By Mitu Malhotra

Today I am excited to welcome author-illustrator Deborah Marcero to Cynsations to talk about her seventh picture book, The Great Escape (Penguin Random House/Putnam, February 2026). Reading The Great Escape took me back to the moment in time when I first met Deborah during an exceptionally cold Vermont winter. Deborah’s magical sibling story has all the makings of a classic—it will appeal to children and the adults responsible for reading it aloud to them.

In The Great Escape, I was immediately drawn to protagonist Evie’s three siblings dressed up in animal suits, their adventure and return home…For me, an immediate throwback to Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are (Harper & Rowe, 1963). What inspired you to write this book and create this particular cast of characters?

In the fall of 2022, I gave myself an assignment to write and illustrate a fantasy-fairy-tale-like-story with a female protagonist who had tenacity and faced conflict with agency and courage. From there, I found Evie and her siblings.

Evie is inspired by my childhood. I grew up with five siblings on a small family farm in rural southern Michigan. As the oldest girl, I remember the bickering, the play, the caretaking, the make-believe and most of all, I remember the fierce bond we created and shared, especially when we worked together.

In addition, the winter I wrote the first drafts of this book (2022-23), it snowed a record 140 inches in Duluth, Minnesota. The snow was deep and wild, full of wonder and beauty. It provided the perfect catalyst for Evie’s portal and escape.

As an author-illustrator, how do you work with a story-seed idea, test its viability to form a 32-page or as in this case a 48-page picture book? Any story-mapping techniques that you can share with beginning picture book writers and illustrators?

In general, and with The Great Escape, I start by finding my main character and their internal and external story arcs. Then I ask a lot of questions.

What do they want? What do they need? Where does their story begin and how are they changed by the end? Why?

From there, I start sketching my main character and discover more of their character traits. Once I’m happy with the character design, I move to see if I can identify the broad-brush strokes of their story. What is the main theme or themes and what is the beginning, middle and end?

When I can identify those basic elements, I move to storyboarding, breaking the book into thumbnail “spreads” where I jot down only what “happens” in each spread, thinking about story beats and page turns. Regarding story beats, I mostly let the main character lead me, but I do have anchoring devices to help keep me on track for a picture book length work.

For example, by spread three, I hope for the reader to know: the setting, the main character, what the main character wants, and the main theme or themes. Throughout the book, I use “but” and “therefore” between scenes to make sure there is a strong sense of logical cause/effect that keeps the story moving forward. This is a very simple, yet key lesson I learned from Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of South Park.

In the last third of the book, I also want there to be a surprise or an unexpected twist that gives the sense of “I didn’t see that coming, but, of course!” in the reader’s mind. For The Great Escape, that moment is when Evie finds, “…the whale wasn’t trying to harm them. She needed their help…” which then brings the siblings together to work toward a common goal.

Once I have a strong storyboard (this often takes 4-6 drafts), I launch into sketching the full dummy. One spread at a time, I sketch and write the manuscript. I usually need to work out what the images will be in pencil sketch first (showing visually “what happens” from the storyboard) and then I write the text. If anywhere along the way, I can’t fill in the storyboard or find the story’s ending or a surprise, the idea shows me that it’s not yet viable. But I will keep drafts of these roughs and return to them from time to time, because the more I do this work, the more I find that these unfinished pieces hold keys to other stories in me, waiting to be discovered.

On the sixth spread, the text of The Great Escape leads the reader to move the book around, the terrestrial flora and fauna transitions into an underwater scene. This clever interactive element enhances the reading experience—during the creation of this picture book at what point in your artistic journey did you decide to use this interactive turn?

The idea for turning the book upside down came in my second and third sketch dummy revisions in direct response to comments and questions from my agent and writing groups (before submission). Turning the book upside down allowed Evie to fly up into the stars. When I stumbled upon this possibility, turning the book became a compelling way visually distinguish the magic realm from reality –turning the book changes the experience of the reader.

In the magic realm the images are full bleed spreads, reading from left to right, so the reader must turn the pages backwards to move forward in the story. The “real world” is illustrated with frames and comic panels, reads right to left and follows the rules of gravity. Turning the book wasn’t a plan. It came out of rigorous revision to make the story better.

I love the stippled and detailed textures that are your signature illustration style. How did you develop your painting technique? You mentioned that images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope were used to create some of the artwork for this picture book. What prompted you to incorporate those photos into your art-making?

