Tom Sawyer

I remember thinking, "Wow! This has to be the funniest book ever written!" I LOVED it.

Every night I'd beg my mom to read "More! More!"
Meanwhile my sister would say "Enough! Enough!"

And that pretty much still sums up the difference between my sister and me when it comes to reading.

Anyway, here's an illustration I made for the annual SCBWI Tomie dePaola award competition. I'd been working at a few mid-grade illustrations to add to my portfolio anyway and when I saw the Tomie dePaola theme this year included Tom Sawyer, I couldn't resist.

Oh ya, also, if you happen to be in Missouri, do you know you can visit many of the real places from Mark Twain's books? Mom took me there as a kid, soon after we read Tom Sawyer, because I became such a fan. Those caves are awesome! And there really is a fence.