Ozzie and Prince Zebedee are the best of friends. They do everything together, but things change when Prince Zebedee accuses Ozzie of cheating and Ozzie swallows up Prince Zebedee in one big GULP!
Pick by Mags DeRoma, To Make:
OZZIE & PRINCE ZEBEDEE
By Gela Kalaitzidis
Publisher: Flamingo Books (October 11, 2022)
Thanks for coming onboard, Gela! Let's start off the way these interviews always start: Can you tell me the origin story behind Ozzie & Prince Zebedee? GK: "First, thank you for having me. I’ve been looking forward to talking picture books with you. The origin story behind Ozzie & Prince Zebedee probably comes from my fascination with studying my three kids’ mysterious sibling behavior. I’m an only child, so to see them bickering and fighting and then so easily switch to joy and love is a completely foreign behavior to me. It's a lot of them in the book. This story is also a result of a script I wrote many years ago. In that version, Ozzie and Prince Zebedee were just side characters. When I rewrote the script my critique group helped me see that the heart of the story was in the arguing prince and dragon. From there the script grew to what it is today."
A great critique group is pure gold! It looks like you've found yourself a phenomenal one. What I've been struck by ever since I heard your book's title is the name Zebedee, which is a name in the Bible. I'm curious whether you meant to give a religious connotation to the book. Or is there another story behind the name? "I never intended for the book to have a religious connotation but in hindsight, I think the message of repentance and forgiveness might come from my Catholic upbringing. In the early version of the script, Zebedee was only referred to as 'the prince' but when he became one of the main characters, I needed to find a name. At that time my daughter had a friend in kindergarten whose brother was named Zebedee. I'd never heard the name before but it had a beautiful exotic sound to it. (Maybe, I should also mention that Ozzie's original name was Ozymandias after Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem.)"
Images from Ozzie & Prince Zebedee (above and below):
"And when dragons are mad, sometimes they make bad choices." What a phenomenal line! Are there any other memorable lines that have popped out at you? "Thank you! I have to give credit to my agent Deborah Warren who helped me develop that line. It originally had a different setup. This was a hard question. First I could only think of beautiful quotes from Winnie-the-Pooh but then I thought of this line from The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren that is so familiar to most Swedes: '…Sometimes you have to do things that are dangerous, because otherwise you're not a man, just a piece of dirt.' Unfortunately, it’s poorly translated from its original. The line is not exclusively referring to doing dangerous things, but rather things you might not dare to do (which is a big difference in my opinion!) and if you don’t do them, you’re not 'dirt.' You’re more like a messy little 'muck.' The original line has both a grandness to it and is very child relatable."
For those who love Ozzie & Prince Zebedee, can you recommend one or two other titles that you think they might also enjoy? "For fans of dragon books, I would recommend East Dragon, West Dragon by Robyn Eversole and Scott Campbell, or if it’s anger and emotions with a funny twist that appeals to you, I would recommend Leave Me Alone! by Vera Brosgol."
Gobble-up stories are certainly a (fun) genre in and of itself. Are there other titles where characters get eaten that you love? "I love the idea of gobble-up stories as a genre in itself. What a fun question. The most peculiar gobble-up book must be The Wuggly Ump by Edward Gorey which I read over and over as a child. I’m a big Edward Gorey fan.
I also like Hungry Jim by Laurel Snyder Illustrated by Chuck Groenink.
One Day in the Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus Tree by Daniel Bernstrom and Brendan Wenzel was my inspiration for an inside-the-belly P.O.V."
What forthcoming books are you most looking to get your hands on?
"I can’t wait to read Ode to a Bad Day by my friend Chelsea Lin Wallace and illustrated by Hyewon Yum. I’ve seen this script in an early stage and know it’ll be a hilarious read.
As an artist, I’m looking forward to Shaun Tan’s Creature book. Since I’m blown away by Beatrice Alemagna’s beautiful art, I’m curious about You Can't Kill Snow White, especially since it’s released as a picture book for adults. That’s an interesting genre."
