Benjamin Franklin Award for "Gifts from the Enemy"

It's really neat to finally have this great recognition for "Gifts from the Enemy" now on display in my home. You can read more about this award in a post below.

Inside Story next week!

I along with many other Seattle area authors and illustrators will be presenting new spring books next week May 5th at SCBWI's Inside Story. I will be talking about "Boys Camp Book 3- Zee's Story."

Hope to see some of you there!

2015 Benjamin Franklin Award!

I just learned "Gifts From the Enemy" won a 2015 gold level Benjamin Franklin Award! The award is from the Independent Book Publishers Association and recognizes excellence in book editorial and design and is regarded as one of the highest national honors for independent publishers.

We won in the young reader: nonfiction category (8-12 years). What an honor! Thanks again to the great publisher White Cloud Press and the author Trudy Ludwig for making this book happen. 

You can read about it here: http://www.ibpa-online.org/ibpa-2015-benjamin-franklin-awards-winners-and-finalists/#young2

"Illustrator Saturday" Interview

Recently I was lucky to be asked by Kathy Teman for an interview on my illustration work for her very popular illustration blog. The weekly feature is called "Illustrator Saturday" and today I am featured!

It shows lots of examples of my work and after over 15 years in the business serves as a nice career overview so far.

You can read the interview here:

https://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2015/04/04/illustrator-saturday-craig-orback/

Scholastic's Storyworks magazine final layout

Here is the final layout for the Feb/March 2015 "Scholastic Storyworks" magazine project. I love how it came out! A wonderfully written story and a favorite client of mine.