Erin Dealey

Hooray! Hooray! It’s a special Book Birthday for Ruby Maps Her World, written by THE Jane Yolen, and Illustrated by award-winning illustrator Dow Phumiruk (Christy Ottaviano Books).

About Ruby Maps Her World

This sweet, STEM-focused picture book introduces the concept of mapping. Ruby grabs her Birthday journal and markers and heads outside, mapping her way down the street, under the railroad bridge, as readers follow and discover maps help us tell our stories.

“Phumiruk’s clean illustrations in soft colors are a sedate foil to Ruby’s hand-drawn icons representing each thing she sees on her walk, with dotted lines charting her path and written notes labeling her pictures. Each image of a real-life scene is juxtaposed with Ruby’s interpretation, giving readers the feeling of peeking into her notebook.….Will most certainly inspire young cartographers to chart their own worlds. ”―Kirkus Reviews

As announced in PW. (Note the original title.)

About the creators

Jane Yolen is the beloved author of over four hundred books, including the Caldecott Medal winner Owl Moon and the bestselling How Do Dinosaurs series. Her many awards include three Christopher Medals, two Nebula Awards, the Kerlan Award, the Jewish Book Award, and the Sydney Taylor Body of Work Award, among many others. Jane lives in Western Massachusetts and invites you to visit her online at janeyolen.com. 

Dow Phumiruk (Dow rhymes with “wow!” and Phumiruk has a sneaky silent h: Poo’ mee ruck.) was born in Krung Thep (Bangkok), Thailand and now lives in Colorado.

She is the award-winning illustrator of MAYA LIN: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines (Amazon Best Book of the Year / NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book); Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13 (including Bank Street College of Education Cook Prize & NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book) and Her Name Was Mary Katherine: The Only Woman Whose Name Is on the Declaration of Independence (an NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies selection and a CBC Children’s Favorite Award winner) to name a few.

Readers may remember her Book Birthday celebrations for Orpheline and AN EQUAL SHOT: How the Law Title IX Changed America.  

Today’s special guest, Dow Phumiruk, gives us an inside look on the illustration process for Ruby Maps Her World:

Welcome to the blog, Dow. — Let’s dive in!

Q 1. Where did you begin on this project, once you had the chance to read Jane Yolen’s clever manuscript? Thumb nails? Map making? A storyboard? (Also: Jane Yolen –WOW!)

Dow Phumiruk: I think you mean after I jumped up and down with excitement about illustrating a book for Jane Yolen, right? I was completely floored with this honor, and it took me a while to calm down. It feels like I’ve peaked in my publishing career!

Here’s how I tackle illustration work: first, I read and review the manuscripts several times. I let the stories sit in my mind as I wash dishes, walk the dog, or fold laundry. It’s my way of familiarizing myself with every piece of the story.

Essentially, I am internalizing the text and getting a sense of an appropriate  artistic direction. By this time, some images have formed loosely in my imagination that might be used as anchor spreads for the book. These are the spreads for key moments. After several weeks, I can finally start sketching.

Anchoring spreads…

Dow Phumiruk: I used the same process for this book. I knew I wanted the reader to meet Ruby in a close-up view of her waking in the morning and then to see her racing downstairs, greeted by her dog.

Upon introducing  Ruby’s mother to our readers, I wanted to show the two of them sharing breakfast across the table, her mother on one side and Ruby on the other side of the spread. I wanted the viewer to feel as if they’d pulled up a chair to sit at the table with them.

Another scene near the end of the book shows multiple people at the park. I imagined the spread full of lively activity. These are my anchoring spreads that I use to start my storyboard.

Storyboard

Dow Phumiruk: I’d like to point out that a storyboard is typically meant for the artist’s eyes only. It’s very, very loose and serves as an outline for composition and layout as we create the mockup. I don’t send these to the publishing team! But here it is for you. Perhaps you can get the book when it comes out and compare these to the final version.

Character Design

Dow Phumiruk: After the storyboard, I work on character design. Sometimes a character comes to mind right away. In this case, I saw Ruby as a little girl with short, dark hair and bangs.

