My Book in this VICE article

 

Here we go again, it seems that people just being who they are if that happens to be Gay, Lesbian, Queer, Trans, or gender non conforming seems to really piss White Christian families off. If not enrage them, it really fucking scares them. Check out this article about this town and how they handled books featuring queer children and Queer librarians trying to broaden the minds of local children and families. It was not cool how they essentially forced these librarians to quit. My book with. Laurin Mayeno happens to be the image featured here but really there are so many kids books featuring Black folks, people of color, queer or gender fluid characters that really scare just by existing. Smh

Article Link

After reading a few more articles it seems that the heart of this issue is that they attacked queer librarians and made them (the key holders of a variety of information, stories, and resources) feel unwelcome; not only in their job but in their town.

Daily Beast article Iowa Starting Line article

Check out this good news pertaining to the book though: Gender Nation 

One of a Kind Like Me- Audio coverage

 

Audio link

This is a short interview author Laurin Mayeno did recently to talk about our book "One of a kind, like me" or "Unico Como Yo" which Gender Nation bought along with tons of other Lgbtq / Gender fluid stories. While our book has been banned in some states, schools like Nystrom in Richmond California and in other cities are getting more thanks to Gender Nation; an organization dedicated to affirming queer kids by getting books like ours into schools.

Channel 7 article link 

If you're new to the book this is the synopsis:

Tomorrow is the school parade, and Danny knows exactly what he will be: a princess. Mommy supports him 100%, and they race to the thrift store to find his costume. It’s almost closing time – will Danny find the costume of his dreams in time?

This is the last post I made about Gender Nation who you should support! If you want to buy the book, cop it here.

Look, Listen, & Learn features "One of a Kind, Like Me"

 

Yo, me and Laurin Mayeno's book "One of a Kind, Like Me" is featured in this online TV series called "Look, Listen, & Learn" for kids created by Val Thompson-Matson. Please check it out, they have stuff about making music, visual art, exercise, and literacy!

LINK TO WATCH

More on the show: https://looklistenandlearn.org/

Cop the book from me here.

Pride & Less Prejudice -Feature

 

Shout out to these folks at Pride and Less Prejudice, they featured my book One of a Kind Like Me in their book bundle! This organization raises money to get queer books into the hands of educators looking for them. Salute to them for that and it looks like me, Blood Orange Press, and author Laurin Mayeno are in good company.

Check out the "Crayon Bundle" HERE

If you missed the last supportive post check it out. Gender Nation.

Video: Readings of Books I've worked on

One of a kind, like me or "Unico Como Yo" written by Laurin Mayeno and illustrated by me!

Where to cop this book: HERE

I am Sausal Creek / "Yo Soy El Arroyo Sausal" written by Melissa Reyes and illustrated by me!

Where to cop this book: HERE

 

One of a kind, like me 9- Laurin on 88 Cups of Tea

My good friend and collaborator Laurin Mayeno (author of One of a kind, like me) was on this cool Podcast "88 Cups of Tea". Give it a listen and check out the many authors and book people who've been on the show!

One of a kind, like me 7 - Latinxs in kid lit/ At home librarian

More reviews for One of a kind, like me"

Latinxs in Kid Lit 

is a book blog hat focusing on Latinx centered stories and bilingual books. Please check them out, they have YA, Middle grade, and picture books there. And this is the fourth or fifth time I've gotten to be featured in some way on their blog. Love them! Subscribe to their blog.

At Home librarian 
is an awesome blog run by one mom who is passionate about books in general and very passionate about diverse books coming from a lot of different backgrounds. Please check out her review and all the other books she talks about.

For those of you new to the book, One of a kind like me is a picture book written by Laurin Mayeno and illustrated by me Robert Liu-Trujillo. Here is the synopsis of the story: Tomorrow is the school parade, and Danny knows exactly what he will be: a princess. Mommy supports him 100%, and they race to the thrift store to find his costume. It’s almost closing time. Will Danny find the costume of his dreams in time? One of A Kind, Like Me / Unico como yo is a sweet story about unconditional love and the beauty of individuality. It’s a unique book that lifts up children who don’t fit gender stereotypes, and reflects the power of a loving and supportive community. The book is written by Laurin Mayeno, illustrated by Robert Liu-Trujillo, and translated by Teresa Mlawer.

And you can purchase it here at Blood Orange Press

One of a kind, like me 6 - Boston Public + Teachers for Change

"One of a kind, like me" the book I illustrated for author Laurin Mayeno was featured in the Boston Public Library's "2017 We are Pride" booklist for children's literature. Check it out and look at some of the other books on the lists.

LINK

The book was also featured on "Teaching for Social Change" list of books for activism. Check it out here We got featured alongside Zetta Elliott, Innosanto Nagara, Laura Atkins, Stan Yogi, Yutaka Haulette, Miriam Klein Stahl & Kate Schatz, John Jennings, and more!

If you still haven't gotten the book, you can purchase it here.

One of a kind, like me 5- New American Media

Yo! We got a nice write up in New American Media yesterday. Please GO READ IT, comment and let them know you dug it. And while you're at it, please request the book at your local library, bookstore, or school!

