The Picture Book Buzz - Interview w/ Marsha Diane Arnold and Adam Gustavson

Marsha Diane Arnold's been called a "born storyteller" by the media and her stories have been called "wacky," "whimsical," "inspiring," "beguiling," "heartwarming," "uplifting," and "great read-alouds." 

Her books have sold over one million copies, received awards, earned starred reviews, made lists, and been translated into different languages. But most importantly, readers love her books and Marsha loves to visit schools to share them with readers. With a heart for nature, history, and stories of quiet power, she brings imagination and soul to every book she writes.

When not creating imaginative worlds and wacky characters at her home in Florida, Marsha enjoys traveling, gardening, spending time with her grandchildren, and (like her characters) always trying new things. 

Marsha’s the author of 24 books, including One Small Thing, illustrated by Laura Watkins (2023), Lights Out, illustrated by Susan Reagan (2020)(finalist for the Golden Kite award), Badger's Perfect Garden, illustrated by Ramona Kaulitzki (2019)(awarded the Florida Book Awards Bronze Medal), Mine. Yours., illustrated by Qin Leng (2019), Galápagos Girl / Galapagueña (English and Spanish Edition), illustrated by Angela Dominguez (2018)(a Bank Street Best Book and Campoy-Ada honor book), May I Come In?, illustrated by Jennie Poh (2018), Baby Animals Take a Nap & Baby Animals Take a Bath, illustrated by Phyllis Limbacher Tildes (2017). Waiting for Snow, illustrated by Renata Liwska (2016) and Lost. Found.: A Picture Book, illustrated by Matthew Cordell (2015).

For additional information about Marsha, see our earlier interview (here) and (here).

Adam Gustavson’s paintings and drawings have appeared in over thirty highly praised and award-winning books for children, as well as magazines, educational materials, advertising campaigns and galleries. He holds an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York, and a BFA from Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ. 

His career in art education has led him to serve on the faculty of Philadelphia's University of the Arts and Rowan University, where he is a full-time professor. Since 2014, he has co-owned the Renaissance Art Studio in Millburn, NJ, with his wife (and manager) Denise, offering individual art lessons in a variety of media.

He lives in New Jersey with his family and two neurotic little dogs, and spends his nights singing, writing, playing a couple instruments in any number of area bands. 

Adam’s the author/illustrator of The Froggies Do NOT Want to Sleep (2021) and illustrator of

31 books, including Silent Star: The Story of Deaf Major Leaguer William Hoy by William Wise (2018), Long-Armed Ludy and the First Women's Olympics by Jean L. S. Patrick (2017), Stand Up and Sing!: Pete Seeger, Folk Music, and the Path to Justice by Susanna Reich (2017), Charlie Bumpers vs. His Big Blabby Mouth (Charlie Bumpers, #6) by Bill Harley (2017), Fab Four Friends: The Boys Who Became the Beatles by Susanna Reich (2015), and Mind Your Manners, Alice Roosevelt! by Leslie Kimmelman (2009).

Their newest picture book, Big Boy 4014 and the Steam Team: The World's Largest Steam Engine Roars Back to Life!, releases on May 1st.

Welcome Marsha & Adam!

Hi Maria!

Let’s start with Adam. Tell us a little about yourself. (Where/when do you illustrate? How long have you been illustrating? What is your favorite type of book to illustrate? )

ADAM – I started illustrating when I was still in college, (way) back in 1996. My first foray into children’s books came a year or so later, Good Luck Mrs. K! by Louise Borden, which came out in 1999. Unofficially, I probably illustrated every book report and spelling sentence assignment as early as third grade, and my brothers and I drew together like most kids would play catch.

I have a studio on the third floor of my house, which is where I do most of my work. I’ve figured out ways to stay flexible about that, though. I’ve finished up illustration projects on just about every family vacation, as well as on campus between classes.

My favorite projects are at two extremes; I have a deep love for all things silly, and just as deep an interest in densely researched non-fiction subjects… the more obscure, the better.

That's a great range of styles and interests. What is one of the most fun or unusual places where you’ve illustrated a manuscript or created a print?

ADAM – When I was first starting out, I had a project working with The Oxford American Magazine out of Mississippi, illustrating the first serialized edition of John Grisham’s A Painted House.  The magazine was bi-monthly, but I never knew when I might get the manuscript faxed over to me. Once it came through, I would have a week to create five paintings.

Yikes! Talk about tight deadlines. For both of you, which has been your most interesting picture book to write or illustrate? Why?

MARSHA – Maria, that is like asking which child is the most interesting! Some are challenging, some are charming, some live with you a bit longer than you expected, but we love them all.

If you’d asked me which book was the most challenging, I might say Big Boy 4014 And The Steam Team. I usually write fiction, so my mind can take flight and imagine. Big Boy 4014, though, is still traveling the rails, thanks to the Steam Team, and so are those involved in her restoration. I needed to get things right! This newest book might also be the most interesting though, as I’ve met fascinating folks along this book journey, even traveling to Omaha, Nebraska to step aboard Big Boy 4014 and take a ride on the tracks with Ed Dickens, head engineer and leader of the Steam Team. Challenging and interesting.

