Roseanne Baxter Frank, "O'Win and the Moon" (Wonder House Books, 2025)

Summary

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New Books Network: Interview with Frederica Ablank on "O'Win and the Moon" by Roseanne Baxter Frank (Wonder House Books, 2025)

Date: October 1, 2025
Host: Mel Rosenberg (Children’s Literature Channel, New Books Network)
Guest: Frederica Ablank (Illustrator of "O'Win and the Moon")

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Episode Overview

This engaging episode explores the creation of the newly released children’s book O’Win and the Moon, written by Roseanne Baxter Frank and illustrated by Frederica Ablank, published by Wonder House Books in 2025. Host Mel Rosenberg interviews Ablank about her illustration journey, the challenges and serendipity behind the book deal, contrasts between European and North American publishing, her process as a professional illustrator, and her advice for aspiring artists. The episode also showcases Ablank’s work on other projects, her creative background, and some delightful tangents about earthworms, whimsical animals, and the world of children’s literature.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Origin & Journey of "O'Win and the Moon"

• Serendipitous Beginnings:
  • The author, Roseanne Baxter Frank, reached out to Frederica Ablank on Instagram, inspired by Ablank’s “moon phase” art.
  • Initial publisher went out of business, leading the project to be pitched at the Bologna Book Fair through a friendly industry introduction.
  • Wonder House Books ultimately picked up the project, smoothing out production and allowing the creative team to realize the vision.
  • Quote:
    • “We started trying to make it years ago... The author actually approached me through Instagram.” (Frederica Ablank, 03:24)
• Pitching at Book Fairs:
  • Networking and persistence are crucial. The book was pitched with completed sketches (not full color spreads) thanks to an introduction by a mutual connection.
  • Quote:
    • "A friend of mine... just took me along and said, just go and pitch it." (Ablank, 05:50)

2. Book Content, Art, and Educational Features

• Poetic & Lyrical Narrative:
  • The story follows Owen and the moon, written with poetic language.
  • Read Aloud Sample:
    • “Long before stories and song, when the sea and sky were stitched together at the horizon, a boy lived among the towering alder trees.” (Ablank, 06:53)
• Interactive Artwork:
  • Engaging illustrations include playful page layouts (like turning the book upside-down) and visuals relating to lunar phenomena.
  • The story educates about lunar eclipses and constellations, with fun DIY activities for kids.
    • “There’s actually a little part at the end of the book that tells children about what a lunar eclipse is...” (Ablank, 08:45)

3. Industry Insights: Differences Between Europe & North America

• Collaboration Models:
  • In Europe, direct author-illustrator collaboration is more common, often leading to selling projects as a complete package. In North America, illustrators are usually found by the agent or publisher, and authors rarely bring illustrators in.
    • “Especially in North America, you do not usually bring an illustrator with you to the agent or the publisher.” (Rosenberg, 10:34)
    • “Sometimes you just have to dare and follow the feeling...” (Ablank, 10:15)
• Pitching Unconventionally Can Work:
  • Despite standard advice, breaking the rules with persistence and belief in the project can succeed.

4. Other Recent Work: Earthworms and Goofy Dogs

• Earthworm Book (German Publication):
  • Authored by Kai Lüftner, inspired by Ablank’s Instagram art.
  • The collaboration began spontaneously, with text delivered within 24 hours.
    • “He got so inspired in that moment that it just sort of came out of him like an explosion.” (Ablank, 13:10)
  • Focuses on environmental sustainability, published by Karma, a vegan-certified, eco-conscious house.
• Two Goofy Dogs (Self-published in English):
  • Author Daniel Morford found Ablank on Instagram. The book encourages dog adoption (“adopt, don’t shop”).
    • “Every time you talk about money ... most of them disappear again. They don’t anticipate that they need to pay someone...” (Ablank, 17:22)
    • Morford demonstrates proactive self-publishing, organizing readings and bookstore events.

5. Career Path & Family Influence

• Artistic Heritage:
  • Raised by two illustrators and a journalist, Ablank initially resisted the family path but eventually embraced illustration after studying in England and Germany.
    • “My mom always said, if you want to be an illustrator, you have to be obsessed and you have to draw all the time. And I took that to heart.” (Ablank, 23:32)
• Breaking In:
  • Avisit to the Bologna Book Fair led to her first children's book contract with Wow. Books Publishing in Hamburg—a result of showing up, being persistent, and seizing opportunities.

