Working on this project showed me the importance of having clear expectations and deadlines for myself. Using a Gantt chart and Work Breakdown Structure was extremely helpful in planning how and when the project would be completed and what needed to be done for it to be successful. I didn’t face any major challenges other than time, as expected, but what I felt went successfully, I still think could be improved in some way. Time feels like my greatest challenge, because I know there is room for improvement.
What Went Well Writing I have never written a children’s book before and I didn’t know where to begin other than doing minor “How to Write a Children’s Book” research. However, I knew what I wanted to write I couldn’t Google. I thought it would be best to storyboard to ensure there was a beginning, climax, and end, but that didn’t work either. Instead, I did a free writing exercise where I wrote down memories from my childhood since the main character and I share similarities. Through free writing, I began to remember different aspects of my childhood that affected my identity. From free writing, I moved to writing a summary of the story, to writing each page. 27
Project Reflection
Research Researching racial representation and misrepresentation in children’s literature was fascinating. It solidified my own personal feelings towards racial representation in media, or a lack thereof. Working with the Illustrator Before I started my project, I was unsure of who to pick as my illustrator. I considered my roommate, a talented digital and watercolor artist, but after talking to my sister, I knew it would be best to use an illustrator that would best understand my vision. My sister was the best choice because she could often visualize the same imagery I was thinking of since we experienced what the main character was experiencing in reality. My sister also has a better understanding of traditional Korean art than I do. We wanted to take inspiration from traditional Korean art and incorporate it into the illustration. In addition to sharing the same visual ideation, we also experienced personal growth and fulfillment. Reflecting on our own experiences related to our ethnic background was cathartic.
What Could Have Gone Better Completion of Illustrations I knew creating 17 pages of full spread, quality, industry-level illustrations would be challenging. To mitigate this challenge, I’ve accepted the illustrations will likely be black and white or sketchlevel. My sister and I have both agreed that we want to continue to work on this project beyond the due date. The less-detailed illustrations will still contribute to the story and enhance it visually. The illustrations could have gone better if I had written the story Project Reflection
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sooner, but I don’t think the quality of the story would have been the same. I also think I could have been more proactive about setting up clear deadlines for my sister to complete portions of the illustrations. Implementation of Research Much of the research I conducted was critical analyses of diverse racial representation in children’s literature. It helped guide me in what to not include in the story, but there was so much research on what we needed to see more of. There isn’t much I could have improved on here, but I did learn from this challenge. I learned that it would be impossible to solve the problem of misrepresentation in one book. It has to just be a contribution to the greater solution to this problem. Receiving Feedback I’ve sought feedback from people close to me, especially my sister, a children’s school teacher, but I regret not seeking more feedback from people outside of my circle. I think I still have time to do this for my writing, but I think it is too late for the illustrations.
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Project Reflection
Works Cited Chaudhri, A., & Teale, W. (2013). Stories of Multiracial Experiences in Literature for Children, Ages 9–14. Children’s Literature in Education, 44(4), 359-376. Huyck, David and Sarah Park Dahlen. (2019 June 19). Diversity in Children’s Books 2018. sarahpark.com blog. Created in consultation with Edith Campbell, Molly Beth Griffin, K. T. Horning, Debbie Reese, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, and Madeline Tyner, with statistics compiled by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison: http://ccbc.education. wisc.edu/books/pcstats.asp. Retrieved from https://readingspark. wordpress.com/2019/06/19/picture-this-diversity-in-childrensbooks-2018-infographic/
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