SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Help Wanted: One Rooster
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://juliefalatko.com/
CITY: South Portland
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
LAST VOLUME: SATA 385
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married; husband’s name Dave; children: Henry, Eli, Zuzu, Ramona.
EDUCATION:Graduated from Dickinson College, 1993; Southern Connecticut State University, M.L.S., 2010.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and picture book author. Maintains a Little Free Library.
AWARDS:Nerdy Award, Morning Calm Medal, Silver Winner of the Golden Dragon Award, American Booksellers Association’s Best Books for Young Readers, all 2016, all for Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book); Denise McCoy Literacy Award, Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List, both 2019, both for Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Go to School.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Julie Falatko is a writer and picture book author. In an article in Writers Digest, Falatko discussed her own quirks with writing. She admitted that her “writing process is different every time. I should know how to write by now. But each new book requires a completely different process than previous ones. Some need outlining, some need brainstorming, some want me write meanderingly. It’s ok. They all get written, and they get written by writing them. The process is interesting in retrospect, but all that matters is that the book gets finished.”
In the picture book Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book), Snappsy the skinny alligator is annoyed that an unseen narrator is featuring him in this book. The narrator makes all sorts of accusations, but readers see that Snappsy is quite civilized for a gator. A Publishers Weekly contributor noted that “it’s an excellent one,” appending that “Falatko’s writing nimbly zigs and zags around Miller’s bold, goofy cartoons.” Booklist contributor Terry Hong assessed that “Falatko’s debut picture book is a truly laugh-out-loud, mischievous romp, made gleefully goofier by Miller’s straitlaced, deadpan animal characters.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews claimed: “More than merely meta, Snappsy is clearly a book, if not a protagonist, with bite.” Reviewing the title in School Library Journal, Tanya Boudreau lauded that the account “demonstrates the power of storytelling through words and pictures.”
With Snappsy the Alligator and His Best Friend Forever! (Probably), the narrator has switched tactics and is now praising Snappsy so he will be allowed to sleep over at Snappsy’s house. The narrator has many plans for becoming best friends with Snappsy. Reviewing the story in Horn Book, Nell Beram pointed out that “underneath the entertaining odd-couple clashing lies a serious (well, semi-serious) point about taking a chance on friendship.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews commented that “Falatko and Miller brilliantly add depth to the characters’ story arc.”
In No Boring Stories!, a bunny is sick of stories representing all rabbits as cute and cuddly. She joins the Society for Writers of Odd and Weird with the intention of writing a completely different kind of story. Booklist contributor Lucinda Whitehurst claimed that “this story is great fun for would-be writers of any age.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews stated: “Showcasing the values of persistence and collaboration, this intelligent comedy offers substance alongside the laughter.” Writing in School Library Journal, Deanna Smith observed that this “fun” book “encourages children to embrace their imaginations and unique talents and to express creativity in the written form.”
With the picture book The Great Indoors, a group of animals move into a house when the human owners leave town for a fishing trip in the wild. The animals’ vacation flips the narrative to feature the exoticness of an indoor setting. The volume features illustrations by Ruth Chan. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews lamented that the book has minimal “substance beyond the familiarity of the role reversal and no interesting surprises or humor to grab readers’ attention.” Nevertheless, the reviewer found the concept to be “cute.”
(open new)Chan and Falatko collaborate again in the 2022 picture book, Rick the Rock of Room 214. Its protagonist is a rock with google eyes, who has been living on the Nature Finds shelf in an elementary school’s classroom. After hearing an inspiring lesson on how rocks are formed, Rick decides to escape, despite the warnings of his other friends on the Nature Finds shelf. He stows away in a student’s backpack and finds his way outside, where he meets other rocks. Rick is disappointed in their existence and determines that his life in the classroom is better. Luckily, a student brings him inside, and he is returned to the Nature Finds shelf with his friends. “Mixing laugh-out-loud narration with comics-style framing, previous collaborators Falatko and Chan … earn a gold star for comedy cooperation,” asserted a Publishers Weekly reviewer. A critic in Kirkus Reviews commented: “This story rocks.”(close new—more below)
Yours in Books, illustrated by Gabriel Alborozo, features introvert Owl and Bessie the bookseller. Owl, frustrated by the noise that his new neighbors bring to the woods, is intent on fleeing to a quieter place where he can read his books in silence. Meanwhile, Bessie corresponds with Owl through letters and recommends books, an experience that causes him to be more open to accepting his neighbors. As he relates in a letter to Bessie, Owl even welcomes a few young creatures into his home. Ultimately, Owl learns that community and friendship are just as important as his alone time. A Publishers Weekly writer appreciated Alborozo’s illustrations and called Yours in Books “a warmly cheerful homage to how books can kindle bonds … and unite community.” In an interview with Ratha Tep on Max’s Boat, Falatko discussed the inspiration behind Yours in Books: “The short answer is that I love letters and I love books. … In a lot of ways, a book is a letter. It’s a piece of you, the author, and you’re sending it out into the world. In this case the friend I’m sending it to is ‘all the readers.’”
