Oshi and Otto

Last year I was commissioned by the Fitchburg Public Library to write and illustrate two books using grant money from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. They were looking for one picture book which would be distributed to all of the city's Kindergarteners and one comic book that would be distributed to all of the city's Sixth Graders. My assignment was to teach the students and their families about some of the services the library offers in an entertaining way. Fitchburg has a very diverse population and a many of them speak only Spanish so both books were to be bilingual. Printing was finished in April of this year and they were distributed to the students in May and June.

Oshi Goes to the Library is about Oshi the octopus who recently moved to Fitchburg with her family after her dad got a job on land. Her mom heard that the library is a great resource so the family take a visit and get a tour from a very wise librarian.

Otto and José Save the Library is about an alien who crash lands their spaceship on the top of a library. With help from Ottos' new friend José they need to find a way to save the library from being destroyed by a meteor. Half of the book is the story in English and the other half is the same story in Spanish.

Me with a couple of awesome librarians at the Fitchburg Public Library. 

And me reading Oshi Goes to the Library to one of the groups of Kindergarteners.