6. Process and Artistic Practice

• Media and Workflow:
  • Analog sketching for personal work; digital media (Photoshop) for professional commissions due to ease of corrections and delivery.
  • Combination of daily drawing (for social media or warmup) and project work.
    • “If you trained well ... even if you have a slow and bad day, you will manage to get going.” (Ablank, 31:15)

7. AI and Illustration: Hopes and Concerns

• AI as a Threat:
  • Cites contemporary debate: AI is more a “service” than a “tool,” with outputs being unpredictable, energy-consuming, and uncontrollable.
    • “I’m not a fan... and I’m truly hoping that it’s not going to threaten us too much. But I think it’s in the process of doing that...” (Ablank, 34:02)
  • Some worry among illustrators about diminishing job opportunities.

8. Advice to Aspiring Illustrators

• Persistence and Passion:
  • “If you want to be an illustrator, you have to draw all the time. You have to become very good ... don’t let them scare you. Keep coming back, keep showing your work...” (Ablank quoting her mother, 35:59)
• Create Your Own Opportunities:
  • When not given projects, invent your own. Show up at book fairs, maintain visibility with publishers.

9. Looking Ahead: Authorship and New Projects

• Transition to Writing:
  • Ablank is now drafting her own children’s stories, hoping for publication soon—including a submission to the beloved Pixie book series.
    • “It’s been a wish sitting deep down somewhere in me for a long, long time...” (Ablank, 29:10)
• Next Animal Subjects:
  • Potentially rats or naked mole rats!

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On the book journey’s ups and downs:
  • “We were already sad and disappointed and didn’t know what to do... and then we got the job, we got the contract, and everything went super smooth.” (Ablank, 04:45–05:10)
• On illustrating while ill:
  • “I had the flu. So I would pop a fever pill, and when the fever went down, I would go to work and draw more earthworm.” (Ablank, 15:53)
• On direct collaboration:
  • “He asked me, so when are we doing a book together? And I said, right now, if you want.” (Ablank, 11:37)
• On artistic commitment:
  • “You have to become obsessed and keep drawing.” (Ablank’s mother, relayed at 23:32 & 35:59)
• On the emotional depth in German children’s books:
  • “I illustrated a book about a kid that has a very, very sick dad. And it made me cry while I read it ... but in the end, all is well.” (Ablank, 26:49)
• On conquering self-doubt as a writer:
  • “Every time I read a good kids book, I think I can’t do it anyway. But now I have two stories.” (Ablank, 29:10)

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Timestamps for Notable Segments

• 03:24: How the author found the illustrator and the story’s initial struggles
• 05:50: Book fair pitching: securing the publisher and contract
• 06:53: Reading from O’Win and the Moon
• 08:45: Educational backmatter and lunar phenomena
• 10:15: Taking risks and breaking the “rules” in publishing
• 13:10: Earthworm book inspiration and rapid author collaboration
• 15:53: Illustration marathon while sick
• 17:22: Self-publishing and the economics of illustration
• 23:32: Family wisdom about obsession and practice
• 31:15: Creative routines and digital workflows
• 34:02: AI, the black box, and industry anxieties
• 35:59: The core advice for aspiring illustrators
• 29:10: The leap to authorship and hopes for Pixie book publication

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Conclusion

The episode is a warm, insightful, and practical conversation about making picture books—tracing the intricate path from inspiration to publication in the global children's literature industry. Frederica Ablank's journey is marked by adaptability, resilience, and love for the medium, confirming that—in children's publishing—talent, hard work, and persistence can sometimes override rulebooks and market conventions.

Those interested in illustration, writing children's books, or understanding cross-cultural differences in publishing will find this episode rich in encouragement and practical wisdom.

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Transcript

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[Marshall Po]

Hello everybody, this is Marshall Po. I'm the founder and editor of the New Books Network. And if you're listening to this, you know that the NBN is the largest academic podcast network in the world. We reach a worldwide audience of 2 million people. You may have a podcast or you may be thinking about starting a podcast. As you probably know, there are challenges basically of two kinds. One is technical. There are things you have to know in order to get your podcast produced and distributed. And the second is, and this is the biggest problem, you need to get an audience. Building an audience in podcasting is the hardest thing to do today. With this in mind, mind, we at the NBM have started a service called NBN Productions. What we do is help you create a podcast, produce your podcast, distribute your podcast and we host your podcast. Most importantly, what we do is we distribute your podcast to the NBN audience. We've done this many times with many academic podcasts and we would like to help you. If you would be interested in talking to us about how we can help you with your podcast, please contact us. Just go to the front page of the New Books Network and you will see a link to NBN Productions. Click that, fill out the form and we can talk. Welcome, welcome to the New Books Network.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Hello and a very good afternoon. So I'm going to introduce myself. I'm Mel Rosenberg and I am the host of the Children's Literature Channel of the New Books Network. And that's why I'm here. I get to interview splendid creatives such as Rike again, Federike Ablank. And you're in Berlin?

