I imagine working with fifteen different illustrators on a book can be quite challenging. What was your collaborative process for this project?

I've compared working on this picture book to being a director of a movie. Working with the illustrators was more like being a conductor of an orchestra, except each musician was playing their instrument in a separate room. The editorial and design team and I worked really hard to make sure we brought everyone together to make some beautiful music.

I had a vision for Dream, but I also wanted each artist to bring their own style and perspective to their illustration. We started by sending each illustrator a complete set of artistic notes on what I saw the book as being about, the meaning of the text on their spread, and my initial ideas for the illustration. I also made it clear that I wanted them to bring their own ideas to the table. Then I waited to see what drafts would come in.

It was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience to work with these 15 illustrators. The creative energy was unlike anything I've ever done before. I really believe in synergy, that ideas brought together can be far more powerful than individual ideas. I learned a great deal.

Some of the illustrations went more quickly than others. Each person had their own way of working. Some of the illustrators preferred working in isolation, while for others the calls and e-mails flew back-and-forth. In most cases, the draft we got in was something great and just required some fine tuning. In a couple of cases, I knew right away that a draft wasn't going to work with the illustrations coming before or after. We had to give it another go. The illustrators were all great in terms of putting everything they had into making their illustration special. I think we have some of each illustrator's best work represented in Dream.