What would be on your list of 100 best picture books of all time? "Many of my favorites have already been mentioned on your blog. Sam & Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen is brilliant. Same with Klassen’s This is Not My Hat. I love Beekle by Dan Santat and you’ve even hosted Sergio Ruzzier himself. All his books would be on my list.
Here are some others that come to mind:
Who's Got the Apple? by Jan Lööf – One of the most iconic children’s books in Sweden.
The Three Robbers, Crictor, and almost every book by Tomi Ungerer – I grew up with his stories.
There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer – Read this over and over with my kids.
Julia's House for Lost Creatures by Ben Hatke – Because I love creatures.
Professional Crocodile by Giovanna Oboli and Mariachiara di Giorgio – Beautiful Art
When Owen's Mom Breathed Fire by Pija Lindenbaum – Because I love mama dragons with ponytails.
Ralph Tells a Story by Abby Hanlon – So relatable for any storyteller.
Every year, gusts of wind blow colorful autumn leaves to the ground. Some leaves make a crunch under foot, and others are so beautiful they deserve to be saved.
Pick by Mags DeRoma, To Make:
IF YOU FIND A LEAF
By Aimée Sicuro
Publisher: Random House Studio (July 12, 2022)
Can you tell me the origin story behind If You Find a Leaf?
AS: "In 2015, I started making these collages with leaves that I found for the online project Inktober. Every year I looked forward to finding fall leaves and seeing what I could make with each different shape and colorful leaf I found.
In the fall of 2019 Rachael Cole, who is an author, artist, and art director at Random House reached out to me and asked me if I had ever thought about creating a story around these collages. It seemed unbelievable to be able to make a book out of the personal work that I loved creating."
Aimée Sicuro's early sketches for If You Find a Leaf:
What a great origin story! And what a phenomenal collection of leaves you have in your end pages! Did you collect every single one yourself? Where did you find them? There must be some fun stories behind them. "Yes, I did find all of the leaves in the book. Because I made this book during the darker days of the pandemic, I spent a lot of early mornings on a walk or run just to clear my head. I found a lot of leaves on those solo walks all around Brooklyn. My kids also helped me collect leaves when we went to Prospect Park and anytime we were out for a walk. My daughter came home from Pre-K last fall with a backpack full of leaves that she collected on their class nature walk. She explained to her teachers that she needed to collect them for me so I could make a book out of leaves. This made me laugh and wonder what her teacher must have imagined I was doing. It definitely became a family affair."
Interior spreads of If You Find a Leaf:
I love how you included your glycerin bath technique as backmatter. How did you come across this technique? "Originally when I was doing these drawings as a fun personal project, I would glue the leaf to the page, and inevitably it would become brown and brittle. I started experimenting with modge podge and leaf pressing techniques until I found the glycerin bath recipe online. This was the best solution for keeping the leaves soft, dimensional, and colorful. For the art in the book, I photographed the leaves when they were fresh to get the most vibrant version of the leaf. But it's helpful to preserve them for framed original art and to make crafts with kids throughout the year. For school visits, I've been collecting and preserving leaves for a collage activity I do with the students. This prevents the leaves from drying out and crumbling off the art that they've made."
For those who love If You Find a Leaf, can you recommend a few other titles that you think they might also enjoy?
"Lawrence in the Fall by Matthew Farina and Doug Salati. There are so many reasons to love this book. Farina captures the range of emotions so perfectly and the bond between Lawrence and his father is felt throughout the text. You can feel the texture of the beautiful illustrations on every page and the soft muted colors give this book a warm inviting feeling. The perspective and the details on every page are wonderful.
Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. The collage style is a wonderfully tactile imaginative journey of the man made of real leaves and is a book that I could read over and over with my kids.
Leaves by David Ezra Stein. The fluid linear illustration style in this book has a whimsical joyful feeling. The lovable bear tries to understand why the leaves are falling from the tree and if the trees need his help. It's a great way to talk about the seasons with kids and why leaves fall in Autumn."
What are some other fall picture books you love?