[Frederica Ablank]

Hi, Mel, Yes. I'm Friedrica Abbla. Pronounce that perfectly. Thank you very much for having me. It's quite a pleasure.

[Mel Rosenberg]

It's quite pleasure for me and I will admit that for me it's a triple pleasure because we've spoken and you're a wonderful human being. And because I do not interview enough European creatives, and I don't interview enough illustrators. And we're going to talk today about some of your books and some of your artwork, and we'll talk about how you reached your position of creating so many illustrations for so many children's books, and perhaps maybe what the differences are between Europe and North America, for example, in the children's publishing world. So, first of all, let's show a couple of your most recent books. You have one in English that came out with Wonderhouse Books, based in India.

[Frederica Ablank]

Look, it even has gold on it.

[Mel Rosenberg]

It's a very valuable book.

[Frederica Ablank]

Absolutely.

[Mel Rosenberg]

So a few words about this book, yourself as the illustrator and the author, and how it happened. It's out this year and tell us about it, Rike.

[Frederica Ablank]

Yes. Well, this book actually has quite a fun story because we started trying to make it years ago. The author actually approached me through Instagram, and at the time I had been drawing a lot of illustrations about the moon. I had a phase, a moon phase, if you will, practicing, like, shadow moon phase.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Oh, my goodness. The real real.

[Frederica Ablank]

But I didn't have. I didn't howl at night, but. So she wrote to me asking if I would be interested to illustrate her book, because she had written a book about the moon and a little boy named Owen. And I was like, yeah, sure, of course she had a publisher and everything. I got a very long contract that was very complicated for me to read because it was in English, actually had to ask for help. And just when I had signed it, the publisher went out of business because the publisher herself, the lady who was the owner, went so ill that she couldn't continue working. So we were already sad and disappointed and didn't know what to do. And we entered it into the Searchlight Award and actually got shortlisted but didn't win. So sad again. And, oh, what are we going to do? So I said, why don't I pitch the book at a book fair? I go to Frankfurt every year and I go to Bologna every year. So I brought it with me because we had the sketches, we had the text, everything was there, easy to pitch. And a friend of mine introduced me to wonderhouse publisher and they were interested. They told me, please have the author tell us all about it and the background and we'll think about it. And a month later, we got the job, we got the contract and everything went super smooth. My husband did the layout, the illustrations came naturally, we were well prepared. And here it is. I'm very happy about this.

[Mel Rosenberg]

That's a gorgeous story. So it happened in Because I'm angry with you now because I go to Bologna Book Fair and I'm not sure I knew you last year, but we have to meet in April.

[Frederica Ablank]

We will. I'm there. Can't wait.

[Mel Rosenberg]

You made this deal in Bologna or in Frankfurt?

[Frederica Ablank]

In Bologna.

[Mel Rosenberg]

In Bologna. It's a great place.

[Frederica Ablank]

Yay, Bologna. Best book fair ever.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Yeah, but tell me something, because in Bologna, usually you have to have meetings. You have to meet people and set up meetings. So did you set meetings up with publishers or you just walked in and say, oh, hi, Marie, here's my book?

[Frederica Ablank]

Well, in this case, actually, a friend of mine who's already working with Wonderhouse just took me along and said, just go and pitch it. And she approached the lady that she was already working with and said, can we please. Could you, you know, spare five minutes for her? And I could tell it was not really a good time. The lady was extremely busy. And it's like, I'm sorry, I really don't want to interrupt your day. She's like, no, no, sit down. Do it quickly. We can do this. She's very open minded. And right away it clicked. I told her the story, she was interested, and bada boom, there it is. Yeah. I'm very grateful.

[Mel Rosenberg]

So I know that you can write the story, a few words about the author, and maybe read a little to us and show us some of your magnificent artwork.

[Frederica Ablank]

So the name of the author is Roseanne Baxter Frank. I believe she lives in New Jersey. She's a very kind lady. I haven't actually met her. We've only been writing to each other. We never even zooed so far. We should.

[Mel Rosenberg]

It has to come to Bologna. Yeah, for sure.

[Frederica Ablank]

Ah, that would be brilliant. I'd love to. Nietzsche. So it is about a local boy named Owen. And the story starts with a beautiful sentence. The whole book is very poetic. I love it. Long before stories and song, when the sea and sky were stitched together at the horizon, a boy lived among the towering alder trees. So it's the first double page I know. Can you see it?

