Author-illustrator Loren Long, who has worked with Barack Obama among others, has 6-figure book deal

NEW YORK (AP) — The illustrator of bestselling children’s books by former President Barack Obama, Madonna and poet Amanda Gorman has a six-figure deal with a Macmillan imprint for two of his own projects. Loren Long’s first book under his new contract is “The Yellow Bus,” scheduled for June 2024. Besides working on Obama’s “Of Thee I Sing,” Madonna’s “Mr. Peabody’s Apples” and Gorman’s “Change Sings,” Long has written and illustrated the popular series about Otis the tractor, including “Otis and the Kittens,” “Otis and the Scarecrow” and “Otis and the Tornado.”  Apple TV is planning an animated series based on the Otis books.