Sarah Lynne Reul“I Loved This Conversation” PodCast InterView!
Posted on June 14, 2023
I had the chance to chat with Alex Salsberg on his podcast “I Loved This Conversation”! I knew Alex from back in my animating days, when he organized local meetups for animators through Animatic Boston, and it was fun talking with him about my creative process and about rejection, which is something that I deal with all the time in my line of work.
If you like podcasts, you should check out the rest of the series where he interviews all different kinds of creative people. I really enjoy listening to them as I’m working – lots of great insights!
You can listen to it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. He even makes a little animated clip for each episode!
Room To Write Interview
Posted on October 25, 2022
Earlier this year, I was honored to be interviewed by the incomparable Colleen Getty for her Room to Write series, where she interviews local authors at the WCAT studio.
Here’s the link to the video – we talk about my process, as well the challenges of writing and illustration. Hope you enjoy!
Bubbie & Rivka’s Best-ever Challah (So FaR!)
Posted on September 21, 2022
My picture book BUBBIE & RIVKA’S BEST-EVER CHALLAH (SO FAR!) is now out and available anywhere you like to buy books! Many thanks to the great team at Abrams, as well as to my agent, my critique partners and my family for helping to make this a reality.
We’ll be doing launch event at Whitelam Books in Reading, MA on Sat, October 22 at 2pm – hope you can join!
Abrams put together a great video of authors & illustrators talking about their Fall 22 releases – my part starts around the 12 min-mark. Check it out for a sneak peek inside the book!
Q&A for THE BREAKING NEWS
Posted on November 2, 2020
I received these great questions about my book THE BREAKING NEWS from 3rd graders at Orchard Grove Elementary, so I thought I’d share the answers with everyone here. I talk about my writing and drawing process, share some behind-the-scenes images, and more!
Due to many requests from teachers, I also posted a read-aloud of the book for kids who might not have access to bookstores or libraries in these difficult times:
The handout mentioned at the end of the video can be found here:
Thanks for checking this out and please share with anyone who might find these resources useful!
NERP! Behind-The-Scenes
Posted on October 29, 2020
My second book with Sterling came out in March, and to celebrate I made this behind-the-scenes making-of video.
To create the illustrations for NERP!, I built a tiny dining room set out of cardboard, took photographs and drew the characters and props on the photos through my computer.
The book was super fun to write as well, since the book is made up entirely of silly nonsense words that I invented. The elaborately gross/delicious dishes served by the monster parents to the baby in the book were inspired by fancy 1950’s recipes, so that was another fun rabbit hole to explore.
Here are some of the behind-the-scenes photos – hope you enjoy!
Also, if you’d like to design your own NERP! dish, check out the download here:
Get To Know …
Posted on November 16, 2018
My friend & fellow author Jarett Lerner recently featured my work on his Get To Know series. I’ve reblogged it below, but you can check out many more author profiles over on his blog!
My name is …
I am… an author/illustrator with three books that debuted this year: THE BREAKING NEWS, ALLIE ALL ALONG & PET THE PETS.
I’m also a maker of tiny things, a person who draws on photos, a 2D animator, a mom (to two kids), a kid (to my mom!), a friend, an explorer, a connector of worlds.
As a kid, I was… super interested in animals, reading, singing and making stuff.
Writing is… a way to process my world; a place to consider, wonder and imagine… “what if…?”
Reading is… a way for me to gain perspective; to learn, explore, think and feel.
Books are… the best way to hold a world in your hands. They’re a place to escape, a comfort to hold, a way to connect; a practice zone for meeting the dragons of fear, doubt, loss and disappointment.
Did you know… sometimes the biggest problems can be solved by focusing on one small thing at a time?
You can find me… making tiny things, drawing on photos and connecting with friends on Twitter @sarahlynnereul, Instagram @thereul and on my website, reuler.com.
I’m also planning to do more school visits in the upcoming year, so I hope you’ll be able to find me presenting at your local school in the near future!
On Making Things Better
Posted on August 24, 2018
Recently, my book PET THE PETS (my third book … and very first novelty/lift –the-flap book) was released into the world!
The concept began as sketches for a digital painting class that I took while completing my MFA degree in 2D Animation a few years ago. I wanted to create a series of 2-page flipbooks that could be united by similar characters and limited color palettes. 
Thanks to Simon & Schuster/Little Simon editor Jeffrey Salane, art director Laura Roode and my agent Emily Mitchell, it’s now a sturdy little lift-the-flap novelty book that invites readers to help out sad animals through petting, giving food or offering encouragement.