(open new) In Help Wanted: One Rooster, a cow advertises a job at his farm for a rooster that crows every morning. The current rooster, an aspiring musician, has been falling down on the job. After a series of increasingly ridiculous interviews, the job candidates come together with the original rooster to devise a plan that will ensure morning crowing. In an interview with Jena Benton on Benton’s self-titled website, Falatko discussed the inspiration behind the story, stating: “My initial inspiration was the Monty Python interview sketch, where John Cleese is interviewing Graham Chapman, and the interview grows increasingly absurd. I flipped it around so it’s not the interviewer who is getting sillier, but the interview candidates. And I put it on a farm.” She added: “I love stories that start from a somewhat peaceful place and then get more ridiculous with every page turn. That was what I was going for when I wrote this story.” Help Wanted received favorable reviews. “The Office meets Chicken Run in this workplace comedy,” suggested a writer in Publishers Weekly. A Kirkus Reviews critic predicted: “Kids will … giggle at the expressive animals and whimsical artwork.” The same critic called the book “a cheeky tale worth crowing about.”(close new)
With Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Go to School, amiable dogs Sassy and Waldo are concerned when Stewart, their owner, goes to school. Worried that he may be in danger, they decide to disguise themselves as kids wearing a trench coat so they can also go to school and keep an eye out for him.
Writing in Children’s Bookwatch, Diana Perry thought it would be “a fun read for any child.” Booklist contributor John Peters stated: “With plenty of comical reinforcement from Jack’s freewheeling sketches, Falatko spins this promising premise into a hilarious romp.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews opined that the story is “enlivened by the cartoonish black-and-white illustrations” and is suitable “for readers who appreciate the goofy.” Writing in School Library Journal, Tim Wadham called it “A goofy offering for readers who like over-the-top fare.”
In Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Start a Club by Accident, Waldo and Sassy stick to their trench coat disguise and found a club responsible for creating a float for the Founder’s Day Parade. Booklist contributor John Peters found the book to be “compelling reading for everyone with an eye on the meatball.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews suggested that “fans of the first should enjoy this second hijinks-filled outing of this school story/animal fantasy hybrid.”
Falatko once told SATA: “I was a big reader as a kid, but I didn’t realize that the people who wrote the books I loved were real people. I assumed they were all dead, or, if they were alive, that they lived in castles with butlers and one of those fancy dogs with the long luxurious hair. I loved to write, but it never occurred to me that I could be an author. So I’ve spent my whole life writing and telling stories, but it wasn’t until I was a grownup, and quite a few years into being a grownup, that I realized that authors were regular people, and that I could be one.
“My writing process is this: I get up very early in the morning, drink coffee, and work for half an hour on my story. Then I take my dogs for a walk in a big cemetery near my house and think about my story. Sometimes I have to stop and take notes so I don’t forget something important, or, if I forgot to bring an index card and a pencil with me, I say the thing out loud until I get home. At home, I get my kids out the door to school and then answer emails to check some easy things off of my to-do list, and then I turn off the internet and work on my story, either longhand or typing it into the computer. I usually do the first several drafts of picture books longhand.
“The longer I’m a writer, the more complicated my process is, because I’m setting higher standards for myself and my writing. It’s harder for me to feel done with a story, if I feel like I can do something a bit more interesting or unexpected with it, and I haven’t yet figured out what that is. Some books will take years and years to get right. When I’m deep in the hole with a story, not even knowing if I’ll ever get it to work, all I can do is keep writing forward, and know that at some point I’ll probably figure it out. You have to give yourself over to the process, and be okay with not knowing when the story will be done. This is different if I’m writing something under deadline, or course. Then all of the insecurity and questioning still happens, just in a much more compressed time frame, and with more coffee and snacks.
“I’m still surprised by how different the process is for each story. Some of them come quickly, some of them come a sentence a day. Some need a whole plot and structure beforehand, and some don’t. Some need to be written in order, and some out of order. The only thing that stays the same is that it’s me, with some sort of device for getting words on the page.
