Today's the Day!
My newest book, Cheep! Cheep! is officially released today. Cheep! was illustrated by Carol Baicker-McKee, who is not only a wonderful friend, but also a fabulously talented artist and writer. We were very excited to be able to work on this project together. This is the first of at least three books we will be working on with Bloomsbury USA. The thing I love most about this book (in addition to the adorable illustrations) is that I wrote the whole story in 12 words or so, which all rhyme, of course! There aren't too many phonemes in the English language that can be used this way.

Here's one of the really nice reviews we got. We also saw write-ups in Parenting and Child magazine, which were very nice too.

Cover art copyright Carol Baicker-McKee

Publishers Weekly, February 13th (starred review)
"Take a family of adorable, three-dimensional chickens-constructed from velvety, cozily domestic terry cloth-add a text made up entirely of words with a giggle-inducing "eep" sound, and the result is this irresistible, inventive paper-over-board book. "Sleep" starts off the first spread, where a chicken family tries to get some shut-eye. A turn of the page shows a "Cheep" coming from the egg below their perch. Making a joint "Leap!" (the smallest chick uses its blankie as a parachute) the peeping protagonists land in a comic "Heap" and eagerly welcome their newest addition. Baicker-McKee (the FussBusters series) gives her absorbent cast minimalist facial features and highly streamlined appendages (the two-color backdrops are equally spare). But she comes up with an amazing array of expressions and comic poses; when the reconstituted family settles down on the perch for a group slumber party, the two smallest downy siblings share a priceless conspiratorial wink and hug. Young children will undoubtedly view the chick family as toys come to life and be thoroughly enchanted. Here's hoping another diphthong inspires a follow-up from this talented team."