ADAM – The MOST interesting… I’ve got one in the works that I don’t think I can talk about yet, and for a while King of the Tightrope by Donna Janell Bowman —about the first funambulist to cross Niagara gorge on a tightrope in 1859— was hard to top. I spent months just tracking down the color scheme of his leotard by poring over online museum collections, vintage photos, and contemporary newspaper accounts.

Big Boy 4014 is pretty high up on the list, though. I think I had painted two trains ever before taking this feller on. By the time the paintings were done, I was so emotionally invested in the restoration. When the main character of your book is an object or a machine, it’s necessary to see it from as many angles as possible, with just as many different lighting situations and shifting perspectives. There’s a partially restored Big Boy in Scranton, PA, about an hour and a half from our house, so my wife Denise and I spent a day there, climbing around, photographing, and sketching.

It's interesting how the train captured both of your interests and a part of your hearts. Marsha, what was your inspiration or spark of curiosity for Big Boy 4014 and the Steam Team: The World's Largest Steam Engine Roars Back to Life!? 

MARSHA – Honestly, I have no memory of when I first heard of Big Boy 4014, but I do know that when I did, I was enamored. It wasn’t surprising, as I have a bit of a history with trains. I grew up in the country, about a mile from the railroad tracks. I could hear the train whistles through the nights. My great-grandma was fondly called “Grandma Choo-Choo” as I would point at trains and exclaim, “Grandma! Choo-Choo.” And my brother and cousin used to place pennies on the railroad track behind another grandmother’s apartment in Colorado just for the excitement of seeing them smashed after the trains roared past. I could go on. Obviously, I love trains.

It's no surprise that you fell in love with Big Boy 4014's story. Adam, what about the Big Boy 4014 and the Steam Team manuscript appealed to you as an illustrator? 

ADAM – I like learning new things. I mean that in the way normal people would mean that, but I mean it in a hands-on, picture making way, too. I like the challenge of finding new shapes and designs in the world, to take something unfamiliar to me and figure out what it really looks like, almost to where it becomes a language you’re thinking in. 

I like to say that art history is full of boring fight scenes and exciting still lifes. The challenge of making a single picture feel like an experience lies in really getting to know the full potential of your subject, as if a giant train is constantly asking you “did you get my good side?,” then to align the mood and action of the picture up with the story. In keeping with the rest of that, the shape and placement of a paragraph is just as important a part of the storytelling as the story the paragraph tells.

What a great, thought-provoking answer! How many revisions did Big Boy 4014 and the Steam Team take for the text or illustrations from your first draft to publication?

MARSHA – I usually make notes first, sometimes in a notebook – phrases that come into my head, phrases I’ve read, information about the subject. From the first draft (and I’m being generous calling it a draft) to the final, I suspect there were at least twenty revisions. A few of those were after I signed my contract. There were a lot of details to get right.

ADAM – Not many, considering how complex everything was! The few we had were areas where I turned in sketches and might have even said something like, “is there a better way to get this across?” If I didn’t ask outright, I know I was hoping someone would make a suggestion. The toughest image to get a handle on was the spread about planning Big Boy’s journey; trying to show thought or intent is always difficult, especially if you don’t have a visual vocabulary for it (planning a dinner? I know what that looks like. Planning a cross-country trip for the world’s largest locomotive? Well…). Marsha saved the day when she forwarded over images of the hand-written notes and diagrams the team drew up.

I enjoyed that particular image, and I can appreciate what a gift that research was! Good thing Marsh kept her notes. Marsha, what was the toughest part of writing Big Boy 4014 and the Steam Team? What was the most fun?

MARSHA – The toughest part was going through the material written about Big Boy and the information online shared by railfans. That’s because there was conflicting information. I was thankful when Robynn Tysver, UP Communication Manager, and Ed Dickens, Big Boy’s engineer and head restorer, agreed to look at my story and share their thoughts and encyclopedic knowledge about trains and Big Boy.

The most fun was having my husband drive me from Florida to Omaha, Nebraska to see Big Boy 4014 and then being invited to hop onboard for a half an hour ride. That wasn’t really writing, but it was definitely part of the research!

And one of the best parts of the research, I imagine! Adam, what was the toughest part of illustrating Big Boy 4014 and the Steam Team specifically? What was the most fun?

ADAM - Hahaha! It was all tough, but I think the overarching challenge was getting the size to communicate. This train is really so big, it kind of distorts your sense of perspective. We rarely ever look at anything this size all at once, so fitting it in a picture always did something weird to its environment or to any people in the image. If one little thing was off, it was as if a hole got torn in the time/space continuum and nothing lined up anymore.

A part of it that I had fun with really came from the steam part of “steam engine.” The train is so big, but so are the billowing clouds that erupt from it. I wanted them to be characters in the book as well, almost like they were the Big Boy’s thought balloons… Big Boy does a fair amount of dreaming and thinking in this book. The shape of the steam could tell us how fast the train was going, where it had come from, and it could carve out convenient spaces for type.