“Writing books really is like being a magician. I get an image in my head, and I do my best to put it on the page. I think of something funny, and I write it down. And then, a year or two later, a kid in a completely different geographical area reads those words and gets my image, from my brain, into their own brain. They laugh at the joke I made three years earlier, and I’m not even there to tell it to them. It’s magic!
“It’s so important for kids to connect to a book. The great thing about the time we’re living in today is that there are so, so, many amazing books for children being published every year. Kids who don’t think they’re readers just haven’t found their book yet, and I know there’s one for them somewhere out there. They find that one book, and then that leads to others, and they feel that sense of connection, knowing that someone wrote a book that speaks to them. It’s a powerful thing, to read a book that understands you. And it’s a privilege to be one of the people who writes books that kids might connect to.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, December 15, 2015, Terry Hong, review of Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book), p. 60; April 1, 2018, John Peters, review of Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Go to School, p. 81; November 1, 2018, Lucinda Whitehurst, review of No Boring Stories!, p. 60; December 1, 2018, John Peters, review of Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Start a Club by Accident, p. 63.
Children’s Bookwatch, July 1, 2018, Diana Perry, review of Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Go to School.
Horn Book, November 1, 2017, Nell Beram, review of Snappsy the Alligator and His Best Friend Forever! (Probably), p. 77.
Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2015, review of Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book); September 1, 2017, review of Snappsy the Alligator and His Best Friend Forever! (Probably); March 1, 2018, review of Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Go to School; October 1, 2018, review of No Boring Stories!; November 15, 2018, review of Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Start a Club by Accident; January 15, 2019, review of The Great Indoors; June 1, 2022, review of Rick the Rock of Room 214; May 1, 2024, review of Help Wanted: One Rooster.
Publishers Weekly, October 26, 2015, review of Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book), p. 74; December 2, 2016, review of Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book), p. 40; November 24, 2021, review of Yours in Books, p. 59; June 27, 2022, review of Rick the Rock of Room 214, p. 61; March 18, 2024, review of Help Wanted: One Rooster, p. 75; July 15, 2024, review of Chester Barkingham Saves the Country, p. 96.
School Library Journal, February 1, 2016, Tanya Boudreau, review of Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book), p. 64; May 1, 2018, Tim Wadham, review of Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Go to School, p. 78; November 1, 2018, Deanna Smith, review of No Boring Stories!, p. 56.
Story Monsters Ink, June 1, 2018, Diana Perry, review of Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Go to School, p. 52.
Writer’s Digest, November 23, 2016, Chuck Sambuchino, “7 Things I’ve Learned so Far, by Julie Falatko.”
ONLINE
Authors Guild website, https://www.authorsguild.net/ (March 20, 2019), author profile.
Brightly, https://www.readbrightly.com/ (March 20, 2019), author profile.
Dickinson College website, https://www.dickinson.edu/ (March 20, 2019), MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson, “Julie Falatko Did Not Ask to Be in This Article.”
Flowering Minds, https://floweringminds.wordpress.com/ (March 2, 2016), author interview.
Henryherz, https://henryherz.wordpress.com/ (August 6, 2016), Henry Herz, author interview.
Jena Benton website, https://jenabenton.com/ (June 18, 2024), Jena Benton, author interview.
Julie Falatko website, https://juliefalatko.com (November 4, 2024).
Julie Hedlund website, http://www.juliehedlund.com/ (May 29, 2013), “How I Got My Agent: Julie Falatko.”
Kidlit 411, http://www.kidlit411.com/ (February 19, 2016), author interview.
Maine Writers website, http://find.mainewriters.org/ (March 20, 2019), author profile.
Maria Marshall website, https://www.mariacmarshall.com/ (November 4, 2024), Maria Marshall, author interview.
Max’s Boat, https://www.maxsboat.com/ (October 6, 2021), Ratha Tep, author interview.
Scholastic website, https://www.scholastic.com/ (March 20, 2019), Ame Dyckman, author interview.
Sharpread, https://sharpread.wordpress.com/ (November 9, 2012), Colby Sharp, author interview.*
Julie Falatko writes books for children. She is the author of many books, including Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book), which was named one of the ABA’s best books for young readers for 2016, was featured in People magazine, and was read online by David Harbour of “Stranger Things,” and the Two Dogs in a Trench Coat chapter book series, illustrated by Colin Jack (Scholastic), for which she received the Denise McCoy Literacy Award.
You can view all of Julie’s books here.
Julie lives with her family in Maine, where she maintains the Little Free Library in front of their house.
