Do You Know the Dark? Cover Reveal and a Kirkus Starred Review!

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This is the cover artwork for my upcoming book Do You Know the Dark? Set for release on May 12, 2026 with Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, Do You Know the Dark? is available for pre order now wherever books are sold ✨

IndieBound (US), Canadian Indie Book Stores

In times that feel collectively challenging, uncertain, and like the warmth of the sun is far away, I wanted to explore the transformative and nourishing aspects that are possible in seasons or spaces of darkness. What exists in the dark of the earth, of the sea, of outer space? What can our imaginations create when we dream? As a person who needs to hibernate sometimes in order to feel energized or creative, I know the absence of light is both the natural rhythm of things, and can be a vitalizing retreat from the expectation to be “on” 24 hours a day.

Away from the light, it becomes less clear that we’re so different, so separate. Without a spotlight, maybe the ways we shine brightly as individuals can take a break, and we can feel into how we are connected by heartbeats, breath, sensation, and soul.

I am so pleased that Do You Know the Dark? received a Kirkus starred review!

“MacLean’s spare, rhythmic prose—which asks what happens “in the dark” across various landscapes—creates space for her artwork to breathe and astonish. Mixed-media spreads radiate with jewel-toned colors, including purples, bright greens, and blues that transform darkness from frightening to fascinating. The compositions employ strong visual principles: Horizontal lines in mountain scenes convey stability and peace, while curving forms in underground and underwater sequences create energy and movement. Dark silhouettes in foregrounds—trees, cave formations, a child’s profile—establish a sense of safety and frame the glowing mysteries beyond, making distant wonders feel approachable rather than threatening. The deep blue backgrounds recede comfortingly, while warm accent colors (amber firelight, pink coral polyps) pull focus to specific discoveries. The visual journey progresses from twilight’s familiar shadows through increasingly wondrous nocturnal phenomena—moths transforming, bioluminescence gleaming, northern lights dancing—culminating in a celebration of imagination itself. Text and image work in perfect tandem: Words pose questions; art inspires magical answers. The people depicted vary in skin tone.

A mesmerizing invitation to embrace night’s beauty—great for bedtime shelves and budding naturalists alike. (Picture book. 4-8)“

Single Book

Together, a Forest Upcoming book release!

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US Barnes and Noble , IndieBound , Books A Million , Amazon

Canada Chapters / Indigo , IndieBookstores, Amazon

Alex, a child, looks over their shoulder at a bee zooming along a colourful path visiting various wildflowers. The bee lands on a trillium flower. Amidst the various flowers, Alex's friends are sitting or climbing, waving to them as they run along the bee's rainbow ribbon of flight.
an illustration of Lucas, a young boy wearing a green button up shirt and a back pack, is pictured on the top half looking over his shoulder while holding a sketchbook, at multicoloured turkey tail fungi on a stump. Below, he is drawing a wavy multicoloured doodle, with blue turkey tail fungi radiating from the bottom left corner.

I am so excited that my upcoming picture book, Together, a Forest will be released by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers / Macmillan on March 4, 2025!

Joy and her peers are eager to visit a nearby forest for a class trip. But Joy’s excitement quickly turns into anxiety when she is asked to choose one thing in the area for a school assignment.

Seeing her classmates connecting with the natural environment, Joy discovers how each of their choices reflect the ways they relate to and interact with the world. 

Together, a Forest begins as an exciting journey into nature and blossoms into a meditation on how our unique personalities and ways of being help create a more vibrant and beautiful world. The forest reveals that everyone—including those of us with disabilities and neurodivergence—belong to nature. There is no one right way for a mind, body, or person to be.

I chose the subtitle “Drawing Connections Between Nature’s Diversity and Our Own” not only because drawing is a central activity in the book, but because this story is all about the parallels between ecological and human diversity. An ecosystem thrives when it is populated with a multitude of difference – life forms that excel in unique niches and roles – and I believe human communities are this way too. We are not all meant to be or function the same way, and communities that recognize and make space for this reality are, in my view, the most healthy and beautiful.

As always, I am inspired by disability community and disability justice, my experience in schools supporting kids and youth with disabilities, and my experience in family filled with love, valuing and advocacy for my disabled sibling . Exploring my own forms of neurodivergence also brought me to this story, as I have grown ever more thankful for the tangles of wild minds that populate this world and my life. I am hopeful that Together, a Forest will help disabled and neurodiverse community members to feel recognized and valued, and that all readers will imagine how natural it is to become a forest in which we all belong.

