We are so excited to have Nina Laden join us today to share information about Children’s Novelty and Board Books!

Nina Laden is an award-winning, best-selling children’s book author, illustrator, and cartoonist who lives on Lummi Island, WA. The daughter of two artists, Nina grew up in the New York City area and received a BFA from Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. She has over twenty books in print, including “The Night I Followed the Dog,” “When Pigasso Met Mootisse,” and “Roberto the Insect Architect.” “Peek-A Who?” has sold over a million copies. She has a graphic essay in “Drawing Power” which has won an Eisner Award. Her most recent book is “You Are A Beautiful Beginning,” written by Nina and illustrated by Kelsey Garrity-Riley. More books are coming soon. We’re grateful to have her with us today!

I wasn’t planning to do “baby books” when I started out. My plan had been to write and illustrate picture books, and I was doing great with my early books, “The Night I Followed the Dog,” “Private I. Guana,” and “When Pigasso Met Mootisse.” Then all of my friends starting having babies, and I wanted something to give them. I didn’t like board books that were basically, “A is for Apple, B is for Ball, etc…” I wanted to create something clever and interactive- and I had no idea that I was going to accidentally come up with a million seller…

“Peek-a Who?” came out in 2000. My publisher, Chronicle Books, wasn’t really doing board books back then, but my editor liked the dummy I created for “Peek-a Who?” (more about this coming) and asked me if I could create a second book to go with it and they’d give me a contract for both. So I came up with “Ready, Set, Go!” but it wasn’t the pure idea like “Peek-a Who?” and never sold well.

Board Books are Not Simple

Kids always ask me how long it takes to write my books. Some of them take years, decades, even… but “Peek-a Who?” came to me whole, and I wrote it in twenty minutes. It is repetitive- and uses the “oo” sound. “Who, Moo, Boo, Zoo, Choo-Choo, You.” But- it builds- and it is a guessing game- as the child guesses what they are looking at through a window, and when they turn the page, there is a reveal… and the piece de resistance: on the last page there is a mylar mirror so they see themselves, Peek-a YOU! I know that children love to see themselves in the mirror- and I wanted to end the book on the child. I glued a piece of aluminum foil into the book when I submitted it- wondering if they could put in a mirror.

The Illustrations

The writing for “Peek-a Who?” was simple, but the illustrations were not. Most board books are brightly colored. Babies love bright colors and especially a lot of contrast. I was bored by just big areas of color. I wanted texture, too, so I created my own technique to fake the look of woodcut. I painted the paper black, and then painted over it, leaving outlines and little flecks to give the art energy. It became a signature look for all of my board books.

We Want Some More

My publisher wanted more novelty/board books from me after “Peek-a Who?” and I came up with “Grow Up!” which had kids guessing “little to big.” Then I did “Who Loves You, Baby?” so babies could see themselves as cute animals. “Daddy Wrong Legs” was a mash-up book with mix and match tops and bottoms. Then my editor finally convinced me to do more “Peek-a Books,” and I did four more: “Peek-a Zoo!,” “Peek-a Boo!,” Peek-a Choo-Choo!” and “Peek-a Moo!” I have a very cool interactive novelty book coming out in ’22 called “Trainbow” that is an accordion fold that teaches the colors of the rainbow and the different cars on a train.

Novelty books must engage the smallest readers, be interactive in some way, be universal and appeal to any child, and have a simple concept that is immediately understood. That’s a pretty tall order for a small book. But if you can connect with your own inner child and remember what sparked your imagination, you can create a book that you can both read and play with. That’s a good novelty book.

Thanks so much for joining us, Nina!

You can find Nina on the following:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nina.laden

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nina.laden

Her Facebook Public Page: https://www.facebook.com/NinaLadenBooks

and visit her website here: http://www.ninaladen.com