For my senior thesis, I wrote, illustrated, and self-published the children’s picture book Waila on the Hiking Trail, a children’s picture book about a spider who spins her web straight across an busy trail, where it gets trampled on day after day by passing hikers. Although the book is real, all collateral material and merchandise is hypothetical and used to demonstrate the brand identity.
Summary:
Have you ever walked into a spider’s web and felt that icky, sticky silk clinging to your face and tangling in your hair? It was enough to ruin your day, wasn’t it? But did you ever think of how the spider felt? Waila on the Hiking Trail is a picture book about a determined little spider who spins her web — of all places — straight across a hiking trail, where hikers trample through it every day. It’s a traditional underdog story of courage in the face of impossible odds, but with a twist.
Characters
Waila
The Narrator
Waila’s Family
The Neighbors
Hikers
Book Trailer
The book trailer, like a movie trailer, is meant to capture the tone and feel of the story and is more dynamic than a summary.
Sample Spreads
