Documentation of the fateful Christmas!

Finally found the photo documenting the pivotal Christmas. Oh that it was only in color, then all would be so plain! I was all in blue, my sweet cousin all in pinks....

Pumpkin head

As a term of endearment, the little kids were often called "punkin". So the line, "I guess I can understand pumpkin head, but..." naturally crept into the book. The illustration took on a life of its own and kept growing until it is ridiculously large to be supported by that little hand. This is the first ink rendering of the idea. Later we added colored pencil and the ink really made it pop. It's still one of my favorites.

Evolution

As with all characters, the cousin evolved over time. The pencil rendering came first, then I took out the bewildered little red head cousin in the background, plumped the dress and gave her a little more attitude. There's even more attitude in the final color version.

She was loosely based on the three 1st cousins near my age. All had beautiful dark hair. We were sure they were part Indian. They could stay out in the sun; I burned. They could have cute, smooth, page boy hair cuts; I had ringlets and ponytails. They looked like their mothers, all who had dark hair, I didn't. Moreover, they were "in style" as teenagers with long straight hair. I was still battling the curls and color.

I enlarged one experience for the book. Our mothers always seemed to "color code" us rather than let us choose the colors we thought we would like. Hey, it's hard to choose colors for cousins I have now found out. I was always in blue and one cousin always in pink. Anyway, it was sort of funny and stayed with me.

By the way, all three cousins are wonderful women (still with dark hair) and I certainly value their friendships.

The scientist

This little guy is our authority for the "Scientists Say" section of the book.

He reminds me of the fellows haunting the dark corners of the physical science and chemistry departments in colleges. I would see them through the open doors (the ones with all the jokes taped to them) as I skitted down the halls enroute to the fine arts building. They were so absorbed in their projects.

Researching redhead info showed me another side of academia. You science types would be right at home there, but artists don't venture over very often. Hopefully I made the correct translations for the future scientists.

The most interesting discovery I made was that red heads tend to be found on the edges of Europe. Since I love family history research, the migration patterns of the red head gene fires up my imagination. What groups moved into the areas and marginalized the groups carrying the redhead gene. How long would that take? Food for thought...

Thank You!

We really appreciate all the interest in the book! Thank You!

It is fun to hear the comments. One Mom told us her little girl is sure the book was written just for her - she's 6. The fantastic facts in the back have been well received. We've had a few mail in orders and read it to the kids at the library's story time.

Now I need to figure out marketing. Our little area is about saturated. I guess newspaper ads? Door to Door? Half Nelsons?

By the way, because of the reaction to the redhead book, we're thinking of putting together one on blondes. But my experience being blonde is limited to my siblings' experiences.

I know is the obvious "dumb blonde" angle. Does that make you mad or frustrated?

All you blondes out there - let me know other digs which have been aimed at you as a child. We'll write a book. The research (fantastic facts page) is pretty fun. Elect your favorite blondes to go on the back page.

Brunettes- can yours be far behind?