I love your image where we first see her in the woods and how she towers over the visiting families. Marsha, did anything surprise or delight you when you first saw Adam’s illustrations for the first time? Which is your favorite spread? 

Text © Marsha Diane Arnold, 2025. Image © Adam Gustavson, 2025.

MARSHA – Having previously seen Adam’s work, I wasn’t really surprised. But I was absolutely delighted by Adam’s stunning illustrations!  He did so much research and the details are amazing. I particularly like the illustrations where Big Boy stretches across two pages. But I also like the one where members of the Steam Team’s backs are to us as they study Big Boy, wondering if it would be possible to restore her. Adam got their gestures and positions just right. Many people said restoring Big Boy was an impossible task – we show that with the speech bubbles - but Ed Dickens voice was “loud and clear” – “All we need is a great Steam Team. It can be done.”

The illustration is so amazing -it almost looks like a photograph with speech bubbles super imposed. Adam, is there a spread that you were especially excited about or proud of? Which is your favorite spread? 

Text © Marsha Diane Arnold, 2025. Image © Adam Gustavson, 2025.

ADAM – I think the next to last illustrated spread, the slightly overhead angle that warns the crowds to stay back from the hot steam. It’s a different vantage point from the other pages, where the train is either approaching us, passing us, or leaving us. I feel in this one she’s sort of dragging us along with her into the end of the book, which for Big Boy feels more like a new beginning.

That's a great image, where thet ending is really just the beginning. Is there something you want your readers to know about Big Boy 4014 and the Steam Team?

MARSHA – I would love for our readers to become interested in the history of trains in the United States and their importance in building our country. I also want them to know that since Big Boy 4014 has been restored, she’s doing tours, particularly in the western part of our country. You can sign up to be notified about these by joining the Union Pacific Steam Club at https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/club/index.htm.

ADAM – Oh boy, in addition to the steam clouds and the sheer size and the hundreds of photos I took along the way… I think from the standpoint of the pictures, I always like to think about the relationship between what the words say and what the pictures show. So, I guess I’d like readers to know that every part of a picture is a decision that was made for a reason. It might not be a big, important, earth-shattering reason, but there’s a reason. Sometimes the reason is complicated, sometimes the reason is just “it’s my sky and I’ll make it pink if I want to.”

I love that final decision! Adam, many illustrators leave treasures or weave their own story (or elements) throughout the illustrations. Did you do this in Big Boy 4014 and the Steam Team? If so, could you share one or more with us?

ADAM – It was 100% unintentional (or at least unconscious), but it was pointed out to me by a friend that if you look closely in one of the crowd scenes, you can find someone who looks suspiciously like Waldo.

Ha! I can see why they might say that! Are there any projects you are working on now that you can share a tidbit with us? 

MARSHA – There’s a project that’s been floating around in my head for a few years. You got me – I’m not a fast writer. But I hope to start working on it soon. Here’s a hint: I’ll be stopping at Bracken Cave, Texas and chatting with the Director next month. Yes, if you’re not familiar with Bracken Cave, I’m making you look it up. 

ADAM – The next book coming out is The Aliens Do NOT Want to Go Home (2025). It’s very early on, but I’m excited to dig into a biography of Tiny Broadwick, an early female parachutist and the first actual skydiver.

Those ideas and the book are all very intriguing. We'll have to keep our eyes open for them! Last question, what is your favorite National Park or Forest, regional park, or city park (anywhere in the world)? Or the one you’re longing to visit. Why? 

MARSHA – Let’s stick with the “Y’s!” I love Yosemite and Yellowstone. I love Yosemite because, when I lived in California, my family visited it when we needed respite from the storms of life. Breath-taking, yet calming. Yellowstone is remarkable, plus it holds so many records – the only U.S. national park to span three states, the first national park in the world, and it has the largest concentration of geothermal features on Earth! The last time my husband and I visited, we saw bear, bison, coyotes, elk, moose, and wolves…in alphabetical order (I am a writer, after all. Ha.)

As you can see by my wordiness (Again…I am a writer!), I love nature and parks and forests. So, I’m especially excited to be on Highway 89 soon, traveling from Arizona to the Canadian border, revisiting the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier. Hooray for National Parks! 

© Steven L Markos

ADAM – I live very close to Thomas Edison’s laboratory, factory, and recording studio. It’s a pretty magical place. The lab looks like everyone stepped away from what they were working on just yesterday...

That is so impressive, Adam! Thank you, Marsha and Adam for stopping by and sharing with us. It was a real pleasure chatting with you both.

Thank you, Maria, for asking that question and for all these insightful questions. It was fun being on your blog!

To find out more about Marsha Diane Arnold, or contact her:

Website: http://www.marshadianearnold.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarshaDianeArnoldAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marshadianearnoldauthor/

To find out more about Adam Gustavson, or contact him:

Website: https://www.adamgustavson.art/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gustavsonadam/

If you want to see Marsha Diane Arnold pulling the whistle on Big Boy 4014, check out Beth Anderson's Mining for Heart post.