Julie’s pronouns are she/her/hers.
If you’re from a media-type institution and are looking for Julie’s media kit, you can find it here.
You can also follow and/or chat with Julie through her newsletter and (occasionally) social media. Find her on Substack, Twitter, or Instagram.
Here is a completely real Q&A, not something Julie made up to amuse herself.*
Q: Why do you write for children?
A. I just write what’s in my head. I guess maybe I don’t think like a grownup.
Q: Do you write every day?
A: Mostly. For me, it keeps the words flowing to write as often as possible. It might work differently for you. Just keep at it.
Q: How do you get ideas?
A: I look for them everywhere. Ideas are sneaky. You have to keep your eyes open, look for them all the time, and be ready to write them down. I wrote about how to open your mind to ideas and how to find ideas for Picture Book Idea Month.
Q: I would like to ask you about something other than writing.
A: Uhhh, ok.
Q: Never mind. A lot of what you write is funny. How do you get so funny?
A: I start my morning with Dr. Oktalaf’s Marvelous Humor Tonic, and my days are filled with mirth and chortling. And the occasional stray guffaw. Would you like to try some?
Q: You want me to try some of the nonexistent potion you just made up?
A: Sure. And it totally exists. In my mind.
Q: Oh please.
A: Really! Close your eyes.
Q: I will not.
A: Ok, fine. Keep them open. Now, I want you to imagine…a chicken. Wearing pants. And a cow. In a wig. And an oyster with platform shoes.
Q: How can an oyster wear platform shoes? Oysters don’t have feet.
A: I didn’t say the oyster was wearing the platform shoes. I just said he had them.
Q: That makes no sense.
A: Exactly. I think humor often comes from a place of ridiculousness. Take something normal, make it weird, and then make it make even less sense, and it might be pretty funny. Dr. Oktalaf’s Marvelous Humor Tonic is just trying to see those bits of silly ridiculousness in the world. Once you start looking for them, they pop out everywhere.
Q: Pencil or pen?
A: Pencil.
Q: Computer or typewriter?
A: Computer.
Q: Telegraph machine or carrier pigeon?
A: Carrier pigeon, wearing a tweed vest and a fedora, working the telegraph for an evil underground pigeon organization called the Syndicoo.
Q: What’s your favorite food?
A: Blueberries.
Q: Do you like chocolate?
A: Yes.
Q: Question or answer?
A: Questioning answers.
Q: Ok, I’m done. I think we’ve established that you’re a bit of a goofball. Thank you for your time.
A: I’m totally interviewing you for your website next week.
*she definitely made up this whole Q&A to amuse herself, which is, incidentally, also how she writes her stories
QUOTED: "My initial inspiration was the Monty Python interview sketch, where John Cleese is interviewing Graham Chapman, and the interview grows increasingly absurd. I flipped it around so it’s not the interviewer who is getting sillier, but the interview candidates. And I put it on a farm."
"I love stories that start from a somewhat peaceful place and then get more ridiculous with every page turn. That was what I was going for when I wrote this story."
Simply 7 with Julie Falatko: HELP WANTED: ONE ROOSTER
June 18, 2024 / jenabenton
Today’s picture book piqued my curiosity, as it was a funnier-than-average farm yard story. I had to learn more!
elledarcyphotography.juliefalatko-4-1-scaledJulie Falatko writes books for children. She is the author of the picture books Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book) and Snappsy the Alligator and His Best Friend Forever (Probably), No Boring Stories!, The Great Indoors, the Two Dogs in a Trench Coat chapter book series, and Rick the Rock of Room 214. Julie lives with her family in Maine, where she maintains the Little Free Library in front of their house. You can learn more about her by following her on her website or on Substack.
Screenshot 2024-05-18 at 5.35.21 PMHELP WANTED: ONE ROOSTER is a story set in a barn yard, yes, but this barn yard isn’t working quite right and they need a new rooster. Thus it’s also about the interview process and how it can fail in the most unexpected ways. It’s a hilarious take on the trope that gets more and more ridiculous as the story goes along. What more would you expect from writer Julie Falatko? She is a comedy writer extraordinare.
Welcome Julie!
Me: Can you talk a little bit about yourself and about your writing journey up to this point? What brought you to this book?
Julie: I was a huge reader as a kid, and I wrote constantly. It took me many, many years, though, to come to doing this professionally.
I committed to taking picture book writing seriously around 2011. I wrote the first draft of Help Wanted: One Rooster in 2012. This book has been in the works for a while!