With a B.F.A. from the University of Michigan, I am formally trained in drawing, printmaking and photography. As a fine art student, I learned how to give and take structured “critiques”, which were thoughtful, rigorous sessions of commenting specifically on what was working and not working in peer’s work and why. I attribute most of my learning and growth as an artist to these sessions.

After my formal training, I found my illustration style over many years of practice, journaling in my sketchbooks, life drawing classes, and sketching and revising those early picture book dummies. Studying photography and being a professional photographer taught me how to compose a frame to tell a story. In my illustration practice, I prefer to work analog, but for the ease of revision, I have learned to adapt. For most books I work on now, I render line work and my painting into separate analog layers, scan, then assemble and collage them together in Photoshop. This creates a polished image that I can easily play with and revise.

In The Great Escape, I tried something new. I rendered intensive line work onto hot press watercolor paper, then digitally collaged my hand painted watercolors into the scenes. When trying to amplify the visual atmosphere of the magic realm, I had the idea of merging the sea and the stars into one setting. But the watercolor painted skies alone didn’t feel as magical as I wanted.

Meanwhile, I had been following the news of the Webb Space Telescope and learned that the photographs taken by NASA would be entered in the public domain immediately for anyone to use. So, with some trial and error, I merged those starry galaxies and nebulas into my hand-painted watercolor textures using various layering techniques in Photoshop.

The combination of the two mediums alongside the line-work makes a fantasy realm that feels distinctly its own, while also fitting into a cohesive illustration style for the whole book.

For more information on the photographs being taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, please visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/

For me the composition below was a showstopper, the deep sea is a mirror of the sky with the sun and constellations, the scale of the characters awe-inspiring and the words “Her baby was caught in a net of constellations.” intriguing! Please tell us about this double spread.

This is one of my favorite moments in the book too. When drafting the siblings’ adventure, I didn’t want them to ever be in real danger, but I did want them (and the reader) to feel the suspense of possibly being in danger… while all along leading them to a surprise. This dramatic reveal came once again from my revision process. In early drafts I only had one whale in the magic realm whom the siblings found stuck in a human made fishing net. But the cause/effect, chase and magic weren’t as strong, logical or surprising. This was also before I found the turn-the-book-to-enter-the-magic-realm idea. So, I pushed deeper.

I asked a lot of questions. What else could be going on? What are the siblings running toward or away from? Why?

In flipping the book and discovering the starry watercolor sky full of nebulas and galaxies, including constellations as part of the setting made more sense than a human-made fishing net. Constellation maps always have lines drawn between the stars to help us identify them in the sky as objects or beings, for example “Ursa Major” or “Pegasus”.  From there it wasn’t a far leap to imagine them as literal cords of light, holding the constellation together as kind of net, and that perhaps, a magical baby space whale might get tangled into it.

In your collaborative partnerships, with your editor/art director in the publishing world, how do you navigate creative tension when you or others see things differently?

I am always open to making a book better. I also like to be challenged. I have seen the power of what critique can do to evolve work to a higher level. I love working with people who make many beautiful, compelling, award winning books every year. They see things I can’t always see and I am eager to learn and become a better writer and artist.

The best feedback comes in the form of explaining why something isn’t quite working and why, but then the team makes me solve it. Having ownership in the solution makes me better at my craft too.

I wasn’t sure, for example, that my publisher would go for the turn-the-book element, but they did. I push back when something is really important to me, and if we need to, there is a conference call with my team to talk through everything. Overall, I feel very supported and challenged at Putnam; I trust them to help me make a better book than I could on my own.

Do you have any suggestions of mentor texts or craft books beginning picture book writers may peruse for inspiration?

I recently found Mary Kole’s craft book Writing Irresistible Picture Books (Good Story Publishing, 2023). I highly recommend it to anyone working in children’s literature. While I have read it cover to cover, I dip into it often when reflecting on the inner workings of my own developing picture books.

Specifically for The Great Escape, two of my main mentor texts (that I also used as comps) were Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak and Journey by Aaron Becker. I also studied Are We There Yet? by Dan Santat and Mel Fell by Corey R. Tabor because they both use variations of “turn-the-book” in their storytelling. 

In what ways has joining the children’s book community shaped you as an artist and a person?

Teachers, librarians, agents, editors, art directors alongside creators who write and illustrate in the field of children’s literature are so generous with their wisdom and efforts to lift up books and those who make them. I find this energy genuine and contagious.

But it wasn’t until I attended my first regional SCBWI conference in 2013, where I experienced this up close with the incredible presenters there–Jane Yolen, Laurent Linn, Peter Brown, among others – who shared tangible steps of what it took to become an author-illustrator. They were direct and clear about what they were looking for and how to build a career in this industry.

