Illustration Friday - Yield

Yield a crop of pumpkins!

This is from a picture book that I illustrated called THE GOODBYE CANCER GARDEN, written by Janna Matthies. It recently won the 2011 Best English Language Children's Book at the Sharjah International Book Fair - wow! And it's also been chosen for CCBC Choices 2012: The Cooperative Children's Book Center top children's book picks for 2012. It's being translated into Arabic and Danish. I hope I get copies of those!

Cancer affects so many families these days. This is such an important, hopeful book about one family's way of responding to Mom's breast cancer recovery. What an honor to illustrate.

The Goodbye Cancer Garden

Janie spots a couple pumpkins hiding beneath elephant-ear leaves.


I'm excited to announce a picture book that I illustrated, The Goodbye Cancer Garden, is now available for pre-order from Amazon. It's written by Janna Matthies and published by Albert Whitman & Company.

In this story, Mom has cancer. When the doctor says that Mom will probably feel better by pumpkin time, the whole family decides to plant a garden. As the healthy veggies grow, Mom grows healthier too. Janna has written a beautiful story, and I pray that this book will bring hope to many families.