Deciding how to outfit her took longer. I opted to include a ruby colored top to match her name. The lines of her plaid skirt are reminiscent of mapping elements.

Dow Phumiruk: *** Did you notice there are no maps in this initial storyboard? I’ll explain what happened in my answer to your next question!

Challenges and Solutions

Q 2. What was one of the challenges you encountered while working on this book?

Dow Phumiruk: With this project, I didn’t quite nail it on the first attempt! The goal of this STEM project was to introduce children to the basic concepts of mapping. I had not illustrated a book like this before, and I knew I needed extra guidance on how to do this.

I met with my editor Christy Ottaviano after I had submitted the first round of sketches, and we talked at length about how we could bring the mapping elements into the book. Christy is an incredible editor, and I feel so fortunate to have worked with her on five (!) different projects now. She helped me see how we could incorporate Ruby’s drawings and labels into the story. I love how the revisions put the focus on mapping.

I’ve drawn the scenes described in the manuscript on each spread, such as when Ruby sees a crow, a leaf, and a bike. Then we have Ruby’s drawings shown on the other side of the page, so young readers can make the connection between the scene and Ruby’s drawings for her map. And near the end of the book, her drawings are compiled into one big map.

Q 3. What is your favorite spread?

Dow Phumiruk: I think the obvious spread would be the title page, where my name is right by Jane’s! I don’t think I’ll ever get over this.

As for the art, I really enjoyed illustrating the glowing ceiling stars in Ruby’s room. I also had fun illustrating Ruby’s art throughout her day and then all her drawings and labels together for her full map.

Q 4. This PW review talks about your “water-color-textured digital illustrations.” Did you experiment with other media before you landed on this technique?

Dow Phumiruk: I initially explored using Prismacolor pencils for the color art. You can still see some remnants of their texture in some of the spreads. However, I have always enjoyed using watercolor and other traditional media samples digitally in my work to add interest, so this is how the art was finalized.

Additional layers of inspiration!

Dow Phumiruk: For Ruby’s drawings, I used markers to start, since Ruby used markers in the story. I liked the crisper look of digital markers more, so I ended up using these for the final versions.

Also in this book, I used maps as texture in several parts of the book. They are placed lightly in the backgrounds to carry the theme of our book throughout.

Takeaways

Q 5. What do you hope young readers will take away from Ruby Maps Her World?

Dow Phumiruk: I hope they enjoy an introduction to the basic concepts of mapping. They can learn to observe the world around them with intention and to think spatially. They can consider scale and correlate symbols and pictures with places or things.

Their knowledge of mapping will serve as a nice introduction to science and problem-solving as they move along through school. I’d like to point out that the back matter for our book includes an excellent note from an educator, Cyndi Giorgis, which suggests activities that can be used to further explore the mapping concept. In short, I hope children will be inspired to map their own worlds.

What’s next?

Q 6. Are there other books in the queue? Can you share anything about them?

Dow Phumiruk: I have two more publications on the way. One is called Beasts Beneath the Winds: Tales of Southeast Asia’s Mythical Creatures, edited by Hanna Alkaf. This one is a middle grade anthology that includes my first short story.

In February 2026, Happy Songkran Day, written and illustrated by me, will be released. It’s a book about the Thai New Year celebration. Beyond that, I’m hoping to complete a middle grade novel featuring a Thai American main character. It’s slow-going, but it is my next goal!

WOW! (Rhymes with Dow, remember?)

Thank you to my friend Dow Phumiruk for joining us on the blog today and for her fascinating insights.

To learn more about Dow Phumiruk and Jane Yolen, visit these links:

Dow: ArtByDow  Instagram: dowphumiruk BlueSky: @dowphumiruk

Jane: JaneYolen.com                Instagram: jyolen                              FB JaneYolen  

BONUS ACTIVITY: Teachers & Librarians & ALL Educators- Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Having students MAP their own worlds would be a fantastic extension!

Next up on the blog:

We chat with author Jungyoon Huh about the beautiful, heartfelt picture book, Late Today,

illustrated by Myungae Lee, translated by Aerin Park (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers)

Happy BOOKtober!