Together, a Forest can be pre-ordered or bought wherever books are sold, and I’ll drop a few links below. Happy reading!

Pre-Order Sale for More Than Words!!

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April 26 – 28th Pre – orders of More Than Words: So Many Ways to Say What You Mean are 25% off at Barnes and Noble!  Just use code PREORDER25

This is ideal for US residents as shipping to Canada is quite a bit.

Pre-orders are important for the launch and life of a book, so every order is helpful and super appreciated!!

Barnes and Noble sale graphic that reads: Barnes and Noble, pre order my book from BN.com by April 28 and get 25% off with code PREORDER25! #BNpreorder25

book cover for More Than Words: So Many Ways to Say What We Mean

Cover Reveal!

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book cover artwork featuring a young black boy in a red raincoat crouched down by a puddle. He looks up at a vibrant flowing shape full of warm colours, which is the song of a bird who sits on a branch near by. In contrast, the background is in cool colours and dark tones. Over the vibrant shape, the title More Than Words is in a bold white hand brushed font and the subtitle: So Many Ways to Say What We Mean in smaller thinner type. Roz Maclean is written at the bottom.

I am thrilled beyond words (which is fitting) to reveal the cover of MORE THAN WORDS: SO MANY WAYS TO SAY WHAT WE MEAN, which will be coming out with Henry Holt this September. 

This story has been a long time in the making, inspired by my time working in schools as an intervenor (supporting individuals who are DeafBlind) and support worker, my family relationships and my connection with disabled and neurodivergent community throughout my life.

My awareness that not everyone communicates with speech began when I was a child, as my brother didn’t begin to speak until he was about eight, and even then speech was not always what he went to first when he had a message to get across. To support him my parents hosted sign language teachers so we could all learn some sign language, and drawing materials so that he could always draw what he was thinking about.

Later, when I worked in inclusive education supporting students with disabilities, we developed and used communication systems. As an intervenor and support worker, part of my role was to educate and advocate, so there were many conversations with peers, other educators, and whole classrooms about different ways of communicating. Those conversations were so important and impactful, but I also knew that this learning should be happening on a bigger scale. MORE THAN WORDS came to life because I wanted to contribute something helpful to this learning space.

The book description:

In the tradition of All Are Welcome and The Day You Begin comes a touching picture book about the many unique ways we communicate, and how we can better listen to and respect these different modes of expression. 

Nathan doesn’t say much. 

He sure has a lot on his mind, though.

At school, Nathan quietly observes the ways his peers communicate. Even when they’re not talking, they’re expressing themselves in all sorts of ways! 

By witnessing the beauty of communication diversity, Nathan learns and shows his classmates the essential lesson: Not only does everyone have something to say, but seeking to understand one another can be the greatest bridge to friendship and belonging.

This tender, stunningly illustrated picture book explores and celebrates the many forms of expression—signing, speaking, singing, smiling, among others— and culminates in a poignant story about connection and understanding.

‘I Am Odd, I Am New’ Book release

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I am so excited to share the upcoming release of I Am Odd, I Am New, a picture book based on Benjamin Giroux’s beautiful and exceedingly popular poem. Only ten at the time of writing, Benjamin, who is autistic, has created a poem that has illuminated his experience feeling out of place in a way that has resonated with many. Now he is 15 years old, and I feel honoured to have been tasked with creating the artwork to accompany his words. The creative challenge of illustrating Benjamin’s emotional journey throughout the text was right up my alley, as I love exploring emotions through art.

Books are availabe to pre order now wherever books are sold, with an updated release date of October 26th, 2021.

book cover with the title "I Am Odd I Am New." Text above title reads "Foreword by the National Autism Association" and at the bottom "Benjamin Giroux" and "Roz MacLean." A painting of half of a boy's face. The boy is caucasian, with brown hair, and wears glasses with a light blue rim. In the glass lens there is a reflection of paper planes flying away, with one coloured orange.