"Sweep by Louise Greig and Júlia Sardà
Storm by Sam Usher
Yellow Time by Lauren Stringer"
What would be on your list of 100 best picture books of all time?
"The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard and James Marshall
The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton The Snowy Day by Ezra Jacks Keats
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst and Ray Cruz
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard and Juana Martinez-Neal
Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora The Bear and the Moon by Matthew Burgess and Cátia Chien Outside In by Deborah Underwood and Cindy Derby Last Stop on Market Street by Matt la Pena and Christian Robinson
If You Come to Earth by Sophie Blackall"
What forthcoming picture books are you most looking forward to reading?
"School Trip by Jerry Craft My Baba’s Garden by Jordan Scott and Sydney Smith
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Beatrice Alemagna
Fireworks by Matthew Burgess and Cátia Chien
Tap! Tap! Tap! by Hervé Tullet
You Rule by Rilla Alexander"
This unique picture book biography provides a mesmerizing look at the life of children’s writer Ruth Krauss (1901–1993), best known for books such as The Carrot Seed, A Hole is to Dig, and A Very Special House.
Max's Boat Pick:
A STORY IS TO SHARE: How Ruth Krauss Found Another Way to Tell a Tale
Written by Carter Higgins and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers (October 11, 2022)
Carter, you’ve previously shared that A Hole is to Dig is one of your all-time favorite picture books. How did you come to Ruth Krauss’s work? Were they read to you when you were a child? Or did you discover them in adulthood?
CH: "The Happy Day and The Carrot Seed feel like solid, tangible memories from my childhood as a reader, though I doubt I knew they were from the same hand. It definitely wasn’t until my first years as a school librarian that I connected all of these books I loved to her, which is one of the most magical things about writers whose books are illustrated by many other people. Finding the patterns in an author’s voice, both mine and as a reader, is so satisfying."
Carter, can you tell me what kind of influence Ruth Krauss has had on your books? There’s a clear thread line with Big and Small and In-Between, but how has she influenced your other work?
CH: "I am a writer who can easily get caught in the cycle of trying way too hard. Too often I’ll squeeze the guts out of a story just because I like a certain turn of phrase or the way one syllable sounds. Ruth’s work has always felt effortless, but well-crafted. Strange, but logical. Always authentic in sound. The idea that a book can be an experience rather than a sequence of events has really stuck with me, and Circle Under Berry doesn’t exist without the visual thinking of A Moon or a Button. I think I’ll always favor vignettes and loose collections of small moments rather than straightforward narratives in my own picture books."
Isabelle, your body of work is so impressive! (I absolutely adore your other new book, The Mouse Who Carried a House on His Back, written by Jonathan Stutzman, too.) You must get so many manuscripts thrown at you. How do you choose what you work on?
IA: "Mostly intuition. When I’m surprised, either by a style of writing or a subject, when it feels new, or when I perceive an interesting concept to the book (like the die-cuts in The Mouse Who Carried a House on His Back) or a potential graphical approach that I’m excited to try, I jump into it. I like stories that allow some freedom, that are not too rooted in reality. I also like exploring, not repeating myself from book to book. And there are subjects that I simply cannot turn down, like the bio of Louise Bourgeois, a collaboration with Mac Barnett (Just Because), or even this book about Ruth Krauss."
Isabelle, can you tell me how you became involved with A Story is to Share? What was it about the text that most drew you in?
IA: "I was puzzled by Carter’s manuscript and uncertain of my understanding, as I was not so familiar with Ruth’s work and poetry. So, I did some research. I took the time to read a biography about Ruth Krauss, in order to know who she was and get more familiar with her journey. I found her life exciting and inspiring. I was able then to realize the impact she had on American children’s books and seize the references featured in Carter's text."
Isabelle Arsenault's research for A Story is to Share:
Isabelle, what kind of influence has Ruth Krauss had on you?
IA: "Ruth Krauss was an inventive artist who followed her instincts and enjoyed exploring new ways of doing things. I can relate to that and admire the accomplishments she made while ignoring rules and conventions or trends."
Isabelle, I’m curious how your approach differs between a biographical picture book and a work of fiction?