[Mel Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Frederica Ablank]

At night, the sky was as dark as the ocean depths, both appearing as one, until. Hello, my moon. Hello, my moon. Owen would say as she rose, moon was an impish thing. She played hide and seek, darting in and out among the trees, and peekaboo. Showing only a bit of her shining face, or sometimes more. But moon always lit the night for Owen.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Wow. Beautiful.

[Frederica Ablank]

And then one day.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Show us some more. Enough of the reading. Show us some more of your gorgeous artwork here.

[Frederica Ablank]

So One day, something worrisome happens and Owen is not happy, and he goes to find help. This is very dark. I'm not sure you can see. But he finds Bear. It asks him to help, and of course, Bear is willing. At this point, the book is turned upside down. You know, they'll play for, ooh, change. Bear is willing to help and goes up on the tallest, tallest tree, tries to reach moon to help, and becomes a constellation. And so it goes on. Owen keeps asking for help, and everyone's willing to help, and it becomes a constellation and can't tell you the end because you need to buy it again. But essentially, essentially, it's about a lunar eclipse, which we just had here a week ago, which was great to see. And there's actually a little part at the end of the book that tells children about what a lunar eclipse is, is what constellations are, and actually gives little ideas how to build your own constellation.

[Mel Rosenberg]

It's incredible. So, Rika, I want to understand, you did these illustrations, what, under contract with the first publisher?

[Frederica Ablank]

No, no, that never worked out. That publisher doesn't exist anymore. It is with Wonderhouse.

[Mel Rosenberg]

No. So when you pitched it without the illustrations, you pitched it to what?

[Frederica Ablank]

No, we have sketches already. I get a few sketches.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Okay, so, like, it was on spec. It was on spec.

[Frederica Ablank]

You.

[Mel Rosenberg]

You had like one, let's say one spread, one colored spread and sketches. And. And that's exactly so. So. So Wonderhouse, they paid you for the. For the illustrations? Yeah, brilliant.

[Frederica Ablank]

Well, the, you know, the usual how it goes, you get a little advance and then you get percentages off the sales. That's how it goes, I believe, with North American books as well. Right?

[Mel Rosenberg]

Yes, but I'm not in North America and I'm not an illustrator. But yes, I think that that's how it goes. But what I want to remark on is that we teach. Don't find an illustrator for your book. Find an agent, find a publisher. And very often people do things wrong and it turns out right.

[Frederica Ablank]

Yes. Sometimes you just have to dare and follow the feeling of, this is, okay, I can do this. Let's just try. I mean, the worst thing that could have happened is that they said, no, we're not interested, and then I would have kept searching.

[Mel Rosenberg]

No, no, we teach our authors, don't find an illustrator and examine. She went out and she found you.

[Frederica Ablank]

Yeah.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Especially in North America. You do not usually bring an illustrator with you to the agent or the publisher. I mean, I did because my book was published in Israel, so it already had the gorgeous illustrations. And they bought it together. I think they bought it mostly because of the gorgeous illustrations, but it's unusual. And here also, you sold the book, complete with story and illustration. And that's interesting and something we should think about. You have a gorgeous book out, just out in German, with earthworms, of all things.

[Frederica Ablank]

Oh, yeah.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Is this a German thing to write books about earthworms? Because. Oh, no, they're relatively rare in North America. I've been trying to wrap my mind around an earthworm story for a long time, but if I get it. If I. If I get it right, you're the illustrator.

[Frederica Ablank]

Thank you. I love drawing earthworms. That's actually how this book happened as well, because after the moon phase, I had a chicken phase, and then I had a worm face. And the author had seen my worms on Instagram as well. He's a German author, quite popular here. And we got in touch, actually, through a different project and got to talking. And then he asked me, so when are we doing a book together? And I said, right now, if you want. How about chickens? He was like, yeah, chickens. He's done. I'm like, how about earthworms? Yeah, like your earthworms. And so we had this idea.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Hold on, hold on a second. Who said, let's do chickens, you or him?

[Frederica Ablank]

I did. I said, let's do chickens. But he had just a lot of chickens, apparently. I'm not sure about that.

[Mel Rosenberg]

That's the opposite of North America, of the earthwork. Oh, okay. In North America, usually the author says, let's do a book about chickens. And you, the author, let's do a book. So is everything backwards in Germany?

[Frederica Ablank]

Yeah.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Did you propose to your husband? What's going on here?

[Frederica Ablank]

Well, I had him make proposals. Proposed to me. Yeah. Actually, I had to ask for it. It's funny that you're asking that.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Yeah, it just. It just, you know, it just hit me or something. So. So you said the chicken. And he said, no, nine. And. And. And you said, well, how about earthworms? And he said, yeah. So did he write a story about earthworms or he just happened to have an earthworm story to show you?

