Avalanche Dog Heroes – Visual Storytelling for a Critically-Recognized Children’s Book
Avalanche Dog Heroes is a nonfiction middle grade picture book photographed entirely by amateur photographers. I coached the photographers, directed coverage with focused shot lists, culled and edited thousands of images, and built a cohesive photo narrative that carries Piper’s hero story from page to page.
Role: Photo coach • Photo Editor • Layout Direction • Visual Strategy
Publisher: Little Bigfoot
ISBN-10 : 9781632171733
ISBN-13 : 978-1632171733
Author: Elizabeth Rusch
RECOGNITION for Avalanche Dog Heroes
Junior Library Guild selection
Pacific Northwest Bestseller
Towner Children’s Choice Award
Oregon Spirit Honor
Avalanche Dog Heroes – Children’s Book Visuals Case Study
The finished book earned recognition as a Junior Library Guild selection and Pacific Northwest bestseller. This case study shares the behind‑the‑scenes visual process, from planning and culling to layout decisions and takeaways.
What People Are Saying
“Present-tense narration paired with dynamic color photographs puts readers in the moment…”
— Kirkus
“The training of the dogs is both hard work and fun—a point made clear through photographs of Piper dashing through the snow, chewing on toys, and embracing Cohen.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Almost every spread captures a dynamic dog training scene amid beautiful snowscapes.”
— School Library Journal
Reflections.
A full dummy. Built a full InDesign book dummy for this title, which cut rounds with the designer and dramatically reduced the author’s documentation workload.
Naming convention. Refined a photo naming and intake system so we could track photographers, dates, and edit stages at a glance.
Documenting process. Although I did document some of my process, I would have benefitted from taking more detailed notes and reference photos throughout, which I could have used post project to evaluate all aspects of the project.