I was appearing at the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival in mid-October when a woman walked up and said, “I’m a designer at Penguin Random House and I worked on Flat Cat.”
OMG! I met Opal Roengchai and now you can meet this talented woman, too! Thanks for joining me for this cover reveal, Opal.
It’s really rare for an author to have contact with the art side of the publishing house. So to start off this interview, I’d like to ask you what your title is at Penguin Random House and what your general responsibilities are?
I am a Senior Designer at PRH, working on titles under the PYR-Viking, Flamingo, and Philomel imprints.
(It was cool when I posted pics from the Ludwig Bemelmans Bar on Instagram and you commented that you worked on the Madeline books at PRH!)
Though I predominantly work on picture books and middle grade novels, I have started to design graphic novels as well. I am also the art director on projects, which means I collaborate with illustrators from sketch stage to finished book. We discuss trim size, paper stock, special effects, endpapers, etc. But my real focus is the art: Is the art illustrating the text? Is the layout good when the text is in place? Is the flow of the story working at a good pace? Those are a few of the many things I look at when reviewing the sketches.
So what is your first consideration when you think about the cover of a picture book? Do you offer guidance to the illustrator or do you just let them go for it?
It depends on the situation. I like to give the illustrator the opportunity to share their initial cover sketch ideas, but there are instances where guidance is provided if we and/or the author have a certain vision in mind. In addition, there are times when the illustrator will ask us specifically what we’re looking for and deliver accordingly.
What was that process like for the FLAT CAT: THE CLASS PET?
The cover process usually occurs after the final interior art has been delivered, allowing for possible cover concept inspiration. In this case, there was a piece in the interior that we really loved, and thought represented the story and school theme perfectly. We pulled a piece of spot art from the interior where we see Flat Cat peeking out of Willow’s backpack but had a few notes for Pete since this illustration would be used for the cover.
Essentially, the cover is our opportunity to communicate what the story is about. Being that Flat Cat was our main character, we wanted him to stand out on the cover. So, we asked the illustrator to make Flat Cat more visible as he sneaks out of Willow’s backpack and asked for more school supplies to go with the theme of the story.
Pete supplied a cover sketch that we (the editorial team and design) reviewed and sent off to you (the author) for your notes. We also shared the sketch with Sales and Marketing for any possible feedback. Overall, it’s a very collaborative effort across several departments.
From there, we either ask for further adjustments or go to final cover art. For FLAT CAT: THE CLASS PET, we had one more art comment which was to add some school-related background, which Pete took into consideration and added in the final cover art.
I remember that I wanted the subtitle to be written across the paper airplane!
Oh, yes…the sizing and placement was tricky.
Yep, no one would’ve been able to read the subtitle! This is why I’m not in the art department!
Can we talk about the awesome endpapers?
Pete is so talented and great with doing patterns on endpapers, so we asked him to share his concept and loved what he did. Then you had a great idea of adding one version of Flat Cat doing the peace sign as a little Easter egg.
Because it’s book TWO…and two fingers is also the peace sign! OK, so maybe sometimes I have decent ideas.
Kids really pick up on these details—it was definitely a nice addition to the endpapers. The peace sign version of Flat Cat was my favorite, so I added it to the back cover of the jacket as well. When designing the full jacket, I like to bring in some interior details to make it one cohesive package.
Designing the jacket is my favorite part of book design. I have a blank canvas to play with the design layout of the flaps, spine and back cover. It gives me the chance to add in some visual appeal overall. I like to think of the jacket and interior as a full package, so I’ll pull some interior art spots to front flap. Other than the visual appeal, it helps illustrate the flap copy. When it comes to the back cover, the illustrator may supply new art but depends on their schedule and timing. But in this instance, I pulled the image of Flat Cat holding up a peace sign to play homage to the endpapers and the last line of the book, which is “Smooth moves, Flat Cat.” I like the added connection of it all.
When designing, there are some other things I think about as well. For example, some books will be displayed on a shelf facing out where we see the front cover and other times the spine is facing out instead. Because of that, I really like to add a little décor to the spine to grab the reader’s attention and in this case, I added an image of Flat Cat to sit along with the title treatment.
And the whole package looks as cool as Flat Cat himself! Thanks for all that you did to help bring the book to life, Opal!
So here it is, the cover reveal for FLAT CAT: THE CLASS PET, which is due out on June 17, 2025 from Flamingo Books!
And blog readers, if you pre-order, just let me know below and you will be entered into a giveaway for a Flat Cat peace sign pin and cover magnet. I’ll giveaway 5 of these packages around Thanksgiving.
Smooth moves, Flat Cat (and Opal)!
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