[Frederica Ablank]

He's actually quite a miracle writer because we hatched this idea together that he should start with one earthworm and then, you know, build up. First it's just one earthworm, then it's two, then it's five, then it's a hundred, then it's millions. And after the idea was born, he came back to me 24 hours later. And the thing was, Done. And it's in rhyme form. I was so surprised and amazed what he did there. But I think he got so inspired in that moment that it just sort of came out of him like an explosion. It was amazing. So I did a little title illustration. He got in touch with the publisher. He has an agent, and there was. Sometimes you need a little luck.

[Mel Rosenberg]

It's incredible, and it's actually very encouraging. So he is an author with an agent who reached out to you as an illustrator without. This is not the way things happen in America. So I'm delighted to be interviewing you. So all the people in America, you should realize that the world is not exactly the same as you are in Europe. Strange things can happen. Earthworms can turn into marvelous children's books. Authors can ask illustrators and then contact the agent of the publisher. This is really, really different. So show us some of your gorgeous earthworms. It's almost a contradiction in terms, but I'm sure your earthworms are gorgeous.

[Frederica Ablank]

They are. Well, it starts off blue, and then it becomes bright yellow, which I love. It was publisher's idea.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Show us the end paper again. I love it. I don't understand illustration, but the negative space here is fantastic, isn't it?

[Frederica Ablank]

Yeah. They did a great job layouting the.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Frederica Ablank]

So here we have our first group of earthworms. And then. I should have mentioned this author, too. It's Kai Luftner. He's an amazing guy. And there's the first.

[Mel Rosenberg]

We never get people to read children's books in German. Can you read us a page or two?

[Frederica Ablank]

Sure. All right.

[Mel Rosenberg]

And if you make a mistake, I'm not incorrect.

[Frederica Ablank]

You. Okay. And there we have more. And I'm going to show you when there's men.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Oh, wow. I love this.

[Frederica Ablank]

This is what we call a Wimmel bit is where a lot of stuff happens. Many, many, many, many things. Women is like in German. And I have never done a book like this before. It was quite exciting and quite. I had no idea how much work it would be when I started this. And I was actually really ill at the time. I had the flu. So I would pop a fever pill, and when the fever went down, I would go to work and draw more earthworm.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Wow.

[Frederica Ablank]

Because I had a deadline and it sort of kept my head occupied and away from feeling sick. So, yeah, here it is. Lots and lots and lots of earthworms.

[Mel Rosenberg]

So which publisher is this?

[Frederica Ablank]

They're called Karma. Can you see it?

[Mel Rosenberg]

We will go visit them in Bologna in April.

[Frederica Ablank]

Sure.

[Mel Rosenberg]

I will congratulate them on choosing you as an illustrator.

[Frederica Ablank]

Thank you. You're too fine. They're actually great. There are a publishing house that watches up very much what paper they use, what glue they use. No animals will be killed in the process. They're vegan certified and really mind the environment.

[Mel Rosenberg]

And no earthworms will be used for fishing or other purposes.

[Frederica Ablank]

Absolutely.

[Mel Rosenberg]

So now show us one more book and then we'll talk about your own life and career.

[Frederica Ablank]

Sure. I can show you another English book that also has a funny story.

[Mel Rosenberg]

You get to decide, you know, it's your show. Two Goofy Dogs.

[Frederica Ablank]

Two Goofy Dogs by Daniel Morford. He also is an author who contacted me through Instagram. And I get a lot of people asking, could you illustrate my book? I wrote this and that. But every time you talk about money because you have to get paid for drawing, most of them disappear again. They don't anticipate that they need to pay someone to work for them, apparently. But Denver was like, of course. Of course I have to pay you. And he actually self published this book and it's the story of his own dog that he adopted. So he's saying a dog don't shop. Rescue dogs. And this whole book is about one dog getting a body and a dog getting rescued. It's also in rhino form. And I loved working on this book because I actually got to draw Denver's family and Denver's dogs. And I met him after we'd done the book because I went to the United States on vacation and he invited me to his home very graciously and very generously. We spent the night there. It was wonderful. Great family, great dog. It's wonderful to meet him. Here's where they actually meet for the first time.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Lovely.

[Frederica Ablank]

Yeah, yeah. And I applaud him for self publishing because I think it's very difficult to actually get proper sales going. And he is full on in it. He's going to bookstores, doing readings and signings. Really, really good. Man.

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[Frederica Ablank]

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Prices and participation may vary. I. I caution people that self publishing is a very slippery slope. Very hard to get the books right and very hard to to sell them. How many. How many books have you done so far, Rike?