IA: "Research increases when it comes to non-fiction, since above all I would not want to make a mistake about a person who has really existed. Once the subject is thoroughly understood, I can put myself more easily in one’s shoes, in order to interpret his or her story. I also like to make graphic references to their works through mine. The idea is not to copy but to be consistent with the subject. For example, I wanted to refer to Ruth Krauss’s innovative way of doing things by being conceptual in my own work and drawing certain elements digitally to contrast with more traditional mediums featured elsewhere in the book."
Isabelle Arsenault's early renderings (above and below):
A color test from Isabelle Arsenault:
Carter, what do you think Isabelle brought to the book that perhaps originally wasn’t there?
CH: "I have such immense gratitude for the way Isabelle took a very fluid, abstracted text and wrapped reality around it in a way that’s accurate and episodic but also playful and unconventional–just like Ruth’s books. Writing any picture book text is a tricky task, but in this case I hadn’t really considered how it might work in an actual book. One summer I’d immersed myself in Philip Nel’s fascinating biography (and improbable beach read) of Ruth and her husband Dave: Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children's Literature.
The early drafts were just my response to that book as a reader, paired with a longtime appreciation for Ruth and the undeniable influence she has on my own work. They were nothing more than scribbles and phrases that tiptoed into poetry but weren’t meant to be a book.
Years later when I began working on the text with our editor, I wanted to maintain that spontaneous and accidental quality–both because I liked it that way and thought it was a fitting tribute to Ruth herself. Isabelle’s art wrapped context around it all, making it both grounded and utterly beautiful.
There’s a moment where Ruth comes face to face with the boy who inspired The Carrot Seed, and while we’ve both reimagined this moment, it feels like such a clear representation of how she became a giant."
Interior spreads of A Story is to Share:
For those who love A Story is to Share, can you recommend one or two other titles that you think they might also enjoy?
IA: "Of course, for those who haven't yet, I would recommend reading The Carrot Seed and A Hole Is To Dig. And for those who like biography books about children’s books creators, I would also highly recommend The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown by Mac Barnett and Sarah Jacoby, and It Began With A Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew The Way by Kyo Maclear and Julie Morstad."
CH: "Something our book shares with Ruth’s work is a meandering approach to narrative, maybe even just shy of fragmented. Books that play with structure are endlessly fascinating to me. I’d check out The Real Dada Mother Goose: A Treasury of Complete Nonsense by Jon Scieszka and Julia Rothman–what a bunch of twists there! Another recent favorite is Like by Annie Barrows and Leo Espinosa. Its language is both exquisite and accessible, and visually? An absolute treat."
Isabelle, SO many illustrators have said they admire you. Who do YOU most admire?
IA: "Ohhh SO many illustrators, too… for many different reasons. And not just picture book illustrators, but graphic novel/comics artists as well. Hard to mention just one… Beatrice Alemagna, Marc Boutavant, Frédérique Bertrand, Dominique Goblet, Kitty Crowther, Manuele Fior are some of them."
What would be on your list of 100 best picture books of all time?
IA: "In no particular order:
The Lost House by B.B. Cronin
Dillweed’s Revenge by Florence Parry Heide and Carson Ellis
On a Magical Do-Nothing Day by Beatrice Alemagna
Who Owns the Clouds? by Mario Brassard and Gérard DuBois (published in French last year here in Québec, and coming out in English January 2023 from Penguin Random House)
At the Drop of a Cat by Élise Fontenaille and Violeta Lópiz (originally published in French in 2011, and coming out in January 2023, too, from Enchanted Lion. Keep an eye out for these!"
CH: "I can’t make a list like that without Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni, A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry and Marc Simont, Fortunately by Remy Charlip, and Clocks and More Clocks by Pat Hutchins."
What forthcoming books are you most looking forward to reading?
IA: "My Baba’s Garden by Jordan Scott and Sydney Smith, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen."
CH: "I’m really looking forward to Just One Flake by Travis Jonker and Nell Plants a Tree by Anne Wynter and Daniel Miyares."