One of a kind, like me 4 - Illustration process

This project is part of a much larger project by Blood Orange Press to bring more diverse books to the forefront, please visit bit.ly/ReadInColor and share, share, share it.

Ok, so I began work on Laurin Mayeno's (right) book over a year ago with publisher Janine Macbeth (middle) of Blood Orange Press. It has been a true joy and honor to work with both of them on this story and I am so proud to be a part of it. Laurin and I met up, she broke down the story for me and immediately I knew I wanted to illustrate this story. Why? I'd never seen a book like it as a child or as a parent. And although its just starting to reach people it is already getting tons of good reviews and responses from people. And the fact that it is bilingual means that it will reach even more families. Janine Macbeth was just starting to look for the next book that would come out of Blood Orange Press, a new home in the publishing industry for diverse books. But, lets talk about art process.

I generally start my work with a few pencils.

The first thing I do when imagining my own project or illustrating a story for someone else is make a set of very rough thumbnails. For BIG ideas like these it can be kind of daunting to start so its better to draw something really tiny just to get an idea for "placement". That means, where does a person stand, sit, talk, run, or yell in the frame? If there is a car, is it to their right, left, or directly behind them.

Next, after Ive done quite a few little doodles or thumbnails I ask the AD (art director), in this case author/illustrator Janine Macbeth and founder of Blood Orange Press to choose two of the 3 or 4 choices I've given her. This is the rough sketch phase.

She gives me feed back and i take four little ideas and condense them into one with little elements from the previous ones all in one usually. This is what I call the almost final phase because i'll need some feedback from the AD and sometimes the author to judge whether this is working or not. Then, i may even go back and redo something to make it fit better with the whole story over all.

Then i provide some color ideas for where I'd like to go with my reds, blues, yellows, etc. the AD gives me some notes and then.

I get my sketch ready on my light table/box to redraw it on water color paper. I generally use paper.
these are some of the different paints and I use when painting a spread.

Then I paint! Usually for several hours on one spread. Sometimes it takes me more than a day to paint one page or spread. Here's my palette on wax paper and cardboard.

Then I have the artwork scanned by a local printer or company. I adjust the brightness, saturation, and contrast and I send both the original and my adjustments to the AD. Then that is it for most pages.

After that you'll see it in the final book!

This is from the story "One of a kind like me/Unico como yo". It was written by Laurin Mayeno about her experience as a parent with her son Danny. She wrote about what that was like for her as a parent and I know it will resonate with a lot of families because it not only hints at children who may be gay, lesbian, or queer. It celebrates being yourself and loving who you are. And its in spanish too! Here's the cover of the book, which is starting to get a great response.

 If you enjoyed this and wish to support this book and other books like it please check out the kickstarter our publisher Blood Orange Press just launched to help create other new books and to help print, market, and promote this one. You can also learn more about the true story behind the book and how Laurin Mayeno is making a space for more parents to support their children HERE.

Watch:

                       

One of a kind, like me 3- Huff Post

Yo, Laurin Mayeno-the author of this book I illustrated "One of a kind like me/ Unico como yo" is the illest with the pen. Please read her story of how she came to write the book on Huffington Post.

One of a kind, Like me 2 - Book Release and signing

Ok, if you are a parent, teacher, librarian, book store owner, uncle, auntie, or a caregiver please come through to this book release event. Here you will hear from the author of this book about her story and the creation of the book. You will hear from me about my process of creating the illustrations for it, and you will hear from our publisher Janine Macbeth of Blood Orange Press who will talk about the importance of diverse books. This book is bilingual too, so if you think you know someone who could use it in spanish too, please come get a copy. At this event we will also be signing books and celebrating the 60th birthday of its writer Laurin Mayeno. 

Ok, si eres es un padre, maestr@, bibliotecario, un dueño de librería, un tío, una tía, o un caregiver por favor llega a este acontecimiento de liberación de libro. Aquí usted tendrá noticias del autor de este libro sobre su historia y la creación del libro. Usted tendrá noticias de mí sobre mi proceso de crear las ilustraciones para ello, y usted tendrá noticias de nuestro editor Janine Macbeth de la Prensa de Blood Orange Press que hablará de la importancia de libros diversos. Este libro es bilingüe también, tan si usted piensa que usted conoce a alguien que podría usarlo en el español también, por favor venga consiguen una copia. En este acontecimiento también firmaremos libros y celebraremos el 60 cumpleaños de su escritor Laurin Mayeno.

One of a kind, Like me 1-New book

Check out the cover of the new book I illustrated called "One of a Kind, Like me", coming out this fall. Book Art from One of A Kind, Like Me / Único como yo by Laurin Mayeno. Illustration copyright 2016 byArt of Robert Liu-Trujillo.

Danny thought the best way to describe his costume for the school parade was to draw it...

Pre-order your copy before 9/20/16 and receive 10% off the cover price! http://bit.ly/2aRR4Zs

Published by Blood Orange Press

Coming Soon-One of a kind like me

One of a Kind, like me Unico, como yo is coming soon. Do me a favor and go follow Blood Orange Press on twitter or facebook for updates on the projects. Here's a photo of me and Blood Orange Press founder Janine Macbeth looking at final artwork for this incredible book due out very soon.