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Veronica Mang

@veronica_mang

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Writing & illustrating ✏️
Copland: A Story About America, Secret Spy Society @penguinkids
Book designer, adjunct, et cetera. Jersey City🗽

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It’s pub day! ❤️ Copland: A Story About America is officially out in the world. I am so proud of this book and humbled to have worked with such a wonderful team on this. Thank you to everyone at Viking: Kate, Lucia, AZ, and especially my editor Tamar Brazis. Years ago, I sent a roundup of pitches to Tamar, one of which was a vague idea about a Copland biography. It was an offhanded, half-baked, ambitious vision that I wasn’t sure I could pull off (in retrospect, pitching a research heavy non-fiction for a first picture book was… bold, ha!)
But Tamar encouraged me in this direction. Like all great editors, she saw something I couldn’t quite see myself. If she hadn’t encouraged me, I’m not sure I would have gone for it.
Thanks to that wonderful group, here we are. Pub day! A book about an American icon and everything his music says about us. How do you tell the story of someone’s life? It’s not easy, and my book is just one writer’s take. I decided to focus on what excited me most: that Copland’s music was not an accidental byproduct of our American melting pot, but something much better. It was an intentional fusion of our cultures… a celebration! A joyous thing as open as our landscapes, fiery as our jazz, and made to be more accessible that symphonic music had been before.
To borrow from my own last line: This American song is still growing. Listen closely: What do you hear? What song will you write?
I hope you love it! ❤️

PS: Copland has an audio edition narrated BEAUTIFULLY by @imjeffebner! Will have to make a whole separate post about it but for all you audio-lovers, teachers, and librarians: check it out!
#kidlit #kidlitillustration #childrensbooks #aaroncopland #copland by @veronica_mang

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8 months ago

I just wrapped final interiors for my next book (Copland) and I am so happy (and so tired! If I have been neglecting a text or call or email to you, I’m so sorry!)
Traditional media is a labor of love, and there was a lot of learning on the job with this book. Excited to come out the other side more comfortable with paint, quicker to commit to my decisions, and more trusting of my instincts. The visual language for this book was clear to me from the very beginning, but it was out of my comfort zone… something I WANTED to make, but wasn’t certain I could do. Proud of myself not because the result is perfect (it’s not!) but because I’ve challenged myself and learned so much through the act of making! And that is worth celebrating more than anything ❤️✨ I’ll be sharing more soon, I’m sure, and will be cleaning a thousand tiny paper scraps from my studio in the meantime ✂️ #kidlitart #kidlitartpostcard #childrensbookillustration taken in New York, New York by @veronica_mang

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2 years ago

Today is World Book Day, and tomorrow is International Women’s Day 💛🩷💜 I am so fortunate to do the work that I do. This past fall, I taught my first kids book class to a lovely group of students at Parsons, and the big lessons that *I* found my way back to is all the little reasons to love books. Books can be an intimate companion. They can help us make sense of the world. They can serve as an escape or an inspiration. Or they can remind us that we are not alone in our joy and our pain. To me, there is no brighter or more important audience than children. If I am lucky, I will get to make many more books for them!
💛
Sending special love to everyone who has loved the Lady Spies as much as I do! Above all else, what stays with me is not their bravery. Rather, I remember their CHOICE to be brave despite fear! 🖤 A lesson we should all remember.
For all my young Spies out there: there are some free worksheets on my site, including this new maze that I never posted 💛✏️
#worldbookday #internationalwomensday #dayofthegirl #bookswelove #kidlit #kidlitart #kidlitillustration #earlyreaders taken in New York, New York by @veronica_mang

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3 years ago

Friend of the studio 🖤✒️ taken in Jersey City, New Jersey by @veronica_mang

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16 days ago

✨⚡️💛 SPY LOVE 💛⚡️✨
Because you never forget your first! It’s been fun to rework spot illos into a mini comic format, and the Secret Spy Society always seems to get a little more love during summer reading and back to school season! So here’s a little shoutout to my favorite girls 💛
PS: the SPIES make for great school visits! Please reach out if you’d like to discuss a visit 📝💛 by @veronica_mang

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17 days ago

☕️🍂
#sketchbook by @veronica_mang

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23 days ago

Sketchbook interlude ☕️ by @veronica_mang

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a month ago

Excited to share that my book, COPLAND, was selected to be part of The Original Art 46th Annual Exhibition at the Society of Illustrators! Thank you @soi128, jury, and of course, the amazing folks at Viking: my editor, Tamar Brazis, AD Kate Renner, Designer Lucia Baez, and @az_nowell ❣️ Excited to show off the product of months spent hunched over my drafting table and the cause of a weird knot in my neck (I’ve fixed it, don’t worry)
One of my piece (still choosing, though I love this one… weigh in please!) will be up from late October through January! See you in November for the opening 🥰 #kidlitart by @veronica_mang

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a month ago

Laurine & Aaron 🖤🤍🖤🤍🖤
Final & sketch!
From Copland: A Story About America ✍️ by @veronica_mang

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a month ago

Summer is a mindset! (Right? RIGHT?)
Moved into a new studio, spent a lot of time with friends and family, made a new book (soft launch??), ate a ton of tomatoes, saw off Professor Raines for her first day of teaching, spent lots and lots of time outside, only got sunburned twice. So busy! So full! So good! 🥺💛 by @veronica_mang

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a month ago

five minutes of nonsense before signing off for the weekend ✏️✌️ by @veronica_mang

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a month ago

An excerpt from Copland ❤️ One of my favorite spreads, and such a treat to write. It’s a quiet spread: a moment of breath and contemplation before a big explosive page. And it was a chance to paint & collage one of my favorite things: people dancing! This moment pulls from Appalachian Spring in particular, but Copland was excellent at telling stories in all of his work. That’s one of the reasons his music was so accessible, and, in my opinion, one of his best contributions to our American film & stage scores! The emotional and sometimes humorous quality in Copland’s work can be directly tied to jazz, which he grew up listening to and respected deeply.

(PS. This spread is also the moment I realized that I should never, ever be using this much neon paint in illustrations that will be reproduced for books, LOL. Way too hard to edit. Never again!)

Edit: made a typo on the very first slide! A typo of my own writing! “Aaron WRITES for ballets.” 🫣 taken in Jersey City, New Jersey by @veronica_mang

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2 months ago