[Frederica Ablank]

Children's books? Approximately 25, 26. And school books? I can't count as the whole basement. 4.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Okay, so tell me now something about your career. How did you get started? It's very difficult to break in. You and I have been to Bologna and there's a wall of illustrations of young people who are talented but haven't broken in, haven't found publishers, haven't found deals. And you did. And you've illustrated so many gorgeous books. How did that happen?

[Frederica Ablank]

Thank you. Well, I grew up in an illustrator's household. My mom and my stepdad were both illustrators when I was little. My dad is a journalist, so I always had that writing influence as well. And because, you know, when you're young and a teenager, I always said, not what my parents are doing. I want to do something completely different. I'm not doing what you're doing. I'm going to go work for Greenpeace and chain myself to oil tankers and help the world save the world. But I always drew. I never stopped doing that, even though I said I wouldn't want to do it as a professional.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Even while you were oil tanker with your middle age?

[Frederica Ablank]

Yes, I had a sketchbook. No, that never actually worked out because for a couple of reasons, I didn't do very well on my final exam in biology. So that didn't work out. And I was like, oh, my God, what am I gonna do? Shatter dream now?

[Mel Rosenberg]

That was a good thing because I became a professor of biology and I never did the exam, so I don't know what's better. And I always wanted to write children's books. So anyway, we're going to continue now. So you examine biology, and then you said, you know what?

[Frederica Ablank]

I'm going to go be an au pair. I'm going to be an au pair in England, you know, kill some time, find myself and reroute. And in England, I met my friend Mala, who now is a very good illustrator herself. Maybe could interview her at one point. And she. And she said, after the first year was over, being an au pair, hey, I'm going to apply for foundation class in art. Why don't you join me? And I was allowed to move in with her au pair family. They had a big house and I could work there and for that get housing and food and I could study. At the time, Britain had a lot of awards and you could do it for free, basically. So I stayed another year, did the foundation class and thought I was going to be a photographer because I loved doing it. I loved the darkroom, I loved going around shooting photos. But when I got back to Berlin and I did a whole year of being an assistant, I realized it's a really tough job and you need a lot of elbows and you need a lot of startup capital and as an even tighter market than the illustrator market. So I thought, okay, let's start with the basics and study communications design at a regular art school. And then you can be a designer, layout or whatever, and we'll see what happens. And somehow I ended up being an illustrator. I always drew. And I realized during my studies that this is what I love doing. I wasn't very good for the longest time, but I sort of kept doing it. My mom always said, if you want to be an illustrator, you have to be obsessed and you have to draw all the time. And I took that to heart and I did it. I practiced and practiced and practiced, and I looked at other people's work and learned from that and asked for advice and asked for mentoring. And so I got my foot in the door with the school books, which is just as hard as kids books, I think, but maybe slightly easier, I don't know. But I ended up there and I worked in that industry a lot for a long time, still do, and I love it. But I felt I need a wider range of projects because Schoolbook is very limited. You have to draw exactly what they tell you to draw most of the time, especially when it's math or science. And anywhere you really have to show what is going on. The kids need to understand what they have to do. So I went to Bologna for the very first time and there was a publisher who, for some reason, there was no illustrator shorting portfolio, even though they were open for it. So I sat myself down, had a wonderful conversation with the actual boss, office publisher, and I think three Months later, I had my first job.

[Mel Rosenberg]

You're allowed to say which publisher.

[Frederica Ablank]

You know, it's the. It's. Wow. Books publishing. They're in Hamburg, Germany, and they actually translated this book too. And you can buy it in English as well. It's a Norwegian author, Marianne Karin. She won a huge prize in Germany with this book. It's wonderful. I highly recommend it. And I've. I think I've done five books with these people now. It's a very nice publisher. Get along very well. The great people. Yeah. So now I'm very, very happy and very lucky about how it worked out in Vienni. Yeah. Now I have both. I have school book and kids books. And it's a nice. It's good to have both. It's nice to sometimes just work by script and. And do it correctly. And sometimes to be free is a very happy process as well. So the two together, I feel that's the best way for me.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Rija, when you get the manuscript, do you have to fall in love with it before you illustrate it?

[Frederica Ablank]

I don't know so far. I always have, so I can't say what would happen if I didn't. I mean, of course there are more inspiring texts, and then sometimes they're a little less, because maybe they're for smaller kids and I find them endearing, but maybe it's not really my cup of tea. But so far I have never had a bad text, so I was always happy to illustrate them. I love doing it.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Is there some German? I mean, so much of the history of children's literature are stories from Germany. Not always happiest of ending children's stories, but you have so many in the classic literature, so many titles and stories. Does this somehow infuse German children's literature? Is there some kind of difference between books for kids in Germany and books for kids elsewhere?

