Creating the cover of our new children’s dog book–to be released April 4–was a team effort.

It began with a question from Heather Nichols, our illustrator. What illustration should she create for the cover?

Michael, who is now 14, said that the cover should depict “Dog-tention,” which–in the book–is a way of converting naysayers, bullies and troublemakers into good citizens and dog lovers. (Michael also came up with the idea of Dog-tention).

Michael quickly created a sketch for Heather:

Of course, the quick sketch needed explanation. We explained to Heather that the blue and yellow are meant to depict kids sitting at tables. The red figures are Grandma Vera, Bash and golden retriever Lucy. Vera and Bash would be holding a whiteboard (green in the sketch) that would include the “Love, Love, Bark!” part of the title. And just above that would be the words, “Bash and Lucy Say.”

Heather came up with this illustration:

Next, it was time for Vinnie Kinsella, our book designer, to create the cover. He came up with a number of options, including this one:

With this cover, we felt like we were getting close. But, after asking friends–especially Nicole Cole–for feedback, we decided the grey was too dark.

Vinnie also suggested a number of covers that look like the new cover, but they had different colors for the words “Bash and Lucy Say” (which appear at the top of the cover) and “Love, Love, Bark!” (which appear in the white board.) We asked him to make sure the words in the title were all the same color, since the title is long and we wanted to be clear that Bash and Lucy Say, plus the words “Love, Love, Bark!” are all in the title.

After a few more iterations plus feedback from friends, Vinnie designed the cover we ended up choosing, and we’re very happy with it!

Be sure to check out the video in which Michael dedicates our last book to Ukrainian Grandma Vera:

Questions? Email us at BashAndLucy@gmail.com