I’m pleased to announce that Barry Gott will illustrate my upcoming picture book, Holler Loudly (Dutton, 2010)!

My Dutton editor was kind enough to send me the early sketches last week, and I’m absolutely thrilled with them.

Here I’m highlighting the cover art to Barry’s Dino-Hockey (Carolrhoda, 2007), which was written by one of my favorite authors, Lisa Wheeler (interview).

Barry uses a different approach for Holler Loudly, one which fits with the original southwestern tall tale, but the dinos are super cool, too.

Barry is a digital artist, published by Lerner Books, Random House, Scholastic, Harcourt, Albert Whitman, Time Warner, and Penguin Putnam, among others.

He’s based in Cleveland, and according to his site, lives with “one each of the following: Wife, Son, Daughter, Dog, Loud Cat, Quiet Cat, Lizard.”

Visit Barry’s site, and check out his Sketchblog.