I wasn’t naïve. I knew there would be a long road ahead of me, but I was able to see that there was indeed a path to making books. There are many gatekeepers to be sure, but at those gates, are a lot of human beings (agents, editors, art directors) eager and passionate to find and make beautiful stories and books.

How are you adapting to the realities of today’s publishing landscape?

I put my head down and try not to believe things are hard or slow in publishing (even though they are). I try not to worry about A.I. I mostly try to channel my energy and focus on my next story. I have worked hard and am also fortunate to have a steady workflow.

I also have an incredible team behind me without whom none of my books will be possible: a stellar agent, Laura Rennert, an amazing editor, Stephanie Pitts at Putnam, a brilliant art team, Cecilia Yung (now retired) and Eileen Savage, a fantastic publicist and an out of this world foreign rights team. I try my best to keep busy with a contracted book while working on a proposal for my next book. But it hasn’t always been this way, and I don’t take anything for granted. The world feels in a precarious place right now, and some days I just try to focus on what I need to do that morning, that day, to keep myself afloat.

What allows me to have hope in the face of it all, is that I know publishers, readers, librarians, kid-lit enthusiasts are always looking for a book that will touch their hearts. Readers are hungry for stories that make them feel a little changed after they read them. And this is my life’s work now.

There are a handful of new main characters dancing around my drawing table at the moment, yelling, “Pick me! I want to be the main character of your next story!”

You have maintained an active publishing career, which is arguably a bigger challenge than breaking into this field. How have you managed to achieve continued success?

Continued success has only come after years of failure, persistence, revision, rejection, a little luck, a desire to learn and the motivation to keep going. My whole life has been a quest of how to be an artist in the world. In my adult life the question was, “How can I be an artist, not compromise my values, and support myself financially with my art?” It took me until my mid-thirties to pursue the path of being an author-illustrator professionally. But once I made the decision, I could look back and see that everything I had done or worked on up until then had led me to that moment – and my life had been simply been waiting for me to make this choice all along.

I was willing to take illustration-only jobs early in my career, which opened doors for my author-illustrator work. I worked with smaller houses and accepted lower advances. But all the while I was learning, developing, growing, and most all, I felt so lucky to be steeped in the magic of picture books and stories, words and illustrations for young people.

I worked part time doing other jobs as a photographer or teacher to help pay the bills until about four years ago. My advances started to grow and my backlist is now continuing to earn royalties, so I am able to make a good living by working on my own books.

There have been a lot rejections, disappointments, revise-and-resubmits with ultimate passes, but with every revision I learned more about this medium and myself as an artist. I could feel myself becoming a stronger storyteller. I wish I could whisper into the ear of my seven-year-old self as she wrote little poems and illustrated them with crayons, “You’ll never guess what you get to do when you grow up.”

Finally, what message would you like the young readers to take away from this book in particular?

At its heart, The Great Escape is about the sacred spaces of 1) being alone and 2) being together. It’s about the unique bonds and frustrations of sibling love. It’s about wonder, magic, imagination and working together. I hope when readers reach the final page, they are filled with awe and inspired by the possibilities waiting to be unlocked in their own imaginations.

Cynsational Notes

Deborah Marcero is the author-illustrator of My Heart is a Compass, In a Jar, Out of a Jar, Hope in a Jar, the Little Bunny Board Book series, and more.  Her books have been translated into twenty languages. She lives in Duluth, Minnesota and you can find out more about her art and books at deborahmarcero.com.

 Mitu Malhotra holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. A finalist for the 2024 Lee & Low New Visions Award and the winner of the 2021 Katherine Paterson Prize for Literature for Young Adults and Children, Mitu has won scholarships from the Highlights Foundation, Tin House, and a writing residency at the Djerassi Program. Her short story “Toxins” is part of ELA curriculum. Her writing has appeared in Hunger Mountain, Thin Air Magazine and elsewhere. In previous avatars, Mitu was a textile and fashion designer, and has taught in India, the Middle East and the US. Mitu is an active member of CBIG: Children’s Book Illustrators Group, NYC and NJ SCBWI. She currently interns with Cynthia Leitich Smith (author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint of HarperCollins) and interviews authors for the blog Cynsations. Mitu also reviews books for Kirkus Reviews. During September 2025 her banner design was selected for use by the Kidlit 411 Blog website. More here: www.mitumalhotra.com