[Frederica Ablank]

It could be that the majority of publishers these days are aiming more for happy, easy books, more colorful, just perky, happy little things. But every once in a while there will be a really deep and possibly sad story. But I think they all end well. I illustrated a book about a kid that has a very, very sick dad. And it made me cry while I read it. I was so, so sad for that kid. But in the end, all is well. So I think they're off this bad ending thing now. Most of them are happy, at least as far as I know. But yeah, there are. Most books that I know are just perky.

[Mel Rosenberg]

What about books that are whimsical, like Mo Willems or Like, I want my hat back. John Classen. What about whimsical books that don't necessarily.

[Frederica Ablank]

These are whimsical books. Yeah, yeah, yeah, now that you mention it. Oh, there's a. There, there are quite a few, actually. There's a one publisher that is quite specialized actually on them and they're. They're wonderful books also with very whimsical illustrations. It's great stuff. I'll. I'll show you at some point. I don't have them here right now, but yeah, I'll tell you more about it.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Did you illustrate it?

[Frederica Ablank]

No, no, unfortunately not. Oh, that would be lovely.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Well, we have. What? Well, you know, I'll write a whimsical story for you anytime. What animals are you doing these days? I mean, chickens you've done, earthworms, you've done. What's the next. The next animal for you? And I'll write something.

[Frederica Ablank]

The next. Ooh, ooh. How about a rat or a mole?

[Mel Rosenberg]

A rat.

[Frederica Ablank]

Or actually, do you know naked moles? Do you know naked mole rats? The really naked ones that can. That, you know, make huge tunnel empires and can't get cancer and have a matriarchy. That would be fantastic.

[Mel Rosenberg]

The ones that have to wear thick glasses.

[Frederica Ablank]

I don't know, we should see maybe some of them.

[Mel Rosenberg]

We have what to talk about. And you told me a secret which I'm going to tell everybody, which is that happens in the show all the time. You should never tell me secrets. That although you haven't published any books, that you've written children's books, you're working on one or two.

[Frederica Ablank]

Yes, yes, I would love to write. It's been a wish sitting deep down somewhere in me for a long, long time. But every time I read a good kids book, I think I can't do it anyway. But now I have two stories. Well, you never be intimidated. Well, you never know. And there are really, really good authors out there. But I have written two, and one I'm actually going to discuss at the book fair with two publishers and one is on a pile with a publisher to be examined properly and possibly published. Fingers crossed. That'd be so wonderful. There's a publisher. I don't know. Have you heard of pixie books? They're really small books and they only cost €1. So it's usually like when you want to get a kid a really cool gift, you give them a urine. So you can choose a Pixie book. And there are those big baskets in the bookstores here where they can dig around and Find the one that they want and only have to pay one urine and have a whole book. And I've written one of those and I'm really hoping, because I would love to have my own Pixie book at some point.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Of course, the royalties and the advances are a little lower than the normal ones.

[Frederica Ablank]

What you mean the fee? What? I get what I get paid.

[Mel Rosenberg]

But yeah, and the royalties, you know.

[Frederica Ablank]

Oh, with the Pixie books, it's actually you get. You get paid and then only if another edition comes out, then you get paid again. There's no interest for those because they're.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Pixie books and Pixie royalties also.

[Frederica Ablank]

But they're still great. I love the concept and the publisher is great.

[Mel Rosenberg]

So I think that that would be fantastic.

[Frederica Ablank]

Thank you.

[Mel Rosenberg]

And so what, talk about your styles. What do you use, your method, do you draw every day? You need to have a muse. You need certain light. Do you have your preferred crayons? I don't know anything about this, but I'm just going to say something for the illustrators.

[Frederica Ablank]

Well, I think illustrators all have good and bad grades. But if you trained well and you've done this for a long time, then even if you have a slow and bad day, you will manage to get going. You will get the rock rolling somehow, either by going for a walk in the morning or a jog, or just dance in your kitchen like crazy and just get loose or draw for social media, do something that I draw. I sometimes just draw what I want to draw with a pencil or with ink or watercolors, whatever I feel like. And then I'm ready to go and actually work on what I have to work on. And that I do digitally because it's much easier for everybody with corrections. And also the whole sending mail is difficult stuff gets lost. And so I've specialized on digital artwork for publishers. And there I use Photoshop like most people. So a lot of people use Procreate or Photoshop. Some affinity, some. The Japanese one that I can't think of right now. Clip, studio, paint. And I've tried them all. But Photoshop is my thing. I love it. I have a big fat digital drawing tablet that is also at an angle, so my neck stayed straight because when I still worked in watercolor, I had the worst neck problems for the longest time. So I'm sitting up right now. I'm drawing like this. It's a lot of fun. There's no more eraser crumbs everywhere. It helps. And the publishers are usually great for if you send them digital stuff I know that there are people that are really, really good at imitating analog materials like watercolor or crayons and stuff. I don't think I'm one of those that do a great job at imitating, but I think I'm doing okay in the material that I use. But I do admire someone who works in gouache or watercolor well, because it is such a fickle material. You have to be so precise and you have to exactly know what you're doing. I just saw originals yesterday by a colleague who I admire and I was just gobsing like how beautiful they were. And you have an original piece of art that you can hang on the wall. It's not a print. And of course, if I had more time, and if I had the time to really work my way into this again, I would love to do it. But for the time being, I'm very happy with working digitally.