Screenshot 2024-05-18 at 5.35.37 PM
Me: Wow! Twelve years is a while! I don’t think I’ve seen a barn yard story with an interviewing process before! What gave you the idea for this story?
Julie: My initial inspiration was the Monty Python interview sketch, where John Cleese is interviewing Graham Chapman, and the interview grows increasingly absurd. I flipped it around so it’s not the interviewer who is getting sillier, but the interview candidates. And I put it on a farm.
I love stories that start from a somewhat peaceful place and then get more ridiculous with every page turn. That was what I was going for when I wrote this story.
Me: Oh that’s such a fun concept. The description for this book published in PW described it as The Office meets Chicken Run. Was that your description or someone else’s? Can you talk about the marketing of this story a bit? How did you sell a farm story when there have been so many of them?
Julie: That description was all PW, and I love it so much! They also call it a “workplace comedy” which it totally is, but I hadn’t thought of that description until they wrote it in the review.
When I first wrote this, like I said before, I was at the very beginning of my professional writing journey, so I wasn’t thinking “oh, a farm story will be a hard sell.” I was just writing whatever came to me. I’m not sure I’d write a farm story now, not unless I had a particularly outlandish angle. In the end, this book did get fairly outlandish! I’m so happy about how it turned out.
We can write “there are so many of them” stories (alphabet books, pirate stories, first day of school, first pet) as long as we come up with a fresh angle. It can’t be “Jimmy gets a new pet, that pet causes havoc, Jimmy has to take responsibility.” It has to be something more like “Jimmy gets a new pet, and it causes time to dissolve and the earth to become Jupiter.” Something new that hasn’t been done before.
Screenshot 2024-05-18 at 5.35.41 PM
Me: Ha! I love that. I also love how you have different types of birds interviewing for the job and then the random applicant. That’s hilariously accurate. Was this always part of the story? Or did it come about during revision? How many revisions did this story undergo?
Julie: The candidates changed a bit during revision, but the concept stayed the same, of them being hilariously unfit for the rooster job. This story got a book deal in 2014 and went many, many revisions between then and the published versions. Ok, I just checked – it was about 40 revisions. That’s lower than I expected, given the timeline.
Me: At this point in your career, you’ve written and published several different picture books. What is one thing that still managed to surprise you in writing this story?
Julie: I never would have thought, when I wrote the first draft of this in 2012, and got a book deal in 2014, that it wouldn’t come out until 2024. It took a long time, but I’m glad it did. It took a long time to get the story right. I’m glad it didn’t come out earlier. Sometimes you write a first draft of a 700-word story, and you don’t figure out the ending for ten years.
Screenshot 2024-05-18 at 5.35.45 PM
Me: The illustrations by Andrea Stegmaier are perfect for this story. I love all of the details she brought to the story. Were there any illustration surprises for you? Any favorites?
Julie: Aren’t they so great!?!? I’m obsessed with these illustrations. I love Cow’s messy bun. I love the color palette. And I love how cute the space blob guy is. There’s so much going on in the illustrations, and Andrea did such an amazing job with layering in all that extra story. I see something new every time I read it.
Me: Any advice for other new picture book writers?
Julie: Read a lot and write a lot, but also think about what your own particular view of the world is, and how to translate that into a story. Don’t try to be anyone else. If you take all the stories, movies, tv shows, music and art that you love, add in the elements that make you who you are, and then swirl it around in your brain, what is the story that comes out? Write that.
That’s great advice Julie. Thank you for stopping by my blog today.
The Picture Book Buzz - Interview with Julie Falatko
Julie Falatko writes books for children. She is the author of many books, including Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book), which was named one of the ABA’s best books for young readers for 2016, was featured in People magazine, and was read online by David Harbour of “Stranger Things,” and the Two Dogs in a Trench Coat chapter book series, illustrated by Colin Jack (Scholastic), for which she received the Denise McCoy Literacy Award.
Author photo of Julie Falatko.
She lives with her family in Maine, where she maintains the Little Free Library in front of their house.
Collage of the covers of Julie's 11 books.
Julie’s the author of A Sofia Special, illustrated by Vivian Mineker (2023), Rick the Rock of Room 214, illustrated by Ruth Chan (2022), Yours in Books, illustrated by Gabe Alborozo (2021), The Great Indoors, illustrated by Ruth Chan (2019), No Boring Stories, illustrated by Charles Santoso (2019), Snappsy the Alligator and His Best Friend Forever (Probably), illustrated by Tim Miller (2017), Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book!), illustrated by Tim Miller (2016), and the Two Dogs in a Trench Coat chapter book series, illustrated by Colin Jack.
