Blog Tour for Quacky Baseball – Interview with Illustrator Frank Morrison

Today I’m happy to be interviewing Frank Morrison, the award-winning illustrator of Quacky Baseball. It’s Day 4 of the virtual tour for the book written by Peter Abrahams and just released by HarperCollins. Quacky Baseball is the delightful tale of Thumby Duckling, who is nervous to be up to the plate – he hopes he won’t strike out and let down his team, the Webbies, who are counting on him to save the day. Frank Morrison has taken the delightful characters Peter Abrahams has created and added his own colorful, lively touch. We believe those ducks are playing baseball, with gusto and duck-itude. Booklist cited the “dramatic angles” in his “action-packed paintings.” I love the vividly painted spunky ducks.





A Renaissance man, Frank Morrison has had a life full of creativity. He began drawing at an early age and went on to become a graffiti artist as well as a skillful break dancer, dancing around the world with well-known music personalities. On his website he tells of his ah-ha moment while visiting the Louvre in Paris. And he is now a well-known painter and the illustrator of 16 books for children.



Quacky Baseball is about a rookie player in a duck-y baseball game. You also illustrated Out of the Ballpark, and I just learned you have a book in the works about the Negro League, due out next year. Is it safe to conjecture you are a fan? Did you play the game as a boy?

Yes, I have to confess I am a sports fan. I played T-ball when I was 8. I played high school football. I'm still watching Michael Jordan DVD's.


Tell us about your early experience as a budding artist. I believe as a teenager you channeled your creativity into graffiti art. You then became a very successful dancer. What role did art play in your early life?

Al Hirschfeld said, "An artist never stops drawing." I picked up a pencil at the age of 7 and I never put it down. Even while I was on tour dancing for Sybil and the Sugar Hill Gang, I brought my sketch book along. I would draw the passengers on the trains and planes. I would also compare black books with other writers in different parts of the country and overseas. Graffiti was another way for me to express myself. I found a way to merge the two. At the age of 17, I signed with Essence magazine. Essence published my work for ten years.


You’re a well-known painter whose work is in galleries and private collections. When did you get into children’s book illustration?

I received a call from a publisher in 2003. To work on a book titled Jazzy Miz Mozetta, for which I won the Coretta Scott King award.


No wonder, it's a delightful book! Early on were there any illustrators who inspired you to create books for children?

I have to be honest, back then I did not know any illustrators. The fine art world and illustration world were totally separated. I was like a fish out of water for a while.


How long do you usually have to paint the illustrations for a picture book? What's your preferred medium; your favorite thing about your studio?

It takes me three months to finish a book. I prefer to work in oil. My favorite incentive about my studio is when my children come down to check out what I'm working on.


Do you have a project in the works now?

I'm currently writing my first children’s book.


And finally -- do you still dance?

Yes, I can still get down!


Thanks, Frank! Looking forward to seeing more great illustrations from you and books you've authored, as well.



The Quacky Baseball tour is not over! Visit these sites for more Quacky fun and don’t forget to comment here and on the other sites for a chance to win a signed copy of the book.

Monday, March 28 - Megan Frances Abrahams - On Beyond Words & Pictures - interview with Kristin Daly Rens, Senior Editor, Balzer & Bray

Tuesday, March 29 - Julie Musil  - Julie Musil - interview with Thumby Duckling - the main character - via author Peter Abrahams

Wednesday, March 30 - Corey Schwartz - Thing 1 and Thing 2 - author Peter Abrahams on the genesis of Quacky Baseball

Friday, April 1 - Hilde Garcia - The Pen and Ink Blog - interview with author Peter Abrahams

Saturday, April 2 - Lori Walker - L.H. Walker - book review/synopsis with input from Lori's children

Women’s History Month – Vicki León’s Treasure Trove of Women’s Stories



Vicki doing research in Egypt ...


I remember first seeing an Uppity Women book in the bookstore of the Huntington Library. I felt like giving a cheer – what a fabulous title, fabulous subject and fabulous woman who had written such a clever and enlightening book! I later met the fabulous woman herself at an SCBWI retreat and have since attended her very entertaining and helpful non-fiction workshop. I am pleased to be interviewing her for Women’s History Month. Vicki León is the ‘uppity’ author of nine books on women’s history. Her forthcoming ‘encyclopedia’ called 4000 Years of Uppity Women, will be published this fall by MJF Books in hardcover and e-book formats.



When and why did you first decide to write about the fascinating, unusual and amazing details of the lives of women in history?

As a 10-year-old, I already had a burning curiosity about the girls and women of long ago. In the 1950s, however, I found little to read except standard fare about Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, and a few other gals, most of whom came to bad ends, according to the books I devoured.

Later, as a young woman, I was lucky enough to live for years in Spain and other countries around the Med. Visiting archaological sites, exploring ancient ruins, strolling through walled cities, I got to walk in female footsteps of long ago. It really fired my imagination. Eventually fortune favored me again-- I studied with two professors who taught me about the underpinnings of history, and gave me the tools to become a historical detective.

If you could go back in time, which woman you’ve researched would you most like to meet?

Tough choice-- I’ve profiled over a thousand women. One triumphant example I love is Lavinia Fontana, a 16th century Italian painter who enjoyed spectacular success. She got prestigious, juicily-paid commissions from royals and from the Pope, did gorgeous self-portraits, won fame, received medals, painted until she was 62--and to top it off, she talked her spouse into being a house-husband for what turned out to be 11 children!

