The 1st Grade anthologies were a group of three paperback books I did as an in-house Senior Designer for Silver Burdett Ginn. The anthologies are the core elements of the reading program from which all other components derive. These are short 1st grade level books containing a mix of stories, songs and poems. At this level, the text is simple and limited so the art and design predominates throughout the series. The books vary in length from 77 to 96 pages.

My responsibilities on these books:
I was given basic text and a schedule for each of the three books. I selected illustrators and created comps in Quark Express with my preliminary sketches in place. I presented these to the Art Director and Senior Editor for approvals. I assigned an illustrator to each story giving them my comps, written art direction specs and a contract. The illustrators returned sketches to me for review and in-house approval. Once given the Ok, the illustrator created the final artwork with any additional art direction. I created the final comps with scanned artwork in place and sent these along with the finished art to the printer. Once the color proofs were in-house, I reviewed them and made corrections then gave the OK to go to press.

I maintained the project schedule and kept track of all the pages in their varying stages of completion. I participated in weekly scheduling meetings, in addition to art department meetings.
 

 

 

 

"Look for the Dog" Anthology Story 

Illustrated by David McPhail

 

 

"Around the World and Back" Anthology Story