Her newest picture book, Help Wanted: One Rooster, releases on June 18th.
Welcome Julie, thanks for stopping by to talk about your newest book and writing.
Thanks so much for having me, Maria!
Tell us a little about yourself. (Where/when do you write? How long have you been writing? What is your favorite type of book to write?)
I’ve always written stories. It took me until I was in my thirties before I understood that it was something I could do professionally.
I’m a morning person, and I get my best writing done before noon, although I write all day if I’m trying to finish something. Three years ago, we converted the utility shed in the backyard into an office for me. I’ve worked in every corner of the house, and I love having a separate space, with a door. My little old dog loves the shed, too. There’s a couch for him to nap on.
My favorite type of book to write is a silly one. I love when I manage to make myself laugh. I love characters who are earnest and full of goodness and also completely ridiculous.
You do have a wonderful ability to write humor! What is one of the most fun or unusual places where you’ve written or illustrated a manuscript?
In 2017, we were car camping at Moosehead Lake in Maine, and our car broke down on the way to a hike. It took nine days for our car to get fixed. For a while, we had no idea when we would get home. Or if we would ever get home. At the time, I was working on revisions for The Great Indoors, which is about forest animals who move into a human family’s home while they’re camping, and it seemed a little on the nose. I don’t normally work while we’re on vacation, but at that point there wasn’t really anything else to do. So I sat at the edge of the lake, with ravens overhead and loons in the distance, and worked on that story about camping indoors.
Sounds almost like it was meant to be. What was your spark of curiosity or inspiration for Help Wanted: One Rooster?
Book Cover - a sheep and a cow, hooves on hips, in front of a "Help Wanted: One Rooster" sign.
One of my favorite ways to come up with a story is to look at media I love and figure out why I love it. I like to break it and figure out the equation of it. What makes it work? I had watched the Monty Python interview sketch for the billionth time and tried to figure out what about it I loved so much, and decided the unexpected and increasing absurdity was my favorite part of it. I tried to translate a similar absurdity (and interview process) into a picture book.
I think you definitely succeeded! How did the writing and journey to publication of Help Wanted: One Rooster compare to some of your other picture books? Was it easier or harder than writing the more serious, A Sofia Special?
A Sofia Special was a totally different process because it’s one I wrote with the incredible people at Driscoll’s Berries. It was fun to team with them, but also a totally different process than my normal one since I was collaborating at every step of the way. Usually, I’m on my own for months or even years, until I’ve taken the manuscript as far as I can. Help Wanted: One Rooster wasn’t easier or harder than A Sofia Special, just a totally different experience.
It’s so interesting to me how the writing process is different for every book. Some come very quickly, some take months to even get a first draft. Some barely change with revisions, some end up so different from the first drafts that it’s hard to even see how one led to the other.
Given the timing, in this next answer, I'm guessing this might be one of the later types of books. How long did it take from the first draft to publication for Help Wanted: One Rooster?
Twelve years! So far, definitely my longest.
Wow. It is really fun, so I glad you did not give up on it. What was the hardest part of writing Help Wanted: One Rooster? What was the most fun?
I could not figure out the ending for this book. That’s part of what took so long. I knew I had these rooster candidates, but I couldn’t figure out why they needed a new rooster in the first place. Where did the rooster go? Why? It took ten years to figure it out.
Even though it took a while, this was a super fun book to work on. I love the process in a picture book of imagining all the backstory, and then not putting any of it into the actual text. It’s like a version of Name That Tune. Can I get this character across in fourteen words? It’s such a fun puzzle.
That's a great way to think about it! When you first saw Andrea Stegmaier’s illustrations, did anything surprise or amaze you? What is your favorite spread?
Internal spread - as the sun sets, the rooster candidates - three birds and a space blob - march off to speak with rooster.
Text © Julie Falatko, 2024. Image © Andrea Stegmaier, 2024.
I love the illustrations in this book so much! Andrea totally echoed the text’s the increasing absurdity in the illustrations. There are so many details, so many hilarious things happening in the background. My favorite spread is the one that shows the rooster candidates, who have conferred with each other, on their way to carry out their plan. They’re so determined.
And the sheep looks so thoughtful and puzzled. What's something you want your readers to know about Help Wanted: One Rooster?
This might be the silliest picture book I’ve written. And that’s saying something.
It is pretty silly, but super fun. Are there any new projects you are working on now that you can share a tidbit with us?