Along with the admirable ‘do-gooders’ from history, I also have a sneaky admiration for some of the ‘do-badders.’ Take Catalina de Erauso--I call her “the nun turned top-gun.” At 15, she broke out of a Spanish nunnery, threw together some male duds, and got to the New World, where she terrorized Panama, Peru and Chile for two decades. Even when finally caught for various crimes, she turned it around by confessing to a bishop that she was still a virgin! It being 1620, that won her admiration instead of a hanging. It’s a great tale---and she wrote her memoirs, which survived and make superb reading.

I’m surprised to hear that her account is still around. Did you find any more women who’ve left something tangible in our times?

Yes, and that brings to mind my biggest gripe. I do a great many speeches and workshops to groups of women eager to learn more about their foremothers. But I often hear them comment along the lines of, “What a pity that nothing has survived from the gals of long ago...”

On the contrary! I’ve found countless primary source examples from these women. They are amazing. Books like Catalina’s memoirs; paintings like those of Lavinia (over 135 are still around). There are other artifacts--from a legal document signed by Cleopatra VII to the huge “Old Glory” flag sewn by Mary Young Pickersgill (now gracing the Smithsonian).

What is strangest occupation you’ve come across for a woman?

In ancient times, one of the weirdest jobs had to be the gal who played the water-organ for each of the gladiatorial matches. During the Crusades, bizarre but vital work was done by the washerwomen who accompanied the Crusader armies. Their task: to de-louse the men daily! Virgin reconstruction specialist was another unusual niche. An Italian doctor named Trotula described this in her compendium of medical works that are still around.

Which woman has impressed you most by her achievements?

I would love to time-travel to the first century AD and spend time in Alexandria, Egypt, with a woman whose exact name we don’t firmly know—she was called Mary Profetissa, Maria the Jewess, and other monikers that may be pseudonyms. She was an alchemist, out to find the Philosopher’s Stone. I first found her in an unusual way; in Spain, I once tried to make flan and needed a double-boiler---which was called a ‘Mary’s bath’ in Spanish. Turned out that 2000 year ago, that long-ago Mary had invented the double boiler, along with the still and other inventions which turned the alchemy craze into the hard science of chemistry. Besides writing her profile in an Uppity Women book, I got to explore alchemy further in my latest nonfiction, called How to Mellify a Corpse.

Any tips for beginning writers of non-fiction – for instance, how best to approach experts?

We live in an ideal age for such matters, since we are all connected cybernetically. It’s child’s play these days to contact experts--to reap the benefits, however, the writer needs to approach with courtesy, timeliness, and enough knowledge to ask intelligent questions.

What are you working on now?

I’m doing two books at once: a third nonfiction for Walker Books on biology, sex, and weird medicine in ancient times; and an updated, expanded compendium of the “best of the best” uppity women for MJF Books. It will appear in hardcover and e-book form this fall, I’m told. Both projects offer wonderful chances to expand more on my passion for telling more stories about unsung women from our past. Lucky me!

Thank you, Vicki - can't wait to read your next book! 

Vicki’s website and blog can be found at www.vickileon.com/blog

Women’s History Month + Cats on Wednesday = Women Painting Cats

Artists have included cats in their paintings since the ancient Egyptians. These influential 17th-20th century women artists all found inspiration in the elegant, mysterious and elusive cats who served as their muses and their models.

Judith Leyster - Dutch, 1609-1660

She was a leading 17th century painter who was successful and famous in her lifetime. She belonged to a group of courageous women who tried to break into the male-dominated art world. In 1633 she was allowed to join the previously male-only painters’ guild.








Sophie Gengembre Anderson - French, 1823-1903

Married to an English painter, she gained fame as a pre-Raphaelite painter and had a talent for painting children and animals.

Berthe Morisot - French, 1841-1895

As a woman, Morisot was not allowed to join art institutions, but was noticed and respected for her talent. She joined the Impressionists and exhibited with them. She continued to paint all her life but was never a commercial success.

Mary Cassatt - American, 1844-1926

Discouraged by society and her father from pursuing a career as a painter, she moved to France where she found success in the Impressionist movement.

Suzanne Valadon - French, 1865-1938

Daughter of a laundress, Valadon worked as a waitress, circus acrobat and model (posing for Toulouse-Lautrec and Renoir). Learning to paint by watching the Impressionists, she became a well-known, respected painter in her own right.





Paula Modersohn-Becker - German, 1876-1907

At the turn of the 20th century she was an influential avant-garde artist and an early German Expressionist. She was more interested in art than domesticity despite pressure from all sides to marry. She did marry, and died giving birth to her first child at age 31.

Women's History Month -- Amelia Bloomer: the Woman, the Project, the List.....

With little schooling, Amelia Jenks Bloomer (1818-1894) became a teacher at 17. While still in her 20’s she began a lifelong career which included writing, publishing, social reform, activism for women’s rights, and lecturing.

Self-described as "shrinking" and "bashful", she developed into a determined, energetic and independent-minded woman.  She worked to promote schools and libraries and women's right to vote.







Reading about Amelia Bloomer I’ve realized that unintentionally I wrote about a fictional character (Abiah Rose, of Signed, Abiah Rose) who was a contemporary of Amelia Bloomer.

And I set the story in the Genesee Valley, which is not far from Seneca Falls, where she lived and published her influential newspaper.




Being chosen to be on the Amelia Bloomer Project 2011 List of Recommended Titles is a great honor, as the four stated criteria for selection are “significant feminist content, excellence in writing, appealing format and age appropriateness for young readers.” It was my wish to tell an entertaining story first and foremost, while quietly honoring women in history who have struggled to be recognized as people, with talents and abilities and dreams that may be influenced, but not limited, by their gender. Being on this list is important to me – I achieved my goal …. with Abiah, and for Abiah.

My sincere thanks to the Amelia Bloomer Project, with heartfelt appreciation to Amelia Bloomer, the woman.