How do you make something the same but different? That's the question I had to deal with in my approach to the cover painting for 'Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes.' I wanted it to have many similarities to 'Percy Jackson's Greek Gods,' but I knew they couldn't be too similar.

I couldn't resist painting Orpheus and Charon on the River Styx. There was something strangely intriguing about seeing Orpheus playing his lyre as he is being shuttled across the river.

There have been many, many paintings of Theseus and the Minotaur, as it is one of the more popular myths, so how could I make mine different and new? I decided it would be best to make the most dynamic painting I could. I wanted to capture the moment right before the Minotaur's horn was snapped.

When I was a kid, I would sing in people's living rooms and for different little family things.

I talk to my parents more than anybody in my family.

From 1970 onwards, our culture told both sexes that individual expression was paramount. And for women, that was defined as the right to choose an interesting a career, a high-status mate, the desirable handbag or vacation, the perfect family size, and a definitionally fruitless quest for 'perfection.'

I grew up in a family where the love of stories is very strong. And there's also a love of performance. I think one reason stories were so important in my family was that we moved around a lot.