I’ve just seen character sketches from my 2026 Simon & Schuster picture book, Figdor Makes a Friend, which is illustrated by Marissa Valdez. There are a lot of quirky little folks in that book, and Marissa is making them so funny and adorable.
Book cover - dog sitting on the carpet in the Oval Office, writting notes.
*And watch for Chester Barkingham Saves the Country, illustrated by Eva Byrne coming on September 17th! *
Figdor sounds intriguing... we'll have to keep our eyes out for its release. Last question, what is your favorite National Park or Forest, regional park, or city park? Or the one you’re longing to visit. Why?
Photo of a hike at Acadia National Park.
Ohhh, this is a good question. I love National Parks. I love the National Park in my own state, Acadia National Park. It’s beautiful and they let you take your dog on the shuttle bus.
Photo of Julie's dog on a shuttle at Acadia National Park
I also love Zion National Park, which felt otherworldly compared to the landscapes I’m used to. I’d love to visit Yosemite or Joshua Tree. They’re on my list. I know they’re gorgeous, and I want to see for myself. Someday.
What a cute dog! Thank you, Julie, for stopping by to share about yourself and your newest picture book. It was wonderful to chat with you.
Book Cover - a sheep and a cow, hooves on hips, in front of a "Help Wanted: One Rooster" sign.
Be sure to come back on Friday for the Perfect Picture Book #PPBF post on Help Wanted: One Rooster.
To find out more about Julie Falatko, or contact her:
Website: https://juliefalatko.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julie_falatko/
Substack: https://juliefalatko.substack.com/
QUOTED: "Kids will ... giggle at the expressive animals and whimsical artwork."
"a cheeky tale worth crowing about."
Falatko, Julie HELP WANTED Viking (Children's None) $18.99 6, 18 ISBN: 9780451476838
Barnyard animals attempt to hire a new rooster.
A cow seeks a "focused and undistracted rooster who will get this farm back on track." But the applicants have their own ideas. A white-feathered, caffeine-loving chicken offers to wake the farm animals up with freshly brewed coffee. "It will never work for us," responds Cow. The other candidates include an inexplicably tuxedo-clad rooster who wants to ring a bell instead of crowing, a small brown bird whose lack of farm experience quickly becomes evident, and a translucent green blob who speaks a language Cow can't understand. At last, the farm's original rooster wakes up and crows; "the roostering part of being a rooster" isn't very demanding, so he's been devoting his time to playing music, which keeps him up late. The "solution" to ensuring that a rooster crows every morning will have grown-ups chuckling about the inefficiencies of the workplace. Illustrations dominated by rich reds and browns and cool blues bring the setting to life. Stegmaier gives this farmyard a clever modern flair; the cow is dressed in overalls and boots, her hair in a topknot, while the "extremely cool and helpful sheep" who narrates is clad in a sweater and a pleated skirt. While the jokes about the trials and tribulations of the job market may be lost on younger readers, kids will nevertheless giggle at the expressive animals and whimsical artwork.
A cheeky tale worth crowing about. (Picture book. 4-7)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Falatko, Julie: HELP WANTED." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A791876781/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=83a28004. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.
QUOTED: "The Office meets Chicken Run in this workplace comedy."
Help Wanted: One Rooster
Julie Falatko, illus. by Andrea Stegmaier.
Viking, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-451-47683-8
The Office meets Chicken Run in this workplace comedy, in which an "extremely cool and helpful sheep" reveals how a barnyard solves its productivity problem. When the farm's rooster becomes distracted by a hobby and ignores his crowing responsibilities, the whole farm begins to oversleep. The farm's cow ("She has a clipboard. This is a professional cow") conducts interviews, dismissing each nontraditional candidate for replacement rooster. The first, dressed "in an inexplicable tuxedo," wants to ring a bell instead of crowing; the second offers to wake everyone with "fresh, hot coffee"; the third, a small brown bird, wants to press a nonexistent button to do the job; and the fourth, a green, transparent blob, answers questions in its own blobby language ("Glarka-glarka-bloo"). It takes the warm cooperation of all four to get things moving, even if their distinctive gifts don't shift the farm's status quo. Alongside snappy narration from Falatko (Rick the Rock of Room 214), crisp-edged, graphical artwork by Stegmaier (AAAL-LIGATOR!) packs visual information into busy spreads in which a gardener rabbit dozes while the hose runs, and an audio speaker signals the rooster's new interest. Ages 3-5. (June)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 PWxyz, LLC
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"Help Wanted: One Rooster." Publishers Weekly, vol. 271, no. 11, 18 Mar. 2024, p. 75. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A788623121/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c3f49cca. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.