Just like in my other two books THE BREAKING NEWS & ALLIE ALL ALONG, I’ve found that there’s a recurring theme in PET THE PETS: there are small things that you can do to help make things better.
I find that this concept also applies to my process of making the books themselves.
Sometimes, on rare, magical days, everything seems to falls into place: great, sweeping changes can be easily made by taking giant, seven-league steps of progress.
But mostly, I find, my work progresses in tiny baby steps, a series of small decisions, chosen one at a time, like when my optometrist flips through different lens options: Which one is better – one, or two? A or B? This one, or that one? There’s no need to labor over every decision; each small choice adds up to an overall pattern that gets you where you need to go.
The choices that you make when creating a book, including what colors you use. . .
. . .who the characters should be . . .
. . . how each character’s features & expressions should look . . .
. . .what should be on the cover. . .
. . .each element evolves from a series of small decisions that ultimately defines what your book will be.
What small things do you do to help make things better in your own world?
ALLIE ALL ALONG: The Cover Story
Posted on August 13, 2018
My second picture book, ALLIE ALL ALONG, is now available wherever books are sold! Many thanks to my agent, Emily Mitchell, editor Eliza Berkowitz & art director Irene Vandervoort for helping to make this book the best it could be.
On the surface, the story is about toddler temper tantrums . . . but underneath, it’s about frustration over not having control over things that happen in your life . . . as well as finding ways to regain some control over challenges that seem beyond your abilities. It was inspired by the relationship between my two girls, and all the ways that we work together to shake off the worst of our angry layers when our feelings get too big.
Just like for my first book, THE BREAKING NEWS, there were tons of different iterations of the title and the cover before the final versions went to print.
Here are some early cover sketches . . .
. . .and some mocked up cover options that I sent to my editor & art director at Sterling Publishing – Eliza Berkowitz & Irene Vandervoort (after we decided to change the title from original THE ANGRY LAYERS to the final ALLIE ALL ALONG) . . .
. . .and here’s a small sampling of the other titles we had considered along the way:
UNDER THE ANGRY, IN THERE ALL ALONG, THE CRAYON LAYERS, UNDER ALL THE LAYERS, HOW TO SHED THE LAYERS, DEEP DOWN BELOW, HOW TO GET ALLIE OUT, ALLIE AT THE CORE, ALLIE UNDERNEATH, THE CRAYON CRISIS, THE CRAYON INCIDENT, THE BROKEN CRAYON, WHEN THE BLUE CRAYON BROKE . . . plus so, so many more.
Together, Eliza, Irene & I decided that we wanted to focus on the big feelings and the relationship between the siblings. It was difficult to find a balance for the cover illustration that didn’t give away too much about who Allie really is, but eventually Irene mocked up the following image using parts of illustrations from the interior:
I redrew the characters for the cover, and then we went through a series of changes to adjust the Allie’s expression:
We even considered a few different treatments for the book’s spine. . .
And I was super pleased with the final version – especially since we were able to have separate illustrations for the dust jacket & the cover!
For those of you in the Boston area, I’ll be reading ALLIE ALL ALONG at the Brookline Booksmith on Sunday, August 26th at 10:30 am – hope to see you there!
The launch of THE BREAKING NEWS!
Posted on April 10, 2018
Today’s the day my debut picture book, THE BREAKING NEWS, is finally out in the world!
To celebrate, I wrote a new post over at Writer’s Rumpus about the incredible support I’ve received from our wonderful kidlit community.
More info on press coverage, reviews and ordering below.
We’ll also be celebrating with a book launch party at Porter Square Books tonight (April 10th, 2018) at 7pm – hope to see you there !
Praise for THE BREAKING NEWS:
“An absolute-must for most libraries.” – School Library Journal
“…a useful classroom and parental tool in tough times.” – The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (STARRED review)
“…the heavily outlined images are steady and solid, including the closing spreads of the girl and her family planting flowers, which circle back to a scene at the beginning, affirming the resilience that can result when small acts are focused on community.” – The New York Times
*A Scholastic Teacher’s magazine summer 2018 reading list pick*
More reviews & press for THE BREAKING NEWS:
- Talking to Kids About Bad News: The Inspiration behind THE BREAKING NEWS at The Nerdy Book Club
- Cover reveal and process on Tara Lazar’s StoryStorm blog
- Link to Goodreads reviews
THE BREAKING NEWS is now available to order from:
- your favorite indie bookstore, or . . .
- one of my favorite bookstores – Porter Square Books or Whitelam Books
- or anywhere else you like to buy books – including Amazon, B&N, & more!
I'm an illustrator and 2D animator who likes lots of stuff, including science, bright colors and figuring out how things work.
Sarah Lynne Reul 