When Rebekah Hair sat down to write her first picture book for a college senior project, she made two at once. The one with the realistic watercolor historical scenes? Still in the drawer. The playful story about a bird collecting playground treasure? That one found its way into print.
That instinct for what resonates with young readers has only sharpened since. Hair’s most recent picture book, Take That, Hurricane!, takes a superhero-themed approach to a subject most children’s books either avoid or treat with alarm: what happens to a community after a hurricane hits.
“I wanted to show the cleanup, the relief efforts, the volunteers,” Hair explains. “All of the different elements that come together in that kind of response.” The book, aimed at readers ages five through eight, has been featured at library events, school visits, and conferences throughout Louisiana and beyond. Distributed through Ingram, it is available in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, making Hair an international author by any reasonable measure.
Her illustration process is as layered as her subject matter. Hair draws everything by hand using India ink on paper, then scans each piece and completes the coloring digitally in Krita, a painting program she discovered during her senior project when earlier digital work was not capturing the texture she wanted. The result is a hybrid aesthetic that consciously nods to classic comic book printing: Ben-Day dots, bold contrast, and a slightly retro energy that makes the superhero concept feel authentic rather than borrowed.
For promotional and layout work, Hair turns to Adobe Illustrator, the vector-based program she studied in both high school and college. She uses InDesign and Kindle Create for book formatting and assembly. It is a working toolkit that reflects both her formal training and years of practical problem-solving.
Beyond her own projects, Hair illustrates for faith-based publishers and teaches specialized art courses online through Excelsior Classes, where she focuses specifically on picture books and illustration. Her teaching style is conversational and collaborative, built on the belief that every student already has something worth expressing.
A sequel to Take That, Hurricane! is in progress. This one features a love bug invasion. Anyone who has spent a spring in Louisiana or Florida already knows exactly what that means.
Hair is a member of the Bayou Writers Group in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where the local indie bookstore recently celebrated a grand opening with authors’ books displayed on the walls. She is on Instagram at @rebekah_rebekahhairbooks and maintains a YouTube channel at RebekahCIllustrations.
Enjoy Jolene’s Book and Writers Talk Interview With the Author
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