Why did you decide to turn My UnderSlumberBumbleBeast—first featured in Baby Teeth—into a real book?
My UnderSlumberBumbleBeast actually predates Baby Teeth! I’d wanted to give the child character of that novel, Hanna, a favorite book—something her dad would read with her. After considering copyright issues, it became obvious that I needed to use something of my own, and I had a short story that seemed perfect. And then after Baby Teeth was published, I had a lot of readers asking me if My UnderSlumberBumbleBeast was an actual b taook. I’ve been trying to getit published since 2017!
What was the inspiration for the initial short story?
I was experimenting with short fiction at the time and wanted to try writing something for kids.
I remembered being afraid of the dark as a child—afraid of what was behind the closet door.
And to this day I’m very alert to every unexpected sound I hear in the house. I thought it would
be fun to reimagine the “monsters” lurking in the dark and make them something unexpected
as the source of the odd sounds—misunderstood perhaps, but friendly!
Is My UnderSlumberBumbleBeast intended for adults who’ve read Baby Teeth and/or Dear
Hanna, or kids?
I’d say it’s intended for all ages. I think adult readers of Baby Teeth and Dear Hanna will get a
kick out of seeing this book in real life. But I also feel like it fills an important gap for young
readers who are beyond picture books, but still enjoy a book with illustrations. I talked to
several librarians about this a few years ago, and they were really wishing there were more
illustrated books for seven- to ten-year-olds. Chapter books are great, but who doesn’t enjoy
some cool pictures?
Some of the illustrations are like a visual treasure hunt of classic toys—how did that come
about?
Artist J.E. Larson was so dedicated to the creative details in this book. Early on, we had Zoom
meetings with publisher Doug Murano, and in every meeting the three of us ended up reminiscing about the toys we remembered from when we were kids. We collectively wanted there to be toys from many different decades represented in the book, so readers of all ages could spot things they’d once played with.
Were all of the illustrations hand drawn?
Yes! They were sketched first, then inked, then painted. 100% hand created. (Bad Hand Books is
committed to never using AI.)