[Mel Rosenberg]

So watercolor is for fun and digital for commerce, the profession.

[Frederica Ablank]

Yeah, exactly. It does take time.

[Mel Rosenberg]

This is segues to the next question, which is, to what extent are illustrators threatened now by AI?

[Frederica Ablank]

That's an excellent question. I just listened to a podcast, a very good German podcast by Franziska Walter, who makes excellent content for anybody in the field, and she was just talking to Tim Waifenbach about AI, and he says it is not a tool, it is a service. And we should not confuse those two. It is a black box, something that you cannot control with what you do. You can only try and retry, and it will not. Nothing will come out at the end that you specifically wanted. You just have. It's so much chance. Also, of course, you have the whole problem of using up way too much energy. And I. I'm not a fan. Let's just sum it up. I'm not a fan and I'm truly hoping that it's not going to threaten us too much. But I think it's in the process of doing that, from what I hear, people are worried and people not getting as many jobs. I personally cannot say anything about it yet. I'm only hearing things. So I'm still at the point of forming opinions about how much threat there is. It does worry me though, from what I hear. I hope publishers will not jump on that horse.

[Mel Rosenberg]

I'm with you, dear. And now I guess my last question is, what advice do you have for the up and coming illustrators? What is the. Because, you know, you're one. I don't know if you're one in a million, but you're certainly One in several thousand of talented illustrators that found your way into this wonderful genre. Wonderful. I call it a calling. For me, picture books are like a religion and you found your way. You're a rabbi in the synagogue of picture books or a minister, if you like. What is your best advice to young illustrators coming up the ranks?

[Frederica Ablank]

I think I would quote my mom saying, if you want to be an illustrator, you have to draw all the time. You have to become very good and then don't let them scare you. Keep coming back, keep showing your work, be present, keep coming up with your own stories if you have to. If they don't give you projects, create them for yourself and keep showing them. Keep going to the book fairs, keep sending emails, keep sending postcards. Remind them that you're there. Show them how good you are. And if you're good, because you draw all the time, they will see you.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Okay, So I hope that lots of people are going to see this wonderful interview and listen to the wonderful podcast. And please keep an eye out for Marike's books. Her full name is Frederica Ablank and she's in Europe, India, America, and soon to conquer the rest of the world. Enrique. So what I want you to do is the last advice you gave for up and coming illustrators. I want you to look at that yourself as an up and coming author.

[Frederica Ablank]

Okay, thank you.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Because that would. That would be the same advice. I mean, you know, I'll just say that we are so intimidated, you know, oh, I will never be able to do this and I will never. But if you persevere, it can happen and it can happen to anybody. It can happen to anywhere. It can happen at any age. And you just have to really stick with it. And we are going to chase everybody away and have our own little talk. And I'm very grateful to Tom Tucker who introduced us.

[Frederica Ablank]

Hi, Tom.

[Mel Rosenberg]

Hi, Tom. And V. Gates. Tom and Tom. You know, I once gave a talk about barking and he was my. He played the role of the dog in my talk and he did such a good job that we remain friends since. And we bark at each other, but in a good way. And incredibly, he introduced me to you. So this has been wonderful. I'm going to restate that. I am Mel Rosenberg, the host of the Children's Literature Channel of the New Books Network, and I've been here with the incredible Frederica, celebrating a couple of grand books, including the. I have here Owen and the Moon. Now's a good time to show everybody with the golden bust cover Yay of Wonderhouse this year and your earthworm great earthworm book, which is called Das Crassus. The Here der Erde. Now you can pronounce very clearly.

[Frederica Ablank]

Oh, really? Yeah, Very good Tass.

[Mel Rosenberg]

It must be the Yiddish. Anyway, Ricky, thanks so much. It was great. It was great interviewing you. And who knows the naked mole rat. Naked mole rat. Moles with a mole on his nose. That may be our breakthrough story together.

[Frederica Ablank]

Great. Can't wait. Bye, everyone.