Chester Barkingham Saves the Country
Julie Falatko, illus. by Eva Byrne. Simon & Schuster, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-5344-9466-4
The phrase "wag the dog" aptly describes the hijinks that follow the arrival of a canine White House "staff member" in this energetic epistolary tale. Told through presidential memos appended with sticky notes from first dog Chester Barkingham, the story opens with a sunglasses-wearing agent driving Chester home to the president and first daughter Molly. Upon encountering a government divided by the Rubber Band Bill, the canny canine takes steps to reach a resolution. Via sticky note, Chester playfully suggests that there's "TOO MUCH REAL FITING/NEED MORE PLAY FITING," and offers up a rope so Congress can engage in a literal tug-of-war. While Molly frolics with the new pet and the president issues increasingly urgent memos, Chester bridges divides by introducing naps, food, and fun to lawmakers. In fluid, character-driven illustrations, Byrne's floppy-eared protagonist proves a savvy leader who believes in the role of positive reinforcement (and pizza). The president and first daughter are portrayed with brown skin; background characters are shown with various skin tones. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
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"Chester Barkingham Saves the Country." Publishers Weekly, vol. 271, no. 27, 15 July 2024, p. 96. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A802348157/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0c3a461a. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.
QUOTED: "This story rocks."
Falatko, Julie RICK THE ROCK OF ROOM 214 Simon & Schuster (Children's None) $18.99 8, 30 ISBN: 978-1-5344-9464-0
A rock wants to rock his world.
Rick, a specimen residing on the Nature Finds shelf in Classroom 214, dreams of life outdoors after hearing the teacher describe the power and importance of rocks in nature. The acorn, the moss, and the bark who sit on the shelf with Rick try to convince him simply to stay with them, but Rick is bored with his sedentary existence; he wants adventures! Cleverly figuring out how to escape life as a mere shelf sitter, Rick finds himself outdoors among others of his kind but soon learns their lot isn't so hot (though their existence was the result of very hot circumstances--exploding out of volcanos)--nor is it exciting or dangerous. In fact, it's dull and lonely. Luckily for Rick, a student rescues him, returning him to his shelf and grateful pals. Rick has a rock-solid epiphany: Life in Room 214 is more rewarding than he'd realized. This sweet, gentle tale reinforces for children the reassuring idea that it's OK to try new things and explore new paths, but it's equally OK, not to mention comforting and important, to return to familiar territory. The charming digital illustrations, many set in panels, are delightfully expressive and deeply appealing; young readers will appreciate the costumes worn by the inhabitants of the Nature Finds shelf, presumably concocted by the students, who are racially diverse. One child wears a hijab. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
This story rocks. (Picture book. 4-7)
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"Falatko, Julie: RICK THE ROCK OF ROOM 214." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A705356117/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=98cee3af. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.
QUOTED: "Mixing laugh-out-loud narration with comics-style framing, previous collaborators Falatko and Chan ... earn a gold star for comedy cooperation."
Rick the Rock of Room 214
Julie Falatko, illus. by Ruth Chan. Simon & Schuster, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-534-49464-0
Rick, a lumpy gray rock with googly eyes and a sweet smile, has been sitting on Room 214's Nature Finds shelf "for as long as he can remember" while on-the-move human students, portrayed with various skin tones, have all the fun, drawing and reading and singing. During a geology unit, Rick learns that his kind "hold up the world," and becomes convinced that he's made for adventure, just like the rocks that form imposing outcroppings and exploding volcanoes. Hitching a ride in a student's backpack, Rick, who sports a gold star and a green splodge, lands among a whole field of outdoor rocks, asking, "When do we explode out of volcanoes?" But the rocks, who "have never had glitter glue spilled on them," are sedentary in the extreme, wanting nothing more than to sit in silence ("We already exploded. Other rimes. We're done with that now"). Mixing laugh-out-loud narration with comicsstyle framing, previous collaborators Falatko and Chan (The Great Indoors) earn a gold srar for comedy cooperation. And by restoring Rick to the shelf with a new understanding of how he inspires the students' learning and art-making, the creators show that adventure is really what you make it--and who you make it with. Ages 4-8. Author's agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary. Illustrator's agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Aug.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 PWxyz, LLC
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"Rick the Rock of Room 214." Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 27, 27 June 2022, p. 61. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A709507482/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=349fa8eb. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.