Inside the series - Asha and Baz
- Common Deer Press
- Jun 3
- 2 min read
In this installment of Inside the Series, we dive into the chapter book series Asha and Baz. Created by the Canadian team of Caroline Fernandez (author) and Dharmali Patel (illustrator), this series features women in STEM.
This series is of interest to parents, teachers and librarians because it includes
STEM learning
Literacy and vocabulary building
Biography
Makerspace opportunities (to re-create the activities in the book)
Learn-along adventure
Caroline Fernandez gives us an inside the series look at Asha and Baz…
What evergreen features (settings, characters, times) flow through each book in the series?
The challenges for Asha and Baz always take place at the same school with the same teacher. Asha and Baz themselves carry the same character traits (Asha being curious and Baz being anxious). Their clothing remained the same until book 6 where (spoiler alert!) they change to period clothing when they travel back in time.
How do you "grow" characters through a series?
In the Asha and Baz series, Asha becomes a little more patient and Baz becomes a little more brave. This character growth came from many discussions with the team. Were the characters stagnant? Does it get boring seeing a character react in the same way in each book? Thus, we decided the characters needed maturity and emotional growth throughout the series. As with real life, the characters change based on their previous experiences.
What things/people/events from your author's life have you put into the series? (if applicable)
I’ve had Asha and Baz get lost a few times…because I often get lost in real life.
How does the collaboration between author and illustrator work in this series?
On the author side…I research, plan/plot, write, edit, re-write. Because the books are so deeply rooted in real life people/events/locations, I create a master document for Dharmali (the illustrator) with photos and sources of the people, places, and things. From that document, Dharmali creates the illustrations.
Often readers think authors and illustrators work side by side when creating a book. In reality, we didn’t meet until book 2 or 3 (at a class visit!).
Commentaires