“AutoheartVan: Endlings” Cover Art

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An album cover with the text: AutoHeartVan (artist), Endlings (album title). Painted artwork depicting a tundra rendered in blues, purples, and greys, with a snow covered mountain range in the distance. The sky, which fills up the top half of the image, is black with a fading blue and yellow light emanating from the right side. On the ground there are human and fox footprints, the human prints walking towards us, the fox prints walking away. On the sky there are faded scientific looking drawings in grey of an Arctic fox's face, skull from top, bottom and in profile, jawbone, leg bones, vertebrate and other bones. ⁠

Congratulations to AutoHeartVan on the release of his gorgeous album! With songs in English, French and Portuguese, the album contemplates themes of extinction, referenced by the title, “Endlings” (which means “the last survivor of its species”).⁠

This theme was the inspiration for the cover art I created, a blend of traditional and digital media. If you know of the mythological “Curapira,” * the human and animal steps going in opposite directions will make sense. I included drawings of the Arctic fox, an animal with subpopulations endangered by climate change, as well as its fossils. In a neat twist, the drawings ended up being used to represent different language portions of the album.

I highly encourage you to check out this album at Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, or wherever you get your tunes. It really is gorgeous, and created by a very sweet visionary human.⁠

* The Curapira is a mythological creature from Brazilian folklore who bright red/orange hair, and resembled a man or a dwarf, but its feet are turned backwards. Living in the forests of Brazil, they used their backward feet to create footprints to confuse hunters. A Curapira would prey on hunters or poachers who take more than they need of the forest.⁠

Mugzy!

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Mugzy

A few months ago I asked people to donate to Hope Glitters / Rainbow Refugee’s fundraising campaign to financially support an LGBTQIA+ refugee during their first year of settlement in Canada. In return the donors would be entered into a contest to win a custom painted pet portrait. Well, I am pleased to share with you the resulting artwork (a fair amount of time has passed since it was completed). This is a portrait to remember beloved pet and friend, Mugzy. Mugzy marks my first feline pet portrait, as until now I have only painted dogs. She was a beautiful subject, and I hope that this artwork will help her owner remember her presence and their special connection.

Insufficient: Disability is Not Enough

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I am so excited to begin the process of working on this art project, in which I am inviting British Columbians with disabilities to share their experiences living on Disability Assistance or trying to access it. I will create digitally painted portraits of 20 participants and in the end an e- zine / e-book will be produced that can be used to share these stories and advocate for higher Disability Assistance Rates. Right now I am in the stage of calling for participants.

The website for this project is www.InsufficientArtProject.ca

I wanted to undertake this project because for far too long people with disabilities have been expected to live on assistance rates that place them below the poverty line, and navigate a system that is often inaccessible and adversarial. Inspired by the campaign 300 To Live, which asks for rates to be raised to the $2000 / month income that has been deemed a minimum income for other Canadians with the Canada Response and Recovery Benefits, the goal of this project is to highlight why change is necessary for people with disabilities can have their basic needs met and escape poverty.

I have created some images to share on social media posts calling for participants. If you would like to share this post or the images, feel free.




Image text:
1. Call for participants in BC. Do you want to share your experience living on the disability benefit or trying to access it? I invite you to contribute to an art project that will highlight why current disability rates need to be raised.



2. Hi, I’m Roz MacLean, an artist, illustrator, educator and settler living on Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh  currently called Vancouver.


3. I am creating an art book to share experiences of people with disabilities called “Insufficient: Disability Assistance is not Enough.” There are 20 spots. Each contributor will have a portrait of them created and receive a $100 honorarium. To express interest head to InsufficientArtProject.ca before November 7th.


4. When it is completed the project will:
– exist as an electronic file / e-book.
– be available for every to read and share.
– be accessible at InsufficientArtProject.ca and possibly hosted on a CBC radio website.
– be used for advocacy.


5. 


Thank you! I acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Not #inktober but kinda similar

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I’m not doing any full on creative challenges this October, and am instead doing a bit of a mashup of prompts that match up with my theme of “big extinct animals.” I think extinct mega fauna are fascinating and this is the perfect excuse for some research. I’m also choosing a smattering of days from #inktober, #mintober (created by artist @mcmintea) and #spookyoctober, (created by Taylor Krulicki and Marina Dubuc) instead of doing every day of the month. I’m hoping to have some fun playing with illustrations and ideas for children’s illustration.

Diverse gender expression in bathrooms – logos!

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I created some bathroom logos to show that boys and girls and non binary kids will not always dress in the clothing or present in ways assigned to their gender. Boys will wear skirts, girls will have short hair – no biggie. But for kids who haven’t learned this yet, this sort of disregard for arbitrary gender norms can be kind of a big, mind blowing deal, and it can result in bullying and making children and youth feel unsafe. These logos were created in a response to that kind of situation, but I am happy to share them with whomever thinks they might help their school or public space be safer and more welcoming.

You can download a PDF with the images here.