As a pre-holiday treat for myself and I hope for you, I’m sharing the first bits of art from my picture book PHOEBE AND DIGGER, illustrated by Jeff Newman and pubbing  with Candlewick this coming March. 

Jeff is a witty genius. His bright, retro-palette and use of white space has tickled me from the very earliest sketches.

Here are the first two pages. Click on the art to make it bigger.

And two pages later on, after Phoebe and Digger have wreaked considerable chaos on the playground:

Don’t you adore Phoebe and Mama’s fashion sense?

Working with my Candlewick editor and art department has been a dream. They’ve solicited and respected my input all along the way–and that’s not always how it goes! I thank my lucky stars I’m getting to work with them again on NOT EVEN CODY, due in 2014.

PHOEBE AND DIGGER. Text copyright © 2013 by Tricia Springstubb. Illustrations copyright © 2013 by Jeff Newman. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.